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Are You Trying Too Hard to Eat Healthfully?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2012 CommentI was always a very efficient student. What I mean is that whatever grade I needed to get me where I wanted to go, well, that was the grade that I got. In my early university years, that meant getting marks in and around the high 70s and low 80s, since my career plans at the time involved getting into graduate school and pursuing a career in medical genetics. But after what I found to be a deathly boring summer working in an actual genetics lab, I decided I wanted to go to medical school, and suddenly high 70s and low 80s weren't good enough. I needed 90s, and I needed them across the board. I learned quickly that the effort required to get in the 90s, for me anyway, was at least an order of magnitude more than what I'd been putting in. I truly had to spend at least twice as much time studying to get that measly extra 10 percent. But the fact was, without those 90s, I wouldn't be a physician today. There simply wasn't a choice.
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Does Exercise Distort Your Perception of Hunger?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2012 CommentShould you trust your hunger meter after a workout? Two studies published this year reported that contrary to popular belief, exercise doesn't make people hungrier. In fact, results showed that brisk exercise can decrease interest in food.
But other experiments have turned up evidence to the contrary. Some researchers have found that not only does exercise cause a perceived need to eat more, but that our pleasure response to food is heightened following a workout—and that even thinking about exercise can whet our appetites.
So does exercise make us hungry or doesn't it? And if it does, should it? The relationship between physical activity and calorie compensation seems to have proved complex, not just for the average person, but for scientists, as well.
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As Halloween Approaches, a Dietitian Asks: WWDKD?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2012 CommentEach year, Halloween poses a moral dilemma for most dietitians. Opt out of trick-or-treating, and at best, we're branded joyless buzz kills; at worst, our houses are assailed with shaving cream and toilet paper. Opt in, and we're fueling the national year-end sugar binge that undoes 10 months of talk about moderation and nutritional balance. It's a no-win situation.
In the past, I've put my inner conflict aside to participate in the spirit of the holiday, doling out "fun-sized" candies with relatively lower calorie counts that I did not find particularly tempting myself. This, I reasoned, would make them the lesser of many evils to the kids who received them, and less tempting to me as holiday leftovers.
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Understanding Childhood Obesity
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2012 CommentChildhood obesity has become so epidemic in this country that kids today risk having shorter life spans than their parents. The American Heart Association reports that about one in three American kids is overweight or obese. Those statistics have nearly tripled in about 50 years. As a result, many young children today are plagued with risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, high triglycerides, raised insulin, physical inactivity, and obesity. Many also suffer from low self-esteem and depression. Is there a solution in sight?
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Mitzi's Food and Fitness Diary
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2012 CommentI have been a registered dietitian and personal trainer for over 16 years, and the questions I'm most commonly asked are about my diet and workout routine.
In response, I will now be offering you, literally, snapshots of my daily regimen. Once a month, be sure to visit this blog for my Food and Fitness Diary to see exactly how I eat and exercise.
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How to Feature Art in Your Garden
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2012 CommentThink "garden art" and weather vanes, whirligigs, metal cutouts of chickens and sunflowers, and painted rocks may come to mind. These are all cute, of course, and add a wonderful feeling of whimsy and tradition to a garden, especially if children are involved. However, they're not the only way you can let your artistic side shine in a garden. The "off season", when you're not as busy hoeing and growing, is a great time to shift your focus to structural focal points such as art. Here are four elements to get your garden art growing:
Sculptures. There's no reason that beautiful statues need only reside in formal gardens. Why not feature large molded, welded, and cast three-dimensional art in your urban farm, community garden, or corporate garden? This is a great way to showcase local artists, and increase awareness and support of your garden and mission. Creating art with interesting materials repurposed from the waste stream (perhaps even from your corporation's manufacturing facility) is a particularly clever way to highlight your commitment to living lighter on the land. Why not have a contest? You can then host an art opening where you punctuate entry ways, herb spirals, and ends of rows with eye-catching, conversation-starting visual delights.
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Best Foods to Eat During Pregnancy
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2012 CommentProper nutrition during pregnancy can make a big difference: It can build a stronger baby brain and skeleton, prevent birth defects, and set the baby up for a healthier weight later in life. The right diet can also help the mom-to-be prevent pregnancy problems like constipation or hemorrhoids, and help maintain her own store of nutrients, preventing issues like anemia or bone loss.
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Beverage Face-Offs: Which One Is Best?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2012 CommentWith so many beverage choices on the market today, how does a consumer know which one to reach for? My patients are constantly asking about the virtues of this or that drink over another, so I thought I'd offer you my analysis on favorites:
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Use and Abuse of the Glycemic Index
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2012 CommentThe glycemic index is a very good tool, and its invention redounds to the credit of my friend and colleague, David Jenkins, of the University of Toronto.
That said, the handsaw is also a very good tool; I have no idea who originally invented it, but kudos to him or her.
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Why You Should Eat an Apple (or Two) a Day
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2012 CommentHave you ever wondered where the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," originated? Likely when an 1866 edition of Notes and Queries magazine published the saying: "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread."
