Common Sense Health and Weight Loss

Is Breakfast the Most Important Meal of the Day?

2011-08-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

Everyone's heard the old adage.. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." But is it? I rarely eat breakfast. And I mean very, very, very rarely. At most, I usually have some chai. Because of all the hoopla you hear on a regular basis about eating breakfast, and people who eat breakfast having healthier body weights, I always felt kind of guilty about. Like I was doing my body a huge disservice by not stuffing myself upon waking in the morning.

Here's the thing, though. With my usual, anti-breakfast routine, I maintain my weight pretty easily and I'm not hungry all the time. I don't go through the morning hours starving, like I'm depriving myself or anything. I don't get hungry until lunchtime at the earliest. And sometimes I'm really not even hungry then. It's not unusual for me to have a late lunch, or no lunch at all, and then have a nice supper. I might have the occasional snack. If I'm more active, I eat more. Otherwise my stomach communicates well with me, and naturally regulates my food intake properly to my caloric needs based on my size and activity levels. And here's the big kicker - I let it! I don't eat by a clock, or the sun for that matter. When my stomach says 'feed me', I do. Otherwise I keep going about my business. What a brilliant, complicated plan, huh?

Now when I do eat breakfast, I am hungry all day. And I do mean ALL day. I miserably go about feeling like I could eat the bark off trees, no matter how much I've eaten already. Of course I don't just stuff my face all day. I eat what I consider to be acceptable, but then I'm still hungry, and continue this way. And of course, I do eat a little more than average for me because of this, and it leads to digestive discomfort. Ugh. My weight increases, no matter how carefully I watch what I eat. I know it's been said that eating breakfast gives your metabolism a boost in the morning or some such baloney. Sorry, I just don't buy it, because rather than rev me up, breakfast drags me down.

So, I have come to the conclusion (for me at least) through my own experimentation that breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. If we all still got up at the crack of dawn and physically labored out in the fields all day, sure, I would gladly get my breakfast on. But for the average lifestyle in modern society, it's just not necessary. I'm tempted to think that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," is a ruse concocted by cereal companies to give them a reason to exist and sell their sugar-filled, diabetes-in-a-box products, not to mention the rest of the breakfast food family.

Bread Buyer Beware

2011-04-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

We grew up eating white bread. I had never had anything else, didn't know any better, and of course didn't give it a second thought. At some point after I left home I did think about my bread as I started becoming more health conscious, specifically in regards to my diet.

I knew wheat bread would be healthier, so I switched over. Good start, no doubt, but I just bought the cheapest, most generic thing on the shelf - it just said "wheat bread" on it. Eventually I came across some information, quite by accident, which suggested that just because it was wheat bread didn't mean it was all that healthy. Of course not, as I now know. Food companies will throw the word "wheat" on anything these days to try and pass it off as a health food.

So, I began looking closely at the labels and ingredients of my bread. That wheat bread I was buying still had lots of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and the like in it, and not much fiber. Definitely not what I was going for! What I discovered through some due diligence was that, first off, I needed to look for a product that said, "whole wheat." That one word makes a big difference. If it isn't a whole wheat product, then the grain has been stripped of much of the nutritional content that you are buying it for in the first place.

Once that large hurdle was out of the way, I focused in on other things and tried several different brands until I found one I liked, that tasted good, met the criteria I was looking for, and actually didn't cost as much as some of the other brands. I found a nice, soft loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, with good fiber content and no high fructose corn syrup. I settled on Oroweat. There are several other very good brands available, and most of them have a fairly wide selection of yummy varieties.

All of this of course also applies to other bread products, like hamburger and hot dog buns. If you haven't already, try out a good loaf of wheat bread. You can significantly increase your intake of whole grains, which have myriad benefits, and at the same time reduce your intake of sugar and other health no-no's. The way I look at it these days is if I'm going to eat a lot sugary, heavily refined white bread, I just about might as well eat cake. Switching your bread is a small lifestyle change you can easily make, but that can have a far-reaching, long-term impact on your health and quality of life.

Open Your Windows

2011-04-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

Spring in full swing. Grass and trees are turning green and growing again, flowers are budding, birds are chirping. It is prime time for opening up those windows and getting fresh air into your home.

There are many great reasons to open your windows. First, it's healthy! In this modern era of comfort, many of us have become all to accustomed to breathing the staleness of air conditioners. Have you ever thought about how unhealthy it is? That same air just circulates through your home, through your (probably dirty, dusty, moldy) ductwork and vents. Oxygen is lacking in such an environment, which probably leaves you feeling fatigued and not thinking as well as you could be. Open your windows as much as you can to re-oxygenate your home. You'll be breathing better, thinking more clearly, and have more energy. Even with some environmental pollutants in the outside air, it is still healthier than what's spewing out of your A/C. If you keep your house closed up tight all the time, you're essentially living in a Tupperware container. And I love my Tupperware, but we all know what grossness happens to things we keep sealed up that tight for too long.

A second reason to spring for open windows is your electric bill and the accompanying environmental impact of wasting energy. My electric bill really isn't bad at all without heat and a/c. All of our lighting is low energy, and we make a good effort to turn off or unplug what's not being used. It's only when we turn the central unit to heat or cool that it blows through the roof, even with an a/c unit less than two years old. By leaving your central air off as much as possible (even without opening the windows) you can save big dollars. Our bill easily doubles by running the air conditioning on a regular basis. This will of course vary some depending on how energy-efficient your home is overall. And anytime you reduce your energy usage, you of course also do the planet a favor, which for me is just as big an incentive.

I live in Mississippi, and our summers are just plain hot with very high humidity. Close to 100% humidity is not unusual for us. Last summer we reportedly had the highest temperatures in something like 50 years. So there are going to be times when air conditioning is a must, especially for very young children or the elderly. But while temperatures are comfortable, take advantage of the fresh outdoor air.

Breastfeed Your Healthy Baby

2011-03-23T23:22:00.000-05:00

It just occurred to me that I have not written a post about breastfeeding! Having breastfed my first child (and only one yet), this is a topic I am very passionate about. I knew even before I did all the research during my pregnancy that I wanted to breastfeed, and said research merely provided bounties of information and confirmation to my decision.

Let me say before I go further into my diatribe that I don't think people who don't breastfeed are inferior mothers in any way. There are many circumstances that lead women to bottle feed, either partially or entirely, by will or out of necessity. I was the first child in my family and exclusively breastfed, but my younger sister was bottle-fed. While there was copious amounts of milk for me, there was none for my sister. Thus a situation of necessity. Also the working situations of many women simply make it overly-difficult or impossible to breastfeed or even pump milk. It is strictly up to each individual mother to do what works for herself, her child, and her family. The best mothers are those who go forth with their decisions in confidence and love.

Now, if you are able and open to breastfeeding, I cannot stress how highly I recommend it. And beyond that, I further recommend naturally breastfeeding as opposed to pumping if you can. Everything in this post comes from my own experiences and knowledge after exclusively breastfeeding my little girl for 20 months.

1. Healthiest for mother and baby. First the baby: breast milk has everything your baby needs, period. Nutrients, fats, immunities, you name it. It's all there in the proper amounts, easily digestible for your baby. No colors, flavors, preservatives, or chemicals. And it automatically adjusts as necessary to support your babies healthy, natural development. For mommy, it helps return your uterus to normal quickly after delivery and it releases the mothering hormone, oxytocin, which will not only make you feel nice, but as the nickname suggests, help kick in your natural motherly instincts and responses to your babies cues.

2. Lose the baby weight naturally. Yes, ladies, you read that correctly. I paid ample attention to eating sensibly after my baby was born, but also ate sufficiently to feed both my nutritional needs and that of my breastfeeding baby. Most guidelines you will come across say you need an extra 300 calories per day during pregnancy, but surprisingly enough up to an extra 600-900 calories per day while breastfeeding! I know, I couldn't believe it either. But breastfeeding will make you hungrier, just like your pregnancy. And you need to make sure you get plenty of nutrients, because the baby will be okay. The breast milk gets what is available in the body by default, and if there's not enough for both of you, mommy dearest will be the one lacking. You body is burning a lot of calories just producing milk. That coupled with the aforementioned uterus reduction means that breastfeeding is one of nature's ways of helping you lose the baby weight. I have no doubt that breastfeeding was the single easiest and most effective thing I did to get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes.

3. Save money. Cha-ching! It costs a lot to bottle feed a baby. Formula is expensive. Plus there's all the bottles and accessories. Breastfeeding is free. Well, you can factor in the cost of a few nursing bras, a box of nursing pads, and maybe even some special nursing clothing (yes they make that stuff) if you want, but that's the extent of it. I probably invested less than $40 bucks in the bras, which I actually bought at the beginning of my pregancy, and doubled as maternity bras before the baby even got here. I didn't buy any nursing clothing. You don't need it. All the money you save by not buying just the formula alone would make a hefty addition to the nursery, pay off some bills, or be a great start to a savings account for the baby.

4. Less smelly baby poop. It's true. It's really, really true. My breastfed baby's poop didn't stink at all while breastfeeding. Sometimes it barely smelled at all, and sometimes you could smell it but it wasn't a gross stink; just a smell. When she finally weaned and started eating, whoa boy! The difference was quite clear (err, or brown...). This is really a huge plus in more ways than you know. There's the obvious. There's also the diaper pail. I had exactly zero diaper pail odor while breastfeeding. And I didn't buy a fancy pail. I bought the simplest, cheapest $14 pail I could find. It uses regular garbage bags and doesn't have any special seals or odor eliminators. I'm quite confident I could have thrown those poop-filled diapers into any garbage can I wanted and no one would have said a word. Now it doesn't matter what I do, it stinks when you open it, bad, and it would appear to be permanently soaked into the plastic of the pail. Another plus is that diaper-shy daddies won't mind changing those diapers as much! Who can blame them for avoiding a nose full of pooh? But if it doesn't stink, there's no excuse.

5. A bond that last a lifetime. There are many moments in your child's life that you will look upon with especially fond remembrance and that will tightly bond the two of you together. If you breastfeed, I personally guarantee it will be at the top of that list. Even if your breastfeeding experience starts out shaky and you have problems, it will be worth it and you won't take it back for anything in the world. Aside from knowing that you are providing your baby with healthy food, you are providing a type of nurturing, soothing, and love that no one else can. When you hold that baby at your breast, and he/she looks up at you with eyes of complete trust, love, and contentment, it is a feeling unmatched by anything else I have ever experienced. I would happily and eagerly do it all over again.

6. It's easy. I don't know how else to say it. That's it. It's easy. There's no prep work; when the baby cries you're ready. You've been ready. It's not messy and there's no cleanup. You may get some dribble from a poor latch occasionally, but that's about it, and there are no bottles or anything else to clean, or store for that matter. You don't have to take anything with you. My diaper bag is and has been a large purse. At the worst, for a long day out, I needed diapers, wipes, a burp cloth, a few small toys, extra change of clothes. I think that about covers it. I didn't need bottles, food, formula, spoons, bowls, or anything of the kind.

7. Get more sleep. This ties in with breastfeeding being easy, but it so important I wanted to single it out. Breastfed babies (assuming you feed on cue, not by a strict schedule) are known to sleep better than bottle fed babies. That alone is huge. But wait, there's more! If you co-sleep at all, even with a young baby who is still waking at night, you don't have to get out of bed if the baby wakes up hungry. Laying on your side is a breastfeeding position, and during the night, at most you have to roll over to satisfy your baby. And you can continue resting or even go back to sleep. Our baby girl slept in a cradle right next to our bed for the first 2 months, which made it easy enough. Then she slept in our bed from 2 months to about 6 months. She slept better, because she didn't have to completely wake up and cry. She just had to move enough to get my attention. I slept better because I could just make sure she was positioned correctly and keep resting. And my husband slept better because there was no baby crying in the middle of the night. And that meant both me and my husband were in much better moods and had more energy. When it seemed time to transition the baby to sleeping in a crib in her own room at 6-7 months, it was effortless, easier than I ever dreamed. The very first night, she went down easy and slept well. In less than a month she was sleeping through the night without waking. After thinking about it, it made sense to me that having spent enough time in bed with us, she saw or felt that we got in bed at night and did not get up until the morning. She was also already pretty much used to sleeping through the night, since it was easy for her to be fed and go back to sleep more easily.

All that being said, there are varying schools of thought on the safety and appropriateness of co-sleeping. There are lots of cultures all over the world that only co-sleep, and well past the average cut-off age in western cultures at that. For me, it felt natural, it was convenient and easy. It may or may not be right for your family situation. And it is dependent on your family situation. Make sure everyone is comfortable and go with what works.

8. It makes dealing with family easier. I don't want this to sound bad, but breastfeeding can help you in dealing with family members who are overeager to take your new bundle of joy off your hands. Really I didn't realize this until well after the baby was born, but it's something to think about. When there's a new baby, everyone wants to babysit, or keep the baby overnight or even for an entire weekend so the parents can have a break, or watch the baby so you can "get things done", etc. Not that you won't need or welcome some help or a break on occasion, but if you're like me, you've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of your baby and you want to be the one taking care of him/her, especially at the beginning. If you're breastfeeding (and not pumping) you won't be able to leave the baby more than an hour or two for several months, and not for more than a few hours until the baby is weaned. This completely eradicates all awkward possibilities of people asking to keep your baby, and you trying to politely deter them. At worst, I heard, "When you get her weaned, she can come stay with us." And since I didn't set any timetable for weaning, but just played it by ear when both she and I were ready, I was in no way obligated or felt any pressure by these remarks.

I'd like to offer a quick side note on that last one about family, specifically the part about your loved ones wanting to watch the baby so you can get stuff done around the house, like chores. If you can do so politely and without hurting feelings, you might suggest that what would help you out best would be if they could do the dishes or laundry in order to give you some more energy to take care of the baby and more time for you and the baby to get to know each other. I always thought it a bit selfish for people to think that they should get to watch the baby so you can do the dishes.

Again, if you are able, please give due consideration to breastfeeding your baby. It is a wonderful and worthwhile experience; and a healthy start to both your baby's life, and to your life with your baby.

Get Outside and Move!

2011-03-10T22:28:00.000-06:00

All right you guys and gals. Spring is in the air, the weather is warming, and it's time to start getting outside. Fill those stale lungs with fresh air. Move those cooped up joints. The weather is perfect right now for throwing a football or frisbee, walking, running, anything that is an outdoor activity.

And please take your kids out with you! It is understandable that during the winter activity dwindles, especially after the harsh one we just had, but it's over, so no more excuses! Get the whole family outdoors for some healthy fun good times. Everyone will be healthier and happier. You can suck up some super healthy vitamin D, set a good example for the kiddies, and help them establish healthy, active habits that can last a lifetime and help ward off many causes of sickness, disease, and even death.

It doesn't have to be anything so strenuous as leaves you gasping for air and having nightmarish flashbacks of junior high PE classes. Any mild activity that gets you on your feet and moving around at all is fantastic and can do a lot more good than you may think.

My almost two-year-old can't get enough. She would practically live outside if we let her. It's natural, so why fight it. And I think if you start getting more fresh air yourself, you'll find it quite addictive. That's a good thing people!

Unnecessary Ingredients in Simple Foods

2011-02-22T15:17:00.002-06:00

How many times have you picked up an item in the grocery store, flipped it to check out the ingredients list, and thought, "Why did they put that in there?"

This happened to me most recently this week when I was shopping for peanut butter for my toddler. I started looking at the all the jars and most of them had all kinds of preservatives, extra stuff, sugar, etc. It's peanut butter. It's supposed to be made out of peanuts. It's that simple. I ended up buying "natural peanut butter," which was simply peanuts and a little salt. I was happy to find it, but incensed to know that something as simple as peanut butter needed to be labeled as natural in the first place. And you could tell the difference just by looking at it. The natural peanut butter had a layer of oil on top that separates naturally. You just have to stir it when you get home and refrigerate it to keep it from re-separating.

If you pay attention to your food labels, you know this to be a fairly common occurrence in completely unnecessary foods. Foods that would otherwise be healthy, or at least more-so than many alternatives, are transformed into chemical poisons.

Thankfully, more and more "natural" choices are becoming widely available, even in less expensive store brands. My peanut butter, for example, was a store brand, and about the same cost as the "regular" peanut butter.

Please make a habit to check your food labels, at least on new products or those you are unfamiliar with. You are probably eating many unnecessary and unhealthy chemicals for no reason whatsoever.

Is Your Shampoo Healthy?

2011-01-17T21:02:00.002-06:00

A couple of months ago I was doing some research and product comparisons on natural soaps and shampoos. In that process, I not only found out that "natural shampoos" cost way more than I am willing to pay, but that shampoo really isn't good for your hair. Shampoo actually dries out your hair ad causes your scalp to over-produce oil as it tries to compensate. This of course leads to my primary complaint - hair that gets oily and greasy very quickly, which makes me want to wash it more often. Thus goes the vicious cycle.

In addition to that, it was brought to my attention that shampoo contains many ingredients that are downright bad for you- toxic even. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this, but had never really given it serious consideration. The bottle even says, "contact a poison control center if ingested." And yet I never worried about scrubbing it into every inch of my head, let alone allowing it to be absorbed through my skin.

That led me to searching for an alternative to traditional shampoos altogether. What I found was baking soda and vinegar. Two of my trusted old pantry staples. The suggestions I found said to scrub with baking soda instead of shampoo, and then use the vinegar as a rinse instead of conditioner. Easy. Very cheap. Completely natural. Won't hurt me or wherever it gets dumped when it goes down my drain.

I went into shower #1 expecting not to be happy with the initial results. Almost everything I had read said it would take about two weeks for my hair and scalp to return to it's natural balance. I scrubbed with baking soda and rinsed it, my hair not feeling clean as with shampoo. Then I rinsed with vinegar, and it was better, but still not the usual squeaky clean I am used to. But I was committed to breaking myself of the shampoo habit and trusted it would pay off. As my hair dried following my first shampoo-free shower, I was thrilled. My hair felt softer, less weighed down, and more manageable.

I have not used shampoo or conditioner now for about two months. My hair does not get as oily or do so as quickly. It's easier to manage. I am sold and will not go back to shampoos.

Healthy Greens Make a Salad Healthy

2010-04-15T12:42:00.001-05:00

Howdy folks. I've been eating many a salad lately, and it has prompted me to write a quick post regarding the heart and soul of any salad - the greens! Immediately you're going to read this and think (or maybe even wonder aloud), "uh, lettuce, big deal..." But your choice of salad greens can actually make an important difference in just how much good that salad is really doing your body.

I fear that a whole lot of people, when wandering the produce section of the local grocery store, simply pick up a head of your garden variety ice-burg lettuce. Simple. Cheap. Healthy. No big deal. Wrong. Big deal. It's not that ice-burg is unhealthy in any way, but rather that it really isn't healthy either. There really aren't any vitamins and nutrients in ice-burg lettuce. It's pretty much just water. Yes, read that and let it soak in. Essentially, when you chow down on that ice-burg lettuce, you are eating water.

What you should be basing your salad on instead are greens such as romaine, arugula, and spinach. These will provide the health that you always assumed you were getting by eating salads in the first place, not to mention a good dose of fiber. And with the great mixes available at almost all grocery stores now, it's really not hard to find and buy these healthier options. When I buy salad ingredients, I ALWAYS buy a bag of spinach and then a bag of whatever mix looks good to me that day - Italian, mixed greens, spring mix, etc. I like to get something with some radicchio in it also. Grab a handful of each when I put my salad together, and there you go.

Not only will you be eating a truly healthy salad full of good-for-you vitamins, but it will also taste better, which will in turn make you want to eat more of it. It looks more appetizing, tastes more appetizing, is more appetizing! It'll cost you a little more, but the benefits will heavily outweigh the few extra dollars in the long run.

New Year's Resolutions | Weight Loss

2010-02-13T19:54:00.004-06:00

Hi there. I know it's been a very long time, if anyone cares, but with the holidays and taxes behind me, I'm hoping to get some occasional posting done now.

Speaking of holidays, how is everyone's favorite New Year's Resolution coming? I know there are literally tons of people out there who have committed to make this THE YEAR they finally stick tight to their depressing diets and grueling workout routines. Are those gym membership dues being well spent, or well wasted?

As many people have undoubtedly given up, even this early in the year, let me remind you to be careful to set yourself reasonable goals that won't doom your weight loss plans from the get-go. Rather than go on a lengthy spiel about that issue, I'll just refer you to another post regarding goals.

I'd also like to offer a few quick words of honest encouragement. You can do it. You can lose weight. You can be healthier. It won't be easy, because let's face it, if losing weight were easy, everyone would be trim and fit, and there wouldn't be an overwhelming weight problem. But it can be done. You can also keep it off and make your results last. To do that will take more than a fad diet and ruthless exercise for only long enough to lose the weight. For the REAL results, you must make lifestyle changes. New eating habits. Sustainable exercise. You don't have to sweat yourself into a messy puddle everyday, but you do have to get up off your but and move around.

Now get out there and start being healthier!

Eat to Health, Not Weight

2009-10-27T13:38:00.003-05:00

What is the best way to guarantee your weight loss? Eat to health, not to weight! How easy is that? If you focus on balancing your diet, and getting plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc., you'll be making yourself healthier and will naturally get to a healthy weight.

Too often, people are consumed with a particular weight or clothing size. In their obsession to fit into a pant size 0 (which I must say is ridiculous for most body types) they completely ignore the content of their food intake. They try "diet" soda. I emphasize the diet part with quotes because that is one of the biggest jokes I see in the beverage industry. They try weight loss oriented frozen dinners. Low fat everything. No fat everything. Wrong, wrong, so very truly wrong. Most of these over processed, pitifully diluted foods are stricken of any real nutritional value and filled with preservatives and chemicals that are necessary to make them fit their low fat labelling.

You want real, low fat food? There is an entire department of your local grocery store called PRODUCE. These are natural, whole foods. They are full of weight-loss-inducing fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. You can eat large quantities of these foods and have ingested a fraction of the calories you otherwise would in your so-called "diet foods". And it gets better. By eating more of these healthy fruits and vegies, you will naturally be cleansing your system, filling your body with healthy, long-lasting energy, and beefing up your immune system to prevent you from getting sick.

You can't lose if you go that route. You will feel better. You will look great. You will actually BE HEALTHIER. And that leads to your ideal weight without fretting over it, without obsessing and making yourself miserable with every bite you take. Eating healthy can solve so many problems without a lot of extra effort or unecessary expense. In fact you'll probably end up saving a lot of money between the cost of food and the cut in your medical expenses that will derive from a simply healthier diet.

What's in Your Food?

2009-10-12T10:50:00.002-05:00

Do you know what the ingredients are in your food? If not, you should check it out. If you are eating lots of pre-processed foods you are not eating healthy.

Don't Eat What You Don't Know

My general rule of thumb is if I don't know what it is, and especially if I can't pronounce it, I shouldn't eat it! Look at your food labels and see if your food falls into this category. Do your eyes glaze over trying to figure out those ten syllable chemical names? That's not good, and not healthy for you to eat. Put it back and go to the produce section of the grocery store. If you need a masters in chemistry to know what's in your food, you're eating the wrong stuff.

Ingredient Lists: Less is More

I'm a label reader. I want to know what I'm eating, and you should too. When you're reading labels, look for short ingredient lists. The longer the list, the worse off you'll be for eating it. It makes sense. What sounds better? Cheese, milk, whey; or water, high fructose corn syrup, cheese product, powdered milk, x as a preservative, etc., etc.?

Processing Kills Food

Processing is not good for your food, and processed food is not good for you. It takes out the bulk of nutrition that existed before the factory got hold of the ingredients. TV dinners seem to be the worst. When I moved in with my husband, he had a freezer full of these things. They're quick and easy, but they taste horrible, and they are chocked full of chemicals and preservatives. And honestly, they're not all that cheap, particularly if you take into account the medical bills that result from not eating healthy. And what's the point of food that is processed and then has chemicals added back to it to make it healthier, i.e. adding vitamins back to veggie meals that have been robbed of nutritional content? Skip that balogna, and go straight to the source. Eat a real vegetable! They're immensely good for you and there is no comparison when it comes to taste and texture. Real food is the way to go.

Case in point, everyone should really know what they're eating, even if it's bad. At least be aware of it. Hopefully that awareness will prompt better food choices.

Real World Health

2009-10-08T16:10:00.006-05:00

Hey folks. I was just carousing the boards over at WebMD and came across a post for Real World Health. Rob here is going to school to be a nutritionist, and has started his nutrition blog to share his knowledge with the world. Yeah Rob! Help us, we need it...

Starving Yourself is Not Healthy

2009-10-08T14:14:00.003-05:00

In an effort to lose a lot of weight quickly, some people desperately resort to starvation. This is a recipe for an unhealthy, unhappy, person, and weight loss that will be difficult to maintain without continuing a highly restrictive diet.

Not Eating is Not Healthy

By starving yourself you are denying your body vitamins and minerals that it needs to survive, let alone do so healthily. What's the point in being super skinny if you feel like crap and are putting yourself in danger? It's quite possible to eat and be trim. Not only that, it's possible to eat a lot and maintain a good figure.

Starvation Could Lead to Weight Gain

Yes, your eyes are fine and you read that correctly. When you don't eat for a prolonged period of time, your body may go into "starvation mode." Then when you do finally eat something, it will hang onto that food for dear life, not knowing when the next meal will be. So you'll lose some weight during your starvation time, but when you eat, it will more than likely come right back, and just as likely with more than you had to begin with. Not exactly what you were aiming for, huh?

Are You Happy When You're Hungry?

I don't know very many people who are in a good mood when they're hungry at all, let alone when they're famished. Actually, letting your blood sugar drop significantly can cause major mood swings. I've seen this in family members, and my husband has seen it in me when I just eat a little later than normal. Why make yourself miserable when you don't have to? It doesn't make a lick of sense. Besides, who are you going to get to hang out with your super-sexy-skinny self if you're grumpy? Not me!

Eat to Health

If you eat to health, you can't go wrong. You'll be happier, have more energy, and a healthy weight will naturally follow. It's not worth sacrificing your health to be a size 0. And yes, there is such a thing as being too skinny.

Reasonable Goals are Healthy Goals

2009-10-05T14:25:00.003-05:00

I think a frequent mistake made by dieters is setting an unrealistic goal for themselves. There's no point in setting yourself up for failure.

Short Term vs. Long Term

In my opinion, weight loss requires short term goals to be effective and manageable. If you say you want to lose 50 pounds in a year, that's acheivable, but when 3 or 4 months go by and you've only lost 8 pounds, you're going to get discouraged looking at how far you have to go. A better course of action is setting a goal of maybe 2 pounds in 2 weeks. That's small, simple, and does not have such an imposing presence. Think about it - there are 52 weeks in a year, so you would easily meet your goal if you tackled in those shorter, 2 week spans. Not only that, when you keep meeting those goals, you will be motivated to keep going, and the next 2 weeks will be even easier. After several months, you'll look at your overall weight loss and be amazed!

Unrealistic is Unhealthy

Don't set a goal of a big loss in a short amount of time. Losing 10 pounds in one week isn't healthy. It's too much, too fast. Remember that you're not just trying to get skinny; above all, you're trying to get healthy! That means losing that weight at a natural pace. Besides that, I've said it before and I'll say it again - you'll probably get tired of hearing me say it - lose it too quick, and it's more likely to come right back. I have to mention that I think there's a certain mental health component here as well. If you are meeting your goals, especially towards something like good health, it's also important for building self esteem and setting yourself up for future successes in all reaches of life. If you're trying to better yourself but don't meet the goals you set , the discouragement can be mentally debilitating and prevent you from pursuing such worthwhile ventures in the future.

A Healthy Start: Say NO! to Fast Food

2009-10-03T10:10:00.004-05:00

Fast food is a killer. I personally think it is one of the most unhealthy things you can do to yourself. Next time you see your favorite drive thru and feel the urge, do yourself a massive favor and drive past.

Gross Out

Have you seen the movie/documentary Supersize Me? Anyone who eats fast food, especially on a regular basis, should see this flick. You probably know that the greasy burger and fries aren't good for you, but do you really know just how disgusting that stuff really is? If you don't, the experiment this guy does will open your eyes and should dissuade you from further poisoning yourself.

I used to eat fast food, not all the time, but fairly regularly. Let's face it - it's convenient, cheap, and some of it is really good. But alas, on my quest for health, I gave it up. Cold turkey. It wasn't the easiest thing at first, but as time went on it became much easier to not even want it. When I was going out to pick something up for lunch or an easy dinner on the way home, fast food choices simply dropped from my list. It was no longer an option for me. Then one day after not having had any fast food at all for many, many, many months, I stopped at McDonald's for lunch. I was in a huge hurry, and it was the closest thing to the office. After all, I had been very good, and one meal wouldn't hurt me, right? Boy was I wrong. I ate my Big Mac and fries, and proceeded to have the absolute worst heartburn of my entire life. It lasted all afternoon and nothing would even ease it, let alone cure it. I also felt just plain disgusting for the rest of the day - you know, that icky feeling. I had not had that kind of grossly unhealthy food in my body for so long that I was no longer used to it, and my body was rejecting it. Now just the thought of eating fast food makes me sick. I'd pretty much rather go hungry than subject myself to those toxins they call food.

Eat Healthy - Small Plate, Small Portions

2009-09-29T15:48:00.004-05:00

If you grew up like I did, your parents were constantly on your case to clean your plate because there were starving kids in Africa. I was always tempted to say, "Great, send the rest of my food to them," but of course never ventured into that brave territory, and if you knew my mother, you wouldn't have either. Since then I have learned to better control the portion size of the foods I eat.

Small Plates

This idea I have to credit to my little sister, and I absolutely love it. She started eating all of her meals on small plates or saucers instead of full sized plates. This way, she always starts with small, controlled portions and doesn't have to feel guilty about cleaning her plate. Also, if she goes back for seconds, she's more aware of it and more conscious of exactly how much she is eating. I thought this was a very innovative way to avoid overeating just because there is food in front of you. Anyone who just can't leave food on their plate should seriously give this a try.

Leave a Little

Another quick tip for portion control is simply not to eat everything in front of you. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Oprah is fond of this one. I'll be honest - I'm not always great when it comes to leaving food on my plate. I like food, and often my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Just try to remember that leftovers are great - a quick, convenient little snack or small meal that just needs to be warmed up.

This couldn't be more true than when you're eating out. One of the hardest things in the world seems to be trying to eat healthy while eating out. Even the dishes that come across as "healthy" are usually loaded with fat and sodium. And restaurants seem to be only too willing to bombard us with enormous portions. So... eat half and take the rest home! My husband and I do this pretty much everywhere we go. With the economy in the doldrums, there is also the added perk of getting two meals for the price of one. Who doesn't love that?

Water: The Healthy Drink

2009-09-28T13:29:00.008-05:00

A lot of people hate the idea of trading in their sugary-sweet soda for a plain-jane drink of water. But if you're serious about being healthy and/or losing weight, the soft drinks simply have to go.

Fat-Free Fallacy:

If you check out the nutrition label on a soda it will list 0 grams of fat. Great! Yeah right. Look a little lower at the sugar... wait for it... woah! And we're not talking about good, long lasting carbs here. These are simple sugars and empty calories. Quick up, quick down, and right to your waist! I don't care what anyone says, soda is very fattening. What's that? You drink diet? Even worse and just as fattening. High fructose corn syrup is at least a sugar. Aspartame, Splenda, or whatever sugar substitute is in your drink of choice is not good for you. Now there is a good bit of dispute over these chemicals and whether or not they are harmful. I've read quite a few articles over the years since they're introduction saying that no research has yet proven that they cause cancer, but I don't buy it. Eventually the real harm caused by artificial sweeteners will be shown.

My Soda-Free Weight Loss:

Want proof that soda should be the first thing you dump? I'm sitting right here : ) Late in my highschool years I realized that I was not healthy. I wasn't in a life-threatening situation, but I was unhealthily overweight, fatigued, and just didn't feel like I thought I should. So I started to make some changes. I had been raised on Coca Cola. It was normal practice for my family to drink it at any and all meals, in between meals, whenever we were thirsty. My dad went through it like it was going out of style, even packing cans in his lunch. (Today he is overweight and diabetic, which I am told stems directly from his weight.) My mom hated - still hates - water. Needless to say, as far as fluids go, I was not given the best example to follow. When I reached the age of reason, I took it upon myself to correct this. Now keep in mind that while weaning myself from my soda habit, I did not make any other major changes to my diet or the amount of exercise I was getting. First I stepped down from Coke to Sprite. This was better because I eliminated the caramel color and caffeine, though I was still getting lots of carbonation and sugar. Just doing this I lost 10 lbs! My next move was from Sprite to lemonade. I still got some flavor to make it easier on me but no more carbonation - yeah me! Then I made the final leap to water. From the Sprite to the water, I lost another 10 lbs! Again, I didn't change anything else, only what I was drinking.

More Ways that Water Helps:

Replacing soda with water has other benefits as well. Obviously, it is the healthiest thing you can drink. It keeps you well hydrated (remember, a large percentage of your makeup is H2O), and flushes your system (I used to get sick on a fairly regular basis, but now I rarely do). It can help you manage your eating habits, too. I keep a couple of water bottles in my fridge at all times, so they're nice and cold, and refill them. Whenever I walk by the fridge, I'll take a few sips, or I'll carry one around with me to sip on throughout the day. Not only am I staying hydrated, but I'm staying full on water to help me avoid snacking too much.

Flavored Water?:

If flavored water is the absolute only way you can stand to put water in your diet and kick soda out, then so be it. But I have a small gripe with the large majority of flavored waters out there - sugar!!! One day I thought I'd try some flavored water for variety. So I started looking at the labels and was shocked at the amount of sugar. I quickly put them back on the shelf and went back to my regular water. I eventually came across the now popular Vitamin Water. This brand actually had very little sugar, and some healthy stuff thrown in as a bonus. Now, when I want to treat myself to something special, I go for it, and don't have to feel guilty about what I'm putting in my body. My favorite flavor is the Revive Fruit Punch, you know, the one you're starting see at major sporting events.

While soda is evil, it's okay to indulge on occasion. I do have the rare Dr. Pepper. But when I say rare, I mean it. Like twice a year. In fact, writing this right now, I'm remembering the last one I had - it was back in January for my pregnancy glucose test. My daughter is now 5 months old, and I am increasingly happy that I have developed healthy drinking habits that I can easily pass on to her. She's already watching everything I do, and seeing me drink good 'ole healthy water and pass on the soda will make her more naturally want to do the same.

Healthly Weight: Slow and steady wins the race

2009-09-25T15:59:00.006-05:00

Everyone wants to be healthy these days, and everyone is in a big hurry to accomplish that goal, like everything else. The old addage, "good things take time," definitely applies here. Now there are tons of advertisements all over the place for guaranteed health fixes, super-quick diets and exercise programs, etc. You've all seen them. And I'm sure they'll do you some good if you put in the time and effort. But I would advise against buying these products with the expectation that they will truly be quick and easy. You can't have your cake and eat it too... especially if you want to lose weight.

Slow Weight Loss is Maintainable:

Sure, you can go on a crash diet or starve yourself, and some poundage will probably drop right off. But I can almost guarantee it will come right back, too. And that defeats the purpose of losing the weight. It does no good to get the weight off if you can't keep the weight off. And that's a great reason to work it off gradually. Do yourself a huge favor and commit to a steady weight reduction instead of an overnight miracle. You are much, much, much more likely to be able to maintain your new figure if you attain it over a reasonable period of time and grow into it naturally. Think about it - you didn't gain all that weight overnight did you?

Say No to the Yo-Yo:

The yo-yo effect is not only frustrating, but incredibly unhealthy. Losing and gaining, and gaining and losing lots of weight constantly is not good for you. How could it be? Each of us was made to be an approximate size, not to stretch and shrink a lot (with the obvious exception of growing up and maybe getting really old).

Good Health Should be a Long Term Goal:

Good health is something you want to enjoy for the rest of your life, right? Then why should you expect it to happen so quickly? It has been my experience the more time I put into something, the longer it lasts. Of course there are certain things that will contribute to your health and have immediate results (i.e. quitting smoking), but most things will have more long lasting contributions that will take years to see and appreciate.

Common Sense Health and Weight Loss

2009-09-25T11:51:00.004-05:00

Welcome to Common Sense Health and Weight Loss. I look forward to sharing my common sense tips for a healthy lifestyle, and losing weight and keeping it off. These will be based largely on my own personal experiences and those of family and friends.