Dr. Curtis McElroy

Author: docmac

  • How To Prepare Yourself For A Weight Loss Diet

    Preparing Yourself For A Weight-Loss Diet

    Losing weight is not an easy task. Most people think about it and never start. Some take the initial steps but give up a few miles down the road. Some feel already defeated before they even get to entertain the idea of losing weight.

    We all know how we can benefit in the long term but few know how to effectively carry out the process. Like any endeavor in life, losing weight needs careful planning and preparation. If you just jump into it without proper planning, you might find yourself giving up before you get to your weight loss goals.

    By preparing yourself, you will find it much easier to break some habits and maneuver all the obstacles along the way.

    Best ways of preparing yourself for a weight-loss diet:

    • Set your goals.

    One needs to know why they are doing something to stay motivated.

    So, why do you want to lose weight?

    What do you intend to achieve?

    Answering these questions will keep you motivated and ensure you don’t quit.

    Have goals and know the main reason you want to lose weight.

    In other words, be convinced of what you want to do.

    Next, set targets. Make it your aim to have small achievable milestones planned out. It can be hard to stick to an unclear goal. For instance, “I want to lose 10 kilograms in 3 months.” Three months is too long and you might easily get distracted and bored.

    So, set attainable goals. Plan how much weight you are going to lose each week and decide how you want to go about it. In other words, set realistic goals and do not over-reach as this might easily tire you out until you throw in the towel.

    • Have a weekly meal

    To avoid indulging yourself and fooling yourself, you need to write down a weekly meal plan. This will help you to stay on track and avoid going out of control.

    Meal plans also help out when it comes to coming up with a grocery list or shopping for groceries. You will not include those foods that are unhealthy and not on your list. This will keep you disciplined and ensure you avoid the temptation of indulging in unhealthy options or relapsing into unhealthy behavior.

    • Be mindful.

    Any venture that requires some personal discipline needs one to practice mindfulness. It is very much difficult to conquer and overcome our inner urges.

    With mindfulness, we can hone our commitment and fight the impulses of overindulgence. Learn to focus on the long-term goals and shun instant gratification.

    When you do that and get into a mindful mind state, you can easily be ready to jump into the diet plan that you have drawn up.

    • Join/create a weight–loss support group.

    Fighting on your own and sticking to your plan can be daunting. You need constant support from your loved ones or people who share the same goals as you. Having people around you who are fighting the same fight can help you to stay motivated especially in those times when the battle seems unbearable and you feel like quitting.

    Hearing the testament of others who have walked in your shoes or who are on the same road will give you the necessary strength to stay committed to what you are doing. Sometimes just merely confiding in others can help you to stay strong and feel understood.

    • Be patient.

    Losing weight is not something that happens overnight. Some give up because they get frustrated when they see how slow the process is but be patient and stick to your plan. This is where setting weekly milestones and setting realistic goals helps you to stay focused.

    • Consult a dietician.

    Most times, expert help is very much useful and practical. When you have committed yourself, try to seek some advice from a professional. They will help you to come up with a diet plan that is best suited to your lifestyle. Each individual has different needs depending on their physiology, lifestyle, and other health conditions. A dietician will consider everything and help you to make the best adjustments.

    Exercise is one of the best ways to reinforce your willpower and discipline. It keeps you focusing on the positive side of things and helps you to stay in shape, and lose weight rapidly when accompanied by a diet plan. This can also help you attain those weekly milestones a lot faster.

    It takes a lot of accountability and discipline to stay on a weight-loss diet. Planning meals and staying on track requires a lot of mindfulness and internal fortitude.

    So, before you start the diet, brace yourself mentally and make sure that you are in the correct mind frame. Don’t hesitate to seek support from those who are on the same road.

     

  • Top 5 Ways To Deal With Stress Eating

    5 Top Ways Of Dealing With Stress Eating

    People have different ways of coping with stress. Nobody wants to be in a stressful situation so they find a different coping mechanism to escape.

    For some, they dig into the fridge, looking for that sweet cake or ice-cream. In time, our bodies get conditioned to this reward system and we always start to look for food when the situation turns a bit unexpected in life.

    This leads usually to obesity and chronic health conditions.

    If you are one of those people who find themselves reaching for those treats to cope with stress, you might feel like you are fighting a losing battle and you just cannot control your impulse.

    Five most effective ways of dealing with stress eating:

    Recognize emotional hunger

    The first thing you have to do is to know how to differentiate emotional hunger from physiological hunger. This will help so that you won’t starve yourself or give in to emotional hunger.

    First, you need to know that emotional hunger or stress hunger usually hits you suddenly, it is not as gradual as our usual physiological hunger. Those with emotional hunger also tend to crave a particular type of food, in most cases, it is junk or unhealthy foods.

    They also usually eat the food mindlessly, without savoring the taste or acknowledging levels of satiety as those with physiological hunger do.

    Stress eating is usually accompanied by that overwhelming feeling of guilt afterward. When you can easily tell between these two forms of hunger, you are ready to face the problem head-on.

    Know the triggers

    Know what gets you going down the path of stress eating.

    Know the things that stress you and try hard to avoid such circumstances.

    It is also useful to try and get rid of those foods that you usually binge-eat while under stress. Some stressful situations are inevitable so sometimes we should try to find alternative ways of dealing with our stress.

    Once you know your stress triggers, you are better equipped at fighting those impulses that come with them since we would know what to look out for.

    Mindfulness

    Stress eating comes usually as an impulse, a craving, something more visceral than mindful. If we practice mindfulness, we will know how to fight those visceral urges.

    Whether it is meditation or other forms of mindful exercises that help you focus your thoughts, try those to remain vigilant.

    When we focus our thoughts, slow down and breathe, we can willfully take our minds off things that stress us and force us to eat. We can also practice mindful eating when we get rid of the rush for instant gratification.

    Plan your meal schedule

    Stress eating usually happens outside our usual meal times. We just crave food even after we have eaten. Stop the habit of eating between meals. Have a meal schedule and try hard to adhere to eat. Eat healthily, do not take the habit of ingesting a lot of junk food.

    Eat fruits, vegetables and stay hydrated while laying off the sweet stuff. This also helps to watch your weight and have a healthy body in the long run. Pay attention when you eat. Do not eat in front of the television or while distracted. Respect the levels of satiety and try to savor the food you eat.

    Take your time with your meal, rushing through or being distracted might be signs of stress eating

    Exercising and other coping methods

    Stress is pretty much inevitable; we cannot change that. What we can do, however, is to change the way we deal with it.

    Exercising has been shown by various studies to reduce stress levels and help with our mental health.

    Try to stay physically fit. Hobbies and other leisure activities can also help take our minds off things and thus reduce our stress levels. When we have all these coping mechanisms in place, we can easily avoid going to the pantry when the stress comes.

    It is essential to be vigilant when it comes to stress eating. Sometimes we can be strong enough to deal with it ourselves. Recognizing stress eating might be very hard and perhaps we feel embarrassed to admit it to ourselves. When you have tried all you can, walking through mindfulness down to exercising, you might want to reach out for help when you feel that you are not beating the problem.

    Reach out for professional help or for others to support you when you find it hard to beat. Trying to fight it yourself and fail might further stress you and lead to more stress eating. No, when it is time to reach out for help. It is never a sign of weakness to reach out.

     

  • What Foods To Avoid When Traveling

    5 Foods To Stay Away From When Traveling

     

    How about a disclaimer first. Even though the story I’m about to tell you is based on true events, you did not hear it from me because I made a promise never to tell another soul. Last year around this time of the year, we started on a very long drive from South Africa to Zimbabwe. We took turns with my wife, driving safely and taking very short stops when it was critically necessary. The whole family was very excited. My three sons and their aunt were safely packed in the back seat, and everyone had some sort of a gadget in their hands for entertainment. My wife had prepared all kinds of snacks for the journey. There were energy drinks, fizzy drinks, chips, sweets, roasted chicken, croissants, fruits, you name it. Before we even went far, you could hear foil paper being unwrapped and excited people loudly biting, sucking, and chewing from the back seat. My wife had warned the kids not to overeat or mix different foods. But let’s just say there was one person in particular who wasn’t listening.

    Just after crossing the international border from South Africa into Zimbabwe, my eldest son started complaining of an upset tummy. We gave him some water to drink and told him to stop eating for a bit. Sadly, the tummy toil did not stop, and he pressed for us to stop for a quick recess. We really wanted to stop, but the roads we were very dangerous for any car to stop. I guess I do not have to finish this story because I’m sure we all know how it ended. If you missed it, the story ends with a poor embarrassed grown-up teenage boy having to sit in his human waste with everyone else screaming and laughing at him.

    Falling ill whilst traveling is one of the worst things that could happen to you.  For many of us, eating is one of the best parts of traveling. All you want to do is enjoy your journey with some comfort, food, and good music without having to worry about getting a travel bug. But as they say, all great journeys require great preparation – and preparing yourself not to get stomach flu as you travel is also important. So next time you travel be it by road, air, or sea, just make sure to take note of the following foods and drinks so that you avoid catching a travel bug and spoiling your trip.

     

    1. Tap water

    Whilst traveling, your source of drinking water is one of the things you have to pay particular attention to. The pathogens that cause travelers’ diarrhea, rotavirus, cholera, and a host of other diseases tend to infect humans through contaminated water and food. You could try and research your destination in advance to find out if water safety is an issue. When in doubt, stick to clean, sealed bottled water. Ice carries the same risk as tap water. Avoid using it with your beverages if you’re not sure of the source of water. Also, avoid brushing your teeth with unsafe tap water.

     

     

    1. Raw produce

    In places where the water isn’t safe to drink, people often talk of the BPCF rule. Boil it; Peel it; Cook it; – or Forget it. Avoid salads and other raw fruits and vegetables, except those that can be peeled like bananas or oranges, (and that aren’t then exposed to tap water), since the peel protects against contamination. Whilst citrus fruits could be safer because they can be peeled, they should be limited during your travels. They have a high acidity which can affect your bladder. The last thing you would want is to constantly have to look for a bathroom whilst on a road trip. Also, avoid eating uncooked meat, seafood, and poultry, all of which are grounds for foodborne pathogens.

     

    1. Fizzy drinks and Soda (from a fountain)

    It is best to stay away from any fountain-based liquids if you’re not sure about the quality of the water in your chosen destination. Opt for a canned or bottled soda. Fizzy drinks come with a risk of bloating, gas, indigestion, nausea, and general abdominal pain. This is something you definitely don’t want whilst traveling.

     

    1. Tomato-based products

     

    Some researchers have discovered that tomato-based products can irritate the bladder because of their acidity. For someone with an overactive bladder, it is best to skip foods like pizza, pasta sauce, salsa, and ketchup. Best avoid those frantic searches for a restroom as you travel.

     

    1. Dairy products

    Some milk products such as milkshakes, ice cream, yogurt, and others can easily cause an upset stomach. These can be better enjoyed when you’ve reached your destination and settled in. Unpasteurized dairy like cheese or milk is one of the foods you may want to skip when traveling. These may be very harmful especially to kids, pregnant women, or someone with a weakened immune system. Unpasteurized cheese has been known to be associated with pathogenic microorganisms like Listeria monocytogenes.

     

    Make it a thumbnail rule to always check your diet before, during, and after traveling. This will buy you extra time to enjoy your trip and avoids nursing a tummy tornado from the hotel room.

     

Copyright @ 2017 DrCurtisMcElroy