Eating at parties can be challenging while you’re trying to lose weight…but it can be done with minimal damage to your eating plan.  Follow these simple steps to party eating and never avoid the food table again!

1. Avoid ‘grazing’ – party food is often very high in calories (think mini quiches, cheese platters, chips, potato salad and the like), having one little high calorie yum yum here and there will add up to a lot of high calorie yum yums over the course of an evening.  Remember, 4 little cubes of cheese can easily = 300 calories.

• Put everything you intend to eat on your plate at once.  This will give you both a sense of actually eating something substantial and provide you with visual feedback on just how much you are consuming.

2. Follow the PLATE MODEL – making sure you get a combination of starchy foods, protein foods and vegetables is the best way to feel physically satisfied from a cocktail party style menu.

• Starch: choose a dinner role or grain salad (like quinoa salad or tubule)  over chips or potato salad
• Protein: choosing cold cuts like ham or turkey over cheese or salami will save you more than double the calories
• Veggies: load up!  Eat as many veggies without the dip (or with very little) as it takes to fill yourself up.  Sorry… ceasar salad is typically high in calories.

Following these simple rules will go a long way to keep you on track.  Have your own party survival tip?  Post it on our Facebook page (and become a fan)!

Eden Organics ‘bean and grain’ mixtures.

As usual, I love finding new products, especially ones that are nutritious and uber easy – giving my clients no excuse not to follow their eating plan.  These are what I like to call ‘a nutritional gem’; high in fibre, high in protein, acceptable sodium (700 mg per meal) and sugar (10g or less) levels and the perfect amount of calories for a meal (around 350 per can). All the Eden Organic bean and grain mixtures contain the starch part of the plate, and the protein.

The only thing I would add to this meal to make it perfect is more vegetables.  According to Spectrum Nutrition’s PLATE MODEL, half the plate should be made up of vegetables.  Although this meal does come with an intrinsic amount of veggie material, you’d be hard pressed to convince me that they’ve managed to squish 1/2 a plate’s worth into a can.  So what do I recommend?  Add a can of Eden Organics bean and grains to an all veggie salad (remember, 40 calories or less per Tbsp of dressing is ideal) and you’ve got a perfect on the go meal without all the salt, fat and calories of take out.

Have you tried ‘Nourish’?  Tell us what you think on our Facebook page and become a fan!

Are you under the influence?

Dr. Wansink, an Economics & Management professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York studies all sorts of external cues that might influence us to over eat.  You may recall the never ending soup experiment where people ate 73% more soup if their soup bowl unwittingly was refilled (from a secrete ‘hole’ in the bottom of the dish).  Well Dr. Wansink has a few more tips stemming from similar research which I’d like to pass on here:

• Put your food on a smaller plate (it looks like more food 😉
• Candies and other sweets are best kept in an opaque bowl (as oppose to clear) and kept at least 6 feet from arms reach
• Put chips, popcorn and other snacks into smaller containers – every waistline of those dipping into the bowl will thank you
• Pre-portion your food or snacks – 100 calorie snacks are a good start
• Put the ‘good’ for your foods at the front of your cupboard or fridge, the first thing you see is the first thing you eat

Incidentally, Dr. Wansink also found that it doesn’t seem to help that you know not following these recommendations will cause you to over eat – you actually have to put them into action or you will over eat.  “It’s easier to change your environment than to change your mind” so “why not give your self-control a break” and put these simple suggestions into action today.  Some pretty sound advice if you ask me.

Ever wonder why you can hold up two of the same products made by different brands and one seems to have a whole lot less calories than the other (think lasagna)?

There’s a little trick I use to keep the calories low in mixed dishes like lasagna, Sloppy Joes, tacos, chili, spaghetti sauce (or other meat sauce):  “Bulk” up the meat part of the dish with as many vegetables as you can handle!

Think of it this way, if you normally use 2lbs of ground meat in your lasagna recipe in order to make enough sauce for the whole dish, you are essentially doubling the calories you’ll get out of every serving.  Instead, why not use one pound of lean ground meat (ground chicken breast has ½ the calories as extra lean ground beef), PLUS chopped peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, onion or any other vegetable you think might taste good.  I use this concept when making taco’s, chili, stroganoff and many other dishes.  In fact, this little trick works so well I’ve managed to conjure up a lasagna recipe that only has 350 calories per serving…and we’re talking ‘man’ sized servings ;)…check out our recipe section for details!

So go ahead, get chopping and do something good for your health…and your waist line!

What are plant sterols and are they good for you?

Plant sterols are a set of natural compounds found in plants that are structurally similar to cholesterol.  These food components actually interfere with cholesterol absorption and therefore have been found to lower cholesterol levels for those who have moderate to high cholesterol.

Studies have found however, that just taking additional plant sterols in supplement form is not overly useful at lowering cholesterol levels.  What the studies do show is that taking up to 3g of plant sterols when mixed with dietary fat does help lower cholesterol.  So where does that leave you in terms of getting enough plant sterols in your diet?

The good news is…all you have to do is eat your fruits and vegetables!  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds all contain plant sterols

1. Try Becel’s new “pro.active” margarine – Each serving (2 tsp) contains 0.8g of added plant sterols

Just one more reason eating your fruits and veggies is a good thing 😉

Ahhh, summer.  We enter the wonderful time of year when fresh summer salads become staple summer meals.  And although arguing that such a tradition is not healthful would be unwise, a few words of caution need to be expressed for the summer savvy salad creator.

There are some basic components to a well thought out meal; a high fibre source of starch, lot’s of vegetables and a lean source of protein (most of you know this as “the plate model” by now ;).  As salads go, this could be richly green romaine lettuce arranged on a bed of quinoa, topped with a freshly grilled red snapper fillet.  Add a few more veggies and a low fat dressing and this is a perfectly balanced summer salad meal adhering to even the most strict of dieters palates.  If following the plate model, this salad would provide the average women with around 400 calories.  Not bad.

Now…add to that oven roasted corn kernels (prepared with a little olive oil), dried cranberries, a sprinkling of sesame or pumpkin seeds, a dash of feta cheese and a home made oil and vinegar dressing…suddenly your dieters delight has turned into a calorie parfait.  Now your salad is worth approximately 800 calories more!  Not good.

Things like avocado, dried fruits, cheese or nuts can really add up the calories in these summer staples.  A quarter cup of any of them will add 90, 130, 180 and 250 calories to your salad respectively.  My advice, keep your salads simple, use a low fat dressing and enjoy the lightness of this meal, not just the illusion of it.

It’s finally here.  A quick and easy to use app that gives the low down on all those ingredients in your food that you have no idea how to even pronounce their names, never mind what they are!  That’s right…Food additives; what they are, what’s the latest science saying about them and most importantly, are they safe for you to eat.

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest has come up with a $0.99 app called Chemical Cuisine where you can find answers if you’ve ever wondered what ‘Inosine Monophosphate’ is and if it’s safe for you to be eating in your food.

My recommendation? Check it out. You can download this app from the ITunes or Android Market – it makes a very interesting read!

Is eating earlier in the day better than eating late at night?

Weight Watchers, Dr. Atkins, the authors of the South Beach diet all have touted that foods should be consumed earlier in the day rather than late at night.  This has amounted to one BIG assumption that eating when you are less physically active (at night) will ‘cause’ you to store those calories as fat rather than being burned for energy.

True, we would agree that eating the energy your body needs when you require that energy (meaning during the day when you’re the most active) is the logical way to feel your best…but there is no hard evidence concluding that just because you consume energy later at night you are going to store it as fat.  In fact quite the opposite; A US study followed 7400 women and men for 10 years and concluded that the percentage of calories consumed after 5pm had no bearing on weight change.

You see the truth is weight gain (and weight loss for that matter) is a numbers game.  Calories in have to be less than calories out. If you eat too much food (too many calories), then you’re going to store the excess as fat.  So even if you ate all your food after 9pm everyday – as long as it wasn’t overall too much food (calorie wise), then you’d maintain your weight.  …wouldn’t do much for your energy levels especially during the day when you need more energy, blood sugar control and mood throughout the day though – but we’re talking weight here, right? 😉

While the sun is out you might just be attending a BBQ with friends in the near future!  But navigating your diet at a BBQ need not be difficult.  There are some basics to every BBQ that make following the PLATE MODEL easy: there’s always a starch (think buns, potato salad etc.), veggies and something for the grill.  So follow the plate model and you’re set right?  …well, almost.

Typical BBQ fare can pack more calories than we expect.  The biggest culprit: potato salad.  The average potato salad provides you with a generous serving of 250-300 calories per ½ cup!  All is not lost however…Check out our potato salad recipe posted on our ‘recipes’ blog – this ultra delicious and low calorie rendition of the dish will leave your head whirling!

A few more calorie saving tips for your next BBQ:

• Skip the cheese on burgers (saves 120 calories)
• Have the veggies without the dip (saves 200 calories – or use low fat dressing – saves 1/2 the calories)
• Use low fat condiments such as mayonnaise and avoid the sauce on the meat (saves 100 calories)

We are creatures of habit after all…but have you ever wondered *why* it is so hard to change our diet?

If you think of it this way, when you discover a new cereal or frozen pizza you liked at the grocery store, you’d change brands at the drop of a hat.  And what about a new entrée or special at a restaurant… You’d try it wouldn’t you?  If you can do that you can change your diet – it’s just that simple!

At Spectrum Nutrition, week by week, we introduce you to new food products, ideas and ways of thinking about your food choices so that by the time you’re done the program – these little changes add up to one big ‘lifestyle’ change and permanent weight loss.  Try some of these simple little changes every day and watch the results…before you know it; you’ll be eating better and controlling your weight!

• Meat or cheese – NOT both on your sandwiches and salads
• Insist on double veggies at restaurants
• Go for ‘kids’ sized desserts and other treats
• Make it a skinny latte – not full fat
• Go for ½ fat everything – cottage cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, cream cheese, yogurt, milk