This time of year is a favorite time for me. Getting together with your family (yes, even the family members that get on your nerves-smile), holiday parties, etc., is always a guaranteed good time. Turkey, mash potatoes, mac 'n cheese, stuffing, egg nog (of course the spiked kind) and all types of fun holiday cocktails are things you can look forward to as this time approaches. Even a trip to your local supermarket can tempt you to buying foods that will definitely add weight to your frame. The stores make sure they stock their aisles full of colorful, chocolatey, butter-filled, sugar laden foods, snacks and beverages for your holiday festivities. But all these wonderful, comforting, tasty foods can and will pack on extra pounds. Also, preparing for these festivities can be stressful, prompting you to eat more than usual, which in turn packs on extra pounds. According to a recent Weight Watchers report, the average American gains around 7-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. That is a lot of weight in a 4-6 week period. Allowing ourselves to 'lose control' during the holidays can lead to continued unhealthy eating long afterwards.
It is important that we do our best to make sure we eat the foods that will give us the proper nutrients to give us energy and help to reduce stress levels. Now, there isn't anything wrong with indulging a little but we should indulge in moderation. All this may leave you thinking darn, is there any way to still have fun, eat and be merry without all that stress? Yes there is a way.
You can be health conscious and still enjoy those holiday dishes and treats; just focus on the type of foods you are consuming and how much of it you are consuming. I've listed below 10 tips which can help you keep any extra pounds off and help stay stress free:
Be aware of how you are preparing your foods. Instead of fried this and fried that, try baking, grilling or roasting. If you are roasting, use low calorie cooking oils. For your vegetables, steam them instead of cooking in a pan with high calorie butters. Steaming them also helps to retain the essential nutrients.
Use low calorie ingredients when cooking. For instance, whipped butter usually only has about 50-100 calories as opposed to regular butter or even margarine. If the recipe calls wine or beer, invest in a low calorie wine or beer...they are out there! By swapping out certain ingredients, you can cut your calorie intake by 50% or more.
Prepare for those family dinners or holiday parties by eating healthier leading up to the dinner/party. If I know I'm going to a big dinner or party on Saturday, the days leading up to that night I make sure I eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and drink lots of water...so I don't beat myself up if I do indulge a bit and consume food I know I normally do not eat.
Eat regularly. Got a big holiday dinner to go to Friday night? Well don't starve yourself all day to only get to the dinner and binge on fattening appetizers, sugary snacks and high calorie dishes. Make sure to eat breakfast and a slightly bigger lunch so that you don't overeat at the dinner.
Exercise. Walking, running, spinning class, yoga, even housework...get some form of exercise in. If you haven't exercised in a month or years, now is the time to jump start you regimen! It will help to boost your energy and most importantly keep your stress levels down!
Moderate your alcohol intake. Alcohol is fattening too! Just limit your alcohol intake to a glass or two, to help keep those pounds off. Alcohol can lessen your inhibitions which can lead to you overeating.
Use a smaller plate (if you can) for the main course as well as for appetizers. If you are attending a party or dinner and it's buffet, use a small plate for your appetizers and dinner. This will prevent you from piling up on food and help you eat small portions. Have a little of everything and make sure to include fruits and veggies.
Pack and stock up on healthy snacks. When you go shopping, throw in baby carrots, celery, grapes or nuts/trail mix to help you keep that temptation at bay. Get those small ziplock bags and put a handful of carrots, celery, fruit or trail mix in there and put it in your purse or briefcase. This will help you to grab for these items instead of going to that vending machine or starving yourself and then binging at the holiday party.
Plan and prepare your menu for big dinners in advanced. Thanksgiving is at your house this year? Don't wait until the night before or that morning even, to begin preparing the meal for dinner. Prepare gravies before hand and freeze them (this will also harden the fat so you can skim off the top and decrease calories!). Most desserts you can prepare and mix the ingredients prior and just put all together the night before and bake. Fruits and veggies can be cut and sliced days before and refrigerated. All to reduce the stress of planning and cooking everything for the big night.
Eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed. Eat slowly so that your stomach can catch up to your brain. I remember times when we'd eat more than we could handle at Thanksgiving and my grandmother would say "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach!" And she was of course right in saying so; you see all that food and your hungry and you think I'm eating everything! Take your time and eat a little at time; it takes about 20 minutes before your stomach catches up to your brain.
So go ahead, enjoy the holidays, plan for relaxing and fun activities to help reduce stress, incorporate healthier eating and don't restrict yourself! Your mind, body and spirit will be better in the long run.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
High Fructose Corn Syrup...What's the Real Deal?
There is a commercial ad on TV about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) vs. natural sweetners like honey, corn syrup, agave nectar, etc. One shows two women at a picnic, on a sunny day, kids running around happy and cheerful (because they are all on a SUGAR HIGH - lol). One woman is telling the other about there being no difference between HFCS and natural sweetners and stating how your body cannot tell the difference and that "sugar is sugar". I watched this commercial and honestly I'm amazed at how big businesses will do anything to make money and keep on making money. Let me tell you, there is a difference and yes, your body can tell what that difference is.
High fructose corn syrup comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. There are quite a few steps into making HFCS and they start with cornstarch. The cornstarch is broken down by adding an enzyme, alpha-amylase, which is derived from bacteria. Once that is broken down, a second enzyme, glucoamylase (enzyme derived from a fungus), is added. This continued fermentation converts into pure glucose. Then they take another enzyme, glucose-isomase, and pour the pure glucose mixture over the glucose-isomase, which converts the concoction into a combination of fructose and glucose, which is then refined to end up as high fructose corn syrup.
You would think that this is costly to produce, however, HFCS is cheaper than sugar and can be inexpensively shipped and stored. HFCS is used in everything from bread to pasta sauces to beer. It's even used in some 'health products' like protein/energy bars or 'natural' sodas. It's a win-win for the corn farmer and manufacturers and food processors because it retains moisture, prevents microbiological growth and blends easily with sweetners, acids and flavorings. It boils down to more money for big business but we ultimately lose in the end, with our health. However, big businesses are beginning to feel the 'pinch' from consumers because we are becoming wiser and more saavy with our health choices so they want to change the name to just CORN SYRUP to give us a feeling of 'well how bad can it be if it's made from corn?' Believe me, it's still not a good thing.
There is a lot of debate on whether HFCS is unhealthy and basically if you really look at the process I noted above, there isn't anything NATURAL about HFCS. Yes sugar is sugar however our bodies are highly intelligent 'machines'. Eating fruit which contains sugars can raise your blood sugar level however, this sugar is natural and more easily processed by our bodies than HFCS. When HFCS is consumed in high quantities, unused amounts are stored as fat cells. Also, the enzymes used to produce HFCS are not necessarily natural...at least we aren't sure they are. Eating a piece of fruit, that comes from the earth, is about as natural as you can get. There aren't any chemicals in fruit to contribute to altering your genetic make up or even to contribute to weight gain, which HFCS is linked to doing. The consumption of HFCS has been known and proven to contribute to the obesity and a host of other health-related issues like fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and many other issues.
So yes our bodies CAN tell the difference. Think about it: has anyone gained a ton of weight by eating fruit and drinking beverages that are naturally sweetened? No. It's when we introduce food and beverages that include HFCS, that our bodies begin to put weight on and experience a host of health-related issues.
Choose natural sweetners like honey, agave nectar, stevia for your food and beverages. Even fruit juices contain a ton of sugars so be careful when consuming. For all my soda drinkers, try to ween yourself off by introducing more water into your diet. Oh and if you're thinking of switching to diet sodas/juices because they are sweetened with artificial sweetners well they aren't necessarily a better choice. Artificial sweetners have chemically altered ingredients as well and in the long run can also contribute to increasing many health-related issues. So do your best to first cut down and eventually cut out from your diet. And read labels! Anything that lists HFCS or corn syrup as a sweetner, put it back on the shelf-smile.
Being healthy or healthier takes work and there is a lot of confusion with what's good and what's not good. But I keep it simple by remembering anything NATURAL and from the earth is always GOOD for you.
Be well and eat healthy!
High fructose corn syrup comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. There are quite a few steps into making HFCS and they start with cornstarch. The cornstarch is broken down by adding an enzyme, alpha-amylase, which is derived from bacteria. Once that is broken down, a second enzyme, glucoamylase (enzyme derived from a fungus), is added. This continued fermentation converts into pure glucose. Then they take another enzyme, glucose-isomase, and pour the pure glucose mixture over the glucose-isomase, which converts the concoction into a combination of fructose and glucose, which is then refined to end up as high fructose corn syrup.
You would think that this is costly to produce, however, HFCS is cheaper than sugar and can be inexpensively shipped and stored. HFCS is used in everything from bread to pasta sauces to beer. It's even used in some 'health products' like protein/energy bars or 'natural' sodas. It's a win-win for the corn farmer and manufacturers and food processors because it retains moisture, prevents microbiological growth and blends easily with sweetners, acids and flavorings. It boils down to more money for big business but we ultimately lose in the end, with our health. However, big businesses are beginning to feel the 'pinch' from consumers because we are becoming wiser and more saavy with our health choices so they want to change the name to just CORN SYRUP to give us a feeling of 'well how bad can it be if it's made from corn?' Believe me, it's still not a good thing.
There is a lot of debate on whether HFCS is unhealthy and basically if you really look at the process I noted above, there isn't anything NATURAL about HFCS. Yes sugar is sugar however our bodies are highly intelligent 'machines'. Eating fruit which contains sugars can raise your blood sugar level however, this sugar is natural and more easily processed by our bodies than HFCS. When HFCS is consumed in high quantities, unused amounts are stored as fat cells. Also, the enzymes used to produce HFCS are not necessarily natural...at least we aren't sure they are. Eating a piece of fruit, that comes from the earth, is about as natural as you can get. There aren't any chemicals in fruit to contribute to altering your genetic make up or even to contribute to weight gain, which HFCS is linked to doing. The consumption of HFCS has been known and proven to contribute to the obesity and a host of other health-related issues like fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and many other issues.
So yes our bodies CAN tell the difference. Think about it: has anyone gained a ton of weight by eating fruit and drinking beverages that are naturally sweetened? No. It's when we introduce food and beverages that include HFCS, that our bodies begin to put weight on and experience a host of health-related issues.
Choose natural sweetners like honey, agave nectar, stevia for your food and beverages. Even fruit juices contain a ton of sugars so be careful when consuming. For all my soda drinkers, try to ween yourself off by introducing more water into your diet. Oh and if you're thinking of switching to diet sodas/juices because they are sweetened with artificial sweetners well they aren't necessarily a better choice. Artificial sweetners have chemically altered ingredients as well and in the long run can also contribute to increasing many health-related issues. So do your best to first cut down and eventually cut out from your diet. And read labels! Anything that lists HFCS or corn syrup as a sweetner, put it back on the shelf-smile.
Being healthy or healthier takes work and there is a lot of confusion with what's good and what's not good. But I keep it simple by remembering anything NATURAL and from the earth is always GOOD for you.
Be well and eat healthy!
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