Are full-calorie soft drinks making people fat? The answer is not clear, and it depends on who you listen to. What I can tell you is that soft drinks have calories. And if you’re going to enjoy a soft drink or two in your daily diet, you have to compensate for the calories by cutting back elsewhere. When we developed the 400 Calorie Fix meals, we included very few full-calorie soft drinks. Why? Because even a portion-controlled 100-calorie can of cola is still 100 calories, one-quarter of the calories for the entire meal. Most soft drinks are only about enjoyment since they’re not very filling and often not very nutritious.

Enter the soda tax. New York State and others are considering upping the tax on soft drinks as a way to discourage their use, much like taxes on cigarettes. Will it work? A study in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found that as soda prices go up, daily intake goes down, and so does body weight. The same held true for pizza. This suggests that a soda tax would cause people to drink less. In a different approach, President Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation banded together with the American Beverage Association to create school beverage guidelines for schools. Schools now sell almost no full-calorie carbonated soft drinks and kids now drink very few of these drinks at school.

So what should you do? By all means swap full-calorie soft drinks for water, seltzer, or calorie-free beverages. Also be sure to include high-nutrition drinks like milk that supply hard-to-get vitamins and minerals. And there’s nothing wrong with having a full-calorie soft drink on occasion, as long as you keep total calories in mind.

I want to introduce you to three of my friends, all of whom found their own way to lose weight and live a healthier life.

• JS has been through lots of weight ups and downs in the 15 years that I’ve known her. She lost the most weight, close to 100 pounds, with a well-known bar-and-shake program, but when its local center went out of business a couple years ago, so did her weight loss. Since November, JS has been working with me on the 400 Calorie Fix and learning a new way of approaching food by eating balanced and satisfying meals with an appropriate number of calories. I don’t know how much weight she has lost, but she keeps buying pants in smaller sizes.
• LW was about 80 pounds heavier when I met him almost 10 years ago. One day he decided to start eating healthier meals and exercising more. We started seeing LW in the gym every morning on the elliptical machine, working at really high intensity for an hour. And the pounds kept melting off. He never looked back.
• MP decided three years ago that the time had come to lose weight. The combination of too much weight, type 2 diabetes, and a bone and joint disease was wreaking havoc on her feet and making even everyday walking extremely difficult. MP stopped eating “white” foods, not necessarily an approach I would recommend but an easy way to wean herself off processed foods and snacks. Within a few short months, MP’s weight loss helped to stabilize her blood sugar. She no longer needed insulin and her type 2 diabetes disappeared. She is looking forward to walking down the aisle at her daughter’s wedding.

[ Photo credit: mab2143 via Flickr]

When we were researching restaurant meals to include in the 400 Calorie Fix, we were shocked to find that eating the 400 calorie way is virtually impossible when you’re eating out. Portions are too big and they have too much fat – chef friends of mine brag about using butter with abandon. And try finding whole grains or beans on the menu. So I was pleased to read in the LA Times that restaurants are beginning to offer lower calorie fare on their menus. You’ll still find plenty of dishes with almost enough calories for the entire day. When you let a restaurant chef decide what and how much you should eat, weight gain shouldn’t come as a surprise. Here are a few tips for eating out sensibly:

1. Start your meal with a side salad, creamless soup, or bowl of fruit. According to research by Dr. Barbara Rolls, people who start their meal this way end up eating fewer calories.
2. Salad dressing on the side and used sparingly, always. At up to 100 calories per tablespoon, dressing can be the highest calorie part of your meal.
3. Enjoy less than a fist-sized portion of pasta, rice, or potatoes plus a palm-sized portion of meat, fish, or poultry. Take the rest home for tomorrow.
4. Wait at least 10 or 15 minutes before making a decision about dessert. Then order just one, with plenty of spoons.

1. Enjoy a cup of delicious mixed citrus fruits– orange, tangerine, grapefruit, Clementine– for breakfast plus a small carton of plain yogurt and a slice of Tuscan bread toast thinly spread with fig jam.
2. Grab a small sandwich for lunch. Unlike in the US, sandwiches in Florence are small and filled with just enough flavorful meat, cheese, and veggies to be satisfying. Order your choice at Il Due Fratellini, sit on the curb, and enjoy.
3. Make a meal of ribollita, the classic Tuscan winter soup packed with “black cabbage” (also called Tuscan kale), Swiss chard, zucchini, cannellini beans, and pieces of Tuscan bread. After eating it as a starter, I was so full that my meal ended right there.
4. Eat gelato in small sizes. The real stuff– we enjoyed it at Vivoli– is made with just milk, eggs, sugar, and real flavors. Order the smallest size cup, ask for small tasting spoons of a few different flavors, and pick your favorite.
5. Enjoy a glass of Tuscan wine. Chianti, Chianti Classico, and Brunello di Montalcino all are made from the dark, rich Sangiovese grape. A modest glass is only 100 to 150 calories.
6. Walk everywhere. Florence is a surprisingly small and accessible city with historic and gastronomic sites at every turn.

I’m leaving for Florence, Italy, Thursday, February 11th to attend a food trends conference. It winds up on the 16th.

The conference kicks off on Friday with a presentation about the Tuscan landscape with stories about Florentine and Tuscan cuisine and a short history of how foods like extra-virgin olive oil, zolfini beans, truffles, and many other foods are used in the Tuscan kitchen. What’s not to love?! When I get back my postings will resume. Thanks for stopping by!

Last night, we had the pleasure of eating in Greek restaurant called Ethos, located at 1st Avenue and 50th Street in Manhattan. Pretty restaurant, good service, delicious food. Using their menu as a guide, here are a few healthier picks when you’re dining Greek.

1. Tsatziki – Even if it’s made with whole milk yogurt (not sure if it is), you can’t go wrong with this garlicky cucumber-yogurt dip that’s lower in fat and higher in calcium than dips made with sour cream.
2. Gigantes – My personal favorite, they’re super-sized lima beans simmered in an herb and tomato sauce. Rich in fiber, which can be lacking in most restaurant dishes.
3. Greek salad – The trick is to eat smart (check out 400-Calorie Fix for a guide to portion). Say yes to the tomato, cucumber, red peppers, lettuce, and olives, with about a thumb-sized ounce of feta, one or two stuffed grape leaves, and dressing on the side used sparingly.
4. Grilled fish or seafood – Whichever you like best, including whole fish, fillets, shrimp, or octopus.
5. Bread – Limit pita to four or six triangles, depending on the size. Pita calories can add up quickly.

Tuesday, February 2
Added 3 parsnips, 3 carrots, and 3 onions to an Indian soup mix of lentils, split peas, and barley, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and curry powder.

Wednesday, February 3
Down to the wire with just a couple of carrots, a few potatoes, and some very small onions. Next pick-up is Saturday!

[ Photo credit: lapoli via Flickr ]

1. Slimmer, high calcium dips — Make your own Greek-style yogurt by placing plain yogurt in a coffee filter and allowing whey to drain off. Use instead of sour cream.
2. MUFA-rich Mexican bean dip – Whip up a bowl of Black Bean-Chipotle Dip from my new book, 400 Calorie Fix, and visit the book website for other snack ideas.
3. All-white protein-packed chicken wings – Oven-fry chicken breast strips and coat with wing sauce. Look for my recipe in 101 Optimal Life Foods, by David Grotto, RD, LDN, and coming soon to the Almond Board of California website.
   
4. Grease-free pita chips – Separate pita bread into two disks, cut into 8 wedges, and bake at 250° F until crisp.
5. Brit-inspired beer– Cut beer calories in half by making a beer shandy with equal amounts of beer and calorie-free lemonade.

And here is the update on my CSA bounty:

Thursday, January 28
Shredded and braised the entire head of cabbage with 1 sliced onion, 1 chopped Granny Smith apple, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds. Best after 24 hours in the fridge.

Saturday, January 30
Homemade whole wheat crust pizza topped with a thin layer of pureed tomatoes, 1 1/2 pounds of sliced, caramelized onions, 1 pound of trimmed, sliced, blanched Russian kale, and grated part-skim mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Sunday, January 31
Roasted 1 1/2 pounds of beets at 425° F until soft, peeled, sliced, and topped with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt.

Monday, February 1
Cut several potatoes and remaining celery root into small cubes, drizzled with olive oil, and roasted. Seasoned with McCormick’s salt-free Italian seasoning blend and a sprinkle of sea salt.

As in past years, I joined the Bialas Farms winter CSA this year for access to seeming oxymoron of farm-fresh vegetables in January and February. The first load of veggies came and went, leaving us with just a few carrots at the end of the two week period between deliveries. Here’s what we received in the second batch, picked up last Saturday, and the start of a daily account of what we’re doing with it.

Beets, 2 pounds
Butternut squash, 2 pounds
Cabbage, 3 pounds
Carrots, 3 pounds
Celery root, 1 pound
Onions, 3 pounds
Parsnips, 1 pound
Potatoes (small), 4 pounds
Russian kale, 1 pound

Saturday, January 23 – Monday, January 25
3 carrots, 5 cabbage leaves, 3 potatoes added to a stir-fry

Tuesday, January 26
Big pan of roasted veggies – 3 beets, 3 carrots, 1/4 of the celery root, 6 onions, 2 parsnips, 6 potatoes – seasoned with olive oil, herbes de Provence, kosher salt and served with baked salmon topped with herbed goat cheese.

Wednesday, January 27
2 carrots, a chunk of celeriac, and 3 small onions, all diced and added to slow-cooker 3-bean soup.

It depends. High calorie ingredients like cream, butter, and cheese certainly can set back the best waist-watching efforts. So can big portion sizes. Researchers from Cornell University found that recipe portions have grown by about 35% in the cookbook classic, Joy of Cooking,. This means that a portion that was, say, 300 calories in an earlier edition, now is 400 calories. It takes only 25 days-worth of an extra 100 calories to gain a pound! So what can you do?

My colleague JoAnn Hattner, a San Francisco-based dietitian, suggests serving smaller portions and pairing higher calorie favorites (read it here: sfgate.com), like her creamy baked oysters, with lower calorie dishes. And get guidance from books like 400 Calorie Fix that feature tasty and even indulgent recipes in right-size portions.