The 5 Ds of Dieting

By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom

Do you struggle with food cravings? 

This is a giant barrier to weight loss success. It sets up a negative cycle of initially “battling” the craving, giving in, overindulging, feeling like a failure, and giving up. Sound familiar? 

I’d like you to try my easy “5 Ds” to help manage your food cravings. They really work! 

DELAY – DISTRACT – DISTANCE – DETERMINE – DECIDE.

Delay: Postpone eating for 10-15 minutes when you feel an urge. You’re not saying “no” – just stopping to think before you eat. You’re not ignoring the thought but dealing with it. While you’re delaying your decision, the next D makes it easier…

Distract: Try a non-food activity to give you something to do (so you don’t watch the clock for 10 minutes!). Often the wave of desire to eat disappears in a few minutes when you keep your hands busy without food. Clean out a drawer, call a friend, brush your teeth, surf the web, or even learn to knit!

Distance: It’s important to keep your eating environment at arm’s length – maintaining a distance. Keep food out of sight, not on counters; “out of sight, out of mind” can help. Stay out of the kitchen when a craving strikes. And use the kitchen only for food preparation and meal consumption. Avoid it as a place to hang out.

Determine: After waiting 10-15 minutes, determine whether you are physically hungry or just thirsty; these two are often confused. Also consider whether you might have emotional/boredom hunger, what I call “head hunger.” And avoid getting over-hungry, a main consequence of meal skipping. All of these situations can be helped with a structured eating schedule and pre-planned meals and snacks.

Decide: If you’ve made it through the first 4 Ds, it’s time to make a smart choice. Think before you eat and pre-plan what you are really looking for – sweet, creamy, salty, chewy – before you make a choice. Look for single-serving packaged items for built-in portion control. You also get the satisfaction of “eating the whole thing.” Aim for a snack between 100-200 calories.

How do you manage your own food cravings? Please share your thoughts!

Weight Loss: One Size Does Not Fit All

By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom

If losing weight is your New Year's resolution, read on! This month, I'm going to share some of my favorite strategies to help you build your own weight loss tool box. I call it a BEAM box – and it's based on the four pillars of weight loss: Behavior, Eating, Activity, and Medical care. And no tool is too small to be included. It all starts with what you're both WILLING and ABLE to do. These are not the same thing, and when you think about the "able" part, you can set more realistic and practical goals.

One important question I hear all the time belongs with the eating tools: What about meal replacements? Good or bad?

Meal replacements can be a great help, since they make automatic portion control much easier. There's no guesswork in tallying your daily calories (studies continue to show that we all underestimate how many calories we eat). Meal replacements can be a great way to jump-start a reduced-calorie eating plan. This can be as easy as a complete bar or shake (along with a fruit), a large skim milk latte for breakfast, or a frozen calorie-controlled meal. You also might want to try a few weeks of a complete meal replacement plan, like Jenny Craig or Nutrsystems; some people find this the most helpful of all. 

Just one or two meal replacements a day can make the difference between weight maintenance and weight loss. It's a good way to enter the world of structured eating: a must-do for long-term weight loss success.

Whether you purchase a meal replacement, or create your own, these provide the security of easy food choices to both boost your confidence and help turn your attention to the flip side of eating less – being more physical active.