Eating quickly leads to becoming overweight or obese according to a British Medical Journal survey of 3,287 adults. The participants of the survey reported that they ate both fast and until they were full. Compared to slow eaters, the fast eaters were more then three times as likely to be overweight then their slower eating counterparts.

Eating until fully satisfied is important, after all who wants to feel starved? But one of the reasons the fast eaters gain more weight is that they likely eat more than slow eaters. You see, a hormone is released from the gut which sends a message to the brain telling us when we are full. However, that message takes about 20 minutes to reach our brain. So the only other way we can know we are full is when we feel it after over eating, the result of which is literally feeling full and bloated. Slow eaters are eating less food in the same amount of time as the fast eater, and in that time, they will receive the hormonal message to the brain that they are full.

Tips for Slowing Down:

1. Avoid the T.V. A variety of studies show that adults and children who eat in front of the set tend to eat 230 (or more) calories per sitting then people who do not eat in front of the set. Let’s do some math with those numbers to calculate how many pounds you will pack on while multitasking between TV watching and eating. 230 calories times 28 days = 6,440 calories per month = 1.84 pounds per month times 12 months = 22.08 pounds per year. How many meals per day do you eat in front of the TV set, or computer? Now do your own math.
2. Chew slowly. Take your time while eating. Really taste and savor your food. Remember what I wrote above about the time it takes for the satiety hormone to reach the brain. Chewing slowly will give you time. Also, the first step to digestion takes place in the mouth where secretion of the enzyme amylase begins the breakdown of food. Chewing slowly is especially important when eating carbohydrates and tofu. (Aiyana, Juliette, New Years Diet Resolutions, 2006. www.amazinghealing.com) [Read more →]

Craving chocolate pudding but put off by the calories? I got this healthier pudding recipe from nutritionist, Stacy Cantlin, who says it fools even the most savvy chocolate pudding fans into eating every last bite.

Chocolate Pudding
 
2 Avocados
6 Dates (pitted & soaked for 8 hours)
2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
 
Blend together in food processor.  Add enough water to move everything around.
 
Add more dates if you need it sweeter.

YUMMY!

If you like this, then you will love this vegetarian weight loss meal planner.

Kids should not be put on a weight loss diet, a meal replacement diet, or be forced to eat salads for every meal. It is important for children’s physical and emotional well being that eating food, and conversation about food, is enjoyable, not stressful or forced. In fact, it is advisable to avoid telling children they are on a diet at all. Instead parents can use words like, “we are eating healthy foods” and “our family eats foods that make us strong and smart”.

To help kids stay healthy and lean, parents can feed kids better quality, fresh foods and snacks, and reduce portion sizes. For children who are over weight, eating several smaller, balanced meals per day, plus snacks is the healthy way to lose weight and maintain the loss, while staying healthy, energetic and happy.

Involving kids in making healthy foods and snacks makes eating healthfully more fun and enjoyable for the whole family. Whole Foods is inviting parents and kids to join the “School Lunch Revolution” with tips from Chef Ann Cooper, “The Renegade Lunch Lady”. They say, “If highly processed chicken nuggets and artificially flavored popsicles aren’t your idea of a healthy lunch, it’s time you joined “The School Lunch Revolution! Highly processed foods are standard fare in many school lunchrooms, and more than two-thirds of public schools serve lunches that exceed recommended limits for fat content. And, we’re paying for it with our kids’ health. At least 30 percent of children are overweight, childhood obesity has more than doubled, and it is predicted that one in three will develop diabetes”.

The Whole Foods website provides tons of information and recipes to help you create healthy balanced meals for kids and the whole family! Try them out and leave a comment below this post with your experience.

Back to School Recipes
10 Essential Lunch Lessons
School Lunch Revolution Videos

Brown bag lunches made at home have the potential to be much healthier than lunches provided at school. And the same goes for parents at work. Bring your own food to work, rather then ordering fast food or grabbing something at the local deli. Brown bagging lunch is an important part of your weight loss and weight maintenance plan. Also, if you have your lunch ready to eat, rather then having to run out to pick something up while you are busy at work, you are less likely to skip meals and then gorge on unhealthy foods later in the the day.

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Weight loss brings with it a multitude of health benefits, and sometimes the health comes before the weight loss when you start exercising and eating well.

Kelly Bliss is a lifestyle and wellness coach, and a beautiful, healthy and big woman herself, whose philosophy is “Don’t weight, eat healthy and get moving NOW!” She says, “Health comes from your behaviors, not your body size”.

She developed Plus Sized Fitness DVD’s that are aerobic with standing and sitting movements, but also exclude jumping because it can be hard on the knee’s and low back.

Yes, that is right seated aerobics!!! Now you have no excuses not to exercise! The site also has an entire section on healthy eating, tips for emotional eating and instructions on how to join her weekly telephone chats that inspire and motivate.

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I found this reader Q & A on www.AskDrSears.com and wanted to share it with you because the answer is very helpful for children and adults who are trying to lose weight and eat a more healthful diet.

Go Play Outside! So says Granparents.com who is challenging grandparents to spend time outside with their grandchildren this summer. Be sure to log in play hours at www.grandparents.com/play because for each hour a donation will be made to KaBOOM!, which is a non-profit organization that empowers communities to build playgrounds.

Not only will you bond with your grandkids and laugh a lot, but you will burn lots of calories when you engage in regular physical activities outside. And the children, who live a much more sedentary lifestyle then you did when you were a child, will also benefit from the physical play activity. This topic reminds of comedian Jay Mohr’s story about how his son was complaining that he didn’t have the latest video gaming system. Jay’s response was, “Do you know what we had growing up? We had OUTSIDE”! I love that line, it cracks me up!

Kids who are more physically active then kids who spend many hours in front of the T.V., playing video and computer games, are healthier in body and in mind. The CDC states that childhood obesity has quadrupled in the past decade, and Time Magazine wrote in its June 12^th 2008 issue that, “overweight children are more likely than healthy weight kids to be depressed and anxious”.  And physical activity benefits grandparents not only to help weight loss, but it is excellent for promoting for heart health, for lowering cholesterol, for increasing energy levels, and for stress reduction.

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When I discovered BeFitMom.com, I was 15 months post-partum and after reading the website I wished I’d found it sooner to aid my post-partum weight loss. But, even nearly one and half years post-partum, I was still having a hard time losing my mummy-tummy because my pregnancy caused a severe abdominal separation called, diastasis recti, so I lost the abdominal muscle tone to keep my belly tight and firm; instead I had a poochy belly.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I read that BeFitMom.com sells a DVD called “Bounce Back Fast! Post Natal Core Conditioning” which features a complete, alternate, modified workout for mothers who have abdominal separation. The DVD also instructs on how to check for and measure abdominal separation. Mine started at a whooping 3 fingers width separation. And now, thankfully, after working out with this DVD, following instructions I found on the BeFit-Mom website, as well as doing daily exercises prescribed by my physical therapist, Isa Herrera, the separation is down to one fingers width, which is considered within the normal range. I am so excited because my belly is looking flatter, and the back pain that I was still experiencing 15 months post-partum is reducing because I am strengthening my abdominal wall as well as retraining the pelvic floor.

The DVD, comprised of three segments, comes with a free fitness band.  The first segment is appropriate for women to begin soon after birth with, “Gentle First Moves”. This segment is 30 minutes long, featuring safe, restorative exercises, speeds recovery from labor and delivery and relieves aches and pains.

The second workout, “Bounce Back Fast” which builds off the first segment while providing a more challenging, total body workout is 35 minutes long. New moms can easily sneak in this work out time while baby is taking a nap. This second segment will help you, flatten and tone all four layers of the abdominal wall, strengthen deep core muscles, repair abdominal separation, build upper body strength for lifting and carrying and more.

The bonus materials include postpartum exercise, pelvic floor reconditioning, abdominal separation and self-test, post-natal abdominal training.

The Bounce Back Fast DVD is a must have for post-partum moms wanting to lose weight and to recover from child birth or c-section quickly.

Befitmom.com also has a special information page with other tips for healthy post-partum weight loss.

The New York Times reported on a study that shows that women who exercise moderately, like brisk walking, have lower LDL (unhealthy) cholesterol then women who exercised less. So keeping up a regular routine is very important not only for weight loss, but also for heart health.

The Times reports: Each hour of moderate exercise or half-hour of vigorous activity was associated with a decrease of almost 4 milligrams per deciliter of LDL cholesterol in white women, and more than 10 milligrams for black women. And for women past menopause, the benefits were even greater: 5.9 milligrams for whites and 14.68 for blacks.

In my practice, I often recommend that patients who are trying to lose weight, and who have high cholesterol, and/or heart disease supplement their healthy diet with Fish Oils, B-Complex and Digestive Enzymes. EPA and DHA from fish oil promote cardiovascular health by supporting healthy triglyceride and lipid metabolism, maintaining healthy blood flow, and supporting healthy platelet function. B-Complex aids in the metabolism of fats, and digestive enzymes aid in the breakdown of plant fats, animal fats and dairy fats.

A combination of regular moderate exercise, a healthy diet and vitamin supplementation, should help many women to lose weight, maintain weight loss, and reduce the incidence of heart disease.

You may actually be craving the high levels of Magnesium found in chocolate. Does that mean you should eat chocolate with wild abandon to make up for a Magnesium deficiency? No! In fact, there are stimulants in chocolate that you’d best avoid ingesting on a regular basis such as caffeine and caffeine’s cousin, theobromine (a toxin which can actually kill a dog). And as someone who is trying to lose weight, you can also do without all the calories most chocolate treats packs.

Instead of overloading your body with stimulants and promoting sugary tooth decay get your Magnesium from such food sources as green vegetables, beans and whole grains. Those foods are healthier for a weight loss diet.

If you really have the need to eat chocolate every so often, then treat yourself to a high quality brand of dark chocolate to really satisfy your craving instead of gorging on cheap chocolate.

One Godiva is worth a dozen Snickers.

Green tea is an important part of your weight loss plan because it stimulates the body to burn calories more effectively and reduces body fat. The chemical components of green tea thought to be responsible for these benefits are Epigallocatechins (EGCG). Drinking green tea 2-3 times daily along with eating a healthy, balanced diet can enhance rapid weight loss.

Green Tea Connoisseur

I love tasting different green teas; much like a wine connoisseur enjoys tasting different wine varietals. I too enjoy tasting wine but that is another story! Green tea comes in many varieties and flavors. The most widely regarded varieties of green tea for weight loss are Oolong and Pu-erh. My personal favorites are Oolong and Sencha. Comment to this post and tell me what your favorite is.

More Weight Loss Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

Less Calories. When you drink 3 cups of green tea per day, you are less likely to drink calorie rich beverages containing sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), because the tea acts as a substitute. The less sugar and HFCS in your diet, the less calories you consume.

More Filling. The caffeine in green tea acts as a mild appetite suppressant, and drinking fluids fills the stomach helping to curb over-eating.

Flavor Variety. If you are bored with flat tasting water, you can get the benefits of drinking water for weight loss and drinking green tea for weight loss. Green teas come in flavors such as jasmine, mint, peach, papaya, orange blossom, strawberry and much more. Vote for your favorite blend!

Drink Hot or Iced. Hot tea is great to clear the head, enhance focus, and can decongest your chest and sinuses. Iced tea is a summer classic. You can make a sweet and healthy version without using calorie rich white sugar. Instead, just pick a sweet flavor of green tea, like peach, then add stevia or agave sweetener. Both stevia and agave are low on the glycemic index. Raspberry tea is naturally sweet. Try steeping Oolong and raspberry tea leaves together.

Green Tea Offers Great Health Benefits:

Lowers LDL cholesterol

Improves, clarifies and beautifies skin

Slows growth of, or prevents some cancers found in the bladder, breasts and skin

Relieves fatigue and increase focus

Speeds weight loss

Reduces bowel inflammation; ulcerative colitis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease,   Crohn’s Disease

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Avoid drinking green tea if you are:

Pregnant or nursing

Sensitive to caffeine

Allergic to tannins

Have kidney or bladder problems

Have iron deficiency anemia

Infants and young children should not drink green tea

People with liver disease should avoid taking the extract of green tea.

Green tea is safe for most people who drink it in moderation. Drink no more then three cups per day. Drinking green tea should never be used as meal replacement.