FAQ Friday: Gina, What's Your ONE Best Tip For Weight Loss and Maintenance?

I know most of you enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal yesterday, complete with one, two, or maybe even three (????) desserts.  I'll be honest, I was one of the many Americans who devoured a couple pieces of pie yesterday (and topped them both with homemade whipped cream).  But yesterday was one of the exceptions to the "rules".  The key to staying slim and healthy around the holidays (and really throughout your life) is to not make the entire three months a "holiday" but instead to splurge on the actual holiday; Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years (or whichever holiday you celebrate).  Same with your birthday.  Many people turn their birthdays into a week long splurge day. That's a problem.  Splurge on your birthday, sure, but when you splurge all week (or for some people it's all month) it's a problem.  I think that's where a lot of us get in trouble.  We turn a holiday or a special day into a 2-3 week or month holiday, when it should just be 1 day. Right?!

That leads me to today's post....

According to the federal Department of Agriculture, the average American eats over 152 pounds of (added)  sugar (from all sources) per year. This breaks down to an average of 32 teaspoons of added sugar per person per day. Most of it is hidden in prepackaged, frozen, canned, boxed, bottled, jarred and other store-bought items.   (Source: "Keeping Your Sugar In Check" )


Do you have any idea how much added sugar the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends?  It's about 6 tsp. for women, and 9 tsp. for men (which equates to 24 grams and 36 grams, respectively).  And that doesn't mean the AHA suggests you aim for that much, it's actually a suggested limit.   And now that we know the average American gets 32 tsp. added sugar per day, is it any wonder why we have a population that is so overweight?

Source: iStockPhoto
Some people start off with a day's worth of added sugar, right when they wake up.

Here is a little review of carbohydrates and "Added Sugar"........

When you look at a food label, this is what you see:

The cereal above has 24 total grams of carbohydrate.  Of those 24 grams, 2 grams are from dietary fiber (less than 1 gram is from soluble fiber, and 1 gram is from insoluble fiber), and 10 grams are from sugar.  The rest?  Those are from "other carbohydrates".


Carbohydrates (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen bound together) come in two forms (or three, if you consider fiber):

• Simple mono- or disaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, and lactose)
• Complex polysaccharides (starches such as legumes, corn, potatoes, bread, and cereals)

• Fiber Fiber is also considered a carbohydrate because it is a type of polysaccharide, which plays a structural role in plants. Fiber is unique because humans cannot digest it.

When you look at a label for milk or plain yogurt, you may see this:



You may not think milk or plain yogurt would have any sugar, but lactose (a type of simple sugar) is found in all dairy products, so that is the "9 g sugar" in this product. On the food label it is considered a carbohydrate, and is under the sub-category "sugar". In my opinion, there should be an alternative sub-category called "Added Sugar". Would you know that the plain yogurt above has zero added sugar? Many of you may have known that, but some may have not. The typical amount of natural lactose (sugar) found in dairy products is about 9-12 grams per serving.  When you get a yogurt with more sugar than this, you can often deduce that the rest is from added sugars.

How do you know if there is added sugar?  You look at the ingredient list.  In the yogurt above, there is only milk and cultures on the ingredient list, no added sugar.  Yeah!  But does that mean the lactose sugar wouldn't cause weight gain (and possibly other health issues) if you consumed too much? Absolutely not. Sugar is sugar, and no matter the source, it will cause problems if consumed in excess.


What about this dried fruit bar?  Check out the ingredients: Pear Puree, Pear Concentrate, Cranberry Concentrate.

According to the nutrition facts, this one bar has 35 grams of carbohydrate, 6 grams of which are from fiber (nice!), and 23 grams of which are from sugar. In this case all of the sugar is from naturally occurring fruit (fructose).  However, cranberry concentrate and pear concentrate are considered added sugars.  Why?  They are basically fruits that have been cooked down and made into sugar.  There is really no fiber in fruit concentrates, or any other nutrients, other than empty calories from the fruit's sugar.  The fiber from this dried fruit bar is from the pear puree.  So how much of the 23 grams of sugar are added?  You'll never really know, you have to guess.  My guess is about 10 grams.  But, do you want to know the real reason I wouldn't eat this bar? It has very little to do with added sugars.  The reason I don't eat bars like this is because I could eat a more filling and satisfying piece of fresh fruit (ie: an apple or a pear) for about 10 grams less total sugar (and more nutrients!).  Yes please.



Always remember that all sugars (even "natural sources" like fruits and dairy) need to be limited in order to maintain a healthy weight, and healthy body.  I generally suggest sticking to a diet of no more than 3 cups of dairy (dairy has sugar, and too much dairy means too much sugar, who cares if it's natural!?) 1.5-2 cups fruit (yes, you can get too much fruit, because once again, natural sugars add up to weight gain too!) and ~150-200 calories of "extras" (beer, wine, ice cream, butter, added sugars, whatever!) per day.

Source: Diabetic Living Magazine.  Notice the meal on the right has only 7 grams of added sugar, and the meal on the left has 50 grams (double a day's worth).

Ok, so how the heck do you really know how much added sugar you are getting? You don't, you have to guess/estimate. But don't worry, one of these days companies will be required to list added sugars!  Meanwhile, here are some tips.

Reduce your added sugar by doing the following:

1)  Choose plain yogurt instead of flavored
2)  Choose plain oatmeal instead of flavored oatmeal
3)  Add flavor to your oats and/or yogurt by adding things like non-caloric sweeteners, unsweetened cocoa powder, or fresh fruits/berries
4)  Don't make sweetened beverages a staple in your diet
5)  Look for reduced-sugar versions of your favorite foods (Such as jellies and jams)
6)  Choose cereals and snack bars with 10 grams of sugar, or less (especially if there is zero fruit in the bars or cereal)
7)  Learn the different terms used on labels, which mean "added sugar".  Here is a great list.

QUESTION:  What are your tips for reducing your added sugar intake?

Want to read more about added sugars, and health? Check out this recent article from Today's Dietitian Magazine.  It's worth reading if you have the time.  This article was also interesting, because it hinted at new higher prices for sugary foods.  Wouldn't that be nice?!  Changing our environment, one step at a time.

Thanks for reading!

The Candid Rd

NOTE: I love comments!  But, be sure to come back to read any replies to questions or comments, as they do not go directly to your e-mail.

Overnight Oats and a Holiday Challenge!

My first experience with overnight oats was a disaster.

I typically like my oats hot, but on this particular evening I knew I would have no time in the morning to make my beloved oats, so I decided to try overnight oats so they'd be ready in the morning and I wouldn't have to do anything. I used a recipe from The Broccoli Hut <---- All of her overnight oat recipes. The recipe called for oats, water, Greek yogurt, pumpkin, and a few other not-so-important ingredients, which I didn't use. The next morning when I opened the fridge I was sad to see my oats had turned to glue. BLAH! I ate them anyway because I was in a hurry to get out the door to my 7am meeting. I added a bit of almond milk to make the texture more bearable.



As I was eating my oats, I thought to myself, "what went wrong?". I know there had been other "blogger fads" that had not been my favorite (oats in a jar....), but I figured overnight oats would not be one of them. As I thought more about it, I decided I made two fundamental errors.

1) I let them sit overnight for too long. I didn't wait long enough the night before to prepare my oats, therefore they sat for over 11 hours. Gross.


2) I used too much yogurt and not enough liquid. Although I followed the recipe, I think I like more of a runny texture to my oats, compared to most people's preferences.


So I tried again. This time I used; 1/2 cup oats, 3/4 cup soy milk, 2 T whole milk yogurt, 1/4 cup pureed pumpkin, and some vanilla flavoring.





I mixed up all of the ingredients at about 10 pm.


I woke up at 6am, then ate my oats around 7am (~ 9 hours after making them). The consistency was much better!! The addition of more liquid, and less yogurt, prevented the glue-like texture from forming.

I even added some cinnamon and nutmeg for extra flavor.

QUESTION: Have you tried overnight oats?!

HOLIDAY CHALLENGE!

As many of you know, I had an eating disorder in high school and part of college. While I have been better for several years, I was still under my desired weight just last year. After cutting out FODMAPs, and starting to absorb more nutrients, I have officially gained about 10 pounds! At this time I am within my ideal body weight and could not feel more amazing about myself and my new body. While I am very proud of myself for gaining my weight back, I have found that I am unable to control myself around food when I'm at parties lately. It's not as bad as it could be, but I'm sensing a small loss of control when I go to weddings or other social gatherings. I know some of it has to do with alcohol, which I tend to drink at these types of events/parties (although in reality I usually only have two drinks at most), but I still would like to work on this before it turns into a habit.

This brings me to my Holiday Challenge. This year I have created a challenge for all of the employees at the store where I work. The challenge is to not put on any weight over the holidays (**I'm actually going to do a modified version of this challenge by challenging myself to not binge on holiday foods and drinks during holiday parties, without the weight maintenance goal in mind, necessarily**). For those of you who read my blog and who are trying to put on weight, lets make this a challenge to put on weight, or you can be like me and make it a challenge to not lose control over holiday sweets and drinks. But if you are noticing an increase in your weight every year, and it's not a good thing, why not join the employees in the "No Weight Gain Challenge?!". For the store employees I have also added an incentive to lose weight over the holidays, so if you fit in the category where you are above the ideal body weight for your height, why don't you try it?!

The bottom line is that it's pointless to start your New Years resolution on January first. Weight loss and weight maintenance is not achieved by quick fixes, it's achieved by a change in lifestyle and a change in habits. What better time to practice eating well at parties and holiday functions than during the 2 month span of the holiday season?!

If you want to join me/us with this challenge, great! No need to tell me, but at the end I'd love to hear success stories! And meanwhile, leave some of your favorite tips for dodging holiday weight gain, or for simply staying healthy over the holidays, and I will post them along with some other tips on my next post!