Build-A-Meal: Better Breakfast

Starting the day with a balanced breakfast is crucial to getting your metabolism going and getting off to a good start. Pam suggests keeping breakfast, lunch and dinner fairly consistent in calories and enjoying small snacks between meals to avoid blood sugar spikes and dips.

Choose one food from each category for a quick, healthy breakfast.

Protein: 1 cup (8 oz.) milk, 1 slice (1 oz.) cheese, 1 egg, 1 container low-fat yogurt

Carbs: 1/2 cup whole grain cereal or oatmeal, 1 granola bar, half an English muffin or half a whole grain bagel

Fruit: banana, small apple, orange, grapefruit or your fruit of choice

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Tweak of the Week: Drink to Weight Loss

By Shawn McKee
Staff Writer

The slogan "think before you drink" doesn't just apply to alcohol.

One way that excess calories slip into your daily life is through sneaky soft drinks and juices. Most people don't even consider how many calories are in what they drink, and they don't eat less to adjust.


Consider this: You're at a restaurant and eating a salad so you go ahead and have a soda. No big deal, right? Wrong. You get free refills and so you double up -- you've just added roughly 300 calories to an otherwise healthy lunch -- assuming the salad isn't loaded with fatty dressing, bacon bits and cheese.

Hidden calories lurk around every crouton and under pop tops everywhere.

A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola packs 140 calories and 39 grams of carbs. If you have one can a day, as an afternoon pick-me-up, with dinner or any other time, over the course of the year that adds up to over 51,000 calories -- that's roughly 14 pounds!

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There is a conspicuous correlation between U.S. soft drink consumption increasing simultaneously with the U.S. obesity epidemic. Americans drank 22 gallons of non-diet soft drinks per person in 1970, and by 1997, that number nearly doubled to 41 gallons per person -- and obesity ballooned 112 percent.

If you need a caffeine fix, your best bet is to switch to coffee or tea to save calories and carbs. However, stay away from too much sugar and creamer to keep the calorie count down as each teaspoon of sugar will add about 16 calories.

Sports drinks are another unnecessary source of calories in your diet. The casual exerciser does not need them. If you are exercising for 45 minutes or less, water will be just fine to replenish your fluids. Most of these drinks pack over 100 calories per serving and can undo a lot of the exercise you just did.

If you still need flavors in your fluid, a lot of new sports drinks pack little or no calories and are pretty tasty. But just like diet sodas, you'll see a lot of unpronounceable ingredients listed on the package which may be a cause for concern in the long run.

The best thing to do is stick with that fantastic weight loss miracle drink of the stars -- water. No secret there -- and no calories either. Drinking a glass of water before meals will help prevent overeating and drinking it with your meal will save you calories and money. It's a win, win.

Our experts can offer a lot of other small changes you can do right now. Send your questions to our nutritional experts today!

Check out last week's tweak about breakfast and come back next week for Healthy Sandwich Switches.

Do you have a simple switch, tip or trick for losing weight and living healthy? Post it below to potentially be featured in an upcoming Tweak of the Week.

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Tweak of the Week: Benefits of Breakfast

By Shawn McKee
Staff Writer

People don't become overweight from one bad habit.

In fact, it's a confluence of factors that led to the obesity epidemic in this country. You cannot change your body by just "doing everything right starting tomorrow." It doesn't work that way.

The experts say the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to set small, realistic goals.

"Tackle one unhealthy habit at a time and once you have successfully met that goal set another one," recommends eDiets Manager of Nutrition Support Tracey Ryan, MS, RD.

So, in the first step on your journey to become the person you want to be, we're going to start where every day starts: breakfast.

Face it, studies have shown that your mother was right about this -- children who eat breakfast do better in school. And breakfast is just as beneficial for adults as well. In fact, people who ate breakfast were less likely to develop heart disease or diabetes, according to a 2003 study.

"Breakfast is crucial for fueling your body, providing energy, maintaining metabolism and even improving concentration," explains eDiets Director of Nutrition Pamela Ofstein. "If you skip breakfast, you may find yourself lacking energy, hungrier and more apt to overeat later in the day."

It's obvious that everyone should eat breakfast, but so many still skip it for a whole host of reasons -- from time to taste and everything in between. The key is simply to eat something.

"Eating a balanced breakfast is the goal -- protein, carbohydrate and fat sources," Ofstein says. "But if time is a constraint or you need something convenient, you don’t always have to go with the typical breakfast -- grab a piece of fruit, yogurt and some nuts or wrap a slice of turkey and cheese in a tortilla."

Check out these five breakfast ideas, if you need inspiration for healthy breakfast foods, or simply make up your own power breakfast. There are so many ways to start your day, but skipping your morning meal is not one of them -- always eat breakfast.

Our experts can offer a lot of other small changes you can do right now. Send your questions to our nutritional experts today.

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