How to be a Smarter Eater

It is very easy to lose track of HOW MUCH we are eating, whether we are with others or going solo.



Did you know?

• You are likely to eat more when you are eating with others. You may mimic eating habits of your companions. Faster eaters... beware you could continue eating until the others finish!!


• The larger the plate, the more you eat


• Having food infront of you causes you to eat more.

So how to be a Smarter Eater:

• If you are at home - ask yourself "am I really hungry?" before start eating. If you are dining out with friends start chatting with your companions & sip on a glass of water / herbal tea / Low calorie drink


• Use smaller-sized plates & bowls.


• Keep your treats far away. Set your veggie dishes at the front & center on the table at dinnertime, and place high calorie dishes on the kitchen counter.

Meal Plan

Day two:

Breakfast

Strawberry - kiwi shake

1 serving vanilla flavoured soy protein shake powder
1 cup non-fat milk or light soy milk
1/2 cup frozen whole strawberries
1 very ripe kiwi, peeled
1/8 teaspoon lemon extract
4 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in the blender & blend until the ice cubes are completely crushed.

Lunch
(drink another protein shake on the two-meal replacement plan)
or

Chicken and fruit salad made with:
Roasted chicken breast, shredded
Diced celery
Cucumber
Red apple, diced
Carrot
Bed of romaine lettuce
Tossed with L.A.Shape "Carrot Vinaigrette"

L.A.Shape "Carrot Vinaigrette"
(makes three 2-tablespoon servings)

One 4oz jar baby-food carrots
3 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pour baby food carrots into a jar with a lid. Add all the other ingredients, shake well & refrigirate.

Snack

One whole orange


Dinner

Gazpzcho (see recipe below)
Grilled fish: Snapper
Sauteed spinach with spring onion or shallots
Fresh Fruit

Gazpacho
This is a great soup to make during the summer, with fresh tomatoes. This recipe makes a large amount & can have in the refrigerator for a quick low calorie snack.

(makes 8 servings)

Ingredients
5 whole tomatoes, cored & sliced
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup tarragon vinegar

6 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped cucumber

1. Place the first 9 ingredients in the blender & blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and stir in the rest of the ingredients.
2. Chill well and serve very cold.

(Nutritional analysis per serving; Calories 67, Protein 2g, Fat 2g, Carbohydrate 12g)

Meal idea from L.A.Shape Diet by Dr David Heber

If you know any great recipes, meal ideas please share. Thank you.

Meal Plan

Let's look at some meal plans that will help you with your weight management;

Day One:

Breakfast -
Blueberry or Strawberry soy protein shake with additional Protein added to reach your personal protein requirement.

Place in a blender
Shake powder
Soy protein powder (if needed)
1 cup soy milk or non-fat milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or strawberries
few ice cubes

Blend together & enjoy!

Lunch -
(Drink another protein shake on the two-meal replacement plan, or eat a regular lunch for slower weight loss)

Seafood salad made with:

Chunk light water-packed tuna
Imitation crab meat
Tomatoes
Celery, parsley, onion.
Served on a bed of romaine lettuce.
Dressed with L.A.Shape "Green Goddess" Dressing.

Green Goddess Dressing:
(makes three 2-tablespoon servings)

One 4oz jar baby-food green beans
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pour the baby-food beans into a jar with a lid. Add all the other ingredients, shake well & referigerate.
(Nutritional analysis per serving: Carolies - 17, Protein - 0.5g, Fat - 0, Carbohydrate - 4g)

Snack:
One 6-8 inch banana, or 1 whole orange , slices

Dinner:

Chicken and Turkey Meat Loaf (see recipe below)
Steamed Broccoli & Carrots
Baked Apple with cinnamon

Chicken & Turkey Meat Loaf
(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients;

Olive oil spray
2 egg whites
1/4 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon bottled steak sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 medium onion, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fropund black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1/2 kg each ground chicken & turkey breast

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Spay an 8-inch square oven & microwave safe dish with olive oil spray.
2. In a bowl large enough to hold the meat, beat egg whites & milk. Add the bread crumbs, steak sauce, and ketchup, and mix well with a fork. Let stand for 5min, or until the breadcrumbs have absorbed the liquid. Stir in onion, carrot, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder & parsley. Add the ground meat and mix thoroughly with clean hands.
3. Turn the mixture into the prepared dish & shape it into a loaf. Spay the top with olive oil spray. Microwave on high for 25 minutes, then transfer to the oven & bake for 25 minutes.
4. Let the meat loaf rest out of the oven for 10 minutes so that it will slice more easily.

(Nutritional analysis per serving: Calories - 175, Protein - 28g, Fat - 2g, Carbohydrate - 9g)

Meal ideas from L.A.Shape Diet by Dr. David Heber

The Secret of High-Protein for Weight Loss

Consuming low-fat protein daily along with exercise can help you build lean muscle mass.

Each kilo of lean body mass burns about 30 calories a day.

Hig Protein Foods send signals to the brain that keep you from being hungry for hours!

Strong evidence that Protein will reduce your apetite & make losing weight easier.

Typical breakfast of refined cereal grains often have too little protein in them to keep you full until lunch.

How much Protein?
Women - up to 100g per day
Men - Up to 150g per day

When you start eating with required protein levels you'll find that your hunger is satisfied as never before.

You can check the protein amount in your food at - calorieking

Calories & how this affect our weight loss

First of all - what are calories? Bit scary word for most in terms of losing weight.

A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories. You could drive a car 22 miles (35 km) on the calories in 217 Big Macs.

Sometimes energy on food labels are given in joules.

1 calorie = 4.187 joules

How weight loss works?

If you eat the same number of calories as you burn, your weight remains the same.

Energy In (Food) = Energy Out (Exercise + Resting Metabolic Rate*)

If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight, & for every 500 calories less you eat per day, you will lose about 1 pound (1/2 a kilo) of weight per week;

Energy In (Food) < Energy Out (Exercise + Resting Metabolic Rate*)

The amount of food you eat is less than the calories you burn, but the energy has to come from somewhere. Your body takes it from your stored calories of fat.

Another thing to remeber is that it is not recommended to eat less than 1200 calories per day.

The key to healthy weight loss is to make sure the reduced calories you eat provide the nutrition you need.>

*Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher RMR than women.

Also please remember that if you ONLY reduce the calorie intake & DON'T increae the physical activity, it will take LONGER for you to lose weight.

Say your goal is to have 500 calorie daily deficit - then try eating 250 calories less & spend 250 calories in physical activity.

You can make adjustment to this, say if you are starting out & to spend 250 calories on physical activity is too much for you, try eating 400 calories less & spending 100 calories on physical activity.

Hope you get the picture.

The best way to find out how many calories you consume is to keep a Food Diary.
Yes, you need to write everything that you eat. (for eg; the piece of ham & cheese you put in your mouth while making kids school lunch in the morning!)

Eating Junk Food - Unhealthy Snacking

Lets face it, we are all human. Sometimes we get an urge to eat something that may not be healthy.

Ok, you get this idea to eat some junk food & you are thinking "yes, I'd really want to eat this". Then you imagine how satisfied you will be etc.. This is the physical part of your brain.

Then immediately you get some other conflicting thoughts - "If I do eat this junk food I'll feel guilty for the rest of myday & it will screw up my meal plan & I'll get out of tract.... & so on"

This create a friction amongst your thoughts. This leads to you burning up your most important energy - WILL POWER

Ok, how can we overcome this?

What you could do is to be prepared to face such situations. - Find yourself a 2-3 step process to implement when you come across situation like this.

You can find your own process, but just to give you an example -
Step 1 - Find some some really healthy food (eg;Protein Bars or Roasted Soy Nuts) that you enjoy & keep a stock at home, at your work, in your handbag, in your car... etc where you can reach for it easily where ever you are.

When you have the 'trigger feeling' - "I need to eat some junk food"

Step 2 - Straight away drink a glass or two of water. - Important do not wait to think!!
This would fill you up & water is a natural appetite suppressant.

If the trigger comes back,
Step 3 - Eat your healthy snack you already have.

You will need to do this process over & over & over again so that it becomes your habit.
Do not wait to think - "should I?" "shouldn't I?" ... etc.
Get into ACTION staight away!

Please share your experience in similar situations?

Drinking Water

One of the most important things you can do for your weight loss is to drink water.

How much water is enough? - Normally you should drink 6-8 glasses (250ml glasses) water a day.
You can usually trust your sense of thirst to let you know when you need to drink.

If you are not used to drinking water it is a great idea to make a note of how much water you are taking until you get into the habit of drinking around 6-8, 250ml glasses a day.

Most of the time we find that we are tired in the afternoon & this is due to dehydration & will improve by paying attention to water intake.

If you are exercising or the weather is hot, drinking water is even more important, as you lose water through sweating.

Replace what you lose -
After each 30-minute workout, drink two 250ml glasses of water to replanish your fluids.
If you find that you are thirsty while exercising, use a bottle of water to help you stay hydrated.

Don't like the taste of plain water?

Try adding a slice of lemon, splash of orange juice or Aloe Juice .

What about drinking Tea or Coffee?
The caffeine in both tea & coffee act on your kidneys to increase urine flow.

So, sorry no.. tea & coffee don't count toward your water intake because they cause your kidneys to excrete more water than they contain.

Saying that, drinking Green Tea can be a great energy booster & they count towards your water intake for the day.

Also studies have shown that green tea can stimulate metabolism by about 80calories a day when you drink 4-6 cups per day or take a Supplement containing Green Tea .

Do yourself a favour - Get into the habit of drinking water

It is not that difficult & doesn't cost much.

Source - L.A.Shape Diet - Dr David Heber, M.D., PH.D.