en Bard ber 2011
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Pass the turkey: healthy changes to your Thanksgiving meal By Elisabeth Filmer ’14 Staff Writer That special time of year is quickly approaching: the holiday season! What better way to kick it off then with the gathering of loved ones and a delicious meal on Thanksgiving? There is more to the holiday than you think…more calories that is. According to David Zinczenko, author of the popular Eat This, Not That series and editor of Men’s Health Magazine, the average American eats an astonishing 600 calories more than usual per day during the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year’s). Alarmingly, all those extra calories translate into a six pound weight gain in a short amount of time. The average American is supposed to consume around 2,000 calories and 30-50 grams of fat per day. However, after extensive research, David Zinczenko concluded that the
average American consumes 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat just on Thanksgiving. Do the math: 3,500 calories is the equivalent to one pound of fat gain. If you eat the average 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving, you can expect to gain at least a pound (probably more) by black Friday. But have no fear, because there are easy ways to make Thanksgiving a wholesome, healthy holiday. You don’t have to give up your favorite treats to get the holiday started off right. There are tips and simple swaps that can help you enjoy a healthier Thanksgiving. Let’s get straight to the good stuff: pie. Just thinking about the smell of sweet fruits and spices cooking is mouthwatering, not to mention the light, flaky crust associated with pie. Pie is a Thanksgiving classic. Unfortunately for pie lovers, the holiday staple can have disastrous effects on efforts to maintain healthy
habits. Men’s Health Magazine reports that one slice of pecan pie has 450 calories, 21 grams of fat, and 70 grams of sugar per slice. That’s triple the amount of sugar that should be consumed in a day. Don’t want to give up your beloved pie? Don’t stress. Try replacing pecan pie with apple or pumpkin pie, and topping it with frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. These easy swaps will save you nearly 200 calories. Other easy swaps include trading out dark turkey meat (legs, wings) for white meat turkey (turkey breast) which will save you over 300 calories. Make stuffing healthier by cooking it in a dish instead of inside the turkey, where the bird’s fat melts and is absorbed into the stuffing while being cooked. When preparing mashed potatoes, ask whoever the cook is to use heavy cream instead of whole milk to prepare them, which will cut 168 calories off the side-dish, according
to Shape Magazine. Replace starchy, sugary, and gluttonous corn bread and butter with an equally delicious dinner roll with butter. This simple swap will result in a reduction of 70 calories, according to Shape Magazine. These food substitutions are all super convenient, and I guarantee that you will not even miss the excess calories, fat, sugar, and carbs associated with their less healthy counterparts. Plus, you can take comfort in knowing that if you take part in these simple changes, your Thanksgiving meal will be about 1,198 calories! Don’t think that these swaps will make it on to your dinner table come Thanksgiving Day? Relax. While swapping out high calorie foods for their lower calorie, equally delicious counterparts is the easiest way to cut calories, exercise can be a very effective tool in negating the calories consumed on an overindulgent holiday. Cardio activity is highly
effective and burns calories. To get the most out of your Thanksgiving day cardio session, try interval training: alternating periods of quick, high intensity cardio for a minute or two and then a minute long recovering period. Combined with strength training, your metabolism will be revved all day, so no matter how much you eat, you’ll burn off some of the calories without any extra efforts. Check popular healthyliving websites for workout moves. Around the holiday season especially, magazines will partner with experts in diet and fitness to help readers maintain their healthy lifestyles during the holiday season. For example, Shape Magazine partnered with Gold’s Gym to compile a fitness routine to help readers stay healthy during the holidays. Check it out at www.goldsgym.com and keep these healthy tips in mind while enjoying the fun associated with this time of year.
The first step to preventing depression is only as far as your coffee pot
How the consumption of caffeine can help reduce your chances of experiencing symptoms of depression By Urooba Niazami ’12 Staff Writer
Depression is a severe condition that affects twice as many women as men in the United States. Many people consult therapists, psychiatrists, and try homeopathic remedies to relieve the severe condition. Symptoms of depression range from difficulty working, sleeping, extreme sadness, loss of energy, fatigue, and hopelessness. Some people may experience a few of the symptoms or, those with chronic depression, can experience a combination of them.
According to Rick Nauert, Ph.D., since the medical field has seen an increase in depression-related suicides, the health sector has made it a top priority to expand research to prevent these occurrences. This growing epidemic affects nearly one of every five U.S. women during their life. In new clinical studies, officials and investigators focused their attention on the consumption of caffeine and caffeinated beverages in women. Approximately 50,739 women in the U.S. participated in a national health study. These women had an average age of 63 and showed no signs
of depression in 1996. They were consulted until mid2006. The researchers began the extensive study with surveys and questionnaires completed between May 1980 and April 2004. Since the past 12 months, the study measured caffeine consumption and the frequency that soft drinks, carbonated beverages, nonherbal tea, low-calorie caffeinated drinks, chocolate, and caffeinated coffee were consumed by the participants. After the research was completed, researchers discovered that there was a correlation between the decreased risk, about 20
percent, for depression among women who consumed four or more cups of caffeinated drinks a day. There was a 15 percent correlation in the decrease in those who drank two to three cups. However, participants who consumed decaffeinated coffee saw no decrease in the risk of depression. According to Michel Lucas, Ph.D. from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, “In this large prospective cohort of older women free of clinical depression or severe depressive symptoms at baseline, risk of depression decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing
consumption of caffeinated coffee.” However, researchers note that the study “cannot prove that caffeine or caffeinated coffee reduces the risk of depression but only suggests the possibility of such a protective effect.” Therefore, officials and researchers are looking forward to further investigating the results of the study, in order to ultimately determine if consumption of caffeinated coffee could lead to the treatment or possible prevention of depression in women and possibly men in the near future.
Cartoon by Kendall Harman