A little late but anyway, here are some ideas from a site called 50-plus. These are mostly things that we sould know already but I thought would be great stuff as BBQ season is just starting up for most people. It is awfully hard to stay and get healthy when you are giving yourself food poisoning

Always keep your hands as well as anything touching food clean

• Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to prevent the spread of bacteria. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after handling food. Also wash when you switch from one food to another
• Keep counter tops and utensils sanitized. Tip: you can make your own sanitizer by combining 5 mL (1 tsp) of bleach with 750 mL (3 cups) of water in a spray bottle. (Don’t forget to label the bottle!)
• When camping or on a picnic, be sure to bring clean water. You may also want to consider using waterless hand sanitizer or disposable wipes. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: Cook food, cooked food, food, food looks, leftover food, safe chef

Is having kids bad for you? Yes says Helena Laroche, M.D., of the University of Iowa, and her colleagues. This is a story that has got a lot of press in the last few days as a study at the UI shows that parents eat more high fat foods and in general eat more than people without kids.

I hate to be the one that brings up some of these lifestyle differences because I have two kids but there are a few factors that would lead to obesity in parents. Those living with children also more frequently ate high fat food such as cheese, ice cream, beef, pizza and salty snacks but not chocolate, they reported online for the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

So why do I think as a parent that we parents have more of a problem with obesity than non-parents.

1. Junk food abounds – Having kids around means that there is a lot of oppotunity to eat the McDonalds, Pizza Hut and any other fast food that it just makes life easier to have the kids eat. This is not good for them or you, as we weaned ourselves from the easy way out we just overcooked so that there was a lot of leftovers for my lunch and future dinners.

2. Cleaning up the plates – Kids only eat until they are satisfied and if there is food left on the plate they will leave it. I am the most guilty of cleaning the plates. I hate to throw out any food but instead I have tried to more often than not throw the leftover food but instead pack it away for the kids next snack.

3. Treats – Again bad for us and bad for them. There is always chocolate and chips in the house. Why? I will never know. My wife is better at keeping these out of the house than me.

4. When can I exercise? – Single people and couples do have extra time to go to a gym as well as the disposable income often to join a place to work out outside of the house. I know that my wife and I let our gym memberships lapse after the birth of our first and nver joined back and instead workout at home when we find time.

5. When do I get to eat my good meals? – This time I do better than my wife. We eat with the kids but for breakfast my wife feeds the kids first and often does not get a chance to sit down to breakfast so this can lead to the danger of missing meals and then binging to make up the difference. My wife does not do this but given the opportunity I definitely do.

So there are really a lot of differences in the fitness and eating habits of singles or couples compared to those with kids. I think probably the best way to avoid any of the problems really does come down to planning your eating and planning your exercise but as we all know planning takes work and most of us will avoid it if there is an opportunity.

Tags: American Board of Family Medicine, Family Medicine, fat food, food, Helena Laroche, Iowa, junk food, leftover food, obesity, the University of Iowa

Sometimes we just do not eat very well and I ran across these 100 eating tips that would improve anyones diet very quickly in a very good direction, so gobble them up!

1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions–unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it, and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.

Are there Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?

7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage, and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you’ll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you’ll lose 5 lb in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: “Eat until you are eight-tenths full.”
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: appetizer, Baltimore, beverage, Brown University School of Medicine, Cal Dinner, cancer, Coca-Cola, counseling, dehydration, dietitian, energy bars, food, food journal, food portions, Food suppliers, fresh fruit, heart disease, leftover food, microwave, no-cal beverage, nutrient-rich food, olive oil, online diet programs, online weight loss programs, peanut oil, Pennsylvania State University, Peter Pan, registered dietitian, smallest fast-food burger, sports drinks, veggies

More ideas from Renee’s site to improve your eating habits.

What’s Your Best Advice for Avoiding those Extra Holiday Pounds?

1. Don’t tell yourself, “It’s okay, it’s the holidays.” That opens the door to 6 weeks of splurging.


2. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled Egg, Apple, and a Thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).


3. As obvious as it sounds, don’t stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you’ll find you eat less.


4. At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there’s less chance of overeating.


5. For the duration of the holidays, wear your snuggest clothes that don’t allow much room for expansion. Wearing sweats is out until January.


6. Give it away! After company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day.


7. Walk around the mall three times before you start shopping.


8. Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority.


9. Dance to music with your family in your home. One dietitian reported that when she asks her patients to do this, initially they just smile, but once they’ve done it, they say it is one of the easiest ways to involve the whole family in exercise.

How Can I Control a Raging Sweet Tooth?

1. Once in a while, have a lean, mean salad for lunch or dinner, and save the meal’s calories for a full dessert.


2. Are you the kind of person who does better if you make up your mind to do without sweets and just not have them around? Or are you going to do better if you have a limited amount of sweets every day? One RD reported that most of her clients pick the latter and find they can avoid bingeing after a few days.


3. If your family thinks they need a very sweet treat every night, try to strike a balance between offering healthy choices but allowing them some “free will.” Compromise with low-fat ice cream and fruit, or sometimes just fruit with a dollop of whipped cream.


4. Try 2 weeks without sweets. It’s amazing how your cravings vanish.


5. Eat more fruit. A person who gets enough fruit in his diet doesn’t have a raging sweet tooth.


6. Eat your sweets, just eat them smart! Carve out about 150 calories per day for your favorite sweet. That amounts to about an ounce of chocolate, half a modest slice of cake, or 1/2 cup of regular ice cream.


7. Try these smart little sweets: sugar-free hot cocoa, frozen red grapes, fudgsicles, sugar-free gum, Nutri-Grain chocolate fudge twists, Tootsie Rolls, and hard candy.

What Can I Eat for a Healthy Low-Cal Dinner if I Don’t Want to Cook?

1. A healthy frozen entree with a salad and a glass of 1 percent milk.


2. Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet. Pop some asparagus in the microwave, and add whole wheat toast. If your cholesterol levels are normal, you can have seven eggs a week!


3. A bag of frozen vegetables heated in the microwave, topped with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts.


4. Prebagged salad topped with canned tuna, grape tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheese, and low-cal Italian dressing.


5. Keep lean sandwich fixings on hand: whole wheat bread, sliced turkey, reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes, mustard with horseradish.


6. Heat up a can of good soup.


7. Cereal, fruit, and fat-free milk makes a good meal anytime.


8. Try a veggie sandwich from Subway.


9. Precut fruit for a salad and add yogurt.

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Tags: Cal Dinner, dietitian, food, leftover food, microwave