Q: Is frozen fruit as healthy for you as fresh fruit?
A: For the most part, yes. “With shipping and storage, fresh fruit can often sit around for as long as two weeks before it hits your supermarket,” says Suzanne Henson, R.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s EatRight Weight Management Program. “During that time, it can lose a lot of its nutrients, especially vitamin C.”
In contrast, frozen fruit is often picked and frozen at the peak of freshness. It’s also a better choice for concocting smoothies. But watch out for frozen fruits in syrup; it packs extra calories.
Q: My diet buddy is becoming a calorie-counting freak. How do I get her to lighten up?
A: “Before you give feedback, ask yourself what your motivation is,” says Ann Kearney-
Cook, a psychologist and author of “Change Your Mind, Change Your Body” (Simon and Schuster, 2004). Are you honestly concerned about her health, or are you feeling threatened because she’s made healthy changes you haven’t been able to make? But let’s put the soul- searching aside and assume she is, um, a freak.
Kearney-Cooke suggests you follow these four guidelines: Have the talk in private (not in a restaurant or at the gym, for instance); convey how much you care about your friend; be specific (“I noticed you hardly ate anything at the party last week”); and offer to help her if she needs it. “Your friend may be developing an eating disorder. But there’s so much calorie confusion out there, she may just not know what a healthy diet looks like,” says Kearney-Cooke.
Q: I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I’m supposed to be, but trust me, it’s all muscle! (My body fat is just 20 percent.) Do I still need to lose weight?”
A: Probably not. “It’ very possible for someone who is fit and toned to be 10 pounds above standard weight recommendations, provided the weight is evenly distributed, says Kearney-Cooke.
Excess pounds stored around the midsection can raise heart- disease risk even in otherwise lean people. To check, calculate your waist-to-hip ratio (waist measurement divided by hip measurement). If yours is below 0.85, you’re in the clear, says Kearney-Cooke.
Q: Are artificial colors and preservatives really that bad for me?
A: If they’re in your food, they’ve either been approved by the FDA or are on the agency’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list, meaning they won’t hurt you when consumed in normal quantities.
– Trisha Calvo
