I am always game to deem someone a “nutter” when he or she touts cockamamie antics for weight loss. With all the fad diets and exercise equipment that can just “jiggle” my fat away…I make it my mission to find practical and healthy solutions for weight loss. I came across a Men’s Health Blog on Seven Simple Ways to Cut Calories “without even trying” as the post declares (Mohr, 2012). It proved to be pretty good advice and thought I would share my findings. The first simple way is to eat with your non-dominant hand. Have you ever tried this? Being a clumsy person lacking any dexterity whatsoever, I did. I may have ended up with more food in my lap than actually in my mouth but the process certainly did slow me down. There was no way I could shovel the food in fast without the possibility of stabbing myself in the eye with my fork. Don’t let your foods touch on your plate…for those of you who have or have not been diagnosed with OCD-you will love this trick. When you do this, you cut down on the amount of food you are eating-essentially a portion control strategy. Put your fork down between every bite…this encourages you to slow down while eating. Did you know it takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to sense that you are full? Don’t wait for your stomach to tell you it’s going to be sick. Slow down. Another way to decrease calorie intake is to chew your food rather than inhale it. While this seemingly passes the common sense test, most of us inhale rather than chew our food. Remember Grandma telling you to chew your bite of food 50 times? Well…Grandma knew what she was talking about. Forego the phone: If you don’t pay attention to how much you are eating, you will consume more. Whether it is a phone or book or the T.V., take a break and "unplug." Talk to the person (or people) around you without distraction-we all know this gives us more benefits than cutting calories. Start with a salad! While you can load up with cheese and creamy dressings (and my favorite-bacon) swap bread for salad at the restaurant and let the veggies take up the room in your stomach to help you eat less of the “heavier” calories during the main course. Last but not least, make veggies and/or fruit the biggest part of your meal! How to do this? For example, those of you that love oatmeal in the morning fill you bowl with berries first, then add the oatmeal. Just some helpful strategies when battling the forces of evil in the weight world...try these out and let me know how it goes.
But try not to poke your eyeball out.
