Are You in Control of Your Weight?

The fact is, you are in control of your weight.  But many people hold a belief that outside forces are responsible for the excess fat they carry.  Those who believe that their fate is determined by other factors see themselves as destined to be overweight and are helpless to do the work required to lose the extra weight.  As we start the new year with a resolution to lose that weight, once and for all, be mindful of what you believe:  Are you in control of your life?  Do you believe you can do it, after all?  Find out with this quiz I’ve adapted from a book called “Think Thin, be Thin” by Doris Helmering and Dianne Hales.

The New Generation of Sweeteners

A plant by the name of Stevia has been getting a lot of attention recently. It seems promising as a new generation of no-calorie sweetener: Great news for people watching their waistline as well as people with diabetes who limit their intake of sugar. One company, Cargill, manufactures a product made from Stevia under the brand name, Truvia.  Pepsi-Co is working with The Whole Earth Sweetener Company and they call their version PureVia.  Here’s the scoop: Truvia and PureVia both contain Rebiana.  This is a derivative of the leaves of the stevia plant. The companies that manufacture it (Cargill and Coca-Cola) report it “only consists of the best-tasting components of the stevia leaf”. The sweet leaf of the stevia plant is dried, steeped in water, and further purified to provide a calorie-free sweet taste.

How Much is a Serving?

You might be trying hard to watch your weight, even going as far as counting calories: But when you try to figure out what a serving size is, this is a stumbling block for many people.  Sometimes portions are listed in ounces or cups, and how are we supposed to know what an ounce of almonds translates to in actual nuts, or what a cup of pasta looks like on our plate?

Fat versus Carbs: Which Has More Calories?

The diet media barrages you with conflicting claims: Low fat diets are healthier; low carbohydrate diets promise quicker weight loss.  How can you tell what to believe?  Let’s take a look at each of these calorie-yielding nutrients a bit more closely.

Design Your Own Diet

Trying to figure out what to eat can be so overwhelming. You can make your own weight loss diet plan with the help of the food guide pyramid website. (www.mypyramid.gov)

First, find a great image of a food guide pyramid you can post somewhere convenient (just google food guide pyramid images). It’s an easy way to remind yourself what to eat and how many servings to have.

Believe it or not, your intake will be as low as 1200 calories if you choose the minimum recommended servings from each group (6 servings of grains, breads, and cereals; 2-3 fruits and 3-4 vegetables; 2-3 dairy servings; and 6 oz of lean meat per day) while limiting fats and sweets. That’s a low enough calorie intake for virtually anyone to lose weight.

There are no “bad” foods

The saying goes, “there are no bad foods; only bad diets”.  In other words, there is not a particular food that is bad for you, but if you tend to accumulate several foods a day that are high in fat and/or sodium, low in nutritional value and fiber–then you have a bad diet.

What Behaviors Lead to Weight Loss?

One way to predict who will be successful losing weight is to study people who have been successful and see what they have in common. A study in the International Journal of Obesity found some key behaviors people practiced which increased their odds of keeping off the weight.  You might try some of these to increase your own chances of getting the weight off and keeping it off.

Lose Weight By Logging

<br>

Since the 1970’s there have been dozens of studies showing that people who log what they eat end up losing weight.  That’s all they do!  They don’t buy special food, swear off of chocolate, pay loads of money to join diet groups, or start a 1200 calorie meal plan.

It started with a group of researchers who were going to conduct a study on a new diet plan.  The first instruction they gave the participants was to keep a detailed food journal.  The point was to gather information in order to have a good idea of what people were eating on their usual routine, then see what was going to have to change.  But the subjects came back in two weeks and surprised the team: they had already lost weight!

Lose Twenty Five Pounds Without Dieting

photo credit: VirtualErn

Do you ever think what you eat today doesn’t matter in the long run? Do you believe you’ll just ‘work it off’ tomorrow? Do you hate depriving yourself of a side of fries or a quick candy bar pick-me-up?

Newsflash! All it takes is cutting 250 calories a day to lose half a pound a week. Certainly nothing you’ll notice at the end of the week, but by New Year’s Eve you can lose six pounds, and by this time next year, a whopping 25! You don’t need to go on a diet or start jogging every morning for this to happen. Just start paying attention to those very-high-calorie items and either skip them or replace them with something less fattening.

Marijuana and Dieting is like Oil and Water

photo credit: Bug-a-Lug

In 2006, 25 million Americans over the age of 12 abused marijuana according to NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). With so many adults included in that group, it wasn’t much of a surprise when I received an email from a loyal reader inquiring about a marijuana based diet.

“Smoking marijuana makes you hungry so it must boost the metabolism right? If you can fight through the hunger by drinking more fluids you can lose a ton of weight.”