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Take a bite out of your cravings (Friday Facts)Take a bite out of your cravings
Boring diets can backfire by leaving you desperate and deprived
By Allison Van Dusen
Forbes
Updated: 7:05 a.m. ET July 20, 2007 If you've ever found yourself not just wanting but needing a gooey slice of pizza, you know what it's like to crave food. Understanding what's behind your cravings or how to stop yourself from repeatedly overdoing it, however, is a little more difficult. "If you're able to manage a craving," says Roger A. Clemens, a spokesman for the Institute of Food Technologists who has 30 years of experience with food and public health, "you should win a Nobel Prize." It's long been thought that cravings arise from a nutritional deficit. But people crave salty foods such as potato chips all the time, and few are salt-deficient. In fact, the National Institutes of Health estimates that Americans currently eat one and a half to two times the amount of sodium per day recommended by U.S. Dietary Guidelines. So where else do cravings come from? Researchers are still working on that answer, but it appears cravings may develop after we eat a combination of fats, carbohydrates, sugar, flavor and texture that's pleasurable. In a study in which participants were given chocolate and a capsule containing all of the ingredients of chocolate, only the chocolate satisfied people's cravings. It's natural to want to replicate that experience or high.
Along those lines, a 2004 brain-imaging study by the Philadelphia-based Monell Chemical Senses Center and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine showed that food cravings activated three regions of the brain: the hippocampus, insula and caudate, three areas also reported to be involved in drug cravings. Marcia Pelchat, a food psychologist with Monell, says the mechanism behind a food craving likely evolved to make people take care of themselves and motivate them to get food. That might explain why people tend to crave high-calorie foods. They're trying to meet their bodies' needs, even though few people today are in need of so many calories. Another popular theory is that cravings are hormonal. According to her research, Pelchat says nearly all college-aged women experience cravings, compared to about 70 percent of young men and women over 65, and 65 percent of men over 65. As they age, women also tend to crave fewer sweets, but research has not established that hormonal changes are the cause, Pelchat says.
Diet don'ts Restricting yourself to certain kinds of foods, bland foods or even foods you don't like triggers the hedonic appetite, says Mary Boggiano, a psychologist and associate professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a result, the brain causes us to crave what we like, especially if, like most Americans, you are used to enjoying a variety of foods.
A history of dieting and a high stress level may make a person even more sensitive to a craving, causing them to overeat once they get a bite of what they've been longing for, Boggiano says. Ultimately, the key to successfully cutting back is to maintain variety.
"If you look at the most effective diets, they don't leave anything out," she says.
Turning the tables In the meantime, experts say there are a few methods for controlling cravings that are worth a try.
A Flinders University study, published in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Psychology: Applied showed that visual and olfactory distractions were more effective than auditory ones in reducing people's food cravings. In other words, rather than just trying not to think about ice cream, try actively thinking of, watching or smelling something else.
Other tricks include keeping what you crave off the counter or completely out of the house. You may still think of the food, but you won't come across it accidentally in the pantry, and it'll be harder to access it. Likewise, if you know driving past the doughnut shop on the way to work will set you off, change your route. If you're always binging in front of the refrigerator, try eating somewhere else in the house or consider a redesign.
"Minimizing your food cues by maybe redecorating the kitchen or moving the fridge are not totally crazy ideas," Pelchat says.
If nothing seems to work, you might as well indulge — a little.
"I have the best piece of chocolate I can get at the end of a meal," says Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional science at Penn State and author of "The Volumetrics Eating Plan." "It signals to me that I've finished eating. Some days I have more than one piece, but generally that's it. I end up eating less and I feel satisfied."
Great Butt Exercises (Workout Wednesday)Great butt exercises Philip Goglia Your question:
The expert answers: The easiest and most basic exercise involves no equipment -- just you and the floor: Lie face down on the floor. Use a yoga or exercise mat if you like for comfort. Place your arms out in front of you, palms down, arms straight, hands about eight inches apart from one another. Your legs will remain straight, knees touching and ankles touching through the entire movement. Once in this position, slowly contract (squeeze) your glutes (butt cheeks) together. Squeeze and hold for a count of three and then release for a count of two Perform these glute contraction and expansion exercises for 15 repetitions (considered one set) for a total of three to five sets for best results. Another great glute exercise is called "step-ups." Simply place your foot (right or left) solidly on the first step of a flight of stairs and perform a step-up motion, with the other leg lifting your knee to waist height; return that foot to the floor, never touching the first stair with that foot while the exercise is performed. Perform 15 step-ups for each leg (switch legs after 15 repetitions). A set of stepups is then considered 30 total repetitions, 15 for each leg. As your muscular endurance improves, you can increase repetitions per leg and increase height and length of range of motion as you move to the next stair. This exercise also can be timed, 15 to 30 seconds per leg or more, depending on your fitness level. Perform three to five sets of this exercise for best results. If you have a access to gym equipment, some of the best glute exercises are weighted or body-weight-only walking lunges, lying leg curls, seated leg curls and duck stance squats weighted, with or without a machine or with body weight only. If you are unfamiliar with the mechanics of a particular exercise, exercise machine or the range of motion or postural position of an exercise, always seek out the advice of a certified personal trainer. Mississippi Mud Pie (Tuesday Treats)
Mississippi Mud Pie 3/4 cup flour * Can substitute any flavor Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour and margarine. Spread evenly over bottom of 9-inch pie pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden. Combine 2 tablespoons whipped topping, cream cheese and sugar. Stir until smooth and spread over top of pie crust. In another bowl, whisk together the pudding mix, milk and 1/2 cup water until smooth. Spoon on top of cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping. Chill several hours. Serves: 8 - 3 WW points per serving
Success (Motivation Monday)Success is...achieved and maintained by those who try - and keep trying. W. Clement Stone Are you your own worst enemy?This article may not specifically pertain to weight loss & health issues, but the things we do to sabotage ourselves in business are the same roadblocks that can keep us from being fully successful in other endeavors too. Besides, this is funny. READ ON!!
Are you your own worst enemy? 7 mental roadblocks that undermine your success
By Gil Schwartz
Mens Health
Updated: 8:52 a.m. ET Aug 31, 2007 You know the guy. He could be right down the hall. Or looking back at YOU in the mirror. He's got the talent, the looks, the hair — but he's not going anywhere. He seems to streak past others and then, wham! Suddenly he's flat on his back watching all the tortoises cross the finish line ahead of him. No, he's not stupid. Nor is he incompetent, foolish, weak on strategy, or lamer than your average dude. He's suffering from a malady that afflicts just about all of us at one point or another: He's tripping over himself. He's throwing up obstacles where none previously existed. He is, in short, his own worst enemy. I'm going to tell you about seven bombs you can blow yourself up with. There are more. But I like lucky seven, because if you pay attention, you may be fortunate enough not to stab yourself in the eyes. So pay attention! Procrastination Begin by ascertaining exactly what "the last minute" is for a given project. The night before it's due is not the last minute for a 40-page speech to investors, or a strategic-planning document that's going to be presented to the board of directors. The last minute, in those cases, is a month prior to the night before. A big project will generate many tasks that can, of course, be done the night before, but there are even more that can't. Learn to identify each type. The great procrastinators indulge in a pre-crastinatory phase that involves the full range of thumb-twiddling, foot-tapping, and snoozing while they decide when to put the pedal to the metal. They then enjoy the procrastinatory activity, which often includes late-stage work on other projects. In this way, they are mixing procrastination with multitasking. Very 21st century. They treat themselves, after the successful event, to a period of post-crastination, in which they ponder how to put off things more effectively in the future. But for most employees, procrastination is dynamite. Don't fool around with it until you've attained a certain level of proficiency. Loose fact-itis Once, I was sitting in a meeting with about 10 other guys, and the boss asks, "What are we going to say to security analysts about our plange rate?" I'm making up the issue here, since there is no such thing as a plange rate, but you get the idea. So anyhow, Leonard, who is in charge of planges for our company, says something like, "We have the biggest plange rate in the world!" And the chairman says, "Can I use that stat?" and Leonard says, "Yes, well ..." and begins poring over a spreadsheet — after which he admits that we had the biggest plange rate in the world for about 5 minutes last February. A bad moment for Leonard. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.
Hardness of listening I knew this guy in strategic planning, Huff. He had just come from another company. About a week after he arrived, he was included in a meeting about where the corporation was headed. When it was his turn, he spoke for 20 minutes. "Blah blah blah," he said, as the chairman grew visibly restive. Finally, he was done. Then he lolled in his chair, thumbed his BlackBerry, pondered the view out the window, poured coffee from the sideboard, and gave other signs of terminal not-listening. Everybody hated him so much afterward that he was never invited to a meaningless meeting again. A lot of planes have gone down because the pilot was hewing precisely to the wrong flight plan. Listen. Take it in. There's actually information out there that you're going to need.
Under-truthfulness Berkowitz, our former head of sales, would be called upon to give a status report at the senior staff meeting every Thursday. The problem was that he was afraid to say what was really going on. He put a nice shine on things. Later, the head of finance would paint a much more realistic picture. After a while, when they reached Berkowitz, the chairman would say, "Okay, now let's get a bunch of lies from sales." It wasn't long before Berkowitz took a package. Over-truthfulness Senior executives deserve the truth, except when it would do neither them nor the business much good, in which case kindness is better. But truth is like chocolate: A little is a pleasure; too much can be lethal. The smart and non-self-destructive player will make the boss aware of the general outlines of the snake pit but not inundate him with enough rancid slime to wash him over the edge. Rampant distemper It wasn't the quality of her work that eventually got her canned. It was the fact that she was what we may define, technically, as a Big Bummer. It was impossible to have a free-flowing discussion around her because she would bite your nuts off.
I'm sure you have a lot to be angry about. But if you radiate bad vibes, those who wear the stripes are going to feel them and pinpoint the source. That's not smart. Lighten up. Or at least be strategic and keep your karmic bleakness to yourself.
Bad credit/blame management Then there's the issue of blame. Real players never dodge it when it belongs to them. There's nothing a senior guy hates more than a craven, cowardly weasel who tries to lay blame on other people.
How you manage credit and blame is directly influenced by your relationship with your senior officer. If he wants the credit, give it to him. That's what you're there for. And if he's trying to escape blame, take it. The guy who decides your upcoming raise is the only one who needs to be satisfied in either regard.
Of course, if a peer tries to suck off your credit for something, cut off his legs. We're talking strategic management of this issue, not surrender.
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