DIET | DETECTIVE^®

Ms. Somer is a frequent guest on NBC’s Today Show, and a monthly guest on AM Northwest. She has appeared on national television programs, including the WB’s Daily Buzz, Lifetime Live, The Maury Povich Show, the CBS Morning Show and The View. Her one-hour special on Age-Proof Your Body aired nationwide on Public Television in 2001.

Ms. Somer is an Advisory Board Member to Shape Magazine, Nutrition Advisor to Prevention, past Contributing Editor to Eating Well Magazine, and has written more than 300 articles in national magazines from Shape, Men’s Fitness, McCalls, and Self to Redbook, Prevention, Cosmopolitan, Fitness, and Better Homes & Gardens. Her latest book is "10 Habits That Mess up a Woman's Diet" (Paperback)  (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

Name: Elizabeth Somer, M.A.,R.D.

Birthday: February 23, 1951

Location:  Oregon 

Q: How do you stick to your diet on days when you really don’t want to? What are techniques you use to stay on track?

A: I don’t have an eating plan that is rigid. My main focus is real food, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, salmon, soymilk, etc. Other than the occasional sweet that is in the house to keep my teenage son happy, the kitchen is packed with mostly healthy foods. I eat from that storehouse and until I’m full -big bowls of whole grain cereal for breakfast with fruit, quesadillas or bagels with peanut butter and veggies for lunch, salmon or grilled chicken, vegetables and a huge salad for dinner. My biggest temptations are chocolate and wine and I let myself have those on a regular basis, just not to excess.  

Q: If you could eat one forbidden food whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be? 

A: DARK CHOCOLATE.

Q: What dessert do you dream about?

A: I don’t dream about desserts...hmmm, let’s see. The only dessert that is even tempting to me is made with dark chocolate. It’s easy to skip all other sweets, they don’t tempt me at all.

Q: If there were one healthy food item that you had to eat every day, which would you choose? 

A: Spinach salads, mangos, almonds, clementine oranges, a steaming baked sweet potato, grilled salmon, too many...There’s too many, I can’t choose.

Q: Define failure.

A: Not trying. Not throwing yourself into life. Not striving to be the best you can be. Taking shortcuts because they are easy, not because they are right. Being lazy. Not being kind. Not being true to yourself. Making excuses why it’s OK to be less than what you could be.

Q: What do you think is the most important thing that makes or breaks a diet for someone?

A: The two most important things are first to be totally committed (for the rest of your life) to the action and second, tweaking your own diet and exercise program in such a way that it will allow you to lose weight and that you can maintain that eating plan for life. In contrast, any fad or imposed diet plan will most likely fail in the long run.

Q: How did you come to your conclusions about weight loss and dieting?

A: I’ve been studying nutrition for almost 30 years. I keep up to date with the research by reading 100s of studies every year. I know what works and what doesn’t for long-term success at weight management.

Q: Do you think that failed attempts have influenced you approach to dieting? How have past struggles help you find a system that works for you?

 A: I don’t have a weight problem. I eat healthy and I exercise a lot. I used to run, now I bike, snowshoe, lift weights, walk, and white water raft. If it wasn’t for the exercise, I’d balloon up in no time!

Q: Have you dealt with weight issues personally?

A: There is always that 5 pounds you want to lose, or a slightly more firm tummy you wish you had, but I’m happy with my weight and have been about the same weight now for 20+ years.

Q: What’s the best book about health that you’ve read?

A: My latest book - 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet, because it blows the whistle on those subtle things women do, often unconsciously, that sabotage their best efforts to lose the weight for good. It’s not a diet book and can accompany any diet, even a bad diet.

Q: What are your favorite health magazines?

A: Shape, Fitness, and Prevention. I love Cooking Light for the recipes.

Q: What do you consider the world’s most perfect food?

A: There is no one perfect food. With 40+ nutrients and 12,000 health-enhancing phytochemicals needed by the body, everyone must choose a wide variety of real foods (not processed ones) in order to get that array of nutrients. However, there is a perfect diet and it is one based on lots of colorful vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, fatty fish like salmon, nonfat milk products or soymilk, etc.

Q: What physical activity do you do to keep yourself in shape?

A: I bike, strength train twice a week, walk, snowshoe, white water raft, hike, etc.

Q: Do you have a favorite healthy recipe or cooking tip?

A: I wrote a cookbook (The Food & Mood Cookbook) that is loaded with healthy cooking tips, such as use fat-free half & half for everything from your morning coffee to making cheesecake, top pancakes or waffles with blueberries (heat frozen blueberries with a little splenda and cornstarch to thicken), get your veggies by piling them onto a pizza before putting it in the oven then pile even more fresh tomatoes on top when it comes out, add extra vegetables to everything (my kids didn’t know Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup didn’t come with peas until they were teenagers!), make salads into a meal by using baby spinach, black beans, corn, and a little grilled chicken or salmon, use fresh whenever possible including fresh ginger, garlic, herbs, etc, etc...

Q: Do you have a Calorie Bargain? What food did it replace? Was that an important food in your diet, since you ate it so often?

A: There are so many.. Let’s see. I keep frozen blueberries in the freezer as a substitute for ice cream when I want to snack at night, but don’t want to over do it on calories (besides blueberries are an antioxidant goldmine). I cut up 2 cups of fresh fruit and portion out 1/4 cup of dark chocolate syrup, then dip the fruit in to the syrup for a chocolate fix that lasts for half an hour, but mostly what I’m getting are the healthy fruits...this helps curb my chocolate cravings and keeps my hands out of the cake or pudding or other chocolate treats in the house. I throw cilantro into black bean and low-fat cheese burritos, top with lots of chopped tomatoes and salsa when I need a flavor fix, which also keeps me from turning to salty snacks. Of course, there’s the fat-free half & half I mentioned above, which has saved me 1000s of calories over the past couple of years.  

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