Counting calories can be tedious and time-consuming. A less demanding approach is to find low-calorie substitutes for foods you eat every day.
If you do the math you'll see simple changes in daily habits add up to significant reductions in the number of calories you consume.
"Eating 100 calories less each day can help you lose 10 pounds in a year," says Jo-Ann Heslin, registered dietitian and co-author of The Calorie Counter (3rd Edition, Pocket Books, 2003). "It can be done by making small changes in what you eat."
Know this scenario? You're on a diet plan and your mind is switched to empowered. Then a coworker has an office shindig to celebrate a birthday, or the birth of a baby. You cave… and indulge in a piece of really nasty, but oh so sweet, grocery-store sheet cake.
And that's just one of the dieting traps set to ensnare the working woman.
How are you supposed to make it through a day so removed from the safety of your carefully stocked home refrigerator? How do you avoid the pick-me-up chips and candy in those darn vending machines?
O.K., nothing has the potential to blow your diet like the realities of your 9-5 world. But get a grip – understanding your foe is the key to overcoming it. Let's revisit the simple truths we busy women need to hear again and again to keep control over our eating habits.
Exercise is critical for people with arthritis. It increases strength and flexibility, reduces joint pain and helps combat fatigue. Of course, when stiff and painful joints are already bogging you down, the thought of walking around the block or swimming a few laps might make you cringe.
You don't need to run a marathon or swim the pace of an Olympic competitor to help reduce the symptoms of your arthritis. Even moderate exercise can improve your pain and help you maintain a healthy weight.
As you consider starting an exercise program, understand what's within your limits and what level of exercise is likely to give you results. Then talk to your doctor. Remember that when arthritis threatens to immobilize you, exercise keeps you moving.
The 1970s book, "Vitamin C and the Common Cold," by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling sparked interest in the supplement that has grown to a more than $600 million annual business in Britain, the Times of London reported.
However, researchers Robert Douglas of Australian National University and Harri Hemila of the University of Helsinki said people who took up to 2 grams of Vitamin C daily caught colds at the same rate as people who took a placebo.
The result "throws doubt on the utility of this wide practice," the authors said in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.
One study found that very large doses of Vitamin C -- 8 grams -- taken on the first day of a cold appeared to shorten how long it lasts.
Some nights the drive-thru seems like the only option. The kids in the back seat are screaming, you're exhausted and you've still got three errands to run before you can call it a day. There's got to be something healthy on that fast food menu. Wait, don't they have salads now? It's the perfect solution! Or is it?
What's In a Name?
Don't be fooled. Fast-food salads are often loaded with high-calorie ingredients like meat, cheese and high-fat dressing, making any good-for-you carrots or tomatoes they may contain irrelevant. "It's like recommending that people eat vegetables covered in lard," says Brie Turner-McGrievy, MS, RD, clinical research coordinator for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
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