Nutrition Not Another Resolution. We would like to invite you to join our 2009 New Year’s Weight Loss Challenge.

New Year's is upon us and many of us make the same old resolution each year to lose weight. Don't just resolve to eating only salad, eliminating carbs, or going to the gym 4 hours a day. Instead we would like you to try something new for you. No more empty New Year's Resolutions. Proper nutrition is what you need to lose the weight for good.

Learn more or Register for the Challenge

The holiday season is with us.  Celebrations and Holiday parties abound. Along with all of the festivities we need to remember to enjoy ourselves while maintaining our wonderful habits and health during the holidays.

Holiday Habits Redefined

• Remember to eat every 4-5 hours or have a snack in order to not skip meals or eat at irregular meal times, which can result in the risk of overeating.
• Share portions when eating out at restaurants. It makes the occasion more intimate and special.
• Carry appropriate snacks such as 5 dried apricots, 6 almonds, and 1 Babybell lite cheese in a plastic bag so that the desire to grab those holiday sweets is diminished.
• Eat slowly at the festivities. By enjoying one another’s company, it takes longer to chew and digest the food. After about 20 minutes, our bodies recognize satiety which will assist one from over-eating.
• Bring a healthy dish to the holiday festivities. Not only will others enjoy the dish, but you’ll have something light and healthy to eat, too.
• When at the party, don’t deny yourself the pleasure of tasting food. Instead, choose a few favorite dishes you’d like to try and take small portions of each. A good portion size is about the size of your palm.
• Determine your goals for the holiday season.  For example, do not make food the center of attention. Instead, focus on enjoying other activities. Mentally go through the event, picturing your self as a success.
• Stick with your plan. By maintaining and planning, we can be prepared for times when we might be hungry or tempted.
• Believe in yourself. Remember your commitment to strive towards your goals and you can stick with it.

 
Remember to relax and enjoy yourself this season! Take a breath! Take a quick stretch. Stress can lead to imbalance and that can result in excessive eating. By sticking with these healthy holiday habits and protecting yourself from stress overload you can treasure the moments and stay focused on your goals. 

 
By: Registered Dietitian Sarah Koszyk,  RD

IFs and BUTs

These are two words that often accompany weight loss. I could lose weight IF I had the time, IF I had the money, IF I lived alone, IF I didn't work so hard.  I wish I could BUT I just can't lose weight, I have tried everything BUT nothing works, I know I am not healthy BUT my lifestyle is too busy to change.  The excuses and reasons can stretch on forever.

There is no doubt about it- weight loss can be very difficult.  But why do some people succeed and others do not?  What did they do differently?  Did they have a better diet or is there more to it?

The Truth about Diets

Expenditure greater than Intake = Weight loss

There you go.  Simple as that.  But something is missing from this equation.  If it were this easy Americans wouldn't spend millions of dollars each year trying to lose weight.  What is lacking?  Why do many people have so much trouble losing weight?

The reason is that most weight loss diets and pills don't teach you about you. They don't illuminate the reasons why your weight grew.  They are band aides that only address the pounds and not the root causes of weight gain.  So as soon as you stop the pill/diet or shake, the weight comes back, and then you are left right back where you started because nothing has really been solved.

The Real Key to Weight Loss

Expenditure greater than Intake + MOTIVATION = Weight loss

Before starting a weight loss regimen, it is important to find your ultimate motivation; your deep, passionate and meaningful reason for weight loss - your key that will kick all the ifs and buts to the wayside.

This is one of the reasons why Nu4You works so well.  Your nutrition coach is there to help you understand yourself, the choices you make and the barriers you face.  Not only do they provide you with a great plan that works - they practice behavior modification, so those bad habits become memories of the past. 

We will help you find your supreme motivation - your key to weight loss.  Once you have that firm in your heart, shedding the pounds becomes easier. Then all it takes is a little time, dedication, simple mathematics and the reminder of why you are making changes.

It's my pleasure to announce the winners of the RealJock Nu4You Fall Weight Loss Challenge. Everyone in this Challenge has been absolutely fantastic.  Remember that our scoring system focuses on more than your weight loss percentage, but on all of the following factors that will help you keep your weight off for the long-term!

   -Percent Body Weight Loss
   -Record Keeping
   -Eating Breakfast
   -Exercise
   -Monitoring Weight
   -Low-fat Diet
   -Sportsmanship

Thank you to everyone for participating in the Challenge, and we hope that you will keep up with your nutrition goals, and tell your friends about Nutrition for You and Nu4You.net

 First Place

Matt45710 Total Score: 97.2

Matt45710 lost 21 lbs an excellent 11.4% of his original body weight during the challenge.    Although this wasn't the highest percentage weight loss accomplished by TigerFrank with 30 lbs and 13.5% Matt45710 excelled across the board in all of our critical numbers!

Congratulations Matt45710 you win a Polar F6 heart rate monitor and a hand held body fat tester! 

Second Place

Ctocity Total Score 93.8

Ctocity lost 16.6 lbs an excellent 8.6% of his original body weight.  The second place spot was a very close contest between ctocity score 93.8, jkw69 score 93.4  and thegaytekeeper  score 93.2.  We spent a lot of time checking and re-checking the numbers for these 3 because the scores were so close.

Congratulations to ctocity who will win a Polar F6 heart rate monitor!

Fantastic Results

As we finished the challenge we had 23 out of the original 33 contestants finish the challenge.

Really great statistics for the 23 finishers of the Challenge:
100% of the Finishers lost weight.
Group Starting Weight: 5,319
Group Ending Weight:  5,007
Pounds Lost: 312 during the challenge (or 1,092,000 calories!)
Average Weight Loss Per Person: 13.6 pounds
Average Weight Loss Per Person Per Week: 1.5 pounds
The largest weight loss: 30 pounds
The least weight loss: 5 pounds
Contest Length: 9 weeks

 

Healthy American adults should eat less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. This is about 1 teaspoon of sodium chloride (salt).

 

To illustrate, the following are sources of sodium in the diet:

 

1/4 teaspoon salt	= 575 mg sodium
1/2 teaspoon salt	= 1,150 mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt	= 1,725 mg sodium
1 teaspoon salt	= 2,300 mg sodium

When reading labels Nutrition for You recommends:

 

• When choosing meals such as Lean Cuisines, Healthy Choice, or any other meal package choose sodium amount to be less than 500 mg per meal
• When choosing snacks choose sodium amount to be less than 250 mg per day per serving.

 

Menopause can be a very difficult time for many women. It is a crossroad in a woman’s life where changes in her body may be unwelcome. During menopause many women experience weight gain and changes in their blood cholesterol levels as well as develop fear of osteoporosis. Despite these unwanted changes, there are many things you can do to alleviate the negative side effects of menopause. Read on to learn more about how Nutrition for You can help you manage these symptoms of menopause in a natural and holistic way.

Full Article: Menopause  - Weight Gain, Cardio Health and Osteoporosis

Manuel Villacorta talks about metabolism:

What’s a metabolism?
Metabolism refers to your body’s ability to digest and utilize food energy (in calorie form) in order to maintain essential bodily functions like breathing and regulating heartbeats. “It’s the amount of calories that your body uses to make sure that it’s continually surviving,” Villacorta explains. One’s metabolic rate is determined by how quickly it can use up consumed calories, and that rate is affected by a variety of factors: age, weight, exercise, eating habits, and so forth. In order to condition our metabolisms to perform at peak levels, we must address each of these factors when coming up with a plan.

If you want to learn more about metabolism, read the entire article on DivineCaroline.com

O.k. of course not.  But today when I was finishing up my morning workout at my athletic club I noticed something.  I looked over into the lounge area and there was a huge tray of donuts there for the taking.  Free of charge.  Congratulations on a good workout it said!  I couldn't believe it.

Wow. I've talked about mixed messages before and how detrimental it is to your nutritional well-being.  This is just one glaring example of how it can get out of hand. There are two things that are important to recognize.

1. It's very easy for people to distract you with bad or over-simplified advice

The headline "Donuts are good for your workout" certainly caught your attention.  It's something we want to be true, but unfortunately it's not.   When you read nutrition advice on the web, or see and hear it on radio and television, you need to take a look at the motivations of the qualifications of the person providing the advice.  Do they really just want to sell you pills? or food? their book? or advertise their thigh master?  If so they still might have credible advice, but remember that it's always going to be skewed towards their own product, not your health.  Also take a look at the credentials of the people providing nutrition advice.  If that person is not a registered dietitian (RD) then they are not focused 100% on nutrition and diet.  Even a licensed M.D. generally only has a small amount of training in nutritional science.

At Nutrition for You we are clear about our motivation and credentials.  We want you to lose weight and we want you keep it off permanently.  We want you to be proud to tell everyone that meets the "new you" how you did it with sound nutrition, not fad-diets, gimmicks, or pills.    Our program was created and is maintained by Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD, CSSD a board certified registered dietitian, and certified specialist in sports dietetics and a team of people that want you to succeed.

2. Mixed messages do not help you with weight loss

Everyone has to eat, so it generally fools all of us to think we are food experts.  We're not.  If we were we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic in the United States.  What works for one person may not work for you.  Each of us is an individual.  If you follow food, nutrition, and weight loss expertise from everyone you'll get many conflicting messages and end up even more confused.

What do I mean by mixed messages will not help?  Here are some examples:

• Your friend telling you that carbs are bad (they aren't) and that they lost 25# on Atkins while snacking on a muffin is a mixed message.
• Your grocer telling you that Organic is always better even if the food was shipped overseas using a lot of fuel rather than locally cultivated.
• Web sites that give you solid nutrition advice but have ads saying "How I Lost 44 Lbs Fast!" on the same page is a mixed message.
• and yes, Donuts in your gym is a mixed message.
  

Nutrition for you will not give you mixed messages to confuse you. We really want you to succeed so we want you to focus on what we teach you.  We are experts at weight loss and weight management.  Work with us with your mind open and ready for a change and you will succeed.

Whether or not to buy organic or conventionally grown foods is a big topic that many of our members contemplate. Read on to learn more about which items you should consider buying organic and where convential foods are ok.

The Clean and Dirty Details of Organic!
Organic foods can be 50% more expensive than conventionally grown foods. However, the more organic foods you eat, the less pesticides you consume. It is especially important for children to consume organic foods. New studies suggest that pesticides are linked to ADHD, obesity, diabetes and learning disorders in kids who don't yet have the immune system to be able to flush out these toxins.

Produce:
Here are two lists: one for produce that we recommend you buy organic and one for produce where conventional is ok.

Produce "Dirty Dozen" *Highest in pesticide residue: buy organic if you can.	Produce "Not-So-Dirty-Dozen" *Lowest in pesticide residue: ok to buy conventionally grown.
Peaches Apples Sweet bell peppers Celery Nectarines Strawberries Cherries Pears Grapes (imported) Spinach Lettuce Potatoes	Papayas Broccoli Cabbage Bananas Kiwi Sweat peas (frozen) Asparagus Mangoes Pineapple Sweet corn (frozen) Avocados Onions

Meat and Poultry:
It is very important to buy meat and poultry that has not been treated with antibiotics. Public health authorities recognize that antibiotic use in live-stock (used to fatten them up and prevent disease caused by over crowding and unsanitary living conditions) has led to people contracting antibiotic-resistant infections. The World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have urged farmers to stop using antibiotics. However, many farmers still continue to use antibiotics. So, when it comes to meat and poultry definitely buy meat that has not been treated.

What labels mean:

BEST: Certified Organic: Meat that bears this label is raised without the use of antibiotics or related drugs and meets other rigorous standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). When organically raised animals become sick, they are treated with antibiotics but do not receive the organic label. A third party certifies these standards.

BEST: No Antibiotics Added/Raised without Antibiotics: This label indicates that the animals have not been fed antibiotics at any point in their lives. Meat from sick animals treated with antibiotics cannot be sold under this label claim. Although the USDA approved the use of this claim, compliance is not certified by a third party.

OK: Natural/All-Natural: The USDA defines a "natural" meat product as one that "contain[s] no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed." Meat labeled "natural" may or may not have been treated with antibiotics.

DOESN'T MEAN MUCH: Free-Range/Free-Roaming: These labels have been approved by the USDA for poultry that have been allowed access to the outdoors (though they may never actually go outdoors) but the claim implies nothing about the antibiotic use practices of the producer.

Milk:
Many dairy farmers use the bovine growth hormone (bGH) to increase cattle weight as well as milk production. Though the FDA concluded that there are no risks to drinking milk from cows treated with this hormone, the issue is still being researched. bGH has been banned in Europe and Canada. Since there are so many dairies that don't use this hormone, we suggest buying from them if you can. Buy milk/milk products labeled organic or "rbGH free."

Whether you buy organic or not, here are some tips:

• Buy local produce whenever possible.
• Reduce pesticide residues and other contaminants by:
  *Washing and scrubbing all produce (even produce with skin) under streaming water (don't use soap).
  *Remove peel from fruits and vegetables.
  *Remove outer leaves of leafy vegetables.
  
• Discard produce that has been out of refrigerator for more than 4 hours.
• Trim visible fat and skin from meat and poultry (pesticides residues collect in fat).
• Eat a variety of foods from different sources.
• Prioritize: The majority of your organic food dollars should be spent on avoiding produce which carry the most pesticides.

Created by Kate Haisch, BS, Dietetic Intern

Resources:
Brannon, Carol Ann. "Organics: Separating Science Fiction from Fact." Today's Dietician 10.4 (2008): 8-14
Bareuther, Carol. "Mission Organic: 2010." Today's Dietician 10.4 (2008): 30-34
UCS: What's in the Meat You Eat?

The economy is something that is on everyone's mind these days.  In fact it's pretty easy when looking at your expenses to consider dropping that gym membership, or putting off joining Nutrition for You to save money.  It reminds me of a comment made by a friend of mine, "It's expensive to eat healthy."

It's not.

In fact eating healthy will save you money.  It really comes down to where you eat and what you eat.  Members of Nutrition for You work with real nutrition experts on more than just calories and macronutrients.  We work with you to find ways to make real long-term changes to your life-style. One of the aspects of working with us is how you approach what and where you eat and how that can make you healthier and save you money.

Saving money by where you eat

Many of us love to dine out.  We have our favorite restaurants and eat out a few times a week.  But dining out is expensive and you often have to pay more to be healthy at a restaurant.  How often have you seen something like $1 extra for egg beaters ™ or egg whites instead of eggs? And you know that filet mignon (a lean meat) is a lot more expensive than at rib-eye (medium fat meat).

The price of a single meal at a moderate priced restaurant for one person can often feed an entire family if you cook a meal at home.    The cost of common food items, flour, bread, milk, fruits and vegetables are all sky rocketing.  You feel this at home, but you fill feel it even more at your favorite restaurant because restaurants pass that cost on to you with their service markup.

Another problem with dining out is that you really don't know how the food is prepared.  You might find that the entree you ordered is drenched in butter when it arrives to your table.  You've already ordered and paid for your food so you're not turning back now!  This is not healthy and expensive.

Dining out is not necessary a bad thing, but it can be very expensive.  Don’t give up your health and fitness tools so that you can dine out.  If you have grown accustomed to dining out try to cut back and prepare your own meals at home. You’ll find that you can easily incorporate egg whites at a fraction of the cost of a restaurant and you can save significant money by choosing leaner cuts of meat from your grocer rather than from a restaurant.    Get to know your kitchen again and you may find that you are a great cook and that you will be eating better, healthier, and certainly save yourself some money.  

Saving money by what you eat

A couple of the latest trends with supermarkets and food companies are increasing prepared and pre-packaged foods for convenience.  Supermarkets and companies like Weight Watchers save you time by creating prepared foods and they charge you a lot of money for it.  Prepared foods that aren't "boxed" generally don't have enough nutrition information for you to know what was used in them and sometimes you pay up to $6 and $7 a pound for prepared foods.  Just think about how many dietary staples you can buy for a pound of prepared food!  Prepared foods like Lean Cuisine at least provide you nutrition information and many of them are a good way to have a quick meal while on the go, but don't make every meal come from a box.   They are selling you portion control.  Portion control is extremely important, but you can prepare the healthy food yourself and freeze the extra portions for later meals.  Make your own portable healthy entrees and don’t pay extra for a box.

Beware of packaging gimmicks.  Remember that re-packaging foods into smaller convenient packages costs you money.  Those 100 calorie packs are a waste of money.  Beside the fact that most of them are nutritionally useless, they cost more and you are getting less for your money.  They are great for portion control, but you can do the same thing with a snack bag and a kitchen scale.    Remember that if you see individual portions and single serving portions you are paying a lot of money simply for the convenience.   Make your own snack packs and you will have healthier snacks and save a lot of money.

Plan for the future

Just like any financial plan you should also plan for the future for your health.  We teach people to lose weight and get healthy and to keep it off for the long term.   Eating well and being at or near your ideal weight and body fat will help you stay healthier.  And staying healthier is great way to reduce the likelihood of costly weight related problems in your future.    

So remember it doesn't cost more to eat healthy.  It will save you money, and you will be happier in these tough economic times if you commit to improving your nutritional quality of life.