Virginia Bola's Articles Display Category|Title|Newest|Oldest Weight Loss: The Cheat Codes We hit a plateau and no matter which way we turn or what strategies we use, the scale refuses to budge. For those days that threaten our best laid plans, we need our own diet cheat codes. Weight Loss: Suicide By Chocolate We weight watchers are so gullible, so naive, so desperate for relief from the drudgery and boring routine of a diet, that we clutch at any straw that promises an interruption to our misery. Why Dieting Is Keeping America Fat There are literally hundreds of diets available to suit everyone's taste: Atkins, Zone, South Beach, low carb, low fat, liquid mixes, vegetarian, all protein. Millions of us are on these different diets. So why are we still fat? Were Cave Dwellers Ever Fat? What did our cavemen forbears bequeath as their legacy? Underfed and overactive, they willed us a body that still thinks we dwell in the primordial forest. Suddenly cut back on our intake of food and the alert is sounded through the nervous system and organs of our prehistoric physiology. "Famine coming, famine coming" our bodies shriek and immediately our metabolism slows to a crawl. Food: The Proof Is In The Portion Where did we get the idea that bigger is better? Is it the national legacy of the depression when we swore we'd never "do without" again? Is it the speed and stress of our competitive lives that logically leads to our attacking our food with the same disregard for restraint we show in business? The French Fry: Weapon of Mass Destruction? The innocuous potato, relatively low in calories and packing its fair share of vitamins and minerals, has been transformed into a culinary weapon of mass destruction. Disfigured by saturated fat into a caloric and artery-hardening horror, the French fry may be the deadliest peril we face on a daily basis. The Folly of Diet Recipes Admit it, the only reason we crave recipes is to spice something up, to increase our pleasure and make the whole dieting task less painful. We can eat food plain without any fancy recipes but that would be no fun. The Chefs Are Coming, The Chefs Are Coming . . . It was in the late 1980s and 1990s that we started to balloon to what is now epic proportions. Yes, that correlates with the growth spurt of the fast food outlets and the soft drink industry. It also quietly parallels 85 million of us falling in love with the television chefs and the appetite for culinary masterpieces they triggered. Self-Criticism Is A Female Flaw If we women could only learn to look at ourselves as uncritically as men do! We look in a full length mirror and instead of appreciating our assets, we groan with horror at our shortcomings. Look On Aisle 5 We stock up on packages loaded with chemicals we can't even pronounce. We pick up bags of quick snacks with nary a nutrient in the bunch. We throw fluffy breads and crackers into our cart, knowing they are merely edible plates. It's All In The Numbers Offer a woman the choice between a dress she likes a lot, that fits well but is size 12, and a dress she sort of likes, which also fits well but is labeled size 8, and she'll take the smaller size every time. I'm Not Fat -- I'm Fluffy! No matter our weight, our body image frequently fails to reflect what is in the mirror but represents what is held in our mind's eye. The closer we can approach to the differing views being compatible, the more comfortable we will be in ourselves and the more valuable any changes we seek to make. Food Journal: A Mirror To Yourself All the weight control experts recommend keeping a record of what you eat. A food diary can become so much more useful for your weight wars if you use it as a tool for self-exploration and self-discovery. Diet Fads: Supermarket Sheep Many of us are so desperate to control our weight that we buy into the promises like the unaware followers we are: bleating sheep heading for a precipice with no thought of questioning our leaders or striking out in a different direction. Diet: Changing Your Focus If we want to remove food from its central role in our lives, we have to stop thinking about it. Not an easy task but it can be done, even if painful. The real question is how can we do it. Bye-Bye Bread Cutting out butter and margarine, eschewing salad dressing above the 3 calories per tablespoon level, and eliminating fast foods and soft drinks does have a marked effect on my caloric intake. But I find that to really lose pounds, and keep them off, I have to pass on my favorite breads. America's Secret Addiction We hang on every word about the recovery and relapse of our celebrities but the most widespread, self-destructive, dangerous addiction afflicting America is never discussed: FOOD. Weight: Give Us Something To Shoot For We have all seen the new Dove commercials that feature "real" women rather than the impossibly "ideal" models that are usually selected. While the Dove girls are universally attractive and fit, they also reflect different sizes and shapes, designed to represent the average American woman. Is that what we want? Weight Loss: Tweaking Your Lifestyle Despite our national propensity to overeat, under-exercise, and grow steadily heavier and more out of shape, we all yearn to be slender, fit, and attractive. Is Losing Weight Worth The Trouble? Reframing weight goals and redefining our diet success leads to higher self-esteem and make the probability of continued weight control far more likely. Diet: Facing Lousy Choices If you truly want to control your weight, you can do it anywhere. Even trapped in the office with nothing more than a killer vending machine, you can turn bleak choices into a self-esteem building triumph. Happy Relationships: Spend Quiet Time Together Finding quiet time together is often difficult for couples in our overly busy lives. The payoff of making the effort is an increased intensity in your special relationship. Happy Relationships: Share Your Day's Activities A regular sharing of the day's activities can help partners feel that they are truly participating in each other's lives during the large portion of the time we spend away from our significant others. Happy Relationships: Set Regular Dates A return to occasional dating can invigorate a mature relationship ny enhancing anticipation of the special event and allowing partners to interact at the intense level that prevailed during their courtship. Happy Relationships: Schedule Some Fun Time Doing something totally different together, just for fun, brings a fresh breeze into our stale daily routines and gives us a much needed recess from a world filled with problems and responsibilities. Happy Relationships: Give 100% Reframing your commitment to your marriage as 100% rather than 50-50 changes expectations, contributions, and the level of partner satisfaction. Happy Relationships: Change Your Appearance An occasional change of our looks and our demeanor develops a new awareness in each partner and shakes out the cobwebs from the habits and routine of long time marriages. Momma Said "Keep Your Fingers Out Of Your Mouth" Watching television exercises our eyes but nothing else. Unfortunately, it doesn't require us to do anything with our hands which leaves them free to grab something to eat. Five Reasons NOT To Lose Weight Enough of the diet gurus, the nutritionists, and the weight loss experts (including me), let's enjoy ourselves for a while. The diabetes and clogged arteries will overtake us all too quickly. For today, let's feast freely at the banquet of life. The Psychology Of Diet Preparation We tend to think of weight loss as something that involves only our body. Yet the actual size of the body does not trigger the decision to lose weight, such a choice in made in the brain. Weight Control: Operationalizing Your Plans Before you run off, filled with enthusiasm for your latest, greatest, and final (you swear) weight control plans, slow down and take the time to operationalize your goals and the likelihood of your success will increase exponentially. Making It Through A Diet Day Like the alcoholic who faces the urge to drink at every turn, the overweight fataholic must also steer a narrow passageway through the shoals of temptation and the deadly barrage of food advertisements, ubiquitous drive-throughs, social occasions, and office treats. Five Really Tough Dieting Tips If you are losing, trying to lose, or think you need to lose, weight, you are probably as sick as I am of those "easy" and "quick" diet tips that NEVER work! The following tips are neither quick nor easy. They are tough, uncomfortable, and demanding (but they work). Super-Sizing America Somewhere, a brilliant light bulb exploded in an ad man's brain and "Super-Size" was born. If a burger was good, why not make it bigger for just a little more money? Life Is One Damn Diet After Another Allowing ourselves to think of a diet as a delineated, restricted period within our total life span is a sure avenue back to tent city (that refers to what we wear, not where we live). To have any hope of attaining permanent weight control, we must approach it as a lifelong effort, watching our intake day after day, week after week, year after year. Happy Relationships: Discuss Your Pet Peeves No matter how close we are to our partner, no matter how strong the bond and the mutual likes and dislikes, there are always little things that we do that "bug" our greatest audience. How To Cop An Attitude With An Overzealous Hostess We all encounter those hosts and hostesses who feel it is their duty to make us eat whatever their specialty is and generate a sense of guilt if we do not flatter their creation by stuffing ourselves with it, regardless of our weight control plans and weight loss goals. Weight Loss At Work: Non-Food Rewards Food seems to be the perennial favorite for any kind of work reward because it is universally accepted. Some of us (we hard core dieters) may pass on the sweet stuff but usually find something allowable. In a world where two thirds of us are overweight or obese, is there nothing else available as a gift that cuts across all individual interests? Five specific non-food rewards are suggested. Dieting: I Can't Afford To Lose Weight! When it comes to our weight, our emotions reign supreme. We so desperately want to be more attractive, more respected, and more desirable. We will even subject ourselves to painful and sometimes dangerous surgery to bring our reality closer to our ideal. And we will rob our piggy banks, deplete our bank accounts, and run up our credit cards for anything that promises us a slender future. Weight Loss Superfecta Approaching our weight loss efforts with a bettor's attitude, we're going to pick four sure winners in the dieting game. To improve our chances, we going to "box" our choices, meaning that they can finish in any order as long as our picks run first, second, third, and fourth.	WRITER SIGNUP Sign Up Learn More AUTHORS/WRITERS Member Login Submit Articles Submission Guidelines PUBLISHERS Top Authors Most Popular Articles New Content Alert Article RSS Feeds To Get Your Sleep Back on the Right Track ... Click Here! The Original Amalaki Take charge of your health ... Take Zrii! 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