Diet

The ABC’s of Weight Loss

on August 30th, 2010 by Rob

My second son… George- Jorge as my friend Rocky calls him…. is learning his ABC’s—– this is a rudimentary exercise that all kids do- it is a building block to reading and further advancement. (I know… I sound like a teacher)- Anywho…. George is learning to talk and Beth and I have started going through his alphabet.

So, with this in mind… an idea came to me. Why not come up with an ABC’s of weight loss? I did the 31 Habits (make sure to scroll down)  not long ago and this will be more of the same…. except, you will have to tune in each day to see what is next. I will just go in and mysteriously edit the post. Funny enough… it is also the network that my show was on.

So- join me for this- Here we go!!

A- A is for APPLE (did you really think I would come up with anything else here?) Apples are good for you…. you know there is a reason that we have sayings like this one…. it is because they are at least partly true. In this case, it is all the way true…. have one each day and it keeps the doctor away. The thing is, really any fruit will do the trick. They are much better for you than Twinkies and are almost as good. Check out this information on apples.

B- B is for BEER.  If you are ANYTHING like me… the thought of not drinking beer is just simply …. NOT an option. So I had to come up with something. If I am out mowing the yard or doing something where I just want a little beer kinda sorta taste, then I go with the new Budweiser Select 55 beer- BUT- If I want a real good micro brew- I go with Sam Adams Light. It has a few more calories (o.k.- about twice as many) than the Bud, but it is well worth it. Closest thing that I have found to a “regular” beer.

I guess you could also say that A is for alcohol- So… there were two for A—- “O.K., You got the bonus plan!”- don’t get used to it!

C- C is for COFFEE or CAFFEINE- This seems to be the thing that gets me up in the morning these days. When I wake up, it is the first thing that I think of.

Well- as it turns out coffee can supercharge your workout. Check out this Article from Yahoo Health…. I have heard this before. Apparently, caffeine gives you more stamina— in other words you can run further which equals more calories burned.

D- D is for DIET. But not the diet you think. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that I am not and have not been on a diet since I was in the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge. The thing is…. I don’t really want to stop eating the things that I like. I just have to find some things that I can live with. What are they?

Well, for starters…. I don’t order 20 wings… I order 6. I don’t have 5 regular beers… I have 3 Light beers. I don’t have a WHOLE sandwich at the deli… I have a half- and BAKED chips. OH—- and a DIET COKE. I just had to find some alternatives and have LESS!

E- E is for EXERCISE…. of course. You need at least 5 hours a week of exercise. That is my rule… you know what- I am going to stop quoting the experts and doctors on this. According to me— you need 5 hours a week. And remember, the faster you do it, the faster you will get it over with. LOL!!

F- F is for FRUCTOSE- get it from fruit! I have said on more than one occasion… avoid the High Fructose Corn Syrup. A study by Hepatology stated that when given fructose water, rats had a tendency to become obese. AND THAT WAS JUST WATER… we eat this stuff in our bread…. it is everywhere!! Read your labels and AVOID it!

G- G is for Grapefruit. Kick off your meal with a grapefruit and you are likely to lose more weight… faster. Subjects of a study done by the Journal of Medicinal Food that ate half of a grapefruit before each meal, lost more weight at the end of 12 weeks than those that did not. On the other hand…. I HATE GRAPEFRUIT. And by the way…. I have seen commercials for some crappy diet pill based on grapefruits. They say that grapefruits are super-foods and that they take more calories to burn than they contain. THIS IS CRAP! NOT TRUE! Don’t buy into this!!!!! G- G is for GOOD!!! Like GOOD food—- NOT GRAPEFRUIT! Or G- G is for God. He helps you lose weight!!!

H- H is for High Fructose Corn Syrup- Just don’t eat it. I can not tell you how many times I have been asked over the last couple of years about my diet… what did I follow? How did I make food decisions. If you can lay off of the HFCS…. you are WAY ahead of the game! Not only is this stuff NOT exactly like sugar, but your body does not metabolize it the same way. IT WILL MAKE YOU FAT! AVOID IT!!

I- I is for INSULIN. Of course diabetes is where I am coming from here. If you increase your exercise and watch your diet, you will have a decreased chance of getting this disease. I know… this is all very insightful, but it is something that HAS to be said.

J- J is for JELLY! OMG!!!! Have you had the smuckers with Splenda?? Fabulous!!! (Said that just like Jack from Will and Grace!)—- O.K. here is the deal. I LOVE PB&J. My wife gets on to me all the time for eating it. I practically grew up on it. My Dad used to say I was going to turn into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich– or a Pop-Tart.  I still eat ‘em. But here is the thing….. I have CHANGED it. I eat whole wheat bread, Smuckers with the Splenda and reduced fat PB. OH—- and I only eat one now… instead of two. I think that this is a great example of a small change that you can make and come out ahead!!! Just change your favorite thing— to something slightly better (oh, and don’t eat as much!!)

K- K is for KETOSIS. This is actually a real medical-type term (don’t you just love how smart I sound) that I had never heard before. Ketosis is actually the point at which your body runs low on carbs and starts burning fat for fuel. Ketosis is what your body goes into if you go on the Adkins diet (you know, low carbs). Studies show that people that resist carbs loose more weight initially than those that avoid fats…. however, after about a year, their results are comparable. As I have said before, the problem is that you can’t resist bread and pasta and sugar your whole life.

L- L is for LEPTIN- This is a hormone. It is responsible for telling your brain when you are full. Reseachers have found that if you don’t eat enough…. or if you starve yourself, then this will lower leptin levels- thus prompting you to eat more.

A study published recently suggests that the consumption of high amounts of fructose causes leptin resistance and elevated triglycerides in rats. The high-fructose diet rats subsequently ate more and gained more weight than controls when fed a high fat, high calorie diet.

So- for the love of God…. eat your snacks and lay off the High Fructose Corn Syrup!!!

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Maters!!!

on August 11th, 2010 by Rob

Beth and I have started a new thing. Maters…. in the back yard. Of course I had to use a picture of Tow-Mater (my kids love this)!!

But what we have found is that it is a lot of fun for all of us. Beth and I make sure that they are watered by assigning one of the kids to do it each day. George particularly loves it.

The tomatos that we planted this spring grew about 5 feet tall and ended up giving us tomatos for about 6 weeks. Not bad for our first go ’round.

Since then… actually just in the past few days, we have planted some pepers and some different kinds of tomatos… grape tomatos I think.

The whole point of this exercise is to not only foster some fun for our family… being out in the back yard together (of course Dad just kind of sits on the porch and drinks beer)…. but to also to try to spur my kids interest in vegtables. I want them to LIKE vegtables.

When I was a kid, my GRANDPARENTS grew tomatos in the back-yard, but vegtables were not really a part of my life. I mean, I ate a lot of pop-tarts, but those don’t grow in the back-yard. Maybe if my PARENTS had been into it…. I would have grown to like vegtables and I would not have been 25 years old when I ate my first tomato. (Which by the way is actually a fruit).

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Get Your Snack On!

on August 9th, 2010 by Rob

This friend of mine used to have this great audio file of a Delta Airlines commercial. It was a goof, but one of the things that the guy said in it was to “Get Your Snack On!” Well, that is just what I am telling you today.

My children seem to get this. They will eat fairly snacks all day long and then when they get to dinner, they are not really that hungry and don’t always finish their meals. But you know what…. my wife and I have not given them the “starving children in Africa” bit. I don’t care… they don’t have to finish if they don’t want to. I hope that by doing things this way, they can avoid some of the stuff that has plagued me all of my life.

They can eat appropriate amounts…. NORMAL serving sizes and not worry about it if they don’t eat it all. It has been something of a challenge to learn to leave things on my plate.

Snacking helps ME do this as well. I have said it before, if you are trying to lose weight…. as I see it, snacking will do two things for you.

1. Keep you from being so hungry that your body goes into starvation mode…. making weight loss slower.

2. Keep you from being so hungry that you go nuts and overeat at the next meal.

Snacking…. I HIGHLY recommend it!!

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Portion Control- 5 ways to do it

on August 5th, 2010 by Rob

92nd and Broadway

We have got to get a handle on portion sizes if we want to make any difference. If we want to lose weight- we have to get this right. After all, you can eat any low-cal food and still over do it. It is possible to eat too much broccoli (don’t know why you would).

Follow these hints to “take it easy”——-

1. Break down left overs. This is one that my wife could do a better job of…. of course it is her responsibility to keep me thin…. to to mention cook, clean and just be in charge of all things domestic in general.—- (easy everybody- I’m kidding)- what I mean here is to take a casserole for example and cut it up and put it in individual bowls or plates to stick in the fridge. This way you will just pull out one helping. This just kind of makes it a “no brainer” when eating left overs.

2. Say yes to salads. I experienced this just a few minutes ago. My wife made a salad for me and served it right before my chicken lasagna…. it had low fat dressing and put some food in me before I got to the main dish. I am surprised by how full I feel without having a second helping of lasagna…. the salad did it!

3. Single out trigger foods. Take whatever it is for you and put it in individual zip-locks. If I don’t do this, then the chances are pretty damn good that I will Hoover that entire bag of Cool Ranch Doritos

4. Master small meals- When I lived in NYC, I had this friend Kevin that was a big runner/exercise guy (way before I was—- 10 years before I was)- anyway, this guy would never over eat, because he ate all day long. He would eat like a bird all day. We would stop at a convenience store and this guy would get a sandwich out of the freezer. What he was doing was keeping himself from getting hungry by eating just a little at at time.

5. Keep seconds out of sight- Also when I lived in NYC, we used to eat at Carmine’s all the time. Its a great Family Style Italian Restaurant and if you are in NY you just have to check it out. Best Marsala I have ever had and the Cesar Salad is just the best…. o.k.- getting off track. The point is- the dishes are right there on the table “family style”. Don’t do this if you are at your table. Make it a trip to get your next plateful. After all, it takes about 20 minutes to really feel satiated and if you will just wait a minute…. slow down and take a second, then you may not need a second helping.

Do you have any tips to cut down your portions???

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Smile!

on August 1st, 2010 by Rob

Dr. Robert Neely told me one time to “only floss the ones you want to keep”- I told someone that the other day and they said, “yeah, I think they teach that joke in dental school”.

I guess doctors and dentists are still debating over the evidence that bleeding gums are somehow related to heart disease and heart attacks.

I had heard this and thought to myself…. how can that be? How can this CAUSE heart problems? My next thought was that it must be a relationship…. in other words, people that don’t think enough of themselves to take care of their heart, must not do a great job on their teeth either…. even though you can SEE their teeth.

Now, while this might indeed be true, this little cause/effect hypothesis thing I have going…. I have FINALLY heard something that made me think about it.

According to an article that I read in Baptist HealthSource magazine, (and according to the doctor that they interviewed), “Gum disease is a source of chronic inflammation, which causes the body to release substances that may speed plaque buildup in the blood vessels”. Additionally, “gum disease may increase the amount of bacteria in the blood…”

At this point…. I think that the jury is still out. However, if you are like me and would rather live to tell the tail of what a pain in the ass it was to floss all the time…. keep on saving those teeth!

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Drew Carey

on July 29th, 2010 by Rob

Goodness… everyone needs to see this!!

Check out this article!!

Looks like Drew has been to the gym!

I find this to be really interesting…. aside from Chris Farley- Drew Carey is the celebrity that I have most been associated with.

I even have a picture of a Halloween costume… where I went dressed as Drew Carey- You know, I just put on some glasses and a Cleveland Indians hat.

Really good to see him make some changes!!

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B.U.F.F.E.T- Know what that stands for?

on July 28th, 2010 by Rob

BIG UGLY FAT FOLKS EATING TOGETHER—- well, almost.

When I lived in N.Y.C. the Chinese food was much different than it is in the south. Even at the places that weren’t in Chinatown the food was much more authentic Chinese. You know, I am not sure about this…. it is just me sitting at my kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon…. but I just don’t remember seeing or knowing that many fat Chinese people. I mean, I guess there are some, but you just don’t see them like you do Americans. Maybe it is all the rice that they eat? You know, now that I think about that, it seems like I have heard some information on that rice…. like, the rice they eat is different from the rice we eat. I have heard that they leave the “husk” on and this makes it better. I don’t know, I will have to do some research on this and check it out and let you know.

Anyway- I want to address something. Chinese buffets. I just can’t do it anymore. I can get carried away. I mean, if the ones that you have been to are ANYTHING like the ones here in Mississippi….. well, you can get the cart off the road in a hurry. I mean, they have pizza on the buffet at the Chinese resterants here!!!!! WTF? Once again, it is just something that is off limits for me.

Cornell University (shout out to you Larry!!) has a Food and Brand Lab. So, they went and checked out people eating at Chinese buffets. (In upstate N.Y. they must be like the ones in Mississippi)— so these smart guys from Cornell go and OBSERVE fat folks eating together and they made some pretty cool findings-

1. The skinny people were more likely to BROWSE the buffet before serving themselves.

2. The skinny people were more likely to sit with their backs to the buffet.

3. The skinny people were more likely to sit at a booth

4. The skinny people were more likely to use chopsticks

They made some more keen observations, but these were the most striking. Interesting stuff. I think that this has to do with food addiction. I just mean that I know how I am and I am much more like those fat folks.

So- the next time you go to a buffet…. if you can handle that…. act like skinny folks!!

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Time to trim the calories!

on July 27th, 2010 by Rob

In an effort to curb childhood obesity rates…. some of our nations largest food companies have have said that they will trim 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2012. (Is there anyone else out there that is suspicious of Kraft and it being owned by Philip-Morris?)

These companies made their announcement through a trade association. Michelle Obama said that “This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need”- she is the one that started her own “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign.

Will this really work? Can we trust them?

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Prostrate Cancer Risks are high!!

on July 24th, 2010 by Rob

Well, I am pretty sure that this is NOT something that I want. I mean, the examination is bad enough—– “Moon River”—– I can only imagine what the treatment is like. I recently went in for an examination and I told my doctor- “I can’t believe that I pay you for that” … He said, “well, I am sure as hell not doing it for free”—- Good point doc!

I do have a point. It is get moving to reduce your risk of prostrate cancer.

I was reading an article today about the risks and how to avoid this deadly disease. Wrap your head around this one…. ONE IN SIX MEN WILL GET IT!!!!!How can this be avoided? Read on!

1. Lose the fat in your diet- eating a lot of this…. expecially from animals (which tells me it is most likly saturated fat)—- eating a lot of this has been linked to a higher risk of prostrate cancer

2. Pack your diet with nutrients- MORE THE BETTER ON FRUITS AND VEGTABLES! Pick the ones with bright colors.

3. BE FIT!!- The American Cancer Society recomends at least 30 minutes a day of exercise… but 45-60 mins per day is really needed to reduce the risk.

Also, men that have what is called meabolic syndrome are more likely to get prostrate cancer… what is that? Well, it is a certain group of risk factors… overweight, fat around your mid-section and  higher blood sugar levels…. basically being un-fit.

So, there ya go…. it is as easy as that! And make sure to get checked regularly… don’t fear the finger!

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U.S. Dietary Guidelines for 2010

on July 13th, 2010 by Rob

Who does he think he is with that jacket..... Huggy Bear??

The U.S. Dept of Agriculture and the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services have come out with their 2010 dietary  guidelines. They are for people over age 2 and encourage good health…. and they want people to avoid chronic diseases.

They are done every 5 years and I am sure that this latest version is not a whole lot different from the last one. However, one key difference is that this time around, there is more emphasis on physical activity. Apparently, the government would like us to move more to help control our weight.

Funny that they would mention that. This past weekend was my birthday. I was fully involved in a round of wings and beers on Saturday afternoon when one of my old friends came in.  He is a regular reader of this site and he says something to the effect of —- “I see you are saying to hell with it today since this is your birthday”. Well, I guess I was a little, but what I had to tell him was that I ran 5 miles earlier that morning. So…. it all evens out.

My point is this- According to the latest government research, people are not burning nearly as many calories as they are taking in…. I mean, this is basic stuff. This is why we are seeing an explosion of obesity in this county and specifically in this state and region. If we can get moving… then we can eat wings. I have said this before…. it is all about moderation… not just with eating, with everything in life.

I think that is my new motto———- Moderation is everything!! Andre Agassi should have thought about that.

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