What Grade Does Your Food Get?

Do you find nutrition labels confusing? It's sometimes hard to tell how nutritional what you're eating is. This is low in fat, but high in sugar, and this is low in calories but high in carbs... there's a lot to worry about. So now there's a system that simply rates food on a scale of 1-100, 1 being the least nutritional, 100 being the most.

A company called Nuval has developed this ranking system, and soon grocery stores will display the food score right on the shelf. Until then, you can check out the website and see what the foods you are eating rank. Here's how the scoring works:

"NuVal Scores summarize comprehensive nutritional information in one simple number between 1 and 100. Each NuVal Score takes into account more than just the nutrition fact panel. It considers 30-plus nutrients and nutrition factors – the good (protein, calcium, vitamins) and the not-so-good (sugar, sodium, cholesterol). And then it boils it down into a simple, easy-to-use number; a number you can trust to make better decisions about nutrition in just a few seconds. There’s a lot more to the science behind the NuVal System than what we’ve explained here. To learn more about it – and the independent panel of nutrition and medical experts who developed it – visit The Science Behind NuVal."

So what foods are best for you? Brocolli and blueberries both scored 100. And the worst? Well Cheetos scored a 5, and Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies scored a 2.

The site also features a trading up section, where it suggests you trade up from one product to one with a higher score. For example, Special K cereal with protein ranked at 60, while the original scored only a 20. Regular eggs score a 33, while Egg Beaters scored a 58.

Oh and if you're interested, here is the link to my latest blog update at the Pitt News. The post is on ways to visualize the progress you're making through healthy eating and fitness (other than using the scale). The post also contains access to my before and after picture (s0 far). I know you're curious :-p.

Green Monster

Lately I've been really attached to a blog called Oh She Glows. I'd describe the blog as a healthy lifestyle blog, written by a girl named Angela who has overcome an eating disorder. Angela started the Green Monster Movement, which basically is having a healthy smoothie every morning. A virgin Green Monster consists of 2 cups spinach, 1 cup of any kind of milk, flax, and a banana. I decided to give it a whirl.

This morning I blended up 2 cups spinach, 1 cup light vanilla soy milk, 1 banana, 1/4 cup blueberries, and some ice. It's not the tastiest thing in the world, but it's definitely drinkable. I also noticed that I had a ton of energy this morning when I went to work at 8:30 AM (ugh).

Angela writes about her experience with the benefits of the green monster: "I have noticed a HUGE increase in my energy, along with a decrease in cravings for sweets. My skin has also become more clear and my hair and nails started growing like weeds!"

I definitely forsee myself experimenting with different green monster recipes. I'm not the hugest breakfast fan so a green monster is something light, healthy, and portable that I think I can handle. It's a great way to sneak in some veggies in the morning, since I think this is kind of hard to do.

Fat Talk

This is for the ladies:

Government Intervention in Escalating Obesity Rates

I had posted previously on labeling laws, or calorie posting laws here and here, but there are other forms of government intervention in escalating obesity rates taking place at this time. If you're willing to make the jump, I blogged on the Pitt News about the topic, and that can be found here. It's one of my more opinionated pieces, just to warn you. The post includes PA Congressman Jason Altmire's response to my question on government action against our state's current ranking in prevelence to obesity (we rank 36th).

Eating Healthy over the Holidays

If you're willing to make the jump, I posted on my blog at the Pitt News about eating healthy over the holidays.

Have a healthy Thanksgiving everyone!

Popcorn Talk

First of all, I'm watching E's "15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks" and I must say Im finding it really motivating.

Second of all, this blog is now on the Pitt News. The posts aren't exactly the same but the idea and title are. The blogs are found here, sorted by most recent posts.

Finally, the Today Show ran a story last week about the food sin of movie theatre popcorn. I've ran into this article several times throughout the past week, including in a fellow classmates blog. It's pretty much haunting me, so I figured I'd talk about it. According to the article,

New laboratory tests conducted by the non-profit Center for Science in the
Public Interest reveal that a $12 medium-popcorn-and-soda combo sold at Regal,
the country’s largest movie-theater chain, contains 1,610 calories and 60 grams
of saturated fat — the equivalent of three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with 12 pats of butter.

Why? Air-popped popcorn is normally considered a healthy snack, largely because of the amount of fiber it contains. But the article says "when popped in coconut oil and covered in buttery oil topping, movie popcorn can contain days' worth of saturated fat."

Until movie theatre's start searching purses like they do at football games and concerts, the solution is easy: throw a snack in your bag before the movies. Not only are you going to save money, but you won't be mindlessly eating pretty much an entire days worth of calories while enjoying your movie.

I actually don't even go to the movies that much, because I'm cheap, but I actually went to the movies a few weeks ago to see "The Men Who Stare at Goats." I packed some baby carrots and fun size Kit Kat bars. I also took a banana, but was only planning on pulling it out of my bag and eating it to make my sister laugh, because let's face it, that's a little silly.

Fitness Gaming

I definitely think one of the best ways to ensure I follow a consistent workout schedule is by making sure that my workouts are on the enjoyable side. And since I love videogames so much, the idea of fitness gaming seems to me too good to be true.

I have posted previously on the topic of fitness gaming about Dance Dance Revolution or DDR. I definitely see DDR as a good cardio workout, if you play on at least a standard level.

But Wii Fit is a completely different story.

I admit that I hadn't done much research on Wii Fit before I bought it. I was just kind of on a fitness kick, and I owned a Wii, so I decided it was a good purchase. More than likely it probably wasn't, but a lot more fitness-type Wii games have been coming out lately that are compatible with the Wii Fit balance board, so I don't beat myself up too much over it.

So if I would categorize DDR as a cardio workout, I would categorize Wii Fit as more of a strength or flexibility workout. Wii Fit offers an "aerobic activity" section, but this only features running (which is just running in place with the Wii remote in your hand so I avoid it), a sort of step workout (which I also avoid because the balance board isn't really much of a step), boxing, and hula hoop. I really only ever use the hula hoop option, and I'd consider it more of an ab workout than an aerobic activity.

The strength workout options are decent, but you can only unlock about maybe 15 strength exercises total, and I don't think the balance board ever really properly measures how well you are doing them, even though it is supposed to.

I like the yoga feature on Wii Fit. You don't need to use the balance board for a lot of the yoga positions though, so I probably could have benefitted just from looking at some yoga positions online and saved myself the $80 I spent on the game.

And finally there are the balance games. While these games are fun, I don't really think they even come close to being considered a workout. I guess maybe the idea is that children are at least a little more active playing these types of games than playing other types of videogames.

Other things I like about the game are the scale capabilities of the balance board. It weighs you, asks you to put in your height, and calculates your BMI. Of course, I could do this on a regular scale and a BMI conversion table, and again save myself $80. One final thing I like about the game is that it makes you set goals for yourself, how many pounds you want to lose and how much time you have to lose them. I usually set small goals like 2 pounds in 2 weeks rather than a larger number over a larger period of time. I find this keeps me on track.

Ultimately, I find it nice to have the game, but I think it should coincide with a more intense cardio and weight lifting program.