All Entries Tagged With: "Healthy"

Healthy Eating Habits for Staying Trim

Scottsdale, Arizona based celebrity personal trainer Lucas James and nutrition expert and trainer Jason Apfel share their secrets for avoiding unhealthy snacks and maintaining your body weight.  Check out these pointers for simplifying your eating habits to keep you on track towards meeting your health and fitness goals!

- Clean out the kitchen and eliminate all junk food.

Throw out any high-calorie, high-fat foods that will arouse your hunger and tempt you to overeat or cheat on your nutrition plan: processed foods, chips, crackers, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candy bars, sweets etc.

-Keep snacks out of sight.

Pack them away from your work-space and out of sight.  If sweets are kept in a jar as a ‘decorative’ piece, try wrapping them in gift paper to send the right message: they are ‘rewards’.  If you tend to keep snacks on hand, stick them in tough-to-reach, hard-to-see spots in the cupboard, fridge or freezer. One recent Cornell University study found that women ate more than twice as many Hershey Kisses when they kept them in clear containers on their desks, versus in opaque containers on their desks or even fewer when kept six feet away.

- Avoid “empty calories”.

These include sugar-containing sodas, sweets, ice cream, alcohol, fruit drinks and processed snacks. “Empty calories” have the same caloric impact on your body, but lack many beneficial nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber etc.

- Keep healthy snacks close at hand.

Fill your kitchen with lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, good fats, and low-fat dairy products. Some examples of each food type are: Tuna or Chicken Breast, Cherries or Nectarines, Oatmeal or Brand-flakes, Rice & Beans, Almonds, Fish-oil from salmon for healthy Omega-3’s and Greek Yogurt or Skim Swiss Cheese.

- Plate your main course in the kitchen.

Keep your entrée and side dishes in the kitchen instead of resting on platters at the table. Keeping them off the table makes you rethink second helpings and allows you to enjoy conversation without temptation. Feel free to keep plain veggies, salad, or the fruit at the table during dinner or for dessert.

- Plate more Veggies.

If you like lots of food on your plate, fill up with fiber! Try eating a large salad and a super serving of veggie fixings like broccoli, snap peas, cabbage, kale, spinach and other low calorie vegetables.

- Snack on berries.

Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, and raspberries tend to be slightly lower in sugar in comparison to other fruits. The anti-oxidants they contain help to strengthen the immune system while their fiber helps control cholesterol levels. They are also low calorie and low-fat snacks!

-Don’t skip meals.

Missing out on foods that provide the necessary energy our bodies need throughout the day can leave you extremely ‘hangry’ (hungry-angry).  Not only will this cause spikes in blood sugar levels when you do eat, but your body will try and hold onto the fat and carbohydrate stores it has to adapt to the ‘starvation’ state your body thinks it’s in.

- Eat smaller meals more frequently.

Aim for five to six meals/snacks per day. Try spacing out your meals every three hours. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner count for three meals, so find the time to incorporate three healthy snacks such as low fat cottage cheese with berries or a hand full of almonds. Finding foods that are healthy snacks will help curve your hunger later on!

- Use smaller plates and tall, skinny glasses.

Numerous studies have shown that platting influences eating habits and portion size. Larger plates leave more room for larger portions.  Large plates also promote people to fill their plates, increasing their calorie intake. If you use smaller plates, you tend to feel you are getting more and therefore will eat less.

- Drink Alcohol after your meals, not before.

If you enjoy a glass of wine or beer with your meal, have it at the end.  Alcohol tends to increase hunger and decrease inhibitions.

Guide: Eating Healthy Food at the Airport

Here’s an extensive list on how to eat healthy while traveling at airports. This guide will give you meal options to help you avoid weight gain and keep you on track with some healthy eating habits. Lucas James has put this list together for all those busy jet setters who are in and out airports on a monthly basis. Lucas James is celebrity personal trainer headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ.

Starbucks
Perfect Oatmeal
Mix your oats with preportioned packets of brown sugar (50 calories), dried fruit (100 calories), or nuts (100 calories).
140 calories 3 g fat

Au Bon Pain
Apple Croissant
This sweet pastry has half the calories of an apple strudel—and delivers 70 percent of your daily vitamin C needs.
280 calories 11 g fat

Dunkin’ Donuts
Egg White and Turkey Sausage Flatbread
With 19 grams of protein, this hearty sandwich will keep you satisfied for hours.
280 calories 6 g fat

Panda Express
Mixed Veggies and Steamed Rice
This stir-fry contains two vegetable servings—and no MSG or trans fat.
390 calories 0.5 g fat (with 1?2 a serving of rice)

McDonald’s
Hamburger
Instead of fries, opt for a side salad with lowfat balsamic vinaigrette (60 calories, 3 g fat).
250 calories 9 g fat

Baja Fresh
Ensalada with Charbroiled Chicken
Top this high-protein salad with fresh salsa verde and you’ll tack on just 15 extra calories.
310 calories 7 g fat

Pizza Hut Express
Personal Pan Cheese Pizza
To keep calories in check, take half the pie to go—or toss it if you’ll be tempted to eat it minutes later.
295 calories 12 g fat for 1?2 a pizza

Champions Sports Bar & Restaurant
Sesame Seared Tuna Salad
Yellowfin tuna tossed with an orange, ginger, and mustard dressing has gourmet appeal.
372 calories 18 g fat

KFC
Honey BBQ KFC Snacker
Order a side of steamed string beans (25 calories) with this sweet-spicy chicken sandwich.
210 calories 3 g fat

Snacks

Hudson News
Special K Chocolate Peanut Protein Snack Bar
Unlike candy, this chocolatey treat contains fiber and 4 grams of protein.
110 calories 3.5 g fat

Hudson News
Snak Club Tropical Mix Dried Fruit
Satisfy that midday sugar craving with this fruit-and-nut combo.
120 calories 5 g fat per 1?3 bag

Hudson News
Wheat Thins
These crackers have 40 percent less fat than chips and are made with whole grains.
140 calories 6 g fat for 16 crackers

McDonald’s Premium Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken
McDonald’s offers a number of decent salads that can be ordered with or without meat. The premium bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken has just 260 calories (without dressing) with 33 grams of protein and 50 percent of your daily value of vitamin C. But watch out — the chicken strips step up the salt in your meal with 710 milligrams of sodium. If you’re watching your salt, order the salad sans chicken. Douse your salad with the low-fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing, which adds only 40 calories.

Au Bon Pain Garden Vegetable Soup
Filled with cabbage, broccoli, zucchini and green bell pepper a medium-size serving of this vegetarian soup has just 80 calories plus 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Like most restaurant soups this dish is high in salt (with 1,070 milligrams of sodium). Order a size small if you want to curb your salt intake.

Starbucks Multigrain Bagel
Starbucks’ menus vary based on location, but you’re likely to find this quick and convenient snack at most stores. The coffee chain’s fat-free multigrain bagel has just 320 calories per serving, 12 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. And with just 220 milligrams of sodium, it’s a lower-salt airport option. (These numbers are for a bagel without cream cheese.)

Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal
This food is quite possibly one of the healthiest options in your airport. It has 140 calories with 5 grams of protein, 105 milligrams of sodium and just 2.5 grams of fat. Plus, there’s vitamin A, calcium and iron in this oatmeal — and the ingredient list is comfortingly short and easy to pronounce. Jazz up your oatmeal with extra toppings like dried fruit (100 calories) or nuts (100 calories).

Dunkin’ Donuts Egg White Veggie Flatbread
Thank you, Dunkin’ Donuts for giving us something tasty to snack on other than sugary fried balls of carbohydrates. Dunkin’s egg white veggie flatbread has just 290 calories plus 11 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Real veggies like bell peppers, potatoes and onions add vitamin A and vitamin C. Keep in mind that there are 9 grams of fat and 680 milligrams of sodium in this sandwich.