If you’re a walker, this means that the time you can spend safely walking outdoors is limited. That’s when a treadmill would come in handy.

Look for these features when buying your treadmill:

Treadmill Motor and Horsepower The motor is the heart of your treadmill. A good rule of thumb is the heavier the motor, the better it is. You’ll find that motors are judged horsepower. If you’re a walker, look for a motor with 1.0 to 1.5 continuous horsepower. If you’re a runner—or you think you’ll want to work up to becoming a runner—look for 1.5 to 2.0 continuous horsepower. Motors can be noisy, too, so keep that in mind. (If the motor is too noisy, you may not be able to hear your family, the television of the phone.)

Treadmill Stability and Smooth Ride: You’ll feel like a fool, but it’s a good idea to test treadmills wearing your workout shoes and clothes. Look for stability—it shouldn’t shake or feel “jerky.” Is your stride cushioned? You don’t want your foot to land on a hard surface.

Treadmill Workout Features: Bells and whistles are important and can keep you coming back to the treadmill for your workouts. Some models come with pre-set programs, drink holders and book rests. The fancier-dancier models plug into a DVD and Internet. (Of course, we should be concentrating on burning calories and improving we strength instead of re-runs of Lost or Desperate Housewives.)

Noise and Space: There are universal truths about treadmills: They make noise and they take up space. It’s hard to judge the noise of a treadmill at a store, so ask the salesperson. (And follow the reviews on-line. Current users are the best source of honest information.) Some models fold, allowing you more floor space when not in use.

I love love love my treadmill. I couldn’t get through a winter without it.

According to an article in the New York Times, this new trend is getting a helping hand by some state and local legislative bodies.

New York is leading the way, requiring that restaurants with 15 or more outlets post the calorie content of food next to the price. “The resulting sticker shock has brought parts of a great city to its knees, often to do push-ups,” the article stated.

The calorie-posting campaign has inspired lawmakers around the country to follow New York’s lead. In all, nearly three dozen states, cities and counties have passed or introduced laws that would require calorie posting in some form.

Two national measures:

The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act is backed by the restaurant industry and would give restaurants and grocery stores selling prepared foods a choice of labeling formats, including posters near the cash register or disclosures on the back of the menu. This act will pre-empt your local labeling laws.

The Menu Education and Labeling Act is supported by public health advocates and mirrors New York’s calorie-posting laws. It would not pre-empt more stringent local laws.

Nutritional information will also be more prominent throughout your grocery store, too. The makers of Coca-Cola and M&Ms will soon print calories on the front of packages. (Yeah!)

I find this a welcome change and will use the information to make better decisions. What do you think? Will the calorie information help you change your habits?

- Starting the day with a fiber-rich breakfast cereal. This adds about five grams of fiber per serving to your daily intake. Opt for cereals with “bran” or “fiber” in the name. Alternatively, you could add a few tablespoons of unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.

- Eating whole-grain bread. Check out the bag for “whole wheat,” “whole-wheat flour,” or some other type of whole grain as the first ingredient on the label. On a per-serving basis, three grams of dietary fiber is the magic number.

- Substituting whole-grain flour for half or all of the white flour when baking bread. I bake occasionally. Whole-grain flour is heavier than white flour. In yeast breads, I’m using a bit more yeast or let the dough rise longer. When using baking powder, I’m increasing it by about a teaspoon for every 3 cups of whole-grain flour.

- Eating more whole grains and whole-grain products. I’m trying out brown rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta and bulgur.

- Taking advantage of ready-to-use vegetables. I’m mixing chopped frozen broccoli into prepared spaghetti sauce. Snack on baby carrots.

- Eating more beans, peas and lentils. I’m adding kidney beans to canned soup and green salads. I’m also trying out nachos with refried black beans, baked tortilla chips and salsa.

- Eating fruit at every meal. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears and berries are good sources of fiber and tasty, too. And if you’ve been good the rest of the day, it’s not such a bad thing to add a little whipped cream like cool whip or peanut butter to make a tasty yet healthful dessert!  Or try dipping cut apple slice into Jell-O Sugar-Free caramel pudding!

There’s more ways to fit fiber in your diet, too. As a general rule of thumb, always try to check out the labels of what you’re eating, and try to include at least one food that’s high in dietary fiber in each meal.

Like most people on the pudgy side of life, the gym was out of my comfort zone. People running a six-minute mile on the treadmill. Men with big necks lifting weights that were the equivalent of a compact car. Spandex.

It was too much for my self-esteem. I slinked out of the gym—in my baggy t-shirt and sweats, recovering from my 2-mile stroll on the treadmill—vowing to never return.

It appears that I’m not alone. Researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education and Temple University report that several mental barriers keep obese women from exercising to lose weight.

The new study looked at data collected from 278 women who were enrolled in a year-long physical activity encouragement study.

The women completed a questionnaire when the study began and during three- and 12-month follow-up assessments. The questionnaire dealt with mental barriers to exercise, including:

• Feeling self-conscious
• Not wanting to fail
• Fearing injury
• Perceived poor health
• Having minor aches and pains
• Feeling too overweight to exercise
 
At every assessment, the obese women reported greater barriers to exercise than their normal weight counterparts. The barriers that the obese women identified at the beginning of the study predicted how much they would be exercising at the 12-month follow-up.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to systematically look at what stops obese women from getting the activity they need,” Melissa Napolitano, an associate professor of kinesiology and clinical psychologist at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, said in a university news release.

Napolitano said that programs that are tailored to overcome these barriers can help obese women feel more comfortable exercising.

The good news is that your primary care giver, surgeon and nutritionist know where you can find exercise centers that cater to your particular health situations. These centers are also staffed with people who can help you overcome those mental barriers. And you won’t be the only one in the gym in a baggy t-shirt and sweats, struggling to get fit.

Ask. You’ll be glad you did.

A diet rich in fiber…

- Aids in losing weight. When you eat high fiber foods, they typically require more time to chew. This gives your body extra time to register the food you’re eating, and you feel fuller faster. This makes you less likely to overeat. High fiber food also makes a meal feel larger and linger longer, so you stay full for a longer time. High fiber foods also typically contain fewer calories for the same amount of food.

- Regulates cholesterol. Soluble fiber, the kind found in beans, oats, flaxseed and oat bran, may help lower total blood cholesterol levels by lowering low-density lipoprotein, or “bad,” cholesterol levels.

- Controls blood sugar levels. Soluble fiber especially can slow the absorption of sugar, which for people with diabetes, can help improve blood sugar levels. A high-fiber diet may also reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

- Prevents constipation. Dietary fiber increases the weight and size of your stool and softens it. A bulky stool is easier to pass, decreasing your chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may also help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk to stool.

Indeed, high-fiber foods are beneficial to your health, but be careful about adding a lot of fiber too quickly.  Doing so can cause intestinal gas, abdominal bloating, and cramping. Experts recommend doing it gradually over a period of a few weeks. This allows the natural bacteria in your digestive system to adjust to the change. Also, drink plenty of water. Without sufficient water, you could become constipated.

It’s the itty-bitty Snickers bars in my son’s trick-or-treating bag.

They haunt me. They call to me. They are my ruin.

I’m addicted to sugar. I can’t have just a little. Sometimes a taste—like an itty-bitty Snickers bar—sends me into a sugar binge that lasts for days and I find myself exhausted and cranky. And my clothes are tight.

I’m not alone. Research shows that repeatedly consuming copious amounts of sweeteners, desserts and refined carbs (such as white rice, white bread, chips, etc.) wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels, over stimulates insulin release, triggers inflammation, and could contribute to more than 150 health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, severe PMS, failing memory, depression, mental confusion or “brain fog,” mood swings, Candida, sexual dysfunction, infertility, wrinkles, acne, and early aging.

All from an itty-bitty Snickers bar.

Apparently, those of us who are “sugar sensitive” don’t have enough serotonin or beta-endorphin in our brains. Serotonin and beta-endorphin make us feel secure, stable, confident and cheerful.

Sugar raises the level of serotonin and beta-endorphin levels. So within a few minutes of eating my itty-bitty Snickers, I feel better, more energetic.

Unfortunately, about an hour later, my blood sugar crashes and I feel worse than before. I crave even more sugar to help me feel better and the cycle continues.

Hence, my three day binge.

And now my three week detox to get my body feeling better again.

What’s your weakness? And how do you cope? And do you know of anyone who wants dozens of itty-bitty Snickers bars? I gotta get these things out of the house.

In the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers have reported that that patients who lost weight with a low-glycemic diet kept the weight off longer than patients who lost the same amount of weight with a standard low-fat diet. (Low-glycemic foods are carbohydrates that are slowly absorbed. In contrast, high-glycemic carbohydrates - the “fast” carbs - are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, leading to wide fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels. The high-glycemic carbs include sugar, potatoes, pasta, white rice, and white bread.) The investigators took 39 young, overweight patients and randomized them to either a low-glycemic diet or a low-fat diet. Patients in both groups dieted until they lost at least 10 percent of their body weight.

The investigators reported that patients in the low-glycemic group reported less hunger than their low-fat counterparts, and further, the slowing down in their metabolism was less than that seen in the low-fat group. Consequently, they were able to keep the weight off more efficiently than patients in the low-fat group. Furthermore, the low-glycemic weight loss produced a greater reduction in triglyceride levels, insulin resistance, and blood pressure than in the low-fat group.

The beneficial effects of a low-glycemic diet are likely due to avoidance of the spikes in blood glucose - and thus in blood insulin levels - seen in diets that allow high-glycemic carbohydrates (such as low-fat diets). Spiking-then-falling insulin levels are known to produce great hunger. Further, insulin keeps people from metabolizing fat they’ve already stored, and when they’re hungry they have trouble burning that stored energy - and consequently they consume more energy. The low-glycemic diet avoids this pattern of eating-hunger-eating-hunger.

Lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley and his colleagues from the University of Warwick in the UK found the compound – sulforaphane – provoked production of a protein called nrf2 that was beneficial to blood vessel health, even those damaged by hyperglycemia.

It looks like mom was right again. It pays to eat our broccoli.

A new study in the October 2008 issue of Cell Membrane conducted by UC Irvine pharmacologists shows that foods rich in unsaturated fats – such as avocados, nuts and olive oil – have been found to play a pivotal role in sending this important message to your brain: stop eating, you’re full.

According to the research, these fats trigger production of a compound in the small intestine that curbs hunger pangs.

How does this happen? The research found that an unsaturated fatty acid called oleic acid helps to decrease your appetite. 

So, the next time you want a snack, grab a handful of nuts and know that they’ll work to curb your appetite.

You can read more about it here.

To avoid fast-food temptations, Althea Zanecosky, MS, RD, keeps an 8×12-inch insulated cooler tucked in her car’s back seat.

“It’s like having a mini-kitchen in your car,” says Zanecosky, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “We pack food for every member of the family — bottled water, 16 oz bottles of chocolate milk, juices, nuts, seeds, pretzels, yogurt, fruit, cereal, health bars.

“It saves time, money, and it saves fat and calories. It keeps us from eating mall food or hitting the drive-through for french fries.”

But food on the fly isn’t just about packing a few healthy choices for the road. With the right stuff in your fridge and pantry, you can assemble a healthy meal in about the time it takes you to get through the drive-through.

Convenience foods—anything frozen, canned, pre-cut, pre-washed, and pre-bagged—are good basics for healthy meals, says Lynn Fischer, author of Lowfat Cooking for Dummies and Quick & Healthy Cooking for Dummies. “Try any new product that comes out. Use everything to your advantage.

“Some vegetarian burgers are very good,” Fischer says. “But I don’t go for turkey burgers. Unless you have a butcher grind the meat especially for you, ground turkey often contains a lot of fat.”

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Little Dippers: Set out a “party tray” of vegetables and fruits for your family, Fischer suggests. Mix it up with interesting, lower-fat dips — even melted chocolate and strawberries once in a while for dessert.

Freezer-to-Table Main Dish: “For a dinner that’s ready in seven or eight minutes, start with a frozen healthy meal like Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine,” Fischer says. “They don’t give you a lot of meat, which is good.” If you use a frozen-in-the-bag vegetable dinner, don’t add much meat; keep it the size of your palm, she adds. “Some huge chicken breasts are enough for two servings.”

Speedy Side Dishes: Keep frozen, canned, or fresh veggies on hand to round out a healthy meal. “A lot of frozen vegetables are frozen fresh, right on the spot, so they still have all the nutrients,” Fischer says. “Canned vegetables are also good. And you need some fresh vegetables, like celery, carrots, and tomatoes and fresh fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and grapes.”

By making the right choices in advance, getting hungry when you don’t have time to be hungry need not result in meal choices that’ll make you wish you hadn’t been hungry the next time you step on the scale.