What’s new?

It’s time for an update. You might be interested to learn what I’ve been up to for the Women and Weight Website and otherwise. If you have a minute I hope you’ll give this post a read and then leave a comment to let me know about the challenges you face with weight management.

I'm riding my bike for the first time in many years. What are you doing to get the exercise you need?

To begin with, I can’t believe it is already almost August. I’m pleased to say I have been living in my “new” state for nearly 3 months! It’s slowly beginning to feel like home. Thank goodness. Because I hadn’t moved from one state to another in such a long time, I had completely forgotten what it is like and just how time consuming it can be!

Given that I am feeling more settled, I am also making time to get more caught up with my professional reading. Current knowledge about health, nutrition, and weight management is continually being updated and refined. I hate being out of touch with the latest developments. Although the Internet kept me informed to some extent when I was unable to read my journals and newsletters, somehow it’s just not the same.

My current projects:

1. I’m making good progress on putting together a simple, easy-to-follow guide on getting started with a healthy low calorie diet. In my experience, the people who are most successful with weight loss and maintenance are the ones who come up with a workable plan for meals and snacks that suits their particular needs and preferences. You just can’t get this from someone else’s sample menu no matter how well thought out it might be.

What I’m attempting to do may or may not be as simple as I would like. But that’s the hope. Whether you are someone who struggles with not having a clue about how to get started or you simply need to do a bit of tweaking with an otherwise healthy diet, I’m hoping this guide will be just what you need.

2. I received an invitation to test a set of dishes designed for quick and easy portion measurement. Great idea! Who doesn’t need a gentle reminder about what is enough? The invitation was a surprise. I don’t get contacted very often and particularly for a product that seems to offer so much value. I plan to share my review in the next week or so.

Some product thoughts:

1. Truvia

Although I am not a fan of zero calorie artificial OR natural sweeteners, I decided to give Truvia (stevia) a try. It’s been on the market for a while now but I was just too busy with everything else going on in my life to see what it was like.

Yesterday, I tried mixing a packet of truvia crystals into an unsweetened cold drink. I was pleasantly surprised at how the product added just a bit of sweetness without an awful aftertaste. Maybe I’ve finally found a product I could use.

I am still an advocate of weaning oneself off of overly sweetened products. Added sugars from any source are a problem for many people. Maybe Truvia could provide that touch of sweetness without any added sugar.

What has your experience been? Do you like Truvia? How do you use it

To read more about my thoughts on artificial sweeteners for weight management:

Artificial Sweeteners for Weight Loss: Do They Work?

To read more about my thoughts on natural sweeteners:

Natural Sweeteners and Weight Loss

2. Justin Nut Butters in Individual Packets

I am happy to say I have now found a grocery store in my new town that sells Justin’s nut butter packets. Nut butters offer a good source of protein, healthy fats, and other nutrients. I’m glad I could add these packets to my small collection of easy to pack and carry food products for when I travel by car, train, or plane

You can purchase the nut butters online if you are interested:

http://www.justinsnutbutter.com/

[Healthy  Low Calorie Eating when Traveling:  See how I planned for a two-day train ride a couple of summers ago to have nutritious low calorie food for a 1200 calorie diet.]

3. Cascadian Farm Organic Cinnamon Crunch

My husband purchased a couple of new breakfast cereals for us to try. The one I’ve tried so far is Cascadian Farm Organic Cinnamon Crunch. I’m not sure I would buy it again.

First of all the outside of the package touts that it has 8 grams of whole grain. That’s nice but not all that much. However, it does just meet the USDA recommendation in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for a whole grain product to provide a minimum of 8 grams of whole grain per ounce.

The package also suggests the cereal is a good source of fiber. It has 3 grams of fiber per serving but I feel you can do better than that. Three is good if it actually comes from the cereal grains. But if you examine the ingredient label, you’ll see the added oat fiber and maltodextrin. Oat fiber is o.k. but I’m not so sure about the added functional fiber in the form of maltodextrin.

Here are some of my previous recommendations for cold cereals:

Ten Top Breakfast Cereals for Weight Loss

And here are some of my recommendations for hot cereals:

Hot Cereal for Weight Loss

Exercise:

I’m getting back to exercising! How about you? I had been a runner for many years and then in the last couple of years I gave long distance running a try. I loved it! But I’m sorry to say I got too late of a start in life. My knees are telling me I had better be careful.

So I’ve rethought my exercise habits. I still do yoga stretches and will be looking for a good yoga studio so that I can practice with other people. I’m also back to walking instead of running. In many ways this is just as good if not better BUT it is more time consuming. I’m also enjoying a renewed interest in riding my bicycle. There are some great biking and walking trails where I now live!

In addition to getting back to exercise, I’m also back to wearing my Bodymedia FIT armband that measures the calories I’ve burned over a 24-hour period of time. This device gives me an added incentive to keep my calorie intake to a reasonable level depending on whether I want to lose weight or maintain.

To read more about the Bodymedia armband:

Bodymedia Review: A Weight Loss System

How are you doing with your diet and exercise? I’d love to hear from you.

[Disclaimer: The product link in this article is for Amazon.com. I am affiliated with Amazon. However, I only promote products that I personally like or that I have researched with the intention of trying myself. If you click through a link I provide and make a purchase I may receive a tiny commission that helps me pay for the time I spend to research, write, edit, and maintain this website. Thank you.]

Hey! Isn't this YOUR healthy food???

The good news for me is that cold weather is coming whether I like it or not. That means no more outdoor painting.  And that will give me some more time for healthy habits. How about you? What might help you have the time you need? Let me know how you are doing.

Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy food!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some of the most recent research about weight loss or directed you to some fun and informative sites to help you in your effort to eat healthy low calorie food. So today I have some news, updates, and other info I think you’ll like.



Fruits and Vegetables for Weight Loss and Better Health

Summer is the season for fruits and vegetables. I hope you are taking advantage of the low calorie nutritious choices available at your grocery store or farmer’s market. Maybe you were ambitious this year and planted a garden for some homegrown treats.

My husband and I have a small garden. However, a lot of our fruits and vegetables come from a local CSA (community supported agriculture). We did enjoy our own homegrown rhubarb and asparagus earlier in the season and now we have lots of ripe and delicious raspberries both red and golden.

If you would like some creative ideas on ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your diet I encourage you to see what Alice Henneman, M.S., R.D. has shared on her University of Nebraska Extension website. 13 Fun Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables The article and slide show provided was posted on the site back in February so Alice shares ways to use frozen fruits and vegetables. I’m sure the suggestions will work equally well or better with fresh.

Put your emphasis on fruits and vegetables and you will not only fill up and feel satisfied for longer with fewer calories than with energy dense foods (high calorie foods) but you will gain the benefits of all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber as well. Check it out!

Natural Weight Loss Supplement that Actually Works??

Speaking of staying satisfied for longer, you might be interested to know that there will soon be a new and HOPEFULLY safe botanical product available that may enhance satiety after a meal. All too often we overeat because the part of the brain that signals when we have had enough is slow to receive the feedback it needs for proper regulation of energy intake.

This new product is made from the bauhinia bush, which grows in the Amazon basin. Native people have long made medicinal products from this bush. Although the weight loss supplement is not yet available for sale in the United States, it could be on the market soon.

If you have followed my blog posts for some time you probably know that I am not a fan of most dietary supplements. There are a few exceptions but most are simply not worth the money. I think this product may be an exception. However, I need to read some objective reviews to learn more. If it is as good as it sounds, I will keep you informed.

New Service available with My Food Diary

My favorite online food diary and nutrition calculator service MyFoodDiary has recently become even better! Not only can you search over 50,000 foods, add items to your food diary, record your exercise, and view reports BUT you can now do all of this from your cell phone! I think this has tremendous potential.

Just imagine making use of the time you might have while waiting in line at a store, or waiting to board your flight at an airport, or waiting for your kids to finish a program or event. Use this time to record your meals and snacks. And do take advantage of the ability to look up the calorie count on a food item before making a purchase at a restaurant. You may not have access to the calorie and nutrient data for all restaurants but what is available could be a big help!

This service works best with smart phones such as iPhone, Palm, and Blackberry but it can also work with most phones that are XHTML compliant. I would imagine if you can access the web with your phone than you are good to go. No extra charge for this service! I don’t have a smart phone but I was able to access MyFoodDiary with my Verizon cell phone to find the calorie counts for the sandwiches at Subway.

Food Diary Review: MyFoodDiary.com

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

EFT is a system of realigning the energy in your body to release any kind of interfering blockage or energy disruption. Evidently this system can be used for weight loss, headaches, pain control, ADD, anxiety relief, trauma, and much more. The way in which it can help with weight loss is by changing your relationship with emotional or addictive overeating.

If you have not heard of EFT I would imagine the procedure for practicing EFT will not be like anything you have encountered before. However, having said that, the procedures are endorsed by some well-respected health and wellness professionals such as Carole Solomon, PhD. an online psychologist who recommends this program to her weight loss clients. Carole provides excellent tips and strategies to combat stress-induced overeating. To learn more about Carole and what she offers you might enjoy a blog she started recently called StressEating.com

If you would like to learn more about EFT including the specific techniques to practice this system, I encourage you to visit the Discover EFT website. You can download a free 87-page digital book (ebook) and learn all about it.

Another program Carole recommends is the Heartmath emWave tool. By using this tool you can learn to better regulate your stress and emotions so that you can adhere to healthy intentions.

I find this concept to be fascinating in light of some recent research results published in the May 1 issue of Science magazine (2009). Researchers discovered that there is a significant difference in the brain activity of those individuals who successfully resist eating unhealthy foods versus those who do not.

There are two different regions of the brain that became active with study volunteers who resisted temptations to eat unhealthy food. However, the individuals who chose the unhealthy foods had brain activity in only one of these two regions. Fascinating. It makes me wonder why? Are those who make the better choice more well informed? And if not, what else is happening?

I’ll share more information about the Heartmath program soon!

Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy food!

Last week I mentioned that I would have a new tool to share that would provide you with additional support for your weight loss efforts on a low calorie diet. The new tool is actually a toolbar and I’ve named it 1200 Calorie Diet.



I created this toolbar for you to have easy access to many of the very best resources online for weight loss on 1200 calories.

The toolbar can be added to Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Flock. Hopefully in the near future it will be available for more browsers. It is something you can download and install in just a few steps.

With this toolbar, I’ve included links for an excellent free nutrition and calorie calculator online. I only discovered it recently and I’ve not mentioned this site anywhere else. It’s one that I use when I want to know how many calories are in a small quantity of food. For example: how many calories in 10 grapes or 1 oz. of yellow tomato?

I still use MyFoodDiary.com when I create 1200 calorie diet sample menus and to keep track of the healthy foods in my diet as well as those I recommend for others. But there are times when the database at My Food Diary doesn’t have the information I need.

Also included with the toolbar are links to calculators for determining BMI (body mass index), BMR (basal metabolic rate), and calories burned with exercise. I have links to my latest blog posts here at the Women and Weight Website so you won’t miss a thing. And I have links to the latest posts for my Weight Loss Motivation blog. I have been writing these posts for quite some time and will soon have completed a book that I plan on sharing with my subscribers.

As I find more useful tools and sites, I’ll add it to the toolbar and you will know instantly. The updates are automatic!

You can find the download link for the toolbar on a new page I created called 1200 calorie diet. On this page I will include all of the most helpful links for information on this website related to 1200 calorie diets. Go check it out. I’ve listed many of the best links and I will be adding more soon.

Also, try the toolbar and let me know what you think!

I’m heading to Georgia to visit my mother who is in a Nursing Home but I will do my best to post another article before I return in a week. (I’m leaving at 4:00 a.m. in the morning!) Please be patient with me. I sometimes have trouble with having access to the Internet on these trips but I will do what I can. (I have an interesting article for you. I’m in the market to buy a new bathroom scale and I’m thinking of buying one of the new weight scales that also measure body fat. I’ll let you know why I think it may be a good choice.)

Till next time, watch those calories and have a great week!

I’ve talked about the importance of keeping a food diary before. Now I have even more evidence of the benefits. The results of a new study funded by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research underscores the importance of keeping track of the food you eat when dieting. Study participants who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more than those individuals who did not keep records.



Image via WikipediaThe study participants were asked to follow the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). This healthy diet was originally designed to lower blood pressure but has since been found to decrease the risk for heart disease and stroke as well. It is a low fat and low sodium diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat or non-fat dairy. (The 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans that I provide on this site are modeled after the DASH diet.)

Almost 1,700 participants agreed to adopt the healthier diet and exercise. About two-thirds of the individuals lost nine pounds or more over a period of six months. However, those who kept a food diary lost as much as 20 pounds, more than twice as much as the others.

So why do food diaries work? They work because you can learn so much about your food habits and eating patterns. First of all, you see where the extra calories are coming from. And you get a better sense of how your calorie intake is influenced by portion size. For many people the primary issue is portion size.

Another benefit of keeping a food diary is the knowledge you gain about when you eat out of boredom or stress. So there are a number of different ways in which food diaries increase your awareness and keep you accountable for your choices.

Some people struggle with keeping food diaries. It isn’t easy. It takes time, although that may be a good thing. Some of the participants noted that they thought twice about having a cookie or piece of cake because they didn’t want to have to write it down or see it in their diary.

The good news is that most people tend to be creatures of habit eating a relatively small number of foods. Your regular diet may include a base of no more than about 30 to 40 different foods. So in a short period of time it may become easier to keep track of your calorie intake.

I like the convenience of the service provided by MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of calories and nutrients. (See Food Diary Review: MyFoodDiary.com for my review) My husband and I enjoy eating a wide variety of foods. Although neither of us enjoys cooking every day, we do like to try new recipes and healthy food products from the supermarket when time permits. So I appreciate the convenience of having a place to record and store an ongoing record of all my food choices.

The foods I eat as well as the recommendations I make with the sample menus provided on this website are all based on foods I “add to my refrigerator” on the My Food Diary website. My digital refrigerator is full of healthy foods. This makes it a lot easier to keep track of my own diet and to also come up with new ideas for sample menus.

There are other sites that provide a similar service. Some are free and others have a small fee. My review of the available nutrition calculators and food diary sites online may help you choose a service that will work best for you. (Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online) Or you might want to just keep track of your food choices with a pen and paper.

If you haven’t given food diaries a try or you have in the past without success, you may want to take a new look. Keeping a food diary takes time. But I can guarantee you it will be worth it. You will learn things about your food choices and habits that you were not aware of before. What you learn could be just what you need to know to get healthier, reduce your calorie intake, and reach your weight loss goal.

Give it a try!