Thoughts

Check out the new design for www.Clawsoya.com and let me know what you think.  What should I change, what should I keep?

Self-Evaluation

Ask yourself this question:

• Am I more worried about my eating behavior, or my diet to lose weight?

Your answer to this question would show to me where you need to begin in your dietary journey.  Those that are improving in their eating behavior tend to naturally eat better than those that are worried about a current diet.

Those worried about their diet are usually on one for a good goal, but once they reach that goal, they go back to the same if not worse eating behavior as before.  Ex: A girl might go on a diet so she can fit into her wedding dress.  When the wedding passes, is she going to stay on the diet?  Usually not.

Funny but true

Statistics show that people who eat tend to live longer.


Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Health Fair: Portion Sizes

On Wednesday, I helped teach at a Health Fair in Costco.  We were teaching about how we as Americans need more fruits and Vegetables
                    "Fruits and Vegetables.....More Matters"

This was our motto of the day.  We were encouraging everyone to also get a variety of colors.
Anyways, there was this lady who was in charge of putting candy on people's tables to try to bribe people to visit the different displays, but for some reason she skipped ours.  When asked why she said, "I don't dare put candy at the nutritionist's table."

Why do people think that nutritionists aren't normal?  We love candy too! The difference is that we have developed the skill of eating healthy portions. Like I said in the last post, I encourage planning in sweets into the diet.  Just make sure they are healthy portion sizes.

Part IV Write it Down

Try writing down what you eat every day for a week (What you ate, the basic ingredients, and how much).  When a person knows that they are going to be writing down everything that they eat, they are more aware/ self conscious of what they are eating.  They will think twice about taking a second serving of pie.

This practice will also help you get an idea of what you need to improve on, and will help you when you decide what small changes to make when you are ready.  Don't get me wrong, I think it is very important to plan dessert into your diet, but it's like a steak....you probably don't want or even need (physiologically) to eat one every day.

One who tries to restrict themselves from sweets completely, will most likely last a couple weeks to a month before they binge.  Before they know it, they are eating nothing but sweets for the next couple of days. (You may have already done this yourself.)

Part III Eat More Meals

Eating more meals in a day can help you from overeating.  This might seem contradictory, but let me explain.

Eat smaller meals, more often throughout the day.  About 5 or 6 meals should be good.  The goal during this is to never be hungry, but at the same time never really full.  Have a portion of protein and carbohydrate (a portion being about the size of your fist) at each meal, and eat all of the vegetables you want all day. 

People that eat when they are hungry are the ones that tend to overeat.  This is one reason why this works.  After a while of eating like this your stomach will "shrink" because of the small meals, which will make it hard to eat more than you need.

Part II Relearn the Signals

In addition to "re-learning" to listen to FULL signals of the body, we can do something else to help us stop overeating.  This is something I read while searching the American Dietetics Association web site.  The thing that they recommended was to buy smaller dishes. 

People tend to fill up their plates when eating.  If you have a smaller set of dishes, you will fill up less of an area that you will scarf down.  So, in addition to leaving a little on your plate at the end of a meal, maybe it's time to downsize the dishes!

Psychology of eating part I "The Signals"

The body has natural internal signals that tell a person when they are hungry and when they are full.  Most Americans have learned to ignore the signal that they are full (and a select few have learned to ignore the signal that they are hungry, AKA Anorexia...learn how to win the fight against Anorexia "humor": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybmrrEFMG0A). 

I want to talk about the greater portion of the U.S. population that don't recognize the "full" signal.  These people were probably raised in a home where their parents had the saying, "Better to let your food go to Waist than to go to waste."  They were literally taught to ignore these signs.  This could be one of the many reasons for the high rate of obesity in America. 

If you are one of these people, try something for me.  Leave a little bit of food on your plate at the end of a meal.  This will work with your brain to help you re-learn to listen to your body's natural signals of satiety once again.

Calories

   On almost everything processed that you eat there will be something called "NUTRITION FACTS" on the back.  Have you ever taken a look at the first thing listed? 
   This is a Calorie.  A calorie is a unit of measurement of energy (the same energy talked about previously).  On these labels though, the Calories talked about are actually kilocalories. You can calculate your energy intake by adding up these values.
   There is actually a  very precise way to calculate your energy output.  Your body naturally uses up a ton of energy just living (digestion, respiration, etc.).  Scientist have calculated this number generally according body type activity level.  The more in shape you are, the more energy is used up naturally. 
   I could give you a formula to calculate your exact energy input and output, but it can get pretty complicated, and I DON'T BELIEVE IN CALORIE COUNTING.  I'm more interested in the psychology of these things...

Let's talk about Nutrition

I love learning all I can about Health and Nutrition! I love talking about it! 
What is on everyone's mind concerning health?  We all know the answer to that question...we are all thinking about our weight. Well, let's just start with the basics!  It is as simple as this equation I'm about to give you.

Energy Intake - Energy output = Energy Stored

Here, energy is stored as fat and it really is that simple. If your Energy Intake is greater than the amount of Energy you use, you will gain weight.  If the intake is less than the output, you will lose weight.  If their is a good balance, weight is maintained. But how do we calculate these numbers?  Let's talk about it tomorrow.