Eat Your Way Slim

 Weight Control from Diet and Lifestyle Change
The dream of many people is a magic diet pill taken before each meal that will remove all the calories.

In the absence of such a magic diet pill, we continue to try dozens of diets, spend a fortune on exercise equipment and health club memberships, and even hire trainers who will come to our homes and work out with us.

We read so much about what is good for us and what is bad that the picture has become muddled. Today's advertising is so slick that we often don't know what to believe.

For more information, we recommend: The Optimal Diet Cookbook This official cookbook used in the CHIP program has 166 pages of delicious, healthy recipes fully approved by the CHIP program for lifestyle change. Click for more...

Here are some hard facts you can depend on. You can accomplish weight control in a healthy way without a magic diet pill:

• Always have a breakfast. In a hurry? Try a bagel, toast, or dry cereal.
• Carry your lunch to avoid fast food. Stay away from vending machines.
• Go outdoors for a brisk walk during lunch. Join a health club.
• Try new low-fat, easy-to-prepare recipes for dinner.
• Dietary dangers abound at parties. Eat before you go to a party!
• Find a partner to collaborate with in targeting weight control and exercise goals.

OK, I'm convinced. What must I do?

Managing obesity is much more than a dietary problem. Like diabetes, hypertension, alcoholism, or smoking, obesity requires a comprehensive approach to lifestyle changes. There is no magic diet pill you can gulp, and Presto!—a healthy you. Forget the diet pill and follow the approach below:
First, you must have a long-term commitment to better health—a commitment that does not change when binges or other lapses occur. With this kind of commitment you can get up when you fall, start again, and persevere.

Second, you need to identify and change habits that cause obesity. This may be as simple as eliminating soft drinks or cutting back on fats and oils. Or it may require you to re-structure your eating patterns and your lifestyle completely. Changing lifelong habits is among the most difficult things a person can do. For many people the process can be very threatening. Faithful, regular meetings with a support group greatly increase the chances of success. This kind of team effort is a must for those more than 30 pounds overweight, or who have had problems for several years.

Third, attitudes often need radical surgery. Willingness to change is critically important. Read books, attend seminars, join fitness groups, and make friends with health-minded people. Weight control is not a vanity trip. Keep the focus on improved health, and the weight will take care of itself.

Finally, look for a weight control plan that is consistent with a lifetime of good health. This will include a low-fat, high-fiber diet, regular exercise, and a physical, mental, and psychological outlook that meets your needs. Weight control should be only part of a full and fulfilling life—not its main preoccupation. With such a workable life plan, it is possible to achieve your desired level of weight control. Many have succeeded. Put your heart into it and keep it there.

Protein Consumption and Bone Loss

Eskimos consume diets extremely high in both protein (250 to 400 gm/day) and calcium (1,500 to 2,500 mg/day). In spite of their high calcium intake and the very active lives they lead, they have one of the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world.

The Bantu tribes in Africa, on the other hand, consume an average of 50 grams of protein and less than 400 mg of calcium a day, predominantly from plant foods. Yet, even though Bantu women bear an average of 10 children, making special demands on calcium reserves, they are essentially free of osteoporosis (bone loss). In contrast, relatives of the Bantu who have migrated to the United States and adopted the American dietary lifestyle eventually experience a rate of osteoporosis comparable to that of the rest of the American population.

How about prevention?

Most populations around the world average 400 mg of calcium a day without any evidence of osteoporosis. It’s strangely paradoxical that osteoporosis has become epidemic in the United States, where the consumption of calcium-rich dairy products and calcium supplements is the highest in the world.

But North Americans also eat two to three times more protein than they need. Reducing protein intake to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of 50 to 60 grams a day, along with daily active exercise and a healthful diet low in salt, phosphorus, and caffeine, holds promise of turning the tide in the battle against brittle bones.

Calcium in Concentrated Protein Foods
	Serving Size	Calcium (in mg)	Protein (ingm)
Beef, Chicken	5 oz.	15	34-45
Cheddar Cheese	4 sl.	900	35
Whole Milk	3 glasses	875	27
With high protein foods, you sometimes get a lot of calcium. But you may lose even more calcium as the body has to deal with the excess animal protein.

Calcium in Unconcentrated Protein Foods
	Serving Size	Calcium (mg)	Protein (gm)
Collard greens	1 cup	360	5
Spinach, Broccoli	1 cup	175	5
Bread	2 sl.	50-90	5
These foods are good sources of calcium. They have moderate amounts of protein, are low in fat, and cholesterol-free.

Treatment for Bone Loss

Several treatments for bone loss (osteoporosis) are offered:

• Estrogen therapy. When used, it slows down bone loss, but increases the risk for uterine and breast cancer, thrombophlebitis (blood clots) and gallbladder disease. It may also aggravate diabetes and hypertension, and women sometimes face periodic uterine biopsies. Over the years, adding progesterone was designed to blunt some of these disturbing estrogen-related side effects. The results of the recent Women's Health Initiative, however, have raised so much concern about the use of these hormones, that many physicians prescribe them now only for special clinical conditions such as severe hot flashes, and even then, only for a short time. Even so, much uncertainty and confusion exists on this subject.
• Vitamin D. The body uses vitamin D to absorb calcium, but most Americans get more than they need if they have sufficient sun exposure. Additional supplements, in general, have not proven very beneficial for bone loss treatment.
• Calcium. Various U.S. governmental agencies have recommended 800 to 1,500 mgs a day. The World Health Organization, however, recommends only 500 mgs since calcium deficiency has never been documented anywhere in the world, even with calcium intakes of as little as 300 mgs a day.
• Exercise. Bones will not thicken and strengthen without regular weight-bearing exercise, such as walking. To retain their minerals, bones need to be pressed, pushed, pulled, and twisted against gravity. The gravity factor has been well demonstrated by the early astronauts. Even though they exercised faithfully while in space, their bones showed startling osteoporotic changes on their return. While nearly all types of aerobic exercise are beneficial to the body, what the bones need most to prevent bone loss is a good daily shake-up.
• If you smoke and you want to help prevent bone loss, stop!
  It will do your bones a big favor.
• Medications, such as Fosamax, which is currently under investigation because of excessive jaw fractures. Many of these drugs increase bone density but do not necessarily decrease bone fractures.
• To prevent bone loss, reduce the amount of animal protein, salt and caffeine in your diet. Osteoporosis appears to be a disease of affluence and excess, rather than one of deficiency. Osteoporosis is a rather complex disease largely related to our dietary lifestyle. The Standard American Diet, high in animal protein, salt, phosphorus (meat, certain soft drinks), and caffeine, causes calcium to be leached from the bones and excreted in the urine. These lifestyle-induced calcium losses seem to override any amount of calcium consumed or swallowed.

Use It or Lose It
In its efficiency the body deposits minerals when there is extra demand placed upon the bones. Exercise stresses bone structure, producing small electrical charges that can cause calcium and other minerals to be drawn in and held. "Use it or lose it" is an adage that certainly applies to keeping bones strong.

Building Better Bones

Has ordinary, everyday calcium turned out to be the gallant gladiator that can deliver fair maidens from brittle bones, fractured hips, and deformed spines? That is what the calcium manufacturers and the dairy industry would like us to believe. In reality, osteoporosis, or bone loss, is far more complicated than that.

What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis (literally, porous bone) silently and painlessly weakens the bones of 25 million Americans. Previously sturdy bones gradually become thin and fragile, and their interiors become soft and spongy. As a result, bones break, giving rise to the term brittle bones. Osteoporosis may cause as many as 1.3 million fractures a year. Hip fractures can be both disabling and deadly. Spinal fractures, on the other hand, are often painless, but can rob a person of two to eight inches of height. The resultant spinal curvature is the source of the dowager’s hump, or the hunchback.

How does osteoporosis develop? Normal bones continue to increase in strength and thickness until around age 35. Then the process gradually reverses itself, and small amounts of bone are being lost each year—hence the common term "bone loss." This loss accelerates in women after menopause and can continue for 7 to 15 years. When risk factors are present, bone loss occurs even faster and osteoporosis may develop. Although usually considered a disease of post-menopausal women, 20% of bone loss victims are men.

How can I tell if I've undergone bone loss?
Without professional help, you can’t—not until you fracture a bone or start shrinking in height, and that’s quite late in the disease. Earlier diagnosis is best made by physicians at reliable medical centers.
If you are post-menopausal and you have two or more of the following risk factors, then it is important for you to be tested for possible bone loss:

• sedentary lifestyle
• early menopause
• chronic use of corticosteroids
• cigarettes, caffeine, or alcohol use
• Standard American Diet high in animal protein, salt, and phosphoric acid.
• Lean Caucasians and Westernized Asians are more susceptible than other races, probably because they have smaller bones.

Water and Weight Loss

Among its other benefits, water plays a major part in weight loss.  Since water contains no calories, it can serve as an appetite suppressant, and helps the body metabolize stored fat, it may possibly be one of the most significant factors in losing weight.  In the article "Water Bearers", (Shape magazine) Elizabeth Austin notes, "water is the single most important nutrient you take in every day.  It's fat -free, cholesterol-free, low in sodium, and completely without calories."  Also, drinking more water helps to reduce water retention by stimulating your kidneys.  Studies have recommended that if you are overweight according to average height and weight comparison charts, you should add one glass of water to your daily requirement (8 glasses) for every 25 pounds over your recommended weight. Dehydration leads to excess body fat, poor muscle tone & size, decreased digestive efficiency & organ function, increased toxicity, joint & muscle soreness, & water retention. Water works to keep muscles and skin toned. There is a difference between drinking pure water & beverages that contain water.  Fruit juice, soft drinks, coffee, etc., may contain substances that are not healthy, and actually contradict some of the positive effects of the added water.  Caffeinated beverages stimulate the adrenal glands and act as diuretics, robbing your body of necessary water.  Soft drinks contain phosphorus, which can lead to depletion of bone calcium.  Soda contains sodium.  Fruit juices contain a lot of sugar.  These drinks may tax the body more than they cleanse it.  A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains 9-10 teaspoons of sugar and loads of empty calories.

Water or Coke?

Water or Coke   1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.  2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.  3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.  4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.  5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.  6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.  7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.  8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.  And now for the properties of Coke:  1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.  2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days.  3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.  The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China.  4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.  5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.  6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coke to the rusted bolt for several minutes.  7. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle.  The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains.  8. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.  For Your Info: 1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.  Its pH is 2.8.  It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.  Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.  2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.  3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for 20 years! Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or a coke? Advertisements tell us Coke is “the Real Thing.”  Don’t believe it!  Water is “the Real Thing!”  –thanks to Hope Munro, Adairsville GA for forwarding this to me

Water

Water, Water, Water

Study Links Water with Heart Health

Not drinking enough water could be as harmful to a person's heart as smoking, according to a study by Loma Linda University and Medical Center.  Researchers at the California-based institution said that drinking a sufficient amount of water every day significantly lowers the risk of coronary heart disease.

Jacqueline Chan, chief researcher on the project, told reporters at an April 25 news conference that sufficient water is as important to heart health as other factors such as diet, exercise, and abstinence from smoking.

Statistics gathered from a study of Seventh-day Adventists in California showed that healthy men who drank five or more glasses of water every day had a 54 percent decrease in the risk of fatal coronary heart disease, compared with those who drank only two glasses of water.  Women who drank five glasses of water each day lowered their fatal heart attack risk by 41 percent.

The data for these findings comes out of the Adventist Health Study, a massive research project begun in 1973 that tracked the health of more than 20,000 Californian Seventh-day Adventists.

Researchers believe that drinking a high volume of plain water works to thin the blood, thus lowering the risk of blood clots.  People who replaced some of the water with other fluids, such as fruit juice, milk, or soda, did not receive the same protection, researchers found.