Diet Food Ripoffs

Because of the health and fitness explosion in the wake of record obesity, companies are using smart but sneaky marketing tactics to get you to buy foods that are not as healthy as you may think.  One important tip to remember in general is if something has been removed (fat, sugar, etc) that in most cases something ELSE has been added in its place to maintain flavor and make it palatable.  In many cases these food additives are unnatural, or you could be gaining extra sugar in place of fat or vice versa.  Here are some examples.  You don't necessarily have to avoid them, but make sure you know what you are getting.  Reading nutrition labels is key to making smart choices.  As a general rule, the fewer ingredients the better!

Quaker Instant Raisin & Spice (1 packet)

150 calories
2 g fat (0 g unsaturated)
14 g sugars

This box comes with a heart healthy logo and says it will reduce cholesterol.  Sure, it's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, but it's absolutely teeming with sugar. One bowl has more sugar than a scoop of Edy's Slow Churned Rocky Road Ice Cream. Your best bet is to stick with Quaker's old-fashioned oats and sweeten it yourself with fruit, but if you're set on the single-serving packets, go with the Lower Sugar variety. It provides just as much fiber with a mere fraction of the sugar.

Smart swap:
Quaker Lower Sugar Apples & Cinnamon (1 packet)

110 calories
1.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
6 g sugar

Yoplait 99% Fat Free Strawberry (1 container, 170 g)

170 calories
1.5 g fat (1 g saturated)
27 g sugars

Just look at the ingredient list to see the true picture. After milk, sugar is the next ingredient. Scroll down the list a little and you'll find high-fructose corn syrup, too. So sure it's "99% fat free," but it also has more sugar than an entire Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar. Fage's is plenty sweet, but more of its sugar comes from real fruit. Plus it justifies the sugar with 17 grams of protein—more than 3 times as much as you'll find in Yoplait's yogurt.

Smart swap:

Fage 2% Strawberry

130 calories

2.5 g fat (1.5 g saturated)

17 g sugars

Breyers Carb Smart Almond Bar (1 bar)

180 calories
15 g fat (10 g saturated)
5 g sugars

The fact that this bar has only 5 grams of sugar is awesome, but the fact that it contains half your day's saturated-fat limit is not. Instead, look for a treat like Slim a Bear that puts a cap on both sugar and fat. Not only does that protect your heart, but it also diminishes your calorie impact.

Smart swap:

Klondike Slim a Bear No Sugar Added Ice Cream Sandwiches (1 sandwich)

100 calories
2 g fat (1 g saturated)
3 g sugars

PowerBar Energize Berry Blast (1 bar)

210 calories
3.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
24 g sugars

When we hear about fruit we automatically jump to the conclusion that something is healthy.  But, this bar contains almost NO fiber, and the first ingredient is evaporated cane juice, otherwise known as sugar. Switch to Kashi's GoLean Crunchy! and you'll earn a touch more protein and a ton more fiber. Plus, you'll drop your sugar load by almost half.  AND IT'S CHOCOLATE!!!!  Who would have known that chocolate would be more "healthy."

Smart swap:

Kashi GoLean Crunchy! Chocolate Caramel (1 bar)

150 calories
3 g fat (2 g saturated)
14 g sugar

Arnold Whole Grains Health Nut (2 slices)

240 calories
4 g fat (0 g saturated)
4 g fiber

Not much sounds healthier to me than whole grain bread.  BUT.... that's not always the case.  It's important with bread to try to save your calories for the nutrient-dense stuff that's going inside.  Arnold's Whole Grains Health Nut earns the Worst Bread distinction by being high in calories and carrying a load of refined flour. Make your sandwiches on Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat instead and you'll eliminate 140 calories and double your fiber intake.

Smart swap:

Nature’s Own Double Fiber Wheat (2 slices)

100 calories
1 g fat (0 g saturated)
10 g fiber

Smoothie King Banana Boat (20 oz)

524 calories
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
77 g sugars

Smoothies have been the rage for a while.  It's an easy meal, portable, and most appear to be the picture of health.  Given that, it would stand to reason that there is nothing unhealthy in the smoothie shop.  BUT.... check this out.  It sounds healthy enough, but it's made with ice cream!  It also packs in more sugar than 4 Twinkies.  This swap is still not a great winner, but your waistline will thank you.

Smart swap:

Smoothie King Youth Fountain (20 oz)

253 calories

0 g fat

54 g sugars

T.G.I. Friday's Santa Fe Chopped Salad

1,830 calories
29 g saturated fat
3,450 mg sodium

We have had it in our heads that salads are GREAT for the health conscious.  BUT... on our menus these days, you get the leafy veggies that you need with a little extra.  Fried tortilla strips and a reckless deluge of ranch dressing on this dish. In the 15 minutes it takes you to eat this salad, you'll take in a day-and-a-half's worth of sodium and saturated fat along with nearly a full day's worth of calories.  You'll also see almost a third less sodium.  You could add a soup or something a little more filling to this smart swap and still come out on top.

Smart swap:

Southwest Wedge Salad

480 calories

8 g saturated fat

1,470 mg sodium

Which diet is right for you? Nutrisystem, Atkins, Gluten-Free, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Zone, etc

There are a mind-boggling amount of diet plans and programs on the market.  Which one is right for you?

If I had to guess....  NONE OF THEM!!!

The truth is, that unless you have some special dietary need or allergy that necessitates the restriction of certain foods, most of these programs will work for you for only a short period of time.  In my opinion, they miss the key part of why you are changing your eating habits in the first place.  If you do not make lasting lifestyle changes, ANY of these programs will cause you to gain weight back as soon as you stop adhering to them.

I may tackle each diet directly in another post, but for now, suffice it to say that the reason why these diet programs work is for the simplest of reasons.  YOU ARE WATCHING WHAT YOU EAT!!!!  1,500 calories of gluten-free food is the same as 1,500 calories of Weight Watchers, or Nutrisystem, or E-Diets or just simply keeping a food diary.  The simple fact that you are paying attention to what you are putting in your mouth has been shown time after time to trigger weight loss.  Of course cookies aren't on the agenda for a gluten-free or Atkins diet, but there is no reason to eliminate entire food groups just to get you to pay attention to what you are eating to begin with.

The problem with a "program" is that it is not a "lifestyle."  This means that after you've had enough of any of these plans, you will most likely go to your old eating habits for "maintenance" and will most likely gain the weight back that you've lost, and maybe then some!

There are a lot of folks that I know that "tried" these regimens the same way that people "try" to quit smoking.  They keep coming back again and again.  If you can make many smaller, incremental changes over time, you are more likely to change your lifestyle as well as your waistline and it is more likely to stay that way in the long run.

Tips of the day...

Instead of doing a regular tip of the day, I am including several in one post.  If you have any to contribute, let me know and I'll add them to a future posting.  These are everyday things that you can do to help reach your goals.

1)  DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!!  http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/23/drink.water.lose.weight/index.html  Drinking water especially before meals can really help to start and maintain weight loss.  Drinking water WITH a meal over other high calorie drinks can also be a huge calorie reducer.
2)  Make sure you eat enough
It may sound counterproductive if you are trying to lose weight, but starving yourself will just facilitate fat retention when you DO eat instead of fat burning.  Find a calculator to determine how much you need to eat and stick to it.
3)  Eat several small meals/snacks
This will keep your metabolism firing ALL DAY LONG.  You will soon become a calorie burning machine!
4)  Work extra activity into your daily life
Park farther, walk longer, skip the elevator in favor of the stairs,
My latest favorite trick is this:
I will take reusable bags to the grocery store and fill them up instead of using a shopping cart.  This way, I'm getting a little strength training in and burning extra calories walking the store.  This isn't always practical but every little bit helps!

And most importantly....
5)  Stop making excuses
Just take that first step.  Press play or hit the gym for the first time.  Get something different when you grocery shop.  These little changes will get you on a roll and will snowball into something that can change your life.

Get healthy, live longer, save money?!?!?!??

Now that I have your attention... I'm going to share a little story with you.

It seems like everywhere I go these days and no matter who I talk to... the topic of conversation always seems to shift to health problems and/or exercise and losing weight. I often wonder why we can't seem to get it ingrained in our brains that the former can be directly impacted by the latter.

Within the last 2 years, I have battled with my weight and won - by losing a great deal of weight... and keeping it off. I did this mostly by exercising (personal training with my friend Polly and then moving to P90X) and though I wasn't eating healthy, I definitely ate LESS. The reward for my effort (in addition to the obvious change in appearance) was to be able to stop taking blood pressure medicine that cost us $30 a month, not to mention quarterly visits to the doctor for checkups with a $25 co-pay.

For the last several months, I have really wanted to focus more on eating HEALTHIER. I have been having some other health problems. To try to combat this, because I have not been getting answers from my physicians, I've been making more meals at home, making better choices that taste great and the whole family will eat. Some additional weight loss was a pleasant side effect of that.  As of today I am at 50 pounds lost.

Now the next step was around Christmas time.  I have been exercising as many days of the week as I make time for and my body will allow. I started drinking a meal replacement from Beachbody (the makers of P90X and Insanity) called Shakeology for breakfast every morning. I've had some friends and family members who tried it and I was really, truly skeptical. When I finally broke down, I quickly learned what the fuss was about. I drink a shake every morning and the difference in how I feel has been unbelievable. I just wish I had listened sooner. The main thing that kept me from trying it was the cost. How silly I really was.

Drugs and insurance costs out of pocket (averaged daily) - $8.77
Shakeology per day as a customer - $4.00
Shakeology per day as a coach - $3.50

I could have kept almost $2,000 by trying it out sooner MORE THAN FIVE DOLLARS A DAY!!! Add to that the fact that Shakeology also seems to be curbing my Starbucks cravings and I could only IMAGINE how much more money would still be in my pocket. ;)

My stomach issues seem to be continually improving. Soon, I will be dropping *another* medication from my arsenal that costs us $30 a month.

And some things you simply can't put a price tag on. I have really been feeling great. My energy level is through the roof. (Shakeology has some of the same ingredients as the famous 5 Hour Energy shots) The shakes are all natural, they taste good, they are convenient, and they could be the push you need to live a healthier lifestyle. I have read for some folks that it has lowered their cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and definitely high blood pressure caused by excess weight.

Thanks for your time if you've made it this far, I really appreciate your attention.  If you want to learn more about it or would like a sample, please just drop me a line with your address and I will get one out to you.

HIIT Me With Your Best Shot

These days, EVERYONE is short on time.  It is one of the biggest excuses for why we don't exercise.  To see others and the ways you can battle them, check out my previous blog post here.

Now, this has been a controversial topic, but it's one that I feel strongly about.  If you complete endurance training (ET), which means steady state type of workouts you will most likely experience results over time. However, because you are at a steady state, by definition your heart is not getting the best workout and your results will be... steady (read - flat).

According to the Mayo Clinic, these are the calorie amounts burning for walking 1 hour.  As we've discussed in the past, total calories burned depends a lot upon your weight.

Activity (1-hour duration)	Weight of person and calories burned
	160 pounds (73 kilograms)	200 pounds (91 kilograms)	240 pounds (109 kilograms)

Walking, 2 mph

183

228

273

Walking, 3.5 mph

277

346

414

While 183 calories seems like a reasonable amount, and picking up the pace a bit will net you a nice burn, this just doesn't seem like enough to me for 60 minutes worth of work.

Enter HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training
This type of workout is one in which you cycle for a set period of time, pushing yourself to your limit and then recovering and repeating.  HIIT workouts can be done for any type of cardio.  (Walking, running, elliptical, workout DVDs, etc)

While there has been much debate about how much more efficient HIIT workouts are, for most people the answer is found in simple math:

If you walk briskly for an hour at the same pace... your heart rate will say at the same pace.  Take that same exercise and turn it into a HIIT workout.

1)  Walk briskly for 5 minutes to warm up
2)  Run at full speed for 2 minutes
3)  Walk briskly for 2 minutes

In if you repeat 2 and 3, in about 30 minutes time, you could burn the same amount of calories (or more) than the hour workout at a steady pace.  This is because when you go all out your heart rate will rise and it will continue to stay up when you start to reduce your speed.  You will have a short period of recovery, your heart rate will lower, and then the process starts over.  Because of the periods of exertion and the time that it takes for your heart rate to recover, your average heart rate for the workout (and subsequently your calorie burn) will be significantly higher.  So, if you are short on time, you could push yourself to the max and receive nearly the same kind of burn.  It's a matter of working harder and smarter, not longer.

Here is a personal example using one of my favorite workouts called Turbo Fire:
1)  Workout Turbo 60, which is 60 minutes of working out (and actually has a few quick intervals thrown in the middle) netted 711 calories burned
2) With a corresponding HIIT workout from the same set, I burned 368 in only 20 minutes.  So I burned more than half the calories in less than half the time!

It has been debated that HIIT workouts create a condition called EPOC (Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) - presumably due to all of that huffing and puffing that you did at your max, which continues to help you burn calories long after you've completed your workout.  It is also said that these types of workouts burn more fat than steady state.

Regardless of the debate, it's clear that HIIT workouts burn more calories in less time and interval training is also good for your heart and lungs, basically training them to recovering from taxing events.  And finally, it will help the rest of your cardio seem much easier when you aren't working at a breakneck speed.

We all know that I'm no doctor, but just to be clear, HIIT workouts are not for you if you have heart, breathing or other conditions, but for the rest of you....  Go for HIIT!

How many times do I have to tell you? ;)

Structured Exercise Programs Help Lower Blood Sugar, Study Finds

People with type 2 diabetes benefited most from supervised activity, analysis finds

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- A structured exercise program helped people with type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar level more effectively than just receiving advice about getting more physical activity, according to a new review of data.

After analyzing the results of 47 randomized clinical trials, the researchers also found that exercising for longer periods of time was better at bringing blood sugar levels down than exercising more intensively.

"People with type 2 diabetes should engage in regular exercise training, preferentially supervised exercise training," said the study's senior author, Dr. Beatriz Schaan, a medical school professor at the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre in Brazil. "If these patients can perform training for more than 150 minutes per week, this would be more beneficial concerning their glucose control. However, if they cannot reach this amount of weekly exercise, lower exercise amounts are also beneficial."

Results of the study are published in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The clinical trials included in the current analysis included more than 8,500 participants. The studies used a measure known as hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) to assess a particular treatment's effectiveness. HbA1C, sometimes just called A1C, is a measure of long-term blood sugar control. It provides an average of blood sugar levels over a two- to three- month time period. The results of this test are expressed in terms of a percentage. Generally, less than 6 percent is considered normal. People with diabetes usually have levels higher than this. The American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes strive to lower their HbA1C levels to less than 7 percent.

Currently, exercise guidelines recommend that people with type 2 diabetes perform at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, and resistance training, such as weight lifting, three times a week, according to the study.

"We always tell patients, even those without diabetes, that it's important to exercise, but we don't tell them how. We don't provide a good structure on what to do," said Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "It would be good if we were able to prescribe an exercise program for our patients to follow."

The current analysis compared a group of people with type 2 diabetes who participated in a structured exercise program with a control group that received advice about exercise. A structured exercise program was one that engaged people in planned, individualized exercise. All of the structured programs were supervised.

People in the exercise advice-only groups were told that they needed to exercise and were given advice on how to do so, but they were not engaged in a supervised program, or they were involved in a partially supervised program, according to the study.

People in structured training classes that included both aerobic and strength training lowered their HbA1C by 0.67 percent more than control participants. And structured exercise programs that lasted more than 150 minutes per week resulted in an average drop of 0.89 percent over control participants.

Physical activity advice programs, on the other hand, had an average HbA1C reduction of 0.43 percent versus controls. When combined with dietary advice, physical activity advice lowered HbA1C levels by 0.58 percent over the controls.

"Exercise improves insulin sensitivity; it makes insulin work better," explained Zonszein.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Marco Pahor from the University of Florida, Gainesville, suggested that insurance companies should consider paying for the costs of structured exercise programs or fitness center memberships. He notes that in one study, when older adults went to a gym two times or more a week for two years, they incurred $1,252 less in health-care costs than their less-active counterparts.

"Given the health benefits of physical exercise on diabetes prevention, managing type 2 diabetes in patients, and on improving the health of the general adult and older population, it may be time to consider insurance reimbursements for structured physical exercise programs," wrote Pahor.

Zonszein agreed that insurance reimbursement for structured physical activity is a good idea. "It's important, but it's not something that our current system pays much attention to. We pay for diabetes-related dialysis and heart surgeries, but not for exercise to prevent the complications," he said.

More information

Learn more about exercise and diabetes from the American Diabetes Association.

SOURCES: Beatriz Schaan, M.D., professor, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil; Joel Zonszein, M.D., director, clinical diabetes center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; May 4, 2011 Journal of the American Medical Association

Last Updated: May 03, 2011

Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

When you start to slip a little... you pick yourself up :)

So, as I mentioned in the last post... you have a few bad days and you just move on and improve where you can.  I just try to play the numbers game.  More food + less calories = satisfied, happy belly.  :)  I needed to get back on track, so today, that's exactly what I did!

As you take a look, you'll be able to see that I ate 3 FULL meals, and had a little of my weaknesses too (chocolate AND booze), but I came in under calories since I've started sharing with you.  I probably should have actually eaten more today, but I had a crazy busy day didn't have time to stop.  :)

The potential for an atomic calorie bomb was dinner... but since I made it a home instead of going out, we had baked fries instead of deep fried and skipped all of that *extra* butter and grease (but they were still good and NO ONE in the house was complaining).  The same meal (philly sandwich and fries) at Great Steak would have been over 1,000 calories.  That substitution alone saved me the 500 calories that I'm trying to reduce each day.  It's these kind of swaps that will help you to feel like you aren't missing something in your life and keep you going when it gets rough.

More swaps coming soon.

THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2011
BREAKFAST
	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Protein	Calcium, Ca	Fiber, total dietary	Magnesium, Mg	Vitamin B-6
Shakeology, Greenberry, 1 serving	140	1	19	15	50	3	20	100
Strawberries, frozen, unsweetened, 3 berry	11	0	3	0	1	1	1	0
Lime Juice, 1 wedge yields	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	152	1	22	15	51	4	21	101
LUNCH
	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Protein	Calcium, Ca	Fiber, total dietary	Magnesium, Mg	Vitamin B-6
Panera -Low Fat Garden Vegetable with Pesto- Pick Two portion, 0.5 serving	55	1	10	2	2	2	0	0
Panera 1/2 Thai Chopped Chicken salad, 7.25 oz	200	7	18	17	4	2	0	0
Butter, salted, 0.3 tbsp	31	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Panera Bread French Baguette (2 oz), 0.3 serving	45	0	8	2	0	0	0	0
	331	12	36	20	6	4	0	0
DINNER
	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Protein	Calcium, Ca	Fiber, total dietary	Magnesium, Mg	Vitamin B-6
*Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil (reduced fat mayonnaise), 1 tbsp	45	4	2	0	0	0	0	0
Walmart Brat Bun (1 bun), 1 serving	140	1	28	6	0	1	0	0
Kroger Brand - Provolone Cheese (1 slice), 0.5 serving	35	3	0	3	8	0	0	0
steak umm, 2 serving	200	18	0	10	0	0	0	0
Checkers/Rally's Famous Fries Crispy French Fried Seasoned Potatoes, 84 gram	160	7	21	2	0	2	0	0
Heinz Ketchup, 1 tbsp	15	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
	595	33	55	21	8	3	0	0
SNACK
	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Protein	Calcium, Ca	Fiber, total dietary	Magnesium, Mg	Vitamin B-6
skinny girl margarita, 1 serving	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alcoholic Beverage, Miller Lite, 12 oz	96	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
Mini Lindt Bunny 10g, 2 serving	108	6	12	2	0	0	0	0
	304	6	15	2	0	0	0	0
	1,382	51	128	58	64	11	21	101
	1600 - 1950	41 - 72	208 - 301	60 - 162	100 - 150	25 - 35	100 - 125	100 - 200