1. Fried rice
2. Lo mein
3. Chow fun
4. Crispy (orange) beef
5. Lemon chicken
6. General Tso’s chicken
7. Barbequed spare ribs

Why were some of those foods bad? Fat, sodium, and calories. All pack more than you think but those are the worst offenders. What are good choices? “Stir-fried dishes, such as shrimp with garlic sauce, Szechuan shrimp, moo goo gai pan and chicken with black bean sauce all contain less than 1,000 calories a plate, she says, and vegetarian dishes such as Buddha’s Delight, stir-fried mixed vegetables, ma po tofu and Szechuan string beans also are healthier. Still, she cautions that these alternatives are all still heavy on the salt, so think about ordering the sauce on the side.”

Ice-cream is a low GI (glycemic-index) food. This means that it is a slow sugar release food that keeps you satisfied for a longer period of time than a high GI food. For that reason, you are less likely to binge after eating ice-cream. 75 grams of Ben and Jerry’s Cookies and Cream ice-cream contains only 114 calories compared to a slice of cheesecake with 511 calories. Furthermore, ice-cream is made of milk which contains many essential nutrients and vitamins. 1 cup of milk contains up to 30% of a man’s daily recommended intake. Other nutrients in ice-cream are biotin, iodine, potassium, selenium, vitamins a, b12, D, and K. Studies show a possible link between milk consumption and a lowered risk of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer.

The full list:

1. Pornography – yay!
2. Smoking
3. Beer
4. Cannabis
5. Chocolate
6. Red Wine
7. Caffeine
8. Stress
9. Dirt
10. Ice Cream

The five foods are:

• Whole Grains: He specifically calls out millet, a type of whole grain that is non-glutinous, over 10% protein, with significant amounts of fiber and B-complex vitamins.
• Asparagus: Asparagus is rich in folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber, which is great for helping you feel full. Asparagus also has a carb called inulin that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine.
• Pomegranates: Pomegranates, along with other fresh fruits, is valuable for its antioxidants. Go with the fresh fruit and not so much the juice because you’ll get more fiber and drink fewer calories.
• Pine Nuts: Chinese medicine believes pine nuts can improve digestive functions and the oil is often used for appetite suppression.
• Green Tea: I didn’t know this but apparently coffee and caffeine in large amounts can lead to food cravings, I’ve always found that coffee suppresses my appetite in the mornings. Either way, Green tea provides both a little caffeine and beneficial antioxidants.

Other tips? Learn to graze by eating five smaller meals, chew more slowly, and avoid processed foods.

5 Essential Weight Loss Foods [Yahoo! Health]

Trail mix is delicious but it’s also heavy on calories. Three tablespoons (28g) has 140 calories, 9 grams of fat (2.5g saturated), and 13g of carbs of which 10g is sugar. The dangerous part about trail mix is that you could end up eating the whole bag, all 6 oz., and not even realize it. There are six servings in the bag so you’d be talking about half of your caloric intake (assuming 2000 calorie day) in one sitting. Just snacking.

This is the same concerns some have about dried fruits. Since the fruit is dried, it takes up less space in your stomach so you end up snacking on way more than you should be. The fruit is also packed with sugars and calories so you unknowingly consume a tremendous amount of calories just snacking. While it’s better than snacking on potato chips or chocolate bars, it’s not something you want to make a habit of.

Those calories do come in handy when you’re actually hiking on a trail though!

The truth is eggs are good for you but, like many other foods, only in moderation. The concern comes from the cholesterol found in the yolks of the egg. The American Heart Association warns that you should only consume 300 mg of cholesterol per day and the yolk of one large egg contains about 210 mg. So, you can eat an egg a day as long as you control how much other cholesterol you eat.

There are two sources of cholesterol – the food you eat and the amount your body makes. Most of your consumed cholesterol comes from animal fats though there are trace amounts in some plants. Your body’s production (the reason why genetics plays a role) of cholesterol is in reaction to what you eat, so manage that and you can play a small role in controlling your cholesterol.

Bottom line – an egg a day is safe as long as you manage your other cholesterol consumption.

A study of 30 university students, aged 20 – 24, found that just one 250ml sugar-free Red Bull can increase the stickiness of blood and led to increased risk of blood clots forming.

“After one can it seemed to turn the young individual into one with more of the type of profile you would expect to see with someone with cardiovascular disease,” he said. “People who already have existing cardiovascular disease may want to talk to their physician before they drink Red Bull in future.”

It’s only 30 students but it’s still something to cause concern. I’ve stopped drinking Red Bull myself because I didn’t feel as though I needed it (I stopped needing to drive as much) but these types of things do worry me.

Red Bull gives you wings – and heart trouble? [Times Online]

Now here’s a sampling of his typical daily intake:

Breakfast

• Three fried egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayo.
• Two cups of coffee.
• A five-egg omelet.
• A bowl of grits.
• Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar.
• Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch

• A pound of enriched pasta.
• Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread.
• 1,000 calories in energy drinks.

Dinner

• A pound of pasta.
• An entire pizza.
• 1,000 calories in energy drinks.

Damn that’s a lot of calories.

Phelps’ Pig Secret: He’s Boy Gorge [New York Post]

• There’s a list of how many milligrams of caffeine is present in average beverages. 8 oz. of decaf coffee or tea has about 2 mgs, a 12 oz. Diet Coke has 35 mgs, 1 tablet of NoDoz Maximum Strength has 200 mgs, and a 16 oz. Starbucks Coffee Grand has 330 mgs!
• Caffeinated drinks are diuretics but it takes more than 575 mgs of the good stuff to make it a diuretic, but since to reach that you’ll have had to had two 16 oz. cups of Starbucks Coffee… chances are you would’ve needed to hit the restroom anyway.
• Many of the medical danger links with caffeine were recently refuted including heart disease, hypertension, and pancreatic cancer.
• Caffeine won’t help you lose weight. It will speed up metabolism but there’s no long term effect, 100 mgs will burn an extra 75-100 calories a day (better than nothing!).

Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions [New York Times]

Are you a proponent anti-oxidants? If so, you probably already know about spinach because researches have identified at least thirteen phytonutrient flavonoids that act as anti-oxidants and the reason why researchers have created extracts to use in studies to investigate it further.

My wife and I have been trying to eat more vegetables and thankfully two of our favorites are spinach and broccoli, another superfood. If you’re a salad eater, skip the iceberg lettuce (which is mostly water), and instead grab some field greens and throw some spinach on there. That minor change will help improve your health even more so than before and helps reduce those hunger pangs that strike.

WHFoods: Spinach

First, who is Dr. Rolls? She’s a professor nutrition, the director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State University, and author of over 200 research articles. She’s not some random Joe Schmoe with a crazy plan and a dream of riches. Her plan is based on her empirical research and I think it has some merits.

So, how does it work? The plan revolves around the concept of energy density – that is the number of calories in a specified amount of food. The denser the food, the less of it you should eat. High density foods include cookies, chips, crackers, oils, nuts, chocolate and candy. Low densite foods include non-starch vegetables, low fat milk – stuff with a lot of water content. Vegetables are 80-95% water, so the idea is that you “fill up” on low energy density foods to quell that hunger urge.

It’s not a particularly innovative diet, in that it’s not some blockbuster straight out of left field idea; it’s stuff nutritionists have been saying this entire time. Personally, I’m going to integrate more vegetables into our meals. I’m a huge fan of broccoli and recently we learned that spinach was remarkably good for you so we’ll be having more of those in the future.

• There is entertainment value out of growing your own fruits and vegetables,
• It’s a fantastically frugal way to enjoy freshly picked items,
• It’s cheaper than driving to the store and buying (we hope!),
• You get a lot of satisfaction from being self-sustaining (to a certain extend).

I recently posted a video update on the garden’s progress recently and are eager to pick the eggplants!

There are studies that have shown that organically grown fruits and vegetables, despite being smaller and more expensive, pack more nutrition (vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff) than the conventionally grown stuff. One thing we’ve empirically learned was that the vegetables tasted better than from the store. Now, we don’t know if it’s because we can taste the love and sweat we put into caring for the little guys or if it’s because they’re actually tastier, but they are tastier.

Later on, I discovered that avocado was remarkably good for you. It’s surprisingly rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, the same good stuff that’s in olive oil. Monounsaturated fatty acids has been shown to lower the bad LDL cholesterol levels while increasing the good HDL cholesterol levels. In addition to those benefits, avocados also contain fiber, potassium, magnesium, folate, and antioxidants.

I don’t know if the creators of salsa and guacamole knew this but combining the lycopene in tomatoes and the vitamin E in avocados heightens the positive health benefits of both (especially enhancing antioxidant effects). You add in some onions and the oligosaccharides will boost the tomatoes’ lycopene benefits. Seems like eating lots of salsa and guacamole is pretty good for you.

So, if you’ve never tried avocado, give it a try. If you love the stuff, good for you because it’s good for you too!

(Photo: avlxyz)

What’s the ratio healthy ratio? The healthy ratio appears to be anywhere from 1:1 (omega-6 to omega-3) to 4:1. According to JR Hibbeln in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published June 2006, Western diets provide ratios of 10:1 to 30:1, which is far too much Omega-6.

The reason is because the oils we use often have a higher Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio. Corn oil’s ratio is a staggering is 46:1. Popular new oils like Olive oil has anywhere from 3-13:1 and canola is 2:1 but both contain only a small amount.

How do you keep it in balance? Eat a diet rich in Omega-3’s and the it sounds like the Omega-6 will balance itself out. Eat lots of seafood or seeds that contain Omega-3 and everything should work out.

Why Omega-3

Omega-3 fatty acids are family of unsaturated fatty acids that your body can’t make itself and it’s an essential nutrient for your body. What exactly is the Omega-3? (warning, chemistry coming up) The three in Omega-3 refers to the fact that the first double bond exists as the third carbon-to-carbon bond in the methyl end of the carbon chain; that’s not important to know though when it comes to why Omega-3’s are important for you but I figured I’d share it anyway.

There are several Omega-3 fatty acids but the three that are the most important are:

1. α-linolenic acid (ALA),
2. eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and,
3. docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Since your body can’t produce these essential fatty acids, you have to eat them!

What To Eat?

So, what should you be eating to get these fatty acids? ALA is found mostly in seeds such as flax and soybean. EPA and DHA sources are fish oil, such as from cod, salmon, sardins, mackerel and herrings. If you’re not a fan of fish or flax seed, you can simply buy supplements that provide these fatty acids.

Here are the high level numbers:

• Calories: 2,000
• Fat: 30% of calories – 65g
• Saturated fat: 10% of calories – 20g
• Carbohydrates: 60% of calories
• Protein: 10% of calories
• Fiber: 11.5g per 1,000 calories
• Sodium: 2,400 mg
• Cholesterol: 300 mg

That’s a ballpark estimate, obviously younger people who are growing will need more calories and those who are older will need less.

‘Daily Values’ Encourage Healthy Diet [FDA.gov]

The Study: Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA put 322 obese subjects through one of three diets. The three were the ones just described, a low far, a low carb, and a Mediterranean diet. They had the subjects participate for two years and found that the low carb dieters lost the most weight, 12 lb., and the Mediterranean dieters scored second place with an average of 10 lb. Low fat dieters trimmed seven pounds in two years.

There’s more to it so check out the story on ABCNews.

Does that mean you should avoid processed foods like cold cuts and hot dogs? (or anything with nitrates or nitrites) No, because a diet rich in vitamin C will prevent nitrosamines from forming. It’s that very reason that foods with nitrites find themselves packed with lots of vitamin C derivatives such as ascorbate or sodium erythrobate.

Number one on the list is a fruit that has been gaining popularity, especially in the alcoholic beverage market, and that’s pomegranate juice. The other day we picked up a bottle of pomegranate liquor on a whim and we’ve had Pom brand pomegranate juice in our fridge a few times. Pomegranate itself is quite fun to eat, you crack it open, suck on the little pomegranates and then spit out the seeds.

For those vino lovers, red wine makes in at #2 and even MLM-favorite Açaí juice slides inot the #6 spot. I joke about the MLM-favorite status only because it’s this juice that is pushed by Mona Vie.

Pomegranate Juice is Packed With Antioxidants [Health.com]

• Deep fried Oreos
• Cotton candy
• Corn dogs
• Deep fried Twinkie (detecting a trend?)
• Snow cone
• Funnel cake – These are my favorite, but 8.3 ounces has 760 calories, 44g fat, 80g of carbs, and 20mg of cholesterol.
• Deep fried candy bars (if you haven’t detected the trend yet…)

In summary, the foods are bad in one of two ways. Either it’s deep fried or it’s basically sugar, or it’s deep fried sugar. Deep fried is never good for you. Copious amounts of sugar is never good for you. It’s no surprise these treats are bad for you so enjoy in moderation.

From the Fitness Health Network this week were quite a few good articles in my opinion. Check them out:

• Did you know that One Pound of Fat = 3500 Calories? Journal of Healthy Living explains calorie deficits in relation to weight loss goals.
• Lazy Man and Health is looking into Hotel Friendly Food and not hotel food so much as food you can take on the road with you.
• FatManUnleashed is having a little contest this week. If you like Smoothie King you have until Wednesday the 9th of July to respond with a comment about the Smoothie King Chain or products.
• Walking 45 Minutes – The Ups And Downs by NCN is an interesting look at the mental state of a fellow blogger. Do you feel this way when exercising? How about in other areas of your life- like going to work?
• Nutrition Fitness Life presents Yoga Revisisted. Are you looking for a change of pace from the high intensity exercises? Yoga might just be for you.
• Drinking Water Only: A Month-Long Experiment in Self-Discipline by Get Fit Slowly is about habit breaking. Can you kick the sugar, caffeine, and alcohol addiction?

Now for the rest of blogosphere:

• MizFitOnline brings us a great interview with Tues Tip: Rocco style; from the personal trainer Rocco Castellano.
• How do you fight cravings? In Break Me off a Piece… at Weight Down, Money Up explores options such as moderation and learning to just say no. Who knew that simple phrase could do more than protect you from drugs?
• Andrew posts this week on Lessons learned: Exercise is not a dirty word. It really isn’t, but if you don’t believe me this is an excellent post to read.
• After my own scare with dehydration it’s imperative to remember to Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! Sheamus informs readers that being 2% short on the fluids your body needs can result in a 10-20% loss in your body’s performance for exercise.
• Deflabbify brings us the killer hidden cost of weight-loss programs this week and for those who are looking to join a program might just think twice.
• As it is summer I thought this post from Fit36 was a great read: The Challenges of Living Healthy While on Vacation. What do you and your family do?
• Thinking to Thin brings us Baked Beef Ziti in Recipe Thursday and more… for only 5pts.
• In June Recap Laura from Pursuit of Healthyness examines her routine and life style changes for healthier living. Can you give her any tips?

First, let’s talk about what margarine is. Margarine is essentially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Hydrogenation refers to the process of infusing hydrogen atoms in liquid fats, like vegetable oil, so that they are solids at room temperature. The by-product is a significant amount of trans-fat acids. For a while, margarine was hailed as better because trans-fats aren’t saturated fats, which were known to be unhealthy for you; but it wasn’t until further study (a report released in 2005 by the US Dept. of Agriculture) did we learn that trans-fats are treated the same as saturated fats in the body.

Butter is bad for you because of saturated fat, margarine is bad for you because of trans-fat. They both have their positive merits but the bottom line is that you should eat them both in moderation.

Of the foods listed, my wife and I do get cabbage from time to time as well as frozen blueberries in our fruit smoothies. Outside of those two, we hardly eat any of them (pumpkin seeds from time to time too, now that I think about it) and probably should integrate them more. Pumpkin appears twice, that’s interesting… since most Americans only think of them during Halloween!

A pound of fat is about 3500 calories, so cutting a 120 a week for a year would save you 1.8 lb. of fat a year. While that doesn’t seem like a lot, that’s one soda a week. How many 12 oz. sodas do you consume in a week? What if you cut out one a day? 12.5 lb. of fat removed.

Typically I write more about personal finance than I do about health but there are so many similarities between the two. With your health, it’s about calories. With your wallet, it’s about cents. Cutting out one small “bad” thing for you, whether it’s your health or your wallet, is the key to making significant life long changes that will benefit you for the better. Just try skipping one soda and taking that 2 lb. difference to the bank. Maybe next year it goes to skipping two a week.

Start looking for things you consume that are only calories and provide no other nutrients. Soda is a great example (no, sodium doesn’t count) but there are plenty of other high calorie, low nutrient foods that you may be eating on a frequent basis that you could cut out.

Of course, I don’t think that you should cut everything fun out of your eating. The occasional piece of chocolate or glass of wine can do your psyche a world of good. Sometimes, you may even need two glasses.

Your body typically consume carbohydrates for fuel and only turns to fat stores whenever you’ve run out of carbohydrates. My limiting the consumption of carbs, you skip the carb burning stage and go immediately into consuming fat.

There are significant risks to diets like the Atkins diet that aren’t widely discussed. Weight loss is certainly one of the benefits for you run the risk of problems such as kidney failure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, kidney stones, cancer, nausea and bad breath.

(Photo by size8jeans)

• Beans
• Tofu
• Peanut Butter
• Lentils
• Broccoli

This whole vegetarian thing is still in its nascent stages so don’t have any high expectations yet.

As for this week in the fitness blogosphere:

• Lazy Man talks about how exercise is about more than losing weight. It can provide sleep and mood benefits as well.
• NCN has joined the the 100 pushups craze and cranked out the 42 pushups of day one, week one. Congrats!
• Israel shares some unconventional benefits of weight loss, including the donation of old clothes to charity!

So sometime in the next couple of weeks, my wife and I are going to try to eat vegetarian for a week. We aren’t going to go strictly Vegan, but we’re going to significantly reduce the amount of meat we eat and try to avoid red meats entirely. While we haven’t exactly planned this little journey out yet, I think it’ll be fun to eat vegetarian for a week.

Who knows… maybe it’ll go longer.

That’s when I saw that Powerade had come out with a line of calorie free products. I actually never looked at the caloric content of Powerade before and was surprised. One of the regular bottles was on the fat side of 200 calories a bottle! That surprised me… until I realized that the only time I’d be drinking it would be when I was burning significant calories.

However, since I don’t mind Diet Coke (I actually prefer it now), I figured I’d give Powerade Zero a shot to see if I’d like it too. I didn’t. The after taste of the artificial sweetners was too overpowering, which surprised me. I think I don’t mind artificial sweetners in soda because of the carbonation, but without the carbonation the fake sugary stuff hits you full on. I’m not a fan of artificial sweetners in my coffee either, so that could be the reason.

Luckily I only got one bottle to test it out and have three more regular Powerade stuff to feed my thirst.

Incidentally, the Powerade website has a pretty cool soundtrack.

The Outback Aussie Cheese Fries w/ Ranch didn’t make the list though.

• Limited Internet – There’s been very limited Internet availability on my trip. I typed this into a text editor and upload it when I get a chance.
• Bad Food Choices – We haven’t been back to Boston since my wife and I got married in last July. This means that we’ve been without Kelly’s Roast Beef, D’Angelo’s Number Nines, Papa Gino’s Papa Platters, Brigham’s Dice Kream, etc. Living out of a hotel doesn’t do you any favors when trying to eat healthy.
• Lack of Exercise – Though we have fantastic gym facilities available to us, we simply haven’t had time to partake of them. We had 15 minutes yesterday to tour the facilities and that might be as far as we get.

In the next few days, I will try to post some guest articles that I have. This weekend, after we get home, I can work to getting back on schedule.

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His advice of timing yourself is crucial because it really shows how quickly you can eat a good breakfast. How long does it really take to pour a bowl of a good hearty cereal, fill it with some milk, and eat it? Probably not that long. Which means the whole “I have no time for breakfast” excuse isn’t a legit excuse because you certainly have a few minutes to do that, you simply choose not to.

So, the next time you think you don’t have enough time… make some time, your body will thank you.