Ask Pam: Flu-Fighting Foods

With flu season here, are there any foods to help me stay healthy?

Well, Julie, you are what you eat! With the flu season already here, it sure is a good time to focus on staying healthy and eating well. We know that what we put in our bodies certainly has an effect on our daily functions and how we feel, especially when it comes to fighting off those germs and keeping the sniffles at bay.

Technically, there are no known cures for the common cold or flu, but a healthy lifestyle can work in your favor. First things first….wash those hands! That can really help to limit the spread of germs.

Here are a few things to consume that can help fight off infections and boost the immune system:

1. Fruits and veggies (dark green, red, orange, and yellow fruits and vegetables)
2. Foods with vitamin B6 (lean meats, fish, nuts, seeds)
3. Vitamin-E rich foods (nuts, mango, blueberries, papaya, pumpkin)
4. Omega-3 fatty acids (salmon)
5. Garlic (go for the raw garlic)
6. Yogurt (usually recommended to avoid dairy, but studies show that it can help reduce susceptibility to colds)

Besides eating some of the foods above, there are a few other ways to build up that immune system:

- Exercise: This is probably one of the last things your body wants to do when it’s run down, but it can definitely help in terms of prevention. Aerobic exercise helps the heart pump harder, makes you breathe faster and you begin to sweat once your body heats up — this helps to increase the body’s natural virus-killing cells.

- Water: Flush out that system and stay hydrated.

- Supplements (like Vitamin C or Zinc): Taking too much isn’t necessarily going to help shorten the duration or prevent flu or colds from happening, but they do play a role in immunity. Your best bet is to eat more zinc and vitamin-C rich foods and take that multivitamin.

Finally, these are the most important actions this season in defending yourself: RELAX, DON’T STRESS and SLEEP! We could probably all pay attention to this one!

Evidence shows that your interleukins (leaders in the immune system response against cold and flu viruses) increase in your bloodstream if you stimulate relaxation.

For those of you who say they don’t know how to relax (like me), take a moment, breathe deep and count back from 10. Think of something calming or anything pleasant in your mind. Don’t fake it though — your body knows!

Have a diet question for Pam? Email askpam@ediets.com and check back to see if your question is picked! And if you missed a previous column, click here to see the archive.

Looking for a way to make weight loss easier? With personalized meal plans and fitness routines, eDiets can help! Join now and save 25%!

Emotional Eating Quiz Answers

Didn’t take the quiz yet? First, take the Are You an Emotional Eater quiz, then come back and check your answers!

1. Emotional eating hunger comes on suddenly while physical hunger develops slowly. Physical hunger begins with a tummy rumble, then it becomes a stronger grumble, and finally it evolves into hunger pangs, but it’s a slow process, very different from emotional hunger, which has a sudden, dramatic onset.

2. Unlike physical hunger, emotional eating hunger demands food immediately, and it wants immediate satisfaction. Physical hunger, on the other hand, will wait for food.

3. A difference between physical and emotional eating hunger involves mindfulness. To satisfy physical hunger, you normally make a deliberate choice about what you consume, and you maintain awareness of what you eat. You notice how much you put in your mouth so that you can stop when you’re full. IN contrast, emotional hunger rarely notices what’s being eaten. If you have emotional hunger, you’ll want more food even after you’re stuffed.

4. Emotional eating hunger often demands particular foods in order to be fulfilled. If you’re physically hungry, even carrots will look delicious. If you’re emotionally hungry, however, only cake or ice cream or your particular preferred indulgence will seem appealing.

5. Emotional eating hunger often results in guilt or promises to do better next time. Physical hunger has no guilt attached to it because you know you ate in order to maintain health and energy.

6. Emotional eating hunger results from some emotional trigger. Physical hunger results from a physiological need.

7. When you are feeding physical hunger, you can eat your food and savor each bite, but when you eat to fulfill emotional eating hunger you stuff the food in. All of a sudden the whole pint of ice cream is gone.

A study I conducted of 17,000 failed dieters showed that virtually all of them relapsed because of emotional issues — mostly related to self-esteem or emotional hurt. They were doing really well on their diets, and then their husband started having an affair, or they lost their job, or a parent got sick, and so on. Perhaps you had a similar kind of thing trip up your diet efforts in the past.

One thing I’ve learned is that attacking emotional eating hunger by counting calories is almost like trying to run a marathon while lying on your couch. It just doesn’t make any sense. You need to go deep within to control emotional hunger, because as real as the hunger feels, it originates not in your belly, but in your mind.

eDiets can help you take the first step to feeling better about yourself and, in turn, controlling your emotional eating. With our meal delivery plans, we provide the food (so it’s all healthy), and you can lose 10 pounds in just 5 short weeks. Get more information on eDiets Meal Delivery.

Continue to these related posts:
– Mental Tips and Techniques You Can Use to Get Results
– Random Food Trivia Quiz
– Your Nutritional Age Quick Quiz

Dr. Roger Gould is a psychiatrist who specializes in adult behavior and the author of the best-selling book Shrink Yourself: Break Free From Emotional Eating Forever! For more information on emotional eating and handling the stress of everyday life, go to www.shrinkyourself.com.

Ask Pam: Have a Healthy Halloween!

How can my kids and family enjoy Halloween and keep it healthy?

Halloween is my favorite holiday: costumes, haunted houses, and of course, trick-or-treating! Unfortunately, this means lots of candy and treats everywhere I look — from Halloween parties to your child’s school socials to the candy on your colleague’s desk! We are bound to give in at some point!

How can you avoid these temptations or at least limit them?

For starters, find things other than candy to give out. No one wants to be ‘that’ house on the block that gives out the uncool stuff, but there are plenty of healthy food options you can hand out to trick-or-treaters (pretzels, granola bars, pre-packaged trail mix, popcorn, sugarfree gum).

I personally like the non-food route and hand out spider rings, stickers, glow sticks, or even those awesome vampire teeth (I used to love those!). Believe me, the children will still go home with a sack full of candy no matter what you decide to give out, but at least you have saved yourself from unnecessary indulgences.

If you are concerned about the amount of candy your kids will bring home, follow some of these strategies:

1. The smaller the bag, bucket, or container your child takes trick-or-treating, the less candy it can hold.

2. Take your time going around the neighborhood. Once their trick-or-treating bag, bucket or container is full, it’s time to go home – make that a rule.

3. At home, let your kids have fun by going through their candy, sorting and trading with siblings. Throw away whatever candy is left over.

4. Pack one piece of candy in their lunch until it’s gone. My mother used to do this and it worked like a charm…I never complained.

5. If you don’t want to discard it, bag it up and freeze it or put it away in the pantry. Out of sight, out of mind…..or bring some of it in to work (that is my trick!)

Halloween Parties and School Socials
These parties can be a bit worrisome when it comes to treats. So why not offer up some tasty, yet healthy, alternatives? You can share recipes with those hosting the party or offer to bring snacks and sweets yourself. This will give you some relief knowing there will be healthy options to choose from.

- Roasted pumpkin seeds (lightly salt before roasting.)
- Caramel-dipped fruit (use a “light” caramel dip.)
- Fresh fruit with a low-fat yogurt dip (a crowd pleaser that satisfies a sweet tooth with a punch of vitamins!)
- Sandwich cutouts (use Halloween cookie cutters to make mini turkey and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.)
- Cheese fondue with fruit and pretzels for dippers
- Pumpkin muffins
- Hot apple cider

Have a happy and healthy Halloween!

Have a diet question for Pam? Email askpam@ediets.com and check back to see if your question is picked! And if you missed a previous column, click here to see the archive.

Looking for a way to make weight loss easier? With personalized meal plans and fitness routines, eDiets can help! Join now and save 25%!

Ask Raphael: How Do I Speed Up My Metabolism?

Have a question about your routine or anything fitness-related? Send it Raphael’s way at askraphael@ediets.com.

Raphael,

After gaining 5 pounds over the holidays, I decided to hit the gym and work on my bulging belly. After one month of doing cardio and weight training, my weight went UP 5 more pounds, and it wasn’t fat turning into muscle. My clothes are tight and my bulges show worse than before. I know I have a slow metabolism due to the fact that I used to eat very little. It’s not on purpose — I just have a hard time eating breakfast and then am so busy during the day that my next meal is dinner. After a few bites, I’m full.

I’ve tried eating small healthy meals every three hours or so, but am afraid that due to my metabolism I’ll gain more weight. So in order to not gain weight but sustain myself throughout the day and workout, I’m at a loss. How do I speed up my metabolism while not gaining weight in the meantime? — Amber

Amber,

You didn’t mention your height, how many calories you’re consuming, or your protein, carbohydrate and fat grams. This type of information always helps me to calculate where you’re going wrong. However, I do know that one major problem is related to your infrequent meals and snacks through the day. This is slowing your metabolism.

I always tell eDiets members to think of the body from the inside out. The human body’s main goal is survival. If it senses any type of emergency, it will do everything in its power to keep you alive.

If you sleep through the night and then deprive the body of food in the morning, what do you think the body is sensing at this point? A potential famine. If you go long periods of time without eating during the day (over 4 hours or so), the body can potentially hold onto stored body fat as a survival mechanism until it knows that more food is on the way. Calories from food represent heat. Use the heat to rev your metabolism.

To make matters worse, you’re working out a lot and , I assume, not providing your body the proper amount of calories to lose fat. This may be stripping valuable lean muscle and slowing your metabolism even more.

You mention you’ve tried eating smaller meals/snacks with increased frequency throughout the day, but I suspect you didn’t give it long enough time to work. Plus, your calorie intake might not be correct. It’s more than just eating smaller meals with increased frequency. The calories still have to be on target. If someone is consuming 1300 calories per day, they might need three meals at approximately 300 calories and two snacks at 200 calories each.

However, that still assumes the 1300 calories is the correct amount for that person based on height and activity level. If you work out, you may need more calories than that. If you’re taller, you may need more calories. And so on.

My professional assessment based on your question is that you need to implement the following:

1. Add structure to your plan. In other words, you require a professional assessment of how many calories you should be consuming. You must be in a slight caloric deficit to lose body fat. You also have to consume enough food to provide energy for your workouts, but they must be just low enough to produce a fat loss. Unused calories are turned to fat, regardless if they’re from protein, carbohydrate or fat.

2. Make your plan easy to stick with. The assessment should also take into account your height, workout and favorite foods that you’d like built into the plan. I want your favorite foods built into the plan so you stick with it — but they must be nutritious foods.

3. Rev your metabolism. Your metabolism requires 5-6 smaller meals and snacks through the day to help you to lose body fat.

4. Increase your water intake. Remember what I said about thinking of the body from the inside out. Muscles and other tissues are made of approximately 80 percent water. If you limit your water intake, the body will retain water and make you feel bloated. We all know how absolutely awful it feels to be bloated. It doesn’t take much for this to happen — the body only needs to be dehydrated by approximately 2 percent for this to take place.

Drink 0.55 ounces per pound of your body weight per day. Staying hydrated will release some excess water trapped in the body and most likely reduce your weight by a few pounds.

5. Balance your blood sugar. If you’ve been eating very infrequently throughout the day for a long period of time, then we need to get your blood sugar in balance. Balanced blood sugar will help you to lose body fat at an accelerated rate. I recommend the Glycemic Impact meal plan on eDiets. The GI plan keeps carbohydrates low but not too low, and it provides an excellent balance of protein and good monounsaturated fats.

6. Perform cardio interval training – Along with your weight training workouts, I recommend interval training. Interval training is simply performing short bursts of high-intensity exercise combined with more moderate intensity within the same workout.

Studies have shown people who perform interval training twice a week (in addition to two other days of lower-intensity cardio) lose twice as much weight as those who do just a moderate cardio workout. You can easily incorporate interval training into your workout by inserting a 45-second burst into your regular cardio session every 3 minutes. Your body will be working harder and will be forced to burn more calories. Try to get two additional days during the week of lower-intensity cardio as well

7. Eat breakfast. I’m not sure if you have a hard time eating breakfast because of time or because you don’t like eating at that time of day. If it’s based on time or if you just don’t like eating at that time of day, then I recommend a protein shake with some fruit. This is quick to prepare and easy to consume.

I’ve given you a lot to think about, Amber. Although the above may seem cumbersome, once you get into the habit and make some lifestyle shifts, you’ll be fine. Also, don’t forget eDiets can make all of this easier for you when you’re a member.

You’ll have access to the Glycemic Impact plan (and many others), you won’t need to count calories because we do the work for you, you’ll get access to a team of registered dieticians and personal trainers, and you can ask me a question on my Exercise and Fitness support board any time. I help members every day!

I wish you the best of luck!
Raphael

Have a fitness question you want answered? Email Raphael at askthetrainer@ediets.com and you could have your question picked! And if you missed a previous column, see the archive here.

Make NOW your time to do something about your weight. eDiets can help make weight loss a little easier. Let our nutritionists and fitness pros guide you! Click here for a FREE diet profile.

A drug-free competitive bodybuilder and winner of the prestigious WNBF (World Natural Bodybuilding Federation) Pro Card, Raphael Calzadilla is a veteran of the health-and-fitness industry. He specializes in a holistic approach to body transformation, nutrition programs and personal training. He earned his B.A. from Southern Connecticut State University and is certified as a personal trainer with The American Council on Exercise (ACE). In addition, he successfully completed the RTS1 (Resistance Training Specialist) program based on biomechanics.

Emotional Eating: Are You an Emotional Eater?

By Dr. Roger Gould
eDiets Contributor

I eat because I’m ravenously hungry. I eat because I’m bored, or lonely, or married or single. I eat because I pass a doughnut shop, or because I had too much to drink, or was at a party, or because my mother cooked and I didn’t want to disappoint her, or because I want to eat as much as my husband can, or I don’t want to deprive myself or I’m depressed.

Do any of these excuses for overeating sound familiar? If so, it’s a good bet that your weight problem is closely linked to the phenomenon of emotional eating. You’ve somehow chosen eating as your preferred way to handle negative emotions.

This psychological pattern makes you fall off the diet wagon time and time again. Are you ready to finally take charge of your hunger, your weight and your life?

There is no magical bullet for your extra pounds. First, you must learn to control your emotional eating and, in effect, flick off your hunger switch. Only then can a great healthy eating plan allow you to take off the weight and keep it off.

Let’s get started on the path to a better life. The first step is to take an insightful little emotional eating quiz to determine if you indeed are an emotional eater.

Simply answer the following seven questions, then check out what your answers mean.

The last time you ate too much:

1. Did you notice your hunger coming on fast, or did it grow gradually?

2. When you got hungry, did you feel an almost desperate need to eat something right away?

3. When you ate, did you pay attention to what went in your mouth, or did you just stuff it in?

4. When you got hungry, would any nutritious food have sufficed, or did you need a certain type of food or treat to satisfy yourself?

5. Did you feel guilty after you ate?

6. Did you eat when you were emotionally upset or experiencing feelings of “emptiness?”

7. Did you stuff in the food very quickly?

Go to the Emotional Eating Quiz answers…

Tweak of the Week: Easily Cut Calories

By Shawn McKee
Staff Writer

The Tweak has always been about making weight loss a little more manageable. We know the undeniable truth of losing weight is that you must burn more calories than you consume — the caloric deficit, as it’s called.

Knowing your individual calorie needs is crucial to creating a healthy deficit. Cut your calories too dramatically and your body thinks it’s starving, thus storing fat and consuming muscle — the wrong kind of weight loss you want.

So, let’s make weight loss simple by cutting a few calories that you’ll hardly notice are gone. When you cut 100 calories here, 50 calories there, you end up losing weight without starving yourself or giving up the things you love. That’s the key to lasting weight loss — changes that you can stick to.

“I recommend eating smaller meals more often throughout the day,” says eDiets Director of Nutrition Services Pamela Ofstein. When wanting to lose weight, managing hunger is important to prevent overeating in the long run.

“Remember: Be sure you are consuming the right amount of calories your body needs,” says Pam. “Then spread those calories out over five or six meals throughout the day. This helps to keep your metabolism from slowing down and it keeps your blood sugars level.”

While many people will recommend not eating after a certain time, Pam says the real key is to eat the recommended number of calories for you and to spread them out. She tends to eat most of her calories earlier in the day because she is more active in the morning and needs the energy.

Skinny Sipping
If you start your day with a cup of coffee, it’s probably 5-15 calories, but add two sugar and a cream and you’re getting about 50 extra calories. Drink your coffee black and you’ll lose 5 pounds over the course of the year. Skip the chocolate-whipped-mocha-sugar-chinos from your favorite coffee chains; they can easily add several hundred calories to your day.

Have you given up soda yet? If you haven’t at least switched to diet, do it now. A 12-ounce can of Coke packs 140 calories and 39 grams of carbs. If you have one can a day, over the course of the year that adds up to more than 51,000 calories — that’s roughly 14 pounds! Try some green tea, flavored water or diet soda to save big.

Leaner Lunch
Do you pack your own lunch? It’s great if you do, but if you’re slathering mayo on your sandwich, you’re adding about 100 calories and 10 grams of fat to your sandwich per tablespoon. Switching to mustard — 10 to 20 calories per tablespoon — can cut 5 pounds worth of calories per year.

If you go out for lunch, ask for a to-go box immediately. When your food arrives, put half of it away. Most restaurants serve oversized portions that can easily split into two normal-sized meals. If it stays on your plate, you might just keep eating it. Take it off your plate to not only save the calories, but get two meals for the price of one!

A salad can be a healthy lunch, but beware the dressing! Order a low-fat version and order it on the side so you can control the amount that you use. Also, ask the waiter not to bring the complimentary bread; it’s hard not to snack on it when it’s right in front of you.

The Secret of Snacking
Snacks can be the secret weapon in your weight-loss arsenal. You will get hungry between meals; just make sure you have something healthy on-hand so you’re not grabbing an unhealthy treat from the vending machine. Pam recommends having snacks within reach (about 100 calories) to avoid temptation.

If you hit the vending machine for a candy bar, you’ll consume over 250 calories but get very little nutrition for your buck. Try a piece of fruit and a low-fat string cheese, a handful of nuts or any number of healthy snacks and save more than 100 calories. Making this switch once a day could save you the calorie equivalent of 10 pounds over the course of the year.

Skip the fruit juice and grab a piece of the real thing instead. You’ll get more fiber from a piece of fruit, plus save 40-50 calories. You’ll get better health benefits, avoid excess sugar and save yourself a few pounds over the course of the year.

Losing weight doesn’t have to mean starving yourself. It just means making better choices on a consistent basis.

“The closer you stay to your recommended daily calories, the better. If you stay pretty close to the guidelines, you will do fine and reach your goal. But like many of us, sometimes if we give ourselves a little more room, we run with it,” says Pam.

“Some of us need to be more strict and stick close to the calories recommended, while others can do just fine not stressing as much and getting as close as possible. Really, it all depends on the person. I like not to stress so there isn’t pressure, focusing on the positive changes and taking the time to change behavior.”

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