Choose a diet you enjoy, or it won't stick

October 07, 2008

The You Docs

Raw food? Weight Watchers? South Beach? If diet indecision has you still eating doughnuts for breakfast, non-whole-wheat pizza for lunch and vowing to pick a program "next week," then you need to know this: It doesn't matter which diet you choose, as long as you enjoy it.

When it comes to reaching your weight goals, it is your ability to persist and enjoy the journey that matters. If your job requires four-night-a-week client dinners, ultra-low-fat options might be hard to find. But it's not hard to find a diet in which you add healthy omega-3 fats, such as salmon, mahi mahi or halibut, to your life.

If you don't know how to turn on an oven, choose something that lets you rely on prepared foods. Also, consider whether you'll feel deprived if the diet eliminates a food group (although we don't recommend it, unless you consider Nilla Wafers and french fries to be food groups).

So avoid diet paralysis and pick a program with a combination of balanced eating habits, foods you like and regular exercise (of course, we're partial to the You Diet – our easy and tasty version of Mediterranean remade for American and Canadian tastes), and you'll triumph in the pursuit of a healthy waist size, for life.

Younger by the mouthful: It's that time of year when the leaves – and the veggies on your plate – turn vibrant colours.

And that's a good thing, because yellow-orange veggies – including carrots, sweet potatoes and squash – are chock full of carotenoids.

Why care about carotenoids? These good-for-you nutrients fight the DNA damage that can make your body old (or sick) before its time.

Whether you spend your life loafing on the Riviera or struggling up the ladder, your DNA accumulates damage. But your DNA does it frequently when it gets copied to create a new cell. It's like when you make a copy of a copy of a copy – little flaws and imperfections start to show up. Same thing can happen with your DNA, which can lead to that ultimate cell-replication error: cancer.

Researchers suspect that carotenoids may help protect against the kind of DNA damage that happens with age. It's one more way that taking good care of your tastebuds, with the season's peak produce, also takes the best care of your body.

go nuts on diabetes: As evidenced by snake charmers and Survivor contestants, the world has all kinds of nuts. And they – the kind you eat – can do far more than satisfy a midafternoon snack attack.

Large studies have shown that one ounce of nuts a day decreases the incidence of heart disease by 20 per cent to 60 per cent.

And newer research has found that eating a handful of nuts, or a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, five times a week can lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes. That's huge, because more than 2 million Canadians have diabetes.

But nuts have their own hierarchy (and we're not talking about who gets voted off the island). You want them to be raw, fresh and unsalted since nuts lose up to 15 per cent of their healthy oils when they're roasted. Here's our pecking order, from best to worst:

Fresh;

Freshly toasted or dry roasted (in your oven: roast at 350F for nine minutes);

Roasted in their own fat and salted (packaged).

To fend off diabetes, you need to keep your waist size and belly fat minimal, so if you spread peanut butter on your whole-wheat bagel, have just half the bagel. If you're looking for an afternoon pick-me-up, replace your snack with nuts.

Think zinc: If you have less energy at the end of your workout than a solar panel in the rain forest, you could be in need of zinc.

It helps your body get rid of excess carbon dioxide. If you're low on the nutrient, you may tire more quickly. There's evidence that men who get enough zinc do much better on exercise tests (not involving the bedroom, but some reported that, too) than men who are low on the mineral.

Zinc also helps your muscles process oxygen into energy, and maintain your stamina, while you're sweating it out. And zinc helps you maintain a healthy immune system, speeds wound healing and helps enzymes keep your body running smoothly.

Aim for at least 15 mg of zinc per day from food and supplements – that's the amount in most multivitamins, so if you faithfully take one, you're set. However, like everything from single-malt scotch to dark chocolate, too much isn't good. In zinc's case, it actually can make you sick: Don't exceed 30 mg per day.

But since zinc-rich foods only average about 2 mg, you can safely eat your limit with sources such as crab, turkey, chicken, beans, yogurt and, in smaller amounts, sunflower seeds and almonds.

open wide: New research has found that when the economy is bad, you take it in the teeth, putting dental care at the bottom of your to-do list (even if you have dental insurance!).

And that can drag down the rest of your body. Brushing and flossing daily, and having your teeth regularly cleaned, greatly reduce the risk of gum disease which has been linked to health issues from heart attacks to erectile dysfunction.

Here's why: We think gum-invading bacteria may trigger an immune response that promotes inflammation and arterial hardening throughout your whole body, which restricts blood flow.

A professional cleaning once or twice a year is ideal. But you can't just leave flossing to the pros (and they know if you lie about it, by the way). Flossing has the ability to decrease inflammation in your gums and subsequently in your arteries, so it will help you keep your heart pumping and your sex life thriving.

Oh, and it keeps your teeth intact, too. So don't follow the economic trend – pick up the phone and dial your dentist.