Dieting Tips

There is no time like the present to begin a diet. We all can put it off until tomorrow. However, change begins in the present.

There are a lot of articles and books written on the topic of dieting. Here we will give you some basic tips to give you a head start. We can call these the ABCs of dieting. If these tips are followed the roadway to success will be paved with more than good intentions.

The ABCs are easy to remember and yet these are topics we all know already. The secret is to DO these. The difference from success or failure is a two-letter word, DO.

The other important factor in these ABCs is REDO. If we fail, no, WHEN we fail we need to REDO. We will all fail from time to time. It is then that we need to remember to REDO. Start again. Move forward and let go of the past.

ABCs

Add Fiber Roughage is very important. This is sometimes also called fiber. We dont have to eat cups of bran cereal that taste like cardboard. We can eat vegetables. The best kind is fresh, the next best is frozen, and the least best is canned. However, if you cannot get the fresh, do the frozen. If the frozen does not work for you, get canned vegetables. The important thing to do is to eat vegetables. Many vegetables contain sulforaphane, which are known to be anti-cancer ingredients (Kendal-Reed. Alive.Com, 2006).

Fiber does not add nutrition but it does add health. Roughage aids in the proper working of the intestinal tract. This assures that the body does not hold on to the food for too long. The longer the body takes to process the food the more calories it absorbs. This is why elimination is so vitally important.

Rebecca Webber, (Prevention, August 2006) suggest 4 grams of fiber per meal and per snack. She cites a recent Tufts University study, which documented that the women who ate 13 grams of fiber or less per day were five times as likely to be overweight as those who ate more fiber (Webber, 2006).

Be Active Stay active as much as possible. We are so accustomed to the easy life, from the remote control to the riding lawn mower. We can make some simple changes to add a few more steps each day. Getting up to change the channel on the TV probably wont work because most of us would not know where or how to change the channel without the remote control. However, there are other steps we can take. We can park at the bank and go inside instead of going through the drive through. We can take the stairs and not the elevator. We can take a walk after dinner instead of watching the extra TV show. Dont look for the closest parking space but rather take the extra steps. Rebecca Webber cited a University of South Carolina study of 109 people revealed that those who took 5,000 steps per day were heavier than those who typically took more than 9,000 steps (Prevention, August 2006). Extra steps make a difference.

Limit your work. For many of us it is very easy to continue working because the work is always there. We must make a commitment to ourselves to put ourselves first. For those of us who are workaholics, this is a hard one to control. However, it is too easy to do less when we work so long that we have nothing left after work. That is why we do not take that evening walk. That is why we do not go to visit friends or go do that errand after work. When we work too long it is too easy to be sedentary all evening.

Control Stay in control. This is an unusual tip. One not voiced by many. Get in a habit of saying NO. Say NO to the extra TV shows, and instead go to bed early. Getting plenty of sleep is important to weight loss. Say NO to sugars. When we have a choice of cake or fruit for desert, choose the fruit. Even if the fruit was packed in syrup it is better than the cake inundated with sugar and starches. Say NO to fat. When we have a choice of baked potatoes or French fries, choose the baked potato.

What is amazing about this control factor is that the more we say NO the easier it is. Therefore, we suggest you say NO to things that you do not care about but make a mental note that you said NO. This is practice for the NO that will come later that will be difficult. The more we say NO the more normal it will be for us to say NO in difficult situations. Remember this, compromise starts when a NO is replaced with Oh Well, its just.

Sean Hyson in Mens Fitness Magazine (Dec/2006 - Jan/2007) relates the efforts of a mechanical engineer, Mike Ogorek, who got mad enough to do something. Mike went from 333 pounds in 2001 to 194 pounds in 2006. He got mad and used that for energy to fuel his determination. He began to say NO to his normal two Quarter-Pounders with Cheese with super-sized fries and super-sized Mountain Dew(Hyson, 2006/2007).

Another interesting tip is to keep meal journals. It can be very enlightening to keep a meal journal. Nibblers eat more than we know by snacking just a little here and there. It can make a big difference, especially if it is high sugar or high fat snacks. It has often been said that its the small things that makes the difference.

These ABCs of dieting are a good start for us to begin to take control of our lives and begin down that road to success.

In Obesity, Brain Becomes 'Unaware' Of Fat
Critical portions of the brain in those who are obese don't really know they are overweight, researchers have reported in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. These findings in obese mice show that a sensor in the brain that normally detects a critical fat hormone - causing a cascade of events that keeps energy balance in check - fails to engage. Meanwhile, the rest of the metabolic pathway remains ready to respond. [click link for full article]

Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat?
Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin - the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick - can reduce the growth of fat cells. The study is scheduled for the March 21 issue of the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. [click link for full article]

Obesity At The Time Of Prostate-Cancer Diagnosis Dramatically Increases The Risk Of Dying From The Disease
Obese men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than two-and-a-half times the risk of dying from the disease as compared to men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The findings by senior author Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., and colleagues appear online and will be published in the March 15 print edition of the journal Cancer. [click link for full article]

Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits And Vegetables, According To Two Recent Studies
"Eat your vegetables" has been heard at the dinner tables of America for a long time. Has the message gotten through? Since 1990 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has recommended consuming at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables daily. However, two studies published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine clearly show that Americans are not meeting the mark. [click link for full article]

Philips 598: The Phone For Weight-Conscious Women
Philips are releasing a cell phone targeted towards women. What's intriguing about the phone is the feature set. The features include both a Body Mass Index calculator and a Basal Metabolic Rate feature. Apparently women need to be able to calculate their BMI anywhere anytime....

Research In Childhood Obesity In Children Highlights Physical Activity Levels
A British study, involving 5,500 children and published in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine, used accurate methods to measure the 'fat mass' of the children and the amount of physical activity they were taking. The researchers, based at the University of Bristol, concluded that low levels of activity, particularly moderate and vigorous activity, play an important role in the development of obesity. [click link for full article]

Splenda Buys Hundreds of Anti-Splenda Domains
The makers of Splenda have been busy. Busy enough to purchase over 211 domain names - such as SplendaKills.com, SplendaPoison.com, SplendaVictims.com. It is an elaborate and insidious ploy to prevent any negative information being written on-line....