What bottled green tea do you recommend?

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None. Make your own. Green tea has antioxidant compounds with fancy names like polyphenols that lower cancer and heart disease risk. These compounds also might lower skin cancer risk and even help you look younger. But, those health-boosting polyphenols don’t make it into bottled teas in appreciable amounts, if at all. What does make it into the bottle is sugar. Many of these teas have the calorie equivalent of a side order of hashbrowns. And, because they are liquid calories, they don’t fill us up, so it is easy to over-consume calories, which means weight gain. Save your money and brew your own green tea at home, where you are assured of getting the greatest concentration of all the antioxidants and polyphenols that research shows are good for us. You’ll also save yourself money that can be used to buy more antioxidant-rich produce!

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Should I take vitamin C to prevent a cold?

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Maybe. A large number of studies have shown that vitamin C does not prevent the common cold from happening, but it does help curb its severity and duration. If you don’t eat the optimal 9+ fruits and vegetables daily, then take a vitamin C supplement. The effective dose is about 500 milligrams to 2,000 milligrams daily starting at the first signs of a cold and taken in divided doses throughout the day. Discontinue after cold symptoms are gone. That’s only for adults; young children are much more susceptible to toxicity effects from vitamins and minerals, so keep their intake to within Daily Value levels or discuss higher doses with your physician.

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I tend to retain water and often feel bloated. Help!

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The one-two punch for water retention is to 1) cut back on sodium and 2) drink lots of water. Often people do just the opposite, thinking that water is causing the problem, they cut back on fluids. Big mistake. You are puffy because too much sodium is holding water in your cells. The only way to lose the bloat is to give up the salty junk, like chips, packaged foods, and fast foods, and drink more water to dilute the sodium in your body so your kidneys can flush out the fluids.

You should limit total day’s sodium to no more than 2400milligrams, which is only possible if you avoid processed foods. For example, a Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich at McD’s has 1190mg, a Marie Callendar’s Chicken Pot Pie has 1,860mg, and typical snack items like pretzels or potato chips have 1000mg. Any one of those is 50% to 77% of your total day’s maximum allotment. Instead, choose low-sodium foods and flavor meals without the salt, such as with spices, herbs, low-sodium flavorings like True Lemon or Mrs. Dash, which gives a flavor punch to anything without adding unwanted sodium.

Then, drink enough water every day so that your urine is pale yellow. Bring a water bottle with you, take 8 gulps of water every time you pass a water fountain at school, line up 8 glasses of water on the kitchen counter if you are a stay-at-home mom, or put a pitcher of water that holds 8 glasses on your desk at work.]

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Are there any dietary tips for lowering my risk for macular degeneration?

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Long-term exposure to air and light generates little oxygen fragments, called oxidants, that damage the eyes. Choosing a diet rich in the antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, beta carotene, lutein, and zinc, fortifies the eyes against this damage and helps protect against the development of both cataracts and macular degeneration. People with high levels of these antioxidants are at lowest risk of vision loss later in life.

For example, vitamin C is the antioxidant found in oranges, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables. The eye naturally stockpiles vitamin C to levels 20 times and higher than those found in the blood. The high concentration of vitamin C in our eyes might be an adaptation that protects against the damaging UV rays in sunlight.

A host of other antioxidant-rich compounds, called phytonutrients, in colorful fruits and vegetables also are sight savers. Lutein is one of them, a phytonutrient in dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach. When people consume as little as 10 milligrams of lutein daily (the amount found in 1 /2 cup of spinach), their levels of lutein increase in the blood and eyes, and they are less prone to vision loss. If they do develop vision problems, such as macular degeneration, the disease is less likely to progress to advanced stages.

Dietary fat also might play a role in the development of age-related vision loss. Saturated fats in meat and fatty dairy products might increase risk up to 80%, while the healthy fats, especially the omega-3s in fatty fish, possibly lower risk for both cataracts and macular degeneration.

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Successful Weight Loss in a Nutshell

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There are 1,000s of dietary tricks for losing weight, but most can be distilled down to the three straightforward habits of most successful weight-loss maintainers.

1) Eat mostly vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Study after study shows that low-fat, fiber-rich meals are what produce long-term weight loss. Studies show that kids, teens, and adults who eat the most vegetables are also the least likely to gain weight. In addition, healthy, normal-weight people spontaneously lose weight and fat mass when they eat all they want, as long as it is low-fat and high in fiber-rich grains and produce. As I discuss in detail in Eat Your Way to Sexy, three-quarters of the plate or snack should be made up of these wholesome, minimally processed foods.

2) Exercise daily. Almost all successful dieters exercise regularly.

3) Lose weight gradually. You want an eating plan you can live with for life and that ensures you lose fat, not muscle or water, weight. That means losing no more than about two pounds a week. No one should drop below 1,500 calories a day without being monitored by a physician or dietitian. Increase exercise, not cut calories further, if you can’t lose weight on this low-calorie plan.

It’s also important to focus on health. Throw out the word ‘diet’ from your vocabulary and focus on feeling. Your ultimate goal is not just a certain jean’s size or number on the bathroom scale, it is a lifelong commitment to be the best and healthiest you. Your plan and goals should reflect a lifetime commitment, not to lose weight and keep it off, but to modify habits so they support health and, ultimately, maintain the best weight for you.

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