Tips from "You on a Diet"

[nightsinge]

I spent two hours perusing this book and it goes well with the Core program. It was written by Dr. Michael F. Roizen, an internist and anesthesiologist and Mehmet C. Oz, cardiovascular surgeon. Their focus is on food choices, waist size and their impacts on our internal organs.

I wrote down the following tips to share:

Waist Measurement: According to the doctors, waist size is MUCH more important than weight. Optimal waist size for women is 32 1/2. Over 37 is danger to health. Weight varies, waist size is a better indicator.

Ideal Size: Remember your size, shape and form when you were 18? You were young and most active adult then--that's probably your ideal size.

Appetite: Inflated by--
Lack of water
Lack of Sleep (7-8 hours minimum)
Lack of Sex (same appetite area in brain for both!)

Physical Activity: Walk 30 min a day, strength training 30 min a week, cardiovascular 3x a week for 20 min, flexibility/stretching for 5 min a day. They stress walking 30 min a day no matter what.

Emotional Eating: triggers: stress, anxiety, depression, tired)
If you crave:
Tough ripping foods/meat--you may be angry
Sugar/sweets-- you may be depressed
Soft and sweet (like ice cream)--you may be anxious
Salty foods--you may be stressed
Bulky food (bread, pasta)--you may be lonely or sexually frustrated!

[nightsinge]

Part Two (my favorite), mental tips:

4 important tools:
Be positive: Change your thinking right when you catch it.
Get Support: Reach out. Suggested: on-going health buddy
Token Gesture: Do one little thing at hardest moment.
Stop Obsessing! Stop over-thinking = stop overeating.

Most important: Live and eat in the present!
Do not be upset about what you ate in the past.
Do not obsess over what you'll eat in the future.

U-TURN!
The doctors compare going off track to losing direction in a car. The GPS system does not beat you up for making a wrong turn. It says,
"at the next available moment, make an authorized u-turn"
Learn to repeat that to yourself!

When you have gone off track:
Say, "at the next available moment, make an authorized u-turn" ten times.
Do a yoga pose for a few minutes and practice deep breathing.
Eat carrots or apples in response to emotional stress and instead of more stress food.

And finally,

Find "IT": It is God, your spiritual connection, your deep place, or whatever transcends you and gives life deeper meaning. Find and reconnect with IT.

[Wildflower]

Boy NS, this sounds like a good book.

Hit me right between the eyes on a few points.

Good to be back, by the way.

I'm not doing as good as I'd like, but thank goodness I'm not doing as bad as I was. That's all I can say.

[girliepurple]

This is very interesting and I like the U-turn the best too!

However, it's depressing to think of myself at 18 and think that I should be that size now. To think that I will NEVER be at my ideal size again? What do they mean by "ideal"? It was ideal for 18 maybe (and there are some people in the world who were overweight at 18!)...but not for me now.

So no offense but I think that statement is useless. But I like everything else very much.

[nightsinge]

Yeah, I get that totally, Cathy. First, don't blame them cause I was paraphrasing and I think they made it sound more general, more about waist size and they weren't absolute about it. Of course, with anything take what works and throw out the rest, right?

One other complaint I had about the book--they were a little TOO cutesy with the metaphors every sentence and their overall tone. I think that, they included so much stuff about digestive systems and organ functions they wanted to make it super-cute to be readable (and not scare anyone off). It was way overdone for me though.

[katherinehealy07]

thanks for posting this I have been waiting for this book to become free at the library so now I really want to read it.
thanks

[nightsinge]

I needed a book for school on Amazon so I went ahead and bought You on a Diet to get me in the free shipping zone. It's on 14 dollars or so new. It just came--just in time for some additional motivation.

[freedomii]

I read this book and it is wonderful, and I saw Dr. Oz on Oprah showing omentum.... yuk! He was taking ?? from the audience and there was a woman who wanted to know how to take her waist measurement correctly... he had her suck in her stomach as much as she could and then measured around her belly button. He said he didn't want to measure the space that lax muscles take up... her waist measurement was 32 inches and he told her she could go as hight as 34 inches and be in the healthy range as her height was 68 inches... he said your waist can be half your height and be 'healthy' - interesting... I don't normally watch Oprah but was flipping channels when I found this show and watched the whole thing.