Archive for Eating habits
Weight loss strategies
Posted by: | CommentsThe following information from Johns Hopkins University regarding strategies for weight loss is extremely useful. However, I think it’s missing one crucial component. Read on and see if you can spot the “missing link.” I’ll put in my two cents worth towards the end, so keep reading…
“An ability to alter lifelong attitudes toward diet and exercise may ultimately be the key to successful weight management: You must be motivated enough to change habits not for a few weeks or months, but for a lifetime. The importance of this resolve cannot be underestimated.
The desire to lose weight must come from within. A person who wants to shed 20 lbs. to please a spouse is not likely to be as motivated, or as successful, as someone whose goal is to improve health or increase self-esteem. Choosing the right time to start a weight-loss program is also important. People under stress or pressure may not be able to devote the considerable attention and effort required to make lifestyle changes that lead to weight loss.
Culled from medical research, the following weight-loss guidelines incorporate strategies employed by people who have lost weight and kept it off. Use them in constructing a weight-loss program on your own or as an adjunct to medical or surgical treatments.
1. Set realistic goals. Remember that weight tables give estimates of ideal weights; you can probably be healthy at weights above “ideal” if you have a nutritious diet and exercise. Instead of attempting to lose a specific number of pounds, make it your goal to adopt healthier eating and exercise habits.
If you are obese and feel compelled to set a weight-loss goal, losing 10% to 15% of your current body weight is a realistic objective. The good news is that evidence shows that weight loss of as little as 5% to 10% of body weight can significantly improve heart disease risk factors such as pressure and glucose. The safest rate of weight loss is 1/2 to 2 lbs. a week.
2. Seek support from family and friends. People who receive social support are more successful in changing their behaviors. Ask family and friends for help, whether this means keeping high-fat foods out of the house or relieving you of some chores so that you have time to exercise. It will be easier to stick to your new eating plan if everyone in the household eats the same types of foods. (A low-fat diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grains will benefit your family’s health even if they do not need to lose weight.) You may be more motivated to exercise if you work out with a friend or family member.
3. Make changes gradually. Trying to make many changes quickly can leave you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Instead, ease into exercise; do not overdo it. Incorporate low-fat eating in stages. For example, if you typically drink whole milk, switch to reduced-fat (2%) milk, then to low-fat (1%), and then to fat-free milk.
4. Eat slowly. Many people consume more calories than needed to satisfy their hunger because they eat too quickly. Since it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to recognize that the stomach is full, slowing down helps you feel satisfied on less food. Moreover, eating slowly allows you to better appreciate the flavors and textures of your food.
5. Eat three meals a day, plus snacks. Skipping meals is counterproductive, as is severely reducing food intake, since such strict changes are impossible to maintain and are ultimately unhealthy. In addition, eating the bulk of your calories at one sitting may impair metabolism. You will be more successful in the long run if you allow yourself to eat when you are hungry, eat enough nutritious low-fat food to satisfy that hunger, and spread your calorie intake over the course of the day.
6. Plan for exercise. Choose activities that are convenient and enjoyable for you to do on a regular basis, and then treat exercise like any other appointment—set a time and jot it down in your date book. Many people find it easier to exercise first thing in the morning, before the demands of the day interfere, but others find lunchtime or right after work more convenient.
7. Record your progress. Start a food diary and exercise log to keep track of your accomplishments. Keeping such detailed diaries may seem cumbersome, but they can help you stay motivated, and reviewing the entries can reveal any problem areas. In addition, the information can help facilitate treatment by your nutritionist or doctor.
8. Evaluate your relationship to food. Behavioral and emotional cues frequently trigger an inappropriate desire to eat. The most common cues are habit, stress, boredom, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, and the use of food as a reward. Many people also relate food to love or care and derive comfort from it. Although eating may appear to soothe uncomfortable feelings, its effect is temporary at best and ultimately does not solve any problems. In fact, it may distract you from focusing on the real issues.
9. Recall your accomplishments. Over your lifetime you have probably been successful in tackling many difficult tasks—quitting a bad habit, learning a new skill, or advancing in the workplace, for example. Reminding yourself of past achievements can help you feel more confident about making the changes that will lead to weight loss.
10. Don’t try to be perfect. While losing weight requires significant changes in eating and exercise habits, not every high-calorie food must be banished forever, and you need not exercise vigorously every day.
Nice but no cigar. Understanding the intrinsic role of “nutritional excellence” in maintaining a lean and healthy lifestyle is the key. WHAT one eats can very strongly affect behavior (and of course vice-versa). The overall nutrient density profile of what one eats will largely determine how hard it is to maintain sane and healthy eating habits.
Ancient principles for a healthy diet
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Charaka Samhita, which is thought to be the oldest of the treatises of Ayurvedic medicine (1000BCE):
1. Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).
2. Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.
3. Food needs to be eaten in the proper amounts, not too much or too little.
4. Foods needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested, and not before.
5. Foods need to work together and not contradict one another in their actions.
6. Foods need to be eaten in pleasant surroundings with the proper equipment for their enjoyment.
7. Eating should not be rushed.
8. Eating should not be a horrendously drawn out affair either.
9. It is best to focus on your food while eating.
10. Only eat food which is nourishing to your particular constitution and which suits your mental and emotional temperament.
Food volume, appetite, and weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsDrinking water before or with your meals doesn’t really help one eat less or induce satiety, although of course eating water-rich foods (e.g., pasta dishes with additional vegetables, smoothies, soup, fruits and vegetables) can lower calorie intake. This is because the body processes hunger and thirst through different mechanisms.
Previous research by the Penn State’s Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior has also shown that consuming water-rich foods allow dieters to eat their typical size serving of food (i.e., not limit their portion size), reduce calorie intake and still be satisfied.
What this means is that feeling full depends on the volume of what we eat. Eating small portions tend to make us feel more deprived, which in the long run cannot be sustained. Hence the phenomenon of yo-yo dieting. I think that low caloric density (high volume, high water foods) and high nutritional density (phytochemicals such as minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants) go hand in hand quite easily when we choose an eating style that is based on leafy greens, other vegetables and legumes, and fresh fruit. Foods with a high energy density (such as meat, cake, dried fruit, candy) have lots of calories in a small serving and are lower in water content and volume. From an appetite control perspective, we have a positive interaction effect: high volume, high water-volume food that is highly nutritious and low calorie at the same time will curb our tendency to overeat over the long haul.
Eating strategy for weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsMore from Helen Nearing’s book Simple Food:
“Why go to a lot of trouble, and use a lot of time and energy, just feeding the body? By keeping foods and meals simple and easy, the tasks may be so shortened that there is little labor involved. Keep frills and fanciness to a minimum. Keep fundamentals in the foreground. Try to get the most nourishment for the least effort. Learn what foods the body requires – the vitamins, minerals and proteins for good functioning. Find the natural right diet and stick to it.”
“I believe the work of feeding people could be simplified to such a point that it would take less time to prepare a meal than to eat it, whereas now it is usually the other way around. Perhaps that might be the test for rational eating. If you eat for half an hour, or an hour, put only that much (or less) time into preparation; no more. Then you would be closer to living simply on simple food.”
“. . . Eat with one dish or bowl. Eliminate all nonessentials in tools and utensils as well as elaboration in food preparation.”
“Nutritional value should come before taste value: so should economy and ease of preparation. Our menus are simple, but vary within the daily pattern; some fruit or fruit juice and our own herb tea for breakfast; a hearty vegetable soup, with boiled grains, peanut butter, honey and apples for lunch; a big salad, some cooked vegetable from the garden and a fruit dessert for supper. Every day the soup can be different. The grain can be millet, buckwheat, oats, wheat or rye. The salad need never be the same. The vegetables vary with the season. Our dessert can be any of many fruits, raw or cooked. But the general pattern remains, so that the diet is uninvolved and the preparation uncomplicated.”
I really like this approach to eating, food choices, and food preparation. It’s all about simplification of process and minimizing our attachment to sensory stimulation. Its really about developing habits that limit and simplify the strategies and activities for nutritional excellence.
I believe that an effective strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. One can develop a working pattern (e.g., a “daily menu” that one sticks to) and still have the variation within that system to prevent boredom (which can backfire) and to ensure micronutrient diversity and coverage.
Is diet soda a good idea for weight loss?
Posted by: | CommentsDid you know that sodas — even diet ones — may be linked with increased risk factors for heart disease and diabetes? One study found that those who drink one or more sodas a day had about a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome — a potentially lethal combination of excessive fat around the waist, low levels of “good” cholesterol, high pressure and other symptoms.
“On average, soda drinkers (whether diet or regular versions) tend to eat more calories, consume more saturated fat and trans fat, eat less fiber, exercise less and be more sedentary.” Many theories are being considered as to why even diet soda raises the risk factor for metabolic syndrome, including: (a) the fact that soda coloring causes inflammation in animal studies, and (b) the sweet taste from diet drinks causes the person to continue to crave more sweets.
What about the chemicals (e.g., aspartame etc.) being used for sweetening? Are they harmful or not? Do they have carcinogenic properties? There is also some evidence for this.
Bottom line: Try to eliminate soda drinking (diet or non-diet) as the first step to *healthy* weight loss.
Stress and weight gain
Posted by: | CommentsChronic stresses cause weight gain. The culprit? A hormone called Neuropeptide Y. Stress turns on a switch to this chemical messenger found in body fat. It increases appetite, especially for carbohydrate-rich foods, and causes the body to convert extra calories into dangerous belly fat.
The amount of weight gain increased three-fold when a high fat, high sugar diet was given to lab mice subjected to chronic stress. It also caused metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and inflammation).
However, when researchers blocked the effects of neuropeptide Y on the animals, it reduced stress-induced visceral fat by 50 percent, at the same amount of activity and food!
In humans, studies have shown that there is a direct relationship between work stress and risk of obesity. More specifically, stress increased abdominal fat.
Anxiety and depression also increase the risk of obesity. Insulin and blood-sugar levels tend to be higher in those who are anxious and depressed.
Neuropeptide Y stimulates growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), which leads to weight gain and increased cancer risk. The action of this hormone may help to explain the relationship between obesity and increased cancer risk.
Several studies have shown that a diet low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, omega?3 fatty acids and soy products inhibits angiogenesis.
Stress affects how we eat, which in turns affects how we feel. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing found that people who are feeling unhappy eat larger amounts of foods they consider tasty and unhealthy, compared to happy people.
Stress is a chemical event that makes us fat and sick. When we are fat and sick, we get more stressed. Which makes us fatter, and sicker. How do we get out of this loop then? Perhaps the first step is learning how to handle stress skillfully. That consists of acknowledging the situation, managing our environment, training ourselves (e.g., mindfulness based stress reduction, heart rate variability methods), and perhaps most importantly as a first step, making a commitment to learning how to change for the better.
Easier said than done. I think it really has to be a coordination of many different variables within our control.
The social psychology of eating
Posted by: | CommentsWhile medical approaches emphasize hunger and satiety as the root of obesity, they are usually not the most significant causes of overeating. “Socially informed perceptions of which foods are appropriate to eat, when they should be eaten and how much should be consumed have a greater impact on our food intake than feelings of hunger or fullness,” according to a University of Toronto study published in Physiology & Behavior.
Environmental cues shape eating decisions, in addition to physical or nutritional needs. The choices that our fellow eaters make often determine how much we eat. Norms may become elevated depending on the social context. For example, an individual may refuse second helpings at a formal meal but accept them when eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet or among family and close friends.
“People are often rudderless in eating situations and they look to the activity of others, their own previous behavior or other social cues to guide them and thereby consume more than they need. Frequently, eating occurs within what we have termed a zone of biological indifference, in which the individual is neither genuinely hungry nor genuinely sated. Without any particular biological reason to start, continue or stop eating, we are particularly vulnerable to socially based influences.”
“Norms of appropriateness have yet to achieve mainstream status in current medical research into obesity and overeating and in public policy concerned with curbing the obesity epidemic. No one seems to be aware of the power that social influence has on eating, but if such considerations are integrated more deeply into this area, we may see some more practical results.”
I think that the concept of the “zone of biological indifference” is important in weight management, because it underlines the power of the social context surrounding eating. Most people eat not because they are hungry, but because other people just happen to be eating as well. It all goes back to developing awareness, and the skill of making consistent conscious choices about food. Not an easy task, obviously.
How to manage overeating: weight loss, satiety, and the “fullness factor”
Posted by: | CommentsThe table below from Nutritiondata.com (ND) shows values of the “Fullness Factor” (FF) for a few common foods. Notice that low FF’s are the typical culprits that sabotage most people’s weight loss efforts.
| Fullness Factors for Common Foods | |||||
| Food | FF | ||||
| Bean sprouts | 4.6 |
|
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| Watermelon | 4.5 | ||||
| Grapefruit | 4.0 | ||||
| Carrots | 3.8 | ||||
| Oranges | 3.5 | ||||
| Fish, broiled | 3.4 | ||||
| Roasted chicken breast | 3.3 | ||||
| Apples | 3.3 | ||||
| Sirloin steak, broiled | 3.2 | ||||
| Oatmeal | 3.0 | ||||
| Popcorn | 2.9 | ||||
| Baked potato | 2.5 | ||||
| Lowfat yogurt | 2.5 | ||||
| Banana | 2.5 | ||||
| Macaroni and cheese | 2.5 | ||||
| Brown rice | 2.3 | ||||
| Spaghetti | 2.2 | ||||
| White rice | 2.1 | ||||
| Pizza | 2.1 | ||||
| Peanuts | 2.0 | ||||
| Ice cream | 1.8 | ||||
| White bread | 1.8 | ||||
| Raisins | 1.6 | ||||
| Snickers Bar | 1.5 | ||||
| Honey | 1.4 | ||||
| Sugar (sucrose) | 1.3 | ||||
| Glucose | 1.3 | ||||
| Potato chips | 1.2 | ||||
| Butter | 0.5 | ||||
FF values fall within the range of 0 to 5. Foods with high FF’s are more likely to satisfy your hunger with fewer calories. Foods with low FF’s are less likely to satisfy your hunger.
After creating the FF formula using multivariate analysis, ND plotted its predicted values against the experimental data taken from Suzanna Holt’s 1995 study “The Satiety Index of Common Foods”, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In this study, the researchers fed human test subjects fixed-calorie portions of thirty-eight different foods, and then recorded the subjects’ perceived hunger following each feeding.
The results indicate that satiety is strongly related to the weight of the food consumed. Heavy foods tend to satisfy hunger best, regardless of their caloric level. Certain nutrients, such as protein and dietary fiber, also appear to induce satiety.
Below is a graph from NutritionData.com that shows this comparison. (The one data point worth noting is “potato,” which the Holt study categorizes as having a very high satiety factor. BTW, there are actually some sugar-addiction intervention approaches that utilize the potato as an effective dampener of sugar craving.)
More about the wisdom of simple eating
Posted by: | CommentsMore eating wisdom from Helen Nearing’s Simple Food:
“Simple eating need not be monotonous. Every meal of every day can vary if you like, but don’t be afraid of sameness. If you find a good thing you like, stick to it. Variety is not necessarily the spice of life, or of cooking. Appetite is. If you have excessive variety you eat too much. You flit from one thing to another and go back to the first, starting all over again and eating more than you need. All goes slopping down in quick time, with little chewing. In cooking as in eating, give your attention to fewer items and learn to appreciate them.”
“Simple foods (fruits, nuts, vegetables), simply grown (organically), simply prepared (with little peeling or cutting up), simply cooked (lightly braised, blanched, steamed or baked), simply garnished (with chopped up tender greens and no sauces or gravies), simply served (from stove to table in saucepan, with one wooden bowl for each person for the whole meal), or, better still, eaten raw: What could be simpler, unless you eat standing, and pick from the trees?”
Simple eating
Posted by: | Commentsfrom Simple Food for the good life, 1980/1999. Ostensibly about food and recipes, Helen Nearing’s book is really about simplicity and the mindful life. I’m rereading this book, and I continue to be amazed at how profoundly simple and useful her ideas are for the pursuit of a healthy and full life.
Here’s a sample (p. 10):
“The food I prepare and serve is meant to build healthy bodies, not to cater to corrupted taste buds that urge one to eat unhealthy things long after the claims of hunger have been satisfied. Enough is as good as a feast: better, in fact, because if you don’t overeat, you don’t get sick or fat.
The more appetizing foods are made, the more is eaten and the worse for the health of the body. If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner, someone has said. If you eat twice as much popcorn when it is heavily buttered and salted, why butter and salt it? Eat a moderate amount of plain popcorn and then stop. If you are not hungry enough to eat unsalted popcorn, or bread without loads of butter and jam, or salad without a spicy dressing or sauce, why eat at all? Why not wait until you are hungry, without craving extra stimulants? If salt and seasoning makes you eat more of a food – leave off the salt and seasoning and eat less of a food. Its as simple as that.”
Simple but profound words of wisdom. Helen Nearing lived to be 91 (she died in an auto accident). Her husband Scott Nearing lived to be 100 years old. They both lived full, vibrant and healthy lives.
