Americans are eating more and exercising less than ever before, and
not without consequence. New research from the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention finds that 65 percent of adults are overweight--up
9 percent from 2000--and 23 percent are obese, an 8 percent increase
since 1998. Excess pounds significantly impact both physical and mental
health, and while there are numerous reasons for our widening
girth--lifestyle, environment, genetics--there's only one solution: lose
weight. Here are the latest findings and expert advice on healthy and
effective approaches to dieting and weight loss.
If your resolutions involve achieving happiness and health, you may
be able to do both simultaneously. "Losing weight is the most important
thing you can do to improve your health and quality of life if you're
overweight," says Patrick O'Neil, Ph.D., director of the Weight
Management Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.
We're not talking about fitting back into your jeans from high
school. Research shows that losing just 5 to 10 percent of your weight
can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, thus cutting the risk of
diabetes, joint disease and heart disease. One study just published in
Obesity Research found that modest weight loss--again, just 5 to 10
percent--played a significant role in decreasing participants' blood
pressure. Slimming down can also improve mood and body image. "People
who've lost weight are less depressed," says O'Neil. "They have renewed
energy and confidence."
Losing weight is tough but not impossible. Here are a set of
updated guidelines recently released by the National Academy of Science's
(NAS) Institute of Medicine. Based on thousands of scientific studies,
these guidelines differ from the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)
1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances primarily in that they advocate a
range of intake of carbohydrates, protein and fat as opposed to static
numbers. The NAS suggests adults get 45 to 65 percent of their calories
from carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent from fat and 10 to 35 percent from
protein. "We established ranges because [the three sources of calories]
must be considered together," says NAS panel chair Joanne Lupton, Ph.D.,
a nutrition professor at Texas A&M University in College Station.
"Studies show that when people eat low levels of fat combined with very
high levels of carbohydrates, 'good cholesterol' decreases. Conversely,
high-fat diets can lead to obesity if calories are increased as well." By
stipulating minimum and maximum amounts, the new recommendations, called
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), discourage eating plans that ban or
drastically limit any one type of food. The key, instead, is to achieve
balance.
The one exception involves trans fatty acids, which you should
limit as much as possible. This type of fat, used in cookies, crackers,
fast food and more, boosts bad cholesterol. To monitor how much you're
eating, look for "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" in food
ingredient lists. The higher it appears on the list, the more trans fat
the food contains. The FDA will soon require manufacturers to account for
trans fats on nutritional labels, but probably not until 2004 or
2005.
The NAS has another important tip: Get moving--not just for 30
minutes daily, but for a full hour. New studies reveal that a person of
normal weight burns less energy in a day than was once believed. To meet
the one-hour-a-day goal try doing moderate exercise, such as walking for
60 minutes every day at four miles per hour, or do high-intensity
activities such as jogging, swimming or cycling for 20 to 30 minutes four
to seven days per week.
Discouraged? Don't be. "The bottom line is that some exercise is
better than none," says Gary Foster, Ph.D., clinical director of the
Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine. "An hour may be better than a half hour, but five
minutes is better than no minutes," he says.
The NAS also provides information demonstrating how much exercise
and how many calories your body requires. To lose weight, do the math: If
there are 3,500 calories to a pound, then shaving 100 calories off your
daily intake--either by skipping a tablespoon of oil or vacuuming for 20
minutes--can whittle your waist by 10 pounds in a year, O'Neil says. Lop
off 500 calories per day and you can safely lose a pound in one
week.
Ready to slim down? Use the following techniques from leading
experts to help you shed pounds and get healthy--for good.
1. Set modest goals
"It's better to make small, sustainable changes rather than
dramatic ones that are short-lived," says Foster. So if you drink three
sodas a day, for instance, try cutting back to two. "Small successes
build bigger ones."
Even modest goals should be specific and measurable. Jennifer
Carter, Ph.D., a sports-psychology consultant at the Ohio State
University Sports Medicine Center, says that achievable goals are those
you can control. For example, increasing exercise by five minutes a day
is more within your power than losing five pounds by Friday. The same
goes for food. Instead of vowing to eat more vegetables in general,
pledge to order a salad with dinner. Try to focus on the nutritious foods
you'll add, rather than what you'll cut out, O'Neil suggests, or you
might set yourself up for cravings that lead to bingeing.
2. Track your progress
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