Tuesday 29 July 2008

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Emotional Eating: A Prime Ingredient for Obesity

Sandra found her weight ballooning 60 pounds after her separation from her husband. While part of the weight gain was apparently tied to the medication she was taking, the rest appeared to be the result of what can be described as emotional eating. In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the problem of emotional eating for both women and men. In fact, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating. According to Women Today magazine, it has been estimated that as much as 75 percent of overeating is attributed to the emotions.

For a number of people, overeating stems from anxiety. For instance, if you find yourself consuming an entire bag of potato chips, it’s possible that anxiety is the cause. While many people realize that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an antidote to anxiety, they may not understand that indulging in comfort food in order to combat anxiety can be dangerous as well.

In other cases, overeating may be the result of depression. If you feel tired, hopeless, and have lost interest in your normal activities, you may be suffering from a depressive episode. In order to deal with these uncomfortable feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up. The problem is that the food can lead to weight gain, which can lead to further depression.

At times, overeating may be a symptom of boredom. An individual may figure that he or she has nothing better to do than overeat. This can be particularly true when one is watching television or surfing the Internet. Rather than trying to determine a cause for the boredom, an individual may just try to “fix” it by indulging in high-fat, high-calorie food.

How do you know if you are an emotional eater? Ask yourself some key questions: Do I tend to eat when I’m worried? Scared? Sad? Do I find that eating lifts my spirits? Am I spending more time eating than engaging in other activities I enjoy? Do my binges come after I’ve suffered disappointment? Am I turning to food in order to deal with the death of a loved one…a divorce…or the defeat of my favorite team? If the answers to any of these questions is “yes,” you may be overeating purely for emotional reasons.

After you’ve identified yourself as an emotional eater, you’ll need to take steps to correct your behavior. Perhaps the most effective technique is diversion. In other words, if you find yourself reaching for the cookie jar, find another activity to engage in. The answer could be taking a walk, kickboxing, or dancing. Or it could be something less physically demanding, such as needlepoint or crochet. The idea is to get your hands…and perhaps the rest of your body…moving. In time, you might find the urge to overeat subsides as you become involved with other activities.

Another effective step you can take is to identify the triggers for your emotional eating. Do you tend to binge in mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or right before bedtime? Are you snacking while watching television, while at the computer, or when you’re sitting in your favorite chair? By asking yourself these questions, you can identify the time of day when you overeat, as well as the location for your binging. With this information, you can learn to re-direct your behavior to less fattening pursuits.

Yet another helpful technique is to develop a support network to help you combat overeating. The members of your support team could include your spouse, children, parents, friends, or other over-eaters. You may even consider joining a support group which specializes in helping those who engage in binge eating. If you feel the need to overeat, contact a member of your support team. Talking through your emotions could provide you with the emotional release you need, making overeating unnecessary.

If your anxiety or depression persists, consider seeing a psychotherapist. He or she can help you develop more effective coping mechanisms. If you find it difficult to talk to friends or family about your overeating, a psychotherapist can provide you with the talk therapy you need to overcome your problem.

To your weight loss,

Mohd Shahreil

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DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
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Shopping Your Way to Weight Loss

While shopping may not qualify as an aerobic activity, it can certainly help you to shed the pounds, if you follow the right formula. What you buy largely determines what you will eat. Therefore, if you want to maintain a healthy diet at home, you’ll need to do some advanced planning before heading out to the supermarket.

The secret to weight loss may begin with your shopping list. You need to take some time before going to the store to assess what your nutritional needs are. For instance, a healthy diet might very well include breads and cereals, dairy products, vegetables and fruits, along with meat, fish and poultry. However, you’ll need to decide on exactly which products to buy within each food category.

For instance, rather than purchasing white bread or cereals with little fiber, consider whole wheat bread and whole wheat cereals. Pass up the whole milk and whole milk yogurt and buy non-fat milk and yogurt instead. You should avoid iceberg lettuce and opt for Romaine; select fresh fruit rather than fruit in heavy syrup. You may be tempted to buy fried chicken, bacon or spareribs, but choose low-fat options such as baked chicken, lean hamburger, and grilled fish.

It’s a good idea to go grocery shopping after you have eaten a full meal. Otherwise, your hunger could drive you to buy junk food and other unhealthy snacks. If you are operating on a full stomach, you’ll think more clearly and you will be less likely to buy food impulsively. Also, it is critically important that you do not buy more food than you need. Otherwise, you will have a powerful incentive to overeat.

Before you go shopping, you might want to check out the layout of the supermarket. Find out where you can find those items that are likely to appear on your list. Otherwise, you could find yourself browsing the shelves, looking for food that appears interesting—but could also be quite fattening. Certainly, it may take some extra time to “scope out” the supermarket, but it will be well worth the effort, if it results in weight loss.

Whenever possible, you should buy individually packaged food. These single servings allow you to maintain proper portion control. For instance, if you feel you must indulge in potato chips, you will be far better off if you buy a single-serving bag rather than the family pack. Remember, large portions equal weight gain.

You might actually want to avoid shopping with coupons. Coupons can tempt you to buy high-calorie items that you might otherwise pass up. While everyone wants a good bargain, you don’t want to end up paying for that deal by gaining additional pounds. It’s a sad fact that you will rarely find a coupon for fresh fruit and vegetables. But you might think of the situation this way: You will end up saving money if you eat “fresh” because you will not have to invest in additional clothes.

Also, when you’re considering which foods to buy, concentrate on the product labels. There, you’ll find a great deal of nutritional information, indicating fat content, calorie content, portion size, and vitamin and mineral content. If you end up bringing the product home, you should serve the item according to the suggested portion size. In other words, if a portion equals one-half cup, don’t opt for two cups. In essence, you should be treating food as if it’s a medication that must be used as directed. In this way, you should avoid the weight loss that comes with overeating.

It is interesting to note that the American Institute for Cancer Research determined that only 12 percent of shoppers determined portion size by using the label. As a result, paying attention to nutrition labels is a counter-cultural thing to do. But it is certainly a good habit to get into. Otherwise, at the end of the day, you could end up with far more fat than you bargained for.

You may be amazed at the amount of weight you can lose just by diligent shopping. A little advanced planning can go a long way to ensuring weight loss. And you might actually save yourself some money, since you will no longer be buying expensive snacks.

To your weight loss,

Mohd Shahreil

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DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

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Dieting: It May be All in the Timing

You begin your typical day with a croissant and a coffee. By mid-morning, you’re a bit overwhelmed with work and so you eat some potato chips. At lunch, you’re starving again so you eat a few slices of pizza and more potato chips. By mid-afternoon, you’re bored again, so you decide to sneak in a candy bar. Dinner means a multi-course meal of steak, potatoes with sour cream, some pasta, and strawberry ice cream. Right before bed, you decide to sneak in another candy bar.

Of course, there are obvious problems with this kind of diet. But, aside from the questionable nutritional value of the food, there’s also the problem of the timing of the meals and snacks. When dieting, it’s not only a question of what you eat. When you eat also matters. But, if you’ve been conditioned to have three square meals a day and as many snacks as you want, how can you go about changing your behavior?

To begin with, you should only eat when you’re actually hungry. This means you should not eat out of boredom, sadness, fear, or for any other emotional reasons. Food exists as fuel to help rev up your body for the challenges you face each day. You should not look upon food as a means of comfort or a path to love.

At times, you may notice that you reach for a snack because you just want a break from your routine. Maybe your work is getting to you, or your children are trying your patience. You have to recognize the fact that eating for emotional reasons is a learned behavior; so, in order to reverse course, you simply have to unlearn the behavior. It may take some time, but eventually you’ll find that you are able to limit your eating to those times when your hunger pains start.

But you should also know that just because a person eats often, that does not necessarily mean that he or she is overeating. A number of reputable diet plans recommend eating five or six small meals a day in order to keep your metabolism humming and to ward off hunger. However, these meals should be carefully planned in advance. Otherwise, you could find yourself packing on the pounds because of your frequent snacks. For instance, you might plan to eat bran cereal for your first meal of the day, a bowl of strawberries for your second, some light turkey on whole wheat bread and some apricots for your third, a cup of yogurt for your fourth, some low-fat cheese and crackers for your fifth, and lean roast beef, green beans, and jello for your sixth meal of the day.

When should you eat your small meals? They should be scattered throughout the day—no more than four hours apart. In this way, you can keep your metabolism up, enabling you to burn calories consistently throughout the morning and afternoon. Generally speaking, however, you should only eat when you’re actually experiencing hunger.

A survey conducted in 1999 found that 60 percent of Americans skip breakfast. However, you should be aware of the fact that eating breakfast can be a key to losing weight. If you don’t skip breakfast, you’ll find that you’ll burn calories faster, leading to weight loss.

Try to avoid eating late-night snacks. This is because your body will probably store the calories rather than burn them off. Again, your snacking may not be the result of actual hunger but simply because you have nothing better to do at that time of the night. Simply changing your nightly routine may help you to keep away from food at the midnight hour.

No doubt, it can be quite difficult to change your eating routine. You may have eaten three large meals all your life, and you find it difficult to stop. However, just a few subtle changes will help to transform both your day—and your appetite. If you find yourself reverting to your old routine, forgive yourself, and start again. If you are kind to yourself, it’s more likely that you will eventually be able to find a diet plan you can live with—one that will not only help you lose weight, but keep you satisfied as well.

To your weight loss,

Mohd Shahreil

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===
DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
===

Why Your Diet May Not Be Working

Jennifer, a middle-aged single mother with one six-year-old daughter, has been skipping sweets for a few weeks now. She’s also become a stickler for portion control. She feels as if she’s eating less than ever, and she’s been diligently exercising for an hour at a time at least four days a week. Yet, she hasn’t lost a single pound. The question is, “Why?”

This is a dilemma which affects dieters the world over. They think they are taking the steps necessary to lose weight, but nothing seems to be happening. In essence, they are trapped in a dieting rut and they don’t know how to free themselves. As a result, they become frustrated and depressed and may then engage in binge eating.

One of the problems with diets is that they are often standardized. As a result, they don’t take into consideration your individual physiology and metabolism. They provide a cookie-cutter approach to weight loss—an approach which may not work in your individual case. As a result, an increasing number of people are turning to dieticians to formulate a person weight loss strategy for them. This process has been made easier through the Internet, where you can correspond with a dietician any time of the day or night via e-mail. The dietician can also act as your personal coach, helping you through your dieting dilemmas.

Another reason that you may be failing at your diet is because of a lack of support. You may have family members who can eat whatever they want and seemingly not gain a pound. As a result, they may fill your refrigerator with junk food, leading you into temptation. Also, you may feel as if you have no one to turn to in order to discuss your weight problems. In order to solve this problem, many individuals look to psychotherapists to help them with their food-related issues. This can be particularly important if an individual has turned to purging in an effort to combat their weight problems. Bulimia is a serious disease which must be treated in order to ensure the good health of the patient. Thankfully, there are a number of treatment programs throughout the U.S. specifically focusing on bulimia.

Yet another reason for diet failure is hidden calories. You may literally be consuming calories and not even realize it. For instance, the frappucinos that are so popular today are loaded with calories—as many as 600 in a single serving! You may also be indulging in sugary sodas—another source of extra calories. By taking a few simple steps, such as eliminating the exotic coffee drinks from your diet and substituting skim milk for whole milk, you may be able to eliminate the hidden calories that are denying you dieting success.

Lack of consistency can also be a diet-killer. You might go on a diet for a while, then quit before you’ve made any measurable progress. It’s only natural to want to see quick results. The problem is that healthy weight loss involves losing only a couple of pounds a week. That means you’ll have to stay on your diet for months before you see appreciable weight loss. Discouraging? It can be, but if you keep a positive attitude you can achieve your ideal weight.

You may also be more successful in your dieting if you consider it to be a lifestyle change. Therefore, your diet becomes a meal plan for life. This means that you must change the way you look at food. It is designed to be fuel for your body, and nothing more. As a result, you should not turn to food to make you feel better or to provide you with a sense of comfort. A lifestyle change implies commitment; it means that you are prepared to follow the plan for the long haul. If you feel as if you cannot be on your diet for any appreciable length of time, perhaps it’s time to consider a different diet. Your aim ultimately should be not simply to lose weight, but to become healthier. A fad diet will not allow you to reach that milestone. Therefore, you must choose your diet carefully.

To your weight loss,

Mohd Shahreil

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===
DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
===

Turn Off the Tube and Watch the Pounds Melt Away

Television is America’s most popular form of entertainment. Every night, millions of viewers tune in to catch an episode of their favorite law-and-order show, game show, or sitcom. And America’s love affair with television shows no signs of abating anytime soon. Screens are getting bigger; reality shows are proliferating; and television has quickly become the top source of information for the average American.

But television also has its downside. It has been linked to reading problems in children, attention deficit disorder, and crime. It’s been called the ultimate time-waster—a blinking box of little aesthetic or literary value. And now there’s research to suggest that television may also cause weight gain in children.

A study conducted at Stanford University a few years ago showed that children who reduced the amount of time they spent watching television were leaner than those who did not curtail their viewing time. Given the fact that obesity among youngsters is on the increase, tube time is a significant public health concern. It has been shown that children who are overweight are at greater risk of suffering from heart disease and hypertension. Therefore, anything that promotes weight gain should be eliminated from children’s lives—and television certainly falls into that category.

For most children, watching TV involves more than just viewing cartoons. It means playing video games, watching music videos, watching videotapes, and general channel surfing. It has been estimated that the average American watches as much as four hours of television a day—a large amount, by any measurement. Children’s dependence on television may be difficult to break, given the fact that television is so much a part of the American culture.

There are other reasons why television may promote obesity. Children’s programming is filled with commercials touting sugary cereals and candy bars. It has been shown that children are heavily influenced by television advertising; therefore, they are far more likely to indulge in sweets after watching television on a Saturday morning. Since freedom of speech makes it difficult to ban commercials featuring non-nutritious foods, it is up to parents to monitor their children’s television viewing. Also, parents need to steer clear of the sugary cereal aisle when going grocery shopping.

Another reason that television is linked to obesity is because it promotes inactivity. Many people watch television by lounging on a sofa, bed, or futon. They can burn few calories in a prone position. Also, the fact that they’re watching television means that they are not engaging in physical activities such as exercise. Television promotes a sedentary lifestyle that leads to additional weight gain.

But how can you effectively fight television? Some families have actually thrown out their TVs in the ultimate show of defiance. If you aren’t ready to take such a drastic step, you might consider limiting your family’s viewing time to a single hour each day. Another idea is to hold a “no TV” night where you encourage your children to engage in sports, games, and other activities. Forcing your children to plan their viewing can be another effective step. That way, they won’t waste precious time cruising through the TV channels.

It is true that television cannot shoulder the entire blame for childhood obesity. However, medical research has now shown it is a contributing factor. There are also indications that excessive computer use can also contribute to weight gain. In fact, this might be the major health issue of the future, since so many children are doing their research on line and typing their reports using computer keyboards.

As a parent, in order to ensure that your children are a healthy weight, you have to be actively involved in their lives. Monitor not only what your children are watching, but also what they are eating. Encourage healthy snacks whenever possible, and discourage snacking while watching television. Requiring your children to eat at the dining room table rather than in front of the television can also be an important step. In the end, being involved in your children’s weight reduction program is the key to ensuring that they lead healthy lives.

To your weight loss,

Mohd Shahreil

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===
DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
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