Interesting and Bizarre Food Ideas

Most of these are diet-friendly, too.  Use the one about the Oreos cautiously.

19 Food Tips That You Need To Know

Somebody with some sense...Israel Bans Thin Models

Most people know that the fashion industry and it obsession with RREEEEAAALLLLLLLLYYYY  skinny models are considered to be largely to blame for eating disorders.  Now Israel had decided to do something about it.  They have now banned advertisers from using models with a BMI (body Mass Index) of 18.5 or less.  That is the World Health Organization's line between healthy and underweight.  BMI is a mathematical indexd created from a person's height and weight, so it is not really a perfect indicator of good health.  However, this is a start.  Read the whole story here.

Keeping knees healthy

I have terrible knees.  Here is a helpful article about knee pain.  I have most of the kinds mentioned from time to time.

How to Keep Your Knees Healthy 

Getting Beautiful in Your Sleep

I am writing this for time-crunched moms and others who want to stay beautiful as they grow up (oops! I mean grow older). One thing that works for me is to take a little extra time at bedtime to set myself up for the next day. Your mom probably told you to clean your kitchen and lay out your clothes before you go to bed. Here are some more things you can do at night so you can wake up the next morning feeling all prettified:

Put olive oil around your eyes. EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) is the bomb when it comes to moisturizing. I put it on my eye area after I get out of the shower at night. After it sinks in, I add my night cream. Your eyes will look less puffy and the fine lines will almost disappear over time.

Smear Vick's Vapor Rub all over your feet, then put some old socks on. When you wake up, all those dry, flaky lines all over you heels will be gone, and soft, moist skin will be there instead. An added bonus is, if you wear high heels all day and tend to limp a little when you wake up, the soothing action of the vapor rub will eliminate that morning limp. Rub the rest into your hands and sleep with gloves or socks over your hands if you can stand them.

Sleep on your back. This is good for your posture, and also it helps counter the effects of gravity pulling down on your face all day. And speaking of the effects of gravity . . . .

Wear a sports bra to bed. You really should not go around without a bra at all, lest gravity pull too much on your precious twins. I learned this tip on a stripper website, and I find that it really works. My breasts are on the small side, but I notice a definite lift in about a week or so. And while we are at it . . .

Sleep in your workout clothes. The Army taught me this one. It is so much easier to get up and work out when you are already dressed for it. And, by not dirtying PJ's AND exercise clothes, you will save on laundry, too.

Protect your hair. Hair, especially long hair, tends to get tangled in your sleep. It also gets smushed around and bent at bizarre angles, flattened and mashed. Avoid all these issues and wake up with hair that is clean, soft, and decent enough to leave the house. I personally prefer to sleep in a snood, because it keeps my curls in place while my hair dries. If I arrange my hair correctly when I put it on, I will have almost nothing to do to it the next day. Other options are a satin night cap (keeps hair clean and protects it from breakage), or a scarf to wrap and tie, to protect your style for the next day. Many women with longish hair shampoo at night, apply leave-in conditioner or aloe-vera gel, and then braid their hair, tying it off with non-breakage bands. Which ever option you choose, the main points are to keep hair protected from tangles and breakage, to keep the ends moist and conditioned by protecting them from the air, and to keep the hair clean and/or preserve the style for the next day. You want to wake up, take off your head covering, and go.

Use a clean pillow case. Seriously. I change mine every couple if days, flipping the pillow on the other days. Satin cases are said to be the best, both for being gentle on your hair and for not contributing to wrinkles when you have your face smashed up against the pillow. I don't have satin ones, just plain old cotton, but whatever they are made of, pillow cases absorb oil from your skin and hair, harbor mites, and collect dust. Changing them frequently is a good, easy way to help keep your hair and skin clean at night.

Do a mask. Remember those old TV shows where the Mom always went to bed with a gross green paste smeared all over her face? I have found out what that stuff is, and there is a good reason so many women used it, it became a cliche. The modern version of this mystical green glop is Queene Helene Mint Julip Mask .This stuff is best! You can use it as directed, allowing the mask to sit on your skin for a mere 15 minutes. Better yet, smear it on at bed time and let it work its magic all night long. In the morning, you will wake up with firm, glowing skin. Any acne issues you had will be dramatically reduced, blackheads will disappear, and pores will be magically refined.

You will notice that most of these suggestions cost little or nothing, and none of them take more than a few minutes to do. I promise you, if you get in the habit of taking care of yourself at night, you will wake up in the morning with a running start to your day.

The big lie--CaloriesDO count!

There is a big, big secret the diet people don't want you to know. They don't what you to know that the only way to loose weight is to burn off more calories than you absorb.

Everything you read about diets is simply a way to disguise that fact. Diets that want you to limit you intake of carbohydrates to ridiculously low levels are really trying to force a change in your metabolism that will make it harder for your body to use and store the food you eat. Diets that talk about balancing food groups in a complicated manner are attempting to displace calorie-dense foods (high in fats and processed sugars) with lower-calorie vegetables and lean proteins. High-fiber diets are trying to get you to fill up on fiber, which your body can't use or store, so you don't eat a lot of higher calorie foods.

But the long ans short of it is this: Of every meal you eat, you will be able to absorb a certain percentage of it. The rest, for whatever reason, will pass though your intestines and out of your body. Of that percentage of food absorbed, part or all of it will be used to maintain your body, and part of it will be used to power your muscles and brain and you go through your day. IF you absorb more than you need, the sugars (from fruit, vegetables, grains, and some dairy products, as well as sweets and snacks) and fats that you ate will get stored as fat, and the excess amino acids (from protein sources like meat, eggs, and so on) will be processed out of the body by the kidneys. If you absorb less than you need, your body will start converting fatty tissue, and to a lesser extent muscle, into glucose, which is the form of sugar used by the cells. Therefore, if you absorb more energy than you can use, you will store it as fat. Eat less, and that stored fat has to get used up to power the body.

(High-protein diets attempt to short-cut this process by only giving the body amino acids, which are very hard to convert into glucose, thus forcing the body to look into its fat stores sooner. This only works until the body catches on and starts getting good at making protein into glucose, which makes the whole high-protein thing pointless. It's also super-hard on the kidneys and by definition contains a lot of saturated fats, which is why I don't recommend it.)

The thing that helped me more than anything else, hands down, was to start keeping a food diary and counting calories. I resisted this for years, and then I could never understand why I could never loose weight. The food diary was a revelation. Some days I was amazed by how much I had eaten, and then some times I was horrified by how few calories I had consumed.

Now that you know which are the healthy foods to eat and which to avoid, the next thing is to find out how many calories you need and how many calories your food is providing.

Shop like you mean it--how to shop for health and beauty

It is impossible to prepare healthy meals if you don't have the ingredients. When you go to the grocery store, the best things to buy are lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and veggies. Chips, sodas, crackers, cookies, and so on are not only fattening, they also are a colossal waste of money. Make a commitment that all your food dollars and food prep time will go into making the best healthiest meals you can, for yourself and/or your family.

There is a lot to know about nutrition, and it can be as complicated as you want to make it. "Diet Gurus" complicate the subject needlessly so they can sell us books. What they all tell you is to eat fruit, vegetables, lean protein, grain, healthy fats, and a small amount of "discretionary calories" which is the stuff you wish you could eat all the time.

Here are the basics. This is what you absolutely, positively need to know when you are standing in Safeway and need to make a decision about what to buy.

Lean proteins: Lean cuts of beef, skinless chicken and turkey (if you eat meat), fish, tofu, tempeh, soy or veggie burgers, low-fat cheese or soy cheese, eggs, beans, whey or soy protein powder. When you buy these things, look carefully at them. You want your meat to look like meat--healthy and red, not a lot of fat on it. Avoid ground meat, sausage, cold cuts or anything else that disguises the texture of the meat. These are frequently an excuse for manufactures to hide fatty organ meats and other high-fat parts, and sell them to you. Ground turkey can have more fat than lean roast beef!

When you buy Veggie burgers or other meat-substitutes, you want them to have less than bout 30% or 1/3 of their calories from fat. Look at the nutrition label on the package. Compare the total calories to the amount of calories from fat. You want the calories from fat to be abut 1/3 of the total, or less. Here is a link to a picture of a label, if you want to see one.



When you buy cheese, make sure it is reduced-fat or part-skim. You want the calories to be about 70-80 calories per ounce, as opposed to 100 or more calories per ounce for regular cheese. Make sure to get real cheese, shredded or in blocks, and not "processed cheese food" in the single serving wrapped slices. The ingredients should say "Milk (of some kind) rennet, culture, and salt," and not much more. I prefer not to eat cheese that contains any sort of hormone or which is produced from milk of cows who have been fed antibiotics. However, the FDA insists that these products are safe. Follow your gut on this one.

Beans are a fun and easy way to substitute a low-fat protein for a fattier one. You can make vegetarian chili, for example, or a stir-fry with edamame (soy) beans. If you have never cooked with beans before, start with canned beans. Kidney and black beans are particularly easy to use. Also check out vegetarian or low-fat refried beans and baked beans. I'll be posting a lot of my favorite recipes in the future. In the meantime, you can Google "bean recipes" and "beans substitute for meat" and see what you get.

Eggs are an easy way to make a meal. They are reasonably low in calories and extremely versatile. I like the cage-free, non-hormone, vegetarian-fed versions myself. They really do taste better.

If you know how to cook with tofu, go for it. Remember not to use a lot of oil in the process. If you don't know, I'll teach you later. It is really really easy, and the beauty of tofu is, it jsut takes up the taste of wherever is around it.

The last thing I will mention is protein powder. These are great when used in moderation. You can add them to a smoothie or even just a glass of milk if you are in a rush. When you buy them, make sure to get one that is mostly lean protein, not a lot of fat and sugar.

Whole Grains: This is one of the easiest things to substitute. Buy 100% whole grain bread (not wheat bread or whole wheat, make sure it says 100% whole grain), muffins, bagels, cereal, etc. Buy brown rice instead of white. Stove Top makes an instant one that takes only 10 minutes. Buy whole-wheat or whole-wheat blend pasta. Avoid anything that says "enriched flour, unbleached flour, or wheat flour in the ingredient list." Lots of cookies, cereals, even pop-tarts come in whole-grain versions now. Even if they are not 100% whole grain, they are a significant improvement over the original versions. Cereals and breads can vary a lot in calorie counts ans serving sizes. Look for cereals that have about 100 calories a cup. Watch out for servings sizes. Some cereal labels will tell you an absurdly small serving size so that it will look like they have fewer calories. Breads should have less than 75 calories per ounce.

Fruits and vegetables: A debate continues about whether fresh or frozen produce is actually better for you. On the fresh side, it's well, fresh, as in crispy, flavorful, and firm. On the frozen side, they pick the fruit and veggies when they are at their very best, and then freeze the produce almost as soon as it is picked. This avoids any possible nutrient loss during shipping and storing. Personally, I buy a lot of fresh veggies because they are pretty and yummy, and I also but a lot of frozen veggies because they are already cleaned and chopped up, and so extremely easy to toss in a recipe when I am in a hurry. They also last for months, so I can always have some on hand.

Canning really does reduce the nutrients in vegetables because of the high heat they use to sterilize the cans. It also gives you veggies that are weird and mushy, and contain a ton of salt. I recommend canned beans and tomatoes for convenience, but that's about all.

As far as fruit juices go, avoid them. They are mostly just the sugar from the fruit, without the fiber and other healthy parts. For my money, I would rather eat my calories than drink them.

The FDA and other government agencies recommend a diet rich in fruits and veggies. They say you should get at least 5 servings a day. A serving is usually a whole piece of fruit or a vegetable, (like a carrot or apple) half a cup of cut-up fruit or berries, or a whole cup of vegetables. There are some exceptions, but for now, that is a good rule of thumb. For dieting purposes, consider potatoes, squash, corn, and root vegetables such as rutabagas and turnips as a bread, not a vegetable.

Fats and oils: You will need to use some. Extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil is generally considered the best to have, but it is a tad bit expensive. Go ahead and spring for it, because you can also use it in various beauty treatments. For cooking, you need cooking spray. If you get the olive oil kind, it will be handy in making roasted vegetables. Substitute butter or margarine with a butter spray like "I can't believe it's not butter." Avoid trans fats and their parent, hydrogenated oils, at all costs, and use unsaturated fats (like olive oil, generally from a vegetable source) instead of saturated fats (from animal sources) whenever you can.

Nuts and nut butters, used in moderation, are a nice blend of protein and healthy fats.

Dairy Products: Always get the low-fat versions. You may want to try some that are completely fat-free, but be sure to read the labels. Frequently, manufactures replace the fat with sugar, which is no better for you, but helps sell product. I prefer that my dairy not come from cows that were treated with antibiotics or hormones, but that's just me.

At first, it may seem like it is somewhat expensive to eat this way. But if you also eliminate all the pop, cookies, snacks, and empty-calorie junk you you have been blowing your money on, it should all work out.

Let's begin at the begining . . . a very good place to start

I have been thinking quite a bit about where to begin. If I were taking a friend and totally remaking her, I would start with these things: If she could afford it, I would take her to the salon and get her brows and nails done, because these are fast and inexpensive, and they make you feel terrific. I would give her a good pep talk about posture and tell her to start doing something active--anything, really-- every day. And then we would talk about diet.

I have been dieting since I was in junior high. (Disclaimer: Please DO NOT put your adolescent daughters on a diet just because I said I dieted that young. It is probably the reason I have a hard time maintaining my weight today, and most definitely the reason I have mad issues with my body image. If you think you girl needs a diet, ask your pediatrician. And please take care not to project your own body issues onto your daughters. Teach them to eat healthy instead.) I have read lots and lots of terrific and junky books on the subject. Dieting philosophies change over the years as science advances and we know more about the biochemistry of how food is used in the body. Right now, I have in my home, The Zone Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Fat-Flush Diet, The Body Sculpting Bible for Women, How to Eat Like a Hot Chick, The Acne Prescription by Nicholas Perricone, M.D., Eating for a Healthy Skin, and my college nutrition text. While all these diets vary in their basic philosophy and approach, they all have a lot in common.

Please do not confuse yourself by reading a lot of diet books at the beginning. If you are over weight or eating a poor diet, any change you make will be an improvement. If you are worried about your weight, understand that it is enough at first just to reduce the amount of calories you consume. If you are a comfortable weight but want to look healthier, more vibrant, prettier or sexier, improving the quality of what you eat will go a long way.

Now, here is what all the diet books will tell you (except that Atkins nonsense. That is a whole other story) .

Drink water or some other non-calorie, non-caffeinated liquid, at least 8 cups (64 ounces) a day. This is not that hard to do. If you have a 16 ounce glass of water at each meal, that is 6 cups right there. Add another glass at bedtime or when you wake up, and you are all done. This helps you in a few ways: it keeps you hydrated, which makes your skin look prettier and dewier; if you drink the water with our meal, it helps keep you feeling full; water helps improve metabolism, which helps you burn off fat faster; and it will displace sugary sodas, milk, fruit juices, and so on. For more reasons to drink water, see this article by Trent at The Simple Dollar.

Eat a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins. Except for the concept of "whole grains," this concept has been around since the 1970's, probably longer. Remember "3 square meals"? Only the proportions have changed. For a more detailed explanation of what you should be looking for in each of these categories, see this post.

How do you balance your diet? The easiest way is this: Picture a dinner plate. Now imagine yourself filling that plate before a meal. Put some nice veggies and maybe a piece of fruit on first. The fruit and veggies should fill at least half your plate. Now of the remaining half, divide that equally. Put a piece of lean protein on one quarter of your plate. This protein should not be much bigger than a deck of cards. On the remaining quarter, you can put some bread, rice, a potato, some squash, or some whole-grain pasta. Now you can drizzle some olive oil over your veggies or pasta, or you can have a salad with a vinegar-and-oil dressing, or you can add a handful of nuts for dessert or smear a tiny bit of nut butter on your bread. Ta-da! All those veggies should fill you up, and if they don't you can also have a salad on the side or seconds on the veggies.

Easy cheesy!

The more a food looks like it did when it was growing, the better it is for you. When the Breyer's Ice Cream people made that ad with the kid attempting to read all the long chemical names of ingredients on an ice-cream carton, they were onto something. We know intuitively that food should be mostly natural. While the raw foods enthusiasts take that to an extreme, they do have a very good point. Try this simple test. If you cannot look at a food and see what it looked like alive, you should be suspicious of it and think twice before you put it in your mouth. If the food has been processed (like ice cream or a soy burger) check the ingredients. If you can't recognize the source of the food by looking at it, and if you also don't recognize or can't pronounce some of the ingredients, or if the ingredient list says "processed" anything, really avoid it. And if you pick up a package and it says "hydrogenized" or "Hydrogenated" anything, drop it like it's hot. Foods should really stay close to their roots.

Eat small, balanced meals throughout the day. This helps keep you from having peaks and slumps. You know that little lift you get form a candy bar, and the subsequent slump when the high wore off? You want to avoid that. You want to keep your energy even all day. Eating frequent small meals also helps you maintain a higher metabolism through the day, it keeps you from getting ravenous so that you will eat anything, and it will help your stomach adjust to smaller volume, so you will feel full on fewer calories. The key words her are small and balanced.

There is also one big secret all those diet gurus keep, and they try to hide it in their complicated philosophies. I'll tell you what it is in the next post.