When you’re in a hurry at the grocery store, do you find yourself making food choices based on health promises on the front of packages? If that’s you, buyer beware. This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cracked down on 17 food manufacturers, asking them to correct food labels and claims that suggest that their products are healthier than they actually are. The products ranged from frozen fish sticks to ice cream and organic vegetable shortening.

Of particular interest were warning letters sent by the FDA to the manufacturers behind 5 products that bear the label “No Trans Fat” because they gave the products a health halo they didn’t deserve. These manufacturers went wrong because they did not alert consumers that the products did have significant levels of saturated fat and total fat (which they are required to do with a statement referring consumers to more complete information on the Nutrition Facts panel).

Since front-of-package call-outs tend to be mostly about marketing, you should alwayscheck the Nutrition Facts label (and ingredients lists) to figure out how healthy a food really is.

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10 Tips for Reading the Nutrition Facts panel:

1. Look at ingredient lists: they’re the core of the label. Ingredients are listed in order of weight. You should carefully check ingredients for contents like partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils, as these signify the presence of trans fats. Fortunately, it’s getting easier and easier just to find brands that have no hydrogenated fats among the ingredients. Also look for added sugars (see above) and whole grains—the label must say “whole,” not just “wheat flour.”

2. Starting from the top of the label, look at the serving size. These are often unrealistically small. If you eat more than what the serving size indicates, you need to multiply all nutritional contents accordingly.

3. Next is the number of calories per serving, and the calories from fat. The total number of calories is very important if you’re attempting to control your weight. The calories from fat is less important. Much more important is the type of fat.

4. Further down you will find the total fat per serving and the grams of saturated, trans, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Amounts are rounded to the nearest whole number, so 0.4 gram would be listed as 0 grams, 0.8 gram would be listed as 1 gram. You want to limit your saturated fat to 5 percent or less of your total calories (divide your body weight by 12 to get the total daily limit of saturated fat in grams).

5. As for trans fats, you want to limit intake entirely. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are healthy, so no limitation is needed other than if you are limiting calories.

6. Further down is cholesterol content. This number is largely irrelevant as your blood cholesterol levels depend more on saturated-fat and trans-fat intake than on cholesterol intake. Ignore this one.

7. Then there’s carbohydrate content and, unfortunately, current rules do not require labels to distinguish whole grains from processed grains. The label does give information on dietary fiber. As a rule of thumb, men should take in more than 38 grams of total fiber per day and women should take in more than 25 grams of total fiber.

8. Sugar is next; less is better. The label does not distinguish between natural and added sugars, so check the ingredients list to spot added sugars—a frequent culprit is high-fructose corn syrup.

9. And finally, protein is listed as total protein. Chances are, your protein intake is adequate, and I usually don’t suggest tallying it.

10. At the extreme right of the label you’ll see each nutrient’s percentage of your total daily intake based upon the guess that you take in 2,000 calories a day. Since this amount of calories would be appropriate only for an individual weighing 166 pounds, this section is quite useless if you don’t happen to weigh 166 pounds. Instead, focus on the actual grams or milligrams of the nutrients in question.

The Office
“I swallowed a tape worm last night. It’s going to grow up to three feet inside of me, and then it eats all of my food so that I don’t get fat.” -Kelly Kapoor

The Simpsons
“I’m on a bit of a health kick, so I’ll take the low-fat vanilla. With the following toppings: Snickles, Gooey Bears, Charlottesville Chew, Nice ‘n Many, Kat Kit, Herschel Smooches, Mrs. Badbar, and Milk Dudes.” -Homer Simpson

The Devil Wears Prada
“Really? It’s for Paris, I’m on this new diet. Well, I don’t eat anything and when I feel like I’m about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” -Emily

Clueless
“I feel like such a heifer. I had two bowls of Special K, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, 5 peanut butter M&M’s and like 3 pieces of licorice.” -Cher 

Mean Girls
“I can’t go to taco bell, I’m on an all-carb diet. GOD Karen you’re so stupid!” -Regina George

Bridget Jones’s Diary
“Resolution #1: Obviously will lose 20 pounds.” -Bridget Jones

Heavyweights
“Kids, at age 12, I weighed 319 pounds. I had bad skin, low self-esteem, and no self-respect. Now, I eat success for breakfast, with skim milk.” -Tony Perkis

30 Rock
“She needs to lose 30 pounds or gain 60. Anything in between has no place in television.” -Jack Donaghy

Sex and the City
“Shopping is my cardio” -Carrie Bradshaw

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
“Oh, it’s the deep burn! Oh, it’s so deep! Oh, I can barely lift my right arm ’cause I did so many. I don’t know if you heard me counting, I did over a thousand. You have your ubulus muscle which connects to the upper dorcinus.” -Ron Burgundy

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
“I was so lucky getting Mono. That was like the best diet ever.” – Romy White

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
“Globo Gym employs a highly-trained, quasi-cultural staff of personal alterational specialists. And with our competitively-priced on-site cosmetic surgery, we can turn that Frankenstein you see in the mirror every morning into a Franken-fine! Of course you’ll still be you in a legal sense, but think of it as a thinner, more attractive, better you than you could ever become without us.” -White Goodman

Drop Dead Gorgeous
“With one week to go before the pageant, I was finishing my outfit, rehearsing my talent, brushing up on current events, and running 18 miles a day on about 400 calories. I was ready.” -Mary Johanson

Delicious!

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 1-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed

Directions:
1-Combine caraway, coriander, fennel, cumin and bay leaf in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder; process to a fine powder. Add salt and pepper.
2-Place 2 tablespoons of the spice rub in a small bowl. Combine the remaining rub with dill in another small bowl.
3-Place 1 tenderloin on a piece of plastic wrap. To butterfly it, hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and slice through the meat to within a half inch of the opposite side. Open like a book. Cover with more plastic wrap and gently pound with a mallet or heavy skillet to 1/2-inch thickness. Repeat with the second tenderloin.
4-Spread half of the dill-spice mixture down the center of each flattened tenderloin. Roll the pork, jelly-roll style, to create 2 long cylinders; tie kitchen string around each in several spots to keep them rolled. Rub all over with the reserved (no-dill) spice rub. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours.
5-Preheat grill to medium-high or preheat the broiler.
6-Oil the grill rack (if broiling, line a broiler pan with foil and oil the foil). Grill or broil the tenderloins, turning several times, until just cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, 14 to 18 minutes.
6-Let rest for 5 minutes before carving into 1/2-inch slices.

8 servings
Nutrition Per serving: 130 calories; 3 g fat ( 1 g sat , 1 g mono ); 74 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 24 g protein; 1 g fiber; 207 mg sodium; 475 mg potassium.

We had such a FANTASTIC time!  Our members are the BEST ~ Thanks Chris!

YUMMY!!

Ingredients
3 Mashed ripe bananas
1 Large apple, peeled and diced (I used a Gala apple!)
2/3 Cup sugar
1 3/4 Cups whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup applesauce
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
2.Mix all dry ingredients.
3.Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
4.Fill large muffin tin cups 3/4ths of the way full. (Makes 12 muffins)

Y’all this Saturday, Louisiana School for the Deaf is having their Dash for the Deaf Fun Run/Walk 5K !~ Jay and I will be there supporting this wonderful organization.  The 1-mile walk/run begins at 8am, and the 5K begins at 8:30am.  We would love you to come out in your Momentum/Anytime gear and join us!  Details can be found here as well as at Anytime Highland/Momentum Group Fitness:  Dash for the Deaf.  Send us an email or text if you plan to join us.

Y’all, get used to the phrase Working Out Sucks! You’ll be hearing it A LOT from me.  I spent the better part of my daughter’s adolescence trying to break her from using the word SUCKS! I encouraged her to substitute with:

• is unpleasant
• is not fun
• even “stinks!”

Even better than that, I would encourage her to take whatever situation she was referring to and re-frame it…think about it differently.  If it was a teacher she was complaining about, I would encourage her to identify all the things she LIKED about that teacher.  If it was homework she was complaining about, I would encourage her to think about the benefits of the assignment…what the assignment was teaching her, even went so far as to ask her how it was enhancing her life experience (yes, I really asked a pre-teen and teen that question).

I essentially tasked myself with the job of finding ways to “turn her frown upside-down,”  think of her “glass as half-full instead of half-empty.”  Now, FINALLY, at age 19 (not me…though I look maybe only a few years older than that – HA!), she may have had the right idea.  Identifying that you do not like something, that something is unpleasant, is not only okay but GREAT!  The key is realizing that you do not have to like everything, it is not necessary that you look forward to a task ahead; the KEY is identifying why something is necessary, why it MUST BE DONE, and JUST DO IT! 

I read a book while cruising in the Caribbean that INSPIRED me to re-frame how I think about the word SUCKS!  It really opened my eyes to the reality of people.  When you are in the fitness industry, you genuinely love working out, you love to sweat, you think it’s FUN ~ you really do!  We’ve been referred to as “freaks” for years for this very reason.  I made it my life’s mission to make you LOVE it, too; to re-frame it FOR you.  NO MORE Y’ALL ~ WORKING OUT SUCKS! If you’re doing it right, REALLY working hard as you should, it is unpleasant, it is not fun, and it even “STINKS!” 
Having said that, it MUST BE DONE!  Need a SMACKDOWN!?

SCHEDULE UPDATES
Join us for a night of GLITZ, GLAM, and SWEAT!!
Rolling Out the Red Carpet Launch will be Tuesday, May 1st AND Saturday, May 5th! Get ready for a NEW BodyPump, BodyCombat, and CxWorx!!

Be sure to wear a very special RED CARPET accessory!

Sign-Ups have begun!  Put your STAR on the Wall of Fame!

Is it just me, or does this look like Jay?

Old Rule: Eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables.
New Rule: Fill half your plate with produce.

A serving of broccoli is about five florets. A serving of raw spinach, one cup. A serving of mango, roughly the size of a fist. It’s not surprising that people get confused over what exactly a serving is. Stop counting and instead make half of every meal produce. You don’t need a big mound on your plate. Six asparagus spears at dinner, a spinach salad at lunch, and a sliced banana and some berries at breakfast should do it. And quality counts: Even two or three daily servings of deeply hued fruits and veggies (like blueberries, bok choy, or red peppers) may help reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. It’s like darts. The goal is to hit the bull’s-eye. But hitting nearby is good, too.

Old Rule: Keep your BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.
New Rule: Eat healthy, exercise, and let your weight settle naturally.

Physicians use BMI (body mass index)–a ratio of your weight to your height–as a tool to diagnose obesity. But critics (including ME!) say BMI ignores muscle mass, and it also ignores a person’s hip circumference. People come in different sizes and shapes, the idea that everyone should fall under 25 is ABSURD. A person can have a high BMI and still be healthy. Research supports the theory: A Journal of the American Medical Association study found that fit women–even if they were overweight according to their BMI–were less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who were out of shape. So stop obsessing over your BMI, eat a nutritious diet, and log 150 minutes of exercise per week. A healthy lifestyle results in a healthy weight.

Y’all the famously buff Arnold had a BMI that indicated obesity!! Numbers, schmumbers…EAT CLEAN UNPROCESSED FOODS AND GET YOUR EXERCISE IN!  HEALTHY IS THE ONLY RESULT OF THAT LIFESTYLE!

And while I’m on my soapbox – STAY OFF THE SCALE!  The way your clothes fit is a MUCH MUCH BETTER indicator of how you’re doing; the ability to climb the stairs in your house or office without huffing and puffing is a MUCH MUCH BETTER indicator of how you’re doing; increased energy and better mood and disposition is a MUCH MUCH BETTER indicator of how you’re doing!