Miracle Diet from Connecticut

Waiting in line in the supermarket? Row after row of neatly organized snacks beg you to eat them while you catch the headlines of bad behavior in Hollywood. Check-out lanes catch us at our weakest and hold us hostage. Some kind of mathematical equation requires the person ahead of you to need a price check, have many coupons, and unload tempting foods in direct proportion to your hunger level and lack of patience that day.

On vacation recently, in a supermarket with 16 checkout lanes resembling a giant bowling alley, I spied empty lanes at the far distant end with ‘open’ lights on. My body wanted to rush there, my brain suspected it was a mirage. I tried to remind myself I was ON VACATION. I compromised by strolling to the lights. What I discovered was nothing short of miraculous!

SELF-CHECKOUT! Five empty lanes, no lines, and no displays. That’s right, no distraction, no temptation, no need! Strange silver beasts with box like contraptions, little screens, and printed instructions. It went very well, until the produce. I persevered. I scanned. Swipe your credit card was a little harder. I just couldn’t tell which of the three little gizmos wanted to read my card. The loudest voice you have ever heard came from somewhere in the silver box shouting ‘Swipe your card! Swipe your card! Swipe your card!' I pressed “here” for help and eventually help arrived. I left victorious. I am a swiper!

I rushed off to research my shiny silver friend and found a press release from Jan. 02, 2008 that’s worth sharing! Reports on the “hottest retail technology of today” describe an amazing product that pleases both merchants and consumers. SELF- CHECKOUT! That’s right.

Retailers appreciate that “self-checkout machines handle large volumes allowing the labor force to focus on other aspects of the retail operation”. Equally amazing benefits for consumers found in marketing research analysis: When we use self-checkout at the grocery store, we “SAVE MONEY AND DROP POUNDS”.

“Impulse purchases among women drop 32.1 percent and men 16.7 percent when self-check-out is used instead of a staffed checkout. The average woman purchased and consumed over 14,300 calories from impulse shopping over the period of a year. Men under the age of 25 are the ‘heaviest’ consumers of caloric impulse items, consuming enough calories each year for an eight pound weight gain!”

While response to self-checkout varies by age and gender, technology now leads us from temptation and delivers us out the supermarket door thinner, quicker, and richer. Despite our best intentions, check-out lanes can catch us at our weakest and hold us hostage to “tempting impulse items such as chocolate candies, chips and soda.” Make your choices wisely when you can.

When temptation calls, make a beeline for the self-checkout line. It’s miraculous.

- Nancy

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The Biggest Loser - Results Still Not Typical

I caught an episode of The Biggest Loser the other night. I don’t usually watch the show anymore, but as a dietitian I feel obligated to watch it once in a while. I had to stop watching when it became too much of a ‘game show’...forcing contestants to do things like eating donuts to win the prize of a family visit.

Each time I see this show I’m struck by the incongruities with real life. I learned on a previous episode that contestants are exercising about 6 hours a day. The other night one of the trainers was showing the contrast in a contestants ‘before’ and ‘current’ meals. The ‘before’ contained 1000-2000 calories per meal. The current meals were only about 200-300 calories each, for a total that appeared to be somewhere in the range of 1000 calories a day.

When you get down to 1000 calories per day, it's difficult to meet your body’s needs for other important nutrients (like vitamins & minerals). This is a low calorie level for a sedentary man and it's exceptionally low for someone who's exercising this many hours a day!

So what’s the average person to do? The sensible approach is to use a combination of diet and exercise. You should cut down calories by 500 a day for every pound you want to lose per week (without going lower than 1200 calories). If you’re eating junk food or sweetened drinks, simply eliminating these could be enough. Take a look at your snack labels too…these calories add up fast!

Here are few tips to start on the road to weight loss:

• Replace sweetened beverages with water or sugar free drinks
• Cut out junk foods like chips or cookies (or at least replace them with smaller portions of lower calorie snacks)
• Start controlling your portion sizes (especially anything fried, sauced, or with cheese)

- Renee

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Go Cross Campus With Me?

Last Monday I sat in a tiny coffee shop on Yale University’s campus in New Haven. Two students were whispering about meetings for battle plans, maps, weapons and spies. I got up to leave while I still could when the closest guy said “Do you want to go cross campus with me?” I told him I was old enough to be his mother and he was in enough trouble already.

MY MISTAKE! I was being invited to join the hottest trend sweeping college campuses this winter. Go Cross Campus is a strategy game that brings kids out of their rooms, and into each others lives. University students found a way to combine the way their parents and grandparents used to play with the way kids think and connect today. Rather than meeting to play in sports leagues, or being separated by walls and individual habits, an “online war game invented by students” has “hundreds, sometimes thousands of players” uniting, often with faculty, on school campuses.

“This kind of game is a product of how people live and interact today, with the offline aspect as part of the draw.” The game involves ideas best remembered by a previous generation that grew up playing outside with kids from their neighborhood. The rules of play span a gap so many of us are seeking between "one’s tech time and the healthier, more ‘human’ life.” Many of us find it difficult to put aside our solitary habits, techno toys and screens. Go Cross Campus reminds us how to play with friends. “Rather than isolating us in an online world, it enhances our interactions in the real world.”

“Players gather together to elect commanders, recruit other players and discuss strategy and ways of spying on opponents as they formulate battle plans.” The play continues online, “but requires only a few minutes of online play each day.” Go Cross Campus, also known by its’ initials GXC is described as “multiplayer locally social gaming.” This describes the “online connections that are created between players who typically know one another in the real world, harnessing their energy to create really intense and enthusiastic Go Cross Country groups of online gamers, even if you’ve never played a game online before.”

Will GXC catch on? “Next month, Google will bring Go Cross Campus to its New York office, pitting sales departments against engineering groups over a map of the company’s Manhattan campus. One of the most popular offshoot games is called GO Cross Political Bash 08. It pits 2,000 supporters of political candidates against one another over a map of the United States.”

If you’re lucky enough to be invited to GOCROSSCAMPUS say yes!

- Nancy

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Eating Habits...Nature or Nurture?

A report came out last week that said men prefer meat and women prefer fruits and vegetables I’m sure that comes as no surprise to anyone who has ever dined with the opposite sex.

The survey, consisting of almost 15,000 American adults, also showed men were more likely to eat things like frozen pizza and peas and women were more likely to eat eggs and some nuts.

So what’s the reason for this diet disconnect between the sexes? Do we learn this at the dinner table from our parents? Is it some sort of cultural influence or is there a genetic cause? Researchers couldn’t explain the reasoning.

Personally, I think it’s probably a combination of all factors. But I can just hear what my boyfriend will say next time I cook broccoli….that he’s genetically programmed to dislike it!

- Renee

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Supermarket Reality Check

I recently strolled through a large Supermarket in Connecticut. I love to compare the ‘exotic’ items I find in other states with my local markets in Florida. I struggled to remind myself that food eaten for ‘research’ purposes [does it really taste as good as it looks?] still has calories. I was shocked and dismayed to learn many years ago that the surplus food you eat on vacation gets worn home as extra baggage in the rear.

I allowed myself to wander the forbidden outer aisle, “called the ‘racetrack’ by Liz Crawford, a consumer strategist who studies the way new products are marketed.” Having written about grocery shopping in the past, I knew I was heading for trouble, but I was unable to stop myself. I worried a little as I wandered the dreaded perimeter “where the shopper is encouraged to browse, and spend money on pricey cheeses or imported olives” that I would look like an amateur. Then I remembered Adam Roberts’ words from The Amateur Gourmet about great chefs, slowly gathering what looks fresh, creating dazzling menus from the best of seasonal items and the well-stocked pantry came back to me.

I remembered that I was eating dinner at 6:00 p.m. and the menu was already chosen. Whichever two frozen entree’s my sweet old mother would find in her freezer, followed by instant coffee and two cookies.

My father would tell her it was the ‘best dinner he ever ate,’ like he does every night, and I would agree. That’s why we go home.

- Nancy

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Dieting Isn't Deprivation

by malias on Flickr

How come every time you start a new “diet”, all you can seem to do is obsess about the foods you can’t have. You know…the really BAD ones like fries, cookies, chips or cake. You avoid these foods at all costs, opting for “healthy” choices like salad, celery sticks and rice cakes (sounds exciting, huh?). But what happens next? You get tired of this humdrum way of eating. Your taste buds get bored with the mounds of pale lettuce and meals that would starve a mouse, leading you to the inevitable binge (which is quickly followed by the unavoidable guilt trip).

The backlash of diet deprivation comes from the black and white or “good” vs. “bad” thinking surrounding food - we feel shame when eating “bad” or “unhealthy” foods. Why is the diet mentality so important? Well, our way of thinking about an issue tends to direct how we work to resolve challenges. In the case of the diet mentality, it means that we set ourselves up for struggles with restrictive, negative thinking that almost guarantees defeat.

Labeling certain foods as “off limits” sends the wrong message and will eventually lead us to crave these foods even more. Every food has individual benefits and prospective drawbacks. For example, it’s been said that the antioxidants in certain forms of chocolate can help prevent cancer and heart disease, but this doesn’t mean you should eat a king size bag of dark chocolate M&M’s everyday!

Stop viewing your “diet” as something you turn on and off like a light switch, but rather as a way of life. Make small changes over time, that way it won’t seem so overwhelming. Indulge your cravings from time to time; it may just help to prevent the dreaded BINGE. And remember, it’s all about balance!

Have a great weekend!

- Lauren

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Celebrate the Small Successes

I recently read a blog on FitSugar about this woman asking for advice on how to stay motivated to stick to a fitness and weight loss program. Within hours she had over 25 responses to her question, and I’m sure there have been more since then. Each person took time to write what worked for them and were eager to share their success stories. It was very comforting to see how people reached out to support a stranger in need. Each comment was very positive and encouraging. I was feeling philosophical more than technical at the time and suggested to make a list of all previous successes in her life to create a reference system.

We are emotional beings and at times may lack a little self esteem, ambition, drive or motivation. This is when referring to past successes becomes a powerful tool, as we may be quick to see a slip up as a failure. Life was never meant to be a struggle as Stuart Wilde would say, but a walk in the forest. There may be obstacles to walk over or around, we may slip and slide, but we always get up and carry on. Once we reach our goal (or destination in this case), man do we feel proud of the accomplishment, and soon are planning our next trekking expedition.

The same principle can be applied to your weight loss journey. Maybe you didn’t stick to exactly what your plan suggested, but you still didn’t order what you would’ve gotten before; you made an effort and you made the best decision at that time. Celebrate every little success, they all add up to a Gold medal anyway. So even if you leave “only” a bite of all the different foods you eat in a day, you’ll probably save more than 100 calories. Do this everyday and it will add up to 10 pounds less at the end of the year. See how every little bit or “bite” helps?

You are doing great and carry on!

- Josee

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The Fifty Success Habits

Since I'm feeling so happy and lucky today (it is St. Patrick's Day after all), I thought I'd share this awesome post about success by motivation guru Craig Harper, one of my FAVORITE bloggers!

Please enjoy and have a happy, healthy St. Patty's Day!

- Lauren

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Green Eggs and Ham

What am I going to make for dinner tonight? A very familiar and somewhat annoying question in my opinion. Well, first what do I have in the fridge? I want to use what I already have because I don’t like stopping at the store after work. I’ve got shrimp in the freezer, fresh watercress, fresh herbs, endives, some cheese and eggs. In the spirit of St-Patrick’s Day, I think I’ll have a green omelet!

Growing up we had a vegetable garden and I remember making a green omelet once. We put fresh parsley, chives, dandelion and eggs in the blender and it turned out great! By now, you know that I believe in the power of colorful produce and the Mediterranean diet. To me this is a perfect healthy meal, and also a great way to use left over fresh herbs before they go bad.

So my dinner tonight will be a green omelet with a little sprinkle of Manchego cheese (an aged sheep’s milk cheese from Spain) and an endive and watercress salad with homemade dressing using good olive oil. And, why not open a nice bottle of red wine too? We are talking about the Mediterranean diet here.

Why don’t you try to make a beautiful colorful omelet too? Maybe next week I’ll make a red omelet with roasted red peppers and tomatoes or an orange omelet with roasted orange peppers, turmeric and curry powder. Think about it, let me know your funky ideas…maybe we’ll start a new wave.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

- Josee

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ARE YOU AN INFORMATION ADDICT?

Are you an information addict [INFOVORE]? You probably are, but it’s not your fault.

New research from the University of Southern California explored this question and found it’s just one more thing to blame our parents for…well, actually our ancestors for. It seems our “brains are hard-wired…to seek out new information. It generates an increase in brain activity which triggers a chemical reaction which makes us feel good, which causes us to seek even more of it.” WE ARE INFOVORES!

Your brains’ response to new and interesting knowledge was formed at a time when information was scarce and vital to [cave] man’s existence. Lee Gomes, of the Wall Street Journal, explains our lust. “We are programmed for scarcity and can’t dial back when something is abundant”. He says our brains seem to have forged the same bond with food. “Because we never knew when the next…meal…might come along”, we consume food and information like…addicts. We have to. Our brains demand it! WE ARE INFOVORES!

“Technology is playing a trick on us”. It’s really not your fault. So until the day our brains evolve enough to process the fact that fast information and fast food are here to stay…you can’t be blamed.

I love a good excuse. Don’t you?

- Nancy

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St. Patrick's Day Lunch

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. Here’s a meal that let’s you enjoy your corned beef and cabbage without all the fat. Yum! The potato salad recipe is courtesy of our friends at Meals.com. We lightened the sour cream to make the recipe fat free!

Corned Beef Sliders

8 Dinner rolls (1 oz each)
8 oz Deli corned beef round (thin sliced)
2 cups Red or green cabbage, coarsely chopped

Place chopped cabbage in a microwave safe container with 1 Tbsp water. Cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Cut rolls (toast them if you prefer), place 1 oz corned beef on each roll then top with ¼ cup cooked and drained cabbage. For warm sandwiches, cover and microwave sets of 2 for 10 seconds on medium. Top with your favorite mustard.

Makes 4 servings
130 calories, 2.5 g fat, 2 g fiber

Shamrock Potato Salad

2 pounds New potatoes, scrubbed
1 (8 oz) Container fat free sour cream
5 Green onions, trimmed and chopped
2 Tbsp Fresh dill, chopped
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Ground black pepper

Add potatoes to a large saucepan with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil and simmer for 12 minutes (or until tender) and drain. Cut into ¼ inch slices when cool enough to handle.

Combine sour cream, green onions, dill, salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix well. Place potato slices in a large bowl and fold in dressing. Refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

Makes 4 servings
145 calories, 0 fat, 5 g fiber

We recommend the red cabbage on your sliders. Not only does it look great, it’s good for you too! Click here to read more about the benefits of this colorful favorite.
- Renee

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Mix It Up With Yoga & Pilates

You can hardly turn on the TV nowadays without hearing someone talk about Yoga or Pilates. Articles fill the pages of websites and magazines and it seems “everyone who’s anyone” is doing one or the other (I’m a huge yoga fan!). Why all the excitement?

Doing Yoga and Pilates will not only increase strength and flexibility, but help relieve stress and improve overall wellbeing. Your metabolism will get a boost too because both help build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even while at rest. We love that!

While Yoga and Pilates have a lot of similarities, there are some big differences to note. Yoga, an ancient Hindu philosophy, combines a series of postures, breathing exercises and meditation to help the mind and body achieve harmony. Many people use Yoga for toning, strengthening, flexibility and relaxation. There are many variations and types of Yoga and all have been shown to promote health, longevity and a heightened level of self-awareness. To learn more visit Yoga Journal or My Yoga Online

Pilates, originally created by Joseph Pilates in the 1920’s to help strengthen muscles during rehabilitation, is a series of controlled movements and breathing techniques that aim to develop flexibility, strength and balance without adding muscle bulk. Pilates helps to sculpt the body and strengthen the "core" (torso) while increasing circulation, alignment and focus. Most people do mat Pilates, which uses your own body weight for resistance, but Pilates can also be performed on a variety of machines to tone and strengthen. To read more about Pilates click here or here.

Many gyms offer Yoga and Pilates classes or you can buy videos to practice at home. If your gym has Pilates machines, make sure there's a qualified instructor to teach and supervise you during the exercises. If you don’t know which practice is best for you, I say, try them both! Incorporate the strengthening techniques of Pilates and meditative aspect of Yoga into your daily routine to increase energy, improve health and see the stress of your everyday life begin to diminish.

Some tips for Yoga & Pilates practice...

• Wear comfortable clothes that allows you to move freely.
• It's best to practice Yoga & Pilates barefoot, using a mat or non-slip surface.
• The room should be well ventilated and have enough space to extend your arms and legs in all directions.
• Yoga postures & Pilates exercises should not be done on a full stomach. Listen to your body – if you practice too soon after eating or drinking, certain poses may feel uncomfortable.
• If you feel weak or shaky in a pose, come out of it. Gradually you will build up your strength and be able to hold the pose longer.
• Focus on your breath throughout the workout by inhaling and exhaling completely. Breathing awareness not only feels good, but also balances and regulates energy flow within the body.

Be sure to let me know how it goes!

- Lauren

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Internet Addiction Disorder

We surround ourselves with technology that provides continuous access to a virtual world we’ve created, accessorized, and bookmarked 'Open 24 Hours'. We are “techno-addicts”. The concept of retreat or sanctuary scarcely exists. Our goal is to reach all corners of the earth with full bars of reception. Today’s explorers plant the cell phone tower, not the flag.

Requests to limit the use of PDA’s in public areas like hospitals, highways and school carpool lines, as well as dining rooms and golf course driving ranges where they distract, disrupt and can be dangerous, have not been successful. We’d like to cooperate but we can’t, we are "techno-addicts”.

“I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really” is Mark Bittman’s tale of confession, concession and redemption. His research revealed the term “secular Sabbath” as the first step on the path to a cure as “one of those who has developed the latest in American problems, Internet addiction disorder”.

Sources from the most hooked up places...bloggers, engineers, corporate leaders, and psychologists have begun to discuss the need for some quiet time. “Unplugged” is now the link to Ariel Meadow Stallings of Electrolicious. “Nathan Zeldes, a principal engineer at Intel, where employees read or send 3 million e-mail messages daily” is encouraging “employees to spend a morning a week at work but off-line”.

Redemption won’t come easy. “The awesome burden of staying in touch” has imprisoned us in this addicting world we created and can’t quite shut off. Dr. David Levy said “living a good life requires a kind of balance, a bit of quiet. There are questions about the limits of the brain and the body. You need time to think, to reflect, to be successful and productive”.

“Take a stab at reconnecting to things real rather than virtual”, reacquaint yourself with yourself and this world around you. Try it in little steps. It’s the latest thing to do.

- Nancy

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Turmeric to Decrease Risk of Heart Disease

I already told you about the health benefits of turmeric and curcumin in an earlier post.

New research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, can actually prevent and even reverse cardiac hypertrophy (enlarging of the heart), restore heart function and reduce scar formation. This is very good news, as so many people suffer from heart failure and heart attacks. And the larger your heart is, the higher your risk for these conditions.

The research team was very encouraged by their findings, but warned people than more is not always better. Like many other foods and supplements, just because it’s good for you doesn’t mean you need to take it in huge quantities (just a friendly reminder). The research showed that excessive amounts of curcumin did not increase the benefits.

Knowing that turmeric (also found in yellow curry) is a cheap and versatile spice that can improve your overall health, try to incorporate more dishes with it into your diet!

Here is a quick and easy Curried Yogurt Dip or dressing:

1 tsp fresh minced ginger
Crushed garlic to taste
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ -1 tsp yellow curry powder (depends on personal taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of plain low-fat yogurt

Mix well and adjust seasoning to your liking. If using as a salad or coleslaw dressing, thin with a little milk or lemon juice.

Add wellness by adding color to your diet!

- Josee

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Are You a Midnight Snacker?

Does eating late at night cause you to gain weight or is this the stuff of ‘Urban Legend’?

Dr. Louis J. Aronne ”suggests a theoretical framework for why late meals stay with you". Midnight in the kitchen may never be the same. Dr. Aronne’s theory is that the calories we consume before bed stay with us because “no physical activity” takes place afterward. “If you eat 500 calories but walked around afterward, your muscles are competing with your fat cells for the calories and could burn them up as energy for physical activity.”

The ‘Freshman Fifteen’ is both the name and number of the standard weight gain among “college students who eat late at night” and wear home those pounds for the summer. Dr. Aronne finds that late night eaters also seem to consume heavier meals. “Eating a big meal just before bed has been found to elevate triglyceride levels in the blood. Elevated triglyceride levels have been associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, both related to weight gain”.

Temptation and bad choices can be a nightmare. Good choices and little changes are the stuff fairy tales are made of. Renee is our Director of Nutrition, a food lover, educator and counselor. She is going to write a happy ending to this bedtime tale with some advice for lighter late night snacks and some tryptophan delights.

- Nancy

Nutrition note from Renee:

If you’re a veteran of the midnight refrigerator raid, you know that these late night munchies can quickly add unwanted pounds. The first rule is to keep calories in check; 100-150 calories should be enough. Keep healthy and light things easily accessible to avoid grabbing the sweets & fatty snack foods.

Including foods with tryptophan (a precursor for serotonin which makes us calm and sleepy) might help you rest easier. Protein foods can also be more satisfying and curb your appetite better than a carb only snack. Try any of the following for a light snack, or mix smaller amounts of two.

• 6 oz light yogurt
• 1 cup skim milk
• Small banana, 1 c mango (or blend 1/3 cup fruit into plain, low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese or skim milk)
• Instant oatmeal (unsweetened variety)
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• 2 tbsp hummus with 4 whole grain saltines
  

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Test Your Nutrition IQ

Think you’re pretty savvy in the nutrition arena? Here’s your chance to check your nutrition IQ with this quiz from Cooking Light.

Let us know how you scored...Nutrition-ista, Not too bad or Need to go back to class!

- Renee

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Do Shopping Lists Promote Healthy Choices?

Since we're on the topic of grocery shopping this week at Sensei Talks, I found this article 'Do Shopping Lists Promote Healthy Choices' both timely and fitting!

Now there’s even more evidence out to support the importance of planning ahead when it comes to making healthy choices. A study from the Journal of Consumer Research found that having to select options at the grocery store without a shopping list lead people to make more ‘impulsive’ decisions (meaning you might choose a yummy looking dessert like cheesecake instead of fresh fruit salad, or select a higher priced item, with the expectation that higher price means better quality).

Researchers found that consumers making “stimulus-based” decisions (deciding what to buy once you are at the store) were “more likely to select fun, hedonistic, and sinful options over sensible options or ‘appropriate’ options”. Whereas making a list at home before heading to the store (“memory-based” decisions) requires the consumer to “attempt to recall the items available at the store before planning out meals for the rest of the week”.

Planning ahead has always been a cornerstone of successful weight loss and positive lifestyle change. Although I’ve never been much of a planner (I promise I’m working on it), I try to always take stock of what I’ve got at home and make a list before I shop. It not only prevents me from buying the 'hedonistic and sinful' things, but also saves me time too! So take a few extra minutes to make a shopping list, remembering to include whole grains and lots of colorful fruits and vegetables!

- Lauren

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Sensei on CNBC: Turn Your Phone Into a Health Partner

Check out our CEO Bob Schwarzberg today on CNBC's Power Lunch. Way to go Bob!

For more on the story read CNBC's article Sensei: Turn Your Phone Into a Health Partner.

- The Sensei Team

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Grocery Shopping - Is it an Art or Science?

I ran into the local market for a few of my customary week-end things on Friday and couldn’t find my list. Sometimes my list is only in my head, but it gets lost just the same. Does it find the sock from the dryer that’s missing?

Until that glorious day when the carts will set us free, we need a plan and a list when we shop. Tanya B. Leach of the Associated Press says that “most people pay for their groceries with three currencies – money, time and angst.” I guess she has seen me wailing. The 2.5 gallon baggies that have always been stocked in aisle 4, third shelf down, are gone. My toothpaste in the stand-up tube has only a 1 in 6 chance of being available on any given excursion. The Artichoke Hearts I dearly love are always on the top shelf in the back, completely out of reach.

Now when I see these items, I load the cart. But if I’m throwing out lettuce, and cut back the next trip, you know I won’t have enough…does this mean shopping is an art or science?

Ms. Leach