February is "Wise Health Consumer Month"  and I believe that becoming more involved in your own health care is essential. My sister-in-law was finally diagnosed with Celiac Disease after doing some research and convincing her Dr. to test her for it. 

The American Institute for Preventive Medicine developed a Top 10 list of ways you can become more involved in your own health care.

One way you can become a wise consumer in the grocery store is learning how to decipher your packaged and boxed foods.  Here are three simple tips to get you started.

1.) Ignore the words on the front and back of the box. Catch phrases like "antioxidants" "more fiber" "natural" are simply a sales pitch.
2.) Read the ingredient list.  You should be able to recognize the words you are reading.  Better yet, if it's a grain-based food (as many packaged items are) the 1st ingredient ought to be "whole grain..." 
3.) Check out the number of servings in a package.  It's often more than one.

I recently met with a client who wanted some nutrition counseling for PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). She had already made great strides with her diet and was seeing me for "fine-tuning." At our first session she brought in a food label of a Kashi bar she likes to eat.  She thought it seemed like a healthy way to take care of her sweet tooth and wanted my opinion.  So, we dissected the food label together (too see the nutrition facts, click on this link then click on the button that says nutrition facts).

Together we learned that the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ingredients are all sugar!  By the looks of the wrapper, you'd think she was making a healthy snack choice.  Besides, Kashi has a reputation for selling pretty healthy foods.  But in reality, all of those highly processed sugars would actually do more harm to her PCOS than simply having a small serving of dark chocolate after dinner (which what she really wanted!).

So don't be fooled by your packaging.  It's the ingredients that count.  I have a simple handout called "Decoding the Ingredient List." If you'd like a copy, send me an email to marci@marciRD.com.

For this month's fitness fact blog post, I decided to highlight the new Let's Move website I mentioned on Monday's blog post.

For those of you who listened to President Obama's State of the Union address on January 27th, you likely heard him introduce his wife's initiative to tackle childhood obesity.

Is sugar addicting? I recently received an email from a friend who had this question. She felt that she was completely addicted to sugar and wanted to know my recommendations on how best to detox her system.  Little did she know, she was asking a question that researchers and scientists seriously debate.  Just google the term "sugar addiction" and you'll see a litany of results and no real consensus.

Jillian Michaels has been sued for alleged false advertising by a woman who claims she was duped into buying a diet supplement endorsed by the celebrity trainer.

Christie Christensen of Lake Elsinore, Calif., is seeking class-action status for the case she filed Tuesday in Los Angeles. Michaels is a hard-charging, no-nonsense trainer best-known as one of the stars of NBC's hit reality show, "The Biggest Loser."

Christensen's lawsuit claims she bought a product called "Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control" last month and that it has failed to lessen her appetite or cause her to lose weight as advertised.

Michaels' picture and endorsement appear on the packaging, touting her as "America's Toughest Trainer." The product and a Web site advertising include the claim, "Two Capsules Before Main Meals and You Lose Weight ... That's It!"

"Ms. Michaels knows better - taking two pills before eating does not miraculously cause weight loss," the lawsuit states.

Since it's Heart Month, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a whole grain food product I absolutely love.  A few months ago I found Kashi's 7 Whole Grain Pilaf in the hot cereal aisle.  It looked interesting so I bought it.  And to my delight, it is an absolutely scrumptious grain that cooks a lot like brown rice.  Warning, it does take 25 minutes so you may want to make it ahead of time.  Because it is plain, I recommend consulting Kashi's website for recipe ideas or get creative and spice it up on your own.

Most of us associate February with Valentine's Day.  And we all know what that means- chocolate.  But February isn't just for celebrating love and candy.  The American Heart Association has deemed the month of February American Heart Month.

Did you know that this week is National Salt Awareness week?  Weird, but true. If you're interested in learning about the effects of a high salt diet, check out this link. Salt is usually a guilt by association kind of ingredient. It tends to be excessive in highly processed and packaged food items. On the flip side, it tends to be low in minimally processed whole grains, fruits, and veggies.