Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

By Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D. Associate Nutrition Editor for EatingWell Magazine

Resolved: I will lose weight, save money and be healthier in 2012. Sound familiar? If you made even just one of these resolutions this year, I have a tip for how to get started…use your slow cooker. Sound wacky? Find out how this one handy piece of kitchen equipment can help you meet your new year's resolutions (and if your resolution is to revive 1970s cooking methods, even better!).

If your resolution is to: Lose weight
How the slow cooker can help: Cooking at home is a great first step in trying to get your diet under control. Since slow-cooked food relies on long, moisture-rich cooking, you can use less oil than if you were cooking with dry heat in the oven or on the stove. Using your slow cooker to make dinner means that dinner is ready when you get in the door-no more hungrily snacking on other food while preparing dinner.
Recipes to Try: 20 Low-Calorie Meals from Your Slow

By Matthew Thompson, Associate Food Editor for EatingWell Magazine

When it comes to choosing what to eat, I like to get a lot of nutritional bang for my buck, so to speak. The best deals? "Superfoods" that are far more plentiful in nutrients than they are in calories and that research has shown deliver health benefits. You're probably already eating a lot of everyday superfoods-like bananas, eggs and broccoli-and maybe even some exotic ones (acai, anyone?).
Don't Miss: 10 Everyday Superfoods That Should Be in Your Kitchen

But what about the power-packed foods filled with good-for-you vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting phytochemicals you aren't eating? Rather than rattling off a laundry list of every fiber-rich, antioxidant-packed, vitamin-saturated food I can imagine, I'm going to focus on 7 of the healthiest foods that I, and probably many of you, have mostly missed the boat on eating, especially on a regular basis.

1. Kale
On top of delivering a raft of

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Just as breakfast gives me a much-needed energy boost in the morning, eating lunch fuels the second half of my day-and helps me stay away from the vending machine mid afternoon.
Don't Miss: 3 Essential Ingredients of a Healthy Breakfast

But when you're trying to lose weight, every meal-and calorie-counts. (Find out how many calories you should be eating to shed pounds here.) You can build a light but filling lunch with these three healthy ingredients-whether you're brown-bagging it or eating out.

1. Vegetables: Making vegetables the largest portion of your lunch boosts your lunch's total nutrition (vegetables deliver disease-fighting phytochemicals and essential vitamins and minerals) and gives you a healthy dose of fiber-a must-have when you're dieting. Why? Fiber helps you stay satisfied longer, plus research shows that upping your fiber intake may help promote weight loss. Find low-cal,

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Editor, EatingWell Magazine

To successfully lose weight and keep it off, eating well and exercising are key-the "secret," of course, is to eat less and move more (find out how many calories you should be eating to lose weight here). But even the most committed dieters can benefit from a few tricks to boost their weight-loss efforts. Here are 10 easy, everyday diet tips to add to your weight-loss arsenal.

1. Slow down
When eating, it takes 20 minutes for your body to register fullness. And according to a University of Rhode Island study, you can save 70 calories by eating slowly over about half an hour versus eating in under 10 minutes. If you ate more slowly at every meal, that would translate into losing about two pounds a month. An easy way to slow down your eating is to put your fork down between bites-or consider using chopsticks.

2. Ditch the top slice of bread
Opting to eat your sandwich open-face instantly erases

By Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine

I'm pretty good in the kitchen, but there are a few areas that I feel I could improve upon. It's the simple things that trip me up the most-maybe because I don't feel like I really need to follow the recipe (it's so easy!) or pay that much attention to the specifics.

Like roasting a chicken, for example. I season it a little and throw it in the oven. It always comes out good-but not great. Why? Because I often overlook the little things I could do to make it even better. And I'll bet there are more people than just me in this boat. Here are 5 things I think we all should learn to cook or master in 2012 and a few tips to set you (and me) on the road to success.

1. Roast Chicken
Sounds easy (and it is), but there are some things you can do to make it great. Like invest in a good thermometer. Roast chicken can become dry in a hurry if it's overcooked. Temp your bird in the thickest part of the thigh until it reaches

ApplesBy the Editors of EatingWell Magazine

Do you want to lose weight for good in the new year? Try increasing your daily fiber intake in the form of nutrient-rich high-fiber foods. Why fiber? Recent research in the Journal of Nutrition suggests eating more fiber as a way to prevent weight gain or even encourage weight loss. Over the course of the two-year study, the researchers found that boosting fiber by 8 grams for every 1,000 calories resulted in about 4 1/2 pounds of weight lost.

Try it for yourself. If you're consuming 2,000 calories per day, aim to increase your fiber by 16 grams.

Here are 7 fiber-rich foods that help do the weight-loss work for you.

1. Apples: A medium apple (3-inch diameter) contains 4 grams of fiber; a large apple (3 1/4-inch diameter) has 5. Apples also offer a bit of vitamin C and potassium.

2. Green Beans: One cup boasts 4 grams of fiber, plus a healthy dose (30% daily value) or skin-helping vitamin C.

Must-Read:
5 Things You Should Learn

By Colin Nissan

Goodbye, up-for-grabs office doughnut
Well, this is awkward, isn't it? Another time, I would have walked right up and jammed you into my mouth-whole, if no one was watching. But today I must keep my distance for fear that a wisp of your powdered sugar will rise up to my nose like pixie dust and end this diet as quickly as it started. Do I want to live in a world where adorable fried confections are bad for you? No, I don't. Do I want to get rid of my lunch-lady arms? I really do.
Must-Read: "Bad" Foods You Should Be Eating

Goodbye, whipped-cream-topped coffee drinks
A coffee drink, a sundae and an angel had a baby together, and that baby is you. Sadly my days of slurping your 50-calorie-a-straw loads of frothy mirth have ended. No longer will I enjoy the seven-minute burst of productivity that you so generously provided. Was your liberal topping of whipped cream and caramel drizzle a bit much? Sure it was. But I didn't drink you for subtlety, I

By Cheryl Sternman Rule

Be honest: How many lists of top food trends have you already read? Five? Ten? Fifty? Forget them all. This one, right here, is the only one you'll need.

1. Bananas will be yellow.

2. People will eat cupcakes. People will eat bacon. People will eat pie. People will breathe air, drink water and get pregnant, though not necessarily in that order.

3. Kombucha will remain wildly popular, so get used to rolling that word around on your tongue. Of course, only six people know what it actually is.

4. A well-known pizza chain will invent a new way to put even more cheese on its pizza: by injecting cheese into the cheese.

5. A well-known donut chain will debut a donut whose hole is stuffed with a fully loaded baked potato.
Don't Miss: Top Food Trends of 2011
Top 5 Food News Stories of 2011

6. Children's menus will still offer chicken nuggets, but they will soon be coated with 100% whole-grain, compostable particulate matter fortified