Maybe you saw the depressing Time Magazine article last August that questioned whether exercise does anything for weight loss. Sadly, the article concluded that most of us either don’t exercise enough or we eat more calories than we burn during activity. I remember reading a study years ago – forgive me for not remembering the exact details – about a group of men who ran the same mileage for a lot of years. Guess what? Their waist measurement still increased and they gained weight. And now, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that it took at least an hour of moderate activity every day to help prevent weight gain in normal-weight, middle-age women.

So can you use exercise to win the battle of the bulge? Absolutely, but …

• Be realistic about how many calories you burned and what that equals in food. The elliptical machine that I was on for 35 minutes today said that I burned about 350 calories. That’s about the calories in a medium-size vanilla cone at DQ. BTW, walking or running burns about 100 calories per mile, a bit less for walking and more for running.
• Pace your eating. You might need to eat a small meal/snack an hour or so before you exercise and then another one after.
• Use exercise to give your motivation a boost. Lots of folks tell me that being active makes them want to eat in a healthier way.
• Work with Mother Nature. Sad but true, your metabolism does slow down as you get older. That means you have to eat less than you did in the decade before.
• Add muscle and add movement. Keep up your muscle mass – it burns more calories than body fat. And move around often during your day rather than staying planted in front of the computer or TV, where your body doesn’t burn many more calories than when you’re sleeping.

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.

The January 20 food section of the New York Times featured an article on the culture of snacking in the U.S., Snack Time Never Ends. In the article, columnist Jennifer Steinhauer laments the fact that American children are plied with snacks at every turn, in school, on the ball field, in the car, and at after-school activities. Certainly we snacked when I was a kid, but snacks were at set times, sometimes mid-morning, always mid-afternoon, and sometimes in the evening (back when my dad ate a piece of cherry pie while watching his favorite prime time shows). Snack had a mission – to quiet our hunger between meals, give us a kick of energy, and add nutrition. Not anymore. Snack is what kids do.

Now that I am of an age where I have to think about calories, I am very circumspect about my snacks. They have to be filling – I don’t want to down 300 calories in, say, a candy bar, just to be hungry 30 minutes later later. They have to be nutritious – every calorie really counts. They have a beginning, middle, and end – no non-stop snacking. And they have to taste good. That goes without saying. So here is a list of 5 great snacks for kids of all ages, in no particular order:

• Cookies and milk. Any kind of cookies (don’t kid yourself into thinking that some are that much healthier than others), as long as they weigh an ounce max (125-150 calories). Dunk in milk (80-100 calories per cup of skim or low-fat, and packed with calcium and protein).
• Peanut butter on graham crackers. For the peanut butter, smooth or chunky, natural or regular, whichever you like best (180 calories in 2 tablespoons); all types have a bit of protein, some fiber, and plenty of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. A couple squares of cinnamon (my favorite), honey, or chocolate have about 60 calories, and some brands are made from whole grain.
• Yogurt parfait. I don’t love super-sweet, so my parfait has a cup of calcium-rich low-fat plain yogurt (120-150 calories, depending on the brand) layered with a couple handfuls of cereal (maybe 80 calories) and a cup of frozen berries or half a banana, sliced (about 50 calories).
• Baked sweet potato. It’s a bit unusual, but what a great snack. Toss a medium-size sweet potato (100 calories) in the microwave until it’s mushy, slice open, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or your favorite sweetener. It’s packed with fiber and important vitamins and minerals, and it’s really filling.
• Popcorn. Not movie theater popcorn. The stuff you make yourself in the microwave or in the air popper. Figure up to 100 calories for three cups. While it’s still hot, toss with 4 tablespoons of grated reduced fat cheese, any flavor (80 calories).

[ Photo credit: Denise Cross via Flickr ]

My mom has always been a big walker. As a young girl in Germany, she often went on a spazier (pronounced shpahtzeer) with her family. That tradition continued when we were growing up. So I was thrilled to read in Br J Sports Med. that vigorous walking for an hour at least five days can add years of healthy life to older adults.

Several of my friends have become avid walkers after their knees and hips gave out from running. They say that a high intensity walk, sometimes on an incline on a treadmill, maintains their fitness as much as running did. And you burn the same 100 calories or so per mile regardless of whether you’re running or walking. Our mainly sidewalk-free town just opened a one-mile stretch of sidewalk leading into downtown and has plans to add more sidewalks to promote safe walking. I hope other towns do the same.

[ Photo credit: designatednaphour via Flickr ]

I came up with a great idea for our home, a television powered by an exercycle… no exercise, no TV. So imagine the smile on my face when I read that a Hong Kong fitness center captured the energy from exercycles, treadmills, elliptical machines, and other aerobic equipment and used it to help power up its lights and TVs.

But don’t kid yourself–TV watching leads to calorie problems. Not only do many of us eat in front of the tube, but our body metabolism also slows down while we’re watching. And an interesting study, published this week in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that overweight kids who cut their screen time by 50% had healthier a body weight and were eating fewer calories at the end of the two-year study period.

Wonder if it would work on adults….

[ Photo credit: Aaronyx via Flickr ]

Ever notice that most folks park their car as close as they can to the front door of their destination, even when the weather’s nice? You get the sense that they would park inside if they could. They may have a good reason: health problems, in a hurry, or a lot to schlep. But it looks somewhat ironic and not just a little silly when their destination is the health club.

On arriving to my gym I always get a chuckle when I see club members circling like vultures for several minutes just to get that “primo” parking space as-close-as-possible to the front entrance. Never mind that there are dozens of empty ones an extra 10-seconds away by foot.

A short walk (or if you have the time, a long one) is great for you. And if you’re headed for your work-out, start exercising before you reach your starting-line. Leave yourself an extra 15-30 seconds and park a little farther away and get in a short walk and leave the closer parking spot for someone who really needs it.

[ Photo credit: snoopygirl via Flickr ]

It was the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, and we decided to get in a workout before an evening of wings and pizza. Problem was that we didn’t leave the house until 9:30 am. It was a bad scene at the gym, with cars circling around the thrice-expanded parking lot and not an open space in sight. Wow! Despite the rising rates of obesity in this country, pockets like Northern Westchester County, NY are filled with adults who have made fitness a way of life. They belong to a gym or health club, walk with friends, spend weekends on bikes, or play sports. If only each of us could commit to be fit….

When video game creators offered their products to the masses, they probably didn’t anticipate the profoundly negative effect on physical activity levels in the US. Television, computers, and video games give us plenty of reasons to plant ourselves in front of a screen for prolonged periods rather than, say, take a walk. So I chuckled when I read two recent news stories about the Wii, one in the on-line version of our local paper, LoHud.com , and the other in a British media site, The Independent. The Wii is becoming a huge hit in nursing homes and as a rehab tool for older adults. And British students who used the Wii during their lunch break improved their fitness level. Who knew that if we had a video platform like the Wii that encourages activity, we might be more motivated to move? Christmas and Chanukah are only 11 months away!

[ Photo credit: Fanboy30 via Flickr ] 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend and Food Network host, Ellie Krieger, invited a few colleagues for lunch to celebrate the release of her new book, The Food You Crave. We were joined by editors from MORE magazine who were working on a story on anti-aging. When the editors asked us about our anti-aging strategies, without pause each of us talked about the importance of physical activity. And just yesterday, I read a report that men who are the most fit live the longest and that men who walk briskly for 30 minutes a day, five days a week dramatically cut their risk of dying. For me, physical activity is non-negotiable, like brushing my teeth. No matter how lousy or tired I feel before going to the gym or taking a walk, I feel much better after. Maybe I’ll even live longer!

[Inspired by Aetna InteliHealth Healthy Living News]