nutrition

When the Hard Part is Easy

March 13, 2015 By Lena

NOTE: The following giveaway is open to Canadians only.

Earlier this year, I shared my hard parts.

1. It’s hard to separate hunger from boredom. 10:00 PM snacking is “a thing”.
2. It’s hard to say no to leftover cheesecake.
3. It’s hard to fit in exercise when I work 14-hour days.
4. It’s hard to stay on track when eating out and cooking for picky eaters.
5. It’s hard to eat well without feeling completely and utterly deprived of delicious food.

And then, I decided to get help with my hard parts.

It’s been two months since I joined Weight Watchers. And I won’t keep you in suspense; I’m proud to announce that I’ve lost 16 pounds! And I did it while eating the foods I love, sharing meals with friends and family, and most importantly, making healthful choices that have changed the way I feel about food, nutrition and hunger.

And if I’m going to post a “big reveal” photo – I may as well be standing next to a celebrity! Ta-da! IMG_2179 a But the key to my weight loss success? When I needed help, I asked for it.

I asked for help just a few days into the program, when I found it difficult to balance my portion sizes, especially at dinner.

I asked for help when I found myself fearing food, a complex emotional state that happens to almost every dieter when he/she begins to see the results of their regime.

I even asked for help while I was on vacation! That’s right – during our recent family adventure at Walt Disney World, I found myself confronted with limitless food choices… and lacking the strength to make the right ones.

And when I asked for help, whether it was 11:00am in the morning from my bedroom, or 11:00pm at night from a hotel room in Florida, there was always a Weight Watchers Certified Coach available to answer my questions and offer advice. …

Gerber Graduates Go-Go-Go #Tots2Toddlers

April 4, 2012 By Lena

Note: The following giveaway is open to Canadians only.

Avid readers of my blog will know that I am *slightly* paranoid about my toddlers getting proper nutrition. Remember my recent post about their breakfast #fail? Just one of the 124 things that keep me up at night – wondering what I can do to ensure they’re eating well – and eating right.

Lately, in addition to derailing all breakfast efforts, Reid has reached “picky eater status” for lunch and dinner too – following in the footsteps of his meal-hatin’ older brother. Now, meal refusal I can deal with (that’s what multi vitamins are for, right?) and food selectivity I can work around (4 slices of salami for dinner? Cool, that’s a lot of protein)… but this cyclical, maddening, “I love this food today but will hate it tomorrow”, “My toast tastes yucky because it’s cut the wrong shape”, “I want chocolate milk, oh wait now I want water, why does he get juice?”… I just cannot deal with.

Thank goodness I’m not alone: according to a new survey, moms are just as worried about their toddlers’ eating habits, with a whopping 41 per cent saying they are concerned about whether their toddler is getting the correct nutrients every day. And this concern isn’t surprising, given that one in three moms admit they struggle to get their toddlers to eat enough nutritious foods on a daily basis.

(I admit to just deciding on homemade chicken fingers and popcorn for the boys’ lunch today. Don’t judge.)

Looking for some insight into toddler nutrition? I love these secrets to success from the Kitchens of Real Life Canadian Moms:

Raise your hand if you totally disagree that only 30% of moms have served their kids French fries. There are a lot of closet DTMs (drive thru moms) in this survey! But I suppose the results do underscore one common theme: in an attempt to get our kids to eat a more balanced diet, we sometimes compromise and dole out the less healthier (and in the case of fries, more delicious) option….

How Does Your Diet Stack Up? (% Daily Value)

March 31, 2012 By Lena

Humour me for a moment.

Reach over and grab a food item – one that has the nutritional information printed on the package. Now tell me – what do you look at first?

The calories? Fat? Serving Size? Sugar?

What interests you most – or, by force of habit, what are you drawn to?

I’m a calories kind of girl – I’m always trying to keep snacks below 200 calories, and meals under 400 calories. Everything else usually sorts itself out; if the fat is too high for my liking, I’ll cut the portion size down by 30%; if the sugar is up there, I’ll skip my after-dinner square of chocolate; and, if the carbs are astronomical, I’ll simply put the food back and choose something else.

But riddle me this: how many of y’all actually pay attention to the % Daily Value of a food? They’re the figures on the far right, always displayed as a percentage. Are you familiar with how to interpret these numbers?

Essentially, the % Daily Value is a quick and easy way for you to know if a packaged food contains a little or a lot of a nutrient. As a rule of thumb, remember the following numbers:

This applies to all nutrients. Hence, if there’s less than 5% – you can pretty much surmise that you’re getting nothing (which I suppose is a good thing when it comes to saturated or trans-fats). And over 15%? Yup, that’s a whole lotta good stuff – especially fibre, iron or calcium, three ingredients that Canadians never seem to get enough of.

Bonus: You can use the % DV to compare two different food products and make a better choice for you; plus, the Daily Values used in nutrition labelling are not developed for any specific gender and age category. For example, an active man will not have the same daily nutrition needs as a six year old girl. However, both of them can still use the % DV to see if a food product has a little or a lot of the nutrients that are important to them.

Curious to find out more? Visit www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/dailyvalue.

So, how do some of your favourite foods stand up to the % Daily Value? I’m extremely happy to report that my beloved Cheerios give me 45% of my daily iron, 50% of folic acid and 0% saturated fat. Holla!

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