My favorite salad dressing

Okay, so I've been slacking on the blog posts. I think it's because all of my posts end up being these long, drawn-out diatribes that require a lot of thought and research to write. It's a little daunting to try to keep that up on a regular basis. So, I think I'll give shorter, less-intense posts a try. For today, I'd like to share with the world (or my 6 readers at least), a recipe for the best low-fat salad dressing I've tasted. It is based loosely on a dressing I tried at a local vegetarian restaurant, Claire's Cornercopia. Unfortunately, I don't really measure things, so it's not so much a recipe as a list of ingredients, which you can adjust to your own taste:

nonfat plain yogurt (Greek or regular)
salt, pepper
lime juice (or lemon juice, alternatively)
fresh or dried herbs - I recommend dill and/or chives

I prefer my dressing to be simple, as above, but feel free to add as many additional flavors as you like.

The best thing about this dressing is that it has only 22.5 calories per 1/4 cup and 0g fat. This is compared to the typical commercial dressing which has 290 calories and 31g of fat!! So you can feel free to drench your salad in this dressing with NO guilt whatsoever.

Creatures of Habit

I am currently reading a phenomenal book: The end of overeating, by David A. Kessler, MD. In it, Kessler talks about the way that many of us have been conditioned to overeat, as a result of food industry practices and marketing and our brain circuitry.

The better half of the book explains the many factors that drive eating behavior and the ways in which certain stimuli (such as food ingredients or cues in the environment) can lead people to eat too much and eat the wrong things, typically over and over again. But toward the end of the book he finally gets to the most important issue: how do we use this information to stop the pattern of overeating?

One thing Kessler discusses is the importance of rules. According to him, if you want to lose weight, you must establish specific rules about how you will behave in situations where your are tempted by food. For example, you could make a rule for yourself that you will not visit fast food restaurants or that you will not eat fried foods. Then, you must practice adhering to this rule. The more times that you drive by the fast food restaurant or turn down the fries, the easier it will get. The conditioned response that you developed to that food will weaken.

I think this approach is somewhat contrary to popular opinion that "everything in moderation" is okay or that depriving yourself of indulgent foods will only make you crave them more. Dr. Kessler and the research he cites as support for his theory suggests that the opposite is true: the less you eat something, the less you give in to your desires, the less you will want them. I have to agree with him. I am still trying to figure out what "the answer" to long-term sustainable weight loss is, but I think this comes pretty close.

My own personal experience is explained well by this notion that abiding by consciously-made rules can essentially de-condition the subconscious mind, and thereby change behavior. About 6 1/2 years ago, I decided to get serious about losing weight (I had about 10 lbs to lose). I made strict rules about what I would eat, and followed them. As time went by, I found that it was easier and easier to resist the foods I used to find irresistable. Now, I have reached the point where I need to GAIN weight and am struggling to do so because eating small, low-calorie, and low-fat meals has become such a deeply entrenched habit. It takes much more mental effort for me to choose to eat an ice cream sundae than it does for me to choose to eat a bowl of broccoli.

I think that if others can adopt this same practice of setting rules and sticking to them, no exceptions, no moderation, they would reach the point where the rules are no longer needed; declining dessert is effortless and eating vegetables is an almost unbreakable habit.

Overeating, not lack of physical activity, blamed for obesity

While most experts agree that diet and physical activity are BOTH important when it comes to the etiology of obesity, there is a definite dichotomy between the diet-pushers and the exercise-pushers. It seems to me that everyone takes a side, believing that one or the other is just a little more significant. I have made no secret of the fact that I am firmly in the diet camp; I think that overeating leads to obesity far more frequently and with more certainty than being sedentary does. My evidence: I rarely exercise with any vigor (a horrible thing, I know), yet my low-calorie and mostly healthful diet keeps my weight consistently low. I also know many individuals who are very active and still can't seem to lose weight.

Now, it appears there is some research to back up my claim. A recent study found that an increase in calorie consumption is more likely the main cause of the increase in obesity rates seen in recent years. I have to admit, I question the researchers' methodology here, but because their results affirm my own bias, I'll look past it.

Regardless of what studies show, it is simply common sense that eating well should be the top priority for anyone trying to lose weight. It's a lot harder to exercise away a few hundred calories than it is to just not eat them in the first place!

Mistakes people make

I'm not sure why I'm thinking about this today, but I felt compelled to explain why one of the most common eating habits that people have is ALL WRONG. I am referring to the tendency to eat tiny little meals for breakfast and lunch and then eat a big, multi-course dinner at 8:00 at night and then go to bed 2 hours later.

When you think about it, it just doesn't make any sense. When you wake up in the morning, you've been fasting for at least 8-10 hours and you're getting ready to start a whole day's worth of activity. Why would you think that what your body needs is just a cup of coffee? Even if you eat breakfast, you're probably eating something like a yogurt, a granola bar, bowl of cereal, bagel, donut, or some other carbolicious 3-bites-and-it's-gone food. For one thing, most of these popular breakfast items are not enough calories. Yup, you read that correctly. NOT ENOUGH. Secondly, they also happen to be high in carbohydrates and/or refined sugar but low in protein, healthy fats, and often fiber. These are the things that give you lasting energy and make you feel full.

For many people, this starvation continues through lunch, where typical choices include salad, soup, sandwiches and other "light" fare. After all, we don't want to blow all of our calories by mid-day do we?

Then 3:00 hits. And the munchies start to set in. The next thing you know, you're grabbing whatever junky snack you can out of the vending machine and wondering how you'll ever stick to a diet when they all make you so hungry!

When dinner rolls around, the only "real" meal most people eat all day, it's a big production: big portions of meat, starch, and sometimes a veggie (like a salad drowned in a few hundred calories' worth of dressing. And of course, you have to save room for dessert. Now having eaten all of those calories, you do the only reasonable thing: go to sleep.

Does this seem backwards to anyone else but me??? Your body needs the most energy in the morning, not in the evening. Accordingly, breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. Lunch should be moderate in size but still pretty hearty and dinner should bear closer resemblance to a snack than a holiday feast. I realize this is a difficult concept for people to grasp. Most of us have grown up eating this way and it has become part of our culture. But starving all day and binging at night is a recipe for weight gain. And if you try to lose weight while maintaining this habit, you will set yourself up for struggle and failure.

Yippee!! Another good blog for healthy food for kids!

I was so disappointed when the Lunch Nugget blogger stopped posting, as I thought this blog was a great resource for parents. But it has been brought to my attention that there is a new kid in the blogosphere posting healthy meals for babies, toddlers, and kids. It's called Weelicious (it's even got a cute name!). I couldn't agree more with the philosphy of the talented mom who writes this blog. She ssays of her son, Kenya: "Kenya only knows what I feed him. If I gave him McDonalds, he’d love it, but if I give him pesto chicken, that’s what he’ll crave." BINGO! I say this all the time. Unfortunately, I don't have any real-life experience with parenting to back it up, but this woman does!

Foods we eat too much of- Part I

I just read this great article on MSN.com about portion distortion. It names 8 foods that Americans tend to overeat: pizza, salad dressing, ice cream, burgers, white rice, potato chips, soda, and orange juice. I would have to agree that the typical portion sizes for these items are often 2-4 times the recommended "serving sizes," which are as follows:
pizza- 1 small slice
salad dressing- 2 tbs.
ice cream- 1/2 cup
burger- 3 oz.
white rice- 1/2 cup
potato chips- 1 oz. (about a handful)
orange juice and soda- 8 fl oz.

I would add a few more items to this list of foods that people eat way too much of. In fact, after some thought, I would add lots of items to this list! In this first installment, I'll discuss three:

Cheese. A serving size is one ounce, which is the equivalent of one slice or 1/4 cup shredded. However, most foods that contain cheese have at least twice this amount. Cheese is often portrayed as being a good source of protein and calcium, and therefore relatively healthy. I disagree. While small amounts of cheese can be incorporated into a healthy diet, one serving per day is more than enough. Cheese may have some redeeming qualities, but it also contains a lot of saturated fat. Plus, there are better ways to get protein and calcium: low fat yogurt and milk are prime examples.

Bread. A serving of bread is equal to one slice of store-bought pre-sliced bread (think Wonder). So, when MyPyramid recommends 6 servings per day, that doesn't mean 6 6" grinder rolls or 6 Dunkin Donuts-sized bagels. Actually, a Dunkin Donuts bagel would provide 3 servings and about 300 calories. This New York Times article rounds up the caloric content of bagels from various eateries, some of which provide up to 7 bread servings. Other ways people eat too much bread: mindlessly noshing on bread before dinner and devouring sandwiches on oversized hard rolls or foot long grinders. I don't care who you are, no one needs a 12 inch sandwich!

Pasta. Do I even need to explain this one? A food guide pyramid serving is 1/2 cup, about the size of half a baseball. Even the serving size on the box (which provides 220 calories)is only one cup. It would barely fill a typical coffee mug. Does anyone eat that much?? Not even close. And here's a bit of news for you: whole wheat pasta has the same number of calories. It is more healthful, ounce for ounce, but it has the same potential to lead to weight gain if eaten in the quantities that people tend to serve themselves.

More to come in a future post! In case you're wondering, there ARE some foods that we don't eat enough of. Among them, vegetables, fruit,whole grains, and unsaturated fats.

Toss this salad out and enjoy something else!

I'm not sure how, but in the minds of most people, salads have become synonymous with health food. Determined dieters proudly resist the tempting burgers and fries on restaurant menus and order the guilt-free salad instead. They often bring homemade salads to work with them for lunch, or order a salad from the office cafeteria, assured that they are making the best possible choice from a nutritional standpoint.

Sadly, the salad is just as likely to be the dieter's downfall as it is to be her road to success. With the wide array of high-calorie toppings that are likely to adorn otherwise innocent salad greens and the globs of dressing that smother them, it is not surprising that salads can often put even the heartiest of meals to shame when it comes to calorie and fat content.

Of course most people know by now that the chicken caesar salad and taco salad aren't as healthful as once thought. But even the truly healthy-sounding salads can pack a caloric punch. A perfect example of this is a salad featured in the Food section of the New Haven Register today: the Signature Salad at Eli's on Whitney in Hamden, CT.

The menu describes the salad's components: "Mesclun greens, candied walnuts, craisins, gorgonzola cheese and Granny Smith apples with a balsamic vinaigrette." Sounds harmless enough. But an analysis of the recipe outlined in the Register's article reveals that this salad, most likely ordered as an appetizer or part of a larger meal, contains 1130 calories, 99 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, and 45 grams of sugar. For the record, that's more than half the calories most people need to eat in a whole day and more than 100% of the daily recommendation for saturated fat. This salad also has as much sugar as 15 Starburst candies! It has twice as many calories and more than 2 1/2 times the amount of saturated fat as a Big Mac.

The main culprit here and in most salads is the dressing. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup per serving. HALF A CUP! The serving size for most salad dressings is 2 tablespoons. And most dressings, even the seemingly "light" vinaigrettes, have 70-100calories per tablespoon. But even without the dressing, this salad is still higher in calories than most fast food burgers. This is because Eli's uses large portions of three high-calorie toppings: blue cheese, candied walnuts, and dried cranberries.

My advice to anyone watching their weight: unless you really know what's in it, skip the salad and get something more satisfying instead. It will likely be better for you, too.