How to resist temptation in 3 easy steps

I am always a bit skeptical when I hear people talk about the importance of nutrition education. Sure, there is plenty of misinformation out there and many people really do lack basic knowledge about nutrition. But I think there is a bigger, more prevalent problem. As humans, we all have an innate drive to consume foods that are high in calories, fat, and sugar. In our modern environment, these foods are ubiquitous and very hard to resist. Despite the knowledge that most of us have about what we should and shouldn't be eating, we continue to eat the foods we know we shouldn't. So how do we translate our knowledge into behavior change? Well, I don't claim to have the answer; but I do have some suggestions that I believe can help.

1. Make tempting foods less convenient to obtain. Research has shown that when food is in closer proximity to us, we will eat more of it. So don't keep bowls of candy on your desk at work, for example. When you're at a party, don't sit or mill around near the buffet table. Instead, take a plate of food with you to the other side of the room to eat and mingle. These may seem like insignificant changes, but they can really make a difference. Perhaps the best thing you can do to improve your diet is to rid your home of the foods that you know you need to eat less of. This doesn't mean you have to vow never to eat them again. If you want an ice cream sundae, you can allow yourself to go out and buy one at an ice cream shop. But keeping a half gallon in the freezer when you know you can't resist it is just foolish. The same goes for cookies, chips, soda, etc.

"Everything in moderation" is a popular platitude, but few seem to grasp its meaning. If you claim to only eat desserts occasionally, then there is no need to stock them in your pantry. The healthy staples of your diet should be the only foods you keep in your home. You will have plenty of opportunities to eat those other things at restaurants, social events, holiday gatherings, and other places where you have little or no control over the menu.

2. Cope with temptation in the moment. If you follow my advice above, you will minimize the frequency with which you have to face temptation from food. However, there will of course be times when you can't avoid it. The key to getting through these times with your waistline unscathed is having strategies to lessen the pull of the offending food. Let's take a sample scenario-- an office birthday party. Everyone else is eating cake and talking about how delicious it is. You're trying to eat healthier, and know that eating a highly caloric, dense combination of fat and sugar will not help you achieve your goals. But it looks enticing, and aromas of vanilla-scented cake and chocolate buttercream frosting are invading your nostrils and evoking pleasant childhood memories. How do you decline when you're offered a slice?

There are a few things you can do: a) remove yourself from the situation. Give your well wishes to the birthday girl and excuse yourself to work on some project back at your desk. b) Distract yourself by consuming something else. If there is a healthier option available, like fruit, have that. If not, try a cup of coffee, a diet soda, or a piece of gum. If you have another flavor in your mouth, it will be easier to forget about the cake. c) Remind yourself how you will feel after eating the cake (regretful) and after not eating it(proud, victorious).

3. Give in, sometimes. Although I don't agree with the blind acceptance of all foods as healthy "in moderation," I acknowledge that striving for perfection in eating is unrealistic at best and pathological at worst. Indulgences that are truly occasional may help you maintain an overall healthy eating pattern in the long-term and keep you from reaching a point where you burn out and simply lose the mental energy required to restrict your diet. But, there is a right way and a wrong way to give in to temptation. The wrong way is to wait until it happens by accident and then feel guilty about it. If you take this approach, then every day carries with it a possibility of straying from your plan. This, I think, makes it more difficult to stay on track because your brain is primed for giving in; every tempting food can potentially be eaten.

The better approach is to take a planned vacation from your usual, healthy diet. Once or twice per week, give yourself the freedom to eat something you normally wouldn't. Ideally, plan it ahead of time. Decide when you would most like to treat yourself, and for that one occasion, leave your concerns about nutrition at home. When you decide ahead of time to indulge, you remain in control. Rather than deviating from your plan, you adhere to it. It is not a failure, but rather a deserved  and necessary pit-stop on the road to success. Cheesy metaphor or not, it's true.

How to make a salad that actually tastes good

I don't know about you, but for the better part of my life, I wasn't really a fan of salads. I was a fan of salad dressings, but not actually salads per se. Lettuces were merely vehicles for dressing. I ate them only because it wasn't socially acceptable to eat the dressing with a spoon. If for some reason I didn't like the salad dressing that was available, I didn't eat the salad. It was as simple as that.

Over the course of my palate's evolution, shaped in part by my expanding knowledge of the  immediate and long-term consequences of my dietary habits (weight gain and chronic disease, respectively), I have come to enjoy salads for what they are and not for what I put on top of them. But, I am pretty confident that many adults and certainly the majority of children share my former viewpoint. Evidence supporting my theory abounds. Think about how many times have you been to a restaurant that had all of 3 salads but 15 choices for dressing. Or had a salad served to you that was so drowned in dressing you couldn't tell there was anything green underneath. The problem with these practices is that most salad dressings contain 70-100 calories per tablespoon. They also are typically high in sodium and/or sugar.

So why do people use so much dressing in the first place? My guess is because the salads we buy or make for ourselves tend to include only bland, low-quality ingredients; think iceberg lettuce, underripe tomatoes, and commercial croutons. I'm bored just typing it. I think the key to enjoying salads without turning them into disguised junk food lies in careful selection of ingredients. Here are some simple strategies you can use to make a low-calorie salad you'll actually look forward to eating.

Step 1: Keep it simple
Whether you're at a salad bar or making a salad yourself, it can be tempting to throw everything you like in the bowl. The problem with this approach is twofold. For one, the more ingredients you put in the salad, the more likely it is that you're adding multiple high-calorie items-some nuts here, cranberries there, a little cheese, etc.- and before you know it your "light" meal has more calories than a burger and fries.

Secondly, by mixing so many flavors together, you may create an inefficient salad; that is, one that is unable to satisfy both the stomach and the brain without providing excess calories. This is because appetite-- the desire to eat food, not to be confused with physiological hunger-- is stimulated by variety. The more flavors we have in a meal, the more we tend to eat. Food manufacturers often use knowledge of this phenomenon to their advantage, combining sweet and salty flavors to enhance our liking and consumption of products. I think the best salads are those that contain only 3-5 components. Such simple salads allow you to taste each ingredient fully and become satisfied more quickly. They are also less expensive and time-consuming to prepare.

Step 2: Use herbs and salt

This part is easy to explain. Fresh herbs are virtually calorie-free yet contribute a great depth of flavor to salads. Adding some chopped dill, chives, or basil can completely transform a ho-hum salad into something that tastes complex and expensive. Although salt isn't exactly known for its nutritional value, it can be used judiciously to greatly improve the flavor of healthy foods. Sprinkling a few dashes of salt on a salad will add relatively little sodium to the meal but will really help bring out the natural flavors of the vegetables. Just think of what salt does for a ripe slice of tomato. It can do the same for greens. 
Step 3: Add *a little* fat
If you are trying to create a healthy salad, you may assume that certain foods with less than stellar nutritional reputations are off limits. Cheese, bacon and other meats might come to mind, and maybe even healthy but high-fat foods like avocado, nuts, and seeds. The popularity of low-fat and fat-free salad dressings attest to a widespread fear of full-fat salad dressings as well. But avoiding these foods completely can make your salads bland, boring, and utterly incapable of satisfying your stomach or your brain. Instead, use these items in small quantities to enhance, rather than overpower, the other salad ingredients. And, in keeping with my first bit of advice about simplicity, choose only one high-fat food to include. What constitutes a small quantity? I would suggest 50-100 calories. This amounts to about 2-4 tablespoons of cheese or nuts, 2-3 slices of bacon, or a quarter to half of an avocado. Aim for the lower end of the range for the less-healthy items or for an appetizer or side salad, and the higher end for the healthier items or when making an entree-sized salad.
Step 4: Make your own dressing
If you follow steps 1-3, you may find that you don't even need dressing or that you need very little. But if you do, I recommend making your own dressing. It can be a simple mixture of oil and vinegar or oil and lemon juice; use a 1:1 ratio if you can tolerate more acidity or a 2:1 ratio for a more traditional vinaigrette. Alternatively, you can try a homemade yogurt dressing like this one. If you must use a bottled dressing, choose one that is made with olive oil or canola oil. Whether you use your own dressing or one from a bottle, try not to use more than you need. Add it to the salad little by little as you need it rather than dousing it all at once. Or, dip your fork in the dressing before each bite. Minimizing your use of salad dressing is important if you are trying to lose weight. If you are one of the lucky few who want to gain weight, you can disregard this part.
If you're wondering what a salad that meets these guidelines might look like, it could be a slighlty modified caprese (tomato, mozzarella, and basil) salad. Typically, a caprese salad might contain half a tomato, a few shreds of basil, and several large slices of cheese. It is often topped with a liberal drizzle of olive oil. It's not junk food by any means, but it's not the most nutritious of salads either. It is a lot of cheese with a little vegetables. To maintain the salad's flavor but improve its nutrition profile, I would add a generous handful of mesclun greens and substitute mini fresh mozzarella balls for the thick cheese slices so that I could use less but still have some mozzarella in every bite. If I wanted dressing, a small amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil would suffice. A recipe for another one of my favorite salads can be found here.

What's the deal with agave nectar?

It seems that agave nectar is the new darling of the sweetener market, cropping up in everything from cocktails to smoothies to snack foods. Last week, I was at a bar and ordered my favorite drink- a caipirinha- and asked the bartender to use very little simple syrup. He obliged, but later suggested I try the drink with agave nectar instead of simple syrup. He said that not only does it complement the flavor of the rum in the drink, but it is also all-natural. I gave him the skeptical look I give anyone who tries to "sell" me on a health food, but said I'd consider it. No use wasting my happy hour debating nutrition with someone who probably didn't know the difference between a monosaccharide and a polysaccharide.

But his suggestion, along with the increasing ubiquity of agave nectar and an inquiry from a facebook friend, has prompted me to look further into the health claims surrounding this product. Agave nectar, or agave syrup, is a sweetener that is made by filtering and heating the juice from agave plants. Thus, although it is natural, it is not entirely unprocessed. The syrup is comprised primarily of fructose (84%). Like table sugar (sucrose), agave nectar has 16 calories per teaspoon, but because it is sweeter than sugar, less of it may be needed to achieve the same level of sweetness. This, I would argue, is one possible benefit of agave nectar. The other is one of its most touted characteristics: its low glycemic index (GI), which is between 20 and 30 on a scale of 1-100. Foods with low GIs do not elicit as great a rise in blood sugar as foods with higher GIs. Therefore, if agave nectar has a lower GI than other sweeteners (honey's GI is 55 and table sugar's is 68), then it would make sense to think that it would be preferable, especially for people with diabetes or glucose intolerance.

To investigate whether the purported benefits of agave nectar are supported by scientific studies, I logged on to PubMed to do an initial search, using only "agave nectar" as my search term. Given that agave nectar is becoming so widespread in grocery stores and restaurants, I expected to get loads of results that I would have to narrow down with more refined searches. Imagine my surprise when this search returned only 9 results, none of which had anything to do with the effects of agave nectar consumption on the human body. In light of the dearth of research on the topic, my opinion on it must necessarily be based solely on deductive reasoning.

So, we don't know exactly what impact agave nectar has on human metabolism. We do, however, know a little about the impact of its component sugars--primarily fructose, and to a lesser extent glucose and sucrose. I had mentioned that agave nectar is 84% fructose. Glucose and sucrose represent approximately 8% each. In comparison, table sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The much-demonized high-fructose corn syrup typically contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Honey has similar ratios: 50% fructose, 44% glucose, 1% sucrose.

There is some evidence to suggest that pure fructose may have some adverse metabolic effects; namely, increasing the amount of hazardous abdominal fat, and raising blood triglyceride levels. This is because fructose is metabolized differently from glucose and in a way that may encourage the liver to produce fat in the form of triglycerides and release them into the bloodstream. The other side of this coin is that fructose doesn't increase blood glucose levels the way glucose does. So, we have something of a paradox in fructose: it doesn't raise blood sugar (Good), but it may promote fat storage and high triglycerides (Bad). Because agave nectar contains a higher proportion of fructose than most, if not all, other sweeteners on the market, the concerns about fructose could reasonably apply to agave nectar as well.

So, as to the benefit of agave nectar's low glycemic index, I would say this is a wash. It does in fact have a low GI, but the other possible negative effects of fructose may very well negate this positive quality. As to the other possible benefit of agave nectar- that it is sweeter than sugar and can be used in smaller quantities- I cannot make a conclusion. Unless and until there are studies that demonstrate that people actually use less agave nectar than they would sugar, and therefore consume fewer empty calories, I remain unconvinced. My guess is that people are more likely to misconstrue the healthy halo around agave nectar as license to use it with reckless abandon. But this, of course, is just a hypothesis.

The bottom line on agave nectar, as I see it, is the same as it is for all other forms of sugar: it provides no nutritional benefit other than calories and is still essentially sugar, albeit much more expensive sugar! If you like the flavor of it, or if you find that you can replace larger amounts of table sugar with smaller amounts of agave nectar, then by  means use it. It's probably not going to hurt you. But you should not be fooled into thinking that it is a health food.

References
Leibman B. Sugar overload: Curbing America's sweet tooth. Nutrition Action Health Letter. January/February 2010.
Agave nectar is in demand, but is it better for you than ordinary sugar? Environmental Nutrition. April 2010.

A salad featuring 3 superstar ingredients

I recently adapted this recipe for a salad with shaved fennel, manchego cheese, and figs. I can't imagine a better trio of ingredients. I have written previously about my love for roasted fennel, but I have discovered that thinly sliced raw fennel is equally delicious when allowed to marinate in a vinaigrette. Manchego cheese, on the other hand, would taste good on the bottom of a shoe. Dried figs provide the perfect sweet foil to the manchego's salty nuttiness. Together, these 3 superstars combine to produce one of the best-tasting salads I've had.

Here is my version of the recipe:

2 bags of arugula salad mix

1 chunk manchego cheese (about 8 oz)

8-10 dried figs (or as many as you'd like)

1 bulb fennel

Juice from 2 lemons
~ 1/2 cup olive oil
salt, pepper

Cut the stems and end off of the fennel bulb and slice it in half. Then slice each half as thinly as possible with a knife, or with a mandoline. Put the fennel in a bowl and set aside.

Mix the lemon juice with an equal volume of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a bowl or cruet.

Pour about a third of the dressing over the fennel and toss to coat. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

In the meantime, cut up the dried figs into quarters and shave the manchego cheese with a vegetable peeler. Alternatively, you can soak the figs to rehydrate them (as described in the recipe linked above) or use fresh figs. Place the arugula salad in serving bowl and top with figs and cheese.

When ready to serve, add the fennel to the rest of the salad. You can add the fennel to each portion individually or mix the fennel in; it is up to you. Serve the remainder of the lemon vinaigrette on the side.

Enjoy!

Update: 3 squares vs. small, frequent meals

People trying to lose weight will often hear two conflicting pieces of advice: "don't snack between meals" and "eat frequent snacks to keep from getting too hungry." I have addressed this issue before, and my conclusion was that it probably didn't matter too much which approach is taken, but that it is best to eat when you are hungry rather than when the clock says it's time to eat.

Today, I came across the results of a study which adds to the evidence supporting the traditional, 3-meals-per-day plan. This study found that men who were advised to consume their calorie-restricted diet in the form of 3 larger meals (containing 750 calories) did not feel as hungry as men who ate the same diet in 6 small meals (375 calories each).

One study is certainly not going to "settle" this debate for good, but it is something to think about. And it makes sense to me. Snacks may help prevent excessive hunger between meal, but meals should be large enough to elicit a sense of fullness to begin with. Eating small meals that never satisfy is probably a recipe for diet failure. With this approach, you may not ever become starving, but who wants to experience a constant feeling of even mild deprivation?

In light of these findings, I'd like to clarify my stance on the subject. Eat meals that lead to a feeling of comfortable fullness, and try to space your meals at regular intervals to avoid becoming too hungry. Four to five hours between meals is reasonable. If for some reason you have to eat a meal late or skip a meal, be prepared with healthy snacks to take the edge off. The goal should be to start eating when you are pretty hungry, but not ready to eat your own arm; and to stop eating when you are full, but not so full that you feel uncomfortable, weighed down, or sleepy.

I am in chocolate heaven

Some time ago, I was browsing Whole Foods looking for a healthy, tasty, gluten-free snack- not an easy task- and I came across a display of little plastic tubs full of various kinds of cookies and brownies of a brand called "Laura's Wholesome Junk Food."

Now, I've had some pretty good gluten-free cookies before (Like these, from Enjoy Life Foods), but I still view them as treats. Most cookies that describe themselves as natural, organic, allergen-free, etc., are nevertheless primarily comprised of refined flours and sugar, and in many cases saturated fats. They may be marginally better than the mass-produced types you'd find in most grocery stores, but they are not nutritious by any means.

So, when I saw these snacks by Laura's Wholesome Junk Food, I did not get my hopes up. "Wholesome," if you aren't aware, doesn't mean much of anything and carries no implications whatsoever for the nutritional content of the food it describes. Then I read the ingredient list for one of the varieties: Xtreme Chocolate Fudge Bite-lettes. The first 8 ingredients were: rolled oats, dates, expeller pressed canola oil, fruit juice, natural grain dextrins, chocolate chips, and unsweetened natural cocoa. The remaining ingredients were all similarly natural and mostly healthful. Each 2-bite-lette serving contained 110 calories, 2 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of sugar (most I'd expect comes from the dates and fruit juice). I decided that the product was acceptable from a nutrition standpoint, so I bought them.

It turns out that they are delicious. I can't really compare them to anything else because they are pretty unique in their texture and flavor. They don't exactly taste like brownies or cookies. But they are rich and very chocolatey, with undertones of fruit and a hint of lemon that somehow makes perfect sense. The consistency is a cross between a soft oatmeal cookie and a chocolate truffle. Something about this particular flavor combination gets all the right neurons in my brain firing and is as satisfying to my inner child as a slice of ice box cake fresh out of my grandmother's refrigerator.

Maybe I'm getting a little carried away. I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but they are certainly worth trying if you are looking for a new healthy snack. Apparently there are lots of other varieties, but I've been so enthralled by this one that I haven't bothered to sample the others! If you can't find them at your local Whole Foods Market, you can order them online at the links posted above.

Mindless eating

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We all do it from time to time. Some of us may do it every day. In front of the TV, while driving, at the movies, or at our desks, we sometimes find ourselves eating without really paying attention to our food. There is a whole body of research dedicated to understanding how and why we eat mindlessly and how to prevent the frequent consequence of this habit- overeating. The Cornell Food & Brand Lab, headed by Dr. Brian Wansink, is foremost among the centers doing this kind of research.

Wansink's studies have found that, regardless of our physiologic hunger level, external cues can encouge us to overeat. Some of these cues are now becoming well-known. Portion size is a good example. By now, many people have heard that serving food on smaller plates is a good strategy. This nugget of wisdom likely came from Wansink's research, which have shown that people will eat more from larger containers, even if the food isn't particurly appetizing- as was the case in his stale popcorn study. In addition to portion size, we are also influenced by the proximity of food and the variety of food available (think about eating at a buffet).

I found the two videos below particularly interesting. In the first, patrons of a diner are served large breakfasts on 2 separate days. On the second day, they are blindfolded. This video illustrates the influence that seeing food on a plate has on how much we eat. In the second video, my pal Brian Wansink describes an experiment in which office workers are allowed access to a candy dish which is sometimes placed on their desks and sometimes placed just a few feet away. This video highlights the importance of proximity. 

Now that you know how you may be tricked into eating more by your surroundings, you can use this information to your advantage. Use small serving dishes, don't keep snacks and candy lying around in plain sight and within reach. Just making it a little less convenient for yourself to eat for eating's sake may be enough to lead to noticeable differences in your diet and ultimately, your body. Finally, when you do eat, try to minimize distractions and really pay attention to your food. Smell it, chew it slowly, and savor it. Take a breath or two between bites. Ask yourself periodically if you are still hungry, and if the answer is no, stop eating. As a culture, we have learned to ignore our internal cues for eating and instead focus on the external ones. It is possible to reverse this behavior, but it takes some practice.