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Issue 250 - August 14, 2006
VOLUME 1
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Dreaming of Success:
We dream an average of four times a night for a period of 10 to 60 minutes. We spend 20 to 30 percent of our sleep time dreaming. Many studies have shown how important dreaming is to our well-being. Dreams allow us to experience successes we need in order to improve our self-image so we can succeed in real life. Your imagination is an excellent tool that will help you succeed. To obtain the goals you’ve set for yourself, try to see yourself in your mind as you’d like to be. It is important that you have realistic goals to dream about. Picture yourself at your desired weight, wearing the clothes you’d like to wear, while engaging in an activity you enjoy. Try to vividly imagine the sights, the sounds, and the smells of the surroundings. Think about your feelings of satisfaction and well-being you’d get from achieving your goal. Imagine this scene as often as possible. All great inventions and events were first a dream in someone’s mind before they became a reality. Dreaming can help you make progress in your weight loss efforts!
Eating for the Wrong Reasons:
Many people eat for reasons other than to satisfy their hunger or meet their body’s needs. When people eat as an activity they go through the motion of eating without thinking about it. One good example of this is when people eat popcorn while watching a movie. They are barely conscious of eating, and more focused on the movie. When this happens, people tend to continue eating even when they are full.
Eating can also be a passive activity, such as snacking due to boredom. This can lead to searching the cupboards and eating items that aren’t healthy. Or, eating can be so enjoyable, people continue to eat for pleasure even when they are no longer hungry. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a movie, relieving yourself of boredom, or seeking the pleasure food gives you. However, you need to be responsible to yourself.
Instead of eating, you should discover other activities that bring you pleasure or satisfy your boredom. The pleasure one gets from palatable foods results from an increase of endorphin levels in the body. Endorphins are compounds from the brain that cause feelings of pleasure and reduced pain. Endorphins can be released by any activity you enjoy. You can listen to music, play a sport, or get involved with a hobby. Let these endorphin-producing activities lead you away from eating for pleasure. When you are watching a movie, try to remember you’re enjoying the film. Think about how interesting the movie is; and that the popcorn isn’t necessary for you to have a good time.
Eating should be a conscious activity without distractions around. You should be thinking about eating to take care of your body. By concentrating on how much and what you are eating, it will be easier to manage your weight and improve your health.
Boosting Body Image:
Keeping a positive self-image is important to weight loss progress. So be polite to yourself! If you would not like hearing someone tell you how big you are; why should you treat yourself that way? Try to recognize times when you put yourself down. Stop yourself from thinking negative thoughts about your body. Try to think to yourself things you would like friends, family, or other support people to say. For example, you can say to yourself, “This is not quite what I want my body to look like, but I’m taking steps to get there!” Also, try not to be self-conscious and assume others are thinking negative thoughts about you. Sometimes we judge ourselves more harshly than others do. With all the effort you are putting into your Diet Center program, you should be confident in yourself, feel healthy, and be positive! Realize that instead of judging you, people should see the happier, healthier person you are becoming!
Meeting Emotional Needs:
Sometimes people eat to feel connected, to be part of a group, or help satisfy the need for love. Such people need to recognize this eating is a response to a psychological need, and not a physiological one. You are entitled to have your needs met, but need to determine what it is you need. Being part of a group doesn’t require you to change your identity. You should still be recognized as part of a group even if you don’t have a piece of that birthday cake.
When you are in a social setting, try to turn your attention away from food or bring you own snacks. To satisfy your need for love, you can nurture your self with options other than food. You can try relaxation therapy, listen to soothing music, hug a pet, get a massage, or buy fresh flowers for your home. Emotional eating can be dealt with, once you recognize your true needs and take measures to satisfy them appropriately.
EXERCISE TIP OF THE WEEK
Exercise and Heart:
Summer sunshine should encourage you to get outside and be more physically active! You can put on your shorts and take a walk, play volleyball, go for a bike ride or do some gardening. Or, put on your swimsuit and burn calories while you cool off in the water. Keep in mind that you still need to use some caution and planning with summer activities. The heat and sunshine can increase stress on the heart, especially during activity. The heart has to work harder to provide blood and oxygen to the muscles. It also has to move blood to the surface where it can be cooled by sweat and evaporation. The combination of higher body temperatures plus exercise in the heat puts a lot of stress on the heart.
You can enjoy exercising on beautiful sunny days, but should take a few measures to take care of your heart. For example, try to work out early morning or later in the evening when the temperature is cooler. When it is hot and humid outside, try to work out at a lower intensity than your usual routine. You should also keep yourself well hydrated. Drinking a cup or two of water prior to exercising, and drinking a cup every 30 minutes will help prevent dehydration. Appropriate attire such as a loose cotton t-shirt, a hat, and shorts will help keep the body cool. A little planning is wise when it comes to exercise in warm, summer sunshine. It will help protect your heart while you burn calories and get your body in shape!
Pool Walking:
Walking around your neighborhood may not be so appealing on hot, summer days. However, have you considered walking around a pool? Pool walking can be a relaxing, yet effective option for you to get some exercise during warm weather. Water actually provides resistance, while having a low impact on your joints. The buoyancy of the water supports your weight, reducing the stress on your weight-bearing joints.
You can start off by walking around in waist-deep water. If you’re ready to make things more challenging, you can walk in a little deeper water or try to walk at a faster pace. Walking backwards helps to work out other muscles in your body. Try to walk as you would on dry land (heel-to-toe), and avoid walking on just your toes. Since water will slow you down, you can take the opportunity to focus on your motions and posture. Keep in mind that water walking is an aerobic activity. This means that it can raise your heart rate for an extended period of time. Like any other aerobic exercise, you should start each session by warming up and ending with a cool-down. To warm up and cool down, you may want to do some simple stretches. It’s summer time! You can cool off in a pool while getting a good, calorie-burning workout!
Strolling the Pounds Off:
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommends physical activity at moderate to vigorous intensity to achieve weight loss. However, any physical activity burns calories. You may only be comfortable taking a stroll around the block or at a park. Don’t be discouraged if your body can’t handle a tougher workout. There is less risk of injury if you exercise at a pace that you can tolerate. You can still benefit from a lower-intensity exercise such as strolling.
A University of Pittsburgh study showed that low-intensity exercise burns calories--and sheds pounds--as effectively as a high-intensity workout. Researchers followed over 200 overweight women for 1 year. Groups walked to burn off 1,000 or 2,000 calories. In each group, some women strolled along comfortably; others walked at a nearly breathless pace. Everybody in the 1000-calorie group lost an average of 13 pounds regardless of walking speed. Participants in the 2,000-calorie group shed about 20 pounds regardless of exercise pace.
Taking a stroll can help you shed pounds. It may take longer to reach your goal than it would if you walked at a faster pace. However, if you can stick to a long relaxing stroll, than you can still reach weight loss success!
Burning Calories in the Garden:
Gardening can be a rewarding hobby during the summertime. However, even if you don’t find nurturing flowers and plants rewarding, then maybe you can appreciate the impact it can have on your weight loss efforts. Gardening activities can burn about 100 to over 300 calories in 30 minutes! Even just watering the lawn or garden burns about 60 calories in half an hour. Trimming shrubs, mowing the lawn (with a push mower), planting trees or seedlings, digging, spading, and tilling can all burn about 160 to over 200 calories per half hour (Figures are based on a 180-pound person, a person who weighs more will burn more).
Gardening activities work out all of your major muscle groups, which do most of the body’s calorie-burning. They also increase flexibility and strengthen your joints. Make sure you use proper techniques so you don’t injure yourself. You should stand and stretch your legs routinely. You may feel tired from a workout, but you should not feel achy. Pay attention to how your muscles feel, so that you don’t push yourself too hard. Gardening can be an effective, calorie-burning activity. Spending time in your garden to get it to look great can help you get your body in shape to look great, too!
NUTRITION TIP OF THE WEEK
Hot and Healthy Chili Peppers:
Chili Peppers can help increase metabolism, burn calories, and speed weight loss. They can also block the formation of cancer-causing compounds in cured meats; and ease pain caused by shingles. The healing powers of chili peppers can be attributed to capsaicin. Capsaicin is also the substance that makes chili peppers hot. It also contains a good amount of vitamin C. Try spicing up your entrees with chili peppers! They are good eaten with milk, yogurt, rice, or bread to sooth inflamed taste buds. Chili peppers are typically a key ingredient in Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and chili sauce. Make sure you wash your hands after handling because you don’t want to rub the caipsaicin in your eyes. Add some heat to your program with hot chili peppers!
Canned Salmon:
Salmon is one of the most popular fish in America. Unfortunately, worries about farmed salmon from a 2003 report about harmful pollutants may discourage people to consume it as often. Others choose to select wild salmon, which is harder to find and costs more. However, no one knows for sure if the pollutants in question are actually harmful in the levels they are found. It still would be wise to select fish at least twice a week, including salmon. Salmon has a lot of nutritional and health benefits to offer. It is a source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, niacin, thiamine, vitamin B6, potassium, riboflavin, magnesium, and vitamin A.
For those that are still wary about consuming farmed salmon, don’t forget about the canned variety. Almost all canned salmon is wild, because this species is firmer and better suited for canning. Canned salmon is as rich in all the nutrients as fresh salmon. In addition, canned salmon is rich in calcium (23% to 26% of the RDA in 3 ounces). Canned varieties include Sockeye, Pink, Coho, Chum, and Chinook. They vary in color from white to pink to red. If you care to enjoy canned salmon, just be sure to track your sodium intake. You can prepare canned salmon as you would canned tuna. It makes great salads, can be tossed in casseroles, and works tossed in a stir-fry or pasta dish. If you’re “wild” about salmon, consider buying it canned for convenience and lower cost without compromising nutrition!
Happy as a Clam:
Clams are a type of shellfish that offer a lot of nutrients in a single serving. For example, one 3-ounce serving of steamed or canned clams provides about 4200% of the RDA for vitamin B12 (that’s not a misprint)! That’s over a month’s supply of vitamin B12! Fresh, steamed clams also provides over 150% of the RDA for iron, while canned clams offer over 230% of the RDA for iron. Both are rich in vitamin C and riboflavin as well. Clams also are a good source of niacin, zinc, potassium, vitamin A, folate, calcium, and potassium.
Canned clams are convenient for low-fat dips, soups or sauces. You should drain and rinse them to remove excess sodium. If you consume fresh clams, you can prepare them by dropping the clams into a pot or pan of boiling water and cooking them for 4 to 6 minutes. It’s quick and simple to enjoy such a nutritious shellfish!
Sweet Strawberries:
Your Diet Center program allows for 1 ¼ cup of sweet, nutritious strawberries as one fruit exchange. Strawberries are low in calories, fat and sodium. They are an excellent source of vitamin C with 141% of the RDA per 1 cup! Vitamin C helps enhance your immune system, and helps you maintain healthy skin and teeth. You also obtain folate, potassium, iron, and riboflavin from a serving of strawberries. Strawberries are also a good source of fiber with 3.9 grams per cup. Fiber can help control appetite and blood sugars, as well as help with regularity. Strawberries also contain ellagic acid, a substance that appears to help fight some cancer causing agents.
You can purchase fresh or fresh-frozen strawberries. Just make sure that they are unsweetened. When shopping, choose strawberries with a bright red color and fresh green caps. Since strawberries do not continue to ripen after they've been picked, avoid berries that are partly white and unripe. The size of a strawberry is not a factor in determining the sweetness or taste. Large or small ripe berries may be equally sweet and flavorful.
Enjoy strawberries as a sweet snack, with a variety of salads, or prepared with meats or poultry. You can also enjoy them blended with your Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplement or Diet Center Meal Replacement Shakes. Give yourself a sweet treat by consuming nutritious strawberries!
WEIGHT LOSS TIP OF THE WEEK
Got a Partner?:
Diet partnerships can be helpful. In some studies, a partner can greatly increase weight loss. They are a source of encouragement and support. For example, taking them shopping can help you resist grabbing goodies because you know someone is watching. They can model good eating habits, motivate you, and reward you. This does not mean going “solo” will not lead to success. You need to think about your own dieting style. Do you like to do things alone or with others? Do you prefer to confide in others or keep things to yourself? Do you feel sharing your troubles with others would be helpful? Will having a partner work for you? If you feel you would benefit from a partner, sort through your friendships and compile a possible list of partners. A partner may be a spouse, a coworker, a good friend, a relative, or a neighbor. Choose someone you can talk to comfortably, is understanding, isn’t critical or jealous, is interested in your goals, and is supportive in good and bad times. Remember that it is a relationship that requires effort to be maintained, but can help you reach your weight goals.
Shrinking Your Stomach:
Chronic overeating can stretch your stomach out. Your stomach expands and contracts with each food load. When you repeatedly overfill your stomach, it loses its tone and gets stretched out of shape. The body gets used to the new stomach size and causes the signals for fullness to be delayed until the stomach reaches the larger distension. This results in the need for more food to fill it up and make you feel full. An average person takes about 2 to 2 ½ cups of food to fill it up. A person with a stretched out stomach may need 3 or more cups before he/she feels full.
Research shows that you may be able to shrink your stomach back to normal size in a period as short as one month by eating smaller meals. When a person begins to eat less, the stomach adjusts to holding less food, and the signal to the brain that indicates the stomach is full is sent sooner. A study showed that after four weeks of being on a weight loss program the average stomach capacity decreased from about 4 cups to less than 3 cups.
Your Diet Center program can help you get used to eating smaller meals due to the structure of controlled calories, portions, and meals. If you feel your exchanges still provide large meals, you can try allotting exchanges for mid-morning and/or mid-day snacks to lessen the number exchanges at meal times. This structure may also help satisfy “between meal cravings,” and prevent you from getting too hungry and overeating at meal times. You can start shrinking your meals to help shrink your stomach and shed extra weight!
Summer Tips:
Many people get lazy during the summer. Many people want to take it easy and relax on warm, sunny days. However, you should make plans to keep yourself busy if you want to lose weight. There are plenty of ways to relax and enjoy the summer while being physically active and eating healthy. For example, you can plan picnics with grilled lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetable salads. You can bring equipment for activities such as playing Frisbee, tossing a ball around, volleyball, badminton, etc. Swimming can be a calorie burning activity as well. Instead of laying around on a raft or just sitting by the pool, try swimming or walking a few laps.
Even your vacations can be fun and action packed! You can take scenic walking tours or rent bikes to ride around the town. Visit museums or historic spots. Try to avoid spending your summer lounging around in the sun. Take advantage of beautiful weather by participating in fun activities that keep you moving. Continue to focus on healthy eating and enjoy fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables that are in season along with light, grilled meals. Summer can be a great season for successfully shedding pounds!
Surviving Short Summer Trips:
Many of you are probably going to take some weekend trips during the summer season. You can still maintain your progress during your trip with just a little planning. First of all, make sure you eat all your meals. Skipping meals may cause you to overeat when you eventually consume a meal. You should pack water, cartons of skim milk, and/or diet beverages along with convenient low-fat, low-calorie snacks. Good items to bring include fresh fruit, carrot or celery sticks, yogurt, Diet Center Fudge Bars or Meal Replacement Bars, or Diet Center Cheese Curls. When you stop at rest stops or convenient stores, make sure you label read and choose individually packaged foods for portion control.
When you eat out, select foods prepared with little to no fat (ex. grilled, steamed, or baked items without cream sauces). Keep your portion sizes and exchanges in mind. Another thing you can do to help you make it through the weekend is to stay active. Enjoy the trip with a relaxing walk around the town, a fun bike ride, or a cool swim! You can also go site seeing or visit museums. Plan a little, move your body, and choose foods wisely while you’re out; and you can maintain your weight loss progress!
VOLUME 1
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Dreaming of Success:
We dream an average of four times a night for a period of 10 to 60 minutes. We spend 20 to 30 percent of our sleep time dreaming. Many studies have shown how important dreaming is to our well-being. Dreams allow us to experience successes we need in order to improve our self-image so we can succeed in real life. Your imagination is an excellent tool that will help you succeed. To obtain the goals you’ve set for yourself, try to see yourself in your mind as you’d like to be. It is important that you have realistic goals to dream about. Picture yourself at your desired weight, wearing the clothes you’d like to wear, while engaging in an activity you enjoy. Try to vividly imagine the sights, the sounds, and the smells of the surroundings. Think about your feelings of satisfaction and well-being you’d get from achieving your goal. Imagine this scene as often as possible. All great inventions and events were first a dream in someone’s mind before they became a reality. Dreaming can help you make progress in your weight loss efforts!
Eating for the Wrong Reasons:
Many people eat for reasons other than to satisfy their hunger or meet their body’s needs. When people eat as an activity they go through the motion of eating without thinking about it. One good example of this is when people eat popcorn while watching a movie. They are barely conscious of eating, and more focused on the movie. When this happens, people tend to continue eating even when they are full.
Eating can also be a passive activity, such as snacking due to boredom. This can lead to searching the cupboards and eating items that aren’t healthy. Or, eating can be so enjoyable, people continue to eat for pleasure even when they are no longer hungry. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a movie, relieving yourself of boredom, or seeking the pleasure food gives you. However, you need to be responsible to yourself.
Instead of eating, you should discover other activities that bring you pleasure or satisfy your boredom. The pleasure one gets from palatable foods results from an increase of endorphin levels in the body. Endorphins are compounds from the brain that cause feelings of pleasure and reduced pain. Endorphins can be released by any activity you enjoy. You can listen to music, play a sport, or get involved with a hobby. Let these endorphin-producing activities lead you away from eating for pleasure. When you are watching a movie, try to remember you’re enjoying the film. Think about how interesting the movie is; and that the popcorn isn’t necessary for you to have a good time.
Eating should be a conscious activity without distractions around. You should be thinking about eating to take care of your body. By concentrating on how much and what you are eating, it will be easier to manage your weight and improve your health.
Boosting Body Image:
Keeping a positive self-image is important to weight loss progress. So be polite to yourself! If you would not like hearing someone tell you how big you are; why should you treat yourself that way? Try to recognize times when you put yourself down. Stop yourself from thinking negative thoughts about your body. Try to think to yourself things you would like friends, family, or other support people to say. For example, you can say to yourself, “This is not quite what I want my body to look like, but I’m taking steps to get there!” Also, try not to be self-conscious and assume others are thinking negative thoughts about you. Sometimes we judge ourselves more harshly than others do. With all the effort you are putting into your Diet Center program, you should be confident in yourself, feel healthy, and be positive! Realize that instead of judging you, people should see the happier, healthier person you are becoming!
Meeting Emotional Needs:
Sometimes people eat to feel connected, to be part of a group, or help satisfy the need for love. Such people need to recognize this eating is a response to a psychological need, and not a physiological one. You are entitled to have your needs met, but need to determine what it is you need. Being part of a group doesn’t require you to change your identity. You should still be recognized as part of a group even if you don’t have a piece of that birthday cake.
When you are in a social setting, try to turn your attention away from food or bring you own snacks. To satisfy your need for love, you can nurture your self with options other than food. You can try relaxation therapy, listen to soothing music, hug a pet, get a massage, or buy fresh flowers for your home. Emotional eating can be dealt with, once you recognize your true needs and take measures to satisfy them appropriately.
EXERCISE TIP OF THE WEEK
Exercise and Heart:
Summer sunshine should encourage you to get outside and be more physically active! You can put on your shorts and take a walk, play volleyball, go for a bike ride or do some gardening. Or, put on your swimsuit and burn calories while you cool off in the water. Keep in mind that you still need to use some caution and planning with summer activities. The heat and sunshine can increase stress on the heart, especially during activity. The heart has to work harder to provide blood and oxygen to the muscles. It also has to move blood to the surface where it can be cooled by sweat and evaporation. The combination of higher body temperatures plus exercise in the heat puts a lot of stress on the heart.
You can enjoy exercising on beautiful sunny days, but should take a few measures to take care of your heart. For example, try to work out early morning or later in the evening when the temperature is cooler. When it is hot and humid outside, try to work out at a lower intensity than your usual routine. You should also keep yourself well hydrated. Drinking a cup or two of water prior to exercising, and drinking a cup every 30 minutes will help prevent dehydration. Appropriate attire such as a loose cotton t-shirt, a hat, and shorts will help keep the body cool. A little planning is wise when it comes to exercise in warm, summer sunshine. It will help protect your heart while you burn calories and get your body in shape!
Pool Walking:
Walking around your neighborhood may not be so appealing on hot, summer days. However, have you considered walking around a pool? Pool walking can be a relaxing, yet effective option for you to get some exercise during warm weather. Water actually provides resistance, while having a low impact on your joints. The buoyancy of the water supports your weight, reducing the stress on your weight-bearing joints.
You can start off by walking around in waist-deep water. If you’re ready to make things more challenging, you can walk in a little deeper water or try to walk at a faster pace. Walking backwards helps to work out other muscles in your body. Try to walk as you would on dry land (heel-to-toe), and avoid walking on just your toes. Since water will slow you down, you can take the opportunity to focus on your motions and posture. Keep in mind that water walking is an aerobic activity. This means that it can raise your heart rate for an extended period of time. Like any other aerobic exercise, you should start each session by warming up and ending with a cool-down. To warm up and cool down, you may want to do some simple stretches. It’s summer time! You can cool off in a pool while getting a good, calorie-burning workout!
Strolling the Pounds Off:
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommends physical activity at moderate to vigorous intensity to achieve weight loss. However, any physical activity burns calories. You may only be comfortable taking a stroll around the block or at a park. Don’t be discouraged if your body can’t handle a tougher workout. There is less risk of injury if you exercise at a pace that you can tolerate. You can still benefit from a lower-intensity exercise such as strolling.
A University of Pittsburgh study showed that low-intensity exercise burns calories--and sheds pounds--as effectively as a high-intensity workout. Researchers followed over 200 overweight women for 1 year. Groups walked to burn off 1,000 or 2,000 calories. In each group, some women strolled along comfortably; others walked at a nearly breathless pace. Everybody in the 1000-calorie group lost an average of 13 pounds regardless of walking speed. Participants in the 2,000-calorie group shed about 20 pounds regardless of exercise pace.
Taking a stroll can help you shed pounds. It may take longer to reach your goal than it would if you walked at a faster pace. However, if you can stick to a long relaxing stroll, than you can still reach weight loss success!
Burning Calories in the Garden:
Gardening can be a rewarding hobby during the summertime. However, even if you don’t find nurturing flowers and plants rewarding, then maybe you can appreciate the impact it can have on your weight loss efforts. Gardening activities can burn about 100 to over 300 calories in 30 minutes! Even just watering the lawn or garden burns about 60 calories in half an hour. Trimming shrubs, mowing the lawn (with a push mower), planting trees or seedlings, digging, spading, and tilling can all burn about 160 to over 200 calories per half hour (Figures are based on a 180-pound person, a person who weighs more will burn more).
Gardening activities work out all of your major muscle groups, which do most of the body’s calorie-burning. They also increase flexibility and strengthen your joints. Make sure you use proper techniques so you don’t injure yourself. You should stand and stretch your legs routinely. You may feel tired from a workout, but you should not feel achy. Pay attention to how your muscles feel, so that you don’t push yourself too hard. Gardening can be an effective, calorie-burning activity. Spending time in your garden to get it to look great can help you get your body in shape to look great, too!
NUTRITION TIP OF THE WEEK
Hot and Healthy Chili Peppers:
Chili Peppers can help increase metabolism, burn calories, and speed weight loss. They can also block the formation of cancer-causing compounds in cured meats; and ease pain caused by shingles. The healing powers of chili peppers can be attributed to capsaicin. Capsaicin is also the substance that makes chili peppers hot. It also contains a good amount of vitamin C. Try spicing up your entrees with chili peppers! They are good eaten with milk, yogurt, rice, or bread to sooth inflamed taste buds. Chili peppers are typically a key ingredient in Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and chili sauce. Make sure you wash your hands after handling because you don’t want to rub the caipsaicin in your eyes. Add some heat to your program with hot chili peppers!
Canned Salmon:
Salmon is one of the most popular fish in America. Unfortunately, worries about farmed salmon from a 2003 report about harmful pollutants may discourage people to consume it as often. Others choose to select wild salmon, which is harder to find and costs more. However, no one knows for sure if the pollutants in question are actually harmful in the levels they are found. It still would be wise to select fish at least twice a week, including salmon. Salmon has a lot of nutritional and health benefits to offer. It is a source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, niacin, thiamine, vitamin B6, potassium, riboflavin, magnesium, and vitamin A.
For those that are still wary about consuming farmed salmon, don’t forget about the canned variety. Almost all canned salmon is wild, because this species is firmer and better suited for canning. Canned salmon is as rich in all the nutrients as fresh salmon. In addition, canned salmon is rich in calcium (23% to 26% of the RDA in 3 ounces). Canned varieties include Sockeye, Pink, Coho, Chum, and Chinook. They vary in color from white to pink to red. If you care to enjoy canned salmon, just be sure to track your sodium intake. You can prepare canned salmon as you would canned tuna. It makes great salads, can be tossed in casseroles, and works tossed in a stir-fry or pasta dish. If you’re “wild” about salmon, consider buying it canned for convenience and lower cost without compromising nutrition!
Happy as a Clam:
Clams are a type of shellfish that offer a lot of nutrients in a single serving. For example, one 3-ounce serving of steamed or canned clams provides about 4200% of the RDA for vitamin B12 (that’s not a misprint)! That’s over a month’s supply of vitamin B12! Fresh, steamed clams also provides over 150% of the RDA for iron, while canned clams offer over 230% of the RDA for iron. Both are rich in vitamin C and riboflavin as well. Clams also are a good source of niacin, zinc, potassium, vitamin A, folate, calcium, and potassium.
Canned clams are convenient for low-fat dips, soups or sauces. You should drain and rinse them to remove excess sodium. If you consume fresh clams, you can prepare them by dropping the clams into a pot or pan of boiling water and cooking them for 4 to 6 minutes. It’s quick and simple to enjoy such a nutritious shellfish!
Sweet Strawberries:
Your Diet Center program allows for 1 ¼ cup of sweet, nutritious strawberries as one fruit exchange. Strawberries are low in calories, fat and sodium. They are an excellent source of vitamin C with 141% of the RDA per 1 cup! Vitamin C helps enhance your immune system, and helps you maintain healthy skin and teeth. You also obtain folate, potassium, iron, and riboflavin from a serving of strawberries. Strawberries are also a good source of fiber with 3.9 grams per cup. Fiber can help control appetite and blood sugars, as well as help with regularity. Strawberries also contain ellagic acid, a substance that appears to help fight some cancer causing agents.
You can purchase fresh or fresh-frozen strawberries. Just make sure that they are unsweetened. When shopping, choose strawberries with a bright red color and fresh green caps. Since strawberries do not continue to ripen after they've been picked, avoid berries that are partly white and unripe. The size of a strawberry is not a factor in determining the sweetness or taste. Large or small ripe berries may be equally sweet and flavorful.
Enjoy strawberries as a sweet snack, with a variety of salads, or prepared with meats or poultry. You can also enjoy them blended with your Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplement or Diet Center Meal Replacement Shakes. Give yourself a sweet treat by consuming nutritious strawberries!
WEIGHT LOSS TIP OF THE WEEK
Got a Partner?:
Diet partnerships can be helpful. In some studies, a partner can greatly increase weight loss. They are a source of encouragement and support. For example, taking them shopping can help you resist grabbing goodies because you know someone is watching. They can model good eating habits, motivate you, and reward you. This does not mean going “solo” will not lead to success. You need to think about your own dieting style. Do you like to do things alone or with others? Do you prefer to confide in others or keep things to yourself? Do you feel sharing your troubles with others would be helpful? Will having a partner work for you? If you feel you would benefit from a partner, sort through your friendships and compile a possible list of partners. A partner may be a spouse, a coworker, a good friend, a relative, or a neighbor. Choose someone you can talk to comfortably, is understanding, isn’t critical or jealous, is interested in your goals, and is supportive in good and bad times. Remember that it is a relationship that requires effort to be maintained, but can help you reach your weight goals.
Shrinking Your Stomach:
Chronic overeating can stretch your stomach out. Your stomach expands and contracts with each food load. When you repeatedly overfill your stomach, it loses its tone and gets stretched out of shape. The body gets used to the new stomach size and causes the signals for fullness to be delayed until the stomach reaches the larger distension. This results in the need for more food to fill it up and make you feel full. An average person takes about 2 to 2 ½ cups of food to fill it up. A person with a stretched out stomach may need 3 or more cups before he/she feels full.
Research shows that you may be able to shrink your stomach back to normal size in a period as short as one month by eating smaller meals. When a person begins to eat less, the stomach adjusts to holding less food, and the signal to the brain that indicates the stomach is full is sent sooner. A study showed that after four weeks of being on a weight loss program the average stomach capacity decreased from about 4 cups to less than 3 cups.
Your Diet Center program can help you get used to eating smaller meals due to the structure of controlled calories, portions, and meals. If you feel your exchanges still provide large meals, you can try allotting exchanges for mid-morning and/or mid-day snacks to lessen the number exchanges at meal times. This structure may also help satisfy “between meal cravings,” and prevent you from getting too hungry and overeating at meal times. You can start shrinking your meals to help shrink your stomach and shed extra weight!
Summer Tips:
Many people get lazy during the summer. Many people want to take it easy and relax on warm, sunny days. However, you should make plans to keep yourself busy if you want to lose weight. There are plenty of ways to relax and enjoy the summer while being physically active and eating healthy. For example, you can plan picnics with grilled lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetable salads. You can bring equipment for activities such as playing Frisbee, tossing a ball around, volleyball, badminton, etc. Swimming can be a calorie burning activity as well. Instead of laying around on a raft or just sitting by the pool, try swimming or walking a few laps.
Even your vacations can be fun and action packed! You can take scenic walking tours or rent bikes to ride around the town. Visit museums or historic spots. Try to avoid spending your summer lounging around in the sun. Take advantage of beautiful weather by participating in fun activities that keep you moving. Continue to focus on healthy eating and enjoy fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables that are in season along with light, grilled meals. Summer can be a great season for successfully shedding pounds!
Surviving Short Summer Trips:
Many of you are probably going to take some weekend trips during the summer season. You can still maintain your progress during your trip with just a little planning. First of all, make sure you eat all your meals. Skipping meals may cause you to overeat when you eventually consume a meal. You should pack water, cartons of skim milk, and/or diet beverages along with convenient low-fat, low-calorie snacks. Good items to bring include fresh fruit, carrot or celery sticks, yogurt, Diet Center Fudge Bars or Meal Replacement Bars, or Diet Center Cheese Curls. When you stop at rest stops or convenient stores, make sure you label read and choose individually packaged foods for portion control.
When you eat out, select foods prepared with little to no fat (ex. grilled, steamed, or baked items without cream sauces). Keep your portion sizes and exchanges in mind. Another thing you can do to help you make it through the weekend is to stay active. Enjoy the trip with a relaxing walk around the town, a fun bike ride, or a cool swim! You can also go site seeing or visit museums. Plan a little, move your body, and choose foods wisely while you’re out; and you can maintain your weight loss progress!
Issue 254 - September 11, 2006
VOLUME 2
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Comforting Behavior:
Feelings of disappointment, discouragement, stress, or other challenging emotions cause one to seek comfort. Unfortunately, many people tend to comfort themselves with food. When a group of slim people were asked if they comfort themselves with food, about half of them said they rarely or never use food for comfort. The remaining half said that they sometimes turn to food for comfort. None of the slim people surveyed said that they always, often or regularly turn to food for comfort.
Comforting yourself with a nonfood-related behavior is a change that you should make to help you slim down. Some of the behaviors that the slim people surveyed said they practiced include writing in a journal, drinking hot tea, taking a hot bath, listening to music, or reading a book. Turning to loved ones, watching television, or completing crossword puzzles were other comforting behaviors mentioned. Everyone needs to escape stress or sad emotions by relaxing. To help with your weight loss, it is important that you nurture yourself with activities that do not involve food. It’s a slimming habit to get into.
A Satisfying Eating Experience:
Many people worry about whether or not they will feel satisfied on their Diet Center meal plan. Any time you eat a meal or a snack is an opportunity for you to nourish your body as well as your mind. You have the ability to make every eating opportunity a satisfying experience. The choices of where, when and what you eat will impact your eating experience. What you choose to consume is probably the easiest choice to make. Just refer to your Diet Center meal planner and select from the variety of foods you may consume on your program. When and where you eat may be more of a challenge, especially if you have a busy schedule or have little control over your eating environment. In order to have a satisfying experience, you should take the time to sit and eat. Even if you only have time for an Instant Shape Up Meal Replacement Drink or Bar, you should take time to relax and consume your food. Avoid rushing and gulping down your meals. Limit distractions as much as possible. For example, turn off the television, avoid eating while you’re working or doing the bills, or avoid eating while driving. Even a five-minute break without distractions helps you to focus on the act of eating to nourish your body. Focusing on the fact that you are taking care of your body will help satisfy you both physically and mentally.
Raising the Bar:
Your motivation to lose weight is affected by your goals. If you have already attained your short-term weight goal, set some new goals or standards. Keep setting your goals farther and higher. You may fall back into your old habits if you don’t have new goals. New, higher goals give you something to look forward to. It's harder to maintain something than to achieve something new, so you should raise the bar whenever you reach a goal. For example, when you have lost 5 pounds, don’t just aim to maintain the loss or to lose another 5 pounds. Try changing your goal to lose eight pounds. You can also set a goal to lose more inches, or exercise at least twice a week. Set higher goals for yourself, but keep them practical. Setting and achieving new and higher goals can help keep you motivated.
Thinking Thin:
The thin image that some people want their bodies to be is an illusion that distorts their sensitivity and sense of ownership of their bodies. The more people focus on being thin and fearing fat, the less sensitive they are to their bodies’ signals. Such people are under the illusion that being thin makes everything fine. This causes people to be afraid of anything that might make them fat. Such fear may lead to thinking one should excessively restrict their intake, and even not eat at times to become thin and stay thin. This thinking ultimately leads to erratic eating because severe food restriction will typically cause one to binge later. The body will take deprivation for a limited period of time before it rebels.
When people fear fat, they ignore hunger as a message from their bodies that they “need “ to eat. They get caught in a cycle of ignoring their bodies, bingeing, blaming themselves, and making resolutions to exert more will power. So they continue to fight and ignore their body signals and go through the cycle until they give up. Focusing on being thin and going through this cycle, establishes an unhealthy relationship with food. The focus of weight loss or maintenance efforts should be placed upon eating enough to meet body needs without consuming excess. Try to focus on your Diet Center program, which is nutritionally balanced and designed to help individuals establish healthy eating habits and a healthy body.
Fulfill Your Potential:
We have everything physically and mentally that we need to succeed. Unfortunately many people do not live up to their potential. People may put limitations on themselves out of fear, ignorance, or laziness. Do you live up to your potential? Remember that you have the ability to succeed in your weight loss program. Our consumer society makes it easy to become lazy. However, laziness is not the way to happiness.
If you are unhappy now because of your weight, you need to do something. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Try not to confuse caution with fear. Caution can help you make good decisions. Fear is a negative emotion that will prevent you from reaching your potential. Forget your fears and believe in yourself. Why should you feel unhappy being overweight, when you have the potential to reach your ideal body weight. Instead of complaining and feeling sorry for yourself, lose the limitations and go for your goals!
Getting Enough Rest:
One thing a healthy body needs most is adequate rest. Without rest, it is very difficult to control your emotions. Think about your behavior when you are tired. Does everything seem to go wrong? Are little annoyances big problems? Do you feel too exhausted to care about fixing or solving anything? All you can do is get some rest. In order to restore your body’s energy, you need to sleep. On average, people require 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. During sleep, your body rebuilds and regenerates strength. Some people feel 3 to 4 hours of sleep is sufficient. The problem with this is that they can become accustomed to a lack of sleep and not experience any of the negative effects of sleep deprivation for a long time. However, eventually it will catch up with them.
When dealing with stress and emotions, the first thing to consider is a person’s physical condition. Your body provides energy to your brain. You provide energy to your body. Your Diet Center program will help you obtain the nutrients it needs to create and adequately restore energy during sleep. So try and get a good night’s rest, to clear your mind and help your body feel good.
Analyzing Obstacles of Progress:
Sometimes we have obstacles that hinder progress, that we may have difficulty identifying. Here are some areas to analyze that may help identify what the obstacles are. The first area is “Knowledge.” Making food-related health changes requires understanding basic nutrition. For example, low calorie foods may not necessarily be good substitutions for high calorie foods. They may be high in fat and sodium.
Another area to analyze is “Skills.” Achieving an objective often requires learning new skills. For example, in order to consume an appropriate amount of calories and nutrients, you will need to develop the skill to measure and/or estimate portion sizes. A third area that one may find obstacles is “Fear.” Change usually involves risks. If you fear such risks, you may hold yourself back from meeting goals.
Progress may also be hindered by lack of “Support.” Many lifestyle changes can be difficult without a person for support. Such a person can help you with new adjustments. Do your friends and family provide support? An analysis of these areas may help you uncover what is hindering your progress; so you can get rid of the obstacle and move on towards success!
EXERCISE TIP OF THE WEEK
Just a Couple Days:
So you say you don’t have the time to exercise enough to gain any benefits. You think that since you cannot work out 3 or 4 times a week, why bother to start a program? You only need 2 days a week to gain the benefits exercise contributes to your weight loss and health! Just 2 days can improve your strength and shed fat!
A study held at the YMCA in Massachusetts compared people who exercised twice a week to those who exercised three times a week. Both groups exercised for 25 minutes doing aerobic activity and 25 minutes doing weight training per each workout session. The study showed that those who exercised twice a week gained 90% as much benefit as the group who exercised 3 times per week. Those who worked out 2 days a week also showed similar improvement in weight loss, muscle gain, and blood pressure.
So to gain maximum benefits from exercise, it’s certainly better to exercise at least 3 days a week. However, you only need 2 days a week to take advantage of benefits from exercise. So if you’re just starting out, aim to fit exercise in at least 2 days a week. The significant positive weight loss and health results you can gain may eventually lead you to add an extra day or two to your routine!
Enjoyment with Endorphins:
Aerobic exercise for periods of 40-60 minutes, 4 to 6 times a week counteracts stress, anxiety and depression, and releases endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals in the brain that possess a wide range of functions including affecting blood pressure, appetite regulation, and inducing feelings of pleasure. A critical intensity of exercise is needed to increase endorphin levels. Exercising at least 45-60 minutes will increase endorphin levels. Keep in mind that shorter workouts are still beneficial to your health and progress. You can increase your exercise duration by phases if you’re currently sedentary or exercise for shorter periods. A recommended modification is to increase your exercise time by 5 minutes every two weeks, and increase your frequency by 1 more day every month until you are up to 40-60 minutes a day, 4 to 6 times a week. Get intense and release those endorphins!
Overcoming Obstacles:
Exercise will burn calories and can help you lose weight faster. If you don’t have a regular exercise routine, think about what’s keeping you from being active and then look into ways to overcome the obstacles. Here are some examples of what your obstacles may be, and what you can do to get passed them to burn more calories!
30, 60, or 90 Minutes?:
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommend 20 minutes of exercise daily for health benefits. This has also been the recommendation of leading health organizations for the past several years. However, the Guidelines now recommend 60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week to prevent weight gain, and 90 minutes to maintain weight loss. This can be confusing and intimidating to many dieters who may be used to little or no physical activity.
Any amount of physical activity is beneficial to your health. Certainly, some activity is better than a sedentary lifestyle. Furthermore, to prevent weight gain and promote weight loss, any amount of physical activity is beneficial when calorie intake is restricted to no more than what is expended daily. One also should keep in mind that results will vary per individual. Some people may need to exercise less than the recommendation to achieve weight loss results.
Try not to be intimidated about incorporating physical activity into your lifestyle. Setting a goal to establish a routine can bring about health benefits whether it is 10 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, or 90 minutes a day. Making any effort to improve your activity level gradually is beneficial for your health and weight loss.
Making the Commitment:
It is a big commitment to go from couch potato to routine walker, jogger, etc. However, it is possible for you to commit. One of the most important factors is that you enjoy your activity. Another is that you don’t do too much, too fast. You can break your goal down into smaller, manageable goals. For example, maybe you’ll exercise 10 minutes a day then increase 5 more minutes each week until you exercise 30 to 40 minutes a day. Or, maybe you’ll just increase the number of sessions you have a day.
Consider your first workout sessions as experiments. This way you can try various forms of exercise. Maybe you’ve considered aerobics, jogging, kickboxing, or dancing. Try each one for about a week. Then you can stick to the one/s you enjoy and have fun mastering it/them. Or, you can continue trying other forms of exercise until you find one you like.
For all the hard work you put into changing habits, you can give yourself a reward. Kept up with your routine last week? Treat yourself to a nonfood reward such as a new outfit. You can also add incentive to staying committed to your program. For example, maybe you enjoy listening to music or spending time with loved ones. You can make it part of your routine! You can wear headphones when you’re cycling or jogging, take a walk with the kids, or join an exercise class with a partner. Try any of these ways to help you enjoy your exercise routine and make it a regular part of your lifestyle.
Never Too Old to Start:
Have you ever said to yourself, “I’ve never been active and I’m too old to start now.” You can never be to old to start exercising. A study researched residents in a retirement home. One group met twice a week to talk with each other. Another group met to spend the time in low-intensity exercise. After seven months, the researchers found that the group that exercised was able to move easier, get up faster, had greater grip strength, and suffered less depression. Another study researched the effects of weight lifting by elderly people aged 85 to 96. The strength, muscle mass, and walking ability of the elderly showed significant improvement after 8 weeks. The physical deterioration that people generally associate with age, has less to do with growing old. The deterioration is more a result of lack of exercise. It does not matter how long you have been out of shape, so why not start getting active?
Creating an Efficient Program:
Finding time to exercise can be difficult for many. Even at work, many people are sedentary. In order to include some exercise in your schedule, you may need to develop a more efficient exercise program. First, think to yourself that exercise is a necessity for reaching your weight goals and maintaining them. Then create reasonable expectations for yourself. Maybe you want to jog 5 times a week, but 2 or 3 days is more practical for your busy schedule. An achievable goal will help make you feel successful and motivate you to stick to it.
You may also want to take exercise classes. However, this may not be the most efficient workout for a busy schedule, since most classes are an hour long (not including the commute). Instead, try quicker forms of exercise such as jogging, walking, running, or cycling. You can schedule classes on your days off.
Other ways to fit exercise into your schedule include home workouts. You can rent exercise videotapes, lift hand weights, or ride an exercise bike. Try to include exercise as one of your daily objectives. Setting exercise as a priority and giving it a time slot will help you stick to your program.
NUTRITION TIP OF THE WEEK
Fishy Facts:
Adding a serving of lean protein at meals can help you feel full longer so you’ll eat less throughout the day. Consuming fish as your lean protein can be more beneficial to your weight loss. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, overweight individuals who added daily servings of fish (high in omega-3 fatty acids) to their weight loss program, lost more weight than those who ate fish one time or less a week. They also increased levels of their good cholesterol (HDL, which helps lower cholesterol levels).
Other studies found that eating broiled or baked fish five or more times per week reduced the risk of heart disease by 30 percent. By making a conscious effort to include fish, we can automatically consume fewer less healthy items such as red meats. Therefore, consuming more fish can decrease the amount of total fat and saturated fat that we eat.
The best fish sources of omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, canned tuna, mackerel, sardines, and whitefish. If you do consume fish more often, forget frying it! In fact eating more servings of fried fish has been found to increase the risk of heart disease. This includes avoiding foods such as fish sandwiches and fish sticks, which are also often fried. Stick to baked, broiled, steamed, grilled or poached fish. Try to enjoy fish two to three times per week. Fish dishes can benefit your heart and your weight loss.
Calcium Consumption:
Meeting your calcium needs is not as simple as consuming a supplement with 100% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). The body is not efficient at absorbing calcium from supplements or food. The more you consume, the less efficiently you absorb calcium. The best way to meet your calcium needs is to consume calcium sources and/or supplements throughout the day, providing no more than 500 mg at one time. Any more than that, and the body will absorb a smaller percentage of calcium. Diet Center’s Cal-Mag offers 20% RDA per capsule. Four capsules should be spread throughout the day and consumed daily (preferably with meals), providing 80% RDA of calcium. However, don’t worry about absorption rates when trying to reach your daily goal of calcium. The RDA for calcium already takes into account absorption rates. Try to focus on eating more dairy, cheese, Diet Center Fudge Bars, Diet Center Chocolate Gold Premium Protein Supplements, or Cal-Mag throughout the day. Consuming more calcium sources will provide your body with more calcium to absorb and meet your needs.
National Five A Day Month:
September is National Five a Day Month. Throughout September, you are encouraged to energize and mobilize your friends and family to pursue a healthy lifestyle with more fruits and vegetables. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that everyone consume 2 ½ to 6 ½ cups of colorful fruits and vegetables daily for better health. Consuming the servings allowed in your Diet Center program will help you meet this recommendation easily.
You should also keep the key word “colorful” in mind when choosing your fruits and vegetables. The bright, bold colors are reflections of the range of vitamins, minerals, and other healthy compounds that are beneficial to the body. Compounds with antioxidant properties help reduce the risk for certain types of cancers, help maintain memory function, help maintain healthy aging, and help maintain eye, bone, and heart health. Selecting a rainbow of fruits and vegetables will help you obtain a wider variety of beneficial nutrients.
Follow your Diet Center program to continue getting your five a day in. Focus on making colorful choices of fruits and vegetables, at least for the remainder of the month, to try to obtain many nutrients that will benefit your body!
Feast on Fall Vegetables:
Pumpkin, squash, rutabaga, cauliflower, and beets are nutritious fall vegetables that can provide delicious variety to your meals. Pumpkins, squash, rutabagas, and cauliflower are rich in vitamin C, which aids in calcium absorption and boosts our immune system. All of these fall vegetables are a source of folate, with beets being the highest source providing 34% of the RDA in ½ cup boiled slices. Other nutrients they may offer include potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and fiber.
However, many people are unaware of how versatile their use is in meal preparation. For example, these fall vegetables can be used in casseroles, soups, and stews. Pumpkin, cauliflower and rutabagas can be mashed like potatoes. Various types of squash can be used for pasta dishes. Zucchini and crookneck squash can be stuffed with bread and lean meat for an entree. Squash and cauliflower can be prepared with a mix of other vegetables or enjoyed alone. You can enjoy beets as a side dish, or try beet soup. The classic Russian beet soup, called Borscht, can be enjoyed using nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream. So take some time to experiment with recipes, and feast on these nutritious fall vegetables while they are in season!
Beneficial Bananas:
Keep on eating those nutritious bananas! Bananas are high in vitamin B6, which is necessary for carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism. Vitamin B6 is also needed for the formation of antibodies. Bananas are also a good source of vitamin C, which helps fight infections. The potassium and low sodium feature of bananas can help protect against high blood pressure. Bananas are also sources of easily digestible fiber, folate, magnesium, and riboflavin. One can enjoy the creamy texture and sweet taste of a banana and obtain many nutrients.
Your Diet Center program allows for one 4-inch banana as 1 fruit exchange. It would make a great choice for a snack, dessert, or part of your breakfast. Enjoy bananas in fruit salads, added to yogurt, or frozen on a stick for a treat! You can even enjoy it blended in a Diet Center Shake. Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplements are great blended with ice and a banana! Bite into a banana and gain nutritious benefits!
Benefits of Brown Rice:
Brown rice is the entire grain with the inedible outer husk removed. White rice also has the bran (source of fiber) and germ layers removed. Therefore, brown rice has more nutrients to offer than white rice. Brown rice is a good source of magnesium. It is also a source of vitamin B6, niacin, thiamine, iron, and fiber. Brown rice is available in different varieties. It comes in long, medium, and short-grains. Brown rice has a nutty flavor and chewy texture. Enjoy this nutritious starch choice with stir-fried vegetables, lean meats, or plain. Remember to watch your portion sizes. One-third cup counts as one starch choice. You still want to consume appropriate portions to obtain an appropriate amount of calories.
The Nutrients in Sweet Potatoes:
The sweet potato is one of the best sources of vitamin A! One 4 oz baked sweet potato provides 2488 RE of vitamin A, or 249% of the RDA. It is also an excellent source of vitamin C providing 47% of the RDA in just 4 oz. Canned sweet potatoes are nearly as high in nutrients as fresh ones. Both canned and fresh sweet potatoes are good sources of B vitamins. Another nutritious feature is that sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber. This combination helps control blood sugar levels and control appetite! You can enjoy a half-cup serving of sweet potatoes as a starch exchange in your Diet Center program. Try it baked with slices of apple or fresh pineapple, to excite your taste buds and provide even more nutrients with these fruits!
WEIGHT LOSS TIP OF THE WEEK
Less is Better:
Did you ever ask why certain food items are not allowed on your program? Choices are limited on a diet because it is found that a limited selection helps dieters stick to their program. Studies show that too many choices can cause one to overeat. One study provided volunteers with a four-course meal consisting of the same exact food at each course (no variety). Other volunteers were given a four-course meal with a different food at each course. The people who were given a variety consumed 60% more than those who were given the same food (no variety) at each course! According to a professor of nutrition at the Pennsylvania State University, people have a natural tendency to consume more when they see a variety of foods such as in a buffet.
So while it is important to consume a variety of foods to obtain various nutrients, too many choices can cloud your judgment. Therefore, it is beneficial for you to stick to the food exchanges allowed in your Diet Center program until you reach your goal weight. By then you should have developed healthy habits and self-control that will help you make wise food selections from a wider variety of foods and still maintain your ideal weight!
Moving Forward:
Many dieters slip during their Diet Center program. Unfortunately, even a little slip can prevent one from making progress with his or her weight loss. However, it usually is not even due to the act of consuming extra calories on one or two occasions. The problem is the downward spiral that a slip often leads to. When a dieter slips, he or she feels guilty or ashamed. Negative emotions often lead to loss of motivation, more slips, and more excess calories consumed. An occasional slip can happen. How you react to it will impact your weight loss progress more than the calories from that piece of cake, candy or cookie you ate. This doesn’t mean that you should not care about cheating occasionally. It means that you should care about what you will do about the fact that you slipped. You should react with positive emotions and actions. For example, accept the fact that you slipped, but make the decision to commit to getting back and staying on track. Determine how or why you slipped, and make a plan on how to prevent it from happening again. Taking action to recover from a slip will help you continue to move forward with your weight loss progress.
Fill-Up on Fruit:
Fitting in five-a-day of fruits and vegetables is not only nutritious, but can help you control your hunger. Fruit is especially helpful in curbing cravings for sweets. After all, fruits are a source of sweet, natural sugars. If you have a sweet tooth, try eating a piece of fruit. For example, instead of a muffin for breakfast, eat a banana or strawberries. You can even make it a morning treat by blending it with nonfat, plain yogurt, skim or soy milk, and a little artificial sweetener. You can spice it up with a little cinnamon or nutmeg. For sweet desserts, forget about those high calorie, high fat dishes. Try a baked banana topped with chopped nuts or Diet Center Mini Crisps. Or, enjoy fruited sugar-free gelatin or freezing fruits for a cool treat. You may be pleasantly surprised at how satisfying fruit can be for your appetite and sweet tooth. Fitting in your fruit into your daily meal plans is a delicious way to help you get your body fit.
What Can Affect the Scale?:
It’s important not to overreact when the scale doesn’t seem to move in the right direction. Try to keep in mind that there are many variables that can affect your scale readings. Meaning, the reading might not reflect your actual weight. Here are some things that may affect the readings so that your weight may appear heavier:
Avoid the First Bite:
Some people can’t take a bite or two of food and then stop. The binger’s first bite pushes them over the edge into caloric doom. A binger’s addiction is sweets, chocolate, salty snacks or other junk food as an alcoholic’s is to a drink. Instead of stopping in the ice cream shop for a taste, walk right by. Try not to take a bite of “forbidden” food, especially if you know you can’t handle it. If you’re faced with a binge, “stop, look, listen.” Stop what you’re doing, listen to your body (are you really hungry?), and look for an alternate activity to get your mind off of eating. Walking, writing, or even drinking water can help squelch a binge.
Keep track of your food records and binge triggers. If you are a binger, avoiding that first bite can help you get the extra weight off, while you learn to master the emotional problems underlying your overeating.
Fill-Up on Protein:
A new study found that people felt less hungry on a higher protein diet. Volunteers increased their protein intake from 15% to 30%, which is the amount on a Diet Center program (except on the Thermogenic Diet, which is 45% protein). Fat intake was decreased to about 20%, while carbohydrate intake remained the same. The volunteers were also allowed to eat as many calories as they wanted to. However, the participants actually consumed an average of 441 calories less than what they normally consumed. They also lost an average of 10.8 pounds over 12 weeks.
These results show that protein is more filling than fat, which may have encouraged people to consume fewer calories. So try and stick to your Diet Center program, which offers a variety of lean, filling proteins. If you don’t have time to prepare or just prefer not to eat meats; try our Gold Premium Protein Supplements that offer 16 grams of protein per serving. Focus on consuming the foods on your Diet Center meal plan, and you should find yourself feeling full!
Getting Back on Track:
“I’ve eaten the cheeseburger, I might as well eat the fries too!” Have you said this or similar statements before? You started to eat well, slipped, and completely gave up. Maybe you’ve said, “I missed my exercise routine for a week, what use is it to go back now?” You have not failed and blown everything from a single lapse. You may also overreact by deciding to skip meals the next day to compensate for your slip. This may just make you hungry and set you up for another binge. Getting back to your program and exercise routine is the best solution.
Here’s an activity that may help motivate you. You can try saving a penny for every “right” thing you do for your program. For example, you passed on the pie at a dinner party, drank 64 oz of water for the day, or chose foods appropriate for your program at a restaurant. Save pennies in a separate jar for each time you slip. For example, you ate a cookie or skipped an exercise session. In time, you should see that you are doing yourself more “right” than “wrong” in the big picture. Whenever you have a temporary lapse, look at your pile of “progress” pennies. You should be able to recognize that your slips don’t outweigh the good you are doing yourself by getting back on track!
VOLUME 2
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Comforting Behavior:
Feelings of disappointment, discouragement, stress, or other challenging emotions cause one to seek comfort. Unfortunately, many people tend to comfort themselves with food. When a group of slim people were asked if they comfort themselves with food, about half of them said they rarely or never use food for comfort. The remaining half said that they sometimes turn to food for comfort. None of the slim people surveyed said that they always, often or regularly turn to food for comfort.
Comforting yourself with a nonfood-related behavior is a change that you should make to help you slim down. Some of the behaviors that the slim people surveyed said they practiced include writing in a journal, drinking hot tea, taking a hot bath, listening to music, or reading a book. Turning to loved ones, watching television, or completing crossword puzzles were other comforting behaviors mentioned. Everyone needs to escape stress or sad emotions by relaxing. To help with your weight loss, it is important that you nurture yourself with activities that do not involve food. It’s a slimming habit to get into.
A Satisfying Eating Experience:
Many people worry about whether or not they will feel satisfied on their Diet Center meal plan. Any time you eat a meal or a snack is an opportunity for you to nourish your body as well as your mind. You have the ability to make every eating opportunity a satisfying experience. The choices of where, when and what you eat will impact your eating experience. What you choose to consume is probably the easiest choice to make. Just refer to your Diet Center meal planner and select from the variety of foods you may consume on your program. When and where you eat may be more of a challenge, especially if you have a busy schedule or have little control over your eating environment. In order to have a satisfying experience, you should take the time to sit and eat. Even if you only have time for an Instant Shape Up Meal Replacement Drink or Bar, you should take time to relax and consume your food. Avoid rushing and gulping down your meals. Limit distractions as much as possible. For example, turn off the television, avoid eating while you’re working or doing the bills, or avoid eating while driving. Even a five-minute break without distractions helps you to focus on the act of eating to nourish your body. Focusing on the fact that you are taking care of your body will help satisfy you both physically and mentally.
Raising the Bar:
Your motivation to lose weight is affected by your goals. If you have already attained your short-term weight goal, set some new goals or standards. Keep setting your goals farther and higher. You may fall back into your old habits if you don’t have new goals. New, higher goals give you something to look forward to. It's harder to maintain something than to achieve something new, so you should raise the bar whenever you reach a goal. For example, when you have lost 5 pounds, don’t just aim to maintain the loss or to lose another 5 pounds. Try changing your goal to lose eight pounds. You can also set a goal to lose more inches, or exercise at least twice a week. Set higher goals for yourself, but keep them practical. Setting and achieving new and higher goals can help keep you motivated.
Thinking Thin:
The thin image that some people want their bodies to be is an illusion that distorts their sensitivity and sense of ownership of their bodies. The more people focus on being thin and fearing fat, the less sensitive they are to their bodies’ signals. Such people are under the illusion that being thin makes everything fine. This causes people to be afraid of anything that might make them fat. Such fear may lead to thinking one should excessively restrict their intake, and even not eat at times to become thin and stay thin. This thinking ultimately leads to erratic eating because severe food restriction will typically cause one to binge later. The body will take deprivation for a limited period of time before it rebels.
When people fear fat, they ignore hunger as a message from their bodies that they “need “ to eat. They get caught in a cycle of ignoring their bodies, bingeing, blaming themselves, and making resolutions to exert more will power. So they continue to fight and ignore their body signals and go through the cycle until they give up. Focusing on being thin and going through this cycle, establishes an unhealthy relationship with food. The focus of weight loss or maintenance efforts should be placed upon eating enough to meet body needs without consuming excess. Try to focus on your Diet Center program, which is nutritionally balanced and designed to help individuals establish healthy eating habits and a healthy body.
Fulfill Your Potential:
We have everything physically and mentally that we need to succeed. Unfortunately many people do not live up to their potential. People may put limitations on themselves out of fear, ignorance, or laziness. Do you live up to your potential? Remember that you have the ability to succeed in your weight loss program. Our consumer society makes it easy to become lazy. However, laziness is not the way to happiness.
If you are unhappy now because of your weight, you need to do something. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Try not to confuse caution with fear. Caution can help you make good decisions. Fear is a negative emotion that will prevent you from reaching your potential. Forget your fears and believe in yourself. Why should you feel unhappy being overweight, when you have the potential to reach your ideal body weight. Instead of complaining and feeling sorry for yourself, lose the limitations and go for your goals!
Getting Enough Rest:
One thing a healthy body needs most is adequate rest. Without rest, it is very difficult to control your emotions. Think about your behavior when you are tired. Does everything seem to go wrong? Are little annoyances big problems? Do you feel too exhausted to care about fixing or solving anything? All you can do is get some rest. In order to restore your body’s energy, you need to sleep. On average, people require 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. During sleep, your body rebuilds and regenerates strength. Some people feel 3 to 4 hours of sleep is sufficient. The problem with this is that they can become accustomed to a lack of sleep and not experience any of the negative effects of sleep deprivation for a long time. However, eventually it will catch up with them.
When dealing with stress and emotions, the first thing to consider is a person’s physical condition. Your body provides energy to your brain. You provide energy to your body. Your Diet Center program will help you obtain the nutrients it needs to create and adequately restore energy during sleep. So try and get a good night’s rest, to clear your mind and help your body feel good.
Analyzing Obstacles of Progress:
Sometimes we have obstacles that hinder progress, that we may have difficulty identifying. Here are some areas to analyze that may help identify what the obstacles are. The first area is “Knowledge.” Making food-related health changes requires understanding basic nutrition. For example, low calorie foods may not necessarily be good substitutions for high calorie foods. They may be high in fat and sodium.
Another area to analyze is “Skills.” Achieving an objective often requires learning new skills. For example, in order to consume an appropriate amount of calories and nutrients, you will need to develop the skill to measure and/or estimate portion sizes. A third area that one may find obstacles is “Fear.” Change usually involves risks. If you fear such risks, you may hold yourself back from meeting goals.
Progress may also be hindered by lack of “Support.” Many lifestyle changes can be difficult without a person for support. Such a person can help you with new adjustments. Do your friends and family provide support? An analysis of these areas may help you uncover what is hindering your progress; so you can get rid of the obstacle and move on towards success!
EXERCISE TIP OF THE WEEK
Just a Couple Days:
So you say you don’t have the time to exercise enough to gain any benefits. You think that since you cannot work out 3 or 4 times a week, why bother to start a program? You only need 2 days a week to gain the benefits exercise contributes to your weight loss and health! Just 2 days can improve your strength and shed fat!
A study held at the YMCA in Massachusetts compared people who exercised twice a week to those who exercised three times a week. Both groups exercised for 25 minutes doing aerobic activity and 25 minutes doing weight training per each workout session. The study showed that those who exercised twice a week gained 90% as much benefit as the group who exercised 3 times per week. Those who worked out 2 days a week also showed similar improvement in weight loss, muscle gain, and blood pressure.
So to gain maximum benefits from exercise, it’s certainly better to exercise at least 3 days a week. However, you only need 2 days a week to take advantage of benefits from exercise. So if you’re just starting out, aim to fit exercise in at least 2 days a week. The significant positive weight loss and health results you can gain may eventually lead you to add an extra day or two to your routine!
Enjoyment with Endorphins:
Aerobic exercise for periods of 40-60 minutes, 4 to 6 times a week counteracts stress, anxiety and depression, and releases endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals in the brain that possess a wide range of functions including affecting blood pressure, appetite regulation, and inducing feelings of pleasure. A critical intensity of exercise is needed to increase endorphin levels. Exercising at least 45-60 minutes will increase endorphin levels. Keep in mind that shorter workouts are still beneficial to your health and progress. You can increase your exercise duration by phases if you’re currently sedentary or exercise for shorter periods. A recommended modification is to increase your exercise time by 5 minutes every two weeks, and increase your frequency by 1 more day every month until you are up to 40-60 minutes a day, 4 to 6 times a week. Get intense and release those endorphins!
Overcoming Obstacles:
Exercise will burn calories and can help you lose weight faster. If you don’t have a regular exercise routine, think about what’s keeping you from being active and then look into ways to overcome the obstacles. Here are some examples of what your obstacles may be, and what you can do to get passed them to burn more calories!
- Obstacle: No time, Solution: You only need 5 to 10 minutes to benefit. You can also incorporate activity into your daily routines by parking farther in lots, taking the stairs instead of escalators, etc.
- Obstacle: No energy, Solution: Keep in mind that exercise boosts your energy levels. Determine the time of day when you have the most energy (i.e. morning, mid-day, or afternoon, etc.) and try to be more physically active during that period.
- Obstacle: Self-Conscious, Solution: You shouldn’t worry about what other people think. However, you can always exercise in the privacy of your own home. Working out with a friend may also make things more comfortable for you.
- Obstacle: Afraid of injury, Solution: Consult your physician prior to beginning an exercise routine. Exercise shouldn’t hurt if you build your routine gradually. There are also activities such as swimming, walking or chair exercises that are less weight-bearing on joints.
30, 60, or 90 Minutes?:
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommend 20 minutes of exercise daily for health benefits. This has also been the recommendation of leading health organizations for the past several years. However, the Guidelines now recommend 60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week to prevent weight gain, and 90 minutes to maintain weight loss. This can be confusing and intimidating to many dieters who may be used to little or no physical activity.
Any amount of physical activity is beneficial to your health. Certainly, some activity is better than a sedentary lifestyle. Furthermore, to prevent weight gain and promote weight loss, any amount of physical activity is beneficial when calorie intake is restricted to no more than what is expended daily. One also should keep in mind that results will vary per individual. Some people may need to exercise less than the recommendation to achieve weight loss results.
Try not to be intimidated about incorporating physical activity into your lifestyle. Setting a goal to establish a routine can bring about health benefits whether it is 10 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, or 90 minutes a day. Making any effort to improve your activity level gradually is beneficial for your health and weight loss.
Making the Commitment:
It is a big commitment to go from couch potato to routine walker, jogger, etc. However, it is possible for you to commit. One of the most important factors is that you enjoy your activity. Another is that you don’t do too much, too fast. You can break your goal down into smaller, manageable goals. For example, maybe you’ll exercise 10 minutes a day then increase 5 more minutes each week until you exercise 30 to 40 minutes a day. Or, maybe you’ll just increase the number of sessions you have a day.
Consider your first workout sessions as experiments. This way you can try various forms of exercise. Maybe you’ve considered aerobics, jogging, kickboxing, or dancing. Try each one for about a week. Then you can stick to the one/s you enjoy and have fun mastering it/them. Or, you can continue trying other forms of exercise until you find one you like.
For all the hard work you put into changing habits, you can give yourself a reward. Kept up with your routine last week? Treat yourself to a nonfood reward such as a new outfit. You can also add incentive to staying committed to your program. For example, maybe you enjoy listening to music or spending time with loved ones. You can make it part of your routine! You can wear headphones when you’re cycling or jogging, take a walk with the kids, or join an exercise class with a partner. Try any of these ways to help you enjoy your exercise routine and make it a regular part of your lifestyle.
Never Too Old to Start:
Have you ever said to yourself, “I’ve never been active and I’m too old to start now.” You can never be to old to start exercising. A study researched residents in a retirement home. One group met twice a week to talk with each other. Another group met to spend the time in low-intensity exercise. After seven months, the researchers found that the group that exercised was able to move easier, get up faster, had greater grip strength, and suffered less depression. Another study researched the effects of weight lifting by elderly people aged 85 to 96. The strength, muscle mass, and walking ability of the elderly showed significant improvement after 8 weeks. The physical deterioration that people generally associate with age, has less to do with growing old. The deterioration is more a result of lack of exercise. It does not matter how long you have been out of shape, so why not start getting active?
Creating an Efficient Program:
Finding time to exercise can be difficult for many. Even at work, many people are sedentary. In order to include some exercise in your schedule, you may need to develop a more efficient exercise program. First, think to yourself that exercise is a necessity for reaching your weight goals and maintaining them. Then create reasonable expectations for yourself. Maybe you want to jog 5 times a week, but 2 or 3 days is more practical for your busy schedule. An achievable goal will help make you feel successful and motivate you to stick to it.
You may also want to take exercise classes. However, this may not be the most efficient workout for a busy schedule, since most classes are an hour long (not including the commute). Instead, try quicker forms of exercise such as jogging, walking, running, or cycling. You can schedule classes on your days off.
Other ways to fit exercise into your schedule include home workouts. You can rent exercise videotapes, lift hand weights, or ride an exercise bike. Try to include exercise as one of your daily objectives. Setting exercise as a priority and giving it a time slot will help you stick to your program.
NUTRITION TIP OF THE WEEK
Fishy Facts:
Adding a serving of lean protein at meals can help you feel full longer so you’ll eat less throughout the day. Consuming fish as your lean protein can be more beneficial to your weight loss. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, overweight individuals who added daily servings of fish (high in omega-3 fatty acids) to their weight loss program, lost more weight than those who ate fish one time or less a week. They also increased levels of their good cholesterol (HDL, which helps lower cholesterol levels).
Other studies found that eating broiled or baked fish five or more times per week reduced the risk of heart disease by 30 percent. By making a conscious effort to include fish, we can automatically consume fewer less healthy items such as red meats. Therefore, consuming more fish can decrease the amount of total fat and saturated fat that we eat.
The best fish sources of omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, canned tuna, mackerel, sardines, and whitefish. If you do consume fish more often, forget frying it! In fact eating more servings of fried fish has been found to increase the risk of heart disease. This includes avoiding foods such as fish sandwiches and fish sticks, which are also often fried. Stick to baked, broiled, steamed, grilled or poached fish. Try to enjoy fish two to three times per week. Fish dishes can benefit your heart and your weight loss.
Calcium Consumption:
Meeting your calcium needs is not as simple as consuming a supplement with 100% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). The body is not efficient at absorbing calcium from supplements or food. The more you consume, the less efficiently you absorb calcium. The best way to meet your calcium needs is to consume calcium sources and/or supplements throughout the day, providing no more than 500 mg at one time. Any more than that, and the body will absorb a smaller percentage of calcium. Diet Center’s Cal-Mag offers 20% RDA per capsule. Four capsules should be spread throughout the day and consumed daily (preferably with meals), providing 80% RDA of calcium. However, don’t worry about absorption rates when trying to reach your daily goal of calcium. The RDA for calcium already takes into account absorption rates. Try to focus on eating more dairy, cheese, Diet Center Fudge Bars, Diet Center Chocolate Gold Premium Protein Supplements, or Cal-Mag throughout the day. Consuming more calcium sources will provide your body with more calcium to absorb and meet your needs.
National Five A Day Month:
September is National Five a Day Month. Throughout September, you are encouraged to energize and mobilize your friends and family to pursue a healthy lifestyle with more fruits and vegetables. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that everyone consume 2 ½ to 6 ½ cups of colorful fruits and vegetables daily for better health. Consuming the servings allowed in your Diet Center program will help you meet this recommendation easily.
You should also keep the key word “colorful” in mind when choosing your fruits and vegetables. The bright, bold colors are reflections of the range of vitamins, minerals, and other healthy compounds that are beneficial to the body. Compounds with antioxidant properties help reduce the risk for certain types of cancers, help maintain memory function, help maintain healthy aging, and help maintain eye, bone, and heart health. Selecting a rainbow of fruits and vegetables will help you obtain a wider variety of beneficial nutrients.
Follow your Diet Center program to continue getting your five a day in. Focus on making colorful choices of fruits and vegetables, at least for the remainder of the month, to try to obtain many nutrients that will benefit your body!
Feast on Fall Vegetables:
Pumpkin, squash, rutabaga, cauliflower, and beets are nutritious fall vegetables that can provide delicious variety to your meals. Pumpkins, squash, rutabagas, and cauliflower are rich in vitamin C, which aids in calcium absorption and boosts our immune system. All of these fall vegetables are a source of folate, with beets being the highest source providing 34% of the RDA in ½ cup boiled slices. Other nutrients they may offer include potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and fiber.
However, many people are unaware of how versatile their use is in meal preparation. For example, these fall vegetables can be used in casseroles, soups, and stews. Pumpkin, cauliflower and rutabagas can be mashed like potatoes. Various types of squash can be used for pasta dishes. Zucchini and crookneck squash can be stuffed with bread and lean meat for an entree. Squash and cauliflower can be prepared with a mix of other vegetables or enjoyed alone. You can enjoy beets as a side dish, or try beet soup. The classic Russian beet soup, called Borscht, can be enjoyed using nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream. So take some time to experiment with recipes, and feast on these nutritious fall vegetables while they are in season!
Beneficial Bananas:
Keep on eating those nutritious bananas! Bananas are high in vitamin B6, which is necessary for carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism. Vitamin B6 is also needed for the formation of antibodies. Bananas are also a good source of vitamin C, which helps fight infections. The potassium and low sodium feature of bananas can help protect against high blood pressure. Bananas are also sources of easily digestible fiber, folate, magnesium, and riboflavin. One can enjoy the creamy texture and sweet taste of a banana and obtain many nutrients.
Your Diet Center program allows for one 4-inch banana as 1 fruit exchange. It would make a great choice for a snack, dessert, or part of your breakfast. Enjoy bananas in fruit salads, added to yogurt, or frozen on a stick for a treat! You can even enjoy it blended in a Diet Center Shake. Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplements are great blended with ice and a banana! Bite into a banana and gain nutritious benefits!
Benefits of Brown Rice:
Brown rice is the entire grain with the inedible outer husk removed. White rice also has the bran (source of fiber) and germ layers removed. Therefore, brown rice has more nutrients to offer than white rice. Brown rice is a good source of magnesium. It is also a source of vitamin B6, niacin, thiamine, iron, and fiber. Brown rice is available in different varieties. It comes in long, medium, and short-grains. Brown rice has a nutty flavor and chewy texture. Enjoy this nutritious starch choice with stir-fried vegetables, lean meats, or plain. Remember to watch your portion sizes. One-third cup counts as one starch choice. You still want to consume appropriate portions to obtain an appropriate amount of calories.
The Nutrients in Sweet Potatoes:
The sweet potato is one of the best sources of vitamin A! One 4 oz baked sweet potato provides 2488 RE of vitamin A, or 249% of the RDA. It is also an excellent source of vitamin C providing 47% of the RDA in just 4 oz. Canned sweet potatoes are nearly as high in nutrients as fresh ones. Both canned and fresh sweet potatoes are good sources of B vitamins. Another nutritious feature is that sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber. This combination helps control blood sugar levels and control appetite! You can enjoy a half-cup serving of sweet potatoes as a starch exchange in your Diet Center program. Try it baked with slices of apple or fresh pineapple, to excite your taste buds and provide even more nutrients with these fruits!
WEIGHT LOSS TIP OF THE WEEK
Less is Better:
Did you ever ask why certain food items are not allowed on your program? Choices are limited on a diet because it is found that a limited selection helps dieters stick to their program. Studies show that too many choices can cause one to overeat. One study provided volunteers with a four-course meal consisting of the same exact food at each course (no variety). Other volunteers were given a four-course meal with a different food at each course. The people who were given a variety consumed 60% more than those who were given the same food (no variety) at each course! According to a professor of nutrition at the Pennsylvania State University, people have a natural tendency to consume more when they see a variety of foods such as in a buffet.
So while it is important to consume a variety of foods to obtain various nutrients, too many choices can cloud your judgment. Therefore, it is beneficial for you to stick to the food exchanges allowed in your Diet Center program until you reach your goal weight. By then you should have developed healthy habits and self-control that will help you make wise food selections from a wider variety of foods and still maintain your ideal weight!
Moving Forward:
Many dieters slip during their Diet Center program. Unfortunately, even a little slip can prevent one from making progress with his or her weight loss. However, it usually is not even due to the act of consuming extra calories on one or two occasions. The problem is the downward spiral that a slip often leads to. When a dieter slips, he or she feels guilty or ashamed. Negative emotions often lead to loss of motivation, more slips, and more excess calories consumed. An occasional slip can happen. How you react to it will impact your weight loss progress more than the calories from that piece of cake, candy or cookie you ate. This doesn’t mean that you should not care about cheating occasionally. It means that you should care about what you will do about the fact that you slipped. You should react with positive emotions and actions. For example, accept the fact that you slipped, but make the decision to commit to getting back and staying on track. Determine how or why you slipped, and make a plan on how to prevent it from happening again. Taking action to recover from a slip will help you continue to move forward with your weight loss progress.
Fill-Up on Fruit:
Fitting in five-a-day of fruits and vegetables is not only nutritious, but can help you control your hunger. Fruit is especially helpful in curbing cravings for sweets. After all, fruits are a source of sweet, natural sugars. If you have a sweet tooth, try eating a piece of fruit. For example, instead of a muffin for breakfast, eat a banana or strawberries. You can even make it a morning treat by blending it with nonfat, plain yogurt, skim or soy milk, and a little artificial sweetener. You can spice it up with a little cinnamon or nutmeg. For sweet desserts, forget about those high calorie, high fat dishes. Try a baked banana topped with chopped nuts or Diet Center Mini Crisps. Or, enjoy fruited sugar-free gelatin or freezing fruits for a cool treat. You may be pleasantly surprised at how satisfying fruit can be for your appetite and sweet tooth. Fitting in your fruit into your daily meal plans is a delicious way to help you get your body fit.
What Can Affect the Scale?:
It’s important not to overreact when the scale doesn’t seem to move in the right direction. Try to keep in mind that there are many variables that can affect your scale readings. Meaning, the reading might not reflect your actual weight. Here are some things that may affect the readings so that your weight may appear heavier:
- Time of Day: Weight at later times of the day can be 2 to 4 pounds heavier than in the mornings.
- Extreme Temperatures: hot weather can cause fluid retention.
- Moderate Exercise: Muscles hold water for a small period after exercise. • Excessive Exercise: Pushing your body too hard can cause it to fight back by holding onto what it has.
- Dehydration: Not drinking enough water can cause your body to retain fluid.
- PMS: Fluid retention can last 7 to 10 days.
- Illness: The body may hold onto weight and fluids to help protect and heal itself.
- Medications: Some medications can affect weight loss progress.
- Stress: The body may try to protect itself by holding onto its weight during high levels of stress.
Avoid the First Bite:
Some people can’t take a bite or two of food and then stop. The binger’s first bite pushes them over the edge into caloric doom. A binger’s addiction is sweets, chocolate, salty snacks or other junk food as an alcoholic’s is to a drink. Instead of stopping in the ice cream shop for a taste, walk right by. Try not to take a bite of “forbidden” food, especially if you know you can’t handle it. If you’re faced with a binge, “stop, look, listen.” Stop what you’re doing, listen to your body (are you really hungry?), and look for an alternate activity to get your mind off of eating. Walking, writing, or even drinking water can help squelch a binge.
Keep track of your food records and binge triggers. If you are a binger, avoiding that first bite can help you get the extra weight off, while you learn to master the emotional problems underlying your overeating.
Fill-Up on Protein:
A new study found that people felt less hungry on a higher protein diet. Volunteers increased their protein intake from 15% to 30%, which is the amount on a Diet Center program (except on the Thermogenic Diet, which is 45% protein). Fat intake was decreased to about 20%, while carbohydrate intake remained the same. The volunteers were also allowed to eat as many calories as they wanted to. However, the participants actually consumed an average of 441 calories less than what they normally consumed. They also lost an average of 10.8 pounds over 12 weeks.
These results show that protein is more filling than fat, which may have encouraged people to consume fewer calories. So try and stick to your Diet Center program, which offers a variety of lean, filling proteins. If you don’t have time to prepare or just prefer not to eat meats; try our Gold Premium Protein Supplements that offer 16 grams of protein per serving. Focus on consuming the foods on your Diet Center meal plan, and you should find yourself feeling full!
Getting Back on Track:
“I’ve eaten the cheeseburger, I might as well eat the fries too!” Have you said this or similar statements before? You started to eat well, slipped, and completely gave up. Maybe you’ve said, “I missed my exercise routine for a week, what use is it to go back now?” You have not failed and blown everything from a single lapse. You may also overreact by deciding to skip meals the next day to compensate for your slip. This may just make you hungry and set you up for another binge. Getting back to your program and exercise routine is the best solution.
Here’s an activity that may help motivate you. You can try saving a penny for every “right” thing you do for your program. For example, you passed on the pie at a dinner party, drank 64 oz of water for the day, or chose foods appropriate for your program at a restaurant. Save pennies in a separate jar for each time you slip. For example, you ate a cookie or skipped an exercise session. In time, you should see that you are doing yourself more “right” than “wrong” in the big picture. Whenever you have a temporary lapse, look at your pile of “progress” pennies. You should be able to recognize that your slips don’t outweigh the good you are doing yourself by getting back on track!
Issue 262 - November 6, 2006
VOLUME 3
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Recognizing Self-Sabotage
Pressures and emotions can be overwhelming during the upcoming holidays. One should plan realistic weight management and achievable goals. You can begin with identifying high-risk situations that may lead to self-sabotage. For example, don’t fool yourself with the “one time won’t hurt me” attitude, which can cause you to slide off track. Also, doubting your ability to stay on track can increase the length and degree of a slip. Try not to rationalize high fat choices by justifying them as relief for holiday stress. Try to avoid intense thoughts of how good something will taste, which may lead you to fall victim to instant self-gratification.
Here’s how you can prevent self-sabotage in these situations. First, focus on the personal benefits of weight maintenance and the negative effects of giving in (like weight gain and self-blame). Next, you should prepare now, before the holidays. Write down patterns of behavior and thoughts that have proved to be obstacles for you in the past. List details of the pitfalls you may face. Then plan how you will manage these situations. Make your holiday goals small, behavioral, and controllable. For example, “I will choose the lower fat items and only make one trip to the buffet table.” Try to practice self-monitoring. Monitoring your eating behaviors and weight will keep you aware of the results of your actions.
A little preparation now can provide the ammunition you need to truly enjoy the holiday season.
Holiday Mentality
The holidays are just around the corner. For many of us, food seems to be abundantly around us. Unfortunately, the food is usually not around to tempt us for just one day. We may find ourselves attending or hosting parties all weekend, or all week! Although you know the temptation to get off track from your Diet Center program will be there, the lack of control does not have to be there as well. In order to remain in control, you should have the proper mentality for the holidays. Remember that achieving and maintaining your weight loss goals involves eating healthy for life. Holidays are always going to be a part of life, so learning how to handle them is one aspect of your healthy lifestyle.
Be honest with yourself. You know that if you prepare meals, you can plan ahead and reduce the fat and calories in meals. If you attend a dinner party, you can make wise choices that stick to your program as close as possible (ex. select fruits, eat more vegetables, choose whole grain breads without the butter, and consume smaller portions of higher fat dishes like creamy mashed potatoes or heavy casseroles).
However, also keep in mind that you may consume foods not included in your program. Be mentally prepared for these times by accepting the fact that this can happen and you can recover! You will not be able to go backwards and change any mistakes, but you can move forward and get back on track. So when the holidays roll around, just be mentally prepared. Remember that the choices are yours to make, as well as the actions are that will help you continue to succeed!
“Me” Time
Many people do not make enough time for themselves. This lack of attention to oneself can create stress. In response to stress, the body produces hormones that promote fat deposit around the midsection, inhibit fat-release, and can also result in carbohydrate or fat cravings. Therefore, it is important to find time to focus on making yourself happy everyday.
Try not to fit as many errands and/or work projects in a day as you can. Instead, try to take five minutes every hour or two to do something small that won’t interrupt your duties (but is relaxing or enjoyable). You can take a walk, have a cup of coffee, read or write a personal e-mail, call a friend to say hello to, or listen to a favorite song. Take time to reduce stress in your life, to help prevent fat storage and food cravings. Making some “me” time during your day; can help you reduce the time it will take you to reach your weight goals.
Holiday Journals
Keeping a food journal is an important behavior to maintain during the holidays. It will help keep you honest with yourself. For example, you may say to yourself that you only had one cookie, so a piece of chocolate won’t do much harm. However, your journal reflects that you already had a piece of pie earlier. This may help encourage you to pass on the candy bowl.
Maintaining your journal will also help you identify weak areas that you can improve to prevent you from slipping in the future. Maybe you’ll find that you tend to sneak extra calories in while you’re cooking holiday treats. You may want to consider purchasing treats, or passing on the tradition to someone else. Or, maybe you’ll find that you snacked on extra items whenever you felt stress from entertaining family and friends. You may want to try taking a walk, or take time to sit and relax to soothing music.
You may fall off track during the holidays, however, you don’t have to lose track of what you’re eating. Try to maintain your food journals even during hectic holidays. It can help you stay aware of your eating behaviors, so that it will be easier for you to get back on track.
Stress-free Holidays
Stress can have a negative impact on your weight loss efforts. For some, the holidays bring about stressful situations. It may be financial stress from being too generous with gifts. Others may be stressed from family relationships, traveling, lack of sleep, etc. This is where maintaining your healthy behaviors are important to helping you get through the holidays stress-free. Healthy eating, physical activity, and good planning will help keep your body and mind functioning at their best.
Begin with a healthy, balanced breakfast to boost your energy levels for the day. Try to stick to a regular eating schedule so that you don’t find yourself hungry and snacking on tempting holiday treats. Try to maintain physical activity as well. Exercising first thing in the morning will give you a sense of control and provide energy. You are also less likely to have interruptions to your schedule in the mornings.
The best way to be prepared for possible stressful events is to have plans in place. Prioritize your tasks and create a schedule that gives you enough time for a good night’s sleep. Plan strategies for how you may handle potential problems. For example, plan a budget to control your expenses. Also, consider issues such as food preparation and temptations. This way you will be less likely to overindulge on any items.
It’s easy to become stressed during the holidays from eating, giving, or doing too many things. Try to take measures to stay in control and enjoy stress-free holidays.
A Gift for Yourself
Happy Holidays! This is a time to be with friends or family, sharing or receiving gifts. You can think of your Diet Center weight loss program as the most important gift you have given yourself. Think of this as a time to experience new tastes. You are learning to take your time and enjoy the entire experience of eating. You’re developing healthy eating habits that will nurture your body, give you energy, and achieve your desired body weight. You’re coming to terms with the role food plays in your daily life. By the end of your program you will have established a proper place for all the foods you enjoy so that you will maintain the goals you have achieved. Experimenting with new foods, recipes, eating behaviors, and exercises can be exciting! So enjoy and have fun with your present! What could be a better gift than one that could make you feel healthier, look better, and feel good about yourself?
Festive Focus
If you’re already worried about how you’re going to get through the holidays, then you may need to adjust your focus. Instead of focusing on the tempting treats, busy schedules, and other challenges to staying on track, you can try to focus on the more festive aspects of the holiday season.
For example, maybe you have plans to spend time with friends and family. You don’t have to plan events around food. Think about the kind of quality time you can spend with them. You can plan other activities such as games, movies, shows, or tourist spots for out of town visitors.
When you’re at social events, take time to relax and enjoy the company. Do your best at selecting good food choices and portions, eat slowly, and enjoy yourself. Then try to avoid the buffet or candy dishes and refocus on spending time with others. Focusing on family, friends and festivities should help keep your mind off of food. This should help decrease stress and too much attention on food, so that you avoid overeating, while enjoying the holidays.
Three Parts to Behavior
Becoming aware of your eating behaviors is necessary for you to begin to change them. Some psychologists have broken down eating behavior into three parts. The first part is the “antecedent.” An antecedent can be an event, situation, feeling, or other cue that triggers you to eat. The second part is “behavior.” The behavior is the resulting eating action you take. The third part is “consequence.” The consequence is the event, feeling, or attitude that follows after eating.
Whenever you find yourself eating food items not in your Diet Center meal plan for the day, try to record the events in these three parts. Your list of antecedents may include items such as the smell or sight of baked goods, watching television, feeling depressed, socializing with friends, etc. Then record your behavior with as much detail as possible. For example, maybe you ate a bag of nuts or chips while watching television, or consumed a pint ice cream when you felt depressed. Then write down the consequences of each behavior. Maybe you felt bloated after eating the chips, or guilty after eating ice cream. Some consequences may be positive. For example, maybe you felt comfort after drinking a cup of coffee with friends.
Examine your list and look for trends that have led to bad eating habits. Look at which events happen that often cause negative consequences. Your list will be useful in helping you identify problem areas so you can determine solutions to improving your eating behaviors.
Key Areas
The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences suggests that changes should be made in the following areas to stimulate and support a lifestyle that promotes weight loss:
EXERCISE TIPS
Power Walk with a Pole
Walking or hiking benefits can be enhanced with the use of a pole! Poles allow you to put less strain on your knees and take longer strides, making the experience more comfortable. An exercise physiologist at the University of Massachusetts studied 5 men and 5 women on a treadmill at a 5% incline. They each carried a backpack equal to 30% of their weight while they walked 1 hour with a pole and 1 hour without a pole. The results showed that the people shortened their stride when they walked without a pole. They walked with normal, longer strides with a pole. Also, the people perceived that they exerted less effort when using poles.
In another study at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, researchers found that walking with poles burns about 40% more calories than walking without poles. Furthermore, the use of a pole involves using your upper body. It helps to activate the muscles in your arms, chest and shoulders. It raises the heart rate more than regular walking, reduces stress on the knees, and reduces impact on the leg. Using poles can be especially helpful for maintaining balance when hiking uneven terrain. Try using a pole the next time you take a walk up a hill, take a hike in the woods, or try cross-country skiing. You can take a more comfortable walk that allows you to walk for longer periods, which in turn allows you to burn more fat and calories!
Water Needs & Cold Weather
You may think that without the dehydrating heat of summer your water needs would be less when you exercise in cold weather. Actually, you need to drink just as much in the cold seasons. It’s still easy to become dehydrated from the water lost through sweating and breathing. Water needs increase with exercise and outdoor winter activities such as shoveling snow, ice skating, skiing, or sledding. Dehydration can hinder your body’s ability to regulate its temperature, so you need to drink water before, during and after activities. Whether it’s hot or cold out, your body needs water to prevent dehydration during exercise.
Hanging on Through the Holidays
It’s easy to fall off your exercise routine during the holidays. Hectic schedules and travel plans make it easy to skip some sessions for a week or two. Do you ever wonder how fast your fitness level drops when you stop exercising? Sixty percent of about 3000 people in one survey believed they became out of shape after 1 or 2 weeks of not exercising.
Slacking off does not necessarily make you less fit. Not working out for 2 weeks will cause a slight decrease in fitness. The more fit you are, the less your fitness will decrease. If you don’t work out for 5 weeks, your fitness level will decrease by about half. The best thing you can do to maintain your results is by fitting in at least 2 aerobic workouts and 1 strength training session per week. If you don’t have time to fit in much, try not to go more than 2 weeks without getting back into routine. You’ll regain any loss back much faster.
When the holidays hit, they don’t have to hit your fitness gains hard. Do the best you can at fitting a few sessions in, and getting back into routine when the holidays are over. It will help you to stay fit, and hold back holiday weight gain.
Yoga & Weight Loss
A new study looked at the effects of yoga on weight. Researchers found that with regular practice, yoga may help prevent middle-age weight gain in people of normal weight and help those who are overweight shed pounds. The study looked at 15,500 healthy participants ages 45 to 55. The researchers found that those who practiced yoga for at least 30 minutes once a week for 4 or more years benefited in terms of their weight. The participants who practiced yoga and were at normal weight did not gain the weight associated with aging. The overweight participants who practiced yoga lost 5 pounds compared to those who did not practice yoga had gained 10 pounds over a 10-year period. If you haven’t found an exercise activity that works for you, you may want to consider yoga. You may find it relaxing, yet effective in helping you lose weight!
Airport Exercise
Traveling for the holidays? Not looking forward to the experience at the airport, where it seems like your gate is all the way at the opposite end of the airport from where you are (especially when you are late and have to rush to catch your flight)? On top of that, you probably have heavy or bulky carry-on luggage to haul across the airport. Instead of dreading this airport experience, look at it as a form of “free exercise!” After all, there is probably no way to avoid the situation. Prepare yourself by wearing comfortable shoes. Try not to pack heavy carry-on luggage that will be too awkward to drag around. So while it may not be any fun rushing through the airport to find your gate and catch your flight, at least you’ll be getting some calorie-burning physical activity in your day!
Benefits of Pilates
Pilates has become a very popular form of exercise. Pilates consists of precise, controlled movements. These movements help to strengthen the abdomen, back, and buttocks while placing little stress on joints. Benefits from Pilates include increased strength, flexibility, range of motion, muscle balance, and stability. It’s an effective form of strength training without the weights or machines.
A basic Pilates workout burns about 276 calories per hour (based on a 165 pound person). It’s possible to burn 400 calories or more per hour with more advanced, high-intensity routines. So if you would like to incorporate basic Pilates into your exercise regimen, you may want to balance it out with other cardiovascular routines. This way you can work on toning your body, building your cardiovascular fitness level, and burning more calories to help lose more pounds. Pilates is a low impact way to help you get into shape!
Positive Thinking
When you perceive things as negative, chances are you will not stick to it. Just as thinking positive about your diet program will help you succeed, so will thinking positive about your exercise program! When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about your program, you need to counter them with positive ones. For example, whenever you think, “I’m tired,” instead you can think, “If I push through, I’ll feel energized later.” Instead of thinking, “I don’t like to sweat,” you can think, “Sweating helps to cool my body down as I work hard to lose weight.”
When you think you’re bored, try thinking about any fun plans you have for the week. Maybe there’s someone you can converse with, or a favorite t.v. show you can watch while exercising. If your muscles feel sore or achy, remember that you’re challenging muscles you’re not used to using. Think about how you’re making progress and building muscles that will help burn calories! Exercise doesn’t always feel good, especially when you’re just starting out. Thinking positive can help make exercise feel easier, so you can stick to your program to help you lose weight!
Dog Walking
Are you considering walking more to help with your weight loss, but haven’t been motivated to start? Try taking a dog out for walks. If you have a dog, or are thinking about getting one; walking the dog could help you with your weight loss. The University of Missouri-Columbia’s Research Center for Human Animal Interaction conducted a study on the effects of walking a dog on weight. Participants walked dogs for 50 weeks. They started walking 10 minutes a day, three times a week. Eventually they walked up to 20 minutes a day, five times a week.
The researchers found that the participants in the study lost an average of 14 pounds. They also discovered that many of the participants’ motivation to walk came from the good it would do the dogs, rather than the good it would do them. So if your goal is to walk more, consider walking a dog. It could provide you the motivation you need to get started on a walking routine that will help you shed weight!
Walking Indoors
Walking during the winter can be quite uncomfortable outdoors if you live in an area that gets cold, snowy weather. You can try doing your walking indoors. Walk around your house, up and down stairs, or up and down hallways of an apartment building. During work breaks, you can walk around the halls of your office building. You can also get a good amount of walking while shopping at after holiday sales. Some shopping malls even have groups that walk routinely. If you travel by plane often, walk around the airport. For more entertaining walks, you can go to a historical, botanical, art or other museum. Cold, winter weather doesn’t have to keep you from walking in warmth indoors.
NUTRITION TIPS
Sweet Potato Nutrition
Sweet potatoes are popular during this time of the year. They are available all year round, however they are most abundant during the fall and early winter. These sweet vegetables are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, Vitamin B6, folate, and potassium. They’re also a good source of riboflavin, magnesium, iron and thiamin. On top of all these nutrients, you also obtain a good amount of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which help control blood sugar levels and appetite.
Sweet potatoes are available in two basic types: orange-fleshed and yellow-fleshed. The orange-fleshed variety is sweeter, and moist. Sweet potatoes are often mistakenly called “yams.” A true yam is a root vegetable found in Africa and Asia, and is not actually related to sweet potatoes. When selecting sweet potatoes, look for ones that are heavy for their size. Also look for smooth, hard, sweet potatoes that are free of spots or sunken areas.
Depending on your Diet Center Program, you may enjoy baked sweet potatoes. Since they are a starchy vegetable, a ½ -cup serving counts as 1 starch exchange. Treat yourself to sweet potatoes; they’re sweet in taste and nutrition!
Understanding Health Symbols
Health claims on food packages are regulated by the government. Many organizations are also adding symbols to packaging to help consumers recognize which products are pitching health claims. For example, the American Heart Association features a red heart with a white check mark inside for foods that meet nutrition criteria. The Whole Grains Council uses a black-and-gold stamp to help people recognize good sources of whole grains.
Unfortunately, some of these symbols are based on food manufacturers’ own criteria, rather than independent organizations such as the American Heart Association or Whole Grains Council. For example, some food manufacturers highlight foods that they believe are “smart choices” or “better for you.” However, these foods are based on criteria established by the food manufacturers. While such foods may be better choices compared to their other products, they may not necessarily be good for you. For example, a food that is low in sugar, fat and calories may be highlighted. However, this particular food may not have any significant nutrients to offer.
New health symbols may be helpful if you understand what they mean. If you really want to know what nutrients you will obtain from a product, read the nutrition facts panel. The label will provide you with more detailed information to help you determine if something is nutritious.
Darling Clementines
Clementines are considered a type of mandarin orange, and the smallest variety. They are a hybrid of a tangerine and Seville orange. These citrus fruits are very sweet, usually seedless, and have a distinctive tangy flavor. Clementines are so easy to peel that they make a convenient, sweet treat. Not only are they great in taste, clementines are nutritious sources of vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, and fiber. They’re fat-free, sodium-free, and cholesterol-free, making them a healthy snack choice.
Clementines are usually available at their peak quality at the end of fall until February. Select Clementines that have a shiny skin, and feel firm and heavy. You should consume them within a few days of purchase, or refrigerate them in the crisper drawer. They can be refrigerated for 1 or 2 weeks.
Clementines are in the same family as tangerines, so you may fit them into your Diet Center program in the same manner: 2 Clementines = 1 fruit. You can enjoy them as a sweet treat or toss them on salads. They also make excellent choices for holiday fruit baskets. So keep an eye out for these darling clementines, while they’re in season!
Veggie Burgers
Veggie burgers are a nutritious, non-meat alternative to hamburgers. They may be made from soy, black beans, brown rice, rolled oats, mushrooms, carrots, or a variety of other nutritious ingredients. Veggie burgers are even often found on restaurant menus. There are so many varieties on the market that it may be difficult to choose. Their tastes and textures vary, but they are all more enjoyable then they have been in the past.
To help you determine which choices may be more nutritious, you should examine the nutrition facts panels and ingredient lists. Check out the fiber content. Many varieties offer anywhere from 2 to 5 grams per patty. Also, compare protein and carbohydrate content. Some varieties offer more protein and less starch than others. Be sure to note the calorie, fat and sodium content. Many choices are healthy, low calorie patties with unsaturated fat (good fat). However, there still are selections that may be high in fat and calories. Like most processed food items, some patties may be higher in sodium content. So be sure to monitor your intake (no more than 2400 mg sodium daily). Look at the ingredient lists for food allergy or preference concerns. For example, if you avoid eggs, cheese, or nuts, then you would find this information listed in the ingredients.
There are many varieties of veggie burgers to try. Anyone should be able to find a nutritious variety that they find tastes delicious!
Good Looking Fruits
The holidays often bring about beautiful baskets filled with tasty fruits. Fruits are also commonly found in holiday dishes such as cranberry sauce, fruitcake, fruit cobblers or pies, etc. Bright, colorful juicy fruits provide more than just eye appeal. Selecting fruits that look good in appearance usually mean they taste great and provide good nutrients. Fruits are most nutritious when they look their best.
Whether you are creating your own gift basket, preparing a fruit dish, or serving fresh fruit to guests, you should examine your fruit selections. Try to select fruits that aren’t blemished. You also want firm fruits. Try to buy fruits that you will consume in the near future. Fruits can lose their nutrients if they are stored too long. Some fruits that maintain their nutritional quality for a while include fruits that continue to ripen after they are picked. Such fruits that continue to ripen are bananas, pears, cantaloupe, peaches and apricots. Fruits such as berries, apples, and cherries should be bought in amounts that you will consume within a few days. Choosing fruits that look good, are good for your body!
Nutrients in Carrots
Carrots are one of the best sources of vitamin A (with over 200% of the RDA). Vitamin A can help protect against cancer, enhance your immune system, and improve night vision. Carrots are a good source of fiber; which can help you feel full, help control sugar levels, and help lower cholesterol levels. The iron in carrots is also fairly well absorbed by the body. Carrots are also a source of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and folate. You can gain benefits from the nutrients in carrots whether cooked or raw; since little nutrients are lost in cooking carrots. So try them chopped with apples and cabbage. Enjoy them topped on salad, cooked in stews, or fresh and crunchy as they are!
Cold Water and Cold Weather
Warm weather is gone and so is the dehydrating heat. Does this mean you need less water? Cold weather can actually dehydrate your body too. Heated homes and offices tend to dry the skin as well. Breathing, sweating in bulky winter clothes, and increased urine production can cause dehydration. Cold weather also impairs the thirst mechanism, often causing people to drink less. Therefore, it is important to focus on consuming enough water all year long. If you find yourself shoveling snow, sledding, skiing, or ice skating; you may need more water.
By now you should be aware that you have to drink at least 64 oz of water a day to keep yourself hydrated, help your body feel full, and avoid water retention. The more you drink, the more you do your body good. Do you have your water with ice? Cold water is absorbed into the system more quickly. Evidence also suggests that drinking ice water boosts your metabolism because it tries to keep its temperature from dropping. For example, your body can burn an additional 200 calories from eight 12-oz glasses of ice water a day!
Remember, water is involved in many of your body’s metabolic processes, including digestion and fat burning! So don’t let the cool weather fool you and cause you to lose focus on hydrating yourself. Continue your efforts for meeting your water needs all year round. It will help your body function at its best throughout your Diet Center program!
Skipping Meals and Nutrients
About 28% of Americans are skipping meals. Some people figure they can consume more calories at the next meal, or they figure they are making up for cheating on their diet the night before. If you are trying to control your weight by skipping meals, you may actually be having an opposite effect. In order to keep your metabolism up and continue burning calories, you need to give your body fuel regularly. Think of feeding your body as filling your car with gas. When you are hungry, your body is out of fuel like your car is out of gas. When this happens, how does your car function? Not well, if it functions at all.
Your body reacts similarly to a lack of fuel. When you skip a meal when your body needs to be fed, you deprive your body of nutrients that are not made up at the following meal. This results in your body’s metabolism slowing down. A slower metabolism burns fewer calories, which will most likely result in a decrease in weight loss. Therefore, it is important that you consume all the foods in your Diet Center program at regular meal times. Think of hunger pangs as your body’s “fuel light” going on because it needs to be filled!
Becoming a Better Eater
The average American diet doesn’t consume enough vitamin A, C, E, and magnesium. A report from the US Department of Agriculture found that 44% of Americans do not obtain enough vitamin A. About one-third of Americans do not meet vitamin C needs. While 93% of Americans fall short on vitamin E intake, and a little more than 50% do not meet magnesium recommendations.
The Diet Center program will help you learn the healthy eating habits you will need to improve your daily diet so that you won’t fall short on these essential nutrients. While you learn new habits on a low calorie diet, Diet Center Chewable Supplements and other vitamin and mineral supplements will help fill in the gaps. By the time you’ve reached your weight goal and are on Maintenance, you should have improved your eating behaviors so that you can meet your needs with or without supplementation. You can look forward to better nutrition in the New Year by sticking to your Diet Center program!
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS
Helpful Grocery Lists
Researchers have found that women who have definite meal plans and grocery lists keep more nutritious food in their homes. They also found that they have more control over unnecessary snacking and perceive fewer barriers in regards to weight loss. The study looked at groups that had structured meal plans and grocery lists; and groups that had structured meal plans and foods in appropriate portion sizes. The study showed that structured meals and grocery lists improved outcomes.
The researchers concluded that people who are given meal plans and keep grocery lists develop more regular eating habits, consume fewer snacks, and store healthier foods in their homes (like fruits & vegetables, lean meats, and low-calorie entrees). Therefore, completing a grocery list in conjunction with your Diet Center Meal Planner may help with your weight loss progress! Try making a positive change in your lifestyle by using grocery lists with your meal plan to effectively manage your eating habits.
Holiday Home Cooking Tips
During the Holidays, there will be temptations in your home. The following are suggestions to help you stay strong during your Diet Center program and still have a festive environment:
Try a few of these suggestions this Holiday season, it can help you get through without gaining extra weight and help you lose a few!
Holiday Parties
When attending parties for the holidays, it’s possible to survive without doing too much harm to your weight loss efforts. The following are suggestions to help you stick to your program:
Alcohol & the Holidays
Unfortunately along with resisting the temptation of holiday treats, there is also the temptation of celebrating with a social drink of champagne, wine, eggnog, or other favorites. Alcoholic drinks are not calorie free. In fact, alcohol yields 7 calories per gram. An alcoholic beverage can provide twice as many calories per ounce as carbohydrates and fats. A 12-ounce can of beer has about 150 calories, while a 4 ounce glass of wine will provide about 90 calories. A glass of spiked eggnog is about 300 calories. While on your Diet Center program, you should not consume any alcohol, as it interferes with the metabolism of nutrients and may stimulate your appetite. It also does not provide any significant nutrients.
If you choose to drink alcohol, try to limit yourself to one serving. You can also try alternating alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones. The best thing you can do for yourself to continue progress in your program is to not consume any alcohol. Enjoy diet sodas, sugar-free hot cocoas, or nutritious Diet Center drinks such as a Gold Premium Protein Shake or Wild Berry Drink. Keep in mind that there will be many times in life that you may want to celebrate or socialize with a drink or two. It’s a habit you should make an effort to develop to reach and maintain your weight loss goal.
The Battle with Candy
Even though Diet Center offers a wonderful line of nutritious products that can satisfy a sweet tooth, some people “just have to have that candy!” What do you do when someone gives you a box of candies as a gift? Think about the damage those empty calories can do to your weight loss progress. A small piece of chocolate candy may contain 150 calories! This would mean a 2 ½ pound box of chocolates could provide as much as 5000 calories! Think you could exercise enough to work off the excess calories? It’s possible, but even a 155-pound individual would have to walk over 10 hours or run over 7 hours!
Obviously too much candy could lead to weight gain, and any amount of candy could crowd out nutritious food you need on a restricted calorie weight loss program. If you must have some candy, make sure you do so in moderation. This would mean consuming only 1 or 2 pieces. You should also try to exercise that same day to help burn extra calories. An even better option is try to satisfy your sweet tooth with a Diet Center Fudge Bar or Choco-Lettes.
You can also try to encourage your significant other, family member, or friend to give an alternative gift. There are many nonfood items that can make you feel just as good as a piece of candy would. For example, a favorite music CD, a basket of soothing products for a relaxing bath, a certificate for a massage, flowers, or new outfit can all give you feelings of pleasure. With a nonfood treat, you can feel good and continue to lose weight so that you’ll feel even better!
No Wait for Weight Loss
A great way to survive the holidays is to avoid waiting until the day of holiday events or until after holiday events to adjust your eating behavior. Holidays are a time for celebration. You can celebrate by making the most out of visiting with friends and family. There will also be favorite foods that you will want to celebrate with. You can consume some of your favorite foods as long as you don’t wait to adjust your eating behavior and plan ahead. For example, plan to eat a light snack before a meal, so that you aren’t too hungry. Also plan on consuming larger portions of healthier items. These behaviors will help you to eat smaller portions of some of those favorite foods that can throw you off track.
Plan on spending time socializing instead of hanging out by the buffet. If you’re going to bring something to someone else’s party; you can offer to bring salad, steamed vegetables, or some other light dish. You can even offer to bring non-food items such as festive napkins and decor, or games for entertainment. Planning your schedule (especially if you have several places to be) can help make things easier as well. If you don’t plan for enough time to rest and relax, you may become stressed and tired. This can make it difficult to control your eating habits. The season for celebration is here. So try to celebrate your new lifestyle that will help bring you to your desired weight!
Cereal for Weight Control
Starting out with breakfast cereal can help you control your weight. Recent studies show that eating cold cereal for breakfast helped maintain weight and reduce the risk for being overweight. One study found that girls age 9 to 19 who regularly consumed cereal had fewer weight problems. Girls who ate cereal occasionally increased their risk for being overweight by 13%. Breakfast skippers tended to weigh the most, those who ate other foods for breakfast were somewhere in the middle, while the cereal eaters weighed the least.
A study including adults of both sexes found that consuming cold cereal for breakfast was associated with maintaining a healthy weight compared to just eating breakfast in general. Overall fat intake was lower for those who consumed cereal regularly compared to those who ate other breakfast foods.
Consuming cereal that is low in sugar can be convenient and nutritious. There are many whole grain cereals that provide fiber, calcium, and a variety of essential nutrients. It’s no wonder that cereal eaters tend to have healthier diets and healthier weights. You can begin your day with a bowl of cereal, and more control of your weight!
Fall-Winter Weight
Despite temptations and cold weather blues, you don’t have to fear a five pound weight gain during fall and winter seasons! Such a weight gain during the holidays is actually a myth. According to the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, most people gain less than a pound. National Institutes of Health researchers tracked the weights of 200 men and women from late September through early March. They found these people gained .8 pounds on average during the holidays, and 1.05 pounds on average by March. They also found that activity had a significant impact on gain or loss. People who became less active during these seasons, gained 1.5 pounds. People who were more physically active lost 1.5 pounds!
Boredom, bulkier clothes, and/or depression from dreary weather may contribute to the temptation of higher fat foods. While you may not have to worry about a 5 pound weight gain over the holidays; you may have to worry about it if you gain even 1 pound year after year. So try to stick to your Diet Center program and be active. The holidays don’t have to hinder your weight loss!
Fitting in the Food Court
Walking around the mall can help you burn calories (especially more than home shopping online or through the television). However, it’s often too tempting and convenient to stop at the food court. Food courts make it very easy to get off track from your diet, especially with the combo sandwich deals, super-size deals, and tempting aromas of fried, greasy foods. Before you order the super-size fries, double-burger, and large soda; ask yourself a question. Do you want more for your money including more fat and calories? Or would rather get less for your money by staying on track and losing the excess pounds! Sometimes less is better.
You can survive a trip to the food court by making wise selections. When you order Chinese food, select steamed rice and veggies. Ask for the low-fat, low-sodium sauces. When choosing Italian, a small portion of spaghetti is a good selection. Just remember to go easy on the sauce, Parmesan, and meatballs. You can even get a side garden salad with fat-free dressing. Bean or chicken burritos are good Mexican choices. If you get a sub sandwich, stick to lean cold cuts topped with veggies, and hold the cheese and mayonnaise. Some places offer small portion specials if you ask. If not, set aside an appropriate portion and take the rest home. A stop at the food court can fill you up, but it doesn’t have to harm your weight loss program!
VOLUME 3
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Recognizing Self-Sabotage
Pressures and emotions can be overwhelming during the upcoming holidays. One should plan realistic weight management and achievable goals. You can begin with identifying high-risk situations that may lead to self-sabotage. For example, don’t fool yourself with the “one time won’t hurt me” attitude, which can cause you to slide off track. Also, doubting your ability to stay on track can increase the length and degree of a slip. Try not to rationalize high fat choices by justifying them as relief for holiday stress. Try to avoid intense thoughts of how good something will taste, which may lead you to fall victim to instant self-gratification.
Here’s how you can prevent self-sabotage in these situations. First, focus on the personal benefits of weight maintenance and the negative effects of giving in (like weight gain and self-blame). Next, you should prepare now, before the holidays. Write down patterns of behavior and thoughts that have proved to be obstacles for you in the past. List details of the pitfalls you may face. Then plan how you will manage these situations. Make your holiday goals small, behavioral, and controllable. For example, “I will choose the lower fat items and only make one trip to the buffet table.” Try to practice self-monitoring. Monitoring your eating behaviors and weight will keep you aware of the results of your actions.
A little preparation now can provide the ammunition you need to truly enjoy the holiday season.
Holiday Mentality
The holidays are just around the corner. For many of us, food seems to be abundantly around us. Unfortunately, the food is usually not around to tempt us for just one day. We may find ourselves attending or hosting parties all weekend, or all week! Although you know the temptation to get off track from your Diet Center program will be there, the lack of control does not have to be there as well. In order to remain in control, you should have the proper mentality for the holidays. Remember that achieving and maintaining your weight loss goals involves eating healthy for life. Holidays are always going to be a part of life, so learning how to handle them is one aspect of your healthy lifestyle.
Be honest with yourself. You know that if you prepare meals, you can plan ahead and reduce the fat and calories in meals. If you attend a dinner party, you can make wise choices that stick to your program as close as possible (ex. select fruits, eat more vegetables, choose whole grain breads without the butter, and consume smaller portions of higher fat dishes like creamy mashed potatoes or heavy casseroles).
However, also keep in mind that you may consume foods not included in your program. Be mentally prepared for these times by accepting the fact that this can happen and you can recover! You will not be able to go backwards and change any mistakes, but you can move forward and get back on track. So when the holidays roll around, just be mentally prepared. Remember that the choices are yours to make, as well as the actions are that will help you continue to succeed!
“Me” Time
Many people do not make enough time for themselves. This lack of attention to oneself can create stress. In response to stress, the body produces hormones that promote fat deposit around the midsection, inhibit fat-release, and can also result in carbohydrate or fat cravings. Therefore, it is important to find time to focus on making yourself happy everyday.
Try not to fit as many errands and/or work projects in a day as you can. Instead, try to take five minutes every hour or two to do something small that won’t interrupt your duties (but is relaxing or enjoyable). You can take a walk, have a cup of coffee, read or write a personal e-mail, call a friend to say hello to, or listen to a favorite song. Take time to reduce stress in your life, to help prevent fat storage and food cravings. Making some “me” time during your day; can help you reduce the time it will take you to reach your weight goals.
Holiday Journals
Keeping a food journal is an important behavior to maintain during the holidays. It will help keep you honest with yourself. For example, you may say to yourself that you only had one cookie, so a piece of chocolate won’t do much harm. However, your journal reflects that you already had a piece of pie earlier. This may help encourage you to pass on the candy bowl.
Maintaining your journal will also help you identify weak areas that you can improve to prevent you from slipping in the future. Maybe you’ll find that you tend to sneak extra calories in while you’re cooking holiday treats. You may want to consider purchasing treats, or passing on the tradition to someone else. Or, maybe you’ll find that you snacked on extra items whenever you felt stress from entertaining family and friends. You may want to try taking a walk, or take time to sit and relax to soothing music.
You may fall off track during the holidays, however, you don’t have to lose track of what you’re eating. Try to maintain your food journals even during hectic holidays. It can help you stay aware of your eating behaviors, so that it will be easier for you to get back on track.
Stress-free Holidays
Stress can have a negative impact on your weight loss efforts. For some, the holidays bring about stressful situations. It may be financial stress from being too generous with gifts. Others may be stressed from family relationships, traveling, lack of sleep, etc. This is where maintaining your healthy behaviors are important to helping you get through the holidays stress-free. Healthy eating, physical activity, and good planning will help keep your body and mind functioning at their best.
Begin with a healthy, balanced breakfast to boost your energy levels for the day. Try to stick to a regular eating schedule so that you don’t find yourself hungry and snacking on tempting holiday treats. Try to maintain physical activity as well. Exercising first thing in the morning will give you a sense of control and provide energy. You are also less likely to have interruptions to your schedule in the mornings.
The best way to be prepared for possible stressful events is to have plans in place. Prioritize your tasks and create a schedule that gives you enough time for a good night’s sleep. Plan strategies for how you may handle potential problems. For example, plan a budget to control your expenses. Also, consider issues such as food preparation and temptations. This way you will be less likely to overindulge on any items.
It’s easy to become stressed during the holidays from eating, giving, or doing too many things. Try to take measures to stay in control and enjoy stress-free holidays.
A Gift for Yourself
Happy Holidays! This is a time to be with friends or family, sharing or receiving gifts. You can think of your Diet Center weight loss program as the most important gift you have given yourself. Think of this as a time to experience new tastes. You are learning to take your time and enjoy the entire experience of eating. You’re developing healthy eating habits that will nurture your body, give you energy, and achieve your desired body weight. You’re coming to terms with the role food plays in your daily life. By the end of your program you will have established a proper place for all the foods you enjoy so that you will maintain the goals you have achieved. Experimenting with new foods, recipes, eating behaviors, and exercises can be exciting! So enjoy and have fun with your present! What could be a better gift than one that could make you feel healthier, look better, and feel good about yourself?
Festive Focus
If you’re already worried about how you’re going to get through the holidays, then you may need to adjust your focus. Instead of focusing on the tempting treats, busy schedules, and other challenges to staying on track, you can try to focus on the more festive aspects of the holiday season.
For example, maybe you have plans to spend time with friends and family. You don’t have to plan events around food. Think about the kind of quality time you can spend with them. You can plan other activities such as games, movies, shows, or tourist spots for out of town visitors.
When you’re at social events, take time to relax and enjoy the company. Do your best at selecting good food choices and portions, eat slowly, and enjoy yourself. Then try to avoid the buffet or candy dishes and refocus on spending time with others. Focusing on family, friends and festivities should help keep your mind off of food. This should help decrease stress and too much attention on food, so that you avoid overeating, while enjoying the holidays.
Three Parts to Behavior
Becoming aware of your eating behaviors is necessary for you to begin to change them. Some psychologists have broken down eating behavior into three parts. The first part is the “antecedent.” An antecedent can be an event, situation, feeling, or other cue that triggers you to eat. The second part is “behavior.” The behavior is the resulting eating action you take. The third part is “consequence.” The consequence is the event, feeling, or attitude that follows after eating.
Whenever you find yourself eating food items not in your Diet Center meal plan for the day, try to record the events in these three parts. Your list of antecedents may include items such as the smell or sight of baked goods, watching television, feeling depressed, socializing with friends, etc. Then record your behavior with as much detail as possible. For example, maybe you ate a bag of nuts or chips while watching television, or consumed a pint ice cream when you felt depressed. Then write down the consequences of each behavior. Maybe you felt bloated after eating the chips, or guilty after eating ice cream. Some consequences may be positive. For example, maybe you felt comfort after drinking a cup of coffee with friends.
Examine your list and look for trends that have led to bad eating habits. Look at which events happen that often cause negative consequences. Your list will be useful in helping you identify problem areas so you can determine solutions to improving your eating behaviors.
Key Areas
The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences suggests that changes should be made in the following areas to stimulate and support a lifestyle that promotes weight loss:
- Self-monitoring: Try to track your eating and exercise habits.
- Stimulus Control: Recognize cues that stimulate unhealthy eating behaviors.
- Contingency Management: Reward yourself for good behaviors with nonfood rewards.
- Stress Management: Try to take steps to cope with or reduce stress.
- Cognitive-behavioral Strategies: Create realistic goals and develop a positive attitude.
- Social Support: Turn to a source of support (ex. friends, family, Diet Center Counselors) for encouragement and reinforcement.
EXERCISE TIPS
Power Walk with a Pole
Walking or hiking benefits can be enhanced with the use of a pole! Poles allow you to put less strain on your knees and take longer strides, making the experience more comfortable. An exercise physiologist at the University of Massachusetts studied 5 men and 5 women on a treadmill at a 5% incline. They each carried a backpack equal to 30% of their weight while they walked 1 hour with a pole and 1 hour without a pole. The results showed that the people shortened their stride when they walked without a pole. They walked with normal, longer strides with a pole. Also, the people perceived that they exerted less effort when using poles.
In another study at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, researchers found that walking with poles burns about 40% more calories than walking without poles. Furthermore, the use of a pole involves using your upper body. It helps to activate the muscles in your arms, chest and shoulders. It raises the heart rate more than regular walking, reduces stress on the knees, and reduces impact on the leg. Using poles can be especially helpful for maintaining balance when hiking uneven terrain. Try using a pole the next time you take a walk up a hill, take a hike in the woods, or try cross-country skiing. You can take a more comfortable walk that allows you to walk for longer periods, which in turn allows you to burn more fat and calories!
Water Needs & Cold Weather
You may think that without the dehydrating heat of summer your water needs would be less when you exercise in cold weather. Actually, you need to drink just as much in the cold seasons. It’s still easy to become dehydrated from the water lost through sweating and breathing. Water needs increase with exercise and outdoor winter activities such as shoveling snow, ice skating, skiing, or sledding. Dehydration can hinder your body’s ability to regulate its temperature, so you need to drink water before, during and after activities. Whether it’s hot or cold out, your body needs water to prevent dehydration during exercise.
Hanging on Through the Holidays
It’s easy to fall off your exercise routine during the holidays. Hectic schedules and travel plans make it easy to skip some sessions for a week or two. Do you ever wonder how fast your fitness level drops when you stop exercising? Sixty percent of about 3000 people in one survey believed they became out of shape after 1 or 2 weeks of not exercising.
Slacking off does not necessarily make you less fit. Not working out for 2 weeks will cause a slight decrease in fitness. The more fit you are, the less your fitness will decrease. If you don’t work out for 5 weeks, your fitness level will decrease by about half. The best thing you can do to maintain your results is by fitting in at least 2 aerobic workouts and 1 strength training session per week. If you don’t have time to fit in much, try not to go more than 2 weeks without getting back into routine. You’ll regain any loss back much faster.
When the holidays hit, they don’t have to hit your fitness gains hard. Do the best you can at fitting a few sessions in, and getting back into routine when the holidays are over. It will help you to stay fit, and hold back holiday weight gain.
Yoga & Weight Loss
A new study looked at the effects of yoga on weight. Researchers found that with regular practice, yoga may help prevent middle-age weight gain in people of normal weight and help those who are overweight shed pounds. The study looked at 15,500 healthy participants ages 45 to 55. The researchers found that those who practiced yoga for at least 30 minutes once a week for 4 or more years benefited in terms of their weight. The participants who practiced yoga and were at normal weight did not gain the weight associated with aging. The overweight participants who practiced yoga lost 5 pounds compared to those who did not practice yoga had gained 10 pounds over a 10-year period. If you haven’t found an exercise activity that works for you, you may want to consider yoga. You may find it relaxing, yet effective in helping you lose weight!
Airport Exercise
Traveling for the holidays? Not looking forward to the experience at the airport, where it seems like your gate is all the way at the opposite end of the airport from where you are (especially when you are late and have to rush to catch your flight)? On top of that, you probably have heavy or bulky carry-on luggage to haul across the airport. Instead of dreading this airport experience, look at it as a form of “free exercise!” After all, there is probably no way to avoid the situation. Prepare yourself by wearing comfortable shoes. Try not to pack heavy carry-on luggage that will be too awkward to drag around. So while it may not be any fun rushing through the airport to find your gate and catch your flight, at least you’ll be getting some calorie-burning physical activity in your day!
Benefits of Pilates
Pilates has become a very popular form of exercise. Pilates consists of precise, controlled movements. These movements help to strengthen the abdomen, back, and buttocks while placing little stress on joints. Benefits from Pilates include increased strength, flexibility, range of motion, muscle balance, and stability. It’s an effective form of strength training without the weights or machines.
A basic Pilates workout burns about 276 calories per hour (based on a 165 pound person). It’s possible to burn 400 calories or more per hour with more advanced, high-intensity routines. So if you would like to incorporate basic Pilates into your exercise regimen, you may want to balance it out with other cardiovascular routines. This way you can work on toning your body, building your cardiovascular fitness level, and burning more calories to help lose more pounds. Pilates is a low impact way to help you get into shape!
Positive Thinking
When you perceive things as negative, chances are you will not stick to it. Just as thinking positive about your diet program will help you succeed, so will thinking positive about your exercise program! When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about your program, you need to counter them with positive ones. For example, whenever you think, “I’m tired,” instead you can think, “If I push through, I’ll feel energized later.” Instead of thinking, “I don’t like to sweat,” you can think, “Sweating helps to cool my body down as I work hard to lose weight.”
When you think you’re bored, try thinking about any fun plans you have for the week. Maybe there’s someone you can converse with, or a favorite t.v. show you can watch while exercising. If your muscles feel sore or achy, remember that you’re challenging muscles you’re not used to using. Think about how you’re making progress and building muscles that will help burn calories! Exercise doesn’t always feel good, especially when you’re just starting out. Thinking positive can help make exercise feel easier, so you can stick to your program to help you lose weight!
Dog Walking
Are you considering walking more to help with your weight loss, but haven’t been motivated to start? Try taking a dog out for walks. If you have a dog, or are thinking about getting one; walking the dog could help you with your weight loss. The University of Missouri-Columbia’s Research Center for Human Animal Interaction conducted a study on the effects of walking a dog on weight. Participants walked dogs for 50 weeks. They started walking 10 minutes a day, three times a week. Eventually they walked up to 20 minutes a day, five times a week.
The researchers found that the participants in the study lost an average of 14 pounds. They also discovered that many of the participants’ motivation to walk came from the good it would do the dogs, rather than the good it would do them. So if your goal is to walk more, consider walking a dog. It could provide you the motivation you need to get started on a walking routine that will help you shed weight!
Walking Indoors
Walking during the winter can be quite uncomfortable outdoors if you live in an area that gets cold, snowy weather. You can try doing your walking indoors. Walk around your house, up and down stairs, or up and down hallways of an apartment building. During work breaks, you can walk around the halls of your office building. You can also get a good amount of walking while shopping at after holiday sales. Some shopping malls even have groups that walk routinely. If you travel by plane often, walk around the airport. For more entertaining walks, you can go to a historical, botanical, art or other museum. Cold, winter weather doesn’t have to keep you from walking in warmth indoors.
NUTRITION TIPS
Sweet Potato Nutrition
Sweet potatoes are popular during this time of the year. They are available all year round, however they are most abundant during the fall and early winter. These sweet vegetables are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, Vitamin B6, folate, and potassium. They’re also a good source of riboflavin, magnesium, iron and thiamin. On top of all these nutrients, you also obtain a good amount of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which help control blood sugar levels and appetite.
Sweet potatoes are available in two basic types: orange-fleshed and yellow-fleshed. The orange-fleshed variety is sweeter, and moist. Sweet potatoes are often mistakenly called “yams.” A true yam is a root vegetable found in Africa and Asia, and is not actually related to sweet potatoes. When selecting sweet potatoes, look for ones that are heavy for their size. Also look for smooth, hard, sweet potatoes that are free of spots or sunken areas.
Depending on your Diet Center Program, you may enjoy baked sweet potatoes. Since they are a starchy vegetable, a ½ -cup serving counts as 1 starch exchange. Treat yourself to sweet potatoes; they’re sweet in taste and nutrition!
Understanding Health Symbols
Health claims on food packages are regulated by the government. Many organizations are also adding symbols to packaging to help consumers recognize which products are pitching health claims. For example, the American Heart Association features a red heart with a white check mark inside for foods that meet nutrition criteria. The Whole Grains Council uses a black-and-gold stamp to help people recognize good sources of whole grains.
Unfortunately, some of these symbols are based on food manufacturers’ own criteria, rather than independent organizations such as the American Heart Association or Whole Grains Council. For example, some food manufacturers highlight foods that they believe are “smart choices” or “better for you.” However, these foods are based on criteria established by the food manufacturers. While such foods may be better choices compared to their other products, they may not necessarily be good for you. For example, a food that is low in sugar, fat and calories may be highlighted. However, this particular food may not have any significant nutrients to offer.
New health symbols may be helpful if you understand what they mean. If you really want to know what nutrients you will obtain from a product, read the nutrition facts panel. The label will provide you with more detailed information to help you determine if something is nutritious.
Darling Clementines
Clementines are considered a type of mandarin orange, and the smallest variety. They are a hybrid of a tangerine and Seville orange. These citrus fruits are very sweet, usually seedless, and have a distinctive tangy flavor. Clementines are so easy to peel that they make a convenient, sweet treat. Not only are they great in taste, clementines are nutritious sources of vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, and fiber. They’re fat-free, sodium-free, and cholesterol-free, making them a healthy snack choice.
Clementines are usually available at their peak quality at the end of fall until February. Select Clementines that have a shiny skin, and feel firm and heavy. You should consume them within a few days of purchase, or refrigerate them in the crisper drawer. They can be refrigerated for 1 or 2 weeks.
Clementines are in the same family as tangerines, so you may fit them into your Diet Center program in the same manner: 2 Clementines = 1 fruit. You can enjoy them as a sweet treat or toss them on salads. They also make excellent choices for holiday fruit baskets. So keep an eye out for these darling clementines, while they’re in season!
Veggie Burgers
Veggie burgers are a nutritious, non-meat alternative to hamburgers. They may be made from soy, black beans, brown rice, rolled oats, mushrooms, carrots, or a variety of other nutritious ingredients. Veggie burgers are even often found on restaurant menus. There are so many varieties on the market that it may be difficult to choose. Their tastes and textures vary, but they are all more enjoyable then they have been in the past.
To help you determine which choices may be more nutritious, you should examine the nutrition facts panels and ingredient lists. Check out the fiber content. Many varieties offer anywhere from 2 to 5 grams per patty. Also, compare protein and carbohydrate content. Some varieties offer more protein and less starch than others. Be sure to note the calorie, fat and sodium content. Many choices are healthy, low calorie patties with unsaturated fat (good fat). However, there still are selections that may be high in fat and calories. Like most processed food items, some patties may be higher in sodium content. So be sure to monitor your intake (no more than 2400 mg sodium daily). Look at the ingredient lists for food allergy or preference concerns. For example, if you avoid eggs, cheese, or nuts, then you would find this information listed in the ingredients.
There are many varieties of veggie burgers to try. Anyone should be able to find a nutritious variety that they find tastes delicious!
Good Looking Fruits
The holidays often bring about beautiful baskets filled with tasty fruits. Fruits are also commonly found in holiday dishes such as cranberry sauce, fruitcake, fruit cobblers or pies, etc. Bright, colorful juicy fruits provide more than just eye appeal. Selecting fruits that look good in appearance usually mean they taste great and provide good nutrients. Fruits are most nutritious when they look their best.
Whether you are creating your own gift basket, preparing a fruit dish, or serving fresh fruit to guests, you should examine your fruit selections. Try to select fruits that aren’t blemished. You also want firm fruits. Try to buy fruits that you will consume in the near future. Fruits can lose their nutrients if they are stored too long. Some fruits that maintain their nutritional quality for a while include fruits that continue to ripen after they are picked. Such fruits that continue to ripen are bananas, pears, cantaloupe, peaches and apricots. Fruits such as berries, apples, and cherries should be bought in amounts that you will consume within a few days. Choosing fruits that look good, are good for your body!
Nutrients in Carrots
Carrots are one of the best sources of vitamin A (with over 200% of the RDA). Vitamin A can help protect against cancer, enhance your immune system, and improve night vision. Carrots are a good source of fiber; which can help you feel full, help control sugar levels, and help lower cholesterol levels. The iron in carrots is also fairly well absorbed by the body. Carrots are also a source of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and folate. You can gain benefits from the nutrients in carrots whether cooked or raw; since little nutrients are lost in cooking carrots. So try them chopped with apples and cabbage. Enjoy them topped on salad, cooked in stews, or fresh and crunchy as they are!
Cold Water and Cold Weather
Warm weather is gone and so is the dehydrating heat. Does this mean you need less water? Cold weather can actually dehydrate your body too. Heated homes and offices tend to dry the skin as well. Breathing, sweating in bulky winter clothes, and increased urine production can cause dehydration. Cold weather also impairs the thirst mechanism, often causing people to drink less. Therefore, it is important to focus on consuming enough water all year long. If you find yourself shoveling snow, sledding, skiing, or ice skating; you may need more water.
By now you should be aware that you have to drink at least 64 oz of water a day to keep yourself hydrated, help your body feel full, and avoid water retention. The more you drink, the more you do your body good. Do you have your water with ice? Cold water is absorbed into the system more quickly. Evidence also suggests that drinking ice water boosts your metabolism because it tries to keep its temperature from dropping. For example, your body can burn an additional 200 calories from eight 12-oz glasses of ice water a day!
Remember, water is involved in many of your body’s metabolic processes, including digestion and fat burning! So don’t let the cool weather fool you and cause you to lose focus on hydrating yourself. Continue your efforts for meeting your water needs all year round. It will help your body function at its best throughout your Diet Center program!
Skipping Meals and Nutrients
About 28% of Americans are skipping meals. Some people figure they can consume more calories at the next meal, or they figure they are making up for cheating on their diet the night before. If you are trying to control your weight by skipping meals, you may actually be having an opposite effect. In order to keep your metabolism up and continue burning calories, you need to give your body fuel regularly. Think of feeding your body as filling your car with gas. When you are hungry, your body is out of fuel like your car is out of gas. When this happens, how does your car function? Not well, if it functions at all.
Your body reacts similarly to a lack of fuel. When you skip a meal when your body needs to be fed, you deprive your body of nutrients that are not made up at the following meal. This results in your body’s metabolism slowing down. A slower metabolism burns fewer calories, which will most likely result in a decrease in weight loss. Therefore, it is important that you consume all the foods in your Diet Center program at regular meal times. Think of hunger pangs as your body’s “fuel light” going on because it needs to be filled!
Becoming a Better Eater
The average American diet doesn’t consume enough vitamin A, C, E, and magnesium. A report from the US Department of Agriculture found that 44% of Americans do not obtain enough vitamin A. About one-third of Americans do not meet vitamin C needs. While 93% of Americans fall short on vitamin E intake, and a little more than 50% do not meet magnesium recommendations.
The Diet Center program will help you learn the healthy eating habits you will need to improve your daily diet so that you won’t fall short on these essential nutrients. While you learn new habits on a low calorie diet, Diet Center Chewable Supplements and other vitamin and mineral supplements will help fill in the gaps. By the time you’ve reached your weight goal and are on Maintenance, you should have improved your eating behaviors so that you can meet your needs with or without supplementation. You can look forward to better nutrition in the New Year by sticking to your Diet Center program!
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS
Helpful Grocery Lists
Researchers have found that women who have definite meal plans and grocery lists keep more nutritious food in their homes. They also found that they have more control over unnecessary snacking and perceive fewer barriers in regards to weight loss. The study looked at groups that had structured meal plans and grocery lists; and groups that had structured meal plans and foods in appropriate portion sizes. The study showed that structured meals and grocery lists improved outcomes.
The researchers concluded that people who are given meal plans and keep grocery lists develop more regular eating habits, consume fewer snacks, and store healthier foods in their homes (like fruits & vegetables, lean meats, and low-calorie entrees). Therefore, completing a grocery list in conjunction with your Diet Center Meal Planner may help with your weight loss progress! Try making a positive change in your lifestyle by using grocery lists with your meal plan to effectively manage your eating habits.
Holiday Home Cooking Tips
During the Holidays, there will be temptations in your home. The following are suggestions to help you stay strong during your Diet Center program and still have a festive environment:
- Bake non-edibles: If you like to bake, try baking recipes you can’t eat! For example, you can make a gingerbread house or glazed gingerbread cookie ornaments that are just for decorations. You can also check out the Internet for recipes for pet treats. If you bake a special recipe for friends or family, avoid making an extra batch for yourself. You can always treat yourself to healthier, low-calorie snacks such as Diet Center Fudge Bars, Diet Center Gold Premium Shakes, or Diet Center Choco-Lettes.
- Wrap it up: If you like to give food as gifts, make sure it is wrapped up so you can’t nibble on them.
- Chew Gum: If you’re chewing mint gum while cooking, you’re less likely to sample what you’re making. Try Diet Center Thermogenic Chewing Gum to help curb your appetite.
Try a few of these suggestions this Holiday season, it can help you get through without gaining extra weight and help you lose a few!
Holiday Parties
When attending parties for the holidays, it’s possible to survive without doing too much harm to your weight loss efforts. The following are suggestions to help you stick to your program:
- Consume a healthy snack before you leave: Eat a nonfat yogurt, piece of high fiber fruit, carrot sticks, Diet Center Protein Supplement or Nutritional Snack Bar to help curb your appetite
- Use a small plate: Filling up a small plate will help you control your portions without feeling deprived
- Look ahead: Check out all the food available before fixing your plate - Then you can plan on selecting healthier items, and leaving room for a little portion of something you may want to indulge in
- Ask about the food: Don’t be afraid to let friends know that something looks good and you want to know what it’s made of – it will help you decide appropriate portion sizes
- Avoid the buffet table: After serving yourself, socialize away from the food table
- Switch hands: A trick you can try is to hold your drink in the opposite hand you normally would – it makes it a little bit difficult for you to grab food
- Enlist support: Tell a friend or spouse to give you words of encouragement occasionally to stay strong and avoid overindulging
- Socialize: Focus on your friends or family instead of food and have fun!
Alcohol & the Holidays
Unfortunately along with resisting the temptation of holiday treats, there is also the temptation of celebrating with a social drink of champagne, wine, eggnog, or other favorites. Alcoholic drinks are not calorie free. In fact, alcohol yields 7 calories per gram. An alcoholic beverage can provide twice as many calories per ounce as carbohydrates and fats. A 12-ounce can of beer has about 150 calories, while a 4 ounce glass of wine will provide about 90 calories. A glass of spiked eggnog is about 300 calories. While on your Diet Center program, you should not consume any alcohol, as it interferes with the metabolism of nutrients and may stimulate your appetite. It also does not provide any significant nutrients.
If you choose to drink alcohol, try to limit yourself to one serving. You can also try alternating alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones. The best thing you can do for yourself to continue progress in your program is to not consume any alcohol. Enjoy diet sodas, sugar-free hot cocoas, or nutritious Diet Center drinks such as a Gold Premium Protein Shake or Wild Berry Drink. Keep in mind that there will be many times in life that you may want to celebrate or socialize with a drink or two. It’s a habit you should make an effort to develop to reach and maintain your weight loss goal.
The Battle with Candy
Even though Diet Center offers a wonderful line of nutritious products that can satisfy a sweet tooth, some people “just have to have that candy!” What do you do when someone gives you a box of candies as a gift? Think about the damage those empty calories can do to your weight loss progress. A small piece of chocolate candy may contain 150 calories! This would mean a 2 ½ pound box of chocolates could provide as much as 5000 calories! Think you could exercise enough to work off the excess calories? It’s possible, but even a 155-pound individual would have to walk over 10 hours or run over 7 hours!
Obviously too much candy could lead to weight gain, and any amount of candy could crowd out nutritious food you need on a restricted calorie weight loss program. If you must have some candy, make sure you do so in moderation. This would mean consuming only 1 or 2 pieces. You should also try to exercise that same day to help burn extra calories. An even better option is try to satisfy your sweet tooth with a Diet Center Fudge Bar or Choco-Lettes.
You can also try to encourage your significant other, family member, or friend to give an alternative gift. There are many nonfood items that can make you feel just as good as a piece of candy would. For example, a favorite music CD, a basket of soothing products for a relaxing bath, a certificate for a massage, flowers, or new outfit can all give you feelings of pleasure. With a nonfood treat, you can feel good and continue to lose weight so that you’ll feel even better!
No Wait for Weight Loss
A great way to survive the holidays is to avoid waiting until the day of holiday events or until after holiday events to adjust your eating behavior. Holidays are a time for celebration. You can celebrate by making the most out of visiting with friends and family. There will also be favorite foods that you will want to celebrate with. You can consume some of your favorite foods as long as you don’t wait to adjust your eating behavior and plan ahead. For example, plan to eat a light snack before a meal, so that you aren’t too hungry. Also plan on consuming larger portions of healthier items. These behaviors will help you to eat smaller portions of some of those favorite foods that can throw you off track.
Plan on spending time socializing instead of hanging out by the buffet. If you’re going to bring something to someone else’s party; you can offer to bring salad, steamed vegetables, or some other light dish. You can even offer to bring non-food items such as festive napkins and decor, or games for entertainment. Planning your schedule (especially if you have several places to be) can help make things easier as well. If you don’t plan for enough time to rest and relax, you may become stressed and tired. This can make it difficult to control your eating habits. The season for celebration is here. So try to celebrate your new lifestyle that will help bring you to your desired weight!
Cereal for Weight Control
Starting out with breakfast cereal can help you control your weight. Recent studies show that eating cold cereal for breakfast helped maintain weight and reduce the risk for being overweight. One study found that girls age 9 to 19 who regularly consumed cereal had fewer weight problems. Girls who ate cereal occasionally increased their risk for being overweight by 13%. Breakfast skippers tended to weigh the most, those who ate other foods for breakfast were somewhere in the middle, while the cereal eaters weighed the least.
A study including adults of both sexes found that consuming cold cereal for breakfast was associated with maintaining a healthy weight compared to just eating breakfast in general. Overall fat intake was lower for those who consumed cereal regularly compared to those who ate other breakfast foods.
Consuming cereal that is low in sugar can be convenient and nutritious. There are many whole grain cereals that provide fiber, calcium, and a variety of essential nutrients. It’s no wonder that cereal eaters tend to have healthier diets and healthier weights. You can begin your day with a bowl of cereal, and more control of your weight!
Fall-Winter Weight
Despite temptations and cold weather blues, you don’t have to fear a five pound weight gain during fall and winter seasons! Such a weight gain during the holidays is actually a myth. According to the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, most people gain less than a pound. National Institutes of Health researchers tracked the weights of 200 men and women from late September through early March. They found these people gained .8 pounds on average during the holidays, and 1.05 pounds on average by March. They also found that activity had a significant impact on gain or loss. People who became less active during these seasons, gained 1.5 pounds. People who were more physically active lost 1.5 pounds!
Boredom, bulkier clothes, and/or depression from dreary weather may contribute to the temptation of higher fat foods. While you may not have to worry about a 5 pound weight gain over the holidays; you may have to worry about it if you gain even 1 pound year after year. So try to stick to your Diet Center program and be active. The holidays don’t have to hinder your weight loss!
Fitting in the Food Court
Walking around the mall can help you burn calories (especially more than home shopping online or through the television). However, it’s often too tempting and convenient to stop at the food court. Food courts make it very easy to get off track from your diet, especially with the combo sandwich deals, super-size deals, and tempting aromas of fried, greasy foods. Before you order the super-size fries, double-burger, and large soda; ask yourself a question. Do you want more for your money including more fat and calories? Or would rather get less for your money by staying on track and losing the excess pounds! Sometimes less is better.
You can survive a trip to the food court by making wise selections. When you order Chinese food, select steamed rice and veggies. Ask for the low-fat, low-sodium sauces. When choosing Italian, a small portion of spaghetti is a good selection. Just remember to go easy on the sauce, Parmesan, and meatballs. You can even get a side garden salad with fat-free dressing. Bean or chicken burritos are good Mexican choices. If you get a sub sandwich, stick to lean cold cuts topped with veggies, and hold the cheese and mayonnaise. Some places offer small portion specials if you ask. If not, set aside an appropriate portion and take the rest home. A stop at the food court can fill you up, but it doesn’t have to harm your weight loss program!
Issue 271 - January 8, 2007
VOLUME 4
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Less Stress in the New Year
Stress eating can easily lead to weight gain. Challenging goals, guilt from falling off track during the holidays, or financial stress from holiday bills can really stress a person out. Prevention is key to avoid turning to food for relief. You should begin your day with a healthy, balanced breakfast. It’s a good way to start the day with energy and knowing that you are taking care of yourself.
Next, determine stress-reducing behaviors (that do not involve food) that you would be willing to incorporate in your lifestyle. For example, maybe you will take walks or participate in a physical recreational activity (i.e skiing, ice skating). You can put energy into household chores. Or, you can try to relax with music, a massage, or a relaxing bath. Getting involved in an arts and crafts hobby is also a fun stress reliever.
It is also important that you get enough rest. Losing sleep can slow down your weight loss. A lack of sleep has been found to increase the production of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released by the body in response to stress. High levels of this hormone affect the appetite by increasing hunger and promoting bingeing. Also, a lack of sleep may prevent your body from burning carbohydrates efficiently, leading to increased fat storage. On average, people require 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. During sleep, your body rebuilds and regenerates strength.
Try to assess where you can make improvements in your behaviors, so that you can experience less stress and better weight loss in the New Year.
Caring for Yourself
Can you look in a mirror and think, “I care about myself”? Do you accept your body and mind as it is? Caring about yourself influences how much you take the time to become healthy and reach your weight goals. Caring about yourself involves talking to yourself, writing to yourself, and/or making a list of things you have always wanted to do and trying to achieve them. These are all tools that will help you with your weight loss!
In order to stay motivated and on track, you can talk positively to yourself (ex. “I feel great that I stuck to my Diet Center program today), write to yourself (ex. keeping a food journal), and make a list of things you want to do (ex. making a mini goal list: practice portion sizing, drink 64 oz water daily, learn how to label read). So begin to take time to look in the mirror, and think about how much you care about yourself. Think about how you care about your body and mind and want to do things that make you feel energized and healthy, and look the way you want. Thinking about how you care for yourself is the kind of mindset that will help you take care of your weight loss!
Reward Your Behavior
You are probably used to rewarding yourself or being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than being rewarded for changing your behavior. You may actually find it beneficial to reward yourself for the positive changes you make, rather than the number of pounds you lose. You should reward yourself for being able to stick to your goals.
You should even reward yourself for positive changes in thought. You deserve a reward for getting through a day with self-motivating thoughts, and not putting yourself down. Your thoughts influence your actions. Self-deprecating thoughts are discouraging. When you acknowledge small accomplishments, you’ll feel better about yourself and be more apt to maintain new healthy behaviors. You should find yourself motivated to be more active, feel strong enough to resist food temptations, and improve your self-esteem.
Changing your behaviors takes a lot of effort that deserves reward. As a result, rewarding yourself will help you maintain these behaviors so that you reach your weight loss goals!
Believe in Yourself
Believing in yourself is important to achieving weight loss success. Having faith in your capabilities gives you incentive to push through challenges. Studies show that the more that you believe in yourself, the greater your chances are of success. Setting practical goals can help improve your faith in yourself. Research shows that setting and meeting attainable goals improves self-efficacy.
Some practical goals you can set include gradual changes in your habits. For example, plan on short periods of exercise a few days a week and building up your routine as much as you are comfortable with. Avoid being overly ambitious and setting extreme goals such as working out an hour everyday, or signing up for a marathon, after you have been sedentary for so long. Consider how long you can commit to your goals. If you can’t stick to it long-term, then your goal is not practical.
There are a lot of habits your Diet Center program encourages you to develop (i.e. drink more water, watch your sodium, prepare healthy foods, avoid dining out, etc.). Try taking one step at a time. Trying to achieve too many goals at once can be overwhelming. Keep in mind that you believe in your ability to accomplish your goals. Your faith in yourself will help you persevere and achieve weight loss success.
Top 10 Techniques for Change
Four hundred people, who had successfully lost 35 pounds or more, were asked to list the most important behavior changes they felt they made in order to lose weight. The following were the top ten techniques listed:
1) Never skip breakfast. It jumpstarts your metabolism for the day.
2) Try to eat all meals and snacks at a designated place (without distractions) and at about the same times daily.
3) Record all the food on your plate before you eat. You’re less likely to misjudge the amount of food you eat if you measure and record servings prior to eating.
4) Eat favorite foods first.
5) Become aware of times and situations in which you are tempted. Have a plan of action for such times (ex. call/visit a friend, take a walk, etc.).
6) Get rid of clothes that are too big for you, to help prevent you from falling back into old behaviors.
7) Give yourself non-food rewards for small and big accomplishments.
8) Serve meals on smaller plates so you feel you are eating more.
9) Do not have food around that is not part of your program (at least have it out of site, if family members must have such food around).
10) Increase Water Intake! Water is the body’s most essential nutrient. It will help you feel full, and keep your body functioning at its best.
Try to incorporate these techniques into your lifestyle. They can help you find yourself succeeding at weight loss too!
A Successful Journey
You should view reaching your weight loss goal as a journey, not a race. If you try to achieve unrealistic goals in a short period of time, you will most likely fail. For example, almost half of the people who make their New Year’s resolution to lose weight have given up attempts to change their behavior by now. You can improve your chances for success if you plan on taking things slowly.
Changing your behaviors is not something that can happen overnight. You are trying to establish new habits that you will maintain in your lifestyle. Studies show it takes about 30 days to break old habits and develop new ones. You should approach your goals gradually. Think about all the habits you should develop to reach your weight loss goal. For example, you should monitor your caffeine, sodium and cholesterol intake, make sure you drink enough water, measure all your food portions, prepare your own meals, increase your physical activity, etc. If you tried to focus on everything and make all these changes at the same time, you’ll become overwhelmed and probably give up.
It also helps to focus on the fact that you are trying to develop new behaviors, instead of trying to reach an arbitrary number on the scale. You have to change your behaviors in order to get the number on the scale to move. You know you have control over your behaviors, but you don’t have direct control over the scale. Changing your behaviors is what will help you accomplish your weight goal on the scale, anyway. So try resolving to change your habits, instead of trying to lose five or ten pounds.
Keeping in mind that your weight loss is a journey, will help you keep things in perspective when you think your progress is slow. Remind yourself that you can’t accomplish your goals overnight, but success is down the road!
Enthusiasm
Many excuses arise from a lack of enthusiasm. We can tire of putting in the effort to succeed. It’s certainly easier to make up an excuse for practicing unhealthy eating habits, than it is to make an effort to lose weight. It’s natural to start thinking of reasons why we can’t stick to our Diet Center program when we lose our enthusiasm. Changing unhealthy habits is not easy and cannot happen overnight. It takes time, effort and enthusiasm. So try to participate in activities that keep you emotionally, mentally, and spiritually positive. Set achievable goals, and participate in activities that spark your interest.
Enthusiasm plays a significant role in your weight loss success. It is up to you whether you take steps to maintain your enthusiasm, or let your energy level drop. The more energy you put towards your program, the closer you get to achieving your weight loss goals.
Putting the Pressure On
Has progress with your weight loss slowed down? Does following your Diet Center weight loss program and exercise routine seem easy? Do you feel a little bored with your weight loss efforts? One thing you can do to get yourself excited and motivated again is put the pressure on. Sometimes a little pressure can push you to try harder, and make you passionate about reaching your goals.
Think about people who compete. Whether it’s sports, academics, contests, or job related competition; the pressure to win at something can bring out the best effort in some people. When you know you have the chance of winning a prize, wouldn’t you make a greater effort to focus on reaching your goal? Try putting the pressure on to achieving your weight loss goals. You can focus on not slipping on weekends, exercising 10 minutes more a day, or experimenting with new low-fat recipes. Putting the pressure on can help boost your efforts to reach your goals quicker.
Keeping Promises
While you’re on your Diet Center program, you probably make a lot of promises to yourself. Maybe you promise yourself you won’t quit. Or, you promise yourself you will not slip when you eat out, not cheat at parties, not eat fried foods, will watch portion sizes, will drink more water, etc. You made these promises to yourself – not to your friends or family. So if you break your promises, whose trust are you breaking? Every time you break a promise you make to yourself, you lose a little trust in yourself. Why lie to yourself? You know your potential, what you are capable of, what you’re willing to do, or what goals you really want to accomplish. The more you lie to yourself and break promises you make to yourself, the more you break down your self-trust and self-confidence.
In order to succeed in your program you need to be able to trust yourself. Strengthening your self trust is as simple as deciding what you want to accomplish, making a promise to yourself that you will do these things, and following through on those promises. Keeping your promises can keep you on track to weight loss success.
EXERCISE TIPS
Nothing to do with Age
Age does not have to be a factor in your decision to exercise to help you lose weight. Sometimes people may say to themselves, “I’m old and tired. I’ve never exercised and it’s too late to start now.” Also, society tends to view getting older as a time to relax and take it easy. A significant factor in becoming overweight, unhealthy, weak, or ill is due to inactivity rather than age. So it’s important to be active in life no matter how old you are. Furthermore, after age 30, men and women lose lean muscle tissue every year. After age 40 women lose ½ pound of muscle each year. After menopause, women lose up to 1 pound a year if they do not exercise. Exercising will help protect your muscle that will help you burn fat and calories. If you’re in your 50’s and 60’s, it’s not too late to start exercising. You can still protect your muscle, burn fat, and achieve better weight loss.
Eat Good Fats to Burn Fat
Certain fats may increase your fat-burning potential. A study at the University of Wisconsin Madison measured fat-burning in college-age women who rested, cycled lightly, and cycled heavily. The amount of fat burned was measured for 12 hours after they consumed meals high in monounsaturated fats (good fats) and saturated fats (bad fats).
The researchers found that about 50 percent of the monounsaturated fat was burned after heavy exercise, 39 percent after light exercise, and 34 percent after rest. However, only 11 percent of the saturated fat was burned regardless of whether the women rested or exercised.
Therefore, consuming monounsaturated fats may improve your fat burning results when you exercise. Consider fats such as canola oil, olive oil, peanut oils, nuts and seeds for your meals prior to exercising. Stick to your Diet Center program and limit the amount of saturated fats that you consume. Eating the right fats before exercise may help you burn more fat off!
Fat Burning Walk
If you’re wondering how fast you need to walk in order to maximize your fat burning potential, you need to know what your target heart rate is. Workouts at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate get the body to use stored fat for energy. You can burn 85% of your calories from fats. Walking faster or slower burns a smaller percentage of fat.
You can determine your target heart rate zone by using simple formulas. First calculate your maximum heart rate (the highest rate that your body can normally handle) by using the formula “220 minus your age” [ex. You are 30 years old, 220 – 30 = 190 = maximum heart rate (MHR)]. Then multiply your maximum heart rate by 60% (ex. 190 (MHR) x .60 = 114). This figure (114) is the low end of your target heart rate zone. Then multiply your maximum heart rate by 70% (ex. 190 (MHR) x .70 = 133). This figure (133) is the high end of your target heart rate zone. Therefore, if you are 30 years old, your target heart rate zone would be 114 to 133 (heart rate beats per minute).
Then to track your progress you need to measure your heart rate while walking. To measure your heart rate, take your pulse by placing the tips of your index finger and middle finger over the artery at the base of your wrist. Then add enough pressure to feel the pulse and count the number of beats for ten seconds and multiply this number by 6 (this will give you beats per 60 seconds/1 minute). This total is your working heart rate. If it’s within your target heart rate zone, then you are walking at a pace that brings your heart rate up to 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. If your total is below your target heart rate zone, then you should walk at a faster pace. If your total is higher than your target heart rate zone, then you should walk at a slower pace.
Keep in mind that the results from formulas are just guidelines. Listen to your body and adjust your pace based on how you're feeling. You should be comfortable enough to hold a light conversation while walking, but breathing harder than normal. If you’re walking to improve your weight loss, try aiming to walk at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate, so you can maximize your fat burning!
Winter Workouts
Exercising outdoors on cold winter days can be comfortable as long as you are dressed appropriately. When selecting what you are going to wear, you should keep in mind that exercise raises your body temperature. Even moderate workouts can make it feel 30 degrees warmer than the actual temperature. So you may want to select clothing that you would wear if it were 30 degrees warmer than the temperature outside. It will probably feel a little chilly when you first get outside. But you should warm up as soon as you start exercising.
It’s also a good idea to layer your clothing. You should wear a second thermal layer in temperatures of 40 degrees or below. A top layer that is wind/water proof can help keep you warm when you start out. When you become warmer during strenuous activity, you can take off layers to lower your body temperature. Dressing appropriately for the weather can make your winter workout comfortable. So that you can keep burning those extra calories even when it’s cold!
Losing Inches
Muscle tissue is actually denser than fat tissue. Therefore, muscle weighs more than fat. If you are exercising to lose weight, you may find yourself losing inches without losing any weight. In fact, you may even gain a little from losing fat, but gaining muscle. It’s hard to not be disappointed when the scale doesn’t move and you’ve been dedicated to an exercise routine.
This is why it’s important to not just rely on the scale as a measurement of your success. Instead, think about your energy levels and how they may have increased. Examine how your clothes fit you. Is the waist loose? Are your pants not as tight around the thighs? Losing inches is a good sign of progress. Just because the pounds aren’t dropping, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not burning fat – especially if you are exercising! So try not to lose motivation when you are losing inches, but not pounds. You are probably losing fat and getting fit!
Environmental Barriers
Your physical environment may influence your level of physical activity. What your community has to offer may promote or discourage you from exercising. Accessibility to sidewalks, parks, or trails may prevent you from participating in outdoor activities such as walking, jogging, or bicycling. However, this barrier can easily be overcome. Consider recreational or fitness centers in your community. Many have indoor tracks, pools, exercise classes, weight training equipment, treadmills, elliptical machines, and more. You can even walk around malls. Don’t forget about your own home or office. You can always walk up and down hallways or staircases. Think about what environmental barriers may have been hindering you from being active, and consider ways to overcome them.
Exercise and Appetite
Are you worried about an increase in appetite from exercise? Maybe you figure that you won’t bother increasing your activity level, since you’ll probably make up for the calories burned by eating more food. On the contrary, studies find that people who exercise moderately eat about the same as they would if they didn’t work out. Athletes who train strenuously tend to eat more, but they also burn more calories. Furthermore, appetite tends to decrease during the first hour or so after a workout.
You have to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight. You already cut back on the calories you consume if you’re following your Diet Center program. However, adding exercise can help you burn more calories, while protecting your muscle mass and keeping your metabolic rate up. So don’t worry about exercise making you hungry. Exercise can actually help curb your appetite, burn calories, and boost your metabolism to help you reach your weight loss goals!
Be Active, Be Fit
Two recent reports reflect the trend in American inactivity. One report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined activity in three areas: household work, transportation, and discretionary/leisure time. The researchers found that 54.1% of American adults do not meet the minimum recommendation of being physically active at least a half-hour daily. The report also shows that 15% of adults are inactive in all three areas.
The other report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report suggests that 19% of Americans ages 12 to 49 are out of shape. Participants in the study included over 5000 adults and adolescents who completed a basic fitness test. About 14% of adults were categorized in the lowest fitness group. Almost 34% of the adolescents failed the fitness test! Women were found to be less fit than men. Also, those in the lowest fitness group were more likely to be overweight, have high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.
These two reports show how sedentary Americans are, and how activity impacts fitness. Try to make an effort to get at least a half hour of activity in daily. You can be part of the percentage of Americans who are fit and less likely to be overweight.
All Day Activity
Don’t sit around for the rest of the day just because you spent an hour doing aerobics or walking around the neighborhood. The 300 or 400 calories you may have burned will probably not compensate for all the calories you are not burning if you take it easy for the remainder of the day. Modern day inventions including the elevator, garage openers, remote controls, and computers have made it easier for us to be inactive for most of the day. Research has shown that such convenient items have decreased the number of calories we burn daily by at least 800 calories! So try to take the stairs, turn on equipment manually, or visit a friend instead of e-mailing him/her. Being active all day will help you keep burning those calories, and dropping those pounds!
NUTRITION TIPS
Trans Fat Labeling
Beginning January 1, 2006 you found trans fats added to Nutrition Facts panels. All packaged foods that contain more than half a gram of trans fats per serving will be required to show it on the label. This is beneficial to consumers who are concerned about good nutrition. Trans fats are considered to be unhealthy due to the fact that trans fats increase LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and decrease HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It is recommended that people should consume a minimal amount of trans fats.
Trans fats are formed when hydrogen is added to liquid oils. This process was found to help extend shelf life without compromising taste or texture properties. Trans fats have also been widely used for baking and frying. Many manufacturers have been working on reformulating products to eliminate trans fats.
Now, with the help of new labeling, it is easier for consumers to determine which products to avoid due to trans fat content. Aim to minimize your intake of trans fats as much as possible. This will cut down on the harmful effects on health, as well as cut back on fat calories to help with your weight loss.
Recognizing Healthy Foods
There are several ways that food packaging can help you spot nutritious food items. Referring to the Nutrition Facts Panel and ingredients list are a couple of examples. The Nutrition Facts will give you details of the nutrients you obtain per serving. It will also give you how much of the Daily Value, or recommended amounts, you are getting of a particular nutrient. A product that has 10% or more of a nutrient such as calcium, iron, vitamin A, or vitamin C is a good source of that nutrient. The ingredients are listed in order from most to least by weight. Try to avoid products that have sugar as one of the main ingredients. Look for the word “whole” to identify whole grain products.
Other helpful items on packaging include nutrition claims and health claims. Nutrition claims such as “low fat,” “sugar free,” or “sodium free” meet nutritional criteria that are set by the government. There are also 14 health claims permitted by the government. Such claims refer to ingredients that may contribute to health benefits. These claims are supported by research studies.
If fresh food doesn’t have packaging to analyze, then it probably is good for you. Non-packaged foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are highly nutritious items to incorporate in your daily meals.
Take the time to examine food labels for their nutrition content. Learning to label read would help you recognize healthy foods that are good for your body and weight loss.
Beneficial Beans
Beans, or legumes, are among the most nutritious foods. They include dried beans, peas, and lentils. Beans are a source of protein, complex carbohydrates, B-vitamins, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, and even calcium. They are a great source of fiber, which helps with weight control, blood sugar control, regularity, and many other health benefits.
Preparing dried beans is a little time consuming. You have to soak them for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. This will help shorten the cooking time, and make the beans more digestible. You can also soak beans in boiling water for an hour or two. Check package directions for cooking times. Canned beans offer convenience, but also have added sodium. You can look for low sodium varieties and then drain and rinse the canned beans to remove some of the sodium.
Beans are versatile ingredients. They make great salads alone or tossed with greens. They also make a hearty meat-free chili. Toss them in soups, stews, or with pastas. Try to incorporate beans into your meal plan to obtain nutritious health benefits.
Vitamins: Natural vs. Synthetic
There are a number of vitamin and mineral supplements that are made synthetically through chemical processes, and natural supplements that are derived directly from plants or other materials. However, don’t be misled into thinking that “natural” is better. As long as a synthetic supplement is chemically identical to the natural form, the function and effects in the body will be the same. Most synthetic vitamins are also cheaper and purer, with less potential for contamination.
There are a few exceptions. For example, the natural form of vitamin E is better absorbed than the synthetic. However, the synthetic vitamin B12 and folate are more readily absorbed than the natural forms found in food. The actual ingredients and amounts are more important to focus on than whether a supplement is natural or synthetic. Diet Center considers these aspects in the development of its vitamin and mineral supplements. So that clients can be assured that they are meeting there nutritional needs while on program.
Root Nutrition
Winter offers root vegetables during the cold season to add variety, taste and nutrition to your meals. Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and beets each have something to offer. They are all a source of fiber ranging from 2 to 5 grams per cup. They are low in calories, and versatile in food preparation. For example, you can enjoy them fresh by themselves or in salads. You can enjoy them cooked alone, in a stir-fry, or in a soup, stew or casserole. Here are some of the root vegetables you may enjoy on your Diet Center program and what nutrients they offer:
• Carrots: Rich in vitamin A, also a source of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6 and folate.
• Beets: Rich in folate, also provides potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and iron.
• Radishes: Excellent source of vitamin C, also provides folate.
• Turnips: Good source of vitamin C.
• Rutabagas: Source of potassium and vitamin C.
• Parsnips: High in folate, a good source of vitamin C, and also provides potassium and magnesium.
Turnips and beets have edible greens that are also tasty and nutritious. You can snack on root vegetables or include them as part of your main meals. Vary your choices, so you can obtain a variety of flavors, textures, and nutrients!
Oils in a Healthy Diet
According to the old Food Guide Pyramid, oils were to be used sparingly. Therefore, they were placed at the tip of the pyramid along with sweets and other fats. The new MyPyramid represents oils as an important part of the diet. It is now represented by a slender golden stripe between the red fruits stripe and the blue dairy stripe.
Oils are fats that remain liquid at room temperature. Oils are a major source of monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. These fats are also known as “good fats” because they do not raise cholesterol levels. In fact, they may help lower cholesterol levels. These good fats also provide the body with essential fatty acids that are important to good health. Fats are also necessary to transport fat-soluble vitamins, slow down digestion, and provide a feeling of satisfaction.
Refer to your Diet Center meal plan to determine how many fat servings are allowed on your particular program. You don’t want to leave out good fats from your diet. Just stick to the appropriate choices and portions allowed on your program. Dietary fats fit into a healthy, balanced diet that will help you shed body fat!
Oat Nutrition
Several components of oats are nutritious and beneficial to one’s health. One component is its fiber. Oats are the best source of soluble fiber called beta glucan. This fiber helps lower total and LDL (also known as “bad”) cholesterol, which will help keep your heart healthy. Oat fiber also has been found to help control blood sugar levels, and may help reduce high blood pressure. Other components are the phytochemicals that also help reduce the risk of heart disease. Antioxidants found in oats may even help relax blood vessels and maintain blood flow.
Oat bran and oatmeal are also good sources of thiamine and magnesium, which are good for healthy nerves and muscles. They are also a source of iron, which is essential for healthy blood. You can enjoy them as plain hot cereal, or enjoy them on fruit, or used to thicken soups. They’re whole grains, with a whole lot of nutrition and health benefits!
What a Bargain!
You can get a lot more nutrients for your money buying fresh produce. Researchers analyzed 637 foods using a nutrient-to-price ratio. They found that fruits and vegetables were at the top of their list for providing essential nutrients at a reasonable price. Some of the most nutritious fruits included bananas and oranges. Among the best scoring vegetables were carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, zucchini, celery, and onions. Lean meats and dairy products followed produce as nutritional bargains.
You can also consider Diet Center meal replacements as nutritional bargains. You get a great balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat along with fiber and many essential vitamins and minerals in a single serving! So don’t let the price of certain foods hinder you from eating healthy. Think about the nutritional worth you are getting for your dollar. The more nutritious an item is, the better it is for your body and weight loss!
Water-Rich Foods
Foods that are rich in water content are great to incorporate in your Diet Center weight loss plan. Foods that have a higher volume of water tend to be more filling and low in calories. This can help you control your hunger and avoid consuming excess calories. Water-rich foods also tend to be nutrient-rich. The following are the foods with the highest percentage of water:
1. Cucumber
2. Celery
3. Lettuce
4. Pepper
5. Tomato
6. Summer Squash
7. Asparagus
8. Watermelon
9. Mushrooms
10. Strawberries
Consider incorporating some of these regularly into your meal plan, to help you with your weight loss.
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS
Learning to Lose
It’s a New Year, and a great time to learn how to lose weight! While on your Diet Center Weight Loss Program, you’ll be learning various skills that will help you lose the weight and keep it off. You can think of your new weight loss promoting activities as lessons to learn.
You can be even more creative and think of these various activities as part of a weight loss curriculum. This curriculum could include areas such as healthy cooking, portion sizing, stress management, exercise, and motivational techniques. Then you can make a schedule for your curriculum. It will be like following a class schedule. Instead of learning skills for a future career, you’ll be learning skills that prepare you to becoming an expert at reaching weight loss goals. Instead of practicing skills in a job, you’ll be practicing skills in a healthy lifestyle that will help you reach and maintain your ideal weight.
New Year’s Resolution
Many people make their New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. Unfortunately, most people give up and wait to put any effort into their weight loss until the springtime. According to a study based on a survey of adults and their dieting or eating habits, most people don’t follow through on their resolution to lose weight until March. It may be because people become more concerned about bathing suit season the closer it gets to summer. There’s little pressure to look good in warmer winter clothes.
Another reason for falling off track early is that people expect too much, too fast. Many dieters are motivated in the beginning, but often get discouraged by the actual rate of weight loss. The weight gain did not happen overnight, and neither will the loss. It’s important to maintain practical goals that are obtainable. If you really want to get in better shape by summer, that is a much better goal to aim for than a large loss in a month or two. You’re also more likely to reach that goal by starting your efforts now than to wait until March.
So if you’ve made the resolution to get in shape this year, keep a couple things in mind. Keep your goals practical, and make an effort to maintain your motivation. You can think about fitting into your swimsuit for summer, or set short-term goals such as losing 5 to 8 pounds a month. Just remember that it’s your New “Year’s” resolution. So you may not succeed in a month or two, but you may by the end of the year!
Dairy & Breakfast
The National Milk Mustache campaign launched a breakfast campaign to promote the weight loss benefits of milk and breakfast. Recent studies show that beginning the day with a breakfast of milk and cereal may promote weight loss. However, according to food trends data, more than one-third of women skip breakfast.
Studies also find that people who eat breakfast are more likely to experience long-term success in maintaining a healthy weight. Many studies show that women who drink milk and meet their calcium needs tend to weigh less than women who do not drink milk. Other clinical trials show that overweight adults who begin to incorporate 24 ounces of milk or dairy products in a reduced-calorie diet, are able to lose more weight and body fat than those who do not add dairy to their diet.
So try starting off your day with dairy. Making sure that you consume the dairy allowances in your Diet Center program should help you shed excess pounds!
Eggs for Weight Loss
Many studies support the importance of breakfast in managing weight. Last week’s Weight Loss Tip discussed a study that showed how including dairy for breakfast (i.e. cereal and milk) may contribute to weight loss. A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests that eggs may play a significant role in promoting weight loss and satiety. Researchers found that a breakfast consisting of eggs reduced hunger and calorie intake at lunch and over the next 24 hours when compared to a breakfast consisting of a small bagel.
The participants in the study consumed two breakfasts consisting of the same calories and weight value. One group ate eggs and toast with low-calorie jelly, while the other group ate a 3-½ inch bagel with cream cheese and a fat-free yogurt. The group who ate the eggs and toast consumed an average of 163 calories less at lunch, and an average of 418 calories less over the next 24 hours!
Eggs are nutritious, cheap, convenient, and easy to prepare. You can hard boil a batch of eggs and refrigerate them up to a week. It only takes 2 to 5 minutes to poach an egg, and just a couple of minutes to microwave an egg. Even those on the run have time to enjoy a nutritious, filling breakfast. Eggs offer high quality protein, and 14 essential vitamins and minerals. So try to start off your day with eggs for breakfast. Add dairy and whole grains to balance out the meal and you could find yourself quite full, and better able to stick to your Diet Center weight loss program!
Worth The Weight Lost
Sometimes we take for granted any loss in weight. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that what most dieters consider to be acceptable weight loss is more than what their doctors may consider success. Most doctors agree that a loss in 5% to 10% of weight by someone considered obese is success. A 5% to 10% loss helps reduce weight related complications including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes.
When 400 obese people on various weight loss programs were asked what levels of weight loss would satisfy them, they stated they would be disappointed with a 40 pound loss. This would be about a 16% loss for the average obese person surveyed (at an average weight of 240 pounds). The group felt 60 pounds, about a 25% reduction in weight, would be acceptable. Ninety pounds or more lost, about a 38% reduction in weight, was their ideal.
Appearance tends to determine weight goals more than improvement in health. Instead of being disappointed and discouraged, which may lead to giving up your weight loss efforts; try not to take even modest losses for granted. Such losses are worth the effort to the health of your body and can promote a positive attitude to help you reach your ideal goal.
Proven Success
There may be times when you have second thoughts about your ability to succeed on your Diet Center program. You may start thinking to yourself, “Is this how I want to reach my weight loss goals?” Or, “I might be able to do this on my own.” Or maybe you think, “I wonder if I should try that other diet program?” Sure, you can rely on trial and error. You can try to determine the amount of calories you should consume, select what food choices you should stick to, and determine the appropriate amounts you should consume. You can also try another diet on the market.
Think about what you would do to bake a cake. Would you make up the recipe yourself? If you had a choice, would you use a recipe that friends or family have tried and enjoy; or use a recipe that no one has tested yet? Why spend time trying and researching what might work, when you can follow a plan that has a proven track record of success? For more than 30 years, Diet Center has helped over 15 million people lose weight and keep it off! Instead of questioning what else might work, you can just focus on sticking to one that you know can work for you.
Plateau Problems
Most dieters will hit at least one or two plateaus during their program. It’s natural for this to occur. The first plateau may occur as early as within the first couple of weeks. This is due to the drastic reduction in caloric intake. Many people may lose weight quickly at first, but then lose very little even if they are still following their program. This problem occurs because the scale only weighs total body weight. This means that water, muscle and fat weight are all reflected on the scale. Initial body weight loss is usually accompanied by rapid water loss. When this balances out, weight loss on the scale slows down. However, fat loss occurs at a slower rate. So even if the scale slows down, the rate of fat loss may still be the same.
Another natural plateau occurs after about 6 months or after a significant loss (at least 10%). This results from a decrease in metabolism and problems sticking to one’s program. Calorie needs decrease as weight decreases. Eventually, measures may need to be taken to boost one’s metabolism up to start shedding pounds again.
The good news is that you can break through a plateau. Continue to follow your program and track your intake. If you’ve been slacking in some areas, improve your behaviors. Don’t skip any meals! In fact, you can try adding a Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplement, Thermogenic Water Enhancer, or other Thermogenic product to help boost your metabolism. Also, stay positive. You know that hitting a plateau is a natural, temporary obstacle on your weight loss journey. You need to stay motivated to stick to your program, break through the plateau, and succeed!
Chewing Gum & Appetite
How would you like a little treat to help you with your weight loss? You can consider chewing gum! A new study presented at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, suggests that chewing gum can help curb sweet cravings and help suppress appetite. The researchers studied the effect of chewing gum on post-lunch appetite and afternoon snacking. On the days that participants chewed gum, they consumed an average of 36 fewer calories from snack choices. This amounts to 252 fewer calories per week! The participants also felt that their afternoon hunger levels were significantly lower on days that they chewed gum.
So try chewing gum when you are challenged by sweet cravings and hunger. Most of the gum chewed in the study was sugar-free. You can also try Diet Center’s Thermogenic Chewing Gum. Not only is it sugar-free, but it contains herbal ingredients that have been found to help suppress appetite and promote fat burning. The recommended dosage is to chew 2 pieces for a minimum of 5 minutes. Try this before your lunch time to help curb your appetite and cut down on snack calories. A little treat can help you lose a little more weight!
Don’t Overfill Your Stomach
Chronic overeating can stretch your stomach out. This can lead to the continued overeating that results in weight gain. Your stomach expands and contracts with each food load. When you repeatedly overfill your stomach, it loses its tone. This results in the need for more food to fill it up and make you feel full. An average person takes about 2 to 2 ½ cups of food to fill it up. A person with a stretched out stomach may need 3 or more cups before he/she feels full. Research shows that you may be able to shrink your stomach back to normal size in a period as short as one month by eating smaller meals.
Any Diet Center program can help you get used to eating smaller meals due to the structure of controlled calories, portions, and meals. If you feel your exchanges still provide large meals, you can try allotting exchanges for mid-morning and/or mid-day snacks to lessen the number exchanges at meal times. This structure may also help satisfy ‘between meal cravings,” and prevent you from getting too hungry and overeating at meal times. You can start shrinking your meals to help shrink your stomach and shed extra weight!
VOLUME 4
BEHAVIOR TIPS
Less Stress in the New Year
Stress eating can easily lead to weight gain. Challenging goals, guilt from falling off track during the holidays, or financial stress from holiday bills can really stress a person out. Prevention is key to avoid turning to food for relief. You should begin your day with a healthy, balanced breakfast. It’s a good way to start the day with energy and knowing that you are taking care of yourself.
Next, determine stress-reducing behaviors (that do not involve food) that you would be willing to incorporate in your lifestyle. For example, maybe you will take walks or participate in a physical recreational activity (i.e skiing, ice skating). You can put energy into household chores. Or, you can try to relax with music, a massage, or a relaxing bath. Getting involved in an arts and crafts hobby is also a fun stress reliever.
It is also important that you get enough rest. Losing sleep can slow down your weight loss. A lack of sleep has been found to increase the production of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released by the body in response to stress. High levels of this hormone affect the appetite by increasing hunger and promoting bingeing. Also, a lack of sleep may prevent your body from burning carbohydrates efficiently, leading to increased fat storage. On average, people require 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. During sleep, your body rebuilds and regenerates strength.
Try to assess where you can make improvements in your behaviors, so that you can experience less stress and better weight loss in the New Year.
Caring for Yourself
Can you look in a mirror and think, “I care about myself”? Do you accept your body and mind as it is? Caring about yourself influences how much you take the time to become healthy and reach your weight goals. Caring about yourself involves talking to yourself, writing to yourself, and/or making a list of things you have always wanted to do and trying to achieve them. These are all tools that will help you with your weight loss!
In order to stay motivated and on track, you can talk positively to yourself (ex. “I feel great that I stuck to my Diet Center program today), write to yourself (ex. keeping a food journal), and make a list of things you want to do (ex. making a mini goal list: practice portion sizing, drink 64 oz water daily, learn how to label read). So begin to take time to look in the mirror, and think about how much you care about yourself. Think about how you care about your body and mind and want to do things that make you feel energized and healthy, and look the way you want. Thinking about how you care for yourself is the kind of mindset that will help you take care of your weight loss!
Reward Your Behavior
You are probably used to rewarding yourself or being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than being rewarded for changing your behavior. You may actually find it beneficial to reward yourself for the positive changes you make, rather than the number of pounds you lose. You should reward yourself for being able to stick to your goals.
You should even reward yourself for positive changes in thought. You deserve a reward for getting through a day with self-motivating thoughts, and not putting yourself down. Your thoughts influence your actions. Self-deprecating thoughts are discouraging. When you acknowledge small accomplishments, you’ll feel better about yourself and be more apt to maintain new healthy behaviors. You should find yourself motivated to be more active, feel strong enough to resist food temptations, and improve your self-esteem.
Changing your behaviors takes a lot of effort that deserves reward. As a result, rewarding yourself will help you maintain these behaviors so that you reach your weight loss goals!
Believe in Yourself
Believing in yourself is important to achieving weight loss success. Having faith in your capabilities gives you incentive to push through challenges. Studies show that the more that you believe in yourself, the greater your chances are of success. Setting practical goals can help improve your faith in yourself. Research shows that setting and meeting attainable goals improves self-efficacy.
Some practical goals you can set include gradual changes in your habits. For example, plan on short periods of exercise a few days a week and building up your routine as much as you are comfortable with. Avoid being overly ambitious and setting extreme goals such as working out an hour everyday, or signing up for a marathon, after you have been sedentary for so long. Consider how long you can commit to your goals. If you can’t stick to it long-term, then your goal is not practical.
There are a lot of habits your Diet Center program encourages you to develop (i.e. drink more water, watch your sodium, prepare healthy foods, avoid dining out, etc.). Try taking one step at a time. Trying to achieve too many goals at once can be overwhelming. Keep in mind that you believe in your ability to accomplish your goals. Your faith in yourself will help you persevere and achieve weight loss success.
Top 10 Techniques for Change
Four hundred people, who had successfully lost 35 pounds or more, were asked to list the most important behavior changes they felt they made in order to lose weight. The following were the top ten techniques listed:
1) Never skip breakfast. It jumpstarts your metabolism for the day.
2) Try to eat all meals and snacks at a designated place (without distractions) and at about the same times daily.
3) Record all the food on your plate before you eat. You’re less likely to misjudge the amount of food you eat if you measure and record servings prior to eating.
4) Eat favorite foods first.
5) Become aware of times and situations in which you are tempted. Have a plan of action for such times (ex. call/visit a friend, take a walk, etc.).
6) Get rid of clothes that are too big for you, to help prevent you from falling back into old behaviors.
7) Give yourself non-food rewards for small and big accomplishments.
8) Serve meals on smaller plates so you feel you are eating more.
9) Do not have food around that is not part of your program (at least have it out of site, if family members must have such food around).
10) Increase Water Intake! Water is the body’s most essential nutrient. It will help you feel full, and keep your body functioning at its best.
Try to incorporate these techniques into your lifestyle. They can help you find yourself succeeding at weight loss too!
A Successful Journey
You should view reaching your weight loss goal as a journey, not a race. If you try to achieve unrealistic goals in a short period of time, you will most likely fail. For example, almost half of the people who make their New Year’s resolution to lose weight have given up attempts to change their behavior by now. You can improve your chances for success if you plan on taking things slowly.
Changing your behaviors is not something that can happen overnight. You are trying to establish new habits that you will maintain in your lifestyle. Studies show it takes about 30 days to break old habits and develop new ones. You should approach your goals gradually. Think about all the habits you should develop to reach your weight loss goal. For example, you should monitor your caffeine, sodium and cholesterol intake, make sure you drink enough water, measure all your food portions, prepare your own meals, increase your physical activity, etc. If you tried to focus on everything and make all these changes at the same time, you’ll become overwhelmed and probably give up.
It also helps to focus on the fact that you are trying to develop new behaviors, instead of trying to reach an arbitrary number on the scale. You have to change your behaviors in order to get the number on the scale to move. You know you have control over your behaviors, but you don’t have direct control over the scale. Changing your behaviors is what will help you accomplish your weight goal on the scale, anyway. So try resolving to change your habits, instead of trying to lose five or ten pounds.
Keeping in mind that your weight loss is a journey, will help you keep things in perspective when you think your progress is slow. Remind yourself that you can’t accomplish your goals overnight, but success is down the road!
Enthusiasm
Many excuses arise from a lack of enthusiasm. We can tire of putting in the effort to succeed. It’s certainly easier to make up an excuse for practicing unhealthy eating habits, than it is to make an effort to lose weight. It’s natural to start thinking of reasons why we can’t stick to our Diet Center program when we lose our enthusiasm. Changing unhealthy habits is not easy and cannot happen overnight. It takes time, effort and enthusiasm. So try to participate in activities that keep you emotionally, mentally, and spiritually positive. Set achievable goals, and participate in activities that spark your interest.
Enthusiasm plays a significant role in your weight loss success. It is up to you whether you take steps to maintain your enthusiasm, or let your energy level drop. The more energy you put towards your program, the closer you get to achieving your weight loss goals.
Putting the Pressure On
Has progress with your weight loss slowed down? Does following your Diet Center weight loss program and exercise routine seem easy? Do you feel a little bored with your weight loss efforts? One thing you can do to get yourself excited and motivated again is put the pressure on. Sometimes a little pressure can push you to try harder, and make you passionate about reaching your goals.
Think about people who compete. Whether it’s sports, academics, contests, or job related competition; the pressure to win at something can bring out the best effort in some people. When you know you have the chance of winning a prize, wouldn’t you make a greater effort to focus on reaching your goal? Try putting the pressure on to achieving your weight loss goals. You can focus on not slipping on weekends, exercising 10 minutes more a day, or experimenting with new low-fat recipes. Putting the pressure on can help boost your efforts to reach your goals quicker.
Keeping Promises
While you’re on your Diet Center program, you probably make a lot of promises to yourself. Maybe you promise yourself you won’t quit. Or, you promise yourself you will not slip when you eat out, not cheat at parties, not eat fried foods, will watch portion sizes, will drink more water, etc. You made these promises to yourself – not to your friends or family. So if you break your promises, whose trust are you breaking? Every time you break a promise you make to yourself, you lose a little trust in yourself. Why lie to yourself? You know your potential, what you are capable of, what you’re willing to do, or what goals you really want to accomplish. The more you lie to yourself and break promises you make to yourself, the more you break down your self-trust and self-confidence.
In order to succeed in your program you need to be able to trust yourself. Strengthening your self trust is as simple as deciding what you want to accomplish, making a promise to yourself that you will do these things, and following through on those promises. Keeping your promises can keep you on track to weight loss success.
EXERCISE TIPS
Nothing to do with Age
Age does not have to be a factor in your decision to exercise to help you lose weight. Sometimes people may say to themselves, “I’m old and tired. I’ve never exercised and it’s too late to start now.” Also, society tends to view getting older as a time to relax and take it easy. A significant factor in becoming overweight, unhealthy, weak, or ill is due to inactivity rather than age. So it’s important to be active in life no matter how old you are. Furthermore, after age 30, men and women lose lean muscle tissue every year. After age 40 women lose ½ pound of muscle each year. After menopause, women lose up to 1 pound a year if they do not exercise. Exercising will help protect your muscle that will help you burn fat and calories. If you’re in your 50’s and 60’s, it’s not too late to start exercising. You can still protect your muscle, burn fat, and achieve better weight loss.
Eat Good Fats to Burn Fat
Certain fats may increase your fat-burning potential. A study at the University of Wisconsin Madison measured fat-burning in college-age women who rested, cycled lightly, and cycled heavily. The amount of fat burned was measured for 12 hours after they consumed meals high in monounsaturated fats (good fats) and saturated fats (bad fats).
The researchers found that about 50 percent of the monounsaturated fat was burned after heavy exercise, 39 percent after light exercise, and 34 percent after rest. However, only 11 percent of the saturated fat was burned regardless of whether the women rested or exercised.
Therefore, consuming monounsaturated fats may improve your fat burning results when you exercise. Consider fats such as canola oil, olive oil, peanut oils, nuts and seeds for your meals prior to exercising. Stick to your Diet Center program and limit the amount of saturated fats that you consume. Eating the right fats before exercise may help you burn more fat off!
Fat Burning Walk
If you’re wondering how fast you need to walk in order to maximize your fat burning potential, you need to know what your target heart rate is. Workouts at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate get the body to use stored fat for energy. You can burn 85% of your calories from fats. Walking faster or slower burns a smaller percentage of fat.
You can determine your target heart rate zone by using simple formulas. First calculate your maximum heart rate (the highest rate that your body can normally handle) by using the formula “220 minus your age” [ex. You are 30 years old, 220 – 30 = 190 = maximum heart rate (MHR)]. Then multiply your maximum heart rate by 60% (ex. 190 (MHR) x .60 = 114). This figure (114) is the low end of your target heart rate zone. Then multiply your maximum heart rate by 70% (ex. 190 (MHR) x .70 = 133). This figure (133) is the high end of your target heart rate zone. Therefore, if you are 30 years old, your target heart rate zone would be 114 to 133 (heart rate beats per minute).
Then to track your progress you need to measure your heart rate while walking. To measure your heart rate, take your pulse by placing the tips of your index finger and middle finger over the artery at the base of your wrist. Then add enough pressure to feel the pulse and count the number of beats for ten seconds and multiply this number by 6 (this will give you beats per 60 seconds/1 minute). This total is your working heart rate. If it’s within your target heart rate zone, then you are walking at a pace that brings your heart rate up to 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. If your total is below your target heart rate zone, then you should walk at a faster pace. If your total is higher than your target heart rate zone, then you should walk at a slower pace.
Keep in mind that the results from formulas are just guidelines. Listen to your body and adjust your pace based on how you're feeling. You should be comfortable enough to hold a light conversation while walking, but breathing harder than normal. If you’re walking to improve your weight loss, try aiming to walk at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate, so you can maximize your fat burning!
Winter Workouts
Exercising outdoors on cold winter days can be comfortable as long as you are dressed appropriately. When selecting what you are going to wear, you should keep in mind that exercise raises your body temperature. Even moderate workouts can make it feel 30 degrees warmer than the actual temperature. So you may want to select clothing that you would wear if it were 30 degrees warmer than the temperature outside. It will probably feel a little chilly when you first get outside. But you should warm up as soon as you start exercising.
It’s also a good idea to layer your clothing. You should wear a second thermal layer in temperatures of 40 degrees or below. A top layer that is wind/water proof can help keep you warm when you start out. When you become warmer during strenuous activity, you can take off layers to lower your body temperature. Dressing appropriately for the weather can make your winter workout comfortable. So that you can keep burning those extra calories even when it’s cold!
Losing Inches
Muscle tissue is actually denser than fat tissue. Therefore, muscle weighs more than fat. If you are exercising to lose weight, you may find yourself losing inches without losing any weight. In fact, you may even gain a little from losing fat, but gaining muscle. It’s hard to not be disappointed when the scale doesn’t move and you’ve been dedicated to an exercise routine.
This is why it’s important to not just rely on the scale as a measurement of your success. Instead, think about your energy levels and how they may have increased. Examine how your clothes fit you. Is the waist loose? Are your pants not as tight around the thighs? Losing inches is a good sign of progress. Just because the pounds aren’t dropping, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not burning fat – especially if you are exercising! So try not to lose motivation when you are losing inches, but not pounds. You are probably losing fat and getting fit!
Environmental Barriers
Your physical environment may influence your level of physical activity. What your community has to offer may promote or discourage you from exercising. Accessibility to sidewalks, parks, or trails may prevent you from participating in outdoor activities such as walking, jogging, or bicycling. However, this barrier can easily be overcome. Consider recreational or fitness centers in your community. Many have indoor tracks, pools, exercise classes, weight training equipment, treadmills, elliptical machines, and more. You can even walk around malls. Don’t forget about your own home or office. You can always walk up and down hallways or staircases. Think about what environmental barriers may have been hindering you from being active, and consider ways to overcome them.
Exercise and Appetite
Are you worried about an increase in appetite from exercise? Maybe you figure that you won’t bother increasing your activity level, since you’ll probably make up for the calories burned by eating more food. On the contrary, studies find that people who exercise moderately eat about the same as they would if they didn’t work out. Athletes who train strenuously tend to eat more, but they also burn more calories. Furthermore, appetite tends to decrease during the first hour or so after a workout.
You have to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight. You already cut back on the calories you consume if you’re following your Diet Center program. However, adding exercise can help you burn more calories, while protecting your muscle mass and keeping your metabolic rate up. So don’t worry about exercise making you hungry. Exercise can actually help curb your appetite, burn calories, and boost your metabolism to help you reach your weight loss goals!
Be Active, Be Fit
Two recent reports reflect the trend in American inactivity. One report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined activity in three areas: household work, transportation, and discretionary/leisure time. The researchers found that 54.1% of American adults do not meet the minimum recommendation of being physically active at least a half-hour daily. The report also shows that 15% of adults are inactive in all three areas.
The other report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report suggests that 19% of Americans ages 12 to 49 are out of shape. Participants in the study included over 5000 adults and adolescents who completed a basic fitness test. About 14% of adults were categorized in the lowest fitness group. Almost 34% of the adolescents failed the fitness test! Women were found to be less fit than men. Also, those in the lowest fitness group were more likely to be overweight, have high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.
These two reports show how sedentary Americans are, and how activity impacts fitness. Try to make an effort to get at least a half hour of activity in daily. You can be part of the percentage of Americans who are fit and less likely to be overweight.
All Day Activity
Don’t sit around for the rest of the day just because you spent an hour doing aerobics or walking around the neighborhood. The 300 or 400 calories you may have burned will probably not compensate for all the calories you are not burning if you take it easy for the remainder of the day. Modern day inventions including the elevator, garage openers, remote controls, and computers have made it easier for us to be inactive for most of the day. Research has shown that such convenient items have decreased the number of calories we burn daily by at least 800 calories! So try to take the stairs, turn on equipment manually, or visit a friend instead of e-mailing him/her. Being active all day will help you keep burning those calories, and dropping those pounds!
NUTRITION TIPS
Trans Fat Labeling
Beginning January 1, 2006 you found trans fats added to Nutrition Facts panels. All packaged foods that contain more than half a gram of trans fats per serving will be required to show it on the label. This is beneficial to consumers who are concerned about good nutrition. Trans fats are considered to be unhealthy due to the fact that trans fats increase LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and decrease HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It is recommended that people should consume a minimal amount of trans fats.
Trans fats are formed when hydrogen is added to liquid oils. This process was found to help extend shelf life without compromising taste or texture properties. Trans fats have also been widely used for baking and frying. Many manufacturers have been working on reformulating products to eliminate trans fats.
Now, with the help of new labeling, it is easier for consumers to determine which products to avoid due to trans fat content. Aim to minimize your intake of trans fats as much as possible. This will cut down on the harmful effects on health, as well as cut back on fat calories to help with your weight loss.
Recognizing Healthy Foods
There are several ways that food packaging can help you spot nutritious food items. Referring to the Nutrition Facts Panel and ingredients list are a couple of examples. The Nutrition Facts will give you details of the nutrients you obtain per serving. It will also give you how much of the Daily Value, or recommended amounts, you are getting of a particular nutrient. A product that has 10% or more of a nutrient such as calcium, iron, vitamin A, or vitamin C is a good source of that nutrient. The ingredients are listed in order from most to least by weight. Try to avoid products that have sugar as one of the main ingredients. Look for the word “whole” to identify whole grain products.
Other helpful items on packaging include nutrition claims and health claims. Nutrition claims such as “low fat,” “sugar free,” or “sodium free” meet nutritional criteria that are set by the government. There are also 14 health claims permitted by the government. Such claims refer to ingredients that may contribute to health benefits. These claims are supported by research studies.
If fresh food doesn’t have packaging to analyze, then it probably is good for you. Non-packaged foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are highly nutritious items to incorporate in your daily meals.
Take the time to examine food labels for their nutrition content. Learning to label read would help you recognize healthy foods that are good for your body and weight loss.
Beneficial Beans
Beans, or legumes, are among the most nutritious foods. They include dried beans, peas, and lentils. Beans are a source of protein, complex carbohydrates, B-vitamins, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, and even calcium. They are a great source of fiber, which helps with weight control, blood sugar control, regularity, and many other health benefits.
Preparing dried beans is a little time consuming. You have to soak them for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. This will help shorten the cooking time, and make the beans more digestible. You can also soak beans in boiling water for an hour or two. Check package directions for cooking times. Canned beans offer convenience, but also have added sodium. You can look for low sodium varieties and then drain and rinse the canned beans to remove some of the sodium.
Beans are versatile ingredients. They make great salads alone or tossed with greens. They also make a hearty meat-free chili. Toss them in soups, stews, or with pastas. Try to incorporate beans into your meal plan to obtain nutritious health benefits.
Vitamins: Natural vs. Synthetic
There are a number of vitamin and mineral supplements that are made synthetically through chemical processes, and natural supplements that are derived directly from plants or other materials. However, don’t be misled into thinking that “natural” is better. As long as a synthetic supplement is chemically identical to the natural form, the function and effects in the body will be the same. Most synthetic vitamins are also cheaper and purer, with less potential for contamination.
There are a few exceptions. For example, the natural form of vitamin E is better absorbed than the synthetic. However, the synthetic vitamin B12 and folate are more readily absorbed than the natural forms found in food. The actual ingredients and amounts are more important to focus on than whether a supplement is natural or synthetic. Diet Center considers these aspects in the development of its vitamin and mineral supplements. So that clients can be assured that they are meeting there nutritional needs while on program.
Root Nutrition
Winter offers root vegetables during the cold season to add variety, taste and nutrition to your meals. Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and beets each have something to offer. They are all a source of fiber ranging from 2 to 5 grams per cup. They are low in calories, and versatile in food preparation. For example, you can enjoy them fresh by themselves or in salads. You can enjoy them cooked alone, in a stir-fry, or in a soup, stew or casserole. Here are some of the root vegetables you may enjoy on your Diet Center program and what nutrients they offer:
• Carrots: Rich in vitamin A, also a source of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6 and folate.
• Beets: Rich in folate, also provides potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and iron.
• Radishes: Excellent source of vitamin C, also provides folate.
• Turnips: Good source of vitamin C.
• Rutabagas: Source of potassium and vitamin C.
• Parsnips: High in folate, a good source of vitamin C, and also provides potassium and magnesium.
Turnips and beets have edible greens that are also tasty and nutritious. You can snack on root vegetables or include them as part of your main meals. Vary your choices, so you can obtain a variety of flavors, textures, and nutrients!
Oils in a Healthy Diet
According to the old Food Guide Pyramid, oils were to be used sparingly. Therefore, they were placed at the tip of the pyramid along with sweets and other fats. The new MyPyramid represents oils as an important part of the diet. It is now represented by a slender golden stripe between the red fruits stripe and the blue dairy stripe.
Oils are fats that remain liquid at room temperature. Oils are a major source of monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. These fats are also known as “good fats” because they do not raise cholesterol levels. In fact, they may help lower cholesterol levels. These good fats also provide the body with essential fatty acids that are important to good health. Fats are also necessary to transport fat-soluble vitamins, slow down digestion, and provide a feeling of satisfaction.
Refer to your Diet Center meal plan to determine how many fat servings are allowed on your particular program. You don’t want to leave out good fats from your diet. Just stick to the appropriate choices and portions allowed on your program. Dietary fats fit into a healthy, balanced diet that will help you shed body fat!
Oat Nutrition
Several components of oats are nutritious and beneficial to one’s health. One component is its fiber. Oats are the best source of soluble fiber called beta glucan. This fiber helps lower total and LDL (also known as “bad”) cholesterol, which will help keep your heart healthy. Oat fiber also has been found to help control blood sugar levels, and may help reduce high blood pressure. Other components are the phytochemicals that also help reduce the risk of heart disease. Antioxidants found in oats may even help relax blood vessels and maintain blood flow.
Oat bran and oatmeal are also good sources of thiamine and magnesium, which are good for healthy nerves and muscles. They are also a source of iron, which is essential for healthy blood. You can enjoy them as plain hot cereal, or enjoy them on fruit, or used to thicken soups. They’re whole grains, with a whole lot of nutrition and health benefits!
What a Bargain!
You can get a lot more nutrients for your money buying fresh produce. Researchers analyzed 637 foods using a nutrient-to-price ratio. They found that fruits and vegetables were at the top of their list for providing essential nutrients at a reasonable price. Some of the most nutritious fruits included bananas and oranges. Among the best scoring vegetables were carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, zucchini, celery, and onions. Lean meats and dairy products followed produce as nutritional bargains.
You can also consider Diet Center meal replacements as nutritional bargains. You get a great balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat along with fiber and many essential vitamins and minerals in a single serving! So don’t let the price of certain foods hinder you from eating healthy. Think about the nutritional worth you are getting for your dollar. The more nutritious an item is, the better it is for your body and weight loss!
Water-Rich Foods
Foods that are rich in water content are great to incorporate in your Diet Center weight loss plan. Foods that have a higher volume of water tend to be more filling and low in calories. This can help you control your hunger and avoid consuming excess calories. Water-rich foods also tend to be nutrient-rich. The following are the foods with the highest percentage of water:
1. Cucumber
2. Celery
3. Lettuce
4. Pepper
5. Tomato
6. Summer Squash
7. Asparagus
8. Watermelon
9. Mushrooms
10. Strawberries
Consider incorporating some of these regularly into your meal plan, to help you with your weight loss.
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS
Learning to Lose
It’s a New Year, and a great time to learn how to lose weight! While on your Diet Center Weight Loss Program, you’ll be learning various skills that will help you lose the weight and keep it off. You can think of your new weight loss promoting activities as lessons to learn.
You can be even more creative and think of these various activities as part of a weight loss curriculum. This curriculum could include areas such as healthy cooking, portion sizing, stress management, exercise, and motivational techniques. Then you can make a schedule for your curriculum. It will be like following a class schedule. Instead of learning skills for a future career, you’ll be learning skills that prepare you to becoming an expert at reaching weight loss goals. Instead of practicing skills in a job, you’ll be practicing skills in a healthy lifestyle that will help you reach and maintain your ideal weight.
New Year’s Resolution
Many people make their New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. Unfortunately, most people give up and wait to put any effort into their weight loss until the springtime. According to a study based on a survey of adults and their dieting or eating habits, most people don’t follow through on their resolution to lose weight until March. It may be because people become more concerned about bathing suit season the closer it gets to summer. There’s little pressure to look good in warmer winter clothes.
Another reason for falling off track early is that people expect too much, too fast. Many dieters are motivated in the beginning, but often get discouraged by the actual rate of weight loss. The weight gain did not happen overnight, and neither will the loss. It’s important to maintain practical goals that are obtainable. If you really want to get in better shape by summer, that is a much better goal to aim for than a large loss in a month or two. You’re also more likely to reach that goal by starting your efforts now than to wait until March.
So if you’ve made the resolution to get in shape this year, keep a couple things in mind. Keep your goals practical, and make an effort to maintain your motivation. You can think about fitting into your swimsuit for summer, or set short-term goals such as losing 5 to 8 pounds a month. Just remember that it’s your New “Year’s” resolution. So you may not succeed in a month or two, but you may by the end of the year!
Dairy & Breakfast
The National Milk Mustache campaign launched a breakfast campaign to promote the weight loss benefits of milk and breakfast. Recent studies show that beginning the day with a breakfast of milk and cereal may promote weight loss. However, according to food trends data, more than one-third of women skip breakfast.
Studies also find that people who eat breakfast are more likely to experience long-term success in maintaining a healthy weight. Many studies show that women who drink milk and meet their calcium needs tend to weigh less than women who do not drink milk. Other clinical trials show that overweight adults who begin to incorporate 24 ounces of milk or dairy products in a reduced-calorie diet, are able to lose more weight and body fat than those who do not add dairy to their diet.
So try starting off your day with dairy. Making sure that you consume the dairy allowances in your Diet Center program should help you shed excess pounds!
Eggs for Weight Loss
Many studies support the importance of breakfast in managing weight. Last week’s Weight Loss Tip discussed a study that showed how including dairy for breakfast (i.e. cereal and milk) may contribute to weight loss. A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests that eggs may play a significant role in promoting weight loss and satiety. Researchers found that a breakfast consisting of eggs reduced hunger and calorie intake at lunch and over the next 24 hours when compared to a breakfast consisting of a small bagel.
The participants in the study consumed two breakfasts consisting of the same calories and weight value. One group ate eggs and toast with low-calorie jelly, while the other group ate a 3-½ inch bagel with cream cheese and a fat-free yogurt. The group who ate the eggs and toast consumed an average of 163 calories less at lunch, and an average of 418 calories less over the next 24 hours!
Eggs are nutritious, cheap, convenient, and easy to prepare. You can hard boil a batch of eggs and refrigerate them up to a week. It only takes 2 to 5 minutes to poach an egg, and just a couple of minutes to microwave an egg. Even those on the run have time to enjoy a nutritious, filling breakfast. Eggs offer high quality protein, and 14 essential vitamins and minerals. So try to start off your day with eggs for breakfast. Add dairy and whole grains to balance out the meal and you could find yourself quite full, and better able to stick to your Diet Center weight loss program!
Worth The Weight Lost
Sometimes we take for granted any loss in weight. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that what most dieters consider to be acceptable weight loss is more than what their doctors may consider success. Most doctors agree that a loss in 5% to 10% of weight by someone considered obese is success. A 5% to 10% loss helps reduce weight related complications including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes.
When 400 obese people on various weight loss programs were asked what levels of weight loss would satisfy them, they stated they would be disappointed with a 40 pound loss. This would be about a 16% loss for the average obese person surveyed (at an average weight of 240 pounds). The group felt 60 pounds, about a 25% reduction in weight, would be acceptable. Ninety pounds or more lost, about a 38% reduction in weight, was their ideal.
Appearance tends to determine weight goals more than improvement in health. Instead of being disappointed and discouraged, which may lead to giving up your weight loss efforts; try not to take even modest losses for granted. Such losses are worth the effort to the health of your body and can promote a positive attitude to help you reach your ideal goal.
Proven Success
There may be times when you have second thoughts about your ability to succeed on your Diet Center program. You may start thinking to yourself, “Is this how I want to reach my weight loss goals?” Or, “I might be able to do this on my own.” Or maybe you think, “I wonder if I should try that other diet program?” Sure, you can rely on trial and error. You can try to determine the amount of calories you should consume, select what food choices you should stick to, and determine the appropriate amounts you should consume. You can also try another diet on the market.
Think about what you would do to bake a cake. Would you make up the recipe yourself? If you had a choice, would you use a recipe that friends or family have tried and enjoy; or use a recipe that no one has tested yet? Why spend time trying and researching what might work, when you can follow a plan that has a proven track record of success? For more than 30 years, Diet Center has helped over 15 million people lose weight and keep it off! Instead of questioning what else might work, you can just focus on sticking to one that you know can work for you.
Plateau Problems
Most dieters will hit at least one or two plateaus during their program. It’s natural for this to occur. The first plateau may occur as early as within the first couple of weeks. This is due to the drastic reduction in caloric intake. Many people may lose weight quickly at first, but then lose very little even if they are still following their program. This problem occurs because the scale only weighs total body weight. This means that water, muscle and fat weight are all reflected on the scale. Initial body weight loss is usually accompanied by rapid water loss. When this balances out, weight loss on the scale slows down. However, fat loss occurs at a slower rate. So even if the scale slows down, the rate of fat loss may still be the same.
Another natural plateau occurs after about 6 months or after a significant loss (at least 10%). This results from a decrease in metabolism and problems sticking to one’s program. Calorie needs decrease as weight decreases. Eventually, measures may need to be taken to boost one’s metabolism up to start shedding pounds again.
The good news is that you can break through a plateau. Continue to follow your program and track your intake. If you’ve been slacking in some areas, improve your behaviors. Don’t skip any meals! In fact, you can try adding a Diet Center Gold Premium Protein Supplement, Thermogenic Water Enhancer, or other Thermogenic product to help boost your metabolism. Also, stay positive. You know that hitting a plateau is a natural, temporary obstacle on your weight loss journey. You need to stay motivated to stick to your program, break through the plateau, and succeed!
Chewing Gum & Appetite
How would you like a little treat to help you with your weight loss? You can consider chewing gum! A new study presented at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, suggests that chewing gum can help curb sweet cravings and help suppress appetite. The researchers studied the effect of chewing gum on post-lunch appetite and afternoon snacking. On the days that participants chewed gum, they consumed an average of 36 fewer calories from snack choices. This amounts to 252 fewer calories per week! The participants also felt that their afternoon hunger levels were significantly lower on days that they chewed gum.
So try chewing gum when you are challenged by sweet cravings and hunger. Most of the gum chewed in the study was sugar-free. You can also try Diet Center’s Thermogenic Chewing Gum. Not only is it sugar-free, but it contains herbal ingredients that have been found to help suppress appetite and promote fat burning. The recommended dosage is to chew 2 pieces for a minimum of 5 minutes. Try this before your lunch time to help curb your appetite and cut down on snack calories. A little treat can help you lose a little more weight!
Don’t Overfill Your Stomach
Chronic overeating can stretch your stomach out. This can lead to the continued overeating that results in weight gain. Your stomach expands and contracts with each food load. When you repeatedly overfill your stomach, it loses its tone. This results in the need for more food to fill it up and make you feel full. An average person takes about 2 to 2 ½ cups of food to fill it up. A person with a stretched out stomach may need 3 or more cups before he/she feels full. Research shows that you may be able to shrink your stomach back to normal size in a period as short as one month by eating smaller meals.
Any Diet Center program can help you get used to eating smaller meals due to the structure of controlled calories, portions, and meals. If you feel your exchanges still provide large meals, you can try allotting exchanges for mid-morning and/or mid-day snacks to lessen the number exchanges at meal times. This structure may also help satisfy ‘between meal cravings,” and prevent you from getting too hungry and overeating at meal times. You can start shrinking your meals to help shrink your stomach and shed extra weight!
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