March 2010

Gaining weight is so, so easy.  But as anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows, taking it off is hard work — both physically and mentally.

New research in rats might help explain why.  A diet of fatty foods, say researchers, overload pleasure sensors in the brain, much like a drug does.  And the more that you eat, the more that you need to eat to get that “high” again.

From CNN:

Not surprisingly, the rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high.

They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats’ feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not. “Their attention was solely focused on consuming food,” says Kenny.

It doesn’t make the solution any easier, of course.  Losing weight will always be tough on the mind and body, but many people beat themselves up for what they see as a lack of willpower when it comes to losing weight.  What this study shows is that there’s far more at play than a person’s will.

Instead of denying yourself those foods that make you feel good and feeling worse in the process, try this:  Replace them gradually with healthier versions so that eventually you’re eating 80 percent healthy and nutritious foods, with room in your life for the occasional treat.

Even if you don’t go 100 percent meat-free, adding a few vegetarian dishes into your regular meal rotation is smart cooking.  Vegetarian meals tend to be lower in calories and saturated fat, and skipping the meat now and then is also good for the environment.

Martha Stewart has 50 quick and easy vegetarian recipes.  And for the most part, by quick she means 30 minutes or less.  Here are some that look especially easy and tasty:

Lighter Sesame Noodles

Tofu Stir Fry

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Parsley, and Bread Crumbs

Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Chick Peas

Vegetable Enchiladas

A few of these are on our menu this week.  What’s your favorite vegetarian recipe?

In the two years between college and moving in with my husband, I lived alone in a tiny upstairs apartment with an impossibly small kitchen.  Lucky for me, I rarely cooked then … or maybe not.  My diet subsisted of mostly processed, easy to prepare meals that didn’t require much room or effort.

It’s a common conundrum for people who live and dine alone.  Cooking a healthy, nutritious, delicious meal requires effort, something some people (like me, then) just aren’t willing to put in when they’re the only one eating.  And recipes are often written for much larger groups.

But nutrition is important, whether there are six plates on your table or one.  At the New York Times, Martha Rose Shulman has great tips for cooking a nutritious meal for one:

Get into the habit of stocking your refrigerator with items that keep well, and meals will become more fun and less challenging. Produce like cabbage, red peppers, celery and carrots will stay viable for a couple of weeks, if you don’t keep them wrapped in plastic. Eggs, too, have a long shelf life in the refrigerator.

In the pantry, keep grains like quinoa, rice, canned beans and lentils. Keep a good loaf of whole grain bread — sliced — in the freezer, so that you can pull out a slice or two for quick panini without having to watch the rest of the loaf go stale.

She’s got a great recipe for pan-seared tuna with asian cole-slaw, but if simple is more your style, check out these recipes at Marie Claire.

For more tips on cooking for one or two, visit Mayo Clinic.

Don’t worry, be happy?  Not quite.  A recent out of the University of Arizona discovered an interesting correlation:  People who engage in deep, meaningful conversations are happier than those who stick to small talk.  From the New York Times Well blog:

But, he proposed, substantive conversation seemed to hold the key to happiness for two main reasons: both because human beings are driven to find and create meaning in their lives, and because we are social animals who want and need to connect with other people.

“By engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world,” Dr. Mehl said. “And interpersonally, as you find this meaning, you bond with your interactive partner, and we know that interpersonal connection and integration is a core fundamental foundation of happiness.”

In today’s world of life in 140 characters or less, meaningful conversation can be hard to find.  Twitter, Facebook, and texting don’t even scratch the surface of insightful communication.  In fact, on a scale of 1 to 10, Please Enjoy ranks Twitter as a 10, with talking as a one.

If you’re looking for more meaning in your life — and possibly more happiness — try turning off your technology and turning towards those people that mean the most in your life.  Though this study is small, others show that having a solid emotional support system is a major key to happiness.

Beets in a smoothie?  Sure, why not?  In this smoothie recipe from The Expatriate’s Kitchen, the berries, bananas, and juice add a some sweetness to the mix.

Beet, Berry, Banana Smoothie

3 beets, roasted, instructions below

2 cups frozen blueberries

1 banana

12 oz. 100 percent fruit juice (black cherry or berry)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the stems and leaves off the beets, saving the leaves for cooking as greens. Wash the beets and trim off the root end. Wrap the beets in foil. Roast in the oven for about an hour. Allow to cool enough to handle. Take a paper towel and rub each beet. The peel should rub off easily. You can store the beets in the fridge until you are ready to make the smoothies.

Place all ingredients in the blender. Blend well. Makes 6 one-cup servings.

Beets will be in season soon in temperate climates, so you might be able to find them at your local farmer’s market with greens still attached.  Northerners might still have some tucked away in cold storage.  They’re definitely worth the time spent hunting for them.  According to World’s Healthiest Foods, they “contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.”  Beets are also an anti-inflammatory food and are rich in iron.

For more smoothie recipes, visit Smoothieweb.com.

Still storing your vitamins and other supplements in the bathroom?  It’s time to find a new place to them, says a researcher from Purdue University.  Just make sure it’s not the kitchen.

That’s because humidity can change the composition of your vitamins, even if you’ve got the lid sealed tight.  From UPI.com:

“Opening and closing a package will change the atmosphere in it,” Mauer says in statement. “If you open and close a package in a bathroom, you add a little bit of humidity and moisture each time.”

Once humidity or temperature is brought back down, the product will solidify, Mauer says, but the damage has been done. Depending on how long a person takes for a shower, the humidity of the bathroom can go as high as 98 percent, Mauer says.

I keep my vitamins on my nightstand and swallow them right before I go to bed.  But since some nutrients are better absorbed when taken with food, your breakfast table might be a better idea.  If you work in an office, storing them in a desk drawer makes them easy to take at lunch.  Just make sure that whatever place you choose is out of reach of children.

For more on storing vitamins, visit WebMD.

Alcohol is often looked at as empty calories, at least from a weight loss standpoint.  Even red wine, which is rich in heart healthy flavonoids.

But a new study suggests that a moderate amount of red wine, up to two glasses a day, might actually help women keep the weight off.

The study, out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, followed over 19,000 women for 13 years.  Thirty eight percent of those women were non-drinkers, and it was that group that gained the most weight over the years.  In fact, the more women drank, the less weight they put on as they aged, and it was red wine drinkers that gained the least.

Experts are unsure about why alcohol would prevent weight gain, and stress that it might simply be lifestyle factors that led to weight maintenance.  From Telegraph:

However, Catherine Collins, a spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said women should not look on wine as a weight loss aid.

She said: “If these women have a healthy diet and lifestyle and are having one or two units of alcohol a night then that has less calories than someone who instead has a chocolate bar to unwind. It’s a question of “what’s your poison?”

“Of course if women were drinking more than two units a day they would put on weight. What this survey shows is that moderation is key to a healthy lifestyle. People who drink wine may be more likely to snack on sugary and more calorific treats.”

Drinking alcohol in moderation — one drink a day for women, two for men — can have health benefits, especially to the heart.  But researchers have never gone so far as to recommend that teetotalers pick up a wine glass.

“Mom, I’m hungry!”  How many times a day do you hear it?  If you’re raising a kid in the United States right now, probably a lot.

From the New York Times Well blog:

A sweeping study of 31,337 children and adolescents released on Tuesday tracked snacking and meal trends from 1977 through 2006 using data from four national surveys. On average, children reach for cookies, chips and other treats about three times a day, consuming nearly 600 daily calories from snacks. That’s an increase of 168 snack calories compared with what children ate in the late 1970s.

In fact, snacking now makes up to a third of kids’ daily calories.  If those calories were fiber-filled fruits or vitamin-rich veggies, that wouldn’t be so bad.  But kids are more often reaching for sugar and salty snacks instead.

Here are a few ways to cut the junk and help your kids get back on track:

• Have regular family meals.  Studies show that kids who eat family meals drink more milk, eat more vegetables, and do better in school.
• Put healthy snacks in easy reach.  Keep chopped veggies in the fridge and wash the fruit and put it in a bowl for easy grabbing.  Out of sight is out of mind when it comes to processed foods.
• Make kids part of the process.  Let them help in the kitchen, or consider a backyard garden where they can grow their own food.
• Dip it!  Dips are a fun way to get more veggies into a child’s diet.  Hummus goes great with nearly any chopped vegetable.
• Make it interesting:  When my kids were preschoolers, I’d serve lunch or a snack in a plastic ice cube tray.  They were so surprised by the novelty of the little portions, they never noticed they were eating slices of fruit, veggies, and cheese.
• Be a role model.  Make health a family priority.

Do your kids love to munch?  How do you make sure the calories they’re getting are healthy ones?

March 1st means the promise of spring, the knowledge that the worst of the long winter has past.

Winter means comfort food — warm, carb-rich dinners that fill us up when chilly nights set in.  If you’re like me, though, you’re getting tired of typical winter fare.  I’m ready for the first fresh vegetables of spring to show up at our local farmer’s market, even if it’s just green onions and lettuce.

It might not yet be spring out your window, but add these nutritious and tasty spring-inspired recipes to your weekly menu for a little taste of what’s to come:

Tangy Bean Salad with Carrots and Green Onion

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Mock Risotto with Asparagus served with Snap Pea Salad

Baked Chicken with Onions and Leeks

What’s your favorite health spring recipe?

Photo: goosegrease, Flickr