Mindless Eating

You think you're in control of your eating behavior-- but you aren't

In 2005, Brian Wansink's research group published a remarkable study that demonstrates the powerful unconscious influence of the food environment on our consumption (1). 

Volunteers were invited to a test kitchen to eat bowls of tomato soup for lunch.  Each person was given a bowl containing 18 ounces of soup-- but there was a catch.  Half the volunteers were given custom-made soup bowls that partially refilled as they ate, such that the soup level dropped more slowly.

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Peanut Butter Brownie Bliss Valentine's Treat (You Won't Feel Guilty About)

With Valentine's Day approaching, we might be looking forward to indulging in our favorite sweet treats.  For me, chocolate tops the list.  Pairing chocolate with peanut butter is even better! One of my favorite treats is homemade peanut butter cups, but they are a little time consuming to prepare and high in calories and sugar.  If you are looking for something with chocolate and peanut butter to satisfy your sweet tooth, you may want to try these . . . Peanut Butter Brownie Bliss. 

Yumminess!

Since I feel like Valentine's Day should be shared among friends as well as honeys, I gave a few of mine this simple treat.  Dressed up in cute packaging makes it even cuter.  

I used a paper mache hexagon boxand filled it with crinkle cut paperand foam heart stickers.

Then, I affixed a doily and glittery red heart to the top of the box with spray adhesive. 

And decorated the rim of the box with washi tape.

Everyone loved them and couldn't even tell they are made by . . .  Weight Watchers!  Cool, huh?!  I thought you might want to hear of some "desserty" things you don't have to feel guilty eating once in a awhile!  They have other flavors too if you want to try something else.  

Each box comes with 6 individually wrapped mini brownies.  They are 2 WW points per brownie, 90 calories, 4 fat grams, and 9 grams of sugar. 

What's your favorite Valentine's Day treat? 

Thank you to Weight Watchers for sending me these yummy desserts!

5 Easy and Effective Ways to Eat Less

Why do we overeat?  Why is it hard to lose fat once we've gained it?  Is there a way to comfortably and sustainably eat less and lose fat? 

 

I recently did an interview with Armi Legge of Evidence Magazine that gives an overview of my thinking on these topics-- based on a large and compelling body of research that rarely reaches popular media sources in useful form. 

 

At the end of the interview, Armi asks me to list my top five tips for reducing calorie intake.  Enjoy!

 

5 Easy and Effective Ways to Eat Less

 

 

New Dr. Oz Magazine // The Good Life

While browsing the bookstore the other day, I happened upon a new magazine by Dr. Oz, The Good Life.  Of course I picked up a copy and, so far, I really like it!  If you aren't familiar with Dr. Oz, he's a heart surgeon and professor who became popular as a regular guest on Oprah and now has his own show, although he still practices medicine.  His credentials are stellar, but what most people love about him is how he puts health lessons into terms we can understand and implement in our own lives.

The first issue has great information about multivitamins

what Dr. Oz is eating now . . .

exercises for a tighter booty. . .

and how to lose 10 pounds in 4 weeks.

You can order The Good Life HERE and it also comes in a Kindle edition.

Oxygen is my other go-to magazine for fitness inspiration.  I keep all old copies as references for exercises and recipes.  You can order it HERE.

Muscle & Fitness Hers is also really good and is pretty inexpensive for a subscription ($1.66 per issue). You can order it HERE.

Do you read fitness magazines?  Which ones?  If you picked up Dr. Oz' magazine, what did you think of it?

Operation Get Lean - Week 1 Recap + TREADMILL SPRINT INTERVALS

Last week, starting Sunday, I began training and eating to get lean and add muscle with a goal of looking something like the photos below.  I'm crazy for those shoulders and abs!  I've never really had nice shoulders and arms like that and I want to see if I can get them.  

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Slightly embarrassing to post my pic, but I wanted to document my progress, so here's where I'm starting. 

I have been doing a lot of reading, researching, and remembering what trainers and fitness competitors I've known have told me throughout the years.  To get results like that, you have to lift weights, do cardio, and eat clean.  There's really no secret.   

A few days ago, I posted my current eating regimen and I'm happy to report I have stuck to it 100%.  I have planned a cheat meal for Saturday night, but plan to continue my clean eating Saturday day and on Sunday and the next week, etc.  I really want to see what eating like this COMBINED WITH the working out and cardio do for me in the next few months. 

I'm planning to workout 5 days a week (Mon-Thurs, Saturday, and off Friday and Sunday).  This week I'm taking off Friday (so that will be 6 days this week).  The cool thing for me is that I added 20 minutes of cardio to the end of every workout.  I've never done that before.  And I'm talking hard cardio, keeping the heart rate up the whole time.  (I'm not monitoring it with a device but can tell by the way I feel). 

Go HERE to see what I ate this week.  The big changes for me were giving up my afternoon coffee (I drank hot tea instead) and my late night bowl of cereal.  I used to always eat a bowl of something like Cheerios before bed.  Now if I'm hungry, I'll eat one serving of greek yogurt.  It's also challenging to eat every 2-3 hours, reminds me of breastfeeding.  It feels like as soon as you're finished eating, it's time to eat again.  But, I liked my meals, so it wasn't too bad.  I just keep thinking

THE WORKOUTS

I'm not following any specific program, just making sure I hit every body part hard each week.  For convenience, this week, I followed 5 workouts from the Jamie Eason Live Fit plan.  But, I also added 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill at the end.  For 5 of the days, I just kept adjusting the treadmill to do my own made-up intervals.  For instance:

Minute 1:  4.0 mph at 0 incline

Minutes 2-4:  2.5 mph at 15 incline (don't hold on!)

Minute 5:  4 mph at 0 incline

Minutes 6-7:  6.5 at 0 incline 

and then repeat for 20 minutes total. 

One day, I did treadmill sprint intervals.  Since I've never done this before, I set the treadmill speed to 7.5 mph and did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.  Basically, you crank the treadmill to your desired speed and run for 30 seconds, then grab the side rails and jump to the side, keeping the treadmill going at that speed and rest for 30 seconds.  Moving the speed up and down takes too long.  

I did that for 20 minutes.  The first 9 minutes weren't too bad, and the iPod helped.  Minutes 11 and 12 felt super hard.  Minutes 13-15 I was like, "Why am I doing this f*#k*ng thing?"  But the last 4 minutes, I'm thinking, "I'm almost done, I can do this, I AM doing this! I'm strong!"  I swear working out is such a mental and physical sport.  I never thought I could consistently do cardio after a hard weight lifting workout and now I've done it 5 times in one week.  I learn that you have to train your mind and your body at the same time.  

For weight training, I did: 

SUNDAY- back

MONDAY - legs 

TUESDAY - biceps and triceps 

WEDNESDAY - shoulders + planks (3 sets, 45 seconds to 1 minute)

THURSDAY - back and biceps + planks (3 sets, 45 seconds to 1 minute)

SATURDAY- legs 

Go HERE for the exact workouts with pinnable images, except I added one more not shown.

I have been tired at a reasonable time at night (thank God, sometimes I get a "second wind" right before bed and can't sleep) and woken up so SORE every morning that I was immediately taking 2 Advil.  I just ordered a nighttime recovery supplement that is supposed to help with soreness- it's by Advocare.  I haven't taken it yet, so I can't tell you if it helps or not, but I'm crossing my fingers! 

You can follow my Pinterest FITNESS inspiration board for more motivation and fitness tools. 

Have a great weekend!

Mysteries of Energy Balance and Weight Loss

How to Lose Weight Effortlessly

 

You've probably seen this claim many times: a pound of fat contains 3,500 kilocalories (kcal).  A slice of toast is 80 kcal.  All you have to do is forego one slice of toast per day-- just a few percent of your total calorie intake-- and you will lose 8.3 lbs of fat per year.  Fat loss is so easy!

 

This reasoning is extremely common both in the popular media and among researchers.  Here's an example from the otherwise excellent book Mindless Eating, by researcher Brian Wansink:

...the difference between 1,900 and 2,000 calories is one we cannot detect, nor can we detect the difference between 2,000 and 2,100 calories.  But over the course of a year, this mindless margin would either cause us to lose ten pounds or to gain ten pounds.  It takes 3,500 extra calories to equal one pound.  It doesn't matter if we eat these extra 3,500 calories in one week or gradually over the entire year.  They'll add up to one pound.

This is the danger of creeping calories.  Just 10 extra calories a day-- one stick of Doublemint gum or three small Jelly Belly jelly beans-- will make you a pound more portly one year from today.  Only three Jelly Bellys a day.

According to this reasoning, if I reduced my calorie intake by 80 kcal per day, I'd become skeletal in two years and vanish in a puff of smoke within 10 years*.  All from a meager 3 percent reduction in calorie intake! 

 

What's wrong here?

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NutriScience Seminar in Lisbon with Lindeberg, Fontes, and Bastos

My friend Pedro Bastos has asked me to spread the word about a seminar he's organizing in Lisbon titled "Evidence and Evolution-based Nutrition".  It will include Staffan Lindeberg, Maelan Fontes, and Pedro Bastos-- three quality researchers in the area of evolutionary health-- I'm sure it will be interesting.  Here's the flier: