January 1st is a time for making resolutions and losing weight undoubtedly will be high on many people’s goals for 2010.  If you are one of them, here’s a great diet to try:  “Eat more greens and less seeds. “  That’s it. 

This is the advice that Michael Pollan, an acclaimed journalist who specializes in exposing the unhealthy consequences of our commercial food industry, including our agribusiness way of farming.  Pollan has written several bestsellers including the “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”  Both are excellent books that every eater (that’s you!) should read and digest.  You can read more about Pollan, his work, and his interests at www.michaelpollan.com.

Weight management is simply the result of balancing the calories your body burns each day with the same amount of calories from food.  The problem is people who have lost control of their weight (that’s most of us as more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight) are eating more calories than they burn.   Countless diet books, plans, and programs flourish this time each year as more people try to get back in control of their calorie balance.  (Of course, the Stand Up & Eat web site stays focused on this issue all year long.)

Now back to the weight loss solution of “Eat more greens and less seeds.”  This is one of the main threads of Pollan’s “In Defense of Food” book.  Let’s first talk seeds.

Eat Less Seeds
The vision of “seeds” that probably first came to your mind was things like sunflower, pumpkin, or sesame seeds.  But these comprise just a miniscule amount of the calories we eat.  No, the biggest source of calories in our diets comes from the seeds know as corn, wheat, rice, barley, and other grains.  That is right, grains.  You see, we rarely eat anything but the seed part of the corn plant or the wheat plant.  When was the last time you dined on corn stalk or corn husk?  Eating seeds (aka grains) is not bad, in fact there is some evidence that eating whole grains contributes to weight loss and improvement of heart disease risk factors.  And they are a rich source of important nutrients such as fiber and antioxidants.

What grains/seeds should you eat less of then to lose weight?  The processed ones. 

Let’s take corn for example.  Whereas whole corn is,  well, corn, processed corn is turned into refined corn flour (a starch), corn syrup (a sweetener), corn oil (a fat), and corn gluten (a protein used in animal feed), just to name a few by-products.  These processed corn products find their way back into your diet in the form of corn flakes cereal, sweeteners for sodas, cakes, cookies, etc., cooking oils for frying French fries, and in meats such as beef and pork.  So while you don’t think you are eating a lot of seeds, you are, and to lose weight you will need to find ways to cut down on them (see “Putting the New Diet on Your Table” section below).

Eat More Leaves
Okay, so if you eat less seeds what should you eat more of?  According to Pollan, “Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.” (This is also the advice of nutrition scientists and health professionals.) Plants, in particular vegetables and fruits, are excellent sources of antioxidants and fiber.  And because vegetables and fruits are high in fiber and water and low in fat, they are naturally low in calories.  Ta da!  There is the answer to why the Eat More Greens and Less Seeds Diet will work for you!

Putting the New Diet on Your Table
If this new diet sounds complicated, it’s not.  A simple way to make sure you are following this innovative weight-loss diet is to make sure your plate at each meal resembles the one shown in the “Contem-Plate Your Meals” worksheet.  You will see that one-half of your plate should be filled with nonstarchy vegetables and/or fruits (raw, cooked, or canned), one-quarter by whole-grain pasta, bread, bread or potatoes, and only one-quarter by lean meats, poultry, fish or low-fat meat alternatives such as tofu, beans or eggs.  This healthy approach will help you lose weight, get more nutrients, and feel full in the New Year.

And don’t forget the other side of the energy balance and weight loss equation – burning calories through physical activity.  Check out last week's blog for great exercise ideas to get you started.   

Many school districts have removed recess and gym class as required courses.  Studies suggest exercise improves brain function in kids. A recent study¹ reported in Psychology of Sport and Exercise studied the immediate effects of exercise on the brain in 7- and 10-year old boys.  Boys in each age group were assigned to either a no exercise (control) or exercise group.  Two tests which measured reaction time and decision making ability were given to both groups.  All boys performed a practice session to become familiar with the tests before the first official testing session.  Then both groups were tested before and after one of two conditions.  One group rode the bicycle at a heart rate of 130 beats/minute while watching a TV show. The other group sat on a bike and watched the same TV show for 30 minutes (control group).  Both groups scored the same when tested before 30 minutes of exercise or sitting on the bike.  However, reaction time and decision making skill improved in both the 7 and 10-year olds after exercise.  There were no changes in brain function in the group that sat on the bike for 30 minutes. 

The better test scores after exercise suggest that exercise has an immediate positive effect on the brain.  Exercise breaks during the day and after school seem to be a “brain booster”.  This supports the results of two studies released this year.  They studied 2.4 million public school students in Texas (March 9 press release) and 1.1 million students within the New York City Department of Education.  Studies showed higher fitness levels were related to higher test scores.  Higher fitness levels are also related to better school attendance and fewer negative school incidents. 

The Cooper Institute and NFL Charities have partnered to improve health and prevent obesity in children.  If your school would like to be involved in the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM project* please call or email below) to be placed on a waiting list.

Call: 1-800-635-7050
 E-Mail: NFLPLAY60FG@cooperinst.org
*This is not a guarantee of acceptance into the project
*If selected you will be contacted by a participating NFL team.

1 Ellemberg, D and St-Louis-Deschenes, M. The effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive function during development. Psychology of Sport and Exercise (2009), doi: 10.1016/psychsport.2009.09.006

The holidays have descended upon you and you can’t pass on Uncle Bert’s special eggnog.  Perhaps you have visions of Grandma’s sugar cookies dancing in your head (and on your tongue!).  Maybe you also have not-so-nice visions of having to let your belt out a notch or two the first week of January.

Fear not.  You can have your holiday fruitcake and eat it, too.  The antidote for all of these extra holiday calories is – physical activity, of course.   Here’s a list of common holiday treats, their calories, and how how long you would need to do a brisk walk to burn off the calories for each one.*

• Eggnog (1 cup) – 343 calories; 48 minutes
• Candy cane – 45 calories; 6 minutes
• Fruitcake – 410 calories; 57 minutes
• Sugar cookies (2) – 320 calories; 44 minutes
• Hot mulled cider – 148 calories; 21 minutes
• Latkes (2) – 248 calories; 34 minutes
• Champagne – 91 calories; 13 minutes

Check out Monday’s blog for more ideas of ways to balance out the extra calories you eat this holiday.  And tell us how you plan to keep your belt on the same notch all throughout the holiday season.

* Based on a reference person who weighs 180 pounds.  If you weigh less than this, you would need to do walk a slightly longer and if you weigh more, you’d need to walk a little less.

Are you afraid that you’ll gain weight this holiday season?  Or maybe you are worried about maintaining your fitness routine during the busy holidays? Worry no more. There are simple, but realistic ways to stay fit and trim during the holiday season. 

In a typical day 60-70% of all calories burned are for basic body needs including sleeping and awakening. Then 10% of the calories you use are for the digestion of food and 15-30% are used during physical activity.¹ To maintain your current weight “calories eaten must equal calories used”.  The good news is you have control over 15-30% of your daily calories based on increasing or decreasing physical activity.  The key during the holidays is how to work activity (calorie burning) into a busy schedule in order to counteract the “extra calories” you typically eat or drink. Every 10 minutes of activity counts toward fitness and important calorie burning. You do not have to have a half hour or more to get fitness benefits from activity as was explored in the blog “Take 10.”  It all counts and can help you stay on track with weight control and fitness goals.

The following are suggestions for simple 10 minute activities. 
• Put on a step counter and challenge yourself to increase your steps every day
• Walk the dog at a quick pace once, or even twice a day
• Consider walking to do an errand at a nearby store
• Take a fitness lap by walking in the mall and window shop
• Toss the football or Frisbee
• Do push ups against the kitchen counter and do some body squats
• Follow along with a cable television exercise program
• Get the basketball out and play “horse” and just have fun
• Golfers, skip the cart rental and walk the course
• Go sledding, snow shoe walking, or skiing in your winter wonder land
• Ice skate at the mall, local hockey rink, or outdoors
• Bicycle with any family member who gets a new bike for the holidays

What else can you think of?

Finally, consider entering the entire family in a holiday fun walk/run. Many fun runs include a 1K option as well as the 5K-15 K distances.  This could burn an additional 200-1500 calories depending on the distance covered, weight, fitness level and speed of walking or running.

To see how many calories you would burn based on your current weight, ages, and gender, check out the “How many calories do I really burn?” portion of  the Tools section of www.StandUpandEat.org. It will show you how many calories you burn for a wide variety of activities.  Another great resource for counting calories burned can be accessed here.

Both will help you stay on track and motivate you to stay fit during the holidays.

¹ Pi-Sunyer, F. Overnutrition and undernutrition as modifiers of metabolic
processes in disease states. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Aug, 72 :533S-7S, 2000.

We have been following the New York City public health department’s efforts to educate the masses about healthier food options.  Earlier blogs focused on their food labeling initiatives.

• Read ‘Em Before You Eat ‘Em
• The Big Apple Puts a Bite in Calorie Labeling

Now NYC is making news for using YouTube to tell people that drinking on can of regular soda per day can add 10 pounds of fat to your body in a year.  This follows a three month poster campaign  (see picture above).  The idea of the posters and video is to make people aware of the growing epidemic of obesity and the potential contribution of sugar-sweetened drinks to excess calories and body fat.  So the angle the health department has taken is to shock people into thinking twice about downing another soda. 

What’s so racy about the message? Nothing. But the visual is pretty graphic. Check out the video by clicking here. The video clip is building steam. There were over 78,000 views in the first two days.

So what do you think?  Do the images of a guy drinking body fat from a soda can make you:
• assess your own soda drinking habits?
• queasy?
• swear off drinking regular soda?
• give yourself a pat on the back because you don’t drink regular soda?

How effective do you think this type of message will be?  Tell us whether you give it a “Ew, gross” or “Cool stuff” vote. 

Can you believe it? Only 10 shopping days left until Christmas!  The holidays can be a wonderful and joyous time but for many, with this season comes some unwanted guests—no, not the in-laws—anxiety and stress. All of the shopping, decorating, card writing, baking, entertaining, partying, and our desire to make this the BEST Christmas ever can often be quite overwhelming. And this challenging economic time is definitely not helping. As a matter of fact, the American Psychological Association (APA) just released their 2009 National Stress in America Survey1 that found that at the time of the survey, 75 percent of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in the past month and nearly half reported that their stress had increased in the past year.

The stress response, often called the “fight or flight” response, causes a number of neural and hormonal events to occur that at one time helped us deal with a “physical” threat. Most of us do not encounter physical threats any longer but our minds are so powerful that we can set off this response in reaction to other stressors in our lives.  This, unfortunately, can impact both our mental and physical health. Headaches, upset stomach, lack of energy, and fatigue are just a few such examples. The good news is that research has proven time and time again that physical activity can help manage and ward off the harmful effects of stress.

Most of us would agree that exercising makes us “feel better” but we may not necessarily know why. In the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain author Dr. John J. Ratey explores the many ways exercise is good for our brain beyond the “runner’s high” that occurs from endorphin release. (Endorphins are chemicals produced by the body that act as our “natural pain killers” and produce a feeling of well-being.) Exercise can be the physical response to those chemical events that are brought on by the urge to “fight or take flight” decreasing the danger of those chemical events. Exercise also increases levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine which are chemicals that are important for brain function.  Stress has been shown to break down the connections between the nerve cells in the brain and even makes some parts of the brain smaller. The chemicals and growth factors that are released as a result of exercise have been shown to reverse this process. Just like muscle “grows” in response to exercise, so too does the brain. Some studies have shown exercise to be just as effective if not better at treating depression than medication. And there is even more!

Despite this, however, according to the APA survey, only 44 percent of adults report that they exercise or walk to relieve stress. So during the stress of the holidays here are some tips to ward off stress while gaining the many benefits exercise has to offer. Remember even if you are not able to do your normal exercise routine, some is better than none. And pick up Dr. Ratey’s book as a stocking stuffer for you or someone you love. Hopefully that will allow you to check something off your list and may even help decrease your stress!

•   Take a walk to see the holiday decorations in your neighborhood
•   Round up the family to take a walk after your holiday meal
•   Park your car farther away when shopping—it beats fighting for parking spaces
•   Play a game of flag football with the family
•   Start a “friendly” snowball fight
•   Visit a Christmas tree farm and cut down your own Christmas tree
•   Build a snowman
•   Walk around the house while making your holiday calls

Check out Happy Days are Here Again for more information on exercise and stress.

Happy Holidays!

1 American Psychological Association. (2009, November 3). 2009 Stress in America. Retrieved on   December 10, 2009 from the APA Help Center: http://apahelpcenter.mediaroom.com

2 Ratey, J.J. (2008). Spark: the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

A new study out of Temple University was published this week showing that the Head Start programs across the country are doing a pretty good job – more than what is required of them – of giving kids a healthy, energy-balanced start in life¹.  The question is, are you doing the same for your kids or grandkids?

Head Start is a national pre-school program for children from low-income families.  The program focuses on preparing young children for success in school by “enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.”  The Temple University study showed that on the health and nutrition side of things, Head Start is doing a great job.  Of the 1583 Head Start programs studied (87% of all Head Start programs):

• 97% served some fruit, other than 100% fruit juice, every day
• 94% served some vegetable other than French fries, every day
• 91% reported doing both of these daily
• 70% served only nonfat or 1% milk
• 64% celebrated special events with healthy foods or nonfood treats
• 54% did not allow vending machines for staff

Most of the programs did a good job on the calorie-burning side of the energy balance equation, including:

• 89% having an on-site outdoor play area
• 74% having instructed physical activities for at least 30 minutes every day
• 73% giving children the chance to do unstructured physical activities for at least 30 minutes every day
• 56% doing both types of physical activities

So bravo for Head Start!!  Now let’s turn the spotlight on you and your family’s habits.  Yes, the healthy practices scrutinized in this study are good for the whole family. How many of the following goals do you attain? 

Do you serve: 

• some type of fruit (fresh, canned, frozen, dried), other than 100% fruit juice, every day?
• some vegetable other than French fries, every day?
• only nonfat or 1% milk?
• only healthy foods or nonfood treats to celebrate special events?

Do you encourage your child to:

• play outside every day?
• do at least 60 minutes of age-appropriate physical activities every day?

How did you do?  If you hit all the goals consistently, good for you!  If not, take a look at several earlier blogs to get your kids off to a healthy head start on a lifetime of calorie balance and a healthy weight.

Healthy Eating Made Easy – Info on the MyPyramid resources for preschoolers and young kids.

Reduce Kids’ Calories By Cutting Calorie Density - Creative solutions for lowering calories without giving up nutrition

Physical Activity – It’s Child’s Play! - rphysical activity recommendations and resources for young children

¹ Whitaker RC, Gooze RA, Hughes CC, and Finkelstein DM.  A national survey of obesity prevention practices in Head Start.  Archive of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.  2009;163(12):114-1150.

Recently the Wii was confirmed again as a positive step in becoming more active compared to regular video games. “The range of energy expenditure in these active games is sufficient to prevent or improve obesity and lifestyle-related disease, from heart disease and diabetes to metabolic diseases,” according to Motohiko Miyachi, Ph.D.1 In August we took at look at calories burned playing the Wii versus doing the real activities in the blog “A Wii Bit of Physical Activity.”

But is the Wii the only active gift this holiday season? Of course not, there are a plethora of other gift ideas that can help to keep individuals moderately active. Moderate activity is defined by metabolic equivalent values, a standard method of estimating energy expenditure as a range of 3-6 METs with over 6 METs being considered vigorous intensity activity. Most individuals have a resting energy expenditure of approximately 1 to 1.6 calories per minute. Performing exercise at an intensity of 3 METs is equivalent to burning 3 times the number of calories per minute as they do at rest. So an activity that has a metabolic equivalency of 3 METs burns about 3 to 4.8 calories per minute for most individuals.

At the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2009 a study funded by Nintendo was presented that evaluated metabolic equivalent values, a standard method of estimating energy expenditure. It was found that activities in the Wii sports video games had average intensities ranging from 1.3 METs in lotus focus to 5.6 METs in the single-arm stand.

As energy expenditure was assessed in a metabolic chamber consisting of an airtight room, it was found that:

- Nine activities had less than 2 METs
- Twenty-three activities had 2-3 METs
- Nine activities had 3-4 METs
- Five activities had more than 4 METs

Of the five sports in the Wii Sports collection, boxing is the most effective activity with an expenditure of about 4.5 METs. The most effective single exercise was found to be the single-arm stand at 5.6 METs that involves standing up and lying down.

Other gift ideas for this holiday season that help get individuals more active like the Wii has been shown to do include:

- Cranium Hullabaloo – the 2003 Toy Industry Associations Game of the year that prompts kids to jump, dance and run around.
- Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! Game – kids must do certain tasks like balance an object on their nose while jumping up and down.
- Balance Maze Boards – Similar to a labyrinth game but balancing with your feet.

Not to mention the more traditional big ticket active gear items that include:
- Bicycles
- Skates
- Sleds
- Scooters
- Skis
- Or even trampolines

But even the low cost items like Hula-Hoops, Tumbling Mats and Jump Ropes can do just as much if not more to provide plenty of active movement that will meet or exceed the requirements for moderate activity. Jumping rope has been reported to be equivalent to an energy expenditure of 8-12 METs depending on the speed. 

So while gifts like these above and active video games cause much higher energy expenditure as opposed to non-interactive games, don’t forget the value of that sporadic homemade activity. So think about skipping the newest technologically advanced gift this season and try an old fashion ball, racket or other active outdoor piece of equipment. You never know, you might be surprised how excited you or the kids around you will get with this old fashion bit of fun!

So this holiday be a role model of active living and find a way to get outside and be active with others – in a special gift or that sporadic homemade activity.

1 K. Yamamoto, Ph.D.; K. Ohkawara, Ph.D.; and S. Tanaka, Ph.D. (2009, November 16). Playing active video games can equal moderate-intensity exercise. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from The American Heart Association’s website: http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=856

A new study shows that slowing down to enjoy your food and your company while eating will biologically help you eat less. And what better time to do this than the holidays when you're surrounded by great food, family, and friends?

While you may have heard that eating fast can lead to overconsumption of food and obesity, researchers from Greece and the UK set out to find the biological evidence behind this by serving 17 healthy men a generous portion of ice cream under two conditions.¹ First they ate the ice cream in two servings over 5 minutes. Next, they ate the same portion size in small servings over 30 minutes. They found that while the men's perceived feelings of fullness and hunger didn't differ significantly between the two meals, when the men ate slowly they showed higher blood levels of two hormones - peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide 1 - for three hours after the meal. Both of these hormones are known to be released from the digestive tract to signal "fullness" to the brain, curbing appetite and calorie intake. Thus, slow eating = increase in release of hormones linked to appetite control.

So instead of scarfing through your food, make a conscious effort to focus on conversation and put down your fork. Pay attention to the hunger and fullness signals your brain sends to your belly. When you're at a about a 5 on the hunger-fullness scale (below), just stop. You won't feel sick and guilty for overeating and your waistline will thank you!

^{1Kokkinos, A. (2009). Eating slowly increases the postprandial response of the anorexigenic gut hormones, peptide yy and glucagon-like peptide-1. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, Oct 29.}