Good Mood Diet Blog

Right now I'm in Philadelphia at the American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo. It's a huge affair, filling the convention center downtown. Dietitians are here from all over the country, and people interested in nutrition are here from all over the world.

Karen Friedman-Kester, our culinary expert on the website, is here with me. While I was presenting research yesterday, Karen took most of the day to walk through the exhibit expo. Here, vendors promote their products, from Welch's newest high fiber grape juice to a pasteurized egg still in its shell.

There is also alot of new information service vendors: publishers, online websites, books and materials, all supporting some area of nutrition and dietetics. One of the more prominent areas this year is gluten-intolerance and celiac disease. There is significantly more information here than in year's past, and more products. Through genetic studies, it has become clear that a significant portion of the population (some say as high as 20%) may have symptoms of gluten intolerance, yet may be unaware of the source of those symptoms.

Symptoms of gluten intolerance and celiac disease do not have to manifest only in the gut with the classic symptom of diarrhea. Many people suffer from headaches, mouth ulcers, weight gain or weight loss, poor immunity to disease, and skin problems like dermatitis and eczema. Also associated are miscarriage and infertility and malabsorption problems like anemia.

If you suffer from any or all of these symptoms, you should see a gastroenterologist. There is currently a blood test that can correctly diagnose gluten intolerance and celiac disease. And I can see from here that there are many, many gluten-free products available so that if you are diagnosed, you can still live a flavor-filled life.

Next blog will tell you more of my finds at the meeting.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

I have been a big fan of Halloween since I was a child. Dressing in a costume and walking in the dark from house-to-house with my sisters is a favorite memory from my childhood. But as a grown-up fitness professional teaching health lifestyle habits, I'm not really comfortable promoting anyone to go begging for candy and then overeating it too.

So, I began looking for a better way to celebrate the holiday - a new tradition that would be a way provide kids a way to learn to give to others while still getting excited about the prospect of receiving. After a little research, I found it! I've been collecting old, used eyeglasses to give to the needy all over the world through a program that turns “Fright Night” in to “Sight Night.” If you start now, you can be part of this event.

I wish you could see the picture that really caught my attention. It is of two grown men in a third world country hugging each other and smiling. They were both wearing glasses for the first time. One had on glasses that Matt Lauer wore in high school and the other had on a pair of Colin Powell's old glasses. They really reminded me how much I appreciate seeing every day when I put on my glasses.

It’s easy to do! If you shop at the thrift store for your costume, consider picking up an old pair of glasses to donate as well. Ask your friends, colleagues, students and neighbors for the old glasses that they can't use anymore. You can give them some warning now, so they can find them and ask their friends, too. Then in October, when you go out Trick-or-Treating with your kids or friends, go up to the door and ask for those old glasses and fill up your bag with goodies for others.

This is a way to give something very valuable, that you no longer need, your kids will never wear, but that someone else CAN really use them. And it won't cost you anything! For the official details about this program, see Lion's Club Sight Night.

The Lions Clubs are recognized worldwide for their service to the blind and visually impaired. This service began when Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become her "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness" during the association's 1925 international convention. You can read her inspiring speech.

Have a Happy Sight Night!

Alice Lockridge, MS Phys Ed

On Monday I blogged that I was in Philadelphia at the American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. While the continuing education programming was pretty good, the exhibit hall was really the most fun part of the conference (along with seeing so many colleagues and friends from around the country). I mentioned the gluten-free product explosion on Monday. Today I'll tell you about some of the other cool new products being touted by their purveyors. Some may not be available on retail store shelves yet, so check out their websites.

I think that my favorite brand new product was The Power of Fruit, an all fruit frozen bar made with whole fruit, skins and all, equivalent to 1/2 a fruit serving. It tasted wonderful. I usually take a tiny taste of only the best looking foods as I travel through the exhibits. This time I ate the whole bar!

Keri Glassman, a Registered Dietitian, developed a snack bar for her clients that tastes amazingly good. Called the Keribar, it is made from whole fruits, nuts and seeds, and a little chocolate here and there. I think my favorite flavor was the apple peanut butter flavor.

Another snack bar that's recently been introduced to the retail market but wasn't at the ADA conference is the Think brand. They offer a number of lines within their brand, some organic, some to support breast cancer awareness, some to support weight loss, and so on. My favorite is the Think 5 series, although it's still hard for me to believe that they can actually get the full nutrient value for 3 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit in one bar. The bars look funny because there is no artificial anything added, and they are very pureed, but the taste is amazingly real.

Sambazon is the original Acai Juice company. It is a sustainably farmed organic product that is pretty delicious and jam-packed with serious nutrition. I had a great time talking to their National Food Service Manager who loves his work and believes in the product. The company is steeped in the culture of making the world a better a place for everyone involved, and they really walk the walk.

The other great juices in the hall were POM (pomegranate) and Welch's grape juice. The scientist from POM was gracious with his time and explanations. The owners of POM have single-handedlly funded a good portion of the scientific research available on pomegranates today. When it comes to grape juice I'm still a purist and prefer it as a delicious beverage rather than a functional food with all sorts of stuff added, like fiber, or taken away, like sugars. Go to the websites to learn more.

Italica Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Spain is a remarkably fruity oil that I am going to start to order online. On the day that I was presenting my research poster (from 9 am to 2 pm), these nice guys saved my hungry stomach and fading brain by letting me every one of their varieties of olives, more than once. They were all good, but the green empeltre, which I had never had before, was incredible.

There were other great products, but these were my favorites. And now I'm glad to be home.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

I did an experiment with a few of my clients who I've known for a number of years. They've been following my program, but started to feel like things needed some adjustments. They just weren't keeping their weight where they want to keep it. So the first thing that I asked them was whether they were still following the plan that I had created for them.

"Yes, very much so!" was the answer from them all.

After updating my records with their current data, I asked them to do one thing for me for a few days before we changed anything about their program. I asked them to measure their portions again, just like when we began the program. All of them had since been just "eyeballing" their servings.

Just this one little change was a huge eye opener. Everyone was eating more than they thought. One very common place where servings were almost twice as large as they thought was with grains. Instead of a half of a cup of cereal, they were eating nearly a whole cup. Instead of a 1/2 cup of noodles, they were easily eating a cup or more. The one cup of milk for hot cocoa in the evening had turned into 1 1/2 cups.

By the time we added up all the extra unexpected food eaten during the day, they were eating almost 50 grams of carbohydrate, and 200 calories more than planned. While a little extra protein isn't a problem, and they were pretty aware of their fat servings, the carbs will put the cabosh on your weight loss (or assist with weight gain) faster than you can say "my pants must have shrunk!"

So it's well worth it to check yourself everyone once in awhile. Go back to measuring out your portions. If you want to eyeball, make sure that you always use the same bowls, cups, and glasses that you've done your initial measuring into. And if you're having trouble losing weight, or maintaining your weight loss, return to measuring your portions. Very often, that's at the root of the problem if you can't figure out what else is wrong. And it's such an easy fix.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

As American young adults and children are less fit and heavier, another side effect is going to affect us all. It’s becoming clear to companies that need skilled crafts workers to fill their physically demanding jobs – the young applicants that are applying for jobs today aren’t as fit or able to be active as the applicants were a few years ago. For skilled workers such as plumbers, electricians, laborers, carpenters, iron workers, sheet metal workers, dry wallers, it’s essential for the less knowledgeable young workers need to be strong, hearty and able to work hard for a full day of labor. But today’s youth are not nearly as able to work long and hard as the working class of the last generation.

Public schools aren’t providing daily quality physical education for every student. Only the extra gifted athletes who have enough spending money to participate in after-school activities are getting enough daily physical activity to be called physically fit.

Why should we care? Well, beside the effect to the health care costs – we will begin to notice this trend when the street-workers, pole-climbing lineworkers and gardeners aren’t able to pass the physical components on the entry-level hiring tests. If our local youths can’t pass these tests and be hired into apprenticeships and craft training programs, who is going to be able to do the skilled crafts jobs? You do the math: America’s infrastructure is crumbling – we need a lot of work to be done and about 50% of the skilled crafts workers are within 5 years from being able to retire. It takes between 3 and 7 years to train crafts workers.

America’s obesity problem isn’t just a medical problem or an insult to our fashion sense. Our society needs young workers to be able to do hard, physical labor and we’re going to have a hard time finding enough of them to fill all the jobs that are open. We need to help children be fit and strong for many reasons.

Alice Lockridge, MS Phys Ed
PRO♥FIT
www.AliceLockridge.com

Everyone now, say it together: breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

We've had several studies show us that epidemiologically, people who eat breakfast control their body weight better than those who don't. A new study was just published in the journal Obesity, that investigated the diets and weight gain of 20,064 U.S men, 46 to 81 years of age, during a 10 year follow-up study. Overall, 5857 men had a weight gain of 11 pounds or more during 10 years of follow-up. Those men who ate breakfast prevented the weight gain. The men who skipped breakfast, gained 11 pounds or more.

Part of the explanation for the prevention of weight gain was the higher amount of fiber and nutrients in the diets of the breakfast eaters, compared to those who skipped breakfast. You can just imagine your brain and your muscles feeling satisfied and well fed after a full breakfast of grains, dairy, egg, healthy fat, fruit and maybe even some vegetable. With so much great nutrition on board, there's no need to crave that doughnut mid-morning, or even a cookie or chips in the mid-afternoon. Starting off well-fed makes all the difference to your appetite and to your waist line.

So eating less will get you more weight, and eating breakfast will get you less!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

As the season changes and fall is upon us, it's a good time to think about your personal health. Thought about getting your cholesterol checked? A great idea!

It's important that you know a few details about your own self: your current age, your social security number, your employee number, (those recently purchased lottery numbers), and your total body weight, height, blood pressure and cholesterol measurements.

In case you're unsure of what those cholesterol numbers should be - to be considered healthy - here are the numbers you want to remember.

Strive to have these results:

• Total Cholesterol: less than 200


• LDL portion: less than 100


• HDL portion: at or above 40


• Ratio: at less than 5


• Ratio of Total/HDL (For example, 200÷50 = 4.) Lower is better!

Alice Lockridge,
MS Phys Ed
Pro-Fit

This question from a reader was in my email box last week. It's such a common question that I thought I'd share my answer with all of you.

Hi! I'm starting the Good Mood Diet and I notice in your sample menus that the morning snack is frequently a smoothie. I'm out and about a lot and frequently unable to make a smoothie. Is there a good alternative morning snack that's portable? Or I guess I could buy something to keep my smoothie cold! Also, what about soy protein powder. I have a bunch of that left. Should I use it up or go with the whey?

To start with, the nutritional profile of the morning snack of 1 milk and 2 very lean proteins is 22 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbohydrate and 0-1 grams of fat. And of course, a cup of fluid. One cup of fat-free milk contains 8 grams of protein and 12 grams of carbohydrate.

If you are home, you could easily substitute 2 egg whites for the whey protein, and drink the glass of milk. But the big issue, as the reader above asks, is what do you do if you're not home? I can tell you that what I do is usually take my milk in a thermos and shake in the whey protein from a zip lock bag when I'm ready to drink it. You can get it flavored, so choose your favorite.

But what if you're either unable to have that, or are just sick of it already? Here are some suggestions:

Turkey jerky and 1 cup of vegetable juice
1/2 (or open-faced) turkey sandwich
The new Think Thin brand bars are actually pretty good. Have one with a glass of water or a cup of tea.

Dairy, and its prominent protein whey protein, are the best for exercise recovery, weight control and helping you deal better with stress. Soy protein is a very good protein, but has not been shown in research studies to be as effective as whey protein. It's still a good source of protein, especially for those who can't use whey. You can use up your soy protein, or alternate soy with whey until you use it up, and then go with the whey.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

We hear so much about all the foods that are high in antioxidants, and that have anti-inflammatory effects on the body. I want to put in a good word for herbs. Herbs are among the most underrated health-promoting foods.

The USDA has tested culinary herbs and spices for antioxidant content and found that many of them outpace fruits and vegetables in this department. For example, Mexican, Italian, and Greek oregano all outscored vitamin E when measured for antioxidant activity. Bay, dill, coriander, thyme and rosemary scored nearly as well. Keep in mind that because herbs and spices tend to be sprinkled lightly on whatever you happen to be eating, they're not a substitute for the quantities found in fruits and vegetables. But it's an easy way to amp up your overall antioxidant consumption, with the added bonus of making your food tastier.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

I frequently talk to teen age girls, and have found that the message to eat to feel great works very well. It works even better when we talk about eating to look great, too. I thought that I'd pass along a few of the basics to you.

1. Good hydration is a must. Water works hard to carry nutrients to your cells and toxins out of your body. Without enough water to do this dirty job, your hair, skin and nails may get dull and dry. You may break out in acne or dermatitis. Your face may become puffy, dried out and red. Water also fill up your cells and allows protein synthesis to occur within. This keeps your cells healthy and intact, less prone to invasion and infection.

2. Think protein AND zinc. Skin, nails and hair are made of protein, so eating enough protein is essential for looking your best. An added bonus is that lean sources of protein like red meats, dark meat poultry, seafood, shellfish, as well as nuts, eggs and fermented soybean paste (miso) also have high levels of the mineral zinc, which is important for hair, skin and nail health. LEAN is the operative word to attach to protein here. High saturated fat foods will clog up your arteries and the small blood vessels that feed your skin, nails, eyes, and hair, leading to a sorry look inside and out.

3. Get your good fats. The skin's natural moisture balance depends on sufficient esential fatty acids from fish oils, nuts, seeds, olives and olive oils, lecithin (from egg yolks and soy) and flaxseed.

4. Hold off aging with fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants in dark and brightly colored fruits and vegetables, vegetable oils, green tea, whole grains and soybeans - are critical for helping to ward off diseases and cancers of the skin and eyes.

5. If you're eating a lot of sugar, nothing else will matter much. When it comes to your appearance, the white stuff is a killer. Sugar is responsible for nearly half of all aging that goes on inside skin cells. It shows up as wrinkles because the collagen, the protein in your skin cells, becomes damaged. Eliminate sugar from your diet and you will shave 10 years off your face in no time!

Sounds just like The Good Mood Diet, doesn't it? It will make you Look Great, too.

Yours in a Good Mood (and looking great),
Dr. Susan Kleiner

The country is watching the news again. We are watching over a million of our Southern California neighbors being evacuated from their homes. Along with many feelings of horror and prayers for relief for all of them, it’s easy to hear survivors say variations of, “the things that are burned are only things.” “We got out safe and that’s all that matters.” It’s good to hear how wise people are in times of trouble. Having your health and being safe is what really matters.

For those of us not in the middle of an emergency, we may want to use this national news story as a reminder to get ready. Get ready by having food staples, water and other emergency supplies ready for each member of your family. Consider the City of Seattle’s slogan “Three Days, Three Ways.” You should be able to take care of yourself for at least three days in three places. I have my supplies at home, in my car, and at my work desk (the three places I spend most of my time).

The other way to be ready for an emergency is to be strong and healthy. Do what you can each day to be at your physical best. With a healthy body weight, it will be easier for you to walk out of an emergency. With your strong arms, legs and body core, you may help others, dig out, lift rubble or gather your belongings on your way out of a dangerous location. If your cardiovascular ability level is high, you are in less danger when air conditions are poor (soot, smoke or dust in the air) and you are more able to walk out of a danger area.

We each need to do what we can now. Be the healthiest you can be and be prepared with the supplies to care for yourself and your family. We’ve had another reminder and it’s wise to learn from the lessons presented to us.

Alice Lockridge,
MS Phys Ed
Pro-Fit

My goal today is to write a short message to you all. My problem is that this is the first October 30th; in my whole life that I haven’t sung “Happy Birthday Mother” to my mother. She died earlier this year; it shouldn’t have been a surprise, she was 92.5 years old. But it still wasn’t expected. She had been so healthy, vital and happy up until the very last day. My sister and I got to be with her when she let go of life – it was quick, quiet and painless. I’d wish for this same passing for all of us. It only hurt those of us that were left standing. Now today, I’m thinking of all the lessons I have learned from her about how to live and how to live a long, healthy life. I’m sure we can all learn from her lifestyle examples.

My mother lived through the Roaring Twenties, the Dirty Thirties, the Depression, WWII waiting for her husband to return from the Pacific, three daughters dancing all over the house during the 50’s, in high school in the 60’s and in college in the 70’s. She survived when her sister died as a child of typhoid, she survived when the stock market dropped, she survived when the rabbits and grasshoppers ate all the crops, she survived when her parents and husband and nearly all her high school friends passed away.

She was a survivor because she lived well. She lived in moderation. She didn’t work too much (I need to learn this lesson), she didn’t eat too much, she didn’t drink (at all), she didn’t get too much sun on her skin or hair, she didn’t stay out late or wake up too early. She just did all the things that are good for you!

And it worked. She lived a long and productive life. She made friends until the end. She helped others with cheery visits and small tokens or treats (always small treats!) and chatty letters about the weather in Kansas, farm prices and her plans for the day. She made lists of the things she was going to do and then recorded them in her diary when she’d completed them. She left a legacy of a working, privately owned farm, which she inherited from her Mother and a reminder of how to keep your mind sharp and highly functional. She kept her mind sharp by paying attention to details, playing games; she loved solitaire (she used the tiniest cards so she could play it without taking too much room), crosswords and puzzles, dominoes and Rummikub and doing the bookkeeping for her farm.

So the lessons she lived by, for us to remember, are: eat right, get enough physical activity, use your brain, do your work on time, be a kind friend and a loving member of your family. I hope you got some message of value from her story. She was a good mother and I’m sad she’s not here today to read my summary of her life lessons. I miss her a lot today. I’m proud to say, my mother was Madeleine Francis Durham McMillan.

Alice Lockridge,
MS Phys Ed
Pro-Fit