Candy at the Cash Register

Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published an interesting editorial titled "Candy at the Cash Register-- a Risk Factor for Obesity and Chronic Disease."  This fits in well with our discussion of non-homeostatic eating, or eating in the absence of calorie need.

There are a few quotes in this article that I find really perceptive.

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Butternut Squash and Lobster Brown Rice Risotto (via The Chronicles of Home)

I'm giddy typing this next sentence- contributing author, Jennifer of The Chronicles of Home, is back with a beautiful, healthy recipe that features one of my favorite indulgences- lobster!  

Risotto doesn't usually come to mind when brainstorming healthy recipes - starchy white rice, lots of cream and butter - delicious, yes, but not what you want to consume on a regular basis when trying to eat healthy.

So here's what's different about this risotto.  There is zero cream or butter in the recipe, but pureeing some of the butternut squash still gives it a rich and creamy texture.  Lobster is a bit of an indulgence but a great low fat protein.  I also made this risotto with short grain brown rice to reap all the health benefits of a whole grain rice.  The short grain is important though - long grain rice will give you a rather dry risotto.  

Now let's talk a bit more about that butternut, which is the real health superstar here.  Butternut squash is rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants, low in fat, and delivers a hearty dose of dietary fiber.  It's a great source of potassium, vitamin B6, folate, carotenoids (shown to protect against heart disease), beta-carotene, and vitamin C.  And it's delicious!

The only knock on this dish is that it's not a quickie.  You'll need to stay nearby durning the second half of cooking and stir it occasionally but you can be doing other things in the kitchen simultaneously.  And the rich, decadent taste wrapped up in a healthy little package make it all worthwhile.

Ingredients

2 c. short grain brown rice

small butternut squash (about 2 cups), peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks

1 tbsp. olive oil

medium yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

6 oz. cooked lobster meat, cut into small pieces

8 c. chicken broth, divided

Bring the rice and 4 c. chicken broth to boil in a medium saucepan.  Lower heat and simmer, covered, 30 minutes to partially cook the rice.

Boil the butternut squash in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain and cool slightly then puree 2/3 of the squash in a food processor until smooth.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until it starts to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  

Pour the partially cooked rice and any liquid remaining in the saucepan into the pan with the onion and garlic.  Add the thyme and bay leaf and stir.  

Add the remaining 4 cups of broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring occasionally each time until the broth has been absorbed before adding another 1/2 cup.

Spoon the pureed squash into the risotto and stir to combine.  Add the diced squash and lobster and stir gently.  Season worth salt and pepper and serve hot.

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Thank you Jennifer!  I cannot wait to try this and I-don't-mind-if-I-do drink a glass of wine while I'm stirring!  If you're new to Jennifer's blog, The Chronicles of Home, you can follow her HERE. - Megan

Sharing the Love

I wanted to take a moment to give a big ole thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about my new blog.  It means so much to me to have your support.  If you have posted about Honey We're Healthy or put my button on your blog, please let me know so I can return the love here.  

*Click the picture below to visit the website*

Self Tanning Towelettes

I'm in the camp that believes that my body looks better with a tan.  I've still got some residual color from the summer, but it's fading.  I went to an event a few weeks ago at Nordstrom and they gave out a swag bag that contained Kate Somerville Tanning Towelettes.

In the past, I've always used a self tanning lotion or gel (I like Loreal Sublime Bronze okay), but I tried the Kate Somerville Towelette earlier this week and really liked the resulting color.  I think it looks very "tan" and natural.  Each package contains one towel (like a baby wipe) that you wipe all over your body.  I did notice that funny tanning smell, but it went away with the next shower.  

If you want to try them, you can get them at Nordstrom here.  They retail for $48 for 8 or $75 for 16.

Do you have a self tanner you like? 

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My Live Fit Week 5 Recap

If you've been following along, you know I'm doing the Jamie Eason Live Fit 12 Week Training Program.  I should have completed Week 5 two weeks ago, but a cold knocked me out for a week, so I had to wait to start Week 5 last week.  I'm happy to say that I completed it nearly perfectly and it feels so good!  At the end of this week, I am really starting to see visible changes in my figure.  My arms and shoulders and getting more defined and my waist is diminishing!!  I can see more tone in my legs too:)

I have started taking a Branched Chain Amino Acid supplement (I add 3 tablespoons in my water bottle) while I work out. I went with a brand recommended by Jillian Michaels in her book, Making the Cut (Twin Lab Amino Fuel).

Seeing these changes is giving me the motivation to continue my efforts at the gym and with my clean eating.  My meals are pretty much on auto pilot these days.  I haven't wanted to "cheat" because I don't want to ruin what I've been working so hard for.  I have had a few chocolates here and there, and I did have a hot cocoa with skim milk a few nights this week.  We ate sushi on Sunday, but I just had tuna sashimi and one roll.  

Week 5 started Phase 2 (of 3) and is Days 29-35. The workouts looked like this:

Below are the printouts that I take to the gym with me that tell me what exercises and how many repetitions to do.

DAY 30:  CHEST.

I don't like to lift weights for chest, so I only did 2 chest exercises, then did abs and cardio.

I started keeping track of my workouts on DAY 31, which I should have been doing from the beginning.  I like seeing what weight I'm lifting and that I'm getting stronger.  (The number I write in signifies the weight I am lifting/the bottom number (if there is one) shows how many reps I did.

With abs, I usually superset them into each workout, even though the plan doesn't say you need to.  I'm doing that to TRY to tighten that post-pregnancy skin.  It's getting much better, but I'm not sure it will ever go away completely. 

DAY 35: REST DAY 

This was supposed to be a rest day, but it was such gorgeous weather here that I did a 3-mile jog at the park.  I did intervals, alternating between walking and running.

I had my body fat measured at my gym last Friday, with a 3 Site Skinfold test (that's where they pinch you at your tricep, abdomen, and thigh).  The result was 14.5% and I weighed 103 pounds.  I'm 5'1 and petite.  

But, I didn't really trust that body fat number, because I thought it was too low for what I look like now.  I was last tested at my old gym in May 2012 and I was at 22%.  (Right after I had my son, I was at 29%).  So, I went back to my old gym and they restested me using a 4 Site Skinfold test, and the result was 16.3%.  I assume the correct number is somewhere in the middle, around 15%.  

I'm not necessarily too concerned with the body fat number (but I was curious), I just want to achieve a little more definition all over.  

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(Some of you super observant folks might have noticed I accidentally watermarked some of these photos with Honey We're Home.  Old habits die hard and it was late:) 

Ordering Healthier at Starbuck's

I'm right there with many of you who get excited when Starbuck's releases their Fall beverages each year.  They really get me giddy at Christmas with their bright red cups, but right now, it's the Salted Caramel Mocha that I'm craving.

Starbuck's is one of many food retailers that provide their nutrition information online if you dare to check.  You may not want to see the calorie and fat content of the SCM- it's pretty bad!  If you order a grande "medium" it's 420 calories and 16 grams of fat, plus 290 grams of sodium, and 56 grams of sugar.  Ouch!

If you want to lighten it up, get the tall (4oz less than the grande) with nonfat milk and no whip cream.  I promise, it's still delish.  That will save you 200 calories, 14 fat grams, 90 grams of sodium, and 16 grams of sugar.   That adds up!  It's still not something I'd drink everyday, but will enjoy maybe once a week as a treat.    

You can go HERE to see the nutritional information on your Starbuck's drink and then play with the size, choose nonfat milk and no whip to see the difference.  You can also order drinks "skinny" (sugar free syrup).  Are you into Starbuck's?  What's your favorite drink? How often do you order it?  

I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of how I did on Week 5 of the Live Fit program.  I'm happy to report that I'm already seeing results!  I'm ready to kick butt on Week 6 now! :)  

P.S. If you are new to my blog, you can Follow me HERE or Subscribe HERE.  

The steep obesity increase in the USA in the 1980s: In a sense, it reflects a major success story

Obesity rates have increased in the USA over the years, but the steep increase starting around the 1980s is unusual. Wang and Beydoun do a good job at discussing this puzzling phenomenon (), and a blog post by Discover Magazine provides a graph (see below) that clear illustrates it ().

What is the reason for this?

You may be tempted to point at increases in calorie intake and/or changes in macronutrient composition, but neither can explain this sharp increase in obesity in the 1980s. The differences in calorie intake and macronutrient composition are simply not large enough to fully account for such a steep increase. And the data is actually full of oddities.

For example, an article by Austin and colleagues (which ironically blames calorie consumption for the obesity epidemic) suggests that obese men in a NHANES (2005–2006) sample consumed only 2.2 percent more calories per day on average than normal weight men in a NHANES I (1971–1975) sample ().

So, what could be the main reason for the steep increase in obesity prevalence since the 1980s?

The first clue comes from an interesting observation. If you age-adjust obesity trends (by controlling for age), you end up with a much less steep increase. The steep increase in the graph above is based on raw, unadjusted numbers. There is a higher prevalence of obesity among older people (no surprise here). And older people are people that have survived longer than younger people. (Don’t be too quick to say “duh” just yet.)

This age-obesity connection also reflects an interesting difference between humans living “in the wild” and those who do not, which becomes more striking when we compare hunter-gatherers with modern urbanites. Adult hunter-gatherers, unlike modern urbanites, do not gain weight as they age; they actually lose weight (, ).

Modern urbanites gain a significant amount of weight, usually as body fat, particularly after age 40. The table below, from an article by Flegal and colleagues, illustrates this pattern quite clearly (). Obesity prevalence tends to be highest between ages 40-59 in men; and this has been happening since the 1960s, with the exception of the most recent period listed (1999-2000).

In the 1999-2000 period obesity prevalence in men peaked in the 60-74 age range. Why? With progress in medicine, it is likely that more obese people in that age range survived (however miserably) in the 1999-2000 period. Obesity prevalence overall tends to be highest between ages 40-74 in women, which is a wider range than in men. Keep in mind that women tend to also live longer than men.

Because age seems to be associated with obesity prevalence among urbanites, it would be reasonable to look for a factor that significantly increased survival rates as one of the main reasons for the steep increase in the prevalence of obesity in the USA in the 1980s. If significantly more people were surviving beyond age 40 in the 1980s and beyond, this would help explain the steep increase in obesity prevalence. People don’t die immediately after they become obese; obesity is a “disease” that first and foremost impairs quality of life for many years before it kills.

Now look at the graph below, from an article by Armstrong and colleagues (). It shows a significant decrease in mortality from infectious diseases in the USA since 1900, reaching a minimum point between 1950 and 1960 (possibly 1955), and remaining low afterwards. (The spike in 1918 is due to the influenza pandemic.) At the same time, mortality from non-infectious diseases remains relatively stable over the same period, leading to a similar decrease in overall mortality.

When proper treatment options are not available, infectious diseases kill disproportionately at ages 15 and under (). Someone who was 15 years old in the USA in 1955 would have been 40 years old in 1980, if he or she survived. Had this person been obese, this would have been just in time to contribute to the steep increase in obesity trends in the USA. This increase would be cumulative; if this person were to live to the age of 70, he or she would be contributing to the obesity statistics up to 2010.

Americans are clearly eating more, particularly highly palatable industrialized foods whose calorie-to-nutrient ratio is high. Americans are also less physically active. But one of the fundamental reasons for the sharp increase in obesity rates in the USA since the early 1980s is that Americans have been surviving beyond age 40 in significantly greater numbers.

This is due to the success of modern medicine and public health initiatives in dealing with infectious diseases.

PS: It is important to point out that this post is not about the increase in American obesity in general over the years, but rather about the sharp increase in obesity since the early 1980s. A few alternative hypotheses have been proposed in the comments section, of which one seems to have been favored by various readers: a significant increase in consumption of linoleic acid (not to be confused with linolenic acid) since the early 1980s.