When did eating become such an all-or-nothing proposition? It seems that Americans are either gorging on gigantic portions of unhealthy, highly processed foods and getting fatter all the time, or they’re starving themselves on the latest hyper-restrictive diet that no one could stay on for more than a few weeks without feeling miserable and deprived.

Whatever happened to just enjoying good food, in moderation, without guilt?

If we buy into the common-sense wisdom found in books like the bestseller French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, it’s clear that the way to be thin and still have some joy with our meals is to adopt a more traditional, and worldly, way of dining. Moderate portions, fresh whole foods, relaxing and lingering with family and friends at the table — it’s what they do not just in France, but throughout the Mediterranean, Latin America and Asia. These are places where obesity rates have historically been low (at least until the global spread of fast food and sedentary lifestyles boosted obesity everywhere). It’s where the “gym workout” was a bicycle ride to work or school, or where eating a low-fat diet meant Mom stretching the meat by stuffing cabbage or grape leaves.

This reminds us that it is possible to eat what you love without feeling guilty, deprived or going on any restrictive regimen. Here’s how:

1. Start with soup.

This Japanese tradition is one of the best weight-loss strategies. That’s because eating soup, particularly the broth-based vegetable kind, before your entrée fills you up so you eat less during the meal, explains Barbara Rolls, Guthrie professor of nutrition at Penn State University in University Park, and author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan (HarperCollins, 2005). A two-year French study of 2,188 men and 2,849 women found that those who ate soup five to six times a week were more likely to have BMIs below 23 (considered lean), compared with infrequent- or non-eaters whose BMIs tended to be in the 27 range.

2. Make lunch your main meal.

Although they do this throughout Europe, a good explanation for eating your big meal at midday comes from ayurveda, India’s 5,000-year-old approach to wellness. “According to ayurveda, we’re actually designed to eat the larger meal at lunch because our digestive ‘fire,’ called agni, is strongest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., so we digest more efficiently,” explains Jennifer Workman, a Boulder, Colorado-based ayurveda specialist, registered dietitian and author of Stop Your Cravings (Free Press, 2001). “I’ve seen people in my practice lose 5 to 10 pounds just by doing this.”

3. Think quality, not quantity.

The French snub processed “diet foods” not found in nature, opting instead for high-quality meats, fish, produce, dairy, even desserts. When food is fresh and flavorful, you can be satisfied with smaller portions. This is the opposite of the American approach, which is to fill up on bland diet foods, then gorge on sweets later. “The French set the standard for small portions with their haute cuisine,” says David Katz, MD, author of The Way to Eat (Source Books, 2002). “If we consider that part of eating is to induce pleasure, if you can get there with quality of choice, you get there in fewer calories.”

4. Mix up the flavors.

In ayurveda, including the six basic tastes — sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent — is the key to a satisfying meal that won’t leave you craving junk food later.

Not sure where to start? This will cover all the flavor bases: Try salmon with yogurt dill sauce along with some sautéed kale topped with mango chutney, a sweet potato sprinkled with sea salt and a little clarified butter, and finish with a cup of chai and a small piece of dark chocolate.

5. Go for color.

The Japanese have a saying: “Not dressing up the meal with color is like going out without clothes.” Not only does color make food more attractive, but consciously seeking out colorful foods is a great way to bulk up your meals without a lot of calories. A Cornell University study of 6,500 adults in rural China found that while the Chinese ate about 30 percent more than the average American male, they weighed about 25 percent less, largely because they ate a lot of plant-based foods. The Japanese aim for five colors at each meal: red, blue-green, yellow, white and black, including things like red peppers, squash, broccoli, onions, black beans or black olives. “We’re variety seekers, so instead of seeking a variety of, say, cookies, get the variety from these low-energy-dense foods,” Rolls says.

Enjoy Yourself
Drizzle on the healthy oils. Healthy fats like olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, and canola oil, a staple of Okinawans, make vegetables tastier, so you’re likely to eat more of them. According to data from the Catalan Nutrition Survey done in Spain, people who ate the most olive oil also consumed more vegetables than those who consumed the least olive oil. And, as we know, eating a diet rich in produce is key to maintaining a healthy weight. In a study of more than 74,000 female nurses conducted over 12 years, Northwestern and Harvard University researchers discovered that those who added the most fruits and vegetables to their diets lowered their risk for major weight gain by 28 percent.

When you’re eating, just eat.

No other culture multitasks meals the way Americans do with our TV dinners, fast-food drive-throughs and grab-’n-go food that’s designed to fit into a car cup holder and be eaten with one hand. In Japan, it’s considered rude to eat while walking. And you’ll never catch the French gulping coffee in the car. “In France, there are no car cup holders because you don’t drink coffee while driving,” explains Will Clower, PhD, author of The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss (Three Rivers Press, 2003). “Eating and drinking aren’t errands. It’s not what you do on the way to something else.” Good advice. When you’re distracted by work, traffic or the TV, you’re apt to overeat without even realizing it, notes Dean Ornish, MD, author of Eat More, Weigh Less (Perennial Books, 2001). “If you really pay attention to what you’re eating, you enjoy it more fully and don’t need as much food.”

Enjoy regular meals.

One reason French women don’t get fat is because French women eat three meals a day. You may think skipping meals cuts calories, but all it does is evoke a primal “fear of hunger response” that causes overeating later, explains Dr. Katz. “Throughout most of our history, we had too little to eat. So when you go for long periods without eating, you stir up all that native programming, which says eat like crazy when you can, because all too often you can’t.” Start with breakfast. Studies show that breakfast-eaters are slimmer than skippers.

Stop eating before you’re full.

The Okinawans, whose average BMI is 21.5 for those who eat a traditional diet, call this hara hachi bu, or eating till you’re 80 percent full. Of course, we’re not suggesting that you leave the table hungry. But eating until the buttons pop stretches the stomach by about 20 percent each time you do it, so you inevitably need more food to feel satisfied, explains Bradley Willcox, MD, co-author of The Okinawa Diet Plan (Random House, 2004). He says that putting your fork down “when you feel that first twinge of fullness” gives your brain a chance to realize that you are full before you overdo it.

Chow down only when you’re hungry.

Americans eat for all sorts of reasons besides hunger, especially from boredom, loneliness, stress or fear, a foreign concept in other cultures. “You can’t make food the solution to every issue in your life and expect to be thin,” says Dr. Katz. “If you eat from boredom, find a hobby. If you eat to relieve stress, learn meditation or yoga.”

Dine with others.

Eating with family or friends vs. alone in your car, at your desk or on the couch is part and parcel of traditional cultures. Not only does camaraderie make the meal more enjoyable, it’s slimming. “Eating with others restrains your own behavior,” notes Dr. Katz. “You eat more slowly, which increases the likelihood that you’ll register when you’re full before you’ve eaten more than you should.”

Have a glass of wine.

A staple of French and Mediterranean tables, wine adds joie to the meal, and because it contains potent antioxidants, is at least partly responsible for why these cultures traditionally have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality despite their higher-fat diets. And while some studies show that we tend to eat more when we imbibe, a Finnish study actually found that male drinkers were leaner than abstainers.

Get moving.

People in Asian countries, France and the Mediterranean tend to be slim because they’re more active. Not that they spend hours at the gym; they simply walk a lot. It can work for Americans too. A study of 200,000 Americans at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, found that city dwellers were six pounds lighter than their suburban counterparts, largely because, instead of driving, they walked more. “You’re not working out,” says Dr. Clower. “You’re just moving.”

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Whether you have experience living with diabetes for only a few days, weeks, months, even years now, you might find this an interesting real-life inspirational story about an 83 year old woman from Mississippi. At the age of 7, in 1930 Bonnie Jean Short started taking insulin. She continues to this day taking her insulin injections diligently. Bonnie was awarded her first metal by the Joslin Diabetes Foundation & the Diabetic Fund in 1981 for 50 years of haven taken insulin. Her next award was from the Kansas American Diabetes Association of Wichita in 1985. Her most recent gold award was from Eli Lily for living 75 years Successfully living with diabetes. Despite having diabetes, “You Can Live A Long & Healthy Life,” Bonnie Jean Short.

Isn’t that a truly inspiring story to help you when you are feeling down about your diabetes. Does this help you view your daily cravings for sugar’s, junk food, etc. The good thing about diabetes is it makes you realize who should be in control. You or your symptoms which you know only will snowball into a major illness such as high blood pressure or heart disease, kidney failure, what’s left. If you have ever seen first hand a diabetic with gangrene, that flesh eating rotting of the skin, not to mention that smell that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Now that’s an incentive for living a healthy lifestyle. Sorry, I did not mean to gross you out. sometimes you must scare one to get one to take notice of an important situation.

A few positive steps forward to keep ahead of this disorder is to make certain you check your blood sugars daily. Most important before & after any food or drink. Daily water intake is very important & tea does not count as water consumption, even unsweetened tea. Exercise is a major role in your partnership of diabetes, think what will happen to your car if you leave it parked in the driveway without taking it for a daily or even a weekly drive or even just starting it up, which we know is not even close to exercising.

Life is just too easy now days since everything around us is button generated, too bad they don’t make remotes for kids & spouses. With a push of a button you don’t have to exert any energy, yes it’s nice, fast & convenient but so is life. Do you want to live an easy Fat convenient life now. Maybe until your body starts talking back to you symptom-wise with a possible heart attack at an early age. It may be harder to get around carrying all that excess weight that makes you feel like you need a constant nap.

There are many forms of exercise that your personality can be comfortable with. You don’t have to run a mile, or lift heavy weights. Swimming is a good indoor exercise for this time of year. Most gyms & even the YMCA offer indoor pools.

Saying no I don’t have the time or I’m not physically able to exercise is the easy way out. It is also the easiest way to let your unseen aliments & symptoms catch up with you later down the road which by then could be too late. Please take physical action now for your families sake if for not your own. Respecting your health is a positive benefit for your life. Start Today what you don’t have to put off tomorrow!

Fonda Fletcher is a Type 1 Diabetic of 36 years. Currently on an Animas insulin pump, she knows how to take care of her Diabetes the natural way Without Drugs, or medications. With her green diet her life has changed physically & mentally. She keeps a positive attitude on life helping others. For questions ask Fonda http://www.naturalsolutionsformytype1diabetes.com

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How many times have you gone to sleep at night, swearing you’ll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you don’t feel like exercising?

While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn’t mean you should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness — and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The more you know about how your body responds to your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you. When you eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This translates to burning fat more efficiently for energy.
In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work with less effort.

The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message to the body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength, aerobic capacity and overall fitness and health. Each time you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night, Exercise doesn’t have to be intense to work for you, but it does need to be consistent.

I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25 minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to increase lean body mass and burn more calories around the block.

Here’s a sample exercise program that may work for you:

* Warm Up — seven to eight minutes of light aerobic activity intended to increase blood flow and lubricate and warm-up your tendons and joints.

* Resistance Training — Train all major muscle groups. One to two sets of each exercise. Rest 45 seconds between sets.

* Aerobic Exercise — Pick two favorite activities, they could be jogging, rowing, biking or cross-country skiing, whatever fits your lifestyle. Perform 12 to 15 minutes of the first activity and continue with 10 minutes of the second activity. Cool down during the last five minutes.

* Stretching — Wrap up your exercise session by stretching, breathing deeply, relaxing and meditating.

When starting an exercise program, it is important to have realistic expectations. Depending on your initial fitness level, you should expect the following changes early on.

* From one to eight weeks — Feel better and have more energy.

* From two to six months — Lose size and inches while becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely. You are gaining muscle and losing fat.

* After six months — Start losing weight quite rapidly.

Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a week, don’t stop there. You should also change your diet and/or eating habits,’ says Zwiefel. Counting calories or calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is impractical. Instead, I suggest these easy-to-follow guidelines:

* Eat several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of small snacks throughout the day
* Make sure every meal is balanced — incorporate palm-sized proteins like lean meats, fish, egg whites and dairy products, fist-sized portions of complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread and pasta, wild rice, multigrain cereal and potatoes, and fist-sized portions of vegetable and fruits
* Limit your fat intake to only what’s necessary for adequate flavor
* Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the day
* I also recommend that you take a multi-vitamin each day to ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

Enjoy life, we all deserve it.

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Have you ever wondered what it will take for you to lose weight and maintain your ideal body mass index you tried numerous weight loss fads to try to slim down, only to return to your old habits and gain weight again? 

Do you have any concerns about the ill effects of weight loss pills, crash diets, and slimming regimens widely advertised by slimming agencies in our mass media?  

Have you been bogged down by the technical jargon in scientific journals or have not been able to determine if what’s written makes sense or has scientific bearing? 

I know of many friends and family member who struggle with this every day, as we are constantly bombarded with loads of information from the internet, mass media, magazines, talk shows and even day-to day conversations with friends, colleagues etc.  Does dieting have to be so tough and regimented? Can one really eat what they need and still stay slim and healthy and avoid complications arising from protein rich diets? Does one have to get kidney problems to stay slim? Or does one have to swallow pills and resort to meals in a glass in order to look good?  

What are some of the factors that determine how we look and feel? What is the impact of genetics, metabolism and nutrition that affects body weight? 

Well, I hope to provide some useful articles on the theories of dieting and weight loss, sieving the fact from the fiction. What I’m aiming for is to cut out all the trials and errors which one has to go through, before hitting on the right formula and with a Degree in Biotechnology and a Masters in Food Science, along with a sound understanding of Food Chemistry and Nutrition, I believe I will be able provide my inputs as to whether of not things make sense from a scientific viewpoint.  

So drop me a line and tell me what you’ll like to read about!

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