Eat a balanced diet.
Your body needs all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, and proteins that come from the different food groups. When your body gets a good balance of these foods, it can work efficiently.
This helps with weight loss because it keeps your blood sugar and metabolism stable. Eating balanced also helps you feel satisfied and fuller longer. (And you don’t want to feel hungry when you’re dieting!)
[More]
Get rid of all junk.
Now we come to a touchy subject. Many people feel resistant, or even resentful, about giving up all their junk food. They want to hold onto a few “little” things.
It’s not that one pretzel or three chips will sabotage your weight loss. It’s that one pretzels turns into five, and three chips turn into half a bag.
Junk food is engineered to make you want more. Flavor enhancers, sodium, and sugar are used to cause cravings and make the food addictive. It’s almost impossible to stop once you get started.
[More]
Watch portions and calories.
Weight loss still comes down to calories in versus calories out. Over the course of the day, you need to burn more calories than you eat.
How do you do that? By paying attention to your portions and calories.
The best way to do this is by keeping a food journal. Most people grossly underestimate the amount of food and calories they eat in a day. By journaling, you can keep accurate account of your food intake.
[More]
Eat frequently.
Our bodies are like machines. They work all day, around the clock. We don’t always realize it while we’re sitting at our desks or driving in our cars.
There are thousands of processes going on. Our bodies are repairing and rebuilding muscle, building bone, pumping blood, digesting food, etc.
To do all this well and efficiently, our bodies need fuel. Just like we wouldn’t expect our car to work without gas, we shouldn’t expect our body to run without fuel.
[More]
Eat breakfast.
Did you ever hear the saying, “Eat like an elephant in the morning and a mouse at night”? For weight loss, there’s a lot of truth to this.
Many people eat exactly the opposite. They skip breakfast and maybe even lunch. They grab a snack a few times during the day along with their coffee and soda. Then at night when they get home or go out to dinner, they eat a large meal. This is often followed by late night snacking too.
Because they didn’t eat properly during the day, their body is now “demanding” the calories it needs. Having all those calories late in the day, however, is disastrous. Now they’re loaded down with calories and they go to bed.
[More]
Though it’s tempting to “let your hair down” on the weekend, two days of overeating can mess up your whole week. It’s pretty easy to eat so many calories over the weekend that you spend the whole next week trying to burn them off. And trying to get your weight back down!
Instead of letting your food control go for the whole weekend, try limiting your splurges to one or two meals. This will help keep your calories consumption from getting out of hand.
[More]
When you’re restricting your calories for weight loss, it’s super important not to blow your calories on a little piece of junk food. You don’t want to feel hungry. You want to be able to fill your belly up.
Well, you can feel full and satisfied with the right choices.
[More]
If you want to lose weight and be healthier, it’s really important to choose quality grains. You have make a conscious effort to look for them. Refined grains (not the good kind) are used for so many products.
Even if something says “wheat” or “multi-grain” it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s made with quality grains. What you want to look for is “whole” grains.
[More]
“It’s always like this,” one client said to me. “I do good for about three weeks then I mess up.” She had tried many diets in the past and always fell off track a few weeks into her efforts.
I found out she began feeling resistant and resentful about dieting soon after she started. “I want to eat what I want to eat,” she told me. She soon stopped following her food plan and quit journaling.
Yet she also professed how much she desperately wanted to lose weight.
[More]
Well, if you’re a dog, death by chocolate is certainly a possibility. However, if you’re a human being (and I assume you are if you’re reading this), you can actually benefit from chocolate.
That’s just what you want to hear in anticipate of devouring chocolate for Valentine’s Day!
Delicious, rich, and creamy, chocolate has been called the food of the Gods. When it was first “discovered” it was reserved for the wealthy, the nobles. Mere peasants like us never had the fortune of enjoying chocolate’s pleasures.
[More]
We’ve been buried under snow, winds and drifts. The neighbor kids came over to play this morning before the wind was torrential. Then they all piled into our house to warm up. Nobody had eaten breakfast so I made pancakes.
How tempting those pancakes looked and smelled!
[More]
I know very few people who eat only when they’re hungry and stop as soon as they’re full. They don’t overeat. They don’t eat for emotions. They eat because they’re physically hungry and that’s it.
Most of us fall into a different category. We’re emotional eaters. We eat when we’re miserable – stressed, angry, sad, bored, lonely – and we eat when we’re happy – celebratory, relaxed, or excited.
[More]
Want to go out this weekend and totally blow your diet? It’s easy. Follow these tips:
- Don’t bother to check the restaurant;s website for nutritional information.
- Go to dinner famished.
- Get a bread basket.
- Start off with appetizers.
- Assume anything chicken or seafood is good for you.
- Don’t ask for the salad dressing on the side.
- Drink soda or cocktails instead of water.
- Clean your plate.
- Peruse the dessert menu “just” to see what they have.
- When the server asks if you want dessert, hesitate and think about it.
Does this sound ridiculous to you? That’s just how ridiculous it is to go out to dinner without planning ahead. You know the old saying: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
If you watch this week’s cooking shows, read the recipes in the newspaper, or clip coupons from the grocery store you’ll see it’s all about food for the Super Bowl. Sodas, pizza, chips, nachos, mozzarella sticks, brownie bars, etc.
If you’re going to a Super Bowl party, you’ve got a challenge ahead of you. No doubt you’ll be surrounded by all kinds of tempting foods. This makes sticking to the diet pretty tough.
[More]
I tell my clients over and over to prepare ahead when it comes to food. Flying by the seat of your pants will end up with you flying right into food failure!
Think about when you’re rushed. Do you have time to prepare a healthy meal? How about when you get home from work late and you’re exhausted? Do you have the energy to prepare healthy food? No!
You have to think your days through. What are you going to eat? What do you need to prepare ahead? What do you need take with you?
[More]
It’s not uncommon when checking a client’s food log to find that she is eating tons of grains/starches and not enough other foods. For example, she may have cereal and toast for breakfast, baked potato with lunch, pretzels for an afternoon snack, pizza for dinner, and crackers in the evening.
Even if her calories aren’t overly high, all this starchy food isn’t going to help with weight loss.
[More]
Did you hear about the new “bottomless” lunch menu at a popular chain restaurant? Certain selections on the lunch menu are all you can eat. You can get refills as many times as you want.
Try a bowl of their chili – for 460 calories, 30 grams of fat, and 1870 milligrams of sodium. Let’s get a refill!
Then there’s another restaurant chain where you can get unlimited soup and salad. What’s wrong with soup and salad? It’s low cal, right? WRONG! One serving of salad with dressing has 350 calories, 26 grams of fat, and 1930 milligrams of sodium. One bowl of Minestrone soup has 100 calories and 1 gram of fat (not bad), but 1020 milligrams of sodium.
[More]
How many times during the day do you eat when you’re not hungry?
If you stop and check the status of your stomach before you reach for food, you may find you’re often eating for reasons other than hunger.
During these times, you probably experience strong cravings for salty snacks, sweets, or fatty foods. (It’s doubtful that you’ll crave a salad with tuna.)
[More]
We all have times when we crave a little “bad” food. Sometimes we can shrug it off; other times it’s like trying to hold down a monster.
It may be better to give in a little and curb your craving. This can ward off an all-out binge. Here are some little food “sins” you can indulge in from time to time to help you feel satisfied and not deprived.
Ice Cream
Skinny Cow ice cream treats
Weight Watchers desserts
Frozen yogurt (fat free)
[More]
When you’re working on weight loss, there’s nothing worse than feeling gnawing hunger pangs all day. You may be able to hang in there for a little while, but at some point you’ll cave in and binge like there’s no tomorrow.
If you’re eating healthy, whole foods about every three hours, you shouldn’t feel hungry (except when it’s time to eat). However, some people do experience higher levels of hunger than others.
[More]
Do you know the nutrition information for a kid’s Happy Meal?
Well, McDonald’s website doesn’t list it, but we can look at each piece of the meal: small fries – 230 calories, 11 grams fat, 160 milligrams of sodium; 4 piece chicken McNuggets – 190 calories, 12 grams fat, 400 milligrams of sodium; chocolate milk – 170 calories, 3 grams fat, 150 milligrams of sodium. That’s a grand total of 590 calories, 26 grams fat, and 710 milligrams of sodium.
As moms and dads we have the most influence with our kids when it comes to eating habits. What foods we eat in front of them, share with them, feed them (and give to them when they beg) is establishing their eating behavior.
[More]
We often get in trouble with our food when we eat mindlessly. We grab a little handful or this or that, nibbling without thinking. Over the day these “little” calories really add up.
To keep ourselves on the straight and narrow, it’s good to set times for when we will eat. Then we eat only at these set times and eat nothing in between. Not only does this keep us from snacking mindlessly all day, but it keeps us disciplined in our eating behavior.
For example:
7:00 Breakfast– egg and oatmeal, coffee
10:00 Snack – yogurt, apple
12:30 Lunch – grilled chicken, salad, whole grain breadstick
3:00 Snack – PB, rice cake, banana
6:00 Dinner – salmon, baked asparagus
8:30 Snack – protein bar, milk
[More]
People mistakenly think that since I’ve lost weight it’s not hard for me anymore. They’re surprised that I still journal my food, weigh in daily, and exercise daily. Why? Because it’s a daily fight to keep the weight off.
Recently I came across an article that confirmed this. (It was also somewhat discouraging.) The article said: [More]
One client recently related to me, “I’m killing myself with food.” It was meant in a joking matter concerning weight, but how true she was.
Sometimes we focus too much on how weight makes us look. We have to wear big sizes, we have a hard time fitting into small seats, and our thighs rub together when we walk. Our relationships suffer, our job performance suffers, and our energy’s in the tank because we’re so big.
But beyond how uncomfortable it feels to be overweight, being overweight is deadly.
[More]
Are you as nuts about nuts as I am? I love almonds, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, and walnuts. The crunch is so very satisfying. They make a fabulous snack or topping for a salad.
However, a one-ounce serving of nuts contains about 200 calories and 13 to 20 grams of fat.
Many dieters assume nuts to be off limits, but that is a wrong assumption. Eating nuts in moderation can actually help with weight loss. The fat, protein and fiber in nuts give feelings of fullness and satiety. Eating nuts may help ward off overeating and feelings of deprivation.
[More]
