Tryptophan, Serotonin and Melatonin

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid (protein building block the body cannot make). It is high in many protein rich foods, like turkey. Tryptophan helps build muscle like other amino acids, but it is also a specific precursor of serotonin. Nearly all serotonin is in the gut where it regulates GI movement, but about 20% is actually dispersed in the central nervous system (CNS) where it regulates mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory and learning. Some serotonin can become melatonin, which regulates your sleep/wake cycles.

Besides turkey, your starchy foods like rolls, potatoes and stuffing have something to do with the “food coma” that ensues. The insulin your pancreas releases after eating carbs does its job, which is partially to pull essential amino acids into muscle (yay for muscle building), but there is one lonely amino acid that doesn’t go into cells…  tryptophan. This amino acid didn’t get an invite to the party, and so left alone in the blood it increases serotonin levels and sleep eventually comes along.

Perhaps the real question is “Who cares? What’s wrong with enjoying a hearty meal with family and napping yourself into a more relaxed and carefree state, at least for a day?” If you ask me, we don’t really rest enough and enjoy our families as we should. Our inability to slow down does more to wreck our weight management hormones than one gut-busting, coma-inducing turkey dinner. Nevertheless, your best bet is balance. Strike a “happy middle” with the desire to enjoy food and the urge to overeat.

Here’s are some Turkey Day Eating Tips:

• Most meals are 1000+ calories per plate! So stick to one plate, and that’s it. Include some green vegetables on that plate. Take a little of everything that looks good and enjoy each bite. You shouldn’t need a fork lift to lift your fork!

• Start with a healthy breakfast – stay full with oatmeal made with cranberries and walnuts and have a morning snack of a handful of nuts and low-fat cheese. Try this recipe for Simple Mashed Cranberries.

• Don’t compete for the award for biggest plate and cleanest plate. Just enjoy the conversation and company. This is not about the food. It’s about people.

• Instead of seconds, have a cup of hot peppermint or ginger tea to aid in digestion and put off the dessert a couple hours.

• Make a “top crust” apple pie with thinly sliced apples. They bake crispy and people love the look and it has less guilt!

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How to Avoid the Thanksgiving Food Coma

That’s why we’re sharing our favorite healthy holiday recipes in our first cookbook. The DietsInReview.com Holiday Cookbook is available from TasteBook and features 25 recipes that offer all the traditional flavors of the season, with less of the guilt, fat and calories.

Inside this colorful hardback cookbook we’re sharing appetizers, desserts, entrees and sides that will help you set a healthier scene as you and your family gather to give thanks and celebrate the season. These recipes are ideal for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other winter event.

And since it comes from TasteBook, you can add up to 75 more of your own family favorites and personalize each recipe page to create a one-of-a-kind holiday cookbook.

Order your DietsInReview.com Holiday Cookbook to start preparing healthy recipes yourself, or share the gift of wholesome food with a loved one. The book comes with 25 DietsInReview.com recipes, plus credits to add 75 pages of your own, for $34.95.

Visit TasteBook now to preview the cookbook and order.

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DietsInReview.com’s Holiday Cookbook Shares Healthy Recipes

As the mother of six children, and a weight loss success story herself, Carmen is all too familiar with managing a household, her health, and the needs of the other busy bodies in her home. She’s a real mom who gets it, who has figured out how to make it all work, and will help you find your way there, too.

Sign-up now, and then learn more about the Mom to Mom Newsletter.

Each month you can expect to see family-friendly recipes, ways to get fit together, and learn about activities that bring the family closer together. Proving good health depends on more than just what you’re eating, it’s about the happiness and well-being of the whole family.

Look for your first Mom to Mom Newsletter before Thanksgiving, as Carmen helps you prepare to celebrate and offer thanks in a more healthful way.

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Announcing New Mom to Mom Newsletter

Watch my video review of the small Coke cans and another new product, Sprite Green, sweetened naturally with Truvia, the sweetener made from the Stevia plant. Sprite Green has 70 calories in 12 ounces.

If you are someone who is trying to lose weight and know you are drinking too many liquid calorie beverages, this may be just the solution you need to help cut back. These may also be a good idea for parents who don’t want to give their kids artificial sweeteners or a “big soda.” They will be sold in packs of eight at grocery stores nationwide.

I think this is a step in the right direction. When you are trying to lose weight, you need to nourish yourself, and too many sweetened beverages get in the way of getting healthy foods that fuel your body. Cutting portions and calories are important strategies. So now you have no excuse. If you love your sodas, get the smaller cans, sip, and save calories.

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Food Finds: Sprite Green and Mini Cokes

Dishes at Mexican restaurants are usually on the larger side with the addition of rice and beans accompanying the meal. To help prevent overeating, I would first suggest ordering a house salad, which should entail tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and some avocado for your healthy fat. This starter salad will also help in the avoidance of eating the full entree when it arrives or you can ask for half the portion to be put in a to-go container.

Some terms that you should look to avoid on the menu are: fried, crispy, refried, breaded and cheese. Instead look for items that are baked or grilled and request sauces on the side so you can control the amount on your food.

Avoid sour cream or any additional toppings that will add to a higher and unhealthy caloric intake, but feel free to include fresh salsa, as this provides a great boost of vegetables with vitamins and minerals.

Mexican entree recommendations and tips:

1. Fajitas – These are a great option, as the dish comes freshly grilled with toppings and tortillas on the side. This is the perfect opportunity to be in full control as you build your meal. My recommendation is to ditch the tortillas and eat the fajitas as is with some salsa and light guacamole topping.

2. Burrito – This loaded meal can be healthy with a few revisions. Try ordering, as many restaurants term, a “burrito bowl” or “naked burrito,” which means no tortilla. Also, specify no cheese, no sour cream, and request the guacamole on the side. As a finishing touch you can replace the rice with lettuce or include brown rice as opposed to white or Mexican rice.

3. Grilled Proteins – For any entree choice choose grilled chicken, fish, or lean meat as these are excellent sources of protein, which help to keep you feeling full longer.

4. Tortillas – When including tortillas in your meal, choose corn or whole-wheat over flour tortillas, as they have less calories and fat and are higher in fiber.

Stay tuned next week as the How to Dine Out Series continues with “How to Dine out: Thai.”

Check-out these healthy Mexican recipes:

• Black Bean Mushroom Quesadillas
• Chicken and Red Chili Tamales
• Pork Fajita Pitas
• Turkey Corn Tacos with Fresh Salsa and Beans
• Strawberry Salsa
• Raspberry Margarita

Sign-up for Amy’s monthly Natural Health Newsletter.

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How to Dine Out: Mexican

Plus, as a bonus, all four family members receive a makeover by Rachael’s own fashion and style guru Gretta Monahan, who revamps their looks and wardrobe to highlight their new slimmer selves.

Rachael then dishes up a delicious and healthy pasta meal that is loaded with all of the right stuff.

Check your local listings for show times.

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Tune In: Rachael Ray Hosts a Family Who Lost 500 Pounds

We’re pleased to announce that DietsInReview.com has partnered with traineoPLUS to deliver a robust weight loss tool that is sure to help men and women alike better manage their new lifestyles.

Based on the scientifically-proven idea that those who regularly record their weight loss efforts are much more likely to reach their goals, and maintain them, traineoPLUS gives its users greater detail and information allowing them even greater opportunity for success. This is because traineoPLUS was created by a team of weight loss experts who have embraced the power of visualization. Recording your weight loss (and gain) each day, you’ll be presented with a highly valuable graph that presents your projected weight loss, what you should do to modify your habits to continue that progress, and the date at which you should reach the goal.

Users receive a daily progress report that explains how much they have left to lose, how much they’ve lost, days to goal and their calorie deficit. Plus, those daily progress reports come with informative and motivational articles, provided exclusively by DietsInReview.com’s expert team, to give users even more insight on how to manage their fitness, diet and behavioral changes.

Together, traineoPLUS with DietsInReview.com have partnered to give users a valuable experience that has one goal – helping you to reach your ultimate weight loss goal in a healthy and sustainable way.

Watch this traineoPLUS demo to see the program in action, narrated by Alasdair McLean-Foreman, traineo’s CEO.

traineoPLUS from traineo on Vimeo.

Click here to learn more or sign-up for traineoPLUS.

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Announcing traineoPLUS Launch with DietsInReview.com

So the theory goes that there are foods that provide negative calories, presumably because the calories it takes to digest the foods are greater than the calories in the food. While it is true that digesting food burns calories, it is not true that any food has negative calories.

Thermic Effect of Food

The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is the reason for the whole “negative calories” concept. TEF represents the energy expenditure above resting metabolism that contributes to digestion and storage of food. In other words, you put energy in (burn calories) to get energy out (calories available from digested food).

However, the TEF is generally estimated about 10% of all calories consumed. You really don’t calculate it for individual foods. Instead, you estimate it based on all the calories for the day. So a 1,500 calorie day uses 150 calories to digest and store food. Because of their fiber content, veggies have a higher thermic effect at 20% of calories consumed, but it still doesn’t pass 100% so it can’t have negative calories.

The other reason food can’t take credit for “negative calories” is that TEF is included in the calculations that estimate a person’s energy needs – total metabolism. Besides TEF, the other components are resting metabolic rate (RMR – calories burned at rest, lying down, and practically sleeping) and also daily exercise/daily living activities (deliberate exercise or normal activities like house cleaning). So when you’re figuring out the calories you need for weight loss, TEF is already accounted for.

Love Low Calorie, Whole Foods

If you feel bummed like the day you learned Santa wasn’t real, turn that frown upside down. Focus on the fact that vegetables and fruits are naturally low in calories and they have vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals your body needs to stay healthy. You have to eat 12 large celery stalks to get 100 calories. That’s a LOT of celery to choke down. However, only four Hershey kisses and you’ve reached 100 calories – a much smaller volume.

So piling up on veggies will nourish you and fill you up without taking a chunk out of your daily calorie budget. You’ll also feel more energy and you’ll be happy knowing you are taking good care of yourself! Don’t worry about the small nuances such as TEF. They really don’t matter in the big picture.

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Negative Calorie Foods Are Just Another Diet Myth

If you’re attending the conference, you can expect:

A fun and energetic yoga class specifically designed for bloggers and writers whose passion for sharing their expertise as health advocates finds them sitting behind computers for way too long. With a focus on posture, shoulder alignment, and lower back strength, the class will raise heart rates, stretch hamstrings and lighten the mind. All levels are welcome.

FitBloggin’ is the brainchild of Roni from Roni’s Weigh, a guest author we’ve featured several times and a fantastic weight loss success story in her own right. It’s sure to be a worthwhile time in Baltimore next spring (March 20, 2010).

Learn more about FitBloggin‘.

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Heather Ashare to Host Yoga for Bloggers at FitBloggin’

Canned beans

Not just the “musical fruit,” beans provide complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. In fact, a one-cup serving provides one-third of your day’s protein needs, half your fiber needs, and 65% of your folate needs (an important B-complex vitamin that helps prevent osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, anemia, and homocysteine buildup in the blood). For less than a dollar a can, you can-not go wrong! Try cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils and black-eyed peas. You can buy them with no salt added, low sodium, or rinse them before use to remove about half the salt.

Recipe ideas: add to salads, home-made bean dip, three bean chili, and breakfast burritos.

Frozen fruits and veggies

I’d love to highlight one particular fruit or vegetable, but the bottom line is they are all good choices! Frozen fruits and veggies are picked and minimally processed at their peak freshness. Freezing does not diminish the nutrition quality. Fruits and vegetables are “very good to excellent” sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber that help keep your body healthy. They are very low in calories too, so they help you lose weight without having to eat tiny portions. One cup of most fruits and veggies have less than 50 calories! Think about that, how full are you going to get from two cups of fruit and veggies versus the “100 calorie packs?” There’s no comparison.

Just glance at the nutrition facts label and ingredients list. Look for frozen fruits with no sugar added and look for veggies with little to no salt added. There are some great frozen veggies that come with a light sauce, just make sure the fat and sodium don’t diminish the health benefits.

Recipe ideas: thaw frozen corn and mix with canned beans and canned diced tomatoes for a quick side dish, steam broccoli and top with lemon zest, make breakfast or dessert smoothies with a cup of frozen fruit and a half-cup of low-fat milk or plain yogurt.

Canned fish

Canned fish is a low cost way to gain a lot of heart-healthy nutrition. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least twice a week because it’s a good source of protein and low in saturated fat. Fatty fish, including trout, sardines, tuna, and salmon, are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Recipe ideas: toss canned salmon in with scrambled eggs and serve over half a whole wheat English muffin with a side of fruit for a balanced breakfast, mix canned tuna with low-fat plain yogurt, celery, and onion for a quick and low-fat tuna salad served in a pita with tomato.

What are some of YOUR favorite canned and frozen food finds and how do you use them to eat healthier and manage your weight?

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Affordable Nutrition in Frozen and Canned Foods