Steps to Easy Weight Loss
Step One: Clean Out!
Clean out all the junk food and unhealthy food items from your fridge and cupboard. Choosing what should stay and what should go is easy. Just start reading the labels of every box, can and package in your home. This is a great method for those of you who need to do things in an all or nothing way. If you are loathe to throw away food, or loathe to give away food, just eat the food you have, and then replace it once you have finished it up.
A good place to start the cleansing is by reading the ingredient labels of the food stuffs on your home and throwing out all processed foods which are high in sugar, high G.I., high in fats, artificial colors and flavors, white refined flour and low, low, low in nutrition. So, get rid of anything “instant”; instant mashed potato, ramen noodles, cup o’soups, packaged noodles–n-sauce, macaroni and cheese, white flour frozen waffles or pancakes, hamburger helper, canned macaroni/ravioli products, instant rice, instant oatmeal with added sugar, items with artificial flavors or coloring, prepackaged flavored rice and rice and bean products (there are some brands like Near East which are healthier to eat sometimes), most frozen microwavable meals, granola and breakfast bars which contain sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavors, and basically anything containing corn syrup, artificial flavors and colors. (It’s ok to eat instant oatmeal without additives).
Also throw away white pancake mix, cereals which are high in sugar, artificial color, and preservatives, high fat meats, like bacon, sausage, ground pork, picnic roasts, cured meats. Eating high fat meats in moderation is healthy, but if for example, you can’t only eat bacon on Sunday’s then get rid of it. Prepackaged and fresh deli meats which contain high amounts of sodium, fats, MSG and artificial colors. The better brands are naturally raised and or organic often found fresh at health food stores or packaged at grocery stores, and most but not all of Boars Head products. Smoked meats, canned meats, canned chili (canned fish is OK). Canned vegetables tend to be high in sodium and are very low in nutrition. Some canned items such at crushed or pureed tomato, corn and beans are ok.
Avoid frozen vegetables with sauces (tend to be high in sodium) and veggies with artificial cheese sauces. If it is hard for you to get fresh veggies, chose frozen veggies instead of canned. Of course fresh veggies are the best choice.
Get rid of vegetable oil, shortening/lard, margarine, pancake syrup (sugar free or 100% maple is OK). Canola oil and olive oil are among the healthiest.
Most Americans eat entirely too much dairy, which means that most eat too much saturated fats in the milk. Some eat it several times or everyday. Try to cut your dairy intake by half. This will lower your overall calorie consumption greatly if you tend to eat a lot of the stuff. Thanks to modern farming techniques, non-organic cows are injected with antibiotics, and hormones, and the feed they are provided with is not what a cow would choose to eat when they are in nature. Cows naturally eat grass, not all this corn and soy garbage feed they are forced to eat. Not to mention how terribly those cows are treated, but that is another article altogether. So, to avoid the chemicals, the weird feed produced milk, and the ethical dilemma, when you eat dairy products do your best to buy organic, grass fed dairy.
White bread products, rolls, buns, English muffins, flat breads, bagels should be reserved for the birds at your local park. Same goes for Wheat bread with added sugar. Yes many brands of wheat bread contain sugar. Read the labels. Chose Whole Wheat bread, as opposed to wheat bread, and/or eat Whole Grain bread.
Don’t pour on the pounds! Get rid of mixes like Kool Aid, Nesquick, Hi-C, Sunny-D, juice cocktail, as well as juice with added sugar, colors or preservatives. Get rid of colas. And when you drink juice or give it to the children, be sure water it down with a ratio of at least half and half. Juice contains a very high content of sugar. Avoid giving children juice boxes because you can’t add water into that tiny hole that the tiny straw fits into. If you need more convincing about how over consumption of juice can lead to obesity, check out my previous post called Are You Pouring on the Pounds? Keep in mind that is a great idea cut your alcoholic beverage drinking by half to cut calories.
While you are at it, throw out your scale. Yep, you read that correctly. Throw out your scale. Why? Because weighing ourselves is usually a daunting task and for some people it becomes a stressful obsession. Medical research shows that stress can lead to hormonal imbalances which can lead to weight gain or make it harder for us to lose weight. Stress can also lead to depression and when we are depressed we are not motivated to eat right and exercise. Instead measure your weight loss or gains by how you fit your clothes, or by the loosening notches in your belt. And when you lose weight you can participate in my favorite sport, clothes shopping! How’s that for motivation?
Step Two: Browse the Internet for Healthy Recipes
Forget about buying cookbooks and save your hard earned money. The Internet can provide you with zillions of yummy, healthy recipes at the touch of a button and for FREE.
What’s that you ask? “But what if I can’t cook”? Oh, I have heard that excuse before. Go to www.YouTube.com or www.ExpertVillage.com and search for instructional videos that teach you how to cook, how to chop vegetables, meat and chicken, etc. Also, subscribe to the magazine Cook’s Illustrated which teaches great, simple cooking techniques http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ . And, don’t be shy, ask a friend or relative who cooks to teach you a few tricks. Or join a cooking class.
Once you have found a few yummy recipes to try out write down the ingredients to use in Step Three: Go Shopping and don’t forget to bookmark your favorites so you can cook them again. As you search, keep in mind that one of the easiest ways to incorporate more vegetables in your diet is in soups and stews.
Some of my favorite websites to find recipes are:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/ Just because this is the Whole Food website does not mean all the recipes here are healthy. Choose wisely.
http://vegweb.com Scrumptious vegan cooking- even great baking!
http://www.eatingwell.com Healthy omnivorous cooking.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/ (Click the Healthy Eating Tab at the top of the page).
http://www.livingwithout.com Great gluten-free cooking!
http://www.vegetariantimes.com
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rac/index.aspx
Or enter search terms like:
Healthy soul food recipes
Healthy Italian food recipes
Healthy vegetable recipes
Healthy lean beef recipes
Healthy chicken recipes
Healthy soup recipes
Healthy stew recipes
Healthy cookie recipes
Healthy cake recipes
Healthy muffin recipes
Healthy pancake recipes
Healthy breakfast recipes
Step Three: Go Shopping!
Buy items not to live with out
Pantry items, condiments, oils, fridge stuff and spices
Shopping list:
Olive Oil
Canola oil
Whole Wheat pasta or pasta made with spelt, buckwheat, rice, lentil, or quinoa
Whole grain breads, English muffins, pancake mix
Brown or parboiled Rice, jasmine rice, wild rice, wild rice blends, wehani rice
Sugar free ketchup (maybe labeled as Low-Carb)
Vegetable steamer- Bamboo steamers are available at most Chinese grocers, some health food stores or online.
Apple sauce –make sure there are no added sugars by reading the ingredients label. Apple sauce is great replacement for butter or other fats in baked goods.
Lots of Fresh or frozen veggies
Dry or canned beans
Fresh ginger
Vinegar (vinegar or ginger cooked with beans with helps moderate gaseousness)
Tofu, Tempeh and or Edamame beans
Bottled water or a water filter for your faucet
Low fat dairy – cheese or milk or soy cheese, milk, yogurts
Lean meats (frozen or fresh), lean low fat sausages
Fatty fish like salmon
Step Four: Memorize your new mantra: “Moderation in Everything”.
There will be times when you eat some of the things I told you to throw out. And that is okay when eaten in moderation. Avoid keeping these foods in the house or office. If you eat them try to eat them at a restaurant or at a friend’s house. If you eat it at home, instead of buying a whole cake or entire box of cookies go to a specialty bakery store and buy one slice or one or two cookies. There are occasions such holidays, birthdays, family reunions, picnics, weddings and all types of celebrations in which these foods are present, abundant and delicious. So what if you eat them occasionally? Enjoy them thoroughly, let them satisfy your senses and go back to your healthier eating habits the next day. It really is simple as that.
Juliette Aiyana has an appetite for yummy, healthy and balanced meals several times per day. Her love for food, for writing, for cooking and for Chinese medicine led her to author her first book, Chinese Medicine & Healthy Weight Management An Evidence-based Integrated Approach (Blue Poppy Press, 2007). She is an acupuncturist, herbalist, workshop instructor, wife and mother. Her private practice, Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs, is located in New York City. To read more of her articles visit her website and related blog at www.amazinghealing.com.
