4 Steps To Ensure You'll Keep Your New Year's Resolution

If you're like most Americans this time of year, you've stuffed yourself with cookies and other sweets and washed it all down with eggnog. But instead of feeling jolly, you're feeling bloated and lethargic.

Studies show that nearly all the weight people gain over the course of the year comes on during the holiday season. And because we tend not to lose quite all of it the following spring, our weight ratchets up, year after year. The average American gains about 15 pounds per decade.


But most of us have trouble breaking out of that pattern. If you've made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, chances are your resolve doesn't last very long. New Year's resolutions can be hard to keep. But if you follow these simple steps, you're more likely to keep your resolution--and keep the weight off for good.

1. Use the V-word. Abundant research has shown that the more vegetarian meals people eat, the easier time they have maintaining a healthy weight. And the most powerful meals are vegan. In May, researchers at Loma Linda University published results of a study of nearly 61,000 Americans. Vegans were the thinnest, meat-eaters were the heaviest, and fish-eaters and ovo-lacto-vegetarians were between the two. People who switch to a vegan diet typically lose about a pound a week--and this prescription for weight loss doesn't require portion control or calorie-counting. A meatless diet also helps reduce the risk of heart disease, type two diabetes, and some cancers.

2. Focus on the Short Term. A healthy diet is a lifestyle, not a fad or a quick-fix weight-loss plan. But a lifetime commitment sounds daunting. So the key is to set your sights on the short term. Cut out meats, dairy products, and eggs for three weeks, and see how you feel. Chances are, your weight will start trimming down before your very eyes. Your cholesterol is likely to drop, and your energy will rebound.

Perhaps most surprisingly, your tastes will change. Just as a person who switches from whole milk to skim milk soon adapts to the lighter taste (and then can't go back to that fatty whole milk), if you lighten the entire diet, you'll soon find that the new tastes really seem just right.

3. Break the craving cycle. Start with a good breakfast. Cutting hunger is the first step in cutting cravings. Eat at least 10 calories each day per pound of your ideal body weight. Some calorie-cutting dieters don't realize that if they eat too little, their bodies stop making an appetite-controlling hormone called leptin. A person whose ideal weight is 150 pounds needs at least 1,500 calories per day, and probably much more.

Also, choose foods that steady your blood sugar. Beans, green vegetables, fruit, and whole grains help prevent blood sugar dips that can lead to cravings.


4. Get some help online. To help you along the way, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is launching a 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program. Our doctors and dietitians have teamed up with leading researcher Dean Ornish, MD, actress Alicia Silverstone, chef Tal Ronnen, basketball star John Salley, best-selling authors Kathy Freston and Rory Freedman, and many other celebrities and nutrition experts to offer this free online program. The Kickstart provides recipes, nutrition advice, and an interactive support network to help participants transition to a sustainable, healthful diet in 2010.


Extract from:  www.huffingtonpost.com