Resolution Rescue: What are you craving?

If losing weight is one of your New Year's resolutions, sooner or later you'll probably find your resolve tested by an overwhelming desire for something really naughty.  Hopefully, you'll reach for a diet-friendly snack instead. But your chances of heading off dietary disaster will be higher if you choose an alternative that is a good match for your particular craving.

if you're craving chocolate, for example, another stick of celery is probably not going to do the trick. (Then again, if you're craving something salty, it just might.)

Here are some foods to help satisfy various cravings without ruining your diet:

If you're craving chocolate, try:

• A cup of hot cocoa, made with skim or lowfat milk and real cocoa powder. Cocoa powder has all the rich chocolate flavor (and heart-healthy flavonoids) but none of the fat of chocolate
• Chocolate-flavored tea. Available from specialty shops and online retailers, chocolate teas provide rich chocolate-y flavor for zero calories.

If you're craving something salty and crunchy, try:

• Celery sticks, which higher in sodium than other vegetables (although still very low in sodium--and calories--compared with things like chips and pretzels)
• Dill pickles contain a fair amount of salt but very few calories.
• Air-popped popcorn. You can crunch through an entire bowl for about 100 calories and only 18 grams of carbs. (Bonus: 3 grams of fiber!)
• Warm, homemade tortilla chips: Cut small corn tortillas into triangles, spray with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until crisp.

If you're craving something fried, try:

• Oven fries; baked on a cookie sheet with a bit of oil, they have a fraction of the oil and calories of deep-fried potatoes (Try this recipe from Epicurious.com for Salt and Pepper Oven Fries.)
• Oven-"fried" chicken. A crisp coating of bread crumbs and grated cheese makes a great stand-in for greasy fried chicken. Recipe for Oven-"fried" chicken.

If you're craving something sweet, try:

• Frozen grapes; wash and stem a bunch of fresh grapes, dry thoroughly (important!) and freeze in a zip lock freezer bag. A handful of frozen grapes is low in calories but takes a long time to savor.
• Chew a piece of sugarless gum. Fruity flavors or bubblegum work better than minty ones to satisfy a sweet tooth.
• Dried fruit has an intense, chewy sweetness. A few dried apricots or figs may head off a craving for candy more effectively than a piece of fresh fruit. 

If you're craving something creamy, try:

• Low-fat Greek-style yogurt; Greek yogurt has some of the water strained off, giving it an extra creamy texture. (You can also strain regular low-fat yogurt with a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth.)
• Deviled eggs; made with low-fat or fat-free mayo, they make a satisfying, creamy (and high protein) snack.
• Skim cappuccino; skim milk froths up even thicker than whole milk.

Turning Resolutions into Realities

On December 31st, millions of us will vow (once again) to turn over a new leaf in the New Year, recommitting ourselves to healthy habits that may have gotten lost in the holiday bustle.  For those who are thinking ahead, here are some tips on turning this year's resolution into reality.

1. Make your resolution as specific as possible.

The other day, I sent out an email asking other Nutrition Data staffers about their New Year's resolutions.  Chris responded that he resolving to "run more."   Now, if I were a betting woman, I wouldn't wager very much on this resolution becoming a reality.  Vague goals like "eat better" are hard to quantify and, therefore, easy to fudge and, eventually, forget.  When pressed, Chris came up with a more specific resolution: Run a minimum of 3 miles, two times a week.  The odds of Chris keeping his resolution just got MUCH better.

2. Commit to small (but meaningful) changes

Maria's resolution is to  "switch to milk instead of half and half in my coffee."  This is a great resolution: It's specific and it's extremely doable.  It may not seem like much but small changes like this one can really add up. I think the odds are high that this time next year, Maria will still be drinking milk in her coffee instead of half and half.  And the total calorie savings over the course of a year? 18,250 or a total of five pounds. 

3. Go on record

There's something about making your resolution public that makes it just a little bit harder to abandon your resolution. To give your resolution a little extra staying power, why not put it on record? Use the 'Post a Comment' link below and tell us your New Year's Resolution. Make it specific and doable.  In a couple of months, I'll be checking in to see how you're doing.

Can't think of any? Here are some more ideas for small changes that can make a big difference in your health:

• Eat at least two servings of vegetables before 3pm each day
• Replace every other cup of coffee with a glass of water
• Eat breakfast every day
• Buy a pedometer and commit to a minimum of 7,000 steps a day
• Make the TV room a "no food zone"
• Switch to a higher fiber cereal
• Eat fish at least once every week

Debunking the biggest health myths of 2008

"Calories eaten late at night are more likely to be stored as fat."

"Sugar causes hyperactivity in kids."

"You lose most body heat through your head."

These are just some of the myths debunked by Rachel C Vreeman and Aaron E Carroll in this article in this week's British Medical Journal.  (Myth-debunking has become an annual tradition for Vreeman and Carroll, who published a similar list last December.)

"Both physicians and non-physicians sometimes believe things about our bodies that just are not true. As a reminder of the need to apply scientific investigation to conventional wisdom, we previously discussed the evidence disputing seven commonly held medical myths."

For this year's article, Vreeman and Carroll assembled a list of widely-held notions and then searched the medical literature for evidence to either support or disprove them.

Among their findings:

• Poinsettias are not toxic.
• Sugar does not change the behavior of kids with ADHD (although it changes parents' perception of their behavior).
• Any uncovered part of the body loses heat and will reduce the core body temperature proportionally.

And, good news for New Year's eve revelers:

• Studies found no link at all between eating at night and weight gain.  People gain weight because they take in more calories overall than they burn up.

For the whole story, see Festive Medical Myths, in the British Medical Journal.

Updated nutrient info for grass-fed beef, bison, dark chocolate, and more!

Hundreds of new foods will soon be available on NutritionData.com and updated nutrition information for many others will be added as well.  The new data comes from the USDA's Nutrient Data Laboratory.

The final phase of our update is scheduled for January 6th, after which all of the new data will be available on the site.  (Note: Access to your saved foods and recipes will be briefly suspended from around 6 to 9am Eastern time, while we complete the process.)

What's new?

Over 200 new foods will be added to the database, reflecting new foods that have been recently introduced to the marketplace or foods that have simply become more widely consumed in recent years. Many will be of particular interest to the Nutrition Data community, including:

• 28 brand-name soy products, such as various flavors of Silk soy yogurt and soymilk
• 66 soy-based vegetarian foods, including Worthington and Morningstar brands
• 12 new breakfast cereals, including several Kashi brand cereals
• 4 types of dark chocolate representing different cacao levels
• Spray (spritzer) salad dressing
• Grass-fed beef and bison
• Pomegranate juice
• Wild blueberries
• Refried beans
• Microwaved vegetables, including beans and corn
• Several new varieties of canned soup, including lower sodium soups
• Amaranth

In addition to new foods, nutrient data were updated for many foods already in the database. The newer data reflect changes in the commercial food supply as a result of food manufacturing and agricultural practices (as well as some error corrections). Nutrient data were updated for:

• dairy products like cottage cheese and sour cream
• infant formulas
• farmed Atlantic salmon
• several types of  cookies, crackers, and pastries
• several types of prepared foods, like chicken pot pies
• fast food items

A few foods were removed from the database because they are no longer available in retail stores, including several cuts of beef (most of the removed products were beef cuts with a ¼ inch fat trim; Beef cuts currently available in the retail market contain 1/8” or 0” of external trim fat.) and a number of dry soup mixes that are no longer on the market.

How the update will affect your existing foods and recipes

If you have recipes containing foods that have been removed from the database, that ingredient will be tagged as "obsolete" in your recipe, and the nutrients from that ingredient will no longer be included in your recipe analysis.  To update your recipe, simply search the database for an appropriate replacement ingredient and add it to your recipe. Your recipe analysis will automatically update when you save the recipe.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be taking a closer week at the new data and sharing my observations with you here on the blog. I can already see that there are a few suprises in store!

Stevia sweetened soft drinks come to U.S. market

For years, the FDA has dragged its heels on approving stevia, an herbal zero-calorie sweetener, citing questions about its safety.  (It has a long history of safe use in other countries.) Rumor had it that food industry giants were opposed to the introduction of a product that might undermine sales for brands like Equal, Splenda, and diet products using them--and use their muscle to tie up the approval process.

Stevia's been availabe in the States for some time, of course. But, because it had not yet been approved as a sweetener, it has been coyly marketed as a "dietary supplement." 

Now, Coca-cola and Pepsi both have stevia-sweetened sweeteners ready for the market and--presto!--the FDA has "no objection" to stevia as a sweetener.    (F.D.A Approves Two New Sweeteners, New YorkTimes.)  This will certainly open the door for more stevia-sweetened products to hit the U.S. market. 

Stevia is considered by many to be a far more natural and safer zero-calorie sweetener than Equal and Splenda.  To be sure, the leaves of the stevia plant are naturally sweet and naturally calorie-free (although the commercial sweeteners produced from stevia are highly refined and concentrated).   And, unlike Equal and Splenda, stevia seems to have beneficial effects on blood sugar control. (Reference)

But one of the charges leveled against Equal and Splenda is that intensely sweet but calorie-free sweeteners may somehow stimulate the appetite or otherwise screw up the body's metabolic or hormonal response to sugar (discussed in this post).  If that is indeed the case, I'm wondering why the same wouldn't apply to stevia?

More will be revealed, I suspect.

Low-carb diets and cognitive function

Low carb diets may reduce cognitive function, according to a small but well-designed study done at Tufts.  Dieters eating low carbohydrate diets for just one week performed more poorly on tests of memory and reaction times than a similar group of dieters on a higher carb regimen. Their performance improved after increasing carbohydrates.

Interestingly, the low carb dieters did better than the other dieters on tests of attention span, something previous studies of low carb dieters also found.

The researchers point out that the brain's preferred fuel is glucose, which is most efficiently gotten from carbohydrate foods.  And the FDA recommends that you get at least 130 grams of carbohydrates per day to adequately fuel central nervous system function. The low carb dieters in this study were eating less than 20 grams of carbohydrates a day.   Maybe that's just a little TOO low?

Personally, I favor a more balanced approach that distributes calories more evenly among carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Depending on the client, I usually recommend 40-50% carbs, 20-30% protein, and 25-30% fats. When the carbohydrates in your diet are primarily from whole, unrefined sources, I think this dietary prescription works well for most people.

What do you think?

What's in season now?

There's been a lot of talk lately about eating with the seasons as a way to maximize nutrition and minimize the environmental costs of our foods.  Foods that are fresh (i.e., in season) and locally-grown are going to be more nutritious because nutrients degrade during shipping and storage. It's also better for the environment (and the economy) because the alternative (shipping foods long distances) uses so much energy.

Eating seasonally is pretty easy when the weather is warm and everything is growing. But in most parts of the country, the harvest is now over and the first green shoots of Spring are several months away. So, what's in season now? Winter vegetables!

Winter vegetables include root vegetables such as turnips, carrots, and parsnips, along with hard winter squashes such as butternut, acorn, and pumpkin.  They are harvested in the late Fall and, when stored in a cool place, can keep you in antioxidants over the winter.  If you don't have an old fashioned root cellar, your best bet is to look for a year-round farmer's market, where locally grown winter vegetables will have pride of place between now and next April.

Winter squashes are particularly nutritious--you could practically live on them! The flesh is rich in beta-carotene, C, folate, calcium, potassium, fiber, vitamin E and more. The seeds provide protein, iron, vitamin K, magnesium and essential fatty acids. Winter squash are also perfectly packaged for storage by nature as the hard waxy skin helps to seal out light and air, preserving nutrient content.

Squash are versatile as well.  You can bake halved squash with a bit of butter and nutmeg and eat them out of the shell, roast cubed squash and toss with pasta, or (my favorite) make curried squash soup.  Here are a few of my favorite squash recipes from epicurious.com:

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Lima Beans
Quick Winter Squash Soup with Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Winter Squash Mash

Root vegetables are another economical and nutritious winter staple.  If you've never ventured beyond the familiar carrot, now is a great time to experiment with rutabagas, celery root, parsnips, and turnips. Most root veggies are high in vitamin C, K, and folate. Turnips and rutabagas are also high in B6 and calcium. Carrots, of course, are a great source of beta-carotene.  Root vegetables are great in soups, stews, or oven-roasted with olive oil and herbs. Here are some great recipes to try:

Roasted Root Vegetables with Rosemary
Rutabaga, Turnip and Carrot Soup
Creamy Rice with Parsnip Puree and Root Vegetables

And finally, if you're craving something green, try sprouting some microgreens.  A packet of seeds and couple of glass jars are all you need to transform your windowsill into a winter garden. (See this post for sprout nutrition info, how-to's and recipes).

We need a new, sustainable food and agriculture policy!

As Obama continues to name his choices for various cabinet positions, one of the most important nominees is still undisclosed: Secretary of Agriculture.  As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof suggests points out in his op-ed piece today, the Secretary of Agriculture should really be called the Secretary of Food.  Agricultural policies  affect more than farmers. These policies affect all of us and are closely tied to our health care costs, economic prosperity, and even national security interests.

Kristof writes:

"A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.

Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars. "

To learn more about the history of our current ag policies and what's at stake,  I encourage you to read Kristof's piece, as well as Michael Pollan's letter to the president-elect (which was published before we knew who that would be).

Your thoughts?

Best options for coffee drinkers who like it "light and sweet"?

Q. I consume coffee on a regular basis and I probably won't stop anytime soon. What are the best/worst things to use as creamer and sweetener? Milk? Soy Milk? Non-Dairy Creamer (powder or liquid)? Sugar? Sugar substitute? Seeing as I'm going to be consuming these on a daily basis, I want to make the best (or least bad) choices.

A. I would definitely avoid the powdered creamer, which is made with hydrogenated oils. In my opinion, you're better off with milk or soymilk. If you need to watch your calories, you'll want to pick the lowest fat milk you can tolerate in coffee. Personally, I find skim milk too thin for coffee (unless its been steamed for a latte or frothed for a cappuccino).  For me, 2% is rich enough to turn my coffee the right color, and has far fewer calories than half and half.  Soymilk or soy creamers are another option. Some people feel the soy creamers have an extra creamy taste but, again, you need to pay attention to the calories.

As far as sweeteners, I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners like Splenda or Equal. (I recently did a podcast episode on this topic, which you can read or listen to here: http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/sugar-substitutes.aspx). Of course, sugar isn't exactly health food either. Have you tried stevia? It's a zero-calorie sweetener made from the leaves of a stevia plant. The taste is similar to that of artificial sweeteners (super sweet and with a slight aftertaste) but thought to be more wholesome than Equal or Splenda. 

If you don't care for the taste of stevia, you could use regular sugar but be sure to count it towards your daily sugar allowance, which should ideally be less than 10% of your total calories. One teaspoon of sugar has 15 calories. 

"Raw" sugar, turbinado, and organic sugar crystals are slightly less processed than refined white sugar but contain no additional nutrients and have the same number of calories as white sugar.  "Natural" sweeteners like honey and maple syrup have slightly more calories per teaspoon than sugar and are slightly less sweet. Plus, they have distinct flavors that you may not enjoy in your coffee.

Anyone have other ideas?

What's in a Daily Value?

Q. How are Daily Values calculated?

A. The Daily Values (DV) are a set of reference values developed by the FDA specifically for food labeling.  They are a sort of one-size-fits-all recommendation, designed to help you plan a healthy diet. In addition to guidelines for how much calcium, fiber, or iron you should be getting, they also suggest maximum amounts for fat, sodium, and cholesterol. The DV assume that you eat about 2,000 calories per day (which may or may not be a good fit for you--more on that below).

The familiar Nutrition Facts label, which you'll find on packaged foods as well as on every food and recipe detail page here on Nutrition Data, shows you the amount per serving of certain important nutrients, such as calories, fat, fiber, and calcium. The amount of each nutrient in that food is then compared to the Daily Value for that nutrient, and then expressed as a percentage of that.

For example, here is the Nutrition Facts label for boiled carrots. Here on Nutrition Data, the numbers displayed in the Nutrition Facts label change if you change the serving size. These numbers are for a 100g serving (about 2 carrots worth).

You can see on the label that this serving of carrots contains 3 grams of fiber. The Daily Value for fiber is 25 grams. So this serving of carrots contains 12% of the DV.

The idea here is to help consumers you see how foods contribute to their daily needs.  To see a list of all the Daily Values, click on My Preferences (under the My ND tab). 

Obviously, there is no one set of nutrition recommendations that applies to every person. Your need for calories, protein, vitamins and minerals varies according to your age, your size, your gender, and so on.  Here on Nutrition Data, we allow you to develop a set of individualized daily values (IDVs) that are more customized to your nutrition needs.

Although we always use the standardized DVs in our Nutrition Facts labels (to avoid confusion), when you track your diet using our My Tracking tools, your tracking report will show how your intake stacks up against your IDVs.

To set your IDVs, start by entering your age, height, weight, and gender into our Daily Needs Calculator.  The calculator will estimate how many calories you should be eating to maintain your current weight, and also show you the recommended minimums for all the nutrients for someone your age and size.   For example, here are some of the suggested minimums for me:

You can then copy these recommendations to your preferences (the link is circled in red above) and continue to edit them until you are satisfied with them. For example, you can see above that the IOM considers the minimum amount of vitamin C for me to be 75mg. That's a bit higher than the DV of 60mg, but still low by my standards. At the same time, the IOM considers 200IU of vitamin D to be the minimum I need, which is only half the DV of 400IU (and considerably below the 800IU that is now being proposed as the new DV).

Keep in mind that IOM minimums are really that: minimums needed to prevent overt diseases of deficiency, like scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency) and rickets (D deficiency). But in many cases, the amount of nutrients that promotes optimal health may be quite a bit higher.

Having copied my recommended minimums to my preferences, I then do some editing. For example, I set my carbohydrates, protein, fat to equal 50, 20, and 30% of my calories, respectively. I increase the amount of several nutrients. Not sure what to edit?  You'll find information about how nutrients impact health throughout this website and on the various blogs that may inform your choices. You can always simply choose to go with the recommended DVs (unless the recommended minimum is higher).

When I've got it where I want it, I save the values to my preferences. Now, when I track my intake and view the nutritional analysis, I'll see how my intake compared with my individualized daily values.

Question for readers of this blog: Do you find detailed walk-thrus of Nutrition Data features like this blog post helpful?