Keeping a written food log has long been known to help dieters make sure they’re not over doing it, but it turns out a photo log can have the same effect. According to a University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers, dieters who took pictures of their meals right before they ate them made leaner, healthier food choices. You can do the same. In fact, you make it social by using your Smartphone to share your meals with other dieters online by forming your own online diet support group.

Halloween is the start of the difficult diet season for me. Not only are the holidays filled with yummy fattening treats, but its cold which leads me to want to eat comfort food and move less. However, you can allow yourself a few treats as long as you do so in moderation. If Halloween is a challenge to you, check out the resent issue of Women’s Health Magazine that lists a variety of candy in 100 calorie equivalents. The list includes:

• 13 1/3 Candy Corn
• 28 M&M’s
• 60 Smarties
• 2 Twix Minis
• 1 1/4 Snickers Fun Size
• 4 1/2 Tootsie Roll Midges

Nothing does a diet in faster than the monthly cravings that come with PMS. For many women the need for chocolate and simple carbs (sugar and refined foods) are too much to withstand. But by giving in a woman can undo all the work she’s done to lose weight.

However there may be a cure. Health experts suggest that the cravings are due in part to changes in hormones and its impact on insulin. In essence, the body craves fuel. The treatment is to have more complex carbs and fiber. This involves switching out the white breads and pastas with whole grains. Fruits and veggies are also high in fiber and offer some sweetness to help curb the sweet tooth.

I know this is easier said than done. But the goal is to not worry about losing weight during the menstrual cycle, but instead to try not to gain weight. So you can indulge a little bit. In may case, I’m trying the complex carb option, but I still have my daily dose of dark chocolate. Some things I just can’t give up.

One of the most difficult aspects of weight loss is dealing with being hungry when its not time to eat. This is often referred to as having the “munchies”. The munchies can completely ruin a diet by adding extra calories. Even just a few calories here and there can add up to gaining instead of losing weight. Here are some tips to get those munchies under control:

1) Choose a 5-6 meal a day diet. This isn’t 5-6 full meals. Its 3 average to small meals and 2-3 healthy snacks. By eating less more frequently you can stave off hunger, keep your blood sugar levels and energy at an even keel, and avoid over doing it. The snacks should be healthy such as a handful of almonds, an apple with cheese, or veggies with  hummus or low calorie dip. My last snack of the day I like to have air-popped popcorn with spray butter (ie Pam) and a popcorn seasoning (it does have lots of salt so use sparingly). Popcorn has lots of fiber and is filling.

2) Know your worst times of day for munchies to attack. For me between 3-5 pm and after 8 are when I really want to eat. By knowing these times are hard, I can make plans to manage the munchies by planning a snack (see #1) or keeping busy (see #3). It also help to figure out if you’re really hungry or just bored. Eating is used to treat all sorts of moods (depression, boredom, etc) and hunger may not be involved at all.

3) Distract yourself. Many see a failure to manage weight as an inability to focus and maintain will power. But telling yourself over and over again not to eat when you want to eat won’t help. You’re still focused on eating and feeling hungry even if you are able to talk yourself out of eating. I find that my best days are usually busy ones. So distract yourself with errands, hobbies, work and other activities during your peak munchie hours.

4) Drink water or another non-calorie liquid. Water is the best as it can fill you up and has no calories or other “bad” stuff. You can have a diet soda but they have salt so limit yourself to one. You can also choose tea or coffee (watch out for the cream and sugar as you don’t want to defeat the purpose), or a broth.

5) Chew on sugar-free gum or suck on a sugar-free hard candy.  This provides the sensation of eating without all the calories.

The munchies are manageable it you know when they’re most likely to attack and have a plan to combat them. Using one or more of the options above should help you avoid giving into the muchies.

If you have other ideas for beating the munchies, please share you idea in the comment section.

My kids are very picky eaters. They won’t eat tomatoes (except spaghetti sauce and ketchup) or beans…unless I hide them in the food. This chili recipe uses pureed tomatoes and black beans which not only makes it edible by my kids, but it makes it thick and yummy.

This recipe is healthy and tastes great. Its adapted from the Chili recipe in the Abs Diet by David Zinczenko.

1 pound ground turkey or lean beef

1 sm onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

2 cans  (14 oz each) diced tomatos

2 cans (15 oz each) black beans rinsed and drained

2 cans (14 oz each) whole-kernel corn

1/2 cup water (you can add more depending on your desired thickness)

Spices:

2 tbsp  all-purpose whole wheat flour

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tbsp chili powder (or more to taste)

1/4 tsp red pepper (cayenne) (or more to taste)

1 tsp ground cumin

In a large pot, brown the ground meat until done and drain. Add onion and garlic to the pan and cook until soft.  Puree the tomatoes and black beans together. Add the bean/tomato mixture and all the other ingrediants to the meat and onions.

Makes 8 servings (4 can be frozen for a later meal)

A great option is to serve the chili over brown rice.

Maybe you know what you want to do, but don’t know the resources to make it happen. YouGoDo.com allows you to type in the activity you want and it will give a list of resources in the country you’ve selected.

To learn more visit YouGoDo.com

• Ride Bikes: Cycling for 30 minutes can burn up to 477 calories!
• Bowling: 60 minutes of bowling can burn 205 calories. Plus because of the weight of the ball and balance required, it also works your core (abs).
• Dancing: Put on your favorite tunes and boogie down to burn up to 478 calories and hour.
• Frisbee: Tossing the frisbee can burn 205 calories an hour.
• Roller skating: My first skates had metal wheels (golly I’m old). My next pair had blue wheels. Now I have inline skates and can burn over 400 calories an hour!

Of course the number of calories you burn will also depend on how hard you work at the activity. But if you don’t think about the work, and just focus on having fun, then you shouldn’t have any problem burning and playing!

Did you know that you actually burn calories all the time? Even just sitting (I burn about 71 calories an hour by sitting).

Of course, you won’t be fit by sitting. The point is that all activity including sleep burn calories. Brushing your teeth? You’re burning calories. Mopping the floor? You’re burning calories. Cooking dinner? You’re burning calories.

Over at HealthStatus.com you can calculate how many calories you burn based on your weight, activity (exercise and daily routine) and duration of activity.

As much as possible you want to stay away from Trans Fats (hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil, and vegetable shortening), Saturated fat that includes animal fat and tropical oils (Coconut, Palm and Palm Kernel oils). These are bad because they increase the cholesterol that can lead to heart disease.  Its like eating wax. In fact, hydrogenating oil was first done to make cheap candles!

So what’s on the list of fats that are okay to eat? Monounsaturated fats (olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and seeds), polyunsaturated fat (Vegetable oils, safflower, corn, sunflower, soy and cottonseed oils, nuts and seeds) and Omega-3 fatty acids (Fatty, cold-water fish like salmon mackerel and herring, flax-seeds, flax oil and walnuts).

An increase in concern over what we eat has created healthier choices in foods that contain fat. Nevertheless, many food companies are sneaky and aren’t always completely upfront in their labeling. For example a product might say it has no trans fats, but it will have tropical oils. So read labels carefully.