Short Course in Reading Nutrition Labels

Effectively cutting down on cholesterol, sugar and salt calls for a close reading of nutrition labels. Here is a simplified guide to understanding the fine print:

* INGREDIENTS. These are listed in descending order, according to their weight.

* SUGAR. Whether it's called sugar, dextrose, sucrose, corn sweetener, corn syrup, honey or molasses, the food has little nutritive value if the sweetening ingredient is among the first three listed. When listed as a minor ingredient, a
combination of two or more sugars might actually add up to a hefty sugar count.

* CHOLESTEROL. Avoid coconut and palm oil, as they are more saturated than animal fats. Nonspecified vegetable oils frequently mean palm or coconut. When buying margarine, choose the brand with liquid vegetable oil as the primary ingredient. It contains less saturated fat.

* SALT. While sodium levels are not shown on many ingredient lists, look for brands that list sodium by milligrams. As a rule of thumb, no one should consume much more than 4,000 milligrams of sodium daily. Those on restricted diets should have considerably less than that amount.

Source: Bottom Line "Book of Secrets" (adapted)

Making a commitment to keeping food records may be the most important step in changing eating habits. It provides an increased awareness of your personal eating habits. You may not need to complete every portion of the food record but rather, you can focus on those issues that you are having difficulty with, such as portion size or eating when you are not hungry. Make a photocopy of this food record and carry it with you. Maintaining a record may appear to be time consuming in the beginning but it can help you lose weight by helping you to become aware of exactly what you are eating.

Time	Food Eaten	Amount	Where	Mood	Hunger

1. Record the time that you start and finish eating. For example: 8:00 - 8:30 am.

2. Record the type of food or beverage consumed, how it is prepared and the amount that you ate.

• Be as specific as possible. For example: 4 fried chicken wings, 1 cup 2% milk, 5 bites broiled fish - no butter, 2 cups mixed green salad with 2 tablespoons of creamy Italian dressing.

3. Record the place where you ate the food, for example: kitchen, car, den, office, restaurant.

• This will help you to look for trends - for example, the largest quantity of snack food you consume is while sitting on the couch!

4. Record your mood before you start to eat, for example: depressed, stressed, tired, bored, anxious, guilty.

• This will also help you to track your eating pattern and what may be triggering you to eat when you are not hungry.

5. Rate your hunger before and after eating on a scale from 1 to 10.

• 1 indicates extreme hunger, 5 is perfectly comfortable, 10 represents absolutely stuffed!

The Importance of Keeping A Weight Change Record

A weight change record is a weekly graph of changes in your weight. There are several advantages to keeping track of your weight. First, it is a reminder of how you are faring with your plan. Second, it shows the relationship between your eating and your weight. You can make a rough estimate of how many calories you need to lose weight by taking the average daily calorie values from several weeks of your Food Diary and checking weight changes from your Weight Change Record. Third, the graph puts your weight change in perspective. If you gain a pound during your eighth week, you can take heart from the steady loss in earlier weeks.
 

 
You will notice that this weight change record is a graph of change and not of your actual weight. In other words, your weight does not appear throughout the graph, just your progress. You can print this chart and make copies for the weeks ahead. Remember to always weigh yourself on the same scale and try to weigh yourself at the same time of day. don't forget it is best to not weigh yourself more than once a week.
 
Also, remember what is most important in any given week is how your weight compares to where you started, not to what you weighed the week before. Gaining a pound is only a small setback in the scheme of your total program.
 
{Weight chart can also be found in the Slim•Fast Guide to Healthy Living }

Smaller Dishes
If you're trying to cut down on your food intake, try using smaller dishes. This will force you to serve smaller potions, which in turn equals fewer calories.

HOW DO THE NATURALLY SLIM EAT?

* They eat only when they are PHYSICALLY hungry.

* They eat what they WANT MOST.

* They stop when their bodies are SATISFIED (comfortable or not hungry anymore), rather than when they are full.

* They give their food their conscious attention when they eat.

* They notice how their bodies feel during and AFTER eating.

* They have no "good" or "bad" foods. All foods are to be enjoyed.

* They don't stuff uncomfortable feelings under food.

Dip Your Salad

Salad dressing can be very fat and calorie-rich. To reduce your intake of fat and calories, try this tip. When you eat salad, keep the dressing in a small bowl on the side. Then lightly dip each mouthful of salad in the dressing. You'll find that you consume much less dressing this way than you would if you poured it over your salad.

Drinking Water To Lose Weight

It takes approximately 20 minutes after you eat for you to realize that your stomach is full. If you're trying to cut down on food intake, try drinking a tall glass of water 20 minutes before each meal.

FIVE STEPS FOR OVERCOMING COMPULSIVE OVEREATING

If you think about food most of the time and find it difficult to stop eating once you start, you might be a compulsive overeater. It's not what compulsive eaters consume that's their biggest problem. Rather, it's the emotional problems behind their food obsession.

If you are a compulsive eater, here are five ways that you can develop a healthy relationship with food and regain control over your eating:

1. Learn to love and accept yourself. Make a list of your good qualities and then read that list over often.

2. Find a group of people, such as a network of friends or a support group led by a person trained in eating disorders, where you will be accepted while you work on your eating problem.

3. Don't try to be "cured" by a strict diet. Nerve chemicals and hormones go wildly out of whack during quick weight-loss diets. The result is more cravings and binge eating. Have several small meals a day, balanced with carbohydrates, protein and fat, instead of a couple of huge ones. You'll keep your blood sugar and brain chemicals stable, as you help curb your overeating.

4. Learn to recognize your trigger foods. If you find potato chips irresistible, don't buy them. Don't go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.

5. Get in touch with your feelings. Is your stomach hungry or is it really your heart? What emotional traumas do you need to deal with? Get these issues out in the open and deal with them.

Source: Editors of FC&A, "Big Book of Health Tips" (adapted)

How to Avoid TEMPTATION!!

It is time to put food in perspective... food never has solved any of your problems in the past and it is unlikely it will in the future. You have the power to make the changes that you need in your life. Don't give away that power by being controlled by food.
 
The aroma and the sight of delicious food triggers an immediate response to indulge. Keeping high calorie snacks in the house can act as a trigger; therefore, it is wise to keep these foods out of the house. People eat as a result of boredom or anger. If you are feeling stressed out - call a friend or take a walk. People can give you the support and feedback that you need to make positive changes in your life. Snack foods only will give you extra fat and calories. For immediate stress relief, exercise is a far better strategy than eating. But we all know that this is easier said than done, so it is useful to learn some other tips to avoid trigger eating.
 
Recognizing eating triggers is an important first step in getting rid of them. Keep a food diary for a couple of weeks and look back over that diary to identify what triggered you to eat and when the trigger occurred. For example, if TV is a trigger to eating, make a rule that no eating takes place while the TV is on or at least while in front of the TV. If you feel that you are having a craving, the first step is to give yourself a reality check. Food cravings may hit hard and fast, but if left unsatisfied they last usually a maximum of 15 minutes. Use that time to put the craving into perspective.
 
15 Minute Tips for Escape

• Keep a picture of yourself at your highest weight in your wallet or daily organizer.
• Take a 15 minute cool down - call a friend, take the dog for a walk, play a computer game or your favorite CD - just do something that will occupy your time for 15 minutes and you will be home free.
• Don't kid yourself into believing that you can have "just one" of anything. Wait out the 15 minutes and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you're stronger than a piece of food.
• Try one of the many health alternatives that are available to satisfy the most common food cravings. Want something crunchy and salty? Try a flavored rice cake, a celery stick with peanut butter or a crisp pickle. Yearning for something sweet and creamy? How about a non-fat pudding, frozen yogurt, or fruit sorbet. But remember that even the most low calorie snacks will add pounds if you eat the entire package!
• Choose small snacks - who cares if the jumbo size is cheaper - it is your waistline that will have to pay. A mini York Peppermint Patty, or a small bag of pretzels has fewer calories than the large version - and it just may be enough to kill your craving.
• Use your non-dominant hand. Unless you are very coordinated, it's virtually impossible to smoothly pop food into your mouth with your non-dominant hand. Also, if you have to think about what you're doing, you're less likely to scarf down a whole pint of ice-cream.
• Keep it out of the house. Many people only lose control over their trigger foods when they have those foods at home.
• Fruits & vegetables are the unlimited healthy finger foods. Celery sticks, crisp dill pickles, carrots sticks with mustard or a glass of tomato or vegetable juice are all packed with nutrients and are very healthy treats.
• Take the low-fat road. Supermarkets are filled with dozens of alternatives to traditionally high-fat treats such as non-fat cookies, air-popped popcorn, non-fat pretzels, flavored rice cakes, non-fat cheeses, non-fat ice-creams, baked tortilla and potato chips and most of them taste pretty darn good!
• If you can't stop, don't start - if there is a food that you know you literally cannot stop eating, the best bet is not to start. Steer clear of that food entirely, and go for other foods that have a less powerful pull.
• Share - it guarantees that there will be less for you.
• After you eat a meal - and when you feel a craving coming on - brush your teeth - it often helps to keep food cravings at bay.

Write out the activities that would make good alternatives for you. They should be both enjoyable and feasible. Some may require planning and the right timing - such as going to a movie. Others should be available at a moment's notice so you can spring into action when an urge hits. Try consulting the list when you feel the urge to eat. If you can distract yourself for even a few minutes, the urge to eat can fade away and your control can increase.
 
MY ALTERNATIVES TO EATING

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Put Your Fork Down

Most people tend to eat too fast and then overstuff themselves. A simple way to make yourself slow down while eating is to put your fork down on the table after each bite. Do not lift your fork back up until you have thoroughly chewed and swallowed your food. Follow this tip and you'll find that you feel full after eating less!

Stop Noshing And Start Chatting

Do you find that you eat too much when you go to a party? If so, then try concentrating more on socializing than eating. If you find it difficult to talk without holding a drink or food item, then try holding a glass of water. It doesn't get much healthier than that!

Craving Busters

Do you get hankerings for rich, creamy chocolate or super-salty, greasy chips? No matter what gets your taste buds keyed up, we have a low-calorie stand-in that can satisfy them:

The craving: salt

A yen for salty foods may have more to do with a penchant to crunch than the salt itself.

The cure: Try crispy, munchable foods, like baby carrots or bell pepper wedges, or nibble some low-fat, whole-grain pretzels.

The craving: carbs

Experts say stress can cause cravings for carbs, such as muffins and breads, which boost levels of the brain chemical serotonin and produce a feeling of calm.

The cure: Chomp on complex carbs, like whole-grain crackers or veggies, which are more tummy filling.

The craving: chocolate

Chocolate is the most commonly craved food in the U.S. Enough said.

The cure:

Truthfully, the real deal is tough to replace. Sip some low-fat cocoa or plunge fresh fruit wedges into fat-free chocolate syrup.