Wow, time flies!  Can’t believe my challenge is over – or at least my blogging commitment! I have to say that while I am a bit sad, I am also relieved. It isn’t always easy to be mindful of what you are eating, especially when so many factors are conspiring against you. For example, if you work within a team of only males, they aren’t likely to be super enthusiastic about catering to your diet needs. At first, despite my protestations, my co-workers had a hard time understanding that I wasn’t doing this challenge because I felt a need to lose weight or was on the verge of an eating disorder, but because I wanted to make a concerted effort to be healthier. However, not all was lost on them, as I did manage to inspire one to do the challenge with me. Sometimes I even had to explain to him that the point of the challenge was NOT self-deprivation but rather self-consciousness (in a positive sense)!

Perhaps most importantly, doing this challenge has made me more aware of how others treat food and how much they know about healthy eating. I was astonished as I sat on the subway one morning and listened (ok, eavesdropped!) on a conversation a young woman in high school was having with her friend about her eating habits.

The highlights included:

• Eating healthy was too much work/not fun/too restrictive – why couldn’t she just have a fried egg and bacon sandwich in the morning?
• A muffin was considered a healthy alternative - um, perhaps to a fried egg and bacon sandwich covered in grease… (but at least that has protein!)
• If she wanted to lose weight she could basically not eat for the rest of the day since she’d still be full from her big breakfast – Yes, breakfast is a SUPER important meal of the day but it does not provide a full day of fuel (and if you’re breakfast does, that may be another problem!)

Maybe the worst part about this conversation was realizing that these young women were not alone in their lack of health education (and I am not talking about safe sex – although also important!). On the one hand we’re all bombarded with articles predicting the demise of an obese America, but on the other hand, are the right people getting this information? Could we just be preaching to the choir rather than going out and making an impact? Are we going about it the right way?

I don’t believe any of this is black or white (I enjoy my own fair of “unhealthy foods” once in awhile) but it’s definitely food for thought… (Ha ha)

Over the past few weeks I’ve developed the strangest of obsessions: green beans. As a child, I hated the things, probably because my mother only knew how to serve green beans out of a can. They were gray, sour-tasting and pretty disgusting. I couldn’t stomach them. However, a few months ago, I made myself a promise: I would learn to love green beans. Why?

Because they are good for me, I told myself as I trimmed the ends and stared at them. They laid in a yellow strainer in my kitchen sink giving me the stink eye. They knew I was terrified of them. I devised a plan to cover them with enough of something delicious to forget that I was eating green beans. And guess what, guys? I ended up loving them.

Here’s the nutrition low-down. Green beans have the same nutrients as dark, leafy greens, despite not being as dark in color. Why is this awesome? Because greens like spinach and kale are some of the healthiest vegetables out there. One of the best nutrients? Lutein, which helps eye sight and helps prevent eye diseases. Basically, awesome.

Spicy Citrus Green Beans

You’ll need…

• 1 bunch of green beans, trimmed (basically, cut of the end that looks like a leaf might been attached to it. It’s stem-y looking)
• the juice of one orange
• the juice of one lemon
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like things)
• a dash of adobo sauce
• a bit of water
• olive oil

How to make it…

In a pan, heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat. Add your green beans and saute. You don’t want to destroy them, just cook them enough to be a little softer, but still have a snap. I usually break one in half after about 4 minutes or so. Add the lemon and orange juice, and red pepper flakes. Continue cooking on low for a few minutes, until the sauce reduces a bit. If you don’t have enough juice to coat all the green beans at first, add a bit of water. Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before serving.

Note: This makes about 2 servings. They stay good in the fridge for about 3 days if kept in an airtight container! 

While I’ll admit, I don’t think I could ever stomach any type of cold soup or a VLT (a BLT made with vegan bacon), there are some great salad ideas. Not to mention, aren’t the hipsters really into coconut water right now? Well, they might not be after everyone reads this article and finds out about it.

Maybe it’s just the lazy, fat American in me, but when faced with the option between a creamsicle and gazpacho, I’m probably going to choose the sugary orange goodness pop, but hey, if you’re looking to stay healthy and save money by not chasing down the ice cream truck, a big bowl of quinoa might be just what you need.

“Because I am young and in college, I can now treat my body like crap and get away with it.  After all, college really is only about three things: studying, relationships and overindulgence.  Heck everyone else is drinking to what would technically be considered alcoholism in the real world, indulging in all-you-can-eat dining halls, pulling all-nighters and living off of coffee and candy in between.  What is socially acceptable must be okay! I’m still healthy because [insert a plethora of excuses here].”

If this sounds a bit like you, I’m going to bring you back to reality.  Even if you feel reasonably fine now, this lifestyle will surely lead to ill health in the long run and will just perpetuate bad health habits post graduation. There is a reason why over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese and cancer and heart disease rates are skyrocketing. Our bodies cannot handle the stresses we are placing on them over time and the long-term effects are sure to appear if we do not take action NOW to protect ourselves.

After all, there is nothing more empowering than taking care of oneself and feeling great. Why not make this year’s New Year’s resolution about just that?  Here’s a list of suggestions, along with motivating facts, to make a healthy New Year’s resolution become a reality:

1)    Set aside at least 4 hours per week to exercise.  One cannot be healthy and be sedentary.  Besides providing cardiovascular benefits, exercising prevents depression, helps prevent chronic diseases like osteoporosis and type II diabetes, promotes better sleep and keeps you slim. As Nike puts it so wonderfully, just do it.

2)    Limit alcohol consumption.  Epidemiological studies constantly show that heavy drinking increases the risk of liver, head and neck, and esophageal cancers, and moderate drinking has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.  To put it scientifically, researchers have found several genes involved in the breakdown of alcohol, including the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). ADH initiates the breakdown of alcohol into acetaldehyde, which is carcinogenic in animal models.

3)    Eat more vegetables and fruits. Lots more. Simply put, the more vegetables and fruits you eat, the more likely you will live a long, disease free life.  While everyone agrees that vegetables and fruits are “good for you,” how good they are for us has been hotly debated.  However, recent studies are confirming that these natural foods have powerful compounds in them, such as alpha-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and other newly discovered antioxidants that help defend the body’s tissues from oxidative damage.  Oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids is a known contributor to chronic disease and an accepted mechanism of aging.

4)    Put down the saltshaker.  Statistics show that citizens of the U.S. have a lifetime probability of developing high blood pressure at around 90%.  This is a sobering statistic considering high blood pressure increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease (heart failure, heart attack, or sudden cardiac death), as well as kidney failure and stroke.  After many years of high salt exposure, blood pressure starts to rise.  By the time this occurs, cutting down on salt does not so easily resolve the problem.  Do not salt your food and only purchase low sodium items when going grocery shopping. A useful guideline: compare milligrams of sodium to calories on food labels. Only buy items with sodium levels at or below the amount of calories per serving.

5)    Eat more natural foods. Reading food labels is scary man. Most seemingly simple processed meals and snacks sold in supermarkets have long lists of ingredients, many of which are artificial and can lead to ill health.  For example, synthetic food dyes often used in processed foods, such as colored breakfast cereals, candy and “fruit-flavored” beverages and snacks, have been linked to a wide variety of health concerns including behavioral problems, hyperactivity, allergic reactions and even cancers. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), an organization that advocates for nutrition and food safety, is calling for a ban on these synthetic dyes.  However, these, as well as other unsafe ingredients, are not currently banned and are still plentiful in our food supply.  Synthetic food dyes are only one example of the many potentially dangerous ingredients added to processed foods. I could go on with other examples, but that could take a while.  I’ll keep it short: go natural and be food additive free.

These are five simple goals that you can strive to practice every day. While you are still in college and have perhaps the most flexible schedule you are likely to have for years, do yourself a favor and resolve to improve your overall health.

So here’s to making better choices!  Happy New Year! Make it a Healthy One!

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

October is finally almost over, and while I am frantically scrambling to come up with another costume for tonight, I am also thrilled that I am only one day away from being done with my meatless month. I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last beefy indulgence. I am really surprised by how well I did and the fact that I didn’t have even a morsel of meat during this whole time.

Being meatless has been a great way to shake things up and make sure that I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. A bunch of my girlfriends were talking at dinner the other night about how one girl had been vegetarian for a while, and she actually GAINED weight because all she ate was carbs. That has definitely not been my experience at all. October has been an insanely busy week with academics, and I haven’t had enough time to work out as often as I regularly do. Yet not only have I not gained weight, I lost some! I don’t own a scale, but I can feel it in my clothes. Losing weight was in no way my goal in going meatless, but it’s not a bad side effect at all!

While I might not ever learn to like tofu, I have definitely expanded the variety of foods that I eat. Morningstar Farms Chik’n Nuggets (SO GOOD!) are something that will definitely stay on my regular grocery shopping list, as will the mass amounts of fruits and vegetables I’ve been buying.

This month has also provided me with sympathy and mad respect for vegetarians. It is interesting to see how often there isn’t a real vegetarian option offered at big events, especially because vegetarianism is not exactly rare in our world today. Just last night, I was at my sorority’s progressive dinner, and while everything was delicious, there were no real vegetarian main courses. (There was, however, a delicious looking home made chicken pot pie, and it took all of my willpower to refrain. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard at anything.) But I survived anyway, just like I’m sure real vegetarians must have to do all the time. So props to them!

I have always been an avid meat lover, one of those people who says that I could never be a vegetarian or understand why people are. This experience has definitely changed my mind, because although I still love meat, I have gotten to see first hand the benefits that vegetarianism offers. I never, ever thought that I would say this, but I am considering becoming a real full-time vegetarian. Weird, huh? I do really crave meat, but I’m intrigued by the way my body and my tastes have changed this month and am tempted to see how embracing this lifestyle full-time could impact my health.

I guess we’ll just have to see how I feel after my first piece of meat on Monday. Will it be so amazing I’ll never want to part with it again, or will it make me feel so full and heavy that I’ll be craving hummus and carrot sticks instead? Not sure, but I do know one thing: this challenge has taught me a lot and while the month is up, I’ll definitely be taking these lessons with me (to some extent) in the long term.

Ready or not, Chipotle, here I come!

This post provided by college nutritionist, author, and all around excellent source of healthful info, Melanie Jatsek.

Campus dining halls are amazing places.  Besides a Las Vegas buffet, where else can you find Chinese food, Mexican food, and a pasta, deli, salad and dessert bar all in one room?  They are amazing, but amazing doesn’t always equal good for you.  Sometimes it can be down right challenging to navigate through the lines and find something that isn’t fried or covered in some sort of sauce.  To make it easy for you, here are the top 5 dining hall food traps to watch out for. Some may surprise you!

Wraps or Burritos:

You’re probably wondering why.  Most tortillas used to make wraps and burritos contain trans fats (trans fatty acids), which are even worse for you than saturated fats!  The scary thing about them is, they make their way into your brain and disrupt communication between your brain cells.  It’s sort of like when you use your cell phone to call your friend’s cell phone and the two of you keep dropping the call – you can’t seem to make a connection!  The only way to tell for sure if a tortilla contains trans fats is by looking at the nutrition facts label on the package for the words “partially hydrogenated oils.”  Obviously you can’t do this in your dining hall, so you may want to ask the food service staff to take a peak for you.

Breaded Foods:

Breaded usually means fried and fried always means fatty and higher calorie!  Check this out- a chicken sandwich made with grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise has 420 calories and 10 grams of fat.  The same sandwich made with breaded (otherwise known as “crispy”) chicken has 530 calories and 20 grams of fat!

I know what you’re thinking…”but crispy taste so much better!”  It all depends on how you are used to eating.  If you always choose breaded and fried foods, they probably do taste better to you than the un-breaded and baked ones.  If your goal is to make some changes towards a healthier lifestyle in college, you might want to consider giving the un-breaded option a shot!  Your taste buds will quickly learn to prefer it over time.

Watch out for specific menu terms that translate into “fried”:  crispy, deep fried, battered and breaded.  Choose more:  baked, braised, broiled, grilled, poached, roasted, steamed and stir-fried.

The Salad Bar:

This can be your best friend or worst enemy.  Creamy dressings, cheeses, croutons, bacon bits, pasta salads with chunks of pepperoni and gelatins mixed with whipped cream are just a few of the salad bar options that can spell disaster for even the most well-intentioned salad.  The final “masterpiece” could easily add up to 800 calories or more!

Choose romaine lettuce or spinach and top it with beans, a sprinkle of cheese, hard-boiled egg, fresh fruit, tuna fish or baked chicken, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and an oil-based salad dressing like balsamic vinaigrette or Italian.  Oil-based dressings spread easier than creamy dressing, so you won’t use as much.

Gravies and Sauces:

Some sauces aren’t so bad, like marinara sauce or a small amount of garlic and olive oil, but then there are the “nightmare” sauces.  You know the ones – creamy, cheesy sauces that seem to harden your arteries just at the sight of them.  Some other sauces, like soy sauce and teriyaki sauce are very high in sodium-1000 mg for 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (that’s about 40% of your sodium limit for the entire day!).

So what should you do?  Go naked if you can!  Try getting in the habit of ordering or preparing food without salty sauces or seasonings.  For foods that you are supposed to order with sauce, like spaghetti, always opt for “red” versus “white” and shave up to 160 calories and 23 grams of fat off of your meal!

“Super-size” Portions:

Your stomach on “empty” is the size of your fist.  However, it can stretch to hold 128 ounces.  That’s a gallon!  No one needs that much food at one sitting.  Unfortunately, serving sizes seems to be growing at a ridiculous rate!  Did you know that a portion size for a bagel is 1 ounce?  That’s the size of a hockey puck and is about half of a medium bagel.  Those monstrous bagels at Panera Bread are actually 4 servings in one!

The good news is if you know what a standard serving size looks like, it will be much easier to spot “super-size” portions.  The following chart will help you make sense out of portions.

A serving of:

Cooked pasta, rice, or hot cereal = ½ cup- the size of a tennis ball
Dry cereal, fruits and vegetables = 1 cup- the size of a baseball
Pancakes, waffles = 1 ounce- the size of a CD
Beef, chicken or fish = 3 ounces- the size of an iPhone
Baked potato = size of a computer mouse
Cheese = 1 ounce- the size of 4 stacked dice
Ice cream = ½ cup- the size of a tennis ball

Yes, I know…a ½ cup of pasta is a ridiculously small amount!  You can certainly have more if you want to, just know that if you fill your entire plate with pasta at lunch, you are probably about to eat 4 or 5 servings.  That’s ok- just choose a higher protein meal at dinner and take it easy on the carbs!  It’s all about balance.

Only you can make your dining hall a healthier place to eat.  The greasy, fried, gravy-covered foods will still be there (and plentiful), but you have the freedom to “just say no” and opt for the un-breaded, greener, “naked” and portion-controlled ones.  You can do this!

[Melanie Jatsek is a speaker, author and registered dietitian who teaches college students how to eat to look better, feel better, think better and stress less!  Send her an email at melanie@melaniejatsek.com or connect with her on her new Facebook page for college students: “The Healthy Campus Project”]

There is nothing like waking up ready to start a new day, only to behold what appears to be a gargantuan pimple on your face. Believe me, I’ve been there. Suddenly, what could have been a pleasant morning heads directly towards Awfulsville.  Instead of looking forward to running into a crush, the goal becomes to walk very quickly in the opposite direction….with your face buried behind your hair. Granted, I do realize that there are infinitely worse scenarios that can be inflicted upon a person, but at the same time us ladies should not have to face the awfulness of pimples amidst all the other chaos in our lives.

Simply put, the world would be a much better place if pimples did not exist.

So the question is: do these loathsome little suckers form haphazardly or can we control their formation?  It used to be that doctors claimed diet has nothing to do with acne. Well not anymore.  Upon doing some investigation, it turns out the medical research indicates that there is indeed much we can do to prevent zits – actions that don’t involve buying hoards of benzoyl peroxide creams and cover up.  In fact, what we eat largely determines how healthy our skin looks.

Welcome to my one-article class on eating your way to healthy skin. Nom nom.

Pimple prevention 101:

1)   The hormones inside our bodies are what cause pimples to appear on the outside.  In particular, the hormone insulin is to blame for breakouts.  Insulin is most commonly known as the hormone for regulating blood sugar and is associated with diabetes, yet, interestingly, it also produces the oils that appear on our skin. Who would have thought?  Insulin levels fluctuate based on what we eat.

2)   Processed foods made with white flour and sugar lead to blood sugar spikes, causing insulin levels to go into the hateful “pimple-producing zone.” Sugar and processed foods are n-o-t good for our skin.

3)   The peeps at Harvard say milk is not a skin friendly food. The Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study in which the diets of 6,084 teenage girls were analyzed.  Girls who drank two or more servings of milk per day were 20 percent more likely to have acne.  Milk contains bioactive molecules that act on the glands where blackheads are formed. William Danby MD, a dermatologist at Dartmouth, noted in an editorial accompanying the study that 70 to 90 percent of all milk comes from pregnant cows and that the milk contains hormones such as progesterone, testosterone precursors and insulin growth factor releasing hormones, all linked to acne.

4)   The foods you should eat for radiant skin? Green vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, starchy vegetables, and whole grains. These foods are loaded with antioxidants, substances that help our skin repair damage.  Plant foods also contain an array of phytochemicals.  In my opinion, phytochemicals are just kick ass. They are super foods for your body, not just your face.  They supercharge the immune system’s defensive capabilities and help prevent many diseases, including heart disease and cancer.  Many thousands of these chemicals are found in brightly colored plant foods.  So in regards to the health of our skin, the more phytochemicals that are present, the faster our skin can repair damage, and remove and detoxify waste products and toxic compounds.

So, in summary, consumption of natural plant foods leads to radiant, pimple free skin and processed foods and dairy are blackhead friendly. I know it might seem hard to give up or eat less candy, white bread or milk if you are used to eating them, but it’s really easy to still enjoy eating while on an anti-pimple or anti-acne diet.  I’m a huge fan of Silk soy milk, for example.  To me, it tastes better than milk.  Resisting ice cream becomes pie in the sky when I know I can have a delicious fruit smoothie instead.  Instead of poppin’ M&M’s, I choose to pop blueberries and cherries.

Great skin and tasty food? Check!

I live for the summer.  In the spring, I count down the days until my last final and I miss it terribly during the fall.  I love the way the sun‘s rays touch my skin, I love reading novels lazily on the beach, my morning outdoor runs, and enjoying picnics and BBQs.  I love the skin-exposing, brightly colored fashions I get to wear.  I want nothing more than to be carefree during my favorite season, but unhappily I cannot be. There are two frightening words that come to mind whenever I’m wanting to bask in the sun and they are a constant reminder to apply sunscreen and limit my beloved time in the sun: skin cancer.

With that in mind it certainly is important to apply sunscreen, avoid tanning beds, and limit hours in the sunlight. But obvious these steps are not all that we can do to protect oneself from the sun’s damaging rays. It turns out that the foods we eat can have a protective effect!

The deal is this (and I am going to get a bit scientific here, so bare with me):  Cancer can only flourish in the body when cells that undergo free radical damage and the subsequent DNA damage (which happens when we spend too much time in the sun!) are unable to be repaired by the cell’s DNA monitoring and repair tools. Natural, plant based foods are rich in antioxidants and other cool, skin protecting chemicals, substances that are needed for these repair mechanisms to function most optimally.  Vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds and other “bright colored” foods are loaded with these protective substances. If one’s diet is low in vegetables and fruits, the body will not be supplied with enough nutrients for its cells to defend itself from oxidative damaged caused by UV radiation.  Studies have pointed to green vegetables especially, as skin cancer (and most cancers for that matter) fighting foods.

The concept of consuming a high-nutrient, plant based diet has been supported in an enlightening study conducted in Australia. Researches analyzed the diet, skin color, and sunlight exposure of 1,360 adults, aged 25-75, who participated in a community-based skin cancer study from 1992-2002. Two main eating patterns were identified: a meat and fat pattern and a vegetable and fruit pattern. Interestingly, the meat and fat pattern diet was positively associated with development of skin cancer, and even more strongly associated in participants with a skin cancer history. Increased consumption of the vegetable and fruit dietary pattern reduced skin cancer occurrence by 54%, with the protective effect mostly attributed to the consumption of green, leafy vegetables. In conclusion, the researchers deemed that a dietary pattern characterized by high meat and fat intakes increases skin cancer odds, while a dietary pattern characterized by higher consumption of green vegetables decreases it.

If you are thinking, “I don’t eat many fruits and veggies, or man oh man, I totally fit into the “meat and fat” group,” don’t sweat it.  Summer is the perfect time to try including more fruits and veggies in your diet. Cook a vegetable shish kabob or corn on the cob on the grill at your next BBQ, try a tossed salad for lunch or pack some fresh berries or watermelon with you on a picnic or at the beach.  Being away from icky dining hall foods and stressful school assignments that leave you with little time to prepare your own meals leaves you with more freedom to explore other eating options.

Added bonus? Eating more bright colored foods will help you stay slim and look great in a bikini!

I am destined to be big-boned

1. Do not skip meals.

Sleeping through breakfast seems like the easiest way to cut calories and lose weight, right? Wrong! In high school, I did just that. I also decided to spend my lunch period most days talking instead of eating. I would never put food in my body until 3PM, and I wouldn’t stop eating until around 10PM. I justified my grazing by saying, “Hey, I haven’t eaten all day, after all!” By the time my body got fed, it had no idea what to do with so much disgusting, unhealthy food. The pounds finally started to budge when I put my body on a system. Eat something wholesome (oatmeal, whole-grain toast, an egg) as soon as you wake up. Give your stomach something to work on all day. Our tummies love consistency, so don’t forget lunch and dinner, either!

2. EAT your calories.

Even on days when you don’t think you’re eating much, you might be loading up on “blind calories” — calories you don’t even realize — just by what you drink. Anything other than water, black coffee, or plain tea is a weight conscious gal’s worst nightmare. While sports drinks and mineral water may be alluring, the sugar and additives are sure to sidetrack your best intentions. It’s the common misconception that fruit juices are must-have staples to a diet. The truth is, you are getting loads of sugar from the fruit itself (even if it’s unsweetened juice, check out the grams of natural sugar) and none of the fiber. Don’t have a glass of orange juice – eat an orange. Same goes for apple juice or cranberry juice or…, well, you get the idea. In general, allotting your calories for food rather than beverages will leave you much more satisfied.

3. Go do something!

I used to think that walking around the hallways to get to class was sufficient exercise for me. Like me, you may be stunned when you realize that your exercise isn’t as effective as you think it is. It also didn’t help that once I came home from school, I tended to spend hours and hours on youtube loaf around all night. The more often you can get your heart rate up, the better off you will be. Can’t commit to a strenuous gym regiment? Don’t despair. The most successful exercise is what can be incorporated into your daily life. In other words, park farther away, take the stairs, grab the bike instead of your car. Trade one TV program for a half-hour walk a day. You’ll be surprised at how gratifying it is. (And there’s always Tivo, after all).

4. Embrace veggies.

Growing up, I never never, ever ate vegetables. Mashed potatoes and corn on the cob was about as close as I came. Today, I can’t get enough of them, and I actually crave them. I love a huge plate of wilted spinach with a touch of sea salt, pepper, and olive oil as a base for my meat or grains. 50 calories for a cup of spinach keeps me way more satisfied than a small McDonald’s french fry order (230 calories) ever did. And I’ve never felt more alive since making veggies the bulk of my meals. I smile and run more than ever. That alone is worth it to me.

Don’t despair about weight loss. Just listen to your body. It can tell you more than any dieting book can. Being the person you’ve always dreamed of being is far from impossible for anyone. The former big-boned blob has spoken.

The 4th of July is only a week away and the store mannequins have certainly arrived in their starred and striped bikinis to make sure we don’t forget it.

It’s an American holiday that takes barbecues, fireworks, and beach parties to a whole new level and with it coming up fast, it’s time to pledge our allegiance to our diets. These diet shape-ups will have you ready to don your nautical wear from the first notes of the Star-Spangled Banner and beyond.

Smoothie Sailing: If no one has let you in on the secret yet, let me be the first to inform of the word of the day: SMOOTH-IES. Smoothies can be counted as a meal substitute or an afternoon snack and they are absolutely delicious (provided that you put the right stuff in them). These 8-ounce concoctions will leave you feeling fuller longer and they are great for sitting by the pool. Simply add ¾ cup of milk, 1/2 cup of berries, whey powder and peanut butter and sip your way to slim!

Go for the grains: Have you seen the intense high fructose corn syrup commercials on the television? Well this little demon takes up living space in white breads. Switching to whole-grain breads and cereals will give your body the power it needs to fight off flab. And for those who say carbohydrates are not good for you, here is the correction: the right kind (i.e. brown rice, whole wheat bread and pastas) will be your best friends forever if you let them.

Leave the French fries in France this 4th: There is no way around it, anyone looking to majorly shape up their body has got to drop the fried foods. No, you don’t have to make a pact to never touch a burger or fried dough again, but the key is moderation. Stick to grilled chicken, sautéed vegetables, and meals that are not bathed in a tub of oil before they hit your stomach. By slowly erasing these trouble makers from your diet you will find your abs thanking you very sweetly.

Skimmy dipping: Whole milk has long been associated with calcium. And yes, we need our calcium. But why not go for the skim milk? We get the same amount of calcium (even more, actually) without all that fat. At first you might gripe over the taste of skim milk compared to 2% percent but start slow; begin adding skim milk to your lattes or to your cereal in the a.m. and move up from there.

Thank you, Popeye: Alright, with that subtitle you already know what I am about to suggest. But I am about to dish out some diet-saving advice here. We think diets and our minds automatically race to the salad. Hold on two seconds, drop the iceberg lettuce (yea, the cheap lettuce that provides no kind of substantial nutrients), and go for the spinach to make up your salad. The greatest thing about adding this green leafed superstar to your veggies, your stomach won’t be growling at you in .2 seconds. Fills you up and slims you down!

So try out these diet shape-ups in the next few weeks as you are looking for routes to be a firecracker this 4th of July. As any nutrition lover would suggest, all of these diet tips work even better with a solid exercise regimen. Hit up the trails, run on the beach, and make the most of the summer sun. Work out, drink plenty of water and try out some of these tips then prepare to slim down and sizzle in your red, white and blue this year.