That's Fit

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?

Love the rich, flavourful, fresh cuisine of Greece and Italy? Eat up! Not only is the Mediterranean diet effective and recommended by medical professionals, but a recent study shows that it protects against all major chronic diseases, according to this article from the Daily Mail.

That's a pretty bold claim, but it seems to be legit. Researchers in the UK analyzed data from 12 different studies worldwide that took place over time periods of up to 18 years and found that those who followed a Mediterranean diet closely had a significantly longer lifespan and a lower risk of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease.

The Mediterranean diet is high in nuts, fish, whole grains, healthy fats, fresh fruits and veggies and even red wine in moderation. To find out how you can incorporate it into your diet, click here.

I grew up in a big family, with big family-style meals. So now when I have a craving for something, it tends to be heavy comfort foods, like chicken and dumplings or my family's version of chicken noodle soup.

With some simple substitutions you can enjoy these comforting favorites and not feel guilty. Just take a look at your recipes and find opportunities for increasing the vegetable content, using healthy fats instead of not-so-healthy versions (e.g. olive oil instead of butter), using whole grains instead of refined versions (e.g. whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose or brown rice instead of white) and using leaner meats instead of fattier versions (e.g. ground turkey instead of hamburger). Take a look at how Crabby McSlacker made the quintessential comfort food -- meatloaf and mashed potatoes -- a little more on the healthy side.

Eating Well has a whole list of comfort foods made healthier. Here are some of Eating Well's recipes that I plan to try:

• Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes
• Turkey Pot Pie
• Creamed Spinach
• Chewy Chocolate Brownies

Time for another installment of Sample-6, where I offer an easy combination of meals and healthy snacks. In case you haven't heard, eating 5 to 6 small, healthy snacks/meals per day is the optimal way to increase your metabolism and lose fat through diet alone. What happened to 3 squares, you may be wondering? Gone the way of the dinosaurs.

With that, here's a great Sample-6:

BREAKFAST: Bowl of steel-cut oats; 1tbsp of almond or all-natural peanut butter; 1 glass of milk

MID-MORNING SNACK: Plain yogurt mixed with fresh berries; a handful of almonds

LUNCH: Tuna mixed with mashed avocado, olive oil and spinach, spread on toasted wholegrain bread

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK: Sliced cucumber, celery and peppers dipped in hummus

DINNER: Grilled salmon; steamed broccoli; small portion of brown rice

EVENING SNACK: 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese mixed with 1tsp of horseradish and a dash of pepper

For more great ideas for healthy snacks and meals, visit AOL Body by clicking here.

Having just recently written a piece on some alternative uses for olive oil (relieving constipation, cleaning household furniture, etc.), I figured it would be fitting to spend a little time talking about its more commonly known health benefits. In the process, I thought I'd also point out how many other oils measure up.

Flaxseed Oil: Good for salad dressing. Great source of ALA, a form of heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: How something can be EXTRA virgin is beyond me. Nevertheless, EVOO requires minimal processing and contains high levels of the antioxidants known as polyphenols. Very, very good for your heart.

Olive Oil: The more promiscuous cousin of EVOO is perfect for grilling, sauteing, and using in a pasta sauce. It's high in monounsaturated fats (good fats) and antioxidants, so it helps prevent the build-up of LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Olive oil is a great source of healthy fats, helping to lower cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular complications. However, a recent Men's Health article listed five alternative uses for this healthy kitchen staple, many of which may come as somewhat of a surprise.

1. Remove Paint From Your Skin. No longer do you have to deal with the putrid stench of paint thinner to wash that lavender wall paint off your hands. Evidently, olive oil's lubricant properties softens your skin and the paint itself, making it much easier to scrub away.

2. Ease Constipation. A doctor at the London Nutrition Clinic was quoted in the Men's Health article as saying that taking two tablespoons of olive oil will soften your stools and make your sit-down session a bit more tolerable (well, that's me paraphrasing what he said. His actual quote was far more charmingly British.)

3. Fight Bad Breath. Bacteria in your mouth is one of the main causes of raunchy breath. Rinsing once or twice daily with a tablespoon of olive oil will bind the bacteria together, helping to reduce the smell (and thus increasing your chances of finding a date for this weekend).

I have a child who loves salad. If fact, we often make whole meals out of salad topped with shrimp. My boy is happy when I add carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other sliced veggies on his salad, but if I even attempt to put a relatively healthy dressing on top he just about gags. He's a ranch dressing boy through and through. I'll keep offering him healthier choices, though.

After all, if you're eating a salad why add unnecessary calories with an unhealthy dressing? There are plenty of better alternatives that are every bit as tasty. Eating Light has several yummy salad dressing recipes to try:

• This Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing has only 38 calories and 3 grams of fat per serving (2 tablespoons).
• Each 2 tablespoon serving of this Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing has only 19 calories and 1 gram of fat.
• Tangy Herb and Horseradish Dressing has 46 calories and 4 grams of fat in each 2 tablespoon serving.
• Orange-Oregano Dressing has 27 calories and 2 grams of fat per 2 tablespoon serving.
• Don't be deceived by the higher fat and calories in Roasted Garlic Dressing. Most of the 154 calories and 14 grams of fat (in a 2 tablespoon serving) come from olive oil -- a good source of beneficial monounsaturated fat.
• There are only 19 calories and 1 gram of fat in this Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette. Plus, the tomatoes give you a healthy dose of lycopene!
  
• This Asian-style Sesame Tamari Vinaigrette has 37 calories and 2 grams of fat per 2 tablespoon serving.
  

Do you sometimes feel like your body is a living, breathing version of the Star Trek Enterprise; in that, you feel like you're always hearing someone frequently yelling out "We need more power!" No? Then maybe it's just me ... that's hearing voices. And sounding like a geek for referencing Star Trek. I'm officially a crazy nerd. Great. Anyway, the fact remains that there are times in just about everyone's day where a little boost is necessary. Sure, super-charged energy drinks are easy enough to find these days, but what you really need is something healthy to put wind back in your sail.

To help you along, I thought you might find the following list of ten "power foods" interesting. Including most or all of these foods into your diet should help keep some hop in your step throughout the busiest of days.

Here's what the folks at the Food Network suggest eating:

• Berries
• Salmon
• Tea
• Citrus
• Legumes
• Olive Oil
• Vegetables
• Nuts and Seeds
• Whole Grains
• Lean Proteins

If you're looking for even more options, visit our sister site, AOL Body, where you'll find a great list of diet-friendly foods that will not only give you a quick pick-me-up when you need it, but will also help you drop a few pounds in the process. Check out the full article by clicking here.

I recently got married and moved into a new house, which means I'm cooking in a new kitchen and am all inspired to start trying new recipes. In the cabinets of a healthy kitchen, one of the most common players is olive oil (love a good stir fry) but getting what you pay for is isn't as easy as it should be. Many stores have bottles of oil that have been sitting for ages on the shelf (which diminishes not only flavor but also antioxidant benefits) and some companies are even fraudulently blending in filler oils like sunflower or soybean oil. For the best, healthiest olive oil, follow these tips:

• Go for the smallest brands -- smaller growers almost always produce higher quality oil than mass producers.
• Keep your olive oil cool and dark, and look for brands packaged in dark bottles.
• Read the label carefully, intentionally vague statements like "imported from Italy" can be deceiving (it wasn't necessarily made in Italy).
• "Extra virgin" isn't necessarily the best. To be labeled extra virgin, olive oil must have an acidity of 0.8% or less, which isn't that hard to do. For really good oil, look for 0.5% or less.
  

I don't think there's a person out there who doesn't want flatter abs, and if you don't, that's probably because you already have washboard abs, and you should know that we are all insanely jealous of you. But seriously. Getting flat abs is hard, but there are a few steps that can help you get closer to your goal.

The first step? Eating well. According to AOL Body, you should add these items to your diet to shrink your belly:

• Almonds
• Avocado
• Chocolate -- the dark or semi-sweet kind
• Flax seed oil
• Macadamia nuts
• Natural peanut butter
• Olive oil
• Pistachios
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts

Things to avoid? Think white -- mainly anything with refined sugar or refined flour. And go easy on the carbs, mmmmkay?

Oil...it's what for dinner.

Well, it's at least part of what's for dinner. Knowing which oil is the healthiest choice and the tastiest choice for said dinner -- ah, that's what I want to talk to you about.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know by now that the healthiest way to go in terms of your oil selection is Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or EVOO if you're Rachel Ray ... which I'm not, so I'll avoid the acronyms). It involves minimal processing and high levels of the antioxidants known as polyphenols.

So, what about the other oils? How do they measure up?

• Flaxseed Oil: Good for salad dressing. Great source of ALA, a form of heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
• Olive Oil: This non-extra-virgin (please explain to me how something can be Extra virgin?) is perfect for grilling, sauteing, and using in a pasta sauce. It's high in monosaturated fats (good fats) and antioxidants, so it helps prevent the build-up of LDL (bad) cholesterol.
• Canola Oil: Good for baking and broiling. Rather low in saturated fat and also a good source of ALA.
• Grapeseed Oil: Works well for pan frying food. A good source of vitamin E, beta-carotene and sterols, which means that it also guards against the collection of bad cholesterol.
• Rice Bran Oil: Can be used for deep-frying food or stir-frying. Contains various vitamin E related antioxidants that have been shown in clinical studies to inhibit both breast and skin cancer cells.

The Mediterranean diet has been shown to promote longer, healthier lives. One of the key components of this diet is virgin olive oil, which by itself has been linked to a host of cardiovascular benefits.

That is, of course, if your olive oil truly is a virgin.

Sure, there's plenty of room for a lame Popeye joke to be told here, but I think the facts in this matter are far more interesting. According to the Italian Agricultural Ministry, 205 of the 757 olive oil producers in their country sold or were caught trying to sell fake virgin olive oil.

To pull of this dastardly deed, the producers tried to pass off colored canola oil as olive oil. And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for that pesky ... oh wait, wrong cartoon.

With the onslaught of the cold weather, Jon and I have been feeling the effects of our central heating kicking in -- we've been overwhelmed with extremely dry, itchy skin, and while oatmeal baths and heavy creams seem to help, they're not quite doing the trick.

So I was very interested when I came across this article titled 42 Home Cures. I'm convinced every minor ailment has a quick, easy home remedy. For itchy, dry skin, Prevention suggests using Olive Oil. Sounds interesting -- I'll have to try it.

Check out the article for a full list of home remedies. You never know -- maybe what's ailing you can be cured in a jiffy, without drugs.

Hamburgers and french fries are a staple of the American landscape. The combination tastes good and can be found virtually anywhere in the country, from home kitchens to restaurants to street carts.

But with that food love comes a plethora of calories, fat and other nastiness that may taste good, but isn't really all that good for you. Many nutrition-conscious hamburger fans have turned to non-meat alternatives (which taste pretty good once you get past the mental block), but what about french fried potatoes?

Ever thought of cooking those thinly sliced potatoes in the oven instead of in the deep fryer? Try this: coat a little aluminum foil with some olive oil, line up those potato sticks doused with garlic powder and paprika (for color) and there you have it -- great tasting french fries that are baked without trans fat oils and without all that soaked-in deep fried oil taste. They'll taste more like potatoes than oil and are healthy as well.

[Thanks, P. Smith]

Are you a fan of Crisco? How about that good old standby, canola oil? Although canola was a staple of mine for years, back in 2005 I started using olive oil for just about everything I cooked that needed oil. Result? Very tasty prepared dishes (like those stir-fry meals) as well as the knowledge that the oil you're cooking with is not bad for your health.

In fact, it's just the opposite, and I use olive oil in low-calorie salad dressings now. In what's becoming popular at nicer restaurants these days, try dipping some whole-grain, fresh-baked bread into a mixture of raw olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Roast some fresh garlic in that over and add it.

This is a much healthier alternative than the white bread / butter spread combination that most of us know. Yes, the garlic portion takes more time, but it's not required. Fresh whole-grain bread and olive oil is enough. It's healthy and tastes great. If you've never tried this, it's worth it for the possibility of picking up a new, healthy habit alone.