Fruit - All you can eat

When I tell my clients that they can eat unlimited vegetables nobody argues with me. When I tell them they can also eat as much fruit as they want, everyone stares at me with disbelief. My position has gained some credibility now that Weight Watchers has finally lifted the banana ban, but the majority of people are still not convinced. When I say you can eat all the fruit you want, I don't mean fruit juice, fruit roll-ups, fruit loops cereal, fruit flavored pop tarts, dried fruit or even fruit smoothies. I mean fresh or frozen fruit. Even bananas. Even grapes. It amazes me that the same people that are concerned with the amount of sugar in fruit appear to be not the least bit concerned with the nutritional content of a snickers bar.

Yes there are calories in fruit. Fruit also is an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. It is quite possible that there are micronutrients in fruits that man hasn't even yet discovered and so the benefits of fruit can't be duplicated in a vitamin pill. Fruit also takes more time to eat than processed food which slows down your caloric intake. The fiber in fruit helps your digestive system and makes you feel fuller.

I think one reason our country has gotten so fat is not because we eat too much fruit, but because we eat too little. Fruit is in season right now. It is delicious and cheap. Eat as much as you want! Enjoy!

Left unattended, excess weight, like dirty clothes tends to pile up

My house is a mess. The kind of insurmountable mess that makes you want to go back to bed. I have piles of papers, laundry (clean and dirty), dishes, shoes, coats, backpacks, toys, recyclables, and kids. I caught myself thinking over the weekend that all I needed to do was hire someone to clean the mess, to give me a clean slate. And then I laughed out loud. Because I have had someone clean up after us for years and years and my house always returns to the same messy state. Then it hit me. keeping your house clean is like being fit. You have to work at it everyday or you lose it. I have clients tell me if only they were at their goal weight, they could maintain it. To which I always say, "I would give you my body but you would ruin it". Just like cleaning your house, being fit is not a steady state. As soon as you sit back and start to admire the results of your hard work, the mess or the extra weight starts piling up again.

If you are reading this, the odds are you are super neat. I'm sure you would never dream of leaving the house with an unmade bed or a dish in the sink. It is likely I have tried to convince you that the dishes will still be there when you get back from exercising (mine always are!). But you are so busy cleaning you have no time to exercise and I am so busy exercising, I never get to clean. In both cases, what started out as a little problem is now a big one. For me, given the choice between exercising and cleaning my house, exercise will win every time.

As we all know, excess weight has a tendency to creep up on you and by the time you realize how out of shape you are, getting back into shape seems impossibly hard. I may always be a slob. And you may never be a marathon runner. But just maybe we can meet in the middle. Before I go running today, I vow to put away all the laundry. Before you put away the laundry, do you think you could squeeze a run in? And to those of you who have already figured out how to find time to exercise and keep your house clean, well knowing you are out there, gives hope to the rest of us.

Teen Body Image

I have had the pleasure of having Nikki Greenbaum as my intern. She is a senior at Jericho High School and I asked her to give me her take on teens and body image.

Looking in the mirror… we all do it. In the morning before the day begins, on a bathroom break, or getting in your car. We all look in the mirror. The question that always has interested me is, what do we see? Do we see the beauty in us or do only the flaws stare back at us? In today’s culture, pressure is on most teenagers to be a certain way. The media shows a model of how one should be. Open up any magazine and you will see that “Thin is in”. Being a teenager myself, I have seen my friends struggle with this concept. Since I was younger I have always had a fast metabolism. I have never been too concerned about the way my body looks. I have noticed though from watching others, that it can be a huge struggle. I have watched close friends battle eating disorders and being overweight. I have seen their beautiful faces stare in the mirror and only three words will exit their lips, “I am fat.” I have watched them look through magazines and say, “Why can’t I look like her?” Our society seems to be overly obsessed with the way they look to others. Teenagers desire to fit in can drive this obsession to an unhealthy body image. The images in the media present teens with defined standards of attractiveness that is often not realistic. The way one appears has little to do with one’s body image. It is about self-confidence. If you walk into a pool party hiding under your towel, people will think you have something to hide. We just need to be confident and proud of the people we are. The way you see yourself shouldn't be based on how much you weigh. No one needs to be stick thin to be beautiful. I think what is beautiful is diversity. Being different isn’t a bad thing at all. It makes a person who they are. We shouldn’t look at others and dream to be them. We should look in the mirror and see ourselves. We need to look past our flaws and see our true beauty. Being thin or looking like your favorite celebrity isn’t what is beautiful. We all need to be ourselves and stop looking at what the media thinks is beautiful. So the next time you stop to look in the mirror remember this, people see what we show them.

Success

My oldest son is starting high school in a few weeks. We made an appointment to see his new guidance counselor to ensure that he starts off the school year on the right foot. As I am sure you are aware, this year counts!! The guidance counselor was really lovely. She told my son that every student starts out with a 100 average and a clean slate. How inspiring! How scary! In high school she assured us, my son would most definitely succeed. Really? Based on what evidence? Of course I want my son to succeed. But he is the one who has to own it. It is up to him to put in the hard work. If we can get him to experience some success, the theory is that more success will follow.

The meeting with the guidance counselor very much reminded me of an initial weight loss consultation. My job is too get a new client excited and motivated. To get them to believe down to their core that they can succeed, even as all the evidence points to the contrary. Why should this time be different with so many failed weight loss attempts behind them? Unlike a new high school student, they are not starting out with a clean slate. There is no illusion of a perfect average. Life is not like that!! Life tends to be messy. People sometimes eat cake.

It is the all or nothing mentality that keep most people from reaching their goal. I often hear, I was doing so great until I blew it and then the flood gates opened. Here's a news flash: Eventually you are going to blow it!! I guarantee it. But if you already have success behind you, you will know that this is a temporary setback. That you can put down the cake fork and regain your focus.

In my practice, I often see people succeed. It is true that success breeds success. There is nothing more powerful than experiencing what your mind and body are capable of. If I could give my son any gift, it would be the first taste of success.

Glory Days

I had a 16 year old boy in my office the other day telling me about his glory days. Apparently, he was quite the exerciser when he was 12! Almost everyone it seems carries around an image of their more fit selves. The two most common scenarios I encounter are middle-aged guys telling me what athletes they were in high school or moms who are still blaming their excess body weight on the babies they had 20, 30 or even 40 years ago.

I will always be incredibly proud of the marathon I ran in 1991. There is nothing like training for and finishing your first race. It makes you feel powerful and helps you discover what your mind and body are capable of. While I will always have marathon bragging rights, fitness is much more fleeting. You must do something almost everyday to maintain your fitness level or you will lose it. There is no getting around this fact.

Your glory days don't have to be behind you. Even though I don't think I will ever run anther full marathon, that doesn't mean I have taken up residence on the couch either. Everyday I find a way to fit some form of exercise into my busy schedule. And I am always glad I did. Look at it this way: 95% of the population is completely sedentary. If you do any amount of regular exercise, that automatically puts you in the top 5% for fitness. Not a bad place to be.

Every step you take puts you one step closer to your goal. Use your past success to remind you of what you can achieve not to psych yourself out. These are my glory days and there is no real reason they can't be yours too!

ALASKA - Fitness Lessons Learned

Maybe I didn't need to travel all the way to Alaska to discover that if I eat brownies smothered in ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge and a cherry, I am going to gain weight. Maybe it wasn't even the brownies that tipped the scale, maybe it was the all you can eat buffet, or the endless supply of candy, I mean "energy" bars that did me in. I went to Alaska on a biking, kayaking, hiking adventure. I really was in constant motion, but it appears that as much as I moved my body, I moved my mouth more! I gained 3 pounds in one week even as I cycled 6 miles uphill to breathtaking Thompson Pass.

Of course I know better. And one could argue that I was on vacation, after all. But truth be told, I allowed myself to believe that I could eat whatever I wanted because I was exercising. And it wasn't just me. The others on the tour also seemed to have a total disconnect between how much energy they were taking in versus how much they were expending. Before starting a relatively flat 12 mile stretch of the bike trip, (that actually linked lunch to dinner) I asked the guide if he thought I needed a snack. He gave me a look of disbelief as he assured me that I did not.

I fell into the exact trap that I am always cautioning people to avoid. By overestimating how many calories they burn exercising and underestimating how many calories are in their replacement snack many people actually gain weight when they begin an exercise program. Of course they often console themselves with the factoid that muscle weighs more than fat. Believe me, I did not gain 3 pounds of muscle on my trip and I'm fairly certain no one else did either!

Fitness is not a steady-state. Usually the first thing a new client will tell me about is their glory days. All I say to that is, 'What have you done for me lately?" Keeping fit is constant work. If you let your guard down, even for a weeks vacation, you are taking a risk. Eating right and exercising should be as obvious as brushing your teeth. Would you go on vacation and not pack your toothbrush?

I often tell my clients, lets trade habits for 6 months and see what happens. All I needed was 1 week to remind me that if I don't treat my body right it is going to change and not for the better!

WILLPOWER and other diet myths!

Most people who would like to lose weight believe that the only thing keeping them from their goal is their lack of willpower. If only it were so easy! First off, willpower doesn't really exist Everybody eventually succumbs to temptation, it is just a matter of time. The difference between success and failure is creating an environment where you are most likely to succeed. Believe me, this is something I know about. If I make brownies for my kids (of course) there is no way I am not eating my share and I will keep eating them until the pan is empty. This is why I don't make brownies unless I'm in the mood for 800 extra calories! Its a very nice notion that you should be able to stop at one, but reality is often a different story. So, if you don't want to eat the brownies don't make them!! I know this is obvious but, where people most often mess up is when they put themselves in situations that are just too hard to resist. That's why 100 calorie packs are a brilliant marketing strategy. The idea is that you can feed your snack habit in a controlled way. The reason this usually doesn't work is that they are so unsatisfying, you tend to eat more than one.

If you really want to make long term changes in your habits, look at your environment and see what is really causing you to eat unwanted calories. Some common problems are:

Eating out of boredom. Can't you find anything else to do???

Eating in front of the computer or TV.

Not having the foods you want to eat readily available.

Having your home office in the kitchen.

Keeping snacks in your car "just in case" (In case of what???)

Buying cakes or cookies so you are prepared in case someone stops by.

Buying snacks for your kids or spouse that you find too hard to resist.

Skipping meals so you are so hungry you overeat at the next one.

Walking into Crumbs Bakery just to "see" what its about.

My advice is to stop coveting your neighbor's willpower and start creating an environment where you are most likely to succeed. And if you do wind up eating that pan of brownies, enjoy them!