Eating a mid-morning snack can be devastating to your weight loss goals. Many dieters make every attempt to start their day off with a healthy, light breakfast. While a piece of fruit may seem like a great way to start the day, it is important that you are finding a breakfast that will keep you full until lunch. According to a recent study, dieters that ate a full, healthy breakfast that kept them full until lunch lost an average of 11% of their body weight over the course of one year, while those that ate a midmorning snack between breakfast and lunch only found a 7% loss.

One explanation that was offered by researchers was that there is a small interval between breakfast and lunch, and so hunger can be easily eliminated during this time by having a healthy breakfast. For many people, mindless munching becomes a problem during the mid-morning hours as we re-load our coffee cups. To help enhance your weight loss efforts, avoid snacking before lunch and make sure that you are eating a breakfast that will keep you full all morning long.

A recent study evaluated the leftovers from restaurant patrons, and found that those that ate with forks that were twenty percent larger than a normal fork consumed significantly less than those who ate with a regular sized fork. This was only the case when large portions were provided. However, most restaurants these days serve huge portions so this trick will probably be useful whenever you eat out.

Although the study only considered restaurant meals and not meals eaten at home, the same effect may occur, especially if you tend to serve yourself portions that are too large. If you are trying to lose weight, you may want to invest in smaller plates and larger forks to see if they help you to stick with your calorie intake goals and help you lose weight. If your schedule causes you to eat out more often than your diet would want, try bringing your own fork with you to the restaurant. When combined with a healthy diet and increased levels of exercise, eating with a larger fork may enhance your weight loss efforts.

Weight loss in Naples is simple because the warm days and sunshine means daily walks in the sun, and healthy fruits and vegetables are available all year long. Also, tiny food swaps to everyday meals can put someone on the right path to losing weight and feeling healthier.

Here are five food changes to lose weight and feel great:

• Swap out white breads and other refined grains to fiber-rich whole grains. Try brown rice or whole wheat pasta for dinner because they have more fiber, nutrients, and vitamins. Whole grains taste great and can help you to lose weight faster.
• Try canola oil or olive oil instead of butter. Saturated fats, such as butter, can cause clogged arteries and raise cholesterol. Olive oil and other unsaturated fats have been shown to help improve the heart.
• Take out salt and try fresh or dried herbs. The difference is more flavorful foods when herbs are substituted for salt. This is helpful for anyone who has high blood pressure, but it is also wise for a dieter, who will find that herbs add a nice taste to any food.
• Switch out steak to salmon. People who have never tried salmon are surprised at how delicious it is. Salmon is a rich, flavorful fish that contains omega-3 fats, which is great for the heart, body, and mind.
• Try low-fat dairy instead of full-fat dairy. Yogurt and sour cream are good, and even better when they are low-fat. Low-fat milk is also great for lowering blood pressure, and cutting out any saturated fat from the diet.

When anyone is trying to lose weight, a great start is by substituting a few ingredients from their favorite foods for a healthier option. By starting with little changes like swapping, you are less likely to feel as if you are giving up everything, and depriving yourself of all of your favorite foods.

Lap band surgeons in the Port Charlotte area offer a variety of tips to help gastric band patients get through Thanksgiving with a minimum of stress, enjoy the holiday and eat healthy foods that they can still enjoy.

An excellent solution is to suggest a Thanksgiving potluck in which all guests bring foods of their choosing, including traditional Thanksgiving dishes. If you’ve had weight-loss surgery, this option provides an excellent opportunity to bring healthful, delicious items that contain the nutrients you need.

By making sure the holiday menu includes appetizing, nutritious food that you enjoy, you’ll be less tempted to indulge in less healthy options.

Still, you’ll need to come prepared to say no to relatives and others who may urge you to try “just a sliver” of their coveted sugar cream pie or “just a little” of their rich sweet potato casserole. Come knowing what you can eat and what you can’t, and stick to it.

Instead of approaching Thanksgiving as a time to eat, think of it as an opportunity to see your family. Instead of concentrating on all of the options at the table, fill your plate with lots of vegetables and other nutritious goodies and concentrate on catching up with friends and family members that you haven’t seen in a year! Don’t torture yourself by finding a seat at the desert table. Instead, invite a good friend to go for a post-dinner walk with you and skip the temptation all together.

As an alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving celebration, you could volunteer at a food kitchen to serve those in need—as a way to share with others and express your gratitude for all the blessings in your life, including the strides you are making to better health.

What to Eliminate

If you’re undergoing stress, you should eliminate or restrict substances from your diet that exacerbate that stress. These types of items include:

• Caffeine: In America, most people consume the amount of caffeine that’s in two cups of coffee every day. Though most people can handle this amount, if you’re under stress you’re most likely sensitive to caffeine, even the caffeine in decaffeinated coffee. This sensitivity leads to more anxiety, as well as insomnia.
• Alcohol: Alcohol stresses the body. If you’re under stress you should avoid it, especially since alcohol disrupts normal sleep.
• Sugars and Other Refined Carbohydrates Like Bleached Flour: Sugars and refined carbohydrates can lead to hypoglycemia and other problems controlling blood sugar.
• Foods You’re Allergic To: Food allergies can lead to anxiety, fatigue, aches and pains, difficulty in concentrating and depression, all of which can make it difficult to plan and eat a healthy diet. Strangely, the foods you’re allergic to are often the foods that you crave when you’re under stress.

In addition to these foods that you should avoid, there are also things you should do to help enhance your diet and relieve stress.

• Increase the Potassium to Sodium Ratio of Your Food: Substitute foods with more potassium, such as bananas, for foods that are full of sodium, like potato chips.
• Eat Prepared Meals In a Relaxed Environment: Your meals should be planned, even to the point of making a meal chart. Meals shouldn’t be eaten in a noisy or stressful atmosphere, and should never be eaten on the run.

If you have had banded gastric plication weight loss surgery, the volume of food your stomach can hold has been reduced. Pursuing this weight loss tool can be extremely beneficial to your weight loss goals. Help yourself lose weight prior to your upcoming operation by avoiding eating traps around your home.

In addition, changing some simple eating behaviors can really supplement the banded gastric plication weight loss surgery you have already had. Many of us have been told since childhood to finish everything on our plates. Sometimes going against these ingrained childhood lessons is difficult, even when we know eating less is a healthier option.

An effective strategy is to simply change the size of the plate you eat on. Choose a smaller salad plate, instead of a larger dinner plate, and you will generally eat less food, even if you still finish everything served. A smaller than normal size bowl can be chosen for eating soup or cereal, with the same beneficial results.

Another good idea is to prefill your plate in the kitchen, rather than having self-serve bowls on the dining room table. If you are enjoying the lovely Cape Coral outdoor weather, just bring your prefilled plate outside and leave the serving bowls in the house.

Paying attention to eating seems to cause people to eat less, too. If you eat while watching television, you may be mindlessly consuming calories you really don’t even want! Try eating in the dining room and taking a non-caloric drink in with you when you watch your favorite shows.

Lastly, keep your healthiest food choices where you can see them easily, putting the less healthy ones out of site.

The Nutrients Your Body Needs

Our bodies require food in order to attain the proper levels of nutrients to function and thrive. Poor nutrition can lead to vitamin deficiencies, which can result in a host of diseases. For instance, a vitamin C deficiency can lead to scurvy, while being low in iron can result in anemia. The ideal way to get all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs is to eat a wide selection of healthy foods. However, when that’s not possible, supplements may need to be taken.

Nutrient Guidelines

Eating a diet that is rich in lean-proteins, light in trans fats and sugars, and high in fiber is one of the best meal plans to follow as you are pursuing a weight loss program. If you have had bariatric surgery in the past then it is important that you follow your physicians orders as to the proper proportions and nutrients that you should incorporate into your own diet.

Diet and Health

Food can have a significant impact on heart health, both good and bad. Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but low in saturated fats may help protect you from high blood pressure and heart disease. On the other hand, diets high in trans fats and saturated fats and low in fruits and vegetables can actually contribute to the development of those same diseases.

Pre-Bariatric Surgery Nutrition. Nutritional changes may be needed well before your weight loss Lap Band procedure. Your nutritionist and surgeon will determine your nutritional status, looking for any deficiencies, and more importantly correcting them. Prior to surgery you’ll be educated on the protein, vitamins, and mineral supplements you’ll be taking after your procedure.

Surgery Recovery. During your immediate recovery from bariatric surgery, you will be limited to a “clear liquids only” diet. You’ll gradually progress to full liquids, then onto pureed foods and soft foods, before being able to eat any food you can tolerate.

Long-Term Nutrition Guidelines. You’ll be assessed closely by your Ft. Myers bariatric surgeon and nutritionist during the first year following surgery. Long-term nutritional care includes monitoring for nutrition deficiencies, troubleshooting problems, education, and of course, support.

Long-Term Supplementation. Weight loss surgery patients will take vitamin and mineral supplements for the remainder of their lives, but supplementation will vary depending on the individual and bariatric surgery type. While adjustable band surgery patients may only need a multivitamin, gastric bypass patients may need a multivitamin, vitamin D, calcium, iron and vitamin D supplements of the heightened risk of malabsorption associated with the procedure.

Eating out on a regular basis can create a major barrier against reaching your weight loss goals. Many dieters wish that restaurants offered more healthy options, but the truth is that a majority of diners do not order the healthy meals that are available to them. For patients that have had weight loss surgery in the past, eating out on a regular basis could cause you to regain the weight that you fought so hard to lose, which could lead to the need for the Rose procedure.

You can still enjoy your restaurant experience without sabotaging your weight loss progress by following these simple weight loss help tips for dining out:

1. Limit alcohol consumption. Alcohol is high in carbohydrates and empty calories. Restrain from drinking more than one or two drinks at most. If possible, select red wine, which contains antioxidants and is not as calorie dense as other alcoholic beverages.
2. Ask for substitutions. While some restaurants won’t allow substitutions, most will. For example, instead of eating the side of potatoes that comes with a meal, ask if you can substitute a vegetable for the potato.
3. Split meals. Today’s restaurants portions are huge. Often they are enough for two people, and then some. If your dining partner is okay with it, ask to split a meal.
4. Skip the calorie-laden appetizer and desserts. It’s best to skip the chicken wings, fried mozzarella sticks, or chocolate fudge cake altogether. But if you must have a something sweet to cleanse your palate after your meal, split your desert with your dining partner. Better yet, ask the waiter if they have “mini” dessert items. Many restaurants do these days.
5. Ask about ingredients and dish preparations. While steamed broccoli sounds like a healthy menu choice, it may not be if it is saturated in butter. Ask your server if menu items are fried or sautéed in butter.

A new study suggests that drinking water prior to eating a meal may help older folks lose weight, which is an important finding for those considering weight loss surgery in Naples or Fort Myers, Florida. The study findings, presented at an annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, found that both older and middle-aged adults who drank two cups of water before eating consumed fewer calories than those that didn’t; they also lost more weight.

For the study, researchers separated the participants into two groups of overweight and obese women and men aged 55 to 75. One group followed a low-calorie, low-fat diet. The other group followed the same diet, but drank two cups of water before each of their three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

After three months of participating in the study, the people who drank water before eating meals lost 15.5 pounds compared to the people who didn’t consumer water, who lost 11 pounds. This is almost a 30 percent difference, which is substantial. The subjects were followed even after this 12 week study period, where researchers noted that the people who continued to drink water before eating kept the weight off, and lost another 1.5 pounds on average. The study authors believe that it takes the stomach longer to empty in older individuals, which can help them feel fuller longer.

Keep in mind that people who are not able to lose weight through diet and exercise, and are morbidly obese, may need to seek additional help, such as weight loss surgery.