The fat you need

If you're pregnant, nursing or had a baby in the last several years, hopefully your doctor recommended that you eat foods with DHA, and take a DHA supplement or a prenatal vitamin with DHA in it. DHA is one of those healthy omega-3 fats that has been shown to help with developing eye and brain function in babies - in the womb and out. It's passed along from the mom to baby in utero and in breastmilk. Many infant formulas are also fortified with the nutrient.
After sampling many products on the market, we've found a couple of decent-tasting ones that make it easier to choke down all the extra DHA you need during these critical times. Bellybar Chews are chocolate and citrus flavored supplements - similar in texture and taste to Viactiv - that have 50 mg of DHA in each (they also have calcium and vitamin D, which women tend to fall short on as well). While you need 200-300 mg of DHA each day, popping a couple here and there while including other foods with DHA (Eggland's Best fortified eggs have 100 mg each) may be more enjoyable than swallowing a DHA horse pill. Another good choice that gives you all of your DHA in one shot is Coromega liquid supplements. They taste good straight or you can mix one into your OJ.

Salt may be making us fat

If your family has been packing on the pounds, the culprit could be too much sodium. An interesting new study from London just came out in the journal Hypertension that showed a higher salt intake in kids was linked to a greater likelihood of becoming overweight and obese. The reason? Researchers speculate that all that salt makes the kids thirsty and they end up drinking loads of calories from soda and other drinks. While switching everyone in your family to water instead of all the liquid calories is one solution, reducing the amount of sodium you eat is beneficial for lowering blood pressure and heart disease risk as well.
Bottomline: when you're shopping keep an eye on the sodium too. While sodium is found in many of the obvious places like snack foods and fast food, lunch meats, cheeses and breads are often also full of salt. Look for lower sodium versions of these (Alpine Lace, Boar's Head, Ezekiel bread).
Luckily many food companies are on board with getting the salt down. I've noticed many new varieties of lower sodium soups on the grocery store shelves lately and Campbell's just announced they'd be lowering the sodium level in 12 of their condensed soups marketed to children. There's also good research showing that eating broth-based soups before meals helps to lower the number of calories you eat at that meal; so soup can be a great diet tool.

Are you really hungry?

If it is not your typical meal time or if it is after dinner and you should not be hungry but find yourself wanting food, then you are probably not truly hungry. For most, we are no longer in tune with our hunger signals. We eat for all kinds of reasons beyond true physiological hunger. So, let's start today to identify if we are truly hungry. Start by asking yourself the following questions --

• Am I thirsty? -- If so, have a glass of water
  
• Tired? -- this can lead to craving carbs, instead take a nap or take an energizing walk
  
• Bored? -- find something to do other than eating
• When was the last time I ate – was it less than 3 hours ago? -- If not, you should not be hungry
  
• Can I wait 15 minutes before I eat again? Until the next meal? -- If so, leave the kitchen or put down the treat you picked up from the check out line and distract yourself until your next meal.
  
• On a scale from 1 to 10, what is my hunger? One represents not very hungry while 10 represents extremely hungry. If you rate yourself an 8, 9 or 10, it’s time to eat.

You may be surprised at how many "false" hunger signals we experience throughout the day.

The link between clutter and overweight

Just caught a really interesting episode of Oprah with Peter Walsh, the de-clutter expert and author of "Does this clutter make my butt look fat?" The show was about an overweight family and the link between all of the excess stuff and the excess weight. There were some really good points Peter made:

• eating healthfully is impossible in an overcluttered kitchen (many people resort to takeout or eating out when their sink, refrigerator or cabinets are a mess)
• children model the behavior of their parents, including all of the excess

It served as a good reminder that environment plays a huge role in a child's healthy development. If we want kids to move freely in their surroundings and learn appropriate amounts of everything, we need to do our best to resist excess. If we want our children to eat right and exercise, we better eat right and exercise. Sometimes it's easy to forget that those little ones are watching all of our healthy or unhealthy habits. Here are some tips from Peter for tackling the excess:

• stop buying "stuff" - de-cluttering is first and foremost
• choose what's good and not what's easy (in other words, nourish yourself with a homemade meal and give the takeout menus a leave of absence)

With these points in mind, I think I'll go do the dishes and then get dinner started!

Eating for Energy

We could all use some extra energy - well, maybe not if you are under10 years of age. For those of us that are not bursting at the seams and running and skipping to everywhere we go, there are some healthy ways to feel more energetic. Besides exercising, which actually increases your energy level, there are certain eating habits that can also help. Ask yourself the following questions to see if your lack of energy is diet related --
-- first, have you eaten in the past 3-4 hours?
-- Are you eating healthy foods, that contain carbohydrates, such as fruits, veggies, low-fat yogurt and whole grain carbs?
-- Are you getting enough iron in your diet (you need 18 mg/day)? You can find iron in whole grain foods, beans, lentils, leafy greens, blackstrap molasses, iron-fortified cereals and beef and dark cuts of chicken. Vit C will help you absorb iron, so eat an orange or drink some orange juice with your iron-containing food.
-- How many glasses of liquid have you drank today? Make sure you stay hydrated -- drink your water.