7 Pillars of Weight Loss:

7 PILLARS OF WEIGHT LOSS
Get Up And Do Something About Your Weight by Bette L. Hall CMA

Spring is almost here alas! It’s a time when everything becomes fresh and new. Flowers begin to bloom, love is in the air, and our thoughts turn toward shedding those unwanted winter pounds.

Short dark days have led to inactivity and the pounds have piled on. Hoards of beautiful bodies will be heading to Waikiki, Newport, Malibu, Santa Monica, Padre Island, and Pompano Beach. Will you be one of those headed for fun in the sun or will that winter fat keep you too embarrassed to show yourself in a bikini?

These words of wisdom are meant to encourage and help those who want to reduce ten or fifteen pounds and that little tummy pooch that was gained during the winter blahs.

Pay close attention and follow this advice and you will see results. The things I’m about to share with you aren’t just empty words. They are words of wisdom that require action on your part. Don’t just read these words and think “it’s good advice” and then forget about them. Get up and do something about it.

1. Lighten up on your salt intake. That doesn’t just mean to limit your use of the salt shaker at the table. It also means not to eat food with high salt content such as bacon, ham, cheese, chips, popcorn, corn nuts, etc.

2. Add yogurt, whey, or the dietary supplement Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) to your daily intake.

3. Drink water–lots of water!

4. Exercise–start walking and using that ab-doer you have stashed away in the closet. Do any exercise you want. The important point here is to start moving.

5. Limit your calories at snack time to no more than 200-250.

6. Don’t eat for four hours prior to going to bed. If you go to bed at midnight, then don’t eat after 8pm. Never go to bed feeling full!

7. Keep a journal. This isn’t the “write-down-everything-you-eat-journal.” It should be a journal where you write your thoughts and feelings, successes and failures, weights and measurements. It’s your “everything-journal.” You can record the foods you eat if you want, but that is not the sole purpose of this journal.

Look for future articles where there will be more detail about the following subjects: salt intake, yogurt, water, calories, and journaling will be the topics of discussion.

The Latest Treatments for Obesity

The Latest Treatments for Obesity by Bette L. Hall CMA

The treatments listed here, “Mesotherapy” and “Flavor-Themed Meals,” are for your information only. Always consult your physician before embarking on any weight loss program.

Basically, mesotherapy, also known as lipodissolve, is a form of body sculpting that promises users that they’ll lose weight and cellulite. It involves injecting tiny medicinal bullets of certain substances under the skin for the purpose of breaking down fat cells to produce weight loss. One of those substances is phosphatidylcholine which is required by every cell membrane in the body.

Currently there is not enough data to support mesotherapy as safe and effective; however, studies are being performed by the Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery at this time. The results will be published later this year.

The second fad is “flavor-themed-meals.” Obesity researcher Dr. David Katz says, “Forget counting carbs and calories, the way to lose weight is to limit flavors.”

Katz doesn’t suggest eating just a particular food for each meal, but rather, foods prepared with the same food for each meal. An example would be sliced apples with your cereal for breakfast, an apple/grape/walnut salad for lunch, and applesauce and pork chops for dinner. Maybe even a little slice of apple pie for dessert would be okay. He even advocates a chocolate themed day once in a while.

The theory here is that if you combine many flavors in one meal, it could lead to eating more. Katz’s new book, “The Flavor Point Diet,” is based on sensory-specific satiety. Katz is a nutrition columnist for Oprah Winfrey’s magazine “O.”

This sensory-specific satiety diet was tested on 20 people for 12 weeks. The average weight loss was 16 pounds. This diet has been compared to the soup diet or the grapefruit diet and other diets that recommend eating just one thing.

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary a fad is a “practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal: CRAZE.” Craze means to become insane. So before jumping into the latest fad or craze, watch for the results of the research and consult your physician. Weigh the pros and cons and make an informed decision regarding the mesotherapy and the Flavor Point Diet.

REFERENCES:
CBS News (cbsnews.com). Lose Weight By Limiting Flavors 2006
Scout News – Health Day. News for Healthy Living April 2006

Origins of Obesity

Origins of Obesity

 by Bette L. Hall 

Obesity is a leading health problem in America. At least one third of American adults are obese. Obesity is defined as anyone whose body fat is above 25%. A sedentary lifestyle and modern conveniences are the culprits that leads to obesity. In days of old, men and women both worked the land. Think about it – they churned butter, milked cows, chopped wood, bailed hay, dug wells, built their own homes, washed clothes on a scrub board, pumped water, and much more. In other words, the people of our American society were physically active.

Today, everything is instant and convenient. We have couch potatoes and couch tomatoes with their remote controls and sweet and salty snacks.

At the end of the great depression of the 1930’s, many modern conveniences were introduced into our society to make our life easier. All for what? I’ll tell you, it’s so we don’t have to work so hard. All so we can take it easy. All so we can sit down and do nothing. We think all the labor saving devices are saving us time and effort. In reality, they are making us lazy. In our laziness, our bodies are deteriorating, our muscles are diminishing, our bowels don’t function properly, we don’t think clearly, and we are more nervous than ever.

Even our jobs are sedentary. Secretaries and receptionists aren’t the only ones who sit all day long. Computer programmers and webmasters sit at their computers all day. Scientists and lab technologists sit in a lab all day. Other people who are sedentary on the job are researchers, authors, poets, artists, insurance agents, telemarketers, and telephone operators. And the list goes on and on.We aren’t as active as our grandparents were when they were young. Therefore, we need to look for ways to be active. Physical activity not only helps you to become a slimmer you, but also provides many health benefits. Walking should be your best friend.

Becoming a Slimmer You is a lifestyle not a fad diet, nor a quick fix. Rather, it is a spiritual matter. It’s about changing habits and believing in your self.

What we eat and drink along with the level of physical activity is what determines whether you’ll be a slimmer you or not.

About the Author

Bette has been writing articles in the weight loss, diet, and nutrition arena for over twenty years. Her degree is in applied science with a major in Medical Assistant, clinical/back-office. She is a member in good standing of the (AAMA) American Association of Medical Assistants.

Cigarette Smoking

Cigarette Smoking

By Bette L. Hall

(written in the 1990’s) 

I come from the state in which the people are known as the “beautiful people,” California.  It seems everyone is in to health, fitness, nutritious eating, not smoking, and looking and feeling their best.  During the ten years I have been in Oklahoma, I have observed the high incidence of obesity, cigarette smoking, and the use of tobacco in other forms. 

Just recently, my husband and I were going out for a Saturday morning breakfast.  We went to a local Denny’s here in Tulsa.  The gentleman who serves the guests asked if we wanted to be seated in the smoking or non-smoking section.  We simultaneously responded, “Non-smoking.”  He apologized for not having a non-smoking table available and asked if we would accept a table in the smoking section.  About that time, I realized the entire coffee shop was so smoke-filled, that we would have left even if there was a non-smoking table available.

If people would just realize what a nasty habit smoking really is, possibly the percentage of smokers would drop to 15% of the population by the year 2000 as once predicted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  Cancer is not the only effect of cigarette smoking.  It also causes respiratory symptoms like cough, sputum production, and wheezing.  It is related to diseases of the respiratory system such as bronchitis and emphysema.  It causes low birth weight, and adversely affects the immune system.  Smoking causes dry skin, yellow fingers, wrinkled faces, and bad breath.  Not to mention the fact that the smoker’s hair, clothing, and automobiles smell terrible.  I saw a bumper-sticker years ago that is appropriate.  It read, “Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.” 

I cannot count the number of times I have stopped at a red light, looked over and spied a young woman with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.  That is extremely uncomely.  It detracts from the young woman’s beauty.  It appears that either she is trying to be macho (a male gender word), or she is trying to act like a gangster.  A cigarette hanging out of the mouth is the image of TV gangsters as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Matheau, and Clint Eastwood.  

As a woman, I would like to give a word of advice to all women, and especially the younger women.  Part of enhancing your beauty, radiance, and sex appeal is having a clean body, clean clothes, and clean tidy hair.  Strive to be your best.  Don’t let that cigarette smoke get into you hair and on your clothes.  Put on some dusting powder.  It is so much more pleasing and magnetic to the opposite sex. 
In case anyone wonders why I am addressing women, it is because I do not see real live men with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, only TV characters and women. 

The company I am affiliated with collects urine, blood and/or saliva to test nicotine levels.  Generally, anyone who applies for a life insurance policy with non-smokers rates will have to submit to some sort of testing.  Many times these tests show the applicant is a smoker which could cause them to be subject to the higher rates that smokers have to pay.  Nine times out of ten, further questioning of those with a nicotine positive test who claims they are a non-smoker reveals either the spouse is a smoker or the office where they work is a smoke filled room.

A study done by Dr. Goran Pershangen and his associates at the National Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden showed adults who spend at least eight hours per day in a room with smokers could receive as much second-hand smoke as smoking one or two whole cigarettes. Also, second-hand smoke at home has been the cause of cancer in many studies around the world. 
According to S. K. Kaura, M. D., the chemical analysis of second-hand smoke reveals that second-hand smoke contains:

• 2 times more tar compounds
• 3 1/2 times more benzopyrene, the known cancer causing chemical
• 5 1/2 times more toluene
• 5 times more radiation particles