10 Practical Suggestions for Health

Posted by Andy - 01/30/08 at 05:01:00 pm

If you are like most people, you’ve already forgotten about the resolutions that you made on January 1st. The simple fact is, it’s not easy to change habits, unless you’ve just had a heart attack or some other life-changing event. You may know how often you should exercise, when you should see a doctor for testing and what you should eat. Well, almost on what you should eat.

To make life easier, we came up with 10 practical suggestions for improving your diet. They’re backed by research, they’re specific (not just “eat less bad fat”), they go beyond the obvious (”switch from whole milk to nonfat milk”), and they are doable. How do we know? We do them daily.

 

1. Eat less meat or go meatless.

People who eat more red meat (beef, pork, and lamb) have a higher risk of cancer. Prevention is key. If you have a family history of colon cancer, please talk with your doctor about how often you should be eating red meat.

 

2. Eat bran cereal in place of other cereals.

Please don’t get us wrong, any 100% whole-grain cereal is good for you, but bran cereals appear to be better. Why? For starters, they are loaded with fiber. Without them, it’s tough to reach the new recommended amount: 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat per day. That works out to be about 38 grams for men 50 or younger. People often feel full longer when eating bran daily and it may help keep you trim. Instead of going with an ordinary whole-wheat cereal like Wheaties with only 3 grams of fiber per serving, try an all-bran cereal with 10 to 14 grams.

 

3. Don’t drink your Calories.

Studies show that the calories you drink are more likely to show up on your bathroom scale than the calories you chew. Most of the studies are geared towards soft drinks, but anything in excess that your body doesnâ’t need is stored as fat, which includes your Starbucks venti Double Chocolate Chip Cr’me (without the whipped cream) at 590 calories, eight-ounces of orange juice at 120 calories, or 12 ounces of beer at 150 calories. Instead, drink your 64 ounces water or stick to other calorie-free beverages like flavored seltzers or plain tea.

 

4. Hold the cheese please.

Cheese is everywhere these days… in or on soups, salads, steaks, sandwiches, breads, potatoes and eggs. Restaurants love to use cheese because it pumps up the flavor without requiring much skill from the kitchen. One ounce (the size of a ping pong ball) of cheddar cheese is 110 calories and 10 grams of saturated (bad) fat.

 

5. Let beans squeeze out starches.

“Eat at least three cups of legumes per week,” says the government’s Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans. What’s so special about beans? If nothing else, they are inexpensive, fiber packed and a good source of protein. Beans may also affect satiety. When adding more beans to your meal-plan, go slow to prevent too much gas buildup.

 

6. Make it salmon, not tuna.

“We recommend eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times a week,” says the American Heart Association. Fish has less saturated fat than meat. Salmon contains omega-3 fats that appear to lower the risk of heart disease and has a lower mercury content than tuna.

 

7. Snack smart.

Since nationwide surveys (started in the 1970’s) say the average American eats three meals and two snacks a day, which is still true to this day. What has changed? The amounts of food eaten at snack time. Scones, muffins and danish pastries are often grabbed on the way to work or to the dinner show at 500 calories on average. Instead, trade those for fruits or vegetables, try 6-12 almonds for a healthy snack.

 

8. Roast vegetables, not potatoes.

Yes, potatoes are technically vegetables but a starchy one that acts more like a white flour grain in the body. Potatoes may be a complex carbohydrate, but they raise blood sugar as fast as actual sugar does. And don’t assume that potatoes are fine as long as they’re not French fries. Eating mashed or baked potatoes is not far from getting an intravenous load of glucose.

 

9. Sip soup, not salt.

Salt raises blood pressure which may increase the risk for stroke or heart attacks. High blood pressure or hypertension is an epidemic in the United States. It affects half of all people over the age of 60. Soup is one of the worst offenders - roughly 1,000 milligrams per serving for about 100 calories. How much salt, at maximum, should you be consuming per day? 2,400 milligrams per day. Just think, you may never truly know how much salt the kitchen from your favorite restaurant may be adding to your food.

 

10. Finish with fruit.

For many people, dessert is time to splurge. Many don’t know that the typical restaurant dessert is 1,000 calories and one or two days worth of saturated fat. Look for fruit on the menu or at home throw together balsamic vinegar and strawberries (Recipe: combine 1 cup quartered strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Chill 1 hour before serving). This will impress your date or significant other and is perfect for Valentine’s Day. That’s not to say that you can never have another slice of cheesecake in this lifetime, but to save it for (really) rare occasions when you can afford an extra 1,000 calories.

Enjoy every bite of food with your new additions to your healthy meals!

Contact me at TerriBlairRD@mac.com for a complimentary 15-minute appointment today.

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