Oatmeal is a great way to start off the day. In my opinion, a bowl of oatmeal makes for the perfect breakfast…

The health benefits of oatmeal are many:

• lowers cholesterol levels
• reduces risk of cardiovascular disease
• helps prevent heart failure
• stabilizes blood sugar
• antioxidant benefits

And those are just a few of the health benefits… (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=54)

Why do I almost always eat oatmeal for breakfast?

1. It is very healthy, “a superfood”
2. It’s really cheap
3. It keeps me full for a long time
4. It tastes good*

I know that many people would dispute my last reason, “it tastes good”… but really, if you top your oatmeal with fruit, nuts, cinnamon, brown sugar etc. it can honestly taste really good (however, don’t add too much sugar etc. or it won’t be healthy anymore)!

If you eat it, and don’t feel good after eating it, you shouldn’t have eaten it.

Let me explain:

Today, more and more people are claiming that undetected food allergies / intolerances are a cause for being overweight. A 2009 study indicated that obesity led to the development of food allergies (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181866.php)… Some people believe that these food allergies that may in turn lead to additional weight gain and chronic health problems, or may even be the cause for the weight gain in the first place.There is a hypothesis that: overweight people crave the foods that they are slightly allergic or intolerant to and that these undetected food allergies can cause weight gain and chronic health problems such as: migraine, fatigue, depression, and even depression. Where are all these food allergies coming from? the answer could be anything from Genetically modified foods, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, to relatively new foods such as high fructose corn syrup…

According to an article on the subject, food allergies may affect, “the section of the brain houses the control centers of our emotions as well as memory and vegetative functions, including body temperature, sexuality, blood pressure, sleep, hunger and thirst” (http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/health_food_addiction.html). It is reported by some doctors that after removing allergic foods from an overweight person’s diet, he or she may shed the weight very easily and feel much better.

My experience:

I have learned that after eating certain foods I just don’t feel good after. For example, whenever I eat a sweet baked good, such as a muffin or pastry, I tend to feel tired and have trouble focusing afterward. I think that somehow my body just isn’t receptive to the high levels of sugar, or maybe the eggs, or maybe the wheat, or maybe the combination of all 3! Maybe I have an undetected intolerance to one of these ingredients…

I avoid certain foods if I notice that I feel tired, irritable, or generally not good after eating them.

If you are overweight, you should consider the possibility that food allergies may be a part of your problem. Some people recommend IgA or IgG blood tests to test for these food allergies. However, I think that by paying attention to what you eat, and how you feel thereafter, you can detect any undetectable food allergies. There’s not much science on this, but why not “eat good to feel good”?!

Sometimes, when people are trying to lose weight, they avoid eating nuts because they contain a high fat content… Well, that is just nuts (cheesy pun intended)! Eating nuts may actually help you lose weight!

A 28 month long study in Spain, involving over 8 thousand adult men, found that men who ate nuts two or more times per week, were 31% less likely to gain weight. Additionally, among the study’s participants who gained weight, those who abstained from eating nuts tended to gain more. The researchers concluded that eating nuts led to a reduced risk of weight gain! (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=101) .

Furthermore, as you probably already know, nuts have a lot of health benefits… They have a lot of fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and healthy fats. Compared to something like corn oil, nuts are nutritional powerhouses, and this is probably a big reason why they help with weight loss…

To conclude, swapping some foods that contain unhealthy fats, for nuts, is a good idea if you are trying to lose weight (without going nuts)!

*I eat an apple with all natural peanut butter almost every day!

(sorry for the excessive use of lame puns in this post, I should probably be “pun”ished for this…)

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The answer to this lies in our genetics, in how we evolved. When one reduces caloric intake, he or she will initially lose weight, but at some point the body  may go into a sort of “starvation mode”. In the past, when humans often had trouble finding their next meal, this bodily response allowed the individual to save energy and survive longer. Food was often sparse, and when the body received less food, it developed this starvation response of saving energy and storing more energy as fat. So, when you are eating less, your body can decide that it is “starving”, and it will use less energy and will stop burning off the fat that you want to lose! A recent study showed how reducing caloric intake alone would often lead to this bodily response of reducing physical activity (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/ohs-daw041310.php ).

The study concluded that diet alone cannot lead to weight loss, but exercise is also necessary. However, this fails to address a key problem, if you are eating less, and your body begins saving energy, you will therefore have less energy… when you’re dead tired, it isn’t going to be easy to exercise! Who wants to go to the gym when they’re exhausted? Unless you have exceptional will and determination, its almost impossible, and in any case, its not going to be fun.  That’s why I think people hit this weight loss plateau: they’re body goes into a “starvation mode”, they don’t have a lot of energy, and so they stop exercising and lose motivation! Additionally, the small amount of food the “dieter” does consume is stored as body fat, which makes weight loss almost impossible!

It must be acknowledged that not every body is the same. Some people may have bodies that do not exert this “starvation response”, and that may be why some people are able to lose weight through simply eating less and exercising more. However, what’s the solution for those of us who have failed with eating less and exercising more because of our body’s “starvation response”?

I think that the solution is twofold.

1. Focus more on eating healthy, and less on eating less. When you are changing your diet to lose weight, I think that you should focus less on eating less, and more on eating more healthy foods. Avoid things like sodas, chips, and other processed foods. Focus on getting a of all natural, unprocessed, chemical free foods such as lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, etc. If you focus on eating healthy food, eating less will come naturally. Healthy foods are generally less calorie dense than processed foods and you will therefore become full from less food. Another thing to remember is that to lose weight you don’t need to avoid fat. Focus on healthy fats such as nuts and olive oil. I will be adding more posts in the near future related to the specifics of diet, and you can browse the past posts on this site for other healthy eating tips.

2. Things other than diet… If you are overweight, you’re body is in a state of functioning poorly. A healthy body digests food in such a way that it extracts the vitamins and nutrients and converts the energy into muscle and not body fat. A body that is overweight stores the calories as fat, instead of burning them or converting them to muscle, and probably has trouble extracting the nutrients and vitamins efficiently. Here are a few things, that in addition to eating healthy, can be key for making the body work as it should. By improving overall bodily health, weight loss can be a natural byproduct.

• Probiotics. New research shows that the bacteria in your gut (which extract all the vitamins, nutrients, etc. from food) are directly correlated to one’s body fat. Studies show that daily supplementation of a probiotic, which helps reestablish healthy gut bacteria, often leads to weight loss (http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Probiotics-may-help-fat-and-weight-loss-Study). I recommend going to a Whole Foods, Vitamin Shoppe, or other health store and asking the employee for a high quality probiotic that he or she recommends.
• Cinnamon. Spices such as cinnamon can speed up the metabolism which is very important for weight loss. Take a look about this post about cinnamon and this post about herbs and spices
• Vitamin D. New studies show that healthy vitamin D levels are necessary for weight loss (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153669.php) . More and more studies are showing how most people are vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D deficiency results in many, sometimes unnoticeable, health problems. Even if you think you spend a lot of time in the sun, I really recommend you get the simple blood test done to test your vitamin d levels! This last summer I was spending a lot of time in the hot California sun, I though that surely my Vitamin D levels were healthy, but I decided to get tested anyway. The results… my levels were very very low! Now that I am supplementing with Vitamin D, I have a lot more energy and I have not gotten sick since (Vitamin D is very important for immune system health). If you want to learn more about vitamin d, i recommend going to Mercola.com, there is a lot of high quality information there.
• Good nights sleep. Sleeping well, and sleeping enough is very important for healthy hormone levels, which directly affect hunger cravings. To learn more, take a look at this previous post: sleep and weight loss.
• Relax. Stress can alter your hormones levels in a way that leads to weight gain. Although stress often leads to a temporarily reduced appetite, it can still induce weight gain (http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/can-stress-cause-weight-gain )

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To conclude, the weight loss plateau can be overcome, but one must focus more on improving bodily function and eating healthy, rather than just eating less.

However, there are 2 problems with this:

1. Salt and sugar in large quantities can be devastating to one’s health.
2. Research shows salt and sugar to actually have addictive qualities!

Last night, I realized how true this really was. For dinner, I had pork loin with a vegetable stir fry. When I took my first bite, I the first thing that came to mind was, “this needs more salt”. The marinade for the pork gave it just a tough of sweetness, but the second thought that came to mind was, “I wish this was sweeter”. However, as I continued to eat my dinner, which tasted somewhat bland with the first bite, I began to realize that it was not bland at all. As I overcame my need to taste salt and sugar, I realized that the meet and vegetables were marinated  and seasoned with a great variety of spices. I just wasn’t used to spices other than salt and sugar…

From my personal experience and research I have come to conclude that we Americans need to “readjust” our taste buds. We need to learn to enjoy those many spices we are not familiar with. Herbs and spices have a variety of health promoting properties, juxtaposed to the many unhealthy qualities of excess salt and sugar.

Substituting herbs and spices in your cooking for salt and sugar is not only very health, but it will help you lose weight.

Health benefits of herbs and spices include:

1. low calorie content
2. anti-oxidant
3. anti-inflammatory
4. disease fighting
5. help promote weight loss

So, if you are trying to lose weight, spicing up your diet is important not only for health, but for weight loss too!

Cayenne and cinnamon are the most renowned for their obesity-fighting power. A while back I wrote a post on cinnamon, the metabolism, and weight loss. However, I encourage you to experiment with using a wide variety of spices in your foods. Excluding salt and sugar, all spices are healthy, so the more the better!

1. Weight Loss – Planting an organic vegetable garden requires quite a bit of intensive labor. The digging, planting, and watering are great ways to get exercise, and in my opinion, they are a lot less tedious than running on the tread mill. When exercise is purposeful, its a lot more interesting and even meaningful.

2. Health- Two words: fresh air and sunlight. Most of us just don’t get outside enough these days. Indoor air quality is much worse than outdoor air quality, so getting outside a little more is definitely a good thing. Also, studies show that a great proportion of the US population is Vitamin D deficient, so getting some sunlight is really good too! And finally: stress. Stress can destroy your health, and gardening can be a very relaxing and de-stressing activity (unless your plants die that is)! But in all honesty, it is an amazing feeling to see that little seed you put in the ground turn into a bounty of delicious vegetables.

Finally, the most obvious health benefit of a vegetable garden, is producing fresh and delicious produce. When vegetables taste great, its a lot easier to eat a lot of them!

3. Money – Growing your own produce can actually save you money. Although initial investment may be a little high, in the long run growing your own produce will definitely save you money. Especially, if you compare the price of growing, to the price of buying organic produce!

I know we still have some time until spring rolls around, but once again, it’s never too early to start planning (or at least contemplating)!

Well, if you’re not losing the weight, then you may in fact be working too hard, and not getting enough sleep!

CNN reports on new research that identifies as a key factor to weight loss! Researchers at the University of Chicago discovered that dieters who slept 8.5 hours lost a dramatic 55 percent more body fat than dieters who slept only 5.5 hours. Participants in the study who slept less, found that they had more hunger cravings throughout the day even though they didn’t change any other aspects of their lifestyles!

Why is this? Hormones! It is believed that not enough sleep effects your hormone levels, especially ghrelin, which is known to be the hormone that controls appetite and weight. When this hormone gets out of whack it results in making the individual hungrier and leads to more fat retention.

Thus, an important weight loss strategy, the “lazzzy weight loss strategy”, is a good nights sleep.

If you have trouble sleeping, here are just a few weight loss tips:

1. Sleep near or in complete darkness (even if you’re scared of the dark)! Once again, hormones are the reason for this. Light can disrupt your body’s circadian rhythms and melatonin and serotonin produced by the body.
2. Relax before going to bed. Meditation, prayer, etc. are good methods.
3. Don’t drink liquids before going to bed… I think the reason for this is obvious.
4. Avoid eating high sugar / carb foods before bed.
5. Avoid alcohol before bed.

A simple Google search of weight loss tea will yield a ton of websites that make claims such as the one before.

I’ve never tried any of these “exotic” and “secret” teas, but I would approach them with caution. Think of it this way, even if you were to lose weight with some tea, but didn’t eat healthily or exercise, your body would likely become malnourished in the long term leading to future health problems!

Tea is not a magic weight loss potion.

However, it is still very healthy… And, when you’re having trouble losing weight with diet and exercise tea can surely be a good supplement. Notice, the word SUPPLEMENT, it can’t be a REPLACEMENT for diet and exercise!  I drink multiple cups of herbal tea every day. Personally, I prefer herbal teas (as opposed to green and black) because they do not contain any caffeine. Caffeine dehydrates you and I believe that most of us are dehydrated these days which can have serious health effects in the long term (one of these being weight gain).

Some basic health benefits of many herbal teas include: digestive support, cleansing, antibacterial and antiviral properties. Different herbal teas have varying health benefits (if you’re interested, simply do a quick Google search). Non herbal teas, which are black, green, and white, also have health benefits (I’m sure you’ve all heard about the antioxidants in green tea).

And finally, herbal tea can in fact help you lose weight. Any liquid will make you feel full and herbal teas can improve your digestion system. Herbal tea is not a weight loss potion, but it is very healthy and may help you lose weight!

I found that daily multivitamins may be recommended for weight gain for people who are underweight, not overweight! I think some overweight people may have overheard the words, “weight gain” and “vitamins”, and come to the conclusion that their multivitamin was making them fat…

Apparently, lack of vitamins in some people may make it hard for them to gain weight, and starting to take these vitamins helps weight gain (this is what I have read online, I don’t know how scientifically accurate it is). Online, I did read about a few firsthand experiences of people gaining a few pounds after starting their vitamin supplements, so I definitely think there is some truth to vitamins and gaining weight.

So, if you are overweight, and are asking “will my vitamins make me gain weight?”, the answer is no. Its perfectly safe to continue taking supplements, or begin taking supplement, when you are trying to lose weight.  

You don’t need to worry about losing weight while taking a multivitamin, unless of course you are underweight… But I highly doubt that any of us are, so happy vitamin supplement taking!

Well, maybe you have not been deceived by this crazy calorie talk, but just in case you have, I want to clear something up; a calorie is not a calorie. Well it is, I guess, but lack of focus on the types of foods you eat, and just focusing on the calories is not a smart decision. Although Calories, will always be Calories, it is the source of these Calories which is important. Food provides things other than Calories which are absolutely necessary for your body. Vitamins, Minerals, antioxidants; you have to remember these in shaping your eating habits. Although fried chicken and blueberries have the same types of calories, the two foods which contain these calories are not made equal in nutritional benefit. A hundred calories of blueberries will provide you with a lot of nutrients your body needs, while a hundred calories of fried chicken may not. In a sense, a Calorie is not a Calorie.

If your trying to lose weight, you have to focus on the types of foods you eat, not the amounts of calories they contain. Good, healthy food, will keep you full and you won’t have to worry too much about how much you’re eating.

As a few general hints (most of this is in previous posts):

• try incorporating high volume and low calorie foods into your diet, these are usually fruits and vegetables
• avoid highly processed foods, which are stripped of most of their nutritional benefits and contain potentially toxic chemicals and preservatives
• whole grains, oats, nuts, and seeds have a lot of good stuff in them…

These are just a few examples, bottom line, just try to incorporate a lot of natural foods into your diet. These foods tend to keep you full longer and provide the body with all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, omega 3 fatty acids, etc. which keep your body functioning well. When trying to lose weight, you want to give your body the food it needs, you don’t want to limit your calorie intake to the point where your facing malnutrition; Calories are not made equal!