Even a small change in the amount of food you eat each day can
make a big
difference
in your weight over time. For example, eating one hundred calories
more
than you need each day (a very small soft drink or the mayonnaise on a
sandwich)
can cause you to gain several pounds each year. You can burn off those
hundred
calories each day by walking briskly for about a half hour (if you weigh
about
150 lbs or 70 kg). Alternatively, you can save yourself the trouble by making
some
minor changes to your eating habits, such as eating your sandwich with mustard instead
of mayonnaise, or drinking ice water instead of a sugary soft drink. We usually
don’t intend to eat too much. We overeat, often without thinking, because of
poor food choices, bad habits, and the temptations around us. In this, you will
learn how changes in your food choices, habits, and personal
environment
can help you eat fewer calories without going hungry.
Eat More Natural Weight Loss Foods
Researchers at Harvard University conducted a study in which they monitored
the weight and habits of 120,877 adults over a twenty-year period. They found
that study participants who increased their consumption of fruits, nuts,
vegetables, whole grains, or yogurt tended to lose weight, while those who
decreased their consumption of any of these foods tended to gain weight.
Eating
more of these natural weight loss foods can help you lose weight also.
Unprocessed fruit, nuts, vegetables, and grains digest relatively
slowly because of the fiber they contain and because their tissue structure
hasn’t already been broken up by processing. Foods that digest slowly reach
your blood stream gradually, so you remain satisfied longer after a meal ends. As
a result, you are less tempted to snack between meals or overeat during the
next one. It isn’t entirely clear why yogurt is associated with weight loss. It
may simply be that adding yogurt to a meal makes it more satisfying so you end
up eating less
overall.
Yogurt may also slow the digestion of the meal so you don’t get hungry again so
soon. As you eat more fruits, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, and yogurt,
reduce the amount of less-healthy foods in your diet by eating them less often
and in smaller portions.
Fresh Fruit
In the Harvard study, fruits were associated with weight loss
while fruit
juices
were associated with weight gain.Fresh whole or cut-up fruit is preferable
to
fruit juices or other processed fruit because it usually has more fiber,
digests
more
slowly, and has fewer calories. A 12-ounce (355-mL) glass of orange juice, for
example, has about 170 calories. A medium orange has only 60. Here are some
ways to eat more fresh fruit:
1.
Eat a small handful of nuts
and a piece of fruit along with a glass of water for a snack.
2.
Add a
piece of fresh fruit to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
3.
Buy a variety of whole,
cut-up, and frozen fruit. People tend to eat what
they
have in the house, so keep your house well-stocked with good food.
4.
Keep a bowl of fresh fruit
on the table.
5.
Keep a container of cut-up
fruit in the refrigerator. To keep the fruit from turning brown, add some lemon
juice.
6.
Add fruit to cereal for
breakfast.
7.
Make a yogurt parfait or
dip cut-up fruit in low-fat yogurt for breakfast
or
a snack. Top a bowl of cut-up fruit with yogurt for an easy dessert.
8.
Make a fruit salad with
grapes or berries and cut-up fruit. Add plain or
flavored
yogurt if you like it creamy. Top it with shredded coconut or chopped nuts.
9.
Add cut-up fruit, grapes,
berries, orange sections, raisins, or dried
cranberries
to a green salad.
10.
If oranges and other acidic
fruit make your teeth sensitive, try eating them with yogurt.
Nuts
Although nuts are relatively high in calories, they also contain
fiber, fat, and
protein,
which slow digestion and provide enduring satisfaction. You need only a
small
handful with a meal or snack to get the weight loss benefits. Because nuts are dry,
be sure to eat them with a glass of water to get the full effect. Here are some
ways to get more nuts into your diet:
1. Buy a large container of nuts and divide them into handful-sized portions.
Keep these portions handy to add to packed lunches or snacks.
2. Eat a small handful of nuts with breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
3. Add nuts to cereal or low-fat yogurt for breakfast.
4. Eat a yogurt parfait with nuts as a snack or with a meal.
5. Add nuts to green salads, vegetable dishes, and fruit salads.
Vegetables
The US government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
recommends that half of the food on your plate be fruits and vegetables.4 Here
are some ways to eat more vegetables:
1. Stock up on frozen vegetables for simple, fast side dishes.
2. Keep a container of baby carrots, celery sticks, sliced green
peppers or
cucumber,
or other ready-to-eat vegetables in a see-through container in the refrigerator
for lunches and snacks. Put carrots and celery sticks in a container of water
so they stay crisp.
3. If you don’t care for vegetables, eat them when you are hungriest
so they
will
taste better, and you will gradually learn to enjoy them more.
4. Add cut-up vegetables to a packed lunch, or take some along to add
to a
purchased
lunch.
5. Add vegetables prepared two or three different ways (cut-up raw, steamed,
roasted, etc.) to dinner.
6. Sprinkle cooked vegetables with feta, Parmesan, vinegar, or other strong
flavors to make them more interesting.
7. Include a green salad and low-calorie dressing with dinner every evening.
8. Try a large green salad topped with sliced boiled eggs or chicken
breast
for
lunch.
9. Try low-fat yogurt seasoned with dill weed, mint, or other herbs
as a dip
for
cut vegetables.
10.
Top fried or scrambled eggs
with tomato salsa, nopales, or fresh avocado.
11.
Decorate dinner plates with
vegetable slices.
12.
Add grated or chopped
vegetables to some of your usual recipes. Zucchini,
carrots,
tomatoes, and spinach can be added to many dishes.
13.
Add steamed vegetables to
soups.
14.
When you eat out, request
additional vegetables. For example, ask for extra tomatoes, pickles, or lettuce
on a sandwich, or extra vegetable toppings on a pizza.
15.
Grill vegetables such as
onions, mushrooms, and green peppers as part of a barbeque meal.
Whole
and Slowly-Digesting Grains
A whole grain is a grain that still has the bran and germ. The
bran of a grain is the outer, high-fiber layer. The germ is the high-fat,
high-protein embryo of the grain plant. A refined grain has the bran and
germ removed. Processing refers to any alteration of a grain, including
removal of the bran and germ in the refining process, grinding of grain into
flour, bleaching of flour, or treatment of a grain so it cooks more quickly. Unlike
the minimally processed grain eaten by our ancestors, most of the grain in the
modern diet is in a highly processed form — much of it as refined flour. The process
of converting wheat to refined flour increases its caloric density by over 10
percent, reduces its fiber content by
about
80 percent, and reduces its protein content by almost 30 percent. The less
processing a grain goes through before you eat it, the more slowly it digests,
so it keeps you satisfied longer and you don’t get hungry so soon. Because flour
is ground so finely and is so low in fiber, fat, and protein, it digests very quickly.
Whole wheat flour is better, but still digests rather quickly if it is finely ground.
Food products made of coarsely ground flour digest more slowly because of the
extra time required for breaking down the larger particles. Food products with
a high proportion of cracked, sprouted, or intact grains digest even more
slowly. Brown rice generally digests
more slowly than white rice. Besides differences in levels of processing,
differences in the grains themselves affect the rate of digestion. For example,
high-amylose varieties of rice, such as basmati, digest more slowly than low
amylose varieties. Low amylose rice tends to be sticky and digests rather quickly,
whether it is white or brown. Converted rice digests slowly, even though it’s
not brown. Genuine rye bread digests more slowly than wheat bread. Pasta made of semolina digests more slowly
than other pasta and most bread. Pasta cooked al dente, meaning that it
is still firm, digests more slowly than pasta that is overcooked. When shopping
for whole grain products, check the list of ingredients. Whole grain foods
usually have one of the following as the first ingredient: brown rice,
buckwheat, bulgur, millet, oatmeal, quinoa, rolled oats, whole-grain barley, whole-grain
corn, whole-grain sorghum, whole-grain triticale, whole oats, whole rye, whole
wheat, or wild rice. The following usually do not indicate wholegrain ingredients:
wheat flour, wheat, stone-ground, multigrain, and 100% wheat. Here are some
ways to eat more slowly-digesting grains:
1.
For breakfast, eat hot
cereal made of a minimally processed grain such as
flaked
or cracked wheat, oldfashioned rolled oats, steel-cut oats, bulgur, quinoa,
brown basmati rice, or hulled millet. To save time, cook up a large batch and
warm a portion in the microwave for breakfast every day.
2.
Use brown basmati rice,
bulgur, hulled millet, or quinoa in a side dish recipe for dinner.
3.
When you eat out, request
whole grain options. For example, request brown rice instead of white rice, or whole
wheat bread instead of white bread.
4.
Buy bread made of whole
grains or, even better, of sprouted or cracked
grains.
5.
Buy semolina pasta, and
cook it al dente.
6.
Use whole grain flour or
oatmeal for some or all of the flour in pancakes,
waffles,
cookies, bread, muffins, scones, and other flour-based recipes.
7.
For baking, try
medium-ground whole cornmeal, coarse or medium
ground
whole wheat flour, whole spelt flour, or whole rye flour. Look for these
products in the natural foods section of your grocery store or in a health food
store.
8. Buy a portable home mill and grind
your own flour, using a coarse setting. Yogurt
Yogurt in your meal will make it more satisfying. Yogurt also
makes a quick,
satisfying
snack. Plain low-fat yogurt has relatively few calories. As with most any
habit, the hardest part of adding yogurt to your snacks and meals is just
getting started. We tend to eat what we have on hand, so buy a quart or two of plain
low-fat yogurt as well as some ready-to-eat portions of your favorite flavored
low-fat, low-sugar yogurt, and put them in your refrigerator. Here are some
more ideas:
1. Make a yogurt parfait for breakfast or a snack by mixing plain
yogurt with
fruit
and granola or whole-grain breakfast cereal.
2. Eat plain yogurt as a topping in place of sour cream on just about
any hot
dish.
Try it on vegetables.
3. Mix plain yogurt into your favorite salad dressing to make it
lowercalorie.
4. Use plain Greek yogurt in recipes in place of sour cream or cream
cheese.
5. Eat yogurt as a lunch or dinner side dish.
6. Enjoy yogurt sweetened with a little jam or honey in place of less
healthy
desserts.
at a Solid Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Skipped or unbalanced meals can leave you hungry or unsatisfied
and tempted to snack on junk food or overeat later in the day.In a balanced
meal, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, about half
(45–65 percent) of the calories are from carbohydrates and the remainder are
split between protein (10–35 percent) and fat (20–35 percent).4 Keeping each meal
within the recommended ranges for carbohydrates, protein, and fat will help keep
you satisfied between meals. While the carbohydrates will help you feel satisfied
quickly, the fats, proteins, and fiber will serve to slow the digestion of the
meal so that you don’t get hungry so soon. A combination of carbohydrates, fat,
and protein will also help your body get the nutrients and constant supply of energy
it needs for good health and calorie-burning physical activities. The
carbohydrate portion of a meal should consist mostly of minimally processed
vegetables, beans, and whole grains. The protein portion of a meal should come
from nuts, beans, soy products, eggs, fish, milk products, whole grains, or
lean unprocessed meats.
Keep
in mind that there are more than twice as many calories in a gram of fat as
there
are in a gram of protein or carbohydrate. This means that the amount of fat
needed for a balanced meal is relatively small. Common sources of fat in a meal
include salad dressing, milk, meat, nuts, beans, whole grain, bakery goods, and
cooking oil. The best drink to have with your meal is water. It doesn’t add any
calories, yet in combination with the fiber in foods it can help you feel full.
A
good, solid breakfast is especially important to help prevent hunger and cravings,
so you are less tempted to snack on junk food during the day. A study by
scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University and Hospital de Clinicas Caracas
in Venezuela found that dieters who ate a moderately-sized breakfast (610
calories of a 1,240 daily calorie diet) each day initially lost less weight
than dieters who ate a small breakfast (290 calories of a 1,085 daily calorie
diet), but were more successful at keeping
the weight off. Although the dieters who ate the small breakfasts lost more
weight at first, they gained much of it back before the end of the eight-month study,
apparently because they were less successful at resisting food temptations. By
the end of the study, dieters who ate the moderately sized breakfasts had lost about
four times as much weight as the other group. They also reported less hunger
and fewer cravings throughout the day. A bowl of cold cereal for breakfast isn’t
enough. Instead, try to include a whole grain, some unprocessed fruit or vegetables,
and a protein source such as eggs, nuts, or low-fat yogurt. Make up for those
extra breakfast calories by snacking less or by eating less at dinner, then go
to bed before you start to get hungry again. You need more calories in the
morning for energy and insurance against food temptations, and fewer in the
evening when you are relaxing or about to go to bed.
Eat Less Junk Food
Eat less of refined-floury and sugary foods, potato-based foods,
white rice,
high-calorie
dressings and toppings, and sugary and alcoholic drinks. These are the common
junk foods of the modern western diet. You can cut back on these foods without
feeling hungry if you eat more of the natural weight loss foods discussed previously.
Refined-Floury and Sugary Foods
Most processed foods have been “predigested” to a degree during
grinding,
juicing,
or other processing, so they digest rather quickly, leaving you with a load of calories
and a soon-empty stomach. Processed foods high in refined flour or
added sugar, such as
bread, candy, cold breakfast cereals, cookies, cake,
doughnuts,
pancakes, pastries, pizza, and waffles are not only implicated in the weight
gain epidemic, but also in the recent dramatic increase in diabetes.
Refined
flour is any flour that is not whole grain. Sugars commonly added to
food
include sucrose, maltose, glucose, fructose, brown sugar, molasses, honey,
maple
syrup, agave nectar, corn syrup, raw sugar, and corn sweetener. Any of
these
added sugars will contribute to weight gain, no matter how “natural” they
are.
Refined flour and added sugar provide energy (i.e., calories), but little in
the
way of nutrients. If you are overweight, you are already consuming too much
energy. Refined flour and sugar also encourage overeating by enhancing the
flavor of foods to an unnatural degree. Here are some ways to eat less of these
foods:
1. Buy bread made of sprouted grain instead of flour.
2. Beware of ready-to-eat breakfast foods that are high in sugar and refined
flour. For a better breakfast, try whole grain hot cereal or toasted bread made
of sprouted grain. Avoid cold breakfast cereals unless they are unsweetened and
made of whole grains.
3. Set reasonable limits. You
don’t need to eliminate desserts and other sweets entirely. Allowing yourself one
small dessert a day, with more
allowed
on special occasions, can help keep your spirits up and decrease the temptation
to cheat.
4. If you have an urge for something sweet, eat fruit.
5. When you eat pasta, make sure it is semolina or whole grain, and
cooked
al
dente.
6. When you buy a burger, discard half of the bun. Eat sandwiches
openface.
7. Read the ingredients on food packages. Any food that has refined flour
or an added sugar as the first ingredient should be eaten sparingly.
8. Prepare your own meals. At least you will know what’s in them.
9. Have plenty of fruits or vegetables in each meal. Filling your
stomach with
these
relatively low-calorie foods will help you feel satisfied without eating so much
of the higher-calorie foods.
10.
Have a light (not creamy)
soup with lunch or dinner. This will slow down
your
eating, giving your stomach more time to produce feelings of satisfaction.
11.
Don’t shop when you are
hungry, and decide ahead of time what you will
buy.
12.
Decide what you will have
for each meal a day in advance so that you are
not
left deciding what to eat when you are already hungry. Write your decisions
down. Prepare meals ahead of time, when possible, to further limit last-minute
decisions.
Potato-based Foods
A few unprocessed foods, such as potatoes, digest quickly.
Potatoes with
added
fat, such as french fries, hash browns, and potato chips, digest more slowly
but are much higher in calories. In the Harvard study, potato-based foods
had
a greater association with weight gain than any other food category. Here are
some
ways to eat less of potato-based foods:
1. At a restaurant, order a side salad, low-fat yogurt, or fresh
fruit instead of fries. Skipping the fries can save you the trouble of having
to work off 350 to 400 extra calories (for a medium order).
2. Substitute sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, or other
vegetables
for
regular potatoes in your meals.
3. Snack on fresh fruit, celery sticks, or baby carrots instead of
potato chips.
4. Avoid temptation by keeping potato chips and other potato-based
snack
foods
out of the house.
White Rice
White rice has had the outer layers and the germ of the grain
removed. What is left is mostly starch, which digests directly to sugar. White
rice digests quite quickly, especially if it is sticky (low amylose), leaving
you with a load of calories but little lasting satisfaction. To eat less white
rice, try substituting brown basmati rice or converted rice. If you don’t like
the flavor of brown rice, try
adding
a little lemon juice.
High-Calorie Dressings and Toppings
Salad dressings, mayonnaise, butter, and sour cream pack a lot of
calories in a little space. Having some fat in your meal is important, but
don’t overdo it.
It
makes no sense to pour 300 calories of dressing on a 30-calorie salad. Almost
all
of the calories are coming from the dressing. If you cut the amount of dressing
in
half, you will reduce the total calories you are eating by almost half. Here
are
some
more ways to eat less of highcalorie dressings and toppings:
1. When you order a salad, get dressing on the side so you can take
just what
you
need. When eating at home, make your favorite salad dressing lighter
by
mixing it with plain low-fat yogurt.
2. When you order a burger or sandwich, request it with only a little
mayonnaise, or with mustard instead.
3. Buy low-fat dressings or make your own.
Sugary and Alcoholic Drinks
Sugary and alcoholic drinks are high in calories and low in
nutrients. Drinking calories is a fast way to gain body fat because you can
ingest hundreds of
calories
in just a few minutes. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recommends
careful monitoring of sugarsweetened drinks,
fruit juices, and alcoholic drinks, because they are high in calories and
easily over consumed. Water is the only drink the human body requires, and is
needed in generous amounts for optimal body function and weight loss. Water has
no calories and won’t spark your appetite like other drinks can. Here are some
ways to cut down on liquid calories:
1.
Don’t have high-calorie
drinks in your house where they can tempt you. Stick with water or low-calorie drinks
such as tea without sugar. Most sports drinks are high-calorie.
2.
Drink water when you are
feeling hungry or thirsty between meals.
Fruit
juices are high-calorie. Eat fresh fruit instead.
3.
When you eat out, request
ice water or a low-calorie drink instead of a sugary soft drink to avoid having
to work off about 150 calories or more (for a small soft drink). If you don’t like the flavor of plain water,
add a squeeze of lemon juice.
The Power of Half
If you don’t want to entirely eliminate some of these junk foods,
a good goal
might
be to eat them half as often as you now do, and in portions half the usual
size.
This approach won’t leave you feeling deprived, but will greatly decrease
your
calorie intake. Eating half as much, half as often, will reduce your consumption
of these foods — and their calories — by a full 75 percent. That’s a
lot
of calories you won’t have to burn.
Eat Junk Food Only with Meals
Eat junk food only as part of a meal. Drink only water between
meals. For snacks, eat fruit, nuts, vegetables, minimally processed grains, or
low-fat yogurt. You will be less likely to overeat when snacking on healthy,
unprocessed foods,
and
they will keep you satisfied longer. If you eat solid, balanced meals, you
won’t
get
as hungry between meals and may not need to snack at all.
_____________
Water is the only drink the human body
requires.
_____________
Junk foods tend to be nutritionally unbalanced and highly
processed. As a
result,
they tend to digest rather quickly, leaving you soon hungry. Eating your junk food
with an otherwise healthy meal will help you eat less of it. The other foods in
the meal will also help buffer the effects of the junk food on your blood sugar
levels, so you remain satisfied longer after the meal ends and are less likely
to experience cravings later in the day.
Eat Mindfully
Mindfulness, remember, means paying attention to your present experience.
Mindful eating means keeping your attention focused on what and how much you
are eating. It is the opposite of mindless eating, which is what most people do
most of the time. When you eat mindlessly, you put food in your mouth because
it’s there, not because you need it or necessarily even want it. Mindful eating
will not only enable you to get greater enjoyment from a smaller amount of
food, but will also give your body more time to feel satisfied so you are less tempted
to overeat. There are five steps to mindful eating:
1.
Decide how much you will eat before you start. Remember, if you eat foods that
digest more slowly and that provide more nutrients, you don’t have to eat as
much each meal to avoid feeling hungry before the next one. Most fruits and
vegetables don’t contain many calories, so they can be eaten in greater
quantities than other foods. Put everything you plan to eat on your plate, then
put away or
discard
the remainder.
2.
Avoid distracting influences. Don’t watch television or read while eating. We
tend to keep eating until the end of the story, whether we are hungry or not.
3. Take
and savor little bites. Much of our eating is not out of hunger but to
enjoy
the flavors and textures of our favorite foods. You can eat less while enjoying
it just as much, if you eat slowly and deliberately. Take small bites and
consciously savor each one, making a point to hold the food in your mouth a
little longer and notice the textures and flavors. After a while your taste
buds will begin to tire of the flavor, and you will be less tempted to overeat.
4.
Put your fork or spoon down or take a small sip of water between bites. This
will slow your eating down, giving your stomach time to produce feelings of
fullness and satisfaction and allowing you to pay better attention to those feelings.
5. Listen to your stomach. When empty, your
stomach is about the size of your
fist.
It only holds a couple of handfuls of food comfortably. If you eat more than
that, it stretches to the point that it begins to put pressure on other organs.
Let the feeling of your stomach rather than the flavor of the food tell you how
much to eat. Stop eating when your stomach feels a little heavy. If it feels
tight, stretched, or topped off, you’ve had too much. Don’t feel that you have
to finish all of your food. Your mother was wrong. It’s OK to leave food on
your plate, especially if you have been served too much. Don’t treat yourself like
a garbage disposal just to get rid of extra food.
Limit Restaurant Meals
Limit fast food and restaurant dining. Restaurants are generally
focused on
making
food that tastes good, not that is good for you. The sugar, fats, and refined carbohydrates
they use to make the food highly palatable also make it high-calorie. Also, the
sizes of restaurant meals have increased in recent decades to the point that
they are often enough for two or more people. Since our natural tendency is to keep
eating until the portion in front of us is gone, we end up eating too much. Here
are some ways to eat less restaurant food:
1. Take a few minutes to prepare a meal and take it with you instead
of eating
out.
2. When eating at a restaurant, select small or mini options when available.
Regular sized portions these days are already “super sized” compared to
portions twenty or thirty years ago. A “bargain” isn’t a bargain when it’s more
than you want or need. The first few bites of anything usually taste the best anyway.
3. Split a meal with a companion, or ask for a box before you start
eating
and
put aside part of the meal to take home.
4. Don’t feel that you have to finish your food. Getting your
“money’s worth” by finishing your meal doesn’t make much sense when you consider
the medical and lifestyle costs of obesity-related diseases or the time and
effort you’ll need to burn off the extra calories.
5. Eat at home when you can.
Get Enough
Sleep
Studies have found that sleeping less than six or seven hours a
night is a risk factor for becoming obese. This may be partly due to the role
of sleep in determining the levels of hormones that control hunger. Here are
some ways to get more and better sleep:
1.
Plan your bedtime before it
gets close. Don’t arrive at home without a
plan.
2.
Try to arrange your
schedule so you can get to bed at about the same time
every
night, even on weekends. It will be easier to turn bedtime into a
habit
if it’s at a consistent time.
3.
Don’t go to bed hungry, or
full. Eating close to bedtime can disrupt sleep, but being too hungry can make you
restless also. Eat a solid dinner and then go to bed before you get hungry
again.
4.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol,
and nicotine in the evening. If you are having trouble falling asleep or
sleeping soundly, any of these substances might be to blame.
5.
Exercise. Exercising
regularly can help you sleep better. Exercising in the evening, however, may
make it harder to fall asleep.
6.
Keep it cool and dark.
Warmth and light signal daytime and wakefulness
to
your body. Cool and dark signal night and sleep.
7.
Keep pets and kids out of
the bed. The extra wiggles make sleep more difficult.
8.
Relax your mind. Going to
bed with heavy thoughts makes it more difficult to fall asleep, and to sleep soundly.
Avoid television, computer work, intense reading, or anything else that overly
engages your thoughts or emotions before bedtime.
9.
Use meditation, light
stretching, a warm bath, or another relaxing activity to leave behind the
worries of the day. Make a list of things to think about the next day, then
forget about them and go to sleep.
Watch Less Television
Television takes time away from sleep and physical activity. It
leaves less time for preparing meals, so you are more likely to eat unhealthy
prepared foods.
Television
viewing also encourages snacking on junk food. Many calories are
eaten
and few are burned in front of the television. Not surprisingly, television
watching was associated with weight gain in the Harvard study. People who spend
a lot of time watching television are more likely to be overweight than
moderate viewers or non-viewers. A study of over fourteen hundred successful
weight loss maintainers revealed that most watched ten or fewer hours of television
per week, compared to the US national average of twenty-eight hours of
television viewing for adults. Television can be addictive, so cutting back may
be difficult at first, but with time other activities will become more enjoyable
and television will seem less important.
_____________
Many calories are eaten and few are
burned in front of the television.
_____________
Turn off the television and fill your leisure time with activities
that burn calories and that make snacking less convenient. Here are some ways
to watch
less
television:
1. Plan your weekly television schedule ahead of time, and then stick
with it.
2. Fill your week with productive activities so you won’t have time
to watch television. Plan activities ahead of time. Don’t arrive home without a
plan.
3. Don’t leave the television turned on when no one is watching it.
If silence
is
unbearable, play music or turn on the radio.
4. Unplug your television and cover it when it isn’t being used. Pin
a note to
the
cover listing several things you could be doing instead of watching television
— meditating, exercising, playing catch with a child, enjoying a hobby,
learning a new skill, visiting with a friend.
5. Put remotes out of easy reach.
6. Don’t turn the television on because you are bored or just to see
what’s
on.
Find another cure for boredom. Remove television sets from bedrooms and eating
areas.
If all efforts at self-control fail, donate your television to
charity. Many of these ideas also apply to other time-burners such as
recreational Internet use, video games, and videos.
Copyright ©Stan Spencer, PhD –Originally appeared in The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss by Stan Spencer, PhD
