According to the latest headlines carbs are back in the “good for you” category. After years of being demonized, carbs are off the firing line.  A new book “The Carb Lover’s Diet” focuses on eating foods rich in a carbohydrate called resistance starch (RS). The body digests RS more slowly keeping blood sugar levels more even and some of RS passes undigested so the calories aren’t as absorbed. Foods rich in RS are beans, whole grains, and nuts as well as under-ripe bananas, cold pasta and cold potatoes. The cold keeps the starch more tightly crystalized so it’s more resistant to digestion.

As a dietitian, carbs have never been in the “out” category. The healthiest foods are primarily carbs –vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, whole grains and even non-fat milk and yogurt. I don’t think a lot of people realize that because I can’t tell you how many clients, friends and relatives tell me they are cutting carbs yet have fruit and yogurt for breakfast, a salad topped with beans at lunch, nuts for a snack and steamed vegetables at dinner. Carbs to many only means bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. So, I’m glad that carbs are back, but they really didn’t go anywhere! They’ve been there as part of a healthy diet all along.

Tags: carbs, resistant starch, The Carb Lover's Diet

If you’re pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, you may want to curb your diet soda drinking. A new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that drinking diet soda is linked to an increased risk of preterm delivery (37 weeks or less). The study of nearly 60,000 Danish women saw a 38% increased risk with 1 diet soda per day and a 78% increased risk with 4 per day. There was no link with regular soda so it’s speculated that the artificial sweeteners could be the culprit.

When I was pregnant I stopped drinking diet drinks altogether primarily because I felt weary about having the artificial sweeteners. Instead of soda, I started drinking a lot more water and unsweetened decaf tea. Long after the pregnancy, my habit stuck. So, 8 years later, while I do enjoy the occasional diet soda, water is my main drink of choice. Here’s a tip to help you curb the diet soda habit but like some flavor in your beverage: make your own flavored water. Cut up any kind of fruit that you like - strawberries, kiwi, lemon, oranges, mango, grapes, peaches, raspberries, etc - put it in a pitcher of water and place in your fridge. Let it steep for 4 hours or more and then drink. The water will take on a hint of the fruit flavor. It’s also so pretty it will encourage you to drink more water.

I know that it may seem hard to believe if you’re a big soda or diet drinks person that you can start to enjoy water or drinks that are unsweetened. Interestingly, your taste buds will adjust and start to enjoy less sweet things the more you “train” them. [By the way, it works the same way with salt. If you start eating foods made with less salt or sodium, you'll find that you don't enjoy when foods are salty.] To “train” your tastebuds, start by cutting down by one sweet beverage a day (either sugar sweetened or diet) every day for a week; then try to cut out one more each day. Continue until you’re drinking primarily unsweetened drinks with just the occasional sweet beverage.

Tags: beverages, diet soda, flavored water, pregnancy, premature birth

Just saw a GMA segment about the “humiliation diet.”  In case you hadn’t heard of it, and it was new to me, it’s bloggers and tweeters who write everything they eat at every moment of the day along with a tracking of their weight. To see it in action, check out tweetwhatyoueat.com. Not really a diet at all but sort of a public conscience to keep the writers honest and on track. The latest fad diet or a legitimate way to take the pounds off? I say it could be either so proceed but with some caution: could be a useful tool for dieters who need extreme accountability for their eating actions. As a registered dietitian, I always have clients use a food journal to track eating, primarily for the purpose of being accountable and perhaps enlightened about what is going in his or her mouth. The “humiliation diet” is pretty much the 21st Century, social networking, more public version. HOWEVER, the drawbacks could be extreme as well. If advice and feedback is being given by others without real knowledge of nutrition, it could lead to a lot of dietary misinformation and potentially dangerous eating behaviors. In no way should blogging and tweeting your food intake and weight be in place of a consultation and dietary prescription from a health professional. BOTTOMLINE: if it helps you stay on track and you desire the online component, go ahead and publically post your food journal and weight. But, use extreme caution when listening to any information or changing your diet based on the advice of others in the online community. Always check with a health professional, preferably a registered dietitian, when making dietary changes.

Tags: blogging, food journal, GMA, humiliation diet, tweating food intake, weight loss

I just turned another year older and celebrated my wedding anniversary — the numbers are getting higher and are making me uncomfortable.  I hate to admit it, but this year, my birthday stung.  My bedside table is now covered with self help books, discussing the meaning of life, happiness, staying in the moment, what it all means, etc.  I find myself running from one thing to the next and never really enjoying the present.  Looking back, I also now realize that life is accelerating and time is racing past — and my kids are getting so big.  I am in desperate need of slowing down time. Motivated by the feeling that life is slipping away, I decided to create my Stay Young list.  It is a compilation of all the research studies I read everyday, the philosophical books I’ve read, the things that fulfill me, and my life’s lessons learned along the way.  I thought maybe other moms may be grappling with the same issues, so I thought I would share my list. If you feel the same way, I hope my list will help motivate you to slow down and create a list that works for you.

These activities are not in order of importance –

1. Simplify my life — drop any unnecessary commitments, say no, plan out the week

2. 20 minutes of quiet everyday — either meditate, listen to music, close eyes, read book

3. Wake up 15 minutes earlier and pray and meditate

4. Eat at least 5 servings of foods that help with blood flow everyday - these include the flavonoid containing foods, omega-3’s and monounsaturated fats

-berries, soy, garlic/onions, dark chocolate (10g), grape juice made with skin (Welch’s) or red wine 1 glass, olive oil 1 Tbsp, salmon or tuna, green tea…etc.

5. Yoga at least once a week

6. Swim twice a week (other days jog, spin and weights)

7. Play with kids for at least 20 minutes everyday

8. Write my husband a gratitude or love thought everyday and seal with perfume

This is what I am going to do to stay young — let me know if you have your own staying young list.

Tags: antiaging, baby fat diet, health, moms, nutrition, stay young, wellness

Did you gain more weight than you were “supposed to” during your pregnancy?  For the majority of women the answer is probably yes. I base this on anecdotal evidence from friends, clients and according to my OB (he says just about everyone he sees gains more than they are “supposed to”). Here’s a good article with one woman’s struggle. One reason why is that the recommended 25-35 pound gain is only for women with a BMI less than 25 or what is said to be “a healthy weight” before they got pregnant. Only about 1/3 of women in the U.S. fall into this category. If a woman is overweight or obese, meaning her BMI is greater than 25 or 30, before she gets pregnant than she should gain less during her pregnancy. 11-20 pounds is the recommended weight gain currently for obese women and 15-25 for overweight women — some experts say the recs should be lowered even more. A women who is 5′2″ and 137 pounds has a BMI of 25.1, considered overweight and if she’s 165 pounds or more, she’s considered obese.

So chances are you need to gain less weight than you think. And why is it important? The less you gain during pregnancy, the less you’ll have to take off afterwards. You knew that, right? But, I can’t tell you how many friends and clients ignore the knowledge and gain upwards of 50 pounds, by eating ice cream and Oreos, only to regret every bit of it when it’s time to take it off.  So, if you’re currently pregnant or even just thinking about getting pregnant, get your diet in good shape. If you have weight to lose from your last pregnancy, that’s okay, following The Baby Fat Diet will help you take off the weight and eat healthfully. Then keep up with your healthy eating habits and ignore the little devil on your shoulder telling you Ben & Jerry’s is okay since you’re “eating for two.” That’s a myth, only about 300 calories a day extra for just trimester 2 and 3 is really what you should be getting. After all, how many bites of ice cream can you have for 300 calories, not much!

Tags: calories, obese, overweight, pregnancy, The Baby Fat Diet, weight gain, weight gain recommendations, weight loss

A new study finds that there may be a link between a “Western” (aka junky, highly processed) diet and ADHD in kids. The researchers followed 1800 kids until the age of 14 and found that the kids who ate a more processed food diet, high in saturated fat, salt and sugar and low in fresh fruits and vegetables were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the kids who ate a healthy diet rich in unsaturated fats, fiber and whole grains. Now, it’s hard to say if kids who have ADHD are more likely to eat the junkier diet — maybe they are more picky or parents dealing with the diagnosis have enough on their plate without the time to cook fresh foods — or if it’s the other way around. No matter. It’s worth trying to get everyone in your family eating a healthier pattern, rich in whole grains, fruits and veggies and the healthy fats from vegetable oils and minimizing the amount of drive thru, takeout and eating out. This diet is healthier for everyone’s hearts and waistlines and it may even lower the risk of ADHD in your kids.

Tags: ADHD, Healthy diet, kids, processed foods, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, Western diet

I love fresh food and decided last year to begin growing my own produce.  Now, I do not have a green thumb and am sorry to admit that I have contributed to the demise of many beautiful flowers and plants.  In trying to figure out why, I read that it might not be me at all, it may be that my soil is not nutrient rich.  So, for the past year, I have thrown all my produce scraps, lawn clippings and stinky organic fertilizer on my soil plot to get the soil rich with nutrients and ready to plant seeds this fall.  I know, It is a very lazy way to manage a compost heap, since all I do at the end of each day is toss my produce scraps over the fence, hoping it hits the soil.  I also occasionally spread some putrid smelling organic fertilizer and my husband dumps all the lawn scraps on my pile.  Well, I am surprised and overjoyed to report to you that about two weeks ago my mom discovered that my soil plot/compost heap was already growing tomatoes, cantaloupes and butternut squash.  We could not stop laughing as I have not planted anything yet.  They are growing from my table scraps.  So, if this is something you have dreamt about — maybe try it yourself.  I call this method, “gardening for dummies.”  As a result of the many tomatoes that I pick from my garden every other day, we eat tomato and fresh mozzarella salad every day – I want to share the recipe with you.  Let me know what you think.

Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Salad Recipe

1 cup organic cherry or plum tomatoes cut in half

2 oz fresh mozzarella cut into cubes

1 tbsp fresh basil leaves chopped

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tbsp kosher salt

Tags: baby fat diet, compost, family health, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato salad, gardening, healthy eating, weight loss

Weight Watchers? Jenny Craig? Low fat? Low carb? Count calories? What’s the right approach for taking off the pregnancy pounds? The answer is: it depends. The method that will work for taking off the weight is the one that will fit into your life and with your personality. Perhaps you need structure with the food all preportioned so you don’t have to read labels or prepare meals. Or maybe you need the flexibility to eat out. Perhaps you’re not a planner or your day is very chaotic and it’s easier for you to take it one meal or one snack at a time.    

I have two friends that are working on taking off their pregnancy weight and both have 50-75 pounds to lose. One is counting points with Weight Watchers and the other is ordering food from Jenny Craig. Both are losing weight. Maintaining the weight loss is the challenge ahead.  

I am working with a client who finds counting calories to be most effective. She’s lost 17 pounds so far. She follows a schedule of breakfast (400 calories), snack (150 calories), lunch (400 calories), snack (150 calories), dinner (500 calories). The calories come from foods with a good balance of high fiber carbs, protein and unsaturated fat. She keeps a food journal to stay on course but is getting fatigued of it.  

All three approaches are fairly healthy but the key is that they need to be able to work it into their life so they can do it for the long term and maintain the weight loss. Studies support the idea that various diets can be effective for taking off the weight — whether it’s low carb, low fat, or counting calories, they may all work. To keep the weight off, the key is to eat in a way you can stick with for the rest of your life. That’s why keeping weight off is much harder than losing it. For tips to help you find that balance and keep the weight off - no matter which method or diet you choose - read The Baby Fat Diet.

Tags: counting calories, low carb, low fat, take off pregnancy pounds

A new study from Johns Hopkins University finds that eating a high fat diet when nursing may lead to an overweight baby and potential health problems, like diabetes, later on.  The research, done on rats, is preliminary, however, knowing that breastmilk composition varies based on the mom’s diet, it seems feasible that too much fat would impact baby’s weight. Interestingly, the researchers found that the diet during nursing made more of a difference on the baby’s weight than the diet during pregnancy. Bottomline: Eating a high fat diet isn’t good for you or your weight loss efforts anyway. So, if you’re nursing, stick to a healthy, well balanced diet, like the one we recommend in The Baby Fat Diet. You’ll get leaner and your baby will be healthier for it.

Tags: baby fat diet, baby's weight, breastfeeding, diet, high fat diet, Johns Hopkins University, nursing

If you’re in a food rut, where you eat the same few things week after week, a great way to break free is to go to a farmer’s market. Explore the beautiful and often different (from the grocery store) produce then take something new home and look up a recipe online. I found some absolutely amazing looking Rainbow Chard at the farmer’s market and found a simple recipe online that even my kids would try. I chopped the chard and sauteed it in a little olive oil with minced ginger until the chard wilted down and then drizzled on a touch of real maple syrup. Another new veggie we tried was kohl rabi, which looks like a giant radish on the outside but is white fleshed and crisp on the inside. Peel, chop and toss on your salad. It reminded me a little of fennel or celery root, but I liked the flavor better. And by having the kids come to the farmer’s market with me, they were anxous and willing to try all our new pickins. Talk about breaking free of a mac & cheese food rut and exploring new, healthy foods. 

I still have a bunch of kale we bought and plan to bake it into “kale chips.” Really it’s spraying the kale with olive oil, sprinkling with a pinch of salt and baking in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy. My kids can’t wait to try kale chips! Ahh, the power of marketing.

Tags: farmer's market, food rut, kale, khol rabi, rainbow chard