Archive for the ‘weight loss’ Category

Ten Strategies To Diet and Exercise Success

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

The American Heart Association Analyzes Which Lifestyle Programs Work

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over one third of deaths in the US, killing an American every 37 seconds. Want to live an extra seven years? That would be the average increase in life expectancy if CVD was totally vanquished.

The American Heart Association wants physicians to be able to recognize and recommend effective ways to lose weight and exercise more.

To combat CVD, the American Heart Association (AHA) put dozens of researchers to work reviewing hundreds of studies on lifestyle change programs. The goal of this project was to identify the interventions that help people exercise more, lose weight, and eat healthier. The AHA summarized their findings in a 37 page scientific statement published July 12, 2010.

The AHA reinforced the role of activity, weight, and eating in preventing CVD. Their statement points out that black and Hispanic immigrants are initially at lower risk for this condition than US-born citizens in the same ethnic groups. However, as the immigrants adopt an American diet and sedentary lifestyle, CVD becomes a harsh reality for them. Since cardiovascular disease is so closely related to lifestyle and obesity, better habits could help prevent illness and death for everyone.

The AHA statement distilled ten strategies that can effectively change the way people think, act, and (more…)

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Weight Loss – Success At Last

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Why Whole Foods Are the Key to Keeping Pounds Off

The obesity epidemic in the US remains a puzzle to researchers and policymakers. A widely publicized report issued in June 2010

Yes, you can enjoy pasta and still lose weight. Just choose whole grain pasta. It will take about 3 weeks for your tastebuds to adjust to its heartier flavor.

concluded obesity “threatens America’s future.” Both the health and financial costs are staggering and unsustainable.

In just the past year, the adult obesity rate rose in 28 states, falling only in the District of Columbia. If everyone were a healthy weight, Medicare costs would be 8.5% lower and Medicaid would be 11.8% lower.

There’s only one problem. The mainstream nutrition guidelines the report describes to get everyone thin don’t work. These dietary recommendations had the Federal stamp of approval for the last five years, yet obesity rates have skyrocketed in that time.

A complete change in how Americans eat is the answer. Half measures are basically (more…)

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Not-Meal Plans: Permanent, Hunger-Free Weight Loss

Friday, May 14th, 2010

A Whole Foods Diet Does Not Have to Be Bound to a Clock

Meal plans are a hallmark of most diets. You are expected to get hungry on cue, and wait until a specific time to eat again. If you

Soup is ideal for not-meals. You can eat a cup or a bowl, depending on how hungry you are.

are famished between meals, you might be allowed a small snack – probably not enough food to satisfy.

Meals are a human invention. These prescribed times to eat serve to carve up the day, leaving long stretches to be devoted to work. Everyone gets synchronized on pretty much the same rhythm. This may be good for societal functioning, but is not so good for your body.

Hunger is a fundamental instinct and need. Your ancestors, foraging in nature, undoubtedly ate when they were hungry and food was available. Wild animals, living as nature intended, will eat off and on the entire time they are awake.

Your naturally perfect body knows when you need fuel and nutrients. Our understanding of nutrition and physiological

functioning is still far from complete. To second guess your body’s signals to eat is a recipe for failure in the long-run, and often even in the short-run.

The Perfect Formula Diet eating plan urges you to eat when you are moderately hungry and stop when you are full. If you wait until you are famished to eat, you are far more likely to let your appetite get out of control. The end result is that you stuff yourself with too much (more…)

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Whole Foods for Health and Weight Loss Make All the Difference

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Kathy’s Success Can Be Yours Too

At age 65, Kathy Keller is more active than many people half her age. Although recently retired, she rarely takes time to pause. Her pursuits include chasing after her energetic 3 year old granddaughter, overseeing a major remodeling project, frequent travel, and almost daily volunteer commitments.

Kathy describes the typical foods she grew up with as “the standard American diet of the Midwest.” Her childhood staples included white bread, whole milk, meat, fried chicken, eggs, Velveeta, canned fish, ice cream, and pies. She also developed a taste for some

Kathy is an inspiration for the power of commitment

Kathy is an inspiration for the power of commitment

healthy foods, though, in peanut butter, home grown vegetables, and salad.

In the late 1980s, Kathy’s teenage son became vegetarian, and she decided that was the food path for her to follow as well. Six years ago, she discovered macrobiotics and became “more rigorous” about a whole foods diet based on organic, locally grown food and including miso, umeboshi plums, and sea vegetables. Here, in Kathy’s words, is how lifestyle choices impacted her health and weight.

“My health has been generally good since becoming vegetarian 22 years ago. However, having a sedentary/high stress lifestyle while I worked (retired 2007), over-indulging my sweet tooth, continuing to eat fish and dairy foods, not getting enough exercise, and aging all contributed to a 30 to 35 pound weight gain over the last five years. The Perfect Formula Diet has been instrumental in reversing this negative trend. I lost 10 pounds in my first three weeks of following this diet scrupulously… With The Perfect Formula Diet, I’ve lost weight that I needed to lose; I enjoy what I eat and am more satisfied after eating; I no longer get ravenously hungry between meals; I take pleasure in cooking for myself and others; and I feel good about the food choices that I make.”

Commitment has been absolutely critical to Kathy’s success. She makes sure she always has whole plant foods available and charts her success to maintain her resolve.

Kathy’s caring for others shows up in her food choices as much as in her service in a soup kitchen for the homeless. “Our small planet is burdened in so many ways: lower yield per acre than is optimal to feed an ever-growing population; environmental damage from (more…)

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Commitment Is the Engine of Weight Loss

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Easy Tips to Strengthen Your Commitment to a Whole Foods Diet

A whole foods diet is the vehicle that will deliver permanent, hunger-free weight loss. Commitment is the engine that makes this vehicle move. Knowledge of the weight and health benefits of unprocessed plant foods will make you comfortable with this top-of-the line diet. But facts alone are static and are not likely to get you to your goals.

Commitment is a drive that you consciously build. At first, this can require much effort. Later, commitment becomes more of a habit and worldview, reinforcing itself every time you make a positive choice.

Willpower is different, and necessarily short term. When you rely on willpower, you force yourself to do something you really don’t want to do. For example, if you don’t like your job, it takes enormous willpower to show up every day. Taking the unwanted, even

Commitment makes choosing whole foods this easy and fun

Commitment makes choosing whole foods this easy and fun

dreaded, action becomes harder each time you do it.

In contrast, commitment becomes easier over time. Eventually your choices are as effortless as floating in a refreshing pool on a hot summer day.

Commitment will keep you consistently on track to take actions you desire, but which may be drowned out by other choices if you don’t stay focused. Consider moving toward a whole foods diet as one example. You actually want to eat healthy food and learn to build your taste for crunchy vegetables, sweet fruits, and whole grain breads. To get there, you need to break old habits, overcome lazy inertia, and retrain your appetite. So commitment moves you from longing to success.

Many strategies enhance the dedication that real commitment requires. One of the most effective methods is to focus on a cause outside your own self-centered concerns. The power of caring is enormous. If weight loss is your goal and a whole foods diet is your method, choose the cause that has the most emotional impact to keep you on track. You can focus on slowing climate change through a sustainable diet, ending animal suffering, or feeding hungry people with grain otherwise destined to become animal feed.

The more methods you use to foster commitment, the sooner and more completely you will succeed. Visualization is a readily (more…)

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