Losing weight

If you are trying to lose weight, you have three choices; go on the latest greatest diet, exercise more, or make longterm lifestyle solutions! Conventional wisdom says that it is all about calories in and calories out. Get them under control and weight control will result. That is what the USDA suggests in their new dietary guidelines. Research is showing there may be more involved. Chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other additives might be interfering with your endrocrine system and actually changing how your body deals with calories, as well as your metabolism, and possibly your fat cell number. Scientists still do not have all of the answers!

What can you do if this is true? My recommendations would be to implement lifestyle solutions like:

• Adopt the half plate rule but use smaller plates. Mounding a large plate, even following the half plate rule, will probably add weight. Remember half of your plate should be fruits and veggies. Aim for more veggies than fruits because they are less caloric.
• Adopt light recipes for your favorites. Most recipes can be just as delicious with reduced calories.
• Adopt the Meatless Monday idea. Have a meatless meal at least one day of the week.
• Make sure you are keeping your starches under control. Remember they are to fill only 1/4 of your plate. One serving of a grain is only 1/2 a cup, which is quite small.
• Eliminate processed foods from your diet as much as possible. Eat real foods. If it comes in a box, bag, or package, it is not real food. If it needs an ingredient list, it is not real food.
• Buy organic meats without antibiotics, or hormones and grass fed or free range. If cattle are given hormones to increase their growth, you are eating the very same hormones. Could these hormones be increasing your weight also? Find a great source of organic meat.
• Buy organic fruits and veggies at least for the most contaminated produce called the dirty dozen. Once again, eating pesticides could be interfering with your endocrine system and causing weight gain.
• Learn correct portions of meat, starches, and fruits, but eat unlimited veggies!
• Limit chemicals in your home. Use green products whenever possible.
• Exercise daily even if it is just brisk walking. Add more steps daily!
• Eat set meals and snacks (mini meals) and end mindless eating.

These are just a few things to think about when you are making lifestyle solutions. The way to personalize your plan is to keep a food journal for a couple of weeks. Evaluate your journal and clean up your problem areas. It is difficult but doable. Unless you want to fight this battle for the rest of your life, it is easier to make a few permanent lifestyle solutions that promote healthy eating and keep your weight under control!

Bare Bones Nutrition Week 2

Greetings! Last week your assignment was to journal for at least three days. People who journal have the greatest success in weight control because they can see their problem areas and change them. Hopefully you were able to review your journals and saw some habits. Maybe you found you snacked in between meals, ate many meals out, ate many calories after dinner, ate only 2 veggie servings this week.....There are way too many habits for me to list them all.  

These are a few very basic generic ideas that you can begin to add to your life. Small changes can make big differences. 

• Eat breakfast even if it is a late breakfast.  Breakfast eaters usually eat 300 calories less per day.
• Try to begin practicing the half plate rule for lunch and dinner. This rule says that half of your plate should be filled with vegetables. This will be hard at first. Try to include only one healthy high carbohydrate food (grains, rice, fruit, legumes, corn or potatoes) (1/2 cup to 1 cup) and your protein source on the other half of your plate.
• Decrease your portions sizes a little. Eat the foods that you love, just a little less of them. (This is the easiest way to lose weight)
• Increase your fruits and veggies and eat them first. Try snacking on fruit or include fruit with your cereal for breakfast. They are very filling.
• Try to eat slower and observe the 20 minute rule. (It takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain it is full.) Slow it down and you will eat less.
• Clean out your cupboards of all booby traps and hidden stashes and leftover Christmas candy that you got for 1/2 off.
• Begin to be aware of the processed foods and foods containing sugar and decrease them.  
• Continue to journal at least a couple of days and continue to look for any patterns or triggers that cause you to eat. 
• Check out some of the new Diabetes cookbooks. The ones from Prevention and Better Homes and Gardens offer great recipes full of vegetables. The Diabetic diet is a very healthy way to eat!
• Try fixing a huge vegetable soup this week. Healthy and great for lunches. I am smelling a ham soup with green beans, mixed veggies, cabbage, potatoes, and garbanzo beans that I just made. (I do practice what I preach :) )
• Try and notice particular times and situations that you feel you emotionally eat.

If you saw any big habits and want to start working on them, please contact me and I will blog about that habit this week. Look for ways that you can make small changes. It takes a month to break a habit and if you can work on 3 habits a month you will be doing great. No one can change everything at once!