January is high season for nutritionists and personal trainers. They are tour guides for America’s recurring quest to find the Holy Scale–or at least one that shows we have lost those pounds gained during the winter holiday season.
“Business certainly peaks after New Year’s,” said Nicki Anderson, a dietitian and personal trainer who runs Lifetime Fitness Inc. in Naperville. “I get together with clients and they say, This is the year I’m finally going to get in shape.’ But I ask them to be more specific and not just say they want to lose weight.”
Consider that your first fitness tip of 1996: Don’t simply pick a number of pounds to lose. Set a “quality of life” goal to feel more energetic during the day, get more sleep or receive a cleaner bill of health at your annual medical physical.
Here are 19 more ideas to help you lose some weight or simply feel better this year:
Don’t surrender!
Don’t give up so easily on your resolutions. Research shows that nearly 25 percent of Americans who make a resolution break it within the first week. Another 40 to 50 percent will go down for the count–and up on the scale–by the summer. People who succeed are willing to accept any slips along the way.
Timing is everything.
Probably the most significant thing you can do for fitness in 1996 is eat less food in the evening. “People tend to skip breakfast, skimp on lunch and then eat a mega-meal at night,” said Joan Horbiak, a nutritional consultant and dietitian who has developed weight-loss programs for more than 40 corporations. “Some people just go home and graze all night. No one should go more than four or five hours without food during the active part of their days. It only works to slow down the metabolism and actually leads to gaining pounds, especially when you overeat at night.”
Getting physical:
Schedule an annual physical.What you don’t know may indeed hurt you in the long run.
Make the move on milk (and lattes, too).
There are 8.2 grams of fat in a cup of whole milk and only 2.6 grams in a cup of 1 percent milk. You can do even better drinking skim, which has no fat. Plus, you will be surprised how quickly your palate will make the adjustment.
Go with the grain.
Nutritionists recommend we eat 25 grams of dietary fiber each day–it fills you up and discourages snacks high in fats and sugars. Getting enough fiber can be hard to do if you miss your whole-grain cereal for breakfast. So who’s stopping you from eating it for lunch or dinner?
Plane truth.
An airline bag of peanuts has 14 grams of fat.
Hold the mayo.
Using mustard instead of mayonnaise saves 10 fat grams per tablespoon. Using non-fat mayo is better but can still leave you craving the real thing.
Pretzel logic.
Two ounces of regular potato chips have 15 to 20 more fat grams than the same few handfuls of pretzels.
Are you really hungry?
Consider other things besides food to calm your nerves: Listen to music, dance, take a walk, drink herbal tea, meditate.
Stretch yourself.
Perhaps the most underrated of all physical activities is stretching. A few minutes each day will do wonders for your posture (you may look slimmer without losing a pound) and general well-being. Bob Anderson, author of the best-seller “Stretching,” (Random House, $12), suggested doing a calf stretch (to help circulate blood back to the heart from the feet) whenever you brush your teeth: “One leg is back and one leg is forward. Slightly flex the front knee while keeping the back leg straight with heels on the floor. Move the hips forward until you feel it in the calf muscle. Hold it for 15 to 20 seconds, then repeat on the other side.”
Water break.
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again. Make it your goal to drink more water this year. Research shows you will find drinking water between meals satisfies what you think is hunger but is really your body sending a signal for more fluids.
The skinny on chicken.
If you insist on eating your chicken breast with the skin, figure about an additional 150 calories and 6 fat grams. There are plenty of delicious recipes that don’t require the skin for flavoring.
The zen of dining.
Make dinner a low-tech, high-touch experience. Horbiak suggested people turn off their TVs and put down their reading material while eating the evening meal. “It should be a time for communicating with your family or connecting with yourself,” she said.
Skim the surface.
Make your winter soups and chilies in advance, even those from a can. Before reheating, skim the fat from the top. Every skimmed tablespoon is worth about 13 fat grams, according to “Skim the Fat: A Practical & Up-to-Date Food Guide,” from the American Dietetic Association (Chronimed Publishing, $10.95).
Fill the cookie jar
Just make sure you do so with low-fat options like gingersnaps, vanilla wafers, fig bars, fruit bars and animal crackers. Non-fat cookies are a good option provided you don’t feel entitled to eat the whole bag (and consequently overdo it on sugar and calories). If you insist on Oreos, stop at two or three. Fitness guru and author Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper allows himself a handful of chocolate chip cookies each night before bed–but that’s after a day of disciplined eating.
Mangia
Tuck your napkin into your collar and enjoy these guiltless orders at an Italian restaurant, compliments of the ADA: minestrone, hard breadsticks, linguine with red clam sauce, pasta with marinara sauce, chicken cacciatore, veal piccata, Italian ice, cappuccino with low-fat milk.
Breakfast patrol.
Two 4 inch pancakes without butter have a total of about 3 fat grams of fat, while a slice of French toast is 6 to 7 grams and a waffle can be upward of 8 to 10
Salad days, part 1.
Some entree salads are loaded with more fat than a lean cut of meat with baked potato (substitute non-fat yogurt or sour cream) Exhibit A is the Caesar salad, with or without chicken, chefs at Mity Nice Grill in Water tower Place have recognized the problem and create an “enlighteded” Caeasr salad ( see recipe on this page) We sell lot of them said manager Michael Waugh, but its the kind of dressing people either love or hate.
Salad days, Part 2.
Skip the ice berg, which has near-zero nutritional value.
“My clients are always surprised about iceberg” said Christine Palumbo, a dietitian based in Naperville. A half-cup of romaine gives you significant fiber; plus vitamins A and C. If a restaurant serves only iceberg try an iron-rich spinach salad instead.
ENLIGHTENED CAESAR SALAD DRESSING
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from Chicago’s Mity Nice Grill, which sent us the recipe for 3 gallons. We decided 1 1/2 cups would be enough. To make a Caesar salad for four, toss 1 head of washed, torn romaine lettuce leaves with 1/3 cup of dressing, a few shavings of Parmesan, a handful of baked croutons and a generous sprinkling of fresh black pepper.
1 large container (16 ounces) plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon each: Dijon mustard, cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 flat anchovy fillet, minced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Put all ingredients into blender or food processor. Process until blended. Store dressing in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
Nutrition information per 1/3 cup
Calories……….170 Fat……………6 g Cholesterol……15 mg
Sodium………780 mg Carbohydrates….14 g Protein………..16 g
CHICKEN IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from “The High Performance Cookbook,” by Susan M. Kleiner and KarenRae Friedman-Kester. This sauce also is wonderful over baked or sauteed fish and shrimp. Bottled black bean sauce, made from fermented black beans and garlic, is available in the Asian section of most supermarkets. Serving it over brown rice and adding steamed broccoli makes it a nutrient-packed meal.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 1 pound total Paprika
1 medium yellow onion, minced
2 green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1/2 cup sodium chicken stock or broth
1/4 cup dry sherry or rice wine
1 1/2 tablespoons black bean sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon sugar
Chopped fresh cilantro, cooked rice
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken in a small roasting pan and sprinkle with paprika. Cover and bake until juices run clear, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook and stir onion, green onions, ginger and garlic in oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in sliced mushrooms and cook for 5 more minutes.
3. Mix chicken stock, sherry, black bean sauce, dissolved cornstarch and sugar in a small dish. Pour over mushroom mixture and cook and stir until thickened and boiling.
4. When chicken is done, pour sauce over it. Return to oven, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and accompanied by rice.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories……….185 Fat………….4 g Cholesterol………65mg
Sodium………200 mg Carbohydrates..11 g Protein………….25 g
