The Healthy Food Review (TM)

Mayor Bloomberg Sugary Drink Ban - Why It Backfired

As a New York City native and Certified Health and Wellness Coach, I've watched this whole issue of Mayor Bloomberg banning soda and other sugary drinks with great interest. I heard the first anti-New York City Sugary Drink Ban campaign ads on the radio when I visited New York last Summer and thought that it would be an interesting battle. 

The whole sugary drink ban is a tough call because no one likes to be told what to do when it comes to making healthy choices.  And New Yorkers, in particular, do not like being told what to do. 

Newsflash--healthy habits happen when people are ready to make a change and choose to go with what's good for them, not when they're forced into it.  And if you restrict what people can have, it also will tend to make them want to do the opposite and rebel against it. 

On the other hand, regular soda and sugary beverages are definitely contributors to obesity and diabetes in adults and children.  Children can't decide for themselves, but their parents sure can.

But the "ban" didn't limit getting 2-liter bottles from the supermarket or convenience store, and someone could just buy two drinks to make up for the smaller quantity.  I think you would have seen a lot of businesses offering BOGOs for 16-ounce drinks and there goes the ban anyway.

Taco Bell Anti-Veggie Superbowl Ad Pulled

Taco Bell went anti-veggie in its Super Bowl Ad and fortunately it suffers the consequences. 

Not that Taco Bell was ever a place you thought of for vegetables anyway, but it certainly didn't need to create a Super Bowl Ad that outright encourages people to not bring a vegetable platter to a game day party. 

And it's not like there will be Big Game ads for vegetables either amongst all the beer, car and snack ads, but attacking people who are smart enough to remember that you can have a healthy Super Bowl party and not have any less fun, is just silly.  Which ad agency was asleep at the wheel here?

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest,Taco Bell was inundated with complaints from consumers and nutritionists, and responding to public pressure agreed to take the anti-veggie ad down.  At least they acted quickly, but still...

I say now everyone in the country should be sure to have a vegetable platter at their Super Bowl Party.  Now wouldn't that be a step in the right direction!  Just make that dip low-fat or fat-free and you're all set.

 P.S. Get a copy of my book (regularly $9.99) your FREE for a limited time! Weight Loss Secrets Revealed for the Happiest and Healthiest You! from my Your Healthy Life Made Easy!™ series CLICK HERE

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Melanie  

The views expressed on The Healthy Food Review Blog are my opinion only and you should decide, along with your healthcare professionals, on the appropriateness for your personal use.

Copyright 2013 SunLoverPublishing LLC.   

Bodybugg®: Weight Loss Secret Weapon

Think you're accurate about the number of calories you're burning every single day?  Sure you may know approximately how many calories in general someone burns walking or cycling.  But what about what YOU personally burn for that activity based on your own individual effort and metabolism? 

And what about all the calories you're burning (or not burning), throughout the day?  How do you count the number of calories burned walking around a giant big box retailer like Costco for awhile?  What about chasing after your kid or pet?  Activities like those also are burning calories, but are tough to quantify.  

For example, I've been helping my Mom pack up to move to a new place.  On those days I haven't been doing an official workout, but I know I'm working really, really hard.  Yet what was I burning calorie-wise?

Well if you have a bodybugg® like I've owned for the last four+ years, you know!

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition TV Show Review

So as a fan of the show Biggest Loser, I naturally had to check out ABC's new show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition and see how it compared.

In the first three episodes (of eight total to come in season one), highly likeable trainer Chris Powell (who is a Bob Harper-style trainer), worked to successfully transform three different "super obese" people--those who have more than 200 pounds to lose,  Sounds like Biggest Loser, but how is it different? 

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition doesn't have competition between participants, and takes a longer-term view.  Each episode focuses on just one individual's weight loss journey over the course of a year. 

Chris Powell starts each episode with a bootcamp and immersion in healthy lifestyle tactics for a week at a California health institute, and then moves in with the story subject for the first three months to make sure that healthy habits take hold.  This explains why there are only eight episodes of the show, but it has already been picked up for a second season, where I imagine Chris will have to move in for a shorter period of time to make the show work--maybe more like a week like Jillian Michaels did in Losing' It With Jillian (which I wish had another season).

Why I'm Not Pissed Off At Ronald McDonald

Ronald McDonald is the subject of a lot of controversy these days.  How did a clown get himself in the  middle of such a mess? 

On the one hand, Ronald McDonald is being blamed pretty much single-handledly for the rise in children's obesity, and there are organizations calling for his resignation.  On the other, Ronald McDonald is also the symbol of the good works of McDonald's like Ronald McDonald House. 

Here's my two cents on the matter.  No individual with a brain ever really thought McDonald's food overall was health food, although they certainly have made efforts to have some healthy choices--yogurt parfaits, fruit smoothies, oatmeal, grilled chicken, apple slices, side salads. So if a child wants McDonald's, it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be unhealthy food. 

And who is supposed to be deciding for a child between the healthy food McDonald's offers on its menu and the less than stellar choices?  YES!  The parent or guardian. 

Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too In Woman's World Magazine

For the second time this year, I've been mentioned in Woman's World magazine!  This time it's in the 5/30 issue that's now on the newsstands in a round-up piece for You Deserve The Best, where I gave my opinion on a good healthy hot dog--my personal favorite--Jennie-O.  My contribution is the one all the way on the right-hand side.

They also were kind enough this time to mention my book Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too! in the piece--last time they mentioned The Healthy Food Review.

 
Cool, huh?   In case you missed the prior piece from January, it's about healthy soups.  CLICK HERE.

Want to know how I got in Woman's World twice this year already?  Check out this post I did for my other blog What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!(TM).

Please comment on the blog below or on the NEW The Healthy Food Review Facebook Page (and give us a like while you're there please).

Get a FREE 3-chapter book excerpt from Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too! and never miss another blog post by joining my list CLICK HERE  Have you given The Healthy Food ReviewFacebook Page A Like?  CLICK HERE

--Melanie R. Jordan, Author of Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too!  Available 24/7 at http://www.HealthyEatingCoach.com

"Healthy eating with favorite comfort foods...it's deliciously possible!"

Don't miss a post--subscribe to The Healthy Food Review feed. 

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications including her new book on the hot, knowledge-based field of infopreneuring What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! on work-at-home lifestyles, foreclosure investing and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Consulting and Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Check out Melanie's other Blogs and Podcasts:

Melanie's podcast on infopreneuring--What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) at http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMorePodcast.com

What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know - The Blog For Infopreneurs at http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMore.com

Vegas Inside Scoop

Zumba For Health

Please note that I do not have an affiliation with any of the companies featured in this post--they are simply products I am personally familiar with--no samples were supplied.  The views expressed are my opinion only and you should decide, along with your healthcare professionals, on the appropriateness for your personal use.

Copyright SunLover Publishing LLC 2011

Healthy Food Review: The Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps

Most pretzels are pretty innocent snacks in terms of calories and fat content (unless they're dipped in  chocolate or otherwise evily transformed).  What you have to watch is the sodium as it relates to your overall diet, and also keep in mind that unless you're having whole wheat pretzels (which are not so easily found), it's a white flour, high glycemic product.

Now The Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps also are not whole wheat, but in terms of a low-fat, low-calorie snack food, the give you a lot of flavor and varities that will satisfy your snack cravings.  Seriously, when you have plain pretzels, don't you feel like you really didn't eat anything, and you can easily overeat them if you don't count out a portion? 

With Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps, the thin texture and great flavors, really make you feel like you're  eating something.  If I eat a portion of them (11 pretzel crisps, low fat or fat free, and just 110 calories), I'm happy and don't go looking for anything else.  And since I love cheese, a flavor sensation like their Tuscan Three Cheese which will still only set me back 1.5 grams of fat, none of it saturated, same 110 calories, is a big help in keeping me slim.

My husband is a fan of the Snack Factory Buffalo Wing Pretzel Crisps, although he felt they could use

Emotional Eating: How I Kicked The Ice Cream Habit

There was a time when Baskin-Robbins, along with Ben and Jerry's were among my worst enemies.

And it wasn't even really their fault.  When it came to ice cream, I had no self control.  A scoop of ice  cream was like a sample to me.  My portion sizes, I'm sad to say, consisted of pints. 

When the world got too complicated there was Pistachio Almond and Jamocha Almond Fudge from Baskin-Robbins.  When I was lonely there was Pistachio Pistachio and Mint Chocolate Cookie from Ben And Jerry's. 

I remember in the Billy Crystal - Debra Winger comedy movie Forget Paris, there are scenes where Debra Winger's character keeps eating ice cream every time she feels lonely when Billy Crystal's character was traveling as a basketball official, and she had given up her good job when they got married.  In one scene Billy Crystal's character says "why don't you bring along your two best friends Ben and Jerry's."  I could definitely relate.  My husband traveled often for work too.  Still does and that wasn't going to change, so I had to do something about this.

Some people might think it's strange that food can have that kind of grip on you, but if you've ever struggled with emotional eating like I have, it's not hard to understand at all.

I was lucky that I always did work out, so that I didn't turn into a total blimp from my ice cream emotional eating.  But it sure wasn't healthy--physically or emotionally--and kept my weight above where it should have been.  So how did I get out of using ice cream for comfort?

Fitness Tips: How Not To Be Annoying When Working Out With Weights

My prior post Fitness Tips: How Not To Be Annoying In Gym Class was very popular, so after some recent experiences in the weight room for the umpteenth time, I figured it was time for this sequel--Fitness Tips: How Not To be Annoying When Working Out With Weights.

1.  There's No Need To Let The Entire Gym Know You Are Lifting A Weight   

Sorry, but this one's definitely a guy thing.  We know you're lifting weights.  In fact, the whole gym is well aware that you're lifting weights.  We know you're lifting a dumbbell, but there's no need to be one.  Keep it to yourself.  The grunting and groaning is SO unnecessary.  Do you ever hear a woman make that much noise lifting weights?  We know you exist, and we'd prefer you existed much more quietly.

2.  It's Really Not Nice To Leave A Giant Sweat Spot On The Weight Bench When You Leave It

How many times have you finally spied a weight bench after a long wait (pun intended), and when you triumphantly went to rush over to capture it, found a big messy blob of sweat on the bench?  Eeww, right?  Obviously the person who used the bench before that person didn't leave it that way, or they wouldn't have used it.  So what could someone possibly be thinking about when leaving the bench in that condition?  "I hope they didn't see me?"  "I'm leaving my sweat for posterity?" 

Here's a memo for you.  The gym requires you to bring a towel--use it!  And those little paper towel stations with disinfectant spray are not a decoration either!

Fitness Tips: What's Wrong With This Zumba Class Scene?

Update: 2/12: I'm now an official Zumba Instructor, just completed training with master instructor Jani Roberts!

Recently I noticed a new class member in a couple of my Zumba(R) classes.  Great, the more   
the merrier.  The class member was obviously overweight, but so what?  I gave her mental kudos for making the effort to start doing some regular exercise. 

The Zumba class member must not have a babysitter, because I've seen a little boy on the sidelines each class, and a little girl at times.  That's not so much a problem in my book--when the kids stay on the sidelines that is--but here's what is.  Each class, these children are sitting with a big bag of chips and a bottle of soda.  And the kids are cute, but quite overweight.  Hmm, I wonder how they got that way?

The parent is overweight.  The children are overweight.

The parent is working out to try and improve.  The children are inactive, eating and drinking fattening junk and going downhill.