WEIGHT LOSS SECRET WEAPON (ISSUE 131) JUNE 3, 2014

By Diane Gold

Accidentally, a weight loss secret weapon came to my attention. I was minding my own business, looking for the next best thing to eat – for taste, not for substantial weight loss – I am lucky enough that my Buddha belly is only a pound or two. But, I always eat what I recommend, and I always taste new foods.

I happened upon this weight loss enigma when one of my suppliers endorsed its superior taste and confirmed its being a super food.

SUPER FOOD AND CREDIBILITY

Just to define, the term “super food,” as so many dietary expressions, does not have any specific clinical trial evidence in science. The food that is referenced by the term usually has some such research behind it. But it always refers to food that has tremendous nutritional effects, so much so that its benefits may prevent disease.

“Super food” has more credibility than the word “natural” whose label means absolutely nothing and could mean anything from pig juice from non-hormonally treated adorable baby pigs to apple juice from genetically modified seeds whose crop is minimally sprayed. It also far surpasses the label that shows nutritional facts being none of our business by ingredient omission due to some legislative exemption or by the manufacturer’s not knowing the source of an ingredient.

THE SECRET WEAPON

So, let’s talk about the dreamy and subtly nutritious food that has such a marvelous effect. It is not luxurious and is somewhat flexible in growth locations. It is tasty and has different tastes based on how ripe it is and its variety. And it is a  super antioxidant.

What is it? It’s the Olive.

ANTIOXIDANTS AND DISEASE

What’s so great about antioxidants is that they inhibit a cell from interacting with oxygen. Think of the browning of cut apples or the healing of a cut on your skin. Some cells die, like rotting fruit. But, in the case of the body, we make new cells that replace the old cells which results in a healed cut.
Sometimes, during the oxidation process; as per Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD at Tufts U.,

“1% or 2% of cells will get damaged in the process and turn into free radicals.”

These are scavenging molecules looking to pair.

“Free radicals often injure the cell, damaging the DNA, which creates the seed for disease.”

Antioxidants protect the body from this process by slowing it down or eliminating it. That’s the big deal about antioxidants under which category olives fall.

Sometimes, cholesterol oxidizes. This causes heart disease. Olives reduce this. John Summerly, nutritionist and homeopath, refers to research studies where the fat from olives can reduce blood pressure as well.

Finally, antioxidants are known to prevent cancer, and olives are both antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties.

REGULARITY

Completely to my surprise, after beginning to eat olives, my elimination became more slippery, meaning the walls of my intestines seemed to be coated with the a substance that eased out the waste. This leads me to mention that the fat content from olives may have a positive effect on constipation, although this phenomenon may not occur in anyone else.

WEIGHT LOSS

Since the time I began eating olives, I have lost several of the stubborn pounds that did not please me. I had gained 5 pounds for no reason, and it was not coming off. Now it is off. One of the only additions to my eating regimen is olives. I have researched that scientists believe that mono-saturated fats, the kind found in olives, can help with weight loss by breaking down fat inside of fat cells.

The great thing about eating olives is that they are high in fat – the good kind – the mono-saturated kind. To eat some every day does not require a lot of effort and does not require any preparation. They smell  and taste good, but their full and robust flavor does not lead to over-eating.

The fact that they create a good condition in the intestines may also lead to weight loss since good elimination is part of healthy living and healthy weight. The fact that they are antioxidants may keep the system healthy which improves the mind’s will power for weight loss.

THERE ARE OLIVES, AND THEN THERE ARE HIGH QUALITY NON-LYE-SOAKED OLIVES

Recently,I have been eating olives: both with salt and without, black only. They taste nothing like any olives I have ever tasted before.

I do not believe in calorie counting but will mention that the blacks have 40% more calories because they are older, riper and have more fat. They are all low in calories. They are organic and packed in olive brine only for shipping before being sun-dried. Commercial olives can be soaked in lye before they are put in brine with ingredients we never hear about, which is why I am careful about the quality of my olives, the supplier from which they come and the supplier’s knowledge of the process from tree to me.

Although I rarely eat anything that has added salt, I have researched that the sea salt in the olives I am eating will not harm me, and I value it for my health.

Here is an opportunity for you to get them. Here are my two kinds:

BOTIJA PERUVIAN OLIVES WITH SEA SALT (the only ingredients),
8  oz., PITTED, RAW, ORGANIC, VEGAN:

CLICK HERE

BOTIJA PERUVIAN OLIVES, (the only ingredient),
8 oz., UNSALTED, PITS IN, RAW, ORGANIC, VEGAN

CLICK HERE

Just so you know, I do business with Sunfood. Therefore, if you go ahead and purchase these lovely olives from the above links, I may be entitled to a stipend. I’m telling you about them for your health and not for my financial gain, though.

CONCLUSION

Anything that works for us can become a weight loss secret weapon. Sometimes we can come across healthful and goal-achieving eating habits by accident. Although I knew olives were part of the reason that people living close to the Mediterranean (and Latin Americans whose ancestors came from there) show lower coronary heart disease per 100,000 as per worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/coronary-heart-disease/by-country (using WHO’s and other credible sources’ data). We can also see complete variations within this chart.

Here are several action steps that may be of interest toward the goal of bettering health. Be well.

ACTION STEPS

1)   Set a goal to add 1 weight managing food this week. This can also include removing a food that is negatively impactful.

2)   Drink a 12 oz. glass of water 15 minutes before every meal, snack, drink you are going to have. If you are at the bar, be it in your home or out on the town, count each drink as a meal whereby you will drink a 12 oz. glass of water 15 minutes before it. This technique may help reduce the amount of your sugar intake (in alcohol and fruit drinks).

3)  Give my new raw, vegan, organic, weight loss OLIVE DISCOVERY a whirl.

Organic Olives with sea salt and no pits HERE.

Organic Olives with no salt and pits in, HERE.

4)   Know you have inner beauty, or you wouldn’t be part of the race (the human race).

5)   Know that you have value, or you wouldn’t be here (part of our family).

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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She is always interested in alleviating pain in others. She makes an effort to investigate claims about health and weight loss. She says,

“Most weight loss techniques are hype. We don’t yet have the full picture about what makes some of us huge and others of us big eaters who never gain an overweight pound. (Similar to the paradox of France,  a country eating highly saturated fat, having the lowest coronary heart disease of any nation, except a tiny island in the Pacific.)

“I do know that if a method is simple and requires no preparation; it’s a great weight loss strategy: like drinking water instantly or pressing both sides of the ear lobe to suppress appetite.

“Now we can add the olive secret weapon to viable ways for weight loss. This is a breakthrough since it is a tiny food, easy to tote around and one not likely to over-eaten.

“Finally, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”

CAN GUT MICROBES HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS? (ISSUE 94)

By Diane Gold

There is extremely specific evidence that gut microbes have something to do with weight loss or gain. Much research is in process, and a new, amazing breakthrough has just been published.

THE STUDY

On September 5, a new study came out in the journal, Science, where germ-free mice were colonized with gut microbes (called “microbiota” in the study itself) from four pair of human twins. Each pair of twin donors contained one obese and one thin human. The recipients of the fecal matter were sterile mice who had no gut microbes until they were exposed to the human microbes.

Those mice who received the transplanted material from the obese twin became obese. The mice who received the transplanted material from the thin twin became thin. The mice were genetically identical so as to rule out genetic differences.

So far, this research, in its early stages, shows much promise. Not only did it show that the obese donors’ gut matter with controlled diet affected the recipient mice to get obese and vice versa. A big conclusion came out of this: it might be possible to change out microorganisms in an obese person’s gut so that the new microbes could promote thinness rather than obesity.

The researchers fed the mice a low-fat diet, which regular mouse food is. The microbes from the lean twin took over the gut of a mouse that already had microbes from the obese twin. The overweight mouse started to lose weight. The microbes from the overweight twin did not take over in a mouse that was thin.

NEXT STEP

Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, the senior researcher on the study, from Washington University in St. Louis, called the collection of microbes the “Battle of the Microbiota.” This is what happened.

After the transplants, the mice from each set of microbes, both obese and thin, were put together in the same cage. Mice typically eat each other’s dropping. So both sets of gut microbes were shared, and the mice with obese donor microbes started converting to the microbes from the mice from thin donors. There were sterile mice also introduced into the cages to see which microbes would appear in the gut of the sterile mice. The thin microbes seemed to take over.

One of the research colleagues, Vanessa K. Ridaura came up with the idea of creating two different diets for the mice, based on a national survey of what Americans eat: a high-fat diet with saturated fats and a low-fat diet with the most fruits and vegetables diet. The researchers created mouse pellets of two compositions to reflect these two types of diets. What they found was the mice who were overweight and received food high in fat, low in fruits and vegetables, stayed overweight and kept the gut microbes from their obese human. The thin twin’s gut microbes took over only when the mice were fed the food rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fat.

This study parallels the science that shows how low fat and high fruits and veggies are good for you.

FUTURE WORK

Dr. Gordon has said he wants to search out which particular microbes are responsible for the effect on obesity and leanness so that, eventually, people can be given microbes instead of fecal matter. A gastroenterologist, not part of the study, Dr. Alexander Khoruts, University of Minnesota, mentions how this isolating “the” microbe could take decades. He mentions that it would be a lot quicker to try fecal transplants.
To date, just under 500 fecal transplants have been reported for very aggressive clostridium difficile infection with successful results in over 90% of the cases. For obesity therapy, the prospects are hopeful. It seems like the simplest, least expensive, least invasive therapy to date.

NOMENCLATURE

When the study came out two days ago, the New York Times, the paper whose Sunday crossword puzzle my mother could get through without much effort, writer Gina Kolata, used the words “Gut Bacteria” in the headline. Enjoying using the right language, I started this mad dash to check what to call the microbes in our intestine (did you know these biological helpers are also in our conjunctiva [the eyelid inner skin], on and under our skin and in the mucous membrane [in the mouth, nose, gut]?), and I wondered whether this study used bacteria exclusively. Now I know it was a combination of whatever was in the stool.

Phylogenetic Tree Of Life

I kept seeing the words “gut flora” in the brilliant encapsulation with the same title in Wikipedia, also in the L.A. Times’ rendition of the study which was published on the same day and in various other publications. I was confused because I had always used the words that distinguish plants from animals, flora from fauna, by thinking of Bambi, the fawn. Faun, get it? So, to my knowledge, flora was plant matter.

It turns out the words “gut flora” when speaking about our intestinal microorganisms is used although it is phasing out to the correct microbiota, “biota” pertaining to the diverse collection of “micro” or tiny organisms. Flora was probably begun to differentiate the microbes from the exclusive word “bacteria” which would leave out fungi and archaea, other microbes that live in the gut and help us thrive. The New York Times article used the limiting word, “bacteria,” in this article.

CONCLUSION

We are influenced heavily by what we eat. Now we have more proof than we used to that gut microbes have influence on the proteins produced and the processes that contribute to our weight and our appetite. It is important to be thoughtful of what the food we eat does to support or inhibit our bodies and to make changes accordingly.

Here are a few easy steps we might take to protect our gut microbes. Imagine if weight loss were only a matter of balancing our gut microbes, as may be. It seems correct since these microorganisms have so many productive jobs to keep our body functions optimal.

ACTION STEPS

1)   Make more than half the food you eat fruits and vegetables.

2)   Experiment with ingredients in a salad or vegan nori rolls, so quick and nutritious.

3)   Do a few seconds of abdomen circles every day to assist with digestive flow.

4)   Notice how food affects your body, and be good to it. Your bathroom visits will be regular and smell mild if the body appreciates the way you eat. The more vegetables, the better. They nourish and cleanse.

5)   Consider making one new food choice, and commit to it for a week. If you do not feel better or if you get bored, let it go, and make another food improvement. If you do feel better, continue it for another two weeks. If you still feel good, keep the change.

EPILOGUE

These steps are the beginning of changing any habit so that your gut microorganisms can make you strong and healthy. Time will tell about how powerful are the findings in the above scientific breakthrough study.

Wouldn’t it be tremendous if this non-debilitating method of achieving better health could be made available to all who need it!

____________________________________________________________________

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She looks for the latest research techniques that can help people curb cravings.  There are so many keys to health that are right in front of us. She says,

“The current science about our own microorganisms in our gastrointestinal tract is vast and growing. It makes sense to me that we can use this micro eco system within ourselves for balance. I hadn’t considered that we could offer each other our good microbes for health, but it’s so logical.

“The ease with which this therapy could help people all over the world is remarkable. I am very excited and await more gut microbe news.”

TIMING OF MEALS AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS (ISSUE 65)

By Anahad O’Connor, Comments And Action Steps By Diane Gold

In The New England Journal of Medicine last week, a prominent researcher noted that much of the conventional wisdom about weight loss has little basis in science. But his article did not address one oft-asked question: Is your waistline affected by when you eat, or is a calorie always just a calorie whenever you eat it?

To seasoned dieters, the claim that eating late can spell trouble is nothing new. But the idea has lacked evidence from credible human studies. Most of the research to date has shown that eating late is linked to weight gain, but late eaters also tend to consume more calories over all.

In a new study, published in The International Journal of Obesity, researchers at Harvard and elsewhere followed 420 overweight men and women in Spain in a 20-week weight loss program.

The subjects were split into two groups. Each followed a similar diet, got equivalent amounts of sleep, and had similar caloric intakes and expenditures. They also showed no differences in two hormones that play a key role in appetite, leptin and ghrelin.

But there was a critical difference in the timing of their main meal of the day, which in this case, because of the Mediterranean setting, was lunch. In both groups, the meal comprised about 40 percent of their daily calories. But one group consistently ate it before 3 p.m. daily, while the other did so after 3 p.m.

By the end of the study, despite similar caloric intakes, the late eaters had lost significantly less weight. They also showed lower insulin sensitivity, which increases the risk of diabetes.

Weight loss strategies, the authors wrote, should focus not just on calories and nutrients, “but also the timing of food.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

The timing of your meals may not be everything when it comes to weight loss, but it does appear to play a role.

Link to original article is below.

COMMENTS AND ACTION STEPS

by Diane Gold

For about 3 years now, almost as long as I have been a vegan, I have chosen to finish my meals by 6 pm on purpose. On the rare occasion that I find myself eating evening dinner in company, I eat an additional meal of salad with no dressing. Or, if I can get away with it, I have a hot water, one of my favorite drinks.

When I traveled to a different time zone to see family, I ate in that time zone, 3 hours later, but, you guessed it. I went to bed 3 hours later, or more. And the 6 p.m. curfew was tough for the rest of the group (although they were quite accommodating), which is why so many people don’t even attempt the task.

So, why did I decide to do it?

There were many times I experienced what it feels like to wake up the morning after drinking alcohol. In contrast and most of the time, I have experienced waking up feeling crystal clear, powerful, joyful and healthy. Once I decided to rid myself of drinking alcohol at all, I woke up lucid every morning. This got me to thinking.

But how alert would I be, I asked myself, if I could increase the period of time between my last meal and drink (except for hydrating water or green tea because the quercetin in it is a great anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer enzyme)?

So I decided to complete my last meal by 6 p.m. every night to see how I felt.
Oh, my. I felt great, and I continue to feel great using this eating schedule I recommend highly. It’s not for everyone, but here are a few facts that may contribute to why it makes sense:

1) As Anahad’s article mentions, there is scientific proof that shows that weight loss is directly related to eating earlier.

ACTION STEP

Figure out a way to finish eating before 6 p.m. If you want to or have to socialize after that time (this will inevitably end up in eating), plan ahead that you will only eat raw greens in a salad with a little olive oil and lemon juice or a plate of steamed leafy greens with a drop of olive oil and lemon juice.

2) Gravity helps digestion. When we are lying down (for sleep), we lose this benefit. Did you ever eat late and feel your food up high in your digestive tract when you were in bed? I have, but not recently.

ACTION STEP

Consciously decide to pay attention to the food in the stomach. Enjoy how it feels while you are upright, and notice when it seems to have gone down. This could be 3 or 4 hours after eating.

3) Our greatest risk of heart attack is in the early hours of the morning, according to Robert Manfredini of University of Ferrara, Italy, in a Time article, July 22, 2008. Because digestion utilizes blood and oxygen that would normally be employed by the heart  and because respiration is reduced when we sleep; eating a large meal at night can divert too much of the body’s resources to digestion during the most vulnerable time in our daily cycle of physical processes. (Information from Ed in South Carolina, moderator of Paleohacks.com).

ACTION STEP

Now that we have spelled out some of the biological implications, really decide to finish eating at 6 pm. If there are family factors in the way, like children’s extra-curricular activities don’t finish until 7 p.m. or all family members aren’t home until 8 p.m.; start the routine of finishing by 6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday or whatever days the family has “off.”

There are always excuses not to, so just do it! You and your family are worth it.

4) When we are not using our body’s resources for sleep-time digestion, we have a more restful sleep. Otherwise, our quality of sleep may be hindered (Jason Bellows, Stop And Breathe, Mar. 15, 2011).

ACTION STEP

The better we sleep, the more productive we will be the following day and the several days after that.  The more we will be able to handle stress, and the more able we will be to follow a great eating plan to maximize our weight loss (gain) goals.

5) It feels good to lie down without the weight of recently eaten food in our GI tract. It’s 10 pm (4 hours since my last meal), and I’m already feeling that the food has digested. (This is not true, of course, since it takes a good 6-8 hours to pass through the stomach and small intestine, and then another 41-43 hours (as opposed to 27-29 hours in men) to go through the rest of the process, according to Michael F. Picco, Mayo Clinic GI, M.D.)

ACTION STEP

Enjoy how great it is to lie down without food feeling high in our digestive system. Eating early is a good way to prepare for sleep.

CONCLUSION

The idea of timing of meals affecting our weight loss and our health verifies an action we, humans, have been acting on for many years. Happily, there is proof in study form. Yes, we were correct, but now it is documented by researchers at Harvard et al.
Although the studies didn’t address the fact that when we eat later, there have been more hours in our day in which to eat; it is logical that, in reducing the waking hours we permit ourselves to eat, we automatically reduce our intake. This leads to weight loss.

FEEDBACK

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ANAHAD O’CONNOR, AUTHOR

Anahad has been writing for the Science Section of the New York Times since 2003. He is passionate about investigative science and wellness reporting. He is one of our panelists whose full bio you will find in the Experts section.

The original article appeared on February 4, 2013 at this link:

DIANE GOLD, CO-AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She is extremely excited to hear that her eating schedule was validated by a current scientific study . She says,

“There are so many weight loss misconceptions. It is exciting that I am using a technique that can be matched to scientific study and statistics. We know that eating earlier in our day feels better. Now we know that it promotes weight loss.

“Putting a time limit on food ingestion also creates the habit of learning to wait, which is something that dieters have to learn anyway. The self-imposed time restriction is a great way to learn it, and it makes it easier to cope with weight loss and weight maintenance after that.”

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

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 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.

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.”

DANCING FOR WEIGHT LOSS: A FUN WAY TO FIRM IT, MOVE IT, REMOVE IT (ISSUE 54)

By Diane Gold

Dancing, by its very nature, can get us moving. As a musician and tribal music lover, I know how it feels to be consumed by the music. It can easily get us in a state of heightened energy. It has to be just right, though.

How many times have you listened to a song that gets you moving and foot tappingly grooving only to share it with a friend who is falling asleep to the very same song.

All we have to do is look at drivers in cars who are happily singing to music or runners and walkers with music players happily gyrating to their workout. When we survey what they are listening to, all the music is diverse. Some of us like any kind of music. Others of us are pretty picky. We have to listen to specific music at a specific time or enjoy our silence. I am in this last category. My strong attitude about what I listen to may come from having studied all genres of music to get my music education degree. Or I like what I like when I like it.

The music we listen to has to feel right at the time. Otherwise, as my music therapy training tells me, the music can be counterproductive. So, let me start off by saying

MAKE SURE YOU LIKE THE MUSIC!

It will affect you on many levels. When I listen to tribal dance music, I get calm and inspired. It’s the only music I can listen to when I need to concentrate. Many people I know would never listen to it. Different strokes for different folks.

So, how can we embrace dance in our weight loss regime? Happily, dancing is free. It is there for us just for the doing. It lives in our bodies.

EXCUSES

Here are the excuses we might use for not dancing.
1) Many of us are shy. We don’t even want to see ourselves.

2) We would never dance in public.

3) We don’t know what to listen to.

4) We have no time. See action step 1 below.

5) We don’t feel comfy in our bodies, so we don’t like to dance.

REPLIES TO EXCUSES

1) Combatting shyness: We can dance in the dark where no one can see us and we can’t even see ourselves. It’s very freeing.

2) Combatting being in public and dancing: Well, here’s the big news. We don’t have to leave our houses to dance. And we might want to dance outside the home after a while.

3) What to listen to: Pick something. The joy is the next day, we can make a new selection.

Most of us have access to a TV, interconnected phone or computer. Music is just a click away. We can flip a channel or go to www.live365.com and choose the genre of our choice. We can also go to www.pandora.com and make our own listening station based on 1 song or artist that we like. The free Pandora software will find other songs like our 1st song. Both Live365 and Pandora are free. Or you can pay a little and get rid of ads. Ask me for help if you don’t know what to do with them.

4) Making time: It’s important to make time for moving the body by dancing, especially if we are working on weight loss. Once we start with Action Step 1, it will be easier to become consistent.

5) Combatting not liking to move: With dancing, we are moving the body. This means burning calories, firming the body and building strength and energy. These are all good reasons to make a go of dancing.

ACTION STEPS

So here are the action steps for this week.

Hopefully, 1 of them will appeal to you.

All you need is 1.

1)
MUSIC PLAYER IN THE BATHROOM

Decide you will take some type of music player into the bathroom first thing in the morning. Just to get the day started off right.

It’s a great time to dance. It will immediately take a little of your hunger away, and it will make the body feel great. It will be your kind of music, so you will like it and respond to it. As I see it, anything is danceable, from Bach to Bartok to Country to Tribal. But starting is the big thing. The next big thing is continuing. Those are the biggies with everything. Begin and continue!

Because you are beautiful, fantastic, worth it and in need of shaking yourself out. Making this dancing on a daily basis will take 3 minutes or less.

1 minute is enough if that’s all you have the time for.  And listening to music close up, that is, in headphones, makes you feel as if you are in a music world of your own. And, guess what? You are. The trick is to make it consistent.

2)
TELE-DANCING

Tele-dancing is just what it sounds like: going to the phone and getting on a conference line and dancing. Beginning on Thursday, December 6, 2012 and Tuesday, December 11, 2012; tele-dancing begins at 7:00 pm Eastern time, Thursdays and 6:00 pm Eastern time on Tuesdays.

It’s a 5-minute program that will get you moving to the music and taking the opportunity to free yourself through dance. 5 minutes. You owe it to yourself. No one will be watching. No one will be judging your moves. This is for you. Try it, you’ll like it. Think about how exercise will decrease your ghrelin hormone to lower your food cravings.

Call-In Details: HERE.

3)
TRANCE TAI CHI

Trance Tai Chi is a method of moving the body to a progression of relaxed music>mellow music>excited tribal dance music>then mellow music again>then ending with relaxed music. It includes short instructions where we suggest tai chi-like movements. The instruction allows people to have a basis from which to move and leads up to free form dancing. The purpose is personal freedom.

I do sessions by appointment through trancetaichi.com. But you can find dance similar to this at yoga schools across the United States. They call it trance dance, ecstatic dance and breath dance.

4)
5RHYTHMS

5Rhythms is a dance method where there is specialized instruction to notice your body parts. No actual specific way of moving is recommended. The instruction suggests ways of becoming aware of the body. After an awareness warm-up, the facilitator coaches the group into a series of rhythms which the founder delineates through which meditation can be achieved. It’s very free form dance with a direction: yours.

Look up a 5Rhythms teacher in your area. We don’t have one in South Florida, except occasionally when a super-charged session occurs. Amazing stuff.

CONCLUSION

I remember lunch time when I was in 5th and 6th grades in New York. We had a record player outside in the school yard. Every day, I would bring my 45 RPM records to class so that we could dance. True, there were so many people singing rhythm and blues and rock and roll, so it was much easier to keep track of the latest and greatest records, as opposed to present day when there are hundreds of new artists coming out every minute because of the ease of technology. It’s great to have such technological access!

Dancing is great. It can jump start the day or be a superb ending to it. Incorporate it into the day to feel free, and to reduce extra weight.

5)

ACTION STEP 5

If you have a particular type of dance that you like and you want to go out of your house to do it, check out www.meetup.com for a local group. Type the kind of dancing you are curious about, and see how close one is.
__

Dancing for weight loss is not a novel idea. It remains a good one, though. 1 minute a day makes a difference. It will start you in a direction of being consistent and caring for self. Enjoy the experience, whichever one you pick.

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 creates simple strategies that cost little time and little money that lead to a personal shift that secures an objective. She says,

“Moving the body is a metamorphosis. When we dance, we can easily shake out stress at the same time as we are speeding our metabolism and making ourselves healthy. There are many ways to dance, in public or private.

1 minute’s worth will do the trick, every day. And the best time to start is now.”

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.

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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 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.

WILL POWER FOR WEIGHT LOSS AND OTHER GOALS: 3 STEPS TO JUMP START IT (ISSUE 49)

By Diane Gold

Developing will power for weight loss and discipline to delay and then replace our cravings with better habits spills over into other aspects of our lives.  This article will discuss some corroborating research and some quick action steps to power it up.
By the 1980s, it was common knowledge that will power could be learned. However, when Mark Muraven was a PhD candidate in the mid-1990s, he questioned why will power doesn’t last and set out to look for a major determiner.

Using previous research, Mark created two groups of undergrad students from Case Western. After skipping a meal, they were asked to sit down. 2 bowls were placed in front of each participant: one with cookies, one with radishes. Students were each given an assignment: to eat only 1 particular food.

The researcher walked out for 5 minutes. The cookie eaters were happy and didn’t have to exert much control; the radish eaters had to exert will power not to eat the cookies. (Perception, which is usually true: cookies are more pleasurable than radishes.)

The researcher re-entered after  5 minutes and instructed the group it would take 15 minutes for their sensory memory of food to fade.

To pass the time, she asked them to do a “draw the geometric shape without lifting the pencil or re-tracing a line” puzzle. The cookie eaters spent more time on solving because they had not just exerted will power energy to resist cookies. The radish eaters gave up more quickly. The truth is there was no solve to the puzzle, but the activity showed what 200 other studies have shown. Mark puts it this way,

“Will power isn’t just a skill. It’s a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there’s less power left over for other things.”

He also said,

”If you want to do something that requires will power—like going for a run after work—you have to conserve your will power muscle during the day.”

This sums up why diet plans and habit changing programs may work for some and not for others. Do you know any program that takes into account exhaustion level as a major factor? I don’t. In WarriorsOfWeight Consulting, we do. Also, in my upcoming work, How To Prevent Falling, we set exhaustion level as one of the factors to examine. I am breaking that down to exhaustion due to lack of sleep and exhaustion due to use of will power, since we know, now, that the amount we us our will power is a determining factor in our energy level.

Throughout our lives, we need will power in varying degrees. From the time we are young, we have to figure out how to get food without crying, comfortable sleep without being held or rocked and a shapely body without too much work.

Whether we are as disciplined as my loveable, meticulous  accountant, Charlie, or are as free as the spirit of the Flower Child Generation, we always come across choices that involve our ability to manipulate our decision making process. I use the word “manipulate” because, often, we have to mold our decisions through debating what we want the outcome to be.

Will power comes from working through in a systematic approach, acting a certain way under certain rules in order to successfully accomplish a task. So how do we get will power? Are we born with it?

Will power is a developed skill that dissipates when we deplete our energy levels. For some people, it is easier to make changes than for others. For others, they require a huge amount of will power to accomplish their task. But, the whole idea of will power is to use our will in a way that is monumentally difficult for a future outcome (even if the future outcome is 1 minute from now), rather than to gratify ourselves immediately.

From our youth, we have to learn that we can’t always get what we want. Every experience from pre-school and onward teaches it to us in some way. Is there a curriculum for will power to make sure we develop what we need? No, but there should be. If people who overeat had studied will power, they’d have special skills that we all need to use on themselves. Imagine how many problems wouldn’t exist.

For the people who make change easily or with little effort, they may not be exercising will power. They are often coasting through the change process. This is great and they are fortunate, as long as they can make all decisions this way. Sometimes, though, when a life and death situation greets these people, it is their first adult opportunity to build up their will power. At some crucial time in all our lives, the instance to use will power will come up. It always does. It can be considered an opportunity.

For most of us, we begin to learn what will power is when our parents say no to our demands, and we have to slowly temper ourselves or stop crying from frustration or, in some cases, learn to tow the line to avoid physical punishment from our parents. Those parents who use a lot of corporal action on their young usually have issues with will power themselves.

When we learn to ride a bike, we want to give up, but we know the reward if we push through and continue is that we will get to ride down the street, feel the breeze, ride with friends, feel special and get praise from our riding teacher. So, we learn this self-temperance and improve on it throughout our lives. We will ourselves to continue to complete tasks.

If we have family support, this process may or may not be easier. Yes, we will learn to ride our bike with less frustration, but we may use less will because we have more nurturing and soothing from family. Everyone is different, so we never know which combination of factors areis going to produce what reactions in us. We are all complex.

When we fail a test at school that we have studied hard for, we have to think about how important graduation is, or how important not disappointing a love one is, or how much we want to develop our skills to be able to create a great legacy, so that we don’t cater to the momentary idea of quitting. Whatever our reason, our reaction to failing the test is based upon our will to excel. The less the family unit is intact, the harder it will be to be positive; but the more will power will be created in the people who push through, even without being recognized and hugged for their efforts.

So how do we learn WILL POWER?

ACTION STEPS EXTRAORDINAIRES

The following action steps can be done in 1 minute increments of work. That way, for those of us who get freaked out with frustration quickly, there are only 60 seconds to endure. After several sets of 60 seconds, these steps are not so brutal to do. In other words, once we take an action a few time, it starts to become a new routine or habit that is familiar. We have less resistance to it.

1)     For the next 30 days (or for a week, if 30 days is too long), leave 1 bite of the favorite selection of food on every plate every time you eat. This will become a habit, and the feeling of disappointment in having to leave food on the plate will become pride in accomplishment. It is better to waste this morsel of food than to overeat regularly.

2)    Buy 4 cases of bottled water, 16 ounce bottles. (The waste involved in purchasing manufactured plastic is minor if this one act helps you to help change. Do not throw the bottles out. You will refill them in the future.) Always take 3 with you in case you have 3 food cravings until you get home. At the first twinge of food craving, even if it is true hunger, drink 1 bottle. This should fill you and change the craving. It will also begin the habit of using water to refresh yourself. A new and healthy habit.

3)    For the next 30 days (or for a week, if 30 days is too long), as soon as you feel a food craving, go to the rest room or a park bench where you may have some privacy. With palms on the kidneys, make a hula hoop motion with the waist for 30 rotations. This should reduce your craving as well as maximize the flexibility of the waist which is always good for health and digestion. If you don’t feel any cravings during the day, make it a point to do this exercise anyway, once a day for the 30 days or as a general routine after that.

CONCLUSION

Will power can be learned, increased, tempered, fueled, created and regenerated. From the very first time we don’t get what we want, it starts to develop and continues to do so as long as we let it. When we get into a rut and need to change a habit or need to deploy adrenaline to save ourselves or another;  we use our will power.

The 3 simple action steps, above, can change us. They will build layer after layer of comfortable control that we can exercise “at will.” Taking repetitive action steps toward a goal produces the results we want. We just have to stick it out using the will power muscle.

Once we have used these techniques for 30 days, our will power, from disciplining ourselves, will be stronger than before, similar to a body muscle that has repeated an exercise routine for 30 days.

We should continue using the steps for another 30 days. At the end of the second 30 days, we should make these steps part of our daily routine. Not eating beyond capacity is always good; drinking lots of water is always good and being ahead of our cravings through exercise is always the way.

May our will power for weight loss and any other goal we have soar!

AUTHOR’S NOTE

It is recommended not to stop these 3 steps so that you get some experience with understanding when your cravings increase and decrease and how much will power you have over them.

I would like to acknowledge Charles Duhigg and his book, The Power Of Habit for some of the research gathering used in this article.

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 knows ultimate will power is only an instant away. Diane says,

“One of the things I have learned is that we can muster up the strength to achieve whatever we want to achieve. The ability to do so is in our development of will power.

“We think we can’t go on, but we can, for just another minute. And, very often, all we need is that 1 more minute to achieve our weight loss goal, to complete an exam, to find our way when we are lost, to create a masterpiece. By following the 3 easy steps, I am confident that you can jump start your will power so that you will feel that strength for yourself and be able to reproduce it at will. Let’s begin now. ”

For help, check out 1-Step Consulting.

REVELATIONS OF A WEIGHT WARRIOR, TRISH CARR: A TESTIMONY FOR MOMS AND DAUGHTERS-PART III (Issue 35B)

by Diane Gold

We are back with Part III from the interview with Trish Carr and her weight story. We open here talking about making an exception to the diet on Sunday and the cravings it causes.

We left off with Trish talking about the munchies she makes for good eating all week. She begins a conversation about the cycle sugar starts.

URGES

Trish
It’s the sugar. The sugar is really poison. Even on Sundays, when I choose to eat something that has refined sugar in it, I know it’s going to cause me to have cravings.

Diane
Well, that’s the thing. What I don’t get personally, I can’t just have one thing for one day. I am not that kind of addictive personality.
If I have something on Sunday, I will want to have it on Monday.

Trish
Right.

Diane

And I will want to have it double on Tuesday.

Trish
Yeah, absolutely.

Diane
And that’s how it will go. So, for me, I would usually prefer not to have it at all. And that’s fine. I’m good with that.

For me, it’s not usually food.

Diane Narrative
This comment is my testament to the fact that I have throughout life, had many urges. Food was not usually one of them but it tempts me now. Any urge, though, creates the same process in my body and requires the same control as for any other substance. I have even felt addictive feelings for a significant other.

Diane
Even though I’m slender, I could be unslender in a pinch. Sometimes, I’ll bring something home which might be sweet. And I know, well, I did that today, And, oh, well guess what? I brought the same thing home two day after that. And two days after that. And then, I’ll just not do it for a year. I absolutely have to control that very carefully.

Diane Narrative
Or I could be sucking up excess fats and oils in a heartbeat.

The urge cycle is rarely talked about. In many programs, we are encouraged to tell stories about events that have taken place such as,

“I went to the health food store and purchased two pints of coconut milk ice cream. I came home and ate them. I felt sick,”

Instead of being restricted from talking about events and still encouraged to talk about what made us act on an urge like this,

“I was feeling alone since I had no friends. Instead of going to the library group, the full moon celebration, the free dance session in the park, I ate too much coconut milk ice cream and felt sick.

If we spoke more about what led us to act on these behaviors, we might be in a better place.

Now I ask Trish what she would say to people who cannot control the cravings that come after the relaxed Sunday schedule. (And based upon the rate of relapse, most people do not control themselves well for any length of time.)

URGE TIP OF THE YEAR

Trish
What I do is when I have something that’s going to cause a craving, I will tell someone else to please pay attention that I don’t have any more of this, and ask them to call me on it. So, I need an accountability partner.

Diane
Accountability partner is great. Which is why people who want to lose weight, have most of the time, used some type of group weight loss program. It’s the accountability. It’s also being able to communicate with others about it and the bonding.

HAVING A SUPPORT STRUCTURE

Diane Narrative
Trish talks about enrolling other people in supporting you in being accountable.

Trish
How many times people say I’m going to …lose weight? But as soon as you say it to another person, it raises your level of accountability.

Diane Narrative
There is an interesting article, from 2004, by Charlotte Huff. It’s called “Teaming Up To Drop Pounds.” She references a study that shows that participants who enrolled in a program with friends had higher rate of successfully keeping the weight off after six months than those who enrolled alone.

SUPPORT COMMUNITY FOR DAUGHTERS

Trish
One of those people is your mom. But the mom’s got to come from ‘I love you,’ I care about you,’ ‘I see you greater than you see yourself.’

Diane
That is fantastic. I love that one.

Diane Narrative
I ask Trish about what she would suggest for warriors of weight whose families bring the wrong food into the house.

Trish
For me, it’s about having a conversation with the other person.

Diane Narrative
When it’s the daughter who needs a special food plan and the adults are not helping, it is very difficult. Listen to the other things that Trish mentions that will definitely help.

IT’S THE MIND

Trish
There are lots of things that I did.
1)    I journaled every day what I ate.
2)    I start the day with, ‘This is how I plan my day to go.’
3)    I set my intention for the day.
It’s not just the food. Let’s be clear. Food is not the problem. Again, my mind is the problem.

So, there’s a lot of mindset things to do. And … once I do those, … you can put in front of me [some tasty chocolate snack], and I won’t want it.

But, if I’m white knuckling it all the time, with ‘Oh, I’m craving, craving, craving,’ then eventually you’re going to give in.

WHAT IF YOU HAVE NO SUPPORT SYSTEM?

Diane
It’s very hard for many people who don’t have that support system. And the other thing you had said that daughters should use the support system they have in the home which is the mom. What about daughters who don’t have a support system because either the mom isn’t going to listen or there isn’t one.

Trish
Right. And that’s where creating your own structure comes in…Every time you want to eat something that’s not on your food plan, pick up a pen and paper and write down what you’re thinking.

Diane
Absolutely.

Trish
Why are you having these thoughts? What is really going on? Because food is just a therapeutic way to get past whatever it is you’re feeling. Just like drugs are. Food is my drug of choice.

Diane
Um-hmm.

Trish
It’s really those mindset things, Diane.You can work with the food and manipulate the food and get to the size you want, but I don’t want to be white knuckling it for my whole life.

Diane
Right.

BIG TIPS
DON’T WEIGH IN TOO MUCH

Trish
I also very much kept track of my success. I have a spread sheet that I keep. Once a week, I weighed myself. Didn’t do it every day. Big mistake, getting on the scale every day. The greatest demotivator is when you’re not losing or you actually go up when you worked very hard.

I also did my measurements so that I could see. When I added exercise on a regular basis, I lost almost a whole size without losing one pound.

Diane
That is how it goes.

Trish
So, if I’m looking at the scale, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, wow. Too bad I haven’t lost anything. Well, why should I bother working out?’

Diane
Right.

TAKE MEASUREMENTS

Trish
But if I take my measurements, I can see, wow, I’m [one size less than I was].

Diane
Great point.

Trish
The other thing is semantics. We’re always losing weight. What’s the first thing you do when you lose something?

You look for it. So get rid of that expression.

Diane
Yeah, delete.

Trish
People say, ‘I release it.’ That’s too gentle. This is something that you hate. This is something you do not ever want to see again. So don’t be gentle. You get rid of this stuff so that it doesn’t come back.

CONCLUSION

Preparing this set of articles was very enjoyable for two reasons:
1) because the interviewing process is such a great way to get to know someone and
2) because the 3-article-set is so chock full of amazing strategies.

We hope you take from the article and use a tip for yourself.  And, if you have a tip or story of your own, we’d love to hear from you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE at http://warriorsofweight.com/?p=1121. 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.

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 on the look-out for the next story and has a new passion within interviewing: hearing about weight stories and turning interviews into articles so that all can benefit. Diane says,

“If you take any one tip from this set of articles and use it for a 3 days in a row or more, it will bring greater results than you can possibly imagine. Do it!”

REVELATIONS OF A WEIGHT WARRIOR: TRISH CARR, A TESTIMONY FOR MOMS AND DAUGHTERS: PART II (Issue 35A)

By Diane Gold

This is the second of three parts based on an interview with Trish Carr, a speaker, author and leadership expert, who has, in her words, “gotten rid of 100 pounds,”  rather than “losing” them, because she certainly doesn’t want to look for them again.

Diane
What actually made you gain weight, if you can remember, and if you would like to share that?

Trish
You know, because it’s been a lifelong issue, I can tell you that what makes me eat is what makes me gain weight. And that is, let’s see. It runs the gamut of happy, sad, frustrated, angry, elated, joyful, you name it. If I’m emotional about it…

Bored is big.

Diane
Yes.

Trish
Bored is big. The worst thing for me is the couch. If I’m sitting on the couch, I’m thinking about what I can eat. So, I’ve got to stay relatively active.

SECRET WARRIORSOFWEIGHT.COM EXERCISE

Diane
Have you ever tried sitting on the couch sitting on your hands?

Trish
Oh, no.

Diane
It’s really fun. It’s also a very interesting way of doing an abdominal exercise.
1)    You put your palms flat on the couch, which means the back of your palms is going to be right under your coccyx.
2)    And you just hang out there.
3)    You tuck your butt.
4)    And you raise your shoulders a slight amount.
While you’re on the couch, why not work?
5)    Hold for between 15 and 30 seconds.

Diane Narrative
This exercise can be done sitting on the couch or lying on it. Make sure to keep the back straight and elongated so that the abs are working the whole time.

NOTICE THE STRAIGHT BACK ON BOTH PHOTOS

The top photo has no pillows to obstruct the view of the straight back. For those who are just beginning working on the abs, a pillow is a good choice so as not to strain the back or neck. In the second (lower) view, the fluffy white pillow is lifted up by position of the hands to hide the straightness of the back; the back is NOT caving downward but is straight, as in the upper photo.

MAJOR POINT

This exercise can decrease the appetite and make us feel very focused, powerful and confident.

Diane
Let’s say you wanted to help moms of 13-year-old girls who were an extra love size. (There’s a fashion designer who has a size extra love, extra extra love, so I love that expression ‘cause a lot of times girls don’t want to hear “big, large, extra weight.”)

Diane Narrative
We will be featuring Sabrina Barnett, Empowerment Clothing, in the coming weeks. Watch for it on July 16.

Diane
Right away, we know that the daughters are going through or will going through hormonal changes. They’ll be feeling unattractive because they have pimples, their body changes and now they have a little extra weight ‘cause their muscles are also growing.

And they’re probably ready to fight with their moms because they are going to be going through feelings of wanting to be independent and also feelings that they don’t belong.

So what would you say to moms from your experience with weight, knowing what you know about the eating cycle that would put moms on the right track to communicate effectively with their daughters so that the daughters don’t snap at them or ignore them?

And partly, I’m asking you this because you deal with a lot of people and you’re a speaker and you also coach people individually. So I know that you know the human reaction spectrum. So I’m asking on that level. How can you help moms approach their daughters, or can you not?

Trish
That’s a good point. Can you not!

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

The most important way to help your daughter is to model the behavior that you want your daughter to have. And not be obsessive about it. It’s just, ‘Oh, this is how I eat,’ not, ‘Oh, I’m watching what I eat so I can stay thin and I can look good’ because then it becomes around looking good and not feeling good and being confident. …”

ARE YOU THE RIGHT PERSON?

Diane
You know how often we, as moms, jump right in to come to the aid of our daughters – or so we think. Here’s a great point that I consider every day with my own daughter so as to be supportive and considerate without being intrusive and selfish. I have a lot to learn.

Trish
…And as far as the conversation with your daughter, depending on your own relationship with your daughter, you know that your daughter often times won’t hear you, but the same thing can come out of a friend’s mouth or a sibling’s mouth and they’ll get it; so you’ve got to question whether you are the right person. And if you are the right person, then the conversation goes to,

‘Hey, look. I’m here to help. All I want to do is make your life the best that it can be. So you tell me what I can do. I can give you a couple of suggestions on what I think might help. But,it’s all up to you, and it’s all your choice what you want.’…

The worst part was when I was a fat kid, and my mother would want me to go on a diet or help me lose weight when she wasn’t doing it herself.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Diane
This goes back to leading by example. I asked Trish her feelings about the double standards her mother was conveying of asking her to go on a reduction diet while not progressing in that direction herself.

Trish
The same thing with anything that your parents do, ‘Do what I say, not as I do.’ …There was no way she was going to give me buy in in doing anything if she wasn’t doing it herself.

Diane
Yeah, be the example.

Trish
Absolutely. You’ve got to model what you’re looking for.

SELF-ESTEEM

Trish
So the other thing to remember is that if your kid is overweight and you’re not, then they’re constantly beating themselves up. They are not happy. They are not comfortable. I was not a happy kid inside. Outside, I was fabulous. I was outgoing, But, internally, I was like, oh, my god, I’m so fat, I’m so fat. It would make me want to put another doughnut in my mouth.

Diane
I mentioned how daughters think moms will never understand. And we discussed the circumstance when the daughter may be overweight, and the mom is not overweight so the daughter is going to think, doubly, that the mom will not understand.

I asked Trish how a mom could maintain a daughter’s privacy and still get her daughter to believe in her and believe there is no competition. Trish brought up the point of our belief in our daughters.

TRUE BELIEF IN DAUGHTER

Trish
It’s all about seeing them for who you believe they are and not who they appear to be at the moment. So, if you see your daughter as confident, strong and powerful and you speak to her in those terms, then that’s what she will become. But if you say that she is confident, or you say to her, ‘Oh, you’re beautiful,’ or you say, ‘You’re a confident young girl,’ but you don’t really believe it, then the truth will no hit her. She’ll know that you’re insincere and there’s an inauthenticity there.

So the first place you’ve got to look is at yourself. Do you really believe that that’s who your daughter is.

Diane
I thought that was a tremendously good point. Often times, we, ourselves, get stressed out by the difficulties of our daughters, such as unhealthy weight in our daughters. We may lose sight of how much we really believe our daughters and focus on the the negative. This doesn’t help.

I mentioned how one of panel psychologists pointed out that when parents come to him to work with their children, the biggest thing is to work on the parent.

Trish talks about her having supervised a large staff of people as training manager (a mentor or parent-type role). She talks about a woman’s coming to her who thought she was shy. She expressed that nobody ever comes to her for ideas.

In this woman, Trish saw something special. Trish’s nurturing instincts come out here as she says,

“That woman had something to share that no one else had tapped into. I just treated her as if she were fully self-expressed, as if everything she had to share was really important;
and she blossomed because I did that.

BELIEF ACTION STEP

“And you have to do the same thing with your children. You’ve got to see in them what they don’t yet see in themselves.”

MUNCHING

Trish
And the other thing is when it comes the whole food situation, the bottom line is having food in the house that really delicious, that they can open the ‘fridge and get it.

FOOD ACTION STEPS
WHAT TO COOK

Trish’s Method: She shops and cooks on Sundays to have things on which to munch:
1.    Fresh beets.
2.    Stir fry.
3.    Veggies on the grill.

WHAT TO MUNCH ON

Trish
I’m a muncher. And I’m not changing from that. So I need to have things in [the refrigerator] that I can munch on that are good for me and that I really find delicious. Not, like my mother would say, ‘Have an apple,’ or ‘Have a carrot.’

But you give me grilled vegetables that have balsamic vinaigrette on them – that’s good!

HOW TO STIR FRY THE VEGGIES

Trish
1)    The easiest, fastest thing to do is cut up a bunch of vegetables,
2)    throw them in a pan,
3)    stir fry them with a little bit of soy sauce,
4)    if you like curry, take a little bit of … curry, mix it with soy sauce and throw it on there,
5)    stir them, and you’re done.
6)    Then, they can sit in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days; and you can eat them every time you’re hungry.
7)    SPECIAL TIP: make it pretty with red pepper and carrots. Make it vibrant looking.

FOOD ECONOMY TIP

Trish
I go to the farmer’s market and spend $12 to $16, and it feeds me for the whole week.

Diane Narrative
This dollar figure refers to fruits and vegetables, excluding protein. This means that, instead of buying 3 bags of junk chips or cookies a week, following this buying model, we could eat nutritiously wonderful snacks for the same or less money. And, of course, we’d be improving our health.

CONCLUSION

We have some really important tips in this piece on how to help our daughters with weight, the biggest of which is sharing our true vision and belief in our daughter.

The tip on how much Trish spends on her munchies may help put things into perspective. As a vegan, my fruit and veggie bill exceeds this, but it is an indicator of how well we can eat for a small amount of money.

FEEDBACK

We love your feedback. You make up the WarriorsOfWeight.com community.
______

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 most pleased with the number of people who are getting involved in this story-telling part of WarriorsOfWeight.com. Diane says,

“We all have these fascinating stories to tell, some about pain, some about pleasure, some about frustration, some about joy, others about failure and its levels up to success.

We should all have the opportunity to be heard, be nurtured and grow. I will work to create such an environment.”