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The following are tips that
anyone can do to bring their weight under control, that do
not involve diet or exercise, shots, pills, or potions.
This is not intended to replace a good diet and mild to
moderate exercise programs in order to achieve long term
weight management. But Dr. Steelman has learned that too
often, people embark on a severe diet only to later become
overwhelmed by the frustration of not eating enough or
missing their favorite foods. The end of the diet
frequently brings a period of gluttony followed by feelings
of guilt, resentment, and lowered self-esteem.
These tips are designed to
bring about small changes in eating behavior and help
establish better control over your eating choices. They
will fit nicely with almost any type of dietary approach!
Note: You are not expected
to enact all 20 tips at once. The idea is to be aware of
how such little things can make a huge difference in the way
you look at food and eat.
1. Sit down!
Studies have shown that people tend to eat more when
standing up. For example, if you are standing at the
kitchen counter talking with your spouse or friend while
munching on some snacks you are apt to eat more than if you
sat down at the table.
2. Eat from a place
setting! Any time you feel the urge to snack...get out
a plate, knife, fork, spoon, and glass. Fill the glass, and
put the food you want to eat on the plate...even it it's
just a handful of potato chips. When you are through
eating, wash the dishes and put them away. Notice that you
are not being asked to refrain from eating any particular
food…only that you eat it from a plate while sitting down.
Remember, you can never eat enough of something you don't
want to satisfy you.
3. Use the On-Line
diary! I just can't stress enough the importance of a
diary. Keeping a diary like this does three things that are
advantageous. First it prevents you from eating, without
even thinking about it...secondly the diary may point out
certain triggers or patterns in your eating... and thirdly,
it will keep you aware that you are making choices and gives
you a sense of control. People who keep a diary develop a
feeling of empowerment over food instead of being a victim
to weak will power.
4. Eat without
distractions! Too many people sit down in front of the
TV, with some snack food and before they know it, have eaten
far more than they ever intended. While you are distracted
by TV, radio or even reading...it is all too easy to space
out and eat too much. Therefore when you eat, concentrate
fully on eating not on the other activities. Not only will
you tend to eat less, but you will probably enjoy it more.
You can focus on the taste, the texture and other
pleasurable aspects of eating this way.
5. Use a smaller plate!
Part of the satisfaction from eating comes from visual
signals our brain receives. Putting food on a smaller plate
makes it appear to be a larger amount of food. This visual
input to the brain actually signals our appetite center to
become as satisfied as if we had eaten a larger amount.
6. Eat buffet style! Leave
the serving dishes on the kitchen counter and have everyone
serve their plates buffet style. This decreases the
likelihood of your overdoing it by filling your plate with
seconds only to realize thirty minutes later you have eaten
twice as much as you really needed.
7. Put your fork down
between bites! The practice of putting your eating
utensils down while chewing a bite of food decreases the
rate at which you eat. Since there is a lag time in between
food entering our stomach and feelings of fullness and
satisfaction reaching our brain, anything that slows the
eating process will tend to help us eat less and feel more
satisfied at the same time.
8. Set a timer! If
the urge to eat strikes you between meals, set the oven
timer or alarm on your watch for ten minutes. Say to
yourself that when the timer goes off you can eat something
if you still want it. Most urges to eat only last ten to
fifteen minutes and by the time the timer goes off the urge
will have passed. You can kill two birds with one stone and
drink a glass of ice water during this ten minutes...ice
water stops stomach growling.
9. Increase activity! We
just can't say this enough. That's why darsi has a section
on it, why it's in every part of the program. By increasing
activity I don't mean beginning an exercise program, but
rather increasing the amount of calories you burn in your
daily activities. For example standing burns more calories
than sitting. So stand when talking on the phone, or any of
the other ideas that we have given you during this
program...like parking a little ways away from the store,
and walking across the parking lot. Now use you
head....don't do this if it's dark at night, and you're in
an area where you’re not safe. But you know what were
saying....increase activity!
10. Have a pre-planned
snack. If between meal snacking is a problem for you it
might be wise for you to pre-plan a between meal snack. A
common scenario is for a dieter to swear they are going to
entirely avoid snacking between meals. But, then...they
decide they'll have just one cookie…just one! Then it's
just one more...and one more...you know the routine. A
useful strategy to combat this is to have a pre-planned
snack which is more nutritious in nature. For example a
person might decide to have a snack between supper and
bedtime, say about 8:30...and this snack will be some fruit
and some low fat cottage cheese. When the urge hits them at
7:30, it's going to be a lot easier to control, if you know
that you can eat at 8:30 and what the snack is going to be.
11. Soup! A bowl of
low calorie soup, like vegetable soup, helps decrease the
amount of food it takes to satisfy your appetite center.
The liquid volume of the soup expands your stomach and
begins signaling your brain's appetite center that you are
filling up...and because soup is hot and eaten with a spoon
it forces us to slow down our rate of eating.
12. Take a break! There
is a ten to fifteen minute lag period between when we
actually eat and when the brain receives the signal that we
have eaten. You have had the experience of eating just
enough Thanksgiving dinner only to notice fifteen or twenty
minutes later that you now felt stuffed to the gills. One
way to solve this problem is take a break of five minutes
during the meal. Right in the middle of the meal put your
folk down and engage someone in conversation, or enter
contemplative meditation, or even do a small chore. After a
break, return to your meal. You may find that your appetite
is greatly diminished and that you eat less.
13. Leave something on
your plate! We mean food too. Get used to seeing a bit
of food left on your plate. It is not good to be a member
of the clean plate club any longer!
14. Put some calories in
the bank! If you know you are going to an event where
overeating is likely...such as a Christmas party or dinner
at a favorite restaurant...prepare in advance by eating a
little less each day for several days before the event. The
calories you saved are placed in a calorie bank and may be
withdrawn to spend when the big event arrives. Saving a few
calories for several days in advance does not leave you
feeling deprived and set you up for a binge the way starving
yourself on the day of the event does.
15. Designated eating
place! Pick out one place in your house which will
become your designated eating place. Do not eat in any
other location but this one. It should be a table in the
dining room or kitchen area. When you eat in a given
location, your mind begins associating that location with
food, then the living room or the bedroom will not trigger
your appetite any longer.
16. Rearrange the
refrigerator. Put your favorite high-calorie foods in
the back of the refrigerator, making it more difficult to
see and reach them. This decreases the likelihood that you
will be over-stimulated anytime you open the door.
Like-wise rearrange your cabinet space so that snack type
foods are hard to get at...it works. Try it.
17. Use opaque
containers. The old phrase ‘out of sight, out of mind’
applies when we are talking about food. That's one of the
reasons that putting foods in the back of the refrigerator
and other hard to get to locations works. But it is also
helpful to make food harder to see, by storing it in opaque
containers. Cookies in a clear glass container that you can
readily see are much more enticing than cookies in a non see
through container. Same cookies, but if you don't see them,
you're not nearly as tempted.
18. Order first! When
you go to a restaurant with a group of people, try to be the
first person to order. Stop asking other people, “What are
you going to have?” Then you won't be tempted when other
people order higher calorie foods.
19. Put it on the side!
Ask to have salad dressing, gravies, sauces, et cetera
brought to you on the side. Then you can choose to use it
or not, and how much.
20. Shop with a list! Make
your shopping list before you go to the store. And make
your list after you've just eaten. You're not hungry then,
and it's a good time to put together a list. You'll only
list the things you need.
Remember
these tips are designed to
bring about small changes in your eating choices. They fit
nicely with almost any type of dietary approach. We can
provide you with the tools to help create a better lifestyle
and a better weight....it's up to you to use them with
persistence, diligence and enthusiasm.
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