Good Mood Diet Blog

When people follow the Good Mood Diet and feel more energy in just days, there are any number of reasons why such happy results occur. For me, one of the high-energy factors is working a morning smoothie into my day.

Dr. Kleiner’s menus in the Good Mood Diet book (Chapter 3) point to drinking this yummy pick-me-up at mid-morning. But feel free to mix and match that time to fit your own a.m. cycle. I certainly do.

On some mornings, I drink the smoothie right after an early run or ride on the stationary bike (more about best workouts on an exercise bike in my next blog entry). The protein-carbohydrate-fat mix is perfect to replenish my muscles while providing a filling and satisfying breakfast on the go.

Other mornings when I don’t work out—oh, man, that happened too much during the December holiday rush—I often drink the smoothie as my “first breakfast.” I might sip it while packing lunches for the kids or in a to-go coffee cup as I am driving to catch the ferry that gets me off-island here in the Pacific Northwest.

And, for a third option, I drink the smoothie mid-morning as my “second” breakfast. That works when I have time to grab a Good Mood breakfast at home, such as oatmeal with diced apple and ground flaxseed or my old standby hard-boiled egg, half a whole-wheat English muffin, a cup of unsweetened yogurt and a piece of fruit.

The book has some great ideas for fast breakfasts, along with practical details on how to make your smoothie the best energy booster—and a tasty way to even out the rough spots of your busy mornings. Hint: Isolated whey protein powder is a key ingredient.

Bob
Upcoming blogs from Bob: The best exercise-bike workouts; Thumbs up on coffee; and In the Mood for a Salad.

A regular exercise habit can make a big impact on Good Mood Dieters for both the weight loss benefits and for your mindset. Remember this advice from Susan Kleiner, my co-author who has worked with pro athletes and family-makers alike: The best exercise is the one you do and keep doing.

My favorite workout is running. I’m one of those ‘run the first half-hour for the body and the second half-hour for the mind’ sort of guys. But, honestly, my running habit ebbs in the winter months.

When I lived in Chicago it was because the cold was too biting to enjoy the run. Here in the Pacific Northwest it stays too dark too long in the morning. I’m either out the door for work meetings or helping get the kids off to school by the time it is light enough to run. I do have to say running into the sunrise is, well, a thrill. Sounds corny, but it’s how I feel.

So during the winter months, I hit the bike — the indoor bike. My preferred machine is a Keiser® cycle used in spinning classes. The Keiser bikes best simulate the ride of a road bike, with a full range of gears and the racing-style handlebars.

I take early a.m. spinning classes when I can, but have lately found it rewarding (especially as a mental lift) to do my own spinning class on a Keiser that the company has loaned me to try out its newest model. I always feel more alert and ready for the day after the morning spin.

Here’s why: My rides follow those that I learned from spinning instructors. I alternate from methodical, steady cycling to intense “climbs” in which I am up off the seat, to all-out sprints. This sort of interval work is a way to build up endurance, especially if your workout needs to be on the short side, say 15 to 20 minutes. Studies show that even four 30-second all-out bursts of effort will significantly improved your fitness level. It’s all about challenging the body, even “surprising” it on a kinetic level.

This kinetic surprise is a staple of Tim Grover’s training programs designed for professional basketball players. Tim trained Michael Jordan for a decade of championship play and now oversees the conditioning of some 30 elite NBA athletes.
For me, I warm up on the cycle with a moderately intensive ride for about three minutes before moving into a hard climb. I monitor my heart rate (count the beats in 10 seconds and multiply by six) to check how hard I am working. I actually look forward to the climbs as a way to efficiently build power in my legs and torso.

But I will be honest. The first time I took a spinning class we went into a climb and I almost fell off my bike trying to stay balanced.

You want to alternate your ride, whether you are on the bike for 15, 20, 30 or 45 minutes. At the less intensive levels, your pedaling revolutions per minute will be 70 to 80 (usually easy to find on any computerized exercise bike). The more intense bursts will be closer to 100 RPM. But be sure to consult a physician before starting any sort of strenuous exercise program. Over a half hour, give yourself five minutes to warm up, 15 minutes of hard riding (seated and standing), about three minutes of a recovery ride with the legs still moving, then one more hard ride of four minutes or so before cooling down. You can decide just how hard you want to go.

If you have access to music, you can even program a tape or iPod playlist so that songs cue you to what’s next: a steady climb, flat-road full sprint or whatever your fancy. You can have some fun selecting playlists. I know I do. I am especially enjoying Los Lonely Boys, Paul Simon and some vintage Jackson Browne, Steely Dan and Al Green in my recent morning workouts.

After that morning spin, I always feel more ready for the day—and in a Good Mood.

Bob

One of my favorite parts of the Good Mood Diet is a drink I am enjoying right now: my morning cup of coffee. Well, actually, I prefer two shots of espresso with hot water added. Coffee shops call that Americano style.

I call it necessary.

The book lays out a case for taking some caffeine before noon (two cups or two shots of espresso would be ideal, then switch to green tea and/or water for the afternoon pick-me-up). It’s especially a good idea for any habitual coffee drinkers starting our plan. In moderation, caffeine can boost alertness and provide a jump in your step for the day’s workout.

And a new article published Friday (Jan. 19) in the latest issue of the Journal of Pain adds a splash more Good Mood news to the positive coffee research flow. In a small study conducted at the University of Georgia, researchers found that caffeine consumed an hour before exercising can help reduce post-workout soreness, particularly the delayed-onset pain that we might not feel until 24 to 48 hours after the exertion.

We’ve all experienced the feeling. You do some heavy work, say, on a Saturday afternoon, feel a bit stiff Sunday morning and then almost-can’t-move sore on Monday morning. Exercise researchers and physical therapists have looked for ways to neutralize that soreness, including over-the-counter pain relievers, stretching and massage. Nothing worked consistently.

The Georgia researchers worked with nine young women volunteers. First, to simulate a workout but be consistent among the nine, the researchers used electrical stimulation to produce contractions in the thigh muscles. The next two days, the women reported the expected muscle soreness.

Next, the researchers supplied either a caffeine pill (equal to two cups of coffee) or a placebo pill before the stimulation during two subsequent days. Overall, the women taking caffeine pills reported significantly less pain and soreness than those volunteers taking the placebo.

The researchers theorized the caffeine worked to lessen delayed muscle pain by blocking the production of a chemical called adenosine, which is released as part of the inflammatory response to injury. More research is needed, but drinking coffee before your exercise session appears to be a wise choice.

For me, that means getting some of my morning coffee before I hop on my Keiser spinning cycle or head outside for a sunrise run.

I can live with that. For more about the positive effects of caffeine, check out Chapters 1 and 2 of The Good Mood Diet book.

Bob
Bob Condor is co-author of The Good Mood Diet and managing editor of health at MSN.com

When Dr. Kleiner and I first collaborated on a series of Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper columns about the Good Mood Diet, we talked about her career path. She was long identified as a sports nutritionist in the media and her client list — the Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns pro football teams, the Seattle SuperSonics pro basketball team, the Cleveland Indians major league baseball team, and Olympians — reflects her reputation in the world of performance athletes.

“But I came to realize my eating plans were all about boosting energy,” recalled Kleiner. “I was helping athletes feel better and more focused. If they needed to lose weight, the eating plans were helping with that too.”

Soon enough, team executives, neighbors, friends, family and others were asking Kleiner’s diet advice. We all have an inner athlete, right?

OK, no shaking your heads.

What Dr. Kleiner and other pioneering sports nutritionists accomplished was teaching athletes to eat more food throughout the day. For instance, it was not uncommon for pro football players to skip breakfast to make sure they got to practice.

Bad idea. The body needs fuel to get through the day, especially when some 300-pound guy is making himself a nuisance during work hours.

These days, pro teams make breakfast available at their training facilities so players can grab a pre-practice meal or snack. Same goes for lunch as players often spend a whole day on site between practice, film sessions and strategy sessions.

Trust me, there are nutritionists and other team officials hard at work this week to make sure Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts players are getting the right foods at the right time during the hectic week of preparation before next Sunday’s Super Bowl.

A key element for those players—and the rest of us—is not skipping meals and, even when you don’t have an ideal Good Mood day, to still make sure you eat foods from the Feel-Good list, such as drinking the nightly hot cocoa or munching on almonds and dried fruit mid-afternoon after a celebratory lunch.

“It’s all about what fits into your life,” said Kleiner. “Usually when people go on diets, they feel lousy, not mention cranky and starved. My goal for people is to let mood be their guide. The weight they want to lose will come with it. It worked for my athlete clients and it can work for you too.”

Go Bears!
Bob

I had a conversation with nutritionist Julie Burns this week. She is a consultant for the Chicago Bears, who just happen to be playing some football game this weekend. Our piece about the team's training table is published at msn.com. Here are some "outtakes" from the conversation:

• You won't ever signficantly reduce body fat percentage with eliminating or keeping alcoholic drinks to a couple per week. That's one reason why Dr. Kleiner recommends two weeks off alcohol in the Accelerator phase of the Good Mood Diet, then moderation after that. Julie says a fair share of Bears players simply quit alcohol consumption during the season.


• Some teams fine players for being overweight, which only prompts the players to lose fluids in order to make weight. A better plan (Good Mood Diet, anyone?) is to make changes that allow you to lose pounds that stay off. Julie says eating breakfast helps a lot of athletes control weight when that is an issue.


• Teams like the Bears will create charts with ideal body weight and body fat percentages by position. So a defensive lineman might be quite a bit higher in both categories than, say, those quarteracks they are out to squash. Bears fans who remember 1985 will wonder if William "The Refrigerator" Perry would have even been categorized by weight or body fat percentage. He was clearly one of a kind. That "Fridge" nickname referred to his wide presence on the line, but there were plenty of teammates who claimed Perry deserved the nickname by eating the contents of, oh, one of those huge refrigerators you see in a restaurant or food service cafeteria.

Bob Condor

There are about three dozen great recipes in our Good Mood Diet book. One dish that didn't make it into Chapter 8 is what could be called the Feel-Great-and-Don't-Wait Salad. Of course, it's not really a recipe since I make it up as a I go along each time. It is generally my version of an entree salad that I make for lunch or dinner when I am ready for a good meal but not looking to delay the actual eating. The only ingredients that make it into every Feel-Great-and-Don't-Wait Salad would be dark green lettuce and olive oil. Everything else is a matter of what's in the fridge, pantry and on Dr. Kleiner's Feel-Great Foods list.

I make this salad frequently when I am in the middle of a writing project. It satisfies my hunger without making me fell too full or sleepy. All the requisite chewing and crunching tends to work off some of my nervous energy. It follows the Good Mood concept of combining proteins with carbs and healthy fats.

Here's how I put the salad together. Feel free to make your own varieties and don't be alarmed if you decide to eat it, say, five or more times each week. It is especially appealing as the weather gets milder and warmer, or if you sense becoming dehydrated.

1. Start with a good size bowl for easy tossing and mixing. Add some olive oil, vinegar (try different kinds for fun), perhaps dijon mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk it all around with a fork. Make enough to dress your salad.


2. Next put in two to four fistfuls of salad greens – the darker the pigment the better. (Say no to iceberg!) Shred the greens loosely into bite-size pieces.


3. Then check out what's in the refrigerator. Usually I am hoping for turkey in the deli drawer or some cold roasted chicken. I might also shell some cold edamame (soybeans in the pod) if it is left from movie snacks from the previous night or the kids’ lunches. (My son especially leaves some food in his lunch bag because he is "too busy talking;" probably working on a future career as a radio host). I'm happy if I find a hard-boiled egg and some black olives.


4. Then I go to the pantry looking for sunflower seeds and almonds to sprinkle on. Sometimes I use pumpkin seeds and walnuts.


5. Then I rummage around for dried fruit for sweetness, usually organic raisins but apricots, cherries or cranberries all work. Sometimes I go back to the fridge for fresh strawberries, which I like to slice roughly into small bits. Same with an orange or grapefruit if they are in the fruit bowl.

At this point I am ready to eat. So I toss it all together and sometimes just eat right from the big bowl. Or I might eat half for lunch, go write some more and eat the rest for my mid-afternoon snack. You will know the right combinations of these Feel-Great Foods when you taste the salad. That's part of the fun.

Bob
Bob Condor is co-author of The Good Mood Diet and managing editor of health at MSN.com

You snooze; you lose.

The old wisecrack is getting some serious consideration from sleep researchers, who are increasingly finding that people who do not get enough sleep are at risk of being overweight. A new study from Northwestern University — this one focusing on kids — is the latest example.

The Northwestern sleep scientists found that children who do not get enough sleep are more like to carry extra than kids who get enough rest. The study followed more than 2,200 children over five years by employing highly detailed diaries.

Now there’s a Good Mood moment. Make it a point to get more sleep and drop pounds. Certainly fits into the "feel great while you lose weight" philosophy for the Good Mood Diet.

Lead researcher Emily Snell and colleagues Emma Adam and Greg Duncan calculated that an extra hour of sleep reduces the probability of being overweight from 36 percent to 30 percent in kids three to eight years old. For pre-teens between eight and 13, the extra hour of sleep reduces the probability of being overweight from 34 to 30 percent.

The children who got less sleep were more likely to have higher body mass index (BMI) measurements, even when factoring out race, ethnicity, family income and education levels.

If you are wondering, the sleep researchers recommend that ideal sleep times for kids five to 12 years old is 10 to 11 hours but found the typical seven-year-old in the study logged less than 10 hours per night on weekdays.

Snell offered no scientific explanation of why lack of sleep leads to gaining weight, but she was willing to offer some theories:

• Not getting enough sleep may affect hormones that influence appetite.


• Getting less sleep provides more opportunity for late-evening snacking, which are often sugary rather than nutritional. No doubt, Dr. Kleiner can fix that with a Good Mood hot cocoa!


• Lack of sleep causes a child or person to be more lethargic, discouraging exercise.

Funny what you remember from a childhood. One night I was watching a television sitcom with my brother Jim. Seems I was glancing back his way about as much as I was looking at the screen. Truth: I was laughing at the show’s jokes only if my brother laughed first.

Jim made a couple of simple, declarative statements that — no drama intended — changed my whole sense of humor.

"You don’t have to wait for me to laugh," said Jim, who doesn’t recall the conversation but denies that he was in any way annoyed with me. "If you think it’s funny, go ahead and laugh. It’s OK."

Well, about a half million laughs later, I’m still "OK" with defining what I think is funny and outright hilarious without too many filters.

Examples: Real life can be funny. Very funny. Necessarily funny. Surprisingly funny. People can be hilarious, and not just comedians but a bright co-worker or old friend. And, honestly, Dr. Kleiner and I have found many thing to guffaw about while working on our book or this Web site. It’s one of the pleasures of working together, sharing our senses of humor.

In some ways, each day’s laughing moments are just as vital to your overall health as every meal and snack on the Good Mood Diet menu. But don’t just trust this blog for that opinion. Research from such academic institutions as the University of Tennessee and University of
Washington have conducted studies showing that laughing has positive physiological effect, such as engaging many muscle groups and the heart similar to a workout while reducing stress hormones. Laughing is found to improve immune system biomarkers and even help relieve breathing problems.

It’s no accident that many hospitals have established "humor wagons" to pick up patients’ emotional levels. And you might know that Laughing Yoga classes are picking up momentum in California and Washington state, based on ancient healing principles.

Here’s the statistic that most gets me to sit up, take notice and roust around for my son’s "World’s Best Jokes" book that we keep in the car. Researchers have found that American kids typically smile or laugh upwards of 300 times per day. The typical U.S. adult smile/laugh
quotient? Less than 30.

We all owe it to ourselves — and our Good Moods — to lighten up whenever possible. It’s a healthy move that can fit into anyone’s day.

Bob Condor

Editor's note: Dr. Kleiner expects her segment on the Sunday Today show will provide some laugh-out-loud moments with person-on-the-street interviews about food and mood. Check your local listings (5am in Seattle area, 8am ET).

My daughter decided to do a nutrition study for her science fair project this year. She decided that she and her classmates needed to learn about how much added sugar was in prepared food. Her hypothesis: that there is more added sugar in more-processed foods versus less-processed foods.

I taught her how to figure out how many teaspoons of added sugar are in foods just by reading ingredient and nutrition facts labels. It takes a little bit of time and mental math, but everyone can do this. I’ve included the instructions in The Good Mood Diet on pages 105-106. Then there’s a chart of “Added Sugar in Processed Food” in Appendix C.

Her results were a surprise to almost everyone: her teacher, her fellow students, parents that viewed the exhibit, and my daughter herself. We did a great visual of the added sugar in foods by displaying the amounts in teaspoons of added sugar for the example foods, so that people could actually see the differences in amount of sugar right in front of them. It was a very powerful effect.

I suggest that you do this activity yourself at home. It will change the way you look at foods forever. Actually seeing the 5 teaspoons of sugar added to a serving of cereal or a cereal bar, or the 6- 8 teaspoons of sugar added to a 6-oz. carton of sugar-sweetened yogurt, or the 10 teaspoons of sugar in a 12-oz. can of soda, makes you step back and have a reality check. Start adding up all the teaspoons of added sugar that you eat in a day, or that your family members eat, and you’ll realize why this activity is so important.

The point is not to make you afraid to ever eat foods with added sugar. But when you do choose to eat them, it will be an informed choice. That’s the point.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

The Good Mood Diet has some deep sports roots. Dr. Kleiner has worked with numerous professional sports teams, including the Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns football teams, the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team and the University of Washington athletics department. Plus, she has counseled Olympians in a range of events.

As it turns out, I served as sports editor at the Chicago Tribune during the Michael Jordan championship years with the Chicago Bulls. So when this Good Mood blog turns to sports nutrition, we come with experience.

So here’s an item to chew on as the major baseball season starts Sunday April 1: Like other major league ballparks, Seattle’s Safeco field has announced that most of its food will now be trans fat-free. About 80 percent, which is good, but not quite in Good Mood range. Seems that local chains Ivar’s (think fish fry and chowder, lots of both) and Kidd Valley (which serves up famed garlic fries to Seattle Mariners ball fans) can’t quite figure out how to make the 400 to 500 orders they need to fill during sellout games without some partially hydrogenated oils in the deep fryers.

But both Ivar’s and Kidd Valley say they are working on it. The two chains actually don’t use trans fats in their Seattle-area restaurants. The problem at the park is that it is hard to keep changing oil as fans line up for the ballpark, ahem, delicacies. Partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fats that allow the oil to stay hot longer without breaking down or affecting taste.

Meanwhile, all other food concession stands will be trans-fat free. A similar healthy approach is taking place at most major league parks this season.

And true to its roots, the Good Mood Diet does not disappoint by telling fans to skip the ballpark food. The official GMD position: Root for your home team and enjoy the fun. If that means a hot dog is a "necessity," then be sure it is a quality dog with all of your favorite trimmings. Or if your park has a specialty that is practically family tradition for you (Dodger dogs in L.A., knishes at Yankees stadium, Boog’s barbecue sandwiches at Camden Yards in Baltimore), go for it. Just make sure it is a splurge worthy of your palate and taste buds. No fake cheese on the stale nachos allowed.

Remember what Dr. Kleiner proposes at the end of the Good Mood Diet book's introduction: You don't have to be perfect or even close to it. The idea is not to eliminate foods you love, but appreciate them more. One idea is to share your favorite ballpark foods with your companions. That way you get the tastes, flavors and smells but don't feel like taking a nap by the time the game goes into middle innings.

Best of all, the Good Mood Diet endorses one ballpark favorite: Peanuts in the shell. Dr. Kleiner includes them in the regular rotation (there you go, another baseball term) for afternoon snacks. Her GMD approach calls for about 10 rather than the whole bag, so find some friends and neighboring fans to help share. If you really want to be in a good mood — whether your team pulls it out in the ninth inning or not — then bring a fresh apple with you to the ballpark. Or here in Seattle you can also find chocolate-dipped strawberries at concession booths if you happen to forget the fresh fruit.

Here’s hoping your ballclub gives you reasons for a Good Mood this season — along with healthier, but still fun, food.

Bob Condor

There are a couple of people I suggest thinking about over your Good Mood Diet cup of hot chocolate tonight. (Yes, for newbies, the GMD does call for – let’s say requires – you to drink a cup of hot cocoa before bed; just use a brand that does not contain Dutch chocolate or is not "dutched," or processed with alkali).

One of those people is Hugh Prather. He is a Lutheran minister and author of more than a dozen books based in Tucson. One title I highly recommend is Prather's "Spiritual Notes to Myself." During an extended interview I had with Prather for that book release in 1998, he talked about a nightly ritual he used with his wife and two then-teenage kids.

"We lay on the big bed in our bedroom," said Prather, referring to the room and bed he shared with his wife, Gayle, who has co-authored some of the books covering life choices, meditation, stress relief and spirituality. "Each of us takes turns talking about the best part of our day and the worst part of our day. We do it every night. It's a great way for the kids to let out some problem they might be having at school or with a friend. Truth is, my wife and I benefit from it too. We can let go of our problems and troubling issues."

Perhaps even better, the nightly family laydown provided the Prathers an unabashed opportunity to celebrate the good things in everyone's day. We can forget to celebrate the small victories sometimes.

While I don't recommend drinking those GMD hot cocoas in bed, you might try finding a cozy spot in the house – or outside as the spring nights permit – and using the Best and Worst strategy as you sip.

If there are nights when a family gab is not possible, then maybe James Pennebaker has the best approach. He is a University of Texas researcher who has conducted a number of studies that show writing journal pages can help us heal from physiological conditions. His work clearly shows that healing can come in both physical and emotional forms, opening up the journal option to any of us who need some healing and repair (uh, yes, that would be pretty much all of us).

Pennebaker suggests writing about your deepest feelings, whether hurt, grief, depression or, on a brighter note, joy and passion. His research shows that people who write about feelings will boost their immune system while dampening the effects of stress hormones.

Some of us find it hard to write as a habit. Maybe we can't think of the just-right way to express our feelings. To that end, keep in mind the GMD motto that "you don't have to be perfect or even close to it." That should make the writing go easier and the hot chocolate taste even better.

Bob Condor

One of the things Dr. Kleiner and I hear regularly - well, practically daily - about the Good Mood Diet is that people don't feel hungry on the plan. They don't feel deprived or limited. And, of course, folks tell us how much better they feel in short order.

It's an approach that changes mindsets about healthy eating. Foods become part of your wellness rather than dreaded symbols of more fat and low self-esteem. So many Americans just don't connect delicious food with healthy food, and the plentiful eating of Good Mood foods as a loving act for your body and, no small point, your brain.

But don't just take my word for it. A new government report shows that just one in seven Americans eats enough fruits and vegetables. For the record, men are worse than women, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said in an early April report.

And U.S. adults aren't doing any better on regular exercise, which Dr. Kleiner incorporates in Chapter 6 of The Good Mood Diet book.

The CDC tracked the percentage of us consuming at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and engaging in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes five days per week or vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes three days per week as recommended by the government. The numbers: 14.6 percent of Americans met both the dietary and exercise benchmarks.

The report was based on self-reported data from a 2005 telephone survey of 356,112 Americans, which means those percentages might even be a bit high.

So when you are adding those orange sections to your dinner salad or tossing some spinach into your morning scrambled egg, feel good about the healthy change in direction of your Good Mood compass. You are part of a small group of Americans who add fruits and veggies and who connect it to feeling better. That's the starting point, even if people still eat the other processed foods in their diets.

The Good Mood Diet is enhanced with regular exercise. We talk in the book about pedometers to help you increase your daily walking to the 10,000 steps recommended in university research. More next time about how to add more walking to your day without necessarily spending hours at the health club.

Bob

• The typical large whole egg contains 213 milligrams of cholesterol or 71 percent of the suggested daily maximum for cholesterol.


• Jumbo and extra-large eggs check in at more than 90 percent of the max.

• Eggs from pasture-fed, heritage breeds had about half the cholesterol count of conventional eggs. The study, though small, is a powerful indicator that we can rely on nature to help us navigate good food and mood.


• Perhaps most head-turning is those heritage, free-range chickens are producing eggs that have twice the vitamin E, six times more beta carotene (which helps the body make vitamin A) and four times more omega-3 fats.
  
  [Editor’s note: “Heritage” is to livestock what “heirloom” is to vegetables. According to the Sustainable Table Web site, “Heritage breeds” are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by farmers in the past, before the drastic reduction of breed variety caused by the rise of industrial agriculture.]

• Eating an egg for breakfast instead of a bagel reduces hunger and calorie intake at not only lunchtime but over the next 24 hours. The egg eaters in the study consumed, on average, 163 calories for lunch and 418 less during the whole day.

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly a steam-rolling of pop culture. But the screen-free movement has increased in participation each year during the past decade.

One smart move by the TV Turnoff campaign was involving schools by having students signing pledges and reaping modest rewards for completing a screen-free week. Another wise strategy: Including all screens (computers, video games, cell phones) as part of the turnoff initiative.

If you think this is just a bit of anti-media overdrive, consider these mood-altering facts from the National Institute on Media and the Family organization:

• The average American child grows up in a home with an average of:
  
  • 3.6 CD or tape players
  • 3.5 TVs
  • 3.3 radios
  • 2.9 VCRs/DVD players
  • 2.1 video game consoles
  • 1.5 computers
- Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005


• In addition, video game players have become ubiquitous in children's homes:
  • Eighty-three percent of kids, 8 to 18, have at least one video game player in their home.
  • 31 percent have 3 or more video game players.
  • 49 percent have video game players in their bedrooms.
- Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005


• Children, ages 8 to 18, spend more time in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping. That’s 44.5 hours per week, or 6.5 hours per day of “screen time.”
- Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005


• More than half of children surveyed (ages 10 -17) use their computer at home to access chat rooms.
- National Public Radio, 2000


• A third of all American children ages 8 to 17 said the Web would be the medium they would want to have if they couldn't have any others. Television was picked by 26 percent of kids; telephone by 21 percent and radio by 15 percent.
- MediaPost Communications, 2002, May 2


• One-third of kids (12-14) own a cell phone, while 57% of teens (15-17) own a cell phone.
- Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2005

TV Turnoff families have discovered there is life – and conversation – beyond television (and the Internet and video games, and … You get the idea). Kids and parents alike discover they feel better by decreasing media use during the turnoff week. They might, say, sleep better turning out the lights rather than falling asleep to Letterman or Nickelodeon. Maybe they don’t feel so mentally screen-logged when skipping the Net surfing or hours of video gaming. And more than a few participants insist they feel less depressed with the TV in the off position.

And, hey, you can enjoy those Good Mood meals with more conversation and less soundtrack laughter.

It’s a worthy experiment for all of us, not just families with kids and not just in late April. Maybe you can pick a media-free day of the week or certain hours of the day. Your future good moods will thank you.

Bob Condor

Earlier this week, Dr. Kleiner wrote about a study that shows that, hey, if overweight workers were to use a vertical workstation – basically slow-walking at one mile per hour on a treadmill fitted over a desk – those workers would lose up to 66 pounds in a year. I found the study and the vertical workstation intriguing as well.

The calories burned were determined by measuring exhaled breath rather than putting the 15 study volunteers on scales. The researchers then extrapolated the numbers to figure out calories burned. Even at 1 mph, the vertical worker is burning about 100 calories more than sitting down. The Mayo Clinic inventors of "treadmill-desk," James Levine and Jennifer Miller, were co-authors of the study. They report that the desk would sell for $1,600.

OK, in theory, it's a much better idea than most every infomercial machine I can think of. But you might want to start by investing in a pedometer. A pedometer, which costs $25 and up for a good one, will also encourage you to take more steps. First, because you simply become aware of how many steps you get on typical days. Second, because once you realize that a goal of 10,000 steps will help you drop weight if needed – especially those last five to 10 pounds – you will be looking for ways to boost your daily totals.

Try this resource for pedometers that meet the Good Mood Diet seal of approval: Exercise Express.

Chapter 6 in The Good Mood Diet lays out the research from University of Tennessee and American College of Sports Medicine that makes the case for striving to hit 10,000 steps most days of your year. You will not only lose pounds if desired but also significantly reduce body fat percentage. And, of course, those steps will improve your mental clarity and mood too.

Once those vertical workstations come down in price, I might be looking for one myself. In the meantime, consider using a therapy ball as your desk chair rather than a conventional seat. You will burn some added calories (though not the full 100 at the vertical workstation) and improve your muscle tone and overall balance. Plus, when it's time for a work break, your exercise equipment is right there on hand!

Bob Condor

The novelist Walter Mosley recently spoke to a packed audience of more than 150 people at the Elliott Bay Book Company, a superb independent bookstore in Seattle’s downtown Pioneer Square neighborhood. Among other excellent points, Mosley said that the successful novelist writes at the same time every day.

"I mean 365 days a year or maybe 360," says Mosley. "Writing at the same time every day is about getting your subconscious into the most productive place."

Sitting there pondering just what hours in the day I could make sacred for my own novel writing, I thought about Indiana University psychologist Jerome Busemeyer. He is featured in Chapter 7 of "The Good Mood Diet," talking about why our most hopeful pledges, say, to get up tomorrow morning and exercise first thing often, seem to result in an alarm-turnoff and sleeping later.

"Most of us are dynamically inconsistent,” says Busemeyer, who spoke from his Decision Research Laboratory at IU’s Bloomington campus. "The person who made the decision at night is not the same person who is making the decision in the morning."

Doesn’t seem much changes overnight. Not so, says Busemeyer. He explains that vowing to exercise the next morning is easy to do at bedtime, when there is no direct consequence and no temptation to sleep in and not quite face the day yet. But, come the a.m., there is a "final decision" fraught with emotional fallout.

The Good Mood Diet plan can help you bust through the emotional tangle. Dr. Kleiner has hundreds of clients who are amazed at how much easier they wake up each day, no alarm clock needed. The foods in our program not only put you in a Good Mood, but in a good frame of mind for the day ahead. You won’t feel groggy or shaky, just ready to go.

If you’re like me, you will sleep better with a hot cocoa as the last thing before bed. And you might well awaken looking forward to your daily egg or latte or both as they fit into the Good Mood plan. I’m also a big fan of fitting high-fiber cereals into the morning. Sometimes I simply need a bowl of cold cereal and nonfat milk, with some berries or banana on top. It gets my whole day going in the right direction.

Or should I say "write" direction because I am now working to encourage my Good Mood subsconscious three to four mornings per week. I am holding out on the other three mornings to make it to my local spinning class at the athletic club. I feel my novel chapters will get a boost from my feeling more fit. I know my mood certainly does.

Bob Condor

One of the surprising delights of The Good Mood Diet is that Dr. Kleiner has green-lighted our bowl of cold cereal with milk in the morning. After years of carb-bashing by various diet plans, Dr. Kleiner assures that crunching on your fave flakes or shredded wheat or O’s or other choice (just keep the sugar content less than 10 grams) is a healthful morning strategy.

In fact, I remember the first time Dr. Kleiner explained her travel routine, packing shredded wheat and making it part of early a.m. in her hotel room along with a fresh carton of nonfat milk. Pretty smart, I recall thinking, I'm doing that myself on the next trip. Except I prefer flakes or O's to the shredded wheat.

Dr. Kleiner's happy and mood-boosting stance was on my mind Thursday as Kellogg Company announced it will limit how and what cereals and other products it markets to young children. Kellogg's about-face was prompted, for the most part, by a lawsuit developed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, plus two Massachusetts parents who took up the fight against their kids sitting in front of TVs and lower supermarket shelves mesmerized by sugary low-fiber cereals.

Here's what Kellogg proposed for foods advertised on media—including TV, radio, print, and third-party Web sites—that have an audience of 50 percent or more children under age 12. Only foods that fit these parameters for one serving will be promoted:

• No more than 200 calories


• No more than zero grams of trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat


• No more than 230 milligrams of sodium (except for Eggo frozen waffles)


• No more than 12 grams of sugar (excluding sugar from fruit, dairy, and vegetables). Kellogg will continue its practice of not advertising to children under 6.

In addition, Kellogg will not:

• Advertise to children any foods in schools and preschools that include kids under age 12


• Sponsor product placements for any products in any medium primarily directed at kids under 12


• Use licensed characters on mass-media advertising directed primarily to kids under 12, as a basis for a food form or on the front labels of food packages unless those foods meet the nutrition standards


• Use branded toys in connection with foods that do not meet the nutrition standards

“By committing to these nutrition standards and marketing reforms, Kellogg has vaulted over the rest of the food industry,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “As a practical matter, this commitment means that parents will find it a little easier to steer their children toward healthy food choices—especially if other food manufacturers and broadcasters follow Kellogg’s lead.”

Now that's Good Mood news for the day – and something to enjoy thinking about with your morning bowl of cereal.

Bob Condor

Any of us who follow The Good Mood Diet love it for many reasons. For me, one of the biggest attractions is the daily egg that Dr. Kleiner suggests for breakfast. I look forward to it every day (sometimes after a workout or an hour of writing, other times on the run as the family departs for an outing). It tastes delicious and I feel the protein not only enhances my mood and brain power but quells my hunger.

So I found the newest campaign from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest to be compelling. CSPI, led by long-time food activist Michael Jacobson, is taking a number of major egg producers to task for making broad claims about eggs enhanced with omega-3 fats that are known to boost mood and fight heart disease and maybe cancer.

Never an organization to miss out on a pun or clever marketing ploy—Jacobson once described fettuccine Alfredo as “a heart attack on a plate”—CSPI said the egg producer claims are “not all they’re cracked up to be.”

“Egg producers have used the omega-3 buzz word to bilk health-conscious consumers—and so far they’ve gotten away with it,” said Jacobson on Thursday.

Fish, especially the cornerstone salmon from the Good Mood Diet, are the best sources of omega-3 fats associated with fighting heart disease, said CSPI officials. The organization’s point is it’s unclear whether omega-3 enhanced eggs contain the “right” kind of omega-3 fats to fend off cardiovascular problems because the omega-3 derives from flax meal fed to the chickens. Plus, the federal Food and Drug Administration has only approved DHA and EPA, acronyms for two types of omega-3 fats, as cardio-fighters.

The reason that Dr. Kleiner has us eating an egg every day, in addition to the great protein in the white, is the phospholipid and choline content in the yolk. The phospholipids maintain the channels in brain cells for nutrients to pass into the cell and toxins to pass out. You can't have a well-fed or healthy brain cell with low amounts of phospholipids. Choline is half of the neurotransmitter molecule called acetylcholine, responsible for some of the most fundamental communications between all nerve cells in the body and the brain. The best source for both these important chemicals is an egg yolk. That's why you notice the difference when you eat your egg every morning.

Bottom line for us Good Mood Dieters looking for a lift—and our morning egg—is omega-3 of different varieties are brain boosters. And there's a lot more to an egg than its omega-3 content.

CSPI named names, including many leading brands. Here is an excerpt from the non-profit watchdog group’s press release:

• Land O Lakes claims that “omega-3 All-Natural Eggs” are a “good source of heart-healthy nutrition” despite the fact that FDA has not defined the term “good source” for omega-3s and that the eggs contain too much saturated fat and cholesterol to meet FDA’s definition of healthy.


• Eggland’s Best uses unapproved nutrient content claims for omega-3s on its carton and on its Web site. In addition, the company claims that its eggs have 25 percent less saturated fat than regular eggs. But that difference is less than half a gram—an amount that the FDA considers trivial for purposes of nutrition labeling.


• Safeway Specialty 3 Eggs misleadingly boasts “100 mg of omega-3s” even though the FDA has not set standards for such omega-3 claims. In addition, the principal source of omega-3s in the hens’ diets is likely not a source that may be associated with heart benefits.


• Gold Circle Farms claims that its eggs contain “450 mg of omega-3s.” The claims are based on two eggs even though the official FDA serving size for eggs is one egg.


• The Country Hen illegally claims “the difference is an egg that is simply healthy” even though the product does not meet regulatory requirements for “healthy,” and also makes its claims based on two eggs.


• Full Spectrum Farms boasts that its product has “30 mg” of unspecified omega-3s even though one ordinary egg, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contains 37 mg of omega-3s, 20 mg of which are DHA and EPA.


• Giving Nature asserts that the company feeds its hens flax seed which “has been known to hold high levels of DHA omega-3.” But, according to the Flax Council of Canada and others, the omega-3s that FDA considers healthful (DHA and EPA) are not found in plants such as flax seed.

Bob Condor