WATER FOR WEIGHT LOSS, EMOTIONAL EATING TURNED TO HEALTHY HYDRATION (REJOICE IF YOU HAVE AN ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY) (ISSUE 61)

By Diane Gold

Everyone knows that water is great for weight loss. And this would be helpful because there is so much emotional eating going on. Why? It helps hydrate our skin, our membranes, our very cells so that we can get the food (oxygen) to the blood effectively and the nutrients we ingest to absorb into our intestines. And it curbs food cravings.

Did you know that a huge amount of our world population does not have enough water or has to walk to get it? According to Kathleen Parker’s article, quoting Charles Fishman’s The Big Thirst (on my pending reading list), we, Westerners, use 18.5 gallons a day flushing our toilets while there is only 1/100th of 2.5 percent fresh water on the planet or, if the oceans were broken down into mass, 2.5% of the Earth’s mass. Not a lot.

So, the first thing to do is to hail the Universe if you have enough water to drink and to consider being frugal with it so that we can make money with it and fund sending workers to third-world countries to create water infrastructures so that everyone can live more easily with water.

Next thing we need to do is to consider this simple concept: drinking 2 cups of water before every meal has been clinically proven to reduce calorie intake by 75-90 calories per meal and to increase actual weight loss by 33 or so %, according to Brenda Davy’s study in the clinical trial reported to the 240th Meeting of the American Chemical Society (August, 2010) by Davy of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

PRELUDE TO HABIT

Let’s look at what happens when we start to feel the twinges of hunger. These urges might be immediately after eating, 10 minutes after eating, an hour after, 3 hours apart or more. The amount of time between cravings is a non-judgmental number. The craving begins as an itch, which shows up when it shows up. If we don’t judge ourselves, we won’t be judged! Its intensity determines the level of self-control we need to master it.

Of course, different proteins (histamines and newly found proteins) cause the nerve fibers that control itching (apparently, there are itch grids on our skin where these fibers connect) to be stimulated. But, I was speaking about itching as an analogous to cravings. As we sometimes, automatically scratch, often times, we automatically eat to satisfy our hunger.

ACTION STEPS: THE ANSWER

As soon as we feel that twinge of hunger, we have to continue to notice it exists so that there are fewer and fewer times we are already eating food before we realize we have had a craving.

Once we start to notice the urge, it will be easier and easier to pick it out of our urge line-up. We won’t push it away, thinking it will go away as we quietly walk to the kitchen. We will acknowledge and embrace it.

1) And go get water, 16 oz. worth.

2) Drink it (2 cups of 8 oz. each) at a gentle speed. If we slow the process down, we can maximize the effect the drinking process will have on our appetite.

3) Taste the water as it is going down. Since water has no taste, we will have to be mindful of its subtle flavor, created by the minerals that accompany the water, itself.

4) Take a moment to realize that we can single-handedly change our actions to our food craving, by ourselves, with the power of our minds. The sensation that goes with food can be directed. How is different for everyone, but we can alter our actions. By the act of noticing, drinking and tasting!

5) Take a moment to jump up and down with happiness that we can be instrumental in changing our hormones so that they work for our health, not to put us in a position of weakness.

EPILOGUE AND FUTURE CRAVINGS

After we begin, it will be get much easier for us to recognize and acknowledge it when we have a food urge. Whereas before, we might have felt we had to sneak to eat, we will no longer have to sneak, since our first line of food defense can be healthy, wonderful water. Whereas before, we might have felt guilty for eating mindlessly, we can feel pride because we are eating as part of a technique.

We can take a giant step toward hydrating our body, being the master of our urges and setting our bodies up to lose weight, in the process.

CONCLUSION

The act of making change takes time and effort. That includes water for weight loss. The biggest effort is in training the mind (changing a habit) that when we have a food craving, we need to embrace it. We need to drink 16 oz. of water, slowly. This is great in theory, but…

What if we consistently find ourselves eating before we remember to drink?

We will work to remember the next time and be twice as grateful for the opportunity.

What happens if it’s not possible for us to drink 2 cups of water at one time right from the start?
We can drink what we can drink. The more we drink, the more we will be able to drink more. The more food cravings turn away from emotional eating and towards drinking water before eating, the happier and more self-confidence we will be. The more weight loss becomes our personal reality, the more we will become iron-clad believers.

What if we don’t have a supply of water to our home?

We can walk to get it and get happy exercise along the way.

For those of us in the United States and some other countries, we can be extra thankful that we do have water readily available. 2/3 of world families do not (National Geographic Society Geography Awareness Week, 2010). They have to walk to get their water; they have to transport it on shoulders, backs or holding buckets.

No need to feel bad that we have it; let’s use the water that is right in front of us: for weight loss, for hydration, for detoxification, for balance. And let’s be thankful for every sip.

FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She feels fortunate for having grown up with an adequate water supply. She says,

“Feeling a food craving is something we’ve felt from childhood, since we have to eat to sustain. Emotional eating shows up after that. What’s new for us now is that we have the ability to change what we do with those cravings.

“We can tell ourselves to take an action. We can adjust the command we give ourselves. Even if it is as small as immediately taking a sip or two glasses of water. Any 1 step is monumental toward changing a habit. When we take a first step, as when we are babies, it is foreign, scary, difficult. Step 2, as Jaren, 1 of the big connections in my life used to say, may be scarier because we know what lies ahead.

“Step 3 and beyond are more and more familiar and possible to achieve with less difficulty. We are swaying our emotional eating into healthy drinking, 1 step at a time. This is how we change an ineffective habit to 1 that is beneficial to us.

“We have learned determination in life and in satisfying our food cravings. We are able since we have made to here. Now, we have to begin.”
____

Dedicated to the memory of Gertrude Gold, whose birthday would have been January 16. Once retired from entrepreneurship, she supported theater, music and arts, many international causes, worked at Planned Parenthood, typed Braille books for the Library of Congress. Mostly she was the great family giver who taught me always to stand up for myself and forgive. Miss you, Ma.

FOOD CRAVINGS: HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEM FOR OUR GOOD HEALTH (ISSUE 60)

By Diane Gold

Before we talk about food cravings and how to maximize them for health, I’d like to say that this article is about FAITH, not faith in someone or something else, but faith in ourselves that we may not be able to see yet. It is similar to that faith that many people attribute to a supreme entity; yet, we are going to use faith in ourselves for this lesson.

I want to mention a video clip I saw this morning. It pictures a just-turned 4-year-old girl pumping herself up by speaking positive statements to herself in the mirror. Many call these daily affirmations, you know, the kind where we tell ourselves we are amazing, happy, talented as we watch our mouth in the mirror as we say the words. This act, many have demonstrated, solidifies our belief in how amazing, happy and talented we actually are.

So, here’s a little girl, Jessica, standing on the bathroom counter, looking into her bathroom mirror, saying, with enthusiasm and self-assuredness,

“I can do anything good. I like my school; I like my dad; I like my cousins; I like my aunt; … I like my mom; I like my sister; I like my haircut… I can do anything good; I can do anything.”

DEFINING CRAVINGS

Let’s define cravings, since we all have them. A craving is a strong desire, which we all have. Synonyms for cravings are appetite, which we all need to self-sustain, and yearning or yen. If we all used our appetite for health, we would all be in good shape. But, when we talk about food cravings, we are generally speaking about following our urges without using self-control.

CHARACTER TRAITS

Like any other habit, we can change the way we act once we get our cue, which, in this case, is the food craving. So, let’s examine what we cravers have in common, for the most part.

Here are the traits that usually accompany a food craving person.

1)  Our food craving is a special cue that demands immediate attention on our part.

2)  We enjoy pleasurable sensations. We may also be experiencing what used to be pleasurable and just going through the motions.

3)  We consider the pleasure from food more important than our own health, so we are strong- willed in that we do what we decide.

4)  We are risk takers, and, like the casino gambler, we bet that eating healthier foods and amounts tomorrow is reason enough for us to gamble with our health and maintain our same habits now.

5)  We believe that eating what we currently believe to be the best pleasurable food at the moment is not such a big thing.

What we don’t count on is that, if we do this for day after day, month after month, we will seriously impair our health. But, we were willing to create a habit in the first place, so we have the ability to create another 1 or change the original one.

These traits shows we are seekers of good times, able to live for the present. They also lead to adventure and following our hearts. All of these traits are usually present in people who have not adjusted their urges to parallel how they want to look and feel. They are strong qualities that can be easily used to maximize what we do with our urges for health.

WHAT RESULTS FROM OUR CURRENT ROUTINE

When we have food cravings, and we are in the habit of acting only 1 way to them, we end up causing 1 or more of the following things to happen: we gain weight; we don’t like the fact that we gained weight; we don’t like how we look; we are replacing our sad/angry/lonely/frustrated with food; we get sick as a result of not eating well resolution.

Understanding why we act on our cravings in a way that ends up unhealthy for us is not necessary in order to add a new act to our repertoire of what routine we go through when we get the food craving cue. The important thing is what we do with the cue.

Think of a band member who is playing the wrong note because she has gotten used to playing that particular note and even enjoys how it sounds. When her band leader corrects her, she will have to change her habit to balance the group. In order to keep her job and continue playing the music that she loves, she will make the change.

It’s a little different with food, although not very. The biggest difference is that we are both the band leader and the player.

So, let’s say we have just experienced 1 of the results from our eating current routine, listed above. Let’s say we have gained weight and don’t like it. The easiest way (and 1 of the only ways) to change a habit is to tweak the routine. We have to keep at the front of our mind our weight loss goal.

ACTION STEPS

It’s time to use the character traits listed above to change our habit of bolting to eat when a craving arrives.

We have established that most of us, in some ways, are attentive to cues, pleasure lovers, strong-willed, risk takers and willing to create habits. All we have to do is immediately react to our urge cue with a new action. Much in the same way we must combat our fear when being attacked, we must automatically, whether we want to or not, get up and do something new upon feeling our craving. We have the will, and we’ve automatically done something before which is what created the habit to begin with.

1) We need to act with NO THOUGHT. Our mind will trip us into thinking. When we are thinking, we are not doing. We must be doing.

2) What we will do for our craving is go to our refrigerator and get a cup of already made steamed vegetables that we cooked at the beginning of the week to have available for snacks.

3) We can add a few drops of sesame oil and a little liquid amino acid soy-sauce alternative, for flavor. If the blandness of steamed veggies is screaming out, stir-fried veggies cooked in a drop of olive oil work, too.

4) Eating with chop sticks and chewing at least 20 times per bite, preferably 45, slows the eating process.

5) Always take a container of these veggies to work or school for 2 planned snacks, am and pm. The veggies can also be used to curb a craving at any time during the day. If we find that we need 3 cups, 2 for snacks and 1 for a craving, we will have them available.

CONCLUSION

Be confident that change is possible as long as there is a start-to-finish method in place. Even if this is the first time we ever exhibited self-control, we have a specific method with a specific action step: a systematic approach. Therefore, we all will be able to take charge and maximize our health.

Maybe we won’t succeed on day one, but day two brings another opportunity. An attempt must be made each time we have a craving so that we can get our current routine to match our current goals. What’s the worst that will happen? We will eat healthy veggies for snack. In having these veggies nearby, we will create a new habit. Our success might start off slowly, but our results will be positive, with the patience we will establish.

We will find new, exciting flavors in our veggies, too. That is something to look forward to.

Make sure not to warm our veggies, even if we think there is time. This is food kung fu. Get used to cold veggies since there is no time to spare between the food craving, our cue, and our satisfaction of that craving with a healthy action.

Microwave ovens rob nutrients from our food, and stoves take longer than our craving will wait. Eventually, when we have changed our habit from “cue to instant eating” to “cue to patience to eating healthily,” warming our veggies may be an option.

And, finally, rejoice, this is a food adventure and the next chapter in our self-mastery.

FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.

She believes we can change a habit but changing our routine, as long as there is a system in place in which to do it. She says,

“We always create habits, so we are practiced at this aspect of behavior. We are also not new at changing the ways that we act. We do it all the time, based on how we feel, how we must act in social settings and how we consider others who might be affected by our actions. So, we are experienced.

“All we need do is prepare what we are going to do, smile or frown and do it. The next time, it will be easier, and the next time, even easier. Pretty soon, we will be accomplished and moderately comfortable at the new action step, so much so that it will become our new habit.

“To succeed, we must have faith in ourselves and begin!”

PLANT-BASED NUTRITION AND 3 WEIGHT LOSS FACTORS THAT COME ALONG, TOO (ISSUE 59)

By Diane Gold

There is much evidence that plant-based nutrition helps rid us of a variety of modern-day ailments. However, major “Western” food manufacturers downplay it. After all, what would happen to their food consumption if even 50% of the people who now eat meat/fish/fowl/dairy/eggs changed their ways?. What would manufacturers do if people in the United States stopped eating processed foods?

There are 3 factors that can make us healthy and affect our weight loss plan. They are relevant to every kind of food and every type of food plan. They are important.

MUCUS

We might think about mucus as toxins that we release when we are sick. But mucus is a substance produced to protect our membranes and is always present. Its overproduction is our body’s getting clogged from a variety of things: smoke, food, bacteria and dust.

Animal and dairy products are known to form excess mucus in our bodies because of their composition and the way it is absorbed into our body. Part of it, generally, is not useful to the body and turns into substance that turns into mucus.

Vegetables and fruits do not form mucus, except for sulphured fruits and gassed bananas. (Did you know that when bananas are brought to market, they are usually gas-ripened? That means they are picked green and gassed so that, by the time they come to market, they are yellow). This is why so many physicians realize the merits of the plant based diet and weight loss. These foods do not add excess bulk that makes the body work hard to digest it.

Additives, in general, cause excess mucus as a type of inflammation. This includes pesticides, which are prevalent in all fruits and veggies not so listed or home-grown. Although mucus is needed as a normal body secretion, too much mucus is not always visible and is often detected when we are already suffering from its effect.

Mucus forming foods are plaque forming foods. Over-production of plaque in our vessels causes clogging in the lungs and the intestines.

[True story:
One of the MDs in my health care world had a medical problem. What did he do to help himself? He went on a raw vegan diet and got rid of his medical issue.]

ACTION STEP

When choosing a food, think about how it would seem to digest in the body. If it is heavy and thick, chances are it is mucus forming. If it is light and it sways (I was thinking of lettuce in the breeze), it probably provides the roughage that the digestive system needs to smoothly process foods. Consider eating non-mucus forming foods exclusively.

FIBER

Dietary fiber is that indigestible part of plant foods, including whole grains, seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies. So, when eating meat/fish/fowl/dairy/eggs, there is no fiber.

There are 2 main components in fiber: soluble fiber ferments into helpful colon gases. Insoluble fiber keeps our elimination of food waste regular. They both have to do with digestive absorption and gastrointestinal activity.

ACTION STEP

Keeping the body fresh with fiber is usually healthy for most people diets. When we eat non-plant-based foods, we often stop up our plumbing with non-fibrous foods. When we eat plant-based nutrition, our bodies eliminate food easily and frequently. This is partially due to the high fiber content in the food. This helps with weight loss. Consider fiber when choosing food.

ACIDIC AND ALKALINE FOODS

Foods are labeled acid or alkaline for the effect they have on the body after ingestion. That’s why lemons and limes are considered alkaline-forming, since their properties result in the body’s becoming alkaline.

Acid-forming foods are: soda/energy drinks/coffee/alcohol, animal foods, soda, fried foods.

Alkaline foods are veggies, fruits, almonds, seeds, some whole grains and tofu.

Too acidic a body means the body has to work overtime to correct its pH level which should be around 7.5,  just like a swimming pool. This means the breathing rate would have to increase to remove carbonic acid which would exhale as CO2; kidneys would have to increase the acid in the urine and minerals would be leached out of the body, using up Calcium, Magnesium, Iodine, Vitamin K and Sodium to balance the pH.

How many times do we hear about Acid Reflux and all the drug products we can take to control it? Increasing the body’s alkalinity intake should be looked at first.

Let’s look at soda, including diet-soda. The highest source of calories of any food in the United States is soda. It is an acid-forming food along with diet soda, which has no calories but is in the same acid category. Both regular and diet soda contain phosphoric acid, all the way over on the acid side of acid-forming foods.

To balance the pH, the body is forced to leach calcium, which hurts bones, but it also leaches iodine which is necessary for proper function of the thyroid gland. When the thyroid gland does not work properly, the body’s metabolism fails and often slows down. When the metabolism is slow, the body can be sluggish, leading to weight gain from lack of movement. This is the main reason that soda, even diet soda with its “0 calories,” causes weight gain.

Did you know that saliva is alkaline and that if you chew more, you enable the digestive process? Many monks profess that we chew our food 50 times before swallowing. This will predigest the food and liquify it. It will provide a time for us to appreciate the food without rushing. Now, I know it will certainly combine well with alkaline saliva for body health.

Acidosis

When the body is too acidic and cannot correct itself by leaching minerals, urine acid, it produces fat as a buffer for the acid. This fat can deposit itself in many places to protect the body for the effects of its acidity. This can make the weight increase.

ACTION STEP

Feel good, feel balanced. Consider eating plant-based nutrition for a proper pH level. Keep the body in the best position for losing weight, and learn which foods are alkaline and eat them.

CONCLUSION

The very nature of plant-based nutrition gives the natural weight loss property to these foods themselves. They are physically lighter. They have a high content of water which makes them easier to digest. This, in turn requires less stomach acid to break them down for absorption into the intestines and they provide bioflavonoids, of which there are over 800, for medicinal uses.

There is also the ethical factor. This means that, by eating a plant-based diet, we can feel more responsible for caring for the lives of animals. This has to feel good, on behalf of these animals, even for a short while.

The more we study, the more data we compile. We will do more reporting on this topic since it seems to be the more healthy way to eat, to save manufacturing resources as well as the temples which are our bodies and minds.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She believes in the benefits of plant-based nutrition. She says,

“The body always feels better after eating greens, juicing veggies, ingesting plants. When I finish drinking fresh wheatgrass juice, I feel as strong as a truck. That must mean something biologically about the power of plants in the human body.

“There are 2 other important factors that go along with my relationship with plants. 1 is a personal philosophy to limit the amount of animal lives I use for my benefit. The other is that the processing of animals for food costs a great deal more than using non-processed (preferably non-pesticide sprayed) fruits and vegetables. So, the choice for plant-based nutrition helps the planet, the animals and the human body.”

APPETITE CONTROL: HOW SAVING SOMEONE OTHER THAN OURSELVES CAN BALANCE OUR APPETITE (ISSUE 57)

By Diane Gold

Appetite is a tricky thing. It depends upon the interplay of hormones, insulin, activity, fatigue and our personal control.

Leptin suppresses appetite. Lack of it causes us to crave food.

Ghrelin increases appetite. A lot of it signals the brain that we are hungry.

Adiponectin signals fat-burning. If we don’t have enough, our body won’t burn fat.

If we eat too many sweets, there’s too much sugar in our blood stream which can disrupt insulin production which leads to the body’s storing fat.

There is a lot of juicy research on all this stuff, but, for now, let’s state that these hormones are very complicated. There are some side effects from using leptin and ghrelin as medicine, so far, we can’t use those whenever we have the wrong urge.

Adiponectin, aside from weakening bone cells in older people, has positive research behind it as an aid for big overweight issues.

Researchers are currently working on developing the perfect relief from gaining weight.

Here’s where saving the planet comes in.

When we get involved in a cause, a project, a special job; we find spiritual nourishment. It is like food for the body as it is food for the mind. We may get obsessed. Certainly, our minds become busy with the project, so much so that we may forget our food urges.

When we are making a difference, be it helping impoverished communities to get drinking water or helping the homeless woman who sits on the bench; we like how we feel when we give of ourselves. We like it more than our favorite snack. It is a warm, internal satisfaction that increases our productivity (and our metabolism) which reduces our craving for food.

How often have we lost weight when we fell in love, had to care for our friend’s health condition, became mothers, did fundraising for orphans? These activities required selfless action on our part, and we do it wholeheartedly without taking time out to overeat.

I’ve seen people working on behalf of others where their work has taken away the urge to overeat, the urge to smoke, the urge to drug (although there are physical side effects when we change some habits). Saving Others And Our Planet is phenomenal.

If I were building housing for abandoned cats, I would be nourishing myself through helping cats.  I can remember 1 day when one of our cats had kittens. My children and I spent every free moment tending to the kitties (mostly looking for them) as soon as Momma Cat would let us near them. We were consumed.

Then there was teaching music. I spent lots of my free time working with these emotionally and developmentally challenged kids. And through my wonderful principal’s approval, I was able to buy turntables and teach them mixing. Increasing their self-esteem made me full (which I discuss below).

I always ended up getting spiritual nourishment from their success. What an opportunity working with kids whose parents either left them or abused them. And I was involved in their strengthening themselves through mixing records and words.

Before we look at the ways to get involved, let’s look at the 3 things that change us and, ultimately, change our relationship with our appetite.

1)
FULLNESS FROM GETTING INVOLVED
It’s that feeling of joy, confidence, belonging, importance that goes along with the giving. This feeling, itself, can melt away our cravings. When we feel satisfied, whether it be from physical or mental pleasure; we feel balanced and full. It’s this fullness that we are looking for.

There is a similar but different feeling. It is a separate satisfaction that comes from stepping outside of our own world and getting involved in someone else’s. It happens when we successfully teach anything.

2)
INCREASE IN METABOLISM
When we do physical work, we fire up our metabolism. This reduces our appetite.

3)
THE SECRET: SELF-ESTEEM
There is a feeling that occurs after the fullness of joy and metabolic change. It is subtle but has everything to do with changing the habit of eating too much that is dissuaded by reduction in appetite. It is the tipping point.

The secret is that our self-esteem increases as we feel all the fullness and the good feeling from reduced appetite. We are happy to make more of an effort to succeed at our food plan when we look better in our eyes, we feel better from eating less because of the spiritual/emotional fullness and the metabolic boost and we actually are better because of the healthier way we have been living.

Self-esteem created by the first 2 factors permeates one’s essence and is the driving force in changing a habit. We want to savor this feeling when it arrives.

LEVELS OF INVOLVEMENT: WE PICK THE ACTION STEP RIGHT FOR EACH OF US

Typically there are 7 ways in which to become involved in something other than ourselves. These examples are examples and represent the depth with which we are willing to go to contribute of ourselves.

We welcome all examples in the comment section.

1) MOBILE PHONE DONATION

We can donate $10 to a charity by mobile phone should we use a major carrier. I learned today that we can even pick a specific micro-loan project and donate once.
This type of involvement doesn’t burn many calories. It does feed us spiritually, knowing we have helped. Not everyone has a spare $10. Almost everyone in the US has $1.

2) AUTOMATICALLY DONATING MONEY MONTHLY

Donating money is fantastic. It allows us to become bigger than ourselves. The fact that we are doing it regularly connects us to the cause itself.

Again, not many calories are burned, nor is there the physical workout that increases metabolism. Plus, giving money may not be an option.

3) REPAIRING 1 HOUSE AFTER A NATURAL DISASTER

Donating our time is huge. When we decide to give our precious time to others, we are giving up something big.

Fortunately, house repair requires physical work. Therefore, we will expend calories, learn something about construction and increase metabolism. This is 1 circumstance in which saving outside ourselves saves us as well.

4) REGULARLY VOLUNTEERING AT THE LITERACY PROGRAM

Giving of expertise is a wonderful thing. We pass on what we know.
The time it takes to be with someone is time away from eating. Helping someone’s lot in life feels good. However, we don’t expend many calories while we are reading, if it’s at the local library and we drive to the library. We could always opt to walk or bicycle to the library to do the volunteering. Or we could teach the lesson at the beach or on a mountain, both of which we could walk to in order to get there. Giving the skill of reading will change someone’s life forever. Walking to do it regulates our weight.

5) VOLUNTEERING FOR A WEEK TO HELP KIDS LEARN FARMING, FOOD GATHERING, BRIDGE BUILDING

1 week’s program can get us really motivated to take an active role in the particular project. 1 week might turn into 2 weeks.

6)  VOLUNTEERING FOR A MONTH TO HELP KIDS LEARN FARMING, FOOD GATHERING, OR SOME TYPE OF CONSTRUCTING STRUCTURES

A month of involvement can turn into deeper involvement. This method of caring for others takes our time, consumes our free time and helps those who are less fortunate than we.
Should we be involved to this point, our self-esteem will be full on, and our habit of overeating will be replaced by our habit of our volunteering work.

7) MAKING YEAR-ROUND PROJECT WORK A PERMANENT PART OF OUR LIVES

This type of involvement would fortify us on a permanent basis. We could even opt to work with kids who were struggling with weight as long as we could keep the snacks to veggies.

CONCLUSION

It is quite accurate that our hormones regulate our appetite, that we are born predisposed to a certain way. What is also true is that we have the ability to take action, no matter what our hormones are doing. What can happen in that case is that our own efforts can supersede and change our biology. It happens all the time. This is the process of making a change through saving someone other than ourselves.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She is motivated by motivation. She says,

“We are small beings, but we have huge power, even the power to change our own biology. If we reach out and become absorbed in creativity, productivity, love of another; we change our hormones as well as our lives and the lives of others.”

MUSHROOMS FOR WEIGHT LOSS: NATURE’S SECRET STRATEGY IN A SMALL PACKAGE (ISSUE 52)

By Diane Gold

What has lots of nutrition, including protein, can be used in facials, brewed as tea, strewn on pasta, blended into smoothies, eaten alone, and used as medicine? You guessed it: MUSHROOMS. Yes, these versatile, wonderful living things that they are!

It is almost incredible to think that mushrooms, members of the Kingdom Fungi, can be so tasty, interesting looking, distinctive in smell, have 14 thousand species with several thousand edible, be so diversely nutritious and have considerable medicinal properties.

RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES (RDAs)

The Institute of Medicine (IoM) is part of the National Academy of Sciences, which is non-governmental, commissioned with setting the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) that we all use as some measure of correctness, for nutritional values, even though we rarely question what criteria is tested and by whom. According to one of the editors of these measurements, Professor Robert Reynolds, from University of Chicago, the system has many flaws because a small amount of money is allotted to studying this information. He says that only half of us fall into the “average” category and we have to eliminate the top 3% healthiest people to boot. The measure does not apply if we are sick, if we are overweight, if we are over 60, if we are stressed, if we take medication, if we smoke, if we eat refined and processed, unhealthy food that does not consist of 2,000 calories a day.

Makes me wonder how much to coordinate a redo of the RDA program using already existing research data with values for all the people the current system leaves out. Studies are massively expensive when done from scratch, so using secondary data would cut the costs.

NUTRITIONAL FACTS

The following nutrients make white mushrooms quite valuable and unique. The numbers in parentheses represent percentage of daily needs in an average person.

B Vitamins, aside from all their other benefits, are being looked at to reduce ADHD and slow Alzheimer’s.

Thiamin(e), B1, helps metabolize sugars and amino acids. (4%)
Riboflavin, B2 metabolizes carbs into energy. (17%)

Niacin, B3, increases the level of high density lipids (HDL), the good cholesterol, in the blood. (13%)

Pantothenic Acid, B5, turns carbs and fats into usable energy and assures healthy fats in cells. (10%)

Pyridoxine, B6, balances sodium (Na) and potassium (K). (4%)

Folic Acid, B9, is needed for DNA synthesis and repair and for cell growth. (3%)
__

Choline helps in cell membrane synthesis.

Betaine regulates fluid movement across cell membranes (osmosis), assists in membrane work and neurotransmission of acetylcholine.

Omega-6 Fatty Acid is one of the 2 essential fatty acids required for cellular processes and must be in balance with Omega-3 Fatty Acids to keep inflammation down and cell function up. Both are essential and must be consumed. Therefore, get those walnuts and flax seeds to balance with Omega-3s.

Copper assists with iron uptake and cell metabolism. It also protects our cardiovascular system. (11%)

Phosphorus forms part of the structure of living molecules (DNA,RNA).  (6%)

Potassium helps the body process sodium. It is also important in preventing muscles from contracting. You’ve heard someone recommend that you go eat some dried apricots or a fig if you have leg cramps, right? They’re high in potassium. (6%)

Selenium helps with cell function.

Vitamin D, which is produced by changing a sterol, ergosterol, into Vitamin D2, with ultraviolets present in the sun. (This is similar to the way we get vitamin D from the sun, except that we use 7-hydrocholesterol and synthesize Vitamin D3. (3%, which may be higher if the mushrooms were exposed to ultraviolet light)

Mushrooms also contain 2% of the RDA for Vitamin C, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese and Zinc.

Mushrooms are about 15 calories for a cup, with 2 grams of protein and 2 grams of carbs, with only 1 counting since 1 of those grams is total indigestible fiber that helps with digestion and does not turn to glucose before it gets to the colon.

HEALTH BENEFITS

1) Research from Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, California, found that white mushrooms contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which reduces high estrogen level risks like breast cancer. Other studies at the same institution showed that white mushrooms have a similarly beneficial effect on prostate cancer.

2) Eating white mushrooms seems to block production of inflammatory molecules, good for reducing many types of inflammation which is basically any type of immune compromise or sickness.

3) Mushrooms, in general, are known for their anti-oxidant properties. L-ergothioneine, one of the anti-oxidants that is found in white mushrooms can be found in shiitake mushrooms with 5 X as much. So, different species are known to have different health accolades.

4) Mushrooms have a low glycemic load (2), which means that they don’t cause sugar levels to change rapidly. Their fibrous material is, in part, responsible for this.

5) Inflammation Factor is low (-4) which suggests that they will not contribute to inflaming the body. Mushrooms are also known for reducing it.

6) Mushrooms are known to improve the immune system and cognitive function.

7) The last and most important benefit for the WarriorsOfWeight.com Community is that THEY MAKE US FEEL FULL AND SATISFIED while we ingest very few calories and much nutritional value.

COOKED VS. RAW

Many of us profess that raw foods have to have higher nutrients when raw. With mushrooms, according to research cited in Scientific American by Sushma Subramanian, some veggies, including mushrooms, when boiled or cooked for a short time, increase antioxidants and other properties as the cell membranes break down and release the nutrients. Check out the recipe below, the way I’ve been eating mushrooms for years. And work the stems in somehow, even if they don’t taste quite as creamy. Full of nutrition.

TOXICITY CAUTION: MUST READ

Mushrooms from the Agaricus Bisporus species, which is the species to which white mushrooms and many others we eat belong, reveal the presence of small amounts of hydrazine compound derivatives, agaratine and gyromitrin. These substances are known carcinogens when delivered to mice in extremely high doses in short time periods. There has never been a proven case that cancer has been caused by eating mushrooms.

Most researchers recommend that consideration be given to this fact and point out that cooking the mushrooms reduces the contents of the toxins.

Confirm that you do not feel allergic or headache-y from eating a small amount of mushrooms before you eat a larger portion. Sometimes, people can have adverse reactions to eating them. I had a small headache from adding a mushroom supplement once. It was mild but lasted several days.

It should also be noted that, according to Joshua Rosenthal’s Integrative Nutrition, mushrooms are in the top 15 foods with least residue from pesticides, although I have no knowledge of how he got this number. It’s always better to eat organic food which means it was not sprayed.

ACTION STEPS

1) Take a little time to read more on mushrooms. They are fascinating.

2) Add a recipe of a small serving of mushrooms to your daily food several times this week, using caution as advised. Notice how the mushrooms fill you up. Or just eat one mushroom a day.

3) Make my special mushroom recipe, available right here.  See if it suits you.

CONCLUSION

There are so many benefits to mushrooms. They can be used in so many ways: as antioxidants, antivirals, an anti-migraine remedy, for anti-cancer treatment, as anti-psychotics, for daily nutrition, improved memory and beauty care.
The wealth of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and overall healthy properties make it a super food. After seeing all of what it does, consider telling everyone you’re adding it to your day.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE. If you would like to see more articles like this, please let us know.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.

She wants to learn more about the nutrition in food. But, sadly, one of the things she learned was that the Recommended Daily Allowances, more than using old information, have been using very sparse information. But it is still useful. She says,

“The nutritional information that we see on packaging in the United States is accurate for healthy people who eat right, don’t smoke, don’t weigh too much and don’t get stressed out. And these values, themselves are increased by about 25% as a buffer for the nutrition lost in cooking.

“Use  the numbers with this in mind, and the values become useful. The nutrition field is booming and changing. There’s a great opportunity for a career or a career change. Especially for anyone who wants to do research to make our nutritional information up to date. It’s a big job, just waiting to be done.”

Don’t forget to check out the mushroom recipe.

WHY GREEN TEA CAN HELP WITH TEEN WEIGHT LOSS & WHAT’S IN IT! (ISSUE 50)

By Diane Gold

All teen groups have social rituals where they meet at the park, outside the school, on the street corner, in detention, at the local food mart, at after school music and art, sometimes, even in their homes. This custom is for the purpose of gathering and unwinding from their prescribed day at school.

Likewise, every adult society has some type of gathering ritual where the group comes together to sip some sort  of tea or break bread.

Whether we are speaking of the sacred healing rituals of South America, the tea ceremonies of Asia, tea time in England and her former colonies or the relaxing meeting among friends at the local restaurant in America; having tea as a group is a common activity.
What if we could apply the socialization part of the tea ceremony with the gathering habit of teens who want to lose weight? What if the next fad were sitting down to have a tea moment?

WHAT HAPPENS FROM DRINKING GREEN TEA

•    we take time to sit down and stop the mind’s race.
•    we focus on the moment, rather than on past or future events.
•    we have a drink that is pleasant to taste and smell.
•    we supply our body with healthy antioxidants.
•    we can promote weight loss.*

*WHAT’S IN GREEN TEA

•    Catecholamine, or catechin, a polyphenol in many teas, can increase metabolism, which helps with weight loss. There is research considering whether high polyphenols disrupt mineral absorption or vegetarian sources of iron.
•    Catechin absorbs and blocks bad cholesterol.
•    Antioxidant properties in green tea protect the body from free radicals. According to Green Tea Lovers, a cup of green tea has higher antioxidants than a serving of broccoli, spinach, carrots or strawberries.

•    Caffeine in tea speeds the metabolism. Theanine, another antioxidant present, has a relaxing effect on the body, which counteracts the caffeine. Therefore, the stimulant effect of caffeine is mild or not noticeable to most, yet, it increases metabolism, which is great for weight loss.
•    CCK, or cholecystokinin, a peptide hormone, that, along with aiding in digestion, tells the body the brain that the body has had enough food. Therefore, it suppresses appetite.

THE BENEFITS OF TEA DRINKING ALONE, NOT IN A GROUP

Very often, teens who are struggling with weight issues are also not part of a social group. They may like to keep to themselves, may not like the idea of other people’s comments or may not want to put themselves in a position to be around food.

Alone can be wonderful, as long as we look at it that way.  So, here’s the great news about tea drinking.

•    It is a fantastic opportunity to smile with ourselves.
•    It is quick to, easy, fun prepare.
•    It is tasty.
•    It is not the least bit fattening.
•    The experience of making it and drinking it is meditative.
•    It builds focus and increases metabolism. The focus makes us feel great. The enhanced metabolism makes us feel like moving and becoming active.
•    It is expressive, as we begin to choose a favorite tea.
•    The process is invigorating, stress-relieving and is enacted by all socioeconomic levels.
•    Most importantly, the idea of drinking tea builds a sense of pride in being part of this meaningful ritual, that is healthy and reduces appetite. This may be the very reason tea rituals continue to be as popular now as they always were.

CONCLUSION

Taking time out to have tea can be a great way to start building a positive attitude in a teen who is working on her body weight. The very nature of the tea ritual is to slow down the process of drinking. The very reason for this has to do with the spiritual element to tea drinking, that of contemplating the current moment. The act of drinking tea correlates perfect with the zen tradition, also noted as the yin/yang theory of being in the present, not thinking about what just happened and no thinking about what is about to happen, but being contented in the here and now. Very satisfying!

ACTION STEPS FOR TEENS

Here are some action steps to begin this relationship with drinking tea.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: For those who cannot or don’t choose to take caffeinated tea, herbal tea is a great substitute in place of green tea. The properties are different. However, the drinking of the herbal tea, itself, suppresses appetite. And the herbs used in teas have a whole other set of benefits.

1)    After school, set aside 10-15 minutes when you get home (before or after dinner), when you will sit and have tea. If you are in an after-school program, ask the room teacher if tea drinking is allowed in class. You might get the whole class interested. If you are at work, find another time to do the same ritual.
2)    Keep a journal that mentions how you feel about the whole drinking tea process.
3)    Plan this tea time as quiet time for yourself.  Once you are comfortable with the process, you can invite another person in, or not. Come to terms with how upset you will get at criticism
4)    Continue drinking tea as a ceremony/celebration for at least 7 days.
5)    At the end of 7 days, choose whether or not to continue for another 7 days.
6)    Email us at 1 [at] warriorsofweight [dot] com for congratulations and support after 14 days.
7)    Send us a photo of your tea drinking that we can post, and ENJOY!

ACTION STEPS FOR MOMS

1)    Show the action steps to your daughter.
2)    If she decides to make her own tea, respect her space.
3)    If she does not decide to make her own tea, clear the table yourself in preparation.
4)    Ask your daughter to help you make tea.
5)    If this works, drink tea in a quiet atmosphere with no pressure from you to ask about your daughter’s day, life, feelings, weight. Make this time exceptional.
6)    If your daughter says no, ask her if she would make tea for you.
7)    Be gracious and accepting of the tea with no criticism.
8)    Offer for her to sit down with you. If this doesn’t work, just emulate the action steps for daughters and enjoy drinking tea.
9)    Repeat the process so your daughter sees that it is not just a 1-day activity.
10)  Ask her to join you, from time to time.
11)   Enjoy the tea drinking.

WarriorsofWeight Consulting
Click the image below for a helping hand.

If you need a hand, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Help is right here at http://warriorsofweight.com/2012/07/warriorsofweight-consulting .

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She always looks for old traditions that apply to modern day situations. Diane says,

“The art of tea preparation and drinking could be the very custom that is missing from our busy lives. Think of all the stress it would relieve if it were part of everyone’s day. As it is, people are so stressed out, they ritually drink alcohol, teens and adults. What if we standardly drank tea? I am absolutely adding it to my day. And you?”

For help, check out 1-Step Consulting.

TEEN WEIGHT GAIN AND SUGARY DRINKS: A CLOSER LOOK (ISSUE 48)

By Diane Gold

A recent headline in weight studies was

Program To Reduce Teen Intake Of Sugary Drinks Has Promise

A study, published on Sept. 22, 2012 in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at reducing the sugary drinks that teens drank for a year, using 224 teens. The study delivered non-caloric drinks to the homes of one-half of this teen group for a year, supplied coaching calls to parents, check-in visits and messaging with the participants. The other half just drank their sugary drinks, as usual.

The study resulted in the group given non-caloric drinks and privy to coaching services, weighed, on average, 4 pounds less than the control group, after one year.

When we do studies, in order to validate them, we have to break down the parameters to make sure our measurements don’t overlap other factors. It’s very tricky to do. In this study, calories were measured but not what types of food groups they came from, coaching for parents existed with no measure of what parents believed at the onset or what they were economically able to comply with in terms of no sugary drinks in the house at the end of the study, and periodic messaging existed for participants but no mention of what it accomplished. The limitations in this study are common because we are so complex as human beings and every new stipulation we use costs more time which is money.

Take away something without replacing it with something else in our lives and a gaping hole exists. To remove sugary drinks, we need to put something else there that will offer a reward of some kind. Otherwise, the emptiness becomes very uncomfortable.

Picture what happens when a hole is dug for a swimming pool but the pool never gets built. The big, gaping hole is damaging to the peace of mind of the yard, symbolic of the removal of our friend, the sugary drink, and can be painful. Pain causes old behavior.

How much nicer it is when the hole is filled with something meaningful, like water for a refreshing swim, symbolic of water to drink.

Here are some facts to think about.

THE LARGEST SINGLE SOURCE OF CALORIES

Let’s start with the surprising fact that “sugar intake from sugar-sweetened beverages alone, which are the largest single caloric food source in the United States, approaches 15% of the daily caloric intake … in several population groups” (Sonia Caprio, MD cites black and Mexican boys in her editorial, New England Journal Of Medicine online, quoting YC Wang in Pediatrics, 2008, and Nhanes III & Nhanes in Journal of Food Composition & Analysis, 2004).

When we are young, we require constant energy replenishment. In our consumeristic society, we are sold on the benefis of sugary drinks are from a very young age. What if we figured out a financially viable way to spend as much advertising capital on the merits of water or if we spent as much on packaging eye-appealing, reusable, collapsible water bottles as on sugary drinks? How would this affect our drinking habits and teen weight gain?

CONSIDER THESE 6 QUESTIONS

1)    Is it the sugar in liquid form that causes weight gain due to its ease of absorption?

FACT

Another study in the New England Journal Of Medicine found that cutting out soda from
teens’ diets resulted in a more dramatic weight loss than was shown with any other food.

2)    Are we craving drinking sweet liquid because we enjoy the way it feels, tastes or looks?

3)    Are we subliminally seduced to sugary drinks because we have been programmed to like them?

4)    Did the coached half of the 224 study participants crave the human interaction of ongoing messaging and check-in visits and that’s why they gained 4 pounds less?

ACCOUNTABILITY

Does the will to be accountable to someone else drive us to succeed? What if we could get an accountability partner for free? Would we do it?

There’s a new bulletin board at www.accountabilitypartnerfree.com where you can post a need and get a partner.

HUMAN CONTACT

What if we just crave the human contact from a mentor or coach? How do we translate that into getting that human interaction from our friends, our parents, ourselves?

NOTE: The mission of www.WarriorsOfWeight.com is to offer techniques and tools so that each of us can be independent enough to have resolve in ourselves and have enough strength to put our hands out to others.

PARENT COACHING

5)    Did the coaching with parents cause the attitude change in the teens? Did this coaching cause superficial changes in the parents for that year alone?

We do know that, after the study year was over, during the follow up year, for the most part, parents went back to buying sugary drinks for the home, and teens went back to drinking sugary drinks at school or on their way home from school.

ECONOMICS

6)    Is the consumption of sugary drinks caused by the need for teenage fuel and the inability to afford designer drinks that are healthier? Is this same economic factor why teens don’t buy crystal clear water for snack?

Would the answers to these questions shed a different light on the results of this study or any study?

ENVIRONMENT VS. MINDSET

Dr. David Ludwig, senior author of the teen weight gain study, said of the fact that the teens gained weight after the study year and went back to drinking sugary drinks in the follow up year, “Permanent environmental changes are necessary for permanent weight loss.” True, if there were no sugary drinks in the school and no commercial propaganda on visual devices from an early age, there would be change.

I acknowledge Dr. Ludwig’s statement. If we remove sugary drinks from schools and eateries and ads, the next generation will be influenced correctly from the start. I would still like to add “Permanent mindset change is necessary for permanent weight loss.”

In 1-Step Consulting, we teach the impermanence of environmental changes as a whole. Of course, should the family of teens have maintained no sugary drinks in the house from the time the study finished, the teens would have had a big head start on caloric intake from sugary drinks. However, if there is no mindset change that includes
new drinking habits for health, as soon as the teen steps out of the protected environment that caused the change, the old habit will come back.

WHAT WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS LEAVE OUT

What is not emphasized from day 1 in any weight loss programs
I have seen is this very important factor: pick and learn a new behavior to replace the old. Just going through the motions of acting out a new habit is not enough. Each of us
must methodically place the new behavior in place so that we have something to do instead of our old behavior and nurture it.

Take my friend, T., who weighed in excess of 300 pounds. He decided he would have no food in his house for a full 3-month period. He had all his meals delivered, and he lost over 100 pounds. Then, he went back to keeping food in the house, going out to his precious restaurants, and he gained the weight right back again.

What didn’t he do?

He changed his environment, but he didn’t change his mind.
He reverted to his old environment, but his mindset hadn’t changed.

Result: weight regain.

CONCLUSION – WHAT’S IMPORTANT

The most important thing, whether it comes out of research, need, experimentation, embarking on a new program is the result. It’s about changing the mind in the desired direction. In order for the program to work well, the set up is very important.

When a program talks about removing a substance or craving instead of adding pleasure with something new and awesome, whether drugs or sugary drinks, the program is talking about deprivation and pain instead of comfort and gratification.  Addition instead of subtraction calms and nourish the mind; positive vs. negative speech conjures happy images.  I am not saying to deny the goal or not to talk about it; but it’s more pleasurable to concentrate on adding than taking away. So why not use that tiny advantage!

Why do we have such a high recidivism (relapse) rate in rehab programs? The older models believe in strengthening through insult and confrontation or threat. The newer models cater to motivation, listening and empathy.

And what about the many programs that base their success on changing the environment? Such as:

Don’t hang out with those friends.
Don’t stop at the arcade/mall on the way home.
We’ll move to another city.
No more sugary drink ads.
No more sugary drinks allowed in school.

Although the removal of negative influences can be an immediate fix, the only way to create new behavior is to change the mind. Scientifically, it is known that once we learn a habit, it is always in the background. However, we can choose a new habit and stack the old habit on the shelf. The only way to do this is to make the new mind the primary focus of any technique.

It is said that drinking sugary drinks is not addicting. What this means is that the body does not have a dependence on them. Because of this, a little mind adjustment can make the change, improve health and slow down teen weight gain from sugary drinks.

ACTION STEPS

1)    Get a new glass just for this. (If money prevents, draw a design on your favorite glass you already have.)
2)    Fill the glass 1 quarter of the way with water.
3)    Put 2 ice cubes in it, if possible.
4)    Slush the ice cubes around in the water to spread the cold.
5)    Drink the water.
6)    Repeat this 2 more times in the day.
7)    Once you have accomplished this for 1 whole week every day, increase the water volume to 1 half the glass and repeat steps 3) to 6).
8)    Once you have accomplished this for 1 whole week every day, increase to 6 times a day total or 1 whole glass of water 3 X.
9)    Enjoy the water.

WarriorsofWeight Consulting
Click the image below for a helping hand.

If you need a hand, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Help is right here at http://warriorsofweight.com/2012/07/warriorsofweight-consulting .

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She is confident that taking a small step now will change history. Diane says,

“Saying, “I can’t do anything; I don’t have money or power,” is easier than saying, “I can make a difference.” Even if we believe our small action will benefit no more than 1 person, even if it is ourselves, alone; take that action. Move ahead with that one step. If I take a step, then you take a similar step, then she takes a similar step; a movement is created. Let’s begin our movement with 1 step. ”

For help, check out 1-Step Consulting.

WEIGHT LOSS FOR TEEN GIRLS: 5 QUICK APPETITE TIPS (Issue 44)

By Diane Gold

So you ‘re in school, you’ve had a pretty calm day, nobody teased you yet and you’re getting kind of hungry. You know you can step out and go to the bathroom and pass the snack machine, unless you’re in one of those states that has reduced snack machines in favor of salad bars. (I’m not knocking this; I’m for it since studies are showing that curbing the sugar foods in vending machines is helping a lot of girls with weight. It’s also teaching  a better way of snacking.)

So, you know there’s some greasy food or sugary food in the vending machine that will hold you over, and you’re really hungry. You just can’t wait snack until you go home, so what can you do?

1)

Do you remember how great it was to drink out of the hose when you were little? I’m not suggesting this now, but water is the answer. A glass of water is known to reduce your appetite, and it fills you up at the same time.

When you’re hungry, it’s no fun to drink water because then you won’t really want to think about the greasy, sugary, oily foods. Why? Because you will be full, your hunger hormones will have stopped raging and you will be balanced.

But the habit of answering the call of that midday hunger is pretty deep in you.
What’s great about water is that there are drinking fountains in most schools. So, even if they are not filtered, which many of them are, if the water in your area is clean enough to drink right out of the faucet, it’s very much available.

 ACTION STEP

Put an empty bottle in your bag so you can keep filling it up and have all day at your seat. And to save on manufacturing costs, why not keep the bottle and use it over and over. Or get a fancy shmancy bottle that does the same job. Either way, having water at your disposable is a lifesaver.

2)

The next tip is kind of sneaky. It requires having a full bottle of water in each class. I know it’s a pain to drink because then you might have to go to the bathroom. I never liked to drink water at night so that I didn’t have to get up in the middle. But that was flawed thinking. The body needs it.

ACTION STEP

Drink, at least, 8 ounces of water – that might be half your bottle – 30 minutes before it’s time to eat or snack.  That way, the water will make it easier for you to stretch out the time, and it will help to balance out your raging appetite. If 8 ounces doesn’t do it, try 16 ounces. 16 ounces can’t really hurt your body. It can make you full and make it easy to control your appetite. It’s also nothing anyone can tease you over. It’s always good to hydrate the body, so that’s what you are doing. Plus you will be more alert in class, even if you’re just sitting there texting in class or writing notes.

3)

Tip 3 has to do with, yes, you guessed it, water.

ACTION STEP

When you are totally hungry, go wash your face, not drinking it, using it. Of course, not every teacher will allow you to leave the room when you want. But, if you can’t go to the bathroom to wash your face, you also can’t go to the vending machine.

Make sure to wash your face immediately after class, if you get the chance. It will slow your desire to race to the vending machine or corner store. While you are washing your face to slow down the hunger chemicals, drink a glass of water. It absolutely changes how you feel. Do it.

4)

The 4th tip has to do with what you bring from home. If you’re having trouble with weight, it’s a good idea to pre-pay for your lunch so that you can’t get too much or the wrong food.

This would mean that you would make your lunch at home, if you’re not on a meal plan.

This reminds me of my coconut milk ice cream activity. If I buy a pint, I will finish it by the end of the day. I won’t carefully designate separate dessert portions. So I rarely allow myself to bring it into the house. Because, not only will I eat the whole container’s worth, but I will get another container for the next 3 days in a row, until I will myself to stop through my super, duper Secret Consulting Method.

WarriorsofWeight Consulting

ACTION STEP

Leave your money home. Pre-pay for lunch or ask the dietician (through the school nurse) to plan your meals for you and only give you no choice, no matter what you ask for. You should have this discussion in private so that it is not a source of embarrassment.
Who knows? You might start a trend where everyone starts to ask for healthy food.
5)

The last tip is to be consistent. It’s easy to take a tip and do it once. The way it makes an impact and sustains itself is if it continues to happen. It requires strong mindset which, by the way, you have because struggles make us strong willed. Anyone who can overeat with vigor, has learned a strong habit and way to act. The eating food habit can be changed to a different behavior with the strength the habit has created.

ACTION STEP

Follow through on tips 1 through 4 and write down how often the first week. Then, it should be a more natural process.

CONCLUSION

Good luck on this journey. Please don’t give up if you continue to eat in ways that make you gain weight. Be patient, self-loving and consistent. Enjoy the small changes that will certainly come about. When you implement these tips, you will see how easy and effective they are.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE us.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She is very interested in helping teens. They are so vibrant and are at a crucial age with so many new possibilities sprouting in front of them. Diane says,

“It’s the small, seemingly unimportant little changes that matter. These miniscule actions make us strong and confident. They also begin to replace our other behaviors. Even if you pick 1 tip and use it, it will serve you well. Because it will be a painless process of forming a new habit, that will lead you to wherever you would like.”

For help, check out Simple Secret Method Consulting.

BAD HABITS: HOW TO CHANGE A HABIT (Issue 41)

By Diane Gold

I have been studying bad habits for some time, but closely since I realized that what was not addicting to me in my first and second decades felt different in my fourth and fifth decades. And after having lived a period of time as the girlfriend of someone self-destructive to someone emulating the behaviors myself and getting through that.

Eating too much in college or drinking a lot when I was studying jazz in school and going to the clubs at night were no big deal to eliminate from my life at the snap of my fingers. Everything was fun, experimental and easily controllable. As luck would have it, there were no addictive triggers. (showing at that time).

True, I did gain 20 pounds during college and struggled to get it off, but it did not feel the same as later in life when I began to develop chemical triggers with deep cravings. So I learned that one’s capacity for habit (like an addictive trigger) can alter itself or turn itself on or off at various times in one’s life.

Teaching and consulting in music, tai chi and stress relief have allowed me to study the habits of others. In general, what I found was that people change a habit by replacing it with a new one. I, for one, broke my cycle of excess by going to sleep early. When I woke up, my urge was gone.
The result? Eventually, a new habit is formed, that of immediately taking an action that takes us away from the behavior we want to eliminate.

We have to keep in mind that when we do something over and over, our synaptic pathways get worn in a certain way to crave and satisfy, which is why we always have a tendency to that particular habit. That’s why we have to form “parallel patterns” (in the words of Julia Layton, contributing writer at How Stuff Works) so that we become satisfied, replacing the old with the new behavior, eventually.

Old triggers will still occur. It’s what action we take when they do that determines whether the new reward gives us enough pleasure to sustain the new behavior.
The expression

“build a life which is actually more enjoyable than substance use”

is quoted as the result we are looking for in a description of a substance abuse program at St. Jude’s. This is the similar to

“Build a series of habits that erase or greatly minimize the desire for bad habits. ”

To this day, though, I know that (I’m using alcohol, but this applies to any object of destruction) having one drink of alcohol will light up my synaptic pathways which are molded from habit, lying in wait to trigger cravings. I’ll have one drink on day one. Then, on day two, it will be easy to have one or two drinks. The third day, it will be three drinks. This pattern will occur exactly as outlined, as sure as the letter b follows a in the English alphabet, once the cycle of giving in to the craving has begun.

Then, I will have to go cold tofu and kick the cravings.

THE SECRET

How? I will eat a salad and drink water at the first sign of any craving. This will stop the urge and calm down the urge cycle. This works for food in the same way. It changes the need for that greasy, salty, sugary food because we have nourished the body with
a blander, more wholesome taste. It will also mean agreeing with myself not to have the object of the craving for a few years, at least.

Having gone through the process of giving in to the craving and kicking it before, I won’t bother going through it now since the work is hard and, most of the time, borders on massively hard. I can go do tai chi, stick my feet in the ocean, write an article, call an offspring or friend, drink the water or eat the salad very happily. I can even ramp up the writing of my book on, you guessed it, cravings.
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Getting back to studying others, I have watched people dance, play music, do tai chi, run, start a conversation upon feeling a craving they wanted to get rid of. As long as they stuck to the new behavior; they had a chance of forming a new habit and bucking the old.

The trick is to do the new behavior within 30 seconds of getting the urge so that it doesn’t build up in the mind. Not allowing time to lapse will help us not to get sucked into the behavior we want to dump. That’s the key.

ACTION STEP

So here’s an awesome action step. Carry a pocket watch or one of those timers the dentist gives us to time brushing our teeth. Immediately start it. This will make us aware that we have mere seconds to take action. This action should precede dancing, doing a kung fu form. It should not precede calling a friend or accountability partner for help. Always reach out first. But get busy and go for a run. Do it. New pleasure feelings will arrive. The previous craving should be gone.

Doing a movement activity works often because it produces a new set of chemical reactions which suppresses or lessens the “crave” hormones and increases the pleasure neurotransmitters.

For help with habits, check out WarriorsOfWeight Consulting, for 5-weeks or 10-weeks, for moms, daughters and you. Click the image below.

GO AHEAD. CLICK THE ENTER SIGN IN THE DOORWAY.
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In doing research for this article, I came across this below flow chart by Charles Duhigg, author of the book, The Power Of Habit. He says,

“If you can diagnose your habit, you can change it.”

He talks about how he used to leave his desk and go buy a cookie every day. He gained weight and wanted to do something about it.

He decided to log how he felt when he craved the cookie, what time of day it was and what the rewards were, following his flowchart

Click here to download.

So, he couldn’t kick the habit until he learned how his habit worked. He learned that every habit has a cue (a trigger), a routine (the habit you have) and a reward.

He spent time noticing when he urged for the cookie: 3:00-3:30 pm, it turned out (the cue). When he got this urge, he’d go get the cookie, and, upon further examination, he noticed he would also spend 10 minutes or so socializing with colleagues in the cafeteria while eating (the routine).

In order to figure out his reward, he did an experiment. One day, when the cravings arrived, he took a walk around the block. The next day, when he urged, he went to the cafeteria, bought candy and ate at his desk. The following day, he went to the cafeteria, didn’t buy anything and just talked to friends.

He realized his reward was the socializing. Now, at 3:00-3:30 pm, he gets up, goes over to a friend’s desk, hangs out for 10 minutes and goes back to his desk. The cookie urge is gone, and he is getting his reward, socializing.
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We all want different rewards and crave things for different reasons. One person’s habit may be harder to change than another’s. It may take me 3 months to figure out that I was buying the cookie to have a reason to talk to my colleagues, when it took Charles a day to do it. The habit that we want to change may show up 10 times a day, instead of Charles’ habit, 1 time a day.

But, it is possible for us to change the habit. We just have to act quickly every time we have an urge.

ACTION STEP

Imagine if every time we felt an urge to eat, we walked out the door or got up from our desk and ran around the block. If we were of school age, we could ask permission to go to the women’s bathroom where we could run in place for 60-120 seconds instead.
We’d be burning calories, we wouldn’t be allowing ourselves to sit with our same old frustrating urges and do our same behavior and we would be strengthening and toning our muscles while running. (Wheelchair folks can do this, too.)

CONCLUSION

We can take many actions to change a habit. We can talk to people or we can do some type of movement or exercise.

All the actions boil down to the one key of replacing a behavior with a behavior. When looking for literature on how long it takes to change a habit, there is as much variation as there are people who write about it. That’s because we are all so different.

To change the habit of leaving a light on when we leave a room is far simpler to change than the habit of eating salty, oily, sugary foods with every meal. Adding a salad to every meal could solve both conditions. It could be the consequence of not turning a light off and the healthy action that helps us to change our bad eating habit.

So, ACTION STEP

Add a salad to every meal. If we already eat salad at every meal, add 2 snack salads during the day, or increase the size of 2 of the salads.
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Back to how long it takes. I’ve heard 18 days, 3 weeks, 28 days, 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, 3 months, 6 months. These are all correct. It’s also correct to say that many habits are not broken but just suspended. This answer affirms the synaptic pathway scenario that cannot be changed theory.

The bottom line is that it is possible to change a habit. We have to act as if we are in a marathon. Because we are. As soon as we feel the urge to do whatever we don’t want to do; we have to run, jump, stretch, call a friend, lock the refrigerator and give the key to our neighbor. Whatever it takes, we have to do it now.

For help with habits, check out WarriorsOfWeight Consulting, for 5-weeks or 10-weeks, for moms, daughters and you. Click the image below.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE this article.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She is convinced through research and through personal experience, that we have the power to change ourselves. We just have to do it. Diane says,

“We fuel ourselves with the power to change ourselves. Although the journey may be different for each of us, It is not dependent upon anything else. Even if our living quarters are no bigger than an automobile, we have the ability to become strong and change our body, mind and spirit through meditation, exercise and studying. It is up to us to take that opportunity. “

GET YOUR WEIGHT OFF: 10 SUREFIRE TACTICS THAT WILL REDUCE YOUR WEIGHT NOW (Issue 38)

By Diane Gold

What is extraordinary about this list of 10 tactics is its simplicity. We are all about making it painless so that our progress lasts at WarriorsofWeight.com. Here’s Elisa.

Elisa

Now it’s time to peel off those unwanted layers and to reveal the real you. The beautiful, thin, light you!

It’s time to lose those love handles and to take control of the situation. So here’s my next question… what are you going to do about losing that weight? Whether it’s five, ten, fifty or one hundred fifty pounds — what’s your game plan? You’re definitely going to need a strategy if you want to succeed in a culture that is traced with tantalizing temptations.

While I’m a HUGE advocate of exercise and all of its many benefits, I do not and will not recommend exercising like a nut, just so you can eat whatever you want. That’s self-defeating and ultimately results in poor exercise AND eating habits – especially when the weight goes nowhere fast… and eventually, it will, my friend.

Instead, you’ve got to get to the root of the cause: poor diet and nutrition. I suggest you focus your precious time and energy on as many of these 10 tactics as possible. I say go for 10 out of 10!!!

1) Become a Veg-head! Dominate your meals with veggies (all kinds!) and gradually (or immediately!!) replace animal foods with powerfully protective plant-foods (veggies, fruits, beans/legumes, nuts/seeds and whole grains). Do this and I guarantee you’ll lose weight.

2) Guzzle green juice, GULP. Don’t actually chug it, but start your day off with green juice for breakfast. Sip on it throughout the morning and you’ll be fit as a fiddle! If you don’t have a juicer, seriously consider purchasing one, or blend green smoothies instead. You can strain your smoothies with paint strainer bags (available for a couple of bucks at a hardware store) to make juice, or enjoy it as a nourishing smoothie with a little extra bulk. Check out juice recipes here or smoothies there.

3) Fruits and veggies, baby! If you aren’t able to juice OR blend, then start your day right with fruit and veggies. Have a delightfully refreshing fruit salad alone, or on a bed of lettuce. Anchor your favorite fruits with a nutrient rich nut butter (ie: peanut, almond or cashew) in lettuce, cabbage or collard leaves…. keep your food light and simple before noon.

4) Get Lean, Green and Mean!! To get lean, you’ve got to get mean with a wicked bed of greens daily. For lunch, have a BIG salad with a variety of leafy greens and a colorful array of veggies – the more the merrier. Try a new veg each week! Keep it interesting and low calorie with fruited vinegars. Always include 1/2 cup of salt-free beans (of your choice) to top your salad. Beans, a good source of soluble fiber, increase satiety, decrease cravings and reduce afternoon munching – plus their loaded with nutrients.

5) Find comfort in the evenings… Use dinner as your fun, creative meal. Enjoy new veg-based recipes with warm veggies, homemade nut-based sauces topped with tofu, beans or tempeh. Limit the amount of whole grains to 1/2 cup per day. Begin or end your meal with fresh fruit or a clever banana whip… a delightful way to wind down your day.

6) Kitchen CLOSED! Brush your pearly whites after dinner to symbolize the end of your daily eating, thus resisting the urge to snack later gator.

7) Eat non-starchy veggies till your heart’s content. Remember, the more low cal, high nutrient, non-starchy veggies (leafy greens, onions, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, celery, artichokes, etc…) that you consume… the more weight you’ll lose! Munch on that!!

8) Think Junk in the Trunk. Steer clear from fatty animal products, especially those high in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium (dairy, red meat) and processed foods. Avoid alcohol and caffeine consumption which result in overeating due to feelings of withdrawal and plummeting blood sugar, often mistaken for hunger.

9) Shake Your Rump!! Exercise, stretch, run, walk, jog, bike, lift, step, dance, go … [tai chi] … laugh, and sweat whenever you can however you like.

10) Sleep Like a Beauty. Get adequate rest. Aim for 8 hours of sleep each night and if that’s not possible — sneak a cat nap into your day. A lack of sleep can contribute to unnecessary snacking and altered hormone levels that jeopardize weight loss.

EatUrVeggies. Your body will thank you.

Chow!!
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CONCLUSION & ACTION STEP by Diane Gold

Each of us has an image of our good body. We also have an image of where we are today. How hard could it be to move one step higher than our self-image of today on a regular basis. For some of us, it’s pretty hard. For those who can break the food barrier themselves, be tolerant. There are many consultants to help us should we need it, including Elisa. The huge diet companies that exist act as consultants. They help us take that next step.

If we shoot for the moon and change too many things too quickly because we have concern that we will lose today’s motivation tomorrow, even one change may fail to take root. We need to be calm, take our time and know that consistent progress does not include rushing.

1) One way we can go about employing the above 10 tactics successfully is to be sure we commit to 1 tactic on a daily basis so that we do not become burdened with too much pressure.

2) The next way might be to pick 1 tactic and maintain it for a 21-day regime.
a) After 21 days, another tactic may be added continuing the first tactic or
b) After 21 days, another tactic may be switched out for the first tactic

The way that we approach change depends upon what makes us feel more calm and more powerful at the same time. It’s powerfully important to reduce stress caused by food, not to add to it. So the framing of this decision is based on each of us.

WarriorsOfWeight.com has its own consulting program. Go to http://warriorsofweight.com/consulting to get more information on our consulting programs. Go get details.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE this page. And, when you’re on Facebook, go to http://facebook.com/warriorsofweight and click LIKE. We’re working on the page and would appreciate comments.

ELISA RODRIGUEZ

Elisa Rodriguez is a registered dietician. She emphasizes a whole food, herbivore eating style in addition to promoting blending, juicing and fasting for health. Elisa is a living example of the power of healthy food and has defied Lupus through her whole food, plant-based diet. She has her degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Delaware. Please go to our Expert Page to read more about Elisa.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR/PUBLISHER

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She is excited that many of the members of the WarriorsOfWeight.com community are interested in eating well and improving their food plan through vegetables and juicing. Diane says,

“Eating glorious, fresh vegetables and fruits nourishes us with the vitamins and minerals that replenish our bodies. With each bite, we heal and grow. When we want to feel alive, we can just munch on a veggie.”