PORTION SIZES WHEN DINING OUT

Familiarizing yourself with correct portion sizes at home will help you recognize the portion size you're aiming for when eating out, whether you're having a take-out lunch at work or dinner in a friend's home.

Keep in mind that dining out is a challenge that requires a special mindset as well as knowledge of portion size. Sometimes just being in a restaurant or at someone else's home can promote a "special occasion" feeling that makes it tough to stick to healthy portions. When you're with a group, it might feel as though everyone else is eating whatever they want; exercising self-control might make you feel left out. But the opposite can be true: You may learn to enjoy your meal more if you know you're making healthy decisions that will pay off in the long run.

Strategies for portion control. Over time restaurant portion sizes have expanded immensely – often to two or three times what they should be. Friends and family may fill a plate out of generosity. But combined with a "clean-your-plate" mentality, this can spell trouble. These strategies will help you keep control.

Divide your meal in half. As soon as the plate is set in front of you, ask your server to wrap up the other half to take home. Doing this right away helps you avoid the temptation of eating too much just because it's there.

Consider ordering from the appetizer or kids menu. Portions are almost always smaller. Also, restaurants will often make half portions or lunch-sized portions at dinner time, if asked.

Use your hand to measure the actual amount of food on your plate. Here's how:

• Your fist is equal to one medium fruit or one measured cup
• Your palm minus the fingers is a 3 ounce portion of cooked meat
• Your thumb (whole thumb, from tip to base) is equal to one ounce of meat or cheese
• Your thumb from the tip to the first joint is about 1 tablespoon
• Your index finger from the tip to the first joint is about 1 teaspoon                                    Article By: Liz Josefsberg

DON’T EYEBALL IT

Studies show that people tend to underestimate how much they really eat every day. In doing so, we consume too many calories without realizing it. Research shows that weighing food portions, recording food intake, reaching 500 calories and keeping your HCG Daily Food Diary is one of the best predictors of successful weight loss.

SUCCESSFUL HCG DIET TIPS

The HCG Diet has become extremely popular in the US, and with good reason. It works well. HCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, and it is a common hormone produced during pregnancy. Typically the hormone prohibits people from feeling hunger pangs. The dietary restriction during the weight loss phase of the program is substantial, with calories being limited to 500 calories.

One thing that is difficult to change though is human nature. Despite the fact that someone may not be hungry even on a restricted calorie diet, people are still creatures of habit. If a person is used to eating at a certain time of day, or has had a significant sweet tooth for a long time, this may factor in to eating decisions that are contrary to what is supposed to be on the menu. Same goes for being at a party where everyone is either drinking alcoholic beverages or eating desserts.

For a lot of people, eating is enjoyable. It's not just necessary. Individuals want to enjoy what's going in their mouths, which can make sticking to a restricted calorie diet very difficult. Here are 5 methods of resisting typical temptations:

1. Stay away from food. The old "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy. If you can keep the food out of the house, you can potentially avoid cheating. If you can avoid situations where holiday types of food are being served, it can help you avoid cheating.

2. Stay busy. Boredom may lead to eating just to have something to do. If one is busy and not thinking about food, it will help avoid the temptation.

3. Have a diet buddy. Going on the diet with a friend may help the commitment level and prevent a breakdown.

4. Maintaining physician supervision during the diet is paramount for multiple reasons. The first is to make sure the patient is following the program according to protocol. The second is to provide reinforcement on good behavior and to correct behavior that is adverse to HCG diet success.

5. Moderate your stress levels. People in stress tend to overeat a lot, so being able to relax and exercise can moderate cortisol levels and keep your stress level down. This may facilitate weight loss with the HCG diet.

Following these 5 tips will help the HCG diet succeed and allow patients to lose between 15 and 35 pounds during our 6 week program successfully.

NO SUGAR STRAWBERRY JAM

Ingredients:

8 to 10 strawberries (Approx. 2 cups)
1 cup cold water
4 packets Stevia

Directions:

In a large saucepan, crush strawberries. Add water and Stevia, mixing well. Over medium heat bring mixture to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes.  Pour into jars, allow to cool and then cover. Can be stored in refrigerator for 1 week, or frozen for several weeks. 

HOW IMPORTANT IS EXERCISE

The importance is undeniable.  Exercise will help you fight off premature aging; battle more effectively those extra pounds that creep up with age; nurture stronger and healthier bones; hike up your slowing metabolism and strengthen your heart and lungs.

If you don't exercise, you could be negatively impacted:

• Your body may age prematurely;
• Your bones become brittle, putting you at risk of debilitating fractures;
• You're likely to feel stiff when getting up out of a seated position;
• You're likely to experience soreness in your hips, knees and joints;
• You increase your risk of disease;
• You build up body fat fast and have a tougher time losing it!  
• If you're overweight or obese, you tend to feel depressed and anxious. Besides this, exercise is the most effective way to battle those extra pounds that sneak up as you get older. By dieting alone, you turn off your metabolism which causes you to be unable to blast away your excess calories and body fat. To lose those extra pounds, you need to exercise to kick start your metabolism into higher gear (not turn it off). A healthy diet is also crucial for optimal health.

HOW FAT CELLS WORK

Many of us think that the number of fat cells could not increase after maturity, only their sizes could increase (or decrease).

Ready for some surprises!

Because they can indeed increase both in size (hypertrophy) and in number (hyperplasia) and that they're more likely to increase in number at certain times and under certain circumstances, such as:

• During late childhood and early puberty,
• During pregnancy,
• During adulthood when a person gains lots of weight

You may be genetically predisposed to have more cells that are fat, than others. And women have more of these cells than men. An infant usually has about 5 - 6 billion of them. This number increases during early childhood and puberty and a healthy adult with normal body composition has about 25 to 30 billion of cells that are fat.

An overweight adult typically has around 75 billion of them, but in the case of severe obesity, this number can be as high as 250 to 300 billion! The average size (weight) of an adult fat cell is about 0.6 micrograms (mg),but they can vary in size from 0.2 mg to 0.9 mg. An overweight person's cells which are fat can be up to 3 times larger than a person with ideal body composition.

Remember, body fat is basically just a reserve source of energy and fat cells are like the storage tanks, which can expand or shrink in size depending on how "filled" they are.

Fatty cells start as almost empty fat storage "tanks" (when you are lean) and when your energy intake exceeds your needs, they "fill up" and "stretch out" like balloons filled with jelly.

So when you get leaner, you don't actually "lose" fatty cells, you "shrink" or "empty" them out.

STIMULUS CONTROL

Stimulus (cue) control involves learning what social or environmental cues seem to encourage undesired eating, and then changing those cues. For example, you may learn from reflection or from self-monitoring records that you're more likely to overeat while watching television, or whenever treats are on display by the office coffee pot, or when around a certain friend. You might then try to change the situation, such as by separating the association of eating from the cue (don't eat while watching television), avoiding or eliminating the cue (leave the coffee room immediately after pouring coffee), or changing the circumstances surrounding the cue (plan to meet your friend in a nonfood setting). In general, visible and reachable food items are often cues for unplanned eating.