Swanson Health Products - Daily Tips

Can Plate Size Reduce Waist Size?

Clean your plate. Don’t waste your food. You gotta eat what you took. As children we were all pushed to clean our plates. There was always that grim picture painted of the starving children in the world to spur us on to finish up our dinner and leave nothing on the plate.

 

In his provocative book, “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think”, author Brian Wansink, PhD, says that plate size has a dramatic impact on how much we eat, and mostly unconsciously. Here’s what he found in experiment after experiment—people will finish what’s on their plates regardless of how much it is or how full they are. Plate size determines how much people will consume in any given setting. And Dr. Wansink insists that this behavior harkens back to that childhood dictum to clean your plate.

 

Given Dr. Wansink’s findings, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that it is recommended that we should eat off of smaller plates. A natural and easy form of portion control—no weighing, no measuring—a smaller plate could decrease the amount of food we mindlessly eat and thus weight loss would follow. However, it’s a little more complicated than that. Plate size alone does not determine how much we eat—we’ll finish the entire tub of popcorn or the whole carton of ice cream too! Commercial food marketers know well the allure of “super size” because while most people will not order two packages of fries, they will say “yes” to one super size portion, and of course, eat them all.

 

Another form of “plate control” is suggested in “The Sonoma Diet” by Dr. Connie Guttersen, R.D., and PhD. Among the many excellent dietary suggestions put forth in this book, like eating more good fats, monounsaturated fats that are found in almonds and olive oil for example, Dr. Guttersen recommends that you have a “plate and bowl of your own.” And, you need to measure that plate to make sure it’s no more than 9” in diameter and the bowl should not hold more than two cups of liquid. Then you are to divide your plate into portions. For example dinner would be comprised of 30% protein, 20% grains and 50% vegetables. Again, it’s a form of portion control, but it’s far less intrusive and clinical than the scale, or the measuring cup, or the measuring spoons. If plate control can translate to waist control then it’s an easy and valuable tool to employ.

 

Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

It one of the best things about the holiday season: food. From turkey to stuffing to pumpkin pie to festive decorated cookies, food is everywhere. It’s difficult to stick to diet plans when surrounded my mouth-watering meals at parties and different treats every day at the office. You don’t need a Christmas miracle to avoid holiday weight gain. You just need to keep these tips in mind.

 

• Plan ahead. Eat a light, healthy snack before parties so you aren’t famished and don’t go overboard at the buffet.
• Eat only when you’re hungry. Put only foods you want on your plate and eat slow. When you’re full, pop a mint in your mouth or sip water so while everyone around you is eating, you can have something in your hands or mouth.
• Choose your beverage wisely. Alcohol is high in calories, so limit your intake of drinks. Watch out for soda, fruit punch and eggnog since these are packed with calories, too.
• Exercise every day. Busy schedules often make us put exercising on the back burner, but physical activity can help burn extra calories, regulate appetite and can relieve stress.

 

Keep meals and snacks in perspective. One cookie will not make or break your diet and one big meal won’t make you gain weight. Overindulging on food and snacks day after day is what makes the scale numbers go up. Following these tips will help you keep your waistline in check this holiday season.

 

Source: UCLA Resource Handout

Get to Bed to Keep the Weight Off

If you’re trying to keep off extra weight, especially through the upcoming holiday season, one of the best things you can do is get enough sleep each night. When you were young, you probably had to get forced to bed each night by your parents, but sleeping in was never a problem. As you get older, sleep becomes a little tougher, but it is still a necessity. Research also shows that it is essential to maintaining health weight levels. You should try to get eight hours of sleep a night. Research suggests that appetite-regulating hormones are affected by sleep and that sleep deprivation could lead to weight gain. In two studies, people who slept five hours or less per night had higher levels of ghrelin - a hormone that stimulates hunger - and lower levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin than those who slept eight hours per night. So sleep should not be looked at as a luxury, regardless of how busy you think you are. Sleep is an essential part of overall health and wellness...so get to bed sleepy head!

 

Want to Lose Weight? Then Stop Stressing!

This may be old news to most of you, but because fighting the battle of the bulge is almost always a struggle, it’s worth repeating. Stress not only can be detrimental to your overall health, as it has been linked to many health concerns and chronic diseases, it can also wreak havoc on any weight loss program. If you’re trying to shed some excess weight, stressing over it will not help. In fact, it will probably make it worse. Avoiding stress is easier said than done, though. If you’re feeling stressed about your weight, one of the best things to do is just get up and go for a brisk walk or hit the gym. Exercise should be a central component of any healthy weight loss plan already, but exercise also has stress-relieving benefits, which means breaking a sweat can have a two-fold impact on your success.

 

An eye for an eye and a pound for a pound

This is interesting—astaxanthin, a carotenoid mostly associated with maintaining eye health, may also enhance the burning of fat during exercise and promote muscle endurance. The surprising results came from a study involving lab mice. Why the researchers decided to look at astaxanthin’s relation to metabolism we don’t know, but they investigated astaxanthin’s support of muscle lipid metabolism in exercise. Mice that consumed astaxanthin during exercise were compared to mice who didn’t take axtaxanthin during exercise. What did they find? Results of the study showed that astaxanthin promoted lipid metabolism rather than glucose utilization during exercise, which supported “endurance and efficient reduction of adipose tissue with training.”

Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications 366(4):892-897, 2008

 

Down with weight!

The battle of the bulge has been waged throughout most of history. Losing weight never has been and never will be a simple, easy task. Diet and exercise still lead the way when it comes to maintaining healthy weight. But there are several things we can do to help chip away at those excess pounds. Apparently taking multivitamins can provide needed support. In fact, the good news was reported in a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Researchers found that women who consume multivitamins or dietary supplements as part of a weight-loss program may have reduced appetite. Researchers conducted two studies, a comparison of the characteristics between vitamin or dietary supplement consumption and non-consumption, and the effects of multivitamin and mineral supplementation during a weight-reducing program. While both studies included men and women, the women reported reduced appetite. Sorry men! But both groups experienced lower body weight, fat mass and body mass index following the weight-loss intervention.

British Journal of Nutrition Published online

 

Simple Changes for Real Weight Loss

Looking to lose a few extra pounds?  Tired of trying a new diet every couple of months?  Can’t find the time to take your exercise routine to the next level? There are many challenges we encounter that prevent us from losing the extra pounds that we carry with us.  However, there are some simple lifestyle changes you can make that will help you lose weight, without going on a diet or doing more exercise.

1)  Drink a full glass of water 30 minutes before your meal. 
This will give you a slight feeling of fullness and set-up your stomach for the process of digestion.

2)  Eat your meals on a small plate. 
When you use a small plate, you take less food.  As our plates have gotten bigger and bigger, so has the average size of our meals.

3)  Take smaller bites. 
Eating is not a contest to see how fast you can fill your belly.  Enjoy your meal and make it last.  Slowing down the pace of how you eat can help you realize when you are actually full.

Following these three simple lifestyle changes will help you lose weight, while still eating the same foods that you normally do.  The key is you will now be eating less of them, without even thinking about it.

Multi-Vitamins are Good for Weight Loss

Whether you are dieting or not, adding a multi-vitamin is important if you are overweight. Many overweight people are nutritionally deficient and adding a multi combined with healthy food and exercise can significantly increase your rate of success. According to nutritionists, many of the most popular diets lead to deficiencies in important vitamins and minerals. Swanson Vitamins carries many choices for old, young, women and men.

Eat More to Lose More?

Many people fear diets because they feel they will have to always be hungry to successfully drop the pounds. However, more and more experts are suggesting dieters to eat up to six times a day! Of course they want you to keep the meals light, but eating smaller, more frequent meals will kick start your metabolism.

Weight Gain and Stress

Has the economy gotten you so stressed you’ve grown a muffin top? It’s true, more people turn to bad habits like eating comfort foods when they get stressed out.  Those comfort foods can add on the unwanted pounds quicker than you realize.

Swanson Vitamins carries Relora, a patented magnolia and phellodendron extract that addresses weight gain triggered by stress. It takes will power and metabolism out of the equation so you can meet your fitness goals.