JANUARY 14, 2008

Never quite feel full enough after a meal? Eat more!
You heard me right: you can eat more, and still lose weight. It’s called the volumetric diet; the approach to dieting that allows you to fill up on more volume of food while still eating fewer calories overall. No, you don’t get to gorge yourself on fatty snacks and calorie-rich desserts. Rather, you fill up on foods that are low in calories, rich in nutrients, high in fiber, and that supply plenty of water. Fruits and vegetables are perfect examples of volumetric foods. You can eat a huge bowl of fresh fruit for only a fraction of the calories that the same size bowl of ice cream would be, yet you’ll still get to indulge your sweet tooth. Broth- and tomato-based soups are another great volumetric food, as are beans. A bowl of chili made with lean ground turkey, black, kidney and chili beans, stewed tomatoes, and fresh corn will cost you only about 200 calories per one cup serving. But the real beauty of it is you’ll feel like you just had a 500-calorie meal. Now that’s what I call diet food! (LifeScript)

HIGH FIBER to start the day...could mean more energy the rest of the day. Eating a breakfast rich in fiber may make you more alert during the day. A study done at Cardiff University in Wales found that people who ate cereal packed with 6 to 12 grams of fiber in the morning showed a 10% reduction in fatigue. "They also had fewer memory problems, fell asleep faster and were less depressed," says researcher Andrew Smith, a professor of psychology.

TOO BUSY TO EXERCISE! Getting the recommended 60 minutes of exercise a day is very difficult for those who try to do it all at once. Luckily, studies show that doing two 30-minute exercise sessions, or three 20-minutes workouts, or even six 10-minute workouts a day is just as worthwhile as getting it all over with in a single one-hour session. Not only that, studies also show that people who exercise for just 20-30 minutes at a time are more likely to be consistent with their workouts, compared to those who think they have to spend a whole hour in the gym. And the more consistent you are with your exercise sessions, the more overall time you will spend exercising each week. And consistency is WHAT IS really important.

For comments, questions or suggestions . . . please email Allen