Organic foods are hot – more and more consumers are looking for the term "organic."

But is organic "stuff" worth the extra money?  Sometimes organic produce costs at least double what "conventional" produce costs.

So why do people spend the extra money?
1. Less pesticides
2. More nutrients
3. More flavor

But are these valid reasons?

According to research published just the other day in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition …

… not a chance.  Organic foods didn’t turn out to be any "better" than conventionally grown foods.

Here’s the deal — the goal of the study was to measure the differences in nutrient content between organic vs. conventional food.

Very simply the researchers scoured the literature, studies published over a 50 year time span, and looked at the nutrient differences, if any.

Their conclusions?  "There is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organic and conventional foods … "

So is this the be all and end all?  Should we boycott Whole Foods — turning our noses up at the organic food "industry?" foods?

Not quite.  Here’s how we feel about this.

First, more important than organic … simply eat more fruits and vegetables.  Produce is great for you — whether you’re trying to lose fat, improve health, decrease your risk of disease, etc.  With the average American eating just 2 servings total per day, eating organic isn’t my main concern…eating MORE fruits and vegetables is my concern.

We also believe local is actually more important than organic.  Local … meaning foods that are grown close to where you live, like those found at Farmer’s Markets.  An organic food flown 3000 miles to your grocery store is not even close to the same as a fresh vegetable picked that morning from a farm that’s just a short drive from your house.  It’s also a great way to support the local economy since you’re helping local farmers.

While I mentioned this very recent study that compared some nutrient differences in conventional and organic produce, there are also other "issues" with organic foods that are a concern for many

• Are they better for the environment?
• Are there less pesticides used in production, meaning we eat less pesticides?
• Are they safer with the recent disease outbreaks that have popped up lately (e coli, salmonella, etc)?
  There are still a lot of questions to be answered.  Remember that this study was just one of many … and all studies need others to support (or refute) the claims.

Here’s our take as of now:

• Eat more produce, organic or not
• Buy local

If you are thinking about buying organic produce, but cost is a factor, focus on those fruits and veggies where you eat the skin vs. those you don’t.  For example, you peel a banana, but eat the entire raspberry — the raspberry would therefore be more to ‘go organic’

What do you think?  Is organic worth it?  Why do you (or don’t you) buy organic foods?  Leave us a comment.
 

Our goal isn’t just to talk about losing fat.  Anyone can lose fat, fast.

What’s more important is discussing how to lose fat permanently! And I say lose “fat” because some weight is good — we don’t encourage muscle loss, so focus on body fat and you’ll be golden.

Just the other day I was on the phone with a writer for a popular fitness magazine.  And the writer asked me what I thought were the top 5 fat loss mistakes that people make.

He was surprised that there was barely a pause before I started rattling off the common problems I see with people who are trying to lose fat.  And it’s not that I’m some incredibly brilliant genius, it’s just that after working with 1000’s of people over the years, it’s very clear where people are struggling when trying to lose belly fat.

1. Portions are out of control! This image is a perfect example of portion distortion.  Not that any of these are smart food options, but even if we went back to the smaller portions of each, we’d be headed in the right direction.So what can you do about it?  When at home, don’t serve family style.  You’ll eat more when serving out of a larger bowl or platter.  Read food labels, too, so you can see that sometimes 1 bottle, or 1 bag of a product, is often 2, 3 or even 4 servings!
2. Thinking all calories are created equal! A calorie isn’t a calorie.  That might be in the face of science.  Some say that all calories are equal, meaning as long as you cut calories, you’ll lose weight.  Sure, but is your goal to lose fat or lose muscle?  And don’t you want to fuel your body with all the nutrients you can?  After all, slugging down a 250 calorie sugar laden soda is far from eating veggies and hummus, peanut butter and an apple for those same 250 calories. So a calorie isn’t a calorie — eat quality, don’t just focus on quantity!
3. Outeating your exercise. Run 1 mile and you burn about 100 calories.  Walk 1 mile and you burn about 100 calories.  That means if you wanted to lose 1 lb/week through exercise only, you’d have to run or walk 5 miles every single day!  That’s not realistic or a good use of your time.  It’s much easier to eliminate those extra calories by replacing junk  with high nutrient fuel or eliminating calories from soft drinks, for example.  Exercise, yes, but you’ll get more bang for your weight loss buck by monitoring the foods you put in your body.
4. Skipping breakfast as a way to “save” calories. Eat breakfast and you’ll weigh less.  It’s as simple as that.  Just eat the right types of foods — avoid sugary breakfast cereals and instead opt for fruit, raw nuts, yogurt, eggs and veggies, for example.
5. Thinking exercise is your answer to losing fat. Exercise doesn’t work.  Nutrition does.  Sure, exercise needs to be a part of your fat loss routine, but even though you may exercise 1 hour/day, what happens the other 23 hours?

There you have it – the 5 most common fat loss mistakes! If you truly want to be permanently successful,avoid the mistakes above and you’ll be well on your way.
Tomorrow we’ll be back with some fat fighting recipes!

Health care reform is all the talk these days …

… but since health care costs are at the top of everyone’s minds, maybe we should instead invest that same money into OBESITY REFORM.

A brand new study just released suggests obesity related illness costs the US $147 billion/year, or nearly 10% of all health care spending!

Why doesn’t Congress and the Obama Administration take time out to discuss prevention of this disease? That may actually get us somewhere and make a dent in the iceberg.

Talking about Health Care Reform without touching the prevention of such diseases is like switching seats on the Titanic …

… it’s a losing situation.

Am I totally off base? Let me know — leave a comment and “weigh in” (bad pun, fully intended) on this crisis in America!

Tomorrow we’ll be back with very specific strategies to combat this disease — without weight loss pills, without weight loss gimmicks, and without asking you to do endless hours of exercise .

We had to take Ella to the local Children’s Hospital this morning.

Fortunately not for anything major — no emergency — just a simple ultrasound because she was breech. They like to do an ultrasound of the hips to make sure everything is AOK.

And much to her credit, she behaved REALLY well (just slept through the entire thing) — must have been because she was so exhausted after being up all night last night!

So anyway, we walk into our appointment this morning and saw a dad…with his 2 kids (probably 4 & 7 years old). And EACH one of them had a 7-11 drink in hand! The dad had a SUPER Big Gulp, which is SIXTY FOUR OUNCES (or 2 liters) and the two kids each had their own, 32 oz beverage!

Now I’m not placing judgment — they could have all been filled with purified water for all I know (doubt it, though).

I’m not sure what it feels like to load up your body with 4-8 cups of soda or a Slurpee first thing in the morning, but I don’t think it would be much different than pouring mud down your throat.

Here is my morning routine — whether I am heading to boot camp or not — and also barring any Ella outbursts for a diaper change and/or immediate “hold me” cry.

1. Fill up a large (12 oz) glass with pure water.

2. Heat up some water to brew some green tea.

3. Put together my morning meal to get me started right.

I’d love to hear what you do each day? Click on the comments button above and let us know.

I spent the day yesterday giving a 4 hour presentation at the IYCA Certification Weekend.

Great event. Great audience.

And we covered a lot on obesity in youth and performance nutrition. When I started the presentation, I was pretty hungry; time was short between presentations and I didn’t have time to eat, although I tried. You see, a group of us went to Panera to grab a quick bite … with just 15 minutes between the last presentation and mine, this made it a tad difficult to scarf down some food without getting it all over my clothes. I had to give up my sandwich to a lucky attendee. I digress.

Normally their salads sound really good – but then as I was talking, I thought about how bad salads really can be.

People think salads are GREAT! And they can be.

But they can literally destroy your body. Load them up with cheese, bacon, creamy dressings, nuts and you can pack a major “dose” of calories.

A restaurant Cobb Salad can pack nearly 100 grams of fat, 1000+ calories, and nearly 2000 mg of sodium!

Caesar is just as bad with 1 days worth of calories and fat in just that meal!

And you think you’re doing something healthy.

Here’s how to build a fat burning salad like you wouldn’t believe…

Start with a base of spinach, add some fresh seasonal fruit (berries, peaches, apples, oranges, etc), a variety of veggies, some raw nuts, and avocado. Add some wild salmon or grilled chicken breast and that’s a meal you can’t compete with.

Do you have a favorite salad? Let us know below!