Archive for February, 2009
Feb 28th
The Hunger Scale
By Bob Greene, bestselling author of The Best Life Diet.
When you’re hungry, you need a strategy in place to help you handle your appetite. That’s why I recommend the hunger scale. This tool for gauging how hungry you feel is going to help you set some limits and avoid eating mindlessly. When you use it properly, the scale allows you to get feedback from your body so that you know when to stop eating.
The hunger scale is a 10-point scale based on the different stages of physical fullness (or emptiness.) The beauty of the scale is that it gives you guidelines and lets you see that hunger isn’t just hunger — there are times when you do need to eat and times when you can get by without eating.
More than anything, the scale will help you avoid the peaks and valleys of hunger; you’re not going to feel stuffed, and you’re not going to be ravenous. That, in turn, is going to lead to smarter, more mindful eating, and as a result less body fat. It may feel awkward to use the scale at first, but after a while you’re not even going to have to think about it; cutting off your eating at the appropriate time will just come naturally.
The scale below helps you answer two questions: ”Do I need to eat?“ and, when you’re already eating, ”Should I eat more?“
10 Stuffed: You are so full, you feel nauseous.
9 Very uncomfortably full: You need to loosen your clothes.
8 Uncomfortably full: You feel bloated.
7 Full: You feel a bit uncomfortable.
6 Perfectly comfortable: You feel satisfied.
5 Comfortable: You’re more or less satisfied but could eat a little more.
4 Slightly uncomfortable: You’re just beginning to feel signs of hunger.
3 Uncomfortable: Your stomach is rumbling.
2 Very uncomfortable: You feel irritable and unable to concentrate.
1 Weak and light-headed: Your stomach acid is churning.
When you begin eating, your hunger level should be at 3 or 4. But keep in mind, don’t skip meals if you’re not at 3; it’s important to adhere to the three-meals-a-day guideline.
What you don’t want to do at any time of the day is fall below a 3 or 4, because that means you’ve waited too long to eat, making you vulnerable to overeating. When you’re feeling starved, you want to eat anything and everything in sight.
You should stop eating when you get to 5 on the hunger scale. That’s the point at which you can be confident that you are eating a little less than what your body is burning. You’re not really hungry, but you’re not really full either, an indication that you are just slightly undereating.
You don’t ever want to hit the point where you feel even a tiny bit uncomfortable: satisfied, yes; uncomfortable, no.
The great thing about the hunger scale is that after you’ve used it for a while, knowing when to stop eating is going to become almost like second nature. It will still be a conscious act, but not one you have to think much about.
Low-carb? Low-fat? Study finds calories count more
Feb 26th
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
AP – Debbie Mayer, who was part of the clinical trial, poses at her home in Brockton, Mass.
LOS ANGELES – Low-fat, low-carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn’t matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it, according to a federal study that followed people for two years. However, participants had trouble staying with a single approach that long and the weight loss was modest for most.
As the world grapples with rising obesity, millions have turned to popular diets like Atkins, Zone and Ornish that tout the benefits of one nutrient over another.
Want To Lose Weight? Relax
Feb 18th
By Martha Edwards
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Meditation and yoga may not burn as many calories as a tough session on the treadmill, but they might be the most effective activity you can do if you want to lose weight, according to recent studies. Experts believe that relaxing might be the key to successfully battling the bulge because it can help eliminate your cravings for fatty and sugary foods.
The reason why is pretty simple: “By learning and practising relaxation techniques as part of a wider lifestyle change programme, women have effective tools to manage stress and emotions without resorting to unhealthy eating,” says Dr. Caroline Horwath of the University of Otago in New Zealand. And, according to the findings, weight loss achieved through relaxation was maintained in the long run — which is not true of most dieting approaches.
So relax! Of course, by that, we mean take some time to yourself to do something healthy. Relaxing in front of the TV with a jumbo-sized bag of chips doesn’t count.
Lose Fat Without Changing Your Diet
Feb 7th
Mike Roussell PhD(c)
Strategies on how to lose fat normally centers on specific dietary approaches. However, there are many factors aside from controlling how many grams of fat you consume each day that can help accelerate your fat loss. In this article we will look at two different nutrition research studies that reveal key strategies for effective and permanent weight loss.
Weight Gaining Behavior – A 2004 study published by Dr. David Levitsky examined the eating behaviors of college freshman at Cornell University. He found that the students whom gained the most weight had 3 common characteristics:
1. “All You Can Eat” Dining
2. Snacking On High Fat Junk Foods
3. Increased Frequency of Snacking on Junk Foods
ABC's of Slim
Feb 1st
Ready to ditch some pounds? Start with the right vocabulary
by: Amy Paturel
A is for Alcohol
You booze, you lose: A daily serving of hooch may be better for keeping off weight than abstaining. Alcohol may increase leptin, a hormone that curbs your appetite for sweets. To get the perks with minimal calories, order a glass of sauvignon blanc (119 calories per 5 ounces). See WH’s Top Wine Recommendations.
B is for Buddies
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine compared solo dieters to teams of dieters. After 10 months, the latter were likelier to have maintained their loss (66 percent versus 24 percent). Find a bud 24/7 at weightlossbuddy.com.
C is for Cortisol
Your adrenal glands secrete this stress hormone to help you handle threats, but too much can be bad news. Last year, researchers at the University of Leeds in the U.K. linked high levels of cortisol to increased snacking on junk food. Spend the cash you’d pay for a big dinner on a stress-reducing massage. And take a bite out of WH’s Stress-Reducing Foods.
D is for Density
A yearlong study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found women eating water-rich foods low in calories but high in nutrients (like veggies) as part of a low-fat diet lost more weight than those who only cut back on fat. They were less hungry than the low-fat-only bunch, too, most likely because they ate 25 percent more food by weight. Go for grub with an energy density (calories per serving ÷ weight in grams of serving) of 2 or less. Or snag ideas from Barbara Rolls’ The Volumetrics Eating Plan, which lists the energy densities of dozens of foods. Get mouth-watering, easy vegetable recipes from WH’s Recipes Page.
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