Pub food recommendations and tips:

• Salads – Naturally a salad may sound like the healthiest choice, but that can quickly change with what is included in that salad along with the dressing. If the chicken is fried or there is fried ground beef in a taco salad along with a ranch or creamy dressing you are looking at a whopping 800+ calories for one meal. Request to have items grilled and dressings be put on the side.

• Burgers – The selection of burger offerings and toppings can provide a wide variety of choice. A turkey burger is a great alternative with leaner meat contributing to fewer grams of fat and calories. If a beef burger is a must, cut down on the toppings you choose including mayonnaise, cheese, bacon and other condiments and fill it with extra veggies. You may even try it without the bun!

• The Sides – Most entrees come with a choice of fries or onion rings, but as mentioned above, don’t be afraid to mix and match your meals. Substitute the regular side with an order of rice, vegetables or even a baked potato.

• Liquid Calories – Whatever your alcoholic drink of choice, calories can add up quickly. Try to keep the number of drinks to a minimum and stick with lighter beers that will help keep the calorie count for an average drink lower. When drinking wine or mixed drinks, beware of the size of the glass; a larger glass per drink could have you doubling your calorie count per drink without realizing it. (Learn more about the calories in alcohol.)

Try making healthier versions of your favorite pub food at home:

• Swap nachos for the Southwestern Chicken PileUp
• Swap fried for these Stuffed Mushrooms
• Swap bean dip and queso for this 7 Layer Dip
• Swap beef burgers for this Mediterranean Turkey Burger
• Swap fried wings for these Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Swap chicken strips and fries for Winning Fried Chicken and Parmesan Pepper Sweet Potato Fries

This concludes our “How to Dine Out” series. I hope you enjoyed learning about how to eat better in Mexican, Thai, Italian, Chinese and Pub Food restaurants. If you have a genre you would like to hear more about post a comment with your genre and I will be happy to write another blog post to continue the series.

Up next is my weekly series on vitamins. I’ll be touching on the most commonly known and needed vitamins our bodies need and how to get them in your system whether through foods or supplementation. Stay tuned for this new series to kick off next week!

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How to Dine Out: Pub Food

A recently released study proves that moderate female drinkers, those who imbibe more than 45 drinks a month (which seems like a lot of drinking, although it really only averages out to just shy of 1.5 glasses of wine a night) exercised 14 more minutes per week on average than those light drinkers who drank one to 14 drinks in the month. These women also reported exercising on average 20 minutes more than those who abstained from alcohol altogether. Also, drinkers of both sexes were 10 percent more likely than their sober peers to exercise vigorously in any given week.

Even more interesting, those who don’t drink alcohol and don’t exercise have a 30-49% increased risk of heart disease than those who either drink, exercise or both. I wonder what the correlation might be? After all, I’d assume that people with heavy exercise habits would also have a clean record of healthy living. It seems counter intuitive to spend hours at the gym and then kill the effort with alcohol intake. It could be that those who drink feel a need to burn off the extra calories, or maybe a person might chose to exercise just so they can drink a bit more.

It could be that those with an aggressive exercise habit are thrill seekers and the alcohol helps to fill that need. It could be the “runner’s high” that many report feeling with exercise, and the feelings you get when you drink are similar. Or it could just be coincidence – but it surely does make for an interesting topic, doesn’t it?

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Moderate Alcohol Consumption Yields Increased Exercise

Dr. Carolyn A. McCarty of Seattle Children’s Research Institute and her colleagues conducted the first study to look at how theses three problems relate to each other over years in the life of young adults.

They also found that almost half of the women and the men suffered from at least one of the problems between the ages of 21 and 30. The study was very extensive, as it has been following its subjects since 1985 (they were in the fifth grade at the time).

Looking at men compared to women, at 21-years old, eight percent of women and 12 percent of men had at least two of the three problems. As they got older, having multiple problems became more common, but less so for the men.

Here’s a look at how the unhealthy descent worked for the women in the study:

• Women who were depressed at 27-years old were more than three times as likely to abuse alcohol at age 30
• Women who had alcohol abuse problems at 24-years old were nearly four times as likely to be obese at age 27
• Being obese at 27-years old more than doubled the risk of depression at age 30
• Being in a lower-income bracket was an equal opportunity criteria, as both men and women were at greater risk of depression and obesity

Yale psychologist Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksma referred to the three problems as a “toxic triangle” of “eating, drinking and over thinking.”

(via: Yahoo)

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Obesity, Alcohol, Depression: Toxic Combo for Women

1. Dieting at Night – The key to weight loss is eating, believe it or not. You need to fuel your body with healthy food during the day, starting with breakfast and have a lighter dinner; then let the dieting begin right when you are winding down. I usually tell my clients to focus on “protein and produce” at dinner. Swap your salad at lunch for a tuna wrap (choose either light mayo or cheese not both) and have an entree salad at dinner.

2. Controlling Alcohol Intake – This is probably the #1 behavior I see with clients who are trying to lose weight when they first come in. They say they drink 1-2 times a week, but then their food journal shows 2 glasses of wine. When we talk about weekends they usually have 1-2 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That’s almost half of the week people. That adds up to 600 extra calories that you aren’t getting from food, let alone the temptation to eat salty snacks with alcoholic drinks. If you take my advice, you’ll limit alcohol to 1-2 drinks once a week.

3. Sleeping 7-8 hours most nights of the week. Turn off the T.V. Stop surfing the ‘net. You have to get sleep if you want to lose weight. Sleep allows you to recover from your workouts (that you ARE doing because you know you will do better with long term weight loss if you exercise.) Sleep also keeps your hormone balance in check, especially leptin and ghrelin. According to researchers at Stanford, people with short sleep (5 hours a night) have reduced leptin (thin hormone) and elevated ghrelin (hunger hormone). Based on what the hormones do in the body, the researchers claimed the differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite, possibly explaining the increased BMI observed with short sleep duration.

4. Fitting in the Veggies. It might sound old, but you need your veggies. The fiber makes them filling. The low calories makes them “figure friendly,” the phytochemicals and antioxidants help prevent diseases (like many cancers), and they help repair blood vessel damage. Try these fun ways to have veggie “finger foods” on the go:

• celery and almond butter
• avocado stuffed cherry tomatoes
• blanched broccoli with lemon
• prosciutto wrapped asparagus

All these choices make great snacks! Personally, I recommend that people keep carbs as low as possible at snacks and save them for meal times.

5. Eating Mindfully. Mindfulness is a state of being aware, ‘in the moment,’ present, and engaged. Rarely do we spend time in the day being truly mindful, especially when it comes to food. It’s amazing the mental and emotional transformation that happens when people take back the pleasure of eating. When you choose nourishing foods and take your time to enjoy them bite-by-bite, you engage all your senses – not just “taste.” Notice the colors, smell the aroma, appreciate your food choice for all the ways it is going to give health to your body.

All of a sudden, the drive-through window and 100-calorie packs become less appealing. If you make one change, try making each meal last 30 minutes and spend the first five engaging all your senses except taste. When eating mindfully, you will notice that it gets easier to choose healthy from the start and stop eating when you feel satisfied not when the plate is clear.

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5 Weight Loss Rules You aren’t Following

So what can you eat to help your liver?

• Avoid or limit the amount of alcohol you consume. Over-consumption of alcohol can lead to life-ending liver disease.

• Certain medicines and herbal supplements can have detrimental effects on your liver.  Acetaminophen (Tylenol) can harm your liver as well as herbal supplements like: Black cohosh, certain Chinese herbs, including ma-huang, Chaparral, Comfrey, Germander, Greater celandine Kava, Mistletoe, Pennyroyal , Skullcap, Valerian.

• Consuming a healthy, well-balanced diet is the best way to go to protect your liver. Your diet should consist of:

• Plant-based diet focusing on plenty of fresh fruits and veggies

• Focus on antioxidant rich foods which enhance our immune system and will help remove the toxins.  The best known antioxidants include vitamin A, C, E, beta-carotene, lycopene, and selenium.  Some good sources of these antioxidants include broccoli, carrots, tomato juice, bell peppers, strawberries, nuts, seeds, eggs, and oranges.

Having liver problems is definitely something you want to deal with because it can become a life and death situation.  The best way to avoid problems is prevention, eat right, exercise, and limit alcohol consumption. Do it now and the better off you will be!

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Foods for a Healthy Liver

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health presented their compelling findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. They studied more than 500 women with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And what they found was astounding.

“We found that wine had a protective effect,” says Xuesong Han, a doctoral candidate in cancer epidemiology. More encouraging was that the protective effects were strongest with the most common of type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

And the longer the woman drank, the better chance that she wouldn’t suffer a relapse or die within five years of diagnosis. Patients who had been drinking wine for at least 25 years prior to diagnosis were 26 percent less likely to relapse or develop a secondary cancer, and 33 percent less likely to die over the five-year period, compared with non-wine drinkers.

But there’s a tightrope to walk here. If you have a family history of alcoholism you should be extra careful. Also, if there’s a heightened risk for breast cancer in your family, you should at least talk with your doctor first.

“If you have risk factors for breast cancer, you should avoid wine. Studies have linked any type of alcohol to poor outcomes,” says Yawei Zhang, PhD, who also worked on the study.

Researchers say that beer and liquor did not appear to affect lymphoma risk.

(via: WebMD)

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Wine May Protect Against Cancer

Jamie Pittman is currently a graduate student at East Carolina University where she is obtaining her MAEd in Health Education.  She also works full-time as a grant coordinator at the North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (NCAAHPERD) in Raleigh, NC. Jamie is also an active member of MyDIR, the DietsInReview.com community.

Week after week friends complain to me that they “can’t lose weight,” that they are doing “EVERYTHING!” and their weight just won’t budge.  These same people go out and drink five or more drinks at least one to two nights a week.  You might think–what’s the harm in a little social drinking?  You should be allowed at least one “cheat” day a week where you can eat and drink whatever you want, right?

Alcohol contains calories (I promise—all alcohol contains calories!), 7 calories per gram to be exact and they add up quickly.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites that the average alcoholic beverage is 13.7 grams, or about 96 calories.

In addition to drinking alcohol, you must consider the food choices that result from the late night out and the potential hangover the next day that keeps you from hitting the gym.  I think it is safe to make the generalization that most people are not going to choose an apple over pizza, or workout after a heavy night of drinking.  It’s a snowball effect.

Let’s consider a typical night out for the average person with friends:

• 8pm: Makes a drink while waiting for friends to arrive
  • Vodka (one 80 proof shot) + Club Soda = 96 calories

• 9pm-11pm: Friends arrive; Drink socially until its time to go to the bars
  • 3 light beers (12oz each) = 288 calories

• 11pm-1am: Hang out and drink with friends for a few hours
  • 2 light beers (12 oz each) = 192 calories

• 1:30am: Hungry upon arriving home; Share frozen pizza with friends
  • 1/3 of frozen pizza = 300 calories

• Total Calories Consumed Between 8pm-1:30am = 876

Don’t get me wrong—I love to go out and have a good time like everyone else.  However, I know that if I am going to be serious about losing weight then drinking more than a drink a day is not a possibility. Try to find alternatives to going out to bars and stay focused on your goals.  Eventually, it will all fall into place.

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Consider Calorie Impact of Alcoholic Beverages

I’m not sure that knowing the comparative calorie content is all that ignorant. However, when you think about what kinds of foods an alcoholic drink can be compare to, it’s pretty revealing. A pint of beer is comparable to a doughnut. And what’s most telling is the cumulative or long view of consumption. Five pints of beer a week would add up to 221 doughnuts in a year!

The research also shows one unwanted side effect of heavy drinking (besides a hangover) is that breakfast the next morning tends to be unhealthy.

“It’s not only the calories in the drinks themselves that can help to pile on the pounds, we’re also more likely to eat fatty foods when we’ve had one too many,” says England’s Health Minister Phil Hope.

(via: BBC)

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Alcoholic Drinks Pack on the Pounds

A new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that one or two drinks a day can improve your bone density. The study looked at the effect moderate drinking has on older men and women. It included 1,182 men, 1,289 post-menopausal women, and 248 pre-menopausal women, from as young as 29, to 86.

The lead researcher, Dr. Katherine Tucker of Tufts University, says that it’s not the alcohol (of course), but the high silicone content and resveratrol in beer and wine that benefit our bones. Liquor has less of a positive effect.

The key, as always, is moderation. There are things to watch for with alcohol intake. Like, if your face gets flush while drinking, it may mean… cancer? The response may signal a genetic susceptibility to esophageal cancer risk, U.S. and Japanese researchers said.

(Via: Diet Blog and Wellness.com)

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Alcohol Consumption May Strengthen Bones

My first choice is Sugar-Free Red Bull. And, since about four billion cans were reportedly sold worldwide in 2006, it’s the choice of most other energy beverage drinkers as well. Generally speaking, best way to keep your energy levels at peak levels is a sensible diet and a regular fitness regimen. But we all have days where life gets the better of us.

The main stimulating ingredients in Red Bull are caffeine and taurine. In its natural form, taurine is derived from animal tissue. At first it was isolated from bull bile, which makes it clear why the name “Red Bull” was chosen. But don’t worry, the taurine used in Red Bull is produced synthetically.

Taurine is an amino acid. Some studies suggest that it may improve athletic and mental performance, especially in conjunction with caffeine. However, these findings are not universally accepted.

So are energy drinks dangerous? Each needs to be examined on their own merits, but as for Red Bull, there is no evidence that moderate consumption is dangerous for your health. I’d have to assume there could be exceptions, like people with heart conditions. But if you’re a healthy person, and don’t plan on binge drinking, you’re probably fine.

The same goes if you mix it with alcohol. Moderation is key in almost everything in life. And that is especially true in alcoholic drinks.

There was a study published in 2007 that claimed that students who mixed energy drinks and alcohol were more likely to be injured than those who just drank regular alcoholic drinks. But it’s not about overdosing as much as it is about the misconception that the subjects are alert (because of the stimulants), when they are just as drunk as anyone else with the same amount of drinks.

“Students whose motor skills, visual reaction times, and judgment are impaired by alcohol may not perceive that they are intoxicated as readily when they’re also ingesting a stimulant,” said Dr. Mary Claire O’Brien, lead researcher and associate professor of emergency medicine and public health sciences at Wake Forest University. “Only the symptoms of drunkenness are reduced – but not the drunkenness. They can’t tell if they’re drunk; they can’t tell if someone else is drunk. So they get hurt, or they hurt someone else.”

Again, the moral of the story is moderation.

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Energy Drinks: My Very Own Stimulus Package