More Diet Tips

Diet Tips to Help You Eat Healthy for Life

Diet Tip 1: So You Slipped - So What!

Whenever you try to change long-held habits, you will lapse back into the old from time to time. That's only natural. It's why we call them "habits".

So if you want to change your way of eating for the rest of your life, give yourself permission to relapse before you even start.

Recognize that you are human; and that you will fall back into the old habits occasionally. Plan ahead as to how you will handle these lapses in a positive way.

You will not beat yourself up. You will not throw up your hands and say, "I knew I couldn't stick with this new diet." You will not give up.

Instead, be kind to yourself, forgive yourself and get back on track. Keep two things in mind: the sooner you get back on track, the less damage will be done; and, if you get back on track, the lapses will become fewer and further between.

Eventually, your new healthy way of eating will be habitual. It will be your new habit and as hard to break as is your present unhealthy way of eating.

Diet Tip 2: I'll Never Diet Again

I've been both underweight (by 20 lbs.) and overweight (by 40 lbs) at different stages in my life.

However I've maintained a healthy weight now for over 30 years and I'd like to share my secret. I love food. I love to eat. I eat whatever I want. No fat free versions of real food. No frozen low-fat yogurt. I eat real ice cream and real cheese.

How do I manage it? First let me tell you my story.

Through my diet ups and downs, food was always the enemy - something to be overcome, something to be avoided.

During my brief bout of anorexia, I gained some control over the enemy but, of course, at my own peril. I lost 13 pounds in one month. I was skin and bones but thought I looked great at 5'8" and 103 lbs.

Lucky for me, my husband didn't agree and got me to a doctor.

A few years later I entered more than a decade of weight creep. Two or three new pounds every year ballooned me to 158.

I was stuffing myself into clothes that no longer fit; I swear I looked like a plump sausage.

After my annual gyno check one year, I could feel the doctor's eyes boring into me as I walked before him into the office.

He sat me down and said, "You really need to do something about your weight. It's out of control." I was so mortified that it was just the wake-up call I needed.

My secret for losing almost 40 pounds and keeping them off for over 30 years? I finally have a healthy relationship with food. I love food. I savor it. I eat whatever I want. My motto now is, "Everything in moderation."

The point of sharing my diet history is to illustrate that I am not blessed with skinny genes.

I'm not one of those people who can scarf up everything in sight and never gain a pound. I've found the proper balance that works for me and allows me to truly enjoy the food I put into my mouth.

I believe everyone has to find a balance that works for them.

My eating plan goes against much of the current wisdom on weight control. I figure we call it "current wisdom" because we know it will change tomorrow! So I am not seduced by diet fads, pills, or artificial versions of real food.

Read these articles to learn some "diet math" that can help you find the right balance for you: Don't Diet - Eat Healthy for Life; and How to Determine a Healthy Weight for You.

Diet Tip 3: Gourmands Unite!

Last night, my dinner "hour" started with a glass of wine at 6:00.

The main course was tuna steak sautéed in olive oil with thinly-sliced green pepper, then simmered in wine and tamarind sauce; accompanied by long grain and wild rice and two slices of Italian bread spread with butter.

At 7:30, I cut a 2-inch slice of homemade prune babka spread with butter. I savored this sumptuous meal in front of the TV. Shame.

I finished my nightly feast right before tumbling into bed for the night. Shame, shame.

I know my regimen is a mix of good and bad. Eating just one meal a day is not widely recommended.

Neither is eating and drinking right before bedtime. Most days, I don't achieve the minimum daily requirement of fruits and vegetables, but I compensate for that by taking vitamins.

On the other hand, my system is in balance. I am able to burn the calories I ingest each day and not gain weight.

I haven't eliminated entire food groups as some diets suggest. I don't restrict my calories and throw my body into starvation mode so that it packs on the fat and leaves me feeling listless.

Au contraire, I keep up with classmates at the gym who are 30 years younger than I. I know I am very fortunate ... and maybe you could be too, if you knew my secrets.

Diet Tip 4: Wouldn't You Love to be a Gourmand Too?

Wouldn't you love to be able to eat whatever your little heart desired? Wouldn't you love to be able to truly enjoy your food, rather than be in a battle with it? Wouldn't you love to not feel guilty about every bite you put into your mouth - either during or after?

Then you need to know about the Sonoma Diet

When I first read The Sonoma Diet book, I realized: 1. I should have written this book; and 2. this is, more or less, the eating plan I have been following successfully for the past 30 years!

Though Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D. titled her very popular book, The Sonoma Diet, I just hate to put it in the diet book category.

Ladies' Home Journal dubbed it "The Food Lovers' Diet", which I find more apt.

Guttersen herself calls it "a celebration of food. There are no foods that you're not going to be able to have on this diet. It's a lifestyle.

The Sonoma Diet isn't about deprivation.

It's a celebration of foods that becomes a way of eating for life. You don't want to go back to what you were doing before."

There is a website for the Sonoma Diet as well. Here you'll find all kinds of tips and support to get you through the diet part to the maintenance level - which is a very enjoyable place to be.

Here are some Mediterranean-style recipes to get you started.

Updated Nov. 2011. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.