GeekSugar

iPhone App You Need (If You're Rattling Right Now): CoffeeNut

GeekSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:00:31 PDT

I love graphs, I love statistics, and I loooove coffee. I do want to know how much I drink coffee and spend on it - especially when, late morning, I'm vibrating in my office chair and typing and talking extremely fast.

Welcome to my life CoffeeNut (just $1 at the App Store). Please tell me to slow down.

What to Do With Extra Gifted Toffee

Anna Monette Roberts — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:20:12 PST

Neighbors, friends, and families exchange numerous sweets over the holidays, and it's not uncommon to end up with multiples of the same dessert - especially toffee. Because toffee contains butter, which eventually spoils, and nuts, which go rancid after a few months, you will want to eat your toffee up by Valentine's Day. Here are five things you can do with toffee, so you don't grow bored of eating it!

Crumble the toffee pieces on top of buttercream frosted cakes or cupcakes.
Liven up a classic brownie recipe by mixing in toffee bits instead of chocolate chips in the batter
Make oatmeal, coconut, and toffee cookies.
Top your coffee or hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkle with toffee.
Freeze the toffee for up to four months in an air-tight zip-lock bag. The toffee might soften up over time, but the nuts and butter will maintain their freshness if kept frozen.

Ever had the problem of too much toffee bark? Tell us what you did with it.

Source: Flickr User Noema PÃ©rez

Healthy Nibbles For Holiday Snacking

Heather Dale — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:51:37 PST

It's inevitable that the snack table is one of the most popular socializing zones in the house during the holiday season. Due to their close proximity to the television, treat-filled coffee tables are prime targets for unconscious nibbling - and who doesn't like snacking while watching a sporting event or a favorite Christmas movie? This year, try removing the bowls of candies and chocolates and replacing them with healthier snack options. Here are some of my favorites that are just as tasty, and your guests won't even know the difference!

4 Surprising Things You Don't Know about Calories

Prevention — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:12:55 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Only 12 percent of Americans can estimate the calories they eat in a day! Find out why we're so clueless and get easy ways to stop calorie confusion.
By Mara Betsch, Prevention

You know what calories are, and you probably know that if you eat too many, you’ll gain weight. But do you know how many are in your favorite deli sandwich? Or how many calories you should really eat each day? Most Americans don’t. Only 12% can accurately estimate the number of calories they should consume in a day someone their age, height, weight, and physical activity, according to a 2010 survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation. So what is it about calories that keeps us baffled? Here are 8 reasons you’re confused about calories and the simple steps that will help you do the math.

8 Healthy Foods That Help Fight Disease

1. Portions Sizes Are Out of Control
You’ve all heard about the rapidly expanding serving sizes of restaurant and fast food portions, but just how bad are they? Portions sizes in restaurants may contain double or triple the calories of home-cooked meals, and studies show eating out is associated with a higher BMI. Unfortunately, those portions affect our waistlines. When there’s more food on the plate, people eat more-up to 30% more, according to an analysis of several studies.

Stop the confusion: Use this cheat sheet of portion sizes. We know it’s hard to look at your plate as decks of cards, tennis balls, and all the other, so start by measuring out your food servings at home and take a good look at what a half-cup of pasta looks like. Until the serving sizes are engrained in your brain, when dining out, aim to eat half of your meal, saving the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Comfort Food That’s Actually Good for You

2. Serving Sizes Are Deceiving
"There really aren’t standard serving sizes for packaged foods, which makes them confusing," explains Elisa Zied, RD, author Nutrition at Your Fingertips. She gives the example of cereal. A standard serving size of breakfast cereal is approximately 50 g, but depending on the cereal, that could mean a cup and a half of flakes or half a cup of heartier granola. Depending on the type of cereal you’re eating, just eyeing how much you put in the bowl, like most people do, can lead to inaccurate calorie counts.

Not only that, but larger-than-life snack foods may seem like single servings even though they often contain two to three servings per packet. Buy a 16-ounce bottled Coca-Cola, and the nutrition label reads 100 calories . . . for one of the two servings in the bottle. Drink the whole thing, as many people do, and you’re really getting 200 calories. Eat the whole bag of Austin Zoo Animal Crackers, commonly found in office vending machines, and you’re getting 230 calories, nearly two servings, instead of just one.

Keep reading to learn even more about calories!

Could Changing Your Mood Be as Easy as Changing What You Eat?

Allure — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:08:25 PST

We're excited to present this story from our friends at Allure:

Turns out eating well won't just make you feel better in some abstract, "brown rice is healthy so I'll feel virtuous if I eat it" kind of a way. A diet that is specifically designed to reduce inflammation may boost your mood. Recently, inflammation has been implicated in nearly every physical woe, from blemishes to the biggies like heart disease and Alzheimer's. Here at Allure, we've reported on how anti-inflammatories benefit the skin: topical antioxidants, and certain foods and supplements may all reduce acne, signs of aging, and skin cancer. Now Dr. Andrew Weil, health guru and author of the new book, Spontaneous Happiness, argues that eating certain foods won't just make us look better; it could actually keep the blues away. "It looks as if depression is another manifestation of inflammation," says Weil. He outlines a diet that will suppress harmful inflammation throughout your body when you keep reading.

3 Easy Ways to Get More Key Nutrients

Shape — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:10:31 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

According to the most recent nutrition surveys, the majority of Americans fall short when it comes to hitting the recommended marks for the three most important food groups: fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Picture this: if you add up all the fruit and veggie servings the average American should have had over a lifetime that they did not eat, they would fill an entire football field. That’s a lot of missing nutrients!

If you tend to fall short of the targets, which are two daily servings of fruit, and three each for veggies and whole grains, start by focusing on adding one extra serving in each category per day. If you’re consistent, just these three changes can snowball into huge health benefits over time.

See how to get more nutrients in your diet after the break!

A Reader Recipe: No-Bake Chocolate Nut Clusters

Fit Community — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:56:56 PDT

If the thought of another fun-size piece of candy isn't appealing to you, whip up a batch of these no-bake chocolate clusters, which reader JuicyNoelle shared in our Healthy Recipe group.

In these No Bake Chocolate Nut Clusters I used a high quality cocoa and some walnuts to recreate a childhood favorite of mine (rich, caramel turtle clusters). I hope you enjoy their simplicity as much as I do.

Read the recipe after the break.

4 Surprising Diet Disasters

Prevention — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:15:23 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

The surprising ways you turn healthy foods into diet disasters
By Nancy Rones, Prevention

1. Your marinades pack a big fat punch
You're wise to choose skinless grilled chicken, but be careful with condiments. Barbecue sauce is filled with sugar, which equals calories (about 94 per 1/4 cup).

The healthy move
Ditch the high-sugar sauce and instead spice up chicken by marinating it with cayenne red-pepper sauce, or mix hot sauce with some fat-free yogurt and smear it on your sandwich for buffalo-inspired flavor. Another way to punch up the taste and nutrient power of grilled chicken sandwiches and turkey burgers: Try a topping of homemade slaw. Bagged shredded cabbage makes a convenient base; toss it with flavored vinegar or fat-free mayo and a little mustard. At 11 calories per 1/2 cup, raw cabbage offers filling fiber and vitamins such as C and B6, and as a cruciferous veggie, it contains cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Swap These Foods to Lose Weight Fast!

2. Your coffee is anything but "regular"
Sipping coffee or tea plain isn't the problem. In fact, both beverages have been linked to a number of health benefits, including a lower risk of heart disease and cancer. A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry also suggests that drinking coffee may reduce your chances of type 2 diabetes. But major calories and saturated fat come with added ingredients such as sugary syrups, honey, whipped cream, and whole milk (1 percent and percent aren't much better). For about the same 450 calories in a large Iced Mocha Raspberry Latte at Dunkin' Donuts, for instance, you can eat two slices of Pizza Hut's hand-tossed pepperoni pizza. And while honey may seem like a natural, healthier alternative to sugar, the fact is it has 21 calories per teaspoon versus sugar's 16.

The healthy move
For a low-cal, lower-fat drink that feels like a sweet treat, choose coffee beans in tempting flavors such as chocolate almond, hazelnut, or white chocolate, rather than using syrupy mix-ins after brewing, and lighten your coffee with fat-free milk. Teas, too, come in sweet vanilla, berry, and tropical fruit blends. And whether you use Splenda, sugar, or honey in your beverages, limit yourself to about a teaspoon.

Sneaky Names of Sugar on Your Food Labels

Make sure you're not committing the other two disaster when you read more!

Foods That Send Metabolism Soaring

Prevention — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:21:01 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Power up your fat-burning engine with every bite!
Excerpted from The Active Calorie Diet book by Leslie Bonci, R.D.

A calorie is a calorie, and cutting them is the best way to lose weight, right? Not so fast. New research shows that eating certain types of foods can rev your metabolism, curb your appetite, and help you drop more pounds than others. The Active Calorie Diet, an eating plan based on this research, explains how some foods take more work to eat so you burn more calories during digestion. In fact, just the act of chewing foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean cuts of meat can increase your calorie burn by up to 30 percent!

In this diet plan, foods are broken down into four types of "active calories" — chewy foods, hearty foods, energizing foods, and warming foods. Here's how each one encourages your body to burn more calories.

Burn More Calories By Eating

Chewy Foods (lean meats, nuts, whole fruits and vegetables)
These calories make your body work right off the fork. To maximize the chew factor, choose food in its most "whole" state — apples instead of applesauce, for instance. High-protein foods really are your best ally in the Active Calorie Diet because they take more work to chew and longer to leave your stomach so you take more time eating—and have more time to register that you're full.

Hearty Foods (fruits, vegetables, brown rice, whole grains and cereals)
In addition to being chewy, these active calories are packed with fiber, so they take up more room in your belly (compared to other foods with the same number of calories), and leave less room for second helpings. Foods that take more work to chew literally make your mouth work harder (ramping calorie burn by 10 percent!) and increase the thermic effect of food, the calorie-burn bump we get from eating and digesting any given type of food.

Tasty Ways to Get More Fiber

Energizing Foods (coffee, black and green tea, dark chocolate)
You can get metabolism-boosting caffeine in coffee and black tea; just be careful not to load them up with milk, cream, or sugar. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so your daily java or black tea can boost your metabolism by 5 to 8 percent - about 80 to 128 calories a day. Green tea doesn't have much caffeine but it does contain catechins, an antioxidant that raises resting metabolism by 4 percent (about 80 calories a day). Dark chocolate contains both catechins and caffeine, but stick to one ounce per day to limit fat and calories.

8 Secrets for All-Day Energy

More foodie tips to rev your metabolism after the break.

Decorating With My Purple Armchairs!

Julia Walsh — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:56:18 PDT

Last year, my mother sent me this set of purple Louis XV armchairs of hers, from the house that I grew up in, and I'm absolutely in love with them! I wasn't sure quite where to put them at first, but once I saw the rich color against my peacock blue walls, they were home.

The next task was to add more purple to the room to create a color theme. I began brainstorming how to decorate with purple way back in October, but I'm finally getting around to it now. I added a purple glass candelabra she'd also sent to the coffee table, which adds a little shine as well as color. Then I discovered this beautiful orchid at Lowe's; it adds much-needed height to the table, and the color coordinates perfectly. It won't be in bloom forever, of course, especially with my black thumb, so I may need to find another solution or replace it - have any ideas for accessories?

My generous mother also sent me two yards of the fabric used on the chair on the left, lucky me! The fabric is an out-of-print Manuel Canovas fabric, which cost more than $200 a yard, so it's a godsend that she still has some. My sofa is in dire need of some throw pillows, so I'm having a few square ones made from that fabric with basic piping.

Before there was purple, the room had a strong orange/persimmon color theme going. It turns out that I love these three hues together! (See the pillow on the chair? Looks good, right?) I actually have a few pieces of artwork with orange tones, and one more at the frame shop, so it's looking good so far. But I'm also thinking that I should break up the purple patterned pillows on the sofa with one or two solid orange ones. Perhaps velvet fabric. Do you have any favorite resources for fabric? Any suggestions?

Y'all probably think I'm absolutely nuts to use so much color! But the rest of the furnishings are neutral, including a linen sofa, Lucite nesting tables, a glass and chrome coffee table, and my vintage black leather wing chair. I don't usually go crazy for bold patterns, but color does speak to me.

Have any of you decorated with a similar shade of purple? Do you know of any accessories I should pick up for this room? Have you ever had pillows made? Let's chat in the comments below! I'd love to hear about your experiences with decorating with color and about what decorating projects you're working on!