Before And After

I keep telling you that water is key to your diet and overall health. An easy way to train yourself to get what you need is to drink a glass of water before and after each meal. You’ll find that doing it that way will help you eat less and feel more full while giving you the hydration you need to flush proteins safely out of your system. When eating out you’ll also eliminate an expensive drink. Make sure you tell your waitress that you’re drinking the water for your diet so she doesn’t think you’re just being cheap.

TODAY: DRINK A GLASS OF WATER BEFORE AND AFTER EACH MEAL.

Yellow Means Caution

Okay, here’s a question you probably haven’t been asked lately. What color is your pee? The reason I ask is that it’s the best indicator of how much water you need to drink. If you have light yellow pee you are drinking enough water. The darker the color of yellow, the more water you need. That’s a caution indicator as well.

So why is it yellow? Your kidneys do a couple of things that show up in your pee. They keep the salt content of the blood constant, and they filter waste out of your blood. So pee is water, salt, ammonia cell waste converted by the liver to urea and pigments from bilirubin, the waste from blood, is degraded to urobilins. Salt, water, and urea are all colorless, but urobilins are yellow. If you get dehydrated, your urine will contain less water and be darker yellow.

Now you know why I nag about drinking your water. If the stuff is concentrated it’s hard on your kidneys and bad for you.

TODAY: SEE HOW LIGHT YELLOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR PEE.

80 – 20 Rule

I’ll start the week with a short bit of advice. If you watch what you eat 80% of the time the other 20% is not  problem.

TODAY: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU EAT!

Bargain Candy Can Cost You A Lot

By now the Easter candy at the stores is marked down to about 75% off. I know the temptation is hard to resist and the savings are fantastic, but walk on by the display and congratulate yourself for your control. Besides, all the good stuff is gone now anyway. Of course you can do what I do. Buy up the marshmallow “peeps”. They’re best by about Christmas when they have had a chance to age nicely. They get a more chewy texture. If you wait till NEXT Easter they’ll even be crunchy. By then you will have lost more weight and deserve the treat.

TODAY: DON’T BUY BARGAIN EASTER CANDY

Deal Your Meal A Deck At A Time

Remember that “deal a meal” diet plan? Well I’m going to make it even more simple. You don’t need a deck of cards, you just need to remember how big a deck of cards is. For the most part you can use that as a gauge for how large a portion you serve yourself. You don’t have to deny yourself the food you like, just eat a reasonable amount. Keep the portions of protein and starches the size of a deck of cards and savor what you eat. Of course salads and veggies can be larger. Half the plate of salad paired with your protein will give you a full house … er… stomach and keep your weight in check without a raise.

Of course after you eat make sure you shuffle… out the door for a walk. (I know, I’m a joker.)

TODAY: CUT YOUR HIGH CALORIE PORTIONS DOWN TO A DECK OF CARDS.

Eat For 20 Minutes

Okay… don’t eat the entire time. Just make sure that you stretch your meals out to at least 20 minutes. If you’re still hungry after finishing your meal, take a 20 minutes break. Sip a cup of coffee, relax, take your mind off eating. Then see if you are still hungry. You’ll probably find that you don’t need more calories. It takes that long for the “full” signal to get to your brain. The main thing is that you see the “stop” signal go on.

TODAY: SLOW YOUR MEALS DOWN.

Membership In The Clean Plate Club Is Growing

Unfortunately it’s the waistline that’s growing. We were introduced to it when we were kids. The club is so prevalent in American society that it has resulted in 67% of us eating everything on our plate, no matter how much is on it! That figure came from the American Institute fo Cancer Research. Now combine that with the way portions have grown in the US and you begin to understand why we have gained weight. Burgers are bigger, drinks are bigger than we can gulp, value meals are valued for quantity and “all you can eat” is much more than we should.

The habit that can cut the most calories faster and let you literally lose weight by doing nothing is to simply eat single servings. Cut back to just single servings. Eat favorite foods, just eat less of them instead of the huge amount of calories you decided was “normal”.

Go ahead and maintain your life membership in The Clean Plate Club… just use a smaller plate.

TODAY: EAT ONLY SINGLE SERVINGS. DON’T FORGET TO WALK.