New Year’s Resolutions. It’s that time of year. The gym is packed. The produce aisle is crowded. People are carrying water bottles everywhere they go. But will it last?

The Most Popular Resolutions of 2012

Long known for their detrimental, yet tasty and convenient food, fast food companies have had a run on the food-on-the-go market for decades. Slowly over the past few years, even these mega billion dollar companies have stopped to listen to the consumers. The consumers that don’t want to induce a heart attack with one triple-stack bacon cheeseburger and a mega-sized order of fries. Consumers that want something even just a little bit healthier.

Ever so slowly, healthier options have been popping at fast food restaurants across the nation. Apple slices instead of fries for kids’ meals, yogurt parfaits, fruit cups, and salads galore.

And now, in an effort to keep up with the ever popular Starbucks, McDonald’s has added something to their menu they probably never could have imagined when they first dreamed of selling cheap burgers, fries, and shakes.

What is it?

Oatmeal.

Yup, oatmeal.

Good job McDonald’s. Way to step up.

Or did you?

Oatmeal, one of the purest ingredients out there- it’s just simply whole grain oats, after all- has been turned into a mystery bowl of strange ingredients and unimaginable amounts of sugar.

McDonald’s calls their oatmeal “wholesome”. Mark Bittman, a foodie’s icon, calls it a disaster.

One serving of McDonald’s oatmeal contains more sugar than a Snickers bar.

It has more calories than a cheeseburger or an Egg McMuffin. Even without the brown sugar, it has more calories than a hamburger.

McDonald’s lets you believe you’re simply getting 4 ingredients:

oats, raisins, apples, and cranberries

If you’re a stealthy investigator, you might notice it’s served with cream, but there’s really no reason to think you’re about to order a catastrophe in a bowl.

Just 4 ingredients? Wrong. 21. I bet you can’t pronounce half of them.

The real skinny on McDonald’s oatmeal? 290 calories, 32 g of sugar, and 4.5 g of fat.

Did I mention it costs more than a double cheeseburger?

You know you’re supposed to ‘be healthy’, but ever wonder where to start?

Every 5 years, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) release a set of guidelines to help Americans figure out how to have good dietary habits and how to reduce their risk of chronic disease.

The guidelines provide advice for making food choices that promote good health, a healthy weight, and help prevent disease for healthy Americans ages 2 and over.

The most recent version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2010) was released today.

“The 2010 Dietary Guidelines are being released at a time when the majority of adults and one in three children is overweight or obese and this is a crisis that we can no longer ignore,” said Secretary Vilsack.  “These new and improved dietary recommendations give individuals the information to make thoughtful choices of healthier foods in the right portions and to complement those choices with physical activity.  The bottom line is that most Americans need to trim our waistlines to reduce the risk of developing diet-related chronic disease. Improving our eating habits is not only good for every individual and family, but also for our country.”

Obesity continues to be a critical issue in our country: it’s responsible for 75 cents of every dollar of the nation’s health care costs.  Obesity affects our ability to grow and innovate as a nation. When you’re unhealthy and overweight, it’s hard to be a good student; it’s hard to be productive.

The Dietary Guidelines help give Americans the tools they need to make necessary change.

So what exactly do the latest guidelines suggest we do?

The guidelines include 23 recommendations for the general public, as well as 6 key recommendations for specific populations, such as pregnant women and the elderly.

Read the full 2010 Dietary Guidelines here.

The 2 main themes:

1.  Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight.

2. Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverage.

Some of the recommendations included are:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid oversized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Some other big ones that stand out:

- Reduce sodium intake to 2,300 mg (1,500 mg for targeted populations such as kidney and heart disease)

- Increase consumption of fish and seafood

- Use oils to replace solid fats

- Reduce time spent in sedentary behaviors

Remember:

Watch your calorie intake. Move move. Sit less. Eat less sugar/sodium/saturated fat. Eat more fruits/vegetables/whole grains. It matters.

Need help making sense of the guidelines or applying them to your own life? Find an RD at eatright.org

How are you going to get healthier in 2011?

You know how it goes. You walk into your annual Christmas party and make a beeline to Aunt Jo’s famous black and white cookies. You grab a handful of spiced pecans on the way. The hostess hands you a mug of eggnog, the glass brimming with whipped cream.

Before you know it, you’re so stuffed you’re tugging at your pants and asking yourself how that happened again.

it doesn’t have to be that way. This year you can be armed & ready with a plan.

1. Don’t go hungry. Eat well throughout the day leading up to the party and have a snack before you go. Showing up hungry will set you up for disaster. Don’t worry- you’ll still have enough room for peppermint bark and hot toddies.

2. Scope out the scene. You don’t have to eat every single item served. Glance around at all your options- then choose the ones that look the best.

3. Be stingy. Sometimes you just have to have some of everything, so keep your portions to minimum- a spoonful of dip, a single mini quiche, half a glass of cider. There will always be room for more later.

4. Load up on healthier options. Fill your plate with healthy options first- like veggies. You’ll have less room for the more indulgent choices- both on your plate and in your belly.

5. Know the bad guys. While no food is off limits, it’s wise to know which foods may be hiding a calorie laden surprise. Be careful when it comes to nuts, creamy drinks like eggnog and rich hot chocolate, and cheese-heavy dips.

6. Put it all out there. Put everything you’re eating on a plate. Being able to see it all together gives you a better idea of how much you’re eating.

7. Slow down! You don’t have to try everything within 5 minutes of walking in the door. Eat slowly, and don’t worry about spreading your choices throughout the night.

8. Leave the boring stuff for someone else. You can eat chips and pretzels any day- why waste it on a holiday party? Stick with things you don’t get to eat often instead.

9. Keep tabs on alcohol. Alcohol has calories too- and they count. Plus, alcohol lowers your inhibitions, making you throw all your good eating plans out the window. Alternate alcoholic beverages with non-alcoholic, low calorie drinks to keep things in check.

10. Walk away from the table. It’s not going anywhere, I promise. Mingle on the other side of the room- you can always walk back to the table later.

I’ve had this picture saved on my computer for a few weeks now, waiting to come up with the exact right thing to say to get my point across.

But then I decided the picture speaks for itself. Ready?

In case you can’t tell what it is, I’ll give you a little hint: Think chicken nuggets. Or chicken patties.

Any fast food chicken or processed chicken in the freezer section of the grocery store.

Now you’re saying “Wait a minute…that doesn’t look like chicken.”

Exactly. It’s the whole chicken she-bang- the grinder doesn’t discriminate chicken parts.

To make that mental image even better, because it’s so full of bacteria, it’s then “washed” with ammonia and dyed pink to look “real”.

If that’s not enough to make you think twice, have you seen what a 180-day-old Happy Meal looks like?

Suddenly the extra 2 minutes it takes to pack my lunch in the morning doesn’t sound so inconvenient.

“Stay away from high fructose corn syrup.”

It’s likely you’ve heard that before. And big companies are listening- high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is disappearing from products everywhere.

Now the Corn Refiners Association is vying for a name change: they want to call HFCS “corn sugar”, likely to make the sinister ingredient sound more appealing.

So what’s the big fuss? What is HFCS and why does everyone care so much?

High fructose corn syrup is a form of sugar made from extra corn. Manufacturers started using it in their products in the 1980s because it was half the price of regular sugar and still got the job done.

Why the bad reputation? The 1980s is when we saw the start of the increasing obesity trend. Valid or not, people started linking the two together. But just because things happen at the same time doesn’t mean they’re related.

It’s not just HFCS that’s linked to obesity- it’s all added sugar. Added sugar is any sugar that doesn’t naturally occur in a food (like fruit).

So why is HFCS getting all the blame? It’s because of the fructose, a simple sugar. Increased fructose intake is associated with weight gain, heart disease, and insulin resistance.

The average intake of fructose for adults is 55g/day, or about 10% of total calorie intake. But HFCS isn’t Americans’ only source of fructose- so is regular table sugar, agave nectar, and fruit.

The name change from HFCS to corn sugar isn’t all that unreasonable- high fructose corn syrup has no more fructose than regular sugar. The words “high fructose” clearly cause confusion. HFCS isn’t any sweeter either- it’s just cheaper because it comes from corn instead of sugar cane. (Corn is a heavily subsidized crop in the US.)

The name change isn’t really the issue- the real issue is the amount of sugar Americans are eating in general.

Average consumption is estimated at 25 teaspoons of added sugar a day. The World Health Organization recommends added sugar intake be kept to less than 10% of total calories, which is 50g (or 12 teaspoons). The American Heart Association has recently stated added sugars should be kept to less than 5% of calorie intake, which is 25g or 6 teaspoons of sugar.

Bottom line: check the food label. Anything with the word sugar, syrup, or words ending in “ose” have added sugar, meaning you should limit your intake.

Stop. Take the quiz here first.

1. Which of the following breakfast items at Denny’s do you think has the fewest calories?

a. Ham and cheddar omelet (595)

b. Country fried steak & eggs (464)

c. Three slices of French toast with syrup & margarine (1000)

d. Three pancakes with syrup & margarine (650)

2. Which of the following items from Chili’s do you think has the least salt?

a. Cajun chicken sandwich (2220)

b. Classic combo chicken & steak fajitas (2660)

c. Guiltless chicken platter (2780)

d. Smoked turkey sandwich (2920)

3. Which of the following items from Macaroni Grill do you think has the most fat?

a. Traditional lasagna (54)

b. Chicken Caesar salad (69)

c. Pasta classico with sausage & peppers (50)

d. BBQ chicken pizza (24)

4. Which of the following from McDonald’s do you think has the most calories?

a. Two Big Macs (1080)

b. Two Egg McMuffins (600)

c. One large chocolate shake (1160)

d. Four regular hamburgers (1000)

How did you do?

These questions were asked to a group of 523 registered voters in California.

The results?

- NO ONE answered all 4 questions correctly

- <1% got 3 out of 4 correct

- 5% got 2 out 4 correct

- 68% got ZERO correct answers

What does this tell us?

No matter how educated you are about food & health, there’s no way to guess what’s in our food. Your omelet will be different than my omelet, which will be different from Denny’s omelet.

How does this make you feel about posting nutrition information on menus at restaurants?

You may think you’re making the best choices when dining out, but how much do you really know?

Take this short quiz to test your fast food knowledge:

1. Which of the following breakfast items at Denny’s do you think has the fewest calories?

a. Ham and cheddar omelet

b. Country fried steak & eggs

c. Three slices of French toast with syrup & margarine

d. Three pancakes with syrup & margarine

2. Which of the following items from Chili’s do you think has the least salt?

a. Cajun chicken sandwich

b. Classic combo chicken & steak fajitas

c. Guiltless chicken platter

d. Smoked turkey sandwich

3. Which of the following items from Macaroni Grill do you think has the most fat?

a. Traditional lasagna

b. Chicken Caesar salad

c. Pasta classico with sausage & peppers

d. BBQ chicken pizza

4. Which of the following from McDonald’s do you think has the most calories?

a. Two Big Macs

b. Two Egg McMuffins

c. One large chocolate shake

d. Four regular hamburgers

Leave your guesses in the comments section- answers will be revealed tomorrow! (No cheating!)

Did you know that kids who are moderately overweight shouldn’t be put on a diet?

In our obesity-centric world it’s easy to think that anybody who’s overweight should be on a diet, but kids are a different story.

Kids aren’t mini-adults: they’re children that are growing to become adults, and that growth is what makes them different from overweight adults. Whether they are overweight or not, kids are in their formative years, both physically and mentally. Putting a kid on a diet has lasting effects- not only on their weight and view of food, but on their self-image and self-esteem.

If you can’t put a child on a diet, what are you supposed to do?

Instead of restricting a child’s food intake, it’s currently recommended to help moderately overweight kids (10-15 pounds) make small changes in lifestyle.

Changes that can make an impact include:

- Improvements in eating choices

- Increasing physical activity

- Decreasing screen time. Screen time includes watching television, playing video games, and spending time on the computer.

Adding fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to a child’s diet, while cutting back on junk food, can help improve diet quality.

When it comes to overweight children, the idea is to slow the rate of weight gain, not make them lose weight.  By decreasing the rate of weight gain, the child’s weight will gradually become more appropriate for his height as he continues to grow.

A low calorie diet can inhibit height growth & deprive kids of the vital nutrients that are necessary for healthy cognitive & physical development. Plus, lifestyle changes like swapping junk food for fruit and cutting back on tv will benefit the health of the whole family.

I was absolutely aghast when I saw this issue of Time magazine hit the newsstands last summer saying that exercise didn’t equal weight loss.

But maybe that horrible Time magazine article had it right. Like many others, I was outraged when the cover of Time said exercise didn’t play a role in weight loss. Suddenly my inbox was flooded with questions. Time is a reputable source of information; surely they wouldn’t plaster such ludicrous information all over town.

After I got over my moment of anger I actually read the article. Though no one wants to believe it, what Time was reporting was indeed accurate. The article supported exercise as a means of weight management- not weight loss.

The article explained that aerobic exercise [i.e. cardio] doesn’t contribute to weight loss as much as you’d think. Yes, you do burn calories while you’re exercising- but what do you do when you’re done with your workout? Watch tv? Cook a big dinner? [See the article on ‘sitting kills’ for more.]

Exercise can make you tired, meaning you’re less active during other parts of the day. Sometimes it can rev up your appetite, meaning you might eat more. And sometimes people view exercise as a free pass- you’ve been to the gym, so the extra slice of deep dish pizza is ok.

The point is, exercise alone will not automatically cause the pounds to melt away. Instead, it’s just one piece of the weight loss puzzle.

So even though exercise doesn’t instantly translate to weight loss, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be exercising. Not only will it help with achieving a healthy weight, it will help you stay there once you’ve met your goal. And no matter your weight, exercise is good for your heart, lungs, and mind!