Blog: Nutrition and Exercise for Health and Weight Control

Employ these strategies that have been found to be the winning formulas of those in the National Weight Control Registry. The NWCR is the largest investigation of long-term, successful weight loss ever conducted. The registry has been tracking approximately 5,000 people since 1994.

1. The written word
Recording everything you put in your mouth will increase personal accountability and reveal problem areas. Adding in how you felt at each time you ate is helpful for discerning patterns of emotional eating.

2. Plan all eating ahead of time.
It’s crucial to have quick, tasty food at hand whenever you get hungry so that you aren’t faced with nothing but a selection of poor choices. Weekly planning, purchasing, and preparation is essential for success at eating healthy on a consistent basis.

3. Pay attention to portions.
Go heavy on low-calorie, highly nutritive fruits and vegetables, making them 50% of your meals. Let whole grains and lean protein make up the remainder. No foods must be forbidden, but indulgences in high-calorie goodies need to be small and infrequent. (more…)

If you’re like most people, when you think of collard greens there’s not a lot of interest. Collards rank with kale as the most nutrient dense vegetables you can buy, but neither is very popular with the average American.

One reason people don’t like them much is that the ones we commonly find in stores and roadside stands are large, tough, fully matured leaves. Also, most don’t know ways to cook these vegetables to make them really tasty.

We joined Annie’s Organic Buying Club a few weeks ago so that we can receive a variety of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables every week at wholesale prices. The food is so packed with flavor, very much like what I’ve grown in my former gardens.

This week’s treasure box included some young collard leaves along with a bunch of leeks.
Here’s how I made Stir-fry Collards with Leeks:

1. Wash and cut up greens.
2. Blanch in a big pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes.
3. Drain in colander.
4. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a wok and add greens.
5. Chop 1 or 2 leeks and add them to wok.
6. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes until veggies are tender.

Recently I had this for brunch with roasted sweet potatoes and it made a complete and delicious meal. [Cut up taters, toss with a little oil; bake in greased casserole, covered at 450 for 45-60 minutes or till tender and a little crispy at the edges.]

I put a pint of collards in a bowl with an equal amount of sweet potatoes on top. Topped it all with a 6-ounce container of Brown Cow cream-top yogurt. The creamy tart dairy against sweet and crispy taters together with succulent oniony tender greens - wow! Try it and you’ll agree, so good!

I actually brought this food into work in containers and ate it there. If you have a microwave and a refrigerator where you work, there’s no reason you can’t have home cooked lunches. Venture outside the box and enjoy fabulous food in unusual combinations!

I work for Haven Hospice as their dietitian and this year the employees were asked to contribute their strategies for keeping stress under control for the company newsletter. The following is my reply.

My biggest aid in stress management is exercise. All forms of physical activity work to release tension, elevate mood, and increase feelings of self efficacy, but some forms are easier and more effective than others. The fastest, simplest, and most powerful form of stress relief I’ve found is Chi Kung (pronounced chee-gong’).

You can find books, videos, and DVD’s on these ancient Chinese exercises, but it’s easiest to learn from a good teacher. I learned from Anthony Korahais (www.FlowingZen.com) who teaches at the Gainesville Wellness Center. I recommend his teaching highly; he has a free class every month so that people can see what it’s like.

When our family moved to Gainesville in 1992, I began taking yoga classes regularly. The release of tension and increase in energy I received was profound and I’ve been a practitioner ever since. However, yoga takes considerable time and it’s not considered particularly easy or fun. It generally requires 45 minutes to an hour of stretching to reach the stress-free zone. (more…)

I like to keep all kinds of fresh herbs in little plastic bags in the door of my freezer. That way we can conveniently add their gourmet flavor to our cooking.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that herbs are an abundant source of potent antioxidant compounds. They recommend including more in the diet as an easy, tasty, and virtually no-calorie way to reduce risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Science Daily published a summary of the study from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The healthful chemicals in herbs exert their protective effect via two means. First, the antioxidants are able to neutralize free radicals, thereby reducing inflammation and protecting our body tissues from oxidative damage. Another important function of the healthful phytochemicals in herbs is their ability to detoxify the body. (more…)