Last Guest Post from Dr. A

My computer has been out of commission for the past week, so that’s why there is a lack of posts! I will be making that up for you readers soon! For now, here’s the fourth and final guest post from Dr. A. Enjoy and please feel free to leave comments!

How do I overcome emotional or stress induced eating?

The first thing is to remove your self by stopping the reflex.  We have
triggers that make us do certain things and act in certain ways.  We need to
minimize these situations that cause triggers as best as possible.  Use the
stop, challenge and choose method.  If you are ever not feeling quite right,
stop yourself, challenge why you are feeling that way, then choose the
outcome you want.  The outcome you don’t want is to move into the kitchen or
fast food joint.  Try to go for a walk, have a healthy snack instead or just
get yourself out of that environment.

Our primary choices include everything from eating healthy to maintaining an
active lifestyle to sleeping well.  The secondary choices are things that
support those primary choices.  For example, if you want to learn to play
the piano, you have to practice.  It is just the same with this.  You have
to practice dealing with stressful situations in a healthy way, like going
for a run or listening to some music.

If you do give in and eat the unhealthy snack, you may feel better
temporarily, maybe half an hour, but then you will feel worse than before
you ate it after that temporary pleasure is gone.  You will feel bad that
you ate it and didn’t stick to your goals, and your urge for it will just
come back because it didn’t quite satisfy you enough.  Make the choice not
to eat that treat because (in the long run) it isn’t as important to you as
reaching optimal health.  Make sure you always stop and challenge your
feelings.  Don’t let a trigger stop you from reaching optimal health.  Feel
proud of yourself when you have made a good choice and didn’t fall into the
pressure that triggers create.

Dr. Andersen is a a board certified critical care physician, and he is currently Medical Director of Medifast, Inc., an innovative leader in the production, distribution and sale of weight management and health management products. He is also the chief architect of Take Shape for Life. His book, Habits of Health, does not advocate fad dieting or a miracle wonder cure; rather, it provides the knowledge and support to help people achieve optimal health. The book seeks to offer an easy guide to establish long-lasting, improved health. Habits of Health seeks to help people to be the healthiest they can be with what they have. Through his book and the accompanying workbook, Dr. Andersen provides a roadmap and an opportunity for people to choose a better life.

Guest Post Pt. 3

Here’s the third post from Dr. Andersen. Enjoy!

Is there a certain age group where losing weight becomes
impossible?

Absolutely not!  There is no age group where you cannot lose
weight.  The bottom line is that there is a very simple equation concerning
energy management.  This responds to the principles of energy.  If you
consume less energy than you expend, you will loose weight and there is no
way around it.  It is like e=MC2.  You have to ask yourself every day if you
are consuming less energy than you are expending.

There are four macronutrients we consume:
1)   Protein, which has 4 kcal per gram
2)   Complex carbohydrates, which also has 4 kcal per gram
3)   Fat, 9 kcal per gram
4)   Alcohol, 7 kcal per gram.

These are all the sources of energy that we consume.  We can actually
identify what we are consuming and how much of it so we can track how much
we need to expend in order to lose weight.  I use portion controlled meal
replacements because they provide the correct amount of calories to help me
control my energy intake.  Habits of Health helps people to realize how many
calories they are allowed in a day‹keeping within those limits ensures you
will lose weight.
Energy expenditure falls into three main categories.  The first
and largest amount of energy that is expended comes from basal energy
expenditure, which is the amount of energy required to keep everything going
in your body including your brain, muscles, intestines and so forth.  This
accounts for 60-65% of your total energy expenditure. The next big source of
energy output deals with physical activity.  This is your daily life energy
expenditure, which entails movement throughout the day and exercising.
There are two main categories of physical activity.  The first is
non-exercise and the second is exercise expenditure.  Together these two
account for 30-35% of your total energy expenditure.  The last category of
energy expenditure is in eating food. It actually takes energy to eat food
(some people don¹t realize that), resulting in about 10% of your total
energy expenditure.
If someone is not losing weight, it is because the energy intake
is not less than the energy expenditure.  Steroids, drugs, metabolism and
the foods you eat could affect this.  For some people it actually may be
harder to lose weight.  As you get older you lose about a pound of muscle
every year.  You begin to lose this muscle mass when you turn about 20 years
old.  This results from lack of vigorous exercise once we take on the tasks
of adulthood.  It isn¹t inevitable.  If you add daily movement and have a
specific movement plan, you can avoid losing that muscle.  Muscle burns
40-70 kcal per pound, whereas fat burns 2-5 kcal per pound!

Dr. Andersen is a a board certified critical care physician, and he is currently Medical Director of Medifast, Inc., an innovative leader in the production, distribution and sale of weight management and health management products. He is also the chief architect of Take Shape for Life. His book, Habits of Health, does not advocate fad dieting or a miracle wonder cure; rather, it provides the knowledge and support to help people achieve optimal health. The book seeks to offer an easy guide to establish long-lasting, improved health. Habits of Health seeks to help people to be the healthiest they can be with what they have. Through his book and the accompanying workbook, Dr. Andersen provides a roadmap and an opportunity for people to choose a better life.

Guest Post!

For the next few weeks, I will have Dr. Andersen, whose bio appears below, writing a few guest posts for me about health and fitness. I will also be reviewing his new book, Habits of Health, in a few weeks. Enjoy!

Why is it important to eat low glycemic foods to lose weight?

The glycemic index is a way of looking at how glucose is released into the
bloodstream as the carbohydrates you eat are broken down.  A professor at
the University of Toronto in Canada was studying diabetes and found that the
body breaks down sugars that come from the carbohydrates and releases them
into your bloodstream.  Therefore, it is important to eat low glycemic foods
because meals high in sugar raise your insulin, and then that food turns
into fat storage.

The higher the glycemic index in a food, the more likely it is to create
this fat storage. Low glycemic foods on the other hand, don¹t stimulate fat
storage, but they keep your blood sugar stable.  Most fruits and vegetables
are considered to be low glycemic foods. These are the foods that should
make up a majority of your meals.  Some examples of high glycemic foods
include: corn flakes, baked potatoes, white rices, white breads, candies,
etc.

Stick with the low glycemic foods because they actually turn off fat storage
and turn on fat burning.  Eating low glycemic foods is just one of the steps
in my ³Habits of Health² program to keeping weight off.  My recipe or
acronym for success is ³B.E.S.L.I.M.²  The L portion of this saying stands
for low-fat, low-glycemic, lower-calorie eating every three hours.   Eating
low-glycemic foods keeps your body from storing fat, and therefore helps you
keep the weight off.

Dr. Andersen is a a board certified critical care physician, and he is currently Medical Director of Medifast, Inc., an innovative leader in the production, distribution and sale of weight management and health management products. He is also the chief architect of Take Shape for Life. His book, Habits of Health, does not advocate fad dieting or a miracle wonder cure; rather, it provides the knowledge and support to help people achieve optimal health. The book seeks to offer an easy guide to establish long-lasting, improved health. Habits of Health seeks to help people to be the healthiest they can be with what they have. Through his book and the accompanying workbook, Dr. Andersen provides a roadmap and an opportunity for people to choose a better life.

Click here for his website.