In the first part of this article I talked about why fruits and vegetables might be just what you need to give you the winning edge in managing your weight. (Fruits and Vegetables Best Choice for 2009) Today I would like to share my thoughts on how you might make it easier to regularly include more fruits and vegetables in your diet.

The cost of fresh fruits and vegetables especially off-season might dampen your enthusiasm for my suggestion. Unfortunately, some of the least healthy food is also the least expensive. There are many reasons for this including certain government policies that made sense 40-50 years ago but not any longer. However, that’s a topic for another day.

Hopefully we may see some changes in government policy and otherwise that might make fruits and vegetables more affordable in the near future. In the meantime, I have some suggestions that may help a little. When you plan your food budget do keep in mind the enormous health benefits of fruits and vegetables as well as the opportunity to more easily manage your weight.

Cost of Fruits and Vegetables

•Minimize your costs by buying fresh fruits and vegetables by season (whenever possible buy local and organic). Imported produce can sometimes be more expensive than what is grown in the United States.

•When fresh is limited or not available, choose to buy less expensive canned fruits or vegetables. You may also find frozen to be cheaper than fresh. The nutritional value of frozen is as good and might even be better than fresh. Canned produce may have somewhat less in the way of certain nutrients but is still a good choice.

(Note: Choose canned or frozen options without added sugar, syrup, cream sauces, or other ingredients that add calories.)

•Whenever possible, avoid buying pre-cut fruits and vegetables for enormous savings. The convenience may be nice but you pay dearly for that.

The cost of fruits and vegetables may or may not be an issue for you but what about meal and snack ideas? And what kind of simple changes might you make in your routine to make it more likely that fruits and vegetables are a part of your diet more often?

Tips for Simplifying

•Pick one day at the beginning of your week to wash and cut fruits and vegetables. Put each in a separate container, if necessary. (Add a little lemon juice to cut apples and pears to keep them from browning. Or just leave these whole to eat fresh as is.)

Now you have a supply of fruits and vegetables ready for snacks or to include in a meal later in the week. This will not only save you precious minutes when its time to cook but will also make it more likely you will grab one of these containers for a ready-to-eat, healthy, and low calorie snack.

•Add leafy greens (such as spinach, red leaf lettuce, romaine), tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, green peppers, and more to sandwiches and lighten up on the meat and cheese.

•Don’t forget fruit. Thinly sliced apples can make a great addition to a turkey or chicken sandwich for extra flavor and nutrition. Sliced bananas or, better yet, low calorie berries go well with peanut or other nut butters instead of jelly or jam.

•Add chopped veggies to broth based soups (whether homemade or canned), stir-fried dishes, pasta, omelets, and pizza toppings. Eat more veggies and there is less room for higher calorie pasta, rice, or bread.

•Strive for having half your plate at mealtime filled with fruits and vegetables. Do eat off of smaller plates for smaller portions and fewer calories.

•Potatoes eaten with the skin can be a healthy choice; however, do limit how much you eat. They have a high starch (carbohydrates) content and as such are more similar to bread or cereals with respect to calorie count.

Recipe Ideas

If you need a bit of inspiration when it comes to additional ideas on ways to prepare fruit or vegetables, what you may need are photos and recipes that make your mouth water. Here’s just a few of the places I go for inspiration both offline and on.

The next time you are at a shop with a magazine rack, flip through a few issues of some of the better cooking magazines. I especially like the magazines geared for vegetarians. You don’t need to be a vegetarian to get inspired and enjoy the recipes you’ll find!

The latest issue of Vegetarian times (January 2009) caught my eye with the lead story of “Lose Weight, Gain Energy: 35 satisfying recipes under 300 calories”. After only a minute or two looking at the enticing photos and recipes and I was hooked. I don’t buy magazines very often but this one came home with me!

No time for magazines? No problem. There are lots of great online sites for inspiration:

Check out Flickr photos (online) for pictures of vegetarian recipes from around the world. Not all of the photos will appeal to you (or feature fruits and vegetables) but the ones that do are sure to inspire you to be more creative with your meals and snacks.

Flickr Vegetarian Group

Have you had a chance to read my review article of some of the best online sites for low calorie and healthy recipes?

Healthy Low Calorie Recipes: 8 Super Sites

Veggie Meal Plans (A blog site with lots of good recipes and sometimes very appealing food photos.)

Fruits and Vegetables Matter

One of my favorite all around recipe sites is RecipeZaar. What I especially like is the ability to drill down and find specific kinds of recipes. I did a basic search for low calorie fruit recipes and came up with over 6,000 recipes. I took a look at the calorie counts for some of the recipes and many were on the high side. So I then chose to “filter by nutrition” and did a search for low calorie fruit recipes with less than 100 calories per serving.

This narrowed the results down to 198. At that point I could have chosen to filter by course (breakfast, snack, main dish, etc.), ingredient, preparation (time to make, simple, etc.) or occasion (seasonal, holiday, etc.). Very nice!

(Note: If the link for the filter for low calorie fruit recipes with 100 calories or less per serving doesn’t work, just do your own search at www.recipezaar.com following my tip.)

Low Calorie Fruit Recipes

A search at RecipeZaar for low calorie vegetable recipes with 100 calories or less per serving turned up 48 recipes:

Low Calorie Vegetable Recipes

For more about nutrition and the value of fruits and vegetables for weight loss you might want to read:

Fruits and Vegetables: Nutrition Source, Harvard School of Public Health

Last but not least, I wanted to share with you a list I came across at Health.com (Health magazine) for the 10 best supermarket chains. These are the stores selected by six prominent health experts as being the best of the largest chain stores for delivering the freshest and healthiest food possible.

These stores may not be available where you live. That doesn’t mean you are out of luck. There are a number of smaller chain stores and other grocery stores with an outstanding selection of healthy choices that did not make this list because of size.

In addition, some of the stores listed may not be the best for you based on cost. And just because a chain store may have received high marks in general doesn’t mean a particular branch store where you live is as good. It may not have the kind of management necessary to assure the same high quality guidelines as the same shop in another city.

1. Whole Foods
2. Safeway
3. Harris Teeter
4. Trader Joe’s
5. Hannaford
6. Albertson’s
7. Food Lion
8. Publix Super Markets
9. Pathmark
10. Super Target

If you have some time, I would encourage you to read the original article to see what some of these shops offer and what kinds of things matter when it comes to making healthy choices: America’s Healthiest Grocery Stores

Do start out the New Year with a plan. Eat more fruits and veggies. Good luck with this and best wishes for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight!

A number of weeks ago I wrote an article on why you might want to consider owning a body fat monitor (Body Fat Scales) to assist your weight management efforts. I would like to purchase a bathroom weight scale for my husband and me that includes this feature. After spending quite a bit of time researching the possible choices, I learned a lot about what is available and what to look for when buying a unit.

Tanita body fat monitors seem to be one of the most accurate and popular of the available products. A company by the name of Omron also makes electronic scales that are rated fairly well. In addition, Omron offers some handheld body fat monitors but these do not seem to have the same degree of reliability or accuracy as the more traditional looking bathroom weight scales.

Electronic weight scales for home use now come with a number of additional features in addition to weight and body fat measurement. Some of these features include daily calorie estimation, metabolic age, body water percentage, muscle mass, and physique rating. However, the accuracy of these features is not clear.

Here’s what I think you should keep in mind when choosing a bathroom scale with a body fat monitor:

1. Accuracy and Consistency with body weight. Ideally your weight will be the same whether measured at home or at your doctor’s office. When I visited a number of online product review sites, I found many satisfied customers who purchased scales that meet this test. There are a number of scales that also seem to rate well for consistency. If you test a scale in a retail shop, each time you step on, then off and on again, you should get the same reading.

2. Multiple-User Memory. Most scales come with the ability to store personal data for a minimum of two users. Some provide data storage for four or more users plus a guest. This is great for families so each person can track his or her own measurements independently. Another feature to look for are buttons to change from one user to another with your big toe (”toe buttons”). These buttons eliminate the need to reach down to make a change.

3. Easy to Read Digital Display. The larger the window and size of the numbers on an analog display, the easier it may be to read. I understand that some electronic scales have a display window that is backlit for better viewing. A few may even have a speech function to report the weight.

4. Consistency with body-fat measurements matters most.. Although body fat measurements may not be accurate, consistency will work. Look for consistency in the results and direction of change if you either lose or gain body fat. (To learn more about how body fat monitors work and why consistency matters please read my previous post: Body Fat Scales)

5. Caution! Body fat monitors should not be used by anyone with a pacemaker or by pregnant women. The small electric current emitted to measure body fat could interfere with the functioning of pacemakers and may be harmful to pregnant women.

6. Additional Features. Some electronic scales may offer an option to provide results specifically for athletes. If you work out 10 or more hours a week or have a resting heart rate of 60 or less (Tanita scales) this may be important for you. Athletes tend to have a much higher ratio of muscle to body fat, which changes the way the values are calculated. Other interesting features, as mentioned earlier, include daily calorie estimation, metabolic age, body water percentage, muscle mass, and physique rating.

7. Electronic weight scales need batteries to operate. They will work with four AA or a lithium battery.

Tanita Body Fat Monitors

Tanita BF679W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Body Water

This scale offers a measurement mode for two adults and a guest. It monitors body fat and body water percentages in addition to weight. Changes in body water will have an effect on body fat measurement so this could be a valuable feature if it works. It also offers a unique feature for estimating daily calorie intake based on current weight level.

The Tanita BF679 is manufactured to work for anyone weighing up to 300 pounds and it is backed by a three-year warranty. Of the 91 reviews I found at one site, this monitor received an average rating of 4 out of 5. (Many negative reviews seemed to come from individuals who had not sufficiently read or understood the limitations of the product.) At Amazon.com the Tanita BF679 received 36 reviews with a rank of 4.3 out of 5 stars. Overall this unit seems to offer good value for the price.

Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Athletic Mode and Body Water

This scale offers four different modes of measurement: adult, child, athlete, and guest. It also has a recall function to compare your current weight with the last weight and body fat percentage. (The guest mode does not store data in memory.)

This scale will work for anyone weighing up to 300 pounds. It has a 10 year parts and labor warranty. Of 27 reviews on one site it ranks 3.7 out of 5 stars.

Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series

This body fat monitor and scale is one of the most comprehensive you'll find for home use at a reasonable price. It is more expensive than the others reviewed here but it may be a good choice for you if you work out more than 10 hours a week and you would like to have more complete feedback about your diet and fitness routines.

The unit provides measurements for metabolic age, muscle mass, healthy range, visceral fat, BMR, and physique rating in addition to body weight, body fat percentage, and body water. It will store user information for up to four individuals and can measure weight up to 330 pounds.

Of 97 reviews on Amazon.com, this product received 4.1 out of 5 stars.

Omron Body Fat Monitor and Scale

OMRON HBF-400 Fat Loss Monitor with Scale

The HBF-400 supports up to four personal profiles and can measure weights up to 330 pounds. The manufacturer claims this unit is designed to provide measurements for people of nearly all heights and ages (10 to 79). It also claims to customize measurements for males and females.

This Omron scale provides measurement for body weight, body fat percentage, and body mass index (BMI).

Average customer review is 4.0 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com.

In conclusion:

Each of the units reviewed here should provide you with an accurate body weight and consistent body fat measurement. Beyond that you will want to consider which features are relevant to your needs and which are not. Having more features does not necessarily make an electronic scale a better buy.

If you do buy a unit, remember to read the instructions carefully! The specifics of each monitor are important. (For example, weigh yourself with dry not wet feet.) If you want to have the most accurate and consistent results possible, you will need to adhere to the manufacturer's recommendations.

(To read more about how body fat scales/monitors work read: Body Fat Scales)

Have a great week, watch those calories, and remember to eat healthy foods!