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weight management strategies

Moms: Here’s Another Responsibility To Shoulder

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I’m a Mom, too, and I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel as though I carry both the blame and responsibility for just about everything.

Mom’s Role in Preventing Obesity

Well, here’s one more thing.  A recent online survey of 1,037 women, 18 and older, by HealthyWomen, an independent online health information source for women, determined that most women underestimate their role in preventing obesity in their children.

87% of the women surveyed believe that a parent’s obesity can influence a child’s risk of becoming obese, but only 28% of women surveyed assigned the responsibility to themselves.

Research has shown that mothers have a greater effect on their child’s weight  than fathers.
 Only 11% of the surveyed women knew that the risk of a child becoming obese more than doubled if the mother is obese during her first trimester of pregnancy.

It Can Be Tough To Get Kids To Eat Produce

Another study conducted by Working Mother magazine and the Dole Food Company found that 56% of moms say that getting kids to eat fruit and vegetables is either not easy or impossible. Based on my own experience with my sons, I totally agree.

How do you encourage better eating habits in your kids? The Dole study found that persistence, convenience, and creativity are key. Over half of the surveyed moms said that repeated attempts to serve certain foods is the best way to get their kids to eat produce.

Role Models And Gatekeepers

Mothers are role models and are commonly the main food gatekeepers for their families.  By taking charge of their eating and activity behavior during pregnancy and afterwards they have a real opportunity to influence their families’ health.  Kids mimic what their parents do and both moms and dads can demonstrate healthy eating habits and expose their kids to nutritious foods. When parents make good choices they are modeling that good behavior for their children.

Protein In The Morning: It’s A Good Thing

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I had a weird day yesterday.  Everything was out of sync.  It started with breakfast.  With rare exception, I have nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit and two tablespoons of Grape Nuts every morning.

Yesterday was an exception.  I didn’t have a bad breakfast – for a lot of people.  It just wasn’t a good breakfast for me.

I ate at a local diner and ordered the “special” oatmeal with walnuts and apples.  The steaming bowl arrived with the oatmeal liberally sprinkled with walnut halves and stewed apples that were quite sweet and floating in a generous amount of syrup.

Sweet Stuff In The Morning:  Yea Or Nea

The simple fact is that I cannot eat sweet stuff in the morning.  I also cannot eat oatmeal unless it’s accompanied by some kind of protein.  If I do eat either, two things happen:  I feel crummy by mid morning and I am hungry the rest of the day – especially for more sweet stuff.

I know – no one twisted my arm to order the “special” oatmeal.  I did it all by myself.  It sounded delicious – it tasted delicious, too.  But then again I really like my yogurt with fruit and Grape Nuts.  I just felt like something different.

The way my body processes food is unique to me – just as your metabolic processes are unique to you.  But, based on my research I apparently am not alone in my sweets in the morning issue and the roller coaster ride it creates for my blood sugar.

I need protein in the morning.  Most of my clients have a protein breakfast, too.  As a matter of fact, most people I work with eat the same breakfast every day – and they’re happy to do so.  Once you find what works for you, eating a structured breakfast takes less time and sets you up for your day.

Research Supports Protein For Breakfast

There’s good research to support a breakfast of eggs, protein shakes, yogurt (preferably nonfat Greek yogurt because it has no added sugar and 20 grams of protein for an 8 oz serving), or other protein selections.

A study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that the amount and the time of day that you eat protein affect your feeling of fullness during the entire day.  The researchers concluded that when people ate food with high quality protein from sources like eggs and lean Canadian bacon for breakfast they felt fuller throughout the day as compared to eating a larger amount of protein at lunch or dinner.

Make Your Breakfast Count

According to the study’s authors, most Americans usually eat a pretty small amount of protein at breakfast:  about 15% of their total daily protein intake.

Although consumer research shows that 92% of Americans say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, less than half (46%) eat breakfast every day of the week.

SocialDieter Tip:

Eat breakfast every day.  Find out what food works best for your body and make a habit of incorporating it into your breakfast lifestyle.  You have a chance to increase your protein intake in the morning  which will give you sustained benefits through out the day.  With a little planning you can have an easy and ready to grab protein breakfast waiting for you as you get ready to head out the door.

What Do Crossing The Street And Eating Have in Common?

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Look Both Ways

Don’t you look both ways before you cross the street — or shouldn’t you?  That’s called being mindful of your surroundings and potential problems – like a car or bike speeding toward you.

Check In With Yourself

The same thing is true with eating:  check in with yourself and ask if you’re really hungry.  Is your stomach growling and your blood sugar low?  Or is it the wafting smell of the freshly baked bread coming from the open door of a bakery or the sight of just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies that creates an irresistable urge to eat  – even if you’ve just had a good sized and satisfying lunch.

There’s the rub: in situations like that you are eating in response to external cues (what you see, hear, smell, or even think) rather than checking in with your body and determining if you are actually hungry.

Be Mindful

It’s called mindful eating for good reason:  you are being mindful, or thoughtful, about whether you really need or want to eat versus eating because your emotions are sending you “feed me” messages.   You know, the kind of messages that make you scarf down the mini snickers bars and the Reese’s peanut butter cups (and then some)  from your kids’ Halloween candy or propel you to taste (big serving size tastes, of course) of all three pies Aunt Mary had for Thanksgiving.

Make Your Decision

Try to let your body talk to you – and then listen to it.  There will always be occasions — certain celebrations come to mind — when it may be important or the right thing to do to eat a piece of cake or a cookie or an ice cream cone.

Before the food starts its path to your mouth, stop and ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you have head hunger  — the urge rather than the need to eat because your emotions and external cues are telling you that you should. Answer the question and proceed accordingly.

Are There Really Strawberries In Special K Red Berries And Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios?

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Cereal, Cereal, And More Cereal

Wow!  160 bowls of cereal a year, give or take, is the average American intake.  The most popular:  General Mills’ Cheerios, claiming  12.6% of the breakfast cereal market share.

How To Pick A Good Cereal

  • Step #1: check the ingredients and nutrition panel carefully. The very first ingredient should be a whole grain.  Scan through the label for the words “partially hydrogenated.”  If you find them put the box back on the shelf.  You don’t want trans fats in your cereal.
  • Step #2:  Look for cereals that have 13 grams or less of sugar per serving.  Check for added sugars  — you want none or next to none.  Raisins, dried and freeze-dried fruit  add quite a few grams of sugar to the listing on the nutrition panel where they aren’t distinguished from added sugars. Check the list of ingredients instead.
  • Step #3:  Check the amount of fiber (you want a lot).  The daily recommendation is 25 grams of fiber a day so it’s important to pick cereals that contain at least 3 grams per serving. A better choice are those with 5 grams of fiber or higher.
  • Step #4: If you are counting calories, choose cereals that ideally will have less than 120 calories a serving.

What About Fruit In The Cereal?

A bunch of cereals have real freeze-dried berries, apples, and bananas added in. That’s generally a good thing.   If the freeze dried fruit makes the switch from sugar laden cereal to a more nutritious high fiber low sugar cereal easier, then go for it.

So Are There Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios And Strawberries In Special K Red Berries?

Amazingly, yes to the strawberries and no to the nuts.

For a one cup serving, Special K Red Berries has 120 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  rice, whole grain wheat, sugar, wheat bran, freeze-dried strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, soluble wheat fiber, salt, malt flavoring,  ascorbic acid, reduced iron, alpha tocopherol, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamin hydrochloride, riboflavin, vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, Vitamin B12.

A 3/4 cup serving of Honey Nut Cheerios has 110 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  whole grain oats (oncludes the oat bran), sugar, modified corn starch, honey, brown sugar syrup, corn bran, salt, corn syrup, oat fiber, corn syrup solids, tripotassium phosphate, canol and/or rice bran oil, guar gum, natural almond flavor, vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Zinc and Iron, Sodium Ascorbate, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid,Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

Do you see nuts listed? No.  There aren’t any actual nuts.  There is “natural almond flavor.”  What’s that you ask?   It’s benzaldehyde which is usually derived from peach and apricot pits.

What’s A Good Cereal Choice For Breakfast?

There are a number of choices that fit the bill.  A good one is Kashi Go Lean (original).  A serving size is one cup with 140 calories, 10 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugars, and 13 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  Soy grits, Kashi seven whole grains & sesame (hard red wheat, brown rice, whole grain oats, triticale, barley, rye, buckwheat, sesame seeds), evaporated cane juice syrup, corn meal, corn flour, soy protein, wheat bran, oat fiber, corn bran, honey, evaporated cane juice, natural flavors, calcium carbonate, salt, annatto color.

Remember that adding milk ups the protein content of your breakfast. Full, 2%, and 1% milk adds fat, too, so try to stick with non-fat milk in your cereal bowl.

Sometimes It’s Important To Eat Cake

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. . . And Enjoy Every Bit Of It

We celebrated my Mom’s 90th birthday this past weekend.  Actually, she has three birthdays – the one on her birth certificate and driver’s license (yes, she still drives), one on her baptismal certificate, and a third that doesn’t appear on anything other than innumerable birthday cards. No explanation for this.

As you can see above, my Mom’s name is Virginia.  This is notable because she is one of thirteen children – and the other 12 all have names like Mary, Helen, and John.  Why Virginia?  “I’m named after the undertaker’s wife,” she said.  Thanks, Mom.  Any other strange bits of trivia hanging around the family tree?

Mom wanted to celebrate her birthday at her family’s annual reunion – with her six living siblings and lots of other family.  Okay, doesn’t everyone drive 3 and ½ hours for lunch?  Off we went with a couple of surprise “picture” cakes hidden in the trunk of the car.

And a surprise it was.   She was delighted – and it showed.  And it was so worth the searching through boxes of pictures, picking up the cakes, and the drive.

Sometimes Celebrations Outweigh The Calories

We eat cake for lots of reasons.  It just may taste delicious.  Maybe it’s your favorite food.  Or, maybe you avoid it like the plague because of calories, fat, sugar, and white flour.  All legitimate reasons if they’re your reasons.

But, there are times when celebrations are important, really important – weddings, baptisms, engagements, holidays, and birthdays, to name a few.  Even funerals and memorial services are often followed by food — and cake — because food is a way of bringing together friends and family.

What’s So Important About The Cake?

Special celebration cakes are designed, made, ordered, and eaten with love.  Sometimes they taste good, sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes “diets” get in the way of the meaning of the cake. Sometimes the regimentation of an eating plan gets in the way of the reason for a celebration.

Sometimes cakes are just cakes – like the ones that sit in the multi-shelved dessert display at the diner.  Those are not celebration cakes.  But the lopsided one that your child makes for you on Mother’s Day, or the multi-tiered one at your or your child’s wedding, or the one for your Mom’s 90th birthday are very special.

So have a small piece (or a big one if you want) – or eat only a couple of  forkfuls.   Or, if you’re like my cousin, gleefully eat the corner piece (of a rectangular cake) because it has the most icing.

How would you feel if it’s your birthday or wedding and you hand some of your special cake to a friend who says, “No thanks, I’m on a diet”?

Sometimes it’s important to eat cake.