Tag Archives: lose

Reduce Stress, Reduce Snacking

reduce stress and anxiety

Sunshine Behavioral Health’s healthcare editor Pam Zuber discusses the link between stress and overeating and how to reduce stress without overindulging. 

Reduce Stress, Reduce Snacking  

Stress is everywhere. It can be overwhelming and cause us to seek comfort in various ways. Many people have coping mechanisms that provide comfort for a short period of time. People might smoke cigarettes, go for a walk, or take up a hobby.

Others look to comfort foods. While there are many ways to relieve stress, some coping mechanisms are more harmful than helpful. Eating snack foods, for example, can lead to weight gain and various health issues.

Reduce Stress – Reduce the Urge to Snack

People who are under stress and use food as a coping mechanism can actually cause more problems for themselves if they don’t learn to control their eating. Relying on comfort foods can be devastating.

Obesity, eating disorders, and an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease are all possible repercussions of using food to soothe one’s mood.

Instead, consider doing other things to reduce stress:

Exercise Regularly

Stress can break down the body and mind. It can weaken the body and contribute to depression and anxiety disorders. Exercise may reverse these processes and prevent the body and mind from deteriorating.

Regular exercise doesn’t simply strengthen the body. It also clears the mind. Physical fitness stimulates the brain to release endorphins, substances that elevate the mood and promote positive feelings.

Walk Outside for 30 Minutes

Walking outside for 30 minutes or longer is beneficial in many ways. Being outside exposes you to fresh air and sunshine, and both can contribute to good health. Fresh air clears the mind and gives you a chance to think through stressful situations.

As you walk, pay attention to the scenery. Enjoy the view and look for little things that give you joy. You can also invite a friend to walk with you. Good conversation is a great way to reduce stress and gain new perspectives.

Participate in Hobbies

Practicing a hobby can also help you take your mind off the things that may give you stress. Music, art, and various crafts are popular hobbies for relieving stress or frustration, for example.

Engaging in hobbies distracts us from our worries, while creating something beautiful can turn a negative mood into a positive one.

Breathe Deeply

Deep breathing exercises bring much-needed oxygen to the body. This can clear the mind and allow you to focus your energy on the positive aspects of your life.

As a bonus, you don’t need any equipment or tools, and you can perform deep breathing exercises anywhere at any time. Deep breathing is beneficial far beyond just relieving your stress. It also strengthens your cardiovascular system as well as your overall lung function.

Start a Meditation or Guided Imagery Practice

Guided imagery and meditation are other practices that can minimize stress. They may also help you find ways to solve your problems.

These tools can be relaxing because they allow you to momentarily forget your troubles and go to a place of comfort and solace. By focusing on the present, you may be able to think more clearly while your stress and frustration fade away.

Receive Massages and Therapeutic Touch

Therapeutic touch and massage therapy can also be effective stress relievers. They break up tension in the muscles and other soft tissues and allow people to release physical stress.

Massages can improve blood flow, while regular massage and therapeutic touch can be calming and help reduce stress and discomfort.

Practice Yoga or Tai Chi

Yoga and tai chi reconnect the body and the mind. They can re-establish the mind/body balance and promote calming and overall well-being. Both include deep breathing exercises and structured movements that can relax the body and soothe the mind.

Performing either of these on a regular basis can help you maintain a state of balance to keep stress and frustration at bay.

Stress management can take many forms. While some people turn to snack food or drugs and alcohol, others look to healthier options. Understanding how stress affects you can help you determine the best ways to cope. Finding healthy ways to handle your stress is essential for good health and emotional well-being.

Sources 

cdc.gov – Coping with Stress

hopkinsmedicine.org – Tips to Manage Stress Eating

health.harvard.edu – Exercising to Relax

huffpost.com – National Walking Day: 5 Ways Walking Helps to Relieve Stress

headtohealth.gov.au – Purposeful Activities – Hobbies

uofmhealth.org – Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

wa.kaiserpermanente.org – Stress Management: Doing Guided Imagery to Relax

amtamassage.org – Massage Therapy Can Relieve Stress

psu.pb.unizin.org – Yoga and Tai Chi

sunshinebehavioralhealth.com – Dual Diagnosis Treatment in Austin, Texas

 

Pam Zuber is a longtime newspaper, magazine, and website writer with many human interest articles and feature stories in publications such as Minority Nurse, Sivana East, and the UAB Institute for Human Rights. She is also working for Sunshine Behavioral Health as an editor.

 

New Technology Perfectly Measures Your Body Fat

DEXASCAN report

No more wondering. And it shows you exactly where it is.

Today, because of state-of-the-art medical science and technology, there is a new way to measure your body fat percentage that is easy, affordable and precise. The methods available in the past, using skinfold calipers or electrical impedance devices that you stand on or hold in your hands, were so unreliable that they were better thought of as estimates rather than measures, in my opinion. Underwater weighing was regarded as most reliable, but it was inconvenient, costly, and usually found only in hospitals and university laboratory settings. MRIs were perfectly accurate but cost thousands. Measuring your body circumference or volume was little more than guesswork.

GE’s DEXASCAN at LiveleanRx.com in Tampa, FL

Today, high-tech medical science has given us a way to analyze body composition that is easy, affordable and incredibly accurate: state of the art, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). The General Electric Healthcare scanner uses two types of x-rays to print your body on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Other than an MRI, DEXA is the only other scientifically validated and FDA approved, clinical-caliber-method of quantifying total body composition. These machines actually see the contents of your body and can measure precisely the amount of muscle, fat and bone and other material contained in your skin. (See the titanium joint in my hip in the top picture?)

NBC.com had done a story about The Anderson Weight Loss Method after my article, Science Based Weight Loss, was published in Medium and Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global. Those two media events produced intense interest in my work by the medical field as well as people who want to lose weight. Shortly after those stories came out, I was asked by DEXA SCAN, the company that offers this new technology, to try it and write a review. I took them up on their offer (a free scan, worth $150) and warned them that I made no promises about what I’d say. I told them up front I would pull no punches if I found their technology and operations, clinical and business, less than satisfactory.

Faraz Mobayyen, R.T. (R), of LiveLeanRx in Tampa FL

DEXA SCAN referred me to the LiveLeanRx clinic in Tampa and I was able to make an appointment for the following week.

I checked first with my doctor to make sure this type of x-ray presented no risk. No problem. It uses a very weak type of wave — the amount of radiation is approximately equal to the natural radiation you would experience in a day outdoors. No need to be concerned like when you get a chest x-ray and need a lead shield.

When I arrived, I found a clinical lab, staffed by licensed health professionals. The procedure itself took less than 10 minutes. You just lay on the table, no need to disrobe, and the scanner passes over you slowly and almost silently.

The Radiologic Technologist, Faraz Mobayyen, was extremely helpful explaining how the DEXA SCAN worked, and it produced an incredibly detailed report. All I thought I’d get was one number, the percent of body fat. However, the report reveals incredible details of body composition, including bone density. This machine not only reveals the amount of fat and muscle in your body, but it identifies where it is, by body part. It tells you how much visceral fat you are carrying, which we now know is an important risk factor for heart disease and diabetes. It tells you how much muscle and fat you have in each arm and leg. The report had more information than I would have ever asked for. This is all extremely valuable information to anyone interested in their health status.

As an added bonus, I got a bone density analysis that showed how I compared to the average, and where I fell in the range of possibilties. This kind of detailed information is so valuable in helping us to improve our health and reduce our personal risk factors, rather than depending on generalities. I was surprised to see that I had a curvature of the spine that in all my years had never been diagnosed!

I have wondered what my body fat percentage is for over 30 years, since I lost my 140 excess pounds. I’ve had it “measured” many times with other methods that never gave me information I could trust. The electrical impedance devices varied greatly, from day to day, and I knew my body fat did not change by 5% from one day to the next! The caliper method gave different results every time we did it, different with every person who did the measuring. Which reading was I supposed to believe? I just could not trust those methods.

Needless to say, I’m delighted I am finally able to know what my body fat percentage is. It’s scientifically accurate, precise. It’s information I can rely on, something I can trust. I give them an A+.


While I was at LiveLeanRX, I learned they can also measure resting metabolic rate with laboratory-quality indirect calorimetry, and they can also do a VO2MAX cardio assessment test. That tells you the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize and send to your muscles during high intensity exercise, while running on a treadmill or riding a bike. This is the real deal with laboratory-caliber testing. I and my clients and readers would love to know our true metabolic rate even more than body composition. With these tests, we can. Maybe I should suggest they have me do those other tests. I’d be happy to tell you about them too.

 

Here’s What 1000 calories Per Day Can Be. Yum!

1000 calorie diet meal plan

Have you been under the impression that it would be so little food that you’d starve? Think again. Here’s part of what I learned to lose 140 pounds permanently.

 .

Three great meals — total: under 1000 calories.

When you do the work to plan ahead (one of the Key Behaviors I teach) and learn the other technique I teach, you’ll find you can have plenty of scrumptious food that will fit your “caloric budget”. You’ll find that you can live well on 1000 calories per day and lose weight at a good pace. What’s more important, when you establish the habit patterns of eating the food you like in healthy caloric volumes, you’ll never have a weight problem again. I’ll lay out one day’s menu to give you an idea of how well you can live and lose weight at the same time.

eating 1,000 calories a day

Breakfast: Veggie and cheese omelette with buttered toast and coffee with real cream: 321calories.

This is an omelette I make at least once-a-week. With all the ingredients, even the buttered toast, it’s under 350 calories! That’s a lot less than a Denny’s Slam at over 1200! I’d have it more than once-a-week, but there are too many other good things I make!

I start with a small onion, sliced into rings, 1/4 of a green pepper, sliced, 1/4 of a red pepper, sliced, and a handful of quartered white mushrooms that I cook in a small covered saute pan with a tiny pat of butter, over a low-medium heat. You want the heat low enough so they don’t brown. They really steam in their own juices.

When the onions get limp and translucent, I add in 1/4 cup of egg substitute, like Eggbeaters, and let that continue to cook, covered over the low heat, while I toast the Publix low calorie bread.

I use a bit of Brummel and Brown spread on the toast, and then fold the omelette with 1/2 slice of Kraft fat-free cheddar inside. It’s terrific, and the whole thing is under 350 calories. I love my coffee in the morning, and I mix real half-and-half with fat-free to keep the rich flavor while trimming the calories, using Splenda to sweeten it, and the coffee is only about 30 calories a cup. This breakfast can’t be beat.

  • Onion = 30 c.
  • Pepper = 20 c.
  • Mushrooms = 20 c.
  • Butter = 20 c
  • Egg substitute = 70 c.
  • Cheese = 20 c.
  • Bread = 81 c.
  • Brummel and Brown spread = 20 c.
  • Coffee with cream = 30 c.

1000 calorie diet meal program

For lunch, Joey D’s Chicago Dog: 262 calories.

We are in the habit of lunch at Joey D’s once a week, and their Chicago Dog is a delight, and only 262 calories! They use a real Vienna Beef Hot Dog with a poppy seed bun and all the traditional trimmings: pickle spear, chopped onion, pickle relish, mustard, tomato slice and celery salt. I’ll usually have a Diet Coke with it. At 262 calories, it’s a fraction of what other typical sandwich-type lunches are in restaurants. In one of my other articles, I showed a burger and shake that was 2000 calories! The Chicago Dog seems like a lot, but its all the low calorie condiments that gives it the advantage over the high fat add-ons that others use.

  • Vienna Hot Dog = 120 c.
  • Poppy seed bun = 110 c.
  • Pickle spear = 3 c.
  • Tomato slice = 3 c.
  • Tbs chopped onion = 3 c.
  • Tbs sweet relish = 20 c.
  • tsp mustard = 3 c.

Is the 1000 Calorie a Day Diet Safe?

For dinner, grilled sirloin steak, fresh steamed asparagus and sour cream and chives mashed potatoes: 435 calories.

Many people think you have to give up beef to lose weight. Not true. In fact, one of the secrets of permanent weight loss is getting into the habit of eating everything you like in portions that will keep you at your desired weight for life. The meal above was just delicious, easy to fix, and came in at 435 calories. That brings the day to about 1000 calories, which will cause anyone to lose weight.

The steak is a 5 ounce sirloin. I buy a 2 pound sirloin when they go on sale and cut it into 4–5 ounce servings and freeze them in a gallon Ziplock bag. You can thaw one out when you want it, overnight in the fridge, on the counter for several hours or even in a small sealed Ziplock bag in some shallow room temperature water for 20 minutes or so. Grilling it is easy while the 5 ounces of asparagus is steaming for 9 minutes, and the 1/2 cup of Simply Potatoesmashed potatoes are in the microwave.

The buttery glaze you see on the asparagus is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray, really adds to the taste and palatability, and only 5 calories for 5 squirts

  • 5 ounce sirloin steak = 270 c.
  • 5 ounces asparagus = 40 c.
  • 1/2 cup mashed potatoes = 120 c.
  • 5 sprays, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter = 5 c.

Losing weight permanently can become easy!

Becoming successful at permanent weight loss takes work, but done right, it can become easy. It’s well worth it, believe me. I’ve maintained my ideal weight for thirty years now, after losing over 100 pounds, and it was the single most important thing that’s happened in my life. It changed everything for me, and it could for you. Read my book or listen to my audiobook to learn how.

Quit looking for easy, magical ways to solve your weight problem. As long as you do, you’ll avoid learning what you need to do to be successful, and you’ll stay overweight and unhappy like I was.

If you develop the right habits using behavioral techniques like I teach, it will eventually become easy, your new normal behavior, as natural and easy as the habits you have now, only they will keep you fit rather than making you fat. It’s not done with “will power” or just “making up your mind”. It’s done with the science of the mind.

Are There Any Weight Loss Products That Really Work?

(The author is a psychotherapist who lost 140 lbs. when he discovered his unique method, and he’s kept it off for over 30 years. Read about his method of fast permanent weight loss by clicking on the book cover to the right.)

YES! There are some great “weight loss products” that helped me lose 140 pounds permanently, and I’ll list them below.

1) I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray

Veggies are low in calories and very filling, but without a topping, they can be bland and boring. Butter and fatty sauces can make them taste great, but are loaded with calories. This spray “butter” adds next to nothing! There is less than one calorie per squirt! Ten squirts are less than ten calories, and your veggies are covered with a tasty buttery glaze! It will make any vegetable better.

 2) Egg Beaters

If you’re not paying attention, breakfast can be the highest calorie meal of the day, especially if you eat out, often over 1000 calories. Eggs are a good choice for breakfast because they are high in protein and will suppress your appetite, but they have lots of cholesterol, and they’re 75 calories each. The eggs substitutes are half the calories and no cholesterol! So, you can have the equivalent of two scrambled eggs and a piece of diet toast for a little over 100 calories! Add a real egg to the mix to improve the texture, or make it a veggie omelet, and you are still very low in calories, and it will keep you fueled and satisfied all morning.

3) Walden Farms zero calorie salad dressings

Two tablespoons of their balsamic vinaigrette is less than five calories, so I can make a big salad with lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and peppers for about fifty calories total. I can have that with a Michael Angelo lasagna, a 4oz. hamburger with bun or a lamb chop, and have a very decent low calorie meal. Walden Farms makes six different “zero calorie” dressings (they get to label a serving zero if it is less than 5 calories), though the one I like is the balsamic vinaigrette. Clients have liked the others and you might too!

4) Low calorie frozen dinners

“Fast food” has become the staple for families with both parents working. It saves time and trouble, but it’s making us obese. There is a good alternative you can stock your freezer with, ready to eat in 5 minutes – Frozen dinners. Today we have an array of very decent frozen dinners from Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones, Kashi and others that appeal to the senses as well as the caloric budget. Many of these offerings are less than 300 calories and are great to have in the freezer when your plan to prepare the perfect fresh meal goes awry. They are also good to have at work for lunch.

5) Diet Soda Pop

I know diet soda has gotten a bad reputation, but it’s been a life saver for me. Water doesn’t appeal to me to have with lunch, and sugared soda and juices are loaded with calories. I know diet soda is not good nutrition, but I have seen no real science that backs up the scary stories saying it is so bad. My main health problem was obesity, and diet soda is one of the most important products that has helped me to achieve my ideal weight, excellent health and maintain them for over 30 years. I’d have died years ago if I hadn’t gotten rid of that surplus 140 pounds. I’m not afraid of diet soda. It’s helped save my life.

*   *   *   *   *

There are lots of other foods that you’ll discover that are great “weight loss products”. For instance, if you start looking up the calories in regular food, you’ll find that a good old-fashioned hot dog and bun with mustard, relish and onions is less than 300 calories! I often had one for lunch as I lost 140 lbs.! I’ve maintained my ideal weight for over 25 years now, and I still have hot dogs regularly!

Permanent weight loss is within everyone’s grasp, and my book will teach you what you need to do to succeed. There is work involved, but if you’ve gotten through high school, you’ve done a lot more and a lot harder work than you’ll need to do to solve your weight problem. If you really want to solve your weight problem and you’re willing to do some reasonable work, you are ready to succeed. Read my book or listen to my audiobook.

One Breakfast Here Will Make You Lose Weight. The Other Will Make You Fat. Which One Is For You?

 

200 calories breakfast

(The author is a psychotherapist who lost 140 lbs. when he developed his unique method, and he’s kept it off for over 30 years. Read about it in his book at the right, or listen to his audiobook, free sample provided here.)

Pictured above is one of the breakfasts I had regularly while I lost 140 pounds. Its only 200 calories. It tastes great, made up of my favorite foods, keeps me going all morning, and at 1/8th of the breakfast pictured below, had me shedding pounds like crazy. Now, to maintain my loss, I eat more than the 200 calorie breakfast above, but still only a fraction of the American norm that is making people obese and sick.

meat lovers omlette

This above is Denny’s Meat Lovers’ Omelette at a whopping 1730 calories. That’s the kind of thing I used to pick that made me over 300 pounds. Think about that. 200 calories versus 1730. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic.

To lose weight, you need to learn how to eat what you like, not go on a diet.

For years I have resisted giving my clients food plans or telling them what to eat. Instead, I teach them how to succeed. I know how to help people be successful at weight loss, and its almost always contrary to what they think should be done. They think they need to follow some diet and exercise plan that some personal trainer or dietician will prescribe. Nope. They need to train in methods of behavioral science. I can guarantee that my client will lose weight if they follow me.

Clients who have trained in my method and people who have read my book know that the secret to success is learning how to eat what you like and learning the behavioral techniques that change the way you think and act habitually. Success does not come from diets and exercise plans that you know will come to an end when you want to live normally again.

To learn what I teach, read my book or listen to my audiobook, pictured at the upper right.