YOU: On a Diet ( June 5th - Sept. 25th )

[jezzie]

The Skinny on Juice-Bar Smoothies

As the summer heat begins to settle in, more and more of us are passing up our favorite coffee-shop concoctions for frosty, fruity treats from the local juice joint. Although juice bars, which have become as trendy as iPhones, often make lofty promises about things like energy boosts, weight loss, and super health, that’s not always what you get.

Here’s how to get the most from your smoothies, and how to make the best choices -- and avoid the worst -- at some of the juiciest chains.

The next time you step up to the counter at any juice bar, remember these three tips from University of Miami sports nutritionist Lisa Dorfman, RD:

1. Downsize. Small is the new large! Although sizes vary from bar to bar, most “smalls” are at least 16 fluid ounces -- that's 2 full cups!

2. Up the protein. Make that full feeling last longer by adding fat-free or low-fat yogurt, milk, or soymilk. That added protein slows the drink's digestion, keeping you satisfied longer.

3. Keep it real. Dorfman skips most of the additives, enhancers, blasters, and boosters, finding fruit smoothies plenty healthy without mystery mix-ins. "Besides, you could have a negative reaction to stimulants like ginseng or guarana, or get much more of a vitamin or mineral than you need."

.

[jezzie]

Jamba Juice (small = 16 ounces)

The Best: Peach Perfection -- a blend of peaches, mangoes, and strawberries.
What makes it good: It has just 200 calories and 0 grams of fat.
What makes it better: If you're making this peach your liquid breakfast, ask for a scoop of fat-free yogurt to add some protein. Also, request that some of the juice be replaced with water to lower the sugar content. This drink, which is otherwise both nutrish and delish, has 40 grams worth.

The Worst : The Peanutbutter Moo'd -- a sugar-shocking, calorie-packed peanut butter, chocolate, and banana sensation.
What makes it baaaad: 530 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 83 grams of sugar. Need we say more?

Planet Smoothie (small = 22 ounces)

The Best: Thelma and Louise -- a frothy blend of strawberries and pineapple, with a shot of “Women's Only” blast.
What makes it good: It has just 226 calories and 0.2 grams of fat, and the “Women's Only” blast adds calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, and folic acid.
What makes it better: If you need something that’ll keep you going for a few hours, replace the blast with plain, fat-free yogurt to up that skimpy single gram of protein. You’ll get some minerals from the yogurt, too.

The Worst: The Chocolate Elvis -- a bloated mix of chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas.
What makes it baaaad: 522 calories and 9 grams of fat -- more than anyone needs to slurp up! Watching your carbs? There are 108 grams in a “small.” Yikes!

Smoothie King (small = 20 ounces)

The Best: Pineapple Pleasure -- a cool blend of pineapples, bananas, papayas, and soy-protein powder.
What makes it good: It has just 284 calories and 0 gram of fat.
What makes it better: Slash 100 calories by asking the barista to “make it skinny,” which will eliminate the turbinado sugar and honey that’s normally added. Most items at Smoothie King have a “make it skinny” option, so ask about it when you order.

The Worst: The Hulk -- a liquid calorie monster, available in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
What makes it baaaad: The innocent-sounding strawberry flavor has 953 calories and 29 grams of fat, more than half of it saturated -- and that’s just for a small! The large? A belt-busting 1,906 calories and 58 fat grams! Okay, we know The Hulk is meant for people who want to gain weight (yes, it happens). But really, do they need lard-levels of fat?!

The Payoff for Choosing Smart

The built-in reward for slurping up smarter smoothie selections? Most have at least a serving or two of fruit -- and eating a diverse diet that includes four servings of fruit per day can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.

[jezzie]

A High-Calorie Snack That Won’t Make You Fat

If you’re counting calories, don’t count out peanuts. They’re one high-calorie treat that won’t inflate your waist (or your heart disease risk). Do we bring you good news or what?!?

When a group of people added a daily snack of 100 calories of peanuts (about 30) to their diet for 8 weeks, it didn’t affect their weight at all. Because the peanuts filled them up -- thanks to the nuts’ fiber, protein, and healthy fats -- they naturally cut calories elsewhere. Without even trying.

Peanuts also have two nutritional magic tricks working for them:

1. Their fat and calories aren't completely absorbed by your gut.

2. You burn off their fat better than you burn off the fat in potato chips or sweet desserts (if only Girl Scout cookies worked the same way!). Your body converts peanuts’ monounsaturated fats into energy more easily than it converts saturated fats.

One more lucky thing happens when you eat peanuts: You don’t get an instant release of dopamine, the pleasure neurotransmitter, which you do with some other foods (say, chocolate shakes). That's a good thing, because when dopamine is released, you may feel great fast. But when it starts to wear off, you find yourself reaching for more -- and more -- of what made you feel so fine.

By the way, other nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, may have similar benefits. Also, you can’t eat the whole can of peanuts. But if you don’t trust yourself, count out an ounce of peanuts (about 30), put the lid back on, stash the can on a high shelf, and enjoy.

[jezzie]

The Multitask Mineral You Need to Know

What mineral helps heal your wounds and support your immune system and may even thwart cancer cells? Hint: Go to the end of the alphabet.

Yep, zinc -- last in the alphabetical roll call of minerals, but a first-place contender when it comes to antiaging power -- does a lot for your well-being. But it may not work alone .

The Live-Longer Combo

Zinc protects against cell-damaging, cancer-causing free radicals. But it could sure use a little help. Recent research confirmed as much. When low blood levels of zinc were paired with low blood levels of another mighty mineral -- magnesium -- bad things happened in a study of men aged 30 to 60.

Death rates for the group increased dramatically. The reason? The synergistic effect of having too little of both free-radical-wrangling minerals may increase the toll on healthy cells exponentially.

Zinc Up Your Diet

You can get the zinc you need (12 milligrams a day) from crab, oysters, pork, poultry, beans, cashews, and yogurt. Or find a good multivitamin with less than 15 milligrams.

Too much of the stuff could stop other important minerals from doing their jobs. For magnesium, seek out soybeans, cashews, tomato paste, salmon, and spinach and you’ll be well on your way to the RealAge recommended 400–500 milligrams per day.

RealAge Benefit: Getting the right amount of antioxidants through diet or supplements can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

[jezzie]

Extra Fabulous News About Fiber

Given the blood sugar-, cholesterol-, and appetite-controlling effects of fiber, who wouldn’t sing its praises? Now, here’s another verse for the song.

And it’s written specially for women. Dietary fiber may help reduce the risk of the most common female cancer.

One More for the Ladies

A newly published review of scientific studies revealed that getting a decent amount of fiber in the diet -- at least 5 grams for every 1,000 calories consumed -- could lower the risk of endometrial cancer by as much as 20 percent. (For maximum RealAge benefits, though, strive for at least 25 grams a day.)

How to Get There

If you eat about 2,000 calories a day, you only need to grab a cup of oatmeal for breakfast (4 grams), snack on an ounce of almonds in the afternoon (3.5 grams), and have a medium-sized baked potato with the skin at dinner (5 grams) to put you above the range that proved beneficial in the study.

To get to the RealAge Optimum dose, add half a cup of raspberries (4 grams) to your oatmeal and top your potato with half a cup of black beans (8 grams). You’re there.

RealAge Benefit: Eating a high-fiber diet can make your RealAge up to 3.5 years younger.

[jezzie]

5 Reasons You Can't Lose Weight -- and How to Eliminate Them

You haven't had a bite of pizza or a lick of ice cream in, like, forever, but you still can't lose a pound. What’s up with that? Here's the real what, plus some expert fixes.

1. Consciously or Not, You're Clueless
"Very few Americans tell the truth about what they eat," says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet. In one USDA study, more than 80% of women underestimated their daily food intake by a whopping 700 calories! Part of the problem is visual: Most people don't have a clue about what a true portion looks like, Somer says.

The Fix

· Find your measuring cups and spoons. And if you don't have one, buy an inexpensive kitchen scale.
· Measure out the recommended portions of everything you eat for a week. You'll quickly learn to accurately identify a 1/2-cup serving of pasta, a 2-ounce muffin, a teaspoon of butter, a cup of cereal, or a 4-ounce portion of chicken.


2. You Skip Breakfast
Successful dieters share a common habit: They eat breakfast, say University of Colorado researchers who monitor people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for a year or more. The benefits are big. As well as preventing 10 a.m. attacks on the vending machine, eating breakfast boosts your mood, memory, and work performance.

The Fix

· Adopt the gold standard: Top 1 cup of whole-grain cereal with berries and fat-free or low-fat milk. Add OJ and coffee and you'll be good to go for hours.
· Try the make-ahead version: The night before, put these into a preheated wide-mouth thermos: 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal, a few chopped dried apricots, a pinch of brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon, a drop of almond extract, and 1 cup of hot fat-free or low-fat milk. Close tightly. In the morning, just open the thermos, sprinkle with slivered almonds, and spoon out a warm, delicious, ready-to-eat breakfast!


3. You Eat Without Thinking
Do you nibble off the plates of others? Constantly taste while cooking? Feed small fry in “one for you, one for me” bites? Each mindless nibble averages 25 calories, and with only four mindless bites a day, you gain a pound a month!

The Fix

· Turn mindless eating into mindful eating, says Somer, by keeping a food journal and writing down every single thing you eat. You'll be amazed.
· Eat food only when served on a plate to avoid overindulging.
· Eat sitting at a table, not watching TV, driving, or flipping through magazines. And don't rush meals -- enjoy each bite.


4. You Drink More Calories Than You Know
Sugary sodas, teas, and juice drinks don't fill you up, yet they pack on pounds. So do happy hours. For example, a bottle of sweetened green tea has 140 calories, the equivalent of a chocolate chip cookie. And a large margarita can have up to 800 calories -- more than four cake doughnuts!

The Fix

· Can't give up regular soda? Make it an occasional treat.
· Nix supersized cocktails and drinks made with high-calorie mixes or cream.
· At parties, alternate a glass of wine with a glass of sparkling water.
· Make your own iced green tea, and sweeten lightly (1 teaspoon of sugar has only 16 calories). The plus: Home-brewed tea usually has more healthy antioxidants, which often get lost in commercial processing.
· Cut juice calories by mixing 1/3 cup of OJ, apricot nectar, or your favorite juice with 2/3 cup sparkling water.


5. It's Not You, It's Your Life
You swear you want to eat well, but in the next breath lament how hard it is to find the time, money, or mental energy to make it happen.

The Fix

· Try tough love: Stop blaming others, the weather, your job, your life, the dog, etc. Focus on reaching your goal. "People lose weight every day, often despite overwhelming odds," Somer says.

· List your excuses, and then brainstorm solutions. Lack of time? Cook large quantities and divide into single portions to eat throughout the week. Keep meals simple, and buy prepared foods, including sliced veggies and fruit. Finding ways to eat right makes you not only slimmer and healthier but also physically younger: Maintaining a desirable weight can take 6 years off your RealAge.

[fluffybear2]

Hi Jezzie,

Just want to let you know I get a lot out of your "YOU on a Diet" thread. Thanks for posting. I am eating very similarly now (but almost 100% vegetarian) and feeling very healthy. I have a lot of energy and no longer have digestive problems. Thanks again for your posts.

fluffy

[jezzie]

Nice to see you again Fluffy. ... I'm a semi-vegetarian.
Kind of happened without me planning to ... but I like it and I feel good.


Chew This to Turn Off the Munchies

You could crush that 3 p.m. cookie craving just by chewing a little of this: gum.

That's right. A study found that chewing gum can really put the kibosh on your afternoon appetite in a big way.

Countering the Snack Attack

People who chew either sweetened or sugar-free gum after lunch feel full longer, have fewer hunger pangs, have fewer cravings for sweets, and eat fewer afternoon snacks -- compared with people who don't chew gum.

Tickled Taste Buds Signal "Full"

How does chomping gum suppress hunger? It's simple. When you eat, your taste buds are stimulated by the food. But the cool thing is that exposure to the tastes and smells of food also lessens how good it tastes. That, in turn, is one of the cues that signal your brain that you're full, so cravings go away. Chewing gum may have this same effect -- but without all the calories!

Mindful Consumption
You can make the gum trick work even better by thinking about how many snacks you've eaten. Then, try these other tips for better snack management:

* Don't snack in front of the computer.
* Discover your emotional snacking triggers.
* Grab a tall drink of water before every snack.

RealAge Benefit: Maintaining a constant desirable weight can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

[jezzie]

What You’re Missing by Eating Rock-Hard Pears

We’ve all seen those hard-as-rock pears at the supermarket, picked well before their prime. Well, here’s a reason you might want to pass on them.

Or at least let them ripen on your kitchen counter before you bite. A pear (or an apple) at its peak offers something extra -- a special kind of antioxidant that only develops once it’s ripe.

Do It Ripe

We know fruits like apples and pears are chock-full of flavonoids. Now, research shows that when ripe, these fruits contain additional potent disease fighters: NCCs (short for nonfluorescent chlorophyll catabolites -- say that three times). As fruit ripens, chlorophyll breaks down and forms NCCs. And it turns out NCCs pack quite the antioxidant wallop!

Fruit "To Do’s" for Your Health
Here are some other ways to get the most from your favorite fruits:

* Give me some skin. The peel’s the place for antioxidants.
* Opt for whole . . . especially when it comes to apples vs. apple juice.
* Slice it yourself. You’ll get more of this essential vitamin.

RealAge Benefit: Eating 5 servings of fruit a day can make your RealAge 1.4 years younger.

[jezzie]

The Skin Saver You Can Eat

Lemon peel is more than the perfect martini twist. Grate it into your salad or over your sole and you’ll get a huge flavor punch and a handy health boost. Lemon rind -- orange and grapefruit peel, too -- is high in d-limonene, a compound in citrus oil that reduces your risk of squamous cell carcinoma. (Just eat quickly or in the shade -- guess which we recommend: The sun oxidizes C in about 30 seconds.)

This type of skin cancer hits about 200,000 people in the United States each year, and it tends to pop up where the sun shines -- on your face, hands, ears, neck, and lips. D-limonene may help block the growth of these tumors.

Of course, depending on zest alone to prevent skin cancer is like depending on the cable company to come when they say they’re going to. To save your skin (from aging and wrinkles, too), you also need a no-fooling sunscreen -- one that has at least an SPF 30 with a 4-star UVA-blocker rating.

These skin defenders usually contain either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide (they are micronized, so you no longer have to look like you have cream cheese on your nose). Back them up with smart sun strategies. You know the drill: Avoid direct sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; wear a hat and certified UV-blocking sunglasses; and get regular skin cancer screenings.

Back to that lemon peel. While you can add citrus zest to plenty of dishes, using it to zing up tea gives you the benefits of that beverage, too: In one study, the more tea women drank, the lower their risk of ovarian cancer.

The current theory is that tea’s powerful antioxidants, called polyphenols, may prevent cancer cells from growing, could hinder blood supply to a budding tumor, or might encourage cancer cells to commit suicide. Other studies suggest that tea helps prevent heart-attack-inducing plaque from making itself at home in arteries. Now, that’s a great brew.

[jezzie]

Fish Helps You Keep the Beat

In this ever more polluted world, sometimes you just can't avoid a little bit of particulate matter in your lungs.

So go fish! Eating finny food not only reduces your risk for heart disease but also may protect your heart from air-pollution-induced arrhythmias.

Taking Heart Against Pollution

Short-term exposure to small airborne particles spewed from cars, power plants, and other industrial sources may cause an irregular heart rate. Serious stuff, because it could open the door to heart arrhythmias and even heart attacks in people who are over 60 or have heart or lung diseases.

Airing Things Out

But fish could help thwart that unhealthy chain of events. A study found that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil may help alleviate those irregular beats. That's just what happened when people over 60 who were exposed to particulate matter took a daily fish oil supplement. Fish oil supplements aren't for everyone, though, and should be discussed with a doctor first.

But most people can eat a couple servings of fish each week without worry. Discover the top five low-mercury, heart-healthy fish.

RealAge Benefit: Eating nonfried fish three times a week can make your RealAge up to 3 years younger.

[jezzie]

Shelf Life: How Long Does Fruit Stay Nutritious?

You've got a ripe banana and a juicy plum. Which one's antioxidants will hold up best after a couple of days in your fruit bowl?

The answer: Eat the banana now. Turns out bananas may lose their antioxidant qualities quickly. Dark plums, on the other hand? They could actually get a tiny antioxidant boost with short storage. Here's how other fruit holds up.

Time on My Side

The antioxidants in black grapes, apples, oranges, and tomatoes (yes, tomatoes are fruit!) also seem to hold up well during storage. But not so much when it comes to apricots and cherries.

Fun with Polyphenols

Researchers are busy finding the best way to measure the antioxidant power of individual pieces of fruit.
Not an easy task, because the content can vary from piece to piece within the same variety of fruit, depending on the fruit's genes, the environment in which it grew, when it was harvested, and how it was stored.

But you don’t have to wait for the final results. Start boosting the colors in your diet right now with these tips.

RealAge Benefit: Eating a diverse diet that includes 4 servings of fruit per day can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.

[jezzie]

The Years Ahead: Is Happiness in Your Future?

Getting older really gets a bad rap. It turns out you’ll have a lot to smile about.

That’s because you’ll actually be happier, despite gray hairs or wrinkles. A three-decades-long survey confirms it: Your odds of scoring well on a happiness scale increase about 5 percent every decade.

With Age Comes . . .

There’s one major advantage to getting older (at least for most of us!), and that’s maturity. Researchers suspect that it’s maturity that enriched people’s lives and boosted their happy factor in a recent study -- even when faced with health concerns or lost relationships. Know what else helped ensure happiness in the study? Education.

Why Wait!

But you don’t have to wait until you’re gray to get happy. Put yourself on the love-your-life path today with some simple life changes:

* Sweat it. Yep, working that body of yours turns the fretting volume waaay down.
* Train yourself to think good thoughts. Your attitude affects your health.
* Stay out of debt. Money worries will dampen anyone’s spirits.

RealAge Benefit: Taking care of your emotional health and well-being can make your RealAge up to 16 years younger.

[Sassay]

jezzie, when you fix oatmeal ahead of time in a thermos do you refrigerate it until morning? Thanks, Sue

PS...It' comforting to know you are here. 8-)

[jezzie]

I've never availed myself of this thermos option. ..... I'm retired.
But since the object is not to have to warm it - I would say no to refrigeration.

Good to see you too. If I'm not here my computer died or I'm in the hospital. lol.


.

[jezzie]

The Drink That Can Stop Stress

Stress happens . . . even when you have a spouse you adore, a fixed-rate mortgage, and good cell phone reception. You might not be able to stop it from coming on, but you can help your body respond in only a small way and recover from it quickly. One good way: drinking black tea.

To understand what tea does, first look at what stress does: It increases your blood pressure and heart rate, makes your blood stickier, and drives up levels of the hormone cortisol -- and too much cortisol suppresses your immune system.

When a group of guys drank tea regularly, they still responded to stress normally, but their bodies calmed down and reversed these nasty changes faster than did men in a different group who were slipped fake tea. It’s not just the soothing act of sipping tea that simmered them down -- both groups did that, as far as they knew. So it’s likely that the many healthful compounds in tea (including polyphenols, flavonoids, and amino acids) somehow did the good work.

Of course, it’s even better to learn to cope with stress than to rely on tea to do the cleanup work. You can have a major impact on reducing the adverse effects of stress by spending time with friends, meditating, keeping physically active, and joining groups that share your interests.

In fact, these will give back 30 of the 32 years that a really bad run of major life stressors can steal from you. And you can get some back by simply enjoying yourself: Laughing a lot, which reduces anxiety, tension, and stress, can make you between 1.7 and 8 years younger than your calendar age.

[jezzie]

Positive Self-Talk

What is positive self-talk?

We mentally talk to ourselves all the time. We give ourselves more feedback than anyone else ever could. Self-talk can be negative or positive, and it can affect all parts of life, such as health, finances, and relationships.

Negative self-talk is discouraging. Some examples of negative self-talk:

* "I'm dumb."
* "I can't do it."
* "I'm no good at this."

Positive self-talk is encouraging. This kind of self-talk helps us achieve our goals. Some examples of positive self-talk:

* "I can do it."
* "I'm good enough."
* "If I want to, I can."

Why is self-talk important?

Self-talk is very powerful. It sends the same chemical messages to your brain as actual experiences do. Your body believes your self-talk. When you say to yourself "I am no good at meeting new people. I always freeze up and look stupid..." your heart beats faster, you breathe more shallowly, your stomach tightens, and adrenalin clouds your thinking. This negative self-talk creates stress in your body and your mind.

Studies show that being positive and optimistic can affect how well you live and even how long you live. The health benefits of positive self-talk may include:

* a sense of well-being and being able to deal with things
* breathing easier if you have chronic obstructive lung disease, such as emphysema
* less chance of catching a cold
* less stress
* living longer
* reduced risk of coronary artery disease.

How do I make my self-talk positive?

We can talk ourselves into or out of many things. You may not be aware of the things you say to yourself. The first step is to notice the things that you say to yourself. To change your self-talk from negative to positive:

* Carefully choose the words you use. Generally it is best to phrase things in the present, even if you don't completely believe it yet. For example, instead of saying "I will be a better parent", say "I am a terrific parent." Talk about things the way you want them to be.
* Accept occasional setbacks and mistakes as normal and natural. Tell yourself that you can rise above them and carry on.
* Focus on the solution rather than the problem. Rather than complaining about what you can't do, tell yourself "What I CAN do is..."
* Watch out for words like "always" and "never". Very often we make things sound worse than they are. Instead of saying "I never stick to a diet," say "I can lose one pound, and that's a start."
* Replace criticism with praise. Learn to be your own best fan.

[jezzie]

Hot off the Grill: Great Food That's Also Good for You

Sweet corn on the cob, tomatoes from the garden, steak seared on the grill. Could there be a more perfect late summer meal? Yes, but only if you know the healthiest ways to indulge your barbecue habit.

Good bet you've heard murmurs about grilled meat causing -- yes -- cancer, and you’ve either tried not to listen or guiltily thought, well, what doesn't? But here's the good news: There are a bunch of ways to virtually wipe out the risk. In fact, we've found eight of them!

The problem, by the way, is that grilling meat, chicken, and fish -- especially if it's charred or well-done -- produces cancer-linked chemicals known as HCAs or HAAs. Animal fat dripping onto hot coals creates another worry: stuff called PAHs. But you don't have to go flame-free. Just do one or more of the following, which actually tend to make grilled food taste even better.

Is it worth it? You bet: Besides eliminating the guilt, making healthful substitutions when cooking can make your RealAge 3 years younger.

1. Soak it up. Marinating meat boosts flavor and tenderness while slashing production of cancer-causing HCAs by up to 90%, especially if the marinade has an olive oil base. Make your own, or use bottled Italian dressing zinged up with extra garlic.

2. Do kabobs. Small pieces of meat cook faster and produce fewer HCAs than caveman-size slabs do. Thread your protein of choice onto a skewer with lots of veggies (cherry tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini chunks, onions) and grill until just done.

3. Add a secret ingredient. Making burgers? Mix in 1 teaspoon of wheat bran per pound of ground meat. It keeps burgers juicy, stops HCAs in their tracks, and won't even register on the carb meter.

4. Finish it fast. Precook meat on the stove or in the oven or microwave earlier in the day, and then finish on the grill for great flavor and those tempting stripes. Precooking also means people won’t have to wait around for ages while dinner cooks.

5. Foiled again. Cover the grate with punctured aluminum foil. No flames, no drips, no HCAs -- and no grill clean up, either. Frequently flipping your meat of choice also helps curtail troublemakers.

6. Get skinny. To curtail dripping, trim fat from meat. Cook chicken with the skin on, and then toss the skin. You have nothing to lose but grease, calories, and carcinogens.

7. Have a glass of tea. How about some iced tea with your baby back ribs? Tea's supercharged antioxidants help neutralize carcinogens.

8. Grill something besides the main course. Bored with broccoli? Sick of sliced fruit? Throw them on the grill. Fruits and veggies don't produce carcinogens, and many, from pears to pineapple, take surprisingly well to the brazier.

Some ideas:

Marinate portobello mushrooms in French dressing and grill like burgers.
Serve flame-broiled radicchio brushed with olive oil and orange juice.

We guarantee you won't miss the beef.

[jezzie]

Do Calories Really Count?

Q. Is counting calories really worth it?
-- Lynn, West Palm Beach, FL

A. Not really, because eating isn’t really about calories; it’s about satisfaction. Here are the keys to our YOU: On a Diet program:

1) Eat nutritionally rich foods.
2) Avoid troublesome, toxic ones -- that is, the bad guys: simple sugars and carbs; saturated and trans fats; any cereals, pastas, grains, and flours that aren’t 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain.
3) Use your body’s clues; they’ll tell you when to stop. We believe in eating the amount of food that “feels right” in order to reach and maintain your ideal waist size (for women, 32½ inches; for men, 35)

Another reason not to obsess over calories -- or even portion size -- is that each one of us has different caloric needs, depending on our genes, metabolic rates, activity levels, and other factors.

That’s why the YOU Diet doesn’t dictate universal serving sizes. For some people, larger-than-traditional portions may be reasonable; for others, smaller-than-usual servings may feel sufficient.

Your goal is to eat an amount that makes you feel satisfied -- not bloated like a puffer fish -- and then to reach your ideal waist size gradually by eating the right foods, walking daily, and doing some weight lifting three times a week.

This is not a crash program! You do it for a lifetime of health and vigor.

[jezzie]

Q. How can I figure out what my ideal body size should be?
-- Vanessa, Stamford, CT

A. The best place to find your answer is in your old college or high school yearbook, not the latest issue of GQ or Vogue.

Way back then, your body was metabolically most efficient, and you were probably more active than you are today -- when it’s a good bet that you’re stapled to office chairs and car seats for 60 hours a week.

So take a look at your “factory settings”: how you looked when you were 18 (for women) or 21 (for men). Assuming you had a healthy weight and waist size as a young adult, those yearbook photos provide a ballpark idea of where you want your body to be today.

Another rough measure is to ask your parents about their bodies when they were younger, or find old pictures of them. Thanks to genetics, there’s a good chance that you should look a lot like they did then.

We’re emphasizing healthy weight here -- not fashion-magazine weight, healthy weight. Which is not a fixed amount, by the way. Over the long term, all of us gain and lose small amounts.

So focus on a healthy range. Usually that means a swing of 5 pounds on the scale and 1 or 2 inches around the waist.

[jezzie]

Q. I find myself going out to eat several times a week for office lunches or dinner with friends. Do you have any advice for how to stick to the YOU Diet in these situations?
-- Georgianna, White Plains, NY

A. Who doesn’t love going out to eat? But the easiest time to fall off the diet wagon at a restaurant is within the first 10 minutes of sitting down and the last 10 minutes before getting up. So here are a few goals you should have at a restaurant -- along with some YOU-friendly options at ethnic eateries, where it’s often easier to make ordering mistakes:

Munchies
· Pass on the bread basket; ask for cut-up raw vegetables instead.

Ordering

· If you’re having a salad, ask for oil and vinegar on the side, and dress it lightly yourself; leaving it to the kitchen can easily add an extra 400 calories to your meal.
· Steer clear of anything -- main course or side dish -- that comes in a white cream sauce or has “fried” in the description.
· Swap potatoes or rice for sauteed or steamed vegetables.

Dessert
· If you really want it, order one for the table, and just have a few bites.

Here are some YOU-friendly ethnic-food options:

Mexican
· Black beans, avocados, guacamole, brown rice, jicama, grilled chicken or fish, fajitas, ceviche (raw, marinated fish), and camarones (shrimp).

Italian
· Sauteed vegetables, salads, seafood salads, fish with olive oil, and whole-wheat pasta with marinara sauce.

Mediterranean
· Hummus (chickpea dip), tahini (sesame paste), tabbouleh (cracked-wheat salad), bean soup, and lentils.

Asian
· Seaweed salad, miso soup, edamame, sashimi, any vegetables that aren’t fried (from bok choy to bamboo shoots), fresh spring rolls (not fried), moo shu chicken or vegetables, and drunken chicken.