Friday's Letters

Dear Friday, You came fast this week. And the weekend will probably go even faster with work, homework, church and anything else that comes up. September is flying by! Dear McDonalds, So you've added calories to your menu. Do you think it will help people make better choices? I'm not so sure - but I guess it's a step in the right direction? Dear Thought File, For one of my classes we have been asked to keep track of our thoughts for a few days. That's pretty intense since thinking is going on constantly - but it has also reminded me of the power of our minds. What we think often turns into who we are and how we act. Dear Quinoa, Thanks for being an easy gluten free dish to take for dinner this week! Add some back beans, tomatoes and avocado and you got something that looks gourmet but only took a few minutes to put together.

Have a safe and fun weekend!

 

 

Every Morsel

For my nutrition class this semester, one of our assignments was to record what we ate and drank for 2 days. One day was a week day and one was a weekend day. There is more to it than just what we ate though – my professor had us write down what we ate, when we ate it, who we were with, how hungry we were, where we were, time we spent eating, and what we did while eating. Pretty detailed, right? I thought so.

I wasn’t too excited to have to think that much while eating. Really. But after I started doing it, I really enjoyed it. I found that it was incredibly enlightening to write down my degree of hunger, what I did while eating and who was with me. Those three things, among others, effect what and how we eat SO MUCH.

In a recent study they found that “people who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more as those who didn’t keep a tally of their meals.”

Nearly 1,700 Kaiser Permanente study participants agreed to exercise and adopt a healthy diet, but those who took the extra step of keeping track of what they consumed got something of a booster charge in their weight loss.

Overall, two-thirds of the study subjects lost nine pounds or more during the six-month study. But those who kept a food diary every day of the week dropped up to 20 pounds, more than twice as much as those who didn't record their every bite.

I don’t think it is necessary to write down everything you eat for the rest of your life in order to lose weight and maintain it. But maybe you’ve been trying to lose weight, exercise and eating well, yet pounds aren’t dropping…writing things down might be a huge benefit. It is usually the snacking and the little additions to meals during the day that add up, yet we forget about them.

There are lots of options for food diaries. Online food journals are becoming very popular. Here are a few free ones online that you can set up a profile, enter what you eat and how much you exercise and see what the outcome is:

My Pyramid Tracker
Fit Day
Livestrong

There are also a variety of options to print out and use at home. I can even e-mail you the one I used for my class. Or, a simple pen and paper work just fine! I would encourage you to write down degree of hunger and time of day with what you eat, at least for several days.

~Do you track what you eat? What way works best for you?

Fun Fact Friday

This semester I am taking a nutrition class that I am SUPER excited about. I already love reading the material and learning new things. So I thought I’d share with you a little “Fun Fact Friday” from my latest reading!

I would guess that most of you are very aware of how a calorie is a measurement of energy. Foods have a certain number of calories based off their composition of nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids (fats), water, vitamins and minerals.
Taken a little further, every food has a measure of energy density. This is a comparison of the calorie content of a food with the weight of the food.
An energy dense food is high in calories but weights very little. Examples of these foods are nuts, cookies, fried foods, pretzels, etc.

A food low in energy density has few calories but weighs a lot. Examples are fruits, vegetables, oats, or any food that incorporates lots of water during cooking.

Obviously, eating low in energy density foods provide more nutrients for less calories. They also keep you full longer. That doesn’t mean you should completely avoid energy dense foods, but be more limiting in those foods.
So think about that next time you are considering your afternoon snack!
Here are some link worthy recipes from the week…there’s some energy dense and low energy density foods here!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Sonoma Chicken Salad

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Biscuits

Avocado Egg Salad

Cake On A Stick

Fresh Peach Muffins

Bakes Sweet Potato Chips

Have a great weekend!