by Monica Stubbins
(Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Hazard!!! 5 Diet Saboteur Hideouts
Anyone who has ever tried to loose and inch or two knows, it’s not easy to make good food choices in certain environments. This diet health nutrition article show you how to do so successfully.
The key to diet success is knowing how to attack situations that wreak havoc on your weight-loss goals. “For every step forward we take, our surroundings can send us several steps back,” says Erin Cohen, M.P.H., R.D., nutrition program coordinator at Lake Tennis Club in Los Angeles.
When you are trying to loose weight, often your loved ones become wolves in sheep’s clothing. There’s always one around – saying you look fine, suggesting you have more, holding a hotdog, a cookie, or an entire pepperoni pizza. Stop. Don’t let peer pressure do a demolition job on your diet! Learn where Diet Gremlins hide, how to fend them off, smoke them out and gain weight-loss success instead of weight.
Hideout #1 Work
Diet Gremlin Culprit – Peer Pressure; feeling “glued” (stuck in a meeting or at a desk), bad planning With candy bars and chips at the vending machines, doughnuts making their rounds, bagels beside the coffee pot and a slice of just about everything sweet (except a piece of fruit) virtually around every corner, the workplace is a Diet Gremlin dream.
The best chance you have in adhering to a healthy diet while at work is to align yourself with like-minded colleagues. Two heads are always better than one, the two of you will be able to hold one another accountable.
Consider using a buddy system to take turns bringing in healthy snacks to meetings, or ask the person in charge of refreshments to offer some healthier options such as fat free cream cheese, multi-grain bagels, yogurt or fresh fruit.
For maximum control of over the workplace munchies, you’ll need to plan ahead and bring your own healthful lunch and snacks from home. Workplace overeating often happens because we are bored and need to stretch out a bit.
If possible, take a walk around the office instead of jellybeans. Avoid candy. Keep a jar of almonds in a desk drawer and have a handful of nuts and a piece of fruit instead of candies when the afternoon slump arrives. For around 200 calories you will get a balanced mini-meal with about 6 grams of protein and amino acids.
Hideout #2 Happy Hour
Diet Gremlin Culprit- Peer pressure (when your friends order a pitcher of beer) Sometimes it’s fun to relax after 5 p.m. with co-workers, but just as often happy hour becomes an extended workday.
Whether happy hour is a pleasant reprieve or one of the ten commandments of your office, the advice is the same, Cohen says: “Start out with water or seltzer to hydrate yourself. Many times we drink too much at happy hour because we’ve had a long day without water and we’re thirsty.”
Without a doubt, there will be appetizers ordered. Before the plates of buffalo wings, quesadillas and mini-burgers start floating around, get involved. Vote for a veggie platter with grilled chicken or shrimp cocktail.
If you know you are going to be at a restaurant that has only high-fat food choices, eat a piece of fruit or a couple dozen nuts before you leave work so you won’t be tempted to overeat the deep-fried cheese sticks or other fatty Gremlin delights.
Hideout # 3 The Gym
Diet Gremlin Culprit- No planning, fatigue
Gyms now moonlight as snack bars selling everything from chocolate covered energy bars and sports waters to peanut butter smoothies and protein shakes. But just because these foods are sold at the gym does not mean they are healthy, low in calories or fat.
Sandy Washington, M.S., R.D., project manager at the childhood obesity program at Culver Community Center in Palms, recommends saving both the money and calories: “If you eat well-spaced meals throughout your day, don’t bother with gym food. Bring a banana or orange for after exercise. Drink water instead of high calorie soft drinks.”
Hideout # 4 Vacation
Diet Gremlin Culprit- No planning, gluttony, sloth, feeling “glued”
Vacations mean taking a break from normal routines. As a result, we can take a break from our dieting routine and gain weight. All inclusive vacations and cruises can be the most challenging. A luxury liner is a floating island- a smorgasbord bursting at the seams with extravagant, free food.
Most people think, “I paid for it, I’d better enjoy it.” One might think it is impossible to eat healthy on a cruise where the ice cream is all you can eat and the fountains flow with chocolate. Nevertheless, with a plan and self-control it is possible to eat healthy while on a cruise: Queen Mary 2, for example, has a Ranch SpaClub right onboard, and other ships offer lowfat and vegetarian menus.
Control yourself when you see those gravy fries, pass it up for a vitamin-rich vegetable stir fry.
There are solutions to avoid adding on the vacation pounds by planning a diet Gremlin defense strategy- beforehand. One strategy: Treat yourself on odd days and practice self-discipline even days.
Just because your vacation buddy is having refills and going back for that fourth helping of fried chicken, doesn’t mean you have to. On vacations, nearly everyone is a greedy, slothful diet saboteur. Another strategy: walk around a bit.
Don’t trash your workout routine because you’ve taken a break from working. Walk off the extra food and instead of regarding it as exercise, see walking as taking in the scenery of your vacation. Or, you can eat whatever you want whenever you want it, then make a plan for getting back on track when you return home. But remember, pounds are easier to put on than take off.
Hideout # 4 Air Travel
Diet Gremlin Culprit- Fatigue, no planning, “glued”
On every airplane hides a diet breaker. There may be no time in your life when you are more at the mercy of a hazardous food environment than when you’re flying or in the airport.
Often, you can spend the entire day without any access to nutritious food sources: First, you have travel stress, which can create nervousness, making you more likely to eat and abandon your diet. Because when you finally say to yourself “I’m just going to get up and get anything I can find.”
Usually, it’s some enormous blueberry muffin topped with sugar crystals, high in fat, made for sumo wrestlers and containing about 1,000 calories. But thanks to the “green revolution” some airlines have launched buy-on-board menus with organic, vegetarian, vegan and low-cal meals.
So, when you book your ticket, plan ahead by telling the airline you have special dietary needs. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has rated the top 10 airlines for healthful food selections. The results can be seen at:
www.pcrm.org/news/Airline_Food_Report.pdf
Sometimes, you will need to inquire about nutritionally sound food options because most airlines don’t offer them on menus. If the future looks bleak, dodge the in-flight martinis, pretzels and cheese plates by bringing wholesome snacks like apples, rice cakes or dried fruits to tide you over until you reach your destination. Cohen says, “don’t forget what they say about an apple a day.”