Tip #31 - Stay Away From Soda

I will admit that I have a hard time sticking to this tip. Of course, everything I say not to eat can be eaten in moderation or as a treat. Always remember, Tip #23 Moderation, Not Elimination. So what I am saying in this tip is not to stop drinking soda, but to severely limit your soda intake. If you drink regular soda, the caloric count of regular soda is extremely high. For those people who prefer diet soda, refer to my previous comments about putting chemicals in your body. Whether you are drinking empty calories or chemicals, soda is not good for you diet. Minimizing soda consumption is key to trying to lose weight.

Tip #30 - Stay Away From Processed Foods

The trans fats that I spoke so negatively of in Tip #29 are the main reason for staying away from processed foods. The other reason is that many processed foods tend to be made with more chemicals than actual food. Make sure you check the ingredients. If there are a lot of things that you have never heard of before, that food is probably a processed food and it is most likely not good for you. Again, this tip is not only for weight loss, but also for a generally healthy diet. The best foods are those that you make yourself. When you start buying pre-made foods and those that have been processed, the nutritional value goes down. Processed foods tend to included trans fats and chemicals that are harmful to your diet and your body. As a general principle, try to eat homemade and natural food as much as possible. It will help with weight loss and general nutrition.

Tip #29 - No Trans Fat

One of the main reasons why junk food is so bad for you is the fact that they contain trans fats. Trans fat shows up as partially hydrogenated fat on the ingredient list of most foods. Trans fats originated during the no fat era of weight loss. A common example of a partially hydrogenated fat is margarine. Trans fats are lower in fat than normal sources of fat but are much worse for the body. While trans fats will not necessarily hurt your weight loss, they will hinder your ultimate goal of having a healthy and nutritious diet. Most companies are realizing the harmful effects of trans fats on people and are therefore removing them from their ingredients. Many items at the grocery store contain partially hydrogenated or trans fats. Watch out for these ingredients on the labels of foods you commonly buy. These fats are horrible for your body and should be avoided at all costs, no matter if you are trying to lose weight or just live a healthy life.

Tip #28 - Say No To Junk Food

Junk food is probably the worst type of food you can eat when trying to lose weight, and in general. It is even worse than fast food. Typically, people consume junk food, like Doritos or Fritos or store bought cookies, not one piece at a time, but one handful at a time. Not only are these types of food bad for you, but also people are prone to significantly over eat junk foods. The best way to solve this problem is by substituting junk foods for whole-wheat pretzels or non-fat popcorn (like Boston brand popcorn). Always remember, even when eating snack foods, to use portion control. See Tip #19 for portion control tips for snack food. The point is that junk foods are full of empty calories, fat, and other ingredients that are harmful to your body. There is no need to consume junk food. If you must snack, choose healthy options like those listed above or even eat carrots or celery sticks. Fruits and vegetables are great substitutes for unhealthy snack foods when you are on the run or are hungry in between meals (keep baby carrots and cut up pieces of celery in bags in the refrigerator for easy grab and go snacking). Elimination of junk foods in your diet is essential to losing weight; there is just no need for all those wasteful calories.

Tip #27 - Eliminate All Fast Food

There is absolutely no reason why anyone in this world needs to eat fast food. It is some of the worst food on earth. I am talking taste and health wise. The amount of calories that one consumes while eating a fast food meal is off the charts. Below are links to McDonald's and Burger King's nutritional guides for more information on what I am referring to:
McDonald's Nutritional Information
Burger King's Nutritional Information

Aside from the health aspects, fast food just does not taste good.

I know that there are new healthy options from the fast food chains, but in all honesty, you are better off going to a deli and getting a sandwich or a salad (minus the mayo and light on the dressing). There are many ways to get quality "fast food" from super markets and delis and avoid having to eat food from the fast food chains. I have not had fast food in over 3-years; eliminating fast food from your diet is one more step towards losing weight.

Tip #26 - An Introduction To Foods

Tip #26 is less of a tip and more of an introduction. The tips and entries to follow are going to detail some foods that should and should not be part of your diet. Each day I will publish a new post on a certain food or category of foods. Along with the type of foods, I will also try to explain why each food is good or bad for your diet. I have not determined how long this series of tips will last, but while they do I hope they are helpful.

Tip #25 - Make Sure You Exercise After A Splurge

I know I am beating a dead horse on this whole splurge concept, but it is an important part of weight loss and weight maintenance. As necessary as it is to splurge and treat yourself every once in a while, you must also make up for those extra calories you are eating. Working out an extra 15-30 minutes the day after splurging easily does this. Everyone knows the days after I have treated myself, because those are the days I go on my longest runs. You must compensate for the extra caloric intake, and the best way to handle this is through extra exercise. While everyone loves a good cookie or a treat, you must make sure to work it off the next day with nothing more than a little extra exercise.

Tip #24 - COOKIES!!!

While the title sounds intriguing, this tip is not too exciting. Basically, I want to get across the point that when you are eating anything, it is only the first and the last bites of each particular food that you will remember. Whenever you are eating cookies (hence the title, because cookies was the example used when this was explained to me), it is only the first cookie and the last cookie that you will remember. Based on this logic, it only makes sense to have two cookies. I cannot stress enough how important portion control is to losing weight. This cookies tip goes along with yesterdays tip of moderation, not elimination, and the idea that it is ok to splurge every once in a while. When eating anything, especially treats, you only need to have two because your brain only remembers the first and last pieces of candy that you eat.

Tip #23 - Moderation, Not Elimination

I must give credit where credit is due. Moderation, not elimination is a core piece of advice that was given to me by my former nutritionist Lisa Bunce. She stressed the fact that you never have to remove something entirely from your diet. Just as every once in a while you are allowed to splurge, having a little desert every so often is not a bad thing. There is no need to take the things you love out of your diet. What is necessary is that you limit your consumption of the foods that are not good for you. For instance, it is ok to have a cookie or two, but there is no need to have any more than that. Or, it is fine to eat some cream soup, but you should not have a bowl of it, a cup will suffice. This all goes back to the idea of portion sizes. If you are going to treat yourself to something that is not on your diet, it is ok, but make sure you do not have too much. Always remember, while losing weight and during weight maintenance (I still follow this rule), you diet is about moderation, not elimination.

Tip #22 - Splurge Every Once In A While

As important as it is to stick to your diet, it is also important to splurge sometimes. If you get an opportunity to eat world-class food, go for it. Of course you must keep some sense of what you are eating. Just because you can splurge does not mean that you can eat as much food as you want. It just means that if your mother is making her famous New England clam chowder that she makes a few times a year it is ok to have a bowl. Your life should not revolve around your diet; your diet should work around your life. This means that for all the times you are very good at keeping your diet and watching what you eat, you are allowed to cheat every once in a while. The occasional splurge will keep you sane when trying to lose weight; the emphasis here is on occasional. I must also stress the idea of a controlled splurge. You are not allowed to have an eat fest, but bending your diet every so often is a healthy thing.

P.S. For the first few weeks and months, try not to splurge because it will be hard to get back on track. Once you have lost some weight and found a successful diet, it will be rewarding to splurge occasionally.

Tip #21 - Train Yourself To Be A Good Eater

Aside from the obvious goal of losing weight, another goal of a weight loss effort should be to train yourself to be a good eater. There are so many stories of a person losing 20 pounds and then gaining 30. Do not let this happen to you. Change your way of life forever. One way to achieve this is to avoid going on a "diet" and instead create a new healthy diet. By healthy diet I mean something that you can use for weight loss and weight maintenance. At this point, I look at a bag of chips and say I do not need to eat that. I have created a way of life and diet that I can follow for the rest of my life. It is this concept that one must harness in order to not only lose weight, but also to keep it off. By teaching yourself what is good to eat and what you should not be eating (as well as how much of everything), you will successfully change your life by never having to worry about your weight ever again. As long as you can train yourself (with the help of a weight watchers or dietician) what you should eat now and in the future, you will never again have to struggle with the weight loss problem. And that should be the ultimate goal in losing weight, to make it a one-time experience.

Tip #20 - Do Not Eat or Snack While You Are Cooking

Just as it is bad to snack on foods because you never really know how much you have eaten, it is horrible to pick at what you are cooking. If you are making dinner, you will end up eating half a meal while cooking, and then sit down and have a full dinner. Having little tastes of the food is ok, but not preferred. You lose a lot of control over how much you are eating by tasting foods while preparing dinner, and then sitting down to dinner. It is much better that you cook and then eat, as opposed to eating while cooking, and then eating the meal (there is just too much eating in that one sentence to make it good for weight loss).

Tip #19 - Separate Snack Foods Into Servings

We all live incredibly busy lives where we are constantly eating snacks on the run. Typically, if people are on the run and are hungry they will grab a bag of chips or pretzels and eat it on the go. This breeds portion control problems. The best way to handle this is to make your own packages of snacks. When opening up a fresh bag of goldfish or pretzels, count out the bag into servings and put them into Ziploc snack bags. This way, if you are in a hurry, you can grab a snack bag and you will have exactly a serving. This will eliminate over eating while snacking as well as make your cabinets a little neater. Very often, we will grab a bag of snacks and end up finishing the bag. By dividing each large bag into single serving Ziplocs, the chances of over eating are significantly reduced.

Tip #18 - Take Time To Eat Your Food

As I have always said, sometimes it is not what you eat, but how much you eat. Often times, you will eat more than your body needs before your stomach has time to figure out that it is full. The best way to avoid this is enjoy the food you eat. Take time in consuming meals. This way you will eat less because your stomach will feel full before you consume too much. A trick I like to use to help me eat slower is to chew my food 25 times before taking another bite. Another option is put down your fork and knife after each bite. Talking during a meal is also a great way to slow down your eating. There are many ways to stretch out a meal. I understand it is sometimes hard with busy schedules, but the longer you take to eat a meal, the less food it will take to make you full. And consequently the less food you will eat.

Tip #17 - Do Not Nosh

Noshing on food is probably the worst thing you can do when trying to lose weight. If you are hungry have a structured snack or meal. People who nosh end up eating way more than they are supposed to or intend to. If you are looking for something to eat, do not roam around the kitchen eating a little of this and a little of that. Take what you want to eat, sit down and eat it. If you are constantly taking a little of this and a bit of that, then you will feel like you have ate nothing when in fact you have had way too much to eat. Do not nosh on foods; if you are hungry have a meal.