How many times have you wolfed down a meal without even realizing that you were eating? Maybe you were at your desk working or watching tv or even in a restaurant when you were really hungry. Research has shown that your eating speed can have an impact on your weight by affecting how many calories you consume.

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island performed an experiment to see if eating speed affected caloric intake. They served pasta to 30 women in a laboratory setting. In the first test, the women were told to finish their lunch quickly - in about 9 minutes. In the second test, they were told to slow down the rate of eating. They ended up taking 29 minutes to eat. These women were encouraged to chew each bite of food 15-20 times and stop eating only when they felt full.

The results: the women who ate slowly ended up consuming 67 few calories than the women who ate quickly. This would translate into a 7 pound weight loss a year. Not bad for making no other changes except slowing down eating speed!

I am sure most of you have heard that it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to signal the stomach that you are getting full. This study is more evidence that this theory is true.

We can all learn a little from this experiment. I bet many of you who eat lunch on the run eat quickly. I know I often do. Most of my clients want to see me on their lunch hour so I literally have 2 minutes to eat lunch in between clients. Sometimes I even eat lunch standing in the storeroom because I do not want to office to smell like food…

Tips to slow down your rate of eating:

1. Really be aware of your eating speed. Make a point to slow down. You may even want to set a goal of taking at least 20 minutes to eat a meal.

2. Get a big bottle of water and tell yourself you have to finish it by the time you are finished with a meal. Alternate sips of water with bites of food.

3. When eating with other people, try to be the last person to finish your meal.

4. Eat food that takes longer to eat. Examples: soup or salad. Studies have shown the people who start their meals with these foods end up eating less at the meal.

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Most of us eat lunch on the run, grabbing whatever is fast and convenient. Living in the city, there are many lunch choices available. It seems as if there is a different food store on each block. It can be difficult to know which choices are healthy and relatively low in calories as compared to the choices that are deceptively high in calories.

Here are a few quick tips to help you make the right choice:

Best choices (400 calories or less):

1. Turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with lettuce, tomato and mustard (375 calories)

2. Subway “Under 400″ sandwiches on 6″ whole grain bread  (300-400 calories)

3. Suishi (pick miso soup or small order of edamame), one regular sized roll and 3 pieces sashimi (~ 400 calories)

4. 1/2 sandwich and low calorie soup such as vegetable or gazpatcho (400 calories)

5. ”Pick your ingredients” small sized salad with lean protein such a shrimp, grilled chicken, plain tuna or turkey, vegetables, and one scoop of low calorie dressing  (375 calories)

6. Turkey burger, no roll, with a salad with light dressing (400 calories)

Worst Choices  (650 calories or more)

1. Gourmet wraps that include cheese, mayo, or other high fat sauces. For example: Au Bon chicken club on foccacio greens sandwich (830 calories), Au Bon Pain veggie muffalato sandwich (824 calories)

2. Paninis (~ 750 calories)

3. Tuna salad, egg salad or chicken salad sandwich (~ 650 calories and more)

4. Grilled chicken caesar salad (800-900 calories)

5. “Pick your ingredients” small sized salad with lean protein such a shrimp, grilled chicken, plain tuna or turkey, vegetables, and one of more of the following ingredients (olives, avocado, crispy noodles, cheese) AND regular salad dressing (700 calories or more)

6. Large cheeseburger with fries (over 1000 calories)

* If possible, check out websites for calorie information. Information is available for stores including Au Bon Pain, Cosi and Subway.

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One in two women will have an osteoporosis-related fracture at some point in her life.  The average woman does not consume nearly enough calcium to keep her bones strong.  Are you consuming 1000 mg of calcium through food each day (and up to 1500 mg if you are postmenopausal or have low bone density)? Probably not. If you can not meet your calcium needs with food, it is recommended that you take a supplement. Do you have a bottle of calcium supplements sitting on your counter - but forget to take them? You are not alone. Some women also avoid taking supplements because the pills are so large. You might be better off with a calcium supplement that is chewable and tastes good.

Here are some tasty reasons to take your calcium supplement

1. My favorite: Adora.  Milk chocolate and dark chocolate disks. They contain 30 calories per disk, 500 mg calcium along with Vitamin D and Vitamin K.  They actually taste like real chocolate. They are almost too good for those people who love chocolate and have trouble controlling their portions me! Keep in mind that the upper recommended level of calcium is 2500 mg of calcium a day.

2. Runner up: Citracal Chew. They contain 35 calories per chew, 500 mg calcium along with Vitamin D and K and magnesium. I think the caramel flavor tastes the best

3. Third place: Viactiv. They contain 20 calories per chew, 500 mg of calcium along with  Vitamin D and K.  Not bad - but not as good as the previous two.

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Even nutritionists get into trouble. For some reason, I get really hungry after drinking alcohol (even if I just had a meal). I used to dial for Chinese food at midnight or grab a slice of pizza on my way home from meeting up with my friends. In my 20’s, my friends and I would often go to all night diners and order greasy burgers and fries.

Well, I have grown up since then, have fewer crazy nights and have toned down my drinking … a lot. In any case, I had a little setback last night. Before going out, I bought a half chicken with a baked potato (it came with a jumbo peice of cornbread) from Dallas BBQ. My goal was to weigh and measure the food so I could calculate the calories and post it on my blog. Once I had calculcated out the calories, I was going to portion out 3 meals.
So here is what the meal contained:
BBQ chicken (white meat, I took off skin, 14 oz) = 630 calories
large baked potato (14 oz) = 300 calories
cornbread (7 oz) = 700 calories
Total calories = 1630!!!

So I got home at 11:30 pm after having 3 (large) glasses of wine. All willpower to watch what I eat went out the window. I felt famished. Before I knew it, I had consumed the whole 1600 calorie dinner! So much for portioning out 3 meals.

Morale of the story, alcohol can have a negative effect on your willpower to watch what you eat. While some people report no increased hunger after drinking, others reports feeling famished. Your best bet is to have a little snack waiting for you for when you get home. Something with carbs might be a good idea to absorb some of the alcohol.

Try to keep this light snack to 150 calories or less. Suggestions include:

Instant oatmeal, small bowl of cereal with nonfat milk, banana, microwave light popcorn, yogurt, 100 calorie pack of high fiber crackers.

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Question from Nadine: Is the only smart choice when ordering chinese food steamed chicken with vegetables?

Answer from Martha: I get asked this question a lot by my clients. Chinese food is one of the most popular cuisines - both for take-out and restaurant dining. Steamed protein and veggies is by far the best choice as it only has 300-350 calories. Add a 1/2 cup of rice for another 100 calories. Compare this to most of the stir-fried dishes for 700-1200 calories - not including the rice.

If you really do not like steamed food (a little boring I know!), you could have 1/2 an order of one of the stir -fry dishes (check out my recent post on Chinese food for more details on calories) for about 400 calories and 1/2 cup of rice for 100 calories. This would total 500 calories which is not too bad. Some Chinese restaurants will make the dish with less oil if you ask (although it will still be fairly high in calories).

Hope this helps!

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I posted this article about 9 months ago. However I’ve had so many questions recently from my clients on calories in Chinese food that I wanted to repost it so everyone would see it. Many of my clients trying to lose weight eat this cuisine on a regular basis. I think most of us know it isn’t the healthiest food around, but I think a lot of people don’t realize how bad it can actually be for your waistline… 

 Chinese food tastes so good … but is so fattening! Most dishes are high in calories and fat due to the amount of oil used in cooking. In addition, many of the vegetables soak up the oil like a sponge (especially eggplant). Many of the dishes contain over 800 calories - and this is before you add the rice. And do not let the fact that a particular dish is vegetarian fool you. Some of these dishes are the highest in calories!

The Center for Science in the Public Interest decided to see how fattening Chinese food really was. They bought food from multiple Chinese restaurants and had it analyzed at a lab.

Here are the Calories in Chinese Food:
Egg drop soup (one serving in restaurant) 100 calories for each soup
Hot & sour soup
Wonton soup
Little pack of fried noodles 150 calories

These figures do not include rice. Add 200 calories for each cup of white rice

Tips for surviving Chinese food:

• Obviously steamed protein and vegetable dishes are your best bet for 325 calories. Add a few Tablespoons of sauce on the side. If you need rice, try to limit it to 1/2 cup of brown rice. All for 445 calories.

• Not a bad idea to start the meal with a soup - no crispy noodles of course. Soup helps to fill you up. One bowl is 100 calories

• Some restaurants also have special diet menus (called Revolution Diet Meals) where the dishes are prepared in a sauce with soy sauce, broth, ginger, black beans or garlic AND no added oil or cornstarch. These dishes would be substantially lower in calories than the regular dishes maybe by 200-300 calories due to the limited anount of oil used in cooking. However steamed food would still be the lowest.

• Try to eat with chopsticks. Hard to shovel in rice with chopsticks.

• Order your dishes lightly stir-fried. Avoid battered, breaded and double fried.

• How about ordering one chicken with brocoli stir-fry dish (700 calories) and one dish with steamed shrimp and veggies. (325 caloires). You can mix the two to cut calories. You should then be getting 3 meals from these orders of food for a total of 330 calories per meal. You can add 1/2 cup (100 calories ) - 1 cup of rice (200 calories) to each portion. So these meals will total 430 - 530 calories for entree and rice.

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• The word “snack” is often associated with junk food. However  the real purpose of a snack should be to increase energy levels and provide your body with nutrients. Of course, on occasion snacks can also satisfy your sweet/salty/crunchy craving!

• It is recommended that you do not let more than 4 -5 hours go between meals. Going too long between meals can lead to low blood sugar which in turn can increase cravings, lower energy levels and increase your food intake at the next meal.

• The right kind of snack in between meals can help ward off low blood sugar.

• Portion control of snacks is very important. Can you eat just 15 nuts or measure out 3 cups of popcorn or 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt?  If not, make sure you purchase individually portioned snacks!

• Do not keep bulk portions of “problem” snacks in your home or office. Once you start with these foods, it will be difficult to stop.

• If you must keep snack foods in the house for other members of your family, select foods that are not especially tempting for you.

• If you are a carb craver, you may do better with higher protein snacks or combo carb/protein/fat snacks rather than eating carbs alone.

• Take a look at your diet to see what food groups you are lacking in. If your diet is low in fruit, add a fruit for a snack. If your diet is low in calcium, add a yogurt.

• Always check the label for the portion size. A snack for 100 calories may end up being 400 calories if you eat the whole bag.

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Question from Esther: What about breakfast bars? Are they good choices for breakfast?


Martha’s answer: Esther, Good question! I know that breakfast bars are a convenient breakfast and eating them is better than eating no breakfast at all, however many of them are loaded with sugar and contain minimal nutrition. My guidelines would be that you look for one that has at least 3 grams of fiber, less than 10 grams of sugar and approximately 120-150 calories. Most of them contain only 1-2 grams of fiber and 15 or more grams of sugar. You might want to check out the Kashi bars (140 calories, 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of sugar) as they are one of the better choices

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We have all heard of the super-sizing of Americans. Well if it keeps going at the rate it has been going for the past 30 years, we can expect almost 90% of Americans to be overweight* or obese by the year 2032. In 1976, 47% of Americans were overweight. By 2004, 66% were overweight. The group of people who are severely obese (100 pounds or more overweight) are the fastest growing group of overweight people in the U.S.  The proportion of severely obese people are 50 percent higher in 2005 than in 2000.


Why are our waistlines expanding so rapidly? Here are several possible explanations:

 Increased portion sizes. Our portions both at home and outside of the home have increased by up to 50% in the past 20 years. Check out this portion distortion quiz.

More eating away from home. We eat at least 1/3 of our meals outside of the home. In NYC, I find we eat out even more than this. Breakfast and lunch are usually eaten on the run. Dinner is frequently take-out or eaten out in restaurants. Eating out usually means eating more due to jumbo sized portions.

 Decreased exercise.

 More technology. We move less and burn off fewer calories.


*Being overweight is classified as having a BMI of  26 - 29 and obese is over 30. What is your BMI?

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We have all seen “beer bellies” on beer drinkers. Yet French women who drink wine on a regular basis seem to remain thin. So does alcohol contribute towards weight gain?  The research in this area is controversial. Some studies demonstrate a link between alcohol and weight gain, especially when alcohol is combined with a high calorie meal. This is likely due to the fact that alcohol acts as an appetite stimulant. A Canadian study shows that an aperitif (an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to increase the appetite) increased calorie intake to a greater extent than a carbohydrate-based drink.  Other studies show similar effects. Researchers from Denmark’s Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University report similar results. When a group of men were given a meal and allowed to eat as much as they wanted, they ate more when the meal was served with beer or wine rather than a soft drink.

But not all studies support this link. Some clinical research indicates that replacing dietary carbohydrates with alcohol causes body weight loss, and adding a moderate amount of alcohol to an adequate diet causes little weight gain, according to Richard Mattes, Ph.D., R.D., associate professor at Purdue University.

So as we can see from the above studies, alcohol does not affect everyone in the same way. In my experience, I find that some of my clients experience more difficulty losing weight if they are consuming alcohol (or at least more than a few drinks a week).

Bottom line: if you are having difficulty losing weight, you will need to evaluate how alcohol affects you.

• How many calories are you consuming from alcohol? I have many clients who eat out at least 4 nights a week and consume 2 glasses of wine at each restaurant meal. This is a significant amount of calories.

• Does alcohol decrease your willpower to watch what you eat or increase your hunger at the meal when you are drinking?

• Does alcohol increase your hunger later on in the evening after you have had a few drinks? (dialing for Chinese food at 1 am, stopping in at the diner after a night out with the girls or late night snacking?)

• Do you have increased cravings the day after drinking or decreased energy levels for your workout?

If you are still having trouble losing weight despite being careful with your food intake, I would recommend that you experiment and avoid alcohol totally for 2-4 weeks. If you see your weight drop by a pound or two on the scale, you will know that alcohol is having an effect on your weight!

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