The shape of things

I'm a huge advocate of counting calories for weight loss. It wasn't until I fully understood the concept of calories in needs to be less than or equal to calories out that I started actually losing weight. I did it the old-fashioned way. I got a notebook and wrote down every single thing I consumed - food and drink - and tallied up the calories to make sure I was meeting my goals.

I saw this article today on MSNBC about how sometimes counting calories doesn't add up. At first I was skeptical. But then after reading through the article I realized they were right.

The whole point was that if all you do is count calories then you'll most likely consume very "low-fat" foods and possibly (probably) miss out on many of the nutrition powerhouses (think olive oil and almonds).

I'm not sure if any of you are in the process of trying to lose weight - but if you are I'd encourage you to read the article and take their advice. They have simple tips like "pile on more produce" and "eat every meal" so it's not like these goals are unobtainable.

Also, my advice is to go to mypyramid.gov. Type in your information (age, gender, weight) and follow their tips! They tell you how many servings of fruit/veggies you need, how much protein, how much whole grains, etc.

It will look like this:

That was another important part of my food-journaling notebook - a little chart I'd create each day that had tally marks for each category of the "food pyramid"

Here's an example: 

Yes, it takes a little bit longer. But if you're already in the habit of counting calories, it's just one small thing to add. When you  finish your meal you count calories and then put marks under the food eaten. This meal the person had a whole grain ham sandwich (two grains, two meats) a serving of cherry tomatoes and a small apple (1 veg, 1 fruit) and then a glass of milk (1 milk).

Not too difficult.  

I've mentioned the Website Fitday.com before in a few other posts. Basically it's an online food journal - free - but so much more. In addition to recording the food you ate, you can log your exercise and create physical and nutritional goals for yourself (even with deadlines! i.e. lose 5 pounds by Sept. 21).

I've been using it all summer - just because I'm a little OCD about food/workouts journaling and I hated carrying a notebook around all the time (AND wasting paper). 

The feature I'm so in love with right now is the "nutritional report" section. If you have a fitday account (if you don't go get one, they're free) log in and on the right side click on the "Reports" link. Once you are on that page go to the Nutrition link, and click to generate your report. It will look something like this. 

As you can see the report analyzes all the food you've journaled and lets you know how much of each vitamin and mineral you've had that day and what percenatge of the recommended dailly allowance you're at. The numbers in red mean that you haven't met the RDA yet. So as you can see, for me today I haven't had enough Vitamin D, E, K. I'm a little low on iron and zine (89% and 95% respecitvely) and I'm low in calcium and magnesium.

It may seem like a bunch of random numbers to you - but look at it this way. I see that I'm lacking in some vitamins and in calcium so I know in a few minutes I'll go to the fridge and grab a glass of milk and a banana.

So perhaps you're an avid multi-vitamin taker, well with these reports you can try to get all your vitamins and minerals using the food you eat instead of relying on a pill.

Here's a close up of this detailed information:

I'll tell you the truth, at first using the journal can be tedious because you have to search for all the foods and what not, but with this feature alone it's worth it!

Other great features? Calories burned by workouts, percentages of fat/protein/carbs, weight goals, nutritional goals, etc. 

I recently received a question about one of the workouts posted in this blog. It was from a young woman who had been doing the workout for a couple of days and wanted to know when she would start seeing results and how she could lose some weight.

Often I take for granted that I've done a lot of food/diet/nutrition/fitness research and forget to give the basics here in the blog. I don't want that to happen. I want this blog to help you be the healthiest you've ever been and be in the best shape of your life - no matter where you are in your health and fitness goal.

Therefore I put together a list of articles, sites and other resources that are great for newbies and beginners, but also good for those of us who sometimes forget the basics.

These range from the basics in strength training, to what is a calorie. Please visit the sites and if you have any other great resources leave them in the comments section. I wish you all the best.

Helpful links:

Food, Diet and Nutrition: These have answers to your questions about calories, a simple plan that helped me lose weight, online food journal tracking device, etc.

http://www.shape.com/eatright/7847 - Answers to your top ten questions about calories (GREAT, basic and easy to understand!)

http://www.self.com/challenge/welcome the self challenge – how I lost 28 pounds (a simple way to exercise correctly and eat right)

http://mypyramid.gov/ - the best way to find out what foods your body needs

http://www.fitday.com – How to track your calories easily and effortlessly with this online food journal.

http://www.calorieking.com – Online database of calorie counts, including fast food chains, restaurants, and other common foods

http://www.dietfacts.com – Great resource for calorie counts in restaurant items. Features an A-Z listing of all restaurants in their database.

Fitness, Exercise and Workouts:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/fitness-beginners-guide - Fitness 101 great advice and definitions - a great place to start if you're new to exercising or always feel like you don't know the names and definitions thrown around

http://www.self.com/fitness/calculators Once you start working out, find out how many calories you are burning with different activities (sometimes it's a lot less than you think or maybe even more). It's good to know so you don't overeat or undereat.

http://www.shape.com/tools/calc/burned/ Another place where you can calculate the amount of calories burned (based on weight, activity and length of time)

http://inshapewoman.blog.com/1832539/ - You'll soon find out that walking doesn't burn nearly as many calories as running. Get over your fears of jogging and read my post called "Beginner Runners"

http://fitsugar.com/218213 - why strength training is important for weight loss - You don't just need to do cardio, you also need to pick up the weights - and this article tells you why!

http://rodale.typepad.com/coachjenny/2007/06/losing_fat_gain.html - You might find out at first you're losing fat and gaining muscle - but don't fret if the scale actually goes up when you start this new lifestyle, it's most likely only temporary and this article explains why that is.

I read this article today about how fast food chains in NYC are going to give the mayor the finger... well, pretty much, ok - metaphorically. Anyway, they are refusing to post their calorie counts on their menu boards, saying that doing so would require them to make "times square size" menu boards and reading the menu board would be like "a bad trip to the eye doctor"

Man, they have a witty spokesman.

I posted on this about a week ago, and my opinions are still the same. The new New York City regulations are not only unfair (they only apply to certain restaurants and fast food joints) but they are also very idealistic and impractical. I mean, Mr. Bloomberg, think about it. You go into McDonalds and the menu board is so huge it wraps around two walls. Talk about overwhelming. And seriously, most people know what they are going to order when they walk in (like an All American Meal with Diet Coke), so they don't even need to look at the board.

This whole regulation affected me personally a few days ago (and I'm not in NYC, I live in stinkin' Baton Rouge, LA). A colleague and I were talking about Cold Stone Creamery and I went to their Website to get the nutritional information just in case we made the (bad) decision to get some cold stone. I've been to their site before, and I knew that they offered a very comprehensive breakdown of all of their menu items... so imagine my surprise (and disgust) when I read this:

"We regret that Cold Stone Creamery can no longer publicly post nutritional information on our website. This development is a result of the New York City Department of Health's decision to pass a regulation requiring restaurants that already publicly provide caloric information, to post product calories on their menu boards - using the same type size as the product listing.

We fully support the intent of this regulation; however, since most of our products are made-to-order, there simply isn't enough room on our existing menu boards to comply with the regulation. As a result, we will no longer be able to provide nutritional information on our website or to residents and customers of our New York City stores. We regret this inconvenience." Check it out

Thanks a lot New York City. Of course, I immediately went to calorieking.com where they did have the information still, but seriously, this is causing all the wrong repercussions. What's next? NYC will spoon feed their residents to curb obesity? Is this still a free society? My goodness.

What are your thoughts?

MSN put together this very interesting feature that tells you the calorie and fat information for popular chain restaurant meals and then gives you two options on how to slash both the calories and fat. (Don't worry, the options aren't just "eat half").

Since we know that chefs don't count calories and that eating out can be very dangerous (health and diet-wise) we could all benefit from these tips. 

Here's an example of one of their menu items: PF Chang's Sriracha Shrimp Salad

If you order this as is, you'll get a whopping 1,130 calories and 46 g fat. Eek. For a salad?? 

If you want it better, MSN suggests you ask for the salad without the candied papaya, which contain a whopping half-cup of sugar. The new count: Better: 600 cal, 42 g fat

And if you're feeling angelic, order the salad without the papaya and without the pine nuts and you'll only have to deal with 420 cal, 23 g fat, which means you save 710 cal, 23 g fat! Good for you. 

The article has menu items from Chilis, Arbys, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut, On the Border and a few more. 

The idea is great - do you have any calorie and fat saving strategies for your favorite menu items?  

I found this feature on ivillage that helps you pick foods that meet whatever your "diet" might be - whether it's low-calorie, anti-aging, athletic-endurance, low-sugar, etc. The premise of the feature (the one that I really like) is that we need to be eating real food - and as the author said "food that our grandmothers would have recognized as food"

I love this. Our nation is obsessed with processed food. Whether it's the fast food we pick up for lunch or the potato chips we munch on for a snack we're eating food with ingredients that we cannot even pronounce - let alone understand the nutritional nightmare they might inflict on our bodies.

I perused through the low-calorie diet and although a few of the tidbits were interesting, it's not going to be your end-all grocery list for the diet you're following. I liked reading about the facts they listed about each food mentioned. For example, strawberries are very low-calorie (50 calories per cup) but "research shows that extracts from these berries (as well as blueberries) significantly decreased the growth of cervical and breast cancer cells. Compounds in strawberries may also protect your brain and memory."

Take-away from this post - try to add more natural foods into your diet (whether you're on a "diet" or not) and try to eliminate as much processed foods as possible (p.s. by doing this you will really help your check balance, believe me).

A restaurant trade group sued New York City over what they feel is an unconstitutional law that would require some restaurants to list calories counts on their menu boards next to items.

The group feels that the law is unfair since it only applies only to a small group of restaurants - which targets big national fast food chains - most of them already have made efforts to tell the public about the nutrition of their menu items.

As much as I'm for being open and honest about nutritional value of restaurant food - I agree with the trade group. If there's going to be a law about posting nutritional facts, it needs to apply to all restaurants.

I also don't think it is necessary to post the content smack-dab on the menu board or on the menu. Instead, I believe, the information should be in the form of a pamphlet that interested diners can glance over.

But I want to know what you think? Do you agree with the group suing the city? Do you think calorie counts should be screaming at you from the menu?

Need to read more... check out the article

When I saw the title of this article (Chef's don't count calories, so it's up to you) I was interested to see what it was all about. Unfortunately there was not very much new information.

It had the usual "the portion sizes are huge" and "people eat what is in front of them." They interviewed chefs and apparently only 16% were influenced by the amount of calories in the dishes they serve.

I felt like posting about this to give some tips to eating out:

Just because chefs don't count calories, it does not mean that the nutritional content of a restaurant's meal isn't published or unavailable. When I know I'm going out to eat, I usually check two Websites (dietfacts.com and calorieking.com). Both of these have searchable databases and a listing of restaurants. Now, they don't have every single menu item's nutritional facts listed, they normally have quite a few. 

So for example, some people at work want to order from Macaroni Grill, I'll go look up the information and see what is a smart thing to order, and how much I should consume.

Another thing to check is the restaurant's website. A lot of restaurants are being more upfront about what's in their food (even if it's not "good") and include the information right on their site. Like Qdoba has a calculator where you can actually add each ingredient that your ordered and it will tell you all the nutrition information.  

Even if you're not on a diet (which I'm not) it's smart to look ahead and see what's going to be on a plate. If you know that the lunch-sized portion of chicken pasta is 900 calories, you'll be more likely to eat half of it and save the rest. I'm not saying that you should be completely anal about this, but even just knowing a close estimate to what you're eating helps. Maybe the restaurant you're going to doesn't have their nutrition information available, well look at a similar restaurant's dishes and see roughly what's included. It obviously won't be the same, but you'll have a better idea. And it doesn't hurt to ask - Cold stone doesn't make their nutrition information available unless you specifically ask for it. 

All in all, don't feel like you need to clean your plate. We all know the portion sizes are messed up and we know that the amount of butter and oil in restaurant dishes are a lot more than how we cook it at home. Enjoy yourself, but do it in moderation.

And best of all, look for healthier restaurants. You'll know them when you find them because your plate won't be covered with pasta and oozing with cream sauce. Instead you'll get something that is delicious but doesn't make you leave the place weighed down and bursting. (we have a zoe's kitchen here and they have great healthier options). 

Do you have any health conscious restaurants in your area? What do you do to eat healthier while eating out? 

I know we look at "85 pound" Nicole Richie (*I seriously doubt she weighs that, probably more in the mid-90s) and most of us can tell she doesn't look healthy - with her sternum portruding farther than her boobs - but I'll admit there's a lot of pressure to be thin, REAL thin for young women.

Living in a celebrity-obsessed society of which the majority are very thin it makes many young women want to diet and exercise. Which, in itself, is not a bad thing. It's just when things get out of hand that it becomes a problem.

Many women think the answer is to eat as little as possible and workout as much as possible. Seems like it makes sense. But it doesn't. Here's why:

1. When you workout your body needs feul to get through it, when you're not eating enough calories your body has to look for fuel (energy) in other places which often is your muscles. So your body is eating muscles (which slows your metabolism) and stores fat. It stores fat because your body thinks that there is no food available - so as if it were in starvation mode - it stores fat for later because it thinks it won't get any more fats.

2. If that's not reason enough to get enough calories - then this new research might change your mind. This article presents the research from Ohio University that found that when you don't get enough calories your body inhibits bone formation. I hear that bones are pretty important - so please get enough calories to feul all those workouts.