Happy holidays to you all! I’ve taken a little break to celebrate the festivities so I appreciate your patience. Being in the holiday spirit, however, has made me indulge more than my waistline would have wanted. Naturally my thoughts have turned to a fresh start for the new year including shedding a few (or more) pounds. Though I feel I know some reliable steps to losing weight, I was happy to find Dr. Mao’s tips on losing weight during the holidays on Yahoo! Health. Below is an excerpt and a couple of my favorite of his tips:

Lose weight with water.
Water is essential for everybody - it is also the key to losing weight. If you haven’t been drinking enough water, your body has developed a pattern of storing water. This water retention equals extra unwanted weight.

By drinking more water, you are not only flushing out toxins, you are also teaching your body that it no longer needs to store water. Drink at least 60 ounces of water (about 8 glasses) a day. Boil water and sliced lemons, and drink this throughout the day to help with fluid retention. If you are still not sold on the merits of water, try this on for size: water is a natural appetite suppressant.

Soup up your weight loss program.
A simple dietary change will have you shedding pounds: eat a bowl of soup at least once a day. Nutritious, low-salt soups will nourish you as they flush waste from your body. People who eat a serving of soup daily lose more weight than those who eat the same amount of calories but don’t eat soup. Go for homemade soup whenever possible, as canned soups are loaded with salt and chemicals.

Adopt a balanced approach to your diet.
Most of the fad diet programs out there nowadays are extreme in a few recommended foods, or else deprive the body of food altogether. This works in opposition to our metabolism and the results usually don’t last, producing a yoyo effect that depresses your metabolic function - not to mention your self-esteem. We are natural beings that need a balance of nutrition from all sources.

Your diet should consist of a balance of organic sources of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Instead of white rice and pasta, opt for brown rice, bulgur, millet, or buckwheat.

Eat more green, chlorophyll-rich foods such as broccoli, kale, spinach, and asparagus. Eliminate candy, sugar, soda, and all simple sugars from your diet. Excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain. Also, keep dairy to a minimum because most dairy products are high in saturated fat. Avoid fatty foods, processed or fried foods.

He also suggest getting active by simply walking as much as possible as inactivity is one of the leading causes of weight gain. Read the article in it’s entirety here.


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