[Jill has been dabbling in the 4 Day Diet and sharing her journey with us. We saw her first week and the challenges she faced on week 2. Here, she shares her recent diet tribulations.]

This week started out great. I made a pump-me-up playlist and have been hitting the gym like nobody’s business. I’ve pushed myself to run that extra few minutes or try a new machine; I may or may not have even snuck in a workout of dancing in my apartment, underwear on, microphone (hairbrush) in hand. Hey, a calorie burned is a calorie burned, my friends, and burning calories to “We Built this City on Rock and Roll” is just a lot more fun than an extra squat.

However, as the week continued, I discovered what I didn’t like about this diet and why I have never liked diets in the past that tell you what to eat day by day. While I enjoy the food suggested for each daily plan, there are no options or guidelines for situations where those foods aren’t available. And let’s not forget that outside of diet books, real life happens. Read More »

Some “buttah” is exactly what dietician Edith Blum recommends in her new book, Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous, which claims that eating full-fat foods instead of fat-free foods can help you lose weight!

So what does this mean?

Chocolate every day? Check.

Cocktails? Check.

Cheese, chocolate cake, biscuits, avocado, whole milk, chips, and sorbets? Check, check, and check.

This “no-diet diet” allows you to enjoy the foods you love that are usually condemned by the common fad diets that we occassionally follow. Or try to follow, at least. But lemon water, cabbage soup, and a crate full of bananas just aren’t realistic methods of losing weight in the long run. Blum advises us to forget our traditional beliefs of what good foods and bad foods are, and focus on the nutritional qualities of each food instead.

On food:

Fat is good; we need cholesterol and certain saturated fats to make and regulate our hormones, so we can avoid depression and even cancer. Quality trumps quantity in importance, Blum stresses, so certain “fabulous fats” found in nuts, seeds, and olive oil should be ingested at every meal, while “frankenfats” such as those in low-fat, low-cholesterol spreads and margarines should be banned from your diet to ward off headaches and and joint aches. Eat egg yolks in conjunction with egg whites, and don’t say no to that little voice in your head that screams for a smear of hot butter on warm toast. Starchy foods like rice, beans, and corn are also good for you, as well as the occasional cocktail, as long as there’s no sugar. Read More »

[Jill has been dabbling in the 4 Day Diet and sharing her journey with us. See how her first week went here.]

Week Two was a lot harder for me than Week One. I lost 4 pounds in the first week, but my typical yo-yo self sees results and then thinks it’s a free for all. The Smooth and Protein Stretch modules gave me a lot more choices, more flexibility and my favorite 5 letter word: P-I-Z-Z-A. Holler. Surely any girl watching her weight would do a Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On type cheer if instructed to eat TWO pieces of pizza. But not me.

Because I knew once I started with the Pizza all hell would break loose.  And by hell I mean the inner voice inside of me who tells me that while watching TV, I should devour everything in my kitchen. She really is a biznatch, that voice. Sometimes I think that eating a little more peanut butter on a spoon with chocolate chips will shut her up. But sadly, that chick is too legit to quit, and even the recent salmonella threat won’t scare her away. Not-a-chance.

Not that I like to blame everything on that time of the month, but I think I had a harder time staying under control this week because I was so. very. PMS that even my boss noticed me crying at a commercial. True story.

By week’s end, the scale was back up the 4 pounds I was down; I’m hoping it was because of my monthly visitor, but after the amount I consumed (fresh baked banana bread, anyone?) I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just from over-doing it. Read More »

How is it almost February?

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was vowing to head back to the gym and stop eating crap? Oh yeah; that was yesterday. Not gonna happen with the Super Bowl coming, unless I stick to some healthier snack options. But we all know that’s not gonna happen.

The last week of January has been quite eventful. And stressful. Too bad we didn’t have any peanut butter to get us through the hard times. On the bright side, we did get a fun snow day to break up the monotony, and we came across this gem to help us out when we can’t get our asses to class.

But besides that – stress, stress, stress.

That trip to the gyno scared the crap out of us, that story about how poorly the university treats its students frustrated us, and everyone ripping on Jessica Simpson made our blood boil.

And don’t even get us started on our latest fears of the birth control pill. Not that we need to worry about that; we scared all the boys away a long time ago.

It’s all good, though; we have the puppy bowl to look forward to this weekend, and if that’s not enough to get us out of our funk, we can always watch Grey’s Anatomy season 1 on DVD. You know, before the show got so, so bad.

So it’s been a week since I decided to start Dr. Ian Smith’s 4 Day Diet. I’ve completed two modules, resisted a whole lot of temptation, and successfully started the plan.

I told myself during these first two phases that I would follow the plan as strictly as I possibly could. Afterall, the beginning is the kick-start, sets the tone, and would get me into the right mindset.

The first four days (detox) consisted mostly of fruits, green veggies, brown rice, beans, legumes, and a little bit of yogurt and eggs. I never realized how great of an option (and how filling) beans were. I made a fabulous bean salad drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and lemon juice that was scrumptious and kept me full all afternoon.

The second set of four days (transition) was similar food-wise to the Detox days, but started to add back some more food. Colored veggies, proteins, even two snacks a day from a huge list in the back of the book (ranging from cottage cheese to a sweet potato to 1/2 cup fro yo etc).

I noticed the first day of detox was the hardest day all week. My body wasn’t used to no sugar (aside from the sugar in fruit) so I felt a bit sluggish, which I anticipated.

But after day one, I was bursting with energy. Read More »

You’ve been meaning to eat healthy for awhile now, but between the parties and the holidays and the study snacks during finals, it just hasn’t happened. And now your pants don’t fit and you feel like hell. You may not be one for resolutions, but January is a good excuse to reevaluate your eating habits and make necessary changes.

Need a little motivation? Well, if you improve the way you eat, you can cut calories, shed pounds, and create a whole new relationship with food for 2009 and beyond. Here is a great place to start:

- Make Little Changes: Instead of having your normal omelette every morning, switch to egg whites; they are the most nutritious and healthy parts of eggs. Individuals do not realize that an entire whole egg contains 210 milligrams of Cholesterol, 7 grams of fat, and 90 calories. Egg whites have only 17 calories and ZERO milligrams of Cholesterol. See the difference? Other healthy swaps include wheat bread instead of white, lower calorie dressings instead of the full fat ones, and less or no cheese on sandwiches and salads.

- Drink the Right Liquids: Switching to water or seltzer versus regular Coke can elimiate calories and sugar intake, which ultimately turns to fat – something we’re all trying to avoid!

- Snacking: If you’re going to snack, make conscious choices and do it in a healthy way. Opt for handfuls of almonds or sliced vegetables versus chips and French fries, which are full of fats and lacking in the nutrition department. Fruits, vegetables and proteins (peanut butter, beans) will fill you up longer and keep you healthier. Read More »

I’ve always considered myself to be pretty savvy about food and diet… but since there are SO many psychological layers to eating; food, body image, etc., it’s easy for us to abandon our rational brain and wholeheartedly believe things about our bodies that may not be true. Even the savviest of us all may be tempted to believe weight-loss fabrications, which is why I investigated some of the things people have told me (which I believed!) by speaking with a nutritionist.

“If you eat protein and carbohydrates at the same time, your digestion is less efficient because the stomach is using different enzymes at once, as opposed to focusing on one type of food at a time.”

–Every nutritionist I’ve talked to has said this is complete garbage. And I’m glad to hear it, because my faith in my beloved In-N-Out burger has been restored (sorry to everyone who’s not in California or parts of Arizona. They truly are the best burgers on Earth…worth the airfare, I promise). In fact, it’s better to eat both protein and carbohydrates together– the carbohydrates give you quick glucose for energy, but the protein ensures your blood sugar doesn’t drop later because it takes longer to digest. When your blood sugar doesn’t drop (like it would if you ate simple carbs alone) you won’t get hungry as fast and you won’t become a sugar junkie.

“If you eat within three hours of when you go to sleep, your food will instantly turn to fat because you don’t have time to burn it off”

–Again, nutritionists tell me they can’t believe stuff like that gets published. Read More »

I like to eat, but I also like to fit into my size 6 jeans. There lies my little dilemma. As much as I like to go running and what not, that doesn’t always seem to suffice; I mean, it would take a run from here to London to burn off the amount of cake I could eat in one sitting.

Doctors and nutritionists are now saying that the best way to stay energized, full and healthy is to eat 6 small meals a day and not the two huge ones like so many of us do. Note: 6 small meals do not include cupcakes, bags of chips and other fatty snacks.

So, how do you get through the day and not pack on the pounds? Start with some healthier snacking options:

1. Almonds and Laughing Cow Cheese. Portable and protein packed, almonds are one of the best things for your body. Pop a handful in a Ziploc bag with two wedges of Laughing Cow cheese (30 calories each) and, for under 200 calories, you have a healthy, filling snack.

2. 100 Calorie Packs. These are great on the go because they give you a quick low-cal fix and totally ease the cravings for the bad stuff. If you’re really in the mood, grab two bags. If you were to dig your paws into a real bag of Ruffles you’d wind up eating way more than the 200 calories (not to mention all that grease!) in this snack. Read More »

When it comes to dieting, so many people do it, but so many people don’t understand the process. They know they need to cut calories, but how does one cut calories when they don’t even know how many they were eating to begin with? And how do people even remember all the things they ate in an entire day? And what about the rest of us not trying to shave off a few pounds? Shouldn’t we be conscious of what is going into our bodies, too?

These are the biggest arguments for getting in the habit of keeping a food journal.

Food logs can help you stay on track in many different ways:

Drinking:

In one evening at the bar you could consume more than 800 extra calories; that’s like running on a treadmill for two hours! If you think about what you’re drinking and add it to your log at the end of the night you will notice how much you’ve actually taken in, which may prompt you to make better choices in the future…or avoid ordering that cheese bread…. (Note: no need to pull out the food diary at the bar, friends. Total buzz kill!)

“Good” foods versus “Bad” foods:

You would be surprised as to how many calories are in foods though of as “good” versus other that are constituted as “bad”. For example, did you know that a Dunkin Donuts muffin has more calories than their regular donut? I bet you didn’t. It’s surprising! Just think what else you may misinterpret as “healthy” or “better” for you. It’s easy to get tricked into thinking something is “good” for you when really it isn’t. So, researching and writing down what you eat will get you thinking about food instead of just throwing it down the hatch. Read More »

Most normal fajitas or any similar Mexican-like foods will set your number of daily calories over the edge with gobs of refried beans, sour cream, or crazy cheese sauces. Not this fajita—it has all the taste but serious health benefits as well. If you are craving something Mexican that isn’t quite authentic but that tastes fresh and delicious, this is what you want!

It can easily be a 15-minute dinner if you’re rushing, and it’s pretty versatile (any kind of bell pepper will work, the corn is optional, etc.). Here are the ingredients for one fajita:

• canola oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil (or any other oil, really)

• 1 thin-sliced chicken breast, cut into strips

• ¼ tsp taco seasoning

• ½ red bell pepper, sliced into very thin strips

• ½ medium onion, sliced into thin rings

• 2 tablespoons corn, fresh or frozen (optional)

• ½ to ¾ cup fresh spinach, rinsed and stemmed

• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cheddar cheese

• 1 whole-wheat tortilla wrap

To begin, put the oil in a shallow pan. Let it heat up, and add the thin rings of onion and strips of bell pepper. Sauté them over low-medium or medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until they are browned, much reduced, and beginning to caramelize. Read More »