The Baby Fat Dieter's Guide to Fast Food

In the midst of a pretty stressful week that involved more than usual amounts of takeout, I ran across this press release talking about the dissatisfaction consumers have with the healthy selections at chain restaurants, including fast food joints. It got me thinking about the choices we've had as we ordered, took out or drove through this week. I think the main problem is that the healthy selections aren't always as appealing as the less healthy choices (think carrot sticks vs french fries). Restaurants can definitely stand to offer more equally tasty yet healthier choices and I do believe it can be done. To me, a grilled chicken sandwich is a great example of a healthier choice that I find just as, if not more, tasty than the greasy, deep-fried version. It may take some time for restaurants to heed the call, so in the meanwhile some of the tactics I use to keep my family's selections reasonable:

• Choose the must have item on the menu and have a small portion (cheeseburger or Whopper Jr not a bacon double cheeseburger)
• Balance the choice with something healthy, like nonfat milk or water rather than soda or a milkshake
• Avoid the "value meal" - it isn't such a value if you wouldn't have ordered the side dishes in the first place
• If you must have fries, get one order that everyone can share
• Most often visit restaurants with healthier selections that you enjoy, limiting those with hard to resist fatty foods to once a month
• VERY IMPORTANT: when your kids are done with their food either wrap up the rest or throw it away; eating their leftovers doesn't do anyone any good

After one of those weeks when I'm just glad everyone got fed at all, TGIF!

Stress and Weight Gain

While we have heard that stress is not good for our health including weight gain, researchers are just beginning to understand why. Information that may help explain why stress may impact weight gain was published yesterday (click here to read about it). This study is important because it can help researchers find solutions to our obesity epidemic. Although the research findings are exciting, it is worth mentioning that we are not mice. So, a study such as this is mainly used for researchers to design better human studies versus making recommendations for humans.

In another experiment, the researchers found that stressed-out mice tend to gain twice as much weight in the belly area than expected given the calories they consumed. The results show that it was not just stress but the combination of stress and high-fat, sugary foods that led to weight gain. Even though this was shown in mice, who can argue with decreasing stress, high-fat and sugary foods? We will keep an eye out for the human version of these studies.

Baby Fat Portion Sizes for Moms

"Portion control" -- this is now the "buzz" phrase for controlling how much we eat. You can now see the food companies responding by the increase in 100 calorie (or less) snack packs now on the market, for example, one of my favorites is the Quaker Mini Delights 90 Calorie Packs, Chocolatey Drizzle. Too see a report on what people think of portion control click here.

Portion control is how we eat in our house -- we eat all the foods we like and through "portion control" manage how much we eat of all foods. What most do not realize, is that portion-control is not just about limiting the bad foods but it is also about including portions of good foods. For example, this past weekend I indulged in a juicy, grilled cheeseburger and made sure to add onions and green leafys, ate plenty of fruit off of the fruit tray and avoided eating my son's left over real beef hot dog and potato chips (this was not easy). We would love to hear how you "portion-control" your foods.