EAT LESS (WITHOUT GOING HUNGRY)

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