“For the first time in human history, ‘more’ is no longer synonymous with ‘better.’”
—Bill McKibben, author, Deep Economy
Unlimited filtered or purified tap water daily
Fresh brewed coffee or tea (especially green, black, or herbal), regular or decaf, daily, in the amount that you prefer
Up to 1 ounce high-quality dark chocolate (containing at least 60 percent cocoa) 3 or 4 times a week, counted as part of your Sustainable Snacks Prescription
Greener: Tea bags or loose-leaf tea with an eco-chic label
Eco-chic coffee, organic and sustainably produced chocolate
Coffeehouse drinks in a to-go cup
All the “add-ons” (milk, sugar, pumps, whips, etc.)
Bottled or canned coffee or tea drinks, especially sweetened ones
Milk chocolate and white chocolate
Chocolate candy, commercial chocolate bars, and other chocolate food products
Coffee. Tea. Chocolate. (Just typing these words heightens my desire to zip down to my “secret stash” for a piece of dark chocolate, despite it being only 8:30 a.m.) Three delicious indulgences that awaken, nourish, comfort, and sustain us.
Coffee and tea are some of civilization’s oldest global beverages, and a walk through the brew aisle can read like an exotic novel. They awaken the senses, they awaken the sipper, and because they are plant foods, they deliver several powerful compounds for health.
I’ll break down the health benefits of coffee, tea, and chocolate individually for you, but then I think it will be best to talk about the green benefits of all three at once. Why am I considering them together? Because of where they’re grown and how they’re produced, they are also three foods with many similar issues when it comes to their carbon footprints. And choosing the right kinds matters more than you think. A lot more.
At the end of the chapter, we’ll finish on a sweet note by circling back around to tackle the sugars and sweet treats we first addressed in your quick fixes, so you can see how to enjoy these foods on occasion while still staying a beautiful shade of green, and building on all of your successes you’ve achieved in each chapter.
If you happen to be enjoying a cup of coffee while reading this, then sip away without guilt and read on. While coffee has been accused of contributing to a host of ills, including infertility, miscarriage, cancer, and heart disease, this is more a cup of confusion than facts. Actually, the vast body of research seems to point in the other direction— that the health benefits far outweigh the risks.
The past few decades have produced some 19,000 studies examining coffee’s impact on health, and, notes health writer Sid Kircheimer, “for the most part, their results are as pleasing as a gulp of freshly brewed Breakfast Blend for the 108 million Americans who routinely enjoy this morning, and increasingly day-long, ritual.”1 In fact, if some pharmaceutical company had invented it as a drug and held a patent, their savvy marketing folks would probably put a spin on coffee that might sound something like this:
“A revolutionary breakthrough drug that boosts mood and enhances performance, can cut your risk of Parkinson’s disease and liver cancer by 80 percent, reduce your risk of gallstones by 50 percent, alleviate headaches and asthma, and help protect you from the biggest scourge of American life in the 21st century— type 2 diabetes—all in a safe and delicious package.”2
And would it surprise you to know that if they said all this, their claims would actually be firmly planted in the research? Let’s review the highlights.
In addition to being a zero-calorie beverage (and as we just covered in the last chapter, drinking zero calories is a prime strategy for getting lean), coffee is loaded with compounds called quinines that may help improve insulin sensitivity. Other components in coffee have also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity as well as glucose metabolism. These components, namely chlorogenic acid and tocopherols, may explain why coffee drinking helps protect against type 2 diabetes. Coffee also contains magnesium, an important mineral that helps keep your cardiovascular system healthy. And a 2008 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that the very aroma of coffee triggers relaxation in the brain and activates genes that promote antioxidant activity.3
Of course, the oodles of caffeine that come in a triple shot of espresso may be too much of a jolt for many of us. High caffeine intake may send your insulin levels plummeting a couple of hours later, leaving you feeling shaky and looking for refined carbs or sugars to pick you up (aka coffeehouse cravings). And our growing cup sizes can make matters worse if you’re sensitive; just rummage through your parents’ collection of coffee cups (which, if it’s like my parents’ collection, contains some lovely specimens from the 1970s) if you want a reminder of just how big our beverages have become in the past 2 decades.
If you decide to purge caffeine from your diet altogether, by all means feel free to do so. You may find you feel much better and ultimately more energized. However, you may also find that this turns you into a crankypants who’s no fun to be around until noon. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the thousands of clients I’ve talked with, it’s woe to the person who stands between a man (or woman) and his caffeine. If that’s the case, drink your coffee and don’t lose sleep over it. The evidence seems to be on your side that moderate amounts are a safe and tasty addition to a healthy diet. And since you’ve now purged many other dirty beverages from your diet, coffee may add a delicious variation.
“Moderate coffee consumption” is loosely defined as about 300 milligrams of caffeine a day (two to three cups, depending on the size). However, I find that people have a very broad range of what works and doesn’t work for them. Hormonal changes can also affect your tolerance level, so what may have been okay when you were 25 may no longer be the case at age 45. Find your own “best level,” and stick to decaf or avoid coffee altogether if that level is zero.
| ITEM | CAFFEINE (MG) | ITEM | CAFFEINE (MG) |
| Brewed coffee, drip (8 oz) |
56–120 | Dark chocolate (1 oz) |
5–35 |
| Espresso (1 oz) | 30–50 | Soft drink (8 oz) | 20–40 |
| Black tea | 40–60 |
Far worse to your waistline than the coffee itself are those lovely little extras: the full-fat milk, syrups, whipped cream, caramel, and other stuff you are pouring into it. These pack on the pounds, can spike your blood sugar, and can trigger cravings. Check out the calorie counts in the table on the next page to see the cost of your coffee addictions. This information probably isn’t a shocker, but as a nutritionist, of course I need to point it out. In addition to hiking up the calories, all these add-ons also obviously hike up the carbon count.
If you do indulge, count any milk that you use in your coffee as part of your 1 cup per day max (from your Dairy Prescription), and count each teaspoon of cream or fat as part of your 6 daily teaspoons (from your Fat Prescription). And try to minimize added sugars as much as possible. For most people, it takes about a week for your taste buds to make the switch to a healthier, leaner brew. If you followed the initial quick fixes in Chapter 3, then chances are you have discovered, as most people do, that you have either adjusted to sugarless coffee and don’t crave adding it back, or else you can now add less and can still be satisfied with much smaller amounts. Congratulations, your palate is coming down off the sugar rush!
| ITEM | CALORIES | ITEM | CALORIES |
| 2 Tbsp whipped cream |
15 | 2 Tbsp nonfat milk | 10 |
| 2 Tbsp heavy cream |
104 | 1 tsp sugar (white or raw) |
16 |
| 2 Tbsp half-andhalf | 39 | 1 pump flavored syrup |
20 |
| 2 Tbsp 2% milk | 15 |
Moving from a highly sugary/milky breakfast mug of coffee to a cup of steaming tea is one of the fastest ways to cut some calories and add some powerful antioxidants to your diet. And many people who are sensitive to coffee may find tea a much better fit for them.
Because tea is composed of plant leaves, it is packed with flavonoids, antioxidants that cut inflammation, improve blood vessel function, and reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke. Flavonoids also protect against cancer because they fight free radicals and keep carcinogens from wreaking havoc on your cells’ DNA.6
The caffeine in regular coffee and tea may give you a small additional weight loss advantage, and here’s why: A handful of studies on caffeine seem to indicate that people who consume caffeine, eat a low-fat diet, and exercise may experience a small advantage in weight loss (but then again, so will people who combine a low-fat diet with exercise without the caffeine). Caffeine can also act as a mild appetite suppressant, and it stimulates thermogenesis, a metabolic boost through which your body generates heat and energy.
The other reason a bit of caffeine may help you lose weight is that caffeine, in small amounts, can enhance athletic performance (which is one of the reasons it’s banned in large doses by the International Olympic Committee). In theory, this means that you can have more effective workouts that burn more calories, helping you lose a bit more weight if your calorie intake remains the same. All of these reasons explain why you often see caffeine listed as an ingredient in diet pills and weight loss supplements (this, plus the fact that caffeine can act as a diuretic, creating very short-term weight loss that is “water weight”—not something I am promoting at all).
My advice? Think of caffeine’s benefits as a small plus rather than something that will result in significant weight loss. In some people, caffeine seems to trigger sweet cravings or insulin sensitivity; if this is the case for you, you may want to limit or eliminate caffeine altogether. And I definitely do not suggest you start consuming high levels of caffeine to pump up the weight loss; caffeine triggers your body’s “stress response” by elevating the stress hormone cortisol, and too much can cause irritability, stomach upset, and nervousness; increase your heart rate and blood pressure; and interfere with healthy sleep patterns.
Want some other reasons to steep yourself in the delicious, slimming power of tea? Other compounds in tea called catechins may give you a little extra weight loss boost. Several studies have found that catechins may help lower body fat mass, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and LDL cholesterol.7 (As with caffeine, this explains why tea is a popular addition these days, being added to products from energy bars to supplements to breakfast cereals.)
Green and black tea may even offer benefits in addition to the catechins. The natural plant compounds in these teas (which are both from the Camellia sinensis plant) help fight cancer, oxidative cell damage, infection, and even fat metabolism. New research suggests that tea may help fight osteoporosis and stabilize blood sugar levels.8
So find a way to start including tea regularly. I recommend that you include a cup of tea in the afternoon daily; if you’re an afternoon coffee or diet soda drinker (and if you were, I’m gonna assume that was the old you and not the new you), this is a great place to make the move to green tea for a mild caffeine boost that’s sweeter to your health and the planet. It helps give you an afternoon ritual without the calories. And it can be gentler to your stomach than simply another cup of coffee. Try to find a store near you that carries some high-quality loose-leaf tea, or order some online (they’re such a far cry from the droopy tea bags of your grandparents’ generation, and their exotic scents are the next best thing to time travel). There are several great national brands, such as Tazo and Numi, that offer high-quality teas in easy-to-use, ecofriendly boxes. Plus, you may be surprised to learn that even global brands such as Lipton are moving toward “sustainable teas.” In fact, by 2015 Lipton aims to be the largest brand in the world certified sustainable by the Rainforest Action Network, and I expect this will be at a super-affordable price. So find what works best for you to jump-start your way to a leaner, greener drinking habit.
When I announced I wanted to become a dietitian, my mother had but one thing to say:
“Please,” she begged, “find some reason why I should be eating more chocolate!”
Well, Mom, I’ve got sweet news for you.
Chocolate has long been revered for its rich flavor and aphrodisiac qualities. The Aztecs believed that chocolate was a gift from the gods. The early Spanish explorers introduced chocolate to Europe in 1520, where it quickly became reserved for the nobility. And thanks to what experts call its hedonic appeal (that magical elixir of fat, sugar, texture, and aroma), it easily claims the title “Most Commonly Craved Food in North America.”9 So once again, my mom is in good company, I guess.
But high-quality dark chocolate is more than simply tantalizing to the taste buds. It is filled with bioactive compounds that have been shown to help keep you healthy, including flavonoids that can significantly improve your arteries’ endothelial function, lower blood pressure (BP), and increase bloodflow to the brain.10 A 2007 study found that one small square of dark chocolate a day lowered BP by a few points and kept it there; this is a big deal, because in BP, an improvement of just a few points can cut your risk of stroke or heart attack.11 Dark chocolate is also high in antioxidants called proanthocyanins that mop up free radicals. And cocoa, like coffee, is rich in magnesium, another important mineral in cardiovascular health. Because chocolate, like coffee and tea, comes from a plant, it shouldn’t surprise you that, like other plant foods, it is teeming with compounds that promote health at the deepest levels.
Now when it comes to the lean benefits, let’s be honest. Endorsing chocolate as a nutritionist is a slippery slope. This category gets ugly fast. Those candy bars in your local supermarket that are loaded with extra sugars, hydrogenated oils, waxes, and chemicals are not in your Prescription. So there are a few big qualifications I’d like to make in order to make sure this Prescription helps get you to your lean goals instead of right back into your fat pants.
The real health benefits of dark chocolate come from the flavonoids in the cocoa plant itself; the more that cocoa is processed, the more these powerful flavonoids are lost. Many commercial chocolates remove these flavonols because of the bitter or astringent flavor notes they can offer. But many people (and I bet you will, too) find that the taste of high-quality dark chocolate is heavenly good, much more interesting than the bland, super-sweet commercial stuff. Some dark chocolate offers the same level of complexity as a fine wine, which makes it easier to be satisfied with less. By the way, it goes pretty well with your wine, too.
Dark chocolate also makes an amazing pairing with dried fruit. When I was meeting with publishers trying to sell this book idea, it was November 2007. I brought in my “green treats”—a 1-ounce mix of sustainable dark chocolate and dried Utah cherries—an antioxidant-and flavor-rich snack (served in a reusable glass spice jar—a great portion control tool!). People loved it. And you will, too. Here are some other fun ways I personally like to use my splurge.
Pack 1 ounce dark chocolate pieces and 1 ounce walnuts, almonds, or locally dried fruit (I use cherries, but use whatever’s in your area) in a reusable snack container (e.g., an empty spice jar) and bring to work. Savor in front of jealous colleagues.
Melt 1 ounce dark chocolate and dip ½ cup fresh fruit in season (such as berries, citrus wedges, cherries, or pear slices) in it. Smile. Repeat.
Enjoy those last two sips from your daily dose of red wine with 1 ounce of dark chocolate after a meal. Combine all ingredients in your mouth. Swirl, savor, and then swallow.
So remember, a little goes a long way—both in calories and in health benefits. The two keys are high quality and small portions. Quality over quantity. The rewards to your taste buds and body will be tremendous.
So now to the green benefits of our three indulgences. What do chocolate, coffee, and tea all have in common? A deep connection to the vital “carbon sink” of Planet Earth—the rainforest.
The rainforest is a new but significant element to your food’s carbon footprint that we haven’t yet touched upon anywhere else. Every single American has a huge stake in protecting it, and here’s why: Tropical forests literally act like lungs for the Earth, helping to slow global warming. The rainforest, aside from just being a nice “science unit” for school kids, provides one of the few counterweights to our SUV lifestyle—and our SUV diet. So much so, in fact, that the international community soon may be compensating countries such as Brazil for keeping it intact rather than clearing it for Western-style growth and development.
If you are an average American, the rainforest is a lot closer to your pantry than you may even realize. You see, agriculture is the number-one cause of rainforest destruction worldwide. What does that rather dry-sounding fact have to do with you? Much of it is being done in order to feed Americans cheaply and efficiently. How? Fast-food hamburgers. Inexpensive chocolate products. Bargain-priced OJ. And cheap soybean and palm oil (being driven by leading US agribusiness companies) to serve as cheap ingredients in our industrial food chain.12 These are just four examples. Purchasing rainforest products (or products grown in areas where rainforest used to be) will influence your own carbon footprint significantly.
Here’s one of my favorite studies of all time that speaks to the power of food: Looking at all the available literature on food and health, in 2004, British researchers put together a theoretical meal that incorporated all of the best of what nature has to offer to protect against heart disease. When they ran the numbers, they estimated that if eaten every day, the “polymeal” would slash cardiovascular disease risk by a whopping 76 percent—more than any pill on the market, for a fraction of the cost, and without any of the risks associated with pharmacology.
Eating the “polymeal” daily would increase the total life expectancy of a man by 6.6 years, and a woman by 4.8 years.13
What were the foods in the “polymeal”? Wine, fish, fruits, vegetables, garlic, almonds, and dark chocolate.
How great to know that these foods are great for the planet as well.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, tropical deforestation is responsible for about 20 percent of total annual global warming emissions. When the trees are cleared, we not only lose their ability to offset carbon dioxide, but also the harvest process itself creates a carbon impact. This makes tropical deforestation second behind fossil fuels in terms of climate impact. Because of this very real “double warming” effect, you can see how these foods can significantly impact the size of your own carbon feet.
When it comes to coffee, tea, chocolate, and spices, even in their greener shades, there are several carbon elements to consider.
Even the great companies doing organic and sustainable work (and there are many) still have to contend with these core issues. This is to say nothing of the companies who then take these staples and layer pounds of petroleum onto them by transforming them into things such as fluffy candy bars, microwaveable hot fudge sauces, coffee-flavored creamers, and breakfast bars with green tea extract.
David Pimentel, PhD, from Cornell University, considered one of the pioneers of “food energy” research, shows you why pound for pound these are some of the more energy-intensive foods to bring to you. (I’ve included some other foods we’ve also covered to give you some basis of comparison.)
Yikes! Aren’t these total carbon belchers to the planet? Why aren’t you calling this a Hummer, the way you’ve already panned my steak? If this is what you’re thinking, I don’t blame you, but read on and I’ll explain.
Here’s why the splurge is worth it. The health benefits of the compounds in coffee, tea, and chocolate are significant and real, just as real, in fact, as the health drawbacks that come with eating too much of that steak.
| FOOD | CALORIES OF FOSSIL FUEL/KG |
| Milk | 354 |
| Ice cream | 880 |
| Baked goods | 1,485 |
| Beet sugar | 5,660 |
| Breakfast cereals | 15,675 |
| Chocolate | 18,591 |
| Coffee | 18,948 |
Even more important, these foods present a direct opportunity to use your dollars in a way that encourages preservation of the most vital carbon cooler of all—the rainforest. It’s your chance to help leverage American eating habits for something good in the fight against global warming—to keep the rainforest alive rather than burning it down to make room for those cattle that will end up in your quarter-pounder that costs you less than a buck. Or for coffee that’s a bit cheaper. In other words, by choosing organic and sustainable choices when it comes to coffee, tea, and chocolate, you will actually help preserve this critical resource that is counteracting your own high-carbon lifestyle. (Your other Lean and Green Prescriptions throughout this book will also help keep you out of the rainforest.)
Think your teensie contributions won’t really matter when compared to, say, the future automobile growth of India? Think again. Consider that if just one US household switches to coffee that protects bird habitat (look for labels that include the words “Rainforest Alliance,” “Bird Friendly,” or “Shade Grown”), the annual savings can protect more than 9,000 square feet of rainforest. If the population of Seattle practiced this, a rainforest the size of Seattle could be spared every year.15
Small, daily choices matter. In fact, the current state of your health and energy (or lack thereof) at this very moment is in large part a sum of those daily choices that you have made in the past. It’s not too late to begin rewriting your future.
Finally, let’s talk a moment about the cost of choosing organic and sustainable products over cheaper substitutes. After all, I can hear people’s reaction to this chapter: “But organic coffee and chocolate costs a lot more!”
Here’s the deal: If you started this program with the eating habits of an average American, you have already freed up significant money by purging many high-carbon (which often means higher-cost) foods from your diet. I’ve tried to pack this book with tons of tips for realigning your food budget so as to be lean and green without spending any extra money. And those tips even come into play here: Eating less of the high-quality chocolate and making your coffee at home rather than buying it from a doughnut shop are two quick examples.
The United States imports roughly 100,000,000 pounds of beef from Central America each year. Once this beef passes US inspection, there are no “country of origin” labels (as there are with seafood) to let you know where it came from, so it’s hard to know. But this beef may be in your fast-food burger, or it may end up in processed foods such as frozen dinners, chilis, stews, and pet food.
What is the exact carbon footprint of chopping down a carbon cooler to make room for grazing cattle? Here are some fun stats to keep in mind next time you’re tempted to think your choices don’t really matter.
| The amount of rainforest destroyed for each quarter-pound burger that comes from Brazil17 |
55 square feet |
| Amount of carbon released in 1 day by driving a typical American car |
3 kilograms |
| Amount of carbon released by clearing enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger |
75 kilograms |
| Length of time before the Indonesian forests would be completely gone if they were cleared to produce enough beef for Indonesians to eat as much beef, per person, as the people of the United States do |
3.5 years |
| Length of time before the Costa Rican rainforest would be completely gone if it were cleared to produce enough beef for Costa Ricans to eat as much beef, per person, as the people of the United States do |
1 year |
But let’s be frank for a moment about those household expenses that are outside of your grocery bill. Even in our depressed economy, there are still a few places to “find” a few extra bucks. I know this from personal experience, as my own family has weathered financial ups and downs of job changes, starting a business, and disability.
Be satisfied with your current iPod playlist. Cancel the TiVo or the 600 channels. Skip that mall pretzel or iced tea. Acknowledge your love affair with shoes, even bargain-priced shoes. Give coupons for time and love for birthdays and holidays rather than a costly present. Or skip just one “coffeehouse” purchase a week and free up about $16 a month to put toward higher-level products. Or whatever works for you; most of the good money management books are chock-full of ideas for “finding money” (in fact, I believe one even dubbed it “the Latte Factor”). Even when money seems tight, chances are, it may be an easy excuse for something else that’s holding you back. “I really don’t want to do this; it seems hard; it’s different; I don’t want to change; I like being able to have (insert vice here).” If that’s the case, please turn directly to Chapter 15.
Shop for eco-chic labels. Especially in this category of foods, the power of eco-chic labels runs a lot deeper than just looking fashionable. It is truly connected to the well-being of the ecosystems that can help slow global warming. Rainforest Alliance Certified programs are in place for coffee, tea, cocoa, citrus, and bananas. Sustainably harvested, bird-friendly, and organic are also great options. Even for tea, coffee, and other items produced in non-rainforest zones (such as parts of Africa), you can still be a strong force shaping the environment. Because soy and palm plantations are a significant source of rainforest destruction, too, ideally, expand this to include any foods with soy or palm ingredients as well.
Buy “green” bananas. Fifteen percent of all bananas in the international trade carry the Rainforest Alliance Certification. Ask your supermarket to carry them if they don’t already (Chiquita is one of the largest companies with this certification). And my personal tip? Save bananas for the dead of winter when you may have little else available; fill your cart with local seasonal produce as much as your growing season allows.
Check the zip code of that OJ. Many brands of orange juice sold in the United States are made from oranges that come from Central or South America, which means they’ve likely been grown on land that was once rainforest. If it comes from South of the Border, absolutely choose an eco-chic label.
Here’s a quick rundown of what is the minimum requirement in order to make each claim. Some are more rigorous than others, and some deal with social versus environmental issues, so read carefully.18
BIRD FRIENDLY
RAINFOREST ALLIANCE
SHADE GROWN
This is the loosest regulation of all, so be savvy. Look for clearly defined minimum shade coverage requirements and third-party certification. The Bird Friendly certification is currently the most rigorous. Protects bird habitat.
FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED
For a list of companies that carry Fair Trade coffee, visit the Web site of TransFair USA, the US fair trade labeling organization (www.transfairusa.org).
*Since growers receive a minimum price regardless of what you pay for a Fair Trade Certified product, you can shop around to find the lowest retail price.
USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC
Set a greener tea time. Choose tea bags, packets, and pouches over tea that’s already bottled. Bottled teas often don’t have the same levels of powerful antioxidant capacity as teas that you steep yourself; they can contain sweeteners (and thus empty calories); and they’re much heavier to transport per serving than just the tea. Plus, of course, you have all the added packaging and the higher cost per serving.
Spice it up smartly. Staples like cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, black pepper, cayenne, and paprika typically come from tropical forests. If you’re on a limited budget, pick the three you use the most and switch to sustainable brands of those.
Go for green treats. Buying nuts, fruit, and chocolate that are sustainably harvested helps keep the forests and the economies that depend on them economically viable and intact. It also helps ensure that the type of business being done overseas isn’t completely undoing the “carbon savings” you’ve just congratulated yourself on by installing LED lights back home.
In today’s brightly lit, sterile supermarket environment, it is easy to lose sight of these deeper connections that run between exotic ingredients and their magnified impact on global warming. Our choices at the coffee counter, the chocolate aisle, the banana bin, or the burger joint linger for much longer than just on our lips, or even our hips. They reverberate across the planet, drawing in other lives, communities, and ecosystems halfway across the globe. In fact, perhaps in no other part of our diets is the “ripple effect” of our choices truly as global as these parts of our pantries and our lives.
So wake up and smell the coffee, the green coffee.
As celebrated chef Deborah Madison wrote, “It is impossible to take up the subject of food without thinking about everything else that it touches, which is, in the end, life itself.”19 Awaken to these connections.
Awaken to them and let them inspire you to take action.
Obviously, life is just sweeter with the occasional treat. Learning how to enjoy them without sabotaging your commitment to healthy eating is the key to lasting success, so here are your guidelines as you move into the maintenance phase of your program. How do you do it? Here’s how.
Keep it occasional. Really occasional—at most, a couple of times a month. Here’s a basic fact: The more regularly you indulge, the more likely you are to gain weight. You’ll also start to retrain your palate to crave sugar if you eat sweets too often. The Go Green Get Lean Diet is designed to provide about 1,600 calories a day, including meals and snacks. In order to continue to lose weight (or to maintain the weight you’ve lost on this program), it is important that you don’t start eating more calories.
I have tried to provide some sweeter options on your sustainable snacks list, including chocolate, to help you work in sweeter calories on occasion. But for those moments when you do feel like indulging …
Keep it small. “Right foods, right portions” applies here too. Something that fits in the palm of your hand is a good rule of thumb (specifically, that is about a 2-by 2-inch square, or no more than ½ cup). Serve with a heaping side of fresh, seasonal fruit if you want more volume.
Keep it clean. Don’t waste calories on subpar food; insist on high-quality ingredients, and you’ll get the highest level of taste and satisfaction. Use all that you’ve learned in your 6-week program to choose sweet treats made with clean ingredient lists: clean fats, dark chocolate, organic local butter, fruits and nuts, and none of the additives or preservatives of industrial food.
Make it fit. If you do enjoy a sweet but want to keep your calories within the 1,600 range, here are some tips: Skip the wine, exercise an extra 30 minutes, or enjoy two of the lower-calorie sustainable snacks to make room for the splurge. And just like with chocolate, don’t eat your sweet treat on an empty stomach—that’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, enjoy it after a meal; you’ll be satisfied with much less.
Know thyself. If sweets are a trigger food for you, or you have trouble managing portions, I highly recommend that you omit them altogether (and think in terms of yearly rather than monthly splurges), or seek the professional counsel of a registered dietitian.
1. Sid Kircheimer, “Coffee: The New Health Food?” Web MD feature. http://men. webmd.com/features/coffee-new-health-food. Accessed June 17, 2008.
2. A. Ascherio et al., “Coffee Consumption and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus,” Annal Int Med (2004) (1) 140:1–8; F. Bravi et al., “Coffee Drinking and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk: A Meta-Analysis,” Hepatology (2007) 46(2):430–435; G.W. Ross et al., “Association of Coffee and Caffeine Intake with the Risk of Parkinson Disease,” JAMA (2000) 283(20):2674–79.
3. P. Martin and J. Vinson, “Effects of Coffee Bean Aroma on the Rat Brain Stressed by Sleep Deprivation: A Selected Transcript and 2D Gel Based Proteome Analysis,” J Agric Food Chem (2008) 56(12):4665–73.
4. International Food Information Council Web site: http://www.ific.org/. Accessed April 15, 2008.
5. USDA calculator: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/index.html, accessed June 17, 2008; Starbucks Web site: http://www.starbucks.com/retail/ nutrition_info.asp.
6. S.J. Duffy et al., “Short-and Long-Term Black Tea Consumption Reverses Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease,” Circulation (2001) 104:151-56; M. Isemura et al., “Tea Catechins and Related Polyphenols as Anti-Cancer Agents,” Biofactors (2000) 13(1–4):81–85; J.M. Geleijnse et al., “Inverse Association of Tea and Flavonoid Intakes with Incident Myocardial Infarction: The Rotterdam Study,” Am J Clin Nutr (May 2002) 75(5):880–86.
7. T. Nagao et al., “Ingestion of a Tea Rich in Catechins Leads to a Reduction in Body Fat and Malondialdehyde-Modified LDL in Men,” Am J Clin Nutr (Jan 2005) 81(1):122–29; T. Nagao et al., “A Green Tea Extract High in Catechins Reduces Body Fat and Cardiovascular Risk in Humans,” Obesity (Jun 2007) 15:1473–83.
8. C.H. Wu et al., “Epidemiological Evidence of Increased Bone Mineral Density in Habitual Tea Drinkers,” Arch Intern Med (May 13, 2002) 162(9):1001–6.
9. K. Bruinsma, “Chocolate, Food or Drug?” Journal of the American Dietetic Association (1999) 99:1249–56.
10. V. Charalambos et al., “Effect of Dark Chocolate on Arterial Function in Healthy Individuals,” Am J Hypertens (2005) 18:785–91; R. Allen et al., “Daily Consumption of a Dark Chocolate Containing Flavonols and Added Sterol Esters Affects Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Normotensive Population with Elevated Cholesterol,” J Nutr (2008) 138(4):725–31.
11. D. Taubert et al., “Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” JAMA (2007) 298(1):49–60.
12. Rainforest Action Network Agribusiness campaign. http://ran.org/what_we_do/ rainforest_agribusiness/about_the_campaign/. Accessed September 2, 2008.
13. O.H. Franco et al., “The Polymeal: A More Natural, Safer, and Probably Tastier (Than the Polypill) Strategy to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease by More Than 75%,” BMJ (2004) 329:1447–50.
14. Pimentel, 1979.
15. The Green Book, p. 68.
16. Word Watch Institute. “The Price of Beef,” World Watch Magazine, July/August 1994, Volume 7, No. 4.
17. Rainforest Action Network.
18. Greener Choices Web site, http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product =coffee&pcat=food. Accessed April 20, 2008.
19. From the foreword (written by Deborah Madison) of Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition and the Honest Pleasures of Food, ed. Carlo Petrini, (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2001).