Vol. 3, No. 9
Sept 15, 2006

7 Easy Ways to Lose Weight, Live Longer and Feel Better

Here are seven of the most important changes you can make to better your health, starting right now.

1. Record your food: Eating for reasons other than hunger packs on the pounds. By recording everything you put in your mouth, you'll be able to target those unnecessary noshes. Record what, when, how much and why you eat to pinpoint your personal problem areas and make changes.

2. Get snacks off your desk: Research shows that people eat more when their desk is snack central. So, if you're having a hard time resisting temptation, remove the snack bowl. Or replace the candy bowl with fresh fruit. Some day your coworkers may even thank you.

3. Park farther away: Three, 10-minute walks a day is as effective as on, 30 minute session. Parking 10-minutes from work enables you to get in at least 20 minutes of walking a day. More so if you're forgetful and have to run out to your car in the middle of the day.

4. Add one fruit and one vegetable to your diet: Most people lack enough fruits and vegetables in their diets. Adding one of each is easy – and it immediately increases the antioxidants and fiber in your diet. Research shows that eating one extra serving a day cuts your risk of dying early-- from any cause -- by 20 percent.

5. Eat breakfast: This frequently-skipped meal could aid weight loss by boosting your metabolism and helping you avoid binging later in the day. Sumo wrestlers skip breakfast so they can eat more at lunch. Nuff said.

6. Lift weights: Strength training just two days a week can stave off the over forty "belly fat" that plagues many women. A new study found that women who weight trained twice a week had only a 7 percent increase in abdominal fat; while women given brochures about the importance of exercise had a 21 percent increase.

7. Learn portion sizes: Dining out frequently creates challenges if you're watching your weight. Order sauce on the side, avoid fried foods and learn portions: a deck of cards for a serving of meat or chicken, a checkbook for a fish portion and a baseball is approximately a cup of rice or pasta. Wrap up the remainder and take it home for another meal.

Chocolate Flash: Skip the Milk and Keep the Antioxidants

The discovery of the health benefits of dark chocolate triggered high-fives among chocolate lovers everywhere. But there is one minor catch: drinking milk – or consuming milk chocolate itself – reduces the healthful effects of the antioxidants contained in the chocolate. People who ate 3 ounces of dark chocolate a day had more antioxidants in their blood than those who ate milk chocolate or ate dark chocolate with milk, a study at the National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome found.

What's more, previous studies at the University of California, Davis, found that cocoa powder extracts lower harmful LDL cholesterol. Just remember that 3 ounces of dark chocolate contain more than 400 calories and 27 grams of fat, 22 grams of it saturated, so up the ante on the treadmill the days you decide to indulge.  

8 Ways to Get a Running Start

A recent issue of Women's Health and Fitness magazine listed the following eight ways to begin a jogging or running program (although few people readily admit to "jogging") without hurting yourself:

1. Invest in good running shoes. Shop at a running store with knowledgeable personnel; get properly fitting shoes for your style of running and support needs.

2. Start slowly by walking at the beginning and end of your run. This is a good idea for runners of every level as a way to warm-up and cool-down.

3. Make time to run: at least three times a week to see results.

4. Focus on time spent running, not distance. Increase the amount of time you can run continuously without taking a break.

5. Give your body a break. Don't run back-to-back days, at least in the beginning.

6. Increase your intensity gradually: don't jump from a 20-minute run to a 45-minute routine. Add on by 5 to 10-minute increments instead.

7. Run with a buddy to help you stay on track.

8. Change running routes for variety and scenery change, and on days when it's hard to get motivated, focus on the benefits of taking care of your body instead of any temporary discomfort. Enjoy yourself!

We offer this article on a nonexclusive basis. You may reprint or repost this material as long as Linda Melone's name and contact information is included.

Thanks! LM