First, let me congratulate you on packing a lunch. Most school lunch programs are awful, loaded with fat, salt, sugar, calories, and processed foods. You can pack a healthy, yummy lunch in no time and rest assured you are fueling your kids’ day with nutrition-packed foods. Here are a few ideas to get you through the week:

1) Peanut butter candy sandwich (a mixture of peanut butter, honey, and wheat germ) on whole wheat bread. A 6-ounce yogurt, and a carton of calcium-fortified orange juice.

2) A chicken and black bean burrito (Black beans, low-fat cheese, left-over chicken wrapped in a Mission Life Balance tortilla). A carton of milk and apple slices.

3) Chicken salad sandwich (cubed chicken breast, diced celery, and low-fat mayo) on whole wheat bread. Baby carrots dunked in low-fat Ranch dressing or peanut butter, and a carton of milk.

4) A ham n’ cheese roll up: Layer lean ham and low-fat cheese, along with a little mustard in a Mission tortilla and roll up. Orange slices, fresh strawberries, and a carton of milk or tub of yogurt.

5) Turkey Cranberry Sandwich (layer turkey slices, fat-free cream cheese, cranberry sauce, a few dried tart cherries on whole wheat bread). Watermelon cubes in a baggie. Carton of milk or calcium-fortified orange juice.

Children need the calcium equivalent of at least 3 glasses of milk a day. If they are not consuming that much, then look for ways to sneak calcium-rich foods into the daily diet. Cook hot cereal in milk instead of water, add nonfat dry milk powder to cookie or muffin batter, and make fruit and milk smoothies. Mission Life Balance tortillas have the calcium and vitamin D equivalent of a glass of milk in each tortilla, so a chicken and black bean burrito made with one of those tortillas also is a great way to increase calcium intake.

Yes, shrimp is high in cholesterol, containing more than a third of your daily quota or 130 milligrams in a 3-ounce serving. But, shrimp also is low in fat and contains a smidgeon of  heart-healthy omega-3s, which might explain why a study from the University of Southern California found that eating shellfish, like shrimp, every week reduced heart attack risk by 59%. Besides, most of the cholesterol in your blood is made in the body from saturated fats consumed in the diet, and shrimp is very low in that artery-clogging fat. The bottom line: shrimp is a healthy addition to your diet, just don’t batter or fry it!

Water does curb appetite, but only if it is incorporated into food, not drunk from a glass. Several studies from Pennsylvania State University found that only water in soups, thick beverages like V8 juice, and other liquid foods fills us up. In one study, women were given a snack of chicken rice casserole with a glass of water or a chicken rice soup that contained the same amount of water as broth. Results showed that the soup was more filling even though it contained 27% fewer calories than the casserole. The reason why water bound to food is filling, while a glass of water is not, is unclear, but it could be that the bound water slows digestion, whereas a glass of water just passes right through.

If you were a healthy, lean weight prior to pregnancy, you should gain about 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. About half of that is baby, placenta, and amniotic fluid, which is lost at birth. The remainder (12 to 16 pounds for a lean woman and all the rest if you went into pregnancy overweight or gained more during pregnancy) of weight is in the mother’s tissues, including fluid (much of this is lost during the first few days after the baby is born, but the amount varies widely depending on how much fluid the mother retained in the last few weeks), blood, and muscle/fat stores. Most of the weight labeled as “mother’s stores” is fat weight, but some is muscle needed to carry around the excess weight. The fat is a calorie reserve for both pregnancy and breastfeeding.

You must exercise. But not for awhile. In fact, when you start back to a regular execise routine will vary enormously from one woman to the next. The key is to start at the right time and at the right intensity. Your uterus needs time to heal and an episiotomy can be sore for days or even a few weeks postpartum. You can start a gentle walking schedule as soon as you feel up to it if you’ve had a uncomplicated vaginal delivery. Gradually work up to brisk walking with your baby in a stroller. You’ll need more time to heal if you’ve had a Cesarean, so discuss the best exercise schedule with your physician. Six weeks is usually the earliest most doctors recommend returning to a more vigorous exercise routine after an uncomplicated birth. But in reality, it can take up to a year before some women feel enough like themselves to even think about vigorous exercise. One study of mothers who had given birth to healthy, full-term babies found that one in every four of them did not feel physically recovered even six months after delivery. They were battling fatigue, hemorrhoids, constipation, low sex drive, frequent colds, and…well you name it. The message here is to be patient with yourself, but at the same time start including some form of exercise as soon as you can.

I was on the Dr. Oz show Tuesday, March 23rd, with tips on how to lose weight and manage hypertension/diabetes.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/3ds-healthy-diabetic