just asKing

Melissa King's health, career and relationship advise column for The Boutros Boutros Follies! Check out the first entry here and her website MyHeartDances

Hi! Thanks so much for your questions. Please keep them coming! I love talking about relationships and making career choices too, so please send them in as well: melissa@myheartdances.com

Q: What is the best way for a woman to add more calcium to her diet without adding a lot of calories? Thank you!

A: Dairy products are usually the first things people think of when they want to get calcium, but there are a lot of other sources as well, dark green vegetables like callard greens, kale, broccoli, mustard greens, and bok choy. Sardines (with bones) packed in mustard or tomato sauce can be a low calorie meat option (check the nutrition label, calories vary with the brand), also tofu and soy milk that have calcium added. Of course you can also add a calcium supplement; current thought is that calcium citrate is the type best absorbed by the body. 1000 - 1200mg a day is often what is recommended for women and you should split it into two separate doses - for instance 500mg in the morning and 500 at night.

Q: I'm 29 years old and all of my life I have been able to eat whatever I want and not gain weight. But in the last two years I have gained 18lbs. I'm not sure what's going on. I get regular exercise, but since I've never had to worry about it, my eating habits are terrible. How can I correct this situation?

A: If you came into my office I would ask you a lot more questions: What exactly are your eating habits? What do you do for exercise? Has your life changed in any way since before you started to gain weight?

At first glance, you might say "no, it hasn't changed," but if you look a little closer, you may see a decline in physical activity, a rise in nights in front of the TV with your favorite ice cream, or an increase in stress.

It is often said that our metabolism slows as we get older, and maybe that's true, but it seems that people never consider the other factors that change as we get older. After we graduate from college, we usually head to a job that requires us to sit all day. Then, coming home late, we grab fast food because it's quick, and get home and relax - exercise and cooking a healthy meal being the last thing we want to do. Then we get married, have children, and our time for physical activity decrease, not to mention the temptation of having oreo cookies and other treats always around for the kids.

Exercise

But let's assume you aren't married with kids, not too much has changed since before you started gaining weight, and your doctor has ruled out any physical problems. You say that you get regular exercise. Our bodies become very efficient at the physical activities we are regularly engaged in, so if you are doing the same exercise you have always done, your body is not as challenged by it as it used to be, and therefore you burn less calories. You can easily fix this by changing up your routine. For instance, if you jog, you can simply add more hills, or do interval training by including short sprints.

Eating

It seems that as we get older, we become more likely to eat for boredom or loneliness. And if you have never had to worry about your eating habits, I can understand how it would be especially difficult to make changes. You might want to start with just one or two things like: add more veggies to your diet - you can add vegetable to almost anything - soup, sandwiches, pasta, pizza; drink water instead of soda or juice (these drinks add calories but don't make us feel full), choose more natural foods and try to avoid processed or packaged foods. Think about what healthy foods you do like: What vegetables? What fruits? What kind of whole grains (maybe have oatmeal instead of a bagel for breakfast).

If the topic of healthy eating interests you, I would recommend getting a book that makes healthy eating fun and very simple without including fad diet ideas. Integrative Nutrition and The Energy Balance Diet are two of my favorites (these are essentially the same book). If you really want to make some bigger changes and want to look further at your specific needs, please feel free to contact me for an appointment.

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email her: melissa@myheartdances.com