diet

Are You Waiting For The Perfect Time To Start Your Diet?

March 8, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do the stars, moon, sun, and all the planets need to be in alignment for you to start your diet?

Diet, not a word I usually use, implies deprivation and a way of life that is not easy, comforting, and fun. So no wonder there are tons of excuses and reasons not to start.

Does This Sound Familiar?

You’ve decided that you want to lose weight. Do any of these thoughts and actions seem familiar:

“I’ll wait until Monday to start” – and then you eat enough over the weekend to gain more weight.
“Wow, it’s Monday, but so and so’s birthday is Wednesday and we’re going out to dinner and then there will be cake – so I might as well wait until after Wednesday to start.” And then it’s Thursday and you go back to “I’ll wait until Monday.”
“I don’t have the right kind of food in the house and it’s raining outside and I can’t get to the gym – so I might as well chow down today and wait until I can stock up on the right stuff” (and when is that?).
“I was so ‘good’ all week and then on Friday I went out and had drinks and dessert and a ton of bread. So I figured I ‘blew it’ and might as well eat what I want all weekend. I can start again on Monday.” Of course Monday comes along and another verse is added to this tune.

There’s Always A Reason — Or An Excuse

You get the idea. You can always find a reason not to start your new healthy eating plan or activity program. How about listing the compelling reasons to want to start.

Try A Different Way Of Thinking

Diets don’t work. Maybe they do for the short-term for some of you, but it’s rare to have long lasting weight loss from a restrictive diet mentality.

Try a different approach. Healthy eating habits are the key to success. Finding what works for the long term may require some out of the box thinking and creative solutions. Go for it and give it time. Just start.

Have you ever watched an athlete look for an opening through a crowded field of players all trying to obstruct his or her way? The athlete just keeps looking for an opening – an opportunity. The choice might be unconventional and require lateral movement or some pulling back before surging forward, but without some kind of move nothing’s going to happen — no momentum will be gained.

Look for your opening and take it – stop waiting for that elusive perfect moment or the perfect time to lose weight. You can keep telling yourself that you’ll start tomorrow — but will tomorrow ever come?

What Not to Ask: How Much Weight Have You Lost?

February 25, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

illustration of an over-weight man — Photoexpress

In the past few weeks I have heard two well-respected interviewers ask some well-known people questions like “How much weight have you lost?” or, “What do you weigh?”

The interviewers, Barbara Walters and Ann Curry, are excellent at their craft; highly intelligent; two people I admire; and thin, thin, thin. Neither of them looks like she has ever struggled – really struggled (I don’t mean losing five pounds to look better) with her weight. I’m talking about the kind of weight that makes your health care professional describe you as obese or morbidly obese and start waving red flags.

In both cases, the person being interviewed (Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey in Ms. Curry’s interview, Carrie Fisher in Ms. Walters’) declined to give a number – but rather said that s/he’s on the right path, feels better, and is dedicated to losing weight for his/her health. (Carrie Fisher is a paid spokesperson for Jenny Craig).

Good for them! No, a stand-up round of applause for them! I get it – both personally and professionally, that people who have never really had weight challenges don’t understand the difficulties associated with losing weight – real weight, not vanity weight. There are legions of completed and ongoing research studies that have looked and are looking for answers to why some people gain – and cannot easily lose – weight, even though their caloric intake and energy expenditure should allow them to do so.

Inherent in the question, “How much weight have you lost?” is the implication that there is a formula, an algorithm, and if it is just applied weight will fly off and stay off. Yea, right. Don’t we wish! Do people trying to lose weight function in a controlled space where all of the influences from the outside world coupled with their own unique physiology allow a predictable weight loss — a weight loss that can be easily sustained after it occurs? If that’s the case, my education has misled me and I’m lying to my clients. (On the record, I respect my education and I love working with my clients.)

So, here’s the thing. If someone you know – or have occasion to talk to – is in the process of losing weight, don’t ask him or her to put a number on it. Quite honestly, this could have a counterproductive effect because frequently people will lose inches, feel better, and have better clinical numbers (lipids, blood sugar) that may not initially be reflected in pounds lost.

Asking that dreaded question, “How much,” might just make the person think that a lack of significant change in numbers means that they are not succeeding. If they want you to know, they’ll tell you. Anyway, why do you need to know?

Losing weight is a long-term process. Healthy habits need to be created that will facilitate weight loss and then keep it off. Some people will never be slim – but they will be a whole lot healthier at a higher number on the scale if they are eating well and moving around.

Keep the number questions to yourself – just encourage and applaud the effort.

Too Few Veggies — You’re Not Alone!

February 22, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Despite a couple of years of public health initiatives, an explosion in farmers markets, bagged salads, and a White House garden, Americans still don’t eat enough vegetables.

Only 23% of meals include a vegetable (fries don’t count but lettuce on a burger does) and only 17% of dinners prepared at home include a salad (down from 22% in 1994). Salads ordered as a main course at either lunch or dinner in restaurants dropped to 5% (10% in 1989).

Only 26% of America’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day (not including French fries) according to a study recently released by the CDC, way short of the government’s health objectives set a decade ago, and less than half of what public health officials had hoped.

2010 Dietary Guidelines

The just released 2010 Dietary Guidelines (yes, 2010 released in 2011) recommends that as part of a healthy eating pattern we should increase the amount of vegetables and fruit we eat.

That means filling half your plate with fruit and vegetables. They should be colorful and include a variety of dark green, red, and orange veggies, including beans and peas.

Give Me A Reason I Should Eat More Veggies

Vegetable haters might ask, “Why should I”? There are some really good reasons:

They’re low in calories
They’re rich in the nutrients we often lack (folate, magnesium, dietary fiber, Vitamins A, C, and K)
They may help prevent some chronic diseases
They’re linked to lower risks for heart attacks, strokes, and some kinds of cancers.

Why We Don’t Eat Them

Just telling people to eat more vegetables obviously isn’t working. People know veggies are good for you but lots of us don’t want to admit that we don’t eat them or even like them.

Honestly, veggies can be a lot of work. How often do you get home, open your fridge, look at the veggies (if they’re in there) and just admit you’re too tired to cook them? Cooking fresh stuff does require time and a commitment. And, unfortunately, poorly cooked vegetables can taste terrible – and, especially for out of season or organic, can be costly. We basically want low cost, tasty, and convenient.

What To Do

Change your mindset. Eating vegetables needs to become a habit – the go to, the default, instead of chips, or cookies, or fries.
Think visually: make one half of your plate a color palate of vegetables.
Don’t be intimidated by them. Learn about them and how to cook them.
Experiment with ways to make them taste good (hold off on gobs of butter, cheese, and cream, however, or you’re somewhat defeating your total healthy diet purpose). Try cooking with herbs, broth, and big flavor producers like onions, garlic, and peppers.
Check out the way the food industry is making vegetables easier: fresh cut up vegetables ready to cook; already prepared vegetables to take-out; washed and bagged salad varieties; frozen vegetables ready to pop into the microwave.
Expose children’s palates to vegetables. Make them the norm. Students who gardened in Berkeley’s “edible schoolyard” program ate one and a half more servings of fruits and vegetables a day than kids who weren’t in the program.
Work to make vegetables more affordable and available. Support farmers’ markets (some markets allow food stamps to be used), rooftop and urban gardens. Get fresh veggies into schools.
Plant your own garden or just a pot on the stoop or windowsill.
Do what you can to make vegetables an easy choice.

Stick With It

February 4, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Are you always looking for the next best thing – the next miracle cure for sugar or caffeine addiction, the best way to motivate yourself to exercise, or the best way to lose the most weight in the shortest period of time?

You try, try, and try again. You step on the scale. “That can’t be right – no way – I starved myself all week – I was soooo good! I went to the gym everyday and sweated like a pig!

Sound Familiar?

We’ve all been there. So what do we do? Toss out the baby with the bath water, give up, screech that the diet is a scam, scream that the scale is broken, swear the trainer has no clue what he or she is doing.

Bottom line is that so many of us start with a plan, don’t stick with it, and change course right away. Your body gets confused, your head gets confused, and the scale is probably cringing from the verbal threats you have thrown its way.

Time And A Chance

Give yourself and all of your good efforts a chance. Ask yourself: are your goals realistic? Despite the Biggest Loser, most people are not capable of losing massive amounts of weight in a week. Are your expectations realistic? Do you expect to see the numbers on the scale drop each and every day? The scale might not be moving right away (by the way, minor fluctuations are to be expected – extra salt in last night’s meal needn’t send you into a tailspin) – but perhaps your measurements are changing and your clothes feel looser. Or maybe your body is taking some time to readjust to a new healthy eating plan.

Give it some time before you declare a lost cause, jump ship, totally change direction, or plain old give up. You’ve got to stick with it. As hard as it may be, think logically and rationally — not with your emotions. Change is hard and it takes time. Give it a chance.

Have You Broken Your “I’m Going To Lose Weight” Resolution Yet?

January 4, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

The definition of a resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something. Have you made one or more resolutions recently – and does one or more of them have to do with losing weight or changing an eating habit?

The #1 New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. A recent study by a psychology professor found that for people who make resolutions, 75% keep them for the first week of the New Year; 71% are still maintaining their resolution after two weeks, and 46% are still keeping their New Year’s resolutions at six months.

Are those better stats than you thought? New Year’s resolutions really help you to define your goals and to identify what you want to accomplish or change. But, identifying your goals or desires is one thing, realizing them requires a plan, work, and most of all, a commitment.

Why Do You Want To Lose Weight?

Losing weight and keeping it off takes time, effort, and a long-term commitment. It’s important to ask yourself if you’re really ready to make permanent changes and to decide if you’ll be making those changes for the right reasons — for instance, losing weight because your want to feel better and be healthier, or that you want to look better because you want to look better – not because your spouse or partner wants you to look better.

Staying Committed

To stay committed you really need to be focused. It takes a lot of energy, both mental and physical, to form new healthy habits. So, to clear the way, first try to address the other challenges in your life – things like relationship or financial problems. It’s awfully tough to focus on multiple challenges at the same time. While some challenges may never completely go away, managing them should make it easier to focus on losing weight.

Then, when you’re ready to commit to working on losing weight, pick a start date and go for it. Weight loss is a personal journey. No one else can make you lose weight, although others can certainly help support you and hold you accountable in positive ways. Try to identify what will motivate you and keep you focused and then figure out a way to call on those motivators during those inevitable moments of temptation.

To use a frequently overused phrase – weight loss is a journey – but for this journey there is a map you can draw and follow – your own foodMAP to weight control.