This is a guest blog post by Beth Casey Gold, R.D., M.S., and Heather Leonard, R.D., of the University of Vermont Vtrim Online Behavioral Weight Management Program

We don’t like the word “diet.” Diets are about restriction, sacrifice, and typically they aren’t too much fun. Instead, we’re all about lifestyle change through behavior modification. Guess what? It works. We’ve researched this technique for the past 18 years under the leadership of Jean Harvey-Berino, R.D., Ph.D. at the University of Vermont. You can lose and manage weight by simply changing troublesome habits. We’ve seen person after person go through our program and lose 1-2 lbs per week by doing just that.

What You Need to Know

There are strategies you can put into action right now to make your weight loss and management goals doable and your results sustainable. Here are five to get you started:

1. Reduce TV Time. Researchers at the University of Vermont found that watching less TV results in subtle but meaningful changes in overall activity levels (see The Archives of Internal Medicine.) They found that individuals who cut television viewing by 2.5 hours (based on the average of 5 hours per day) burned off an additional 120 calories a day – the equivalent of walking about 8 miles a week. Less TV time is good for kids, too – it significantly reduces the number of calories a child consumes.

2. Step Away From the Couch. The more places you associate with eating, the more likely you are to eat there. Decide on a “Designated Eating Place” (“DEP” for short) and restrict your eating to this location. Limiting eating to just one location in your house or office will help you avoid downing a lot of calories while doing something else, like watching TV or working at your computer.

3. Don’t Clean Your Plate. There’s no rule that says you have to finish what you started. In fact, research shows that people will automatically eat more when served bigger portions, regardless of physical hunger. To curb excess eating, start with a smaller serving by using a smaller plate or bowl. Measure your snacks into snack-sized bags rather than eating straight from the bag.

4. Sneak In Exercise. Three ten-minute walks are just as effective as one thirty-minute walk. One study found that people who took more short exercise bouts actually lost more weight. Create a new routine: instead of meeting a friend for drinks or coffee, ask her to join you for a weekly catch-up walk so you can burn calories over conversation.

5. Crack Open a Cook Book. Research shows that people who eat more meals at home consume fewer calories on average than people who dine out on a regular basis. You can keep meal planning simple by keeping your pantry stocked with healthier items— low-fat soup and a whole grain roll, salad with some diced chicken breast, or a quesadilla with salsa and a portion-controlled amount of cheese can be whipped together in the amount of time it takes to get through the drive-thru.

What to do at the Supermarket

We recommend finding the foods that best fit your individual goals according to taste, ingredients, and smart portion control. Be a smart consumer and make choices based on what matters most to you and what promotes better health habits for you. Don’t just follow the marketing message you see on the package–it may lead you the wrong way.

6. Don’t shop hungry. A grumbling stomach and impulse shopping go hand-in-hand.

7. Stick to your list. Unless you see a great buy on something you use regularly, stick to only “pre-planned” items.

8. Read labels. In one study, subjects who read labels consumed about 30 percent of their calories from fat (the amount recommended for healthy eating) versus 35 percent for those who didn’t read labels.

9. Shop the perimeter. Generally, you’ll find healthy, whole foods (produce, dairy, etc.) along the sides and back of the store. Packaged goods—including tempting snacks are concentrated in center aisles.

Old habits die hard, but mindfulness and vigilance will keep you on the path towards a healthier lifestyle!

You can read more from Beth and Heather at the Vtrim Community Blog

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If there’s one key takeaway from the hit reality show “The Biggest Loser”, is that losing weight takes a lot of hard work. People need to readjust their entire life, both mentally, physically, and for some spiritually as well. A key success factor for the show’s contestants is trainer Jillian Michaels, who should should have known better than to get herself involved in some shady diet pill endorsement.

Now she’s being slapped with lawsuits because her Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control supplements fail to suppress appetite and reduce weight. This despite the claims:

We all know if you want to lose weight, you need to reduce your caloric intake. It sounds simple, but the truth is, if it were easy, most of us wouldn’t be overweight in the first place. This is where Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control™ comes in: it’s a proprietary formula specifically developed to restrict your caloric intake automatically. In other words, when you take this compound before main meals, you eat less… but the best part is, you won’t even know you are eating less. It’s like an automatic diet. What could be easier!

blah, blah, blah.

What you need to know:

The American Dietetic Association recommends getting all your nutrients from real food, not supplements. There is no magic or short cut to weight loss. All these pills are much less regulated than food, and after decades of advertisements for shady products, Americans should know better. So what threw people off this time? Celeb endorsement, of course.

If Jillian Michaels, who we’ve all come to admire and respect, put her name on the product, either

(a) it must actually do magic, or

(b) she simply got a boatload of money.

What do you think?

What to do at the supermarket:

The really easy way to start losing weight is to buy, prepare, and eat real food. Even easier, conceptually, is forgoing soft drinks, and switching to tap water. Your taste buds will slowly return to normal levels of sweetness identification. Your pocketbook will be $500 fuller (one year, family of 4), and you’ll have more to spend on fresh foods and vegetables.

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Today, First Lady Michelle Obama will formally announce a campaign to end childhood obesity. In one generation. This lofty goal is very much in need, as over one third of American children are overweight or obese. Mrs. Obama wants the program to focus on nutrition education for parents and kids, more exercise, and improved school lunches.

As we recently wrote, this campaign has slim chances of success. The reason is simple – it is far more profitable for America to “fix” obesity related ailments than to prevent them. The industries that stand to lose if obesity goes away are fast food establishments, junk food manufacturers, beverage manufacturers, health care, weight loss, and supplements.

Additionally, the underlying incentive system that has made junk food so cheap needs to be revamped. But the farm subsidies for corn, soy, and wheat will not be disappearing anytime soon. That’s because the USDA holds two ends of the stick – taking care of big Agriculture corporations while at the same time taking care of little kids. Who do you think pays better?

Sorry for the pessimism, and we hope to be proven wrong. But this initiative is like a tooth whitening service when a root canal is due.

What to do at the supermarket:

There is good news for individuals who want to change things for their family. Actually, with a few small changes, you can start improving your children’s diets. The clearest cut, though not always easiest, is the switch to drinking water instead of sugary drinks. In case you’re wondering, juice is a sugary drink.

Read nutrition labels and note the serving sizes. Many times the actual serving size is much larger than the one written on the box. This will help you calculate the real number of calories you and your kids will consume.

And offer more fruits and vegetables to your children. As Michelle Obama says “Sneak a few grapes in for breakfast, pack an apple for lunch, and make sure that they actually ate it.”

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If you’ve ever been on a weight loss diet, you know how difficult it is to stay the course, achieve your target weight, and then maintain it for months and years. The majority of dieters fail to maintain their low weight for over a year.

For many, a diet means a temporary sacrifice and inconvenience in order to reach a certain goal (Weddings, bikini season, etc..). But unlike other one time sacrifices – working as a teen all summer long to save up money to buy a car, or spending 4 years crunching textbooks to get an engineering degree – once you’ve achieved your goal, you’ve got to continue working hard to maintain it.

Jennifer LaRue Huget, Washington Post’s Eat Drink and Be Healthy blogger, has a great piece on a current trend:

…a subtle shift in the diet-guidance market: Instead of prescribing eating regimens, many weight-loss experts are suggesting that we reevaluate our relationship with food, focus on eating healthful whole foods and use psychology to aid our efforts to shed pounds. read more…

What you need to know:

The weight loss industry is a huge business and still growing – close to $70 billion in revenue expected this year alone (compare to $500 billion we spend on groceries). But obviously something is afoul, as the average American is still getting heavier year after year.

A lifestyle change seems like a better approach, because habits are, well, habitual. We get used to doing things a certain way, and then it’s not an effort to continue doing them. For example, getting into the habit of eating whole grain products instead of refined grains. Getting into the habit of drinking only water. Getting used to less salty food over the course of several months through gradual reduction. Ditto for sugar.

We’re not saying that this is easy. If you’ve been drinking pop for 30 years, making it a habit to drink just water is a daunting task. That’s why starting young is a key success factor. If your children equate thirst with water, not juice, that’s a life lesson that will help them manage their weight ten or twenty years down the road (not to mention dentist bills).

Another issue to consider is the role that the food industry is playing in creating good or bad lifestyle choices for us. With snacks getting shoved in front of our faces every which way we turn, it’s so easy to succumb to temptation. Think Doritos and Coke when filling up the minivan, a 400 calorie latte at the bookstore, or even a “healthy” 500 calorie snack at the gym after a workout.

What to do at the supermarket:

For those of us complaining about the high price of healthy foods (fresh fruits and vegetables) here is some interesting math: 72 million Americans are on some sort of diet. They will spend $70B this year on dieting. That works out to almost $1000 per person spent on dieting, on average. Imagine using those $1000 to improve the quality and nutrition of the products you purchase – an extra $20 a week to get more nutrients into your body. And if you kick the soft drink habit, switching to tap water – that’s another $125 of savings annually.

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The American Heart Association wants you to be healthier. And in a new, online campaign, dubbed My Life Check, the organization is introducing 7 factors that will help you live longer:

1. Stop smoking
2. Get active
3. Lose weight
4. Eat better
5. Manage blood pressure
6. Control cholesterol
7. Reduce blood sugar

No big surprises in the list. Smoking is a killer that everyone acknowledges. Most of us live a sedentary lifestyle and would do better to get physical activity into the daily routine. Losing weight and eating better seem like the same thing at first, but are not necessarily so. To lose weight you just need to cut calories, but that does not mean you are eating healthfully. Case in point, the recent Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet, where a young lady lost 50 pounds by eating at a fast food establishment. Eating better means incorporating nutrient dense foods into the lowered number of calories you are consuming as part of your diet. Nutrient dense foods are fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean cuts of meat, legumes, and dairy products.

These first 4 activities can be handled by yourself, with help and advice from registered dietitians to create a weight loss plan that fits your personal needs.

The last 3 suggestions in the list require a visit to the doctor’s office for a checkup and some tests (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar), something we should do once a year if we’re healthy and young, and more often if not.

The program is sponsored by the “Pharmaceutical Roundtable”, which in the AHA’s words is:

the first roundtable in the pharmaceutical industry and one of the most exciting developments in cardiovascular research in recent years. This innovative forum provides an opportunity for an ongoing exchange of ideas and information between our medical leaders and those from prestigious pharmaceutical companies.

All the big pharma companies are members and will be more than happy to provide you with pills, shots, and treatment plans to help you get better.

Other features of the program include an online quiz you can take to assess how you are faring in each of the seven steps to a healthier heart.

What to do at the supermarket:

It’s much cheaper for you, not to mention healthier, not to be in a position to need the help of the pharmaceutical industry. You don’t want to get to the stage where drugs are what keep your heart healthy. So start making smart food choices NOW, for yourself, and even more importantly, for your children.

Our usual basket of advice includes buying mostly unprocessed products and preparing meals and snacks at home. When you do buy prepared foods, a short ingredient list is usually a sign of a better product for you. Try to ignore front of package health claims and marketing speak, because in many cases they only present half the truth – a low fat product may be very high in sugar to compensate.

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First Lady Michelle Obama has a legacy she wants to leave behind: drastically reducing childhood obesity. Yesterday at a Mayors Conference in Washington DC,  she announced a new initiative in this spirit, to be formally announced in February.

After presenting the dismal stats (around 18% of kids are obese), Mrs. Obama outlined what is to be a joint effort at the federal, municipal, and non-profit levels.

“The idea here is very simple: to put in place commonsense, innovative solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids.”

The main points:

• improved school lunches
• more physical activity (including school phys-ed cut due to budget constraints)
• access to fresh and healthy foods in all communities (nutrition deserts are all too common in poor urban areas)
• nutrition education for kids and their parents.

This is a great plan, and Mrs Obama deserves kudos for bringing childhood obesity to our collective attention. No doubt her status as the nation’s number one mom, with personal experiences and challenges in feeding her family, make her one of the best champions for the cause.

However…

I’m sorry, First Lady, your plan, while commendable, doesn’t have a fighting chance.

Here’s why: Read more…

This has got to be either a joke or a bad dream. Taco Bell is running a campaign called the Drive Thru Diet with a pretty gal named Christine who claims to have lost 54 pounds of weight by eating the lower calorie options at Taco Bell. Photos and videos of before and after leave the viewer scratching her head – did she really lose all that weight while munching on tacos?

What you need to know:

Eating at fast food establishments is detrimental to your weight. Period.

Even if they shave off a few calories, the products at Taco Bell and others are still made from the cheapest ingredients that fast food chains can procure. That means lots of oil, salt, and sugar on top of additives, preservatives, and artificial flavorings.

On its site, Taco Bell admits that the results of sweet Christine are not typical. And that the lower calorie foods are NOT LOW CALORIE food:

For a healthier lifestyle, pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise. Fresco can help with calorie reductions of 20 to 100 per item compared to corresponding products on our regular menu. Not a low calorie food.

So you eat crappy food, save only 20-100 calories per item and you’re gonna lose weight?

That’s a taco-ful of baloney.

Seems like YUM Brands, the owner of Taco Bell and Burger King, seeing its sales plummet this year, decided to copy a page from Subway’s playbook.

What to do:

If you are serious about weight loss, invest in a few meetings with a registered dietitian and together build a practical work plan that you can live with for a lifetime.

Cutting visits to fast food chains down to zero or thereabouts, along with switching from soft drinks to tap water, you will see changes rather soon.

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This month is seeing several religious fasting traditions – Muslims with the Rammadan, and Jews with Yom Kippur. The latter is a 25 hour fast beginning this evening at sunset. Rammadan, which ended last week, lasted an entire month! Luckily, followers of Islam are allowed to eat before sunrise and after sunset each day during the fasting month.

Historically, fasting has been tied to spiritual healing, a cleansing of the soul, and prophetic visions. In modern times, some people have opted for occasional fasts as a quick weight loss solution.

What you need to know:

While fasting once in a while is not going to kill a normally healthy person, it does pose  several risks:

Undernourishment and malnourishment – our body is an amazing machine that needs a host of nutrients to keep it running smoothly.

Muscle loss – When our body is undernourished and inactive – it tends to burn the pounds away in the form of muscle, not fat. Big bummer.

Going crazy – Perhaps the modern day interpretation of historical fasts leading to visions and prophecies is simply the fact that going too long without food leads to deteriorating mental capacities, sometimes inducing hallucinations and other psychological side effects.

Weight gain – Silly as it sounds, after the fast some people put more into their body than they would have given the opportunity to eat  regular meals.

To summarize, a better way to lose weight is to eat right rather than not eat at all.

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A new study presented recently at the European Congress on Obesity claims, in no uncertain terms, that the almost exclusive reason for the rising rates of obesity in the western world are excess caloric intake, and NOT lack of exercise. From Food Navigator:

The study’s leader, Professor Boyd Swinburn, chair of population health and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Australia, said: “There have been a lot of assumptions that both reduced physical activity and increased energy intake have been major drivers of the obesity epidemic…This study demonstrates that the weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all explained by eating more calories. It appears that changes in physical activity played a minimal role.”

The researchers took a sample of 1,399 adults and 963 children and tested how many calories they burned in free-living conditions. They were then able to establish what their calorie intake would need to be in order to maintain a stable weight or, for the children, to maintain a normal growth curve. They then used national survey data of US weights in the 1970s and early 2000s and compared actual weight gain to expected weight gain if food were the only factor. Read more…

We all know the internet is chock full of scam artists finding innovating ways to part your from your money. Free credit reports, performance enhancing drugs, and weight loss miracles are just a few examples. In the past few years, more and more people have fallen for açai berry scams. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has published a warning:

[Do] not to enroll online in supposedly free trials of diet products made with the trendy Brazilian berry açai (pronounced a-sigh-EE). There’s no evidence whatsoever to suggest that açai pills will help shed pounds, flatten tummies, cleanse colons, enhance sexual desire, or perform any of the other commonly advertised functions. And thousands of consumers have had trouble stopping recurrent charges on their credit cards when they cancel their free trials.

Even web sites purporting to warn about açai-related scams are themselves perpetrating scams, according to CSPI.

Read more…

What you need to know:

There are no shortcuts to being healthy and losing weight. While its nice to daydream about nutrition miracles, they don’t exist. A balanced diet filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats, fish and dairy products, together with plenty of exercise are a safer and better bet.

Supplements, detoxes, and other incredible pills, are not going to do the hard work for you, not even if a celebrity endorses them on Oprah.

What to do at the supermarket:

Stick to real foods, the ones found at the perimeter of the supermarket. Look for short ingredient lists.

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