So, I wasn't sure about what simple truth to talk about this week but while I was going through some old books from school, I stumbled across a few research studies that were done on portion control, and it inspired me to write about portion control and intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating is when you listen to what your body is telling you. So instead of eating until your plate is clean, just eat until you feel full. Babies are usually very good at it, but as they grow older they stop listening to their body, and start eating because mom said so, or because it just tastes good.
Part of the study that was conducted found that when people are given bigger plates than smaller plates, they tend to put more food on the plate. It's the American way to take big portions, get more food for your money and to eat everything on your plate and not be wasteful. Am I right? By doing that, we have become accustomed to eating more. So what's the big deal with eating just a little bit more, or not wanting to be wasteful? Well, 100 more calories per day equals 10 lbs added to your weight by the end of 1 year. Maybe if 100 calories could be cut each day, then at the end of the year, you could lose 10 pound!
One simple suggestion for cutting portion sizes is to eat until you no longer feel hungry rather than eating to feel full, and make sure you eat slowly in order to pay attention to how you feel.
Keep up the hard work, the challenge is almost over!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Healthy Fats!!!
Ok, so sorry I didn't get a post up last week, I really meant to, but it just didn't happen and I don't even have a good excuse.
So last time I promised I would talk about fats and why we need a whole 20% in our diets. I know you've all heard there is such a thing as good fats, but the question is "why are they good?"
Well, this is how it works..... there are four kinds of fats you should be looking for on your nutrition labels: Transfats, saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats (In order from worst to best).
Saturated fats come from animals. It is found in any animal product, especially red meat. It is solid at room temperature, and can be heated into liquid (like the grease from ground beef or yummy chorizo).
Transfats are man-made saturated fats used to preserve foods such as twinkies. I'm not going to look up the stats, but I remember something about transfats killing people 5 times as fast as saturated fats. Important Note: by law, food companies are not required to list transfats on the label as long as there is .5 grams per serving or less. Tricky tricky. So even if transfats are not listed, you can tell if there might be transfats in the food when you read the ingredients listed. It would say partially-hydrogenated......whatever.
Polyunsaturated fats and Monounsaturated fats come from vegetables and they are liquid at room temperature. They can be found in avocados, olives, peanuts, almonds, any kind of nut really, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, soybeans, etc. Cooking oil is obviously made of these fats, because it is liquid at room temperature.
To answer the question, "why are they good?" It is because they do the opposite of bad fats. Just to review, bad fats are transfats and saturated fats, and good fats are polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Bad fats increase your LDL cholesterol and clog your arteries, causing stokes and heart attacks later in life. Good fats increase your HDL cholesterol which helps to move out the LDL cholesterol to unclog your arteries and decrease the risk of stroke and heart attack. Combine good fats with a low sodium diet and exercise, and you can have a healthy heart for life.
In closing, we do need some fats in our diet to stay healthy, but remember to try to keep it around 20%.
So last time I promised I would talk about fats and why we need a whole 20% in our diets. I know you've all heard there is such a thing as good fats, but the question is "why are they good?"
Well, this is how it works..... there are four kinds of fats you should be looking for on your nutrition labels: Transfats, saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats (In order from worst to best).
Saturated fats come from animals. It is found in any animal product, especially red meat. It is solid at room temperature, and can be heated into liquid (like the grease from ground beef or yummy chorizo).
Transfats are man-made saturated fats used to preserve foods such as twinkies. I'm not going to look up the stats, but I remember something about transfats killing people 5 times as fast as saturated fats. Important Note: by law, food companies are not required to list transfats on the label as long as there is .5 grams per serving or less. Tricky tricky. So even if transfats are not listed, you can tell if there might be transfats in the food when you read the ingredients listed. It would say partially-hydrogenated......whatever.
Polyunsaturated fats and Monounsaturated fats come from vegetables and they are liquid at room temperature. They can be found in avocados, olives, peanuts, almonds, any kind of nut really, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, soybeans, etc. Cooking oil is obviously made of these fats, because it is liquid at room temperature.
To answer the question, "why are they good?" It is because they do the opposite of bad fats. Just to review, bad fats are transfats and saturated fats, and good fats are polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Bad fats increase your LDL cholesterol and clog your arteries, causing stokes and heart attacks later in life. Good fats increase your HDL cholesterol which helps to move out the LDL cholesterol to unclog your arteries and decrease the risk of stroke and heart attack. Combine good fats with a low sodium diet and exercise, and you can have a healthy heart for life.
In closing, we do need some fats in our diet to stay healthy, but remember to try to keep it around 20%.
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