More tips

• Consume choline: You may never have heard of it, but choline is a nutrient with the potential to reduce harmful gene effects that may result in birth defects. It also is important for brain function, among other benefits. Most women don’t get enough choline; many prenatal vitamins don’t even contain it. Egg yolks are rich in choline; only beef liver contains more. Cauliflower, the highest choline-containing veggie, has 25 percent of the choline found in one egg yolk.
• Watch your herbal teas and supplements: “You really have to be careful of having too many botanicals in your diet,” cautions Biasucci-Vianna. Some herbs—including licorice, sassafras, ginseng, St. John’s wort and ephedra—should be avoided while in fertility treatment or pregnant.
• It takes two (usually) to tango: Fertility problems may be due to the male partner’s weight or diet. Johnson says that vitamins C and E, zinc and folic acid help improve sperm health. Sperm motility can also be damaged by smoking, drinking alcohol (including beer) and recreational drug use.
• Fish carefully: Don’t eat sushi or any raw fish. Avoid fish that have high mercury content due to their environment—including swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel and shark.
• Stay fluid: When you don’t drink enough water, your cervical fluid (the stuff that helps the sperm find the target egg) becomes sluggish, Johnson points out. The same goes for a man’s ejaculate fluid. Drink enough water so that your urine is a light yellow color.
• Cut caffeine: High caffeine intake interferes with conception. You may want to consider eliminating it from your diet altogether by avoiding caffeinated coffee, tea and soft drinks (decaf is fine). Once you’re pregnant, caffeine also crosses the placenta and can affect the fetus and even cause miscarriage. Stick to no more than two five-ounce cups of regular coffee a day, advises Biasucci-Vianna.

How would you feel if your child was removed from your home and placed into foster care for being obese?

According to a group of health specialists in England and Ireland, some obese children should be removed from their homes.

There are 20 documented cases in the U.K. where obese children have been removed from their homes and there are sporadic cases of the same situation occurring in the U.S.

How is this justified?

Childhood obesity can be seen as a failure to adequately care for your children by failing to provide a healthy diet and sufficient activity, whether through direct neglect or more subtly through an inability to deny children the pleasures of energy dense fast food and television viewing, according to health experts.

The neglect that leads to obesity may be a sign of other problems in the home. As many as one-third of obese adults say they were sexually abused as children.

Some pediatricians and other professionals wonder if obese children would be better off in the custody of child protective services.

Failure to provide children with medical treatment for chronic diseases (asthma or epilepsy) can result in the government intervening and placing the child in foster care.  If  removing an obese child from their home prevents future health problems such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, is this justified?

Thoughts?

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Some of those changes are downright sneaky—you can slip them into your daily eating plan without any stress and they’ll help you feel healthy each day.

1. Take out a ruler and measure your plate. The size of American dinner plates has grown in recent years. Many are now 12 or even 14 inches wide, great for loading up but not so good for encouraging healthy eating. Big plates result in big portions and weight gain, since most of us are conditioned to eat what’s on our plates. Instead, get out those old 9- or 10-inch “luncheon” plates you may have received as hand-me-downs or buy some inexpensive new ones. You’ll serve yourself less food with smaller plates, but still feel satisfied.

2. Make your second helping all veggies. You may have heard the advice to mentally divide your dinner plate in fourths and fill two of those sections with vegetables and/or salad, one with a starch and one with a meat or other protein. That works well as a guideline for smart eating, but if you’re still hungry and want more, commit to making your second helping all veggies. For seconds, start with one-fourth of the plate or less. Eating more cooked or salad vegetables increases your feeling of fullness without adding a lot of calories—so long as you don’t butter the vegetables and use only nonfat or low-fat salad dressings.

3. Serve from the stove, not at the table. Although the image of filled serving bowls on the family dinner table is associated with well-being, serving food directly from pots on a stove or counter is better for healthy weight, according to Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. The reason this sneaky tip works for weight control is simple: When you sit and look at food, you take more and eat more. For a modified approach, reduce traffic jams at the stove and promote better food choices by keeping only the cooked vegetables and salad on the dining table.

4. Eat breakfast every day. More reason to wake up and smell the coffee: Eating breakfast improves weight loss efforts and helps keep weight off long-term. When you skip that starter meal of the day, hunger hits stronger, often well before lunchtime. To quiet hunger pangs quickly, you might reach for something calorie-loaded without much nutritional benefit, such as a doughnut (or two!), muffin or bagel. Whole-grain cereals, like oatmeal, will carry you through the morning. Other options: have nonfat yogurt, eggs or peanut butter for protein, with whole-grain toast.

5. Have a tall, thin one. Time to hide the wide glasses! Dr. Wansink and his research colleagues have shown that you’ll pour less and drink less (thus cutting calories)–yet still be satisfied—when you use tall, skinny glasses for serving beverages. You can still use your wide glasses for water and other calorie-free drinks.

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Explore the recesses of your refrigerator and you may find foods that science is, increasingly, crediting with being especially supportive for brain health. These edibles may improve memory, clarify thinking, delay cognitive decline, and perhaps even ward off Alzheimer’s disease.

Recent research shows that you may want to include the following on your shopping list more often for brain-strengthening nourishment:

• Apple juice and pomegranate juice
• Red grapes, cherries, apples, blueberries and strawberries
• Tea and cocoa
• Salmon and light tuna
• Soy foods
• Sunflower seeds, walnuts
• Vegetables, especially leafy greens
• Canola oil, olive oil
• Dark chocolate

When buying processed or packaged foods containing these ingredients, be sure to read the nutrition labels carefully. Some of these “good” foods may be prepared with high amounts of sugar, fat or salt added to them, resulting in too many calories or too much sodium in your diet. For healthful eating, choose fresh versions of these foods most often, or prepare them with low-fat ingredients. Eat processed types in moderation.

For example, you can still get the benefits of pomegranate juice (which has sugar added to offset its tart flavor) by mixing one or two ounces into sparkling water as a spritzer. Cocoa made with nonfat milk gives your brain a boost without adding extra fat. And letting a small piece of dark chocolate melt slowly in your mouth prolongs your enjoyment while keeping your daily intake healthful (one ounce or less).

For brain health as well as overall health, be sure to avoid foods containing saturated fats or trans fats (check those nutrition labels!). Diets that are high in such fats are specifically related to declining brain capabilities.

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The benefits of drinking enough water are many but below is just a list of some that I thought were interesting:

• Promotes clear skin
• Lubricates joints
• Prevents muscles soreness
• Helps to eliminate toxic waste from our bodies
• Regulates body temperature
• Helps keep excess weight off
• Protects our organs
• Helps in digestion and constipation
• Relieves fatigue
• Moisturizes the air in lungs
• Helps to relieve headaches caused by dehydration

Some of us only feel the need to drink water when we are thirsty or are experiencing dry mouth which is a sign of dehydration.  Many of us are living in a dehydrated state and can cure many of the ailments that we may be suffering with by doing something as simple as just counting how many C.O.W.’s we are drinking a day adding an additional cup. 

Take note now and if you are not drinking at least 8 – 10 glasses a day, you are actually causing your body to work twice as hard to keep it functioning properly.  Below is a small list of some signs that you may be dehydrated:

• Dry skin
• Dark  Urine
• Constipation
• Tiredness
• Irregular blood pressure
• Cramped muscles
• Hunger

I know drinking water can be difficult at times but once you start, you will be used to consuming a healthy amount of H2O.  So try drinking an extra cup of water today and see if you don’t start feeling better by the end of the week!

1. Food Preferences: Choose a program that features the foods you enjoy. If you feel deprived, you won’t stick with it over the long haul. It’s all about modification. If you love cereal and grains, a low carb approach is not the best way to get started on your weight loss program. Portion control is the secret to weight loss and maintenance.

2. Adequate Calories: Most women need a minimum of 1300-1400 calories—and men approximately 1600—just to cover basic metabolic functions, and more when you incorporate more activity and muscle building exercises. Avoid very low calorie diets as, although you may experience quick weight loss, experts say that the quicker you lose it, the quicker you put it back on. Slow, gradual weight reduction—about one to two pounds a week—is more likely to be permanent.

3. Fads: Avoid programs that require eating certain foods with other foods, such as, “Only eat fruit after meals, never with protein,” or other such unscientific recommendations. Very low carb diets produce quick and dramatic weight loss, but are not intended to be sustained over the long term. If you choose a “branded” diet, be sure to follow the instructions and not set your own rules.

4. Meal Patterns and Mealtimes: How do you like to eat? Respect your personal preferences, and your internal clock. Some people do fine with the traditional three meals daily, but I find that eating smaller meals more frequently helps dieters maintain energy and avoid the highs that follow big meals and lows from too many hours in between. A good strategy is to take something from each meal to eat a couple of hours later, such as a cup of nonfat yogurt or a turkey rollup (a slice of turkey breast rolled up with tomato and lettuce).

5. Preparation: Dieting is hard enough. Don’t choose a recipe-based plan if you don’t have time to cook. The right plan suits your lifestyle. Meal replacements are ideal for portion control, and many successful weight maintainers use them consistently. Use quick cereals, individual portions of yogurt, and frozen entrees—they’re balanced and nutritious and don’t require too much planning or prep.

6. Balanced Nutrition: Choose a program that includes a variety of foods so you don’t become bored and lose your motivation to continue. High fiber vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy, monounsaturated fat (from olive oil and fatty fish) are the ingredients of a healthy diet that you can maintain permanently.

7. Budget: An important consideration, because some plans are very economical and others are more expensive to maintain. The most flexible and frugal is the recipe-type plan. Learn all you can about nutrition and replace any item in your menu with one that’s on sale. Economize by purchasing large-sized portions of fish, vegetables, chicken, or fruit. Pre-portioned prepared foods are more expensive, but for some, it’s worth the price to enjoy the convenience and portion control.

8. Support: Support helps keep you on track and motivates you to reach your weight goal. Commit to meeting with an expert, a coach, a group, or a friend— especially at the beginning of your behavioral change. Support may be face-to-face, or sign up for a free or fee-based online program. It’s BEST to commit to a scheduled meeting time or, better yet, a program that lasts at least 12 weeks with a continuing maintenance program. A face-to-face consultation with a registered dietitian who will stay in touch by phone or email is the best game plan.

9. Maintenance: Once you’re at your goal, it’s ideal to stay with the program you used for a year, modifying it to add variety so you may fully adopt your new healthy behaviors. The best program transitions to a maintenance program once you reach your weight goal.

How to save on produce:

• Compare prices for your common produce at a few different types of stores, such as a discount store (Wal-Mart or Target supercenters), a no-frills discount store (Aldi or Sav-a-Lot), a wholesale club (Costco or BJs) and a couple of local supermarkets. You may find that an alternate store would be a better source of produce in the off-season. During the summer, a local farmers’ market could be a good source of healthy produce at a lower cost.
• Save money by doing it yourself. The cost savings of washing your own lettuce, peeling your own carrots, cutting your own fruit equates to an hourly wage of over $50! If it takes 5 minutes to save 60-70%, it’s worth doing yourself. Don’t pay exorbitant per-pound prices for pre-cut produce, pre-cooked chicken strips, cooked bacon, etc.
• Buy fresh produce in season, concentrating on the featured sale items. If not on sale, buy frozen vegetables as they tend to be less expensive and have coupons available for name brands. Frozen vegetables are frozen at the peak of freshness so they may have more nutrition than fresh vegetables that have been in storage for a longer period of time.

How to save on meat, chicken, fish:

• Only buy main dish ingredients when they are on sale. Pay attention to your stores’ featured sales item on the first page of their weekly ad and plan that week’s meals around that ingredient. Chicken is a common sale item, so be creative about finding healthy recipes that your family likes using various types of chicken. Buy at least one or two extra weeks’ worth of the main ingredient item to freeze so you do not have to pay full price in the future.
• Buy larger family-pack quantities of meat, chicken or pork and package them into smaller quantities for the freezer to pay a lower per-pound cost. Buy a whole pork loin at $2 per lb. on sale and ask the butcher to cut it into chops while you shop rather than paying $3 or $4 per lb. for pork loin chops.
• Do not buy sliced deli turkey for $8 or $9 per lb. at the deli counter—make extra grilled chicken breasts at $2 per pound and slice for sandwiches during the week. You can also buy your own turkey breast and roast it, or bake a small chicken on sale for $1 per lb. and slice it for sandwiches.

Snacks

• Managing snacks is important because family members are likely to eat planned ingredients for other meals if you don’t have easy snacks available. Let family members know what snacks are available and encourage them to choose the healthy, inexpensive options.
• Examples of inexpensive snacks include store brand pretzels, popcorn (air pop is the cheapest and lowest in calories), store brand graham crackers, carrot sticks, small apples, bananas, frozen banana smoothies with skim milk, diet hot cocoa packets, diet gelatin or pudding, saltines, yogurts bought on sale with coupons, and homemade cookies and brownies for family members (in moderation) who are not watching their weight!
• Do not pay the premium for pre-packaged 100 calorie snacks. A 6 ct. package of 100-calorie snack bags of crackers costs about $3.00 or more. A $1 bag of store brand pretzels or $1 box of store brand graham crackers makes at least fifteen 100 calorie portions—take a couple of minutes to divide the large bag of pretzels, graham crackers or saltines into smaller bags if that is easier to control and you’ll save big. The pre-packaged option can cost 9 times as much!

LL: When did you decide that you wanted to get healthy and lose some weight and why?

DO: When I couldn’t wear stilettos anymore. I was crushed when I started struggling just to walk in my heels.

LL: Tell us a little about your eating habits prior to starting an exercise routine and eating healthier.  What were some of your weaknesses and what foods were “trigger” foods for you and are they still now and if so, what do you do about it when the urge comes?  What are some of the struggles and benefits of this new lifestyle?

DO: My eating habit was illegal. I should have been locked up. I ate what I wanted, at any time of the day, and was always eating out. I didn’t really have any “trigger” foods. All foods were my “friend” and I never discriminated!! My only weakness was myself. Yes I do still have urges to eat unhealthy and yes I still eat them. But I limit them to a smaller portion.

LL: Portion control is something I am working on, so it is good to know that sometimes it is better to have what you crave, just in a smaller amount.  You are looking Fit & Fabulous, I am curious, how long have you been working out and eating right and how much weight have you lost?

DO: Thanks girl! I feel F.I.T, Fabulous, and Foxy!!! I’ve been working out and living a healthy lifestyle since September 2009. I don’t know how much I’ve lost. Nor will I count. Numbers are the enemy! It’s all about inches and muscle tone. I can proudly say that I am down 2 sizes and I’m still dropping!

LL: I can tell too because you are really looking great and seem happier too, your personality is just shining through more than ever!  What has helped to keep you motivated and before joining F.I.T. did you have a support system cheering you on along the way or someone to workout with or did you go at it alone?

DO: Many things kept me motivated before joining F.I.T. I had several upcoming trips, functions, a bad break up, and a reunion with an old friend. My family and friends were really supportive from the beginning. They are even still cheering me on today. I had several people join me while working out and it made it more enjoyable, but I prefer to work out alone. It is a time for me to reflect, meditate, and just enjoy my own company.

LL: Sounds like you had a lot going on, though some people may take this time for self-destructive behavior or for an opportunity to overeat, you took this time for self-reflection and improvement, God is good.  What are some of your favorite exercises, how much/often do you exercise and how do you feel it has affected your level of energy and overall desire to eat healthy foods and be healthy.

DO: My favorite exercises include doing a 5 mile walk/jog in the park, getting on the elliptical, weight training, or yoga. I work out at least 4 days a week anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 ½ hrs depending on what I’m doing. I’ve definitely seen a change. I have much more energy, confidence, optimism, and outlook on life. I’m more secure in my decisions and more candid with my opinions and my approach with people.

LL: Amazing how changing to a healthy lifestyle can change so much from within as well, I love it! What are some of your health goals?

DO: My goals are to live a healthy lifestyle physically, nutritionally, spiritually, emotionally, financially, etc. I want to do more than “get into shape”. I want to drop a lot of “dead weight”. I want to overcome a lot of demons that are holding me back from being my best potential. More importantly, I don’t want to be overweight and unhealthy when it’s my time to have children. My biggest desire is to be a mother. And I want to take care of my body now in preparation for the children God will bless me with.

LL: Amen to that!  You said a lot right there.  What are your thoughts on self-esteem, confidence and self love that you would like to share with our readers?

DO: Self esteem, confidence, and self love are a must for every woman. Without them, it will be hard to love anyone else. I try to balance a healthy amount of confidence and high self-esteem. Too much of either is, to me, unattractive and a turn off.  Self love is simply, loving yourself; unconditionally. It’s about standing firm on your beliefs and opinion and not allowing anyone to diminish your worth or make you question your importance. It’s about respecting and cherishing yourself as the precious jewel you are.

LL: Beautiful!  Anything else you would like to share with us?

DO: I just want to encourage every woman to love yourself regardless of what size you are, but to also exercise caution and wisdom when it comes to your health. There is nothing wrong with having curves. You are, however, posing a danger to yourself and your family when you are overweight. Don’t lose weight to be skinny, keep or attract a man, or take revenge for those losers that left you!!!. Do it because you want to be F.I.T and healthy.

LL: Thank you Dawn for this wonderful interview, truly I feel empowered, motivated and inspired to keep working on my temple as well.  You are curvy, confident and beautiful and definitely an inspiration, God Bless!

This all got me thinking – are Americans more obsessed with weight loss than other cultures? Or, is it perhaps the way we go about weight loss that’s different, but the obsession the same? In America, I see the ”group/assisted” programs like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and LA Weight Loss, (by the way, I tried Jenny Craig, and the assistants are nothing like the celebrities belabor! I guess if you’re a celebrity maybe you get extra help!) and the mail order programs like Nutrisystem, and we have Boot Camp exercise programs, The Biggest Loser on TV, weight loss drugs, weight loss shakes, weight loss bars, and now…weight loss surgery! Sure, beyond liposuction, you can now get a sort of rubber band placed around your stomach to lose weight! We seem to want quick fixes, but we don’t seem to promote as much long-term solutions. What I mean is, you pick your method – drugs, special foods, group/assisted method, etc. and once you’ve lost the weight, you’re on your own.

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