Make Healthy Choices

Eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruits each day.

• Does “five” sound like a lot? Serving sizes are actually smaller than you might think!
  • One medium piece of fruit
  • ¼ cup of dried fruit
  • ½ cup chopped, canned or frozen fruit
  • 6 oz of 100% fruit or vegetable juice
  • ½ cup chopped, canned or frozen vegetables
  • 1 cup of leafy greens
• Focus on fruits and veggies that have the most color. They’re generally the most nutritious.

Choose whole grains over processed (refined) grains and sugars.

• Choose whole-grain rice, bread, pasta and cereals.
• Not sure if it’s whole grain?  Look for “whole wheat” or another whole grain as the first ingredient on the label.
• Limit consumption of refined carbohydrates, including pastries, sweetened cereals, soft drinks and other foods high in sugar. .

Substitute healthier fats for not-so-healthy fats

• Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil.
• Avoid trans fats, found in many margarines and baked goods.
• Limit your intake of saturated fats and cholesterol found in meats and dairy products.
  • Select lean cuts of meat (look for “round” or “loin”).
  • Trim excess fat from meats.
  • Choose low-fat and fat-free dairy products.
  • Choose poultry, fish and beans as alternatives to beef, lamb and pork.
• Add avocados and nuts to your diet. (These are high in healthy fats, but also high in calories, so don’t go overboard!)

Watch Your Portion Sizes

No doubt about it - our portion sizes are getting bigger and bigger, and unfortunately, so are our waistlines. Beware of portion distortion, and help trim down the number of calories you eat each day.

• Use these visuals to help you judge what a normal portion size is:
  • ½ cup of vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.
  • A medium apple is the size of a baseball.
  • A three-ounce portion of meat, fish or poultry is about the size of deck of cards.
  • A single-serving bagel is about the size of a hockey puck.
  • 1 ½ ounces of cheese is the size of a pair of dice.
  • One tablespoon of peanut butter is about the size of the tip of your thumb.

• Eating out? Restaurant portions are frequently two to three times larger than normal portions. Remember these tips next time you dine out:
  • Split an entrée with a friend or save half of it for lunch the next day.
  • Have an appetizer and salad or soup as your main course.

• At home, serve appropriate portion sizes, and store the rest for leftovers. Avoid eating directly out of a bag or carton. Think about buying foods packaged in individual serving sizes to help you control portions. Serve dinner on your smaller salad plates instead of your dinner plates!

Choose Foods That Help Maintain a Healthy Weight

In addition to watching your portion sizes, substituting lower calorie foods for higher calorie foods can help influence what your scale says.

• Substitute vegetables, fruits and other lower-calorie foods - lowfat dairy products, lean meats and cheeses, whole grains, and reduced sugar foods -  for calorie-dense foods such as French fries, cheeseburgers, pizza, ice cream, doughnuts and other sweets
• Use evaporated (skim or whole) milk instead of higher-fat cream in baked goods, sauces and soups.
• Use reduced-fat or fat-free yogurt to replace all or part of the sour cream or mayonnaise in a recipe. Replace part of ricotta cheese with reduced-fat cottage cheese. Use a puree of cooked potatoes, onion, and celery as a creamy base for soups instead of cream or half-and-half.
• Sharp cheese gives extra flavor so that less can be used. This helps trim the fat.
• Select yogurt or milk products without added sugar or flavorings. Mix in fresh fruit for a flavor boost. 
• Use low-fat cooking methods like roasting, baking, broiling, steaming or poaching. Limit deep-fat frying and sautéing in a lot of oil, butter or margarine. Use a cooking spray, broth or water to sauté meats.

Maile Pols, Ph.D, well-known in the industry  has come up with some physical and psychological reasons as to why it is so hard to lose weight.  Some of her suggestions seem obvious, and are also recommended by the American Cancer Institute such as avoiding processed foods and eating more fruits and vegetables,  but others are thought provoking and may warrant a visit to your doctor to see if you may have a sluggish thyroid gland or glandular malfunction. 

Dr Pols asks: 

1. Is your thyroid gland sluggish? This will change your metabolism rate (rate of burning fuel for energy in the body) and make it more difficult to lose weight.

2. Is glandular malfunction causing you to have a pear-shaped figure?

3. Do you have bloating and swelling from excessive fluid retention?

4. Do you have poor digestion and assimilation (undernourished people, having inadequate intake of essential nutrients or- do not easily burn fat), poor circulation, poor liver function, or constipation?

5. Are you deficient in digestive enzymes, acidophilus, or have improper  pH levels (acid-base levels) in your digestive or body chemistry?

6. Are you a binge eater, stress eater, reward eater, have a big sweet-tooth?

Dr. Pols’ four points crucial for any successful weight loss program:

1. A diet containing as few processed foods as possible. Avoid ‘dead’ foods like canned, salted, pickled, preserved, and overcooked foods.

2. Avoid foods containing animal fats.

3. Nutritional support for a ’sluggish’ thyroid gland, if needed.

4. Regular, significant exercise and plenty of pure, filtered water (6-8 eight oz. glasses/day).

5. Psychological or emotional counseling or work to help determine underlying emotional causes of weight gain.

Overweight and obese people face a clear health risk. Obesity has been linked with numerous health conditions including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, gall bladder disease, respiratory conditions, complications of pregnancy, even certain cancers. Obesity shortens a person’s life span. Once a person becomes obese, all that is required to remain obese is that the energy input (food) equal the energy output. In other words, once a person becomes obese, all they have to eat is the same amount of food as a person of average weight to remain obese.

As many as 50% of women and 25% of men in America are trying to lose weight at any given time by dieting, exercise, behavior modification, or drugs. Diets for weight loss have been shown to be ineffective and even damaging to one’s health.

Dr. Pols discusses that scientific studies reveal that most low-calorie diets that aren’t accompanied by heavy exercise, can result in a 50% loss of lean muscle mass. “Having a knowledge of how your body works, and if your individual chemistry is working properly or is unbalanced, and looking at what type of eating habits you have will make it easier for you to choose the correct program to make the necessary long-term changes in diet, body chemistry, and lifestyle to gain the results you desire. Permanent weight loss can be achieved safely, and without side-effects in this way.”