Jerry the Blogger

If you or your family have decided to cut back on expenses at the grocery store that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your health. Thankfully there are many healthy alternatives at your local grocery store than not only save your wallet but also save your waistline.

When you're walking in the frozen food section of your grocery store, keep in mind that frozen fruits and veggies are just as nutritious, if not more nutritious, than the fresh fruits and vegetables in the produce section. Frozen fruits and veggies are processed at peak ripeness and flash-frozen within hours of being picked. "Fresh" produce, on the other hand, is picked before it is completely ripe, so it never develops all of its nutrients. During the time that it is shipped to your local store it's exposed to oxygen, heat, and light, which results in the loss of important vitamins, specifically vitamins B and C.

Frozen veggies make excellent side dishes, soups, stews, or stir-fries. Frozen fruit works wonderfully inside a whole grain muffin mix or pancakes. Fruit also is a fantastic addition to yogurt or you can use it to make healthy smoothies.

While you're in the frozen food section be sure to check out Healthy Choice frozen meals ... which are a great way to save money on lunch and eat healthy at the same time.

As you make your way past the canned foods section be sure to stop do some bean counting. Another great way to eat right without breaking your budget is to eat more beans. Beans are a fantastic legume that improve heart health and are high in fiber, protein, and iron. Beans are also low in calories and they're a great meat substitute! The fiber in beans can help lower your cholesterol, keep you regular, remove toxic, cancer-causing substances from your digestive tract, and help keep your blood sugar stable. There are a number of great varieties of canned beans that include extra seasoning without adding fat.

Just keep in mind that you can indeed lose weight without losing too much money on groceries.

Most Americans (myself included) have tried a variety of diets over the years that promise to be more effective at helping you lose weight than other diets. Some diets emphasize reducing carbohydrates, others suggest cutting protein, and or many others say that cutting fat is the best way to lose weight. However, there have been few unbiased studies lasting more than a year that evaluated diets with different compositions of those nutrients and how effective they are at weight loss. In a randomized clinical trial led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) a comparison of overweight participants assigned to four different diets over a two-year period showed that reducing calories achieved weight loss regardless of which of the three nutrients was emphasized. The study, which was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, appears in the February 26, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

So what does that mean for us? It means that the single most important factor in a diet, in terms of weight loss, is eating a reduced number of calories. In other words, what you're eating isn't as important as "how much" you eat.

The trial included 811 men and women who were randomly divided into four diet groups:

• Low-fat, average protein: 20% of calories from fat, 15% of calories from protein, 65% of calories from carbohydrate
• Low-fat, high-protein: 20% fat, 25% protein, 55% carbohydrate
• High-fat, average protein: 40% fat, 15% protein, 45% carbohydrate
• High-fat, high-protein: 40% fat, 25% protein, 35% carbohydrate

The participants varied in age, sex (62% women, 38% men), geography and income. The diets followed heart-healthy principles, replacing saturated with unsaturated fat and were high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Each participant received a diet prescription that encouraged a 750-calorie reduction per day, however none were less than 1,200 total calories per day. Participants were asked to do 90 minutes of moderate exercise each week. They recorded their daily food and drink intake in a food diary and in a web-based program that provided information on how closely they were meeting their dieting goals.

The results showed that, regardless of diet, weight loss and reduction in waist size were similar. Participants lost an average of 13 pounds after the first six months and maintained a 9-pound loss at two years. After the initial weight loss during the first 6 months all groups (regardless of diet) began to slowly regain weight after about 12 months. However, the amount of weight regain was much less, about 20%, of the average regain in previous studies. Waistlines were reduced by an average of two inches at the end of the two-year period.

Most risk factors for cardiovascular disease improved for dieters at six months and two years. HDL ("good") cholesterol increased and LDL ("bad") cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and insulin decreased. Another important finding was that participants who regularly attended counseling sessions to help them stick to their diets lost more weight than those who didn't. Dieters who attended two thirds of sessions over two years lost about 22 pounds of weight as compared to the average weight loss of 9 pounds.

In truth, this study shouldn't be a shock to anyone. Most people admit that reducing calories (eating less) and exercise are essential to weight loss. Likewise, it's nice to be reminded that you're more likely to stick to your diet if you work with others who support you and help you stay focused on weight loss. Bottom line, whatever diet you choose isn't nearly as important as eating less, exercising, and sticking with it.