The Diet Logs

Top nutrition and weight-loss experts answer the most burning questions about weight-loss in this Health and Fitness News Service article by Sandra Gordon. Covering everything from “Is there one small diet fix that will help me lose weight?” (opt for low- or no-calorie beverages such as tea, water, seltzer and skim milk) to “Are there some foods that contribute to weight gain more than others?” (no), this informational piece covers a dozen issues such as portion sizes, cravings and restaurant food that can wreck a dieter’s plans. Here’s a sample:

2. Are there any tricks to controlling a craving?

First you need to know what’s causing it. Often, plain old hunger makes us pine for a particular food.

“Cravings are a normal and natural response to underfeeding yourself and can be prevented simply by planning and eating enough throughout the day,” says Katherine Tallmadge, author of “Diet Simple” (Lifeline Press, 2002). To stay satiated, she recommends eating three similarly caloric meals and one or more planned snacks daily.

If the craving lingers after making this alteration, it may be emotionally based. Try distracting yourself for 20 minutes (the usual length of a craving) by chatting on the phone or walking around the block, says Lawrence Cheskin, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, Lutherville, Md.

And you don’t need to think of cravings as necessarily being bad for you, suggests Beverly Price, a Bingham Farms registered dietitian, exercise physiologist and registered yoga teacher. One of Price’s classes, Reconnect with Food, offers information and tactics for giving up the some-foods-are-bad mentality and stopping the habit of bouncing from one unhealthy diet to the next.

“Eating mindfully is the key,” Price says. “It’s eating something you like, savoring it completely — how it feels in your mouth, how it tastes, eating it slowly and engaging your senses — and then, because you’ve really experienced the food, you’re satisfied with less of it.”

Georganna Hancock wrote this on July 26th, 2005 and filed it under Diet Logs |