SECRET 1: EAT REAL 75% OF THE TIME
The Promise
In one week of making this change, you will:
lose a pound or two
notice a drop in food cravings
In one month, you will:
have more energy
think more clearly
notice improvements in memory and mood
drop additional pounds
notice more “joie de vivre” in your attitude
In one year, you will:
lose up to 25 pounds (the more junk you eliminate and real foods you include, the more weight you will lose)
feel and look 5 to 10 years younger
lower your risk for all age-related diseases, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and memory loss
Sam’s a new man since he learned an important lesson a few years back. That isn’t his real name, but he was adamant that I not disclose his identity—he’s a bit embarrassed about the story I’m about to tell. Just forget that I told you he is a marriage and family counselor living in Southern California and has McDreamy-like hair any woman worth her weight in estrogen would die to run her fingers through. Sam didn’t always have that hair. In fact, it was almost losing those locks that taught him the lesson.
Sam ate reasonably well as long as Mom was cooking throughout his high school years, but the diet thing really took a nosedive when he flew the coop for college. With no one in the dorm cafeteria nagging him to eat vegetables, he slid through the first year of college living on pizza and Coke. His menu choices went from bad to worse once he moved into his own house. “There were days when all I ate was Costco muffins or Super Value meals,” he admits, then adds, “Except my one-dish wonder—boxed mac ’n’ cheese—I don’t remember ever dirtying a pan.”
For years, he appeared to get by eating these diet disasters, but somewhere around his late twenties the gig was up. “I was young, but I was losing my hair. I was having horrible stomach pains and I felt awful. Hey, I was starting to look like my dad, which isn’t a bad thing except that he’s 32 years older than me!” Around that time, a friend casually mentioned that no one could live on what Sam ate without dying a horrible death at a young age. It was a joke, but he took it to heart. It was just the wake-up call he needed. “I didn’t cook, I hated vegetables and I was addicted to Cheez Whiz, but I also was scared,” he recalls.
That is how I met Sam. He showed up at my office anxious but ready to make changes and without a clue where to start. He was sure I would force him to drink wheatgrass smoothies or dine on brewer’s yeast muffins. Instead, we started small, just to get him used to eating real food. He began by snacking on oranges and bananas instead of chips and by buying roasted chickens and cartons of low-fat milk at the grocery store instead of pulling into a drive-through for his two millionth Big Mac. Next step was to eat more regularly and stock the kitchen with easy-to-make foods, like peanut butter, whole-grain breads, precut vegetables and frozen berries. “I found I didn’t even need to cook to eat well,” he says, “which was a huge relief for this kitchen-phobic guy.”
The diet trend snowballed. The better he ate, the better he felt, and the better he felt, the more motivated he was to eat better. Within a few months, his hair was growing back and his stomach pains had vanished. It’s been years since those diet-disaster days, and Sam is a born-again nutrition junkie.
Sam’s story is not unique. From the science lab to my office, the results are always the same. A study from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that people showed significant improvements in memory and mental function within just two weeks of eating healthier. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me similar stories. They followed my advice and were amazed at how much better they felt. Even people who think they eat well notice improvements in energy, mood, motivation, thinking ability, waistline measurements and more when they make additional changes in how, when and what they eat. I truly can’t understand why people don’t take better care of themselves, when the payoffs are so incredible!
But then, I’m also astounded by what people put up with. They tolerate feeling tired day in and day out. They shoulder depression or mood swings that strain relationships and dampen enjoyment of life. They give in to food cravings then blame themselves for being weak willed. They trudge through the day on little sleep and no enthusiasm. Their shoulders are tight from stress, their stomachs are in a knot and their brains are muddled. Often they look older than their years or are just plain worn-out. Maybe, like Sam, they are losing their hair, or their skin has lost its glow.
The food-mood issue can work to your advantage or against it. When you feel down, you eat worse, which only makes you feel lousier. That’s what study after study has found, including one from the University of Southern California on air-traffic controllers, which found that stress snowballs into mood problems, like depression, which then leads to physical problems. The fatigue and depression leave you less motivated to eat well or take care of yourself. It might be all that you can do to drag yourself through the day. You may wind up lighting up, slugging down alcohol, vegging in front of the TV, eating junk and perhaps not even complying with instructions about medication. As a result, you gain weight, feel and sleep worse, stress out and enjoy life less.
Change your eating habits and I promise you will feel better, which starts the spiral working upward out of depression, toward a new you. The more improvements you make in what you eat, the faster and more dramatic the results.
We aren’t meant to be in pain or depressed. We certainly are not designed to be fat. These are symptoms that something is wrong and needs fixing. Choosing real food and tossing the junk will help, if not solve, the problem.
What are Real Foods?
Real foods are authentic foods. They are foods as close to their original form as possible. They are the broccoli, not the broccoli in cheese sauce; the bowl of oatmeal, not the granola bar; and the berries, not the Flat Earth Wild Berry Patch Crisps. They are foods rich in all that Mother Nature designed them to be. They are naturally brimming with vitamins, minerals, fiber, essential fats, protein and the thousands and thousands of health-enhancing, antioxidant-rich phytochemicals that protect our brains and bodies from disease and aging. Real foods don’t have ingredient lists, and when they do, you recognize and can pronounce everything on it. Real foods grow on trees, bushes or vines. They have two or four legs, or fins. You know them as plain fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean meats or seafood, plain milk products, or foods made from these basic ingredients.
Where Do I Find Real Foods?
Check out the following sources to get you started on the search for real foods.
eatwellguide.org and localharvest.org: provide information on where to get grass-fed beef and organic produce.
organicconsumers.org: an eye-opener on how your shopping choices affect the environment.
wwoofusa.org: stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, USA; a chance to volunteer on an organic farm.
centerforfoodsafety.org: keeps you updated on government policies and provides a place to learn how you can influence Congress and other agencies to support a sustainable real-food supply.
The more humans tamper with real foods, the less nutritious they get, and the further they are from alive, fresh or nutrient-packed. In general, the more processed a food, the lower its vitamin, mineral, fiber and phytonutrient content and the higher its calories, fat, salt and sugar.
Processed grains, for example, are a nutritional wasteland. Most, if not all, of the original vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients and fiber have been stripped away when the germ and bran layers were removed from the whole wheat, leaving only the white, carb-filling inside. Then one measly mineral and four vitamins are added back to “enrich” these pathetic grains. And that’s just the flour that goes into a processed food like the bun on a Big Mac, the flakes in most cereal boxes or the muffins, scones and pastries at Starbucks.
A friend of mine tried an experiment with a fast-food hamburger. She put it on a shelf, tucked away in her kitchen. Six months later, it looked almost exactly the same. That hamburger and bun were so processed, mold didn’t even grow on it! A food that dead is not worth eating.
Five Real Foods to Limit
They might be natural, organic or real, but these foods are nutritional duds that will undermine your mood, health and waistline. Limit or avoid them.
- Butter.
- Red meat with a fat content higher than 7% by weight.
- Lard.
- Egg yolks (no more than 6 a week).
- Full-fat cheese.
Real Food, Not Sawdust
Real foods are the fuel on which humans evolved on. They are the diets that hunter-gatherers hunted and gathered for hundreds of thousands of years. Think about that the next time you bite into a cracker topped with cream cheese, stick your fork into a plateful of Hamburger Helper or quench your thirst with a bottle of Vitamin Water. None of these foods—or any processed food for that matter—ever passed the lips of even one of our ancient ancestors, dating back far before recorded history.
Real foods are like breathing in pure, clean, mountain-fresh, oxygen-rich air. Real foods are what our bodies need, not just to live, but to thrive. It is real food, alive with nutrients, that our bodies require to run like well-oiled machines. In contrast, diets filled with processed foods are as alien to our age-old bodies as breathing in carbon monoxide. It’s no wonder that when people choose diets rich in real foods they rave about how great they feel—and we notice how great they look.
Here is the catch. It’s not that real food is good for us. You wouldn’t say that gasoline is good for a car or even that water is good for a fish. It’s just that when our bodies don’t get enough real food, they begin to break down, just as a car will sputter and stop when the tank is filled with dirty gasoline or a fish will die without a drink.
It was junk food that caused Sam’s hair to fall out and it was real food that grew it back. It is processed food that leads to weight gain, depression and disease, and it is real food that lifts us out of the doldrums. When Sam turned to a diet based on real foods, his body was able to work in harmony with its natural rhythms and he started feeling great for the first time in years. He also looked great, lowered his disease risk, had more energy, lost weight effortlessly, started thinking more clearly and looked five years younger. Not bad for a minimal amount of effort in the kitchen department!
The Natural High
When we choose diets based on real foods, we work in tune with our natural rhythm and balance, which allows our bodies to grow, mend and thrive in ways far beyond our wildest dreams.
The Whole 9 Yards
I am frequently asked what foods will bless people with more energy or improve their moods, as if adding a mango or a bowl of flaxseed to an otherwise horrid diet is all it takes to turn the grump ship around. Granted, there are some mood-boosting superfoods that we will explore in Chapter 5, but they won’t do you much good if your overall diet stinks. On the other hand, sprinkle those superfoods into a diet based on real foods and voilà! Miracles happen.
Thousands of studies spanning decades of research, including ones from the University of Toronto and Tufts University in Boston, repeatedly report that the more real foods people eat, the lower their disease risk and the happier and leaner they are. For example, cutting back on processed foods high in saturated fat lowers disease risk, but combine that habit with extra fruits and vegetables and disease risk drops significantly more. One study that followed 10,449 people for ten years found that those people who ate the most real food, such as fruits, vegetables and legumes, had the lowest risk of dying from any cause, including heart disease or cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that people who skip the junk, avoid fast-food restaurants and instead focus on real food are the ones most successful at long-term weight loss.
The Mediterranean diet is a perfect example. This diet dramatically lowers disease risk and aids in long-term weight loss, and studies report that the closer people follow the Mediterranean diet, the happier they are. This traditional diet (which, by the way, is almost extinct and holds no resemblance to most meals you’ll get today in Rome, Barcelona, Athens or Morocco) is based on grains (pasta, polenta and other whole grains), fruits, vegetables and legumes. It has a daily allotment for small amounts of olive oil and yogurt, while fish or poultry grace the plate a couple of times a week. Meat or sweets are eaten rarely, or a couple times a month. Wine, typically red wine, is consumed in moderation. Except for a few sweets and pasta, there are virtually no processed foods in this traditional diet.
What is the secret to the Mediterranean diet? You will get a different answer depending on which researcher you ask. Some experts vow it is the lycopene in the tomatoes that lowers disease risk. Others say it is the healthy fats in fish and olives along with all the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients in olive oil. The lack of saturated fat and the abundance of fiber-rich carbs also have been credited for the low risk of diabetes, depression, obesity, heart disease and cancer. The vitamin- and mineral-packed produce has been noted for improvements in mood, the high amount of lutein is thought to contribute to the low risk for vision loss, the resveratrol in the wine is certainly the reason why inflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s are low, while the probiotics in the yogurt must explain why digestive tract problems are rare. Other researchers vow the high vitamin C and beta-carotene from all that produce explain why cancer rates are low, yet some studies conclude that the high magnesium intakes are the reason why stress levels are low. Recent studies from Arizona State University even suggest that the vinegar so prevalent in the salad dressings used in this region is the reason why obesity and arthritis are almost nonexistent.
In truth, you can’t isolate one factor out of tens of thousands. It is the perfect amount and balance of the 40+ nutrients mixed with close to a million phytonutrients that are supplied only by a diet based on real food. It is that balance on which our bodies depend. It is that balance that allows our immune, antioxidant and cell communication systems to keep the ship, our bodies, running in tip-top condition. It is the entire diet, not one food or one nutrient. In fact, the Mediterranean diet is just one of several real-foods diets, from the Okinawan diet based on an eating style associated with extreme longevity to vegetarian or Asian cuisines, all of which are loaded with real foods and skimpy on processed junk. That is the secret to long, healthy, happy lives and fit bodies. It’s the whole package, and the whole package needs to be mostly real, not processed.
Of course, happy, fit people know this. They might not have begun their journey intending to cut out processed foods. Many found along the way, as they experimented, failed and succeeded, that they were most successful at weight loss and were happiest in the process when they minimized the tempting junk.
Alex, a college student in Washington, experienced this firsthand:
“In high school, I went all out on greasy, sugary, processed stuff. I ate pizza for lunch, rewarded myself with ice cream every night, nibbled on sugary snacks and salty foods like chips, drank soft drinks and ordered the croissant along with the Starbucks whole-milk peppermint mocha with whip. It’s no surprise why I continuously gained weight in high school! Two years ago, I decided I needed a major diet overhaul. I put a lid on the processed stuff. I switched to salads, chicken breast, whole grains, nonfat sugar-free lattes instead of the peppermint mochas, tons of vegetables and drank lots of water. What a difference it made in my energy level and my weight! I lost 60 pounds, and I’ve kept it off. And my energy level is so much higher. I’m more confident and I love my life. I cannot even imagine what my life would be like right now if I hadn’t made a conscious decision to change.”
MEDITERRANEAN DIET PYRAMID
OKINAWA DIET PYRAMID
VEGETARIAN DIET PYRAMID
ASIAN DIET PYRAMID
Need I say more?
The 75% Solution
By now I hope I’ve convinced you to reexamine your diet and see where you can switch from processed to real foods. You don’t have to give up everything. Like Sam, who still eats pizza and pastries, you can include foods that come in a box, bag or wrapper. Just aim for a diet where real food outweighs the processed stuff. If three out of every four foods you choose is a real food, or if three out of every four bites comes from a food straight off the vine, bush or plant, then you should be eating authentically enough to guarantee a better mood and a thinner waistline.
It’s the 75% solution—75% of everything that goes into your mouth should be a real food. This solution allows you to live in this toxic environment of fast-food restaurants and more than 45,000 processed items on the grocery shelves, yet be happier and thinner.
The 75% solution makes it easy to eat right without spending hours in the kitchen or sacrificing taste and enjoyment. Check out “The Real-Foods Shopping List” for the types of foods to focus on when shopping. Even when purchasing processed foods, look for ones with the most real ingredients. For example, follow the rules outlined in Chapter 3 when searching for processed foods with the most whole grains. For other foods, here are a few guidelines:
1. Total fat: 3 grams fat/100 calories. That is the limit for fat in processed foods. Shelve any product that has more fat than that. You want foods that are low in fat (especially saturated and trans fats), supply some fiber and pack a low to moderate calorie punch. The more fat, the more calories. So limit total fat to no more than 3 grams/100 calories.
The focus is on fat ratios, rather than fat grams, because you don’t want to reward companies that keep the fat grams low by serving up tiny portions. A label on a frozen entree might say, “Only 8 grams of fat and 210 calories,” but is that really a meal? One cup of fruited yogurt has 250 calories and we don’t call that a meal. It’s a snack. True, almost 7 out of every 10 Americans are battling a weight problem, but even diets shouldn’t drop below 1,200 calories a day; if people eat a third of their calories at each meal, that means at least 400 calories. Eat a 200-calorie entree and you’re likely to say, “Hey, that meal was so healthy, I can have a little treat now, like that half gallon of ice cream in the freezer.” What you want is a meal that will fill you up with healthy food without filling you out with too many calories.
2. Limit saturated fat to 1 gram saturated fat/100 calories. Look for items that have less than 10% of calories from saturated fat. That means about 1 gram of saturated fat or less for every 100 calories.
3. No trans fats. Sure, the label says in big, bold print: “NO TRANS FATS.” But “zero” trans fats aren’t always zero. It might mean 0.5 milligrams in labelese. Check the ingredient list for “hydrogenated vegetable oils.” If you see it, shelve it. An exception to this rule is peanut butter. There is so little hydrogenated fat in most peanut butters that it would take 153 servings (for a total of 28,764 calories!) to get even 0.5 milligrams of trans fats.
4. Limit sodium. Whether you have high blood pressure or not, you can benefit by cutting back on your sodium intake. Many processed foods, particularly the frozen breakfast and dinner entrees, packaged grains, meals in a can or bag and, of course, snack foods, are sodium land mines, supplying up to a full day’s maximum allotment for sodium, which is 2,400 milligrams. Look for real foods that are close to sodium free, then complement these foods with packaged items that have no more than 480 milligrams per serving.
Happy, Fit People’s Tricks of the Trade
The cross-country runners I counseled at both Ohio State and the University of Oregon lost weight on 7,000 calories a day. Don’t you wish you could indulge in anything you wanted to eat just like a 20-year-old who runs 100 miles a week?! Well, forget it. For the rest of us—skinny or fat, young or old, male or female—we must put a lid on our calorie intake or expect to end up sad and fat. Here are some tricks happy, fit people have shared with me over the years that help them stay lean and upbeat:
"Order salads without the croutons or cheese, and with the dressing on the side. Leave 95% of the dressing behind when the salad is done.”
“At restaurants, ask that your toast be served dry, no butter. Also, ask the waiter to cancel the baked potato or fries and give you a double order of steamed veggies.”
“Use mustard, not mayonnaise, on sandwiches.”
“I save hundreds of dollars and scads of calories by bringing my own water bottle, rather than purchasing colas, bottled teas or sports drinks.”
“Never eat anything that is breaded or fried.”
“My most important diet rule is that I can’t eat unless the meal includes at least two fruits and vegetables.”
“Brush your teeth after dinner and you’ll be less tempted to snack in the evening.”
“When I eat out, I ask the waiter to doggie-bag half my entree before it comes to the table.”
“I eat breakfast at dinnertime, which leaves me less tempted to want dessert.”
“Either lunch or dinner every day is a salad.”
“I pack my own lunch and snacks. That way I know what and how much I’m eating.”
“When I’m tempted to eat some junk food, I remind myself that it will take 5 minutes to eat it, then I’ll be right back where I started, only feeling guilty and maybe stuffed.”
“I chew gum whenever I’m tempted to overeat, like when I’m cooking so I don’t taste test or after a meal when I can hear the cookies calling to me.”
A Real-Foods Diet à la Packaged Foods
Here are a few examples of how you can mix real foods with processed foods for the 75% solution to balance optimal nutrition with the reality of a fast-paced life.
BREAKFAST
Option 1: A whole-grain waffle. Look for one that supplies at least 3 grams of fiber. Top it with peanut butter and thawed frozen blueberries. Serve with calcium and vitamin D–fortified orange juice.
Option 2: Lean Pockets Bacon, Egg & Cheese. This meets the criteria for fat and saturated fat but is a bit high in sodium, so serve it with a bowl of fruit canned in its own juice and a glass of calcium-fortified grapefruit juice. (Read labels on fruit juice: a label can say 100% fruit juice, but if that juice comes from pear, white grape or apple concentrates, all you have is sugar water. Look for juices that do not contain these concentrates and don’t contain high fructose corn syrup. Your best bets are 100% orange juice, pineapple juice and tomato juice. See Chapter 8 for more on beverages.)
Option 3: A veggie omelet. Make it with leftover vegetables and egg substitute mixed with one whole egg. Serve with toasted whole wheat bread, a glass of 1% milk and half a cantaloupe.
Option 4: A bowl of oatmeal. Try the Plum Nuts Oatmeal or Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal from the Recipes section or Quaker Simple Harvest Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal cooked in milk or soy milk. Serve with a glass of 100% calcium-and vitamin D–fortified orange juice.
LUNCH
Option 1: A Kashi Veggie Medley. Serve with a clamshell of cut-up fruit from the produce department and a glass of soy milk or tub of Rachel’s Yogurt with DHA.
Option 2: Shrimp cocktail. Try a container of thawed cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce from the freezer case. Serve with baby carrots and low-fat dip, apple slices, tossed salad or other fruits/vegetables. Or just buy cooked frozen shrimp and toss with bagged lettuce for an instant lunch salad.
Option 3: Frozen pizzas. This one is a bit tricky, but you can have your pizza and maintain your waistline and mood, too. In general, go for the pizzas with the most vegetables. For example, a slice of Essensia Pizza Spinach Mushroom Classic Vegetable or of Freschetta Roasted Portabella Mushrooms and Spinach has up to 100 calories less per slice and much less fat and saturated fat of any pizza made with only cheese or cheese and meat. Or try the Kashi whole-grain pizzas. They don’t quite fit the fat, saturated fat and/or sodium limits, but they are close and the crust is whole grain. Serve with a big tossed salad with low-fat bottled dressing. Also, doctor your pizza by adding sliced tomatoes or frozen pepper slices. Watch out for the serving sizes when you’re reading and comparing pizza labels.
Option 4: Canned soups. Foods with the word “healthy” in their title, such as Campbell’s Healthy Request soups, must abide by standards for fat, saturated fat and sodium, so it’s a sure sign the food is really and truly healthier. Doctor your soup and dilute the sodium even more by adding extra frozen or leftover vegetables. For example, up until third grade, my kids did not know that Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup didn’t come without peas. Serve any soup with fresh fruit and a bagged salad.
DINNER
How does a person sift out the bad from the good?
Let’s focus on one department, the freezer case. Frozen-food entrees have come a long way since the days of TV dinners and the choice between meatloaf or fried chicken. First they trimmed the fat, thanks to lines like Lean Cuisine. Then Healthy Choices led the troops in cutting the salt. Now Lean Cuisine’s Spa Cuisine, Kashi, Barbara’s and Amy’s, to name a few, have added whole grains. Some add a smattering of vegetables, though none add enough. In most cases, you can measure the vegetables in teaspoons, not cups. The good news is you can get lots of veggies in the frozen-food aisle to complement your frozen dinner.
Option 1: Beef. Salisbury Steak remains an all-time favorite, which can make or break your health depending on the choice. Remember the 3 grams of fat and about 1 gram of saturated fat for every 100 calories rules. With these guidelines in mind, Healthy Choices and, believe it or not, Hungry Man both meet the criteria, although both are very high in sugar, supplying about 5 teaspoons of sugar for a dinner! In contrast, others, such as Claim Jumper’s version, can pack in more than 600 calories, with 50% of it coming from fat and more than 3 teaspoons of saturated fat. Serve the Healthy Choice or Hungry Man with steamed frozen vegetables, such as green peas or green beans, and a tossed salad made from bagged lettuce and low-fat dressing. Banquet Crock-Pot Classics Stroganoff Beef & Noodles or Beef Stew, Lean Cuisine Café Classics Teriyaki Steak and Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selections Steak Tips also Dijon all meet the criteria for fat and saturated fat.
Option 2: Pasta. A quick-fix dinner could include whole-grain pasta topped with spaghetti sauce and served with steamed, frozen vegetables and a bagged tossed salad. Unfortunately, this is one place where carbs have gotten their bad name. Not because pasta has a lot of calories, but because so many pasta entrees are laden with fat. You could have more than five Garlic Beef and Broccoli frozen entrees for the calories in one Marie Callender’s Fettucine Alfredo with Garlic Bread. On the other hand, Kashi Chicken Pasta Pomodor is a great choice. Again, serve with steamed frozen vegetables and a salad to round out the meal.
Option 3: Chicken. There are lots of choices here, including any Healthy Choices, Weight Watchers, or Lean Cuisine Café or Spa Cuisine Classic chicken entree. Serve with bagged salad, frozen vegetables, and a glass of 1% milk.
Option 4: Seafood. Fish is good for you. It’s the only natural dietary source of the omega-3 fat, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which lowers your risk for heart disease and possibly bone loss, depression, memory loss and more. Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine Classic Salmon with Basil is a great choice and one of the few entrees on the market to supply those healthy omega-3s!
You even can have dessert on a real-food diet. Dole Fruit Juice Bars have only 30 calories and little sugar. Mrs. Smith’s Hearty Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Custard Pie and Mrs. Smith’s Reduced Fat, No Sugar Added Apple Pie are the healthiest pie selections in the frozen food case. The very best frozen dessert of all is fresh or frozen fruit (check out Chapter 4 for tons of ideas). For me, it is frozen blueberries. They taste like sorbet, but have no added sugar and pack a huge antioxidant punch!
Put Real Back into Your Cupboards
I’m well aware that for some people switching to a real-foods diet will take some effort. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. We all do things we don’t want to do or that are hard. Hey, who wants to pay taxes or get up in the morning?!
Happy, fit people work at it, too. Any person over the age of 25 who is happy and fit is working on it, trust me. They plan, organize, prepare and set limits and rules. They monitor what, when and how much they eat. Granted, it takes more time and discipline to plan meals around real food than it does to take medication for diabetes or heart disease, but the payoffs are so amazing! For a little delayed gratification of saying “no” to a doughnut today, you lose weight, feel great, have more energy, think more clearly, look younger and feel vibrant tomorrow.
Here are the three most powerful habits you can adopt to make the transition from a diet that fuels the flames of depression and weight gain to one that helps you get back on track weight-and mood-wise.
Habit #1: Purge your kitchen. The more junk-food temptation you can remove from your house, the better off you will be. Clear out the junk so it won’t control your life.
Habit #2: Restock the fort. Once the cupboards are bare, restock with real foods, using the “The Real-Foods Shopping List” below and the “100+ Products That Meet Most of the Real-Food Guidelines” as a guide. You need to feel full and satisfied to be happy and willing to stick with any weight-loss eating plan. Studies show that anything short of this leads to anxiety, stress and depression. So make sure you always have tasty but good-for-you foods around.
Habit #3: Bring foods with you. Never leave the house without packing a lunchbag, your briefcase, purse, glove compartment or diaper or gym bag with real foods, such as apple slices, peanuts, a thermos of soup or smoothie, Triscuits and string cheese, a sandwich on 100% whole-grain bread, and so on.
The Real-Foods Shopping List
PRODUCE: FRUITS & VEGETABLES
In the Produce Department: All fresh fruits and vegetables; fresh herbs
Down the Aisles: Fruits canned in their own juices; bottled 100% orange, grapefruit, tomato or prune juice; dried fruit; canned tomatoes: paste, stewed or whole; low-fat marinara sauce; salsa
In the Refrigerator Case: Cartons of 100% orange or grapefruit juice
In the Freezer Case: Plain vegetables (not potatoes); fruit such as berries, peaches and cherries
GRAINS/CEREALS
In the Bakery: 100% whole grains: breads, bagels, English muffins, pita bread, rolls and tortillas
Down the Aisles: Wheat germ, corn or whole-wheat tortillas; whole-wheat crackers, such as Triscuits; air-popped popcorn; rice: brown (instant or regular), Brown basmati or texmati, Wehani or wild rice; hot cereals, such as rolled oats, Kashi, bulgar, quinoa, barley, and Quaker Simple Harvest Instant Multi-grain Hot Cereal; whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals, such as Shredded Wheat, NutriGrain, Post Whole-Wheat Raisin Bran, GrapeNuts, low-fat granola, Puffed Kashi; pasta, such as whole-wheat or whole-wheat-blend noodles; flour, such as whole-wheat, rye, oat
In the Freezer Case: Whole-grain waffles
MEAT, FISH, AND LEGUMES
In the Meat Department: Extra-lean cuts (no more than 7% fat by weight); poultry breast; all seafood (except tilapia, which is low in omega-3 and high in omega-6 fats)
Down the Aisles: Canned tuna, clams, or salmon, packed in water (limit intake of tuna to no more than 6 ounces/week because of mercury); all dried beans and peas, including kidney, black, garbanzo, navy, soybean, lentils, split peas and lima; canned cooked dried beans and peas (beans in prepared “dishes” such as chili or baked beans should be chosen on an individual basis by their fat and sodium content); packaged bean mixes, such as hummus and lentil pilaf (check sodium content); nut butters, including peanut, almond, soy and cashew, preferably “natural” versions; fat-free refried beans
In the Produce Department: Tofu: silken, firm and extra-firm
MILK & OTHER HIGH-CALCIUM ITEMS
In the Dairy Case: 1% or nonfat milk; plain low-fat or nonfat yogurt; nonfat buttermilk, DHA-fortified soy milk; fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese; low-fat cheeses; fresh mozzarella cheese; soy cheese; fat-free or low-fat ricotta cheese; fat-free cream cheese; fat-free sour cream; fat-free half & half; fat-free whipped cream; eggs or egg substitutes; calcium-and vitamin D–fortified orange or grapefruit juice.
OILS & FATS
Down the Aisles: Olive oil; nut oils; fat-free or low-calorie salad dressing; salad spritzers; fat-free or low-calorie mayonnaise
SWEETS & DESSERTS
Down the Aisles: Jam; honey; baby food prunes (as fat replacement in recipes); cookies made from 100% whole grains
In the Freezer Case: Frozen 100% fruit bars and fruit ices; low-fat ice creams & sorbets
CONDIMENTS
Down the Aisles: Vinegars; mustards; baker’s yeast; herbs and spices
How Much?
Lisa is 5'3" tall and at least 60 pounds overweight. She swears she only eats grilled chicken breasts, vegetables and whole grains. Rollie and Dolores enjoy gourmet meals, with lots of real foods, but they also go through more calorie-packed olive oil in a month than I use in a year. Both are as fit as fiddles, lean, happy and in great health.
What’s going on here? Granted, Lisa has a slight honesty issue to address, since no one can be that overweight without eating something a bit more calorific. However, it also shows that it’s not just what we eat, but how much. Lisa eats in quantity, far more than she needs, while Rollie and Dolores revel in small amounts of highly flavorful delicacies. Eat too much of almost anything—even healthy, real foods—and you gain weight.
Portions have ballooned ten-fold in the past 30 years, both inside and outside the home, with the greatest increases in processed fast food, foods high in refined carbs and meat. Restaurants are using larger plates, bakers are selling bigger muffin tins, pizzerias are using larger pans, cars have larger cup holders and fast-food restaurants are packaging drinks and French fries in bigger containers. A study from the University of North Carolina found these bigger portions mean extra calories, while U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports the average American has added up to 300 extra calories a day compared to intakes back in the mid-1980s.
Big meals and huge portions also leave you feeling sluggish, which is a big no-no if you want to be happy and energetic. “I have so much more energy, more motivation to get all the tasks done on my daily to-do list, and just feel more alive if I don’t overeat,” says Vince, a personal trainer in Oregon. He found that if he pushes back from the table when he is still slightly hungry, it makes all the difference in his energy level. “It takes a bit of willpower to stop shoveling food into my mouth when I’m not yet stuffed, and sometimes I have to keep myself busy for the next 15 to 20 minutes after a meal to avoid diving into the cookie jar, but then I feel so much better the rest of the day and evening that it is absolutely worth it!”
We all must get real about portions. People always, and I mean always, underestimate how much they eat, especially when it comes to grains, meat and fast food. The heavier we are, the more we fudge the numbers. In fact, we typically fail to admit to about 700 calories a day! John Foreyt, Ph.D., Director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and an expert on weight management, says the dishonesty issue is so prevalent that he factors it into his diet consults. “People typically underestimate their overall food intake by about a third, so for people to be truly honest about their calorie balance, I recommend they keep food journals then add at least a third more calories to their daily total.”
Happy, fit people have learned that being your own portion police pays off. Maureen, a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon, lost 30 pounds by cutting back on portions and focusing on real foods:
“I found I was just as satisfied with smaller portions every two to three hours instead of bigger meals. If I loaded up on lots of fiber, I felt full, so I was less apt to overeat. Then I took the big step and started experimenting with healthy recipes that were super easy to make (I am not a good cook, don’t like to cook, and will not spend a lot of time on it). I also started bringing healthy, quick snacks with me, like veggies with white bean hummus. Just those little efforts paid off big-time!”
Portion Precision
To get real about portions, buy a scale and a measuring cup and take one week practicing how to accurately identify a portion. For example,
|
Extra-lean meat, chicken, fish |
3 ounces or the size of a deck of cards or the palm of a woman’s hand |
|
Whole grain pasta, rice, oatmeal, potatoes, cooked vegetables |
½ cup or the size of your fist or a tennis ball |
|
Whole grain bagel or muffin |
1 ounce or the size of a ping pong ball |
|
Low-fat cheese |
1 ounce or the size of a woman’s thumb |
|
Olive oil |
1 teaspoon or the size of a stamp |
|
Low-calorie salad dressing |
2 tablespoons or the size of a standard ice cube |
|
Raw vegetables or fruit |
cup or the size of a baseball |
Dining Out Needn’t Do You In
Never before in the history of the planet have so many people dined out as often as they do today. In an effort to edge out the competition, restaurants offer megasized servings. These “value meals” are extra-heavy on the fat and calories. It’s no wonder that body weight and depression rates increase in direct proportion to how often a person dines out, especially when those meals are from fast-food chains.
According to the USDA, a serving of meat should be 3 ounces. But at your typical restaurant, whether it’s a steak or the turkey on your deli sandwich, the meat can weigh up to 16 ounces. That’s more than five servings! Reduce that portion from 16 ounces to 3 ounces and save yourself up to 1,200 calories.
Refined grains are another food we have come to expect in megaportions. According to the USDA and its Pyramid Food Guide, we should include 5 to 11 servings of grain in our daily diets. A serving of pasta is ½ cup, which is about four fork twirls. (Granted, most people eat more than this, so perhaps one cup or two servings of pasta would be a realistic portion.) Most pasta dishes in restaurants are served as platters, not portions, and average four or more cups. Add the garlic bread and you have two to three days’ worth of grains in one meal.
The solution? Regardless of what’s on the plate, it’s up to you to take charge of how much you eat. Request half orders, order à la carte or bag half your entree before you begin to eat. A recent study found that eating your salad first (and without the dressing) fills you up so you cut your portion of the main course and save yourself calories. Besides, that salad is a perfect place to tally up some super mood foods. (See Chapter 5 for which ones those are.)
Many of us are in a hurry and grab food on the go. How does this influence portions? Just assume that the portion of anything you eat at a fast-food establishment is too big and packs two to five times more calories than you ever would imagine. Coffee only comes in tall, grande and humongous (what ever happened to small and regular?); the Starbucks Grande White Chocolate mocha contains 470 calories and almost 5 teaspoons of fat, which is the calorie equivalent of eating a huge piece of chocolate devil’s food cake with frosting.
Fast-casual restaurants are all the rage now. Baja Fresh is an example of a Mexican food chain that has a wonderful salsa bar. But their Dos Manos Enchilada-Style Burrito weighs 62 ounces and contains 3,370 calories, 39 teaspoons of fat, and 63 grams of saturated fat! Even if you only ate once a day, you’d gain weight on that meal!
The solution? You can have your mocha and drink it, too. Just order a tall made with nonfat milk, skip the whipped cream, top it with a few chocolate shavings and sweeten with aspartame or Splenda. When it comes to the burrito at Baja Fresh, order the Vegetarian Bare Burrito (for 560 calories) and split it with a partner.
Also, don’t be fooled by the so-called healthier options at fast-food chains. They can present even bigger portion and calorie problems than the typical fare. For example,
A Smoked Turkey Club Sandwich at Au Bon Pain contains 760 calories and 34 grams of fat (8.5 teaspoons!).
Burger King’s BK Big Fish Sandwich supplies 710 calories and 39 grams of fat, half of which are saturated.
A Crispy Chicken Caesar Salad at McDonald’s with croutons and a packet of dressing supplies 550 calories, the calorie equivalent of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and half of your day’s allotment of fat (35.5 grams or 9 teaspoons).
The solution? At the drive-through, order grilled chicken breast sandwiches with no mayo and a glass of OJ, or split a burger and bring baby carrots and soy milk from home to accompany the meal. When it comes to fast-food salads, stick with grilled chicken, skip the croutons and ask for fat-free dressing.
When dining out, follow these rules:
1. The Unit Rule. The bigger the container, the more we eat. According to research at the University of Pennsylvania, people eat in units, such as a sandwich, a cookie, a plate of food, a bag of chips, a slice of pizza. Today, these units are jumbo burgers, bigger plates and muffins the size of small cakes. One way to overcome this problem is to request a half portion and have it served on a salad plate, instead of a dinner plate. Also, skip the “value” meals and “economy-sized” bags of munchies, share a small bag of candy at the theater instead of having a large bag all to yourself, get used to leaving food on your plate and order a kid’s hamburger instead of the Big Mac.
2. Split an Entree. Share an entree and order side salads and soups to round out the meal.
3. Attitude Adjustment. In the past, eating out was a special occasion, so we gave ourselves license to eat what we wanted. Today, we average more than four meals a week away from home. That devil-may-care attitude doesn’t work when the treats come so fast and furious. Either start considering restaurant fare as part of your healthy way of eating, or save your precious dollars and reserve restaurant meals for a once-a-month special occasion, not a weekly routine.
4. Load Up on Veggies. You don’t have to eat less to downsize portions, just eat better. It’s not bigger portions that cause weight problems, it’s bigger portions of foods high in fat, sugar and calories. Help yourself to buckets of super mood foods, like vegetables, broth-based soups, fruits, whole grains, soy milk and other real foods high in water and fiber, and you will fill up before you fill out.
When to Eat Real Foods
It is not just what or even how much, but also when you eat that affects mood. Dieting, skipping meals or eating too few carbohydrates can lower blood sugar, with symptoms such as weakness, irritability and fatigue. Erratic eating habits cause blood sugar to drop, so the body runs out of energy just like a cell phone you forget to recharge. A study from the University of Bristol found that in a group of 144 adults, those who ate regularly, starting with breakfast, had the best moods, worked more efficiently and felt calmer at the end of the testing period compared to people who ate erratically or skipped meals.
People who divide their food intake into little meals and snacks throughout the day think more clearly and feel better than people who eat irregularly. In contrast, meal skippers are more prone to mood swings, probably because once they do eat, they eat too much of all the wrong stuff. People often think they can save calories by skipping meals, but if they kept food journals they’d find that they more than make up for those saved calories at other times of the day.
Recharge on a regular basis by eating nutritious little meals or snacks spaced every four or five hours throughout the day, starting with breakfast. Keep meals light. Heavy meals laden with fat or calories make you groggy during the day and undermine a good night’s sleep, so you wake up cranky. In contrast, light meals of carbohydrate-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, with small amounts of protein-rich nonfat milk products and extra-lean meat are energizing.
Lunchables
I’ll fill you in on breakfast in Chapter 2. Right now, let’s do lunch.
As part of the “eat regularly” rule, stop midday to refuel. Make sure lunch contains some fat. A neurotransmitter called galanin rises at about the lunch hour and is at the helm of our appetite center, tickling our fancies for fat. The more fat we eat, the more galanin we produce. Order a cheeseburger and French fries or a tossed salad smothered in high-fat dressing, and your galanin levels are jammed into high gear, possibly leading to cravings for more fatty foods later in the day. You definitely need some fat to keep galanin happy, especially the good fats, like the healthy fats in nuts and olive oil and the omega-3 fat DHA in fish. So get some, but not too much, at the midday meal.
Don’t make the mistake of focusing solely on carbs. A high-carbohydrate lunch, such as a plate of pasta with marinara sauce and a tossed salad, raises brain levels of the nerve chemical serotonin, which leaves you relaxed and perhaps a bit sleepy. This is fine if it is Saturday and you have nothing to do, but it could be disastrous if you are on a work deadline midweek.
10 Days’ Worth of Mood-Boosting, Waist-Shrinking Lunch Ideas
1. Wrap It: Fill a Mission Life Balance flour tortilla with 2 ounces of turkey breast meat, ½ cup shredded romaine lettuce, 2 tablespoons grated carrot and 1 tablespoon low-fat Caesar salad dressing. Serve with a glass of 1% milk and a piece of fruit.
2. Salad Fixings: Top 3 cups of baby spinach and/or romaine lettuce with ½ cup berries, 1 tablespoon pecans, ½ cup broccoli florets, 1/3 cup kidney or black beans and 2 tablespoons low-fat dressing. Serve with 100% whole-grain bread and a slice of low-fat cheese.
3. Pocket It: Fill a 100% whole-wheat pita with ½ cup black beans, ¼ cup grated carrot, ¼ cup chopped cucumber, ¼ cup diced red peppers and 2 tablespoons light Italian salad dressing. Serve with Rachel’s yogurt and a glass of 100% juice.
4. Burgerville: Top a 100% whole-wheat burger bun with a vegetarian burger, 2 tablespoons low-fat crumbled feta cheese, 1/3 cup baby spinach leaves, and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Serve with a piece of fruit and a glass of 1% milk.
5. Chicken of the Sea Sandwich: Top 2 slices of 100% whole-grain bread with 2 large romaine lettuce leaves and a mixture of 2 ounces drained, water-packed tuna, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon fat-free mayo and ¼ cup diced celery. Serve with a side salad or piece of fruit and a glass of soy milk.
6. Take-out Desperado: If you must go, then order a kid’s cheeseburger, a side salad with fat-free dressing and apple dippers, or Wendy’s Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich (hold the mayo), a carton of low-fat milk and a Mandarin Orange cup.
7. Soup ’n’ Sandwich: Have a bowl of Campbell’s Healthy Request Savory Chicken and Long Grain Rice soup and add extra frozen vegetables. Serve with fresh fruit and a grilled cheese sandwich made with 2 slices of 100% whole-grain bread, low-fat cheese and cooking spray instead of butter or oil.
8. Veggie Broil: Cut in half and toast a 100% whole-grain English muffin. On one side, put 2 tablespoons mashed avocado, ¼ cup alfalfa sprouts, 1 thin slice red onion, 1 teaspoon sesame seeds and 2 teaspoons low-fat ranch dressing, and top with 1 ounce grated, low-fat cheddar cheese. Place under broiler and heat until cheese bubbles. Remove and add other side of muffin to form a sandwich. Serve with tomato juice and a side salad or fruit.
9. Campfire Crunch Sandwich: Mix 2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese with a dash of lemon juice, lemon peel, 2 tablespoons dried tart cherries, ¼ cup grated carrot and 3 tablespoons trail mix. Pile onto a slice of 100% whole-grain bread, spread evenly and top with second piece of bread to form a sandwich. Serve with 1% milk and a piece of fruit or a salad.
10. Bagel Sandwich and Slaw: Spread 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard on half a 100% whole-wheat bagel; layer red onion, cucumber, red pepper slices, spinach leaves and low-fat cheese; and top with the other half of the bagel. Serve with broccoli slaw made with broccoli-coleslaw mix, low-fat coleslaw dressing and dried cranberries.
The What, How Much, and When of Real Food
Real food is the foundation of a diet for a natural high. Happy, fit people get real. And the more real they get, the better they feel. Eat at least 75% of your foods as real foods; eat forkfuls, not forklift-fuls; and eat regularly throughout the day and I promise you will feel better and drop weight. In turn, that will improve your mood and motivate you to stick with the program, which means more weight loss and an even better, more even mood.