Nutrition Know-How
First for Women
By: Ann Louise Gittleman
July 4, 2005

I spent most of the spring helping my company open a branch office in a town three hours away, which meant a lot of dining out. I thought I was making healthy food choices, until I tried on my bathing suit in preparation for my family’s annual beach vacation. It was awful—I was bulging out all over! Where did I go wrong?

Restaurant dining poses the single greatest obstacle to weight control, so the diet deck was stacked against you despite your conscientious menu choices. In fact, studies show that people tend to underestimate the calorie count of restaurant meals by as much as 600. Experts speculate it’s because diners have difficulty gauging the amount of hidden high-calorie ingredients like butter and oils in prepared dishes. Whatever the reason, eating out twice a day for two months can deliver an extra 72,000 calories—the equivalent of 20 pounds. To control calorie intake when eating out, decide what you’ll order before you look at the menu. Just log on to 3fatchicks.com for nutritional information on dishes served at more than 30 chains nationwide. By the end of your vacation, those bathing-suit bulges may be history.

Caffeine-belly fat link

Last summer I had my first baby then went back to work part-time after my maternity leave. But I was dragging so much that I started relying on caffeine to keep me going. A year has gone by and I’m still hooked. Plus, I suspect all that cream and sugar is part of the reason I can’t get rid of my baby fat. So about a month ago I decided to cut back from three cups a day to one, but the scale hasn’t budged. Why?

It’s not the calories in your sweet-and-light coffee that are to blame for your stubborn belly fat—it’s the caffeine. This toxin gets stored in fat cells, interfering with the body’s ability to burn calories and upsetting the balance of hunger-regulating hormones like leptin. I suggest slowly weaning yourself off this stimulant. Here’s how: Try mixing three parts coffee with one part Teeccino, a caffeine-free herbal drink that tastes like java, then gradually reducing the coffee content over the next two weeks until you’re sipping a decaf brew. This switch is a delicious way to flush toxins, rev metabolism and shed that post-baby belly in no time. (To order Teeccino, call Unikey Health at 800-888-4353 and mention First for Women; you’ll receive 10 percent off the regular price of $8.50 for 8.5 oz.)

Help for “soccer-mom” upset stomach

I never experienced heartburn until I had kids. Getting my three busy boys to and from school plus to soccer and baseball games means a lot of eating on the run and acid reflux. I’ve tried antacids and have cut back on triggers like spicy foods, but it hasn’t helped. What else can I do?

Sounds like your rate of eating may be to blame for your heartburn. New findings reveal that eating too fast raises the risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease by 20 percent. That’s because speed-eating relaxes the sphincter muscle in the throat that ordinarily blocks problem-causing stomach acids from rising into the esophagus. I know you’re strapped for time, but try to eat your food slowly whenever you can. Bringing portable fruit, nuts and sandwiches to games will allow you to chew thoroughly while enjoying your kids’ sporting events rather than gulping something down beforehand.