Trigger Foods May Ruin Diet

At 290 pounds, Julia Havey was morbidly obese and desperate to lose weight. “I tried diet after diet and pill after pill,” she recalls. “But nothing worked.” Her turning point came after a cruel comment from a stranger while shopping. When she got home, she vowed to get serious about her health, and she knew that meant getting rid of the food most responsible for her weight gain – ice cream. Could a trigger food lurking in your home be keeping you from your goal weight, too?

“At my heaviest, I used to eat half a gallon of ice cream a night,” Havey admits. But she hasn’t had a bite of it since 1994. Now, 130 pounds lighter, Havey was the “Master Motivator” to 14 million readers at eDiets, has now joined the leader in online weight loss, SparkPeople.com, find her team at http://teams.sparkpeople.com/vicebusting and author of The Vice-Busting Diet (St. Martin’s, 2006). Let her experience help you overcome your own diet vice once and for all.

What is a Diet Vice?
According to Havey, a diet vice is any habitual action that keeps you from reaching a healthy weight. You may even have multiple vices. Maybe it’s a habit, like serving yourself huge portions or snacking after dinner. Or maybe it’s a single food, like chocolate or chips, that’s wreaking havoc on your waistline.

Fast food and soda are two major diet vices in America, in Havey’s opinion. But even if you’re a water-drinking, Big Mac-shunning, health-conscious consumer, you may not be in the clear. Diet vices are different for everyone, and not all are junk food. If you can you eat the whole jumbo-sized bag, carton or box of anything in one sitting, it qualifies as a trigger food.

Deprived and Depressed

Once you’ve identified your trigger food – be it potatoes, pie or root beer – how can you resist it? Give it up forever. “It’s easier to go without a food you can’t control than to try to have it in moderation,” says Havey.

If you think your life will be miserable without chocolate, crackers or fast food, ask yourself this: How miserable does this food make me now? Is it preventing me from looking good, having energy and feeling confident?

“Deprivation is not living without certain foods but living with them and being deprived of your true health and happiness,” Havey says. Trigger foods may make you happy temporarily, but if they make you sad in the long-term, it doesn’t make sense to keep them in your life.

Havey promises that if you eliminate your trigger food altogether – whether you implement other diet and exercise goals or not – you’ll lose weight. Not only will you curb calories, but you’ll avoid the binge the food usually inspires.

Painless Elimination
If you’re used to eating huge quantities of a certain food, living without it probably seems impossible. But, actually, giving up the food entirely will eventually make you crave it less. To help you along the way, follow these tips:

Make healthy substitutions
- If your vice is sweet and creamy, like ice cream, try a bowl of low-fat plain yogurt with fresh berries when your craving hits.

- If you love the crunchy texture and salty flavor of potato chips or crackers, swap them for popcorn sprinkled with a little garlic salt (hold the butter). Toasted whole-wheat pita chips also substitute well.

- If you love comfort food like baked lasagna or mashed potatoes with gravy, have a meal that’s just as hearty and filling, but that delivers fewer calories. Warm up with a bowl of steaming lentil soup sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.

Sometimes it’s not the food itself, but the act of eating that we crave. Havey found that snacking on baby carrots when a craving hit not only saved her calories, but reduced her appetite and left her with more energy at the end of the afternoon.

Find another way to have fun
“When you remove something from your life, especially a habit, you need to fill that space with something else,” explains Havey. One woman who took this advice to heart is Jayme, 52, a systems analyst in San Diego. Her afternoon cookie break used to be her favorite part of the day. “I was stressed out, and chowing down on cookies was how I relaxed,” she says.

But all that sugar and processed white flour left her tired and sluggish an hour later. One day, after she fell asleep at her desk, she vowed to make healthier choices. “I still look forward to my midday break,” she says, “but now I use the time to read my favorite magazine instead of eating junk.”

If you’re bored, lonely or in need of a treat, “replace the feeling of satisfaction that comes from eating with other things,” says Havey. Some suggestions from her book: Get your hair done, see a movie, buy a great pair of shoes, take a bubble bath, or call a friend.

Trading Up
Havey hasn’t had ice cream in 12 years. Doesn’t she miss it? “Absolutely not,” she says. The trick is she doesn’t consider the food “forbidden.”

“There’s nothing telling me I can’t have it,” she says. “I could get in the car right now and buy some at the grocery store if I wanted.” But she doesn’t. She knows that it won’t make her feel good or give her the satisfaction it once did. Besides, her readers are counting on her.

A bowl of ice cream can’t compare to having a body you love and a life filled with energy, happiness and confidence.

For more help on busting your diet vices, check out www.ViceBustingDiet.com.

Are You Addicted to Food?
There’s nothing wrong with giving into indulgences from time to time. But have you crossed the line from feeding your body to feeding a food addiction? Find out with this food addict quiz.

Obesity-Related Costs out of Control!

If you need to see the extreme measures that are being taken because of the overweight and obesity problems in the U.S. take a look at what West Virginia is doing to assist its citizens in taken control of their health. When you have such high health care costs related to the problems brought on by the extra pounds, and those costs are into the hundreds of millions, you've got to do something to help.

We need to consider that the choices available to us today are so numerous and unhealthy, that the real culprit lies in the responsibility that we collectively have to provide healthy foods and beverages in our society. Granted that healthy choices must be made to encourage those actions, after all this is a free enterprise economy, but we have to realize that the predominance of so many unhealthy consumables.

For this reason, we not only need a healthy diet plan, but we need motivation. Having dreams and goals that are beyond where you are today that inspire you, is the key to staying on track and living a healthy life. Too many unhealthy choices can and eventually will lead to an unhealthy life if you're not surrounded by health - daily exercise, healthy eating, goals, friends who enjoy the same, encouraging family to make healthy choices. All are important in the cause.... for yourself and others.

Carpe Diet!

weight loss plan, diet plan, fruit and vegetable nutrients

Research from 35,000 Women

A diet that includes fruits and vegetables has shown to be extremely helpful in the prevention of disease. A study with 35,000 pre-menopausal women in the UK showed that a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables and whole wheat foods are beneficial in preventing breast cancer. (STORY).

Healthy sources of calcium include low fat dairy products and supplements are also effective. The new research says calcium only works when combined with a low calorie diet. The study also found calcium can reduce bad cholesterol, and increase good cholesterol.

Comments: Do you really need to be told that foods from the ground, grown with nutrients from the Earth, and light from the Sun, and water... are good for you? Is it that these prevent cancer or that the foods that have permeated our supermarkets and fast-food restaurants are so bad that disease has increased, thereby making what should be a "normal" diet seem in some way preventative. Said another way, we shouldn't be eating probably 75% or more of the foods and beverages we currently consume because they are causing higher rates of sickness and disease! If not the actual cause, then at the very least these foods and beverages are preventing us from getting the nutrients we DO NEED.

So choose a diet full of fruits, vegetables, grains, and plenty of water. Leave soft drinks and other high-sugar drinks, fast food and other processed foods behind. You will feel great, you will have more energy, you will prevent sickness and disease.... or at the very least, you will prolong and improve the quality of life - adding life to your years and years to your life!

Carpe Diet!

weight loss plan, diet plan, Dr Oz Weight Loss, fruit and vegetable nutrients

The 31-Year Diet

Jorge Cruise gave us the 3-hour diet and today the UK uncovered the 31-year diet!

British women will spend 31 years of their life on a diet and 921 hours thinking about nothing but food!

Research released today reveals that women can expect to spend 31 years of their life on a diet,
but the majority will end up thinking about food literally round the clock. The average dieter will spend 921 hours, or 38.3 days, thinking about nothing but food.

One in 10 British women are currently trying to lose weight and more than a fifth, 21%, consider themselves permanent dieters, the report found.

The in-depth study of the UK's attitude and approach to dieting also found the average dieter spends £150 on special diet foods.

And it revealed this is the week most of those who began diets in the New Year- 75% will give up their resolutions to shed the extra pounds.

The average diet apparently lasts 5.48 weeks but the post-Christmas battle to lose weight sees this fall to three weeks, the report said.

It found half of slimmers, 50%, give up because of lack of willpower while a quarter, 25%, claim they gave up because their diet was making them depressed or moody.

Despite the fall-off rate, the report did throw up some positive aspects to the UK's attitude to dieting and having a healthy lifestyle.

More than a third, 34%, of British women polled cited voluptuous singer and TV presenter Charlotte Church as having the perfect figure with a size 12 the aspirational size for the majority.

Ideals

British men, meanwhile, were keen on the sporting physique, with 40% citing footballer David Beckham's body as their ideal goal.

Women were motivated to diet largely for themselves, 75% rather than for their partners 18% with 70% giving health as their reason for trying to get thin.

Some admitted they had contemplated resorting to drastic measures to lose weight with 22% saying they had thought about using slimming pills, 12% saying they had considered a liquid diet and 9% saying they had considered surgery.

But the majority, 85%, were also looking at eating smaller portions and 64% thinking about eating low fat foods, while 44% were considering joining a gym.

Chocolate was found to be the food craved by most dieters 23%, closely followed by cheese, which was craved by 20%.

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Wow! It never ceases to amaze me what researchers study and how much money the spend conducting such research. They should have just picked up the phone and called me, I could have saved them a lot of time and money!

On my site, we asked women "how many years have you been dieting?" and "at what age did you start your first diet?"--the AVERAGE answers were 20 years and 15 years of age!

What does that information tell us? It should clue us in that diets don't work! If you spend 15 years trying to solve a problem for it only to get worse over time--what you are using (diets) isn't working (weight gain!) What ends up happening most often is that the 15 year old young woman developes a lifestyle of going "ON" and "OFF" of a diet and spends most of her life living unhealthfully between diet attempts!

The solution?

Develop a healthy lifestyle and adhere to it at all times, not just while "on" a diet!

Add to the research conducted in the UK the findings to my survey of 14 million dieters and the evidence is compelling that Vice Busting is the ONLY way to lose weight and KEEP it off for the rest of your life!

Our survey found that 87% of dieters admit to having diet vices, 38% confess to breaking their diets DAILY to consume them, while another 33% break their diets weekly. Therefore 71% of well-intentioned dieters blow it and fall "off" their diets without realizing the results promised them by the diet plan they entrusted.

So, what to do? Admit that you are NOT SouthBeach Diet deficient, Jenny Craig deprived, living your Worst Life Diet nor have serious internal lack of Medifast shakes but rather you have a few diet vices; or unhealthy foods that LOVE, and that you eat too often in too much quantity to ever realistically lose weight regardless of what "diet" you are going through the motions of following.

If you are like the 71% of dieters who continually fall "OFF" of your diet because you consume your vices on a regular basis, maybe, just maybe the problem is with those very vices and they are what need busting!

Dr. David L. Katz, MD (very cool guy, Yale U Professor of Medicine, ABC News, Oprah's medical expert and best selling author The Way to Eat) agrees!--"These vices that Julia describes have often been a cause, or even the cause of failed attempts at losing weight among my patients."

Makes sense doesn't it?

See for yourself! Bust your vices before they bust YOU! And, think of it this way, maybe it will free up your thinking time for something better than FOOD!

Carpe Diet!
Julia

Cancer Down for 2nd Year - Will it Last?

While two consecutive years of dropping cancer deaths is a good sign, we must continue to forge ahead - educating, inspiring, and motivating others to make healthy choices... not just sometimes, but all of the time. If you graph the 25 or 35 year cancer statistics, we are not out of the 'upward trend' yet. However, we can presume that this is a 'top' that could be the beginning of a reversal.

While it's still way too early to tell, and since our dietary habits are still too poor among the majority of the population, it is something positive to celebrate. If we analyze the growth of the fast food industry and the soft drink industry, I can only ascertain that there is much work to do.

We could make a big difference in the health of the world if more people drank water instead of soft drinks and other sugary drinks, and more people chose to eat fruits and vegetables - and a supplement that provides nutrients from fruits and vegetables - while avoiding high-fat and high-salt fast foods...... then, yes we will make a difference, and that will be a good start.

Get started living healthy today.
Julia

Fat Rat? Their Obesity is tied to their Diet!

OK, it's getting crazy in the world. Supersized fat RATS are popping up in cities across the world. And the million dollar question is WHY? What's happening to these rats?

Are their little rat treadmills not working?

Are their little rat health-food stores closing?

Are their little rat water bottles not available?

Or is it just maybe the supersized humans who dwell in their hood and the remains of their food and drinks that the rats are finding and eating that is to blame?

Yes, that's right! Humans putting the remains of their McDonald's, their Coca-Cola's, their ice cream cones, their candy bars into trash bins and then the rats eat all of it that is to blame!

Give a rat a head of lettuce, some fruit, some whole grains and lean proteins and water to drink, you will still have a rat on your hands, but a healthy-weight one! Give it JUNK; you get a FAT rat on your hands!

Maybe we need to fund a few million to study this fat rat problem? Nah. Let's save the money on this one, I think common sense should be able to solve this one.

Julia

Are we going to far with Genetically modified food?

The story begins with food. The quality of our food supply has gone from natural, well-cared for, and grown by over 80% of the population...to... less than 5% of the population growing foods and crops... to... foods now controlled by major corporations. Not only has this reduced nature's goodness to something that is man-made and altered by science. Is this a good thing or bad? Maybe both, but time will tell.

Let's put aside the debate about whether genetically engineered crops may compromise our health in the long-term or not. Let's look at an issue that is more disturbing to not only farmers but the control of our food supply.

It all starts not that many years ago when the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of a company (I believe GM) to put a PATENT on a living thing (a genetically created microbe if I'm not mistaken, that could eat oil, like what would be used in oil spills; never was used). With this ruling, it opened the door to put PATENTs on LIVING THINGS... contrary to the constitution or what is safe. What does this mean? It means that genetically engineered seeds can be patented... it means that whoever owns these seed patents will eventually control our food supply!

Watch this very informative, eye-opening video that shows how hundreds of farmers are being sued without ever knowing that MONSANTO's seeds got on to their farm! --- Go to Dr. Mercola's site and watch. NOTE: this video is 90 minutes, but get through just 15 minutes.

These things need to be voted on by the you and I... the public. We cannot let this continue down the path it is going. Monsanto will become the next big "EVIL" corporation with so much control. Did you know that somewhere close to 40% of corn is genetically modified? And most of it is Monsanto's.

The scary thing is not just food, but if their seed, their genetically-engineered 'whatever' ends up in your yard, in your house, in your body... they could claim rights to YOU!

Watch the video. Pass the link around.

In health,
Carpe Diet

weight loss, weight loss plan, fruit and vegetable nutrients

The American Beverage Ass. Disputes beverage Studies and their Ties to the Obesity Pandemic

The New York Times reported about some problems with recent studies about the harm from sugary beverages: read the article

What I found interesting was the beverage industry's response!

''This is yet another attack on industry by activists who demonstrate their own biases in their review by looking only at the funding source and not judging the research on its merits,'' says a statement by Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association. ''The science is what matters -- nothing else.''

Respectfully Ms Neely, a lot else matters!

• The health of the consumers matters!
• The 2.6 million people who died prematurely last year from obesity and obesity related causes matter!
• The $100 Billion in costs expended to solve the health problems brought on by Obesity matter.
• The person who can't walk around block because of their excess weight brought on from drinking sugar filled beverages matters!
• The fact that soft drinks and other sugar filled beverages are the leading cause of Obesity and Overweight and why we have a pandemic of Obesity matters!
• Much more than just the profits realized by your members matters, Ms. Neely!

The homepage ( http://www.ameribev.org/index.aspx) of the American Beverage Ass. has a picture of a healthy weight darling young girl drinking from a bottle of water. How picture perfect, but the real picture of what the American Beverage Ass is all about is MUCH different than promoting drinking WATER! Their site says:

Nearly as widely consumed as bottled water are milk and coffee, followed by fruit beverages and tea. About 12 percent of the total beverages consumed are made by what Beverage Marketing Corporation defines as “all other,” comprised most prominently of sports drinks, vegetable juice, powdered drinks and, yes, tap water.

Total US Beverage Consumption 2005

• Carbonated Soft Drinks 28.3%
• Bottled Water 10.7%
• Milk 10.9%
• Coffee 9.0%
• Beer 11.7%
• Fruit Beverages 4.7% *
• Sports Drinks 2.3%
• Tea 3.8%
• Wine 1.2%
• Distilled Spirits 0.7%
• All Others 15.3% **

OK, call me an idiot, but how are only 12% of drinks consumed the "other" drinks (read "sugar-filled crap") when their own stats show that 28.3% of drinks consumed in 2005 were carbonated soft drinks? It just sounds a whole lot better to say that just a tiny bit of the drinks drunk are 'ours' so we can't be a big part of the problem, can we?

Big Soda makes the carbonated drinks, the sports drinks, the "energy" drinks, the fruit drinks and heck, they even make much of the bottled water!

Bottom line, more than the profits or the conflicting messages matter! The health of humanity is at stake and we have to shun sugar filled, high fructose laced beverages and drink WATER! It is the only way to ensure a healthy bottom line for you and for your family.

Julia

eDiets former diet expert launches a team at SparkPeople; the leader in delivering online weight loss results!

St. Louis, MO--"I am so happy to announce a big change in my career! I have relocated to SparkPeople.com and will, effective immediately be providing FREE motivational weight loss support to those who desire my help!"

SparkPeople Inc. is a leading online preventive health company. Their goal is to help as many people as possible reach their goals and lead meaningful lives. All of their programs and services are medically sound, completely free of charge, community-based and accessible. In the areas of health, fitness, goal-setting and leadership, they help people discover what will truly motivate them to reach their goals.

"I think that they are the perfect home for my style of motivation because they are so passionate about helping people do what will actually work, rather than like so many portal-type weight loss sites today that offer a such dizzying wide array of what might work, SparkPeople focuses on what WILL work; lifestyle change and motivation!"--Julia Havey, Master Motivator

Starting today, dieters around the world can join Julia's new team, "Vice Busting w/ Julia" at SparkPeople for FREE! http://teams.sparkpeople.com/vicebusting

"It's FREE, it's fun, it's motivating and it will work for anyone desiring weight loss and lifestyle improvements. I am so excited to be part of the most exciting thing happening online in the weight loss industry."

Julia

How to stay on track with Diet Resolutions

Staying on track with your resolutions!

Picture this scenario--it's January 1 and you are 100% determined to do it' this time' and you vow to change everything, do everything right and really stick to your diet.

But something happens by around January 9th. The boss brings donuts to work, it's a coworkers birthday and someone brought cake, everyone goes out to lunch, you pass the vending machine and it is literally calling your name, the kids begged for McDonald's....you know; LIFE happened and YOU "fell off your diet".

Normally whe this scenario happens, many of us throw in the towel and think "this diet" just isn't going to work for me and we give up on this attempt and vow to start something new "tomorrow", or we figure "I blew it for today, so I might as well eat everything I want and get 'back on track' tomorrow!" And we all know from experience that "tomorrow" may be days, weeks or months in actually arriving!

Either way, you lose. Well not weight which is what you wanted to lose, but what you really lose is another chip of self-esteem, another little bit of your spark goes out.

So, here's a new way of looking at it. It's just ONE slip up, one stumble, but it isn't the worst thing in the world. Just STOP, get yourself out of the moment, toss away what is left of the "vice" and brush yourself off and move on.

Make it a game with yourself that you will make the amount of time between when stumble again longer than when you started on your journey and this stumble happened.

What? Stumble again? You plan on being "Perfect" from now on? Hate to break it to you, but it won't happen, not for you, not for anyone! LIFE Happens!

The key to success is what you DO after LIFE hits the diet fan and you stumble!

And the second rule of this game with yourself is to make the amount of time that it takes to get back on track shorter and shorter. In the past when you 'fell of your diet' it might have taken days, weeks or months to muster the determination to try again, shorten that time each time you stumble!

In theory, you could get so good at this 'game' that you may stumble once every few months, get immediately back on track so in reality, you will just have a bad food day once in a great while, and my friend is well within the relm of healthy living!

...and even better than that, you will lose weight!
Fail to plan; plan to fail. and plan on what to do when you fail, and you won't fail!
How's that for confusing! LOL

Carpe Diet!
Julia

14 Million Surveyed About Their Diet Struggles

So, how's your diet working out? Struggling to stay on it one day much less until all your excess weight is off? Don't worry you aren't alone! 14 million people participated in a survey asking "WHY DON'T DIETS WORK?" a few years ago survey results what was found:

America, you give in to your vices very often, and you feel quite guilty about it. That's the clear conclusion from a new survey conducted by eDiets.com,Inc. In fact, a whopping 81% of the respondents confessed to some guilt, particularly about eating what they know they shouldn't eat.

The survey respondents are nothing if not honest. Asked how they try to resist food vices, the largest single group, 44%, agreed with the statement "What's the point-I give in." Consequently, 38% of those surveyed said they give in to their vices every day, while another 33% give in at least once a week. On the bright side, 28% say they engage in hobbies to take their minds off the vice, and 16% work out.

So what's causing such angst? Almost 25% of the respondents confessed to a craving for chocolates/candy, 12% said cookies/cake, 8% said potato chips, 8% said fried foods and 7% said ice cream. Sadly, 21% said they just plain overeat.

"As these numbers make clear, a lot of people are overeating and feeling very guilty about it," said Julia Griggs Havey, master motivator at eDiets.com. "I went through all this myself, but I found some helpful ways to cope, including a reward system. The key to successful vice busting, particularly in the areas of overeating and avoiding forbidden foods, is to follow a step-by-step plan that can help you maintain control when temptation strikes. A lot of dieters are looking to bust a diet-related vice, and it's much easier when you get expert advice and support. I offer that necessary support to everyone who uses my program; they can even call me personally during open call hours."

This survey shows that 71% of dieters are cheating/breaking their diets daily/weekly to consume their vice foods. The only program on the market that specifically addresses these vices and allows the person to successfully bust them from their lives is The Vice Busting Diet Audio Program.

This approach has been endorsed by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. David L. Katz and Mark Victor Hansen. It has been the centerpiece of a TimeLife infomercial—I promise that as YOU embark on your 2007 self-improvement resolutions that YOU will realize your long desired results and success with my program! To make sure you get all the tools that you need, with every order of my full 26-week program, I will give you a copy of my new book, The Vice Busting Diet!

Carpe Diet!

Is There a Longevity Gene?

Is it a gene that determines our longevity? ...(story here). Some studies seem to suggest that a gene is responsible for how long we live. That would make sense at the time we're born, but given the amount of environmental influences - our water, our diet, and our air - it's hard to believe that the gene will have much bearing on how long we live. With a good diet and a healthy lifestyle along with having a particular gene present, the chances are definitely better of becoming a Centenarian. But figure the chances of dying from a gamut of accident-related causes, and the odds just went down a notch.

Why not forget about worrying what you can't control and do something about what you can control?... your diet, your health choices, the decision to exercise vs. watching tv. Even meditating or praying would be better for your health than most of the products offered.

While scientists are busy discovering the gene that controls longevity, we can be busy making sure the DNA we have now isn't damaged by eating fruits and vegetables and other antioxidant-rich foods... along with plenty of water.

Seize the diet today. Live healthy!
Carpe Diet!

Antioxidant Power in Blackberries

Blackberries' health properties touted...

When we start to wake up to the fact that foods with high antioxidant properties are the ones that will save us from sickness and disease, only then will we reduce our health care costs, live a higher quality of life, and enjoy more of life than ever before.

Unfortunately, the marketplace continues to offer us unhealthy foods that are filled with chemicals, very addictive and fatty, and offer litle in the way of nutrition. Just an extra two pieces of fruit and/or vegetables a day would make a big difference in the quality of health for most people.

If you have the ability to add some foods with high antioxidant properties - like blackberries - or the nutrients from such foods, then do so. You will be supporting your health in more ways than you will be able to see or feel.

Carpe Diet!

Gym Memberships, Diets and the Obesity Pandemic--what works?

This time of year many people join gyms, sign up for membership contracts and vow to go "every day!", BUT will YOU join one and will you still be using your membership one year from now, that is what I care about! so, some tips to make sure you do!

BEFORE you join:

1. Visit and work out at least once at any gym you're interested in joining. If possible, get a free pass or a short membership that will let you visit for a week or two. That will give you the chance to find out whether the location, hours, and class schedule work for you.

2. Ask about all the fees, including sign-up fees. Find out whether the monthly rate they give you is an introductory rate or the permanent rate. Ask whether you can have a discount if you pay in a lump sum, instead of monthly. Ask your friends if any of their gyms have referral discounts. It's a good time of year to spot some bargains among gyms that are hoping to sign up everybody who has made a New Year's resolution to exercise. Don't be afraid to try a little negotiating if you know that a competitor is offering a better deal.

3. If you're uncertain whether a certain gym is right for you, resist the urge to fall for demands that you must sign up immediately to get this "once-in-a-lifetime, limited, bargain-basement" offer. If you haven't had time to understand the terms of the agreement, you may sign up for something you'll later regret. If the gym is a reputable business, it'll want you as a customer whether you sign up right this second or think it over for a few days.

4. Look around for other discounts. Some employers will subsidize part of their employees' gym memberships. A few doctors have even jumped on that bandwagon, arranging discounts for their patients to help keep them healthy.

5. Make sure you understand the terms of your contract, including its length and the terms of its renewal. Some may renew automatically, on a monthly or annual basis. Ask also whether you can cancel the contract before it ends and whether you would pay any penalties for doing so. Think twice about any contract that lasts longer than a year. Your life may change a lot in 12 months, making any one gym less attractive.

6. Once you get in the routine of going, keep going. You'll get the most out of your membership if you become a regular user. If you want a little motivation, figure out what you're paying on average for each visit. Then, when you're tempted to sit on the couch and watch TV, you can remind yourself just how much money you're wasting by skipping a session.

7. Use the free stuff that frequently comes with a membership. Often you'll get a few sessions with a personal trainer. Try out all the classes. Make a little time to relax in the sauna. The more you get out of the experience, the more you'll be motivated to keep coming back.

8. Lastly, ask yourself whether an all-purpose gym is the right place for you. Gyms can be great for aerobic equipment, group classes, and weight training. If you'd rather devote yourself to yoga, swimming, or karate, you may be better off spending your money specifically on those pursuits. If you do what you love, you'll be more motivated to keep it up.

OK, now you have joined the gym. Good for you, but how do get from having signed on the dotted line to being a 'regular'?

At the gym I go to, every January I notice faces of new people and see them at every class every day of the first week or two of the month, then I see them a few days the next week, then maybe once or twice the 4th week and by February, they are all but gone. It's a shame.

Do you know why this happens? Because the person tries to do TOO MUCH TOO SOON! While it is admireable to want the weight off NOW and to vow to "do it" this time....the reality is that change is hard and the best way to do it is gradually, almost sneaking change up on yourself and then suddenly you are different!

I advise those seeking my help to go about their transformation slowly but gradually! Yes, you are paying full dues for the month of January, February and March to the gym and want to get the most out of your money, BUT if you committ to going 2 times the first week and again the second week, and to only doing 5-10 minutes on the treadmill--but DO IT. And then in the 3rd week increasing it by 5 minutes and adding one day.....and so on, by the end of Feruary you can be going consistently 3-4 times a week and realistically be up to 30 minutes of cardio or more, but IF today you get winded walking down the driveway, how realistic is it to think you can attend a step class for one hour EVERY DAY this week?

If you are mostly inactive now, vow to stop using the scooter for your quick errands.

Vow to park 2-3 parking spaces further way and walk more.

Probably the most important thing that you could do at this point is to get a pedometer and wear it! See what YOUR steps are (if you have 100+ to lose, your count will probably be under 2000 a day), and then make it a game with yourself to try to do a few more steps tomorrow than you did today, and keep going until you get to 10,000 a day consistently by the END of the year, not by tomorrow!

You MAY want to even consider NOT joining that gym until May when at that point you will be ready to use it!

It is not important how quickly you realize your goal, it matters that you realize it and live healthy!!

It would be great if you send me an email your starting pedometer reading and let me cheer you all on to the finish line! You can also sign up for FREE daily emails on from me at http://www.juliahavey.com/ you will get daily support, money saving offers and more!

Carpe Diet!
Julia Havey

Diet Pill claims misleading!? Lifestyle change is the only way to lose weight.

Just in from Washington: The Federal Trade Commission fined the marketers of four weight loss pills $25 million for making false advertising claims ranging from rapid weight loss to reducing the risk of cancer.

FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said the products would remain on store shelves, but that the companies would have to stop making the false claims.

Majoras cautioned the estimated 70 million Americans trying to lose weight not to turn to pills. “You’re not going to find weight loss in a bottle of pills,” she said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16467558/

Well, knock me over with a feather!

One of these fined products overed me $25,000 to use my before/after pictures in an ad campaign, even after my informing them that I never used their product and that it hadn't been part of my weight loss. They said "that's ok, we have a disclaimer on all of our ads that says: results not typical!"

Typical?!

Seventy million people are trying to lose weight in our country at any given moment, over 65% are considered overweight and 33% are considered MORBIDLY obese yet despite the 45Billion spent on diet pills, plans, potions and products, American waistlines continue to increase.

Why is that?

(At the summit w/ Dr. Mehmet Oz)

At the ABC News/Time magazine Obesity Summit, many of my collegues argued which diet was the solution to Obesity and weight loss. Dr. Arthur Agatston argued the South Beach Diet was the best, Dr. Dean Ornish argued that vegetarian eating was the best, Dr. David L. Katz argued that sound nutrition was the best and Dr. Traegar argued that the Atkins Diet was the best. They were very heated and passionate about needing to solve the Obesity Pandemic and the ONLY thing they agreed upon was that what is missing from the diet equation is "lasting lifestyle change". Even my beloved eDiets offers 23 different diet to choose from, but any diet will only work if a person sticks with it and their own survey shows that 38% of dieters break their diet DAILY and 33% break their diets weekly to consume their "Vice foods"--so we know without changing one's lifestyle and busting your vices permanently any diet is doomed to fail.

That is what my program offers. Lasting lifestyle change, real result and NO hype! No pills, no false promises and no gimmicks. It isn't sexy. It doesn't offer 20 pounds off in 2 weeks and it doesn't say you can "still eat all the foods you love and lose weight", and it certainly doesn't say 'reverse' your diet by eat spagetti for breakfast and an egg mcmuffin for dinner and lose weight! These are all fads and gimmicks and won't offer lasting change.

If you want lasting change and the truth, there is only one place to get it! http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/ . Dr. Mehmet Oz said recently when interviewing me on his Oprah & Friends radio program that "he especially likes the way that I address the emotional aspect of the weight loss journey" and that "the best person to offer weight loss advice is someone who has done it and kept it off" like me!

And, if you do want to supplement your diet with effective products and provide nutritional value - not ridiculous promises - you can without the hype! Visit JPsupplement.com to learn more!

Dog-gone Diet! - Grab a Leash!

This just in from The Institute for a Lack of Common Sense: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer Inc. approval Friday to market the world's first prescription obesitydrug specifically geared toward dogs.

The drug, called Slentrol, reduces a dog's appetite as well as fat absorption to produce a slimmed-down canine, according to federal drug officials. Veterinarians will determine whether a dog is overweight and in need of the new Obesity drug, FDA officials said.

Vets typically consider a dog to be overweight if its weight is 20 percent more than its ideal weight. Experts now say that about 5 percent of this nation's dogs are obese, while another 20 to 30 percent are considered overweight.

Has Fluffy been eating too many scoops of healthy dog food or is the dog getting table scraps, lounges around all day, and heck, maybe even drinks Coke!

OK, call me cynical but might it be what the dog's owners are feeding the dog or how little the dog is getting exercised that is the problem, rather than some pill deficiency that necessitates having to give it a drug?

Gosh, might that even be part of the overweight human solution too? Less/better nutritional value food and more exercise? Or do we wait until drug companies come up with the new "fat" pill sure to "cure" us?

Do us all a favor, and yourself--if your dog is fat, take it for a nice walk every day and you will both trim down--with or without a miracle pill!

Oprah and Friends Radio - The Vice Busting Diet

When Master Motivator Julia Griggs Havey says that giving up just one bad eating habit can help you change your life forever, she is speaking from experience. Unlike many of weight-loss advisors out there who can do little more than talk the talk, Julia has personally completed the journey from being overweight to looking great… one small step at a time.

Get a copy of Julia's newest book for FREE copy, go to http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/ and get Julia's entire 26-week motivational program.

Loyal diet readers already know how this popular columnist and best-selling author made the remarkable transformation from being morbidly obese to winning the crown at the 1999 Mrs. Missouri pageant. Julia lost more than 130 pounds, and perhaps more importantly, she has managed to keep that extra weight off for more than 10 years now. Before writing her own success story though, Julia took a detour and tried just about every fad diet and weight-loss gimmick available.

“I think that what happened to me is what is happening to the whole country,” Julia tells Dr. Oz. “We’re dieting ourselves into a state of obesity.”

In her books, syndicated articles and frequent motivational seminars Julia regularly bares her soul to overweight women in hopes that they won’t make the same mistakes she did. After years of helping other people lose weight, Julia has come to the conclusion that the answer to the obesity problem in the United States lies with each of us overcoming our diet vices.

“It is important to eliminate the foods that control us,” Julia says. “I spent 15 years dieting, and all the foods I shouldn't have been eating were still out there tempting me.”

According to Julia’s definition, a diet vice is any habitual action that is keeping you from reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. For example, if you eat a dozen chocolate-chip cookies every day at noon, Julia says you can rest assured that cookies are one of your major diet vices. Though she struggled with many different diet vices though the years, eating ice cream was the most difficult one for Julia to overcome.

In fact, at one time in her life, she admits to polishing off as much as a half gallon of ice cream every single night. Julia finally gave up eating ice cream completely and found other ways to reward herself, such as getting a manicure. Now that she has made it her mission in life to help other people achieve a healthier lifestyle, Julia encourages everyone to take control of their food choices.

"We need to bust our vices," says Julia. "It is important to eliminate the foods that control us."

To help you break your worst food habits, Julia’s newest book The Vice-Busting Diet provides a 12-week approach to help you change the way you eat. Julia doesn’t subscribe to the long-held belief in the diet industry that you can eat the foods you love and still lose weight. She says it is often easier to abstain than to beat your head against the wall trying to eat your favorite foods in moderation. After all, Julia reasons that if most people could eat the things they love in moderation, we wouldn’t have a pandemic of obesity.

Get a copy of Julia's newest book by click here. For a FREE copy, go to http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/ and get Julia's entire 26-week motivational program.

“Deprivation is not living without certain foods but living with them and being deprived of your true health and happiness,” Julia says.

In an online survey to 14 million dieters, 91 percent of the respondents admitted to having one or more diet vices. Julia says chips, candy, soft drinks, pizza and ice cream were identified as the most common ones. More than 70 percent of the respondents with a food vice admitted their dieting efforts were knocked off track either daily or weekly due to cravings for these foods.

"People turn to food when they are depressed," Julia says. "And, some people eat because they are feeling lonely. The problem is that the minute you have finished that last bit of Twinkie, you are still lonely. However, now you are also angry with yourself."

Now, in this exclusive Oprah & Friends interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Julia reveals the three most common diet vices:

Can the Soft Drinks:

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, carbonated soft drinks are “the biggest source of refined sugars in the American diet.” In fact, The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) reports that the average American consumes more than 53 gallons of soft drinks every year.

“Most people don’t believe that soft drinks could possibly be the reason they are overweight,” Julia says. “Especially when beautiful people like Britney Spears appear on soda ads.”

Slow Down on Fast Food:

According to statistics from the U.S. Foodservice Industry, there are at least a quarter of a million fast-food restaurants in this great nation of ours. And more of them are being built all the time. In fact, the number of fast-food restaurants in this country more than doubled between the years 1972 and 1995.

“I was completely hooked on fast food,” Julia admits. “It kept the kids happy, but it was just a snack for me. Then I would go home and eat another meal.”

Step Away From the Television:

According to the latest research, the average American watches at least four hours of television every day. Though TV definitely has its place, Julia says sitting in front of the boob tube shouldn’t take up more than a quarter of our waking hours.

“I was completely hooked on television,” Julia says. “I used to live to see the Emmy Awards and the movies of the week. Now, I don’t allow myself to watch television unless I have done my exercise for the day.”

Julia invites anyone who is currently struggling to take off extra weight or rebuild self-esteem to email her. She says the average person who visits her website has spent at least 20 years dieting.

"The reason that past weight loss attempts may not have worked is that you probably tried to do too much too fast,” Julia says. “Slow and gradual changes lead to huge weight loss over time. Most popular diets are the hare, but my approach is the tortoise. Just remember who wins the race in the end.”

To order your copy of Julia’s newest book and start the race for yourself, click here.

For a FREE copy, go to http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/ and get Julia's entire 26-week motivational program.

Motivation is the Key to Weight Loss Success!

There are many facets to losing weight and getting fit, but there are some basic elements that must be present to reach your goal. Read this article from Forbes.com: 'Motivation is the Key to Keeping Resolutions'. And read on here...

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1. The first among these is the desire to change. This desire to change only comes with strong enough reasons. Those reasons will be found when you answer WHY you want to change until you can't come up with any more 'WHYs' to your wanting to change. Losing weight is great, and great for improving your health, and increasing your energy, but WHY do you want better health and more energy. Then ask yourself WHY to those answers. Keep following this exercise until you can't go any further. This exercise will provide you the motivation to get going.


2. The second thing you need is a plan that is doable. The people who have attained a level of success in any area of their life did not do it overnight and certainly don't stop "doing" when they get "there". The actions required to sustain this level - in any area of life, including health and fitness - are more advanced and more complicated than when you started, although they won't seem harder or more complicated once you get "there". The plan you have must be gradual for several reasons, two of which are: 1) so you don't get overwhelmed and want to quit; and 2) so you do something everyday which keeps you more involved and connected to the long-term goal.


3. The last thing that must be present is ongoing motivation. Your motivation and desire needs to be reinforced by reviewing your goals and your reasons WHY you embarked on this journey, on a regular basis, and sometimes even updated. Also your motivation will be supported by rewarding yourself for reaching smaller goals along the way to a longer-term goal.

There are some other elements to maintaining your success that are covered in the Online Vice Busting Diet Program which are just as important, since reaching a goal should not be the objective, but growing, learning, and continuing forward and reaching more goals so that you never slip back and lose everything (or in the case of weight, gain everything back!).

If you want a step-by-step plan for losing weight and changing your life to improve your health and fitness that motivates you from start to finish, then check out the Online Vice Busting Diet Program.

Carpe Diet!
Juia
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Sticks and Stones can break bones, but words can keep you FAT!

Before you get upset with the No Fat Chicks image, please note that it is the word FAT that I am discussing in this blog, not a person!

You may be familiar with my "10 Adjectives " lesson; for those who are, use this as a refresher course, for those who are hearing it for the first time--listen up!

I ask women to tell me 10 adjectives that they would use to describe themself. Take a moment and jot down 10 of your own right now. 10 words that you would use to describe yourself.

Are you doing it? come on, even if you have done it before, do it now to see where you are at today...... Come on now........10 words, 10 descriptive adjectives.

1. ___________________________



2. ___________________________



3. ___________________________



4. ___________________________



5. ___________________________



6. ___________________________



7. ___________________________



8. ___________________________



9. ___________________________



10. ___________________________

Got them down? Great. Now, read them. Does your list include any words that describe your physical appearance? Words such as "FAT"? If you read back, you will see that I did NOT ask you to tell what you LOOK like, but rather to describe yourself--WHO you are matters so much more than what you LOOK like when defining yourself which is exactly what this exercise is about; defining WHO you are, describing yourself.

If you are stuck on how you LOOK, stuck on the FAT on your body and allow it to define you; your journey to realize change is going to be a very difficult uphill battle because you are allowing FAT to be a personality trait rather than a physical condition that is easily changed.

Ever meet a person with personality issues? They can be very frustrating to deal with and I am sure it isn't much easier for them. I can think of one such person who has spent YEARS in therapy trying to come to terms with her narsistic personality traits. Sometimes WHO you are is just WHO you are; but FAT is not in any way WHO you are and it can be changed!!! Does this make sense to you?

My favorite story to illustrate why it makes so much sense to me and why I make you go through this exercise is this: A woman from NYC emailed me her list of 10 adjectives: FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT! That is WHO she saw herself as and was very upset with me when I tossed her words out and said she had to redo them and tell me about HER, about WHO she is. She corrected me and said that IS "who" she is. She told me that she was in a play off Broadway and every day went to work, bent her butt over to the audience while her co-star fanned his hand to it saying "her heart's as big as Texas" and the entire audience would laugh--at her, at the size of her butt. She was humiliated, FAT and hated it. Well, I said that may be, but that I need to learn more about HER and who she is, not just what her body looked like. So, after 2 weeks of hating me and cursing me and crying everytime she sat and tried to type a new list, she finally came up with a new one: Magical, gifted, spiritual, loving, talented, determined, loyal, sensitive,... WOW! Side by side, you would NEVER in a million years guess the 2 lists were from the same person much less in the span of only 2 weeks! Was she still overweight when she wrote the 2nd list? Did she still have "fat" on her body which needed addressing? Sure, of course she did--but she was immediately changed for the better when she realized that WHO she was matters far more than WHAT she LOOKS like. She went on to lose a great deal of weight and is successfully keeping it off. I believe it is because she stopped defining herself as FAT and started defining herself with more empowering words.

Many of the women who seek out my advice use the word FAT when inintially describing or defining themselves. I think that HOW we view ourselves, the words we choose to define ourselves without a doubt affect the outcome of not only our lives, but our weight loss journey.

If a stranger on the street called me FAT I would cry. If a loved one called me FAT I would be very upset with them. If I called myself FAT, I would believe it and become depressed about the appearance of my body and likely eat one of my vices in a futile attempt at comforting my hurt feelings. So, if you think your body has fat on it, take some steps towards changing your habits that support that fat. If you think "YOU" are FAT, it's time to take an inventory and discover WHO you really are and define yourself in an empowering way, with words that are more likely to lift you up rather than drag you down. I think that way you will be more likely to lose weight rather than just be perpetually starting another diet !

My challenge to you is to be very careful how you define yourself, because those words really do effect the outcome of your "diet" and the changes that you will see. If you are "FAT" going into your weight loss journey , odds are you are going to stay FAT. But, if your fat is simply a physical condition to be dealt with; it is likely that it will be!