7th Day of Gluten Free

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Last week I read the eye-opening post that Tim Ferriss had on his site about gluten!  I decided to give it up for a while and see how I felt.  I am now on day 7.  Here is a photo of tonight's supper, a giant salad with a steak on top.

The salad was chopped carrots, radishes, green onion and green pepper on leaf lettuce with some low calorie caesar dressing. The steak was herb rubbed and grilled. I found the crunchy veggies satisfying and filling with the steak.

Giving up grains was not too much of a struggle, but I am having a tougher time substituting celery with my peanut butter than the slice of toast I used to rely on for my mid-morning snack.

What is happening without bread or pasta in my life is that I am losing weight.  That part of giving up gluten works.  I don't notice any change in my energy, sleep patterns, digestion by not having it, but Tim's guest shot post indicated I would feel it more when I go back to eating grains.  I will keep you all posted.

What Does it Take to Commit to Permanent Change?

Article first published as Wake Up Calls: What Does it Take to Commit To Permanent Change on Technorati.

A friend confided to me years ago he was pretty lax about his dental care. Until the day his dentist told him he had advanced gum disease, and he would begin to lose his teeth if he didn’t make a change.  From that moment forward he began brushing, flossing and rinsing.  He would do whatever it took to save his teeth.

Last Week Former President Bill Clinton explained to Wolf Blitzer about the reasons behind his new, nearly vegan diet:

“But I did it for a different reason. I mean, I wanted to lose a little weight but I didn’t ever dream this would happen. I did it because after I had this stent put in, I realized that even though it happens quite often that after you have bypasses, you lose the veins, because they’re thinner and weaker than arteries. The truth is that it clogged up, which means that the cholesterol was still causing build up in my vein that was part of my bypass. Thank God I could take the stents.

I didn’t want it to happen again. So I did all this research and I saw that 82 percent of the people, since 1986, who have gone on a plant-based, no dairy, no meat of any kind. No chicken, turkey. I eat very little fish. Once in a while I’ll have a little fish. Not often. If you can do it, 82 percent of people who have done that have begun to heal themselves. Their arterial blockage cleans up. The calcium deposit around their heart breaks up.”

Later in the interview, Clinton expressed his hope that with his new healthier regime, he would be around for his family and someday, for his grandkids.

Short term goals like losing weight to fit into a wedding dress can result in the five or ten pounds of weight loss you need, but what happens on the all inclusive honeymoon? 

Being on TV vying for a quarter million dollars and then follow-up TV exposure seems to work for those on the Biggest Loser and other weight loss shows, but how many people in the public eye fall back into bad habits and gain all the weight back, like Kirstie Alley? 

Does it take the fear of death or threat of severe illness to generate permanent change? 

If you are getting ready to go on your next diet, try to pick powerful reasons for losing the weight. Reasons that are going to mean more to you than momentary life stresses that drive snacking or reaching for processed convenience food when you are in a hurry. 

Put the list on the refrigerator, on the pantry door, on your desk at work, in your car, on your bathroom mirror.  Make certain you can see that list of reasons every time you are getting ready to make a food decision, and then remember why you are on a diet.

Healthy Food--Perceived as Negative Calories

Time recently wrote an article on a study done at Northwestern University on people’s perceptions of food, and the belief in “negative calories.”  In the study, 934 participants in an on line study were asked to estimate the calories in images of meals.  Turns out that when they saw a cheeseburger and fries, they gave it one estimate, but when they saw the same meal with a salad, they gave that a lower estimate, thinking that the healthy food lowered the total calorie content.

The study concluded that people overeat because they underestimate the calories of a meal with some healthy food in it.  What was more interesting in the study was that participants who self-identified as dieters underestimated the calorie count by a greater margin than the non-dieters—increasing their negative calorie count.  This study indicates that until people really know how many calories they are eating, they will continue to struggle with overeating.  Yet another friendly reminder about why conscious eating and food logging matters for weight loss success.

Here is the link to the Time article http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/21/why-americans-are-fat-we-literally-see-more-food-as-less/

And here is the link to the study summary http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/News_Articles/2010/the-dieters-paradox.aspx

Food Logs are a Diet Imperative

Article first published as Food Logs are a Diet Imperative on Technorati.

When I start a new weight loss class, I tell my students that they need to keep food logs of everything they eat.  Some people immediately get their hackles up, claiming that they “don’t want to be held hostage” to their food log and calorie counting.

I explain that for most of us Americans, because we have become such capable multi-taskers, we are eating more often and in larger quantities than we know.  We eat in front of the computer or TV at home.  We eat at our desks at work.  We eat in the car.  Because we are eating while we are doing other things, we do not realize and sometimes cannot even remember what and how much we eat.

The food log wakes us up to what we are putting in our mouths.  I suggest that my clients keep a small notebook or a post-it pad with them at all times and when they eat something, to immediately write it down.  That way the clients are less likely to forget about the half of a bagel they picked up in the break room or the slice of cake they enjoyed in the office to celebrate someone’s birthday.  If they are using computers to track their calories, given that there are so many free on line services now, they have their list of what they ate for later when they actually load it into the computer.

Even food logging for just a couple of weeks before starting a diet is a great way to get a handle on what foods a person is reaching for in what situations.  Once you can see that everything you ate for the last three days was a carbohydrate, you can begin to figure out why you have the sugar highs and carb crashes.  My clients balance out their diet, identify their “go-to” foods when they are stressed out or upset, and start to take control of what, when and how they eat.

After six weeks in my programs, I ask the participants to complete an evaluation of what they have learned, what they have changed and what they still need help with.  Overwhelmingly, participants list among what they have learned is that food logging helps, but they also say that staying consistent with their logging is where they need help.  Clinical studies show that the people who log their food lose more weight and keep it off longer than people did not keep track. 

The cost of obesity

I saw this article yesterday, but I think it came out on Wednesday.  Of course I knew that the medical costs of obesity were high, when you consider the extra doctor’s visits and the spendy prescription drugs obese people take for cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, acid reflux and type 2 diabetes, but also from sleep apnea and knee, ankle and back injuries from carrying all that weight around.   The study also threw in assumed costs of lost wages from discrimination from being fat, for women more so than for men, and a cost for shortened lifespan.  The study was sponsored by a gastric band manufacturer, which of course, is interested in broader reimbursement for gastric band surgeries.  If only this was the answer!

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/2010-09-21-obesity-costs_N.htm

Another recent study reported that while the BMI calculations and weight did decline for people who had gastric band surgery from 47 to 30.5, the BMI a year after surgery is still in the overweight range.  I thought it was interesting because the study was conducted at a hospital in my home town in Wisconsin.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=24595

Giving everyone a gastric band and still letting them live into their lifetime of bad habits is not going to make any difference, except for the money paid to the gastric band companies and the doctors who insert them.  If you do not deal with the reasons why people overeat and adjust poor eating habits and choices, the problem of obesity in America is not going to be resolved. 

Soy for Pain Reduction, The FDA and More Diet Pills, Food Labels and Adzuki Beans

A Canadian Researcher is going to look at soy’s impact on chronic pain.  Apparently, earlier studies showed that increased consumption of soy reduced pain in rats, so a new three year double blind study for humans is starting at McGill University Health Centre.

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Researcher+hopes+prevent+chronic+pain+from+developing/3521844/story.html

As a follow-up to our post saying that the FDA would be reviewing Abbott Lab’s Meridia after a European ban on the product, turns out the review panel split on a market removal. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/abbott-s-diet-pill-meridia-splits-fda-advisers-on-withdrawal-decision.html

But the FDA did recommend against approving Arena Pharmaceuticals’ lorcaserin because of potential problems with heart disease, tumors. Depression and memory loss.

http://www.drugwatch.com/news/2010/09/17/fda-votes-no-lorcaserin-weight-loss-pill/

A new study at Washington State University backs the idea that if you read your food labels, you are more likely to successfully lose weight.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/wsu-apt091410.php

Give adzuki beans a try as a vegetarian alternative to lentils, black or navy beans.  See this article about the bean:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gZNc-nQMq_LFWDMfRRmETEls5uzA

Protein Bars--Good and Not So Good Choices at the Grocery Store

If you are using protein bars as one of your snack foods during the day, you must be mindful to read the nutritional label on the bars you buy at the grocery store.  Many bars have more carbs and sugar than protein, so the bulk of the calories are going to burn off quickly and you will be hungry again in no time.

Your goal is to find a bar that has 140 to 180 calories and 10 or more grams of protein.  Some of the grocery brands that meet these targets are: South Beach Living Breakfast Bars, Special K Protein MEAL Bars, Slim Fast Diet High Protein Meal Bars or HALF of a Snickers Marathon Protein Sports Bar.

Protein bars that I would look to avoid at the store, because they don't have enough protein relative to their caloric content are: Special K Protein SNACK Bars, Odwalla Super Protein Bars, Quaker Chewy Granola with Protein Bars.

Just remember, that reading the labels for nutritional content is very important.  Just because a product says that it is a protein bar, doesn't mean you will get the best protein bang for the caloric buck!