The ABC of Weight Loss

Lifestyle: Change It Today!

With all of the information on the risks of coronary heart disease and diabetes we now know about, it can seem like you’re up against some significant challenges – and you are. But what you also need to realize is that while these challenges are difficult and very real, they are also within your control. Instead of looking at your current health problems as being a permanent part of your life, you need to start looking at ways to solve the problems. There are steps you can take to begin the healing process and to start creating a newer, healthier, and slimmer body.

Getting Rid Of Temptations
Whether you have a weight problem or not, you will certainly need to make dietary changes in order to start regaining your health. Because food is the fuel for organs and cells in your body, the choices you make are going to impact the way your body performs. But saying that you need to eat right and actually doing it can be two different things. You might have habits that you have had for years. And while you know these habits are not helping your heart or your health, they are often unconscious, causing you to repeat the same habits again and again, even if you want to change what you are doing.

But like any bad habit, there are ways to help yourself change the habit or get rid of it altogether.

Think about it: if you wanted to quit smoking, the first thing you would need to do is to remove the temptations – those cigarettes. As long as they were around, you will still want to smoke. This is why many couples and roommates will quit smoking at the same time – to prevent the temptations from being around. When you are trying to change your eating habits, the same rules apply.

Here are some ways to remove the temptations of junk foods and other poor food choices from your life:

• Create a list of foods that you absolutely can not buy – and then, don’t
buy them
• When you’re at the grocery store, try to shop only in the sections that
sell whole foods, as opposed to processed foods. These are usually the
outside aisles.
• Get rid of any junk foods that are in your cupboards right now.
• Don’t allow anyone in your family to bring junk foods into the house.
• If you must have some junk foods in the house, put them in a
cupboard far out of your reach or that has a lock on it with a key you
can’t access.
• Don’t take home leftovers from parties.
• When you receive gifts that include unhealthy foods, donate them to
food shelters or bring them into your office to distribute them to
others.
• Only shop at stores that offer healthy foods – i.e. organic food stores
and markets.
• Use plates that are smaller to avoid the temptation to fill up on larger
portions of foods.
• Create rules for eating – Never eat standing up. Never eat when on the
phone, etc.

These tips are going to be difficult in the beginning of changing your eating habits, but once you follow this advice for a few weeks (about 21 days is the time it seems to take to change a habit), you will begin to have healthier habits and probably a healthier body too.

Posted in General Health | No Comments »

Share