foxfieldco
05-19-2004, 12:28 AM
Weight Watchers eTools article of the week: Clean Up Your Weight-Loss Act
Spring Cleaning Your Environment
For many people, spring is the time for a thorough cleaning of the house and yard. But why not extend that cleaning to include areas
that are important to your weight-loss progress?
It's hard to recognize it unless you're really looking, but there are probably things all around your environment that aren't friendly to your weight-loss efforts. Take advantage of the season to really look.
Your "environments" include not just the rooms in your house, but also places like your car and your desk at work. And since you are the product of these environments, the way they are organized or the things that you see or find in them can make a big difference in your ability to stick with your weight-loss plan.
When They Shine, You Shine
You've probably heard your Leader or other Meetings Members talking about the Levels of Change. When you're working toward a lifelong
change such as weight loss, you address the first Level of Change — Environment — by living and working in supportive places.
Visualize the environments in which you spend a lot of time. Are there things in them that make it difficult for you to stay on track with your plan? Are there things you can put in them that would make it easier? Are the places organized or set up in a way that makes it easier or more difficult to practice healthy habits?
Make your surroundings more weight-loss friendly and it's much easier for you to practice behaviors that will help you lose weight. For
example:
In your refrigerator: Remove foods that have high POINTS® values. Put the healthier foods up front.
In your kitchen: Put away appliances that tempt you to cook or prepare food in an unhealthy way (such as a deep-fat fryer), and take out ones that will help (such as a blender for making smoothies).
Label foods with their POINTS values. Keep unhealthy snacks out of sight.
In your office: Take the pizza place off speed dial! Remove the candy dish, and instead make a place in your desk drawer for healthy snacks.
~~~
Clean Out Your Closet For Success
There's an intruder lurking behind your closet door, and it won't leave you alone until you meet it face to face. It's the clothing item you bought before you were resolved to become the new, healthier you — the khakis you affectionately named your "fat pants" or the
overalls you wore for the better part of your pregnancy.
Whatever "it" is, it's too big now, but for some reason you can't let it go. It may seem harmless to keep it there as backup, but maybe it's time to celebrate your commitment to your new bod, and say goodbye to the too-big sizes for good.
"Get rid of clothes that are too large for you," says Julie Morgenstern, author of Organizing From the Inside Out (Owl Books, 1998). "Keeping them in your closet doesn't send a positive message
to yourself."
Morgenstern, who frequents the talk-show circuit to share her insights on organization and time management, encourages women to weed out any items that are not their current size. "I've never met any woman who was motivated by keeping clothes that were too big or too small for her," she says. "Wearing clothes that fit you is the
motivation. It celebrates who you are right now. That way, anything you reach for will fit and be comfortable."
Morgenstern coined the S.P.A.C.E system to simplify the steps of the organization process. They are:
Sort the items into like piles.
Purge the things that need to be thrown away.
Assign items a home in the …
… Containers of your choice.
Equalize or maintain your neat new lifestyle.
Do It For Dress For Success
Those of us ready to confront our closet demons are in luck. Dress For Success, the nonprofit organization that provides low-income women with business attire, has marked the beginning of spring-cleaning season by making March 16 through 23 Clean Out Your Closet Week. The organization, which was founded in 1996, has helped thousands of women in need enter the workforce by collecting used suits. Each eligible woman in the program gets one suit for her first job interview and another when she is hired.
"Anything that you have not worn in a year should go into one of three piles: casual clothing to give to a shelter, suits and business clothing for Dress For Success, and damaged and intimate apparel in the waste basket," says Lubin. "Put on your favorite CD and your comfy sneakers and prepare to simplify your life! To find out more
about how you can help Dress For Success, log on to www.dressforsuccess.org. (http://www.dressforsuccess.org.)
~~~
Could Your Kitchen Help You Cook Better?
What you see is often what you get. So store that deep fryer out of view and put those worn, begging-for-tons-of-oil skillets out of their misery. With smarter placement of certain kitchenware and a well-stocked arsenal of others, you can become your own master chef. Watch out, Emeril!
Getting Started
Most low-fat cooks know that a great set of nonstick pots and pans are key for preparing healthy cuisine. Jodie Shield, M Ed, RD, recipe
developer and nutrition consultant to The Chicago Tribune, strongly agrees. To make sure you meet all your healthful cooking needs, Shield advises that you "look for nonstick pots and pans in great
shapes and sizes." One of her recent favorite acquisitions: a nonstick, stovetop wok.
Some complete cookware sets can cost you an arm and a leg, but, says Shield, "you don't need to spend a fortune." She purchased several nonstick cookware sets in a wide range of prices and says the one that performed the best was from a discount department store. So before you invest in an entire set, give a single pan a test drive.
Ready, Set, Cook
Other must-haves for the healthy kitchen include:
A super set of knives. Freshly chopped herbs are heroes when it comes to flavoring food without tons of butter or oil. Look for knives that sport a name with a long-lasting reputation, and be sure your set includes the basics:
A paring knife.
Chef's knives.
Serrated knives.
You also might want to invest in a sharpening steel to keep your knives slicing and dicing well past their golden years.
Nonstick cookware tools. Your old metal spatula and spoons can scratch and ruin that nonstick surface, so make sure you buy a few basic nonstick tools such as nylon or wooden spoons, and a nylon spatula and tongs.
An indoor grill. George Foreman gives BBQ a new name with his selection of indoor electric grills. They're a fabulous way to cook poultry, meat, vegetables and fish with lots of flavor and little fat. Just brush on your favorite marinade and healthy, delicious cuisine is just minutes away.
A steamer. Steaming is perhaps the most healthful of cooking techniques. You can buy a steamer insert for one of your pots or purchase one made for the microwave.
A salad spinner. There's nothing better than a crisp, crunchy salad and nothing worse than one that's limp and all wet. With a push, turn or pull of a button, handle or string, your greens will dry in a flash — much more quickly than blotting them with half a roll of paper towels.
An oil mister. You can use a readymade cooking spray, but if you want to add unique flavor to your meals, concoct your own spray. Fill a mister with toasted sesame, roasted chili or blood orange oil, pump, then flavor up.
A basting brush. Marinades and liquids can give food amazing pizzazz without adding extra calories. But pouring them on from a pot or drizzling them off a spoon often doesn't yield as much flavor as when they're brushed on. Basting brushes are available in many sizes and shapes, but keep one shopping tip in mind: For easy clean-up, make sure your brush is dishwasher safe.
A top-notch peeler. There's nothing more tedious than cleaning veggies with a dull, always nicks-you-in-the-knuckles peeler. Get yourself a more modern one that'll let you peel those vegetables with ease.
Freezer-, dishwasher- and microwave-safe storage containers. If you're taking the time to prepare a wonderful vegetable soup or stir-fry, double the recipe for frozen, ready-made meals on a too-busy-to-cook day. Store the leftovers in containers that you can simply defrost and reheat.
A well-stocked spice and herb rack. Make sure your stash is well-stocked and stored in a cool, dry place to maintain maximum freshness. And think beyond the ordinary: Give Chinese five spice, mace or chervil a try.
A slew of marinades and toppings. A piece of plain grilled fish can put most taste buds to sleep. But fish cooked with teriyaki, mesquite, lemon pepper or garlic herb marinades, or mustards such as honey, spicy, orange or Dijon will kick it up a notch without ruining your diet.
Strategic Storage
Once you've stocked up, think about a hands-on approach to cookware that'll help you prepare nutritious meals with ease:
Store pots, pans and lids in a spacious cabinet near the stove or in a drawer under the oven.
Place a container holding nonstick utensils within arm's length from the stove.
Keep your steamer and salad spinner conveniently close to the sink.
Make sure herbs, spices and that oil mister aren't hidden behind three layers of canned goods in the pantry.
Put knives in an easy-to-reach place — perhaps leaving them on the counter in a butcher's block.
Stack your storage containers in a cabinet or on a shelf that doesn't require a stepladder to reach them.
~~~
Dieting on the Job
We probably don't need to tell you how tough it is to lose weight when you sit at a desk all day, five days a week. Chances are you aren't eating very healthily at work, either. What's a dieter to do?
"Weight control is simply a mathematical equation," says Melinda Hemmelgarn, MS, RD, nutritionist at the University of Missouri. "To
lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in." If you sit at a desk all day, you're sedentary and more likely to snack, and you're unlikely to win the calorie contest.
9-to-5 Diet Strategies
The solution is to make the most of your desk's diet potential. We surveyed weight-loss experts and dieters who've done it. Here are the tricks they believe work best.
Snack wisely. "A lot of people snack while they sit at the computer," says Hemmelgarn. If you're one of them, be prepared. Keep healthy options handy so you don't rush off for an emergency visit to the vending machine. Bring fresh fruit, veggies and salsa, or cheese to work, and keep a stash of low-fat pretzels or granola bars on hand.
One dieter's smart suggestion: Keep snacks not at your desk, but stowed away in a file cabinet. Out of sight, out of mind. If that strategy doesn't work for you, only bring the amount you want to eat each day.
Drink up. As with healthy foods, keep enough water at your desk and you'll easily drink your six 8-ounces glasses by the end of the day. Keep a bottle or glass full of fresh water next to your computer at all times.
Plan lunch. "I eat half of my lunch at 11:30; then, when the mid-afternoon munchies hit, I eat the other half," suggests one dieter. Schedule your lunch to protect against cravings. Also, says
Hemmelgarn, it's best to bring your lunch from home — that way, you can control your portions and keep track of exactly how many calories
you consume.
Move! "Even if it's just 10 minutes of exercise at a time," says Leanne Wagner, a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles, "get up and move whenever possible." Here are some ideas:
Eat your lunch at a park a few blocks away, and walk there instead of driving.
Walking to a colleague's desk rather than e-mailing or calling.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Park as far away from the front door as possible.
Include exercise breaks in your calendar. Treat them just as you would any other appointment — you have to be there!
Place your wastepaper basket far away from your desk so you'll have to move to throw away garbage.
Place your phone out of reach so you'll have to stretch or even get up to answer it.
Exercise during off hours. Get in exercise before and after work to offset all that sedentary time at your computer. "If you don't live too far, think about walking to work," suggests Wagner. "And if that's not possible, instead of spending an extra hour sitting in traffic, find a gym near your office and go there instead. Once
you're done exercising, rush hour will be over and you'll still be home at the same time."
Work out with friends. Get your co-workers in on the weight-loss game. That way, you can encourage each other throughout the day, have healthy lunches together and exercise together on breaks. Try organizing an at-work exercise or diet group. See if your company is willing to give you space and even funds for equipment (mats, weights, etc.).
Spring Cleaning Your Environment
For many people, spring is the time for a thorough cleaning of the house and yard. But why not extend that cleaning to include areas
that are important to your weight-loss progress?
It's hard to recognize it unless you're really looking, but there are probably things all around your environment that aren't friendly to your weight-loss efforts. Take advantage of the season to really look.
Your "environments" include not just the rooms in your house, but also places like your car and your desk at work. And since you are the product of these environments, the way they are organized or the things that you see or find in them can make a big difference in your ability to stick with your weight-loss plan.
When They Shine, You Shine
You've probably heard your Leader or other Meetings Members talking about the Levels of Change. When you're working toward a lifelong
change such as weight loss, you address the first Level of Change — Environment — by living and working in supportive places.
Visualize the environments in which you spend a lot of time. Are there things in them that make it difficult for you to stay on track with your plan? Are there things you can put in them that would make it easier? Are the places organized or set up in a way that makes it easier or more difficult to practice healthy habits?
Make your surroundings more weight-loss friendly and it's much easier for you to practice behaviors that will help you lose weight. For
example:
In your refrigerator: Remove foods that have high POINTS® values. Put the healthier foods up front.
In your kitchen: Put away appliances that tempt you to cook or prepare food in an unhealthy way (such as a deep-fat fryer), and take out ones that will help (such as a blender for making smoothies).
Label foods with their POINTS values. Keep unhealthy snacks out of sight.
In your office: Take the pizza place off speed dial! Remove the candy dish, and instead make a place in your desk drawer for healthy snacks.
~~~
Clean Out Your Closet For Success
There's an intruder lurking behind your closet door, and it won't leave you alone until you meet it face to face. It's the clothing item you bought before you were resolved to become the new, healthier you — the khakis you affectionately named your "fat pants" or the
overalls you wore for the better part of your pregnancy.
Whatever "it" is, it's too big now, but for some reason you can't let it go. It may seem harmless to keep it there as backup, but maybe it's time to celebrate your commitment to your new bod, and say goodbye to the too-big sizes for good.
"Get rid of clothes that are too large for you," says Julie Morgenstern, author of Organizing From the Inside Out (Owl Books, 1998). "Keeping them in your closet doesn't send a positive message
to yourself."
Morgenstern, who frequents the talk-show circuit to share her insights on organization and time management, encourages women to weed out any items that are not their current size. "I've never met any woman who was motivated by keeping clothes that were too big or too small for her," she says. "Wearing clothes that fit you is the
motivation. It celebrates who you are right now. That way, anything you reach for will fit and be comfortable."
Morgenstern coined the S.P.A.C.E system to simplify the steps of the organization process. They are:
Sort the items into like piles.
Purge the things that need to be thrown away.
Assign items a home in the …
… Containers of your choice.
Equalize or maintain your neat new lifestyle.
Do It For Dress For Success
Those of us ready to confront our closet demons are in luck. Dress For Success, the nonprofit organization that provides low-income women with business attire, has marked the beginning of spring-cleaning season by making March 16 through 23 Clean Out Your Closet Week. The organization, which was founded in 1996, has helped thousands of women in need enter the workforce by collecting used suits. Each eligible woman in the program gets one suit for her first job interview and another when she is hired.
"Anything that you have not worn in a year should go into one of three piles: casual clothing to give to a shelter, suits and business clothing for Dress For Success, and damaged and intimate apparel in the waste basket," says Lubin. "Put on your favorite CD and your comfy sneakers and prepare to simplify your life! To find out more
about how you can help Dress For Success, log on to www.dressforsuccess.org. (http://www.dressforsuccess.org.)
~~~
Could Your Kitchen Help You Cook Better?
What you see is often what you get. So store that deep fryer out of view and put those worn, begging-for-tons-of-oil skillets out of their misery. With smarter placement of certain kitchenware and a well-stocked arsenal of others, you can become your own master chef. Watch out, Emeril!
Getting Started
Most low-fat cooks know that a great set of nonstick pots and pans are key for preparing healthy cuisine. Jodie Shield, M Ed, RD, recipe
developer and nutrition consultant to The Chicago Tribune, strongly agrees. To make sure you meet all your healthful cooking needs, Shield advises that you "look for nonstick pots and pans in great
shapes and sizes." One of her recent favorite acquisitions: a nonstick, stovetop wok.
Some complete cookware sets can cost you an arm and a leg, but, says Shield, "you don't need to spend a fortune." She purchased several nonstick cookware sets in a wide range of prices and says the one that performed the best was from a discount department store. So before you invest in an entire set, give a single pan a test drive.
Ready, Set, Cook
Other must-haves for the healthy kitchen include:
A super set of knives. Freshly chopped herbs are heroes when it comes to flavoring food without tons of butter or oil. Look for knives that sport a name with a long-lasting reputation, and be sure your set includes the basics:
A paring knife.
Chef's knives.
Serrated knives.
You also might want to invest in a sharpening steel to keep your knives slicing and dicing well past their golden years.
Nonstick cookware tools. Your old metal spatula and spoons can scratch and ruin that nonstick surface, so make sure you buy a few basic nonstick tools such as nylon or wooden spoons, and a nylon spatula and tongs.
An indoor grill. George Foreman gives BBQ a new name with his selection of indoor electric grills. They're a fabulous way to cook poultry, meat, vegetables and fish with lots of flavor and little fat. Just brush on your favorite marinade and healthy, delicious cuisine is just minutes away.
A steamer. Steaming is perhaps the most healthful of cooking techniques. You can buy a steamer insert for one of your pots or purchase one made for the microwave.
A salad spinner. There's nothing better than a crisp, crunchy salad and nothing worse than one that's limp and all wet. With a push, turn or pull of a button, handle or string, your greens will dry in a flash — much more quickly than blotting them with half a roll of paper towels.
An oil mister. You can use a readymade cooking spray, but if you want to add unique flavor to your meals, concoct your own spray. Fill a mister with toasted sesame, roasted chili or blood orange oil, pump, then flavor up.
A basting brush. Marinades and liquids can give food amazing pizzazz without adding extra calories. But pouring them on from a pot or drizzling them off a spoon often doesn't yield as much flavor as when they're brushed on. Basting brushes are available in many sizes and shapes, but keep one shopping tip in mind: For easy clean-up, make sure your brush is dishwasher safe.
A top-notch peeler. There's nothing more tedious than cleaning veggies with a dull, always nicks-you-in-the-knuckles peeler. Get yourself a more modern one that'll let you peel those vegetables with ease.
Freezer-, dishwasher- and microwave-safe storage containers. If you're taking the time to prepare a wonderful vegetable soup or stir-fry, double the recipe for frozen, ready-made meals on a too-busy-to-cook day. Store the leftovers in containers that you can simply defrost and reheat.
A well-stocked spice and herb rack. Make sure your stash is well-stocked and stored in a cool, dry place to maintain maximum freshness. And think beyond the ordinary: Give Chinese five spice, mace or chervil a try.
A slew of marinades and toppings. A piece of plain grilled fish can put most taste buds to sleep. But fish cooked with teriyaki, mesquite, lemon pepper or garlic herb marinades, or mustards such as honey, spicy, orange or Dijon will kick it up a notch without ruining your diet.
Strategic Storage
Once you've stocked up, think about a hands-on approach to cookware that'll help you prepare nutritious meals with ease:
Store pots, pans and lids in a spacious cabinet near the stove or in a drawer under the oven.
Place a container holding nonstick utensils within arm's length from the stove.
Keep your steamer and salad spinner conveniently close to the sink.
Make sure herbs, spices and that oil mister aren't hidden behind three layers of canned goods in the pantry.
Put knives in an easy-to-reach place — perhaps leaving them on the counter in a butcher's block.
Stack your storage containers in a cabinet or on a shelf that doesn't require a stepladder to reach them.
~~~
Dieting on the Job
We probably don't need to tell you how tough it is to lose weight when you sit at a desk all day, five days a week. Chances are you aren't eating very healthily at work, either. What's a dieter to do?
"Weight control is simply a mathematical equation," says Melinda Hemmelgarn, MS, RD, nutritionist at the University of Missouri. "To
lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in." If you sit at a desk all day, you're sedentary and more likely to snack, and you're unlikely to win the calorie contest.
9-to-5 Diet Strategies
The solution is to make the most of your desk's diet potential. We surveyed weight-loss experts and dieters who've done it. Here are the tricks they believe work best.
Snack wisely. "A lot of people snack while they sit at the computer," says Hemmelgarn. If you're one of them, be prepared. Keep healthy options handy so you don't rush off for an emergency visit to the vending machine. Bring fresh fruit, veggies and salsa, or cheese to work, and keep a stash of low-fat pretzels or granola bars on hand.
One dieter's smart suggestion: Keep snacks not at your desk, but stowed away in a file cabinet. Out of sight, out of mind. If that strategy doesn't work for you, only bring the amount you want to eat each day.
Drink up. As with healthy foods, keep enough water at your desk and you'll easily drink your six 8-ounces glasses by the end of the day. Keep a bottle or glass full of fresh water next to your computer at all times.
Plan lunch. "I eat half of my lunch at 11:30; then, when the mid-afternoon munchies hit, I eat the other half," suggests one dieter. Schedule your lunch to protect against cravings. Also, says
Hemmelgarn, it's best to bring your lunch from home — that way, you can control your portions and keep track of exactly how many calories
you consume.
Move! "Even if it's just 10 minutes of exercise at a time," says Leanne Wagner, a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles, "get up and move whenever possible." Here are some ideas:
Eat your lunch at a park a few blocks away, and walk there instead of driving.
Walking to a colleague's desk rather than e-mailing or calling.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Park as far away from the front door as possible.
Include exercise breaks in your calendar. Treat them just as you would any other appointment — you have to be there!
Place your wastepaper basket far away from your desk so you'll have to move to throw away garbage.
Place your phone out of reach so you'll have to stretch or even get up to answer it.
Exercise during off hours. Get in exercise before and after work to offset all that sedentary time at your computer. "If you don't live too far, think about walking to work," suggests Wagner. "And if that's not possible, instead of spending an extra hour sitting in traffic, find a gym near your office and go there instead. Once
you're done exercising, rush hour will be over and you'll still be home at the same time."
Work out with friends. Get your co-workers in on the weight-loss game. That way, you can encourage each other throughout the day, have healthy lunches together and exercise together on breaks. Try organizing an at-work exercise or diet group. See if your company is willing to give you space and even funds for equipment (mats, weights, etc.).