Diet Guidance

Losing Those Last Five Pounds

2007-06-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

My mother told me a little story the other night. When she first started working in sales, she said, her goal was to 'write a string of pearls' - in her parlance, five weeks in a row of 100 sales or more. Her first two weeks would be great - but that third week was always a killer. Four times in a row she got those two weeks, only to fail on the third week. Every morning she woke up and told herself, "I can write a hundred sales this week." And in the back of her mind, she'd add, "I can never get that third week."

On Thursday of that third week, she was struggling and determined, even though she'd only made 22 sales so far that week. She woke up and told herself, "I can write a hundred this week" - and for the first time, she actually heard what she was saying to herself in the back of her mind. "But I Can Never Get That Third Week". Realizing how she'd been undermining her own attempts at positive mental attitude, she resolved to overcome it. She went out that day and made over 50 sales - and the rest of the week fell into place. Not only that, she went on to write a string of pearls that set a record in her company that has yet to be broken.

What was her secret? And what does it have to do with losing weight? Simply put, your biggest enemy in your quest to lose weight is your own self-doubt and negative thinking. Positive affirmations are a powerful psychological tool that can help you lose weight - but it's just as important to catch your negative thinking and turn it around.

How many times have you caught yourself thinking, "I can never lose those last five pounds."? No matter how positive you believe you're being, no matter how often you congratulate yourself for the great job you're doing, those lingering doubts are sabotaging you.

Overcoming them isn't a magic bullet that will make it all happen -- but at least you won't be fighting your own inner voices when you face those last five pounds - or that piece of cheesecake.

How did my mother do it? She used a sneaky little trick that might be just what you need to get you past those last five pounds. She decided that since she could never get that third week, she'd stop thinking of this as 'that third week'. Instead, she'd just focus on selling what she could today. Setting a new goal for herself relieved her of the pressure and negativity that had been holding her back.

Setting yourself a new goal can freshen your perspective and wipe away all the 'failures' that seem to be holding you back. Forget the 'last five pounds'. From this morning on, think of it as 'only five pounds'. When you only have to lose five pounds, how can you miss?

Strategic Weight Loss

2007-05-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

One of the first things that you'll do when you decide to lose weight is to set a goal weight. For most, that goal will be their 'ideal weight', but for many, that 'ideal weight' may be exactly the wrong weight for them to be aiming for.

Years of dieting or being overweight have the physiological effect of moving the body's concept of the 'ideal weight' from what is truly considered ideal. The 'set point' is the weight at which your body naturally feels most comfortable.

If you've been overweight for a very long time, or if you've consistently 'yo-yoed', your body may respond to your initial weight loss by lowering its metabolism because it believes that you are starving to death. This slowing leads to discouraging plateaus that often knock people off their diets entirely, and lead to regaining all or part of the lost weight.

Instead of aiming for an 'ideal weight' that calls for you to lose weight steadily for months or even years, many experts recommend aiming for shorter-term attainable goals. Since the bulk of diet research shows that most dieters lose weight steadily for about 12 weeks, then hit a plateau, that's the number that they suggest you aim for. The strategy that many have found works best for them is one of alternating periods of weight loss and maintenance, each lasting 8-12 weeks.

Choose a realistic amount of weight that you can lose in 8-12 weeks. Figuring that the most reasonable and healthiest weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds per week, 30 pounds in three months is not unreasonable. Diet until you reach that goal, or for 12 weeks, whichever comes first, and then switch to a maintenance diet.

Why switch to a maintenance diet at that point? In part, you're giving yourself a 'breather', a break from more restrictive eating. The other part, though, is that you're re-educating your body and letting it establish a new 'set point'. Once you've maintained your new weight for 8-12 weeks, set another weight loss goal, and move back into weight loss mode. By giving your body a break from 'starvation', you'll have overcome its resistance to losing more weight, and be back to dieting for 'the first two weeks' - the weeks that most people lose weight more rapidly.

You'll also be giving yourself a chance to 'practice' maintaining your new, healthier weight. Researchers have found that more than half of the dieters who take off significant amounts of weight do not maintain that weight loss once they go 'off' their diet. By practicing weight maintenance in stages, you'll be proving to yourself that you CAN do it, and removing a powerful negative psychological block.

This will work with any long-term weight loss diet, no matter the focus. You'll find it much easier to do if you choose a diet that has concrete 'phases', like the South Beach or the Atkins, since the weight loss and maintenance phases are clearly laid out for you to follow. Regardless of the diet you choose, though, by alternating between weight loss phases and maintenance phases, you'll teach yourself and your body how to maintain a healthy weight.

7 Things to Know About a Diabetic Diet

2007-05-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

John Mancini

If you have recently been diagnosed with diabetes, you are probably experiencing many emotions all at once. You have a lot of questions that need answers, one of which is how well can you control your disease with a diabetic diet. The diet that you follow will play a large roll helping you control your diabetes instead of your diabetes controlling you. 1- There are no sets of guidelines that have been written in stone for the control of diabetes for every person. However, there are certain things suggestions for all diabetes patients, in fact, for all Americans, that should be followed to maintain a healthy life style. These suggestions are based on US dietary guidelines for healthier eating. 2- These guidelines suggest limiting fat intake, limiting dietary cholesterol, a diet rich in fiber, eat fresh fruits in moderation, limit the amount of protein that is eaten and reduce your salt intake. The goal for everyone, especially those with diabetes, is to set a goal of five servings of fruit and vegetables, six daily servings of whole grain foods and two servings a week of fatty fish. 3- When buying the food that are needed for a diabetic diet, it is important to read the labels, it is especially important since most food labels show daily values based on a 2,000 calorie diet. This is higher than most diabetic diets allow for. Therefore, the values given will need to be recalculated into grams and calories and adjust that into their own diet plans. 4- When measuring foods for your diabetic diet, it is important to weigh the food also to get the right amount of daily caloric intake. Every diabetic should have a food scale that can measure down to the gram (equal to about 1/28 ounce), in addition to normal measuring spoons and cups. The food should be measured after it is cooked to ensure the right amount is being served. 5- The timing of meals is also important on a diabetic diet. No meal should be skipped, the reason for this is simple, especially for those individuals who are insulin dependent. If you skip meals, you run the risk of upsetting the delicate stability that exists between the insulin and the food consumption. For a lot of diabetes patient the administration of insulin is calculated to correlate closely with the timing of meals 6- Eating between meals is also discouraged for diabetic patients. This is because if too much food is eaten at the wrong times, it can lead to weight gain and mess with the work that the insulin injections are doing to control the disease. It is very important to follow the diabetic diet that is set up for you by your doctor. 7- If there are any questions regarding your diet or your diabetes in general, do not try to answer them yourself. Call your doctor, the office staff will be more than willing to set up an appointment for you to discuss any of the concerns you may have with your physician.

Start Losing Weight Today!

2007-05-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

I'll start my diet on Monday. How many times have you told yourself that? Right after New Years', I swear. Tomorrow. Are you tired of hearing yourself say the same old excuses day after day, month after month, year after year? If so, listen up! Here are five things you can do to start losing weight today!

Activate.

The most important ingredient in your weight loss plan is exercise. If you think that's a dirty word, it's time to clean it up. Exercise is just what you do every time you move. Starting today, resolve to activate your life. Leave the car keys behind and walk to the corner store.

Race yourself to get your housework done in ten minutes less time (because the more vigorous your movement, the more calories you burn). Get off the elevator one floor early and walk up the stairs. Every extra active thing you do will burn calories - and the more calories you burn, the more weight you'll lose.

When you're ready to really activate, get a physical workout designed with your interests in mind. Join a gym, take up a sport, or walk 10,000 steps a day. But don't wait until you think you can do it all. Just take a few extra steps today.

Motivate.

Grab a pen and notebook and start writing down all the reasons you should lose weight. Don't stop till you get to ten, at the very least. Here are some suggestions:

1. I’ll be healthier - losing as little as 10 pounds can decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes and a host of other weight-related illnesses.

2. I’ll save money. Super-size costs more - whether it's an extra $2 for the nightgown you want or having to travel first class for the seat space.

3. I’ll be able to keep up with my kids. It takes energy to keep up with kids, and extra weight saps your energy. Lose ten pounds and see how much better you feel.

4. I’ll get back into my favorite jeans.

5. I’ll find souvenir t-shirts that fit anywhere I go.

Cogitate.

Got your ten reasons? Don't stop writing. Keep that pen and notebook with you all day and write down every single thing you put into your mouth. Just for one day. You'll be surprised at all the 'unexpected' calories you catch yourself eating. The last two French fries on your son's plate. The two bites of chicken you tasted to make sure of the seasoning. The 'just one bite' of your husband's ice cream cone. The handful of potato chips you snagged from the bowl on your way by. Write down every single bite for one day to make yourself aware of all the food that you didn't even realize you were eating. Once you find it, you can start cutting it out.

Educate.

Take a trip to the Internet and visit these educational sites:

The American Heart Association
The USDA Food Pyramid
iVillage Diet and Nutrition section
The Diet Channel
The South Beach Diet web site
The Atkins Diet web site
The Mayo Clinic web site's Diet and Nutrition pages

Educate yourself about healthy diets and weight loss, and find a diet that you believe you can live with for the rest of your life. It's the only way that you'll lose weight and keep it off permanently.

Salivate.

If you think that diet food is boring, find a good low-fat cookbook and start re-educating your taste-buds. Healthy, low-fat, low-carb cooking is delicious - prove it to yourself with a recipe for dinner. While you're at it, pick one for tomorrow night, too. You can start your diet AGAIN
tomorrow!

Five Healthy Weight Loss Tips

2007-05-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of getting the same old advice when it comes to dieting? Are you looking for some quick tips to help motivate yourself during a diet? Why not follow along below to learn about some quick healthy weight loss tips?

Tip # 1: Take off five pounds quickly before a big event!

If you're generally in good shape, but you want to pare off a few
pounds to look your best before a big event like a class reunion, one of the best ways to do it is to cleanse your system. For the week before, skip the breads and pastas, eat lots of raw vegetables and salads, and drink at least eight ounce glasses of water a day. You'll not only end up slimmer, you'll feel 100% more energetic and healthy.

Tip # 2: Lose weight without dieting!

It's a lot easier than you think. The key is exercise. Just one half hour of moderate exercise per day will burn calories - and better yet, kick your metabolism into high gear so that you continue burning calories at a higher rate. Bonuses: you'll be doing your health a favor, too. The latest research shows that adding moderate exercise to your daily routine can help lower cholesterol, slow the progression of type-2 diabetes and improve your circulation. What's moderate exercise? A brisk one mile walk, half an hour of dancing, or chasing the kids around in a game of tag will do it.

Tip # 3: Start your day off right!

Don't skip breakfast when you're dieting, and don't go for the convenience of a 'nutrition bar'. Give your body the pick-me-up of fresh fruit in either juice or raw form, and the staying power of a whole grain. One of the best breakfasts you can have is a bowl of whole-grain cereal with fresh berries, melon or peaches. You get
the sugar your body craves, the carbs it needs to run on, and the added
benefit of antioxidant vitamins to help it stay on track and balanced.

Tip # 4: Take a high quality multivitamin every day.

There's no substitute for a diet that has a healthy balance of all foods, but it's far too easy to skimp on the essentials when you're dieting. Make sure that your body doesn't miss out on the nutrients it needs just because you're cutting calories. A good multivitamin should contain, at a minimum, the minimum recommended daily allowances of vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E and K. While you're at it, get out in the sun for at least ten minutes a day to help your body manufacture the vitamin D that it needs.

Tip # 5: Eat your veggies - especially your lettuce.

But don't confine yourself to iceberg lettuce or to salads. Darker greens have about the same number of calories and carbs, but pack a lot more punch in the vitamins and other nutrient categories. By substituting radicchio, watercress, escarole or spinach for the iceberg lettuce, you add vitamin C, riboflavin’s, manganese and other essential vitamins that aren't present in lettuce. Try them braised, steamed or grilled for something a little different from the usual salad.

Diabetes and Weight Loss

2007-05-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can be 'just a little bit diabetic'? The condition is technically called 'pre-diabetes', and it is characterized by persistent high blood sugar levels. Pre-diabetes is a serious condition, though its symptoms may be so subtle that you don't notice them affecting your life. More importantly, it's an indicator that there is something seriously wrong with your body. Left untreated, over 50% of those diagnosed with pre-diabetes will develop Type 2 diabetes within ten years.

If your doctor has told you that you are one of the more than 16 million Americans who has pre-diabetes, the American Diabetes Association has some very good news for you. In March 2005, the ADA released the results of the multi-year Diabetes Prevention Project. In a study that followed thousands of patients across the nation who had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, the Diabetes Prevention Project found that patients who lost a 'moderate' amount of weight reduced their risk of developing full-blown diabetes by over 58%. Even more encouraging, many of those patients had managed to reverse their condition, and their blood sugar levels were well within normal ranges.

This was a result that the researchers had not expected. Diabetes (and pre-diabetes) is the result of changes to cells in the pancreas that reduce the amount of insulin that they can produce. Doctors have always believed that those changes are irreversible. Now however, the research seems to suggest that losing weight with a healthy balance of exercise and diet can actually heal those early damages caused by diabetes.

Here's the even better news. Those results were achieved by people who lost 'moderate' amounts of weight - from 5-7% of their total body mass. In other words, if you weigh 200 pounds and have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, losing just 10-15 pounds can more than halve the risk of developing full-blown diabetes, and may reverse your condition entirely.

Here are some healthy weight loss tips from the American Diabetes Association:

1. Keep your diet balanced. Eat a variety of foods in all food groups, with an emphasis on grains, starches and fresh vegetables and fruit.

2. Learn to eyeball portions. Portion control is far more important than restricting what foods you eat. A 'portion' of raw vegetables may be considerably larger than a portion of the same vegetables cooked. There are some handy reference guides on their web site at www.diabetes.org

3. Add one half hour daily of moderate exercise to your daily routine five days a week. This one single lifestyle change seemed to be the key to both weight loss and the beneficial effects derived from it. It was the single significant difference between the two groups in the study.
The results of the Diabetes Prevention Project only confirm what has been the best advice in dieting circles for years - losing weight with a balanced diet and exercise is the healthiest way there is.

Lose Weight Fast For A Special Occasion

2007-04-30T04:07:00.000-07:00

If you have just a little weight to lose, and want to take it off fast (say, so you can fit into those great pants for your cousin's wedding), there are a number of diets that you can use. Most of these wouldn't be recommended for long-term weight loss, as they substantially restrict your intake of some essential nutrients, so using them habitually may not be healthy. But if you're normal diet is healthy, and you just want a quick boost to drop 8-10 pounds quickly, or to kick off a new diet with a bang, the Cabbage Soup Diet actually works.

The cabbage soup diet has been around for nearly 30 years. It's based on the notion that your body actually uses more calories to digest cabbage than the amount that it derives from cabbage. It's a so-called 'negative calorie diet', and includes many foods that, like cabbage, are high in fiber and very low in calories.

The base of the cabbage soup diet is - what else? Cabbage soup. There are several recipes for cabbage soup available. Essentially, the soup is made with onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, celery and spices to taste. You'll be eating the soup every day - as much of it as you want.

In addition, there is a seven day routine of foods to supplement the cabbage soup.

Day One: All the fruit you want (except bananas) along with all the soup that you want. No caffeinated beverages or sodas. Drink only water, tea and cranberry juice.

Day Two: Eat all the vegetables that you want, but avoid dried beans, peas and corn. Eat veggies raw, fresh or cooked. No fats, no sauces, no butter. At dinner, you may have one baked potato with butter - and of course, all the cabbage soup that you want!

Day Three: Eat all the fruits and veggies that you want from day two and day three - but NO baked potato.

Day Four: Bananas and skim milk - yes, all the skim milk you want, plus up to eight bananas, along with -- you guessed it, all the cabbage soup you want.

Day Five: Eat ten to twenty ounces of beef (or skinless chicken, or broiled fish). Drink at least 10 glasses of water, and eat up to six fresh tomatoes. (if you substitute for the beef today, you may not tomorrow)

Day Six: Eat all the beef, vegetables and cabbage soup that you want. No baked potato. Lots of leafy green vegetables.

Day Seven: You can have all the unsweetened fruit juices, brown rice, and vegetables that you want - and at least one bowl of soup.

That's it. Remember - this diet is NOT recommended for long term weight loss, or long term use. It doesn't contain enough complex carbohydrates to be healthy for longer than a few days. But if you just need a jump-start or a quick fix, it's a good way to pick up the pace for a week.

Dangerous Weight Loss Methods

2007-04-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

We're all looking for the magic bullet. You know - the one that we can take and lose weight without really trying! What would you give up to be skinny? How about your health? Some of these methods of weight loss just may cost you exactly that. Before you decide that the way to lose weight is to follow one of the below regimens, take a second look. Do your research and be sure that you understand the risks.

Prescription diet pills

Amphetamines are available only by prescription, and most doctors are leery of handing them out these days. While they do suppress appetite, you learn nothing about healthy eating, don't change your eating habits and are likely to gain the weight back the moment you stop taking them. In addition, they can be habit forming. The side effects include high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, sleeplessness, hallucinations and delusions

Ephedra

This all natural Asian herb is found in many herbal remedies and weight loss powders. It has a powerful appetite suppressant effect, but has been implicated in over 70 deaths.

Phentermine Fenfluramine-phentermine (fen-phen)

Fen-phen was a popular weight loss supplement in the 90s until it was implicated in deaths due to heart-valve damage. Phentermine alone is still sold in many weight loss aids. The side effects include headaches, dizziness, heart arrhythmia, high blood pressure and insomnia

Laxatives

One of those popular home remedies, used for purging. Regular use and abuse of laxatives can result in low potassium’s, arrhythmia and pancreatic damage

Artificial Sweeteners

Aspartame, the most commonly used artificial sweetener, has been implicated in multiple lawsuits alleging damages that include blindness, seizures and brain damage

Smoking

Afraid you'll gain weight if you quit smoking? The National Institute of Diabetes says that you'd have to gain 100-150 pounds to match the health risks you invoke by smoking. Instead, set up healthy strategies to help you deal with food cravings and put down the cigarettes.

Purging

Like laxatives, purging by forcing oneself to vomit or taking emetics can have very damaging effects on health. Depletion of nutrients like potassium and vitamins, damage to the esophagus from stomach acids, and esophageal rupture are all possible side effects

Diuretics

Taking diuretics encourages your body to rid itself of fluids - including vital electrolytes. The depletion can lead to dehydration, and cause your body to start retaining water, starting a vicious cycle. Repeated or prolonged use of diuretics can lead to kidney damage and serious electrolyte imbalances, which may result in kidney or heart failure.

Herbal Remedies

We have a tendency to equate 'herbal' with 'harmless', but say nutritionists, this isn't always the case. Remember that many medications are derived from herbs, and because of the lack of regulation, dosages of active ingredients can vary widely from one manufacturer to another. Below is a list of some of the most common ingredients found in herbal weight loss powders, along with cautions about their effects in certain conditions.

Ephedra (ma huang, ephedrine, ephedra extract, epitonin, ephdra sinica and sida cordifolia) should not be taken by people with heart, thyroid or kidney disease, or with hypertension

Cascara and Senna should not be taken by people taking diuretics (both are often found in herbal weight loss teas)

Selenium and Capsaicin should not be taken by people with bowel or digestive disorders

Kava should be avoided by people with mood disorders who are taking mood altering medication, and people with Parkinson's disease.

Gingko biloba, licorice root, and dong quay should not be taken by people who are taking blood thinners or anti-coagulants.

While weight loss is a worthwhile goal, guarding your health is an even more important one. Be sure that whatever weight loss method you choose won’t lead to other serious medical conditions.

Don't Undermine Your Diet

2007-04-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Let's start this article off right. You are not 'going on a diet'. Our concept of 'a diet' implies a temporary change that will work miracles - if we're only strong enough to stick to it. That way of thinking is encouraged by decades of 'fad diets' that promised us quick, low-effort weight loss, if we just ate this one miracle food. I still remember the Cabbage diet, the No-Carb diet and the Banana diet, among others. Over and over throughout the last 40 years, diets that advocated eating by a strictly enforced menu have been proven ineffective, or worse, dangerous.

Going on a diet also implies that you will eventually go off your diet - whether you 'fall off' it, or return to 'normal eating'. The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is to create a new eating plan that will BECOME your normal eating. And this is the place that most of the popular 'diets' fail. Any diet that restricts your intake of ANY necessary nutrients too severely will ultimately fail you. In order to lose weight and maintain your weight loss indefinitely, you need to teach yourself to eat a balanced diet in portions that your body needs.

Below is a list of common diet mistakes that will undermine your attempts to lose weight.

* DON'T restrict your intake to less than 1000 calories a day, unless you are under the supervision of a doctor. Restricting your intake that severely can lead to serious health complications. It also will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism so that it conserves your stores of food. In other words - your body will kick into gear to hold onto your fat so you don't starve to death.

* DON'T cut out one or more entire food groups, including fats. Your body needs an adequate intake of all nutrients in order to stay healthy. In every food group there are 'good' and 'bad' choices for weight loss Stick to the good ones, and you'll see your weight dropping without compromising your health.

* DON'T fast for extended periods without medical supervision. For the same reasons that you shouldn't restrict your intake of calories to less than 1000 a day, you shouldn't embark on a fast that lasts more than 48 hours without a doctor's supervision.

* DON'T purge. Purging, whether by emetics, diuretics, vomit-induction or laxatives robs your body of more than the nutrients that you're getting rid of. It's unsafe at any speed. You can end up with far worse problems than a few extra pounds.

* DO see your doctor before starting a serious diet. He or she can recommend a visit to a nutritionist to help you design a common sense weight loss plan that will naturally evolve into a healthy eating style that will last a lifetime.

Helping Your Child Lose Weight

2007-04-16T22:17:00.000-07:00

I was a chubby child. My mother, out of love and fear, tried everything to help me lose weight- bribes, threats, punishment, diets, commiseration, even hypnotism and diet pills. I usually lost weight, only to put it back on shortly after she stopped doing whatever she was doing. Her biggest worry was that I'd be unhappy - that I'd be picked on and unpopular, and no one would like me because I was fat. Now that I'm a mother myself, I can completely sympathize with her motives, but these days my concerns about my children's weight are far more serious than a little name-calling.

While the name-calling can be devastating, what's frightening these days is the growing evidence that obesity leads to serious health complications, even in young children. Doctors find that they're diagnosing children as young as ten or eleven years old with conditions that were once the province of middle-aged people. Diabetes, heart conditions, and arthritis - all of these conditions have a clear established connection with obesity, and more and more often, they are being seen BEFORE children reach adulthood. It's enough to scare a mother into the extreme methods that my mother used to try to take the pounds off of me, but there are healthier ways to help your child lose weight.

First: Consult a Doctor

Don't decide on your own that your child needs to lose weight. Many of us have grown up with distorted body images that we pass on to our children. Be sure that you're not seeing your child through your own misconceptions about 'ideals', and let a doctor make the judgment call.

If your doctor agrees that your child is overweight and should take off some pounds, your best bet is to serve up a healthy daily diet within the USDA Food Pyramid Guidelines and encourage daily exercise to help rev up his internal motors. Beyond that, here are tips for helping your child lose weight - while retaining a positive self-image.

* Put EVERYONE on a diet. Seriously. Since the best way for your child to lose weight is to eat a healthy, balanced diet in normal proportions, doesn't it make sense that your entire family will benefit from eating the same way? Your dieting child will feel far less deprived if everyone is eating the same foods.

* Serve an after school snack. It may be tempting to cut out the after school snacks, but the truth is you'll be doing harm rather than good. The human body was never designed for the 'three square meals a day' regimen that has been the norm for decades. A healthy snack in the mid-afternoon will provide fuel for afternoon play and stave off the 'I'm STARVING' feeling that leads to overeating at dinner.

* Shop smart. Leave the cookies and chips on the shelf, and instead grab the low-fat yogurt, fresh fruit and fruit cups, sugar free applesauce and other natural treats. If you make healthy snacks available and unhealthy ones hard to find, you'll keep temptation out of the way.
* Exercise with them regularly. Instead of just shooing them out to play - or taking away the Game boy, go out WITH them. Pull together a neighborhood kickball game, or take a walk around the block as a family. If you can get a family membership to a health club with a pool, make a family swim a once-a-week event. It's more than setting an example - it's having fun with your kids.

* Cook JUST enough food. Instead of trying to limit portions on the plate, limit them BEFORE you cook. Only prepare ONE portion per family member. That heads off requests for seconds before they even start asking. No, you can't have the last piece of chicken -- because there isn't one to have.

Follow those five suggestions, and chances are that no one in your family will even realize that someone is on a diet. And everyone will be healthier and happier.

Are You Getting All Of The Nutritional Supplements You Need?

2007-04-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Are you certain that your body is getting all the nutrients it needs? while you're dieting? Chances are that if you're following any restrictive diet plan, you may be missing some important vitamins or minerals. Any diet that heavily emphasizes one food group while completely restricting others is, by nature, lacking in some essential nutrients.

Isn't that part of the idea, though? The popular conception of dieting is that when we feed our bodies less calories than it needs, it will begin to take nutrition from the fat that it has stored. While that's true, there's a basic fallacy in thinking that your body can derive all the fuel it needs that way. Part of the problem with that assumption is that there are many nutrients that your body can't store. It simply uses what it needs and excretes the rest. Those nutrients must be consumed daily in one way or another, and if your diet doesn't allow for that, your body will show the effects.

If you're on a diet that severely restricts your intake of any particular food or food group, you may benefit from adding a nutritional supplement to your daily regimen. In fact, many doctors recommend that dieters take, at the very least, a complete, high-quality multivitamin to make up for any deficiencies caused by the restrictions. Other supplementation might be recommended depending on the diet you're following.

Below are some specific suggestions based on particular diets. The suggestions should not be taken as medical advice, nor is there any dosage recommendation. Instead, take it as a suggestion to discuss your diet with a nutritionist or dietician and ask for their advice on appropriateness or dosage.

On ANY Diet:

A full-spectrum multivitamin should be part of your daily routine no matter what you're eating or not eating. It will help even out the ups and downs of your diet, and supply some valuable nutrients that are difficult to get.

Sunshine. It may not come in pill form, but sunshine is one of the more important 'nutritional supplements'. It assists the body in making vitamin D, which is not derived from any food source. While doctors say that as little as 20 minutes of full sun a day can supply your daily requirement of vitamin D, they also caution that it's dependent on climate. If you live north of Philadelphia, you should take a vitamin D supplement to be sure that you get enough.

On a Low-Carb/High Protein Diet:

Antioxidant vitamins that are found in vegetables are a must. Scientists are learning more and more how important it is that our diets contain a full spectrum of vitamins, proteins, minerals and acids. If your diet cuts out most grains and vegetables, you should be replacing the nutrients you miss out on with supplementary vitamin A, C, B (all the B's), E and K. You should also supplement your intake of folic acid, and if you're not getting a significant amount of your protein from fish products, you'll need omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil, shellfish and flaxseed oil.

Keep in mind that the best diet is one that gives you a balance of nutrients, and that supplements should be exactly that - a supplement to your daily intake of nutrition.

A Simple Plan for Weight Loss

2007-04-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That's about 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week.

All right - that doesn't sound like much, especially if you're more than 25 pounds overweight. Study after study has shown, though, that those people who lose weight gradually - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week -are far more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for a lifetime.

So how much exactly IS 500 calories? If you're going to reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, it helps to know what you need to cut out, right? Here's how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day:

* Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup.
* Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories
* Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings? 200 calories
* Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. A fresh salad with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories
* Pass by the bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories
* Eat your corn on the ear. A 1 cup serving of canned corn has 165 calories. An ear of corn has 85. Savings? 80 calories.
* Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.
* Love those fries and can't give them up? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. Thin French fries absorb more oil than the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

If you'd rather look at losing weight from an exercise perspective, you can also lose one pound a week by upping your activity level by 500 calories a day. How easy is that to do? Take a look:

* Take a half-hour walk around the park. Aim for a pace that's a little faster than a stroll, but not fast enough to be breathless. Burn: 160 calories.
* Get out your bike and take a ride. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories
* Go dancing - and really DANCE. The longer you're out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you'll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour
* Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. Do a few laps at a slow crawl - if you can get up to an hour you'll be doing great! Burn: 510 calories
* Get out into your garden. An hour of gardening tasks that includes bending and stretching can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.
* Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you'll be amazed at the difference. One hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners around. Burn: 800 calories

It’s important to keep in mind that all exercise/calorie numbers are based on a woman weighing 130 pounds. If you weigh more, you'll burn more. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you build muscle by converting it from fat. Three guesses which kind of body tissue burns more calories - even when you're not exercising. You got it - your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For best results, mix and match food savings with exercises that burn calories. Do keep in mind that eating less than 1000 calories a day for more than a few days will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.