Sound scary?

It can be.  In fact, it is the single biggest dietary risk factor that causes over 100,000 deaths each year!

A study published in April 2009 looked at preventable causes of death in the US…

…and high salt intake accounted for more preventable deaths than any other dietary factor (approximately 102,000).  Coming in a close second and third were low omega-3 fat intake and high trans fat intakes, respectively.

Worse than the normally demonized trans fat (not that that’s a good option either)!

In fact, a report from the American Heart Association suggested for every 1200 mg daily decrease in sodium, there would be 6 % fewer cases of new heart disease, 8 % fewer heart attacks, and 3 % fewer deaths!

That’s insane.

Currently Americans double the sodium intake recommendation each day …

So let’s take a look at "Mohr Results Most Wanted Foods" — foods that blow the daily sodium recommendations off the charts.

You know what they all are?  Restaurant foods — the more you eat at home, the better off you will be, because chefs are often taught sodium = flavor.

The 1st offender:

• Red Lobster Admirals’ Feast with Caesar Salad, Creamy Lobster Topped Mashed Potato, Cheddar Bay Biscuit, and a Lemonade: 7,106 mg (sodium, more than

The 2nd offender on our "most wanted" tour of horrible options:

• Olive Garden Chicken Parmigiana with a Breadstick, Garden Fresh Salad with House Dressing, and Raspberry Lemonade: 5,735 mg sodium (more than double the daily recommendation)

The 3rd offender on our "most wanted" food poisins:

•  Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pizza (2 slices) — 1660 mg of sodium (JUST two slices)

The easiest ways to reduce sodium is to eat out less often, eat less processed and less canned  foods.  Packaged foods, canned foods, fast food…are all loaded with sodium.

Canned soups, for example, can have more than half a days salt in just 1 serving.

So fresh foods win again.  Surprise, surprise.

Here’s another trick – replace the salt in your salt shaker at home with kosher salt (or take it off the table completely).  Because kosher salt is bigger, it won’t come out as quickly from your salt shaker, so you’ll use less.

I mean, you don’t have to do any of this…only if you want to live longer. 

It’s really just the simple changes that make the biggest difference.

Regardless, though, busy school schedules means moms and dads are going to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off.  And when people get busy, one of the first "changes" they make in their lives is either A) eliminating exercise and/or B) eating junkier foods and snacks.

…and it seems as if women (stay at home moms in particular) who plan to spend their days running errands after dropping off their kiddos, get buried with "life" and struggle to find the balance of eating well and maintaining an exercise program.

And the questions roll in to us as they’re chomping at the bit to get every bit of "belly fat fighting" strategy we can share.

So let’s start with snacking strategies.  Because we always recommend a few larger meals with some fat burning snacks throughout the day.

But we’re turning the tides this time …

…and asking YOU for your 3 favorite "must have" snacks (and you don’t have to be a mom to answer…or a woman for that matter).  Those that keep you full, are satisfying, and fulfill a need…

…a need to burn fat!

In the Mohr House, here are our 3 top choices:

1. Greek yogurt
2. Raw nuts
3. Hummus

It would be rare if you walked into our house and didn’t see these 3 foods in our refrigerator or pantry. 

What are your 3 go to foods?

You don’t know how the foods are prepared. 

They often have "hidden" fat, sugar, and salt that can blow the calories through the roof.

You’re surrounded by tempting foods and friends, spouse, kids, etc who may not be on your "team" when it comes to eating well ("c’mon, just ONE won’t kill you — you look great!").

And then when you add all this plus the bread that starts the meal, appetizers, drinks and maybe desserts, you’ve suddenly eaten more calories in 1 meal than you should in an entire day!

How do you manage to stay slim (or get slimmer) and still maintain a healthy social life?  Is it even possible?

Believe it or not, it IS possible…you just have to be smart about it. 

And the key with all of this — making eating out a special occasion rather than just another day of the week.

These 5 Slim Down Secrets will help you make the best decisions AND still love what you eat!

1. Skip the breadbasket.  Let the waiter know when they first come over to introduce themselves that you will pass on the bread.  Save those calories the actual meal.
2. Start your meal with a couple glasses of water.  We talked about this simple slim down secret in a recent blog — could be the easiest way to boost fat loss!
3. Skip the sides — instead, ask for double veggies, which most restaurants won’t blink an eye at.  Speak up to get what you want and what will get you the results you want!
4. Ask your waiter to put half your meal in a doggy bag BEFORE it comes to the table.  When it’s in front of you, you’ll eat it.  If you’re served just half, you won’t be tempted.
5. When your meal actually comes, put your fork down between every single bite.  This trick will slow down your eating, allowing your brain to realize it’s full before you over eat.

Mohr Results Bottom Line: Staying (or getting slim) doesn’t have to mean never eating out again.  It’s just a matter of making simple decisions when you do. 

My brother and I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. 

For breakfast.  As a snack.  Before bed. 

We ate cereal literally ALL the time.  We would mix them together to see what creation we could come up with.  We’d often eat it out of mixing bowls. 

And I wonder why I was overweight when I was younger.

I digress.

While we did eat it all the time and clearly ate way too much of the goodness, we still always had healthy options.  My mom had a rule that our cereals didn’t have more than 10 grams of sugar per serving.  Only sometimes could we get Honey Nut Cheerios, but even then we mixed it with plain Cheerios so it wasn’t as sweet.

Smart lady that Mama Mohr. 

But one time, I was with my Dad at the grocery store, and I "tricked" him — we needed cereal and somehow I was able to convince him to buy E.T. Cereal — telling him that our mom let us have it.  The E’s were chocolate.  The T’s peanut butter.  Clearly not a regular cereal of choice in our house.

And it broke one of the cardinal rules of eating that we now suggest to people.  Our favorite food clearly was our "enemy" when trying to eat well.

You see, cereal can be a GREAT option …

…but it can also be no different than if you were to fill a bowl with a can of Coke and eat that.  Sugary junk.  In flake form.

So while we encourage everyone to fuel their bodies as soon as they wake up (well, within about 30-60 minutes), we want this fuel to be fuel that works for you, not against you.

Cereal is often a quick go to option because it’s quick and convenient.

If that’s you, though, picking cereal for a quick on the go option, follow our 6 Food Rules to make sure you’re starting your day right (or ending your day, if you were anything like my brother and I).

1. It should  have at least 3 g of fiber/serving (Mohr Results Picks – rolled oats, Grape Nuts, Kashi Good Friends Cereals, Wheat Chex).
2. If there is a cartoon on the box, leave it on the shelf.
3. If it turns your milk colors, toss it in the trash.
4. If it has more than 10 grams of sugar per serving, find a different option.
5. If sugar (or any variation of the name, sugar) is one of the first 3 ingredients, put ti back on the shelf.
6. Don’t fall for marketing hype and claims that are pasted all over food labels now, like "made with whole grains" even though that may do nothing to boost fiber and it’s still loaded with sugar.

Fueling your body with breakfast is not an option — it’s a necessity.  But fueling your body right is just as important.

Drink more water.

OK, OK — seems way too basic. 

Seriously, though, researchers at Virginia Tech recently finished a study that compared two groups of overweight men and women for 12 weeks.

Both groups got the same diet recommendations

But one group was told to drink 2 cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That was the only difference.

At the end of the study, they found that those in the "diet only" group lost an average of 11 lbs.

Those in the group that drank the 2 cups of water, 3 times per day?  They lost nearly 16 lbs, which was about 30% more.

Starting each meal with just 2 cups of water resulted in a 30% added weight loss.

Mohr Results Bottom Line: Drink more water, lose more weight!  Those who did that ate less calories overall, which explains the weight loss.  It isn’t that water has magical fat burning, belly slimming properties.  Don’t like water?  Add a squeeze of citrus or slices of your favorite fruit to add some unique flavor.

Day after day.

Week after week.

Month after month.

Yet the scale doesn’t budge.  In fact, your jeans are getting a little tighter … ugggg, not really what the goal was, is it?

This all came about from a conversation with a woman in our Mohr Results Boot Camp recently.  She was looking to lose belly fat and wanted a flatter stomach.  And, she said, an added perk would be if she can FINALLY fit into her skinny jeans.

She was coming to boot camp 5 days/week.  Hoping THIS was the answer to lose weight.  Unfortunately, to her dissapointment the scale wasn’t moving.

We started talking a bit more about her nutrition. 

She said she is eating more because since she started exercising, she’s STARVING all the time.  BUT, she thought since she’s exercising, she’d be working any extra food right off to help her lose the weight she was looking to lose.

Ahhhh, therein lies the problem.

I reminder her that exercise doesn’t work.

Huh?

I continued — without changing your nutrition. 

In fact, a recent study out of Harvard showed that kids who exercised ate back all the calories they burned and more.

Wow, kind of seems like this exercise thing is backfiring!

The key is simply to remember that it is way too easy to outeat your exercise.

You burn 100 calories/mile of walking or running. 

5 sips of a latte will pack those 100 calories right back on.

It’s harder to burn ‘em than it is to eat ‘em.  Unfortunately. 

And there’s also a change in certain hormones when you exercise.  Certain hormones that may make you hungrier.  Argggg, what to do, what to do.

Here are 3 ways to get your exercise to work for you:

1. Exercise alone won’t help you slim down.  Nutrition is the real difference maker.
2. It takes a lot more time to burn calories than it does to eat or drink them.  Be smart.
3. Fuel your body before you exercise so A) you get more out of it and, B) you’re not so famished by the time you’re done, you’re ready to eat anything and everything.

And, at the end of the day, it’s about a lot more than just the scale anyway!

I’m sitting in a meeting at the Dairy Council — we had a meeting in Chicago last week.

Not really the ideal client in terms of meal time choices when you’re trying to be a vegan for a week.

But I started off strong because I planned ahead.

I brought some homemade trail mix — almonds, walnuts, and pistachios with a bit of dried fruit (dates) and cacoa nibs — great mix for sure.

When break time came and they had plates of cheese, fruit, and crackers — I skipped the cheese and only grabbed the fruit.

But then dinner came.  A fantastic steakhouse.  I stayed calm, looked at the menu online ahead of time, and while challenging, I saw some options.

Then I learned they had a pre fix menu for our group.  And only 1 food on the entire menu, from appetizers to dessert, was vegan.

It was the grilled tofu entree.

Do I stick to my guns and order the tofu, not eat anything else, including the appetizers, sides, or dessert?

Or I do I skip the plan this one time and get back on track the next day?

Well here’s the problem — I don’t like tofu.  I don’t mind it in things, but a grilled piece of tofu doesn’t appeal to me at all.  If they had some other options, I would have stuck to my guns — but I caved.  And wow was my steak fantastic. 

So what are the 5 lessons learned from our vegan week trial?

1. Planning Ahead is more important than ever – whether following a vegan diet or simply trying to stick to your current plan, if you don’t plan, you’ll continue to chase your dreams.
2. You have to be creative to keep interest high — like any diet or nutrition plan, creativity is the key.  Use healthy cookbooks, magazines, etc to find and try new recipes.  If you’re eating the same things, day in and day out, you’ll have a tough time reaching your goals.
3. Stay away from prepackaged junk — now, we didn’t really LEARN this during our vegan diet, but it was more true last week than ever.  It’s easy to turn to prepackaged vegan foods instead of preparing meals. 
4. Vegan diets make you think — a lot.  Normally when we’re hungry for a quick bite, cottage cheese and fruit, Greek yogurt and fruit, or maybe just string cheese and a handful of prepped veggies fit the bill.  Not this time.  You really have to think and plan a lot more than usual when so restricted with eating.
5. We will stick with a couple days/week of vegan/vegetarian living as it forces creativity, new meals, loads of veggies, and it’s good to get away from meat all the time.  But for us, it’s not a permanent lifestyle. 

…and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear an even greater expansion soon.

So what does this mean?

Should we stop eating eggs?

As of now here are the brand names that are part of the recall:

Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.

We’ve always been supportive of the health benefits of eggs.  Great sources of protein, vitamins, and minerals. 

But of course a recall of this magnitude is certainly scary.  So at this point here is what the FDA advised consumers to do:

• Toss recalled eggs or return them to the store for a refund.
• See a doctor if you think you are ill after eating recalled eggs.
• Keep eggs refrigerated at all times.
• Throw out cracked or dirty eggs.
• Wash hands, utensils and preparation surfaces with soap and water after contact with raw eggs.
• Cook eggs until both the white and the yolk are firm and eat promptly after cooking.

Or maybe the smartest move would be to do what we’ve done this week … switch over to a vegan diet, where eggs aren’t part of our nutrition at all this week. 

When we do eat eggs, we only use those from our local farmers market.  Of course this doesn’t protect us 100%, but this way there’s a little more "control" over the product, less shipping, handling, and less of a chance to have issues. 

And these eggs taste much better anyhow. 

Once this recall passes and it’s determined where the issue is coming from, if you do go back to eating eggs, remember that eggs DO NOT cause heart disease — a topic we wrote about in the past. 

In the meantime, if you do eat eggs, follow the FDA recommendations to make sure you don’t put yourself or family at risk.  Or, like us, shift over to a vegan diet for a bit and avoid that risk altogether.

Sometimes leaving me and Kara woozy … tired doesn’t even scratch the surface.

But we of course need to still function during the day — at 5:30 AM during adventure boot camp and throughout the day.

As I sat drinking a few cups of green tea this morning, Kara drinking her coffee, I thought about one of the most common questions we get — "is it OK to drink coffee?"   For some it’s a savior — what I call a "liquid nap."  But is this drug (yes, caffeine is a drug) a true necessity?  It surely can help keep you alert (particularly with a non sleeping baby at home).

I have to be honest, I would never in a million years get between a person and their coffee.  Of course not everyone is a coffee drinker, but for some it’s a staple.

So if you’re trying to lose weight and you’re paying attention to your calories and all of your food where does coffee fit in?  I have to be honest, I’m fine with you drinking coffee … it’s not coffee itself that’s the "issue" it’s everything most put in it.

Sugar, cream, half and half, or that horrendous artificial, imitation, fat free creamer junk.  

Those things all add up — 100 calories here, 100 calories there — and you’re left wondering why you can’t reach your fat loss goals.

A regular cup of black coffee — no calories — no worries.  In fact, there are some very unique health benefits to drinking coffee — in fact, one study recently came out suggesting a couple cups per day can help post menopausal women keep their memory sharp as a tac!  It’s also a powerful source of antioxidants. 

However, on the downside, a coffee shop latte can pack a wholloping 400-500 calories!

Talk about sabotaging your fat loss efforts!  Particularly when coupled with a scone, muffin, or whatever else you may pick up on the way to the office.

The bottom line is you need to know how many calories you’re truly taking in and how they all fit in your daily routine.  Drink an extra 100 calories each day (which would be just a bit of whole milk and 1 tsp of sugar in a coffee) and you’ll pack on 10 extra lbs at the end of the year.  Couple this with other added calories and that weight can come on pretty quickly.

And if you were to rationalize that you’re going to exercise to "balance" out those added calories, remember that walking or running 1 mile burns just 100 calories.

Therefore, drink a latte and run 5 miles — you’ve essentially stayed the same.

Not that I’m saying walking or running is the best way to burn fat, but you get the point.

Moral of the story?  You need to account for the calories you put in your body … all the calories you put in your body.

3 Things will help you do this:

1. Eat attentively – don’t eat or drink when distracted.  That means NOT in front of the TV, while reading, or in front of your computer.  Doing any of those means you’ll eat more calories, without even "knowing" it.
2. Avoid the extra BLT’s — bites, licks, and tastes — tasting while cooking, finishing off your kids’ drinks or foods, or eating before putting food away (you know, when there’s leftover dinner and you take a few bites before you put it away)
3. Write down what you eat and drink – this increases your awareness and will help you lose fat.

 Oh yeah, and coffee is OK — just watch those added calories.

So we promised that we’d offer some insight into a few days of how we’ve been holding up…

…it is funny how so many people have such an adverse reaction when even mentioning a vegan diet.

Are we planning to be vegans for the rest of our lives — not at this point, but we’ll never say never.  We’ve had some great meals for dinner each night already, though, so this way of eating forces us to think outside the box a bit more than our normal pattern of eating.

Monday was Brazilian Baked Beans and Rice (recipe below) and a side salad.

Tuesday was zucchini pasta (shredded to look like spaghetti noodles) with homemade pesto and roasted cherry tomatoes.

And tonight will be a Taco Salad, with finely chopped portabello mushrooms as the "meat" — then avocado, grilled veggies, and homemade salsa.

Shouldn’t be much aversion there — the meals are fantastic!

What is more challenging is eating out.  Or, even doubly challenging, is being out with one of our clients — The Dairy Council — where, well, their main product is a non vegan product and milk is surely aplenty during meal time.  Couple that with the fact that we went out as a group to a fine steakhouse. 

Vegetarian option for me, please!

That was last night.

And now since traveling all day, I’ve also made sure to plan ahead … even more than usual.  I have plenty of raw nuts and some dried and fresh fruit for snacks throughout the day.  I also brought some vegan protein powder in a shaker bottle (because whey protein is from dairy so that’s what I would use normally when there).    

It’s all about planning …

…maybe this vegan thing isn’t so bad afterall.

Brazilian Baked Beans and Rice (Courtesy of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)

2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 onion, chopped

2 TBS minced chile (we used jalapeno)

1 TBS minced

1 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomato

1 large ripe banana, peeled and cut into chunks

3 cups cooked or canned beans (we used black) with 1 cup of their cooking liquid

1 TBS fresh thyme

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Add oil in skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the chile and ginger and cook for 1 more minute.
2. Transfer onion mixture, along with the tomato and banana, into a blender and puree.
3. Combine the mixture in step 2 with the beans and thyme in ovenproof dish.  Add 1 1/2 cups brown rice and 1 cup veggie stock or water.  Taste and add salt and pepper, then cover until bubbling (about 40 minutes) and rice is tender.