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Featured Dilemma:
I am in need of free diet plans. Can you provide me with web sites that provide them?
Thanks, On A Budget
Dear On A Budget,
I have been following free diet plans even before I needed to lose weight. What comes to mind, excuse the pun, is there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Have you heard of the free Grapefruit Diet?
Or the free Cabbage Soup Diet?
Or the free Hollywood Diet?
Or the free Maple Syrup Diet?
Or the free Cookie Diet?
Or the free Apple Cider Vinegar Diet?
Using common sense, there is only one free diet plan that really works.
Lose one pound of body weight by reducing 3500 calories. The calorie deficit may either be achieved by less food, increased activity or both. If you lose at a greater rate than 1-2 pounds per week, you are losing water and not fat. You WILL see a regain when you quit following your "free plan."
Nobody, but nobody loves the word free more than me, but I value most my freedom to chose wisdom.
Proverbs 10:13 "On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense." 
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
Dear Diet Editor,
I am so new to dieting and the way I am doing it, along with a friend, is to take in between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. I have divided up the calories into different numbers of meals per day, switched to lower calorie foods, but now I have a question.
If I don't eat all day, can I go to a buffet and have a large meal? As nice as it sounds, it doesn't sound right. It doesn't seem healthy. Do I need a different plan? Or is it ok to do this if I only do it maybe once a week?
Thanks! Darla
Dear Darla,
Your calorie range is good and if you would so desire once a week, or less frequently, to have one large meal of that amount of calories, you could technically do that. That would be your "treat" day. If you still stayed in your calorie range, it would be acceptable. It is not recommended on a regular basis, but I also have done this. If you have a very important outing to go to which revolves around food, you can sip on broth or bullion throughout the day, and save your calories for that luncheon or dinner that you are attending. No one need notice that you are on a diet, or say incredibly dumb things like, "You just have to try this, and I won't take no for an answer." Learn to budget your calories as wisely as you steward your finances. Any good plan done, with flexibility factored in, will keep you from straying from your diet.
Luk 12:42 "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?"
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
Hi Editor,
I was wondering if you knew anything about the herbal supplement called Hoodia? I had someone at the gym tell me that it really helped to curb a person's appetite.
Hoodia Or Hoodwinked?
Dear H or H?,
I get spammed about it all the time. Herbs in itself is not a harmful thing UNLESS it adversely interacts with another medication we might be on! Be aware there are more than 30 derivatives of Hoodia on the market now, so that it is more than likely you are not purchasing, or cannot afford the pure herb.
I am leery of what they will find down the line in the future. Just because it is on the market, does not mean there will not be a FDA recall at some later date. Look at Phen Phen as a dangerous example of a "harmless" weight loss supplement. Look at how Dexatrim was recalled and to make their product viable again, they had to create instead a whole new herbal based product. I don't hear rants about that anymore for "curbing appetites". Diet supplements are an amazing 35 billion dollar a year industry. Sufficient water daily is the ultimate appetite suppressant, and they haven't slam dunked that ever.
John 4:10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
Hello,
I can easily lose my weight but the medications I am taking is preventing me from doing so. I take asthmanex from my asthma, but I am also a diabetic. My blood sugars run low without my medications so I find myself needing to eat just to keep my blood sugars up.
Bridget
Dear Bridget,
You may not drop pounds as fast, but you can lose weight. There are medications that are associated with weight gain, but the trick is to cut back on calories and to increase activity. In fact, nutrionalists are now recommending 5-6 small meals a day for optimum health, boosting metabolism, and weight loss. You are so right about needing to eat [small] frequent meals for diabetes. Fresh fruits and vegetables would be very helpful for you. There is hope when you do educate yourself with knowledge of health foods that are not nutritiously dense for losing weight in your situation.
Healthy diabetic eating includes:
Limiting sweets
Eating often
Being careful about when and how many carbohydrates you eat
Eating lots of whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables
Eating less fat
Limiting your use of alcohol
This is a very wise plan for ALL dieters!
Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
Dear Editor,
Isn't hunger a God given feeling and fullness, too? That's what I've been reading about and trying to follow. Should we ignore hunger to lose weight? Even when I was going to a weight loss program I was hungry a lot. But in the end I think it backfires because eventually your body can't take it anymore. And I notice if you let yourself get really hungry you eat too fast and too much. So where's the happy medium?
Hungry Girl
Dear Hungry Girl,
I am wondering if you are not confusing appetite for hunger? Excess weight is from feeding the appetite extravagantly. If hunger and fullness is God given, surely the fruit of self-control is more so. If we are looking at diet, rather than lifestyle change nothing will last long term. Lifestyle change, and it is possible, is retraining the appetite to not be so demanding. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full." You will be training your tummy and appetite to be satisfied with smaller portions, which in return, will cause weight loss that can be permanent.
Ecc 6:7 "All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
editor,
I want to start learning to count my calories. Is there a beginners way of doing it--something easy, not complicated?This will be a whole new challenge for me, a new way to eat and learning to say no to things. I bought a calorie book but it has brand name foods in it. I want one that doesn't have brand names I guess.This weight is not going to come off unless I make more changes.n
Dear n,
I am so glad to see you understand the importance of tracking calories and are seeking knowledge in this area.
The best (paperback) book I ever bought before becoming sophisticated with software for tracking was "The Complete Book Of Food Counts" by Corinne T. Netzer. In fact, I found it at a K-Mart. It also contains figures of nutrients as well as listing generic foods, fast foods and brand names. It is touted as "The largest, most complete compilation of essential food data ever published." And of course, sticking to my principles of frugality, it was reasonably priced.
Job 36:3 "I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker."
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
Hello,
I have a really hard time with sweets. My trigger foods that get me on a binge are chocolate, cookies and cake. Sound familiar? I am praying a lot about my weight and I really feel God leading me to give up sweets with maybe a treat once a week and if I go crazy in between have unsweetened pudding or ice pops. I am kind of desperate to lose weight. Have any encouragement?
Karyn
Dear Karyn,
I have had a great deal to say about sweets through the years. We know the form we are accustomed to as refined sugar is not a good thing. Yet, I believe that is a great reason for weight gain, next to immoderate portion's at meals. Giving up sweets, if you know you consume too much in your daily diet, is just a beginning step on your weight loss journey, and it is a good start so that I commend you. And yes, allow yourself moderate treats because if you do not, you will become frustrated and just throw in the towel on the whole idea of dieting.
Refined sugar, as we know it, is not all that good for us. It certainly is not a drug, but for some it is an "addiction" which does lead to binges. We eat it because the body has grown accustomed to the temporary energy boosts it gives, and then when our energy spike plummets, we are back at it again. Sounds "junkie" like, doesn't it?
Your plan is good to find acceptable substitutes. Keep on-hand fresh fruits. You are going to be amazed in a few short weeks how very sweet fruit and natural juices do taste when you don't have unnatural products clouding your taste buds. Reports vary that the typical American consumes from 40-150 pounds per year of sugar. Low end or high end of that study, should be enough to alarm us.
Pro 25:16 "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it."
Diet Editor
Featured Dilemma:
editor,
How does everyone decide on a goal weight? Somewhere I read that it is 100 lb for 5 ft. and 5 lb for every inch of height after that for women. Any other ideas?Thanks,Carol
Dear Carol,
That is what a standard chart suggests: The ideal weight for a woman who is exactly 5 feet tall is 100 pounds. For every additional inch above 5 feet, add five pounds. If you are shorter than 5 feet tall, subtract five pounds for every inch you measure below 5 feet. The ideal weight for a man who is exactly 5 feet tall is 106 pounds. For every additional inch above 5 feet, add 6 pounds.
What the chart does not consider is 1) your body frame size (small, medium, large), 2) your age, 3) your activities, and 4) medical recommendations. If you were a body builder or into extreme sports, it is obvious this is not an accurate chart. As you lose body fat and replace it with muscle mass, you will note the ability to carry more weight on your frame. If you have determined through the wrist measurement test that you are not medium framed, you must make an adjustment. Get out your tape measurer. If your wrist measures less than 6 inches, subtract 10 percent from your ideal weight. If your wrist measures more than 6 inches, add 10 percent to your ideal weight. As we age we no longer can retain a "low-normal" range as in our high school or college days and may consider a "high-normal" range. And most important factor of all is to ask your doctor's opinion if you have a medical condition which may factor in. Set a realistic "Ideal Weight" goal for your body, and when you do achieve it, you can then determine whether you want to fine tune it further.
1Sa 17:4 "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span."
Diet Editor