Healthy Diet and Weight Control

Getting Started

There are many things you can do to help yourself. They are covered in these pages, but the most important one is in behavior modification. Set a goal of eating and drinking in the kitchen where the food is kept. Do not eat in bed, in front of the tv, in the car, at your desk and while surfing the web or doing other task on your computer. You should always be aware of what and where you are eating. The exception to this rule might be a glass of water. But the best rule of thumb is if it is not near you, if you have to get up and go get it, it's easier to resist.

Realize you are making changes for the long haul. You need to learn how to eat right for the rest of your life.

Stop Dieting. Do not think of your eating habit changes as dieting. It is too easy to find ways to cheat. Stop forbidding yourself certain foods and start eating less of them.

Get a grip on reality. Keep a food diary. You may be surprised at how many calories you are ingesting. You may be shocked to find that it could be as high as 3500 to 5000 a day.

Eat minimeals. Having smaller, more frequent meals can prevent you from getting ravenously hungry and overeating. On average weight loss winners eat 5 times a day.

Drink up. Drinking lots of water keeps you from snacking when you are not hungry and gives you more energy.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Do it yourself. As long as someone else is pushing you, no matter what you do or how hard you try- - -it will never work unless YOU want to do it.

Take it slow. Everyone wants to lose weight yesterday but slow is the way to go if you don't want to see those pounds again.

Customize your approach. What worked for your friend may not work for you. And what works for you today, may not work in 6 months. YOU need to decided what you need.

Set small goals. Decide to lose 10 pounds. Excess weight contributes to many medical conditions. Sometimes losing 10 pounds can help lower blood pressure.

Make changes you can live with. Ask yourself if what I did today, I could live with the rest of my life. Can I eat this way and be happy. If you answer Yes then you are on the right track and if that answer was no--you will likely fail.

Resist Temptation

Stay busy. Do things that are not conductive to eating. People who lose weight are not sitting around thinking of hot fudge sundaes. They are busy singing in choirs, taking classes, taking walks, swimming, yard and house work and doing chores.

Keep 'em out of site. Overwhelmingly, weight loss veterans control foods such as chocolate, ice cream, and potato chips by not having them around. Fill your house with treats that you are not particularly fond of and you will have less trouble indulging in them.

Moderation is key. If you want a piece of cake, have ONE, then don't have another one for a week. Know you can eat something forbidden and no ones going to say you can't works for most people.

Buy individually packed snacks. Cookies, chips, and even ice cream comes in single serving sizes then if you crave one - grab one little bag instead of the whole box.

Find alternatives. Chocolate is still a favorite even for successful dieters. But there are ways to enjoy it and still keep the waistline. Make fat-free chocolate pudding with fat-free milk.

Creat a Healthy Kitchen

Plan ahead. Plan menus a week or more ahead and stock items needed for those meals. Cook ahead and freeze meals for the week in individual containers. If it not there- you can not go get it and over indulge.

A little dab will do it. If you just can not pass on some high-fat favorites, stick to the most favored ones. A single slice of bacon is enough to flavor eggs or a potato.

Fake Fry. Try frying with calorie free cooking sprays instead of oil. Spray sliced potatoes and roast them in the oven for french fries that taste fried without fat.

Stock frozen vegetables. With pasta or stir fry sauces they are diet saviors. You can eat a whole bag with 3/4 cup of sauce which has about 3 grams of fat and mininal calories. It is also makes a filling and tasty meal.

Flavor up. Rice, beans and other cooked grains are the staples of many successful dieters. They can be cooked in different liquids such as tomato juice, apple juice, beef or chicken stock. Rice cooked in pineapple juice is especially good for Chinese dishes.

One Minute Weight Loss Secrets

All you need is a minute or less to start shedding pounds. Here are dozens of successful strategies to cut calories and burn fat that can take 60 seconds or less. With about 1,000 waking minutes a day, you can find plenty of opportunities to slip these secrets into your routine and watch the scale go down. If you have already begun to loss weight, they can maximize your efforts and speed results. Remember secret tips help you but only if you stick to a plan of sensible eating and proper nutrition.

1. Schedule a blood test. About 1 in 12 have an underactive thyroid which can slow down metabolism.

2. Cut down on those high calorie soda's. Mix a juice Spritzer. Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass and lose 5 lbs or more a year.

3. Ditch diet shakes such as those instant breakfast drinks. Forget those so called diet drinks - the calorie savings are only temporary and you just eat more later.

4. Pour a white cocktail. Like water, 1% or 2% milk's volumn fills your stomach, but they also contain carbohydrates - so you eat less.

5. Supersize your H2O. Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water. You'll drink more.

6. Drink, drink, drink. Dehydration can slow your metabolism by 3%. At a weight of 150 pounds, that would be about 45 fewer calories burned a day which can mean 5 extra pounds a year.

7. Pop a piece of gum. Researchers recently discovered that chewing sugar-free gum all day increases your metabolic rate by 20%. That could burn off more than 10 pounds a year.

8. Trick your taste buds. Sucking on a menthol/eucalyptus cough drop can stop cravings instantly.

9. Call a friend. Fill loneliness with talk - not cookies.

LI> 10. Study the wrapper. At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, a bag of crackers or a bag of nuts) provides two servings- - which more than doubles those calories.

Inspiration

1. Reflect on your choices. Looking at yourself in a morrow while eating may help you consume 22-32% less.

2. Log your food. Writing down what you eat and when you eat can help you stay in control because you're more accountable. No need to record it perfectly or review what you wrote. The benefit is in the writing itself. But don't cheat, you are only cheating yourself.

3. Pay cash for treats. Anytime someone offers you a treat or you feel the need to grab a goodie - put aside $1.00 then give it to your kids or a favorite charity. Do not cheat and use it for yourself. When you literally pay for treats you're more likely to say no thanks.

Burn 'em

1. Sip green tea before you walk. The caffeine frees fatty acids so you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. WARNING: ***If you have high blood pressure skip this tip.***

2. Pick up the cordless. Burn calories while you walk and talk. Do the laundry (68 calories) set the table (85 calories) or water plants (102 calories). Values based on 150 pound person and half an hour of activity.

3. Exercise at your desk and while watching T.V. by lifting feet off floor and other simple movements to burn 'em.

4. Fidget. You can burn up to 700 calories a day.

5. Retire the remote. You can easily burn 200 extra calories if you stop using the tv/vcr remote, garage door opener, electric can opener, riding mower, car and other labor saving devices.

Kitchen Tips

1. Pack a lunch. Eating out makes you eat more- -nearly 300 calories a day- -so pack your lunch and when you do eat outeat nutritious meals and reasonable amount. Don't gorge.

2. Dip your bread. Use olive oil instead of butter. It's healthier and may also help you eat less. In recent studies, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories on average than those whose use butter.

3. Sprinkle flax on your cereal. High fiber, ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes. Available in health food stores.

4. Dress with this. Mix 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinigar, 1/4 teaspoon olive oil, 3/4 tespoon dijon mustard and 1/4 teaspoon horseradish. Mix together. It makes a tasty salad dressing with only 20 calories and 1.5 grams of fat.

5. Spice up your meals. Adding hot chili pepper (or capsaicin) to food may help you stop eating sooner.

6. Chunk your salad. Chop carrots, celery, sweet potato, zucchini or other veggies, instead of shredding or slicing. It takes more effort to munch bigger pieces. You will do more chewing and eat less during the main course.

7. Spray- - don't drizzle. Use an olive oil sprayer such as MISTo to add flavor to salads, chicken, fish, or pasta- - without all the calories. A two second spray evenly distributes about 1/2 teaspoon of oil, compared to 2-3 teaspoons you might get while pouring. That'll save 100 calories.

8. Buy small. The bigger the package, the more you're likely to eat up to 44% accoring to one study.

9. Measure before cooking. It's easy to overeat pasta, but not if you the right amount at the start. For perfect portion, keep a quarter near your spagetti. It's diameter is exactly the size of the 2 ounce stack (about 200 calories) that you should serve per person.

How to 'Yield Not Unto Temptation'

1. Drop and do 10. Before you pry open that tub of ice cream, do 10 situps or pushups. Doing something physical can put you back in touch with your body and your goals.

2. Take a Whiff. When your really want those fresh-baked cookies, try this. Indulge in the smell for 30 seconds. Then place a small piece on the tip of your tongue for another 30 seconds. Savoring the smell and taste can help you stop at just one cookie. You've come to far to take orders from a cookie. Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

Skip "light foods". The weight of food- -not just the fat and calories is what fills you up. Eat less and still feel satisfied with low-calorie heavyweights such as oranges, strawberries, grapefruit, canteloupe, cooked spinach, collard greens and broccoli.

Have a chunky soup. People who ate soup containing large vegetable pieces reported feeling fuller and ate 20% less during lunch than those who had a pureed soup make with the same ingredients.

Blot the fat. You can dab off about a teaspoon of oil- - or 40 calories and 4.5 grams of fat- - from two slices of pizza.

Order fish. Varieties rich in omega-3 fatty acids- -tuna, mackerel, cod, and salmon - may help you drop pounds by improving metabolism. Overweight people who ate reduced-calorie diet that included fish every day lost about 20% more weight than those on a fish-free diet.

*The content of this site is intended for general information only and is in no way intented to replace our Doctor, Pharmacist, Nutritionist or any other Health Care Provider.*

Getting Started

*The content of this site is for general informatio only is in no way intended to replace your Doctor, Pharmacist, Nutritionist or any other Health Care Provider.*