Low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables are staples in a calorie-controlled diet. While a variety of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables can be found at most grocery stores, many people find pleasure in growing their own. Others, however, lack the time, space, or know-how to build and maintain a fruit/vegetable garden. If that's you, consider a community garden.

A community garden is any piece of land gardened by a group of people. It can be urban, suburban, or rural; it can be one community plot or several individual plots; and it can be anywhere - a school, a hospital, a neighborhood. According to the American Community Garden Association (www.communitygarden.org) the benefits of a community garden include: 

In addition, a community garden can help teach children (and adults!) about eating healthy foods; children and adults, alike, are more likely to try new foods if they've been involved with their growth, harvesting, and/or preparation.

While building a community garden doesn't have to be a huge undertaking, it does require careful planning and preparation. The American Community Garden Association (www.communitygarden.org) provides a step-by-step guide for building a community garden as well as a searchable database of community gardens throughout the United States. Locating a community garden in your state or with your same purpose (i.e., school garden, church garden) may be helpful in providing suggestions for sponsorship, recruiting volunteers, identifying a site, and problem-solving issues like difficult weather and vandalism.

Urban harvest (www.urbanharvest.org) is another great web site for finding motivation and resources for starting and managing a community garden.

If you've participated in a community garden, please share your experiences and most helpful resources here. What was most rewarding about being part of a community garden? What were your biggest struggles?

The growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. and around the world is a stark reminder that that our calorie balance is out of whack.  The fact that most people who lose weight gain it back indicates that it is extremely difficult for people to sustain major changes to their calorie (food) intake or energy expenditure (i.e, physical activity). 

So maybe the solution is not in helping those who are already overweight to lose weight but helping everyone – lean and overweight – prevent further weight gain.  And that, according to one prominent obesity researcher, would only require small changes in diet and physical activity¹.

How small?

A calorie deficit – or “gap” – of about 50 to 100 calories per day.

On average, adults in the U.S. gain about 0.5 to 1.0 pounds a year.  According to numerous studies, this gradual weight gain could be halted by eating 100 calories less each day, increasing daily energy expenditure by 100 calories, or some combination of reduced energy intake and increased energy expenditure. 

What do 100 calories look like?

Calories In 

• 8  ounces of regular soda, beer or fruit juice
• 1/3 of a small order of French fries
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• ½ of a glazed doughtnut
• 1.5 tablespoons of ranch salad dressing

Calories Out*

• 13 minutes of lawn mowing with a walking mower
• 24 minutes of Frisbee throwing
• 22 minutes of brisk walking
• 2,000 steps
• 17 minutes of golf – without a cart

What are ways you could prevent weight gain by cutting your calories slightly or increasing your physical activity a little?

* Based on a 175 pound person. If you weigh less than this, you would need to increase the number of minutes slightly.  If you weigh more than this, you would decrease the minutes slightly.

¹ Hill JO.  Can a small changes approach help address the obesity epidemic?  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  2009;89;477-84.

Wondering how often you should weigh yourself to determine whether you're in calorie balance?

Some research has shown that people who have lost weight and weigh every day are less likely to gain back the weight. But, daily weigh-ins may not be helpful for everyone. The advantage to daily weigh-ins is that it is easy to catch small weight gains and get back on track with eating and physical activity behaviors, if needed. On the other hand, daily weigh-ins may frustrate some dieters who are working hard but see increases on the scale. A scale can't differentiate between gains or losses in fluid, muscle, or fat. If someone interprets a one-pound weight gain as fat, when it is really just water retention, he/she will likely be disappointed. And this can lead to unhealthy weight behaviors like skipping meals, avoiding the scale, or giving up completely.

A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal¹ found that biweekly (every other week) weigh-ins with a nurse were effective for weight loss maintenance in a large group of women. In this study, women were randomized to either an intensive support group (one-on-one sessions with a nutritionist and exercise trainer) or nurse support group (brief weigh-in visits and phone calls alternating weeks), and one of two diets - high carbohydrate or high monounsaturated fat. Compliance with both the intensive support group and bi-weekly weigh-ins was high, and weight loss maintenance did not differ between support or dietary groups. Thus, researchers concluded that weigh-ins every other week with a nurse, or maybe even another healthcare provider are effective for weight loss maintenance.

According to the National Weight Control Registry, an ongoing survey of over 5,000 men and women who have lost at least 30 pounds and maintained weight loss of at least 30 pounds for 1 year or more, weekly weighing is very important. In fact, 75% of the participants report weighing themselves at least once per week.

So what's the answer? Weighing once per week is probably enough. Weigh at a scheduled time each week with similar amounts of clothing. If the scale reads high, think about your behaviors over the past week and if you had any lapses. If the scale reads low, congratulate yourself for achieving a negative calorie balance. If you think you need to be held accountable to someone other than yourself, consider calling a friend or healthcare provider (or sending him/her an e-mail) each week with your current weight.

How often do you weigh yourself?

¹Dale, K.S. (2009).Determining optimal approaches for weight maintenance: a randomized controlled trial. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 180(10).

Get a picture in your mind of a family member or friend who is sedentary. When do you think was the last time this person’s doctor gave them advice on their physical activity level? Or better yet, took enough time to map out a physical activity goal and plan with them? Chances are your answer is “never.”

Unfortunately, many primary care physicians do not promote physical activity to their patients beyond the perfunctory, “Get more exercise” admonition. Studies have shown the reasons for this to be lack of:

• time
• reimbursement for time spent doing exercise counseling
• confidence in their ability to provide suitable exercise guidance
• confidence that patients will change their physical activity habits.

Notice that I didn’t say “lack of belief that exercise is important.” We know from unpublished qualitative research conducted at The Cooper Institute that most health care providers know that physical activity is important and believe that their sedentary patients will benefit from getting more exercise.

Still, there have been only a few studies that have explored whether getting doctors to counsel their patients on physical activity actually leads to increased physical activity and fitness levels. For the most part, the findings have been moderately positive at best. A more recent study may offer some insight on this.

Researchers in Spain recruited over 50 primary care physicians who were then randomized to either a standard care (SC) or counseling intervention (CI) category¹. The doctors then recruited over 4,300 patients. The patients of the CI group doctors, received brief physical activity advice or advice plus a 15-minute educational session in which the doctor helped the patient develop a personalized exercise plan.

After six months, the CI group patients significantly increased their physical activity and energy expenditure levels compared to the SC group patients. Patients who were older than 50 seemed to especially benefit from the intervention. And those who received the extra educational session far exceeded the patients in SC group, regardless of age.

So it appears from this study that doctors giving physical activity advice is a good thing and may get some people – especially older people – moving more and burning more calories. Better still is if doctors would help patients come up with a personal plan for increasing their physical activity level. Now, the question is, “Where are doctors going to get the 15 minutes per patient to do the counseling?”

I guess that is what you call health care reform.

¹ Grandes G, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity advice and prescription by physicians in routine primary care. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169(7):694-701.

From time to time we expose the calorie content of certain foods to enable you to make educated decisions when eating out. While some restaurants choose to (or are required to) provide this information, many don't . And without knowing how many calories you are consuming, how will you know if you've run over your daily calorie allowance?

This week we're revealing the min, the max, and the Ay Dios Mio! (oh my gosh!) of calories found in various Mexican foods. We'll also provide some simple strategies for cutting calories when eating Mexican fare.

Lower Calorie Chioces*: Chicken tortilla soup; 1 to 2 grilled chicken, beef or fish soft tacos; chicken salsa fresca

Higher Calorie Choices*: small (4 slices) grilled chicken, steak or cheese quesadillas; grilled vegetable fajitas; 1 to 2 chicken, beef or fish crispy tacos or enchiladas 

Extremely High Calorie Choices*: Chicken, steak or shrimp fajita platter; fajita or taco salad with dressing; chicken, beef or vegetable enchilada platter; chicken or beef burritos; chicken or beef chimichangas; chicken or fish with creamy red chile sauce

*Calorie content provided by nationwide chains. Food items do not include rice and beans. Lower calorie choices have 500 calories or less per typical serving; higher calorie choices have between 501 calories and 800 calories per typical serving; and extremely high calorie choices have over 800 calories per typical serving.

More Ways to Lighten your Mexican Plate:

• Tacos and taco salads - ask for cheese and dressing to be served on the side 
• Fajitas - ask for less oil and no butter when frying meat, fish and veggies 
• Enchiladas and burritos - order grilled chicken or fish
• Beans - order black beans or charro (pinto) benas instead of refried beans
• Rice - ask for a side of salad or grilled vegetables instead
• Condiments - use pico de gallo or salsa as a topping instead of sour cream
• Tortillas and tortilla chips - limit them and ask for corn tortillas instead of flour
• Alcoholic beverages - margaritas typically have 250-500 calories; think before you drink! 
• Platters - avoid combos and mega-platters; instead, order a la carte

Moderate-intensity physical activity. We’ve used this phrase throughout the Stand Up & Eat blog. Why? Current recommendations for adults are to do at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week (or some combo of the two).

Just what does moderate-intensity feel like?

Well, if you’re an exercise physiologist, moderate-intensity is equal to 3.0 to 5.9 METs. A MET is a way of describing the amount of energy (calories) the body is burning relative to energy burned at complete rest. So 1 MET is rest, 2 METs means the body is burning calories at twice the rate of rest, 3 METs is three times, and so on.

OK, that doesn’t help the average person much.

Another way to know if you are exercising at the recommended moderate-intensity level is by rating how hard you think you’re working. Called the “rating of perceived exertion (RPE),” you simply estimate on a scale of 0 (not at all hard) to 10 (extremely hard) what number best matches your effort while exercising. If you rate your physical activity intensity at 5-6, then you are likely doing moderate-intensity exercise. If you rate yourself lower than 5, you would need to pick up the pace a bit.

A similar self-rating strategy is the “talk test.” It goes like this. If you are doing a physical activity and you can sing a song at the same time, you are at a light-intensity level. If you can’t sing but you can still talk fairly comfortably, you are in the moderate-intensity zone. If you are so breathless that you can’t sing or talk, you’re doing a high-intensity physical activity.

The newest method for helping people judge their exercise intensity requires a step counter and a watch. We have blogged previously about the great benefits of using a step counter to get and stay physically active. But one downside to using step counters is that a step is a step whether done at a stroll or a full-bore run. So you may be reaching your daily step number goal but you don’t know if you are attaining the recommended moderate-intensity goal.

New studies^1,2 now suggest that if you walk at a pace where you are doing about 1,000 steps in 10 minutes (100 steps a minute), you will be burning calories at the 3 MET, 5-6 RPE, or “talk but not sing” levels. That is, you’re at the moderate-intensity level that is recommended to get health and fitness benefits. Yes, it is a rather crude way to estimate exercise intensity, but scientists believe that it’s practicality outweighs it’s imprecision.

So the next time you go for a walk, check the number of steps on your pedometer and the time on your watch before you head out. When you’re done, divide the number of steps you walked by 100. If this number matches or is more than the number of minutes you walked, then you likely were walking at a moderate (or higher) intensity. Pay attention to how you felt during your walk and aim to do most of your daily physical activities at that same intensity level.

1. Marshall SJ, et al. Translating physical activity recommendations into pedometer-based step goal: 3,000 steps in 30 minutes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2009;36(5):410-415.

2. Tudor-Locke, CE et al. Redometer-based step count guidelines for classifying intensity in a young ostensibly health population. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology. 2005;30:666-676.

Spring and Summer-like temperatures are here, which means more opportunities to get outside and be active and more choices (and cheaper prices!) for fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the quintessential nutrient-rich, low-calorie foods. So why do so few people eat the recommended amounts? Here are some frequently cited barriers:

• They're too expensive.
• My small grocery store only sells apples and bananas.
• I don't know how to select fresh fruits and vegetables.
• They don't taste good.
• I can't cook.

Sound familiar? Fortunately, there are some great resources out there that can help you overcome these barriers.

Farmer's Markets. In addition to your weekly trip to the supermarket or grocery store, consider stopping at a nearby farmer's market. Farmer's market produce is usually locally grown, offered at lower prices, and very fresh. See if there's a farmer's market near you: http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets.

Tips for Selecting the Best Fresh Produce. Buying a whole melon or pineapple can be risky if you don't know the signs of ripeness. This guide tells you what to look for when picking out your produce: http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/spfiles/SP527.pdf.

Easy Fruit and Vegetable Recipes for the Whole Family. While many fresh fruits and vegetables can be eaten raw without additional preparation (after all, they are nature's fast food!), these web sites provide great recipes for preparing a snack or meal with just about and fruit or vegetable you can buy: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org and http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov.

Wondering how many cups of fruit and vegetables you should be eating each day? Click here. If you take out some measuring cups you'll see that over the course of a day it's really not that tough to meet these recommendations. A half-cup of orange juice and small banana on your cereal for breakfast, an apple for a snack, a large salad at lunch, carrot sticks before dinner, chicken stir fried with broccoli at night and a bowl of berries with a dollop of cream for dessert will do it! 

OK, so the brain is not a muscle.  But your muscles and your mind are connected in many, yet to be fully understood, ways.  To date, the data suggest that people who are more active have better cognition or simply, better ability to think.  Many researchers are working to unravel the mysteries of how moving more may help keep our brains limber as we age.

One of the challenges is accurately determining just how active people are.  Researchers have used recall questionnaires or interviews to get study participants to describe their physical activities.  Self-reporting one’s physical activity level usually relies on the participant:

• remembering what activities they did in the preceding days, usually at least seven days. 
• characterizing each activity by its perceived (key word is perceived) intensity level -- light, moderate, or vigorous. 

See where I am going with this?  Relying on memory and intensity level estimations in a group of people (i.e., older adults) who are -- because of the simple fact they are aging -- at risk of cognitive decline may confound the analyses and conclusions that can be made from such studies.

So one group of scientists used technology to improve on the methods employed in previous studies.¹  They had over 500 men and women who were in their early 80’s wear an accelerometer for about 9 days.  An accelerometer is device that measures movement AND  intensity for a more accurate, objective assessment of total physical activity.  Using measured activity, these researchers found that increased physical activity was associated with better cognition as measured by an overall cognition score as well as scores on subscales related to different types of memory and perception.

“Move it or lose it” is a common motivating statement in the fitness world.  It means you need to work your muscles to maintain your fitness.  Research is suggesting that the same saying could also apply to  staying active to prevent loss of cognitive function as we get older.

¹ Buchman AS, Wilson RS, and Bennett DA.  Total daily activity is associated with cognition in older adults.  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.  2008;16(8):697-701.