Could you use more energy? (Who couldn’t?) You may be suffering from one (or more) of these four common nutrient deficiencies.
In this clip, Dr. Oz and I reveal the nutrient deficiencies that may be sapping your energy, plus the energy-boosting foods that can correct the deficiencies. Most of them are hiding in your pantry right now!
Willl adding butter to your coffee render you “bullet-proof”? In this week’s podcast, Ryanne Gallagher and I attempt to get to the bottom of this hot new trend.
The Nutrition Diva newsletter has info on foods that act as natural blood-thinners. You can also listen in as WYPR’s Tom Hall and I hash out the pros and cons of vitamin supplements.
This discussion of wheat grass as a protein source led to a (much more interesting) discussion on stastistics and easy it is to manipulate them to mislead unwary consumers. And for men and those who love them, here’s diet and nutrition tips for a healthy prostate.
In this month’s STYLE magazine, I’ve got some kind words to say about sugar. Sometimes, nothing but the real thing will do!
And from my ongoing series for Intel on technology and health:
The Quantified Self
More and more people are using wearable computers to tally their biostats. What can you gain from jumping on the bandwagon? Find out here.
The Power of Tracking
If you’re not ready to commit to change, simply commit to keeping track. What happens next might surprise you.
This article is also available as a podcast. Click to listen:
In an effort to help people make healthier choices when eating out, many restaurants are now required to publish calorie counts and other nutrition information right on their menus. Usually, the laws only apply to restaurants with more than one location, such as fast food and chain restaurants.
Even if they aren’t required to put them on the menu, most chain restaurants and some others publish nutrition information on their websites.
I’ve heard from a lot of people who say that having nutrition information on the menus takes some of the fun out of eating out. And frankly, the restaurants aren’t that crazy about the idea either because they know that many restaurant goers would be horrified to find out just how many calories their favorite dishes contain.
Having spent some time in professional kitchens I can tell you that sparing calories is not the first priority of most chefs. They want their food to taste good and it’s a whole lot easier to turn out tasty dishes when no one’s measuring out the butter, if you know what I mean.
Sidestepping the issue of whether it’s fair (or even constitutional) to force restaurants to put calorie counts on the menus, I have to say that, from a public health perspective, it has brought about some positive changes. Being forced to disclose the calorie counts on menus has motivated many chains to add healthier, lower-calorie choices to their menus.
And, even if people say they would rather not know how many calories are in that plate of fettuccini Alfredo or that side of onion rings, having the number right there on the menu makes it a bit harder to remain in denial—and often results in people making healthier choices.
Now, I have to warn you to take the nutrition information you see on menus with a grain of salt. When preparing a sample dish for analysis, ingredients are precisely measured. But dishes are not going to be as carefully executed in the heat of battle as they were for nutrition analysis. Unless it’s a highly automated fast-food restaurant where every squirt of special sauce is premeasured, you’re likely to get portions that are significantly larger, cooked in more oil or butter, and served with more salt, sauce, or salad dressing than the version that was analyzed.
Whether or not nutrition information is provided on the menu, and regardless of how reliable it may be, it is possible to find the healthier dishes by reading menu descriptions carefully and learning to watch for certain code words.
The words “creamy,” “crispy,” and “smothered,” for example, are all code for “slathered in fat.” I’d also be on guard against items described as “rich,” “thick,” or anything topped with several kinds of cheese. Instead of dishes that get their flavor from heavy sauces, look for the simpler preparations. Words like “steamed,” “seared,” “poached,” or “grilled” signal a lighter, leaner style of cooking.
In addition, there are a couple of ordering strategies that can help you get a healthier meal without feeling like you’re left nibbling nothing but garnishes.
Finally, you’ll have an easier time finding healthy menu options if you pick your restaurant carefully. As much as I love Indian food, most Indian restaurant meals are very high in fat and calories, for example. Sushi restaurants, on the other hand, are a great place to get a light, nutritious meal. Pub grub is usually heavy on fried foods, whereas a grill will have more healthy choices. Diners tend to specialize in things covered with cheese, gravy, or syrup; a bistro usually has entrée salads and other lighter options.
You can also take advantage of the “small plate” trend by seeking out Spanish or Middle Eastern restaurants that serve tapas or mezze. Instead of ordering an entrée, you make a meal out of small “tasting” portions of three or four different dishes. You can turn any restaurant into a small plate restaurant, by the way, by ordering two or three appetizers as your meal. Just remember, when selecting appetizers and small plates, to apply all of the guidelines we just talked about. Avoid the crispy chicken smothered with three cheeses, and go for the grilled shrimp on a bed of spinach!
Originally published at QuickandDirtyTips.com
Vegetables–which you know are near and dear to my heart–dominated our discussions this week. Jo Robinson’s op-ed in the New York Times triggered this exploration of whether we have bred the nutrition out of our modern food supply.
Meanwhile, readers and listeners pelted me, not with rotten tomatoes, but with queries on which vegetables deliver the most nutrition for the buck, whether certain parts of a head of lettuce are more nutritious than others (spoiler alert: yes), and whether parsley can be counted as a leafy green. (Two recipes to get you started: tabbouleh salad and turbo-charged tuna salad). Finally, what to do when organic strawberries or wild-caught fish aren’t available (or affordable).
I don’t know about you, but all of this talk about vegetables makes me hungry! Got any healthy summer recipes to share? Post them below.
A few months ago, I spoke at a conference attended mostly by fitness trainers and enthusiasts, and I noticed that about 75% of them were wearing activity monitors on their wrists or clipped to their clothing. To be honest, it seemed sort of strange and obsessive, but–hey–everyone needs a hobby. So I feel a little sheepish about admitting to the fact that I am now the proud owner of a Fitbit One and am obsessively watching my daily step count and analyzing my sleep patterns! And I have to say, having an objective way to measure my level of activity really has made a positive difference. If I’ve failed to crack 10,000 steps by 8pm, I’ll go out for a walk instead of sitting down at my computer or popping in a DVD. For more on how “self-quantifiers” are using technology to monitor and improve their health, see this article I wrote for Intel iQ.
Once you start down the self-quantification path, it can be a slippery slope. My Fitbit One can be set up to coordinate with a number of popular online diet trackers, such as My Fitness Pal. But if you’re using one of these to log your calorie or nutrient intake, keep an eye out for this common hazard.
Last week’s podcast delved into a somewhat lower technology solution to persistent digestive problems. Read more about the FODMAP diet and whether it might be the solution to your tummy troubles. Sometimes, of course, tummy troubles are actually caused by food poisoning–but is there any way to know which food was the culprit? More info on that here.
Finally, fluoridation is a controversial topic that’s being debated in communities around the U.S. This week’s podcast reviews the main arguments for and against adding fluoride to the public water supply, along with some thoughts on the so-called “precautionary principle.”
For more food and nutrition hijinks, join me (and a few thousand other food- and nutrition-obsessed folks) on Facebook or Twitter.
Originally published on Intel IQ
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, they say. Although this old adage comes from the world of business and management, it’s equally true of behavior modification. Keeping a log of something (such as food intake, exercise, spending, or alcohol consumption) can be a surprisingly effective way to change habits. The very act of keeping track—even without consciously trying to change anything—often nudges you toward better choices.
When we estimate our habits, we tend to paint a rosy picture. We think we’re more active than we actually are, we underestimate how many snacks or drinks we typically consume, and we spend more than we realize on meaningless incidentals. What’s worse, our worst or most excessive habits are the ones we tend to be the least accurate about. The more people overeat, for example, the bigger the discrepancy between their estimated intake and their actual intake. Continue reading “Tracking Success”
Recently, a surprising pair of research studies shed new light (from two different directions) on an old question: Is late night eating bad for you?
The first finds that our appetite tends to peak at around 8pm. Should we listen to our bodies or to the weight loss gurus who tell us NEVER to eat after dinner? My thoughts in this podcast.
The second study found that eating late may, in fact, impede weight loss–even it doesn’t lead to eating more. Drat. My thoughts on how (or whether) to change your meal schedule in this podcast.
There was the usual round up of interesting questions in the Nutrition Diva mailbag:
Elsewhere across the web, my thoughts on sprouted grains in Men’s Fitness, some great new apps that can help you eat healthy and well for Intel IQ, and the debut of my new Smart Food column debuted in Baltimore Style magazine.
Originally published on Intel IQ
A growing tribe of health-conscious techies are obsessively tracking everything from REM sleep to mood swings in an effort to better understand (and ultimately, improve) how they feel and function. Of course, keeping a manual (or even digital) log of daily habits or measurements is nothing new.
The real buzz is in wearable devices that automate the collection of your bio-data. A growing number of gadgets, most in the $100-200 range, ride along in a pocket or on your wrist and track everything from your level of physical exertion to your blood pressure, heart rate, breathing patterns, sleep, and mood. Extreme “body-hackers” may even have sensors surgically implanted to measure moment-to-moment changes in blood sugar. Continue reading “The Quantifiable Self”