March 1, 2007
Real-Life Weight Management: 100% Fad Free
By Eat Right Montana
Fad diets are everywhere.
Turn on the TV and there’s the latest super-pill “guaranteed” to make you slim and sexy for just $39.95 (or so) per month. Log onto your computer screen and the pop-ups offer dozens of products to “detoxify” your life and shed pounds miraculously. Glance at the magazines covers in the checkout line and every celebrity in America has a new diet plan to give you a perfect body just like theirs (right!). Flip through those same magazine pages and the (allegedly) before-and-after photos promote quick answers to all your weight-loss dreams.
“Americans spend more than $40 billion on weight loss every year,” according to Christine Emerson, a registered dietitian and president of the Montana Dietetic Association. “Sadly, many people waste their hard-earned dollars on fad diets, weight-loss gimmicks, and modern-day snake oil. At best these products don’t work; at worst, they can actually harm your health.”
There is no doubt that Montanans, young and old, are increasingly overweight. Recent surveys suggest that 57 percent of the state’s adults are overweight or obese. Programs in Billings and Missoula have documented that about a third of preschool and elementary-aged children are already overweight or at risk of becoming so. These trends are troubling, since being overweight can increase the risk of serious medical issues, like type 2 diabetes and joint problems.
However, the path to a healthy weight – for children and adults – is never a short-term diet.
“The real solution is to make healthful eating and physical activity an everyday way of life,” said Emerson, who manages school nutrition programs for the Office of Public Instruction in Helena. “The key to success is to ignore all the misleading weight-loss promotions and focus on taking permanent steps toward a healthy lifestyle for your whole family.”
March is National Nutrition Month. To celebrate, Eat Right Montana encourages families to go 100 percent fad-free and focus on proven, science-based approaches to a healthy weight. These simple steps to real-life weight management have been the focus of Eat Right materials since 1999.
All past and current issues of Eat Right’s monthly Healthy Families packets can be downloaded free from their web site at: www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrighthealthyfamilies.htm
To evaluate a diet product, service, treatment, or device, you can start with the following questions (adapted from The American Dietetic Association’s Complete Food and Nutrition Guide, Wiley 2006). If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you should be suspicious. The claims are likely too good to be true – and you should probably steer clear of the product.
- Does it use scare tactics or emotional appeals rather than proven results?
- Does it use non-scientific terms like “revitalize,” “detoxify,” or “balance your body with nature?”
- Does it offer “proof” based on personal testimonials rather than sound science?
- Does it claim to also “treat” or “cure” health problems, like cancer or sexual impotence?
- Does it mention a “secret formula” or fail to list ingredients or possible side effects on the label?
For ways to avoid diet traps and for some tasty and healthy recipes, visit the ADA online at www.eatright.org/nnm/
Five Easy Ways to Eat for a Healthy Weight
The lure of quick weight loss is hard to resist, especially when you see “magical” results on TV and in magazine ads. In reality, many diets and weight-loss products are expensive, empty promises. For real weight management success:
- Forget the fads. Diet fads come and go, without offering a permanent weight solution. When you hear about the latest diet, always ask yourself a few important questions: Do the results sound too good to be true? Is there any proof besides a few personal testimonials? Can I really eat this way for the rest of my life?
- Make a realistic commitment. Any eating plan needs to work for you. It needs to fit with your schedule, food budget, and cooking skills. If a diet is complicated, expensive, or eliminates all your favorite foods, you won’t stick with it. Once you have a realistic plan, share your commitment to make healthier food choices with your family.
- Start slowly and make it a habit. Drastic changes can be a recipe for failure; small changes can make a big difference, if they last. Pick one change, like eating breakfast, and make it a habit. Experts say that it takes about 21 days for a behavior to become habit. To start a breakfast habit, write down 21 breakfast “menus” you’d love to eat.
- Plan ahead and stock up on options. Make a list of the possibilities, like all the breakfast foods you enjoy: at home; in the car or on the bus; at work; or from a vending machine. Once you have a list of healthful possibilities, stock up. Make sure that there is a smart option anywhere that you might have the opportunity to eat breakfast.
- Forgive your lapses and celebrate your successes. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be perfect eating. If you make a mistake, like missing a few morning meals, no biggie. Get back on track as soon as you can! Changing eating habits takes a bit of time. Just think how long you’ve had your current habits – and give yourself a pat on the back for any positive changes.
Five Fun Ways to Walk Your Way to Fitness
A daily walk is a wonderful way to maintain a healthy weight. A 30-45 minute walk can help to lower your stress level, improve your mood, boost your immune system, and reduce your risk of disease.
- Walk and talk.Walking and talking with a friend is good for your body, good for your heart, and good for your soul. Walking and talking with children or grandchildren is an active way to spend some quality time together. It can also be a time to discuss serious issues, like school or grades, in a less threatening atmosphere.. Walk and learnMusic lightens every step – and it seems to make time go faster. Pick your favorite tunes, pick up the pace, and sing along if you want! Walking and listening to books “on tape” is another fun way to add extra value to your daily walk. Language tapes, CDs, or Podcasts also make ideal walking companions.
- Walk and listen. Music lightens every step – and it seems to make time go faster. Pick your favorite tunes, pick up the pace, and sing along if you want! Walking and listening to books “on tape” is another fun way to add extra value to your daily walk. Language tapes, CDs, or Podcasts also make ideal walking companions.
- Walk and learn. A new language is just one of the many things you can learn on a walk. With kids, you can count different colored cars, talk about how plants change with the season, or listen for new sounds. Wherever you walk outdoors, there are birds to learn about. Perhaps it’s time to start a list of feathered friends.
- Walk and shop. Using your legs for transportation is a simple way to accomplish two things at the same time. Put on a backpack for your purchases and walk to the grocery store, the post office, or the mall. If you live too far to walk all the way from home, drive to a central location and walk from there.
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Walk and enjoy.
Enjoyment is the key to success for all fitness activities, because over the long haul, you’ll only stick with what you like to do. Some people enjoy doing the same walk every day, while others want a different route every time they go out. Think about what kind of walk really gets you going – and just do it!
(Brought to you by Eat Right Montana, a coalition promoting healthy eating and active lifestyles. Visit us online at www.eatrightmontana.org/)
