Aging Backwards Tuesday Tips #2: Bathing Suit Reunion

Yes, it's officially summertime now and time again to dig through your drawers and get reacquainted with your bathing suit.

I like to try on my bathing suit well BEFORE I actually have any plans to wear it. That way, I can see how I look in it, decide if it's time to buy a new one and also decide if I need to shed a few pounds to look my best at this year's pool parties and beach picnics (under an umbrella, of course). After a thorough examination in the mirror from all angles, if I do decide that a few extra pounds crept on while I was sleeping last night, I'll eat only salads for lunch and dinner for a week or two. Here are my top five summertime salad tips for healthy, light eating.

Jackie's Top Five Aging Backwards Summertime Salad Tips

1) Use the dark green leafy lettuces instead of iceberg lettuce for your base. Then, add taste and antioxidants to your salad by going for the reds - make sure to add in plenty of red veggies and fruits, like tomatoes, beets, red peppers, radicchio, red cabbage, apples and strawberries.

2) Thin your salad dressing with fresh-squeezed lemon juice. I love the creamy salad dressings, so here's what I do: I buy a light, but heavily-flavored, salad dressing like Caesar Light. I pour some of the creamy dressing in a bowl, then thin it with fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Not only does it taste yummy, but it cuts the amount of the creamy dressing I use in half (thus cutting the fat in half) and also allows the dressing to spread more evenly on my salad.

3) Use my crouton trick. Now that you've mixed up that healthy, delicious salad, you can add even more flavor with my Aging Backwards Crouton Trick. I buy a bag of the most flavorful croutons I can find - something very garlicky. Then I pour the croutons in a big zipper baggy, take out my meat mallet and start hammering away. I crush the croutons to the point where they are very small crumbs, about the size of Grape Nuts Cereal (by the way, this doubles as a great stress reducer!). Once your salad is tossed with your lemon juice/creamy dressing mixture, spoon a teaspoon or two of crouton crumbs over the top for a zing of extra flavor with practically no added calories or fat.

4) Go nuts! Add a small amount of raw or lightly toasted nuts to your salad for extra crunch and nutrients. Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, calcium, iron and they even contain a small amount of protein. Sesame seeds are considered one of the highest sources of calcium in the world when the husks are intact (dark brown in color). Find them at your local health food store. Walnuts are the only nuts that contain a significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids, essential for good health.

5) To help you curb your appetite and stick with your resolve to lose those pounds and eat salads for lunch and dinner, there's a plant that can help -- and it's not hoodia. It's called Caralluma fimbriata and it works - I've tried it. Caralluma fimbriata is a succulent plant in the cactus family that has been used in India for ages as a natural appetite suppressant. Like hoodia, caralluma has been used to suppress hunger and as a portable food for hunting. It's sometimes called the "famine" food since it's often used by people in rural parts of India to get them through bad harvests. Caralluma can be cooked like a vegetable and used in chutneys or eaten raw. It is believed to block the activity of several enzymes, which then blocks the formation of fat, forcing fat reserves to be burned. It also naturally suppresses the appetite. The plant is non-toxic and there are no known adverse effects from ingesting it. The caralluma product I've tried that suppressed my appetite is called GenaSlim by Country Life. It's very affordable at Amazon.com -- only $17.99 for 60 capsules.

That's it! Stick to those salads and you'll be ready for that swimsuit in no time!