MyNetDiary Blog

MyNetDiary’s Top 11 Blog Posts in 2011

It’s the day before we all make our next year’s resolutions and the perfect time to sit back and reflect on a few highlights from 2011. The team at MyNetDiary pondered over our blog and pulled out the top 11 posts from 2011. We liked them; you liked them; so they must have been helpful and entertaining. Now you have them all in one place, making it easy to share with your friends and family for New Year’s Eve.

6 Staff Favorites

Setting a Healthy Target Weight - Our always helpful and very informative consulting dietitian, Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, breaks down how to determine a healthy weight goal using your BMI calculations.

Losing Weight - Step by Step - Sometimes all we need is a simple reminder that the journey we are on is possible. This article offers up seven simple steps to keep us all on track.

How to Love Your Food - Whether we realize it or not, we have a relationship with our food. Here’s a post about how we can nurture this relationship.

Diabetes - Get Tested! - For National Diabetes Awareness month in November, Kathy Isacks covers all the important reasons to get tested for Diabetes.

“Exergaming” Away Those Extra Pounds - Many people probably got a gaming console this Christmas, so why not use it to help us hit our target weight!

Bacon - A Love Story - Who doesn’t love bacon? In this post, Kathy sorts out for us how we can keep bacon on our plate and still lose weight, and we thank her for that!

5 Most Popular

What Really Contributes to Weight Gain - Some Surprising Stats - Reporting on a couple different recent studies, we take a closer look at what really contributes to weight gain.

Meal Replacements at Lunch Can Help You Lose Weight - You’ve thought about meal replacements, but maybe you wondered if they can really work. Kathy Isacks helps you understand more about them.

The ‘Skinny’ on Protein Powders - Whey, soy or CHO? With protein powders, we have choices. But which one works the best? This article covers it all.

Popcorn - We all love popcorn, but if we are not careful, we can snack on too many “kerneled calories.”

Why Did I Stop Losing Weight? - Many people who have worked hard to lose weight experienced a plateau or two along the way. In this piece, Kathy Isacks covers what may contribute to the stall and how to get past it.

Did we miss your favorite blog post from 2011? If so, share with us which one was your favorite on our Facebook page or in our Community Forum.

Control Calories on Thanksgiving Day?

I believe that Thanksgiving Day is a day to enjoy with others. I hope that those of you trying to lose weight will not punish yourself by forcing a calories deficit on a day reserved for being thankful for food and sharing it with others. Having said that, it is also a great opportunity to practice portion control. It not only helps minimize a likely calories surplus, but it also helps prevent us from overeating to the point of feeling sick and lethargic. One can enjoy Thanksgiving Day without deprivation by simply consuming smaller portions of delicious food and going for a walk.

Walk!

If you have the big meal earlier in the afternoon, then you can go out for a walk afterwards while it is still daylight. You can’t burn off the meal by walking but it will help reduce the calories surplus for the day. As well, it feels good to get out in the fresh air and move a little bit after being inside all morning long (possibly cooking, baking, eating, and/or socializing). I bet you will be less likely to keeping eating all afternoon and evening if you can take a walking break. Also, walking after the main meal is ideal for those of you with diabetes – walking will help control the post-meal rise in blood glucose. For more tips on controlling diabetes in general, please see my article at MyNetDiary.

Enjoy in Moderation

Limit alcohol. Choose wine, light beer or plain liquor to limit calories per serving. Microbeer lovers beware – some styles can be over 300 calories per serving if the alcohol content is particularly high. See my blog article on beer. Mixed drinks with multiple shots, cream, juice, or soda pop will also be high in calories.

Appetizers. Best choices are fresh veggies, fresh fruit, or very lean proteins (e.g. grilled shrimp or chicken). But skip the dip – most will contain about 80 – 100 calories per tablespoon. Limit appetizers with high fat meats (e.g. bacon or prosciutto wrapped anything) or cheeses to one piece or skip them altogether.

Be picky. Only eat what you think is truly great tasting and leave the rest. Perform triage with your holiday meal calories!

Dinner plate. Fill your dinner plate once and be sure to include protein, whole grains, and plenty of non-starchy veggies. For help on balancing your plate, check out Harvard’s Healthy Plate diagram.

Dessert. If you want to sample multiple desserts, then limit portion size of each sample so that the entire dessert plate is equivalent to one serving and don’t go back for more. Extras that add calories: homemade whipped cream (100 calories per ¼ cup or 4 tablespoons) and drizzled chocolate syrup (100 calories per 2 tablespoons).

Stop nibbling. It is very difficult to assess the total calories intake from nibbling. It is a form of mindless eating that is rarely accounted for in our logs. However, bites here and there can contribute a lot of calories throughout the day. Eating bites of dessert from other people’s plates (or licking batter off of spoons or bowls) can easily cost us 50 calories per bite (e.g. 1/6 of a small brownie, 1/6 slice of pumpkin pie, or 1½ tablespoons of cake batter). Some foods, like creams and frosting, are closer to about 70 calories per tablespoon.

Don’t skip meals. I know a lot of folks try to save calories by skipping breakfast the day of the feast, but don’t bother. You’ll only make it up in spades later in the day. Nibblers – are you meal skippers?

Have questions or comments about this post? Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources

Eating Well. Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes, Menus and Cooking Tips.

Food Network. Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger, MS, RD. Full on Thanksgiving.

Harvard Health Publications. Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes. November 2005.

MyNetDiary Blog. Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD. Thanksgiving.

NPR. Nicole Spiridakis. A Vegetarian Thanksgiving. 11/19/08.

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

The Every-Once-And-A-While Weigh-In

We at MyNetDiary love to hear from our members. Whether it’s in the form of reviews for our iPhone, iPad, Blackberry or Android apps, the updates you share with us on our Facebook page, or the discussions you participate in on our Forum, we value your suggestions and stories of success, and it motivates us to keep producing the best service options we can.

We’ll have many exciting updates, opportunities and features to announce in 2011, but we thought we would start the new year off by asking a question. We’re calling this new series the “Every-Once-And-A-While Weigh In.” Don’t worry, we’re not actually asking you to weigh-in! Every once in a while we will ask our readers to “weigh in” on a topic. Not only will you get to share your opinion with us, you’ll also see how others feel about the same topic.

To get things going, we’ve linked to a survey below asking you how often you like to weigh-in? Are you adamant about getting on the scale, or do you avoid it, especially if you’ve been “off track” for a couple days? Let us know what you think. We’ll post the results on our Facebook page and a future blog post.

Happy tracking!

How Often Do You Weigh-In?

Beans for 2011

In the U.S., eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. I find this amusing. If black-eyed peas are so lucky, then why not eat them every day?

All kidding aside, black-eyed peas and other dried beans and peas are very nutritious, inexpensive and nutrient-dense foods. Also called “legumes,” dried beans and peas are a good source of fiber, protein, carbohydrates, minerals (i.e. copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus), thiamin (a B-vitamin), and they are exceptionally high in folate/folic acid. What’s more, all of this comes at a very low calorie cost - only 90 - 120 calories per ½ cup of cooked legumes.

Although legumes are nutritional rock stars, don’t count on them to meet your calcium requirement. On average, legumes provide less than 100 mg of calcium per ½ cup of cooked beans and peas. That is less than 5% of the Daily Value (DV). Edamame (soy beans) and white beans provide a little more calcium - about 7% DV in ½ cup of cooked beans. Compare that to high-calcium foods that provide 20% – 30% DV for calcium per serving: 6 oz container of yogurt, 1 oz cheese, 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of soy milk, 1 cup of calcium-fortified juice, sardines (with bones) and calcium supplements.

Canned Beans
Canned beans are a huge time saver but unless you buy “no added salt” or reduced salt versions, the convenience will cost you extra sodium. For instance, ½ cup of Kuner’s No Added Salt Kidney Beans has only 10 mg of sodium whereas their regular kidney beans contain 430 mg for a ½ cup serving. If you cook beans from scratch, limit sodium by simply cooking in unsalted water. Legumes are naturally low in sodium.

What about Gas?
Yes, legumes can be very gassy. Over time, you will be able to tolerate more beans/peas with less gas. Some people swear by products such as Beano to help digest beans. You decide for yourself – but in any case, gradually add legumes to your diet to help reduce excessive gas, bloating or discomfort. You might want to start with only ¼ cup of cooked beans or peas and then gradually build up to ½ cup or more. Try adding beans and peas to soups, salads, or in low-fat dips. Build up your intake over time so that you can comfortably digest ½ cup or more of cooked beans daily. Other tips for reducing gas: drain the canned liquid or soaking water before cooking and cook the beans well.

If you find that the commonly eaten kidney, black and pinto beans do not agree with you, consider trying Edamame (soybeans) and lentils, as these are more easily digested. Also consider legume recipes from other cuisines. Just because you hate chili doesn’t mean you won’t love hummus or Indian dahl.

Health Benefits
In addition to being high in nutrients, consumption of beans is beneficial for heart health, diabetes and weight control. The soluble or viscous fiber in legumes helps limit the rise of blood glucose after a meal. It also helps lower blood LDL levels over time by its action in the gut. And finally, the fiber in beans helps you feel full - this will help you avoid overeating calories.

If you are looking for ways to tweak your diet to improve nutritional content and improve your health, then definitely consider adding a serving of legumes to your daily plan. These carbs are worth it.

Have questions about this topic? Let’s hear from you! Post your questions on MyNetDiary’s Community Forum.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources
American Bean, “Online Recipe book.”
Mayo Clinic, “Bean and Legume Recipes.”
New York Times, “Recipes for Health: Beans.”

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Happy New Year! We at MyNetDiary hope you have had a successful year in your efforts to live a healthier lifestyle. In a few hours, we’ll all welcome in a new year, full of new promise and hope. And surely, so many are planning their New Year’s resolutions - exercise more, improve finances, travel to Europe and, of course, lose weight.

New Year’s resolutions are important, as they give us an opportunity to assess where we are in our lives and where we want to be. It also let’s us vocalize to our friends and loved ones our commitment to our upcoming challenges. We feel energized, supported and excited about what lies ahead. The trick, however, is sustaining this level of excitement throughout the year. To help us in this, there is one thing we can tell ourselves - we can make new resolutions everyday.

This doesn’t mean we need to be making or changing our large life goals every morning, but we can make small resolutions to improve the small things we manage without thinking - resolve to drink an extra glass of water, resolve to eat extra vegetables, resolve to add 10 more minutes to your workout. These we can do every day. You don’t need a ball drop to signal a better you!

We wish you many more successes in your journey, and stay tuned to MyNetDiary. We have some exciting new announcements planned for 2011!