Dr. Oz Day 3- Weight loss Rules

I LOVE THESE RULES, I do most of them and they have been key to my weight loss!!

The unfortunate truth is that most diets do not succeed, and it's easy to blame that fact on a lack of willpower. But restricting food intake runs counter to the body's natural urges. Our ancestors needed extra calories to survive times of extreme stress (say, a famine), and today, when our stress hormones spike—whether due to job frustration or a fight with our spouse—it's as if we're stranded on the tundra of the last ice age.

The good news is that you can outwit your evolutionary biology by implementing these five rules of successful "waist loss" that I developed with Michael Roizen, MD, for our book YOU: On a Diet.



Rule #1: Spoil Your Dinner

Remember the plant from Little Shop of Horrors, with its demands to "Feed me"? The hormone ghrelin is your body's version of Audrey II, only it gets your attention with stomach growls instead of musical numbers. Once you've started eating, it takes about 30 minutes for ghrelin levels to fall and that "full" feeling to kick in. But if you eat a 100-calorie snack (like a handful of nuts) about a half hour before mealtime, your ghrelin levels will already be subsiding by the time you pick up your fork.

Rule #2: Nix Soft Drinks with Meals

Leptin is a hormone that signals the brain that you can stop eating once your body has stored enough energy from food. Yet fructose (a sugar found in soft drinks) interrupts the feedback loop, preventing your brain from getting the message. Quench your thirst with water instead.

Rule #3: Fill Up on Fiber

The ileum is a part of the small bowel that can squeeze, or "brake," to slow the transit of food through the intestines. When that happens, you get a slow but steady supply of fuel, which keeps you feeling satiated. A high-fiber breakfast triggers this mechanism, because the bowel needs more time to absorb nutrients from fiber. The result: No more 11 a.m. stops at the vending machine.

Rule #4: Eat with Awareness

That means eating at the table, not sprawled across the couch. It also means no zoning out in front of American Idol, checking your BlackBerry, or surfing the Web during meals. Not only will mindful eating increase the satisfaction you get from food but the extra time will allow your ghrelin levels to drop even further as you eat.

Rule #5: Build More Muscle

You may have heard that muscle burns more calories than fat, but did you know that it burns a dozen times more? Aim to walk 10,000 steps a day, and begin a muscle-strengthening program, which will help steel your skeleton as well. Trainer Joel Harper has an excellent 20-minute exercise routine. 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Dr-Ozs-Advice-to-Lose-Weight#ixzz27HvPGolM

Dr. Oz Day 2- Your health

Here I found another blogger who actually went to one of Dr. Oz shows. Below is a small portion of what he learned that day. To read it all you can go to the link at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!!

"I first became aware of Dr .Oz at the gym. (No, he wasn't a member of my gym but instead, I watched him on Oprah while toiling away on the treadmill/bike/elliptical). The matter-of-fact way he put health into such simple terms was not only refreshing, but listening to him also helped pass the time and make me forget that I was actually exercising.

On this day, he did it again. "Purpose drives longevity," he declared, before stressing to every one of us that physical activity is the number one way to stay young and maintain good health. He's proof of this (and that the camera adds 10 pounds): he is as trim as an active teenager.  "If you can’t walk a quarter-mile in five minutes, your life expectancy drops 30 percent." Now if that's not simple and matter-of-fact, I don't know what is. And a little scary, too, I must admit. When I walked back to Grand Central to get on the train after it was all over, I can swear I walked just a bit faster.

Did you know that your ability to lift yourself out of a chair is a predictor of health? Dr. Oz demonstrated what he meant by that. Think about it: you're sitting in an armchair (or one without arms) and need to stand. Do you hold onto the arms (or even the seat) to push yourself up? That's a big no-no in his book; he says that we need to keep our quadriceps strong so that we can accomplish simple things – like lifting ourselves out of a chair – without help. Ever since that little demo, I've been extra-cautious about standing and sitting without using anything but my legs to lower and lift my body.

What's most impressive about this health-celeb are his accomplishments: he still performs heart surgery one day each week; he's on TV, the radio, in print and in person. How? I have no idea – I know I could never do even half of what he does - but I gather it's a combination of enthusiasm, will, discipline, energy, organization and sheer brilliance. It's funny, but I found we shared a few commonalities: he can't meditate, either, since thoughts are always rushing into his head (so instead, he takes 7 minutes when he wakes each morning to do a combination of sun salutations, deep breathing and push-ups), and he doesn't like to break for lunch, either (instead he nibbles on little healthy snacks like nuts and fruit throughout the day)."

http://www.healthywomen.org/content/blog-entry/when-dr-oz-says-poop-everyone-listens

Dr. Oz Week!!!

So I I have been doing a lot of health research lately to help me get motivated again to lose the last 20 pounds. I keep coming across Dr. Oz and I thought it would be fun to have a Dr. Oz week. If you don't know who he is, he's a heart surgeon who I first saw on Oprah giving health advice. Since then he has been on Oprah many times and now has his own show. I know some people don't like him or Oprah but I feel that he has some good advice. Of course I don't agree with everything he says but I think overall he has motivated a lot of people to be more conscious about there health. Which I think is the ultimate goal of my blog! So enjoy this week, we will make it fun and start of with a splash!

Dr. Oz Day 1- Everyone Poops

So I figured we start off Dr. Oz week with a splash! Did you ever see or hear about the episode where Dr. Oz and Oprah talk about poop? I know this may be a gross topic for most of you and I'm sorry, but you have no idea how important it really is. Your poop is a good indicator if you are eating healthy and if your body is digesting your food properly. I am a huge believer that you know your body better than anyone (even your doctor!). Our bodies give us signs every day to let us know how we are doing. We need to understand how to read those signs and Dr. Oz gives some advice on how to interpret them:



Dr. Oz Tip #1
"You want to hear what the stool, the poop, sounds like when it hits the water. If it sounds like a bombardier, you know, 'plop, plop, plop,' that's not right because it means you're constipated. It means the food is too hard by the time it comes out. It should hit the water like a diver from Acapulco hits the water [swoosh]."

Dr. Oz Tip #2
The next thing Dr. Oz recommends is looking at your stool—c'mon, you've done it before! You should look twice—look at the shape and then, the color.

"It should be an S shape and you want to make sure the color's normal because the color of the poop tells you a lot about how you made it," Dr. Oz says. "You don't want [pieces]. Food is a medicine for you. It helps you. [If the stool is in pieces] by the time you finished digesting your food, you don't have enough of it left to poop out in the right way and probably it's hurt the colon that has to process it. At the end of the day you can analyze your body really effectively by looking at what comes out of your body."

Dr. Oz Tip #3
This one wasn't listed on the website but I remember it form watching the show. He talked about what it means if you poop floats. Its either because you are eating to much fat in your diet. Also if you are losing weight your fat can leave your body in your poop. So there's another easy way to tell if you are either eating to much fat or you are losing a lot of fat. Interesting, right?!

Here's a pop quiz. What part of your body is most similar to your brain? The surprising answer is your small bowel, where most digestion occurs.

"That's the saying, you know, you've got blank for blank," Dr. Oz jokes. "But the thing about the small bowel is it has primitive messenger chemicals that tell the bowel how to work. If your bowel's not happy, those same chemicals influence your brain."


Dr. Oz FAQHow long does it take food to digest?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the food you eat? First, it passes through the esophagus. It moves by a wave of muscle contractions that squeeze the food down at about two inches per second. When the food reaches the stomach, it falls into a churning pool of digestive juices. In the stomach, the food is broken down into easily absorbable ingredients: proteins, sugars and fats.

Then greenish brown bile produced in the liver is added to help the breakdown of these fats. By the time the food leaves your stomach and passes into the small intestine, it's unrecognizable. The walls of our intestines absorb the nutrients into our blood and that's how we get the energy we all need to live.

How long does this vital process take? It depends on what you're eating, Dr. Oz says. "A steak dinner can take you two, maybe three days to get out of your intestine. What that means is the way you digest it is basically to rot it in your intestines. On the other hand, if you eat vegetables and fruits, they're out of your system in less than 12 hours."

What about chewing gum? Is it true that it takes seven years for it to digest? "No," Dr. Oz says. However, this little urban legend can be a good way to "get kids to stop chewing gum."

What is sweat good for?

If you listen to commercials, you should never let anyone see you sweat. However, that sweat is very important. "During heavy exercise, your muscles generate enough heat to boil several cups of coffee," Dr. Oz says. Without sweating, "heat would literally cook your internal organs and kill you."

Just below your skin are 3 million sweat glands, each a coiled tube four feet long loaded with liquid. As your body heats up the tubes contract and squeeze a droplet of sweat out onto your skin. As the sweat evaporates, it draws heat away from your body, cooling you.

And, as a special bonus feature, sweat can influence and attract people around you. "The apocrine glands—they're the ones in your armpits and in your genital areas—they actually release chemicals that signal to each other like animals: pheromones. You will instinctively like somebody or not based on their smell," Dr. Oz says.

What causes burping and farting? 

Many of you logged on to Oprah.com and told us your most embarrassing health questions. Thirty-eight percent of you said that gas was a major problem in your lives. On a previous show, Dr. Oz explained that the average person...both men and women...passes gas 14 times a day. What's causing this phenomenal natural gas leak?

"Many of those bacteria that are on your side and protecting you normally will eat up the foods that you're eating and release their waste product: gas, which, by the way, is good for you. You want to have a regular amount of gas. The problem happens when you eat certain foods that give you more gas than you want."

Probably the most infamous gas-producing foods are beans, which, Dr. Oz explains, contain sugar. "In fact, sugars in general are the problem." Bacteria love simple sugars and simple carbohydrates because they're so easy to digest.

Dr. Oz says it's not just what you eat. It's also in the air you breathe. "Twenty percent of the gas comes from the air you take in your mouth," he says. "That comes because you're eating too quickly, you're drinking carbonated beverages, you're chewing gum, you're smoking cigarettes, you're sucking air into your body that gets into your intestines."

Think of your body as a refrigerator, Dr. Oz says. If you let food sit in there, it's going to smell after a while. In your body, sulfur-rich foods like eggs, meat, beer, beans and cauliflower are decomposed by bacteria to release hydrogen sulfide—a smell strong enough to flatten a bear. Avoiding these foods is the ideal solution, but when stinky gas persists, the best solutions are leafy green vegetables and probiotics, specifically lactobacilli GG. These can be found in some yogurts. The product Beano can sometimes work with beans, but soaking the beans ahead of time is useful as well.

Why do I get diarrhea?

Holly from Indiana speaks for about 90 million fellow sufferers of this problem. Here's the small and large story about the intestines: Serotonin is the natural chemical in the body that antidepressants affect. Though 5 percent of your body's serotonin is in your brain, 95 percent is in your intestines. "You have a second brain down there," Dr. Oz says. "There are 100 million nerves in that intestine tract. That's the same amount of nerves as you have in your spine."

If your intestines become confused, Dr. Oz says, one effect could be diarrhea, bloating and discomfort from inflammatory bowel disease, or IBS, a very common problem. If you have this problem for more than a day or so, "take chicken soup with some rice because it will help you reabsorb sugar and salt." If you get diarrhea chronically, Dr. Oz says the cause may be food allergies. Some common food allergies include milk products and wheat.

According to Dr. Oz, diarrhea is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, it's just your body's way of protecting itself. "The immune system in your intestines is a very intricate one and it knows when food is not right for you," he says. "So it will tell your body, 'You know what? Get rid of that. We don't want this in us!'"
Why does poop smell?

You might want to light a match because Dr. Oz has something to tell you: The origin of poop's odor is sulfur, which smells like a rotten egg.

Many foods contain sulfur. "Eggs are one of them. Cheese—there's a reason they say, 'Don't cut the cheese,'" Dr. Oz says. Other sulfurous foods include meats and vegetables.
Why is poop brown?The reason that heartburn, or GERD, is such a problem is that so many people are unaware that they can deal with it. "Our intestinal system provides all kinds of clues," Dr. Oz says. Try investigating the color of your stool. "If you don't have any bile, your poop will turn white. What makes the poop brown is the bile. It's what allows your body to surround fats and absorb them healthily. It's like the soap of our intestines. It hatches to be green. So as it gets metabolized through the bowel, it turns brown."

What could be the cause of red poop? "If you've got red poop, a lot of times that's because you've had beets or red Jell-O," Dr. Oz says. "But red poop can also mean blood. It doesn't take a lot of blood to make it red but if you've got blood in your poop, you've got to get someone to look at you."

How long does it take food to digest?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the food you eat? First, it passes through the esophagus. It moves by a wave of muscle contractions that squeeze the food down at about two inches per second. When the food reaches the stomach, it falls into a churning pool of digestive juices. In the stomach, the food is broken down into easily absorbable ingredients: proteins, sugars and fats.

Then greenish brown bile produced in the liver is added to help the breakdown of these fats. By the time the food leaves your stomach and passes into the small intestine, it's unrecognizable. The walls of our intestines absorb the nutrients into our blood and that's how we get the energy we all need to live.

How long does this vital process take? It depends on what you're eating, Dr. Oz says. "A steak dinner can take you two, maybe three days to get out of your intestine. What that means is the way you digest it is basically to rot it in your intestines. On the other hand, if you eat vegetables and fruits, they're out of your system in less than 12 hours."

What about chewing gum? Is it true that it takes seven years for it to digest? "No," Dr. Oz says. However, this little urban legend can be a good way to "get kids to stop chewing gum."

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Everybody-Poops#ixzz27GZxcVPT

Superfoods for Weight Loss

I have come up with my own list of super foods that I have loved on my weight loss journey. I basically lived off these foods for the past year. I have come up with these after a lot of research and trial and error. 

List of Super foods for your body:

- Beans

- Oats

- Nuts (1 oz. per day)

- Avocados (a little fat is good for you as long as its natural, healthy fat)

- Apples

- Brown Rice

- Eggs

- Greek Yogurt

- ALL Vegetables (as long as cooked minimally ex. steamed)

- ALL FRUIT (Fresh is best) 

- Whole Grains

The one thing that surprised me the most is meat was never on any of the super foods lists. Not even chicken, out of all the list I looked at I only saw turkey one time! I think this is a real hint as Americans, most of us need to cut our meat intake and increase a variety of nuts to get our protein. 

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20475957,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfood
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/superfoods-everyone-needs
http://www.oprah.com/health/Dr-Perricones-10-Superfoods

My new goals...

So I have been setting some new goals this past week and thought I would share them. I want to lose 2 pounds a week again so I'm setting a game plan in place to accomplish that. I know to lose 2 pounds a week I need to burn about 1,000 calories a day (for 1 pound a week its 500 calories a day). If you havent been able to tell I like to make a lot of lists, so here is another one for my weight loss:

Goals

- Fluctuate eating 1,750-2,000 calories a day

   - Fluctuate the amount of calories you consume will keep your body guessing and losing those pounds

- Work off approximately 1,000 calories a day

   - My work out weekly schedule (to lose 1 pound of fat you need to burn apx. 3,500 cal. a week, so 2 pounds is approximately 7,000 calories a week)

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

5:30am-Rock Solid Class(500c)

5:15am-Spin Class(700c)

5:30am-50/50 Class(500c)

5:15am-Spin Class(500c)

5:30am-Tonic Class(500c)

10am-Run 10-15

Rest Day

11:45am-Run 3-10 mile(300-1,000c)

11:45pm-Insanity video(400c)

11:45am-Run 3-10miles(300-1,000c)

11:45am-Insanity video(400c)

11:45am-Run 3-10miles(300-1,000c)

miles(1,000-1,500c)

(If missed morning)

or Ride Bike(30min 500c)

(If missed morning)

or Ride Bike(30min 500c)

(If missed morning)

or Bike Ride (1hr. 1,000c)

6:30pm-50/50 (500 cal)

(If missed morning)

Insanity Video(400c),Bike Ride(500c)

(If missed this morning)

Insanity Video(400c),Bike Ride(500c)

Total= apx. 1,000-1,500 Cal

Total= apx. 800-1,500 cal

6:30pm-Spin Class (500 Cal)

Total= apx. 800- 1,500 Cal

6:30pm-Spin Class(700c)

Total= apx. 800- 1,500 Cal

Total= apx. 1,100-1,200 Cal

Total= apx.900-1,200 Cal

Weekly Total= 5,400-8,400

I found this great article from the Mayo Clinic. I LOVE change so maybe that's why I had such successful results with weight loss. To lose weight you have to wait till you are truly ready, there is no lying to yourself here. Below is a great list to help you on your way!

Weight loss: Assess your readiness to change

Before you plunge into a weight-loss program, see if you're truly ready. And see what steps to take if you aren't ready yet.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Your weight-loss success depends in large part on your readiness to take on the challenge. If you jump in before you're ready, your weight-loss plan may buckle under the first challenge. Use these questions to assess your weight-loss readiness.

1. Are you motivated to make long-term lifestyle changes?

Successful weight loss depends on permanent lifestyle changes, such as eating healthy foods and exercising more. That could represent a significant departure from your current lifestyle. Be honest. Knowing that you need to make changes in your life and actually doing it are two different things. You may have to overhaul your diet so that you're eating more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, for example. You'll also need to find time to exercise for at least 30 minutes nearly every day of the week. Exercise is especially important to prevent regaining your lost weight.

Your motivation for undertaking these changes may be better health, improved appearance or just feeling better about yourself in general. As long as your motivation is a healthy one, it doesn't really matter what it is. Find your motivation and focus on it.

2. Have you addressed the big distractions in your life?

If you're dealing with major life events, such as marital problems, job stress, illness or financial worries, you may not want to add the challenge of overhauling your eating and exercise habits. Instead, consider giving your life a chance to calm down before you launch your weight-loss program.

3. Do you have a realistic picture of how much weight you'll lose and how quickly?

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a lifelong process. Over the long term, it's best to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week. To lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day. You can do that through a low-calorie diet and regular physical activity or exercise.

Initially you might lose weight more quickly than that if you make significant changes — just be sure the changes are health supporting. Don't get discouraged if your rate of weight loss slows a bit after bigger initial losses.

4. Have you resolved any emotional issues connected to your weight?

Emotions and food are often intertwined. Anger, stress, grief and boredom can trigger emotional eating. And if you have a history of an eating disorder, weight loss can be even trickier. Start by identifying your emotional issues related to food so that you're prepared for the challenges. Talk to your doctor about what weight-loss options are best for you.

5. Do you have support and accountability?

Any weight-loss program can be difficult. You may face moments of temptation or become disheartened. Having someone in your corner to offer encouragement can help. If you don't have friends or family you can rely on for positive help, consider joining a weight-loss support group.

If you want to keep your weight-loss efforts private, be prepared to be accountable to yourself with regular weigh-ins and a log of your diet and activity. You might also want to consider joining an online program or using a certified health coach.

6. Have you embraced the weight-loss challenge?

If you don't have a positive attitude about losing weight, you may not be ready. If you dread what lies ahead, you may be more likely to find excuses to veer off course. Try to embrace the vision of your new lifestyle and remain positive. Focus on how good you'll feel when you're more active or when you weigh less. Picture yourself celebrating every little success along the way, whether it's opting for a low-fat cottage cheese snack instead of chips or going for a walk.

You're ready for weight loss: Now what?

If you answered yes to all or most of these questions, you're probably ready to make the lifestyle changes necessary to work toward permanent weight loss. You may be able to forge ahead on your own, creating your own lifestyle program for healthy eating and exercising. Or you may feel you need help.

Educating yourself about the process of successful weight loss and maintenance is a start. For example, learn more about the dietary changes necessary for losing weight. See a dietitian or enroll in a behavior-based weight program that can help you change the habits that can interfere with weight loss, such as eating when you're stressed or bored. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you may benefit from medically supervised weight loss with a team of health professionals that may include a dietitian, a therapist or an obesity specialist.

What if you're not ready?

If you answered no to more than one of these questions, you may not be ready to embark on a weight-loss program right now. And that's OK. Explore what's holding you back and face those obstacles. In some cases it may simply be a matter of timing. For instance, you may need to resolve other stressors in your life first. In other cases, you may need to work on related issues, such as your feelings toward weight loss or your willingness to commit to permanent lifestyle changes.

Consider seeking help from your doctor or another professional, such as a certified wellness coach, to help you work through these issues. Try to address the obstacles as soon as possible and then re-evaluate your readiness for weight loss so that you can quickly get started on a healthier lifestyle. Don't let the chaos of life become a permanent excuse, however. There will never be an absolutely perfect time.

Still unsure?

You may have found that you couldn't answer all of the questions with a simple yes or no. If you feel generally positive about most of your answers and you're upbeat about a weight-loss program, consider starting now. You may never have definitive answers in life. Don't let that rob you of a chance to achieve your weight-loss goals.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/NU00266/NSECTIONGROUP=2

I'm a huge believer that as soon as you set your mind to what you want. You can do anything!! What is it you want to change TODAY?!