Have You Set Your “No Eating Zone”?

One of the most basic rules for weight loss is “only eat in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table”. This limits the amount of food that is consumed between meals or without thinking, because usually snacks are not eaten sitting down at the table. Hundreds of calories can be scarfed down munching on a bag of chips while searching for something in the pantry to make for dinner, or mindlessly popping nuts into your mouth while scanning the newspaper.  READ MORE >>

How to Beat Your Cravings – Every Time

Maybe your diet was going along swimmingly for days or even weeks. You were sticking to your meal plans, avoiding certain foods, and turning down chocolate, cake and chips.

And then you had a craving for something. Perhaps you just had to have a chocolate bar. Maybe you couldn’t stop thinking about ice-cream.

Whatever it was, you cracked, and you ended up eating rather a lot of all the wrong sorts of things.

So how can you beat your cravings next time? Here are a few “do”s and “don’t”s to try…  READ MORE >>

What’s Leptin Got to Do With It?

How to Eat More Mindfully (And Diet More Effectively)

Do you often end up eating on the run, grabbing lunch at your desk, or scoffing down dinner in front of the television?

Many of us do – and it’s one of the key reasons why we end up overeating. If we’re distracted during a meal, we’re likely to miss our body’s cues that we’re getting full. We also won’t get so much enjoyment from the food.

Eating mindfully means that you concentrate on the meal or snack which you’re enjoying, rather than shoveling food into your mouth while your thoughts are on something else entirely. I’ve come across the idea several times, but I particularly like this explanation from Willie Hewes:  READ MORE >>

Share Your Calories With a Friend

One of the best ways to diet is to share your calories with a friend! Think of all the foods that have a part you favor: maybe it’s the pizza you love, but not the crust; the icing but not the cake; the clams but not the chowder; the chocolate chips more than the cookie. I know some of you are saying, ‘I love ALL the parts’, but surely there are times you finish a portion you’re just not that into simply because it’s in front of you.  READ MORE >>

Five Ways That Carrying a Notebook Can Help You Diet

When you’re on a diet, it’s the little things which make the difference between success and failure. Ditching a daily soda and a donut is enough to let you lose a pound every week … but similarly, an extra snack or a sneaky nibble here and there will stop you making progress (or even see you piling the weight back on).

When it comes to exercise, most of us neither want nor need to be marathon runners. A half-hour daily walk, and ten minute of stretches during the commercial breaks on TV, is enough to start getting fitter and healthier.  READ MORE >>

Help With Your Weight Loss Diet Is Easy to Find!

There have been many studies conducted over the past few years to find out if the internet can be a useful tool to aid in dieting. And the results are in: The answer is a resounding, “yes”! There are many types of programs on the world wide web that assist dieters in reaching their goal. Here are a few examples:  READ MORE >>

Eat Less Salt or The FDA Will Make Sure You Do

Salt is a common staple in many household foods. In fact, many of the foods have excessive amounts of salt in them, and we might not even realize it.Lately an effort is being made to put pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help reduce the amount of salt found in many processed foods. They are proposing that the salt in processed foods be reduced in steps, so as not to affect the flavor too much at one time.  READ MORE >>

Why You Shouldn’t Strive to be Super-Skinny

Do you ever feel like your diet is taking over your life? Perhaps you started off aiming to lose a few pounds and to have a bit more energy … but now you find yourself more and more driven towards getting the perfect figure and eating the perfect diet.

Maybe you’re looking at celebrities who work out for hours every day. Perhaps you’re feeling intimidated by a guru extolling the virtues of raw food eating. You might just feel that you’re on a journey with no end, where your body will never look just how you want.  READ MORE >>

Study Shows a Good Laugh Might Promote Weight Loss?

Most people have experienced a moment that induces laughter so robust that it bring tears, causes stomach muscle contractions and effects breathing. But could you really benefit from incorporating laughter into your diet plan? Dr. Michael Miller, the director at the Center of Preventative Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, discovered that laughing for 15 minutes causes blood vessels to dilate in the same way as engaging in aerobic activity. People are beginning to believe that laughter could be an alternative to physical exercise in maintaining overall health.  READ MORE >>

Awww, Nuts!

Obesity Causes Potential Risk For Future Military & National Security

The obesity problem in America costs consumers billions of dollars every year in weight related illnesses, effects children’s performances in school and in social settings and is crippling the US military.

Michelle Obama is leading a campaign to fight childhood obesity. The program includes training and help for parents to encourage proper eating habits and lifestyles in children. Youngsters not only learn to make proper food choices, but must have adequate amounts of physical activity to remain healthy. Typically, a child requires 60 minutes of exercise or active play daily. Many of today’s youth spend the majority of recreational time in front of a TV or video game. It is estimated that children spend up to 7 hours a day engaged in sedentary activities.  READ MORE >>

Gentle Eating

I was watching “Ruby” the other day–a show about a woman who weighed over 700 pounds and her journey to continue losing weight–and they introduced an exercise called “gentle eating” in her support group. Ruby has a gathering each week she calls “women’s fat night” where she and her overweight friends gather to talk about their problems with eating. Recently she’s enlisted a therapist to join their group and lead them through helpful activities to learn more about why they eat too much. And this week the focus was on gentle eating.  READ MORE >>

Getting Your Diet Off to a Great Start

You’ve been carrying some extra weight for years. Perhaps you’ve always been a little dissatisfied with your size, or your fitness levels. You may have been on diets in the past, only to give up quickly. But you’ve decided that now, it’s time to do something about your extra weight – for good.

When we start off a journey towards a new goal (such as losing 50lbs), we might feel like nothing can stop us. We feel motivated and energized to do whatever it takes to get to our target weight. Harness that motivation at the start of your diet, and make sure you start getting good habits and routines in place, so that you’re helped along when your willpower fades.  READ MORE >>

The Latest Silly Fad Diet: “The Baby Food Diet”

photo credit: yoshimov

Ten Little Tricks for Enjoying Exercise More

Many dieters view exercise as a chore. If you associate jogging with tedium, or the gym with being bored, then you’ll be forcing yourself forwards by sheer willpower – which means that there’ll almost certainly come a point where you simply give up (and feel a mix of relief and guilt).

But you don’t need to dread your exercise sessions. There are lots of easy tricks to make exercise more enjoyable.

1. Put on Your Favorite Music  READ MORE >>

Where Did All This Weight Come From?

As I spend this month studying extensive amounts of literature in preparation for my level II weight management certification, I am learning a great deal about the science behind obesity. There are behavioral factors and chemical factors; hormones produced by the body that tell us when we are hungry and others that signal when we are full; environmental situations and emotional experiences that cause us to eat more or less. But largely, it comes down to what our habits are and what we choose to eat on a fairly regular basis.  READ MORE >>

Low-Calorie “Juice” A Big Disappointment

Have you seen the ads for Trop50? The new fruit juice “goodness” with 50% less calories and sugar … and no artificial sweeteners? I was so excited when I first saw the ad for this product, I ran to the store to check it out. “Finally!” I thought, “A fruit juice without added sugar!” After all, why add sugar to fruit juices and canned fruits–it just adds calories and carbohydrates to our diet that are unnecessary. It makes us raise the bar on our desire for the taste of sweet on our tongue. It adds no nutrition and insults Mother Nature. I despise when companies bottle juices and can fruit and then have the nerve to add sugar to them.  READ MORE >>

Five Ways to Improve Your Body Image

Many dieters struggle with body image. If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s a fair probability that part of your motivation is that you want your body to look different. Perhaps you’d like to have a smaller waist, slimmer thighs, or more toned arms.

Even while you’re making healthy progress, though, it’s important to work on your body image. It’s not healthy to hate yourself, or to think that you’re ugly – because you’re not.

If your feelings towards your body are less than kind, here are five simple ways to start improving your body image.  READ MORE >>

Picking Yourself Up After a Weight Gain

It happens to almost every dieter at some point. You lose some weight – perhaps 10lbs or 20lbs or even more. And then, well, life just gets in the way. Perhaps it’s a pregnancy, a vacation, a busy spell at work, Christmas … whatever the reason, you end up eating more than usual, and stacking that weight right back on.

If you’ve ever had that dismaying experience of staring down at the scales, realising that you’ve put on most or all of the weight you’d lost, you’ll know how dispiriting it can be. You might think about giving up. But here’s how to make the most of what you’ve already achieved – and get yourself back on the path to success.  READ MORE >>

Are Diet Pills For Me?

Many people who want to lose weight often wonder if there really is a magic pill out there. If so, which one is it? How does it work? and What can I expect from it? Are any of them safe? Will any of them keep the weight off? Here’s the scoop on diet pills: Several are available that do work. They work in different ways and each individual should sort through the facts with their personal physician.  READ MORE >>

Six Dieting and Exercise Tips for Rainy Days

I live in the UK, where, even by our standards, it’s been a long, cold and rainy winter! So I know how hard it is to stay motivated with dieting and exercise when the weather’s awful. Not only does it make going outside for exercise a hassle, it drags your mood down too – not a combination which any dieter wants.

However, a rainy day (or a rainy week) doesn’t need to be an excuse to quit your diet. Here are six ways to make the most of those rainy days:  READ MORE >>

Are Snacks Ruining Your Diet?

When I was a student, I was always on and off diets. Usually, my meals were very virtuous: lots of salads and vegetables, and small portions of carbohydrates and lean meats. Unfortunately, I often found that the calorie count crept up on the inbetweens … chips, chocolate, alcohol and other snacky foods.

Of course, we all know that healthy snacks– perhaps a piece of fruit or a small sandwich – can be a great way to fill the gap between meals and keep our energy levels. However, all too often our snacking involves the wrong sorts of foods. Just look at recent reports in the UK of movie theaters serving buckets of popcorn containing 1,800 calories – that’s enough for some small women for an entire day!  READ MORE >>

ATD: How do I Help my Overweight Child?

My son is 10yrs old 125pounds wears 18husky and has asthma.I have spoke to several physicians with limited help. Is there any advise you can give me? ‘Im lost and need help. La’Chelle

Dear La’Chelle,

I’m so glad you are motivated to help your child change his weight and his eating habits at this young age. There is still plenty of time to get him to learn new ways of eating so when he’s on his own he’ll know the right choices to make and be in the routine of eating healthy to maintain a lifelong healthy lifestyle.  READ MORE >>

Diet 101: Dealing with Setbacks

It was bound to happen…. you were going along so well on your diet, sticking with it for more weeks than you knew possible, even exercising! The pounds were coming off, one by one, and you were so proud of yourself. Then, something happened. Maybe you had a crisis at work or a close relative became ill. Maybe you started a new relationship or went on vacation. Bad or good, life events can throw our diet off course. Now you’re discouraged, angry at yourself, and wondering if you should toss the whole deal out the window.  READ MORE >>