Lose Weight by Eating More Fish and Less Meat

Now don't get me wrong here, because I am not one of these goody-two-shoes nutrition "experts" who is anti-anything meat. There is nothing I love more than a tender juicy steak! For that matter any meat product is fine and dandy with me. Having issued that proviso though, it is a good idea to incorporate more seafood into your diet. Now I know there are some people who cannot tolerate even being in the presence of seafood. A guy who's mortgage shop I worked in was like that, and whenever I would bring some left over seafood to warm up in the micro wave for lunch I'd hear it from him immediately. I would try to minimize it by warming it on the lowest setting and for the shortest possible time. That didn't pass the smell test (so to speak) either; even if he was out of the office during lunch, when he'd come back an hour or so later he'd still catch it (no pun intended) and call me on it. I don't know what his problem was, but there was no fooling him. A problem it was though, for him anyway, because eating fish is the most healthy thing we can eat. The people who live on the island nation of Indonesia are plagued with the thyroid condition known as goiter. Why, and I know it's counter intuitive, because they do not eat any fish! How a people who are surrounded by water do not eat any fish is a mystery to me, but the key thing they are missing from their diet by neglecting to harvest natures bounty from the waters around them is iodine. Consequently most of them are walking around with these huge growths protruding from their throats. It's absolutely hideous, not to mention a needless shame.

We all should be eating fish at least three times a week especially if that fish is Salmon ( pronounced Samon, by the way. That is one of my pet pronunciation peeves when I have to hear these precise individuals pronounce the silent "L" in salmon, but again I digress, because I could go on and on about other pronunciation faux pas here. So relax. I'll spare you.) Salmon is loaded with good fatty acids in the form of Omega 3s which in our normal diets we don't get much. We get more of the Omega 6 fatty acids that we get from vegetable oil, which causes an imbalance in our systems and can create a host of health issues not the least of which is heart disease. The reason for eating fish is just the reduction in the animal fat that meat has and the propensity for that fat to accumulate and cause us to get fat and consequently overweight. I know it's not easy because you have to do a little planning in addition to choosing fish over meat when you're at a restaurant. Now I'm not talking about eating battered and fried fish here for the obvious reasons. The best way to eat fish is baked with olive oil or grilled so that you get the maximum health benefit from eating it.That said even eating fried fish is probably better than eating meat. Like everything else, you just have to make a conscious decision that you are going to incorporate more fish in your diet and then work out a plan how you can do this.

The Power of Tuning in to How Full You are Getting

I really can't say enough about getting yourself in the habit of always paying attention to how full you are getting while eating. This one practice alone will not only enable you to control your intake as you implement it every time you eat, it will reduce the amount of food it takes to get you full! That, my friends, is the key. Now I said enable, and by that I mean it will give you the awareness you need to take action. The action being to pull yourself up short and stop eating when you realize you are full or about to be. That takes will power and discipline because it is so easy to ignore the realization that you are full and keep shoveling it in, especially if the food is really good. If you can stop yourself from eating when you reach this point every time, you will notice that it takes less and less food to get you to that point. So what you are doing is gradually reducing the size of your stomach and its capacity to hold prodigious amounts of food. This is the slow and non-invasive version of that stomach operation that is all the rage now. I can't imagine having to resort to something so drastic as that surgery. The people that do it obviously can't reduce their intake for one reason or another. I still can't feature it though, because there are just to many things you can do, (ahem) like apply the tips I am giving you  here, for instance.

I'm telling you, if you can tune in, and I use the word "tune" because you have to set your antenna to the station, if you will, that monitors the feedback you are getting from your body and brain, you will absolutely be amazed at how it will decrease the amount of food necessary for satiation. This provided, of course, if you will heed the message and discontinue eating. Now I'm not telling you to slam on the brakes as soon as you feel yourself getting full. Nothing could be farther from the truth, you just need to realize you are getting full and start thinking about how you can stop and then work into it gradually, allowing yourself to eat a little more as you approach the tipping point. A good thing would be to pause and think, then when you resume eating, SLOW DOWN, because you are near finished and slowing down will allow you to prolong the experience and the enjoyment, especially if the food is great. That way you won't come away feeling deprived or cheated out of putting on a good feed bag. So the trick is to ease yourself from the eating process. If you can do this, and you can if you make up your mind, you will start to see those excess pounds rolling off in no time.

Now go and make up your mind you are going to do this starting with your very next meal!
 See tip # 3...

Eating Yourself into Major Health Problems

This is another example of someone experiencing disabling health problems and setting the stage for even greater health issues because of an unbridled appetite. Yesterday I was at the other local food market, a grocery store because it does not rise to the level of supermarket, that I frequent. It was early Friday evening and it was pretty quiet, such that the check-out lady was flipping through the advertisements in a local newspaper when I walked up to pay for my single item, a half-pound of that Mickleberry Baked Ham that I mentioned in the previous post. It was on sale, and I always snap it up when it is, because it is a little pricey. Even at full price though it is well worth it, because it is a delicious baked ham. One of the things I love about it is there's no sugar of any form added to it. It's just the pure taste of a perfectly baked ham. I don't know if there's any connection but lately the last couple of times I've bought it, I've found myself in a conversation about someone who became grossly overweight later in life and caused themselves unnecessary health problems. So when I stepped up to the register I said hello to her. She's someone I've struck up a familiarity with because she remembered me from the other local supermarket that I go to where she once worked. She immediately started lamenting the fact it was going to be a long slow night. She then allowed that she needs a job where she can sit down, and I agreed with her saying that I can't work a job anymore where I'd have to be on my feet either. She then said her brother can't be on his feet anymore. To which I asked how old he was. She shot back "he's 49". I replied incredulously "only 49". "He's still young" I said. When you get into your sixties 49 is young. So I asked what his problem is and she immediately said his weight. As he got older he just started eating more and more to where he's carrying the kind of weight that crushes your joints. She said he was never overweight and was a good-looking guy when he was younger. Then she proceeded to blame it on his wife, whom, I think it's safe to say, she has no love for. While she was still muttering on about her sister-in-law, I bid my adieu and walked out of the store.

So why am I sharing this with you? I guess because there are examples all around us of people who are systematically destroying their health, stamina and ultimately their lives as a result of their failure to take a step back and ask themselves a probing question like "Why am I doing this to myself?". Instead they resort to the mindless resignation of just doing the same thing over and over without any regard for the long-term damage being done. I guess that's the easiest thing to do. Besides, eating is a pleasurable activity and gives us that feeling of being loved. Remember that Pillsbury jingle, "Something lovin from the oven"? The problem is it's only love up to a point then the love changes to self-loathing. If this describes you, and you don't think the Pillsbury dough boy has a particularly appealing physique, then isn't it time you took that mental step back for some introspection as to why you do the things you do? That is where the journey starts, in the theater of the mind. If this post is speaking about you, then let the journey begin now.
Also Tip #5....