Shaw's Helps You Shop Smarter

Shaw's Supermarkets has rolled out a new program in their New England based stores that color code thousands of items in their supermarket based on their nutritional information.  The aim of this system is to help shoppers identify healthy items faster and easier.  For example Dark Orange is for whole grains and Purple is low in calories.  I think this is a fantastic idea and I hope it gets adopted in some form or another in grocery stores across the country (hell, world!).  It can be very tedious walking around the store looking at countless nutritional labels.  This way if I see something new I might want to try, I can know before I even get to it if I should really be eating it or not.

Wisdom For Your Holiday Weekend

I thought this blog post over at Huffington Post was quite good.  It talks about the behavioral and psychological issues that can be behind humans having a difficult time losing weight.  As a tease, here is the first line of the blog...which I'm in love with right now.  Enjoy your weekends!

If you gave a test to a million people and three-quarters of them flunked, would you attribute their failure to a lack of willpower or laziness?

Can You Spot 100 Calories?

Take this fun little quiz from Women's Health and see if you can guess which serving size of each food or snack is 100 calories.  They asked which 'Healthy Snacks'...but some of the items you guess are french fries, a whopper, pizza and doughnuts.  I think they should  have stuck with which FOODS are 100 calories.

Post your scores!

New Healthier Oils Coming To You

It looks like scientists have been hard at work.  The folks over at Dow AgroSciences have just announced that they have created the first ever saturated fat free sunflower oil.  This is not only great for just us as consumers using it around the house, but it would be FANTASTIC if companies started using it in their food processes thus eliminating a lot of the saturated fat in their products.  According the the press release:

Omega-9 Sunflower Oil is all natural and can support an all natural package claim, as the oil comes from NEXERA™ seeds which were developed by Dow AgroSciences through traditional plant-breeding. And because the oil has a very high level of  stability, many formulations will not require antioxidants, TBHQ or partial hydrogenation to achieve the desired shelf life allowing for a cleaner ingredient label.

 I say good job science!  If we can start creating better ingredients in a natural and healthy way we can improve ALL of our food offerings, even if it's processed.  All I want to know is when I can find this on my grocery shelves!

Get Spark*D!

The folks over at SparkPeople have rolled out a new program just for diabetics called Spark*D.  I think this is a great addition to their already comprehensive site.  I myself use SparkPeople to track and gain support from other users.  Now maybe I can get my husband, who has diabetes, on the site as well.  If anyone has used this, let me know what you think of it!

The Complex System That Is Our Bodies

Another great article I found about how our bodies work and how to work with them in order to keep our weight and health in check.  I like that there are a few small changes you can take from the article that could potentially have a big impact on your weight.  I mostly want to show my husband the section about how the brain doesn't know the difference between walking in the mall while shopping or walking on a treadmill.  He laughed at me when I used to walk in place while watching TV.  I was still moving!

The Loopholes of Food Labeling

There is a great article I found on sparkpeople.com about the standards when it comes to labeling on food.  For instance, you can use the phrase "Made With Whole Grains" as long as there's about a pinch of whole grains somewhere in there.  We've all heard about things being misleading, but I think this is a tad ridiculous.  Read this to make healthier choices for yourself!

Choose My Plate

The new graphic replacing the USDA's pyramid has been revealed today along with a (new?) website, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.  I really like the new look of the graphic.  It's simple to understand and visually appealing.  I browsed around the site and they also have some really useful tools like a food tracker, foodepedia and meal plans for the likes of preschoolers, moms to be and the general population.  Now, they don't give you recipes, but they do tell you how many cups/ounces/etc you should be getting of a particular food group each week.  This is based on your age, gender, height, weight and physical activity.  I will definitely be checking out the food plan for moms-to-be when I get pregnant.

Yet Another Weight Loss Journey Show

Who here has seen the ads for ABC's new show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition?  I'm pretty much a sucker for watching any weight loss show (though some are much better than others) so I will definitely be watching the first episode of this.  I enjoy the concept of each episode being a journey of 1 year with each participant.  I also like that this takes place during their normal lives (as normal as having a trainer move in with you is) so that we can see people losing weight while still having jobs and families.  Who else is going to watch this?

Your One Stop Recipe Shop

I just found out about this great new recipe search engine called Foodily.  This search engine aggregates recipes from all over the web from tiny little blogs to giants like Food Network.  They then not only spit out the recipe but their own nutritional calculations based on each ingredient.  You can search by ingredient, vague food term (i.e. Mexican dish) and also refine your search with things like 'low-fat' or 'low-carb'.  I think this is fantastic.  I have so many recipes bookmarked all over the damn place that I lose track.  So you can also save favorites or even 'Like' a recipe on Facebook.  I will definitely be utilizing this new search engine, how about you?

Jenny Craig For The Win!

It looks like Consumer Reports has ranked the most popular and doctor approved weight loss programs and Jenny Craig has come out on top.  It looks like the rankings are determined by nutrition, weight loss and the dropout rate.  An astounding 92% of participants stayed with Jenny Craig for 2 years.  Of course, as they warn and I do as well...that doesn't mean it's right for you.  If you like to cook, then eating prepackaged meals isn't going to be something you will stick with.  I, however, might give it a try.  I'm very good friends with my microwave.

In case you were wondering here were the top rankings overall:

1. Jenny Craig
2. Slim Fast
3. Weight Watchers
4. The Zone Diet
5. The Ornish Diet
6. The Atkins Diet

The Soda Tax: Yay or Nay?

Obama tried to tax sodas as part of his health care reform package, but it got destroyed by lobbyists.  Now some states are debating putting a tax on soda.  Honestly, at 1 cent per ounce it's not going to break anyone's bank (an extra 12cents per can...go check your couch!), but it could bring in millions of dollars to help fund various healthy initiative programs.  I, for one, think this a great idea.  Some naysayers think this is a slippery slope, that we could start taxing bread and milk next.  But really, soda has absolutely NO nutritional value.  In the scheme of our daily nutritional needs, soda is a luxury...and not a particularly healthy one.  What do you think?

Two Myths Debunked

Eating low-fat foods will make you healthy
Verdict: False

A low-fat diet and a healthy diet are not, surprisingly, one and the same. As mentioned above, low-fat foods are often deceptive, containing marginally reduced levels of fat in exchange for a high dose of sugar. You’ll often see it in the office environment: People concerned with their weight will stick with microwaved low-fat meals and never lose an ounce. If you are trying to become healthier through your diet, the rules are simple: Eat fresh, unprocessed foods. Get enough fruit and vegetables in your diet. Remember to balance. An all-protein diet might be the diet of choice for a weight lifter but not for your average Joe. You need to reduce your calorie intake (and sugars contain fats alongside calories). Eating simple, unprocessed food that you have prepared yourself is the best way to take control of your health.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/19/6-health-myths/#ixzz1K5BVgxaW

The fatter you are, the unhealthier you are
Verdict: False
If we think about the opposite of this statement (the thinner you are, the healthier you are), we’d be a nation of anorexics. It’s pretty obvious that people who are morbidly obese are unhealthy -- but so are those at the other end of the scale, who suffer from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, among a host of other health problems. It’s worth pointing out that if you are eating "low-fat" products regularly, you should be checking the nutrition labels. These are usually packed with sugar, often more than regular products. Sports fans will have known this from day on. Those linebackers are just as fit as the rest of the players on the field and yet they’re about three times their size. There are, however, a number of illnesses associated with being overweight, so if you are piling on the pounds, get yourself to the gym and dismiss this health myth.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/19/6-health-myths/#ixzz1K5BZe7s0

Baby Wants Carbs...

I was reading about a study that has been going on about finding a link to what a pregnant woman eats and the DNA outcome of their child in reference to obesity.  Apparently, they have found that women who eat a low car diet in their first trimester can actually alter their babies DNA to make them MORE prone to obesity later on.  With all the low carb hype that is going around these days, I expected the opposite.  As did my fiance, who when I started telling him about this study, said 'Yeah, you'll be eating chicken and salad...'.

I hope they eventually find out enough about a mothers nutrition while pregnant that they can give a good outline for woman to go by.  And hopefully in the next few years so I can use it!

Help Yourself And Someone Else

In our everlasting battle against ourselves and our weight, take this time to help yourself and someone else in need.  Instead of buying that unhealthy lunch or whatever your vice may be...use that money to feed hungry children around the world.  The wefeedback Calculator is simple.  Input your favorite food, how much is costs and how many servings you would eat.  The calculator will then tally your amount and tell you how many hungry people that could feed.  Then instead of you spending that money on an unhealthy choice for yourself, you can choose to donate the money to the organization and actually help those children.  Go on, you'll feel good!

Overcoming Nature with Nurture

My future children aren't even a twinkle in my eye yet, but my fiance and I already have aspects of their life planned out.  We know between the two of us they are going to be prone to weight problems, and that terrifies us.  We don't want our children to go through everything that we have.  We were talking the other day about getting them involved in sports and other healthy activities at a young age.  We also talked about implementing what we call Family Exercise Time, but what they would simply know as some fun activity that we all do together.  What are some fun and creative ways to pull this off?

I fear one of my biggest hurdles in keeping my children healthy is going to be to get them to eat vegetables.  Sadly, my fiance does not eat them.  AT ALL.  He refuses to.  How am I going to get my kids to eat them when they don't see their father doing it.  My mother did buy me a cookbook on how to hide vegetables from children and I'm hoping that it will work on him too.

I just already feel like the odds are stacked against my children.  But I pledge to do my best by them!  Does anyone else think about this sort of thing too?

Fat Weight Loss Experts Get No Respect

There is an article on abcnews.go.com about how workers in the health field do not get the respect they deserve because they are fat.  It seems their biggest critics are other health care professionals!  They feel that being fat almost disqualifies you from being a good doctor or nutritionist or what have you.  If we were to honestly not use any doctors that had unhealthy habits, there wouldn't be too many to choose from.  I'm sure they all have their vices that they're dealing with...smoking, drinking and drugs to name a few.  The only difference from being overweight is that you can immediately tell if someone is overweight making it that much easier to make a snap judgement.  I'm putting up a poll to go with this post to see if you guys would use an overweight healthcare professional.  Hit it up!

Late Night Carb Loading

I had a friend send me this article about a study that shows that people who load their carb intake towards the end of the day (on a reduced calorie diet)  had better results on their diet.

After six months the experimental group that ate more carbs at dinner saw more weight loss, body fat mass reduction and lower abdominal circumference than the control group. The experimental group also had higher satiety levels during the day than did the control group.

This might be something worth trying.  And I have to say, I enjoy seeing studies like this over any studies on pills that help aid in weight loss.  You always see ads or articles on these things and it ALWAYS says 'in conjunction with diet and exercise'.  So, you have to diet and exercise anyways...why open yourself up to other health risks?  None of these pills have been tested long enough to determine long term effects on it's users.  Some will even cause you to gain the weight back if you stop taking it.  I say, do it the right way, the natural way.  We have enough health worries looming around in the world to add anymore to ourselves.

Miracle Noodle?!

Being someone who reads the Hungry Girl e-mails everyday, I've definitely heard about these types of noodles before.  For some reason I guess I never grasped how awesome this could be.  And knowing that I'll be near a Whole Foods tomorrow, I think I'll try to go find them!  Have any of you tried these noodles?

By the way, I totally feel like this headline needs a theme song.  For some reason my head tried to put it to Spider Pig from The Simpsons movie.  It doesn't quite work...

The 17 Day Diet - Good or Bad?

I've been reading a lot about this new 17 day diet.  You can read about the program and even read the first chapter of the book here.  The very basic premise here is that you cut your calories to 1,200 a day eating natural, unprocessed foods.  They have cycles of 17 days so that your body doesn't get used to one diet and some cycles introduce new foods to spice things up.  When you get to your goal weight, the maintenance plan is to stay on the diet during the week and go buck wild on the weekends.  Although buck wild probably isn't really the right phrase.  You could ruin your progress if you binge.  According to the write up on WebMD it is actually a pretty good plan.  Of course they suggest adding more fruit and a multi-vitamin.  So all in all this seems like it could be a viable option for people.  But as always with any diet, read all the material and follow the plan accordingly.