7 Tips to practice “Mindful Eating”

From November’s issue of Oprah magazine, Brian Wansink, a professor at Cornell University, gives these tips on eating “mindfully”.

1. Buying at  a discount store means you are likely to eat more. If you do buy in bulk, divvy up your snacks in portion-controlled baggies. Never eat right out of the box.

2. The longer you sit at a table, the more you’ll eat. If you’re trying to lose weight, sit with a small group or by yourself when eating.

3. Pre-plate your food in the kitchen rather than serving yourself at the table. You are less likely to take seconds.

4. When you are eating at a buffet, put only 2 items on your plate at a time.

5. Always eat in the same room of your house but not in front of a TV or computer.

6. Don’t leave serving plates on a table unless they are filled with healthy vegetables.

7. Focus on what you really want…is it physical hunger or emotional hunger? Physical hunger is gradual; emotional hunger is sudden.

Professor Wansink wrote a book about this: “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Then We Think”.  

Top 3 Sleep strategies for more energy

Yes, we’ve heard that sleep is supposed to make you lose weight…whatever…not if you fall asleep next to an empty bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos and a can of coke! However, assuming you are eating right and exercising regularly, 7-8 hours of sleep a night does keep you rested and alert. Here are 3 strategies for getting the Zzzz’s you need…

1. Hitting the shower or taking a bath before you go to sleep can help you get a deeper, more restful sleep.

2. Power naps are a great energy booster…as long as you don’t nap longer than an hour. For me, 20 minutes is just right.

3.  Don’t try to make up for lost sleep on the weekends…doesn’t do you any good. You might even be doing yourself more harm by getting your sleep rhythms all out of whack.

Top 3 food strategies for more energy…

OK, you may have read this before but this list is from the November 2006 issue of Health magazine. Maybe there’s something new here…

 Eat Smart…

1..Eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. The theory is that it gives you the constant fuel you need to keep blood sugar levels steady.  Watch the type of mini-meal you have. Low calorie and low fat, of course. Fiber helps, like an apple and some almonds or whole grain crackers and low fat cheese. Notice the protein complex carb combo?

2. Increase your  Vitamin B budget. It converts the food you eat into energy.  How about lean beef, pork, poultry or fish. Also, bananas, nuts, whole grains and seeds. Multi-vitamins help although food is better because your body can only absorb 10% of the vitmains and minerals in a traditional pill or capsule. A liquid vitamin and mineral supplement like Vibe is also a better choice since it is almost completely absorbed by your body.

3.Eat apples, pears or oranges .  These fruits combine the vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and fiber that you really need for more energy.

Top 5 things I’ve needed to do to change my life…and you can do, too!

5. A reason. When things aren’t working in my life, I look for the reason why and then I go to work to change it. For example , I recently realized that I couldn’t blame the problems in some of my relationships on the other people I was involved with…I had more than one relationship that was suffering; the only common denominator was me! So there was something in me that had to change or things would just follow the same familiar pattern.  

 4. Determination. Whenever I’ve made a decision to change something in my life, I had to protect myself and not let the negative nellies try to talk me out of it. Sometimes they could be very subtle in their discouragement. They whine about how it used to be, ”you’re no fun anymore” or they tried to sabotage my efforts through temptation. I finally decided to just avoid those “toxic people”. I didn’t need them to drag me backwards.

3. Honesty. I need to be honest with myself and admit my mistakes before I could make any changes. I can talk myself back into my old way of thinking pretty easily by justifying my behavior. I’ve just learned to admit my mistakes and move on.

2. Teachability. I’ve had to make myself be willing to learn from people who’ve done what I hoped to do. I recognized that there were lots of people who’ve overcome the same problems I was trying to overcome. They’ve learned new ways of thinking and changed their way of doing. I can do it, too!

And the number 1 thing I did to change my life is… 

1.   Spirituality. I depend on the most high God to help me change. I’ve learned that he has all the wisdom and connections I need to make changes in life. In fact, I can’t change without Him. The good news is that He is on my side;  He wants to help me change so that I can be blessed.

Why am I opening up my soul to anyone who reads this? Because it’s time for change again! And I want to encourage anyoone whose reading this that if I can do it, you can do it, too.  

Top 6 foods that boost your immunity

…from Prevention Magazine, November 2006 issue.

1. Fish…Shellfish like lobster, oysters, clams and crabs contain selenium that produces proteins that clear flu viruses out of your body. Salmon, mackerel and herring have that crazy Omega 3 oils that everyone is talking about…2 servings a week.

2. Oats and Barley…contain a type of fiber that is more potent than echinacea..1 daily in your 3 daily servings of whole grains.

3. Garlic…fights infection and bacteria…2 raw cloves a day(!) plus crushed garlic to your cooking every day.

4. Yogurt…has “healthy” bacteria that can keep your digestive system free of germs that could cause disease…2 6-ounce servings a day.

5. Chicken soup…a study of 13 brands showed that all but one blocked the migration if inflammatory white blood cells. Chicken and added spices increase the immune-boosting effects…a bowl when you are feeling under the weather.

6. Tea…black and green are great for boosting immune system and increasing anti-oxidants in your body…drink several cups a day.

Top 7 Ways to Avoid Snacking

Memorize this list of things to do when you get the urge to do some illegal snacking .  

1. Keep your hands busy. Can’t eat if your using your hands are busy doing something else.

2. Stay out of the kitchen!

3. When you feel the urge to snack, go outside, walk around your house, lift hand weights, anything to move your body. Exercise suppresses your appetite.

4. Don’t watch commercials. Another good reason, right? Exercise instead. Or do a small chore.

5. Chew sugar-free gum or mint.

6. Drink water.

7. Plan your menus everyday to include a healthy snack and then reward yourself everyday for sticking to the menu. (Rewards can be whatever you find enjoyable that doesn’t involve food.) 

Top 5 ways to get a quick work-out

1. Whenever you open into the refrigerator, grab a full jug of milk (or whatever you have in there that’s full) and raise and lower five times with each arm.

 2. Keep a set of weights or an exercise band  around your living room (or wherever you just hang out) and do bicep curls or work your triceps. 

3. When you get out of the shower, do push-ups against the edge of the bathub or counter.

4. Make a commitment to take the stairs whenever you can and then do it.

5. If you’ve got young kids or a pet, play tag with them for 10-15 minutes. It will get your heart rate up.

Top 12 Ingredients of Happiness

I was sitting in the doctor’s office waiting room the other day and picked up “redbook” magazine from May 2006. They had the Top 12 Ingredients of Happiness. If I had only known back when I was in my 20’s! Ah, well, it’s never too late…Here they are from the last to the first….

12. Altruism…doing nice things for people.

11. good health…this is number 11?

10. Perspective

9. Security

8. Love

7. Spirituality

6. Purpose

5. Courage

4. Humor

3. Proactivity

2. Optimism

and the #1 ingredient of happiness is………………………

Sense of Choice.

Whaa?? I think they got this backwards.

On my list, Love would be number 1, followed by spirituality, followed by good health. Then purpose,humor, perspective, security, optimism, proactivity, courage, altruism and sense of choice.

What say you? Notice that money doesn’t make the cut? Maybe that’s what they mean by “security”. 

The best healthy cereals according to…

Prevention magazine. I must admit, some of them don’t sound to tasty to me. With really long names that sound like a scientific formula for crap, you try and decide! Actually, the last one spunds pretty good. They are in reverse order, just because.

9.. Zoe’s O’s – whole grains, flax and soy

8. Kashi GoLean Crunch! – long grain brown rice, white oats and barley, flaxseed, almondsand honey. Yuck!

7. Peace Cereal – bran strands (!)

6. Fiber One Honey CLusters – whole grain flakes with honey-oat clusters

5. Nature’s Path Organic Pomegrain Plus Granola with Cherries – crispy rice, chewy rolled oats, and pomegranite juice.

4. South Beach Diet Whole Grain Crunch – whole grain flakes, ridged chips (?), puffed wheat andalmonds

3. Arrowhead Mills Organic 4 Grain Plus Flax Hot Cereal – cracked wheat, steel-cut oats, rye, barley grits and flax. 

2. Organic Weetabix Crispy Flakesand Fiber- self-explanatory. Think weetabix biscuits.

1. Envirokidz Organic Peanut Butter Panda Puffs – certified organic corn puffs sweetenedwith cane juice and flavored with all-naturalpeanut butter.

Top 10 weight loss strategies

10. Take 10 points off of your food’s glycemic index number and get a 10 pound decrease in your body weight over a period of time. For instance, eat grapes (49) instead of dates (103).

9. Don’t work overtime. Limit your workday to 9 hours per day and that includes lunch!

8. Drink 8 glasses of cold water per day. (64 ounces, at least)

7. Get 7 hours of sleep a night.

6. Keep track of your daily food and exercise in a journal at least 6 days a week.  

5. Take 5,000 extra steps a day.

4. Eat 4 grams of fiber a day in every meal or snack.

3. Call a friend 3 times a week for weight loss support.

2. Watch no more than 2 hours of TV per day.

and the number one strategy for weight loss is…

Weigh yourself once every day. It keeps your weight loss efforts real!

From the August 2006 issue of Prevention Magazine.