Food Addiction is a Science: And You're the Target

You promised yourself today you would only eat a handful of Cheetos.  Just a handful, that is it!  Then you would put the bag back on the shelf and leave it there until tomorrow.  Tomorrow you are starting your diet anyway, so maybe you will just throw the bag away.  However, ten minutes later in the midst of your favorite new reality TV show you see an advertisement for ice cream and your taste buds start tingling.  So, you go to the fridge and decide a ½ cup will not do any harm; besides, it is not like you are addicted.  Or are you?...


How does it make you feel to know large food corporations such as Nabisco, Kraft, Coca-Cola, and General Mills have specific formulas to keep you munching on your favorite snack foods, breakfast cereals and sugary drinks?

There is whats called a 'bliss' point in food taste.  A taste that is not too overwhelming, but distinct enough.  Just enough, that you can keep eating it without your brain telling you to stop.  

So you are most likely, whether you know it or not, addicted to three substances 

- SUGAR - FAT - and SALT... 

the three giants added to foods to dazzle your testbeds and fool your brain.

Did you know that some Yoplait varieties - for instance, GoGurts that we so often feed kids - have the sugar of more than two oreo cookies.

Big deal you say, what's two oreo cookies?  7 grams of sugar.  Still not impressed? 

According to the American Heart Association, kids should only have 12 grams of sugar per day.

So if a kid eats one GoGurt and two oreos, they are already exceeding the maximum.

See how easy it can add up?

Stay tuned for more on food addiction, advertising affects, why we're hooked, chemical additives, and how to stop.

Feel free to post questions, comments, or topics you'd like to know more about - I'm happy to get to as many as I can!

America's Addiction

Hello dear readers!  

I hope you are all doing well on this lovely Tuesday morning (almost afternoon).  For many of us, I would hazard to say almost all Americans - we have a serious addiction.  An addiction that often causes iritability, sleeplessness (or worse sleep!), headaches, and the list goes on.  An addiction, to sugar.  Why?  Practically all of the foods you consume today have sugar in them.  If its not added natural sugar, then its refined sugar.  If its not refined sugar, its fake sugar.  Either way you slice it - its sugar, and its addicitve.  Highly addictive.   For most of us, this picture rings true however, whether you realize it or not, is another story. 


 Fun Fact: Today, an average American consumes 2-3 pounds of sugar each week. While at the end of the 19th century (1887-1890), the average American consumed only 5 lbs. per year.

    


Check out the pictures below.  Even drinks that claim "natural" sugar, or make "healthy" claims, have sugar.  More then you probably thought.    How about this thought: do NOTHING different to your diet and exercise habit but add only ONE glass of apple juice every day.  In one year, you will gain 10lbs.





      
   
   


Enjoy your Tuesday everyone!


 Stay tuned. 

Sneaky Ways to Burn Calories

Hello dear readers,

Look at how faithful I'm being!  Two posts in a row!  Told you I'd be back.

I thought you all would be interested in this... how do we burn calories, without really "working out?"

Here are 8 "sneaky" ways...

1. Don't sit still! If you're a nervous leg bouncer or pencil tapper, you're in luck. On average, fidgeting can burn between 300-350 extra calories per day, though that number will vary widely depending on your fave form of fidgeting. (For example: pacing will burn more calories than table drumming.)

2. Laugh...a lot! According to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study, "Ten to 15 minutes of laughter could increase energy expenditure by 10 to 40 calories per day, which could translate into about four pounds a year."

3. Spice it up! Research shows that chili peppers can boost your metabolic rate, causing the body to burn 50 more calories a day.

4. Chomp away! Chewing gum burns roughly 11 calories an hour. Make sure you use sugarless to avoid added calories and cavities. Extra credit for walking at the same time.

5. Clean up! Don't groan at your to-do list, thank it: light housework like dusting and laundry burns 170 calories per hour. Tackle bigger chores like washing the car or cleaning the gutters and up your burn to 204 calories per hour.


6. Shop 'til you drop! Roaming the aisles and swiping the credit card is more taxing than you think. The typical grocery shopping trip incinerates 156 calories per hour. Up that burn even more by parking far away from the store, carrying your groceries to the car yourself, and multiple trips to bring them inside. Just don't ruin that burn by filling your cart with junk.


7. Drink up! According to Men's Health, drinking eight pints of ice water a day will cause your body to expend 123 calories of heat to warm that water to body temperature. When it comes to water, the colder, the better.

8. Just dance! Just 20 minutes of dancing can burn 100 calories. If you don't have the smoothest of moves, just turn down the shades, crank up the tunes and go nuts!


*Calories burnt are based on a 150lb woman

Stay tuned.

Obesity - making your fuel efficiency go down.

Hello dear readers!

So amongst blogging about fun ways to help you stay fit and healthy, I've also decided to take a look at the newest obesity, health, and fitness news.  I'll read the article, summarize it, and add a few thoughts.

This article definitely caught my attention.  They made the claim that the more obese you are, the more your fuel efficiency decreases.  A pretty bold claim if you ask me.

"Allstate Corp.’s The Allstate Blog says obese Americans are hurting the fuel efficiency of vehicles, contributing to more than 1 billion gallons of fuel wasted each year."


Did you catch that?  1 BILLION GALLONS OF FUEL WASTE.  

That, is intense.  

Or check this out...

"In 2000, the airline industry said it used 350 million more gallons of fuel than it did in 1990 just to haul the additional weight Americans gained during the decade, Centers for Disease Control researchers say"

Wow.  That's all I'm sayin...wow!

Stay tuned.

Health Tip: Trade Up

Hello dear readers!

I've recently been introduced to NuVal.  NuVal is a scoring system that ranks a food 1-100 based on a summary of it's nutritional label.  Most people can't really read nutritional labels well...they don't know what a "good" amount of sodium is, what the vitmain percentages mean, and so on.  So NuVal has craftily created a system that is simple and easy.  Now, I can buy the highest NuVal ranking bread with ease, and determine that Nutrigrain Bars and Special K Cereal are not very nutritionally sound.  Either is the Kashi GoLean Cereal all the "health enthusiasts" buy.

It's all about choice.  Think of each foods decision you make as one small battle.  This is the way I picture it...

Check out this bloggers comment:

NuVal (the group that scores the nutritional value of foods from 1 to 100, with 100 being top nutrition) gives Kraft macaroni and cheese a 5. 

That’s food for thought: a 5.  Even Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies score a 10. And it doesn’t matter whether the macaroni and cheese comes from Kraft or Annie’s.  They’re both nutritional losers: Annie's mac also scores a 5.

Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese gets an 18.  Then again, Annie's Home Grown Bite Size Whole Wheat Bunnies Baked Snack Crackers does better.  It gets a 27. 

Crazy right?! Definitely so.  Lets let the pictures do the talking now...Remember, the ranking is 1-100...100 being the "best for you."  

• Skippy Natural Super Chunky Peanut Butter: 20
• Teddie All-Natural Super Chunky Peanut Butter: 38
• Jif Creamy Peanut Butter: 20

• Larabar Apple Pie (NuVal score: 57)
• Larbar Cherry Pie (NuVal score: 40)
• Larabar Cashew Cookie (NuVal score: 32)
• Clif Bar Carrot Cake (NuVal score: 26)
• CLIF Mojo Mountain Mix Bar (NuVal score: 24)
• KIND Fruit &  Nut Almond & Apricot Bar (NuVal score: 23)
• KIND Fruit &  Nut Almond & Coconut Bar (NuVal score: 23)
• Larabar Tropical Fruit Tart (NuVal score: 23)

So here are just a few examples of ways you can trade up!  I also suggest using applesauce or flaxseed instead of oils, fruit instead of fruit snacks (fruit snacks get a ONE on the NuVal scoring system), and replacing butter and cream-based dressings!  

Happy choosing!

Stay tuned.  

Watch this, it's only 1 minute and 32 seconds

Hello dear readers!

This trailer is posted on my "videos" tab, but I figure most of you don't go there.  So please watch this!  It is shocking, inspiring, and has devistating reprocutions.  I hope this will inspire you to watch the rest of the series!  They are posted under the video tab as well. 

I want to hear - what do you think about this?  Please leave comments!

Day 3: Health Tip - ReThink Moderation

Hello dear readers!

It is Thursday.  Woofta - we almost made it to the end of the week.  So put on a smile.

That's better.  Here is your health tip for day 3... enjoy!

Mod·er·a·tion:The avoidance of excess or extremes.

A big problem in our society today is the concept of moderation.  Since 1980 our obesity rate has tripled.  TRIPLED!  If this trend continues, by the year 2040 over 75% of the United States will be overweight or obese.  That has huge implications as a society.  Why has it tripled?  There are many, many reasons.  One of them is that our view of moderation has changed.

Thirty years ago, moderation would be considered having an ice cream cone maybe once a month, roughly.  Today, our idea of moderation is having a bowl of ice cream once a week.  We have this attitude that "we deserve it."  After a long day at work, we deserve that bowl of ice cream.  After a tough week, we deserve to order pizza (and eat 3/4 of it, plus breadsticks, and two glasses of soda).  After a long day of studying, we deserve to go out and eat appetizers at 10pm at night.

Don't you deserve to treat your body right?  

In my "home town" of Willmar, the popular thing to do was grab 1/2 price apps at Applebee's at 9pm.  It was really the only thing to do (no offense Willmar).  Most of us ordered wings...you know, juicy, boneless buffalo wings.  With ranch, or blue cheese.  Yum, right?  Did you know that just A SINGLE order of wings with sauce is roughly 1,200 calories and approximately 50 grams of fat??  

I-N-S-A-N-E.  And its bad enough we're eating them, let alone at 9pm at night.    

And we view eating Applebee's appetizers (or insert any restaurant) once a week as moderation.  This is not moderation.  

I'm not saying don't go out with your friends, or don't ever eat ice cream...no no no.  Just rethink how often you eat certain foods.  

A handful of M&M's...or what we consider a handful of M&M's... is 300 calories.  That will take you thirty minutes of running (at a steady pace...) to "burn" it off.  

Eat two handfuls of M&M's a week?  600 calories.  Consume this for a year, gain approximately 15lbs.  

Same with a glass of juice.  Keeping your exercise routine the same, your eating habits the same, just adding ONE glass of apple juice once a week?  Yep, 10 lbs.   

ReThink Moderation.  

Stay tuned.  Enjoy your Friday!      

Day 2: Health Tip - Place it Far Away

Good afternoon readers!

So I've been talking at you for a few posts now, and I just thought I'd give some credibility to myself quick...so you realize I'm not just "some quack."  My name is Samantha.  I work at the Mayo Clinic.  I work in endocrinology/diabetes/nutrition.  My personal passion is obesity - especially childhood obesity...after all, did you know we now have an epidemic of obese six month olds?

True story friend.

Shocking, right?  Yep.  Anyway, on to the blog of the day...

Put things farther away.  You heard me.  Move that trash can from under your desk at work to five feet way.  And for those of you who are basketball superstars, move it further.  The further the better.  Move that  binder next to your desk that you grab for every two minutes - to a shelf above your desk where you must stand to reach it.  Move your cell phone a few feet away.  Move your mini fridge from beside your bed.  Make it so you must get up to change the channel on the TV or move the remote a couch or a chair away.  Think this is simple?  It is, that is the brilliance my friends.  But the amount of times your getting up to move will be significantly increased.

Move more, burn more, think better, feel better.

And just to back this idea up, I've been doing it.  And our research shows that the more you move, the more productive you are, and the better you learn.

Things that I have "far away:"
1) My trash can at work...I go here a lot, makes me get up at least once every ten to fifteen minutes and doesn't interrupt my work.  If anything, it makes me more productive.
2) My cell phone.  I put it farther away from my desk so I can't conveniently check it whenever I want to.  I must go to it.  I also do this at home.
3) The remote.  When and IF I watch TV I'll put the remote one couch away.  It was annoying at first, but when I realized just how much even little movements can make a huge difference, I don't mind it anymore.

Get creative.  What can you move farther away?  Post your ideas below, I'd love to hear em.  And don't forget to take my (now weekly) poll on the side of this page.

This post wasn't helpful to you?  Well then just stay tuned for tomorrows post.  Or later tonight's post.  Depending on my ambition levels.