Eating Late Without Gaining Weight

We already know that watching what you eat leads to weight loss. Now, it looks like watching when you eat plays a part as well. According to new research from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, getting tiny is all about timing.

"This is the first large-scale prospective study to demonstrate that the timing of meals predicts weight-loss effectiveness," said senior study author, Frank Scheer, PhD, MSc.

Scheer and his colleagues divided 420 overweight study participants into two groups: late-eaters, who ate their biggest meal after 3pm, and early-eaters, who ate before 3pm.

"Our results indicate that late-eaters displayed a slower weight-loss rate and lost significantly less weight than the early-eaters, suggesting that the timing of large meals could be an important factor in a weight loss program," said Scheer.

Apparently, breakfast was the one link that all the late-eaters had in common, or rather, the missing link. Skipping breakfast, or eating too few calories at a morning meal, can set your body up for failure later in the day. Not only is breakfast the boost you need to rev up your daily engines, it is also proven to help you keep down the calorie count later in the day.

But, we all know what it's like to wake up late and dash out the door without a good meal. And for many of us, life is a bit too roller coaster-esque to time a solid meal before 3pm. So, how can we get the most out of this new research in our busy lives?

Adopting some general guidelines for good eating is essential. The University of California, Los Angeles’s Student Nutrition Action Committee says you should grocery shop with your daily duties in mind. For example, if you know you run late most mornings, hard boil some eggs or stock up on protein bars.

Their second biggest tip is to keep eating throughout the day. "Your body burns calories 24/7. You need to refuel at least every 4‐5 hours," they write.

If dinner is around 6pm, and you don't go to bed before midnight, your body's going to need a snack. As long as it's not right before bedtime, "that late‐night snack will not be considered excess food by your body - unless you eat too much over the course of the whole day."

To help avoid nasty nighttime eating habits, the UCLA committee outlines two key rules for midnight munching:

H.A.L.T.
Ask yourself first: "Am I physically hungry" If so, ask yourself why: "Am I hungry out of Habit? Out of Anxiety? Out of Loneliness? Because I'm Tired? If you answer yes to any of these questions, put down that spoonful of peanut butter and focus your energy elsewhere!

Snack Smart
If you're really hungry at night, it can be a recipe for waistline disaster. In the evening, you've already cooked and those delicious pre-packaged snacks are devilishly tempting. Stop right there! Late night hunger pangs mean your body needs fuel, not empty calories. Snack smart and go for a midnight mini-meal rich in protein, and free of sugars and carbos.

Need suggestions? Here's a few great nighttime snacks that will fill you up with the good stuff, and not weigh you down on the scale!

Rice cakes and peanut butter

A small whole wheat pita spread with hummus

Canned tomato soup

A small dish of low‐fat cottage cheese

Surprise! Low Fat is Making You Fat

When you're counting calories, everything adds up. The simplest solution seems to take advantage of the sugar-free foods that are available everywhere and for any craving. But, the truth behind the Splenda isn't so sweet. Sugar-free foods are making you fat.

A body of research has found that artificial sweeteners alter the brain's connection between sweets and high-calorie food. The result is a blunted enjoyment that actually sends you into binge overdrive.

"Data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar," says Purdue University psychologist, Susan Swithers PhD.

A sugar-free chocolate chip cookie tastes great, but your brain isn't fooled. Your body is well tuned to take in high-calorie foods and respond to them. Artificial sugars mess with that internal mechanism. What is sweet should be caloric, but this isn't. So, you don't feel satisfied after that one cookie and you don't feel full. And before you know it, you haven't eaten just one, you've finished the whole pack. In the end, you've had a high-calorie snack, when you could have had one, delicious, high-calorie cookie.

Defeating the purpose of weight loss is only one of the flaws of sugar substitutes. Eating low-calorie foods also impacts your health, making you more at risk for heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

As America talks about the effects of the increasing obesity rate, it's interesting to note that incline has been paralleled by a growing body of low- and no-calorie foods. It seems like finding a way to have your cake and eat it without getting fat, is like finding the fountain of youth - impossible.

But, Swithers says there is good news. Counting calories is still a great way to regulate body weight, even if it's annoying. But, at least that means you can eat a piece of cake!

It's True: Chicken Soup Fights the Flu

This year's flu season has hit epidemic levels. According the Center for Disease Control, 7.3 percent of the country has come down with the bug, and it doesn't look like we're out of the sickhouse yet.

The speed of this year's flu "has been pretty much unparalleled," John Hick, an emergency physician in Minneapolis told USA Today last week. "My general sense is that we have not peaked. We've probably got a few weeks to go on this."

While we can repeat the rounds of obsessive hand washing, steering clear of sickies and even wearing surgical masks, there's no sure fire way to escape the flu. And once you've got it, it can take up to three weeks to get better.

But, you can speed that up by eating. Good food can give your immune system a much needed jolt, and the most beneficial is a bowl of chicken soup.

Lovingly known as Jewish Pennicillin, chicken soup has been hailed as a cure-all thoughout history. Greek medics used to prescribe the broth, and the Egyptian physician and philosopher Moshe ben Maimonides wrote volumes on it's flu fighting abilities in the 12th century.

Today, science has started to back what these ancient healers have known for centuries. Research shows chicken soup actually has a mild medicinal effect. The heat, salt and hydation work to inhibit inflammation of cells in the nasal passage, reducing stuffy symptoms. The soup has also been found to root out and kill virus-carrying cells, while stoping the growth of new ones.

Another extra benefit of chicken soup is the food itself. When you're barely able to get out of bed for a new box of tissues, eatting anything can be a challenge. But, if you get down some of the lean, protein-rich chicken and nutritious veg, you'll give your body the energy it needs to do battle with the bug.

So, if you fall ill this season, heat up a cup of good ol' chicken soup. Any brand will do, but if you want to make the same soup scientists used to prove it's flu fighing power, try Grandma's Chicken Soup Recipe from the University of Nebraska Medical Center's own research team.


Grandma's Chicken Soup Recipe:

1 5- to 6-pound stewing hen or baking chicken
1 package of chicken wings
3 large onions
1 large sweet potato
3 parsnips
2 turnips
11 to 12 large carrots
5 to 6 celery stems
1 bunch of parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Clean the chicken, put it in a large pot and cover it with cold water. Bring the water to boil.
2. Add the chicken wings, onions, sweet potato, parsnips, turnips and carrots. Boil about 1 and a half hours. Remove fat from the surface as it accumulates.
3. Add the parsley and celery. Cook the mixture about 45 min. longer.
4. Remove the chicken. The chicken is not used further for the soup. (The meat makes excellent chicken parmesan.)
5. Put the vegetables in a food processor until they are chopped fine or pass through a strainer. Both were performed in the present study.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Coca-Cola Blames Calories for Making us Fat

Today, everyone's favorite soda maker, Coca-Cola released their first-ever response to obesity in America. Addressing the "issue of our times," as they call it, Coca-Cola means to show that their products aren't the baddies in the war on fat. It's the calories.

"It comes down to one simple fact: all calories count, no matter where they come from, including Coca-Cola and everything else with calories," says the benign female voice over in the avert. The commercial then hails Coke's 650 beverage options that are low or no-calorie.

At a time when New York City is gearing up to ban super-sizes soft drinks, and Massachusetts sounds ready to follow suit, it only makes sense for Coke to pipe up about their product's nutrition facts. And, of course, they're absolutely right with their message. Calories do create fat. But It's not just the calories in beverages that are unhealthy, and more importantly, low- and no-calorie beverages aren't altogether better.

"Drinking sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, is associated with an increased risk of depression," said scientists at last week's American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting. Diet soda has also been linked to increased risk of stroke and - strangely enough - higher rates of obesity.

According to Katherine Zeratsky from Mayo Clinic, "Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories in the short term, it's not yet clear if it's effective for preventing obesity and related health problems."

If we really want to decrease our beverage calories, the most obvious choice would be that staple from the sink, water. But not everyone like the 'bland' taste of tap-water, so other options like coffee, tea and skim milk would suffice.

Now, Coca-Cola doesn't sell any of those drinks, so they're obviously not going to tell you about them. Especially not when all the growth they've seen over the past 15 years has come from their low- and no-calorie line, according to the Associated Press.

But the take-home from this new ad may not need to be all about Coke. Instead, it may be more of a public service announcement. We need to remember what really drives obesity in this country, and not vilify food and drink. Obesity comes down to each of us as individuals and what we choose to put in our bodies. As Coca-Cola rightly reminds us, "If you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you gain weight."

McDonalds sales driven by Dollar Menu

I read recently that sales at McDonald's blew away analyst expectations this winter with the help of $1 meals. Apparently, Micky D's was suffering from a "rare decline" in November. The company then beefed up its Dollar Menu promos with "renewed emphasis on low-priced menu options, such as $1 Sausage McMuffins and coffee."

It's fast, it's easy, and it costs $1. It was a genius way for McDonalds to boost their sales. But, because I've sworn off fast food forever (or, at least until I'm stuck at a highway service station with a massive case of the munchies!), I decided investigate what other foods I could buy with just a buck.

Grabbing my single George Washington, I stepped out into the big city to find a healthy meal for a dollar.

At my first stop - the usual lunch cafe - there was actually nothing available for a single dollar. Yogurt, a power bar, even a bag of chips was too expensive! I had to fight the hunger pangs and move on.

At another cafe, I discovered that the lack of $1 items is compounded by a hierarchy in options. The average assortment of fruit goes for $1 a piece. That is, if you can survive a workday on a Red Delicious. Surprisingly, at the same cafe, a 1.5 inch slice of Stromboli stuffed with salami and cheese, also goes for a dollar.

Across the street at the local news shop, a cup of coffee costs 99 cents. But, so does a slice from the pizza guy next door. In New York City, where every corner has a pizzeria, my stomach was beginning to fight harder than my one dollar mission. Then, I stepped into a nondescript deli shop and was greeted by the unthinkable: a basket of hard boiled eggs.

"They're fifty cents," the cashier said as I stared hungrily. "Two for a dollar."

Here, at the corner store, I had found a healthy, protein packed meal that could tide me over for a good few hours.

I bought two, went back to work, and felt good about my Dollar Meal Quest. If you want to find a fast food alternative on a $1 budget, you have to look for it. It will take work, but it's out there. With talk of the fiscal cliff, rising taxes, and a soaring obeisty rate, maybe menus everywhere will start to jump on the dollar deal. If it worked for McDonald's, it can work for the little, healthier guy too.

What to Eat: January Superfoods

Hello 2013! Hello a new year, new starts and New Year's resolutions! As I join the ranks of the many out there determined to make healthy eating habits a number one priority this year, I bring you the monthly superfoods section.

Fresh, ripe and in season, hit your local farmers market for these precious picks and keep your new year's resolutions on track....even if the rest of your rules fall to the wayside!

Entering into the cold months with January, the spotlight is on root veg and vitamin C. These goodies are fat free, full of fiber and antioxidants - just what your winter body needs!

Grapefruit
This bitter fruit was bred in 18th century Barbados as the 'forbidden fruit.' Today, it's more an acquired taste than an exotic treat, but its nutritional qualities remain remarkable. Hitting its peak between October and May, grapefruit has virtually no fat or carbos, but packs a huge nutrient punch that's essential in winter. It's a good source of vitamin C, the fiber pectin, and the antioxidant lycopene. Plus, its been found to lower cholesterol and boost metabolism. It has long been a breakfast staple, but grapefruit is also a great addition to salads, marinades and as a mixer for the occasional cocktail...or two

Beets
I love beets. It wasn't until I was older that I discovered these deep red delicacies, but once I did I became hooked. And lucky I did, because these root veggies are hugely healthy. Beets are bursting with nutrients that provide antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and detoxifying benefits - all especially essential after the holiday season. Beets are a super versatile food that can be cooked, steamed, pickled, shredded and marinated. For decades, they have been used to cure everything from fever to constipation to garlic-breath. Which is especially notable, considering the ancient Romans used beets as an aphrodisiac!

Pears
A wonderful winter fruit, pears are a super source of fiber and vitamin C. But, its actually the skin of the pear that holds most of this health. It's bursting with three to four more times the antioxidants, anti-infammatories and cancer fighting nutrients than the fruit's flesh. When they hit the perfect ripeness, they're sweet enough to fill in for dessert, especially when poached in their own fine juices. Coincidentally  pears instigate the fewest allergens, so they can be introduced to infants as their first fruit without too much worry.

Brussels Sprout
Another one of those veggies I only picked up in adulthood, these mini-cabbages are harvested from June to January. Sprouts are abundant in the cancer fighting chemical, sulforaphane. And, studies have shown a sprout hearty diet can help boost DNA repair in healthy cells and block the growth of cancer cells. Their antioxidant and fiber levels are also high, but the benefit depends on how they're cooked. Steaming and stir frying are the best methods for harnessing their healthiness, sadly, without the bacon and butter we love to cook them in.