Natural Health

Keep Leftovers in Mind

Think about leftovers too. Roast whole chicken for dinner and use the extra meat for sandwiches or for a chicken stir-fry. You can also prepare your foods in larger quantities for do-it-yourself frozen meals that you can add to any weekly menu. Freeze your foods in microwave-safe containers, or make foil pouches that can be popped into the oven for re-heating (keep the foil pouches protected in freezer bags until you are ready to use them).

Once you have your meals planned, go through the kitchen to see which ingredients you will need for the week so you can make a shopping list. Also check to see if any bulk items like flour, rice, and dry beans are running low and make a note to see if any of these items are on sale when you go shopping.

Don't Give in to Checkout-Aisle Temptation

Make a grocery list (or print this handy shopping list) before you go shopping. Remember that premade meals and other prepared foods tend to be the most expensive. And don’t add junk foods like greasy chips, cheap hot dogs and poor quality lunch meats to your list. They may be cheap, but they’re bad for your health and that may cost you more in the long run. 

When you are ready to go shopping, be sure to eat a little something first. If you are hungry, everything in the store looks and smells so good that you could blow your whole food budget on prepared foods or in the snack aisle. Stick with your list of healthy affordable foods and get home. Be careful in the check out aisle. Don’t grab the extra candy bars and that 20-ounce bottle of cold soda probably costs as much as a 2-liter bottle. 

More Quick Tips

Planning your meals and menus takes time, but you will save lots of money and serve your family some healthy and tasty foods. Here are a few more tips: 

1. Buy a water-filter pitcher instead of expensive individual bottles of water.  

2. Buy bulk items when they are on sale. Same with canned goods, frozen vegetables, fish and seafood. 

3. It costs a lot more to buy the parts of a chicken, so buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself. 

4. When meats are on sale, you can buy larger quantities and freeze individual cuts in freezer paper or freezer bags to take advantage of the savings. 

5. Look for online coupons, as well as the coupons in newspapers and magazines. 

6. Look for recipes that use dry beans as your protein source -– they are much cheaper than meats (think black beans in your burritos instead of beef.) 

7. Fresh produce is often a good buy, especially when in season, but choose carefully and don’t buy more than what you will eat in a few days so you don’t waste any due to spoilage. 

8. Look for different ways to prepare the same foods so your meals don’t get dull. Potatoes can be baked, boiled, roasted or mashed. Vary the fresh raw vegetables in your salads. 

9. Skip the conveniences foods. Choose regular rice and oats instead of the quick cook varieties. It really doesn’t take that much longer to prepare and the savings are valuable. 

10. Choose cheaper, leaner cuts of beef. You will reduce the amount of saturated fat in your meals (which is better for your health). The cheaper cuts of beef need to be cooked at lower temperatures and longer periods of time. They are perfect for beef stews, soups and in crockpot meals. 

11. Make your own snacks – with mixed nuts, dry cereals, raisins and other ingredients. Divide the snacks into individual portions and keep them in bags to control calorie intake. 

12. Explore Once a Month Cooking. With this method, you prepare a month’s worth of meals in one weekend. Perfect if you have a larger freezer. You can also go to meal preparation stores that offer high quality ingredients at a reasonable cost.

 

 

 

We've followed all of the weight-loss rules, trading our lunchtime burger and fries for a salad, cutting back on snack foods and sweets, choosing fat-free over full-fat whenever possible. So if we're doing everything right, why is the needle on the scale stuck—or worse, moving in the wrong direction?

Even when we have the best of intentions, something as simple as a healthy but oversize snack can make us gain weight rather than lose. But finding small ways to save just 100 calories a day can take off 10 pounds in a year. With help from a few nutrition experts, we've put together this list of red-flag foods and some simple strategies to keep them from undermining your weight-loss efforts.

1. PRE-MEASURED PACKS
Are 100-calorie snack packs a part of your stay-slim repertoire? As it turns out, these pre-portioned treats may do more harm than good. When researchers from the Netherlands gave TV-watching students either two large bags of potato chips or several portion-controlled ones, those with the smaller bags ate twice as many chips. If you find yourself reaching for a second 100-calorie bag, leave the empty pack in plain sight: Previous research has shown that people consume less food when they can see what they've already eaten.

2. "DIET" TREATS
Fat-free and sugar-free don't necessarily mean low-calorie. For example, one brand of reduced-fat chocolate chip cookie supplies 47 calories—just 6 less than a regular cookie. Plus, studies show that people who are overweight take in twice as many calories when they eat low-fat snacks rather than the regular versions. If you have a cookie craving, advises Katherine Brooking, RD, a New York City-based dietitian, go for the real thing—but limit yourself to 150 calories' worth.

3. LIQUID CALORIES
A couple of cups of cappuccino (each with 2 teaspoons of sugar) and a couple of cups of tea (each with 2 teaspoons of honey) add up to 150 calories in sweetener alone. Brooking recommends making do with less sweetener or switching to a zero-calorie alternative, like Splenda. Watch out for alcoholic beverages, too. Replace wine or beer with flavored club soda or sparkling water, and you can save big on calories.

4. SUPER-SNACKS
Eating every few hours is a good way to keep your metabolism humming, but it's easy to consume too many calories if you aren't careful. Snacks are the main culprits, particularly if they are too big and too frequent, explains Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet. Limit yourself to just two snacks a day, at about 150 calories each. And be wary of relying on energy bars as snacks; some deliver as many as 400 calories each. As a rule of thumb, a bar under 200 calories is a snack, Blatner says; anything above that counts as a meal.

5. RICH PROTEINS
Stick with lean proteins because higher-fat versions can have twice as many calories. Even if you measure the proper serving size, just 3 ounces of sirloin supplies 225 calories, nearly half of which come from fat. By comparison, the same amount of skinless turkey contains 144 calories, only 10 of which come from fat. And turkey sausage has 75% less saturated fat than pork sausage. Other lean protein choices include fish and beans.

6. FAT-FREE SALAD DRESSINGS
Often the fat is replaced with sugar, which means that your dressing still may be loaded with calories. Ironically, a salad without fat is not living up to its potential. "You need a little fat to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K and other nutrients," explains Katherine Tallmadge, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Instead, use smaller amounts of oil-based salad dressings; you'll get good-for-you fats rather than the saturated fat found in some creamy dressings. Look for ingredients like olive oil, vinegar, and herbs.

7. BAKED POTATO CHIPS
Yes, they're lower in fat. They're also high in calories but low in nutrients, with little fiber to fill you up. A better snack choice: popcorn. You'll get the salt and crunch of the chips in this whole grain, plus a healthy dose of fiber, all for about 65% fewer calories per cup. Look for oil-free microwave popcorn or brands that are air-popped or popped in healthful oils such as olive or canola. Adults who munch on popcorn consume up to 2 ½ times more whole grains than those who don't, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Excerpt from List Maker's Get-Healthy Guide, from the Editors of Prevention, copyright 2010, Rodale.

There are hundreds of strains of E. coli bacteria, and most of them are harmless. At the worst, they cause a few days of digestive discomfort. However, new research has revealed that an emerging strain, known as ST131, is on its way to becoming a drug-resistant superbug that leaves doctors with few treatment options. Most drug-resistant strains in the past fortunately didn't cause a lot of problems. Not so with ST131. This strain is both virulent and largely unresponsive to antibiotics.

THE DETAILS: In the study, carried out by U.S. infectious-disease experts and published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed data from patients hospitalized with E. coli infections around the country in 2007. The strain responsible for the majority of these infections? ST131. Currently, the pathogen is already resistant to certain antibiotics, but researchers believe that if it adds one more resistance gene, it will be virtually untreatable. This means our immune systems will be our only weapon against it, which is particularly concerning for the young, old, and those with already suppressed immunity.

6 Things the food industry doesn't want you to know.

WHAT IT MEANS: In the past, E. coli outbreaks have prompted recalls of everything from lettuce and beef to cookie dough. And while most E. coli cases result in a few hours of uncomfortable stomach cramps and more frequent trips to the bathroom, the emergence of more virulent strains is proving to be more serious. In worst-case scenarios, it's fatal. Foodborne illnesses are also incredibly costly. A report released earlier this year found that these illnesses are costing the U.S. $150 billion a year.

The authors of this latest study say that more research is needed to determine where this strain is coming from, but other scientists have linked virulent E. coli strains, such as 0157:H7, to concentrated animal-feeding operations—in other words, factory farms.

Could your kitchen pass a public health inspection?

Here are some ways to protect yourself against food- and waterborne illnesses:

Buy organic
Feedlot and other industrial farming systems that provide the majority of supermarket meat rely on heavy antibiotic use to speed the animals' growth and prevent disease in their filthy conditions. But scientists say exposing harmful microorganisms to all these drugs is actually accelerating their ability to build resistance to many of the drugs we use. Organic certification means antibiotics are not used. Therefore, the more we support this type of agriculture, the fewer virulent, resistant pathogens will end up in our food supply. To save money on organic food, try growing your own.

Keep your mouth closed
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions against swallowing water when you're swimming in pools and lakes, as this increases your risk of E. coli poisoning.

Cook meat thoroughly
When cooking meat, be sure you hit high enough temperatures to kill all pathogens. Use a meat thermometer and this chart of safe meat temperatures to guide you.

5 Healthy ways to enjoy eating meat.

Get your water tested
Most of the country's drinking water is treated using chlorine, ozone, or UV rays at municipal filtration plants. However, if you drink from a well, it's a good idea to have your water tested for coliform bacteria. You'll want to hire an EPA-certified water testing company; tests run about $20.