Mom's diet may make for fat babies

A new study from the Journal of Neuroscience found that what you eat while pregnant can result in overeating and obesity in the child. The study was done on rats, however, it does seem to make sense that exposure to a high-fat diet in utero can lead to changes in brain development in the fetus, which create an appetite for fat. The offspring from those fed the high fat diet ate more throughout life, began puberty earlier (a common issue with overweight children as well) and weighed more as compared to those offspring from animals fed a balanced diet.
Bottomline eating a balanced, healthy diet during pregnancy offers advantages to you and your children:

• it will help you gain the right amount of weight so taking it off post-pregnancy is easier
• it helps to keep your child's weight down and him healthy throughout his life

While I would be the last person to tell you not to enjoy a some indulgences during pregnancy - chocolate was part of my diet everyday for all of my pregnancies - just make sure you balance it out with lots of nutritious fruits, veggies and whole grains.

Holidays and weekends could be sabotaging your weight loss

Came across a great article that hit home. It's about a new study that found that dieters regularly comsume more calories on the weekends than during the weekdays and those extra calories were making weight loss impossible. The reason it hit home for me is that one of my patients is having that exact issue. The scale won't budge, yet Monday through Friday his diet is pristine. The weekends are sabotaging all of his great eating during the week. Alcohol, eating out and less physical activity are all culprits. Interestingly, according to the study people who are extremely strict about their diet and do not give themselves breaks to cheat - like weekends or holidays - are 1 1/2 times more likely to keep off the pounds.
So, as we go into this Labor Day holiday weekend - keep your diet on track and do not allow those extra calories to sneak in. Here are some tips to help you:

• Eat a high-fiber breakfast with some protein (eg. oatmeal w/skim milk, egg whites and whole wheat toast + a piece of fruit) --make sure to eat enough to keep yourself satisfied, skimping on breakfast can backfire; I find about 400 calories at breakfast is right for most women
• At BBQs fill up your plate with salad, veggies, whole grains if there are any, and a small piece of lean protein; skip anything with mayonnaise
• If you want a drink, have one and make it a glass of wine or light beer; those fruity cocktails are really high in calories
• Exercise, at least 30 minutes each and every day - even holidays and weekends
• Keep a food journal and write down what you eat each day of the weekend; it holds you accountable
• Weigh yourself on Monday mornings; knowing you'll have to face the scale may help you to stay on track

Look for many more great tips to help you lose the baby weight and keep your diet on track in our new book The Baby Fat Diet -- available for preorder and on bookshelves this December.

Are diet drinks making you fat?

A study out of the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio found a positive relationship between diet drinks and weight gain. After following 1550 residents of San Antonio for 8 years, they found that for every can (12oz) of diet soda consumed a day a person's risk of becoming obese went up by 41%. Now, this does not mean that diet soda causes obesity, but there does seem to be a link. Some believe that the sweetness in diet soda causes a person to crave more sweet foods. Or, it could be that someone switching to diet soda is already gaining weight and is trying to balance the calories by drinking no calorie drinks. Whatever the answer may be, the best drink to quench your thirst is still water (if you must drink diet soda, try to keep it to no more than one a day). Or, as I just posted, try iced green tea, but brew your own and stay away from the green tea drinks that are full of sugar.

Gain the right amount for your baby's sake

Not only does gaining the right amount of weight during pregnancy lead to better health outcomes (eg. less chance of C-section, reduced risk of gestational diabetes, healthier birth weight of the baby, etc) and a higher likelihood that you'll get back in your skinny jeans, but new research suggests that it's important to your child's future weight, too. A recent study from the University of Pennsylvania on over 10,000 women showed that gaining more than the recommended amounts during pregnancy (25-35 pounds for normal wt, 15-25 pounds if overweight) can increase the child's chances of becoming overweight in the future. They followed the children until the age of 7 and found that for every 2 pounds over the recommended guidelines that the mom gained, the odds of the child becoming overweight increased by 3%. The scientists speculate that excess weight during pregnancy can trigger certain physical processes like high blood sugar levels causing overproduction of insulin in the baby while in the womb. To gain within the guidelines, remember that you don't need to eat for two -- just have about 300-400 calories more than you normally eat during the second and third trimesters. This is equal to a PB&J or a yogurt and a banana. With your doctor's okay, either continue to or start exercising -- walking is a great option for beginners or even those who are already fit. Pregnancy is the perfect time to focus on eating right and exercising -- it will keep you and your baby on the longterm road to good health.

Speed a sluggish metabolism

The term “metabolism,” especially in terms of weight loss and gain, gets kicked around a lot. For many, this is an ambiguous term that is either blamed for weight gain (as in, “I have a slow metabolism”) or blamed for the ability of skinny people to eat all they want and stay skinny (as in they have a “fast metabolism”)! We all have a metabolism and what we want to do is keep it stoked so that it’s using fuel (food) at a good rate. Here are ways to actually “work out” and strengthen your metabolism to aim for the highly coveted “fast metabolism.”
- Eat every 3-4 hours (doesn't have to be a full meal but something)
- Aerobically exercise 30 minutes on most days (high enough intensity to break a sweat) and strength train 2-3 days a week (hard enough so your muscles feel fatigued)
- Increase the amount of protein and fiber in your diet -- beans and other legumes accomplish both
Other foods that may help boost metabolism:
- Green and oolong teas have been found to increase energy burned by about 3% and decrease body fat by 14%. Recommendation: 5 cups a day is the goal and it can be decaf.
- Spicy foods, like cayenne and hot peppers, have capsaicin thought to raise metabolic rate slightly. Recommendation: Whenever you can handle the heat.
- Caffeine in coffee, colas and energy drinks, is a stimulant and may increase metabolism slightly. Recommendation: Don't start downing a lot of caffeine but a cup of joe, especially before a workout, has been shown to increase endurance and make it feel less strenuous.

Soup's on!

As the weather has begun to turn colder in the northeast and I feel like just hibernating, my "winter" instincts have started to kick in. I don't know if you experience the same thing, but it seems like every year when the weather dips my appetite gets stoked. Almost like Mother Nature is trying to pad me up for the winter. (Coincidentally, it coincides with the feast of the holiday season. Go figure.) This year in my attempt to keep myself satisfied and fitting into all my cute sweaters (not hiding in the big bulky ones) I've rediscovered an old friend - soup. Since my "winter instinct" also involves wanting to cook comfort foods, making a big pot of figure-friendly soup goes along quite well. Knowing how nutritious they are, I've been trying to add more beans to my diet so I started by buying a bag of 16 bean mix - it was like $1.19 for a pound and makes a huge amount of soup. After following the directions for a quick rinse and soak (about an hour), I threw them in a pot with 3 cups of low sodium chicken broth, 3 cups of water, sliced carrots and celery to simmer for a couple of hours. While it was cooking I did some work, then played with my kids, got them into bed and even worked out. Voila! My husband and I have had a filling meal of 16 bean soup for dinner every night this week. Making your own soup is so easy and it's much lower in sodium than the canned kind and you can add all kinds of nutritious ingredients. Next week after turkey day I'm going to take the carcass and make a big pot of turkey stock, throw in a bag of split peas and have meals for another week. Just thinking about it makes me feel warm all over! Yum.

Don't Supersize Me!

We need to change "value for money" from size and amount of food to nutrition value of food -- this needs to be our new thinking. As restaurants "super size" their food, we "super size" our bodies. Make sure you know what constitutes a serving and stick to it -- portion distortion is real and it affects all of us. Most people to do not realize that their bottle of soda contains 2.5 servings (8 oz is a serving for most beverages, but 4 oz is a serving of 100% juice). Read the nutrition label and look at the serving size, you will start to notice that packages that appear to be a single serving actually contain several servings. Repeat after me, "it is OK to leave food on my plate, in the bag, in the wrapper and not drink the full bottle or glass." Save the leftovers for tomorrow or when you are thirsty later in the day. Also, teach your kids what a serving of food really looks like. Here are some helpful hints from the book, The Portion Teller --
— 3 ounces of meat = 1 deck of cards
— 1 cup of cereal = a baseball
— 2 tablespoons salad dressing = a small shot glass
— ¼ cup nuts = a golf ball
Source: The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating, and Losing Weight Permanently -- check out this book for more information. I saw the author speak, she is very visual with her examples and provides compelling information concerning how our food portions have changed. Also, a recent report on MSNBC reveals how many restaurants are serving crazy portions of food, one example are sandwiches from Hardee's, Wendy's and Burger King that include two days worth of meat (click here to read the MSNBC article).

Almonds are healthy and good for your waistline

Almonds are a superfood. They are packed with nutrients and eating them regularly can help to lower cholesterol. But what about all those calories? Well, a new study shows you don't need to worry. Women who ate 2 ounces of almonds each day (344 extra calories) didn't gain any weight over 10 weeks. Why? Since almonds are satisfying and filling, the women compensated for most of the calories by reducing their intake of other foods. Also, some of the fat in the almonds was blocked from being absorbed by the fiber content - so their bodies weren't really recognizing all the calories. Bottom line: eat a handful or two of almonds as a great afternoon snack or chop some on top of your morning oatmeal. They're really nutritious and keep you satisfied, making it easier to stick to the rest of your healthy diet.

Do "diet" foods pack on pounds?

Feeling guilty for choosing the regular ice cream rather than the sugar-free frozen yogurt? Don't. A new study suggests that consuming diet foods and diet drinks may not help keep pounds off and may even lead to weight gain. In the article, one researcher speculates that the body can't be easily fooled and makes up for the missing calories and more. He says people may even crave more sweets when diet foods are eaten. However, researchers are conflicting in their opinions on the topic and it's certainly not conclusive. As a dietitian, I think that reduced calorie foods can be part of a weight loss diet by helping cut down on calorie intake if and only if they are still viewed as a dessert or indulgence and limited in the same way the high-calorie food would be. Remember the "Snackwells syndrome?" If you feel more satisfied with a small portion of the luscious, full-fat Haagen Dazs than the sugar-free frozen yogurt, than by all means savor every (small) bite of the real thing.

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.

Too much weight during pregnancy = more weight 15 years later

Well, it seems that all women tend to gain weight over time, but those who gain too much weight during pregnancy keep even more pounds on. A study out of Sweden showed that women who gained more than the recommended 25-35 pounds (healthy pre-pregnancy weight) or 15-25 pounds (overweight pre-pregnancy) had higher weights 15 years later than those who gained either the recommended amount or less. On average they weighed 22 pounds more than they did prior to pregnancy even 15 years later; those who gained the right amount during pregnancy still weighed about 15 pounds more 15 years later compared to pre-pregnancy weight.
It sounds bleak, but it doesn't have to be. During both of my pregnancies, I was concerned about gaining too much. So, I made a pretty big effort to eat close to the way I ate before I was pregnant. I would have an extra snack or two when I got hungry, but stuck to lowfat yogurt, nuts or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I also made sure to keep exercising, at a bit lower intensity. I gained about 20 pounds during each pregnancy and took it off within a month of giving birth. My boys were both a healthy 7 pounds 10 oz so for me it was the right amount to gain. I'm a big proponent of keeping the weight gain closer to the lower end of the range as much as you can. The key is to continue eating a good diet, exercising and listening to your body. Those are my tips. What worked for you?

Avoid packing on pounds when traveling

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer travel season. Whether driving, flying or taking the train, keeping your weight loss "on track" while on vacation can be a challenge. Here's a good article from a well seasoned travel writer who just lost 42 pounds with lots of tips on eating light and fitting in exercise when you're away from home. Happy trails!

weight gain during pregnancy too high?

Saw an interesting article today that leads me to question the weight gain recommendations. The Harvard study looked at weight gain in women during pregnancy and the risk of the child becoming overweight. They found that women who gained the recommended amount of weight were four times more likely to have a child who was overweight at age 3, as women who gained less than the advised amount. The women who gained too much weight during pregnancy were also at a higher risk of having an overweight child.

Since really taking off the baby fat begins during pregnancy, I've always told pregnant women to make sure not to gain more than the recommended 25-35 pounds; or if overweight to begin with, 15-25 pounds. But this new study, calls into question whether those amounts should be lower, at least for the sake of keeping your baby at a healthy weight (and it would make taking off the baby fat easier post-delivery). One study is not the be all and end all, but it's worth considering.