"fitness" news and stories

The USDA's nutritional guidance system, MyPyramid, has not been the smashing success that organizers hoped it would be when it was unveiled almost two years ago. The problem seems to be that the new pyramid, as opposed to the old one, only provides guidance, not hard and fast numbers to follow. This means that diners need to take responsibility for their health and their choices - and motivating them to do so is not an easy task.

Trying to help the public to better understand and make use of the already in-place system, food manufacturers and retailers have joined together to create the Take a Peak program. The program aims to get people thinking more closely about health and using MyPyramid with in-store advertising, banners, signs and kiosk. Displays will how reminders of how many servings of whole grains should be eaten per day and what serving sizes look like. Some products will be given a logo indicating why it maybe a good choice.

The trial run of the program will cover 2,000 stores in 17 states and includes Publix, Raley's and SuperValue. Depending on the response from consumers, it may not be long before the plan (or propaganda, if you prefer to look at it that way) ends up in stores at the rest of the US, as well.

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If you resolved to lose weight this year, or at least to cut back on snacking, the easiest way to stay out of the kitchen is by keeping busy. Running errands outside of the house or moving about the office during work hours will keep you from getting bored and will hopefully prevent your thoughts from wandering to food too much. For a little bit of extra motivation, however, you might want to consider a little guilt trip. The Diet Piggy is a small plastic reminder than can be placed in the fridge or pantry and will oink at you, while giving you a dirty look, if you linger in front of the open door looking for munchies.

And yes, the piggy is a bit ridiculous - but we never said that dieting had to be serious. Other things that can help motivate you to resist those cravings include keeping "trigger" foods (primarily high-calorie junk foods) out of the house, stocking the kitchen with low-calorie fruits and vegetables for healthy snacks, and making and effort to cook more slow-cooked meals. Longer cooking times and more involved meals will keep you busier longer - thinking about making food and not just eating it - and will help you to appreciate the time it took to produce the dish so you'll look forward even more to the final product.

What are you using for motivation to stick to your New Year's resolution?

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According to some estimates, the average Thanksgiving dinner can have up to 4,500 calories - and that's per person, not for the whole meal. No wonder more than a few of us need to loosen our belts afterwards! But the holiday comes only once a year and it would be a shame to miss out on some of our favorites, from mashed potatoes and gravy to pecan pie. One solution is to keep all the same dishes, but lighten up the recipes slightly. The website Eat Better America - which is primarily geared towards providing simple, straightforward nutrition and fitness information to keep you living and eating healthy - has one particular feature that might come in handy for Thanksgiving prep. Called Healthify My Recipe, users of the site can submit favorite recipes and have them lightened up by the EBA food experts, cutting back the calories and fat without skimping on flavor. They already have recipes for gravy, pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes up, with both the "healthified" and "unhealthified" versions, all of which are perfect for Thanksgiving. In addition to the altered recipes, the site also has a basic recipe section, with tasty, but good for you, recipes geared towards those with specific eating concerns.

[Thanks, Nichole!]

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If you have been following the Light Life column, or are just interested in healthy foods and healthy living in general, you might be interested in checking out our newest sister blog, That's Fit, which is about every health and fitness related topics that's fit to blog about.

Of particular interest to the food-obsessed are the Food and Nutrition articles, as well as features like How Many Calories?, which provides a quick quiz to see if you really know what you're eating or not. Readers can also look forward to features on how to get inspired to eat healthier and some alternative dietary lifestyles, such as veganism and raw foodism.

If you're feeling too good after reading the blog, though, you can always come back and check out some food porn to get you back on track.

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