Day Eleven: Shrink Your Waist-line and Your Carbon Footprint at the Same Time

Dr. Oz had Kate Geagen on his show on Friday last week.  She is a nutritionist who gave tips on a 2-day Weekend overhaul to get charged for the following workweek.  Dr. Oz had guests who shared some of their weekend practices e.g., sleeping in till noon, over-indulging in alcohol and food when entertaining with friends.  Ms. Geagen made suggestions on how to counteract those weekend habits that end up making us feel sluggish on our days off.  Her book "Go Green, Get Lean" sounds like a worthwhile read.

Weekend breakfasts: Make them healthy. Omelets with lots of your favourite veggies. Oatmeal with fruit, Greek yogurt, honey and cinnamon.  Throwing a weekend get-together?  Choose healthy appetizers like asparagus and dip.  Bring out one appetizer at a time to avoid guests gorging all at once on everything without enjoying the nuances of every flavour from each finger food. 

When it comes to drinking alcohol at parties, here is what Geagen recommended.  Drink two glasses of wine instead of four.  You save about 300 calories translating into a 5 lb loss in a year's time.  Switch to vodka soda flavoured with your favourite fruit juice. Equates to 100 calories per drink.  Or mix 4 oz of white wine with lemon lime seltzer.  Substituting a wine spritzer in lieu of a regular glass of wine equals a 6 lb weight loss at  the end of the year.

A friend of mine cut out beer (her favourite drink).  After a few months she lost over 10 lbs. 

Simple things we can do that make a big difference to our health.

  Around the world, everyone celebrated Earth Hour last night.  I invite you to join me with Dr. Oz's challenge which was posed on Friday's show,

"Rethink your Drink and Try Detox Appetizers". 

Food for thought. Or better yet, "Let's drink to that!".

From Publishers Weekly- Book Review for Go Green, Get Lean

Comparing a consumption-heavy lifestyle to a gas-guzzling SUV, Geagan arms readers with a dense but readable treatise on making healthier choices for body and planet. Over the course of six weeks, readers are encouraged to adopt a "flexitarian" diet, heavy on plants with limited amounts of fish, meat and chicken. In a week-by-week fashion, Geagan illustrates the benefits of greener consumption habits with straightforward, relevant data-not only do readers learn the benefits of adding more water to their diet, they also learn the fastest way to shrink their carbon footprint is eliminating bottled water-though she may alienate some with her presumption that we're all on the same sociopolitical page. Geagan keeps an impressive amount of research manageable with anecdotes, charts and digressions covering milk myths (it does not in fact help you lose weight); the fresh-frozen-or-canned debate; and requisite dining out tips. The already-converted and those sincerely interested in change should find this a valuable resource, but McMansion-dwelling, SUV-driving convenience-food junkies should prepare for a harsh talking-down to.
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