DIET COLUMN

Being married to a Chef, I thought I knew a thing or two about cooking. Boy was I wrong!

To provide a bit of background, I was making risotto for the boys, and discovered I was out of butter. Just as a professional chef would, I usually add a tablespoon of butter at the finish to add a creamy sheen to the risotto, and bind the grains together. Without the butter, I thought to myself, this risotto is going to be inedible. My boys won’t eat it. My husband will laugh at me, etc.

Expectantly, I looked once more into the fridge, hoping a forlorn stick of butter would magically appear. Instead, what caught my eye was a container of low-fat yogurt, that I had purchased because I wanted to make yogurt cheese. For a moment, I wondered, could this work? Desperately, I added two large tablespoons of yogurt to the risotto, and stirred it in. I could not believe my eyes as the yogurt had exactly the same effect as butter, without the fat and cholesterol. I was thrilled, and hoped you would find this discovery equally wonderful.

For other great ways to use low fat yogurt, check out this awesome recipe for seafood salad dressing. With springtime fast approaching, this creamy dressing tossed with seafood, cucumber and celery is a great dinner idea for those lighter meals that we crave in warmer weather.

People who have issues with gluten may have some relief. There’s been an enzyme identified that degrades gluten in laboratory studies. This means if you have a problems with foods containing gluten (cereals, breads) you may be able to occasionally indulge. Celiac Disease affects a very small percentage of people. But when it does, people who aren’t aware of their body’s intolerance of gluten experience symptoms like diarrhea and fatigue. There are gluten-free diet programs to help assist people with the disease.

Now here’s some breaking news… losing weight by diet or exercise is good for your heart health. Sarcasm aside, the crux of this study is that no matter how you lose the weight - whether you do it by diet or exercise - it doesn’t matter; you can return to a youthful heart. Excess weight and obesity have been shown to affect the heart’s elasticity. You can get back relaxed heart muscles by losing those excess pounds.

Fast-food chains have definitely taken a beating in the past few years particularly following the release of the explosive documentary, “Super Size Me.” Given the recent Swedish findings that a diet high in fattening fast food choices can not only add on pounds, but can also damage the liver is another red check mark for these restaurant conglomerates. t

It’s been quite some time since I’ve had a full meal at a fast-food chain. I do admit though to zipping through the drive-thru every now and then to pick up a McDonald’s ice cream cone, especially during the summer. Today, most fast-food restaurants offer a few low-fat options, but how many of fast food diners eat them? Do you order a grilled chicken breast salad because it’s your own preference for lunch or is it because you happen to be with a group of people who have chosen a fast-food joint as their place of eating and you don’t want the usual fare of burger and fries? All judgments of fast-food restaurants aside, I am just very curious about the reasons.

First, let me give a snapshot of episode six, which I managed to not blog about last weeks. Due to some technical difficulties I didn’t get to catch the show until right before last night’s Biggest Loser came on. So, Episode 6: Mark the mean little shark on the blue team won the chocolate-candy temptation giving him the power to trade team members. He chose to keep the teams exactly as they were. The black team continued their “little engine that could” mentality, frequently referring to themselves as “David” and the blue team as “Goliath.”  They certainly aren’t exaggerating there. But the black team has buckets more heart that the blue team- that’s where they get their edge. I thoroughly enjoyed the cook-off for Chef Rocco. That’s one element that’s missing from Biggest Loser that I wish they’d give a few minutes to in each episode- the food and recipes. It’s obviously an important subject and something that people watching at home could probably more easily implement than attempting to approach those exercises unsupervised. So the little engine did it- black team won the challenge and the weigh in, with sweet little Bernie taking Biggest Loser of the week! Don’t you just want to pinch his cheeks? He’s adorable. Back on track… the blue team went down in a blaze of dispute and glory as they all agreed to send Trent home and then turned around and voted Momma Jackie out. Dan… Jackie… Not. Happy. But they played it cool and….

… enter Episode 7 from last night. Dan decided if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. He “told” them he was over it and that he forgave the guys for letting his mom go after they had “sworn on their children’s lives” that they’d save Jackie. Looks like Mark, Jay, Roger and Trent had their fingers crossed behind their backs. So the Goliath team pulled it back together and put their head back in the game. Black team was coming down off their high of beating Blue when they headed to their challenge. They had to support the amount of weight they’d lost so far while balancing over a lake. Allison, the host, was giving her always too-dramatic play-by-play of the event. But it’s reality TV and that’s her job, so I’ve learned to just accept it. Mark the mean little shark totally snapped at her basically telling her to be quiet, to stop over dramatizing everything because this wasn’t a soap opera. So shocked! Moments later Mark was the first to fall in and soon after all of the black team was in the water helping the Blue team to win yet another challenge over Goliath. Go David!

They were still all sweating it heading into the weigh in. Which turned out to be the most jaw-dropping weigh in yet. Blue was picked to win since Black had last week and the coaches continued to remind us that you can’t lose that kind of weight two weeks in a row. So it wasn’t that they had lost that amount of weight two weeks in a row that helped the Black team win a second weigh-in, but that the Blue team didn’t pull that kind of weight. Jay weighed in and missed the win by one measly pound. ONE! While everyone was reeling from that, Coach Bob walked out. When you’re the coach- do you get to do that? I thought you had to stand strong and support your team through thick and then. Rather, he left them there hanging.

You’ve never seen a bigger group of men cry than when they sat in the elimination room to say goodbye to Trent. He’s one I believe will go home and come back Biggest Loser at-home winner. He’d lost more than any other contestant at 80-some pounds and more than anyone, his head and heart were in Biggest Loser for all the right reasons.

Next week- They are sending everyone home. What looks to be a week-long temptation at their own homes around their old vices and crutches. The previews do not make it look pretty… devastating in fact.

Cry of the Week- NONE! No tears this week. Too much drama.

Quote of the Week- Something about Jillian calling Bernie her “little monkey” just made me giggle.

I’m forever being accused of being too “positive”. Some people have gone so far as to question whether or not my sunny outlook is “genuine”. I suppose in a negative world, someone who is always happy go-lucky can be a bit disarming. However, I am proof positive that positive self-talk is a learned habit; and one that can help you shed those unwanted pounds.

As a child in the 60s, divorce was rampant and my situation was no exception. My mom and I didn’t have much, but I never knew it, because my Mom always focused on the positive. She always told me we were going to make it, and be successful, and you know what? We did it. She just recently retired from a very successful 40 year career in the mortgage industry, and I am principal of my second company, each started with little or no capital investment.

I have a friend who calls herself a “fat little girl”. No doubt, she heard this from her caretakers, and has made it part of her vocabulary. She is now dealing with Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and Arthritis in her knees, and while she is an extremely successful businesswoman in a cut-throat industry, she has always been overweight, and most likely, always will be.

Psychologists assert that positive self-talk can be taught through “cognitive restructuring”. For a free “mind tool” resource, click here, and join the positive self-talk club!

You can also learn more about emotional eating at the mental ties to weight with Shrink Yourself.

Each year, a new crop of fad diets is introduced to the public. Most of these diets disappear soon after, only to be replaced by the new crop. It’s an endless cycle largely because the amount we weigh and how we appear to others is always on our minds. Ironically, while data suggests that our nation’s citizens seem to be losing the struggle with their weight, there has been an unprecedented demand for new and exciting diets.

In 2007, a new diet took America by storm. Coined the Martha’s Vineyard Diet, it promised its followers a way they could lose 21 pounds in 21 days. News of the diet spread like wildfire. Soon, many popular media channels (such as Larry King Live) began profiling the diet. But, beneath the hype and media, the Martha’s Vineyard Diet does something differently than most diets.

Understanding The Diet
Instead of focusing on eating certain food groups, avoiding others, or shunning food altogether in order to lose weight, the Martha’s Vineyard Diet is centered around detoxifying the body. According to the diet, cleansing the body of harmful toxins is the most effective way to lose weight. The diet’s author, Roni DeLuz, claims that by constantly flushing the body with liquids, a person can remove the toxins that hinder the metabolism. In theory, once the toxins are removed and a person’s metabolism speeds up, the body can burn through fat more efficiently, paving the way for rapid weight loss.

How The Martha’s Vineyard Diet Works
Those who choose to go on this diet can do so for 2 days, 7 days, or the entire 21 days. Dieters are to drink liquids (water, vegetable juice, homemade soups, etc.) every 2 hours to cleanse their bodies. Exercise while on the diet includes yoga, walking and other routines that are approved by the dieter’s doctor. After undergoing this detoxification process for 21 days, dieters are encouraged to slowly begin introducing normal foods back into their bodies. The reason for going slowly, according to the diet’s author, is to allow the body to “normalize” after detoxifying. Foods that are high in saturated fat will likely be rejected if introduced too quickly.

Experts Claim The Diet Works, But…
Experts readily agree that a person can lose weight rapidly while on the Martha’s Vineyard Diet. However, they claim that much of the weight loss experienced by dieters may be the result of reduced caloric intake during the 21-day detoxification process. In fact, it’s possible that detoxifying your body so rapidly can actually result in a higher fat composition in the body. This can happen because the body begins to burn muscle as a source of protein.

The Final Word On Health And Dieting
While the Martha’s Vineyard Diet can cause a person to lose weight, it’s important to realize the benefit of a proper diet. Detoxifying your body is ultimately good, but rapid detoxification can have negative results. In the end, a proper diet that avoids processed foods and limits saturated fats along with exercise may be the best way to lose weight and remain healthy.

Article by Damon Zahariades 

If you want to save the environment, you have the power not only in your finger tips, but in your legs as well. There’s an incredible new invention, and it’s “power to the people,” quite literally. Scientists have designed a leg brace that can harness power from your walking as a power source in place of the current less environmentally friendly methods. It’s a bit pricey at the moment. But like all new things, costs will go down.

Here’s a great quote: “We store enough energy in fat to charge a 1,000 kilogram battery.” The research has spawned a start up company called Bionic Power. It reportedly has seed money, but no venture capital just yet to produce the first Six Million Dollar Man. The idea of these becoming commonplace opens up an interesting debate. If they are as common as cell phones, will it become a moral imperative for everyone to put in their exercise for environmental reasons? Or will it just be a nice byproduct of your walking routine? Only time will tell.

It has taken me a while to warm up to the concept, but I am a new Pilates fanatic. Maybe it’s that I now work from home, after 20 years in the restaurant business. Thankfully, I find myself slowing down enough to be conscious about my body; and consciousness is what Pilates is all about. I did some research, and found out something new and I wanted to share it with you.

I had always heard that Pilates was created as a workout for dancers, but that is simply not the case! According to Wikipedia, the creator, Joseph Pilates, designed the program during WWI to help returning, injured vets regain movement and health. He believed that the mind could control the muscles, and that deep, cleansing breathing was just as important as any exercise.

What I found most interesting is he seemed to articulate the concept of chi, or energy flow, without using the term. He designed his activities to redirect blood flow, which Chinese medicine calls chi or “qi”. It has been my experience that when I am ill, or having trouble losing weight, I look no further than a possible case of stuck “chi”, and with the aid of acupuncture, vitality is restored.

What can cause stuck “chi”? Funny you should ask, because it is usually the mind! Hmmm… Joseph Pilates made the mind-body connection, and the Chinese made it thousands of years before. Westerners are just beginning to wake to the idea. Still need convincing? Check out a diet here that provides some very credible evidence for the mind-weight loss connection.

Ok, so your trainer just beat you up at the gym or you stretched your downward-dog a little bit too far in yesterday’s yoga class and now you’re feeling the burn. Instead of reaching for the ibuprofen and Bengay, have you ever tried the topical ointment, Arnica? Arnica, a pain-relief cream that comes from the plant Arnica Montana has been used as a natural remedy for aches, pains, inflammation and bruises for over 500 years. Arnica comes in either a cream or tincture form and it is safe when used topically at the prescribed dosages for short-term use only. Prolonged use has been shown to cause skin irritation. It can be picked up at your local health food store. Talk to your primary care physician about it the next you’re in for a routine visit.