HELPFUL TIPS FOR PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS & REACHING YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT! (PART 3 OF 4)
My last two Weekly Blog posts emphasized the major health issues resulting from following a poor diet, using food for emotional purposes, and lacking proper physical exercise. Last week, we explored ways in which we can combat obesity and overweight through an intelligent and balanced physical exercise program.. Today, we will take a look at some minor changes we can introduce into our diet and our eating habits in order to move towards a healthier/ 'ideal*' weight and maintain it! (*as defined last week; one that allows your body and mind to function optimally so you may achieve your highest potential in life.)
By following a few simple tips and implementing minor changes in your nutritional intake, you will soon find yourself effortlessly moving toward your natural weight.
1. Don't skip breakfast, or any other meal for that matter. All scientific studies agree on the fact that skipping meals starves your system and lands itself to overeating later in the day, and most particularly at dinner time, which is the time when we should eat the least! You need brain power and physical strength to function all day long and therefore you should eat a healthy and balanced breakfast and lunch. Skipping meals often sounds like an attractive option because it may help you lose some weight in the short term but it will run havoc in your body in the long run and even have you pack on some extra pounds once you break your diet and return to your regular meals as your body will have switched itself into automatic storage mode.
2. Avoid late eating. End the day with a small and easily digestible meal. Liquid foods (soups, fresh juices), fresh fruits and vegetables are a great option to satisfy your senses while leaving you feeling light and at ease. Ideally, try to eat at least 4 hours before going to bed. Also, If you can try, strive to take your last meal around 6pm. You can always have a light snack after if you need to. Keep in mind that once the sun goes down, we begin a new cycle where nature no longer supports the digestive process through solar energy. That's why it's never a good idea to eat heavy foods at night! One of the most recent findings on weight gain is that late dinning and snacking is responsible for most of it!
3. Eat small(er) meals. Our ancestors had PHYSICAL needs that required them to eat large meals. They worked hard in physically demanding occupations. Eating healthful portions provided them with the necessary energy to complete their tasks and replenish their bodies. Nowadays, most of the jobs we carry out are done sitting at a desk for hours at a time only using our brain power. Our dietary needs are therefore much different. Still, somehow we have failed to adapt to these new circumstances and our food intake has become completely disconnected from our physiological needs. Further, when eating is not completely dictated by social conventions, it is primarily performed for emotional reasons in an effort to try and fill the emptiness we feel inside and to avoid 'feeling' our real emotions rather than to fuel our bodies and brain.
4. Reduce your food intake slowly. It is completely unrealistic to expect someone who is used to eating large portions of food to stop eating in this manner from one day to the next. The most effective method to switch to smaller meals is to slowly and progressively reduce your food intake. If you cut your food consumption by 5-10% a day, you will begin the process of gradually shrinking down your stomach to its original (healthy) size. This represents taking out about 1 teaspoon of food from each and every meal; which is very easily done. In this manner, you will have reduced your food intake by 35-70% within a week. This case scenario only applies if you are eating large portions. So it you eat in reasonable proportion, don't change anything. If you are unsure about what a large portion might look like, picture the 'normal' size of a stomach (not overstretched by over eating) which should be about the size of your fist. So, next time you prepare a meal, make sure that it can more or less fit in your fist; and if it doesn't, start cutting your food intake as described above until it does. This method works really well and feels very easy on both the body and the mind.
5. Don't eat till you're too full. Whenever possible, try and stop eating right before that last uncomfortable bite! The rule here is simple, 'if you feel uncomfortably full, you've eaten too much!' So, eat slowly and mindfully, enjoying every single bite until you are satisfied and appeased, not saturated. Yogic studies have demonstrated that for optimum functioning and nutrition the stomach should be filled with 1/3 of air, 1/3 of water, and 1/3 of food. Following that principle will keep your digestive system extremely healthy, let you enjoy boundless energy, and delay the aging process significantly.
6. Practice Conscious Eating as an extension of Conscious Living. So, be sure to savor every bite you take when eating. Remember that you are nourishing your body, not your mind. Food should not be used to fill a sense of emptiness we may carry within, or to bury problems and stress factors under 'layers'. Be present in your eating in the same way that you are in your daily life. By doing one thing at a time and making the connection between this presence of spirit in your action and the physical and mental well-being you experience as a result, you will gain a much deeper experience of your own life.
7. Chew your food really well. Nutrition experts recommend chewing each bite of food up to 50 times (whenever possible) until the food becomes almost liquid and easily washes out of your mouth into your throat. The rationale for this is that using the enzymes present in your saliva optimally helps to break down and pre-digest the food you eat. This in turn makes it easier for the rest of your digestive system to finish the vital absorption and elimination processes that follow.
8. Stick to healthy snacks! If you feel the need to eat outside of mealtimes - which may happen from time to time, and will most likely happen when you first start curbing your appetite and reducing your food intake to shrink your stomach back to its normal size, consider eating a few smaller meals throughout the day or adding 1-2 healthy snacks in between meals. Good examples of healthy snacks include fruits such as apples, kiwis, or bananas - which are very filling yet not extremely calorific, vegetables such as raw carrots, broccoli, or celery, etc. If you need something more 'substantial' such as nuts, stick to a handful and favor fresh* nuts such as almonds. (*In order to rehydrate nuts and make them more easily digestible, simply let them sit in pure water for about 8 hours. Then rinse them and store them in a glass container in your fridge. Enjoy the delicious taste of fresh nuts for days without feeling full or packing up some extra pounds!)
9. Consuming Superfoods such as delicious tasting blue green algae (E3Live) is yet another even healthier option if you get hungry in between meals. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, this kind of natural food is regarded as especially beneficial because of its superior nutrient profile and health-protecting qualities. E3Live also boosts your metabolism, removes waste material from your body and helps your body burn calories faster. Because it comes in liquid form, it is easily digested and absorbed by the body, thereby instantly delivering optimum nutrition to your cells. Again, remember that it is your cells you are feeding, not your mind!
10. Other great choices of natural hunger suppressants in liquid form that are filled with health-giving properties include raw coconut water and green tea. Nothing is more refreshing, boosting and revitalizing in the hot summer months (iced green tea)! They also help with digestion and elimination.
11. Think of air, or more specifically oxygen, as food. Now that we've established that food is not necessarily what we think it to be, we can bridge the gap between what we call eating empty calories and feeding our body at the cellular level through nutritious foods too. Oxygenating your body forms an essential part of nourishment and to keeping healthy and having boundless energy. By practicing specific breathing techniques regularly, or simply applying conscious breathing throughout the day, we are able to bring the maximum amount of oxygen to our cells and optimize the removal of waste materials (such as carbon dioxide) within the body.
12. Eat according to your region, climate and season. After shifting from eating habits that primary revolved around emotional contentment to actual physical nourishment that involve smaller volume and conscious eating, it is a time to bring a new factor into consideration when selecting what items should be included in your diet or not. Nutritional needs vary according to our region, climate and the specific season we are in. In the summer time, you will have noticed that you feel less hungry and that you crave lighter and more 'watery' foods such as fresh fruits and summer veggies that keep you 'cool'. Conversely in the winter, you will find yourself drawn to heavier, heartier, and more filling foods that stick to your bones and provide you with the extra heat, energy and fat your body needs to maintain its normal temperature. Continually eating foods that don't match the needs created by your immediate external environment will bring your body and mind out of balance. For instance, If you live in a tropical climate and eat too many 'fatty' foods, you will soon pack on all the extra fat your body doesn't need and start feeling sluggish. Macrobiotic principles clearly expound on the reasons why it is important to mostly eat food that grows in your region. The outside environment produces what we need naturally and so it is important to eat the food that grows where we live so that we can remain physically, and thereby also mentally, balanced. That's essentially what plants and foods that grow in nature around us do; they balance the external environment, restoring the balance between the Yin and the Yang in every living thing.
The list of nutritional tips for permanent weight management provided above is to be continued. So, tune in next week for our weekly "Health & Wellness" blog post covering Part 2/2 of Food/ Lifestyle for Healthy Weight Management. We will provide you with all the necessary information on great foods to incorporate into your diet to balance both body and mind, keep healthy and attain your permanent weight loss objectives or simply achieve your 'ideal' weight.
For more on how to effect permanent changes in your life or ways to achieve permanent weight loss and gravitate towards your ideal weight, consider our Holistic Cleansing Programs which cater to all dimensions of your being. Visit us at www.thesouthbeachdetox.com and www.letloverule.us.
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