Does Yo-yo Dieting Ruin Your Metabolism?

The majority of clients I’ve worked with over the years had matter-of-factly accepted the notion that they had a “low metabolism,” possibly secondary to yo-yo dieting.

Several comprehensive reviews of the literature (including one by a National Institutes of Health expert panel), however, have concluded that the negative metabolic and body composition side-effects frequently attributed to yo-yo dieting are not supported by careful review of the data. The conclusions: yo-yo dieting does not have a lasting negative effect on resting energy expenditure (REE), or muscle tissue/lean body mass (LBM), and does not make future attempts at weight loss more difficult (at least from a physiological standpoint).

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Your Family will Love this Easy Roasted Chicken!

Roasted chicken dinner is one of my favorite comfort food meals. The key to making this an easy and healthier dish is a nifty vertical poultry roasting rack. I have to admit that I had never seen one of these racks until I met my husband, who had been a single dad who made roasted chicken once a week. I've been sold on it since the first time I saw it in action, and I bet you will be too!

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The HCG Diet: 6 things you should know before you...

Dr. Oz's show February 23rd [2011] was on the HCG diet. The HCG diet combines daily shots of a hormone (produced by pregnant women) called human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) with extreme calorie restriction. Overall I was very disappointed with Dr. Oz, and the whole segment. I think it left consumers with the impression that the HCG diet, while controversial, is still okay under a doctors "supervision." Here's what you didn't hear on Dr. Oz yesterday:

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Diet soda and stroke: What you need to know

I'm no fan of processed foods, or soda of any type, for that matter. That said, I am frustrated with the press this topic has gotten because it's regarding unpublished (meaning not yet peer reviewed) research. Anyone in a grad school statistics class learns that more than 50% of "research" isn't worth the paper it's printed on. That's because research is conducted by humans who make lots of mistakes analyzing data (using statistics properly) as well as in study design. The "poster session" that got the buzz on this topic started was also based on "observational" data, that at most can point us toward a topic that needs controlled trials in order to see if there is a true causal affect.

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3 Great Reasons Why to Plan a Weekly Menu in Advance!

1. Saves money: you shop based on what you already know you're cooking. Less produce goes to waste, because you buy mainly what you know you will use.

2. Saves time: We're always more effiicent when we shop from a list.

3. Your familiy eats healthier meals: When you plan ahead (and not on a hungry stomach) you will make healthier plans, than when you are running into the store on the way home from work. This of course assumes that you are planning things that are made at home--cooking/preparing yourself--instead of grabbing take-out.

How we do it: Sometimes I sit down and preplan the whole month, and other times I just plan a week or two in advance. This is much less work than you think, because we (people) are very routine in our eating patterns, so you will want to eat things that are your favorites, including things that are (read more...)

All the best!
-Dorene