Eat This, Not that -- The Truth about Diet Soda

• Just because diet soda is low in calories doesn't mean it can't lead to weight gain. It may have only 5 calories or less per serving, but emerging research suggests that consuming sugary-tasting beverages - even if they're artificially sweetened - may lead to a high preference for sweetness overall. That means sweeter (and more caloric) cereal, bread, dessert - everything.
• Guzzling these drinks all day long forces out the healthy beverages you need. Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition free, and again, it's just as important to actively drink the good stuff as it is to avoid that bad stuff. So 1 diet soda a day is fine, but if you're downing 5 or 6 cans, that means you're limiting your intake of healthful beverages, particularly water and tea.
• There remain some concerns over aspartame, the low-calorie chemical used to give diet sodas their flavor. Aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar, and some researchers claim to have linked it to brain tumors and lymphoma. The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss, and mood changes. Bottom line: Diet soda does you no good, and it might just be doing you wrong.
  

Want to pack the perfect lunch? Here are some tips from Eat This, Not That.

Dependable Drink
This is a high-stakes decision that few parents really think about. Considering that many kids' beverages have nearly as much sugar per ounce as soft drinks, tossing the wrong drink in the lunchbox could translate into 3 to 5 extra pounds by the end of the school year. Drinks should be either zero- or low-cal (water, diet drinks), high in nutrition (milk, 100 percent juice), or both (tea). Here are the best picks, in descending order.

• Water
• Lightly sweetened iced tea, like Honest Tea
• Low-fat milk
• 100 percent juice drinks
• Low-calorie kids' drinks, like Minute Maid Fruit Falls and Tropicana Fruit Squeeze

Sturdy Anchor
Avoid a lunch built on refined carbohydrates, as the intake of quick-burning carbs will leave your kid with an energy and attention deficit for the rest of the day. Focus on protein, fiber, and healthy fats that will help keep your kid satisfied, keep his metabolism running high, and provide some important nutrients, too.

• Turkey or roast beef and Swiss on wheat bread (sans mayo, but loaded with produce, if you can get away with it)
• Sliced ham, cheese, and Triscuits
• PB&J (made on whole wheat bread with a pure-fruit jelly like Smucker's Simply Fruit)
• Thermos of hot soup
• Grilled chicken breast
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Tuna or cubed chicken tossed with light mayo, mustard, celery, and carrot

Sides with Substance
Only 1 in 4 kids consumes the recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, so pack a lunch sans produce and you're missing a golden opportunity to slip some much-needed nutrients back into their diets. As long as you have at least 1 piece of fruit or a servings of vegetables, adding a second crunchy snack is fine.

• Carrot sticks
• Celery sticks
• Apple slices with peanut butter
• Fruit salad
• Banana, pear, peach, or any other whole fruit
• Olives
• Almonds and raisins (mixed 50-50)
• Triscuits
• Small bag of pretzel sticks or Goldfish pretzels
• Baked! Lay's

Low-Impact Treat
You've gotta give them something they can brag to their friends about, right? A treat should have no trans fats, less than 12 grams of sugar, and no more than 100 calories. If you can eke some extra nutrition out of it, all the better.

• Fruit leather
• Squeezable yogurt
• Low-fat, low-sugar chocolate pudding
• Sugar-free Jell-O
• Rice Krispies Treats
• A square of chocolate
  

Eat This, Not That: The Vending Machine Survival Guide

Bars
Eat This: 100 Grand
Not That: Snickers
Eat This: Take 5
Not That: Butterfinger
Eat This: Kit Kat Bar
Not That: 3 Musketeers
Eat This: Nestle Crunch Bar
Not That: Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar

Crunchy Snacks
Eat This: Handi-Snacks Ritz Crackers 'n Cheez
Not That: Doritos Nacho Cheese Crackers
Eat This: Baked! Lays Potato Chips
Not That: Sun Chips Original
Eat This: Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts
Not That: Corn Nuts Original

Goodies
Eat This: Rice Krispies Treat
Not That: Pop-Tarts Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Eat This: Mini Chips Ahoy!
Not That: Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
Eat This: Welch's Fruit Snacks, Mixed Fruit
Not That: Original Fruit Skittles
Eat This: Kraft Cinnamon Bagel-fuls
Not That: Lance Glazed Honey Bun

Here's an interesting article for the new year that discusses different diet plans and which one is right for you. SHOCKER Weight Watchers wins :)

That Man vs. Food guy needs to come try out this burrito. It looks really good! Can I order it and just share it with like 4 people? yummmmm

The Best and Worst Cheap Eats in America

WENDY'S
Eat This: 5-Piece Crispy Nuggets ($1.29)
Free your chicken from bun and tortilla and you'll cut down on carbohydrates, plus the unencumbered chicken doesn't have an opportunity to get greased over with oily sauces.
Not That: Crispy Chicken Sandwich ($1.29)
Nearly every value menu as a fried chicken sandwich, and in nearly every case, it's the worst possible investment you could make.

KFC
Eat This: Hot Wings Snack Box ($1.99)
This is the leanest snack box KFC has to offer. Just don't ask for any biscuits with it; each one will set you back an extra 180 calories.
Not That: Popcorn Chicken Snack Box ($1.99)
It's simple math: The smaller the chicken pieces, the more surface there is to bread. More breading = more calories.

BURGER KING
Eat This: Whopper Jr. without mayo ($1.00)
The key here is to ask for "no mayo." Otherwise, you can expect an extra 9 grams of fat.
Not That: Spicy Chick'n Crisp Sandwich ($1.00)
The word "crisp" should tip you off that this chicken has been breaded and fried.

TACO BELL
Eat This: Crunchy Taco ($0.89)
You're better off eating 2 crunchy tacos over 1 bean burrito. You'll earn a few extra grams of protein and save yourself the sodium overload.
Not That: Triple Layer Nachos ($0.79)
As a general rule, the less it costs your wallet, the more it costs your health. What you want is a nutritional bargain, not free calories.

McDONALD'S
Eat This: Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait ($1.00)
McDonald's calls it a dessert, but we say it's a perfect treat anytime. Each cup of low-fat yogurt is loaded with calcium and vitamin A and gut-friendly bacteria.
Not That: 2 Baked Hot Apple Pies ($1.00)
McDonald's charges $0.89 for 1 apple pie or $1.00 for 2, which makes it incredibly inexpensive to get 25 percent of your day's calories with hardly a shred of redeeming nutrition.

JACK IN THE BOX
(I don't think we have these in Wisconsin?)
Eat This: Hamburger Deluxe ($1.00)
Unfortunately, Jack's value menu is riddled with trans fat, so with the exception of a side salad, this is the best you can do. But at least there are 14 grams of protein.
Not That: Jumbo Jack ($1.39)
In one handheld meal, Jack's super-size value burger sucks up more than half your day's saturated fat. it's not worth saving a buck.

Hello folks! I hope the holidays found you in good spirits and fond memories.

For the next few weeks, I'll be featuring some information from a new book I received as a Christmas gift. It's another Eat This, Not That book, featuring the Best and Worst Foods in America.

Today, I have a short list of the 10 Best Foods for your Skin.
Best Wrinkle Fighters:

• Sweet Potatoes. They're loaded with vitamin C, which smoothes out wrinkles by stimulating the production of collagen. A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that volunteers who consumed 4 mg of C (about half a small sweet potato) daily for 3 years decreased the appearance of wrinkles by 11 percent. Try papaya and carrot, too.
• Flaxseeds. These little seeds offer a payload of omega-3 fatty acids, which erase spots and iron out fine lines. The British Journal of Nutrition reported that participants in one study who downed about half a teaspoon of o-3s in 5 weeks experienced significantly less irritation and redness, along with better-hydrated skin. Beyond flax, salmon is an omega king.

Best Sun Blockers:

• Cooked Tomatoes. Lycopene, the phytochemical that makes tomatoes red, helps eliminate skin-aging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. Cooking tomatoes helps concentrate their lycopene levels, so tomato sauce, tomato paste, and even ketchup pack on the protection. So does a hunk of lycopene-rich watermelon.
• Almonds. Almonds are stuffed with vitamin E, which helps defend against sun damage. Volunteers who consumed 14 mg of the vitamin per day (about 20 almonds) and then were exposed to UV light burned less than those who took none. And because vitamin E is an antioxidant, it also works to keep your artries free of dangerous free radicals.
• Dark Chocolate. Flavonols, the antioxidants in dark chocolate, reduce roughness in the skin and provide sun protection. in a study from the women who drank cocoa fortified with a chocolate bar's worth of favonols had better skin texture and stronger resistance to UV rays than those who drank significantly fewer flavonols.

Best Natural Moisturizer:

• Safflower Oil. The omega-6 fatty acids found in safflower oil can be the ultimate moisturizer for people who suffer from dry, flaky, or itchy skin. They keep cell walls supple, allowing water to better penetrate the epidermis. Scientists have found that this oil may even help people who suffer from severe conditions such as eczema.

Best Cancer Defenders:

• Spinach. In a study published in the International Journal of Cancer, people who ate the most leafy greens had half as many skin tumors over 11 years as those who ate the least. The folate in these veggies which helps maintain and repair DNA, may reduce the likelihood of cancer-cell growth.
• Green Tea. Green tea releases catechin, an antioxidant with proven anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. Research found that drinking 2 to 6 cups a day not only helps prevent skin cancer but might also reverse the effects of sun damage by neutralizing the changes that appear in sun-exposed skin. (The tea's antioxidants degrade as it cools, so drink it while it's hot.)

Best Skin Tightener:

• Tuna in a Can. Your favorite deli sandwich has a little secret: selenium. This nutrient helps preserve elastin, a protein that keeps your skin smooth and tight. The antioxidant is also believed to buffer against the sun (it stops free radicals created by UV exposure from damaging cells).

Best Blemish Banisher:

• Carrots. Think of carrots as orange wonder wants - good for the eyeballs and good for clearing up breakouts. No magic here, though, just plenty of vitamin A, which prevents overproduction of cells in the skin's outer layer. That means fewer dead cells to combine with sebum and clog pores. Plus, vitamin A reduces the development of skin-cancer cells.