Sonja in Santa Monica, California, close to where the stars live

Movie and TV stars are in the public eye, and scrutinized for their figures every day.  Talk about pressure!  Want to know their Living Thin secrets?  I did a little research, and found out what some of our favorites do to stay thin:

Cameron Diaz:  This beach beauty actress loves to grill fresh vegetables, chicken, fish, steak and shrimp, with just a little oil and salt.  For breakfast, she eats egg whites, sauteed tomatoes, and steel-cut oatmeal, all mixed together, and stays away from pasta or white bread.  And although she loves fried chicken and french fries, she doesn’t eat them anymore because she felt like it was becoming too much of a strain on her body to digest.  Cameron’s treat:  Hot dogs and beer at a Los Angeles Dodgers game (including all the works and mayo).  

Valerie Bertinelli:  America’s Sweetheart from the TV Show “One Day at a Time,” Valerie lost 40 pounds on Jenny Craig and became one of their most famous spokeswomen — and she’s kept it off for over for over three years.  Valerie likes chicken on the barbecue, lean proteins and vegetables, and also Jenny Craig meals like Orange Chicken and Chicken Marsala, and turkey burgers.  When she found her weight creeping up on her a little when she approached 50 (“I’m Italian and cooking and eating are in my blood!”), she jumped right on it and got back down immediately.  Valerie’s treats:  White cheddar popcorn, grilled fresh fruit kabobs, reduced fat pound cake topped with a mountain of berries.

Britney Spears:  This hot mama is always getting scrutinized for her figure, and always seems to be able to pop back into shape.  Britney says: 1) no fruit juice, 2) eat plenty of fresh fruit, and avacados, 3) cut out french fries and other bad eating habits, 4) drink coffee with skim milk, instead of frappucinos.  When Britney really wants to get slim, she sticks to a 1,500-calorie-a-day food plan and makes choices like baked fish with broccoli.  Britney’s treat:  Sundays are cheat days.

Angelina Jolie:  One of the best-known hot bodies in Hollywood, Angelina likes the six-small-meals-a- day plan.  She enjoys steamed sea bass, steamed beef and vegetables, watches her portions and sticks with a high protein, low carb food plan.  Angelina also likes soy milk and stays away from sugar.  Whenever Angelina needs to detox, she does a popular celebrity weight loss cleanse called the Lemonade Detox Diet for 3-5 days that consists of drinking a mixture made up of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper & water (no solid food).  

Brad Pitt:  Our designated male for this post had to be a hunk, one who has had to show his bod in movies like “Thelma and Louise,” ”Fight Club” and “Troy.”  To get in shape for those roles, Brad followed a high protein, low carb plan, eating chicken, turkey, lean meats, eggs, tuna and cottage cheese; and also whey protein powder drinks and protein bars.  He ate whole wheat grains, green vegetables, oats, rice cakes, salads, bananas, brown rice and some pasta.  For other times, Brad also likes the 6-small-meals-a-day plan (like wife Angelina Jolie), and always watches his carb instake.  For treats: Now that Brad’s a dad, he believes in a little treat every now and then, and for Easter this year Brad bought his kids goody bags full of chocolate-covered pretzel rods, gummy butterflies, gummy cherries and jelly beans.

From the above, I like these ideas best:

1)  Portion control (Calories in, calories out)

2)  Getting back on track (Diet Redemption; You always get another chance)

3) Let yourself have treats (No More Bad Foods)

MyPlate Replaces Food Pyramid

MyPlate is the latest in over 100 years of nutritional guidance from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).

1894: USDA’s first dietary guidelines are published by Dr. Wilbur Olin Atwater, as a farmer’s bulletin.

1916: USDA publishes its first food guide, Food for Young Children.

1943:  The Basic “7″

1956: The Basic “4″ (Milk, meats, breads, fruits & vegetables).

1992: The Food Guide Pyramid

2005: MyPyramid (added the suggestion of physical activity for health).

2011: MyPlate

MyPlate is meant to inspire the public to make correct eating choices, especially in supermarkets and restaurants.  First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement the first of June 2011.  The icon will be placed on food packaging and in nutrition education in the United States.

Since Michelle Obama is actively involved in the “Let’s Move” program, aimed at ending childhood obesity, the re-naming of the Food Pyramid may have had something to do with re-naming it “MyPlate” aimed at all ages. 

Food Pyramid

MyPlate recommends making half of your selections fruits and vegetables; this is my favorite part.  It’s not so helpful for people who are lactose intolerant, abstain from dairy, or for people from other cultures who do not drink milk beyond infancy.  It is also not helpful for vegetarians, vegans, or those following low-carb, high-protein diets like Atkins. 

As for people like me, who believe in the Harvard Study for weight maintenance (read: “Calories In, Calories Out”), it’s not telling me much more than I didn’t already learn from my beloved Food Pyramid.  However, if it helps those who need instruction on healthy choices, and children learning about healthy choices, then I’m all for it.  Thank you again, Michelle.

I also find it slightly amusing that things are ever-changing in the world of diet opinion. For example, we used to think egg yolks were bad for us; now we can eat the whole egg with wild abandon.   Avacados used to be bad because they are high in fat; now we hear it’s “good” fat; (I say they make my coat shiny); and now, last month a study was released saying salt is okay after a University in Belgium studied 3,681 people over a period of 7.9 years and found that salt didn’t hurt their health at all.

How about: Everything in moderation (has that been said before?)

Your thoughts?

Eat healthy foods

Weight loss is not something that happens and then you’re done with it. There have been over thirty studies done on dieters that have lost weight; the majority gain it back.  Read “Yo-Yo Dieting; Stop the Insanity!” because I was one of the people who did that, until eleven years ago.

Here are 7 secrets that can turn weight control into a lifestyle, and help turn those hard-earned lost pounds into forever-lost pounds:

1) Weigh yourself daily. (read: The Bathroom Scale: Friend or Foe?)

2) Exercise.  Walk for 20-30 minutes, 3-7 times a week. Add some weight training, even 20-30 countertop push-ups on a regular basis.  More is even better. Just stay active.

3) Stay accountable.  Have a weight maintenance buddy.  Keep a food journal. Whatever works for you.

4) Stay motivated.  Think about yourself in that bikini.  Those tight jeans.  Naked.  Whatever works.

5) Eat breakfast.  Mine is 60-calorie yogurt and 1/2 grapefruit.  Every day.

6) Adopt Lifelong Weight Maintenance Methods (live thin!).  Read all my blogs.  Choose the ones that work for you. 

Mackie's graduation, May 2011 (proud mom, Sonja)

 

7) Don’t fall back into unhealthy eating habits. 

Throw out the Little Debbie Nutty Bars and Jeno’s Pizza Rolls.  They just don’t fit this lifestyle anymore!

Traci Mann, UCLA Associate Professor and lead researcher who studied all the studies of people who lost weight, says the truth is that the majority of people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back.  Sometimes gaining even more weight than before. Oh, the insanity!

According to one study, from the Archives of Internal Medicine, subjects who had slimmed down still need to exercise every day, and continue to closely watch what they eat, to sustain weight loss. 

A 2009 Finnish study published in the International Journal of Obesity, tracked 16 same-sex twin pairs (chosen because they had the same genetic makeup) for decades and found that the twin who had been more physically active over a 32-year period accumulated 50 percent less belly fat than the twin who didn’t exercise. 

I watch what I eat every day of my life.  If I’m up on the scale, I get back down — immediately. It’s called “living the thin lifestyle,” and it’s what this blog is all about.  Easy? No.  Worth it? Yes! (read: Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels).