That's Fit

The almighty apple is always named as a great anywhere, anytime snack. Low in calories and high in fiber, you just can't go wrong with apples, say the nutrition experts at RealAge, especially if you want to lose weight.

Get your apple slicer ready -- you'll want to prepare a plate full of apple slices before your meals as you battle the bulge. Eating a bit of high-fiber food -- aha, the apple -- before each meal is a sure weight loss booster. That's what researchers say. In a study of women who ate fruit before meals and women who didn't, the fruit group lost more weight, even when following the same reduced-calorie diet as their non-fruit counterparts. Make sure you choose a fruit high in water content for best results -- like, yes, the apple.

And as you grab for that slicer, leave your peeler tucked away. If you skin your apple, you'll be losing some pretty good stuff, like cancer-fighting compounds called triterpenoids.

Does being on a diet mean never eating out? Cooking your own meals is one really good way to keep track of what's going into your food -- and your belly. But let's be realistic here -- who wants to cook every night of the week? I'm guessing all of us eat out from time to time.

Eating out doesn't have to spell diet disaster though -- Prevention Magazine recently put together a list of the best foods to nosh on when you're out on the town:

• If you're at an Asian restaurant ... order a shrimp stir-fry
• If you're at an Indian restaurant ... order Chicken Tikka
• If you're at a Seafood restaurant ... order grilled fish with lemon
• If you're at an Italian restaurant ... order pasta alla marinara

Click here for more awesome restaurant rules ... and let us know if you have any of your own.

We always tell 5-year-old Danny to slow down and chew his food -- he's a pro at stuffing loads of grub in his mouth and then struggling to swallow it down. Our only real goal for this young boy is that he doesn't choke or heave his hearty helpings back onto his dinner plate. It seems we might also be teaching him how to to stay slim and trim.

Longer meal times and thorough chewing tend to decrease the amount of food eaten and lead to greater fullness and satisfaction for the older-than-Danny healthy female population. This, from a first-ever study on the topic of slower eating, concluding that smaller bites, pausing between bites, and chewing thoroughly is a key slim-down strategy.

So, what qualifies as slow? While I don't have a definite time frame to share, I do know that the meals during study were 21 minutes longer than quick meals. I also know that the female participants ate about 67 fewer calories and reported feeling much more satiated after eating slowly. Great news, which hopefully will transfer to other populations, like men and obese folks.

Dr. Oz, Oprah's much-loved health guru, recently gave a piece of advice that is raising some eyebrows. The influential doc recommends eating whole grain bread topped with extra virgin olive oil before meals to fill you up and keep you from overeating. Apparently it slows the passage of food.

Over at Celebrity Diet Doctor, they're weighing in on this piece of advice. The verdict? Filling up on something that is high in calories (olive oil) before a meal is no way to lose weight. Instead, fill up on something low in calories, like a piece of fruit or some veggies and you'll not only eat less, but your pre-meal meal won't pack much of a calorie impact.

Your thoughts?

Here at That's Fit, we're constantly telling you what we think about things, but sometimes it's nice to know what you think. So from time to time, we'll ask you a question. Don't be afraid to speak up -- we love feedback.

Over at AOL Health's Men's Fitness Center, they're talking hunger -- as in, how to ease it or avoid it and still lose weight. Surprisingly, one of the top tips for avoiding hunger is eating lots. In fact, experts recommend that you eat three meals and three good snacks a day. It doesn't take a math whiz to figure it out -- this means that you should be eating six times a day.

How much of a stretch is this for you? We're wondering ...

Keeping track of what you eat is one of the simplest ways you can reduce your caloric intake. But if you're like me, you're probably just too darn busy (or lazy) to make note of everything you put in your mouth.

A simple fix? Get your camera and take a photo of what you're eating. That way, you have visual proof of just how much you're stuffing down your throat, and facing the truth is the first step to changing your habits. Becoming your own 'Food Photographer' can really work, according to this article from The Daily Mail. In studies, participants noted that keeping track of what they ate in pictures made them think more carefully about their food and portion choices.

Luckily, you don't need to lug around your expensive camera to do this either -- with the advent of super-convenient camera phones, your own visual food diary is only a click away.

Yes, I'm still trying to increase the amount of beans we eat, as I had mentioned when I posted the polenta and butter bean recipe earlier this month. We love beans, don't get me wrong. What we are finding hard is summertime bean dishes.

It's easy in the wintertime to do a one-pot hearty bean stew or something of the sort, but when we crave grilled food, it isn't as easy to serve up beans with no meat.

This recipe for Chick pea and black bean salad is summery enough to steer us away from our grill once in a while (although I'm sure tempted to serve it alongside a medium-rare grass-fed beef burger). It calls for tomatoes, red and green peppers, onions and other bounty we are getting from our CSA Farm share right now, so that makes it a fresh and nutritious choice.

I've often said that I could be a vegetarian. While I like meat, I just don't crave it. And the health and ethical reasons for going veg are tempting. Yet, knowing everything that I know, I still haven't made the leap. But I do cut down on my family's overall meat intake. For example, this week we only have three dinners that contain meat -- the rest of our dinners will be vegetarian. And, when I do purchase meat, I make sure it's lean.

John's Hopkins has some good tips on how to choose lean meats. Their picks for the leanest choices in each category are:

• Beef: Round steaks, roasts, top loin, top sirloin, chuck shoulder, arm roasts, ground round, and ground sirloin (at least 90% lean).
• Poultry. Chicken, turkey, and Cornish hen without skin.
• Pork. Tenderloin, center loin, pork loin, sausage with 1 gram of fat per ounce or less, and Canadian bacon.
• Lamb and Veal. Chop or roast.
• Sandwich meats. Lean turkey and lean ham.

Creating a relaxing mood at the dinner table is half the battle when it comes to relieving tension and connecting to each other as a family, but it's often easier said than done. The key to setting any kind of mood is details details details! Here are 4 tips for getting a mellow mood off and running, or rather, relaxing at your next meal:

• Minimize background noise Namely the TV as it 's distracting and can even help spark disagreements.
• Set the mood Depending on your family the options are endless -- try setting up nice matching plates and a pretty centerpiece, light candles, have dinner out on the porch or deck, or even plan a picnic-style meal on the floor on pillows and blankets. Whatever will get everyone the most comfortable and relaxed.
• Get in the right mindset Take a moment before the start of the meal (and encourage everyone else to do the same) to clear your mind of the day's clutter and focus on the positives in the food and family around the table.
• Make cleanup a family affair Everybody should chip in when it comes to cleaning up, even little kids can help bring their dishes into the kitchen when the meal is over.

Many studies show that people who eat breakfast have a better chance of losing weight. When you consume a balanced breakfast including foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, you're fueling your body with slow-burning foods that will keep you energized throughout the day. In addition, healthful breakfast choices will help you feel full longer.

A new study narrows down the healthful breakfast recommendations. The study found that dieters who ate two eggs for breakfast had better weight control than those who ate bagels. (The overall calorie intake of all study subjects was controlled.) In detail, those who ate eggs lost 65% more weight, had 61% greater reduction in BMI, and had higher energy levels.

It's important to note that the study was funded by the Egg Nutrition Center. I have to wonder what the results would be if the non-egg eaters in the study had eaten something more nutritious than a bagel (the report doesn't specify if the bagels were whole grain and if they were topped with anything).

If you've been eating (or feeding your kids) oatmeal for breakfast with the understanding that it's one of the healthiest choices you can make, you need to rethink your strategy.

While oatmeal can provide good nutrients, a recent study showed that kids who only ate instant oatmeal for breakfast experienced increased appetites and calorie consumption throughout the day. In fact, when compared to having a vegetable omelet and fruit, oatmeal increased appetite and calorie consumption by more than 80%. Steel-cut oats didn't have as drastic an effect as instant oatmeal, however.

The researchers attributed their findings to fluctuations in blood sugar resulting from a meal of processed grain products. Adding some protein at breakfast is essential in keeping blood sugar (and appetites) from fluctuating wildly throughout the day.

I'm thinking back to the dinner I had last night. I'm visualizing it: Spinach lettuce, red grapes, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, topped with salmon. No dressing. Just a bowl full of healthy stuff, all mixed together, simply scrumptious.

This visualization exercise is intended to cause me to eat fewer calories today. Not sure it's working. I think it's making me hungry instead.

According to the August issue of The Oprah Magazine, the findings of a study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior (2008) reveal that women who wrote a detailed description of their last meal (it happened to be lunch for this study) ate fewer cookies than those who didn't. OK, so maybe I should have written down my dinner items. No. I don't think that would have worked any better. Obviously, for some, journaling past meals does work. Might want to try it and see if it works for you.

Travelling this summer? Anticipating jet lag? You might be surprised to hear that new research suggests that a great way to cure jet lag is by skipping meals

Besides the different things we do and wear from season to season, the foods we eat vary dramatically as well. The snow keeps hearty stews on the stove and hot drinks in our hands. The summer however, propels us to brew ice cold tea and lighten up a little at mealtime. I found a recipe I like a lot from the book Delicious Disney, The Disney Chefs with Pam Brandon.

The Field Greens Salad with Grilled Salmon just feels right this time of year. It's a delicious dish you can gobble up tonight and not pay the price in your swimsuit tomorrow. I've placed it on page 38 of my recipe book on Fitzness.com. Enjoy!