Eating tips help with diet

Coach U offers personal self-help advice on the Internet for all areas of life at www.topten.org.

The following list was taken from their Top 10 Ways to Eat Success:

• Nourish yourself.

If it feels like a diet, it probably is. Most diets do not work or if they do, it is a temporary fix. You are forcing yourself to eat things that you would not normally eat and in a way that is contrary to what you have been practicing. When shifting the emphasis to nutrition, rather than a diet, you can accomplish a lifestyle that is healthy and satisfying for you.

• Eat, write, eat and write.

Write everything you are eating until you have established a way of eating that is comfortable for you. This will bring you in relationship to what you are actually eating, keep you conscious of it and establish a structure for managing yourself and your food.

• Taste test.

If you are going to just throw it down the hatch and make it disappear as quickly as possible, you may as well save yourself the calories and eat sprouts. If you truly want to be satisfied then take a taste first.

If you like it, chew it. If you really like it, chew it some more. If you really like it, savor it. If you don't like it, spit it out.

• Treat yourself.

If your body says I want chocolate, then have a piece of chocolate. Once you establish a relationship with your body and food, you will know who is doing the talking -- your little voice or your body.

• Balancing act.

Look at your plate and notice how your food is balanced. Do you have a piece of meat, fish or chicken, one starch and one vegetable or salad? Does your plate look appealing or does it just look like a mess of food hiding your plate? Be creative with placement and color. Dress your plate up with variety and moderation.

• Am I really hungry?

Ask yourself this question every time you reach for something to eat that's not at mealtime. Most of the time people eat because of some sort of emotion or feeling like boredom, frustration, anger or loneliness. Don't feed your mind games.

• Skip not, want not.

Don't starve yourself and don't skip meals. Eating small nutritious portions every 3 to 4 hours will actually promote weight loss. When you neglect eating, you lose energy and hinder your well being or end up overcompensating and gaining weight.

• Measure down.

Don't weight yourself every day. This will lead to frustration and discouragement. Your body doesn't react immediately to what you are feeding it and/or you may be retaining a couple of extra pounds in water weight.

• Shopping savvy.

Having enough food for a week eliminates eating the wrong things or grabbing food out of convenience.

• Walk (exercise) what you eat.

It is essential to keep your body in tune. Pick an activity you enjoy and try to work at it every day. Walking is the easiest and least expensive activity around and is good for your heart and physique.

Kim Springer and her husband, Mike, are Certified Personal Trainers and owners of Springer Training. They can be reached at 233-9442 or at their Web site www.springertraining.com.