Weight Loss Solution: How Sally Lost Weight

Sally was not eating three meals a day when she came to see me for help losing weight. "I feel like I'm saving extra calories by skipping breakfast, and sometimes lunch," she told me. "If I can get by without eating then, doesn't that mean I should be losing weight? I'm afraid if I start adding all that extra food I'll gain even more." In the famous words of Dr. Phil I asked, "So, how's that working for you?"

Sally admitted it wasn't working. Sometimes she would get so hungry she would eat whatever she could find that was fast and easy--usually a candy bar from the vending machine or a convenience store. "And when I get home around dinner time I'm just too hungry to think of cooking an entire meal," she related. So dinner was usually something she could get quickly and lots of--like a buffet, or a Chinese take-out or a pizza. Obviously Sally had good intentions, but physiological hunger virtually always wins out in the end. Sally's body was talking her brain into feeding herself with the only regard being 'get something now'.

I told Sally about some research studies that showed convincing evidence of how eating more meals during the day helped people to weigh less. When subjects were given 2000 calories at one meal for six weeks in a row--and that's all they ate all day--they gained weight. As the same subjects had the same 2000 calories divided into 2 meals, then 3 meals, and eventually 6 meals a day for several weeks, they ended up losing weight. The same people, the same food: The only difference was they were eating it over a span of 15 hours instead of 50 minutes.

Sally agreed to try it. We came up with a simple and fast breakfast she could eat that wouldn't be time consuming for her while she was trying to dash out the door. We found several great options for snacks she could have during the day that were relatively low in calories so she wasn't so hungry just before a meal. Having planned snacks increases the chance that she'll think clearly at meal times, and make a wise decision about what to eat then. She could eat a fairly light lunch, since she was used to eating little at that time, and also because there was another snack to come in the afternoon.

After a couple of weeks Sally was adjusting to her new schedule and she was pleasantly surprised. "I actually enjoy my breakfast and have started looking forward to it," she told me with a smile ... "I can't believe all the food I'm eating and that I've actually lose three pounds!" Sally was no longer making candy bar runs mid-afternoon, because she never found herself too hungry to stop and think about what a smarter choice would be. She was arriving home at dinner time feeling only slightly hungry, and with enough energy to put some thought into preparing a balanced, low fat meal. She was getting comfortable with the idea that she could eat three meals (plus snacks!) on a regular schedule and not gain weight.

Try it out to see for yourself: Have a bowl of cereal for breakfast (or 2 slices of toast); bring some string cheese or a yogurt for a morning snack (you are likely to be hungry for lunch now that your body is getting fuel from breakfast and increasing your metabolism); have a 300 calorie frozen meal for lunch, or a sandwich, with a fresh fruit and a salad; bring a 100 calorie snack for the afternoon to be sure you don't arrive home so hungry that you raid the pantry; and prepare a nice healthy dinner (it doesn't have to be fancy) to round out your day. Chances are you can still have another snack in the evening (a low fat ice cream bar, or a few handfuls of popcorn) and find yourself on the road to successfully losing weight. Give it a few weeks and please post how you're doing here so we can cheer you on!

The "Total" Truth About Healthy Breakfast Cereal

I saw a commercial the other day for Total cereal. They were showing the Nutrition Facts panel, which you can see here on the left. They stated at the end of the commercial: "Kashi cereal doesn't have 100% of the daily value for all of these vitamins".

I take issue with this advertisement: They were definitely implying that Total cereal is more healthy than other cereals because it has 100% of so many vitamins and minerals. And that's just not true.

True, Total does have more vitamins in a serving than other cereals. But this is not because Total is some fantastic and unique grain that is so packed with vitamins and minerals that it naturally contains all you need for the entire day! It is because the manufacturers added vitamins to the cereal. In other words, you can eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast, take a multivitamin, and end up with the same nutrition intake at that meal as a bowl of Total. Okay, maybe not Frosted Flakes, because at least Total has a few grams of fiber... maybe Frosted Mini Wheats, or Grape Nuts, or Post Raisin Bran, or Kashi.

Nutrition isn't just about getting enough vitamins and minerals. It's about eating a variety of foods to get a variety of nutrients (while you keep your intake reasonable enough to maintain your ideal weight). Eating a bowl of Total is not a healthier option than eating a different brand of cereal and popping a multivitamin. It's not better than having a hot breakfast of eggs and toast, and then taking a multivitamin. It is, in fact, the same, because the makers of Total have added the equivalent of a multivitamin to their cereal.

Taking a multivitamin isn't a bad idea, especially if you know you fail to get enough fruits, vegetables, dairy, or whole grains on a regular basis. But it doesn't guarantee that you will be well-nourished: Only that you are less likely to get a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

There can also be a downside to eating highly fortified foods. How many people do you think limit their cereal intake to the recommended serving size? Most of the people I know include at least two or three 'serving sizes' from the label on the box, as one of their servings in the bowl! This means people who eat a big bowl of total may be getting 300% of the daily value for many of these vitamins. Then, of course, they are taking in vitamins naturally contained in the foods they eat during the rest of the day. Most of the time, getting 200%--or even 500%--of the daily value of a nutrient isn't harmful, but there are cases where getting "too much of a good thing" can lead to problems: especially with fat soluble vitamins; folic acid (in people with an undiscovered vitamin B12 deficiency); and some minerals. People rarely 'overdose' on vitamins from natural food sources, but taking extra vitamins in the form of a tablet (or as an added ingredient in food fortification, such as the case with Total) could result in quite large amounts being taken consistently over a period of time.

The best way to get your vitamins and minerals, of course, is by eating a balanced diet and including good food sources of these nutrients--what we call 'nutrient dense' foods. Fortified foods are misleading to the consumer when it is implied that this food is a better source of nutrition, and these foods, in fact, should be consumed in moderation.