TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT?

A lot of people go wrong due to portion sizes as it can be laborious having to constantly weigh food, well this article from the DAILY MAIL explains the Hand Diet

Trying to lose weight? Try the HAND DIET:  Measure food portions using just your fingers, thumbs and palm

• A portion of meat should be no bigger than the palm of your hand
• Carbs such as pasta should be no bigger than a clenched fist
• A serving of butter is the size of a fingertip, cheese less than two fingers
• Recent research found portion sizes have doubled in 20 years
• Many people eat FIVE times the recommended serving of pasta, for example

If you like to pile your plate high, then this revealing graphic is likely to depress you.  But it could also help you lose weight on the so-called 'hand diet'.
It shows exactly how much of certain foods we should be eating - and it's probably a lot less than you think.
Experts say that a lack of portion control is one of the main reasons so many of us are overweight - with many of us eating way more than we should be.

Experts say that a lack of portion control is one of the main reasons so many of us are overweight - with many of us eating way more than we should be

For instance, a portion of meat should be no bigger than the palm of your hand - and carbs no bigger than a clenched fist.
When it comes to butter, the maximum amount you should be spreading on a slice of bread is the size of a finger tip.
The information comes from the website Guard Your Health.
The American Cancer Society says that many of us regularly eat way bigger portions than we should - for example, up to five times the recommended portion size of pasta.
Research has continually shown that when bigger portions are served, we eat them, because of the 'must clear plate' mentality.

HOW NORMAL PORTION SIZES LOOK

•    1 oz. meat: size of a matchbox
•    3 oz. meat: size of a deck of cards or bar of soap -- the recommended portion for a meal

•    8 oz. meat: size of a thin paperback book

•    3 oz. fish: size of a cheque book

•    1 oz. cheese: size of 4 dice

•    Medium potato: size of a computer mouse

•    2 tbs. peanut butter: a ping pong ball

•    ½ cup pasta: size of a tennis ball

•    Average bagel: size of a hockey puck

Source: American Cancer Society

Even a decade ago, researchers at New York University's Department of Nutrition and Food Studies found that food portions were consistently larger than in previous years.

They found that cookies were as much as seven times standard portion sizes, while muffins weighed in at over three times standard portion sizes.

In their book, The Gastric Mind Band, Martin and Marion Shirran provide eye-opening examples of how portion control can make a huge difference to the waistline.
They say: 'Spread butter on your toast, but be aware that a teaspoon of ­butter (enough for a thin layer) is 37 ­calories, but a ­tablespoon (a ­generous covering) is three times as much (111 calories).
'Put dressing on your salad, but learn to weight the vinegar in favour of the oil. A teaspoon of oil may be 45 ­calories, but a tablespoon is 135. That one extra tablespoon of oil every day amounts to a stone weight gain over a year.
'Switch to sweetener in your tea or ­coffee. Cutting out two spoons of sugar in your tea three times a day creates an annual calorie deficit of 37,000 calories, which could be enough to shed more than 11lb.

Kathleen Zelman, Director of Nutrition for the health website WebMD, has drawn up another way to manage portion sizes

'Have ice cream occasionally, but just one scoop (about 150 calories) and never eat it straight from the tub. Enjoy a few nuts with a drink, but stop at one or two (a small 4oz bag will set you back 600 calories).'
Kathleen Zelman, Director of Nutrition for the health website WebMD, has drawn up another way to manage portion sizes.
For example, she says that a pancake should be no bigger than a CD, a bagel should be the size of a can of tuna and a serving of mayonnaise the size of a poker chip.
A serving of chocolate should be the size of a dental floss package, a portion of hummus the size of a golf ball and a three-cup serving of popcorn the size of three baseballs.
Late last year the British Heart Foundation (BHF) warned that Britain’s supermarkets are ‘out of control’ when it comes to portion sizes.

Bagels have increased by 24 per cent in the last 20 years, while a curry ready meal is 53 per cent bigger

Despite the deepening obesity crisis portion sizes continue to rise, and are now double the size they were in 1993.
An average chicken curry and rice ready meal is now 53 per cent larger than in 1993, and a shepherd’s pie meal is about double the size.
Crumpets and garlic bread are from 20 to 30 per cent bigger now, while an average bagel has increased in size by 24 per cent.
To gain a pound in weight, a person need only consume an additional 3,500 calories and the massive increase in portion sizes explains why so many people are unwittingly putting on excess pounds.
As well as fuelling the growing obesity problem, the BHF said that oversized food portions were also contributing to heart disease, currently the UK's single biggest killer.

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THE RISKS OF MISMANAGED DIABETES

I've posted this article from the Daily Mail below as a warning to the risks diabetics take if they don't take care to manage their diabetes. It's often a problem with diabetics in their teens who feel isolated and want to be part of the crowd and be able to eat when they like, they just want to be the same as any other teenager. However diabetics aren't like normal teens as much as they would like to be and they think, "It won't happen to me that happens to other diabetics!" Diabetes is a serious condition so hopefully this article will raise awareness to the risks of not taking care.

Diabetic, 30, who skipped insulin jabs to lose weight fears she has been left infertile after having to terminate her pregnancy or risk death

• Jeorgia Wood, from Hampshire, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 11 
  
• Needed several insulin injections a day to control her blood sugar levels
• But they caused her to gain 4stone in weight and she began skipping them
• Is now suffering a series of health problems as a result - including infertility
• Also faces going blind, losing a limb and undergoing a pancreas transplant
• Said she wishes she could turn back the clock as being thin 'wasn't worth it'

A diet-obsessed diabetic who stopped taking her insulin to lose weight has suffered tragic consequences after having to terminate her pregnancy - or risk death.

Jeorgia Wood, 30, spent her teenage years and twenties dieting while battling diabetes because of her obsession to be thin. 

Like a growing number of young women with diabetes, she skipped vital insulin injections because they caused her to gain weight - a condition called diabulemia. 

But she is now suffering a number of serious health problems as a result.  As well as potentially destroying her chances of being a mother, she now faces going blind, losing a limb and undergoing a pancreas transplant.

Diabetic Jeorgia Wood, 30, withheld her insulin injections for years to avoid weight gain. She is now battling several serious health problems as a result

Dangerous: As well as potentially destroying her chances of being a mother, she now faces going blind, losing a limb and undergoing a pancreas transplant. Pictured here having laser surgery to try and preserve her sight

Jeorgia, a reiki practitioner from Odiham, Hampshire, said: 'I would much rather be fat and have a baby than be skinny, blind and childless. If I could go back to being 16, I'd tell myself that being thin isn't important.

'I've realised the hard way that being thin is just not worth it.'

Jeorgia and her fiance Ross Fowler, 28, were told the devastating news that she would have to terminate her pregnancy at 10 weeks last November.

 

Her battered body had reacted so negatively to being pregnant, she developed a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, or unrelenting morning sickness. 

Causing her to be sick every 10 to 30 minutes, doctors said she wouldn't survive the pregnancy, nor would her baby. They added that her diabulimia was to blame. 

The condition describes the process of insulin-dependent diabetics skipping injections to make themselves thinner. 

It is usually linked to type 1 diabetes, where the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, rather than type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

Insulin is a hormone that promotes fat storage, so avoiding taking it, or manipulating doses, can lead to weight loss.

Jeorgia, pictured on her 12th birthday, shortly after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  As she began using insulin, she gained four stone in weight and began to worry about her diet 

Worried: By the time she was 17, she was a size 18 and 5ft 6in. She started skipping insulin injections to lose weight

The condition means Jeorgia may never be able to have a baby, but the couple have not completely ruled it out.

She said: 'It was incredibly distressing for us both. It's a risk and my doctors don't know for sure if I can carry a baby.'

Jeorgia, who was always a plump child, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile onset diabetes, when she was 11 after she started losing weight, developed a raging thirst and suffered constant fatigue.

She was told she would have to monitor everything she ate and regularly check her blood sugar levels and needed to inject insulin four to five times a day to mop up excess sugar from her bloodstream. 

WHAT IS DIABULEMIA? 

Diabulemia is not yet officially recognised as a medical condition but it is predicted that it affects as many as one third of young female diabetics. 

It occurs when insulin-dependent type 1 diabetics skip insulin injections as a way of losing weight.

Insulin is a hormone that promotes fat storage, so avoiding taking it, or manipulating doses, can lead to weight loss.

It can cause blood sugar levels to surge causing fatigue, dehydration and the wearing of muscle tissue.

In the longer term, the symptoms are the same as for poorly managed diabetes and include kidney disease and sight problems.

Her diet was controlled as a child by her parents Charlotte, 63, and Peter, 68.

But when her weight ballooned and she gained four stone on insulin, she started to skip her injections and began to obsess over every morsel of food. She also wouldn't eat in front of anyone.

She said: 'From the age of about 13, I felt very unattractive. I hated the way I looked. I hated being different. If I dropped out of PE my classmates would say I was using it as an excuse, but I'd have done anything to be normal.

'By the time I was 17, I was a size 18 and 5ft 6in. If someone walked past me while I was eating a sandwich I would throw it in the nearest bin and pretend I was done with it. I thought people would judge me for my size.

'I started skipping my injections, losing weight very quickly, sometimes half a stone in a few days.'

Jeorgia shrunk to a size 10-12 and started to enjoy her new slimmer frame and relished on the compliments people would give her.

But cutting her insulin injections down to one a day left her constantly teetering on the brink of collapse. 

She had to drink copious amounts of water to combat her unquenchable thirst while trying to hide her problems from her family and friends.

Then, when she was 18, she collapsed on a night out with friends and was rushed to hospital, where she was diagnosed with ketoacidosis, a condition where the body's insulin levels are too low to convert blood glucose into energy. Left untreated, it can cause a coma and even death.

Stark implications: Even aged 25 (left), Jeorgia was still restricting her insulin injections. The damage she has caused herself meant she had to have part of her foot amputated last year (right)

 

But even then, she did not stop obsessing and instead was even more careful to hide her diabulimia from doctors.

'No one noticed what I was doing for ages,' she said. 'I was missing three or four injections a day and just doing one before bed to tide me over.

'I felt like I had flu every day of the week. But the more compliments I got the more paranoid I became about putting the weight back on.'

By the time she was 20, having noticed her monthly blood sugar tests were extremely high, Jeorgia's doctor warned her she would be blind and in a wheelchair by the time she was 30. But she still didn't start using insulin properly.

'I know it sounds crazy, but being thin mattered more. I told myself I'd only do it for a few more months but I just carried on and on and on,' she continued.

The turning point eventually came when she was 27 when, suffering from a stabbing pain in her hands and feet, she finally decided to seek help.

Warning: Jeorgia, who now weighs 13st and is a size 14, hopes her poor health will be a warning to other diabetics

'I went into rehab and it was there that it hit home how much I was hurting my family,' said Jeorgia. 'I was so wrapped up in my diabulimia that I'd failed to see anything outside myself. I knew I needed help.'

But the damage had been done and Jeorgia needed morphine to manage the pain and has since had to have an operation to remove dead flesh from her heel after catching an infection.

She's also been diagnosed with gastroparesis, paralysis of the stomach, and has had to have two vitrectomies to remove fluid from the inside of her eyeballs. Jeorgia also underwent a round of laser treatment to try to preserve her sight.

Furthermore, she has had to endure injections in her eyes for macular edema caused by protein which has been deposited on the eye and doctors are still not sure they will be able to save what is left of her sight.

The dangerous dieting has left her with permanent problems and Jeorgia now doesn't drive and needs Ross for even the simplest of tasks. 

A condition called autonomic neuropathy causes her heart to race at random and affects her blood pressure.

Now, aged 29 and weighing 13st and a size 14, Jeorgia is finally working to put her life right.

Together with Ross, a businessman, she has decided to delay a pancreas transplant to give her more time to try and start a family and find out what her options would be for an IVF surrogate to help them.

The transplant won't cure Jeorgia's diabetes, but will give her body a rest from the condition for eight to 10 years.

She added: 'After the transplant, my body will have been through a massive trauma and the chances of carrying a baby would be incredibly slim, as well as dangerous. So we want to see what our options are before we go down that road.

'I want to have a baby. I only hope I can hang on to the eyesight I have left in order to do that.

'There have been times where I've tried to push Ross away because I don't think I deserve his love.

'But he's asked me to marry him and all we can do is hope that one day we will have a child of our own.

Looking back, Jeorgia said that her need to feel loved and accepted was a major driving force behind her diabulimia.

'I felt worthless because I was overweight but I wasn't enormous, I should have seen that. Even when I tried to stop, the temptation to do it to lose a few pounds for the weekend was too strong.'

She hopes her experience is a warning to other young diabetes sufferers not to go down the same path she did.

Although not yet an officially recognised medical condition in the UK, diabulimia is a serious emerging problem that experts predict around a third of young female diabetics could be suffering from.

Deepa Khatri, a clinical advisor at Diabetes UK, said: 'People need to know that abusing insulin out of a fear of weight gain is very dangerous.

'Skipping insulin can lead to high blood glucose levels and devastating health complications like blindness, amputations and in some cases strokes.'

ARE YOU A SCOFFAHOLIC?

Since we are fast approaching the festive season, it will soon be new year and time to make resolutions for 2013, so it might be a good idea to read the article below especially if you are a person who regularly makes a resolution to eat healthily and aim for a healthy weight.

ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY MAIL BELOW

Rise of the scoffaholics: Are you one of 2.5 million Britons who gorge on too much food? Find out with out experts' guide to the five types of overeater

An incredible 2.5 million Britons gorge on too much food. Are you one of them? Find out with our experts’ guide to the five types of overeater . . . and be warned: if you tick three boxes in any category, you might need help

Can't say no: Millions of Britons struggle to turn down food, snack too much or binge in secret

Maggie Brown (Author)

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HOW TO ACTIVATE BROWN FAT AND LOOSE WEIGHT

An interesting article in the Daily Mail and worthy of a try.

Why leaving the heating off and avoiding the gym could help you lose weight

Five years ago brown fat was 'rediscovered' in adults

By plunging my hand into a bucket of cold tap water, I am about to find out how effective my body is at burning calories.
What seems a rudimentary experiment is, in fact, the basis of a groundbreaking study into the effects of brown — or ‘good’ — fat.
We’re all born with brown fat around our shoulder blades: it plays an important role in maintaining our body temperature as babies, by burning up calories and fat reserves to keep us warm.
Unfortunately, scientists have long thought that brown fat disappears in infancy once its physiological uses have been exhausted.
Then five years ago, brown fat was ‘rediscovered’ in adults, when researchers carrying out scans on adult patients in the winter months noticed areas of fat that seemed to be turned on by the cold weather.
Their scans detected a few ounces of brown fat in the upper back, on the side of the neck, in the dip between the collarbone and the shoulder, and along the spine.
Since then, brown fat has become a rapidly growing area of interest among researchers who believe it could hold a vital key to weight problems.
Within just five years their understanding of it has advanced significantly.
It’s now thought, for instance, that not just the cold, but certain foods can activate it. So, too, can exercise.
So what is brown fat?
Unlike the more familiar, yellowish-white body fat you pile on if you eat too many calories, brown fat — apparently the colour of chocolate — does the opposite, burning excess energy to generate heat and maintain the body’s core temperature.
When ‘switched on’ it is said to produce around 300 times more heat than any other organ in the body.


Because of their higher total body fat, women are known to have proportionately more brown fat than men and it is more detectable in lean people than obese (researchers think this could be because excess white fat stifles the effects of brown fat, or the obese become overweight because their brown fat is inefficient anyway).
There is little doubt about the excitement being generated by the discovery of brown fat.
As one of the lead researchers, Professor Michael Symonds, says: ‘We are on the threshold of what could prove really significant advances in obesity research.’
And what’s so intriguing is that possible treatments could be extremely low-tech.
It’s now established that exposure to cold spurs brown fat into action in some people — could this simple principle be used to tackle obesity?
To answer this, scientists at the University of Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre are using thermal imaging techniques — and a bucket of cold water — to assess changes in brown fat in adult recruits, and see how it affects their weight.

To activate your brown fat: Turn the heating off or down in the car, the office and at home

Professor Symonds, who is leading the study, has agreed to let me see the research for myself, and I’m going to have my own levels of brown fat measured — and tested to see if it’s working.
Before my brown fat can be assessed, Dr Lindsay Elvidge, a children’s doctor who is helping Professor Symonds, measures the thickness of the skin at the top of my shoulders using ultrasound — some studies have shown the thicker the skin here, the less active the brown fat beneath.
My skin thickness is average.
The temperature of my brown fat is then measured using a thermal scan. I’m asked to sit in a comfortable position for ten minutes (without moving to ensure my temperature fluctuates as little as possible) before placing my hand in the bucket of water.
At 20c, it is chilly but not freezing. After five minutes of submersion, my hand is turning numb — I can feel it and Dr Elvidge says it’s also being picked up by the thermal imaging camera hidden behind a screen, which is showing my hand as a startling blue.
She says the cameras are displaying a distinct increase in red areas around my lower neck — a sign that my brown fat stores are reacting in the way they should, producing heat and burning calories to keep me warm.
Is my brown fat reaction what they would expect?
Yes, says Professor Symonds, adding that in the overweight the patterns are different.
‘We are finding that the brown fat in overweight or obese children and adults is not activated in the same way,’ he says.
‘The million dollar question is why this happens. Nobody knows whether it is just less active, or if there is less of it.’
In a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics in June, Professor Symonds used thermal imaging to show the neck region in healthy children produces heat.
‘There is only about 50g of brown fat in the neck region of children and it switches on and off throughout the day as it’s exposed to different temperatures or if you exercise or eat,’ he says.
But this effect is less well-defined in adolescents and adults.
‘We do know that you have less brown fat as you get older and that ties in with the other metabolic changes that occur with age,’ says Professor Symonds.
‘We also think there might be subtle changes in brown fat that occur around puberty.’
What he and his team hope to find in their current trial is whether factors such as cool temperatures can be used to manipulate brown fat action, thereby preventing excess weight gain.
‘The more we know about how it works and what switches it on, the better,’ he says. ‘Certain foods, including milk, seem to have a positive thermogenic, or warming effect, on brown fat that triggers it into action.’
In theory, consuming cold, slush puppy-type drinks may be useful, particularly when combined with exercise, he explains.
Equally, hot drinks and a high consumption of high-fat foods are probably not great brown fat triggers.
Several studies, including one at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, have proposed that eating chilli peppers might help — they contain a compound, capsaicin, which seems to trick the brain into thinking it is cold, coaxing brown fat into burning a few more calories than normal.
With diet the next area to be studied in this emerging field of science, we could one day see the benefit on supermarket shelves.
‘We could add a heat index to food labels to show whether that product would increase or decrease heat production within brown fat,’ says Professor Symonds.
‘We could inform people whether the foods they select would speed up or slow down the number of calories they burn.’
There is also the potential for the development of drugs that prompt brown fat into action.

Avoid the gym. Take a walk, go for a cycle or just skip outdoors on a cold day

Already, some scientists are investigating ways in which stubborn white fat could be given some of the beneficial characteristics of energy-burning brown fat.
In one study, published in the journal Cell in August, researchers at Columbia University medical school managed to ‘brown’ white fat with the use of a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs), sometimes used to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes.
‘Turning white fat into brown fat is an appealing therapeutic approach to staunching the obesity epidemic,’ says lead researcher Professor Domenico Accili. ‘But so far it has been difficult to do so in a safe and effective way.’
This is because these drugs are linked to risky side-effects including liver toxicity and bone loss.
However, Professor Accili concluded ‘TZDs may not be so bad — if you can find a way to tweak their activity’ and they may help to prevent both type 2 diabetes and heart disease in addition to weight problems.
A simpler way to convert white fat into a calorie-burning form of fat could be through exercise. In the flurry of research into the area, scientists have discovered another type of brown fat — initially they spotted it in mice, but now they’ve found it in humans.
Dubbed ‘beige fat’ because of its lighter colour, it is often interspersed in the white fat, and occurs in pea-size deposits rather than in large masses.
Writing in the journal Nature earlier this year, Bruce Spiegelman, a professor of cell biology and medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the U.S., revealed that in mice studies, exercise appears to temporarily turn white fat into beige fat — this burns calories, although not as effectively as brown fat.
The mouse muscle cells released a newly discovered hormone, irisin, that enabled their bodies to make beige fat from white.
As humans also have irisin that’s identical to mouse irisin, the same could be true in people who exercise.
‘What I would guess is that this is likely to be the explanation for some of the weight-loss effects of exercise,’ Professor Spiegelman says.
In other words, beige fat could be partly responsible for the so-called ‘after-burn’ of calories following a workout.
There is something I am keen to ask him. Every winter I lose half a stone in weight without trying and despite my activity levels and diet remaining unchanged. I literally feel myself ‘shrinking’ when the first cold snap of autumn arrives.
And, like many women, I suffer from Raynaud’s, the circulatory problem that leaves my fingers numb and invariably means I am constantly shifting about to try to stay warm.
Could all of this be sending my brown fat levels into overdrive?
Yes, he says, and is probably the reason my weight has remained stable within half a stone for the past eight years.
The fact I’ve done all my exercise — I run five or six times a week — outdoors, come rain or shine, has also helped to keep my brown fat activated.
And I can see the results myself from his test — the temperature of my brown fat rose 0.15c from its baseline of 34.5c.
It doesn’t sound much, but represents a rapid increase in just five minutes of cold exposure, equating to a 10-15 per cent rise in the number of calories I burn.
The Nottingham study, which will involve 20 adults, will look at the influence of weight, body mass index, food consumption and activity levels on brown fat.
As the results come out in the next couple of years, they could change the way we think about calorie burning.
And if we can activate our brown fat, it could even mean we could eat more without gaining weight.
As Professor Symonds points out: ‘It would turn us into more efficient calorie-gobbling machines.’

HOW TO ACTIVATE YOUR BROWN FAT

• Turn the heating off or down in the car, the office and at home. If you are walking round in a T-shirt in mid-winter, your environment is too warm. ‘Our modern lifestyles are not conducive to brown fat activation,’ says Professor Symonds.

‘Thirty years ago, our houses and offices were not centrally heated. We had maybe one room in a house that was really warm. Many studies have noted a seasonal variation with more brown fat activation in winter months — so the more cold we are exposed to, the better.’
So turn down the heating and put on a jumper if you feel really cold. ‘We need to feel the cold to burn calories,’ he says.

• Add chilli peppers to food — the active ingredient capsaicin has been shown to trigger brown fat into action.

• Avoid the gym. Take a walk, go for a cycle or just skip outdoors on a cold day. If you are really brave, an outdoor swim is guaranteed to get brown fat working. Outdoor exercise of any kind is beneficial.

• Consume dairy products — yoghurt, milk and cheese are thought to be important in activating brown fat. Steer clear of high-fat, sugary carbohydrates and highly processed foods. It is likely they have an adverse impact on brown fat.

• Drink cold water or ice-cold juice. Some studies have shown that cold drinks help to keep the body’s core temperature lower during exercise — the effects might also trigger brown fat into action.

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TIPS AND TRICKS TO HELP LOSE WEIGHT

The article below is from the Daily Mail

Forget calorie-counting! The simple tricks that could help you lose weight WITHOUT going on a diet

From the Dukan Diet to the Caveman Plan, weight-loss regimes instructing us what to eat and what to avoid are big business.
But a number of recent studies have revealed how making several small lifestyle changes could help you lose weight without feeling deprived of the food you love.
Habits such as using a smaller plate or drinking water before a meal can have a significant impact on your waistline, the research revealed.

Good habits: Using a bigger fork can have a significant impact on your waistline

Even the people you eat with can make a difference, with male companions encouraging women to eat less, and skinny friends with large appetites making people think they too can eat more.
The latest study into the subject, from McGill University, found that those who cook at home, rather than eat out, make healthier food choices.
Lead author Laurette Dube told the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: 'If the association between positive emotion and healthy food is built in the home, then that environment can serve as a reminder of that association and motivate people to choose healthier food that can make them happier.'

Experts believe that such subliminal behaviour changes are more effective than regimes that require one to exercise willpower.
Psychologist Roy Baumeister, who is co-author of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, told The Atlantic: 'Dieting in general does not work, so the odds are against it. But it's worth a try.'
He added: 'It's better to make gradual, long-term changes to how you eat than to use your willpower to resist temptation bite by bite.'
But Atlantic writer Hans Villarica remains to be convinced: 'No causal research has aggregated these priming tactics into a cohesive plan... If a strategy were to be produced, some of its power may be lost if people who become aware of the inducements try to go against them.'

10 TIPS TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT GOING ON A DIET

1.  USE A SMALLER PLATE

A Cornell University study found that when a fixed portion of food was eaten from a large plate, diners felt they had been give a smaller than average portion, so ate more. When the same portion of food was eaten from a smaller dish, the meal seemed more substantial, so they ate less.

2.  USE A BIGGER FORK

An Italian study into the relationship between fork size and consumption found that diners who used smaller forks ate more than those given larger forks. Researchers believe those with smaller forks felt they were making slower progress in satisfying their hunger, so ate more.
3.  EAT WITH MEN

...If you're a woman. According to psychologist Meredith Young, women eat less if there are men around. She told The Atlantic: 'It is possible that small food portions signal attractiveness.'

4.  READ THE LABELS

Those who read nutrition labels on food packaging eat around 5 per cent less fat than those who don't bother, according to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

5.  DRINK WATER BEFORE MEALS

A 12-week study of 48 people aged between 55 and 75 on low-calorie diets found that those who drank two glasses of water before each meal lost an average of 4.5lb more than those that didn't.
6.  AVOID LIGHT AT NIGHT
This includes late-night television and computer use. A study into the effects of bright light, dim light or darkness on weight-gain in mice found that those under a bright light at night gained 50 per cent more weight than those in darkness.
7.  HIDE UNHEALTHY TREATS

...And keep healthy snacks in sight. Office workers ate less chocolate when dishes of candy were moved from their desks to the other side of the room, reveals a study by Mindless Eating author Brian Wansink.
The same trick can be reversed to positive effect. A Cornell University study found that when a middle school cafeteria salad bar was moved to a more prominent position, consumption of some items increased by 250-300 per cent in a year.

8.  BE CAREFUL AROUND FRIENDS

Children eat more with a friend than with a stranger, according to a study at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Researchers said that this trend, which applies to adults too, can be blamed on the fact that friends act as so-called permission-givers, and encourage one to indulge.

9.  BEWARE OF SKINNY FRIENDS WHO EAT A LOT

Worse still, are thin friends who have large appetites. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that participants snacked more during a movie when accompanied by a skinny person who ate a lot, compared with those sitting next to a fat person who ate a lot.
10.  AVOID ADVERTISEMENTS FOR EXERCISE
A University of Illinois study revealed that participants who were shown advertisements encouraging exercise ate more than those who weren't. The same was true of participants exposed to subliminal words relating to exercise during mealtimes.

Maggie Brown (Author)

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AYURVEDIC MEDICINE Cayenne pepper suppressed the appetites of those who rarely consumed the spice (Funny this is not new!)

Having come across this article today it does not surprise me one only has to look at Ayurvedic medicine to understand why. There are three different constitutional types or doshas known as Vata, Pitta and Kapha. If you take note of the Kapha constitutional type, these types tend to be very sluggish, everything about them tends to be slow, so to balance this dosha, more heat and fire is needed, so can you see how Cayenne would work. Ayurvedic Medicine has been around from ancient times, so this story is not new Ayurvedic practioners have known this for centuries. Funny how things have come full circle so to speak

The Vata Type

• Vata types tend to be fast, wiry and creative types.
  
• The Vata's primary organ is the colon.
  
• You need routine in your life to ground your moving energy.
  
• Travel, especially air travel, can imbalance a Vata.
  
• Vatas are aggravated by cold, frozen or dried foods.
  

In order to be balanced, you need to eat foods that warm you, avoiding extreme cold, raw and frozen foods. Moist rather than dry foods are also recommended.

Maintaining a regular routine is important.

The Pitta Type

• Pitta types are determined and strong willed with good digestion.
• The Pitta's primary organs are the small intestine and stomach.
• Pittas tend to be hot, oily, and light.
• Pitta is associated with the fire element, and tend to have a fiery quality.
• When a Pitta becomes imbalanced, he or she may notice skin rashes, burning, inflammation, fever, ulcers, anger, jealousy, copious urine.

In order to be balanced, Pittas should remain cool, avoiding excess heat, steam or humidity.
They should also avoid excessively oily food or fried foods as well as caffeine, alcohol, red meat, hot spices, or salt, choosing instead to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

Pitta types should also try to get plenty of fresh air. Expression of emotions is also important.


The Kapha Type

• Kapha types have good endurance, strength and stamina.
  
• Although it is easy for you to follow routine, it is healthier for you to periodically break from routine.
  
• You tend toward inertia and tend to attach to people or things.
  
• Food and security are important to you.
  
• The primary organ is the chest.
  
• Kapha is often correlated with the production of mucus.
  
• Kapha types have a tendency towards congestion, sinusitis, sluggishness, weight gain, diabetes or water retention.
  

In order to be balanced, Kaphas should be physically active, consume little fried or fatty foods, avoid icy drinks, sweets or excessive amounts of bread. They should enjoy plenty of fresh vegetables.

Kapha types should allow excitement, change and challenge to become a regular part of their lives.


KAPHA
Balancing Foods
Fruit - Apples, Apricots, Berries, Cherries, Cranberries, Dried Figs, Mango, Peaches, Pears, Pomegranate, Prunes, Raisins. Sweet fruits such as bananas and dates are aggravating, as are sour fruits such as lemons, sour oranges and grapefruit.

Balancing Foods
Vegetables - Asparagus, Beets, Beet Greens, Bell Pepper, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Eggplant, Garlic, Green Beans, Horseradish, Leafy Greens, Leeks, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Okra, Onions, Parsley, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Spinach, Sprouts, Turnips, Watercress. Raw, pungent and bitter vegetables are balancing. Sweet, juicy vegetables are aggravating.

Grains - Amaranth, Barley, Buckwheat, Corn, Granola, Millet, Oats, Oat Bran, Quinoa, Basmati Rice, Rice Cakes, Rye and Wheat Bran are balancing. Cooked Oats, Brown or White Rice, and Wheat are imbalancing.

Legumes and Nuts - Adzuki beans, Black-Eyed Peas, Chickpeas, Flaxseeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Lima Beans, Navy Beans, Pinto Beans, Red Lentils, Split Peas, White Beans are balancing. Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Cashew, Coconut, Macadamia Nuts, Peanuts, Pecans, Pine Nuts, Pistachios, Psyllium, Sesame, Black lentils, Mung Beans, KIdney Beans, Lentils, Soy Beans, Tempeh, Walnuts and Tofu are imbalancing.

Meat - Chicken dark meat, Turkey dark meat, eggs are balancing. Beef, Duck, Freshwater Fish, Lamb, Pork, Seafood, Shrimp, and Venison are aggravating.

Herbs, Spices and Condiments - allspice, Anise, Basil, Black Pepper, Caraway, Cardamom, Cayenne, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Cumin, Dill, Fenugreek, Garlic, Ginger, Horseradish, Mint, Mustard Seeds, Nutmeg, Onion, Oregano, Paprika, Parsley, Peppermint, Poppy Seeds, Rosemary, Sage, Spearmint, Star Anise, Tarragon, Thyme, Turmeric, Wintergreen are balancing.

Dairy - Ghee, Goats Milk and Diluted Yogurt (diluted 1:4 yogurt:water) are balancing. Butter, Cheese, Buttermilk, Cow's Milk, Ice Cream, Sour Cream and Yogurt are aggravating.
 


Cayenne pepper suppressed the appetites of those who rarely consumed the spice
Spicing up a daily diet with a sprinkling of chopped-up chilli peppers could help weight-watchers to curb their appetites.
Researchers from Purdue University, in Indiana, found that capsaicin, which gives peppers their heat, can reduce hunger and increase energy expenditure.

Red hot: Capsaicin is particularly effective at curbing the appetite in those who don't regularly eat chillis

'We found that consuming red pepper can help manage appetite and burn more calories after a meal, especially for individuals who do not consume the spice regularly,' said Professor Richard Mattes.
'Dietary changes that don't require great effort to implement, like sprinkling red pepper on your meal, may be sustainable and beneficial in the long run, especially when paired with exercise and healthy eating.'
The study, published in Physiology & Behaviour, measured the effects of the spice in half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper - an amount most people could manage.
Other studies have looked at consuming capsaicin via a capsule, but the latest study demonstrated that actually tasting the red pepper may optimise its effects.
Professor Mattes said the sensory experience of eating a chilli maximises the digestive process.

'That burn in your mouth is responsible for that effect,' he said.
'It turns out you get a more robust effect if you include the sensory part because the burn contributes to a rise in body temperature, energy expenditure and appetite control.'

This study used ordinary dried, ground cayenne red pepper. Cayenne is a chili pepper, which is among the most commonly consumed spices in the world. Most, but not all, chili peppers contain capsaicin.
Twenty-five healthy weight people - 13 who liked spicy food and 12 who did not - participated in the six-week study.
The preferred level of pepper for each group was determined in advance, and those who did not like red pepper preferred 0.3g compared to regular spice users who preferred 1.8g.
In general, red pepper consumption did increase core body temperature and burn more calories through natural energy expenditure.
The study found that those who did not regularly eat chillis also experienced a decrease of hunger, especially for fatty, salty and sweet foods.
'The appetite responses were different between those who liked red pepper and those who did not, suggesting that when the stimulus is unfamiliar it has a greater effect,' the authors said.
'Once it becomes familiar to people, it loses its efficacy.'
The authors said previous studies failed to account for individual differences in liking the burn of chili peppers, which could explain why their results varied on capsaicin's impact on appetite suppression.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1380636/Weight-watchers-A-sprinkling-red-chilli-peppers-dinner-keeps-hunger-pangs-bay.html#ixzz1KeudgF4w

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