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As an ex-smoker I truly understand the ease in which smoking can change from a casual fling to a full blown addiction. And I know how very, very difficult it is to give it up.

But as a health professional, I have seen the damage that smoking can do.

Therefore, I’d like to recommend that everyone have a read of this free e-book Toward a Tobacco Free World, written by by Kaiser Permanente psychiatrist and UCLA researcher Dr. Michael Rabinoff.  It not only highlights the societal costs worldwide that stem from tobacco use but also outlines actions that can be taken immediately to help save lives worldwide.

Download it.

Read it.

And pass it on.

Let’s all work Toward a Tobacco Free World.

Post from: Healthbolt

One of the first things to go, besides the exercise, is healthy eating habits. We overindulge in all our favorite, but not necessarily, healthy foods.

As a result, we have lots of fun and good times. But we can also end up gaining extra weight that tends to stick around, even when the holidays are over.

But not to worry, help is at hand. Kaiser Permanente has put together some tips to help skip the weight gain while celebrating the season…

• Don’t skip meals or eat very little most of the day to save up so that you can eat more at a party or dinner. Eat at your regular times, with perhaps a little lower fat or smaller portions in general. If your meal will be later than usual, have a snack to curb your appetite so that you are not too hungry when you get there.
• Don’t stand near the buffet table. Take what you like and move away from the table.
• Make the season one of sharing. If you are given sweets or other special foods, then share them with family, coworkers, or various groups with which you will be meeting.
• Limit the alcohol. It stimulates the appetite and contributes extra calories.
• Choose the foods you really like and pass on the ones that you don’t like as much.
• Check your place on the hunger scale: on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is very hungry and 10 is very full. If you reach a 7 or so, then stop eating. You don’t need any more.
• Plan ahead. If you are going to a family dinner where you know most of what will be served, think about what you will eat. And plan ahead how to politely but firmly decline seconds from an insistent host or hostess.
• If you overindulge at a holiday gathering, don’t just decide that you have blown it and that you won’t try to adhere to healthy diet guidelines until January 1. An occasional lapse does not cause excessive weight gain or prolonged elevated blood glucose levels, but several weeks of excessive eating may. Instead, use the event as an opportunity to learn and to plan better for the next time.
• Continue regular exercise or start exercising regularly. The exercise will help control your blood glucose and your weight. And, you will probably feel better.
• Focus on the people and the fellowship, not the food.
• Try to eat slowly and possibly on a smaller plate. Focus on weight management versus weight loss for the holiday season. Weight loss is difficult enough to achieve the rest of the year and will be especially hard during the holidays.
• If you are already thinking ahead about making New Year Resolutions about weight loss, an effective tool to use while trying to lose or maintain is keeping a food diary, a Kaiser Permanente study found. “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D., a researcher at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. “Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.”

Sounds like pretty good advice. Of course, advice is one thing. Sticking to it is another.

(source)

Post from: Healthbolt