Healthy Diet: Vegetable

Vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet. But not all vegetables are created equal. Let’s take a look at why we need these plant varieties and how to make the right choices.
healthy diet veggies

Why are Vegetables Important?

1. People who eat fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet are less likely to develop conditions such as stroke, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, bone loss, and cancers of the mouth, stomach, and colon. In addition, these foods may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones.
2. Vegetables provide many vitamins and minerals such as potassium, fiber, folate, and vitamins E, C, and A. They are nutrient dense, meaning you get a lot of nutrients for few calories.

Best Choices

There are two types of vegetables: starchy and nonstarchy. Both types are part of a proper diet, but whereas nonstarchy varieties can be eaten in abundance, starchy selections contain more sugar, hence portion size need to be kept in check. Starchy vegetables include corn, peas, plantains, potatoes, squash, and yams. Nonstarchy vegetables are all of the rest including artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant, leeks, mushrooms, onions, peppers, salad greens, spinach, tomato, and zucchini.

The best way to get all of the health benefits of these nutrient powerhouses is to eat a variety of colors. Yellow, orange, and red choices provide vitamin A, green provide folate, vitamins, and phytochemicals, which are compounds found only in plants that provide great health benefits, such as reducing the risk for cancer and heart disease.

Choose dark green and dark yellow vegetables most often, such as romaine lettuce, broccoli, spinach, peppers, chilies, and carrots. When at the supermarket or produce stand, choose darker veggies over lighter ones. For example, choose romaine lettuce over iceberg, dark leafy greens, and deep yellow and deep red over light yellow and light red. Color can vary vegetable to vegetable, so look around before choosing the piece that you want.

How Much Should I Eat?

As nonstarchy vegetables should be eaten in abundance. If you’re looking for the minimum amount you should eat each day, the USDA recommends at least 2 ½ to 3 cups for men and women, and at least 2 cups for women over age 51. That’s about 21 cups of vegetables each week. Of these, women should eat 3 cups of the starchy form weekly, and men should strive for 6 cups of starchy choices weekly. Women over the age of 51 should have 2 ½ cups of starchy vegetables each week.

Amount to Serve
One cup of raw or cooked vegetables or two cups of raw leafy greens counts as one serving.

Tips for Adding More to Your Diet

* To incorporate more veggies into your diet, add some to the foods you already eat, such as omelets, lasagna, casseroles, soup, and pasta dishes.

* Frozen and canned varieties can be just as healthy, if not healthier, than fresh because they are packaged at the peak of freshness and retain more of nutrients. Keep in mind, however, that canned vegetables may be loaded with sodium. If you choose to use these, rinse them under some cold water before use to rinse off some of the sodium.

* Invest in a salad spinner. Just wash and dry your lettuce and store it right inside your fridge. It acts as a crisper and keeps the lettuce fresher for a longer period of time. You will always have fresh lettuce on hand for salads and sandwiches. It can also be used to wash and dry almost any fruit or vegetable.

* Vegetables are delicious, convenient, and versatile. Next time you’re shopping for food or looking for a new recipe, try a new veggie you’ve never had before. You just may surprise yourself!

Raw Food Diet

A raw food diet creates major improvements in health. The reasons are not known, but the experience is unmistakable. Weight normalizes, which generally means a reduction in fat. At the same time, a person feels extremely energized. It’s as if energy would rather be burned up than converted to fat.

There seems to be a major shift in physiology which makes one feel highly energized from raw food. I can only theorize why this occurs. It is quite likely that a large part of cooked food can only go into fat production, because heat and acid alter it making it unmetabolizable in other complex processes. By contrast, raw food should break down into components which can be directly metabolized in a variety of cells.

Health gets so refined and perfected with a raw food diet that a person notices effects of all types. The result is an important source of information about nutrition and quality of food.

For example, it is noticeable that sucrose (table sugar) goes into fat production rather than immediate energy. Sucrose splits into glucose and fructose. Muscles use glucose but not fructose. So the fructose probably goes into fat. The usual claim is that sucrose is split by acid in the stomach. However, sugars are absorbed very rapidly, and there is often not much acid in the stomach, particularly with a raw food diet, which means sucrose is probably entering the blood as a disaccharide quite often. Dextrose (d-glucose, which is natural glucose) is a much better sugar, since it can be used by every cell in the body.

One very obvious improvement resulting from a raw food diet is in the digestive system. Raw food digests marvelously well, so a person does not notice the acid, bile and residual effects of digestion that go with a cooked food diet.

Adding a little bit of cooked food to a raw food diet doesn’t work well, because acid is then produced in the stomach, and it is bad for raw food. Acid and raw food tend to create indigestion. However, they can be separated by eating raw food in the mornings and then cooked food later. Start with raw fruit first, then later raw vegetables, and then later cooked food.

A problem with raw foods is that they are the highest in pesticides. Organic raw foods may be necessary, unless a person is very clever in working around the worst pesticides. The effects are quite noticeable, which allows adjustments to be made.

The usual assumption is that the only supplement which is needed in theory is vitamin B12, because it is primarily found in meat. It originates with microbes, and very little is needed. Outside link on B12

However, I find that copper and zinc are also needed with a vegetarian diet, because plant material is very low in these minerals compared to meat. These minerals are toxic while being absorbed, so they should be taken in small quantities. There is evidence that chromium picolinate is hazardous.

B vitamins should not be taken in large quantities, because they are powerful reactants and can destroy organs. I find 20 milligrams per day to be the right amount for the main ones. Pills have to be cut up to get that size. Folic acid deteriorates into a toxic substance. It might need to be replaced every two to three months depending upon humidity.

Almost everyone needs vitamin D. It transports calcium into cells. It’s easy to get too much Vitamin D, particularly in the form of capsules. Dry D pills are safer. There is generally enough calcium in food when taking vitamin D. There is not much more calcium in dairy than other sources, and the hormones in dairy are not desirable.

A raw food diet should produce enough iron being skewed away from starchy food. But there is not as much iron in a vegetarian diet as in meat. Taking supplemental iron (in unnatural, mineral form) has been found to be harmful to the heart. But in small quantities, it should be safe. If adverse effects are not noticed, taking a low dose iron pill once in awhile should be safe, and it will provide a lot more iron than vegetarian food does.

Normally, salt is not used with raw food. I find that eating some salt seems to be physiologically beneficial with raw food.

Fruits and vegetables digest through different processes when raw. Eat fruit in the morning and vegetables later.

Learning to eat a raw food diet is mostly trial and error. Whatever is available and one wants to eat is generally adequate. Protein is found in raw nuts and seeds, such as sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, filberts, etc., and sprouts are also a good source of protein. Plant proteins do not have the same balance of amino acids as animal protein, so a variety of sources are needed.

Sprouts are often part of a raw food diet. They do require a slight amount of work, but not necessarily a lot. The easiest sprouts to make are lentils. The easiest way to make them is simply to soak them in a large plastic cup for 8 hrs, then drain and keep moist by spraying and occasionally rinsing. They can be eaten as soon as they get soft enough, though sometimes hard seeds might still exist for 8 hrs or more, which are bad for teeth. Sprouts can be allowed to grow for a couple of days.

Sprouts make a person hungry, as do other types of raw food to some extent. So there is little danger of being undernourished on such a diet. And still, it is about impossible to put on excess fat. Eating nothing but bananas and raisins might do it, but not much else would.

So persons who are concerned about fat should revert to a raw food diet. However, there is the social inconvenience that such a diet creates. The routine does not fit established cultures well, and a lot of persons aren’t going to eat “rabbit food” for whatever reason.

It seems to me that a raw food diet would be a good cure for eating disorders. Raw food creates perfect nutrition without negative effects including fat production.

Anorexia is largely psychological. If anorexics need to readjust their psychological relationship to food, a raw food diet should be the way to do it, because all types of raw food are good tasting.

The Better Approach to Juicing Diet

In the wonderful world of natural foods, following a juicing diet is often recommended because of the healing properties that vegetables and fruits possess.

While an extra boost of energy can be enjoyed from this type of diet, there are plenty of other reasons to incorporate this sort of regimen into your lifestyle. This includes a healthy cleansing and detoxification of the body.

Often, a juicing diet is referred to as juice fasting, which is a common approach towards de-toxifying the body.

This is in no means supposed to replace what you will call your usual diet, but it is meant to obtain short-term results from a mixture of liquefied raw fruits and vegetables.

From this juice, you will be able to take advantage of all their vitamins and antioxidants. When turning to fasting, this temporary approach might be too extreme to fully follow.

A less restrictive method can be found in a de-tox diet that incorporates fruit juices with other foods, such as grains, nuts and seeds.

The Ins and Outs of a Juicing Diet

Often, this sort of diet lasts for about 1-2 days. Any longer and your doctor will have to monitor your efforts. It is recommended to have a juice intake of between 32 and 64 ounces per day.

In addition to this, at least six glasses of water at room temperature is necessary. Some of the more popular juicing items include pineapples, carrot, greens, cranberry, beets, apples and peaches.

These items are all placed into a juicer to make the delicious drinks you will become accustomed to. When juicing, it is important to know the parts that are appropriate for this process.

Pits should be removed from apricots and cherries. You should also remove the peels of citrus fruits; the seeds of apples, and the rough skin of kiwis, mangos and avocados.

Choosing a Juicer

There are many different models on the market today. Choosing the best one for you, not only fits your budget, but also accomplishes all of the things you want it to.

For example, what ingredients can you put into a potential purchase? Is it easy to use, as well as clean? These are some of the things you will need to ask yourself.

Who Shouldn’t Juice

Before embarking on this journey, you might want to consult your physician first. There are many circumstances, which may prevent you from using a juicing diet for a health advantage.

For example, pregnant or nursing women should abstain from this diet, as well as diabetics, cancer patients and people with low blood pressure. Also, if you suffer from too many side effects, discontinuing the diet is suggested.

This may include excessive dizziness, vomiting and kidney ailments. If you juice for too long, you may also develop nutritional deficiencies, such as lack of protein or calcium depletion.

Monjiraa Pakdeekaw is a webmaster and publisher of Best Juicer Reviews where you can find juicer ratings and all you wanted to know about juice and juicing.

Diet Tips to Manage Diabetes Nerve Pain

Eating right may help protect your nerves from diabetic neuropathy.

If you have diabetes, you already know the drill. What you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat can send your blood sugar skyrocketing — or make it plummet. For better or worse, “diet and diabetes” go together like salt and pepper.

So if you need a little motivation to eat better - and who doesn’t? - consider this: with diabetes, you’re at high risk of the nerve pain and damage called diabetic neuropathy. What can start as a little tingling or numbness in your feet can turn into major problems with walking, working, and leading an active lifestyle. Diabetic neuropathy can also wreak havoc with your digestion, your sexual response, and make it hard to feel normal body sensations - like the signs of plummeting blood sugar or a heart attack.

Fortunately, a balanced diet that helps treat nerve pain is really no different than the standard diet advised by the American Diabetes Association, says Dace L. Trence, MD, an endocrinologist and director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. “The emphasis is really on blood sugar control,” she says. “Certainly, if a dietary change might facilitate that, of course, it would be advisable.”

Good glucose control can protect the health of your nerves - and may even help prevent diabetic neuropathy, says the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC). You see your doctor only every once in a while, but you eat several times every day. No matter what medications you may be on, your diabetes diet has a constant - and colossal - impact on your health and well-being, with every bite you take.

Here are Some Tips:

1. Eat a Balanced Diet
Remember the good-old food pyramid you learned about back in school? A balanced diet includes a variety of foods: carbohydrates (starches), fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy, meat, poultry, fish, and healthy fats. Eating a balanced diet helps you keep your glucose within target levels, control your weight, and reduce the risk of complications like neuropathy, heart disease, and stroke.

The goal. Step out of any food ruts you’re in. Try new foods, and include all of the major food groups in your diabetes diet.

The shape of your diet will depend on how active you are, whether you’re a man or a woman, and whether you’re trying to lose weight. The American Diabetes Association offers these general guidelines, but check with your doctor to fine-tune your specific plan:

* Choose a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages among the basic food groups.
* Balance calories from foods and beverages with physical activity to manage body weight.
* Choose fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains often.
* Eat 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables daily (for someone eating 2,000 calories)
* Make at least half the grains you eat whole grains.
* Decrease saturated fats and trans fatty acids by choosing lean meats and poultry, and low-fat or non-fat dairy products.
* Substitute monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils) for saturated and trans fat fats.
* Choose and prepare foods and beverages with little added sugars or caloric sweeteners.
* Eat less than 2,300 mg per day of sodium.
* Limit alcohol to no more than 1 drink for women and 2 drinks for men.
* Regular physical activity of at least 30 minutes a day for adults and 60 minutes for children.

Balanced Diet

A balanced diet means getting the right types and amounts of foods and drinks to supply nutrition and energy for maintaining body cells, tissues, and organs, and for supporting normal growth and development.
Well-balanced diet
A well-balanced diet provides enough energy and nutrition for optimal growth and development.

TOP FOOD SOURCES

Milk group (milk and milk products)

* Cheese
* Milk
* Yogurt

Meat and beans group

* Legumes (beans and peas)
* Meat (chicken, fish, beef, pork, lamb)
* Nuts and seeds

Fruit group

* Apples
* Berries
* Grapes
* Peaches

Vegetable group

* Cauliflower
* Lettuce
* Spinach
* Squash

Grain group (breads and cereals)

* Enriched breads
* Pasta
* Rice
* Whole-grain breads

Oil

* Light salad dressing
* Low-fat mayonnaise
* Vegetable oil

TOP SIDE EFFECTS
An unbalanced diet can cause problems with maintenance of:

* Body tissues
* Brain and nervous system function
* Growth and development

It can also cause problems with bone and muscle systems.
TOP RECOMMENDATIONS

The term “balanced” simply means that a diet meets your nutritional needs while not providing too much of any nutrients.
To achieve a balanced diet, you must eat a variety of foods from each of the food groups.
The most important step to eating a balanced diet is to educate yourself about what your body needs, and to read the nutrition label and ingredients of all the food you eat.
Balance your calorie intake with exercise. Slowly decrease the amount of calories you take in while increasing exercise to prevent gradual weight gain over time. Exercise regularly and reduce activities in which you sit.
Eat 2 cups (4 servings) of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables (5 servings) per day for an average 2,000-calorie per day diet.
* Eat 3 or more ounces of whole-grain products per day.
* Consume 3 cups per day of fat-free or low-fat milk or milk products.
* Get fewer than 10% of calories from saturated fatty acids.
* Avoid trans fatty acids.
* Limit cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg/day.
* Make total fat intake no more than 20-35% of calories. Choose “good” fats such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils containing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Lean, low-fat, or fat-free meats, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products are preferable. Total fat intake can approach 35% if most of the fats are “good” fats.
* Stay away from added sugars.
* Consume less than 2,300 mg (approximately one teaspoon of salt) of sodium daily, and limit added salt when you prepare food.
* Do not consume more than one alcoholic drink per day for women, two per day for men. Certain people should not drink any alcohol.

Lack of sleep increases overeating

Researchers from several separate studies 1 have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two specific hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full. Add the fact that sleep deprived people tend to chose different foods to snack on—mainly high calorie sweets and salty and starchy foods—and it’s easy to see how these small changes can lead to long-term weight gain.
Most people need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. Some more, some less. Very few of us actually get the minimum of seven. How do you know how much sleep you really need? Experts say to sleep as long as you want for several days (best done on vacation). Then, your sleep should stabilize and you’ll find yourself waking up after the same number of hours daily, within 15 minutes or so. Once you know about how much sleep you need, start getting into a steady routine. Set a regular time for sleep. Start getting ready ahead of time. And experts say, avoid using the bed for watching TV or doing work.
Sleep + exercise + a healthy diet = weight loss

Don’t think snoozing a few hours longer each night will solve a weight problem. It won’t. Exercising and eating healthfully is still the way to go. But, lack of shut-eye may soon be considered another risk factor for obesity. Especially since 65 percent of Americans are overweight and 63 percent of people don’t get eight hours of sleep a night. Interestingly, many of those who are overweight also don’t sleep enough.

One thing does seem to be clear. When your body is not hungry for sleep, it won’t be so hungry for food either.

DIET, TECHNIQUES

There are many techniques of being on diet:
1.Verbal and Mental Techniques
Contemplation, imaging you are engaging a close friend in a conversation thereon. Consider how you life has changed since you have become fat. Think about the quality of life of your slim friends. Think about what you have done to yourself and how you are reversing that trend. Plot out a course of action. Repeat to your self various statements as though you are rehearsing a speech. Practice repeatedly this mental dialogue, for such practice makes future discussion that much easier.
2. Conversations: Tell everyone about how you are going on a diet. Describe how important it is and that you are now being a new phase of your life. Talk about how so many important things will be improved, such as your health, ability to work, play sports, sex, and your marriage. Ask them questions about diet. Engage your friends in conversation about diet.
3. visualization, Carry a photo of you when taken when prior to becoming fat and a current photo. Put similar photos on your desk. Have a picture taken of you in a bathing suit, make copies of it, and place them in several places such as the refrigerator, kitchen table, and desk, where they will remind you that you are on a diet. Visual participating in activities that you dont (or dont do well) because youre fat, such as sports, lovemaking, jogging, cycling, hiking, swimming, etc. Imagine yourself thin and having to carry 50 or more pounds of fat around wherever you go.[i] Now visualize yourself as thin doing those things. Visualize how much happier your spouse will be when you become physically attractive again, and how this will improve your relationship.
4. Readings and Studies: Find books on diet and read them. Find medical articles on metabolism, diet, and medical intervention. Take notes and discuss the subject matter with friends. Especially study the negative health consequences. The moderately obese person lives on an average 5 years less than the person who is not obese, and 8 years less than the fit person. Many diseases are drastically increased with weight gain including cancer (most carcinogens are fat soluble), arthritis, diabetes, and coronary disease being the most significant.[ii] Knowledge is one of the cornerstones to success.
5. NOTE TAKING: Keep track, a journal, of what you have done: the hours, the subjects, and any good ideas. Carry a stenographers tablet with you. And while you are about keep a journal include a section concerning your eating habits. Pay particular attention to those events preceding your eating too much or eating when not hungry. Also note the amount and what were eaten, and how hungry you were. Keep a daily log, then weekly work out your cumulative record. Enter the log in your computer. Records are much, much better than recollections.
FOOD TO EAT
1. Avoid foods which you are likely to eat too much of.
2. Drink water or diet soda. Many people consume over a 1,000 calories per day in fluids.
3. Avoid foods with more than 10% fat content. Fats contribute 3 times as many calories per gram as carbohydrates.
4. Avoid foods that arent filling such as fruits and sherbet, and other foods that increase your appetite or reduce the amount of time after a meal that it will take before you are again hungry.
5. Dont use calories as a guide,[iv] rather the percentage of fat and of simple carbohydrates. Cellulose calories are not an accurate measurement of the energy derived from foods.
6. Eat foods that are high in protein or cellulose.
EATING HABITS
1. Before beginning to eat, discuss your diet with your companions. Bring up, among other things, what you are doing to limit the amount of food to be consumed.
2. When eating by yourself, get out the amount you plan to eat and put it in your plate, and then put away the containers you got your food from.
3. Don’t leave out snacks or leave them in handy places. Some people even put a lock on their refrigerator, to make not so easy to open it.
4 Avoid large meals.[iii] If going to a restaurant, chose one with small portions and cheap food.
5. Putt off the first meal as long as possible. Wait till you are good and hungry.
6 Put off each subsequent meal until you are good and hungry.
7 Don’t eat a couple of hours before going to bed.
8 Eat only enough to take away your hunger.
9 Eat slowly, this will give a chance for what you have eaten to take away your hunger.
10. Eat small snacks between meals to help reduce the number of meals. Moreover, by snack you wont need to load up at the dinner table to prevent between meal hungers. .
11. Control the portions of your snacks. If necessary, have pre-measured portions in baggies.
12. Eat less than your normal portion.
13. Learn to eat slowly (obese people typically eat faster).
14. Choose filling, low-fat, low sugar, high protein meals and snacks. Avoid foods that improve your appetite and things that are not filling such as fruits and chocolates.

DIET, TECHNIQUES

Verbal & mental techniques

1. CONTEMPLATION (a silent verbal process): Think about positive effects of being slim, and conversely the negative effects about being fat. Imaging you are engaging a close friend in a conversation thereon. Consider how you life has changed since you have become fat. Think about the quality of life of your slim friends. Think about what you have done to yourself and how you are reversing that trend. Plot out a course of action. Repeat to your self various statements as though you are rehearsing a speech. Practice repeatedly this mental dialogue, for such practice makes future discussion that much easier.

2. CONVERSATIONS: Tell everyone about how you are going on a diet. Describe how important it is and that you are now being a new phase of your life. Talk about how so many important things will be improved, such as your health, ability to work, play sports, sex, and your marriage. Ask them questions about diet. Engage your friends in conversation about diet.

3. VISUALIZATION (a visual process): Carry a photo of you when taken when prior to becoming fat and a current photo. Put similar photos on your desk. Have a picture taken of you in a bathing suit, make copies of it, and place them in several places such as the refrigerator, kitchen table, and desk, where they will remind you that you are on a diet. Visual participating in activities that you dont (or dont do well) because youre fat, such as sports, lovemaking, jogging, cycling, hiking, swimming, etc. Imagine yourself thin and having to carry 50 or more pounds of fat around wherever you go.[i] Now visualize yourself as thin doing those things. Visualize how much happier your spouse will be when you become physically attractive again, and how this will improve your relationship.

4. READINGS & STUDIES: Find books on diet and read them. Find medical articles on metabolism, diet, and medical intervention. Take notes and discuss the subject matter with friends. Especially study the negative health consequences. The moderately obese person lives on an average 5 years less than the person who is not obese, and 8 years less than the fit person. Many diseases are drastically increased with weight gain including cancer (most carcinogens are fat soluble), arthritis, diabetes, and coronary disease being the most significant.[ii] Knowledge is one of the cornerstones to success.

5. NOTE TAKING: Keep track, a journal, of what you have done: the hours, the subjects, and any good ideas. Carry a stenographers tablet with you. And while you are about keep a journal include a section concerning your eating habits. Pay particular attention to those events preceding your eating too much or eating when not hungry. Also note the amount and what were eaten, and how hungry you were. Keep a daily log, then weekly work out your cumulative record. Enter the log in your computer. Records are much, much better than recollections.

ACTIVITIES

A. EATING HABITS, QUANTITY AND TYPE OF FOOD, AND SITUATIONS:

1. Before beginning to eat, discuss your diet with your companions. Bring up, among other things, what you are doing to limit the amount of food to be consumed.

2. When eating by yourself, get out the amount you plan to eat and put it in your plate, and then put away the containers you got your food from.

3. Don’t leave out snacks or leave them in handy places. Some people even put a lock on their refrigerator, to make not so easy to open it.

4 Avoid large meals.[iii] If going to a restaurant, chose one with small portions and cheap food.

5. Putt off the first meal as long as possible. Wait till you are good and hungry.

6 Put off each subsequent meal until you are good and hungry.

7 Don’t eat a couple of hours before going to bed.

8 Eat only enough to take away your hunger.

9 Eat slowly, this will give a chance for what you have eaten to take away your hunger.

10. Eat small snacks between meals to help reduce the number of meals. Moreover, by snack you wont need to load up at the dinner table to prevent between meal hungers. .

11. Control the portions of your snacks. If necessary, have pre-measured portions in baggies.

12. Eat less than your normal portion.

13. Learn to eat slowly (obese people typically eat faster).

14. Choose filling, low-fat, low sugar, high protein meals and snacks. Avoid foods that improve your appetite and things that are not filling such as fruits and chocolates.
B. RECORD KEEPING:

1. Set up a log and in this log track when you got up, when you ate, how much and what you ate, how fast you ate, and what things you should have done, such as cooked a smaller portion.

2. Track special circumstances, such as with company, during break at work, etc.

3. Record any causal observations.

4. Purchase a copy of the USDA handbook on foods, Composition of Foods, from the Government Printing Office. Read it and type out a table of the foods you commonly eat, their percentage water, carbohydrate, protein, and fat grams.

5. Purchase and read a university nutrition book.

6. Take notes on these books.
C. SOCIAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF EATING:
1. From your log you will learn what occurred prior to you over eating. Avoid those situations.

2. Avoid social situations conducive to over indulgence, such a spot lucks, dining out, and drinking parties.

3. Avoid friends who have eating problems, they will reinforce behavior inconsistent with weight loss.

4. The more ritualized your meals; the easier it is to control your consumption. Thus by eating at the same time and same location, it is easier to establish a pattern of good choice of foods and amount of foods, and repeat that pattern.

5. Try not to make the meal something looked forward to. Limit its social setting; choose bland foods, find other activities that you prefer, so that eating is taking you away from those enjoyed activities. In other words, try to turn eating into an activity like refueling the car, a necessity, rather than a pleasure.

6. Avoid cooking for others (and thus the social reinforcement), rather do the dishes and clean up.

7. Tell your beloved that he/she is not to make preparing a meal an expression of love, rather to keep it simple, nutritional, and low in fats and sugars.

WHAT TO EAT:

1. Avoid foods which you are likely to eat too much of.

2. Drink water or diet soda. Many people consume over a 1,000 calories per day in fluids.

3. Avoid foods with more than 10% fat content. Fats contribute 3 times as many calories per gram as carbohydrates.

4. Avoid foods that arent filling such as fruits and sherbet, and other foods that increase your appetite or reduce the amount of time after a meal that it will take before you are again hungry.

5. Dont use calories as a guide,[iv] rather the percentage of fat and of simple carbohydrates. Cellulose calories are not an accurate measurement of the energy derived from foods.

6. Eat foods that are high in protein or cellulose.
ACTIVITIES AND DIET

1. Increase your metabolism by engaging in more physical activities: walk more, climb stairs, mow the lawn, and such. Take up active sports such as running, cycling, tennis, roller-skating, and swimming.

2. Increase your muscle tone, and thus increase your metabolism. Join a gym and take up weight training. Do isometrics and isotonics (tightening your muscles) frequently throughout the day.

3. Get your family and friends involved with you in sports and weight training. Set a schedule for sports and weight training.

DRUGS:

1. Avoid drugs that make you relax or make you make you doppie. You need all your energy so that you can exercise, so you can work harder, and so you will have the sharpness of mind and drive to stick to your diet. .

2. Avoid alcohol; it contains empty calories and will reduce your activity level.

3. If you must take a recreational drug, choose amphetamines or LSD; both suppress your appetite and increase your activity level.

4. Take a diet drug at the beginning, it will surpass your appetite and will increase your motivation to lose weight. The best routine would be to take 5 or if necessary 10 mgs of amphetamine (a small dose) in the morning, for it will reduce your appetite and increase your drive.[v] Do this for about 2 weeks, so as to establish good diet habits. After that discontinue for you will grow tolerant of the drug. Thus if some months later you find that you are going off your diet, start again with 10 mgs, but continue only for a week.

FOOD AS A DRUG

Why it is so difficult for humans to follow the dictates of reason and do the very obviously prudent things? The remaining discussions are designed to shed light on human behavior and the obesity phenomena. It is one thing to set down the techniques of weight reduction (as I have done in the previous sections); it’s another to implement them. There are deeper reasons for gaining weight, reasons deeper than the afore described taste of food, social setting, and peer conditioning. There are deeper answers than: The obese person eats to much, has bad eating habits, and is week willed. It is the deeper reason that I am about to set out. There is a better way to understand animal/human behavior. Insight is power.

There is a relationship between behavior and environment. In the previous section I went into social reinforcement;[vi] that is an obvious example of how environment influences eating behavior. The pattern of reinforcers that create the behavior problem is far from obvious. Many of the reinforcers are mild. Think of vectors forces (as in vector algebra) deciding the direction of an action. Only with humans, the types, and intensity of forces are hidden in the complex and long history of the person. Further complexity is added by the biological inheritance that establishes the proclivities to respond in certain ways to stimuli. However, a listing of the events that reinforce (for the following example) Toms problem behavior is instructive.

Consider the example of Toms drinking a pint of milk and eating the last half of a Maria Callanders cherry pie for an evening snack. Tom will, being lactose intolerant, have a gas attack, later energy from the sugar in the pie, prevent the negative reinforcer of hunger, and deprive others of the pie. He likes the kidding he gets about his great appetite. Moreover, this evening there is nothing interesting going on, so he agreed to watch on television a movie with his wife. Adding the desert to his large meal insures that he will feel tired during the film, and thus be less bored. Moreover, about the time the movie is over, the sugar from the pie will take effect, and he will have energy to work on several business correspondences, an activity he will find more enjoyable than to continue to watch television. By depriving others of the pie, he is expressing hostility in a subtle way, which is mildly enjoyable. A similar pleasure is derived from the foul odor caused by his lactose (milk sugar) intolerance. His wife will become annoyed and they will quarrel some, a thing that will break up the monotony of the movie. And he likes the taste of cherry pie, and the milk to wash it down. The list goes on: the activity of eating the pie and milk during the beginning of the movie is a mildly reinforcing distraction from a film that bores him. He will sleep sounder this night following a second snack. These are the principle reinforcers that occur that evening.

There are other long-term ones. Given Toms dislike of physical exertion, being obese permits him to avoid such exertion. Given their less-than-loving marriage, being physically unattractive yields subtle reinforcements. Man by instinct will strike out against the source of both adversive stimuli and the cause for the blocking of the obtainment of pleasures.[vii] In this case his wife, being physically unattractive and poor in bed are two subtle ways of disappointing his wife, and thus they add to the vector algebra of his obesity. By far the greatest long-term reinforcer is the effect of weight upon his physical energy level. A large percentage of our society at least several times a week take substance (alcohol, valiums, marijuana, etc.) that reduce their energy level; food in quantity does the same, as also does obesity. It is these long-term and the prior mentioned short-term reinforcers that are stronger than the prudent rational reinforcement that would come from properly managing his weight.

Many small, some long term, others like breaking wind, short-term contribute to the total of reinforcement Tom gets from eating more than he burns off. While Tom could easily, if challenged cease from any of the weak reinforcers such as the silent but chocking farts he makes near his wife, or the consumption of the last slice of cherry pie. He cannot overcome at the same time the collection of these reinforcers. They result in Tom eating more than he burns. Changing the pattern of reinforcers, so that he would obtain those associated with a person of normal weight is like climbing over a mountain to get out of a valley. Tom is in the valley of obesity and he cant escape its pattern of reinforcers to get onto the other side and be one of the beautiful people.

[i] My friend Terry told me in 1985 that when he joined weight watchers, at his first meeting he was given during this meeting from their refrigerator a package of fat in a clear plastic bag that was approximately equaled to his excess weight. He then spoke to the group while holding this package.
[ii] Weighing the Risks

Best Diet Tips Ever

Best Diet Tip No. 1: Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages.

People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger. So you can end up eating extra calories when an ice-cold glass of water is really what you need.

“If you don’t like plain water, try adding citrus or a splash of juice, or brew infused teas like mango or peach, which have lots of flavor but no calories,” says Cynthia Sass, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

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Best Diet Tip No. 2: Think about what you can add to your diet, not what you should take away.

Start by focusing on getting the recommended 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

“It sounds like a lot, but it is well worth it, because at the same time you are meeting your fiber goals and feeling more satisfied from the volume of food,” says chef Laura Pansiero, RD.

You’re also less likely to overeat because fruits and vegetables displace fat in the diet. And that’s not to mention the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. More than 200 studies have documented the disease-preventing qualities of phytochemicals found in produce, says Pansiero.

Her suggestion for getting more: Work vegetables into meals instead of just serving them as sides on a plate.

“I love to take seasonal vegetables and make stir-fries, frittatas, risotto, pilafs, soups, or layer on sandwiches,” Pansiero says. “It is so easy to buy a variety of vegetables and incorporate them into dishes.”

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Best Diet Tip No. 3: Consider whether you’re really hungry.

Whenever you feel like eating, look for physical signs of hunger, suggests Michelle May, MD, author of Am I Hungry?

“Hunger is your body’s way of telling you that you need fuel, so when a craving doesn’t come from hunger, eating will never satisfy it,” she says.

When you’re done eating, you should feel better — not stuffed, bloated, or tired.

“Your stomach is only the size of your fist, so it takes just a handful of food to fill it comfortably,” says May.

Keeping your portions reasonable will help you get more in touch with your feelings of hunger and fullness.

Low Fat Diet

The logic of these diets is that, because fat contains more calories than carbohydrates or protein, limiting the fat in our diet is a simple way to promote weight loss.

All types of added fats, such as butter, margarine, mayonnaise, sour cream and salad dressings, are reduced or eliminated. Foods high in fat, such as fried foods, snack foods, cheeses and red meat, should be replaced with lower-fat versions or eaten in smaller portions. Most low-fat diets call for an increase of carbohydrate intake in the form of pasta, breads and potatoes.

A high-fat diet has been associated with numerous health conditions, from obesity to heart disease and even some types of cancer. The plan encourages the use of foods naturally low in fat, such as fruits and vegetables, which also contain healthy amounts of essential nutrients .

Upside of Low Fat Diets

Downside of Low Fat Diets

Foods: Best Weight Loss

No food alone could ever cause us to lose weight, there is no such thing as the best single weight loss food. We all understand that weight loss is the result of the energy consumed from all various foods within the diet, and that a diet’s total energy must be lower than the energy used by the body.

Some sites peddle the idea that certain foods are the best for weight loss because when these “special foods” are eaten they result in negative calories however, there is no hard scientific proof to support this theory. In fact the only reason some foods are considered the best for weight loss is because they help reduce the total energy consumption in some way. For example, some fruits are listed in the negative calories foods list and considered one of the best foods for losing weight but this is probably due to the fact that fruits are often very low in energy. If any low calorie food is replacing another food high in calories then it can be considered good for losing weight.

Some other foods that are considered helpful when losing weight are those high in fiber. The fiber helps fill up the stomach quicker causing the individual to eat less, thus less calories are consumed.

Foods that are low in fat are also believed to be the best for losing weight. Fat contains more than twice the amount of energy than carbohydrates or protein, so eating less fat naturally lowers calorie intake.

Foods that are nutritionally dense, especially from some of the B vitamins may help increase energy levels and give an individual more desire to exercise.

Many foods with a high water content are among some of the best foods to help lose weight. They are often low in calories plus increasing water intake has been shown to benefit weight loss. Water benefits weight loss

Fresh, natural produce are among the best foods for weight loss, they are often low in energy and low in sodium. A high sodium intake has been shown to cause slight water retention, thus gaining an extra few pounds of water weight. A low sodium diet can help rid the body of water retention.

Processed and convenient products loaded with refined sugar are NOT the best foods for losing weight. The sugar contributes to “empty calories” void of all nutrients.