What Type of Fat should I eat and Why???

Hmmm... Why does Noreen tell me to eat fat when that is exactly what I want to lose?? The days of the low fat/non-fat diet are over! That being said, don't hop in the car and head to the fast food restaurant. There are different types of fat and some are better than others.

Saturated Fat - This is the type of fat that I would like you to try to cut back on. This is animal fat, lard etc... Who uses lard, I know but it is an example of a saturated fat. A good way to understand saturated fat is that it is solid at room temperature. When you make a beef stew and put it in the fridge over night, that layer of white, waxy stuff that is floating on top the next morning, that is saturated fat. Skimming it off will make a big difference in the calorie and fat content of the food. This does not mean you have to give up meat, as you know, meat is a very good source of protein, something that will help you to lose weight. My suggestion is to choose leaner cuts of meat. Watch for marbleing when you are selecting red meat, marbeling is the fat within the meat. You can easily cut fat off the outer edge of a steak but it is difficult to remove it from within the meat. Choose white meat over dark meat when selecting poultry and try to choose non fat or low fat dairy products. Another way to "defat" ground beef is to brown it on the stove and then put it in a strainer in the sink and "wash" the meat with warm water, you will be amazed at how much fat you can rinse off the beef. SImply return it to the pan after rinsing it and season as usual. Very similar to what you would do if you were rinsing canned kidney or garbanzo bean to rid of excess salt. Saturated fats can be a factor in clogging your arteries which can lead to heart disease. There is also some research indicating saturated fat may be linked to type 2 diabetes.

Polyunsaturated Fats - These are fats coming mainly from plant based foods and oils. Corn, safflower, sunflower oil. Omega 3 fatty acids are also polyunsaturated fats, these are the types of fats also referred to as fish oils. Found in several types of fatty, cold water fish, walnuts, ground flax seed and flax oil. There is strong evidence that this type of oil can be very helpful in warding off heart disease.

Monounsaturated Fats - These are the fats obtained from olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, nuts, seeds and avocados. I guess we could call these the healthy fats. These are the types of fats to focus on while staying within your fat budget.

Trans fats - This is a type of fat that for the most part is created during food processing when trying to make a liquid fat more solid. It aids in extending the shelf life of a food and makes some fats easier to cook with. AVOID these fats as they can be harmful to your heart. It is required for the food processor to label a food that has trans fat in it so check the label. Although many food companies have eliminated trans fats, some margarines still contain them.

This is a lot of information regarding fat, bottom line. There is a place for healthy fats in the diet. They help to maintain blood sugar and keep you full. But remember - they also have calories. Become aware of the calorie content of the types of fats you enjoy. Peanut butter is great when you stick to 1 or 2 tablespoons. Several more and you will not see the scale change. Nuts are another type of food that you need to check the portion size. About 23 almonds is a portion, not 1/2 the can.

Stay Healthy - Noreen

Roasted Vegetables

Roasting vegetables is a great, flavorful way to prepare veggies.

In the summer, we can just throw the vegetables on the grill and roast them. I don't know about you, but my grill is hidden in the back of the shed in my yard, a shed that has a 3 foot pile of snow in front of it!

It is possible to roast veggies in the oven. SImple prep your vegetables, onions, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, whatever you like. Lightly coat them with olive oil or cooking spray. Toss them together with some seasoning and garlic and place in a shallow roasting pan. Best not to crowd the vegetables. Bake at 425 for about 5-7 minutes. Remove pan from oven and stir veggies. Roast for an additional 12-15 minutes, turning twice during this time.
ENJOY!

Hunger?

Question of the day - When are you most hungry during the day? Morning, late afternoon or perhaps 8pm while you are getting the kids to bed or finally sitting down to relax. Take a moment to really think about this question and then ask yourself, am I really hungry, or bored, or tired, or stressed? Figuring out your hunger cues can help you in the weight loss process. Many times in the afternoon you may be hungry because you skipped lunch or just "grabbed something", rather than having a balanced lunch with enough protein, fat and carbs. Perhaps you want to eat because your kids are having a snack and suddenly you need one. Snacks are very important, they help to level out our blood sugar and get us to the next meal without being SO hungry we eat everything in site. Make a quick list of the snacks that you like and plan to have one. Taking a few bites of what your toddler left on his snack plate or grabbing a few cookies on the run is not satisfying and many times we are not even aware we are eating. Another thing to keep in mind is thirst - one of the symptoms of dehydration is hunger. We often only connect dehydration with hot summer days and long workouts. You can just as easily start to become dehydrated in the dead of winter if you simply go all day just drinking coffee (diuretic effect) and not having adequate water. Pour yourself a glass of water or seltzer before you snack and see how you feel.
I am reading a really good book by Michelle May, MD - Eat What you Love, Love What you Eat, in which she works on the steps to get away from the diet mentality and really tries to give people the tools to return to normalized eating. If you watch a naturally thin person eat, you will see that they usually only eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. She used the analogy of filling up your car with gas. "If you ask yourself if you are hungry before you eat, this is like checking the gas gauge on your car before stopping for gas. It is a waste of time to stop for gas at every gas station if you don't need gas. If you overfill your tank, it will just spill over to the ground." Consequently, If you eat when you are not hungry, every time food is available, where does the surplus go - you got it - your waist. I found this example intriguing. Something to think about.
This week, try to make it a habit to always ask yourself "Am I hungry?" before you eat - see what happens.

Stay warm and to the Meltdown Girls - KEEP MELTING! Noreen

How often should you step on the scale??

The scale can be a very powerful tool, useful in helping us to both lose and maintain our weight. I am often asked by clients how often they should weigh themselves. There is no concrete answer. If the number on the scale helps to motivate you that is great, but I have seen many people become so attached to that number that it can determine wether or not they have a good day. If it is up a pound or two on any given day, they think their diet is not working. This can often impact what types of food they eat during that day. Weight naturally fluctuates, you cannot gain 2 pounds of fat in 1 day, more likely than not the 2 pounds is coming from sodium retention or your muscles reaction to a hard workout. The best rule of thumb is to weigh yourself about 2 times a week. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you have anything to eat or drink and then be done with it. Remember it is just a number, if you are eating healthy, drinking enough water and getting in enough exercise, you will lose weight. Some weeks more than others but it WILL come off. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat and so as you increase your workout intensity, lose body fat and gain muscle, the scale may indicate this. DO not let this throw you off your game. Muscle may weigh more than fat but guess what - it takes up less space!! That is why your clothes will be looser and fit more comfortably. This is much more important than a single number on the scale. Stay consistent with your plan and you will be happy with the results!

Remember - once you get to your goal weight, you still need to check the scale at least once a week, as this is the way to catch small gains before they become big. It is much easier to lose 3 pounds than 13!!

Keep it up!! Noreen

Why is protein so important?

Why is protein so important in a balanced diet? Protein is a very important component of the diet. Protein provides satiety. This is just a fancy way of saying that protein helps to keep us full longer than most carbohydrates. When you incorporate a good source of lean protein every time you eat you will find that your urge to snack diminishes and you have less cravings for carbohydrates. For example, if you have a piece of toast with jelly in the morning, I promise you that you will be hungry very soon after, and most likely, you will be scrounging for another carbohydrate. If you make one small change, replace the jelly with peanut butter (protein), you will find that you stay full for a longer period of time. Although fruit is a great snack, it does have natural sugars which can impact your blood sugar. If you have a cheese stick or a handful of nuts with your fruit at snack, again, you will stay full longer. This simple trick of always combining a protein with a carb each time you eat, will have a huge impact on how you feel and how successful you are in your weight loss attempt.
Another interesting fact about protein is that protein requires more calories to digest than carbs or fats. This is called the Thermic Effect of Food. In a nutshell, your body uses more calories to burn protein than it does carbs and fats. So by eating more protein we can stay full longer and our bodies will burn more calories. Seems like this may be a great first step in our Melting process.
Some good sources of Lean Protein are : Fish, eggs, poultry, lean beef and low fat/non fat dairy products. Legumes such as chickpeas, kidney and black beans are also great sources. Keep in mind that greek yogurt as almost 3 times more protein than regular yogurt and can be a great mid-afternoon snack.
You can get a good idea of how many grams of protein you are consuming by logging your food intake on your phone or computer. There are many great apps and programs available. Feel free to contact me if you have difficulty finding one.
KEEP ON MELTING! Noreen

Time to Meltdown!!

I hope everyone is surviving all this snow! I think it is a very appropriate time to start our Meltdown to Summer program. For those of you participating in this program you already know the drill, for those of you who are unfamiliar, it is a 90 day challenge to improve exercise and eating habits before slipping into a bathing suit this summer. I will be posting often with tips, motivation and recipes to help everyone stay on track. If you have questions and comments please post right here on the log. If you have a question, idea, success story, let us all hear about it. FYI, there is quite a bit of info already here, so just click back and look at some of my old posts. Especially for the Meltdown girls, you may want to review my posts on sugar and protein from earlier. We briefly disused this when we met but I do go into more detail here. FIrst challenge - LOG YOUR FOOD INTAKE. Research indicates that people who log their food intake lose twice as much weight as those who don't. Grab a pencil and notebook, find an app on your phone or log on to the computer. There are several free programs, Spark People is one, or the one I really like is Calorie King (not free) but you can purchase the software from me at the studio. This is not suppose to be a good food, bad food thing, but more a tool to help you identify what is working and not working. Take a look at your protein intake for the day and if you want, shoot me an e-mail with that number. If you don't consume enough protein, it will be much more difficult to lose weight. Protein comes from lean meats, fish, chicken, low fat/non fat dairy, legumes (bean such as kidney, chick peas and black beans), nuts, seed and nut butters. Protein helps to keep you full, stabilizes your blood sugar and aids in the reduction of carbohydrate cravings. Second challenge this week, write down 1 thing you want to work on - for me it is logging daily, for you it may be eating every couple of hours or increasing you water consumption. Whatever it is, write it down or even better tell someone - if we work on one new thing each week or 2 think of all the progress that will be made in 3 months. Ok, keep up the good work! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Keep on MELTING! Noreen