Plan Your Weight Loss

Most of us that need to lose weight, no matter how much, realize it and have every intention to lose those unwanted pounds.  For many of us those intentions are expressed most loudly at the beginning of each year when we make our New Year's resolutions.  Each and every year, weight loss is listed as one of our most common and popular resolutions.  While our intentions are great, we often fail to follow those intentions with actions.

Researchers at the Teagasc Food Research Centre, the Irish Agriculture & Food Development Authority, have been exploring what we need to do in order to realize our good intentions when it comes to developing healthier eating habits. According to their Winter TResearch newsletter, 80 adults who took part in the National Adult Nutrition Survey were further interviewed regarding their food choice strategies and goals and their successful/failed attempts to make changes.  Based on these interviews, the nutrition researchers identified three factors that effect our ability to turn intentions into actual behaviors.  These factors are:

Planning - making actual, specific plans on how a person was going to begin and follow a healthier eating plan was considered to be extremely important in achieving the goal of eating healthier.

Monitoring - keeping track of one's progress helped individuals become more aware of positive progress, which reinforced motivation and resulted in additional progress.

Coping/Control - It was clear that obstacles get in the way of developing healthier eating habits and can result in failure.  However, deciding how one was going to cope with those obstacles or correct those failures helped individuals realize they were able to maintain their commitment and achieve final success.

Overall, this research showed that individuals who planned ahead had greater success at turning their good intentions into improved behaviors.  Planning ahead not only has to do with planning meals in advance, but also things like shopping for those planned meals and planning in advance how you intend to cope with obstacles.  It is also important to plan how you intend to monitor your progress and make sure you continue the monitoring process.  Good examples of this is keeping a food record, keeping a physical activity log, or monitoring your weight on a specific day each week.  Previous research has also reported that individuals who monitor their dietary habits and track their overall progress have greater weight loss success.  Therefore, it appears clear that forming a plan before diving into a new weight loss plan or healthier eating plan will go a long way towards ensuring long-term success.  While planning your weight loss strategy is of great importance, don't forget to put your plan into action.  Like the cartoonist Walt Kelly once said "It is not good enough for things to be planned - they still have to be done; for the intention to become a reality, energy has to be launched into operation".

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Honest Body Size Perceptions Are Important

One of the largest obstacles to losing weight that many of us have is developing a realistic perception of our true body size.  In a previous blog, I discussed a Harris Interactive poll of 2,400 survey respondents that reported 30% of overweight individuals believe they are within a normal body size and that 70% of obese individuals believe they are simply overweight.  This study clearly shows that as a population we need to develop a truer perception of our body size.

A new, larger obesity research study examined our perceptions of body size, what we choose to do about it, and the potential role of health care professionals in improving our perceptions. For this study, obesity researchers analyzed data from nearly 17,000 adults who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003 - 2008.  The study investigators reported that:

• 73% of women and 55% of men reported a desire to lose weight; however, only 57% of women and 40% of mean actually reported trying to control their weight. 
• 48% of overweight men and 23% of overweight women perceived themselves as being at their correct body weight.
• The vast majority of overweight individuals (74%) and nearly one-third (29%) of obese individuals have never been diagnosed as overweight or obese by their health care provider.
• Most overweight or obese survey respondents (74% of women and 60% of men) reported trying at least one weight loss strategy.
• Only about one-third of overweight or obese individuals reported using both diet AND exercise to lose weight.
• Obese or overweight individuals diagnosed as such by their health care provider were more likely to diet, exercise, or do both compared to individuals not diagnosed as overweight by their health care provider.

This study is a fascinating look into our perceptions of body size, what we chose to do about it, and the important role health care providers can play.  It is clear from this large population-based study that nearly two-thirds of us profess a desire to lose weight; unfortunately, only about a third of us actually take steps to lose the weight we desire to lose.  Part of this is apparently because many overweight individuals, men in particular, perceive themselves to be at a normal, healthy body weight.  Developing a more realistic and accurate perception of our body size is clearly an important step towards losing weight.  Developing a more realistic perception of our true body size can be aided by our health care providers.  Considering that the data from this study suggests that a proper body weight diagnosis by a health care professional can motivate many of us to lose weight, it is very disturbing to read that nearly 75% of overweight individuals are never diagnosed as such by their health care providers.  This clearly shows that health care providers can play an important part in our weight loss efforts.  The results of this study indicate the importance of an honest, straight-forward discussion of body size and weight control strategies with our health care providers as a first step to obtaining and maintaining a healthy body weight throughout life.

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New World Report - Americans Among The Fattest

A new obesity report, Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit Not Fat, published yesterday from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that the population of many of the world's leading economies are continuing to become more overweight and obese and that Americans are leading the charge.  While this organization is better known for economic-related forecasts, the impact of obesity on country economics prompted the development of this new obesity report.  While the full report is available only through purchase, parts of the report like the executive summary and some of the country data are available to read at no cost.  Some of the key facts from this new obesity report are listed below.

Key Facts from the 33 OECD Countries:

• 50% of the population in nearly half of the OECD countries is overweight or obese.
• Children with at least one obese parent are 3-4 times more likely to become obese
• Obesity results in a 25% higher cost of healthcare expenses.  In fact, according to this study, obesity is responsible for 1-3% of total healthcare costs in most OECD countries (5-10% in the U.S.)
• Obesity decreases life expectancy by 8-10 years.
• Poorly educated women are 2-3 times more likely to be obese than women with a high level of education.
• Japan and Korea have the lowest prevalence of overweight (~25%) and obese (3%) individuals.
• The United States and Mexico have the highest rates of overweight (nearly 70%) and obese (~33%) people.
• The United States and Scotland have the highest rates of childhood obesity (35%).

Key Facts from the United States:

• 75% of the U.S. population is predicted to be overweight or obese by the year 2020.
• While women with poor education are 1.3 times more likely to be overweight compared to women with a higher level of education, this disparity does not exist in men.
• Obesity rates are 17% higher in African-American women and 6% higher in Mexican-American women compared to Caucasian women.
• Childhood obesity overall, currently at about 35%, appears to have become relatively stable and is not expected to increase.
• The highest rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. are in Hispanic boys (23%) and African-American girls (21%)
• Children from poorer families are more than 1.5 times more likely to become obese compared to children from higher income families.

The authors of this new obesity report blame the increasing rates of obesity around the world to the usual things... availability of inexpensive, nutrient poor foods, increased rates of dining out, poor dietary habits, and lack of exercise.  To battle these rising rates of overweight and obese individuals, the authors of this report suggest that improving dietary habits and increasing physical activity through various means (health education, regulatory measures, and counseling by healthcare professionals) are all effective, cost efficient strategies that need to be reinforced.  This and previous obesity-related reports clearly indicate that we have a serious weight problem, particularly here in the U.S., and that we have a lot of work ahead of us to reverse this dangerous trend.

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Take Small Bites & Chew Slowly!

Retronasal aroma release is the process by which food aromas are released and sensed through our mouths during chewing.  Research has suggested that increasing the level of aromas released in this way can increase our feelings of fullness and potentially reduce our food consumption during a meal.  While we apparently each have individual differences in how well we recognize these food aromas, studies are being conducted to find ways to enhance the release of these aromas.  This includes research into different food processing methods and the effects of different eating patterns.

A new research study published online ahead of print in the British Journal of Nutrition examined the impact of bite size and chewing duration on retronasal aroma release.  In the initial part of the study, investigators asked 21 young, healthy, normal-weight volunteers to either eat freely or to eat two different fixed bite sizes.  In the second part of the study, the same volunteers were asked to either chew the food quickly (3 seconds) or more slowly (9 seconds).  During each part of the study, aroma release from the food was measured in the study volunteers.  The results of this investigation showed that:

• Taking multiple small bites of food resulted in a substantially greater release of food aromas compared to a smaller number of large bites.
• Chewing the test food for a longer duration resulted in a higher level of aroma release compared to chewing for a short length of time.
• Combining small bite size with longer chewing time did not enhance aroma release compared to either small bite size or longer chewing time by themselves.

This is a fascinating research study, which suggests that consuming our food in small bites and/or chewing more slowly releases greater amounts of aroma from the food we eat.  If retronasal aroma release is linked to an increase in feelings of fullness as some studies suggest, then eating smaller bites or chewing more slowly might cause us to feel full more quickly at meal time.  This has the possible long term effect of causing us to eat less food, assuming we listen to our bodies and actually stop eating when we feel full.  Additionally, this has the possibility of providing us with a more enjoyable dining experience based on the higher levels of food aromas we sense while eating.  Many of us have already developed particular eating habits with some eating very quickly and others eating more slowly.  Learning new, slower eating habits can be difficult for some of us, so choosing foods that lend themselves to taking smaller bites or choosing foods that are naturally chewy might be a good way to start developing better dining habits.

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Perceiving Our True Body Size

A large part of the fight against obesity revolves around obesity education and obesity awareness.  This involves making us aware of our body weight, exercise habits, eating habits and more and teaching us how to make appropriate changes that will hopefully lead to each of us adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Despite progress in obesity awareness and education, the results of a recent Harris Interactive poll suggests that as a whole, we still do not recognize when we are overweight or obese nor the extent of our body size.  Harris Interactive conducted an online survey between August 17-19, 2010 in which more than 2,400 volunteers answered questions about their body size image and more.  The results of this survey indicated that:

• 30% of overweight individuals think that they are within a normal body size range.
• 70% of obese people believe that they are simply overweight.
• 39% of morbidly obese people believe that they are overweight, but not obese.
• For those individuals who recognized themselves as being overweight, most of them (52% of overweight people and 75% of obese and morbidly obese people) blamed a lack of exercise on being heavy.
• Only 36% of overweight individuals, 48% of obese individuals, and 27% of morbidly obese people felt they ate more food than they should.
• Survey responders believed that weight loss surgery is the most effective weight loss method.

These are rather disturbing survey results that indicate the healthcare industry still has a lot of work to do in regards to educating us about obesity and appropriate body size.  Based on this poll, there is a large population of Americans that do not recognize they have a weight problem or do not recognize the extent of their weight problem.  Without this recognition, it is difficult for any of us to make necessary changes.  The authors of the poll suggest that fat has become the new norm, which if true, is a very unsettling situation.  Knowing your body weight and body mass index is an important part of developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  You can calculate your body mass index for free at many websites, including the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's website.  What's your BMI?

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Make Healthy Eating a Lifetime Habit!

Many of us have gone through the weight cycling process... go on a diet to lose the unwanted weight, gain the unwanted pounds back, then go on another diet.  Unfortunately, over time this seems to lead to additional weight gain since we often seem to regain more than we originally lost.  Additionally, it has been suggested that weight cycling might have negative health effects.  A better approach, of course, is to follow a healthy diet plan to reach a healthy body weight and then maintain that new healthy weight for life.  But how successful are we at doing this?

A research review paper examined the scientific literature on long-term weight loss studies to determine the answer to just that question.  This new study examined long-term changes in the daily intake of fat, fruit, vegetables, and fiber in multiple clinical trials that included over 62,000 study volunteers. According to the study investigators:

• Study volunteers overall were able to maintain a reduction in dietary fat consumption and an increase in fiber and fruit and vegetable consumption for 1 year.
• Each following year showed a reduction in the ability to maintain a healthy diet as dietary choices slowly reverted back to the unhealthy choices made at the beginning of each study.
• Only one study reported successful maintenance of healthy eating habits beyond one year.

It is clear from this study that the majority of us find if difficult to develop and maintain healthy eating habits permanently.  While healthy eating habits need to be a life-long choice, it is a choice many of us find very difficult.  There are many reasons for this including the cost of healthy food choices, the bombardment of advertisements for unhealthy, energy-dense foods, and the comparatively poorer availability of healthy options.  Our inability to develop life-long healthy eating patterns is due to a combination of the choices we ourselves make and the food environment to which we are exposed.  Changes to both of these will be needed if we ever hope to develop better eating habits as a population and reduce the incidence of obesity.

Foods high in protein with a low glycemic index can be healthier options than many energy-dense foods that typically provide little nutritional value.  My protein bars and shakes are a delicious, low glycemic part of my easy diet plan, making them a great way to lose weight without punishing yourself with hunger.

Emotional Eating Impacts Food Choices

When we think about emotional eating many of us picture ourselves splurging on chocolate, ice cream, or other foods and snacks that have little nutritional value.  A recent study published in the current issue of Appetite examines the relationship of emotional eating and depressive symptoms with consumption of energy-dense foods and fruits/vegetables.

For this new nutrition study, 1,679 men and 2,035 women were asked to complete questionnaires to assess eating habits and depressive symptoms.  Relationships between depressive symptoms, emotional eating, and consumption of sweet and non-sweet energy-dense foods and fruits and vegetables were determined.  Depressive symptoms were closely linked to emotional eating and both depressive symptoms and emotional eating were linked to higher body mass index.  The study investigators also reported that:

• In both men and women emotional eating was linked to consumption of sweet, energy-dense foods.
• In men, emotional eating was also linked to higher consumption of non-sweet, energy-dense foods.
• Consumption of fruits and vegetables was substantially lower in individuals with symptoms of depression.

These results are not completely surprising as the concept of emotional eating has been around for quite some time now.  Nonetheless, these findings confirm that our emotional state can cause us to make unhealthy food choices, such as over-consumption of energy-dense foods with little nutritional value and inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables.  This can lead to increased body weight and likely impacts the high incidence of obesity. Programs designed to reduce emotional eating or to recognize emotional eating can lead to healthier food choices and subsequently healthier lifestyles.  Getting rid of unhealthy foods from the pantry and replacing them with healthier options can be one way to start.  This way, when we find ourselves eating as an emotional outlet, at least our food choices on hand will be healthier.

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Impact of Other People on Our Eating Habits

It seems like there have always been rumors that the other people can have an impact on one’s own eating habits.  There have actually been some studies over the years to confirm that this can be true for many people.  A couple of recent studies examined this phenomena and attempted to determine some of the specifics of this relationship.

In one study, researchers explored the effect of body type on the food consumption patterns of study volunteers.  For this study, researchers used a professional obesity prosthesis to show that the body type of a food server affected study subjects' eating patterns.  The results showed that dieters and non-dieters responded differently to the perceived body size of the server:

• Non-dieters ate more snacks when the server was thin, but dieters ate more snacks when the server was heavy.
• Dieters were more susceptible to server persuasion when the server was heavy, such that dieters were more apt to choose snacks (both healthy and unhealthy) based on the servers's recommendations.

In a second study, the impact of others on snacking habits was investigated.  For this study, the investigators partnered college students with a member of the research team, whom the study subjects thought was simply another study subject.  The students were given snacks while watching movie clips.  The member of the research team masquerading as a study subject intentionally consumed the snacks first in either a large or small serving size.  Each of the study subjects was then offered the same snack and their eating behavior was recorded.

In each and every case, the amount of food consumed by the real study subject was influenced by portion size chosen by the fake study subject.  The following findings were reported:

• In general each study participant consumed a portion size similar to what the researcher consumed.
• If the researcher planted in the study was thin and consumed a large portion of snacks, the study subject also consumed a large portion.
• If the researcher planted in the study was overweight and consumed a large snack size, the study subjects tended to consume a little less.

Overall, the study investigators suggest that while the size of the person with whom you dine can have an impact on your own dining habits, the PORTION SIZE of what your dining partner consumes has a much greater impact. 

These studies shed some light on how our eating habits can be influenced by the people around us.  This appears to be true for both the body type and eating habits of other people.  While it will likely be difficult to not let other people influence our eating habits, increasing our own personal awareness of things like obesity, healthy nutrition, and appropriate portion sizes can go a long way towards helping us maintain a healthy eating lifestyle in the face of outside influences.

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Links Between Chronic Sleep Deprivation and Obesity

Sleep… we all want and enjoy a good night of sleep.  It makes us more alert and energetic throughout the day.  However, with the hectic schedules most of us keep, very few of us get enough sleep.
 

A new paper reviewed the scientific literature linking chronic sleep restriction (between 4 – 7 hours per night for a long duration of time) with obesity in more detail.  This new paper, which is free to download and read, looked at three distinct pathways by which sleep restriction might lead to obesity.  

Altered Neuroendocrine & Metabolic Functions

Several research studies have reported changes in neuroendocrine and metabolic hormones as a result of sleep restriction.  In one study, it has been reported that sleeping only 4 hours per night for 6 consecutive nights causes an increase in evening cortisol levels, an increase in growth hormone levels, a reduction in thyroid stimulating hormone, and a reduction in leptin levels.  A shorter study showed an 18% reduction in leptin and a 28% increase in the hormone ghrelin.  This reduction in leptin and increase in ghrelin was associated with a 24% increase in hunger and a 23% increase in appetite.

Overall, these studies indicate that sleep restriction can alter metabolic hormone levels that results in changes in appetite and hunger, which can possibly lead to overeating and weight gain.

Altered Glucose Regulation

Research on glucose regulation and sleep deprivation has reported that six nights of sleep restriction can substantially reduce the effectiveness of glucose and reduce the body’s ability to use glucose.  Other studies have suggested that poor utilization of glucose can lead to increased hunger and increased food consumption and that lower blood glucose at the end of an oral glucose tolerance test lead to weight gain.

Therefore, it appears that long term sleep restriction might lead to changes in blood glucose levels and changes in the ability of our body to use glucose, changes that might lead to unwanted weight gain.

Altered Waking Behavior

According to this new review paper, long-term sleep restriction can lead to a variety of behaviors during the day that might lead to weight gain over time.  For example, one study reported that individuals subjected to 14 days of sleep restriction increased food intake, which happened mainly at night when they normally would have been asleep.  Additionally, a lack of sleep has been shown to result in increased consumption of high-energy drinks or snacks to boost energy and fatigue from the lack of sleep resulted in a reduction in physical activity.

In general, these studies suggest that sleep restriction can result in increased food intake, increased intake of high-calorie foods, and a reduction if exercise… all behaviors that can lead to increased weight gain.

Overall, this review suggest that not only does sleep restriction appear to increase obesity risk, it appears to do so through multiple pathways.  So in addition to following a healthy eating plan like my Slim and Beautiful diet plan, remember to get an adequate amount of sleep whenever possible.

High Fat, Energy Dense Foods Can Be Addictive

Our dietary habits are influenced by many, many factors.  Among those factors are the availability and palatability of food.  New obesity research examined how the availability of high fat, energy dense foods (cheesecake, pound cake, chocolate, bacon, and sausage) affected eating behavior and brain changes in rats.

In this new study, free to read online or download, researchers divided rats into the three following dietary groups for 40 days:

1. No access to the energy dense food and fed only standard rat chow
2. Restricted access to energy dense food for 1 hour per day with access to rat chow for the rest of the time
3. Extended access to energy dense food (> 18 hours per day)

During and after this 40-day test period, rats were examined for changes in eating habits, body weight, and brain biology.  Some of the changes the researchers observed in these rats included:

• Body weight increased dramatically in the rats with extended access to energy dense food compared to the two other groups of rats.
• Caloric intake nearly doubled in the rats with extended access to energy dense foods.
• Rats given access to energy dense foods for one hour per day developed binge eating habits such that about two-thirds of their caloric intake occurred during their one hour access to the high fat foods.
• Rats given extended access to these foods consumed nearly all of their calories from these foods and nearly ignored the laboratory rat chow.
• Brain measurements of pleasure/reward from eating these energy dense foods showed that over time it took consumption of greater amounts of the food to get the same level of reward.
• The decrease in the brains ability to feel reward from consuming high fat foods was related to a decrease in the number of receptors for a specific brain chemical called dopamine.

These results suggest that unhealthy eating can become habit forming.  In fact, the researchers report in their paper that the decrease in dopamine receptors seen with eating these unhealthy foods was similar to changes seen in drug addiction.  Overall, these study data suggest a self-perpetuating process where regular, long-term consumption of high fat, energy dense foods over-stimulates the brain's reward system and reduces its ability to derive pleasure from these foods, which causes us to eat more and gain weight. In this study, binge eating habits did not appear to disrupt this system nor effect energy balance; however, it is uncertain how binge eating would have effected these systems in a longer study.  While it remains uncertain how these results translate to people, they do provide some potential insight into at least one possible cause of overeating.  These study results emphasize the need for developing healthy eating habits.  If we get into a habit of giving in to our cravings, this habit of unhealthy eating can become difficult to break over time.

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Our Beliefs About Obesity Might Shape Our Behavior

While there are rare cases of obesity being caused by a single genetic disorder, most cases of obesity result from multiple causes.  While genetics can certainly contribute to obesity risk and incidence, they are generally just one part of the equation that includes other risk factors like physical activity and dietary habits.  We all have our own beliefs regarding the causes of becoming overweight or obese; however, little is apparently known about how these beliefs impact our lifestyle behaviors.

A new research study, which is free to download or read online, examines this relationship between beliefs about the causes of obesity and related behaviors.  For this study, researchers used data from more than 3,500 individuals who took part in the Health Information National Trends Survey.  Participants in this survey responded to two questions about the causes of obesity:

1. "To what extent do you believe that obesity is caused by overeating and not exercising?"
2. To what extent do you believe that obesity is inherited?"

In addition to answering these two questions, the participants also provided information on their fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity habits.  The results of this study indicated:

• 72% of participants responded that overeating and not exercising had 'a lot' to do with obesity.
• About 19% of participants believed strongly that obesity is inherited.
• Obese men and women more strongly believed that obesity was caused by genetics compared to individuals who were not overweight or obese.
• Individuals who believed that obesity was inherited reported lower levels of physical activity and lower consumption of fruits and vegetables.
• Study participants who believed that obesity was caused by lifestyle behaviors reported greater levels of physical activity.

These are fascinating results that suggest our beliefs about the causes of obesity can have a substantial impact on our lifestyle behaviors.  According to these survey results, obese individuals might be more likely to believe that genetics cause obesity and this belief might lead to a decrease in exercise and a decrease in healthy eating habits.  The authors of this study imply that public health messages about the genetic causes of obesity might influence health behaviors in some individuals.  While this might be true, these public health messages remain an important part of obesity education and awareness.  However, since these messages might lead to unhealthy, obesity-related lifestyle behaviors in some people, it will become even more important to strongly emphasize the fact that obesity has many contributing factors and diet and physical activity still remain critical parts of the fight against obesity. 

Maintaining a healthy body weight is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle.  Visit me at www.drtabor.com to learn more about my easy diet plan.