Many women assume that skipping meals is a good strategy for controlling body weight. After all the logic goes, if you cut out a meal, you will cut out calories. Two new studies from scientists at the University of Nottingham in England shed light on this issue.
In this research lean women and overweight women were asked to follow either a regular meal schedule for 14-days or an irregular meal pattern for 14-days (including skipping breakfast). After the first two-week period, the women were then asked to follow other meal pattern. This is called a crossover design in research and is a strong scientific design. The results showed that when women (both overweight and lean) ate regular meals their total calorie intake per day was less than during the period when they were eating irregular meals. The results go even further. The scientists also saw that total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and glucose control were better when the women were eating regular meals.
These results contribute to the mounting evidence that skipping breakfast and not having regular meals may contribute to weight gain and poor cardiovascular risk profile in women.
No matter how busy your life is, you owe yourself the time to have regular, healthy meals.
(References: Hamid Farshchi and colleagues. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in health obese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 81(1), 16-24, January 2005. And: Regular meal frequency creates more appropriate insulin sensitivity and lipid profiles compared with irregular meal frequency in healthy lean women. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 58(7), 1071-1077, July 2004.)
DR. NELSON IN BATON ROUGE
I will be traveling to Louisiana on Tuesday, March 8. I hope to see some of you there!
Location: The Woman's Hospital
Talk title: Strong Women Live Well
Time: 7:00 pm
Contact Resources for Women for a ticket: (225) 924-8444
Q: Hello! My question concerns the bent forward fly. It seems to place a lot of stress on the front of my shoulder. I am used to doing this type of exercise on a flat, incline or decline bench. Do you think this is why I am having a tough time with this exercise?
A: You are not the only one to find this exercise tough. It is generally challenging in two areas of the body (or one or the other): the shoulder/upper back, or, the lower back. If someone has a tough time with their lower back, we suggest sitting all the way back in the chair so that your whole back is supported. With shoulders/upper back, we let people know that it is a tough exercise, and that they should probably be lifting less weight. Doing the exercise on a bench means that the upper and mid back (rather than the shoulders/upper back) do more work. Because it's a smaller set of muscles, you're likely to need to use less weight.
Q: Why can't people walk around with weights--either leg or hand? I've noticed a lot of people using hand weights while walking.
A: People shouldn't walk with hand weights because they can change your gait, which can be detrimental to the joints. In addition, people should not walk around with leg weights on because they can cause people to trip and fall, which is especially alarming in an older population. In short, weights are for strength training not for aerobic training.
"You would not believe what a missionary and lifelong convert I've become [with the StrongWomen Program]! I tout the benefits of the program to everyone I know, send them to the website and, as I may have told you, gave the book to two friends for Christmas and downloaded the Strong Women Beat Arthritis program from the website for my mother-in-law. She's been starting slow, without weights, and she told me yesterday that she is definitely feeling stronger and more flexible already in her hips (a problem area for her)! Thanks so much!"
-- Bonnie
Southwestern Chicken and Vegetable Wraps
This delicious wrap incorporates many important foods groups -- whole grain, vegetables, dairy, (lean) protein, and legumes. To round out the meal, compliment with sliced mango pineapple, or other fruits. Serves 5.
1 pound chicken breast, skinless and trimmed
1 cup salsa
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped orange or yellow peppers
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped zucchini or yellow squash
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup black beans
3/4 cup low-fat or fat-free sour cream
1 cup reduced fat cheddar, Monterey jack, or mixed package of shredded cheese
1 package small whole-wheat flour wraps (10 per package)
Cut the chicken into strips and place in a medium frying pan with 1/2 cup salsa. Cover and cook over low-to-medium heat, turning occasionally, until cooked through -- about 10-15 minutes. When cooked, remove chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board. Chop chicken thoroughly, into very fine pieces. While chopping the chicken, add the oil, onion, and peppers to a large saucepan and sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add the broccoli and zucchini, and let cook for another 5 minutes. Add the corn, beans, chicken, and remaining 1/2 cup of salsa; mix completely with the vegetable mixture. Cook on low-to-medium heat for another 5 minutes, and then add the sour cream and cheese. Combine the entire mixture thoroughly and then cook on low heat for 5 minutes, covered. In the meantime, warm the tortillas in the oven on low heat. Remove mixture and tortillas from heat and distribute mixture evenly into tortillas. Wrap and enjoy!
Nutritional information (2 wraps each)
448 calories 38 g protein 7.5 g fiber
5g fat (1g saturated) 45g carbohydrate 290mg calcium
Portions: 2 Protein, 2 Grains, 1 Vegetable, 1 Dairy, 1/2 Extra
