Category: Healthy Eating Tips

Practical tips for improving your nutrition

Is Halo Top Ice Cream Healthy?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Piper writes:

“Ordinarily, I try to eat natural, whole foods. But I have a soft spot – literally and figuratively — for ice cream. There are some new brands of ice cream, such as Halo Top, that are supposedly higher in protein and lower in fat, sugar, and calories.  The main ingredients are milk protein concentrate, erythritol, corn fiber, and other things one would not find in premium ice cream. Being able to eat an entire pint of ice cream for just a few hundred calories is tempting. But are these products too processed to be good for us?”

Premium ice creams made from milk, cream, and sugar can claim to be less highly processed and perhaps more “natural.” They are also deliciously rich–meaning, high in sugar, fat, and calories. If you’re the type that can savor the recommended (but ridiculously small) half-cup serving size, you can enjoy a decadent treat without doing too much damage.

The problem is that most of us can easily plow through an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s (did I mention the part about delicious?), at which point we’ve consumed a half day’s worth of calories and four day’s worth of added sugar.

One of the big attractions of Halo Top ice cream is that you can eat the entire pint for about the same number of calories as a tiny scoop of Ben and Jerry’s.  You also get 20 grams of high-quality protein, 12 grams of fiber, and 24 grams (one day’s worth) of added sugars.  For many people, Halo Top wouldn’t just be a healthier dessert option; it would make a more nutritious breakfast!

What is in this stuff?

Although taste is highly subjective, I actually think they taste pretty darned good. Which is surprising when you look at the ingredient list, which contains things like erythritol, prebiotic fiber, milk protein concentrate, vegetable glycerin, organic guar gum and organic stevia leaf extract (in addition to things like milk, eggs, cream, and cane sugar).

This is not a minimally-processed food, by any stretch of the imagination. But perhaps this is processing put to a good cause. Continue reading “Is Halo Top Ice Cream Healthy?” >

Is Tofu a Good Source of Calcium?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Karen writes: “How would you rate tofu as a source of calcium? Is it bioavailable?”

Calcium sulfate is often used as a coagulant in the tofu making process. It’s added to the soymilk to get it to set into a solid form. The more coagulant you add, the firmer the tofu gets. As a result, firm tofu will contain more calcium per serving.

The exact amount of calcium per serving varies considerably by brand, so check those nutrition facts labels.

Calcium sulfate is also a bioavailable form of calcium which can rival milk as a source.

A cup (8 oz) of milk contain about 300 mg of elemental calcium, about a third of which is absorbed from the digestive tract, providing about 96 mg of calcium.  A three ounce serving of firm tofu can also provide 300 mg of calcium. Despite a slightly lower absorption rate, you’d still get about 93 mg of calcium out of it.

Note that the recommended intake of calcium (1000 to 1200mg per day) is based on the amount of calcium in the food and not the amount of calcium that you absorb. In other words, the recommendations take into consideration the fact that calcium absorption varies from food to food and are based on typical dietary patterns.

Here’s more on calcium absorbability from different foods.

How to Motivate Healthy Habits: An Interview with Dan Ariely

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Our theme all this month is Healthy Habits and this week I spoke with behavioral economist and author Dan Ariely. He’s written several books including his 2008 bestseller Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and his more recent title Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter. Dan Ariely teaches at Duke University and he’s the founder of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. (Get it?)

This article is also available as a podcast. Click below to listen.

Dan has spent his career trying to understand (and explain to the rest of us) why we make choices that are clearly not in our best interest. Things like buying lottery tickets and selling stocks when they lose value and, of course, eating things that we know are going to keep us from looking and feeling the way we want to.

And, in fact, his latest project is one that focuses on helping people lose weight and get healthier. It’s a bathroom scale called Shapa and the interesting thing about this scale is that it doesn’t tell you what you weigh. Instead, it simply tells you whether your weight is trending up, down, or staying the same. (This is very similar to the approach that we use in our sustainable weight loss program. )

When trying to develop healthy habits, we should focus on rewarding the behavior instead of the outcome.

In a pilot study, Dan’s group recruited volunteers who either weighed themselves every morning on a conventional scale or on the Shapa scale. While the group who used the regular scale gained a bit of weight over the course of the study, the group that used the Shapa scale lost about 1% of their body weight each month.

That may not seem like very much but, as you’ve heard me say before, you are far more likely to maintain your weight loss when you lose it slowly. (It also beats the heck out of slowly gaining weight!)

In our interview, Dan explains the behavioral economics at work and how the insights that led to the Shapa scale can help you form other healthy habits as well.

Here are just a few highlights from our interview.

  • When trying to develop healthy habits, we should focus on rewarding the behavior instead of the outcome.
  • Getting on the scale every morning can help remind you of your intention to eat healthy throughout the day.
  • Our weight can fluctuate by several pounds from day to day. But this has very little to do with actual fat loss or gain.
  • It can take up to two weeks for changes that you make to your diet and exercise to actually translate into fat loss.
  • To get a true picture of how changes to your diet and exercise are impacting your body, you need to look at the long-term trend.

You can learn more about the Dan’s work at his website http://danariely.com

 

This article was originally published at QuickandDirtyTips.com

Eating meat without feeling guilty

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

About ten years ago, I cut way back on the amount of meat I was eating, from 3-4 times a week to 3-4 times a month. I wasn’t worried about my health. And I enjoy a good steak or roasted chicken as much as anyone. I stopped eating meat mostly because I felt guilty about it.

I had concerns about the treatment of the animals I was eating, the environmental impact of large scale livestock operations, the sustainability of it all. I tried to research which farms and brands were raising their animals humanely and responsibly but it ended up being easier just to order (or cook) vegetarian meals instead. Continue reading “Eating meat without feeling guilty” >

How to weigh less in 2018: The DIY plan

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

All week, I’ve been hearing people talk about how much weight they’ve gained over the holidays and what diet or cleanse they’re planning to start January 1.

Meanwhile, here’s what we’re hearing from the current members of the Weighless program:

“Right before Thanksgiving, I reached the (previously fictional) weight on my driver’s license! And then, to my surprise, was able to maintain it through the holidays. Feeling good!”

“I have actually lost some weight over the holiday. Not…even…trying. LOVE this program.”

“I am amazed at how much the Weighless program has affected my thinking. I am not at all stressed about all the food around me.”

These are word-for-word quotes and there are dozens more where these came from. It literally brings tears to my eyes to read them.

I realize that not everyone can (or will) decide to do the Weighless Program but I want EVERYONE to have this experience! And that’s why we’ve decided to give it away.

On Tuesday evening (Jan 2nd) Brock Armstrong and I are offering a free 1 hour video class in which we’ll walk you through the exact method that our members are using to get these amazing results.

You can do this on your own if you choose. Or, if you decide to join the group that’s launching January 5th, Brock and I will be there with you every step of the way. Either way, we want EVERYONE to have this information.

 

New Year. Same Old Resolution? Let’s Fix That.

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

As the year draws to a close, millions are resolving to lose weight in the new year.  Just like they did last year. And the year before that. They’ll start diets and join gyms–and some will even lose a few pounds. Just like they did last year. And the year before that.

But we know how this story ends, don’t we? Next year at this time, it’ll be the same resolution. Maybe it’ll be a new diet or a new gym. But it’ll will almost certainly be the same outcome. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Let’s give this story a new ending.

The Weighless Program is not a diet or an exercise regimen. It’s a year-long experience that helps you build the mindset, habits, and lifestyle that lead to weighing less. This program has already helped hundreds break the endless cycle of failed and yo-yo dieting and finally achieve permanent weight loss.

For our members, this is the first time in ages that losing weight will NOT be their New Year’s resolution! Imagine how fun and freeing it would be to be able to think about other goals and ambitions!

If losing weight is one of your goals for 2018, let’s make this the last time you make this resolution. Let’s make this the year that you stop dieting and start weighing less. 

Our 2018 group will begin their Weighless Journey on Friday, January 5th. You can learn more about Weighless here.

Why I’m not reading self-help books in 2018

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Today, I found myself watching an interview with the author of a new book, one of those personal growth books that promises to change your life. As I listened to the interview, I was thinking: “This author seems really wise and I like her message. I could use this in my life. I should read it.”

And then I realized that I don’t need to read one more book on how to be a more authentic version of myself or make my life work better or achieve my goals.

It’s not that I know everything there is to know about these things.  Far from it. But there comes a point at which reading yet another book or article or blog post or subscribing to yet another podcast or newsletter becomes a substitute for doing the work.

Analysis without action doesn’t produce change

Taking consistent action,  however imperfectly, beats another month (year/decade) perfecting my philosophy and planning my approach. If I want to make more progress toward my goals, I need to quit researching and start putting some of what I already know into action.  And through trial and error, I’ll learn what works for me. 

This is something that we talk about a lot in the Weighless program.  So much of the work we do in this year-long program focuses on mindset and attitudes: how we think about food, eating, and our choices in that regard.  But, as our members quickly discover, insights are only as good as the actions they lead to.  That’s why we spend an equal amount of time on concrete strategies for changing habits.

You can change your mind without changing your behavior. You can also change your behavior without changing your mind. It’s only when you manage to change both that you’re on the road to lasting success.

If you weigh more than you’d like to, and you’re ready to stop analyzing and start solving the problem, we would love to have you with us in our next group. Learn more here.