Thinking About a Salad? Think Twice when for Weight Loss or Maintenance

The salad has We hear it all the time, "I ate a salad" or "I chose to get the salad bar instead of what I normally get", etc.  Chances are if you are trying to watch your weight you have said something similar.  Google provides this definition of salad: 

sal·ad  

/ˈsaləd/

Noun A cold dish of various mixtures of raw or cooked vegetables, usually seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressing: "a green salad". A mixture containing a specified ingredient dressed with mayonnaise: "tuna salad". The salad has been around for a long, long time.  We're talking since the beginning of time when people gathered edible leaves as part of their meal plan. However, the salad we know today is not just edible greens! That would mean that the salad would consist of greens such as Romaine, Iceberg, Kale, Spinach, etc with little seasoning and a rather low calorie snack or meal.   Today, the calories in a salad has not only grown due to increased portion sizes, but also due to the number of non-vegetable additional toppings. Because of the increase in calories, the salad may not always be the first and best option for weight loss or weight maintenance.  A salad can be a great option if you think twice about the amount and type of toppings that you add.   Toppings to GO ahead and include these vegetables/herbs: snow peas green/red/yellow/orange peppers tomatoes carrots broccoli cauliflower mushrooms green beans cucumbers zucchini asparagus beets artichoke hearts peas radishes onions salsa basil/mint/chives/parsley/dill Toppings to CONSIDER, but not get carried away with include fruits (remember fruits have calories too!): pears mandarin oranges apples cherries grapes  strawberries pomegranate Toppings to CONSIDER if you desire more lean protein: low-fat or no-fat cottage cheese grilled chicken canned tuna baked fish ground turkey, cooked egg whites tofu edamame/hummus Toppings to LIMIT if you desire tasty salad, but want to limit calories: cheese avocado croutons dried fruit sunflower seeds sesame seeds other seeds nuts/water chestnuts salad dressing (creamy, oil based) *Ask for on the side to dip fork crispy noodles  pasta high calorie meats: those that are cooked in oil or fried Instead of this: Image Source Choose something that looks like this: Image Source

A veggie-filled salad will yield fewer calories and provide fullness unlike no other salad you could make AND you will be happy with your choice of building a salad that IS considered a good option for weight loss or weight maintenance!

The Post Holiday or New Year "Diet" Trend

Now is the time! The time to jump on board with a new year's resolution in hopes of keeping it throughout the year.  According to statisticsbrain.com, losing weight was the #1 new year's resolution and "staying fit & healthy" was ranked #5 in 2012.  Here are a few more stats from statisticsbrain.com:

-45% of Americans usually make new years resolutions
-8% successful in achieving their resolutions
-24% never succeed and fail on their resolution each year

It's interesting that "lose weight" is the #1 new years resolution, but it's not surprising since the overweight/obesity trend in America is rising each year.  Why is this?  Plain and simply answered...over consumption.  Americans are eating too much; too many calories that is.  And the new year falls on the heals of the major 6 week, "over consumption period of time", beginning with thanksgiving.  So, Americans spend 6 weeks (or more) eating too many calories then they decide to make a goal or resolution to lose weight.  Great idea if they are the 8% who are successful in achieving their resolutions, but not so good when it means another fad diet ending in starvation and disappointing results. 

What Americans really need is a reliable program that will provide them with the necessary tools to make lifestyle changes.  

life·style noun (ˈlīf-ˈstī(-ə)l): the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture;  a particular way of living:the way a person lives or a group of people live 1
 

Trying each year to participate in a short term diet or short term stint at the gym to accomplish weight loss is not the key.  The key is participating in changes that you can do for the rest of your life (all year round; including holidays, get togethers, etc.).  Those are considered "lifestyle" changes. When a person is able to make lifestyle changes that they can do ALL year around and not just the first 6 weeks of a new year, this is when they are successful in achieving their goal of weight maintenance or weight loss. 

 

HNT is that reliable program to provide quick weight loss results (that's what you want) while meeting nutritional needs (that's what our registered dietitians and other health professionals on staff want) as you learn the tools you need in order to make the necessary lifestyle changes. 

 

The idea of weight loss is simple....if you overeat or eat too many calories at some point you must compesate by eating fewer calories.  Otherwise you will gain weight if you continue to eat too many calories-as many Americans do each year.  Did you catch that?  I said the "idea" or "concept" of weight loss is "simple".  I didn't say actually "DOING" it was! That is why we are here to help-it's our job!

 

We are here when you are ready.  Call 317.489.4817 for more information on how you can break the cycle of creating the same new years resolution each year and not being able to be successful.  Come to one of our FREE orientations to get started.  

Are you a healthy eater?

According to a survey from Consumer Reports, 9 out of 10 Americans give themselves credit for a diet that is "at least somewhat healthy".

But...here is what some of them owned up to:

• 43% drank at least one full calorie soda or Carmel Frappuccino per day (even those who said they were "dieting")
• 58% said they got the recommended five or more servings per day of fruits and vegetables, but when presented a list of 33 veggies-15 of them were described as 'rarely' or 'never' eaten. Contrary to the CDC's September report that showed that two thirds of Americans eat only 1 serving of fruit and vegetables each day-or skip them entirely.
• 36% were overweight, according to BMI; 21% were obese. 1/3 of people who said they had a healthy weight were actually in the overweight category (according to the BMI chart)

This poses questions of what Americans think a 'healthy diet' consist of! Do you eat healthy? Do you consider yourself normal weight...or would you like to know what category you fall into? Hop on over to the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute and figure out what your BMI is! We can help you if your BMI is outside of the normal range. Call us today 317.489.4817!

To read the document in length or learn more about the Consumer Reports survey go HERE.