Lean Plate Club

Talk About Nutrition and Health

Confused about nutrition? Wondering how to fit in more physical activity? Welcome to the Lean Plate Club. Ask Sally Squires , nationally syndicated Lean Plate Club columnist for the Washington Post, about eating smart and moving more every Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET . Sally draws upon her master's degree in nutrition from Columbia University to preside over the lively Lean Plate Club web chat. Whether you're trying to reach a healthier weight or simply maintain it, you'll find plenty of tips and strategies.

Share your own food finds, creative workouts and secrets for healthy, great tasting meals. We'll cheer your successes and help with your setbacks. (None of this, of course, is a substitute for medical advice.) E-mail Sally, author of the newly published Secrets of the Lean Plate Club (St. Martin's Press) at leanplateclub@washpost.com.

Or just sign up for the free Lean Plate Club e-mail newsletter . The Lean Plate Club column appears Tuesdays in the Washington Post Health section and is nationally syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group. Find other Lean Plate Club members at www.frappr.com/leanplateclub .

The Archives:

Sally Squires's Recent Columns

Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows .

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Sally Squires: Welcome to the Lean Plate Club!

Are you ready to talk seafood?

That's just one of the topics up for discussion today, given that the Institute of Medicine just issued a new report on the benefits and risks of seafood. Conclusion: that the benefits of eating nearly all fish and seafood outweighs the risks for adults and kids. You can read more on our Web site. Also, look for another new report this afternoon around 4 p.m. when the embargo breaks on a new seafood study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health researchers. Look for more details as well in tomorrow's Post and of course, on-line here.

You'll find some links to healthy fish recipes in today's Lean Plate Club e-mail newsletter, which should be hitting your electronic in-boxes now. To subscribe, just go to leanplateclub@washpost.com. Look for the newsletter box. Click and you're good to go.

Also...

Thanks to all who responded to the requests for the upcoming Holiday Challenge. Either I -- or my colleague Meaghan Wolff -- will be getting in touch with you. If you're interested in being followed for the upcoming Holiday Challenge which launches on Nov. 21, send an e-mail to me at leanplateclub@washpost.com. Please put "holiday challenge" in the subject line.

In the upcoming week...

We are also seeking teens who would like to talk about what they eat, why they eat it and how they feel about adults telling them what to eat. Interested? Know a teen who might be interested? Zip me an e-mail at leanplateclub@washpost.com and please put "teen" in the subject line.

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Sally Squires: Prizes today are:

"The Mediterranean Prescription: Meal Plans and Recipes to Help You Stay Slim and Healthy for the Rest of Your Life," by Angelo Acquista, MD.

"Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen," by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry.

"Tales from the Scale," by Erina J. Shea.

"Thee Biggest Loser Cookbook: More than 125 Healthy, Delicious Recipes Adapted from NBC's Hit Show," by Chef Devin Alexander and The Biggest Loser Experts and Cast with Karen Kaplan.

You know the deal: Assist a member on this Web chat. Tell us about a healthy food find. (More on that below) Challenge us with your inspiring story of habit change. And, yes, one of these volumes could be yours. Winners are announced at the end of each Web chat. (And in making this offering we are not endorsing any volume.)

Now on to the chat!

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Denver: What sushi should be avoided at all costs?

Sally Squires: The Institute of Medicine report notes that raw fish -- whether sushi or clams on the half shell -- can be a source of some nasty viruses and bacterial infections. But from my reading of the report, they don't advise against consuming raw fish. So other than sushi that smells bad or tastes bad -- an indication that it may not be fresh -- pregnant women or women who want to become pregnant, plus kids 12 and younger want to avoid eating shark, King mackerel, tilefish and swordfish. Plus, they shouldn't have more than 6 ounces per week of light tuna.

That's it!

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Washington, D.C.: Why not play it safe and simply take fish oil supplements that are very high in omega-3 and thus eliminate altogether, or at least reduce, the risks of mercury/PCBs, etc. from fish?

Sally Squires: You can indeed do that. Just be aware that because of the way the federal regulations are written, there's no guarantee that those fish oil tablets have the exact amount of healthy omega-3s that are recommended. And you could get some unexpected contaminants there too. So you might want to check places such as Consumer Reports or Consumelab.com for round-ups on fish oil supplements.

Hope that helps.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Sally. I'm a lifelong fish-o-phobe. I've managed to add shrimp and canned tuna to my diet. However, my question is about the tuna; when people talk about seafood and omega-3 fats, I never hear tuna mentioned. Is it even worth eating canned (light) tuna as an alternative to chicken breast on my salad at lunch every day? Thanks for all the great info!

Sally Squires: Both light canned tuna and white canned tuna are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. We'll post a link in a minute to a chart on our site that will give you a lot more comparisons. It's the white or albacore tuna that pregnant women or those wanting to become pregnant want to limit to 6 ounces per week. Ditto for those kids who are 12 or younger. The report also notes that it's best for all of us to get a variety of fish, particularly if you eat a lot of it. But that doesn't sound like a risk for you. At least not yet!

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washingtonpost.com: Comparing Benefits and Risks of Popular Seafood (Post.com)

Sally Squires: Here's the chart which compares omega-3 fatty acids, mercury levels and cost of some popular fish and seafood.

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Montclair, N.J.: This report ignores sustainability. If we want there to be plenty of fish for the future -- so that we can obtain the benefits of fish -- shouldn't consumers also be basing their seafood choices on ecological concerns? For example, many conservation organizations recommend wild salmon from Alaska is a better choice ecologically than farmed salmon. A recent study suggests that salmon farming in Canada harms some wild salmon by spreading sea lice parasites. Another example -- some fish such as bluefin tuna, are considered to be endangered and should be avoided.

Sally Squires: Yes, that's one gap in the report. And wasn't that study on the sea lice interesting? Some of the experts that I interviewed said that's a challenge that we're still going to have to figure out, since there isn't enough fish for everyone in the world to eat two meals per week. But look for more information in coming years on plant-based sources of omega-3s. That may be part of the answer. Thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: I have read before that crustaceans and shellfish are very low in omega-3's. Are they still as healthy for you as finfish?

Sally Squires: They still contain healthy omega-3s, but not in as high amounts as salmon, for example. They also have more dietary cholesterol. But it's still fairly low. The biggest point is to try not to eat any fish fried. That just adds saturated -- and often trans fat. Both are quite unhealthy. Check the chart -- link above -- for more.

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Washington, D.C.: Why not play it even safer and add a tablespoon or two of flax seed oil to your meal? Doesn't this give you the benefits of increased omega-3 intake without the associated risks (minor though they appear to be according to this recent report) of eating fish or fish oil capsules?

Sally Squires: That's another option. But flaxseed oil doesn't have quite the same percentages of long and short chained omega-3s that fish has. (I can feel eyes glazing over so I won't bore you with the details.) Flaxseed oil is healthy, but maybe not quite as healthy as getting that fish. Thanks.

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Greater Boston: Thank you Sally for your column today about keeping off lost weight. It IS a challenge.

I really liked participating the the Holiday Challenge last year. It reframed my whole weight loss agenda.

I have lost more than 90 pounds and kept it off for more than a year. The weight loss has been really slow. I started in 2003, regained some weight, got some help from the Mind Body Medical Institute in Boston in their Lighten Up Program in 2004, finished up there and I have been on my own with the help of some really supportive friends since then. I include the Lean Plate Club as help that way.

Losing weight is not a very linear process for me. I have made mistakes along the way and I have had to take a good hard look at what is happening when I am struggling, decide on new strategies, and get help along the way.

I see it as a constant process of tweaking what I am doing. Life gets in the way and I have to renegotiate what I am doing to maintain my healthy ways of living (that's always the ultimate goal...sustainability and flexibility).

I used to experience no weight loss as a frustrating plateau...the Holiday Challenge allowed me to see things really differently. The winter time has become my weight maintenance period. It allows me to practice the self care skills I need to maintain the healthy habits I want to continue throughout my life. And when I am really honest...weight loss is much easier and occurs naturally during the warmer months. That's when I want to be more active and my diet seems to fall in place.

I won't win any awards for rapid weight loss. I took off about 10 pounds in the last year. I am considered "overweight" in the BMI sense but it sure beats carrying around those 90-plus pounds I used have.

I want to take off another 10 or 15, but I see myself in a weight-maintenance cycle. I am patient with the process and not married to those desired results. If I stay at my present weight during the next year, I am okay with that.

I enrolled in the Weight Registry last year. Doing the lengthy questionnaires was an interesting process and I see my involvement that way as "help"...it helped with my awareness and ultimately it helps others. Giving back is definitely part of the process for me.

Sally Squires: Thanks for sharing your inspiring story Boston. Those 90 pounds are quite impressive. And you're absolutely right -- it's the long view -- not the short one -- that really determines success. How great that you're now a member of the National Weight Control Registry! Congratulations!

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Omaha, Neb.: I would like to try adding more fish to my diet, but am at a total loss when it comes to preparing them. Just the basics: how do I cut off the skin, how do you tell if it's done...etc.

Sally Squires: We've got some good links to recipes in today's e-mail newsletter Omaha. The National Fisheries Institute also has a wealth of recipes and info that may help you. Also, think steaming, broiling and even the microwave for some wonderful tasting fish. The nice thing about fish is that it doesn't take that long to cook. The late chef James Beard has a wonderful book on fish. He gives a rule of thumb for cooking it based on the thickness of the fish. I don't want to tell you that incorrectly, but as I recall it's about 10 minutes per side.

And yes, you can certainly cook the fish with the skin on and then remove it before eating.

Hope that helps.

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Hyattsville, Md.: There has been some controversy about the seafood report -- proindustry vs. proenvironment -- have you covered any of these issues?

Sally Squires: I likely will in tomorrow's paper. I wrote an early story for our Web site this a.m. and am working on an update for tomorrow's paper, plus a brief piece on this afternoon's study. In the meantime, the Institute of Medicine put together a well-respected group of experts. I have not yet seen any industry connections, but if someone knows of some, please let me know.

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Baltimore: Hi Sally, Thanks so much for the links to seafood info in the newsletter, especially the chart. While pregnant with and nursing my toddler, I ate no fish because it was easier instead of trying to figure out which fish and how much was safe to eat. I'm now nursing my two-month-old and see that salmon is designated as safe to eat. Is this still the case for pregnant or breastfeeding moms? And according to the chart, farmed salmon is as safe as wild, but I read otherwise from other sources. If you could clarify this, I'd appreciate it because I'm finding it difficult to get enough ground flaxseed into our diet to make up for the lack of omega-3 fat and would love to start eating salmon again.

Sally Squires: Go with the salmon. That's the recommendation of the report today. Eat up to 12 ounces of seafood per week. (With the exception of the shark, swordfish, tilefish and King mackerel. Those are varieties you need to avoid.) Also, limit your intake of albacore white tuna to 6 ounces per week. As for farm-raised versus wild, there's been lots of controversy about that. But the experts I have interviewed this week have said that either is okay. In fact, one noted that farm-raised can actually have higher amounts of omega-3s than wild. (And yes, I know I'll get letters or e-mails about this.) Hope that helps.

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Re: Greater Boston: I find Greater Boston's story quite inspiring. It's hard to make the attitude changes that bring satisfaction and serenity to the process of losing weight and maintaining. I find it truly exhausting at times and love the idea of looking at the holidays as a maintenance time rather than a "not going to lose any lbs anyway so might as well binge the season away" time. Thanks.

Sally Squires: Then you will likely be interested in our Lean Plate Club Holiday Challenge. It's based on a federal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine a few years back. It found that healthy weight people put on only about 0.9 of a pound during the holidays and take it off in the spring. But overweight people -- now 2/3 of us -- add about five pounds during the holidays and sadly, don't shed it in the spring. So this holiday weight gain can be a fueler of the obesity epidemic.

We don't want to take the fun out of the holidays, however, so the LPC Holiday Challenge, and this is our sixth year, is simply designed to foster weight maintenance. Stay tuned...Nov. 21 is the launch date!

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Washington, D.C. : Why do some fish contain more mercury than others? Where does the mercury come from?

Sally Squires: Mercury occurs naturally in the environment and is also spewed into the air by industrial emissions, particularly from power plants. As the mercury drifts down, it accumulates in streams and oceans, where bacteria convert it to a toxic form of the chemical called methylmercury, which is then absorbed by fish.

The higher a fish is on the food chain, the more mercury it accumulates. But as the report notes today, eating modest amounts of most fish has health benefits that outweigh any risks. Hope that helps.

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Lewes, Del.: Hi Sally

Great chat today. The current guideline for cooking fish is 10 minutes per inch measured at the thickest part in a moderate to high oven. In most cases as soon as the fish turns opaque throughout the thickness it is done cooking. Some cookbooks say to cook until the fillet flakes easily with a fork but for some species, those with a dense texture, it may be overcooked. Keep up the great column.

Sally Squires: Thanks very much for confirming that, Lewes!

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Alexandria, Va.: Are you aware of any studies that show a correlation between seafood consumption and weight loss? Also, is it possible to eat too much seafood?

Sally Squires: Yes and yes. It's possible to overeat anything, although pigging out on fruit and veggies (unless they're fried or loaded with added sugar) is likely a very good thing.

Since seafood is generally lower in calories than other meat and poultry, eating it may be linked with a better weight. Hope that helps.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Sally, I just read your article on maintaining weight loss, and I have to admit, I was a bit disturbed by it. I have been able to maintain -- within 10 pounds -- a weight loss of 50-plus pounds over the last 12 years. While I have weighed myself over the years, the scale actually became a bit of an enemy making me obsess about weight loss rather than focus on being healthy. It is not normal, nor should it be, to bring your bathroom scale with you everywhere! I have found that focusing on being healthy and happy, rather than focusing on maintaining a certain weight is a much more successful strategy. Your weight will fluctuate over your life, so it seems silly to me to always keep your goal on a specific number rather than on getting enough exercise and making sure you are eating a balanced diet.

Sally Squires: Yes, I understand what you are saying. The experts emphasized that daily weighing may not be best for those who are trying to lose weight. But the evidence is pretty strong that using the scale regularly (notice I didn't necessarily say daily) is important to weight maintenance. And in fact, Rena Wing, lead author of the study, believes that daily weigh-ins -- with adjustments made to food intake and exercise -- are the keys to long term success. She bases that on her findings, not just on theory. But as you point out, there are always exceptions. Thanks for weighing in with us! And congrats on those 50 pounds. That's wonderful!

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Connecticut: Tuna options. My husband doesn't like too many types of fish, so we typically have tuna (canned, light) once a week. Usually, we fix tuna burgers, which are great. Occasionally, we'll do tuna sandwiches, tuna melts, or tuna in a mac/cheese/veggie casserole.

I haven't had much luck finding other recipes -- if anyone has one, I'd love to hear it.

Sally Squires: Look for two highly rated tuna recipes from Epicurious.com. We'll post the links in a minute. If you have others out there, please send them to me at leanplatelcub@washpost.com. I'll try to include in next week's e-mail newsletter.

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washingtonpost.com: Tuna Burgers Nicoise (Epicurious.com)

Sally Squires: Here's one recipe that snagged four "forks" from Epicurious.com

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Oklahoma City, Okla.: Do small, wild-caught fish like anchovies and sardines pose less of a risk in terms of methyl mercury, PCB and pesticide content? Are they significant sources of omega-3's and the other beneficial nutrients associated with a fish diet? Are these varieties really wild or are they too sometimes farmed?

Sally Squires: Sardines and anchovies are both good choices for being rich in omega-3s and low in mercury. Plus, they're a great bargain. Another good fish bargain: canned salmon. Good for salmon loaf -- similar to meatloaf -- or salmon burgers. Or even salmon mousse. The American Heart Association cookbook has a recipe.

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washingtonpost.com: Seared Tuna Burgers with Ginger-Garlic Mayonnaise (Epicurious.com)

Sally Squires: Here's the other tuna burger recipe from Epicurious.com. This one got three forks, as I recall.

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Legume or Vegetable?: I have a quick "food pyramid" question: If I eat a serving of soybeans, am I getting a serving of vegetables or a serving of legumes?

Sally Squires: I love this question! It comes up from time to time. And the answer depends on how you are eating those soybeans. So they could be a serving of veggies. Or a serving of protein. But the USDA doesn't want you to double dip and count them as both. Of course, if you had two servings at one meal, that might be another story. And one of my food finds this week is roasted edamame (those are soybeans) that are lightly salted. Looking forward to trying them. Another is creme caramel tea. Yum!

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Arlington, Va.: I've noticed that your chart mentions canned tuna. Are the stuff in the bags of tuna the same? I prefer the bags, because they make less of a mess and you don't need a can opener. I appreciate you taking my question.

Sally Squires: Read the label to know if that is white albacore tuna or light tuna. That really is convenient stuff, isn't it? And before opening, it doesn't require refrigeration or a can opener which is pretty cool. Thanks.

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Substitutes for seafood?: As a longtime vegetarian who was vegan for part of that time, I used to eat a lot of ground flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, believing that it contained many of the healthy properties of the fish I chose not to consume. But a while back the Nutrition Action newsletter published something about how there's not a lot of good data to support touting flaxseed's benefits-- while there seems to be a lot of good data for fish. I now consume fish about once a week, but I was wondering what you have to say about flaxseeds and other vegetarian substitutes for healthy seafood?

Sally Squires: Fish oil supplements are probably the only true substitute for the amount of omega-3s found in oil. But that doesn't mean that you can't boost your omega-3 intake in other ways, including some of that flaxseed. We'll post a list of foods -- and a past story -- that explains how it's not just the total amount of omega-3s, but also the balance with omega-6s, another healthy fat. Yeah, yeah, probably more than you want to know. But you did ask!

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re: tuna burgers: Isn't that mayo going to be high in fat?

Sally Squires: At least one of the recipes called for nonfat mayo. And the other called for either regular or low-fat. So you can shave some of the calories. And mayo generally has a pretty healthy type of fat. But yes, it's still calories if you use the full-fat stuff.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Can you tell me the difference in health benefits/risks, between buying farm-raised salmon vs. wild caught salmon? Thank you.

Sally Squires: Look for more on that in tomorrow's paper. I've got to run today to get a flu shot, which they are giving until 2 p.m. here at the office. Winners to come as soon as I get back. Thanks to all for a great chat. Check tomorrow's paper -- and our Web site this afternoon about 4 p.m. and tomorrow -- for more on the fish question.

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washingtonpost.com: The omega Principle (Post, Aug. 19, 2003)

Sally Squires: Here's the list of foods that are high in omega-3s.

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Sally Squires: Thanks to all. Winners today are: North Boston, Lewes, D.C. (who lost 50 pounds) and Omaha. Please send your name and address to leanplateclub@washpost.com and please include "winner" in the subject line. It also helps speed processing if you write your name and address like it would appear on a postal label. Look for more seafood news at about 4 p.m. today. Also, check Washington Post radio, that's 1500 AM, 107.7 FM and yes, on the Web at washingtonpost.com/radio. And of course this Web site tomorrow and tomorrow's paper.

Until next week: eat smart and move more with the Lean Plate Club. Thanks to all!

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