Eating For Health

Remember when maintaining your weight wasn’t so hard in your 20’s and 30’s?   Then come the 40’s, 50’s and beyond and keeping the weight off becomes quite the struggle.   How can you avoid that midlife weight- gain struggle ?   Adding pounds as you age, doesn’t mean you are eating all that much.   Your body changes as you age and it really is harder to keep the weight off.   What are those changes and how can we keep some of those pounds from showing up on our hips and waist?   Bicycling .com has some good suggestions. How the body changes as you age: Fat cells -those pesky little buggers that are happy to grow bigger as they fill up with fat.   An article in Nature found that how our fat cells burn and store fat changes as we age.   Basically, as we age our fat cells store fat as before, but fat cells are less likely to release that stored fat, thus making it easier to add on those pounds.   To try to keep the weight off, many people try to reduce their caloric intake, which

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.   But a meal many people skip.   If you are trying to lose or maintain your weight, skipping breakfast is not a good idea.   The National Weight Control Registry studied the “success stories” of people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off.   One of their findings is that of those who have lost weight and kept it off, “78% eat breakfast every day”.   Not only is breakfast a healthy habit, it is also a good habit if you want to maintain your weight. One food group not to ignore at breakfast is protein.   Protein helps keep us full longer so you won’t be so hungry mid-morning.   And protein is important for helping each of us retain our muscle mass, especially for those over 50.   How much protein?   Aim for 20 grams at breakfast.   Doesn’t sound like much but achieving 20 grams takes some planning. Typical breakfast Cereal + Milk + OJ + black coffee = about 10 grams of protein. 1 c. oatmeal = 5 grams protein

Last week we talked about the fats that are not so good for your health – the saturated fats.   But what are the good fats?   Fats we can enjoy eating and not worry about heart health?   Yes, there are a lot of heart healthy fats.   How do you know how to choose the fats that are good for your heart? What are the heart healthy fats?   1. Unsaturated fats – the “good” fats, the heart healthy fats are unsaturated and usually liquid at room temperature.   These fats don’t clog your arteries.   The “bad” fats for our health are saturated fats and usually solid at room temperature.   The vegetable oils are usually liquid at room temperature while the saturated fats like bacon grease become solid at room temperature.   Unsaturated fats not only help lower blood cholesterol; they also lower your risk of type 2 diabetes. a.        Oils – what oils are considered good for your heart?                                                                i.    Olive oil – a health