Always go Forward

Recently I saw a quote by Garrett Bartly who said something quite profound:

"Never forget what you need to remember." How many times have you made the same mistake over and over and vowed never to repeat it? And did you repeat it? Usually the answer is yes when it comes to regaining weight which you fought so hard to lose.

So as you are losing weight what is it that you atually need to remember and then follow through with?

Note that if you are not moving forward in terms of improving your eating habits, you are unconsciously entrenching older unhealthy eating patterns in more deeply. You are going backwards. So take a few minutes each day to reflect on what you still need to learn. It might be helpful to review some of last week's blogs to help you figure out what it is that might be holding you back.

Readers what do you have to remind yourself of? For me, I just remember how miserable (both physically and emotionally) I felt about myself when I was heavier. It's not a place I ever want to go back to.

Readers what do you need to remember to keep going forward?

Successful Cheating in Weight Loss

Here's something to pause and reflect on so you can manage a bit of "cheating" more effectively in those social times ahead this summer and maybe still lose a little weight. As most of us would agree summer holidays, graduations, picnics and other special occasions are the best time to plan your cheat meals and maybe take a little break from the tighter weight loss weekday plans.

My personal mantra suggests to just cheat a little one day a week if you have to, as you still have six other days to be more strict. Just don’t allow one day to turn into more than that. And don't cheat if something just sets you up for an all day binge ultimately leading you to weight gain and frustration when it comes to facing the scale come Monday morning.

So don’t go crazy here, choose your cheats carefully, making them really "mindful" treats for yourself, whether a barbeque or wedding. Maintain your regular meals when ever possible and plan ahead. Make sure you get adequate fruits, veggies and protein earlier in your day. Fats and carbs will always be available anywhere you are. Save those for your cheating events.

Readers how do you “cheat” and still lose weight?

Problem Solving your Weight loss Challenges - 3

This past week I have been discussing getting at the crux of your weight loss challenges. Initially I mentioned isolating the problem; the the other day I discussed asking yourself some deeper questions to really examine the problem in order to uncover the underlying answers. By now it is my hope you have found the problems and want to start taking some real action steps toward those challenges to be successful. If you have the information you need it's time to go to work!:

• Develop a real action oriented plan to achieve the goal. Be specific with the details. Exactly how will it be accomplished? When will it be done? Who else will be involved?
• How How will you remind yourself to DO whatever it is that needs to be done on your part?
• Who will you be accountable to for follow through? Or how will you be accountable?

So there you have it, the rest of the mojo magic depends precisely on YOU alone. YOU are the magic! Readers please feel free to add other suggestions here!

Problem Solving your Weight Loss Challenges - 2

The other day I started discussing how to problem solve your dieting challenges. I reviewed isolating the real problem first. You can't fix a challenge if you honestly do not know what it is! So the next step is to find the solution. To do this ask yourself (and maybe others) more questions, as honestly as you can:

• How can I get what I need/want? What could I do to handle this better? What could I do to make this work? Can anyone help? Who? How? Do I need support from someone? How do I get it? How do I ask? Do I need to be more effective in the style in which I communicate and assert my needs and wants? Do I need more information to help me in this situation?
• Am I being as honest and truthful to myself and others regarding this situation? Are my thoughts and solutions rational and realistic?
• And this may be the most challenging one, and difficult to do; is my challenge one of those  situations where I need to "let go?" Am I willing to do so?  You might have to ask yourself, would I rather be happy or "right?"

In a few days we’ll work on the action part of solving your weight loss problems.

Problem Solve your Weight Loss Challenges

How many times have you tried to lose weight but just haven’t succeeded? Or did you manage to lose the weight only to regain it back? Why is that? The problem is that you have to honestly first ISOLATE THE REAL PROBLEM(S). But how do you do that?

Most people generally know what their concerns are but don't go beyond that.. Thinking about them just isn’t enough most of the time, and overthinking may make issues bigger than they actually are. I suggest several ways of gaining clarity about it besides thinking it through, although that's a good start. Here are some ideas:

• Literally put your thoughts on paper and get clear on what’s going on.
• Talk about it to several very different people who can be objective about it.
• Take the time to specifically define the problem. Break it up into manageable parts if needed.
• Make sure you are evaluating your "gut" feelings, thoughts and  personal belief systems around it.
• Make sure your thoughts are rational (preferably share these thoughts with someone who can be). You have to be brutally honest with yourself on this one or have someone around who can be for you.
• Check to make sure you are just not reacting to the problem. Are your feelings and thoughts reflective of what’s really going on?
• Lastly what is it that you really need or want from yourself or others?

In a few days we’ll work on the solutions. This is only the first step. As Dr. Phil says you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge first. This is the first part of making changes here.

Tired of Salmon for Your Omega 3's?

There's a new fish in town called barramundi. Frankly I haven't seen it yet in the stores but apparently it's there, somewhere. It's also high in the omega 3's but only half as much compared to salmon which has the highest amount of those healthy omega 3's. It has about 500 mg. for a three ounce serving.

It's farmed fish which I'm not in favor of but is raised on a vegetarian diet, which should ensure us that the mercury levels aren't high. I'm just not sure what else they might feed it so buyer be beware.

Has anyone seen or tasted this fish yet? They say it is mild and has a slightly sweet flavor and isn't strong like salmon (although personally I love salmon.)

Getting Kids to Eat Healthy

Our first Lady Obama has recently decided that our kids school lunches need help. Ya think? She's even enlisted some special chefs (she'll have to tell them to lay off the butter a bit though) to join her with her anti-obesity campaign to help teachers and parents learn about nutrition. In my opinion she's got to make education to parents available and easily assesible too because it seems most parents are as confused as the kids. And getting kids to eat veggies is well, a daunting job unless you are persisitent  from the very begining when babies are first put on solid foods.

No offense parents (and I made this same mistake with my kids as well) but you have to remain firm but not lecture; kids will eat when they get hungry enough. Just because they refuse to eat something doesn't mean you give up on it and give them something else they will eat like mac and cheese. Eventually they will eat whatever you eat, yes, even broccoli, if you simply don't make a big deal about it.

As far as the chefs, they will have to be creative in the presentation,  taste and make it fun, all in one, because by the time kids get into school they are already used to McDonald's hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fries and all the little cute freebies kids get in fast food resturants.

Parents a good reference for getting children to eat healthy (and yourself) is Dr. Sears' L.E.A.N. Kids

Stealth Weight Gain

We all really know what adds weight on but there are a few stealth factors that are also involved in this process.

-For example did you know that in the finer restaurants that nice soothing music acts as an incentive for you to linger longer and ultimately order more food?

-Loud, fast and upbeat music also makes you eat more because it literally speeds up your eating. All of a sudden your plate is empty and you don’t even realize it!
-Standing and eating food out of containers while you eat is another bad habit. Studies indicate you eat up to 50% more than those who sit at a table eating off a regular plate. Apparently standing while eating feels more like “just a snack” which is not as satisfying. 
-Lastly, the more choices you have of something appears a lot more appealing and encourages more sampling.

Did I miss any?

Real Food for Real People

Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have a new book, Real food Has Curves: How to Get Off Processed foods, Lose Weight, and Love What You Eat (article  from San Jose, CA Mercury News) This book is saying things that I have been speaking out about for years, eat REAL food (not processed ones).

I don’t know what  the authors have in nutrition degrees as they are chefs and writers, but I was surprised how they said real juice is freshly squeezed juice not made from concentrated or bottled orange flavored drink. I do agree with that part and I love the idea they are promoting real foods in our diets, but I had to disagree about the juice part on one level. Juice is still not the whole fruit. All you are getting extra is the fresh enzymes and nutrients at the time of drinking it immediately after the juicing. That's not bad but most people in general feel juices are super healthy and just like real fresh fruit. By eating the entire fruit you are getting fiber and much more nutrients. These guys are trying, but remember unless you really can afford those extra calories from freshly squeezed juice,  you are still just getting basically the sugar from the fruit. For better health (and weight loss) eat the whole fruit.

They also made a good point about label reading with ingredients on a label….what are “flavorings” and “spices?” It makes me ponder. What are the manufacturers hiding?

They also talked about fresh tofu being ok (but in my opinion use only the organic unless it specifically states it’s not genetically modified; much of it is). I’m certainly with them by not encouraging the public to consume all the genetically modified tofu used for fake tofu sausages, lunchmeats and the like.

Just remember fresh is always best and if you have to buy pre-packaged items, read the labels carefully.  Some out there are ok but you still have to watch them with a critical eye.

Readers tell me what you think!

"Fat" Cities

Why are some cities fatter than others? Lately I’ve seen a lot of buzz on this subject. What exactly is it that makes one city unhealthier and heavier than another? Is it cultural? Is is economics? Is it stress related? Is it education? What really makes one city heavier than another? Is it directly related to availability of fresher and healthier foods? Is climate a factor? What exactly is going on?
Sure there are studies going on all the time about this but I’m more interested in what the average person thinks. So readers, what are your thoughts on all this? Here’s a link on the subject: http://www.mensfitness.com/lifestyle/215

Nutrition, Doctors and Support

One of my readers recently explicitly responded to one of my blogs on “believing” you can achieve your health goals.(Go to the post, "Diet Mojo for Weight Loss" blog under the comment section.) He said it helps to be supported by people who believe in you, referring to the medical community who responded by administering meds instead of giving solid support with healthy eating and lifestyle change. It’s unfortunate that some doctors frequently respond in this way but I think they also tire of the people who want an immediate fix or refuse to change or even are unwilling to change, or even more sadly do not know how to change. Surely there is a big gap here. There seems to be little empowerment given to the patients.

In my heart I want to believe their mission is to help their patients but nutrition seems out of their realm of expertise, not to mention that they don’t always have the time to spend with their patients in a way they could help. So what is the answer here? I believe doctors should employ caring empathic qualified nutritionists to help their patients as part of their care. Or is it because of the political influence from the drug manufacturers and their profits that this would not be a viable solution?

Why is it so hard to lose weight?

It should be such a simple equation, eat less calories than your body needs, exercise more and ta-da! You lose weight right? Well maybe……

Why does it sound so simple and yet seem so hard at the same time? The problem is putting all the parts together. Emerson said "You must have long-term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures." How many times have you heard it’s about changing your lifestyle? It's about goal setting and giving yourself adequate time to learn new behaviors like anything else. That certainly doesn’t happen overnight does it?

If it’s just all too much for you, take “baby steps.” For example if you really don’t know how (or don’t want to cook) yet you know it’s really the healthiest way to lose weight where do you even begin? How to do plan a weeks worth of meals, let alone prepare them? Who has that kind of time? Yet many thin people do it all the time and are as busy as the rest of us.

How do you fit activity into your life on a regular basis? How do you socialize without overeating? How do you control emotional eating? And that’s only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to losing weight. These are just a few of the numerous aspects involved with weight loss.

The answer is setting small goals. I suggest utilizing SMART Goals:http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2009/02/smart-goals-5-steps-to-smart-goal-setting-with-free-goal-planner-template/
or just mastering a goal for two to three weeks and then go to the next area. Some parts may require more time than others but be kind to yourself and certainly get professional help if you need it. Readers what are your specific challenges?

A Little Humor

Since yesterday I mentioned affirmation work a little bit, today will be strictly a fun version of someone (a very small someone) who somehow learned the art of repeating positive affirmations very convincingly! I’m not saying you should do them exactly this way but you will definitely get the idea behind it. If we could all muster up this kind of positive energy! Here is the link to this short, entertaining and amazing video: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/01/jessicas-positive-affirmations.aspx

Let me know what you think! And what are your thoughts on affirmations?