When trying to be heart healthy and lose weight a salad can be a great choice to include as a regular part of your meal plan – either as a vegetable side or the main entrée.

However, a salad can quickly become a weight loss disaster if you make the 7 mistakes below!

Mistake #1 – Selecting iceberg lettuce.

Iceberg lettuce is one of the most common forms of lettuce you’ll find in grocery stores and salad bars. Unfortunately iceberg lettuce provides minimal nutrients (mostly crunchy water). Select dark green, leafy lettuce varieties, such as romaine and endive. Also, greens like spinach and arugula provide added nutrients to your salad mix.

Mistake #2 – Skimping on fresh vegetables.

You can afford to splurge on fresh vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Fresh vegetables are low in calories and rich in vitamins and minerals.

Mistake #3 – Skipping the protein.

If your salad is your entrée it’s important to add some protein, such as chopped eggs, nuts and seeds, beans, or shredded meat (turkey/ham/chicken/seafood). Refer to How Much Protein Do You Need to Lose Weight? for a review of your protein needs.

Mistake #4 – Choosing a cream based soup.

Soup is often included on salad bars. Cream based soups tend to be high in calories and fat. Opt for broth based soups instead.

Mistake #5 – Loading up on salad toppings

Croutons, sesame noodles, and bacon bits are a few common salad toppings. These topping should be used sparingly. They provide minimal nutrients and are high in calories.

Mistake #6 – Selecting a high fat, high calorie salad dressing.

Now, if you’ve avoided the first five mistakes, you don’t want to ruin your nutritious salad with a poor dressing choice. Opt for vinegar based salad dressings or low fat/calorie salad dressing if available and use sparingly. Tip: Dip your fork in a small cup of salad dressing before every bite instead of pouring the dressing on your salad. You get great flavor with every bite and use significantly less dressing.

Mistake #7 – Making too many trips to the salad bar.

Even if your salad bar includes unlimited trips it’s not necessary to go back multiple times – which can be very tempting. Decide in advance how many trips you’ll make and stick with your plan. Even though a well-balanced salad is a healthy choice, too much of a good thing can quickly turn bad!

Receive a step by step plan to promote heart health and weight loss with a Mini Diet Makeover. As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll receive a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies. Learn more here – http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
http://www.lisanelsonrd.com

THIS MONTH ONLY – When you sign up for a Mini Diet Makeover you’ll not only receive a personalized diet plan outlining the steps you must take to achieve your goals, but you’ll also receive a complimentary copy of The Calorie Counter for Dummies.

Here’s to a fitter and healthier 2010!

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthwithlisa.com

This is the year you are going to be successful! You just need to rethink a few of your ideas regarding healthy eating. To be successful with your healthy eating and weight loss plan you need to keep it simple.

Here are three tips to get you started on the right path this year:

1. Focus on nutrient dense foods.

   Select nutrient dense foods to promote your overall health and weight loss. The nutrient density of a food is measured by the amount of nutrients a food contains versus the number of calories. For example, fruit is very nutrient dense while potato chips have a low nutrient density.

2. Lose the diet mentality.

   Diets typically backfire. If you lose weight by following a diet it’s very likely you will gain the weight back. Studies even show you will gain back more weight than you lost. Following a diet can lead you to start obsessing about food and eventual binge-eating patterns. Instead of “going on a diet”, focus on healthy new eating habits.

3. Eat well-balanced small meals.

   Keep your metabolism high by eating 5-6 small well-balanced meals everyday, instead of the standard 3 large meals with no snacks. This allows your body to burn calories efficiently versus storing extra energy as fat. Shoot for a small meal or snack every 3-4 hours.

As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll recieve a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies when you sign up for a Mini Diet Makeover. Learn more here – http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD

New Year’s is just around the corner and you know what that means. . .New Year’s Resolutions! Every year you set a goal to make a change for the better. This should be a time of great excitement; however, you may be approaching it with a sense of dread instead. Will you achieve your goal? Or will it end up being another resolution that falls to the wayside?

The statistics are not very encouraging. Most people give up on their New Year resolutions within three weeks. According to one discouraging study, only 8% of American’s actually achieve their New Year resolutions!

How will you keep yourself motivated and make this the year you achieve your goals?

Here are five tips to stay motivated:

1. Set realistic goals.

Set a goal you know you can achieve. If you are currently inactive, it’s unrealistic to set a goal to run 5 miles three times a week. Instead, set a goal you can achieve, such as “I will walk 30 minutes 3 days a week.” Realistic goals can be motivating because once you achieve your goal you can set a new one! This allows you to “see” the progress you’re making. Which brings us to the next important strategy. . .

2. Set measurable goals.

Measurable goals make it possible to track your progress. For example, instead of setting the goal “I will eat out less this year” change it to “I will eat out no more than once a week this year”. By setting measurable goals you can easily track if you are sticking with your goals.

3. Write your goals down.

Writing down your goals makes them “real” versus keeping a mental list. Post your resolution where you will see it everyday as a reminder and added motivation.

4. Tell a friend.

Share your goals with others. This provides a sense of accountability. It’s much easier to let yourself down, but when you’ve shared your plan with someone else, there’s often an increased desire to succeed.

5. Reward Yourself!

When you achieve a goal, reward yourself. It’s important to recognize your accomplishments and treat yourself. Just make sure your treat is in line with your goal. If you want to lose weight, this isn’t the time to treat yourself to an ice cream sundae. Consider other small rewards you’d enjoy, such as a good book, new music CD, or new pair of shoes.

As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll recieve a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies when you sign up for a Mini Diet Makeover. Learn more here – http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html

All the best,

Lisa Nelson RD

A Non-Diet New Year’s resolution? Yes, you’ve read this correctly. More typically, your friends, family, and perhaps you would be kicking off the New Year with the latest fad diet to change your appearance and achieve a more socially accepted thin figure. Before making this decision you should consider that dieting often leads to some unwanted side effects, such as low energy levels, feelings of deprivation, low blood sugar, and cravings for those favorite foods that you won’t allow yourself to eat. Some people may even experience overeating or binge eating as a result of going through periods of low nutrition or deprivation. To top it off, the weight loss that you may achieve is most likely temporary. Coming off a diet usually means that you will return to the previous eating patterns that you were dissatisfied with and that drove you to diet in the first place.

You can make your New Year’s resolution more reasonable by adopting the Non-Diet way to achieve a healthy figure, and peace with food and your body. Rather than a love-hate relationship, try learning to develop a more healthful relationship with food.

• Listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues.
• Learn how to identify and respond appropriately to these cues and make more informed decisions about when to start and stop eating.
• Follow your taste preferences.

All foods can fit into a healthful eating plan when eaten in moderation. Balanced eating, including carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, can curb your appetite, result in feeling satisfied after eating, improve energy, stabilize blood sugar levels, and also help to maintain a weight that is appropriate and healthy for you.

Along with your newly adopted Non-Diet approach to eating, challenge yourself to explore forms of movement that you find enjoyable. Your weight management goals will be met more easily by incorporating regular activity that you look forward to doing.

Keep your personal weight goals realistic. You may want to evaluate your own ideas about thinness and move more towards accepting that health results from sound nutrition and activity practices and comes in bodies of all shapes and sizes.

Now, how are you going to make your New Year’s goal a reality in 2010? Join dietitians Ursula Ridens RD and Lisa Nelson RD for the free teleclass “5 Steps to Kick Start Your Weight Loss in 2010!”. You’ll learn exactly how to move from where you are now to where you want to be by the end of 2010. Go to http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/newu/newyearcall.html to sign up! Come prepared to participate!

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD

I’ve been working with a retired gentleman the past few months and he’s been making fantastic progress to lose weight; however, this past week we focused on his fiber intake and learned his intake was much too low. He averaged around 15-20 grams of fiber daily. You should consume 25-35 grams of fiber everyday.

Eating a high fiber diet plan promotes weight loss by stabilizing blood sugars and increasing satiety (i.e. your sense of fullness). Fiber can actually act as a natural appetite suppressant. In addition to promoting weight loss, a diet high in fiber supports a lower LDL cholesterol/cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, promotes digestive health, and has the potential to decrease risk of colorectal cancer (studies are showing mixed results so far).

So, for your weight loss success and overall heart health, let’s take a moment and evaluate the fiber content of your food choices.

To determine your typical daily fiber intake grab a piece of paper and write down what you typically have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any snacks in between. If you’ve been keeping a food journal, simply grab your journal and look at yesterday.

Let’s use the following day as an example:

Breakfast:
2 cups of Cheerios with skim milk
6 oz. OJ

Morning Snack:
6 oz. Yogurt

Lunch:
Grilled cheese sandwich on white bread
1 cup tomato soup

Afternoon Snack:
¼ cup Walnuts and Dried Fruit

Evening Meal:
3 oz. Baked Turkey Breast
½ cup baked potato
½ cup broccoli and cauliflower

Now, you’ll have to be in your kitchen, so you can look at the food label of different foods to add up your fiber intake. For example, Cheerios provides 3 grams of fiber per cup, so fiber intake at breakfast was 6 grams (2 cups x 3 grams) since OJ and skim milk provide 0 grams of fiber. Do this for all your foods and add up the total.

In this example, total fiber intake is around 16 grams, which is low. If your fiber intake is also below 25-35 grams, look for ways to boost your fiber intake. Using the above example, you could swap out the OJ for a piece of whole fruit to add ~4 grams of fiber, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseed on the yogurt to add 2 grams of fiber, select whole grain bread that provides 5 grams of more fiber per slice, swap the baked potato for a baked sweet potato, and increase your broccoli and cauliflower serving to 1 cup with your evening meal. These changes would increase total fiber intake to around 34 grams.

Now, something important worth mentioning! If you currently consume a low fiber diet, making a sudden drastic increase can result in unpleasant side effects (i.e. gas and diarrhea). Increase your fiber intake gradually to avoid side effects.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com

If you are trying to lose weight or maintain your weight restaurants can be a challenge due to the calorie rich menu items. Here are 5 tips to help you:

1. Stop a bad cycle. Just because you dine out on night does not mean you’re healthy intentions are permanently ruined. Start the next day fresh with a heart healthy breakfast.

2. Maintain your social schedule, but actually eat out less. You can still attend social events, but eat a healthy meal at home first and then snack lightly at your social event.

3. Be specific about your order. Don’t be afraid to alter the menu item to fit your needs, such as requesting salad dressing on the side or replacing fries with mixed vegetables.

4. Don’t eat out when you’re starving. Same tip as when grocery shopping – never shop when hungry! In both instances you are much more likely to make poor choices. Snack on something light before an evening out.

5. Put temptation out of reach. If the group you are with orders chips and salsa as an appetizer or a basket of bread is places on the table, put a reasonable amount on your plate and then move it out of reach.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Top 5 Key Strategies to Lose Weight Permanently
http://www.weightlosswithlisa.com

It gets very old day after day having to worry about what you’re going to eat for three meals each day and snacks. Throw in changed plans and crazy schedules and the fast food lane is suddenly looking more and more appetizing.

A simple way to make the burden of meal preparation much easier is to plan ahead. Planning a menu does not have to be complicated, it simply requires investing a little time each week to plan ahead.
There are many benefits to planning your meals.

A meal plan saves you money. Having a plan will reduce unexpected trips to the grocery store and impulse purchases. You can also work leftovers into your plan to reduce wasted food.

A meal plan saves you time. By planning ahead you’ll have the ingredients you need on hand versus last minute stops at the grocery store, trips to the neighbors, or searches to the bottom of your freezer.

A meal plan promotes weight loss. By having a plan in place you decrease the stress of thinking about what you’re going to eat everyday. You’re less likely to “cheat” and grab a treat from the vending machine because you planned ahead and have a healthy snack of nuts and dried fruit on hand. You’re less likely to opt for the drive thru because you have everything you need for supper at home and ready to go.

All you need to do is pick one day each week to outline your meals/snacks for the week to come. Make sure you have the ingredients you need on hand. Use your menu plan to create your grocery shopping list and stock your fridge/cupboards with the ingredients you’ll need for the week.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
1-A-Week Weight Loss Tips

A survey of 2900 individuals found those living near more fast food restaurants and convenience stores to be 25% more likely to be obese. The Canadian survey looked at food sources within 800 and 1600 meters of homes. If there were more grocery stores versus restaurants/convenience the likelihood of obesity decreased. The link between restaurants/convenience stores versus grocery stores also decreased with distances greater than 1600 meters.

This was a short survey I found interesting and decided I’d share with you. There is no concrete evidence to say the higher number of restaurants/convenience stores is to blame for the higher obesity rates. The survey did not actually look at individual eating habits. However, if you are looking to move and make a healthy change at the same time, maybe the above is something to take into consideration!

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Top 5 Key Strategies to Lose Weight Permanently

Here are five strategies you can start using today to promote long term weight loss:

1. Don’t cut calories too low – Drastic calorie restriction can slow your metabolism.

2. Eat a well balanced breakfast everyday.

3. Strength train to build muscle mass and boost your metabolism.

4. Eat regular meals and snacks – Do not go more than 3-4 hours between meals/snacks.

5. Include healthy fats in moderation to promote a feeling of fullness.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Mini Diet Makeover