A Great Winter Breakfast

I'm happy to pass along this little gem for those of you who want a hot breakfast, but don't have the time in the morning to make one, especially in the winter. Try making steel-cut oatmeal in your crockpot overnight. Four parts water (can be part apple juice, part milk or soy milk) to one part steel-cut oats; cook on low for about 8 hours. If you add flavorings like salt, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla, it will smell divine in the morning--maybe enough to get you out of bed without the alarm.

You can even get creative and add chopped apples, dried berries or raisins to the night-time mixture. I like to top the oatmeal with fresh fruit (blueberries or bananas are great) and walnuts and just a bit of soy milk. So delicious! And chock-full of fiber and antioxidants, plus it'll stick to your ribs and keep you full of energy all morning. Small crockpots (1.5 quarts) work best, but large ones will do fine--be sure to spray the inside of the crock with nonstick cooking spray before adding the ingredients and cleanup will be a breeze.

Why steel-cut oats? They taste the way oatmeal should taste--so much better than the stuff in little packets. The problem with steel-cut oats is it can take close to 45 minutes to cook them properly. This way, they're ready when you are. That's my tip of the day!

Good News From the Media

We often hear bad news about the foods we eat--how they affect our health negatively and how we need to avoid them. So I was encouraged by two separate reports on nutrition that I read recently. This month's issue of Vegetarian Times magazine reveals that eating whole grains for breakfast gives your body a nice boost of antioxidants, in addition to the health benefits we already know about. So if you start off your day by eating whole-grain bread or cereal, you're doing yourself even more good than you thought. In addition, as whole-grain snacks go, VT reports that a recent study touts popcorn as having the highest levels of antioxidants. Great reason to dig into one of my favorite foods!

Also encouraging is a report from "Nutrition Action Healthletter," which is published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (the same group that brought attention to how bad trans fats are for our health and pushed for better nutrition labeling on food products). The report listed the "10 Super Foods" for better health. These nutritional powerhouses are:

1. Sweet potatoes
2. Grape tomatoes
2. Fat-free (Skim) or 1% lowfat Milk
4. Broccoli
4. Wild Salmon
6. Whole-grain Crispbreads (like Wasa, Ry Krisp and Ryvita)
7. Microwavable or Quick-Cooking Brown Rice
8. Citrus Fruits
9. Butternut Squash
10. Spinach and Kale

Not coincidentally, all of these foods are on my eating plan, which has helped me lose 25 lbs. and keep it off for nearly 2 years. So eat up! Eating this way, with real, honest foods--no fads--will help you lose weight and improve your health. Science says so!

Find Your Passion

A friend asked for my weight loss advice the other day. She's gained 15 lbs. over the last year, doesn't want to exercise lately and has been eating poorly. She knows she has to make a change, but can't get motivated enough to do it. What did I advise her? Two things: 1. Have somebody take a picture of you and post it in a place where you'll see it often (like on the fridge maybe?). 2. Find a new form of exercise that you love and are passionate about doing. The former should help with the diet; the latter will get her moving and motivated to keep moving.

It's an unfortunate truth that in order to lose weight and maintain it, you need some reason to stick to your eating and exercise plan. You can't do this on autopilot! So you need to find a driving force that keeps you passionate about getting and staying healthy and fit for life. Going to your high school reunion and want to look great? Fantastic! That's a great "temporary" motivator, but what happens after the reunion when you don't have to fit into that sexy cocktail dress anymore?

Constantly finding new things to excite you and keep you passionate about health and fitness is a challenge, but it really does work. There are only so many treadmill workouts you can do before you get bored. There's only so many carrot and celery sticks you can eat before you're craving stuffed pizza and chocolate cake. Staying fit is hard work, so pat yourself on the back if you've lost weight and kept it off for a decent amount of time. It's much harder to keep it off for life than to take it off to begin with, which is why you need to continue seeking new reasons to keep going. Want to try outdoor rock-climbing, bellydancing, water-skiing? Interested in honing your sushi-making skills? These are the things that will push you through and help you maintain your commitment. Not easy, definitely challenging, but without question worth the effort.

The Pasta Question

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know how I feel about starchy, refined carbs--limit, limit, limit! They really contain very little nutritional value for the calories consumed, and they can put weight on you faster than almost any other type of food. Yet I don't believe in completely eliminating any food from your diet (except for trans fats, which I've explained before). So how to incorporate pasta--a delicious starchy, refined carb--into your diet?

First of all, consider the type of pasta you're eating. Is it made from 100% refined grains, 100% whole grains or some combination of the two? The more whole grains it contains, the great the fiber and nutrient content and the more healthful it is. This leaves room for a little more pasta indulgence. Second, how much pasta are you eating in a serving? A standard pasta serving is 1/2 cup and weighs in at around 200 calories, which is far, far less than what you'd typically serve yourself for an entree and way less than what a restaurant or takeout place would serve you. It's very easy to consume large amounts of calories from pasta, particularly if it's the main course of your meal--and also because it's so yummy, right?

My solution is, on the infrequent occasions you eat 100% refined pasta, make it your side dish or "tasting" item rather than your main course. Sure, you can add veggies to it and a healthful sauce, but you're still likely to consume more calories than you think and the type of nutrients your body will store rather than burn. Translation: fat storage! If you make pasta your side dish, you'll be controlling your portion sizes more easily and leaving room for the stuff your body needs and that will help you shed pounds: lean protein, veggies, fruit, etc.

So be judicious about your pasta intake and you can treat yourself now and then so you won't feel deprived. Pasta is one of life's great pleasures, so enjoy--in moderation, of course.