Stick to your workout or exercise schedule – just because there is a party every day, doesn’t mean you abandon your efforts.  If you go to the gym or take a walk daily – stick to the routine, that way if you do over indulge one day you know that you can still get back on track.

Relax.  For many stress is a trigger to eat, and eat, and eat.  Granted this time of year, things are getting stressful (if they were not already) and certainly the economy doesn’t help but if you stress you run the risk of gaining weight which in turn may make you feel depressed and thus continues the cycle.  Exercise is a perfect stress reliever, so if you stick to your workout or exercise schedule you should be able to relax.

Get enough sleep.  Not getting enough sleep just adds to the stress, bodies need enough sleep to make it through the day and the hectic schedules.  Get the right amount of sleep so you awaken refreshed, and invigorated!  Most people need between 6 and 8 hours of sleep.

Snack.  Before a big party, eat a little so that you don’t gorge yourself an all the wonderful food that will be available at the parties you will be going to.  Go to those parties hungry, and you’ll head straight for the buffett table and you will end up overeating.

Socialize more.  Talk, meet and mingle – but do it away from the party trays.  Most (if not all) of the snacks are going to be high in calories and fat!

Moderation in everything you do, whether it be drinking or eating.  Yes you should indulge, but watch what you’re eating and how much.

We welcome your tips – simply send us a comment!

Technorati Tags: holiday weight gain, how to lose weight on the holidays, lose weight feel great

Weight loss for Indians or Asians can be difficult due to the traditional foods that are eaten - and today even more difficult due to the amount of fast food available out there whether you live in North America, Europe or in India.  Globalization has taken off and while there are a great many benefits – our waistline isn’t one of them.

Problem with indian style cooking is the amount of rich ingredients that are added to the food AND the type of foods eaten!

Most families that eat rice, will eat basmati rice which is generally white.  Few will eat brown rice or any other type of rice.  Brown rice and curry don’t mix, at least not on my plate.

Have you tried dishes like butter chicken (also called makhani chicken)?  It’s made from heavy cream — yummy, but oh so fattening!  Like the name, it contains butter, and cream – the thicker the better.  The recipe for butter chicken found here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Makhani-Chicken-Indian-Butter-Chicken/Detail.aspx contains 492 calories, 28 grams of fat, plus 666mg of salt!  That’s for a serving of 6 — I don’t know many people that can stop with one serving.

How about another dish that’s one of my favourites – biryani.  Yummy!!!  Another very (VERY) tasty dish but having watched how my wife and others prepare this, I’m surprised one serving doesn’t cause severe arterial blockage!!!  Check out this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Biryani/Detail.aspx (you get make a beef biryani as well) – calorie counts for a serving of 7 is 855 calories, 36g of fat, 1,547mg of sodium (salt).

If you’ve never had traditionally cooked biryani – find your nearest Indian friend and ask them to cook it for you!  It is really very good.

Most indian foods are also prepared with oil – so you fry the onions or buy pre-fried onions and add other ingredients to it.

…anyway, trying to stop my mouth from salivating even more…

When I was younger it was also very common to have one or several fried foods on the side.  Typically samosas – but they are difficult to make and are very time consuming but there are other great fried foods like pakora where the filling is usally potatoe or potatoe and jalapeno, others that come to mind are these patty-like foods that is potatoe on the outside with beef or chicken inside, another similar item is where meat and potatoe are mixed and made into oblong shaped treats — but all of these are fried.

There are plenty more – just can think of what they are called, one that is my favourite is a fried dish that is made by grinding dal and some other ingredients and then deep frying it – dal bhajiya or fried lentil balls.  Very good.  Trust me.

Now add to all the different types of foods, the deserts.  All of them VERY sweet and loaded with sugar.  Two classic deserts that come to mind are gulab-jamun.  Fried dough smothered in a rich sugar syrup or jalebi – another fried dough that looks more like a pretzel but smothered in rich sugar syrup.

Even our snacks are fattening – like chevdo – again fried stuff.

Then we come to items like naan, roti or even parathas – all are heavy on the oil as most moms (and grandmas) will make these and bind with oil and smother with oil after they’re cooked.

With all this going on can you imagine why asians/indians have the weight and health problems that we do?

So how does one cut back?  With great difficult and A LOT of experimentation.  When it comes to indian cooking, you have to get the entire family on board otherwise it just won’t work.  It’s already difficult to cook some foods – the last thing is to burden the primary chef in your home to do even more!

So when I started my lifestyle change, I had to drop eating all these types of foods and went to a more traditional North American diet.  In the process, my stomach built a resistance to hot and oily or spicy foods.

During this time I ate a lot of soups, and salads.  I loved sandwhiches as well and was doing the Jared-thing before Jared was doing it.

I lost most of my weight by changing the foods that I ate – ooooh, but how I longed for beef- or chicken-biryani, butter chicken, kuku paka (swahili or coconut chicken).  The change here was simple – my wife cooked the same way I just ate a lot less!  At my peak it wasn’t uncommon to go through a dozen rotis or even 4 or 5 naans (naans are a much heavier version of roti and are generally made with white flour) and several servings of a main dish.

I cut back where I was having 2-rotis, and no naans.  I cut back on fried foods big time, and virtually eliminated sugary drinks in particular soda pop.

One of the side effects of cutting down on indian dishes was that I am not able to stomach the spicy food as much as I used to so am even more careful.  My wife and I have mastered a few North American (for lack of a better word) style dishes that make use of pasta, broiled beef and chicken, brown rice, vegetables and other more common ingredients.  While I miss the aromatic indian and East African dishes (my wife is from Tanzania) when I look at how much weight I’ve lost I don’t regret not being able to eat them or eating them in moderation.

In cities where there is a large concentration of particular ethnic groups, the health services generally will provide information to help those groups work through weight issues in a language more atune to that group.  So when I attended pre-diabetic clinics when my weight peaked I did get a lot of information about changes that could be made to foods that I ate daily.  The assumption was not made that everyone is the same – this helped a lot and made me more at ease at attending these sessions.

They also didn’t segregate groups – the Indians were with the Chinese, were with Poles and so on  – we all learned from each other.

If you’re unsure about what services are offered in your community, contact your local health center – most have departments for diabetics or may have a dietician on staff with whome you can speak to.  Also speak to your doctor as they may be able to provide additional resources to help you.

Losing weight needs to be a conscious decision you take and it’s something you have to follow through – but it is something that can be done by the average joe or jane.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: african weight loss, asian weight loss, chinese weight loss, east indian weight loss, indian remedies weight loss, indian weight loss, lose weight feel great

Think about this:

• Do I need a pedometer before you start walking?
• Do I need a kitchen scale before you learn how to eat in moderation?
• Do I need a track suit before I go out to the park?

These are only things.  They will not help you lose weight.

How will having a pedometer help me lose weight?  You can still walk.  You probably own a watch and know when you’ve been out for about a hour.  Is the pedometer aiding in the weight loss?  No.

Why not take measurements?  Waist, thighs, neck and use that as a measure of how well you are doing?  If you are diligent about exercise and go out daily for 30 minutes or more then over time your waist will decrease.  Your neck size will grow smaller and your thighs will be better toned and you will build some muscle.

Granted they may help you in your weight loss goals.  It’s nice to be comfortable when you go out for a walk, and having a pedometer will tell you how many steps you’ve taken.  But in the end does it even matter that I’ve walked 1,000 steps or 10,000 steps?  Isn’t what matters the fact that I’ve gone out and become physically active?

Weight loss toys and gizmos are just another excuse to put off making those important lifestyle changes that will help you lose weight.  There are many other obstacles we put into our own path – how about New Years Resolutions?  Useless waste of time.  Have you stuck to yours?  Why should you wait until January 1 of the new year to decide to do something?  Why not start RIGHT NOW.

Why justify an action to put off making a change?

How often have you said this to yourself… “This will be my last [fast food meal/binge/whatever] and then I’ll start my diet.” – you know what you’ve already set yourself up to fail and you probably will fail.  I speak from experience, I did that and sometimes still do that.

I didn’t take action until my doctor gave me no other option – lose weight, or die.  Plain and simple.  How could I leave a new wife behind?  Pretty selfish, wouldn’t you say?  I wanted to have a life with her – we wanted to get ahead in life materially and spiritually.  We wanted a family.  Can’t do much of anything if you’re dead – or worse (yes, there is something worse than death) – living under constant assistance knowing that the choices you made have put you into the state you are in.

To answer the question “What things do you need to lose weight” – NOTHING.  You need the will, and the motivation to start right now.  Today.  You could even start at lunch time, even if you’re going out for lunch.  Ask for a soup and salad, opt for water instead of a high-calorie drink or even have a juice or milk.  That is action.  That is what will get results.  And you need the results to keep you motivated.

Do you have something to say?  I welcome your comments!

Here is to your health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: lose weight feel great, weight loss gizmos, weight loss tools, weight loss toys

This went on for years, until I tried some other programs – which succeeded in helping me loose weight – but I promptly put the weight back on after I left the program.

Then FINALLY my doctor said “do or die” and I made complete lifestyle changes.  No diets!

I started eating regular meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And I snacked, and snacked, and snacked until I was so full that I couldn’t eat anymore!  Snacks consisted of crackers and cheese, carrots, cucumber, fruits like strawberries, melons, kiwi, oranges, apples and grapes.  But I didn’t limit myself to the same boring stuff day after day.  I’d try mixing it up and adding stuff like bran buds or yogourt.  I’d also have cereal as a snack.

Variety is what really helped me lose 100lbs in one year.  And now that I am back to a variety of foods, I’ve lost about 15lbs in around 4 months.  Not to shabby!

On top of eating less food, more often I also started drinking a lot more water.  I found the water more refreshing that having a soda pop.  In fact there were times when I would be craving a soda and may give into that craving only to find that I still had that craving.  I drank some water, and found that the craving was not for soda, but for water or rather something cold and refreshing.

The soda pop just slows you down – makes you sluggish; but the water is really refreshing!  Even now, I tend to drink 8-10 glasses of water each day.

Regular meals, that are part of a lifestyle change will do more than any fad diet will ever do.  Although I always hated it, I did count calories.  For example, a donut and coffee for breakfast?  Probably about 600 calories.  How about cereal with milk, fruit and tea?  Probably around the same BUT I’ll feel full longer!

I had three main meals, then would snack between meals.  I found that this was the best way to keep me on track.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: eat and lose weight, eating healthy foods, lose weight, lose weight feel great, snacking, Weight Loss