Easy changes to eating habits just a few days a week can lead to substantial weight loss - study shows

There are lots of diets in the news these days as everyone is struggling to lose those holiday pounds or to shape up for the new year.

When it comes to losing weight, its complex. Finding the right foods that you can enjoy, that fit into your lifestyle and can be modified so you will be able to lose weight is a challenge. But it's not just about changing some eating habits, its also fighting against all the outside influences ... the food ads on TV, radio or magazines, the food outlets on every corner, the availability of so much processed food and such large portions and the food conversations that we all have with friends and family. We eat in response to so much more than hunger, and successfully losing weight or even just making healthier food choices means we have to learn to reshape some of our habits and look at responses we make to our environment.

If you can start to be aware of all the cues in your environment that affect your eating and then make small changes in both environment and your associated behaviour, it may be helpful in making long-term changes in your weight. A recent research by Professor Brian Wansink in Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab looked at some of these small, simple changes, exploring how to find out what changes are best for you and how to stick with them long enough to make a difference.

The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found individuals who tweaked their dietary habits slightly on just 25 days or more per month reported an average monthly weight loss of two pounds and, over time, were able to lose at least 1% of their initial weight.
To drop excess pounds, professor Wansink says we need to avoid what he calls the five 'dietary dangers'. That includes meal stuffing (overeating), snack grazing, restaurant indulging, party binging and desktop or dashboard eating (chowing down in our cubes or cars). In other words, those instances where we eat and hardly notice what—and how much—we’re putting in our mouths.
To avoid these danger zones, participants in the study reported that the most effective tips they received were:

• keep counters clear of all foods but the healthy ones (fruit, vegetables, healthy snacks); 
• don’t eat foods directly from a package — always portion food out into a dish or bowl;
• eat something hot for breakfast within the first hour of waking up, to stave off food cravings later;
• don’t go more than three or four hours without having something small to eat;
• get in the habit of putting down your fork, knife, or spoon between bites of food to slow down your eating.

"These results confirm that small, consistent changes in our daily eating behavior can result in gradual weight loss and in developing healthier eating habits," said Wansink. Results of the study also show that it is a challenge for many people to stick to a program for a long period of time. For those who want to lose weight or eat more healthfully, the researchers conclude that finding an initial set of tips that are relevant and doable for an individual can be enough to learn the general principle. "Later come up with your own changes and succeed at reaching your goal," Wansink said. "For some people, writing in a food diary, counting calories, having reminders on the refrigerator and using a food app can be effective" explains Wansink. "But for most of us, because we’re so busy, counting calories is probably not realistic." Instead, he says weight loss is more about rearranging our environment so we enjoy food without feeling hungry or deprived—an area where many diets fall short.

While Wansink agrees that some people like the 'quick fix' of a crash diet, he doesn’t believe they are ultimately effective. "The problem is that these are often deprivation diets where you have to deprive yourself of things that you like." Cue the yo-yo dieting.
But not so with simple eating behavioral changes, notes Wansink. "If it takes someone a year to lose 20 to 24 pounds, that’s better because the weight is going to stay off, and they’re kicking the bad habits too."

Think these tips won’t add up to a shrinking waistline? Maybe we have to think again...

Sources: http://naturalhealthcare.ca/ , http://www.torontosun.com/, http://www.youbeauty.com/nutrition/