Tea Time!

After a meal, if you crave something sweet, soothing, comforting, and warm.. that smells delicious and takes time to enjoy and savor.. and has virtually no calories.. TRY DAVID's TEA!!

This is a new discovery for me. I was offered a cup last night after dinner at a friend's. It was divine. Why haven't I heard of this?? After loving the experience of sipping my dessert tea, I began my research. **if you're trying to lose weight, this is a must. It will totally help with tendencies to snack on sweets after meals.

The first shop opened in Montreal in 2008. Since then, an online store has been launched as well as 40 or so stores across Canada.

The teas come in a variety of unique and exotic flavors (Forever Nuts, Read my Lips, Baked Apple, and Chocolate Chili Chai are top sellers). They're loose teas, which would have scared me away in the past, but my friend showed me how easy these were to contend with when you use the right accessories -- "the perfect tea mug," for example. They sell tea accessories, such as the mug, online or at the store and this mug is a must. It has the infuser that fits right inside and a lid that fits perfectly on top. And it's all dishwasher safe. This mug takes the intimidation factor right out of loose tea infusion confusion.

Anyhow, if you're looking for a new treat to get you through the long winter, try David's Tea. Thumbs up bigtime.

http://www.davidstea.com/

Add flavour minus the calories! Lots of suggestions!!

Hi everyone!
Happy belated New Year! Hope 2011 is off to a fantastic start. Mine is - except for this nasty, unrelenting cold/flu virus that I can't seem to shake. I'm calling it the Energizer Bug.. it just keeps going and going and going.. headache, congestion, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, cough, muscle aches and pains, oh my!.. and no of course I'm not mad; I'm not one to point fingers (but just saying... I saw dozens of walk-in clinic patients before the holidays and take the subway daily and nothing.. until a certain someone sneezed on me (you know who you are grrr)..  Anyhow, the point of this immune failure admission is as follows:

I think it's helped me better empathize with patients and readers who have abandoned healthy eating or hit roadblocks claiming that 'diet' food just doesn't taste like anything.

I haven't been able to taste food for a few days now. And it has totally taken the pleasure out of eating! Why would anybody want this? It's not worth it. I get it. Better to be overweight than not taste and enjoy your food. If switching from high fat, high sugar, high salt foods to healthier options really results in this relative apparent lack of taste, akin to how I'm feeling now with this flu, then woah, no wonder people often give up so quickly. Here's the thing..

It's temporary. Just like taste buds and smell come back once the cold passes, the taste of food comes back once your palate adjusts to the new diet. Our taste receptors are desensitized after years of overpowering them with processed foods loaded with salt, fat and sugar. When we remove the high solute load, things can taste a little bland while our taste bud sensitivity is adjusting. Don't give up. Recognize that this is just a temporary adjustment period. Remember how you felt the first time you tried beer or wine or a martini or a cup of coffee -- gross!! Pungent. Buy hey, my guess is you just may have stuck with it. Well let's give the good stuff a chance just like we did the bast stuff.

To help you through this adjustment period, I've suggested some flavor enhancers below that you can use while incorporating these new suggested foods and beverages into your healthy lifestyle. Before long, you won't even need them.

Egg Whites: Yes it's worth it. Yes it saves major calories. A whole egg typically has about 100 calories - 20 from the white, 80 from the yolk. The white is the protein. The yolk is the fat. DITCH the yolk and reap major calorie saving benefits!! Try some of following to help you adjust:

1. Add two tbsp of real bacon bits to your egg white omelet while it's cooking (60 calories)
2. Add two tbsp of parmesan cheese like PC Blue Menu 100% grated parmesan cheese (50 calories)
3. Herbs (chopped parsley, chives, basil, sage, and thyme all work well (0 calories)
4. Add two tbsp crumbled light feta cheese (80 calories)
5. Add two tbsp Ketchup (30 calories)
6. Add 1 yolk (80 calories)

*** careful not to add all of them.. the calories will add up faster than your cell phone minutes..

Water: Yes it's important. Yes it helps you feel full and yes it's been proven to hasten weight loss. DRINK it! If you have trouble getting it down, try the following:

1. Boil it, squeeze a lemon in and sip it
2. Drink it at room temperature (easier to digest and drink high volume than cold water)
3. Drink it carbonated.. Buy cans of soda water (it's amazing how you can start craving this and feeling like it's actually a treat) or flavored Perrier (lemon, lime, or my favorite - Grapefruit)
4. Buy naturally flavored calorie free (and artificial sweetener free - **these can trigger sugar cravings) varieties: Metromint (peppermint, spearmint, orange, chocolate, cherry.. YUM!) is my favorite brand; Hint water is also good

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk: Yes it's delicious. Yes it's an absolute staple for me. It can actually quench thirst and hunger and it's the perfect magic drink to tide you over when you're feeling hungry but not ready for your meal yet. If you're not yet ready to just enjoy a cup as a treat on its own, try the following:

1. Stir in 1 tsp of instant coffee grinds (decaf or regular). Stir for a few minutes as the grinds take some time to dissolve in the cold beverage. You can add ice if you like and blend for an iced coffee treat. Top with Gay Lea Real Whip Cream Light (4 tbsp, i.e. shake the canister and spray a big dollop = 30 calories).

2. Add 1 scoop protein powder and 1/2 cup frozen berries and blend. Delish.

Rabbit Food: Men seem to call vegetables this. I guess they think those hot chicks they're gawking at are rabbits then. CUZ veggies are what those chicks are eating to keep svelte!! (FYI.. why are women called chicks? Cuz they/we're cute? Cuz breasts, thighs, legs are delicious? Food for wasted thought). Anyhow, to make veggies more palatable, try the following:

1. Steam and then put in blender in batches with chicken stock, garlic salt, and pepper. Excellent with broccoli, mushrooms, cauliflower.. (adds negligible calories)
2. Add some delicious, exotic ingredients to add taste and punch to your salad. No one likes just bare lettuce sitting on a plate. Yuck. Experiment. When you add extra ingredients with flavor, you can skip the high fat dressing. Just some salt, pepper, and low calorie dressing mixed with balsamic or flavored vinegar can work magic and save you heaps of calories. Remember.. just because olive oil is healthy, a tbsp will set you back 14 g of fat and 120 calories. If you add 3 tbsp of oily dressing, you may as well have just had a Big Mac on your salad. Watch the dressing. Try these ingredients:

1. Hearts of Palm, canned, so good (negligible calories)
2. Corn niblets (1/4 cup = 70 calories)
3. 1 bag Sensible Foods apple chips (they come in other fruits as well) = 80 calories
4. 1/4 medium avocado (70 calories)
5. 2 tbsp cranraisins (50 calories)
6. Add cucumber slices, shredded carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms to your heart's content (negligible calories)

** watch out for cheese, nuts, and seeds -- they can add MAJOR calories that just ain't worth it for a salad! If you're going to use them, measure portion size and be forewarned.

Enjoy!

Buyer beware… Health Claim or Advertising Strategy

Choice is a wonderful thing. Too much of it though can be gosh darn confusing. Case in point - have you ever found yourself sitting at a restaurant reading through an encyclopedic menu, confused, and just wishing there was a little hint or claim beside the best dishes, saying, “Pick me! I’ll make your taste buds happy.” Of course you have. We all have. Well, marketers know this – and this is why health claims on food and supplement labels are so prevalent. 

As we consumers have become more and more aware of the relationship between diet and health, there has been an increasing demand for health-enhancing foods and supplements in the marketplace, i.e. foods that help lower cholesterol, promote heart health, help prevent osteoporosis, or promote bowel health and regularity to name a few. It’s trendy for food to be healthy. But can we trust that it really is just because it suggests an association on the box or package?

A health claim is any representation in labeling or advertising that states, suggests, or implies that a relationship exists between consumption of a food or ingredient in the food, and a person's health. In other words, if a cereal has fiber the package may state something like ‘eating fiber can help with regularity and lower cholesterol.” The trouble is, people don’t pay enough attention to the dose. And dose is everything. Let’s consider an analogy to make this point. Imagine that you purchased a bottle of wine and the bottle said, ‘drinking alcohol can lead to liver cancer.’ You would probably think that the claim didn’t apply to you since you were only going to have a glass or two. Yet, when it comes to health benefits and food, we’re all too eager to eat them up! And this can fool us into thinking we’re being healthier than we are. Perhaps this is why despite all of the supposed healthy foods on the shelves, obesity and obesity related illnesses are on the rise.

Health claims on natural health products such as supplements and vitamins can be similarly challenging. Again, dose is extremely important. Many products out there purport health benefits associated with the vitamin or nutrient but do not contain sufficient concentrations of those vitamins or nutrients to do any good whatsoever. It’s therefore much more important to choose quality brands with good reputations for supplying sufficient doses of quality ingredients than simply believing a catchy label.

Bottom line: Be an informed consumer and spend a few extra minutes reading the fine print, ingredients, and doses. It’s worth it to spend a few extra dollars on a quality product that does what it’s supposed to, than a few less on a placebo with a fancy label.

Blah blah blah..then blog!

So I'm not going to lie. This past week I've been blah. Blah, blah, blah. Couldn't even blog blah. Christmas songs even sound blah, blah. So-blah! But then a few things happened to cheer me up:

1. I read this article in the Globe called Schmeck the Halls: How Jewish Songwriters Created Christmas. It was interesting. Talked about how most Christmas songs have been written by Jewish songwriters (couldn't they/we have done a better job with Dreidel-Dreidel??). Anyhow, it linked to Sarah Silverman's satirical song: Give the Jew Girl Toys. And I have to admit, it made me laugh. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gRGMOhslq0

At :57 she says.. So-yah!. Okay fine, it may be Oh-yah! but close enough (to the point of this blog as you'll see below). And now... this leads me to the real smile on my face... drum roll...

I was then introduced to the product "So-Yah!" Anyone who has read my books knows I love Shirataki noodles. I love adding them to microwavable healthy dinners to expand the portion size - fills you up, pleases your stomach and your eyes, without adding calories. For the past year I've been wondering.. why don't they use these in microwavable dinners and soups and prepared foods.. Well, now they do.


House Foods, the maker of the brand of Tofu Shirataki noodles I love, has now come out with So-Yah! a super low calorie microwavable dinner that uses Shirataki noodles.

This meal has only 150 calories - 3 grams protein, 4 grams fat, and 24 grams carbs. So, to make it a little more substantial for a meal, pair it up with a protein like a breast of chicken, or a piece of fish, or toss some precooked frozen shrimp in a pan and add the cooked dinner on top. You can find this prepared food at T&T supermarkets in stores across Canada.

(Dreidel dreidel dreidel I made it out of clay.. and when it's dry and ready, that dreidel I should play... Nope. Not radio material).

Why weight loss is called a cleanse

We store energy reserves on our body mainly as 1) fat under the skin..jiggle jiggle; and 2) glycogen (a type of carbohydrate) in the muscles and liver.

Fat is hydrophobic..meaning it doesn't like water (remember from science class.. oil and water don't mix). Fat is therefore stored as dehydrated globules and often appears cottage cheese like under the skin. Glycogen though is hydrophilic..meaning it loves water. What this means is that when we store glycogen, we store water along with it. Specifically, when we store 1 gram glycogen, we store 3 or even 4 grams water alongside it. Here are a bunch of cool reasons why this is important...

1) When we lose weight initially, we first lose our glycogen stores. Remember, carbs are the body's preferred fuel source so we must rid our glycogen stores before shedding our fat stores. So this is why people can lose up to 10 lbs in the first week of a diet. And it's also why the first week is called a detox and cleanse. When we lose 1 part glycogen from our muscles and liver, we lose 3 parts water as well. This water is released in to the body. The body is hydrated and cleansed. The kidneys then rid the body of this excess water filtering out toxins along with it.

2) It explains why men tend to lose more weight quickly on diets. They have more muscle and therefore more glycogen and water stored to lose.

3) It helps us understand why overeating can puff us up. You've been doing great on your diet and then all of a sudden, you go to a few xmas parties..have lots of high carb desserts..and the following week you're up 5 lbs and bloated like crazy! This is glycogen and water weight. The good news is you can reverse it quickly by eating clean the following week and exercising. Speaking of exercise..

4) A very cool study was referenced in the Globe and Mail last week (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/alex-hutchinson/rethink-how-you-rehydrate-when-exercising/article1815800/). It basically explained that the age old theory that the amount of weight lost post exercise directly reflected the amount of water lost from the body, may be false. In fact, the body does a great job hydrating itself naturally during exercise. How? Because glycogen is burned as a fuel. And remember, when we burn up 1 part glycogen, we release 3 to 4 parts water into the body. The body is one heck of smart machine. It helps hydrate itself!


5) It reminds us that we have carbs stored in our body. Carbs have 4 calories per gram. Let's say our body needs 2000 calories to function, and we only feed it 1500 calories, the balance of those 500 calories has to come from somewhere.. and it does.. from our carb stores, our glycogen! If we want to lose weight, we need to create this caloric deficit in the body so that our bodies are forced to use up the glycogen so we can then burn the fat.

Mini Cukes.. great for hand to mouth addicts

Do you ever come home from work famished and want to put something in your mouth instantaneously.. you know dinner is soon but you just need something NOW?

Have you ever been bored at night and you're not hungry but find yourself just opening the fridge and closing it.. and opening it.. and closing it.. out of habit?

Do you ever prepare dinner and find yourself having difficulty not munching on something while you cook?

Have you ever just wanted something.. regardless of what it is.. just something needs to go from your hand to your mouth NOW?

Have you ever wanted something to tide you over until your next meal or snack but didn't want it to be calorie costly?

Do you like to crunch?

If you answered yes to any of the above, I highly recommend you keep mini cucumbers in your fridge at all times. They are the perfect solution to all of the above siutations. Just grab one and eat it whole like a pickle. Have one, have two, have three... mini cucumbers are basically crunchy water. Eat up. YUM!

Eat pizza, lose weight.

I found you! Hurray! Yesterday, I made a trip down to Th Big Carrot on the Danforth to check out the merchandise. And boy am I glad I did. I was reunited with A.C LaRocco. My long lost bestie. We found each other. "A.C, I've missed you!!!" Okay obviously it isn't A.C the person I'm referring to..better.. A.C the super-awesome, healthy pizza!

A.C. LaRocco Pizza is hands down my favorite frozen pizza and the only one in fact that I recommend for healthy eating when watching your waistline. Why? Well duh.. because you can eat the whole thing and feel good about it. Most frozen pizzas have upwards of 1000 calories - way too many for one meal. And moreover, we all know it's virtually impossible to only have a little quarter - it ain't gonna happen. Enter A.C LaRocco into your life.

The bruschetta style pizza has 340 calories for the whole thing, and the ratio of carbs, protein, and fat is actually quite good. If you're following U Weight Loss meal plans where you need specific ratios of protein, carbs, and fat, you'll need to up the protein a bit. Opt for a piece of grilled fish or chicken breast on the side of half the pizza.

As you can see above, this meal has 306 calories, 11 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and 28 grams of protein. 

Or have the whole pizza with 4 slices Canadian Bacon, like Maple Leaf brand. 

This meal has 420 calories, 18 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbs, and 33 grams of protein.

So how does A.C LaRocco do it? How does it keep the count so low for their ultra thin crust pizzas? They use sprouted whole wheat berries and whole wheat flour. And, they use part skim cheese.

This pizza is hard to find. Like I said, I haven't seen if for a while. But if you go to their website, there's a store locator. I think it can be found at Noah's, Big Carrot, and Whole Foods (sometimes) in Ontario. And.. you have to be sure to buy the Ultra Thin crusted ones (the Bruschetta style pizza and the Old World Veggie.

**Even if you never try this pizza, I still recommend you use the logic. In other words, it's often helpful to think of worst case scenarios.. i.e. what if I eat the whole pizza/whole box/whole bag, how many calories is it? People have trouble stopping midway and this is why 100 calorie snack sizes portioned items are such good sellers. You get to eat the whole thing. If they sold them as 200 calorie snack sized packages and told you to eat half.. yah right! Always hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Hope you eat half, but plan for eating the whole thing. With A.C LaRocco pizza, even if you hope to eat half but end up eating the whole thing, it's not that bad.. and won't derail your efforts; whereas with other frozen pizzas, you'll be set back hundreds of calories for the 'oops, the rest just fell in my mouth' mistake.