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Yogurt and probiotics promote digestive health.

If you’ve spent any time in the yogurt section of your local supermarket lately, you might see more and more products that highlight their “live active cultures” – a nice way of saying that the yogurt is full of bacteria.

While the idea of consuming bacteria in the diet may not sound appealing, probiotic bacteria found in yogurt and other fermented dairy products can promote digestive health.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that help maintain the proper balance of the microorganisms (called flora) that live in your digestive tract.  Your digestive system is home to hundreds of types of probiotics, and these helpful bacteria keep the growth of other, potentially harmful, bacteria at bay – thus promoting healthy digestion.

The bacteria in your system also help to break down foods that are resistant to normal digestion, allowing you to obtain more nutrients from your foods.  In the process, gas is produced – but we have other gas-guzzling bacteria that keep its production in check.  So, a healthy balance of these various intestinal ‘bugs’ is key to a well-functioning digestive tract.

One of the most common strains of probiotic bacteria that reside in your intestines is Lactobacillus acidophilus, which is found in yogurt.  When you eat yogurt that has ‘active, live cultures’ (the label will tell you), you can be assured that you are consuming this healthy probiotic.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. 

How to put diet advice into practice

You know what you should be eating because you’ve heard most diet advice before – but you just can’t quite figure out how to apply that diet advice to make it part of your daily eating routine.  Here are some tips to help you put your nutrition knowledge into action.

For those of us in the US, mid-April means one thing – it’s tax time.  Many dread it, and put it off to the last minute – in large part because completing your own tax return is difficult,  it’s  complicated, and just so darned…. well, taxing.  But as tough as it may be, it’s apparently not nearly as hard as figuring out how to eat well… in an online survey¹ of more than 1,000 Americans that was released last year, 52% said that it was harder to figure out “what you should and shouldn’t eat to be healthier” than it is to figure out “how to do your own taxes.”

Choosing a healthy diet just shouldn’t be that hard.  And, it’s not for lack of knowledge.  In general, people seem to know what they should be doing – in the same survey, for instance, most people said they were trying to limit their intake of salt, fat and sugar and were trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.  But when you look at  what people say they’re trying to do – and what they’re actually doing – there’s a bit of a disconnect.  We may be able to “talk the talk”, but we don’t seem to be “walking the walk” – the majority of Americans don’t get the recommended number of fruits and veggies every day,  intake of added fats and sugars is at an all-time high, and 44% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week.

So when people say it’s hard to figure out what to eat, the problem isn’t really that they don’t know what to do – it’s more that they just don’t know how.  (Of course, you also have to want  to do it, too…).  But the bottom line is this – all the knowledge in the world isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t figure out how to put it into practice.

How to put diet advice into practice

Diet advice:  Eat more fruits and vegetables

How to:

• Make it convenient to eat them – keep a bowl of fresh fruit on your kitchen counter and keep cut up veggies on a shelf in the refrigerator.  If preparing them is too time-consuming, you might opt for pre-cut fruits and veggies and ready-to-eat salad greens. 
• Frozen fruits and vegetables are nutritious and convenient – you can add frozen fruits to your Herbalife Formula 1 protein shakes, or thaw and stir into yogurt, cottage cheese or hot cereals. 
• Add extra veggies to mixed dishes, soups, stews, omelets –  even to your Chinese takeout. 
• At restaurants, skip the starch and order double veggies for your side dish, and start your meal off with a salad.

Diet advice:  Reduce fat intake

How to:

• Fried foods are a big offender here – so that means that a good place to start would be limiting your intake of things like chips and French fries. 
• Choose low fat dairy products – milk, cottage cheese, yogurt – over the full-fat versions, and opt for fish and poultry more often than fattier red meat. 
• Added fats – sauces, dressings, mayonnaise, butter, margarine – add up quickly, too, so use sparingly or find lower fat alternatives. 
• And watch for “hidden fats” – there’s plenty of fat lurking in foods like desserts, snack foods, breads and pastries.   
• When you’re cooking at home, use fats sparingly when you cook, search out low fat recipes, and give your own high fat recipes a makeover to reduce fat. 

Diet advice:  Reduce added sugar intake

How to:

• A lot of the sugar we take in comes from beverages, so choose calorie-free water or tea as often as possible, and limit your intake of fruit juices. 
• If plain water doesn’t appeal to you, add a slice of lemon or lime, a few pieces of fresh fruit, or a tiny splash of fruit juice to your water for a bit of flavor. 
• Let fruit take the place of dessert, and limit the amount of pre-sweetened foods that you buy.
• Pre-sweetened cereals and yogurt, for example, can have a lot of added sugar – you’ll take in much less if you buy plain yogurt or unsweetened whole grain cereals and sweeten it yourself – preferably with fresh fruit.  Don’t worry about the natural sugars in fruit, milk and dairy products – just focus on reducing the amount of sugar that’s added to everyday foods.

Diet advice:  Eat more fiber

How to:

• See item #1 above -  “eat more fruits and vegetables”.  Fruits and vegetables are great sources of fiber, and when you make a point to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack, that can go a long way towards meeting your daily fiber goals. 
• Beans and whole grains are also good sources of fiber – try adding some canned beans to soups and salads, or mashed into a hummus dip to eat with raw veggies. 
• Turn to whole grains – like brown rice, barley, quinoa, millet – and whole grain foods (100% whole grain breads, pasta, cereals) rather than the refined “white” versions to boost your fiber intake.

Diet advice:  Watch your sodium intake

How to:

• Most people get much more salt from processed foods than they do from the salt shaker – so a good first step is to eat most of your foods as close as possible to their natural state. 
• If you buy canned foods – like veggies, tuna or soups – look for reduced sodium versions. 
• Cut back on processed meats which are often loaded with sodium (even the so-called low-sodium versions), and lean towards fresh meats and poultry which naturally contain very little.
• You can also ‘dilute’ the sodium in convenience foods by adding extra veggies to canned soups or doubling the amount of grains when you prepare something like a packaged seasoned rice mix (and use brown rice when you do….). 
• And find other ways to season foods rather than always relying on salt.  Herbs, spices, onions, garlic and citrus add flavor without sodium – and you get a nutrition boost, too.

¹International Food Information Council Foundation, “2012 Food and Health Survey:  Consumer Attitudes Towards Food Safety, Nutrition and Health”. 

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD.

How to indulge without ruining your diet

An occasional indulgence isn’t really cheating – especially if you’ve planned for it.

Cheating – on your taxes, on a test, on your partner – is just plain wrong.  And chances are, even if you were to consider cheating, you probably wouldn’t ask for permission from your accountant or your teacher…or your mate.  So why are people always asking me if it’s “okay to cheat” on their diet?  Does it feel “good” to be “bad”? Do they want to place the blame on my shoulders if their cheating doesn’t lead to weight loss?  Or are they simply saying, “I just can’t be this strict with myself every single day – I need a break!”

Let me start by saying that – at least when it comes to dieting -  I don’t like to use the word ‘”cheat”.  And here’s why.  Most of us don’t cheat on our taxes, on tests or on our partners – because we know it’s wrong.  And so, if we did cheat, we’d feel really bad about it.  Following the same logic, if you “cheat” on your diet, it must be wrong – and you’re going to feel bad for having done it.  So let’s just dispense with the word “cheat” right off the bat.
Cheat or treat?
Since “cheat” sounds so negative, let’s call it something more positive instead – I think “treat” sounds a lot better.  There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself once in a while, especially if you’ve banked some calories in advance for your indulgence.  If you’ve saved up some calories all week so you have a few extra to spend on the weekend, is that “cheating”? Sounds more like  “good planning” to me.
Why do you feel the need to cheat?
Before you start planning, you might want to think about why you feel the need to “cheat” in the first place.  Are you being too strict with your eating and cutting back too far? Are your regular meals not satisfying or enjoyable? Are “cheating” and “being bad” your reward for being good all week?  One way to stifle the need to stray from your eating plan is to get to the root of the problem.
Trying to adhere to an overly strict diet is probably one of the most common triggers for “cheating”.  Maybe you manage to hold things together pretty well all week, so you figure you deserve to cut loose and enjoy yourself on the weekend.
But if you’re eating yourself into a stupor every weekend because you “deserve it”, not only are you likely to undo any progress you made during the week, you’re also rewarding your good behavior with high caloriefood.  Over time, you associate your healthy weekday foods with penalty, and your high calorie weekend indulgences with reward – which isn’t likely to foster lifelong healthy eating habits.
The other problem is that if you haven’t figured out the number of extra calories you can safely spend on the weekend, it’s too easy to tell yourself that you’ve been “so good” all week that you can’t possibly overdo it. Trust me – you can.
Planning your pleasure
So there’s a fine line to making this work, and it all depends on proper planning – which involves banking some calories and spending them wisely.
I’m more inclined to advise people to limit their “treat” to one meal rather than taking the whole day off.  There’s a big difference between eating something special that isn’t on your usual meal plan and taking theentire day off to eat whatever you want.  For some people, a whole day without dietary restrictions can be like a train without brakes – and can cause nearly as much damage.
But planning ahead for a “treat meal” is a lot easier to control.  First, consider your allotted calorie intake for the whole week.  Then, determine how many calories you can set aside each day to accumulate what you’ll need to spend on your splurge.  It also helps to be as specific as you can when you plan when, where and how you’re going to spend your calories.  Telling yourself, “I’ve been good all week so I can have a nice steak dinner” may not work as well as, “I’m saving up 400 calories this week because I’m going to Rosie’s Restaurant on Saturday night and they make the best apple pie.”
Treating Isn’t cheating
If you feel that your “cheating” is the result of a too-strict diet, consider this.  Those who naturally maintain their weight manage to have treats from time to time.  It’s part of life – and an important skill to learn.  Eating perfectly all the time probably isn’t reasonable.  But if you eat three regular meals a day and have a “treat” meal once a week, you’re being “good” for 20 meals out of 21 – which is 95% of the time.  And when you’ve planned and saved for your splurge, you can enjoy it guilt-free.  So make it special – put it on a plate, eat it slowly, savor it and enjoy it.  You earned it.
Written by Susan Bowerman

What's the best diet for me?

The best diet is the one that works best with your lifestyle, your budget, your food preferences and how much effort you’re willing to give.

One of the more entertaining aspects of my work is that whenever I meet a new weight loss client, I never know where the conversation will lead.  Usually, I’ll start by getting some history – I want to know what’s the most and the least they’ve ever weighed, what motivates them to eat better and get into shape, and also what’s worked for them in the past and what hasn’t – that sort of thing.  From there, I can start to get a sense for how much effort each particular patient is willing to put forth, and what their expectations are.  And then we come up with a plan. But I can’t just tell someone what they need to do – I need to help them figure out how they’re going to do it, too.  And we work together to figure out what’s going to work best for them.

Does one size fit all?
When it comes down to it, there’s no “one size fits all” diet plan.  Everyone is different, and I need to take into account not just a person’s food likes and dislikes – I also need to know what their day is like, if they like to cook or not, if the cost of food is an issue, what time they exercise, how often they eat out (and where)  – there are a whole host of factors that I have to consider before I can give someone meaningful advice.

Should you take on a lot at once?
And then I have to consider what my clients want – or think they want.  Some people prefer a fairly strict approach – often, in fact, deciding to tackle a lot at once.  I’ve had plenty of clients who’ve decided to simultaneously attempt to lose weight, start exercising and quit smoking.  It’s a lot to take on, but it canwork.  Maybe it’s the idea of  ‘wiping the slate clean’ and making a truly fresh start – sort of a “today is the first day of the rest of your life” attitude.  And sometimes when you’re working on one thing, it can reinforce the other changes you’re trying to make – as in, “if I’m going to exercise, it doesn’t make much sense to keep smoking”.
But when taking on too much doesn’t work, it’s usually because the process becomes overwhelming – there are just too many changes involved and too many adjustments to be made.  And then, people tend to simply give up – and nothing gets accomplished.

Or are you one to take things more slowly?
On the other hand, there are those who take a more cautious approach – they like to dip their toes into the water, and see what feels right.  They might make a few changes to set them on the right course, get those pretty well established into their daily life, and then move on to make a few more.  Slowly, over time, they accumulate a pretty impressive list of diet and lifestyle changes – and since they’ve given themselves a chance to let them settle in, they’re usually in pretty good shape to continue.

Figuring out what works for YOU will help you build a healthy diet and lifestyle plan
The point is this – there are plenty of paths that lead to the same destination.  Some are short and direct, others might meander a bit – and neither one is necessarily better than the other.
Just as I do with my clients, you need to think about what you realistically can do.  If you hate cooking or just don’t have the time, does it make sense to adopt a diet that requires you to home-cook every meal?  If you can’t remember the last time you ate a fruit or a vegetable, is it realistic to think that you’ll suddenly start eating seven servings a day?  Maybe not.
But remember this.  The way you choose to eat, the amount of activity you get, the lifestyle choices you make are yours – you own them.  And you also need to accept that the results you get will be a direct reflection of how much effort you put forth.  The harder you work at it, the better the results.  But that doesn’t mean that slow and steady can’t win the race, too.  Because the best diet isn’t the one someone else tells you to follow – the best diet is the one that works for you.

By Susan Bowerman

4 Barriers To Good Diet Behavior

Want to change your diet behavior? Break through these diet barriers first! Getting out of your usual comfortable routine is hard and the first step is figuring out why you’re resisting change in the first place.

Think about your daily routine – how many things do you do without even thinking about them?  When you’re getting dressed in the morning, which shoe do you put on first?  You’ve probably never thought about it.  But if you always start with the right, try putting on the left shoe first – it might feel a little strange and unfamiliar.  Now imagine that you’re faced with a multitude of things you need to change. Everything you do throughout the day is affected, and you’re constantly reminded that you’re doing things differently. It takes some getting used to.

Change is hard, and it takes time to develop new, healthy habits to replace the old ones.  But in order to get there, you first have to identify the barriers that are getting in your way.  People resist change for many reasons, but here are some of the most common ones.

Good diet barrier #1:

You feel fine, so what’s the problem?

I can’t tell you how many times patients have said to me, “there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m just fat.”  Maybe it’s because being overweight doesn’t exactly hurt the way a headache does – it could be that since the weight comes on little by little, you sort of slowly adapt and don’t notice how it’s affecting you.  But those who tell me that they feel “fine, just fat” before they start on a diet and exercise program are the same ones who come back months later – trimmer and fitter – admitting that they had no idea how badthey really felt when they were heavier.  With a loss of weight and a gain in stamina from regular exercise, they’ve got more energy, they sleep better and they feel ‘like a new person’.   There’s nothing more motivating than really feeling the results of getting healthier.

Good diet barrier #2:

There’s so much you’ll have to give up, it’s just not worth it

You’re envisioning that you’ll have to give up your favorite foods, that you won’t be able to go out and enjoy meals with friends, family or coworkers, and that you’ll have to set aside way too much time for exercise and meal preparation.  Sounds like a lot to give up, and you’re not sure you want to.  But you can learn ways to lighten up your favorite recipes at home and make better choices in restaurants, and you can be just as sociable with your friends over a healthy meal as you can over a cheeseburger and fries.  Focus not on what you’re giving up, but what you stand to gain.  Yes, some things will have to change – but if you keep your “eye on the prize” of better health, you’re more likely to make adjustments.

Good diet barrier #3:

You don’t have the self-confidence to think you can succeed
Maybe you’ve tried a variety of things in the past, but you haven’t ever been able to make much headway.  If you’ve tried everything under the sun but nothing’s worked for you, it’s going to be hard for me to convince you that this time will be any different.  So it helps to look at why you might have failed.  Was the diet too strict and hard to follow?  Did you get too aggressive too soon with your exercise and hurt yourself – rather than easing into it slowly?  Do you eat when you’re not hungry and use food as a reward or a comfort?  Gaining confidence takes time, and you might need to take baby steps to get to where you need to go.  But when you take those same steps over and over again, you’re on your way to establishing new, healthier habits – and to building your confidence.

Good diet barrier #4:

You don’t think anything you do will make a difference
Some people just aren’t convinced that there’s anything they can do to impact their health in a significant way.  They’ll say they inherited their hefty build from their parents, or chalk up a high cholesterol level to ‘bad genes’.  When you believe that there’s nothing you can do that will make a difference, that’s exactly what you’re likely to do – nothing. But you’re just providing yourself with an easy way out.  As it’s been said, “genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger”.  Genetics alone doesn’t determine how healthy you’ll be – your health is greatly influenced by how well you take care of yourself, too.  And small changes, taken together, can definitely add up.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD.

Avoiding the Afternoon Energy Dip

The middle of the afternoon is when energy levels start to dip, you may feel irritable, or your thoughts begin to grow fuzzy. That's because your body's screaming for sugar. The best defense against the afternoon slump, is a good offense with a balanced lunch. Check out what Susan Bowerman a registered dietician and nutrition consultant has to say about a good offense.
http://video.herbalife.com/ajax/download.php?filename=Avoiding-the-afternoon-energy-dip&type=video&file=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia2.ms.kitd.com%2Fmm%2Fflvmedia%2F3870%2Fm%2FF%2F1%2FmF_1208002A-us-en-Healthy-Living-Energy-Dip-1436545.m4v2FF%2F1%2FmF_1208002A-us-en-Healthy-Living-Energy-Dip-1436545.m4v