Good AM & Happy Monday! A great day to get back to Reality meets Science (tm) basics! 1. Plan on a pound...of each, leafy & other low starch veggies as well as a pound of whole fruit (equivalent to 4-5 nice size apricots). Some can come in thick (eg blended protein) smoothie form. But most is best chewed (which in and of itself helps with achieving a sense of satisfaction/fullness, otherwise known as satiety). The total calories on those two pounds of 50/50 leafy & low starch veggies & a pound of whole fruit (sounds like a lot but isnt - just put a pound of fruit in the scale basket at your local grocery store next time you shop) add up to only 250-500 cal depending on the fruit you pick. So please put away your fruit is full of sugar concerns. Americas sugar problem is far more due to too LITTLE whole fruit while relying on satisfying our collective sweet tooth with processed, calorie dense, sweets (that typically have 1500-2500 calories per pound or more) than anything to do with eating fresh fruit, which has a ton of nutrition vs comparatively little sugar 2. Surround yourself with the right foods to make the frequent choice the choice that you see frequently (healthy should be convenient). Surrounding yourself with temptations that are best eaten only rarely and then expecting to eat them only rarely by relying on willpower wont work for the mass majority of people (yours truly included). Dont believe me? Then check out Cornell University professor Brian Wansinks book Mindless Eating and read the research on stimulus control. Notably, not surrounding yourself with comfort (aka junk) foods doesnt mean zero tolerance to them. It simply acknowledges our human nature to eat impulsively, and that to eat (and enjoy!) comfort foods only from time to time, we need to see them rarely. Thats all - its really not rocket science. And please, if you do choose to indulge from time to time, ENJOY IT! When done right (at the right frequency and/or amount) it shouldnt be a guilty pleasure. It should be a DESERVED pleasure! 3. Move it! And measure it! Im a Fitbit (pedometer) fan, its not a secret. And its not a secret that as a lifestyle coach & doc Im no longer surprised to see how much health and weight management comes down to people/patients being totally unaware of how little they move. While the saying you cant out-excercise bad diet is true, we also cannot have a truly healthy lifestyle if we are sedentary - even if we eat healthy. This does not mean theres a need to become an exerciser (though in theory being non-sedentary AND a regular, reasonably low injury risk exerciser is best), at least not in the sense of the typical image of exercise. Most people in the longest lived societies on earth, called Blue Zones, move a lot, but they do so more via natural movement (usually via walking) than hitting the gym. All that said, Im off for a 3/4 mile walk TO the gym! Thats where REALITY MEETS SCIENCE (tm) for me! RMS Have and MAKE it a GREAT WEEK!
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:50:52 +0000
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