Closer Look At The Buffet Table

Weight loss is something almost every one of my friends talks about.  People are always trying to diet, or trying to lose weight.  Whether its 40 pounds or 4 pounds, people are always “watching” what they eat.

According to a study, 213 people were observed at an all you can eat Chinese buffet by trained researchers.  The research showed some fairly interesting results.  Diners who were visibly overweight ot obese were more likely than normal-weight diners to:

• Serve themselves immediately, rather then browse the buffet first
• Choose a large plate over a smaller one
• Sit facing the buffet
• Use a fork rather then chopsticks
• Sit without a napkin on their laps

What to do if you are at a buffet such as this and trying to watch your weight? Use a small plate, so you take smaller portions.  Use chopsticks so you slow down while you are eating.  You also pay more attention to the amount of food you are consuming.  Don’t sit facing the buffet, so the food isn’t always “in your face” having you thinking about what to eat next.  Take your time and look around the buffet and go for the food that most appeals to you, not just what’s at hand.  Use your napkin, this way its one more thing you have to do before getting back up to grab another serving, which may in fact act as a deterrent. 🙂

Top Three Reasons Why You Should Eat Slowly

Attacking that sandwich, pasta, salad or chips as fast as you can may seem like the best idea when you’re hungry. But take heed, eating slowly will benefit you in ways that you’ll like and in more ways than one.

1. Better Digestion. Eating slowly means you’re chewing and breaking the food better, which results to better digestion. It’s best to chew thoroughly to give ample time to your stomach to prepare.

2. Weight Loss. Studies show that eating slowly means consuming much fewer calories. You can even lose almost 20 pounds a year just by eating slowly and without doing anything different! Eating slowly also makes you feel a lot fuller in no time. So if you’re on a diet and want to lose weight, better incorporate eating slowly into your lifestyle.

3. Enjoyment and Choosing Better Food. Do you know that most factory-produced foods are designed to taste great for the first three bites only? If you chew slowly, you’ll notice that the food begins to taste bland and ordinary after the three bites. Eating slowly gives you the chance to really taste the food and at the same time reach out for better options because natural foods like fruits and salads taste good even after three bites. Overall, you’ll have a better and more satisfying dining experience instead of feeling all sluggish and heavy after a meal.

Image from this site.

Health and Lifestyle

Over this past weekend, some was talking to me about choices we have in life. They said that the choices we make are rather a forethought that we simply let happen. The analogy they made was that our lives resemble water, it rolls down a hill and takes the path of least resistance where it puddles up at the end. It is in that puddle where we actually stop for a mere second to think about the choice we just made. However when we actually take the time to think about our decision before we meander down the hill (like the water), the results of our choices can be dramatic.

Physical well being is a matter of concern to everyone I know, and if it is not it should be. The level of health we enjoy largely depends on the lifestyles we lead. Insufficient activity and poor eating habits can, and often do, lead to to a variety of health issues, making our lifestyle change, usually not for the better. The key to not allowing this to happen lies in us actually taking the time to make those small everyday decisions and making good healthy choices, knowing that they will indeed impact our lives down the road, if not today.

Ways of making a difference in your life and getting yourself on the track may be adding more physical activity into your life, eating foods that are good for you, and eating them more often, and adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Getting more physical

If you are anything like me, you barely have enough time to run to the bathroom when you need too, so squeezing physical activity into your daily routine may seem unlikely. Taking advantage of small opportunities can make a big difference.

• Park farther back in a parking lot so you have to walk further.
• Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator in the mall or at the office.
• Standing at your desk for short periods instead of sitting helps increase circulation in the lower part of your body.
• Invest in a pedometer. A pedometer measures the the number of steps you take during your day. Take a count each day of how many steps you take each day and mark it on your calendar and then try to increase that each day.
• Aerobic exercise gets your heart pumping and increases your blood oxygen level. It also will help you control your weight. Studies have shown that all you need is 30 minutes per day to provide amazing health results. Walking, biking, dancing, swimming and gardening are great choices.
• Change your thought pattern, housework/yardwork = exercise. Think about the calories you burn pushing around that vacuum cleaner or lawn mower.

Eating better

Eating healthier has so many benefits that I can hardly touch on them in this short post. Eating better will make you feel healthier, fuller faster, and increase years to your life! There are so many healthy options now for those of us on the run that really is no excuse to grab that bag of chips.

Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the USA. Eating healthier can help lower your chance of being part of those statistics. For an easy guideline to a healthy diet follow the USDA’s guidelines or the American Cancer Societies Diet. They are both quite similar to one another and they focus on a balanced diet loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables. These diet guidelines limit fats, sodium and high calorie foods.

While going “cold turkey” on a diet filled with healthy choices is probably not the best way to go, substitute foods that are unhealthy for better choices, but do it slowly. While we have been trained over the years of our lives on how to eat, we cannot expect to change our entire daily menu overnight. The results in health and weight loss and healthy lifestyle will come. From all my research, when we do go “cold turkey” from all those “bad” foods we eat and convert to a better diet we tend to cheat more often and eat more of the bad foods, because we fell we are forbidding ourselves from those foods. If we incorporate those healthy foods slowly, our diets will last longer and we will start feeling better and even shed those unwanted pounds.

Some helpful links and what you may find there

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

• guide for behavioral changes in lifestyle on their website.
• BMI calculator that calculates how much fat your body has on it and where you should be based on your age and height.
• Portion Distortion, how food portions have changed in 20 years.
• Guide to physical activity, what works and how much of it do you have to do.
• Educational tutorials, topics include heart and vascular, cholesterol, heart attack, high blood pressure, overweight and physical activities, and sleep disorders
• Recipe collections, find lots of heart healthy recipes including special collections for Latino cooking, homestyle African American cooking, and the DASH Eating Plan for lowering high blood pressure.

American Heart Association

• Food Certification Program, build your grocery list online as well as view lists of products screened and proven to meet the AHA’s certification criteria for being low in saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2.
• Children’s health, information about keeping your child healthy, games and activities for kids to learn more about how their heart works, and resources for children’s exercise and nutrition.
• Shake your Salt habit, sodium recommendations to help reduce or avoid high blood pressure.
• Use seasoning instead of table salt, guide to using spices and herbs.

Mayo Clinic

• Healthy Living, a collection of individual centers addressing the health of babies, children, teens, men, women and seniors, additional canters on pregnancy, stress, fitness, food and nutrition, and weight loss.
• Healthy recipe Center
• Dietary Supplements, using Vitamin and mineral supplements wisely.
• Ingredient substitution, make a switch for healthier eating
• Fast food, 6 ways to healthier eating and information on how to fit fast into a healthy diet.

American Academy of Pediatrics

• How common behaviors affect your health.
• What you can do to keep your health

Across the board, a multifaceted approach is needed in your life to maintain a healthy lifestyle and a manageable weight. Adopting all, or part, of these suggested items will improve the quality of life overall.

How To Stop Pigging Out

Ever had trouble controlling your appetite as soon as you set your eyes on the table feast? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many women continue to encounter this problem. Here are some tips you can apply to lessen overeating and pigging out.

1. Eat before going to a party or gathering.

Parties usually mean lots of food spread out in scrumptious buffets. If you want to lose some weight and control your intake, eat a healthy snack before going to the party. It may be a bowl of cereal, some fruits, or yogurt. Anything that is healthy and fills up your stomach halfway, that way you don’t attend the party eager to attack.

2. Drink a large glass of sparkling water before every meal.

Drinking water is another way to fill up the stomach without putting on the calories. Having a large glass of water before eating lessens the hunger and appetite for a bit, giving you the feeling of fullness. Do this regularly and you may see the long term benefits of every slight dampening in appetite before every meal.

3. Start with a lot of salad and seafood.

If you are in a party or event and there are lots of foods to choose from, start with the salads or seafood. Salads or seafood could fill you up the way carbohydrates can but with much less of the fats and calories. If you want to have a taste of the yummy-looking pastas and chicken or the scrumptious desserts, do it at the last part of your meal, that way you’ll be full enough to gorge in such calorific treats.

4. Eat slowly.

Eating slowly will give your stomach much more time to tell your brain how much you’ve eaten. On the other hand, eating in haste can result to overeating because you don’t realize how full you are until you’ve fully stuffed your stomach and maximized its capacity. Chew slowly and make sure you crush all the food before swallowing.

5. Eat on the table.

Eating in front of the television or while reading a book can divert your attention and distract you from realizing that you’ve been eating a lot. When you’re eating while doing something you enjoy like watching a favorite show, you unconsciously transfer that enjoyment to your eating, making you consume a lot more than you intended.

Care to share a tip?