The Healthy Bride

The Best Frozen Dinners

Stroll down any supermarket frozen food aisle and the evidence is clear: frozen meals are big sellers, claiming more shelf space than virtually any other type of frozen food. Beyond the old-standard TV dinners, you’ll find ethnic (especially Asian), vegetarian, low-calorie, supersized, natural, and organic meals.

The challenge is to find frozen meals that you enjoy, that will satisfy your hunger, and won’t sabotage your weight loss efforts.

Choosing a Frozen Meal

There is no getting around it. When selecting a frozen meal, you’ll need to read the “nutrition facts” panel on the package to make sure your choice is a healthy one. So allow yourself a little extra time on the frozen-foods aisle (or use my handy list of picks below).

Weight Loss Clinic eating plans prescribe two levels of frozen meals: a light frozen dinner, with less than 300 calories and no more than 8 grams of fat; and a regular frozen dinner, with 360-400 calories and a maximum of 25 grams of fat.

Jot these numbers down and refer to them when checking labels. Of course, whenever possible, it’s best to select a lighter frozen meal, with fewer calories and fat.

Here’s a label-reading tip: Make sure you check the portion size, listed on the very top of the nutrition label. Some crafty manufacturers measure a portion as something less than the entire contents of the box.

As a general rule, look for entrees that include plenty of vegetables. These tend to be lower in calories and higher in vitamins and minerals as well as fiber (which helps fill you up). Opt for brown rice or whole grains whenever possible, and choose lean meat, fish, or chicken.

Buyer Beware

Some frozen dinners are loaded with fat, sodium, and calories. Sticking with the lighter versions (such as Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones) is usually a safe bet. But there are no guarantees. You still need to read the label to be certain.

If you’re watching sodium, be especially careful about frozen meals. My advice for everyone is to look for meals with less than 800 milligrams of sodium (that’s about 1/3 of a day’s recommended allotment). If you’re on a low-sodium diet, divide the total number of sodium milligrams recommended per day by three. Then use that number as a guide when selecting frozen entrees.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that package claims are always what they seem. While most brands are reputable and honest, some may use wording that can mislead you. For example, it’s not always clear what makes products labeled “natural” or “organic” qualify for that terminology.

Some labels boast that their dinners are “preservative free,” yet most frozen meals don’t include preservatives because freezing prevents spoilage. The bottom line: Don’t assume a product is healthy without carefully checking out the nutrition facts panel.

By the numbers, here are my guidelines for choosing a healthy frozen meal:

1. Aim for those that keep calories in the 250-300 range (journal as light frozen meal).
2. Choose meals with less than 4 grams of saturated fat.
3. Choose meals with less than 800 milligrams of sodium.
4. Select meals with at least 3-5 grams of fiber.

12 Good Choices

There are too many healthy options on the market to list, but here are a few to consider when choosing your next frozen entree.

The Beauty of Frozen Meals

Singles, busy families, older people, and office workers alike enjoy the simplicity and convenience of the frozen meal. At my office, the freezer is jammed with all kinds frozen meals, which get zapped in the microwave for quick, portable, portion-controlled, and relatively inexpensive lunch.

Here’s one more tip: Try to add a side salad and a serving of fruit to round out your meal, especially if you’re having a lower-calorie frozen dinner. Not only will it boost the vitamin, mineral and fiber content, but the extra fruit and vegetables will help fill you up. After all, what good is the portion-controlled serving if you still feel hungry after you eat it?

by Bonnie Liebman, October 2009 from CSPI

What does a healthy diet look like? Despite (or maybe because of) all the diet books, food pyramids, and expert advice, most people are still confused.

Yet we know which diets can lower the risk of heart disease, the major cause of death in the United States. Odds are, those same foods can also promote weight loss and help prevent diabetes and cancer.

The tricky part is summing up an entire diet in simple, easy-to-remember advice. Here’s our try.

READ on for GREAT information on a healthy weight loss program – forever, and here is the “meat” of the article:

RULES OF THE ROAD

1. Make vegetables a main course. Vegetables or fruit are going to fill up at least half of your plate at lunch and dinner. It’s easy to polish off 3 or 4 pieces of fruit as snacks or with breakfast or lunch. But when you’re shooting for 6 to 8 servings of vegetables a day, it makes sense to make them part of a main dish like stir-fried vegetables, vegetable curry, vegetable fajitas, or a main-dish salad—all of which can have chunks of chicken, fish, lean meat, or tofu mixed in. It’s not just that you need to boost the vegetables, but that by eating more of them, you’re eating less of other foods. Used to having chicken or meat as your main dish for dinner? No problem. Just make sure that it’s the size of a deck of cards, and surround it with enough side dish vegetables or salad to reach your total.

2. Keep saturated fat and cholesterol low. That means just a small (¼ lb.) portion of lean meat or poultry per day for a 2,000-calorie diet. (It’s okay to have a more generous serving of fish.) Vegetarians can substitute veggie meats, tofu, or beans. Use eggs and non-low-fat cheeses sparingly. (Egg whites are okay.)

3. Don’t overdo grains. Even whole grains are limited to four servings a day
if you’re shooting for 2,000 calories. And a serving is a thin (1 oz.) slice of bread, not a typical (4 oz.) bagel. Eat a small bowl of cereal for breakfast and a sandwich at lunch and you’re left with just a half cup of cereal, rice, or pasta for dinner. A half cup isn’t much—it’s the volume of two golf balls.

4. Minimize added sugar. A 2,000-calorie diet allows two teaspoons (8 grams) of added sugar a day. There’s no room for more empty calories. That’s about what you’d get in many breakfast cereals, two small cookies, or ¼ cup of ice cream. If you can’t live without more sweets, swap your “wild card” for 120 calories’ worth of dessert.

5. Keep a lid on sodium. In the OmniHeart study, sodium was limited to 2,300 milligrams a day. That means avoiding high-sodium processed foods.

6. Eat beans and nuts. “Of the three OmniHeart diets, the protein diet was the most challenging because it required so much bulk for the vegetable protein sources,” says Sacks. In other words, people felt more full when they ate a diet rich in beans and nuts.4 That meant they might have shed some weight if the study had allowed them to cut calories. If beans seem dull, think Middle Eastern (hummus), Indian (curried lentils), French (cassoulet), Southwestern (black bean soup), or American (vegetarian chili). Or just throw some chickpeas into your salad. Nuts and seeds are easy to eat—too easy. If you can’t stop at ¼ cup, use them as a garnish on salad or cereal or veggies. Otherwise, the calories can add up quickly.

Ratatouille. Veggies should fill at least half your plate

7. Eat real food, not junk. Notice what’s missing (or minimal) in this diet? It’s not just sweets (cookies, cakes, ice cream, muffins, soda, etc.). It’s also big bowls of pasta, big bagels, and big muffins. Most pizzas, panini sandwiches, wraps, and burritos are too big. Also gone are granola or energy bars, pita chips, and other junk disguised as health foods. Think of them as an occasional splurge.

8. Cut calorie density to lose weight. “People eat for weight or volume,” explains Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University. Her studies show that if you trim the calorie density—that is, the calories per bite—people leave the table feeling full but with fewer calories in their belly (and, eventually, with less belly). Her research team analyzed data from the Premier diet, which was similar to the OmniHeart higher-carb diet.5 “People who lowered their calorie density ended up eating fewer calories and losing more weight,” she explains. “The change in calorie density was the biggest predictor of six-month weight loss. And those people ate a pound more food a day.” Rolls got similar results in a one-year trial.6 “Both groups were told to eat smaller portions and less fat,” she notes, “but only one group was also told to eat more fruits, vegetables, and broth-based soups.” That group lost more weight. “We tell people to manage portions of calorie-dense foods and eat as much as they want of fruits and vegetables,” Rolls explains. “They’re free foods.” Her advice doesn’t apply to dried fruit or fruit juice. Nor does it apply to French fries, potato chips, or other starchy vegetables. “Non-starchy vegetables like celery are the best way to lower calorie density,” says Rolls. “You’re mostly eating water and some bulk. Fruit should also be unlimited because it’s got a low calorie density. You can only eat so much because you’re going to fill up.”

9. Eat veggies instead. Adding vegetables only curbs calories if you eat less of everything else. Barbara Rolls tried either adding vegetables to a dinner or substituting them for other foods. “On the plate we had a prepared beef dish, a rice dish, and broccoli,” she explains. “When we went from a quarter to half a plate of broccoli and made the meat and grain portions smaller, people ate fewer calories in the meal.” The calories per bite—or calorie density—went down as the veggies went up. “But if we just added broccoli to the meat and grain, people didn’t eat fewer calories,” she adds. “So if your goal is to cut calorie intake, you have to substitute vegetables for other ingredients.”

Citrus Salad. Still hungry? Vegetables and fruits are “free foods.”

10. Cut liquid calories. When the Premier study began, most participants got 350 calories—nearly a fifth of their calories for the day—from soda, alcoholic beverages, juice, milk, and other drinks. (And in the OmniHeart study, participants were allowed up to 2 serv- ings of alcohol a day.) Trimming those calories mattered more than cutting calories from solid foods.7 “Only a reduction in liquid calorie intake was shown to significantly affect weight loss during the six-month follow-up,” says Benjamin Caballero of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. To boost your odds of losing (or not gaining) weight, it makes sense to cut most liquid calories. That’s why our diet substitutes fruit for fruit juice.

1 JAMA 294: 2455, 2005.
2 Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 87: 1623, 2008.
3 N. Engl. J. Med. 360: 859, 2009.
4 Am. J. Epidemiol. 169: 893, 2009.
5 Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 85: 1212, 2007.
6Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 85: 1465, 2007.
7 Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 89: 1299, 2009.

I found this interesting blog post on Twitter this morning.  Love to know your thoughts:

http://www.onewed.com/blog/savvy-scoop/category/beauty-health/2010/06/07/just-say-no-crash-diets-and-bad-wedding-contests

If you like to sweeten tea, hot cereal, or plain yogurt, consider sweetening lightly with honey or real maple syrup. These are the most natural forms of sweeteners, and they contain some minerals in addition to natural sugars. Remember though, a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup can contain anywhere from 15-20 calories. A few teaspoons can add up to a lot of calories over the course of the day, so please be mindful!

There are always a lot of questions and concerns from brides about how best to get great wedding dress arms, and a flat belly before their wedding.  Both are possible!  However, it’s not easy (sorry!)

Here are a few tips for the bride on how best to proceed toward this goal:

You can’t spot reduce.  Sorry (again), but spot reduction is a myth.  I wrote an entire blog post (the war on bridal back fat), so please go read this post.

The good news! You CAN spot strengthen. Getting your muscles stronger will make them more defined for sure, so don’t stop working your arms or doing your ab work, there is just more to it than that.  Women have more body fat than men.  It’s a fact of nature.  We carry more fat because women have the babies.  If you want buff arms and a flat belly, you will need to work off the fat that is covering your gorgeous muscles.

How to do that?   If you want hot arms and flat bellies you want to work on losing fat.  This means working out, and eating fewer calories than you take in.  There are a million options for losing weight, but what I believe works is finding a way of eating that will last a lifetime so you don’t get on the unhealthy yo-yo cycle.   We have some great articles from nutritionists I love and believe in on our website.

The good news! You CAN spot strengthen. Getting your muscles stronger will make them more defined for sure, so don’t stop working your arms or doing your ab work, there is just more to it than that. (check out our “bridecast workouts“)

How do you workout in a way that loses fat? This is another area loaded with myths and controversy.  My belief?  Workout hard (I mean on a scale from 1-10 workout at level you consider 7 – 9 for 40-60 minutes). If you are not huffing and puffing and sweating, you are not working hard enough.  If you can’t push yourself hard enough, find someone who will in a class or a trainer.  Be sure you warm up for 10 minutes first, then go hard, then cool down for 5-10 minutes and stretch.  Vary your workouts!  Doing the same thing over and over allows your body to adapt, so will no longer be giving you the stress you need to change.

What about weight training? Lift enough weight so you are “stressing” (NOT INJURING) your muscles. I see a lot of women picking up 3 pound weights when they should be picking up 10 pounders. You want to be sure you have enough weight to make some change in your muscles, and your muscles will only change if you “stress” them. If you are not using heavy enough weights, nothing will ever change. With weights, warm up for 10 minutes first, cool down and stretch at the end.  Make sure you have good form.  If you don’t know what you are doing, hire a trainer to help you learn.  Again with weights, you need to vary the program at least every 6 – 8 weeks.  Doing the same thing over and over allows your body to adapt, so will no longer be giving you the stress you need to change.

Track your food intake.  This is hard, but really gives you truth-in-eating!  The website I use is mypyramidtracker.gov, but there are others like sparkpeople.  The reason I like my pyramid tracker is that you can add your exercise and then get an energy balance at the end of the day.  Be sure you are taking in less than you are expending, and the fat WILL burn off.

What if the fat won’t budge?  I mean really, if you are working hard, eating healthy – and I mean all the days of the week, including the weekends, and things are not moving, go see a Naturopath. I say Naturopath  rather than a Dr. because they will really look into every aspect of your health to figure out what is going on for you and help you reach your health and weight loss goals.

The Secret! Be consistent. Yes, that is the secret to losing weight, keeping it off and being a healthy bride with buff arms and a flat stomach. Be consistent, stay with your program long term, give yourself enough time (1-2 pounds per week) and don’t try to be perfect about it.  Now  just go do it.

I really do!  Fall is apple season in the Northwest and there is no snack I prefer more this time of year.  Apple slices with string cheese is a staple of my diet.  I also love apples with almond butter – it’s a delicious, indulgent, yet healthy, satisfying treat that includes the basics – fiber, fat and protein

Today I received a really interesting newsletter from whf.org about the healthy attributes of apples.  I thought I would share this with you as it’s timely and great nutrition information to add to your healthy eating arsenal.

Food of the Week . . . Apples
Did you know that, compared to other fruits and vegetables, apples have been found to be most consistently associated with a reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma and type 2 diabetes? Apples, which contain significant amounts of phenols and other flavonoids that act as powerful antioxidants and help protect against cell-damaging free radicals, were also associated with improved lung function and weight loss. These findings are from a recent review of 85 different studies. The total antioxidant activity of 100 grams of whole apple (with peel) was found to be equivalent to the antioxidant effect of about 1,500 mg of vitamin C! Most of apples’ antioxidant protection, however, does not come from vitamin C (100 g of apples contains only about 5.7 mg of vitamin C), but from their rich supply of phytonutrients. Read More …