Do You Want What You Can't Have?

How would you feel if you were told you could not have fresh oranges anymore? Or apples, bananas, steamed broccoli or crunchy carrot sticks. Would that make you want them more?

Dieters often focus on what they "can't" have, and this leads to craving those exact foods more and more. When "I can't have ice cream" is on your mind all day, day after day, it just makes you want it more. And you aren't even interested in all those 'diet' foods you perceive as being 'good for you' but undesirable.

My theory is, those foods become undesirable merely because you can have all you want. What if you tried changing your frame of mind: What fruits or vegetables or whole grains would you miss if you were told you couldn't have them anymore? I'll bet you can think of a few foods you take for granted because they aren't forbidden. Believe it or not, there are people who have to avoid many fresh fruits and vegetables because of certain illnesses (for instance, in kidney failure). When you are told you can't have a certain food (or group of foods) you suddenly begin to want it, miss it, savor the idea of having it right now!

So my suggestion is to start thinking of those foods that are good for you that you would really miss if they were on your forbidden list. Enjoy those fresh fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains. And let yourself have a no-no once in a while (like a brownie or chocolate chip cookie once a week). When you change your way of thinking about foods as 'allowed' or 'not allowed', some of them will increase their appeal, and some cravings will vanish.

Try it and see :) Let us know by leaving your comments here!

What's Your Problem?

Through 25 years of working with thousands of clients, I have noted that people who are trying to lose weight can usually finish this sentence easily: "My problem is ..."
It may be that you just love sweets, or maybe you snack when you are bored. Perhaps you've never taken the time to plan your meals for the day, or you don't like to restrict yourself from foods you love to eat because it makes you feel deprived.

If you're trying to lose weight, give some thought to what your problem is. In what area of your eating pattern do you really know you are eating too much? It's a tough thing to do, because admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it. And when we say "my problem is, I like to have a donut during my 10 am coffee break", or "my problem is, I am addicted to those 1/3 pound bacon cheeseburgers for lunch", or "my problem is I love a bag of chips to keep me company when I watch TV at night" ... well, then we know we're going to have to give up that comforting habit.

But don't despair! You don't have to go without, I promise. There are ways to find acceptable substitutes so you'll be able to have a sweet treat mid-morning, a fast food lunch you'll love, and a snack in the evening that will keep you happily munching away to your favorite reality tv show! Take that first step and figure out where the extra-calorie problem lies, and then you can take the second step--decide what smarter choice you have instead--to start the weight loss rolling.

For helpful ways to re-organize your diet if you've identified your problem as fast foods, skipping breakfast, or unwise snack choices, see my new e-books here: www.mycoachlaurie.com/products.

Free Diet Makeovers This Month!

It's the new year; the time where everyone is making new year's resolutions. And I'll bet that "lose some weight" is top on many people's list!
I'd love to help you do it right this year, so I'm offering to help you makeover your diet starting now!

It's easy to do--just think of three ways you can change your diet to make it better. How can you eat more foods that are good for you? Fewer foods that are high in calories? How can you be sure to exercise more regularly? Sit down with a pad of paper and jot down some ideas. When you come up with a few good ones, just send them here as comments. I'll add my expert comments to yours and help you refine them so they'll work best.

Here are some examples of what we might see:

1) Eat 3 fruits each day.
comment: have a plan to track them, such as keeping a log on the refrigerator door. After supper, check to see how close you are, and if you are lacking a fruit or two, have one for dessert and another as a bedtime snack.

2) Stop eating fast food.
comment: You don't want to set yourself up to fail. If you eat fast food often for convenience sake, you're going to have a back-up plan that works, like packing your lunch every day--and will you really do this? How about taking a few minutes to research your favorite fast food restaurant on their website for nutritional content of the foods you like best. You'll quickly find that some have hundreds more calories than others. Instead of "no more fast food" it may be wiser to refine your goal as "find the healthiest choices" for when you do turn into the drive through window!

3) Exercise every day.
comment: If you don't exercise every day now, what makes you think things will change so drastically? You need an easy plan! What exactly will you do for exercise, and where and when will you do it? Do you like to walk? Do you like aerobics classes? Can you follow a schedule more faithfully if you have an exercise buddy? Again, you want to set yourself up for success, so make your goal realistic. "I will walk monday and wednesday after dinner with my husband, and meet Barb at the gym on Tuesday and Saturday mornings for yoga classes" might work better for your new routine.

Share some goals with us and we can all get some good ideas to start out 2009 with healthy habits that can last this whole year!

I'm running a contest to help me get a collection of e-books written for my "Choose To Lose" series. You see, I've learned that each individual has their own specific 'problem areas' in their dietary habits that prevent them from losing weight. I've identified several prominent ones among the clients I've seen over the years and started writing this series of e-books.

The idea behind the series is to target only the areas that will help you reduce your calorie intake, and not make you read through an extensive diet book that involves changing habits you don't need to change.

For example, some people skip breakfast which slows their metabolism and makes them hungry later in the day, leading to overeating. If you're a faithful breakfast eater, you don't need to read about how to overcome the roadblocks that keep people from eating the morning meal (which include, "I don't have time", "I'm not hungry when I get up", and "I don't like breakfast foods").

Some people snack excessively either out of stress, boredom, or hunger due to not planning their meals well. They can take in hundreds of excessive calories through mindless munching any time from the morning coffee break donuts, to the afternoon candy bar fix, to the evening television side-kick bag of chips. If this sounds like something you do, you can get the "Smart Snacking" e-book and solve your weight problem!

Other common habits that lead to over-consumption of calories and subsequent weight gain include: consuming fast foods too often, and making poor choices when you do; dining out for dinner several nights each week and 'splurging' too often; eating out for lunch every day when packing your lunch could save you hundreds of calories; not reading labels to see how many calories you are consuming, etc.

I have ideas for about 10 e-books in the near future: three are already available on the www.mycoachlaurie.com/products page; each is approximately 20 pages in length; all can be downloaded with adobe acrobat after purchase.

Here's what's up with the contest: If you know what your 'problem area' is that is keeping you from losing weight, send it to me and if I write an e-book about it, I'll send you that e-book, plus any other one you choose, for free! You can either comment here or send me a private email at laurie@mycoachlaurie.com. I'll be in touch with you shortly thereafter with an email to let you know whether it's a topic I will include in a future e-book, and if it is, I'll send you a voucher for 2 free e-books good through the end of March (at which time I hope to have several topics completed and ready for download!)

Thanks for your help, and good luck: we can all win!

This Year, Make Your New Year's Resolution Stick!

The first month of the new year makes us feel full of so many possibilities, and at this time of the year we are so gung ho to begin anew, making the best and biggest changes possible. Now find out how the way you state your resolutions can mean the difference between following through, or tossing them out the window after just a few days.

Think about some of the most common resolutions you hear: "I'm going to lose weight"; "I'm going to exercise more"; or "I'm going to eat more healthy". The problem with each of these is that they are too general. They don't give you any direction or any solid steps to follow. So after a few weeks when your excited phase starts wearing out and the gym becomes boring, you just let the good intentions drop away until, say, bathing suit season.

What can you do to turn these good ideas into good habits? Decide on what steps you can take to incorporate healthier eating and exercise habits into your life. Here are a few examples of how to re-word some new year's resolutions so you will find them easier to stick with:


1. I'm going to lose weight: Decide what steps you can take to make this happen. What can you incorporate into your daily routine to result in a decrease in calorie intake? How about, "I'm going to have fruit or sorbet after dinner instead of cookies or ice cream", or "I'm going to start keeping a food journal and set a goal of eating only when I am hungry or really want a certain treat once a week". These are behaviors you can perform, without watching the days go by with the scale not budging.

2. I'm going to exercise more. How are you going to be sure you actually follow through with this resolution? Some people work better with a schedule, or with an exercise buddy. "I'm going to find a class I like at the gym and find a buddy to join me so I'm sure to keep my appointed time on three days each week", or "I'm going to go for a 30 minute walk after dinner four nights a week" holds you accountable to a friend and to a schedule. It's a very concrete way of including exercise into your regular routine and you can keep this up literally for the rest of your life!

3. I'm going to eat more healthy. This statement is far too general. What does "healthy" mean to you? Will you stop eating processed foods? If you stop for fast food one day will you believe you've blown the whole 'healthy' resolution and pounce on a new reason to give up right away and pig out? "I'm going to make sure I eat at least three fruits and three vegetables each day", or "I'm going to avoid foods that contain more than 30% of the calories from fat" will direct you to a concrete action you can take. If you miss a vegetable one day, you can easily start over the next, knowing that you are doing better this year than you were last year.

Plan on some specifics that define what you really mean by "healthy" or "weight loss" or "more exercise", and start those new habits to form a healthier you in 2009!

Truvia: The New Generation of Sweeteners

A plant by the name of Stevia has been getting a lot of attention recently. It seems promising as a new generation of no-calorie sweetener: Great news for people watching their waistline as well as people with diabetes who limit their intake of sugar. One company, Cargill, manufactures a product made from Stevia under the brand name, Truvia. Here's the scoop:

Truvia is a combination of the compounds Rebiana and Erythritol. The first of these comes from the leaves of the stevia plant. The companies that manufacture it (Cargill and Coca-Cola) report it "only consists of the best-tasting components of the stevia leaf". The sweet leaf of the stevia plant is dried, steeped in water, and further purified to provide a calorie-free sweet taste.

The second compound, erythritol, is a sugar alcohol which acts as the carrier for truvia. It is a sugar alcohol with a digestive pathway that results in very little of it remaining in the large intestine (as happens with some other sugar alcohols), reducing the likelihood of gas or bloating.
The Truvia product has been studied and found not to contribute calories, or to affect blood sugar of people with type 2 diabetes. It has also has claims of "no aftertaste", even though many products containing Stevia do have a lingering aftertaste for many people.

Coca Cola is ready to release some beverages containing Truvia, even while the compound is pending FDA approval. Cargill and The Coca-Cola company are working together to bring rebiana to consumers around the world as an ingredient in a variety of foods and beverages. Look for it on grocery store shelves real soon!

Portion Control for the Holidays

I was speaking to one of my clients the other day and she has progressed so far with the changes in her eating habits since we first met in September. I wanted to pass along some of the tips that have worked for her because she is losing weight and feeling great, so I thought these ideas would work for someone else out there!

1) The first change Lucy made was to use smaller plates in her home at dinner time. Many have extremely large dinner plates that can easily measure nearly a foot in diameter. At the time I suggested she change to smaller plates, she hesitated and said to me, "but I only put food in the middle part--not all the way out to the edges". Then she realized how much plate was still being filled as she compared the size of her usual serving plates to the smaller 'salad' plates. "I'll try using these and see how it goes," Lucy agreed. And ever since then she has been dining with the smaller ones, feeling satisfied and not stuffed.

2) The other trick Lucy tried for dinner meals was to reduce the amount of food she was cooking. "It's just me and my husband for dinner, but sometimes we cook enough for four or six people--then we just keep taking more helpings because the food is in front of us." Now she and her husband start with just enough food for two, and they both get just enough and never overeat at dinner.

3) When dining out, Lucy and her husband share a main entree with an additional order of a side salad. Or sometimes they'll each get an appetizer instead of a full meal. "They really give you so much food when you eat out, if you don't stay aware of how much you're putting away, it can be gone before you remember to ask for a take-out container!"

4) At the recent buffets Lucy has been going to around the holidays, she's come up with a couple of tips of her own that she shared with me: "Since I can't get a smaller plate wherever I go, I just leave more plate showing than I have covered!" What a great idea that is: Instead of saying to herself, "I'm at someone else's house now so I'll just fill up my plate like all the other guests," Lucy remains aware of eating reasonable portion sizes to help continue her weight loss and meet her goals. She makes sure there is plenty of space on the plate because that means it's not overflowing with food--translation--calories!

5) And the last tip she shared with me was another useful one when going through buffet lines: "I just take one spoonful of each item on the line--a spoonful of turkey, a spoonful of mashed potatoes, a spoonful of sweet potatoes, and so on. I'm not missing out on anything and it's plenty of food by the time I reach the end of the line. It's just so easy to take too much. Reminding myself to stick to one spoonful of each food works out just perfectly."

Thanks to Lucy for all the great tips, and congratulations on the 15 pounds you've shed so far!