TUESDAY WLC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
I heard the class went really well! We want to give a congratulations out to Deb Oliver who lost 3.4 pounds. She said she is eating more food and more protein!
REMEMBER, that we are on a mission of getting healthy! So, if you are applying what you are learning on a daily basis, then you too are a WINNER!
WATER CHALLENGE: for next week, IF you turn in to your weigh in master a log of hitting a target of at least 64 oz of water each day, you get an extra ticket for the prize bucket! DRINK UP!
GAMES GAMES GAMES NEXT WEEK! Don't forget to read last week and this week's information to be ready for Hit the Deck next week!
Snacking Healthy
Add Snacks to Subtract Pounds
-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer
While some dieters happily accept when someone suggests a snack, others feel pangs of guilt when a
nibble is merely suggested. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with a bite between meals. In fact,
snacking might be the missing ingredient that will help you reach your weight loss goals. But how can this
make sense, since snacking theoretically adds calories? Snacking doesn’t serve to replace a meal. In fact, youshould spread meals and snacks out by an hour or two, and snacks should total a couple hundred calories or less.
Munching between meals can actually reduce your overall caloric intake by curbing overeating at your next meal. By controlling later binging, snacking can help you stay on track. You can actually use this to your advantage. If you know you are going out to a big dinner with friends later, for example, make sure you have a healthy snack before you head out so you’re less likely to order (and finish) a large entrée.
How You Snack Can Make or Break Your Diet
There is definitely a wrong way and a right way to snack. You should avoid sugary items like candy and soda, and shouldn’t be consuming enough calories to constitute a meal. Instead, steer towards foods that will satisfy you and keep you feeling fuller longer. Fruits and vegetables are always a safe bet because they are low in fat andcalories. (Just be sure to avoid high-calorie dips.) Yogurt, fruit smoothies, even a slice of whole-wheat toast all makegreat snacks during the day. Combining lean protein, some healthy fat, and complex carbohydrates will help you feelfuller longer.
Mini Meals
Many experts are recommending several smaller meals throughout the day instead of the usual three. By eating at regular intervals, your blood sugar levels (and therefore your energy levels) remain stable. So, instead of that midafternoon crash, you’ll be full of vigor through dinnertime! Eating every few hours (especially if you chew on fruits and veggies) can also help add extra nutrition that might be missing from other meals.
Snacking Isn’t Grazing
Mindless eating is often the downfall of many snackers. You may start with only a handful of your favorite crackers, only to finish the entire box, without even thinking about it. Obviously, this example isn’t the healthy snacking that can help you reach your weight loss goals.
To avoid grazing:
• Fill a small plate with your snack, and leave the kitchen. Just walk away. When your plate is empty, snack
time is over.
• Never bring the entire container with you in front of the television or computer. Enjoy your snack without
distraction and you won’t be tempted to reach for more.
• If you stand around the snack table chatting at a party, you may find yourself reaching for food when the
conversation lulls. This can often lead to an unintentional binge because you simply aren’t paying attention
to what you are eating.
• Limit yourself to a single serving.
• Plan out your snacks just like you would a meal. Is one cookie worth the calorie cost, when you could eat a plate of fresh fruit instead?
Practice Moderation
Class 4 Week 2
As with the rest of your diet, moderation is crucial when snacking. Make sure that you are adding every snack to your Nutrition Tracker, along with the larger meals you eat during the day. If you don’t keep track, you might add excess calories and fat to your diet without realizing it.
Don’t sabotage your diet with unhealthy nibbles throughout the day; stick to nourishing foods whenever possible. If you know you have a weakness for junk food, do yourself a favor and don’t purchase these items next time you are at the grocery store. Then you won’t have to fight the temptation of ice cream or potato chips when hunger pangs hit.
Class 4 Week 2
Alcohol & Weight Loss
Can You Have Both?-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer
Alcohol and weight loss are enemies, but an occasional drink can have a place in a healthy lifestyle. In fact, many experts note the health benefits of consuming a single drink per day, including a reduced risk for hypertension and high blood pressure. If, however, you are exceeding one drink daily, you might be sabotaging your weight loss plans.
Alcohol is metabolized differently than other foods and beverages. Under normal conditions, your body gets its energy from the calories in carbohydrates, fats and proteins that need to be slowly digested in the stomach—but not when alcohol is present. When alcohol is consumed, it gets special privileges and needs no digestion. The alcohol molecules diffuse through the stomach wall as soon as they arrive and can reach the brain and liver in minutes. This reaction is slightly slowed when there is also food in your system, but as soon as the mixed contents enter the small intestine, the alcohol grabs first place and is absorbed quickly. The alcohol then arrives at the liver for processing.
The liver places all of its attention on the alcohol. Therefore, the carbohydrates (glucose) and dietary fats are just changed into body fat, waiting to be carried away for permanent fat storage in the body.
Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it causes water loss and dehydration. Along with this water loss you lose
important minerals, such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. These minerals are vital to the maintenance of fluid balance, chemical reactions, and muscle contraction and relaxation.
Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and offers NO nutritional value. It only adds empty calories to your diet.
Why not spend your calorie budget on something healthier?
Alcohol affects your body in other negative ways. Drinking might help induce sleep, but the sleep you get isn't very deep. Ultimately, as a result, you get less rest. Alcohol can also increase the amount of acid that your stomach produces, causing your stomach lining to become inflamed. Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to serious health problems, including stomach ulcers, liver disease, and heart troubles.
Alcohol lowers your inhibitions, which is detrimental to your diet plans. Alcohol actually stimulates your
appetite. While you might be full from a comparable amount of calories from food, several drinks might not fill you up. On top of that, research shows that if you drink before or during a meal, both your inhibitions and willpower are reduced. In this state, you are more likely to overeat—especially greasy or fried foods—which can add to your waistline. To avoid this, wait to order that drink until you're done with your meal. Many foods that accompany drinking (peanuts, pretzels, chips) are salty, which can make you thirsty, encouraging you to drink even more. To avoid over drinking, sip on a glass of water in between each alcoholic beverage.
Skipping a meal to save your calories for drinks later is a bad idea. Many drinkers know they'll be having some alcohol later, whether going to a bar, party, or just kicking back at home. Knowing that drinking entails extra calories, it may be tempting to "bank" some calories by skipping a meal or two. This is a bad move. If you come to the bar hungry, you are even more likely to munch on the snacks, and drinking on an empty stomach enhances the negative effects of alcohol. If you're planning on drinking later, eat a healthy meal first. You'll feel fuller, which will stop you from overdrinking. If you are worried about a looming night out with friends, include an extra 30 minutes of exercise to balance your calories—instead of skipping a meal.
What are more important, calories or carbs? You might think that drinking liquor is more diet-friendly because it has no carbohydrates, while both wine and beer do contain carbs. But dieters need to watch calories, and liquor only has a few calories less than beer or wine. Plus, it is often mixed with other drinks, adding even more empty calories. Hard liquor contains around 100 calories per shot, so adding a mixer increases calories even more. If you are going
to mix liquor with anything, opt for a diet or club soda, instead of fruit juice or regular soda. Sweeter drinks, whether tend to have more sugar, and therefore more calories. In that respect, dry wines usually have fewer
calories than sweet wines.
Class 4 Week 2
The list below breaks down the number of calories in typical alcoholic drinks. Compare some of your favorites to make a good choice next time you decide to indulge in a serving of alcohol.
Drink Serving Size Calories
Red wine 5 oz. 100
White wine 5 oz. 100
Champagne 5 oz. 130
Light beer 12 oz. 105
Regular beer 12 oz. 140
Dark beer 12 oz. 170
Cosmopolitan 3 oz. 165
Martini 3 oz. 205
Long Island iced tea 8 oz. 400
Gin & Tonic 8 oz. 175
Rum & Soda 8 oz. 180
Margarita 8 oz. 200
Whiskey Sour 4 oz. 200
Facts on 100-Calorie Snack Packs
Do Good Things Really Come in Small Packages?
-- By Leanne Beattie, Health & Fitness Writer
Convenience foods and snacking go hand in hand. Unfortunately, many of these convenient snacks also go straight to our waistlines. When "snack packs" appeared on the market just a few years ago, dieters rejoiced! Now, they could easily count calories and enjoy their favorite snacks at the same time. In fact, the 100-calorie snack packs proved to be so popular that sales have skyrocketed to almost $200 million in under three years. But how healthy are these snacks and should we even be eating them at all? Do good things really come in small packages? Let's break down the snack pack facts.
Automatic Portion Control
Some dietitians and behavior experts believe these small 100-calorie packages are ideal for foods that we should only enjoy in limited amounts anyway, such as chips, cookies and chocolate bars. Numerous studies have shown that when a food container is larger, people will eat more. In fact, they're more likely to eat until they reach the bottom of a box or bag, without even realizing how much they’ve eaten until all the food is gone. Therefore, smaller portions sizes will help you eat less, right? Well, new research published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that smaller "snack" packages encouraged participants to eat nearly twice as much, often without hesitation, than people who ate from larger packages. The built-in portion control of snack packages may help some people curb mindlessovereating, but this theory works only when you limit yourself to one package. If you consume more than that, the benefits are lost.
Hunger Satisfaction
While the snack packs are winners for portion control and short-term satisfaction, they typically lack hungercontrolling nutrients (fiber, protein and healthy fats). This means that they won’t control your hunger for long and may lead to further snacking and higher calorie consumption over the course of the day. A handful of nuts or a piece of fruit could stave off the munchies for around the same number of calories while also providing key nutrients like fiber or healthy fats.
And despite the fact that the labels on these snack packs claim "0 grams of trans fats," many still contain
hydrogenated oil—the prime source of trans fats. Legally, manufacturers can label products as trans-fat-free if they contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.
The Price of Convenience
While there are plenty of 100-calorie choices on the market, from chips to cookies and crackers to pudding, you'll pay a higher price for these conveniently packaged snacks. Snack pack manufacturers charge as much as three or four times the price of conventional packaged foods. For example, a box of six 100-calorie packs of chips weighs only 95 total grams but costs around $3.00. That's about the same price as a full-sized bag of chips, which contains three times as much food. More single-use packaging also means more waste from an environmental standpoint. But judging by the explosive growth of the market, many dieters are choosing to pay more in order to avoid temptation. While you could simply divvy up a bag of chips or crackers into smaller portions yourself, many people don’t want to spend the time. If you can’t control your eating when faced with the full-sized version of your favorite snack, but you can eat just one smaller-portioned bag, a 100-calorie snack pack might be worth the extra money and
help you reach your weight loss goals.
Eating for a Healthy Heart
Prevention is Key!
-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer
When it comes to heart disease, prevention is your best bet. High blood pressure and hypertension put undue stress on the heart, blood vessels and other organs. A person can get excellent heart health through a variety of ways, especially through a good diet. Certain foods have been shown to be healthy for the heart. A recent study at Harvard University concluded eating just one serving of a tomato-based product can lower the risk of heart disease by up to 30%. That’s a pretty significant number. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is good, as these foods are rich in anti-oxidants. The key here is fresh, not canned. When you buy canned, you are getting lots of sodium, which is a big factor for high blood pressure. Another way to reduce your sodium intake is using herbs and spices instead of salt. Also, eat the skin from fruits such as apples; it contains fiber. Fiber is a key ingredient for your heart. When consumed with enough frequency, this can help to lower cholesterol. Fish has the proven benefits of omega-3 oil, compared to the sometimes fattiness of red meat. Omega-3 may lower the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and reduce the cohesion of blood cells, which make them less likely to form clots and block arteries. Omega-3 seems to be particularly beneficial to people already at risk for heart disease and those who have experienced a heart attack.
Now for a few surprises. Researchers at the University of California Davis found chocolate contains flavinoids, which are chemicals that thin the blood and help prevent clotting. Cocoa also contains antioxidants that help stave off disease, and it's high in healthy monosaturated fat. As long as it’s in moderation, chocolate is good for your heart. Alcohol, long considered harmful to the liver and brain, can also be a cause of high blood pressure. But a drink a day could keep a heart attack at bay. New research suggests that having a glass of alcohol at least three days a week could lower your risk of heart attack by one-third. Red wine is the best drink to have. It protects the HDL cholesterol, which is the "good" cholesterol. Also, avoiding smoking will help reduce the risk of heart disease. Not only does smoking hurt the lungs, but it also can harden arteries. Remember, your heart is one of the most important organs in your body. Do whatever you can to keep it healthy. Class 2 Week 10
The Mega Benefits of Omega-3's
These Healthy Fats Belong in Everyone's Diet
-- By Liza Barnes, Health Educator
In a college nutrition class I took back in the 90’s, I overheard a classmate boasting to a small group about how she only ate fat-free food. Most of America was still in the clutches of the fat-free craze, and my classmate’s views weren’t at all uncommon. Dietary fat was being blamed for heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and many other impairments of health. But instinctively, I thought that banning fat was a bad idea—I just didn’t have the facts to back up my theory. Now, a decade later, research is proving my hunch—that some types of fat can actually prevent disease and improve health. The key lies in a general understanding of fats, and in knowing which fats to emphasize in your diet. The Fat Family Tree The family of fat is very complex, so to make it less confusing, picture it as a family tree. At the top, there are two different families of fat—saturated fat and unsaturated fat. Saturated fat (butter is one example) is packed with hydrogen atoms, making it solid at room temperature. Unsaturated fat (like olive oil) contains fewer hydrogen atoms, so it is liquid at room temperature. The family of unsaturated fat includes two children: monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. In the polyunsaturated fat family, you'll find omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids, and it is the omega-3 family that has been making headlines in the nutrition world.
3 Types of Omega-3's There are actually three types of fatty acids that are collectively referred to as omega-3's: ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). Besides being hard to pronounce, they are extremely important to your health. Omega-3's are "essential" fatty acids, because they are necessary for health and must be included in your diet (because the human body cannot manufacture them on its own). But what exactly are they used for, and what do they do for human health? Mega Health Benefits Extensive research indicates that omega-3 fats reduce inflammation, helping to prevent inflammatory diseases like heart disease and arthritis. In addition to warding off inflammation, omega-3’s are also essential to the brain, impacting behavior and cognitive function, and are especially necessary during fetal development. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMM), omega-3’s may also:
•
Improve artery health by helping to reduce plaque buildup and blood clots in arteries that lead to the brain.
• Improve cholesterol by lowering triglycerides and elevating HDL (good cholesterol) levels. These benefits come primarily from DHA and EPA. Learn more about fats that fight cholesterol.
• Improve joint health by reducing joint tenderness and stiffness associated with arthritis and osteoarthritis.
• Improve bone health by positively impacting the body's calcium levels, reducing the incidence of bone loss.
• Improve mental health by helping to insulate nerve cells in the brain, allowing these nerve cells to better communicate with one another. People who are deficient in omega-3’s may suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and ADHD.
• Improve skin health by helping to alleviate symptoms related to skin disorders like acne and psoriasis.
• Improve bowel health by reducing inflammation of the bowels, helping alleviate symptoms of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
• Improve lung health by reducing inflammation in diseases like asthma. To read more on this topic, click here.
• Improve menstrual health by reducing the pain associated with PMS and menstruation.
• Help prevent cancer. Colon, breast, and prostate cancers have all been correlated with low intakes of omega-3's Class 2 Week 10
Sources of Omega-3’s
The three different types of omega-3’s are found in specific types of foods.
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ALA is found in foods of plant origin. The richest source of ALA is flaxseed, but it is also found in hempseed, canola oil, soybeans, soybean oil, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed oil, linseeds, walnuts, and walnut oil. Once ingested, the body converts ALA into EPA and DHA, allowing it to be more readily used by the body. However, this conversion isn't very efficient. That's why experts recommend including EPA and DHA sources in your diet as well. *Note: Flaxseed oil supplements are available in liquid and capsule form, but always consult your health care provider before taking any supplements.
•
DHA is found in seafood, algae, and coldwater fish such as salmon, sardines and albacore tuna. *Note: Fish oil supplements and vegetarian DHA supplements (containing algae) are also available in liquid and capsule form, but always consult your health care provider before taking any supplements. Only use fish oil supplements that have been certified to be free of heavy metal contaminants like mercury.
•
EPA is found in many of the same foods as DHA, including cold-water fish such as salmon, and sardines, as well as cod liver, herring, mackerel, and halibut. *Note: Fish oil and vegetarian algae supplements are also good sources of EPA, but always consult your health care provider before taking any supplements. Only use fish oil supplements that have been certified to be free of heavy metal contaminants like mercury.
Enriched eggs that contain all three types of omega-3 fatty acids are readily available these days. These eggs are enriched by adding flaxseed or algae to the hens' diets so that they produce eggs that are rich in healthy fats. According to the Flax Council, omega-3-enriched eggs provide almost half of the recommended daily level of ALA and one-quarter of the recommended daily level of EPA and DHA—the same amount that can be found in 3 ounces of fish.
Omega-3's might seem overwhelming at first. But once you understand the types and "mega" health benefits that come with them, you'll be on your way to improving your health. Now that's something to brag about!
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