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Whatever happened to just enjoying food, in moderation, without guilt? Following are some ideas from around the globe that reveal how it's possible...

 

Stop eating before you're full. The Okinawins (Japan), whose average Body Mass Index (BMI) is 21.5 for those who eat a traditional diet, call this 'hara hachi bu', or eating until you're 80 percent full. Of course, we're not suggesting that you leave the table hungry. But eating until the buttons on your clothes pop stretches the stomach by about 20 percent each time you do it, so you inevitably need more food to feel satisfied, explains Bradley Willcox, M.D., co-author of "The Okinawa Diet Plan". He says that putting your fork down "when you feel that first twinge of fullness" gives your brain a chance to realize that you are full before you overdo it. Apparently, there is a time-delay between when you are actually full and when the message reaches your brain from your stomach.

 

Drizzle on the healthy oils. Healthy fats like olive oil, a staple of Okinawans, make vegetables tastier, so you're likely to eat more of them. And, as we know, eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits is key to maintaining a healthy weight.

 

When you're eating, just eat. No other cultures multitask meals the way people in the English-speaking world do with our TV dinners, fast-food drive-throughs, and grab 'n' go food that's designed to fit into a car cup holder and be eaten with one hand. In Japan, it's considered rude to eat while walking. And you'll never catch the French gulping coffee in the car. "In France, there are no car cup holders because you don't drink coffee while driving," explains Will Clower, author of "The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss". "Eating and drinking aren't errands. It's not what you do on the way to something else." Good advice. When you're distracted by work, traffic, or the television, you're apt to overeat without even realizing it, notes Dean Ornish, author of "Eat More, Weigh Less". "If you really pay more attention to what you're eating, you enjoy it more fully and don't need as much food."

 

Get moving. People in Asian countries, France, and the Mediterranean tend to be more slim because they're more active. Not that they spend hours at the gym; they simply walk a lot.

 

Enjoy regular meals. One reason French women don't get fat is because French women eat three meals a day. You may think skipping meals cuts calories, but all it does is evoke a primal 'fear of hunger response' that causes overeating later, explains Doctor David Katz, author of "The Way to Eat". "Throughout most of our [human] history, we had too little to eat. So when you go for long periods without eating, you stir up all that native programming, which says eat like crazy when you can, because all too often you can't." Start with breakfast. Studies show that breakfast eaters are slimmer than skippers.

 

Dine with others. Eating with family or friends (versus eating alone in your car, at your desk, or on the couch) is part and parcel of traditional cultures. Not only does camaraderie make the meal more enjoyable, it's slimming. "Eating with others restrains your own behavior," notes Doctor Katz. "You eat more slowly, which increases the likelihood that you'll register when you're full before you've eaten more than you should."

 

Chow down only when you're hungry. Overweight people tend to eat for all sorts of reasons besides hunger, especially from boredom, loneliness, stress, or fear. "You can't make food the solution to every issue in your life and expect to be thin," says Doctor Katz. "If you eat from boredom, find a hobby. If you eat to relieve stress, learn mediation or yoga." Or custom-design a physical exercise program as a replacement for the habit of eating at the wrong times: walking, swimming, aerobics, and free-weight lifting are good ways to begin.

 

Be sure you get a good night's sleep, without interruptions. Recent studies have linked obesity to not getting a full night of sleep regularly.

 

You probably have several good ideas of your own about losing and maintaining good healthy weight - it's just a matter of implementing them gradually into your life and sticking with them. Remember, you are capable of anything.

 

:-) :-) :-)

Here are some guidelines for buying and using a walker:

 

Your steadiness should determine the model. Though one type might be easier to push, it could be unsafe if you move quickly or act impulsively.

 

The old aluminum type with rubber tips on all four legs requires strong arms and could be too difficult for people with arthritis. Because that type is noisy, installing gliders or tennis balls on back legs makes these models quieter and easier to use. Make sure all four legs hit the ground at once.

 

Wheels on the back legs are good if you need support but have relatively good balance.

 

Though some people find the three-wheelers easier to steer, they are a little less sturdy. If you have trouble balancing and are putting a lot of weight on your walker, stick with four wheels.

 

All walkers should have a pouch or tray so you can keep both hands on the appliance.

 

Whatever you use, pay attention to where you're going. With physical changes in your body, walking is no longer automatic.

 

Start walking with your feet even with the back legs of the walker and step into it. Don't hit the front with your body.

 

Use a comfortable stride without shuffling.

 

If your walker has a seat, flip it up when you're walking.

 

Stand as straight as you can. Relax your shoulders.

 

To check the height of your walker, stand straight with your hands hanging at your sides. Your wrists should be level with the handles. Even so, the best height for you is one that's comfortable.

 

Pay attention when you walk through doorways or around corners so you don't catch your back wheels. When you are opening a heavy door, turn your walker sideways, hold on to it with one hand, and use your free hand to push. Better yet, ask for help.

 

You might want to have more than one walker. For example, one with a basket on the front might be helpful for shopping, and one that collapses, or folds up, would be nice to have when traveling by bus, plane, or taxicab.

For most folks, a nice hug and some sympathy can help a bit after we get pushed around. Turns out, chimpanzees use hugs and kisses the same way.

And it works. Researchers studying people's closest genetic relatives found that stress was reduced in chimps that were victims of aggression if a third chimp stepped in to offer consolation.

"Consolation usually took the form of a kiss or embrace," said Doctor Orlaith N. Fraser of the Research Center in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

"This is particularly interesting," she said, "because this behavior is rarely seen other than after a conflict."

"If a kiss was used, the consoler would press his or her open mouth against the recipient's body, usually on the top of the head or their back. An embrace consisted of the consoler wrapping one or both arms around the recipient."

The result was a reduction of stress behavior such as scratching or self-grooming by the victim of aggression, Fraser and collegues report in today's edition (17 June 2008) of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Doctor Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta said the study is important because it shows the relationship between consolation and stress reduction. Previous researchers have claimed that consolation had no effect on stress, said de Waal, who was not part of Fraser's research team.

"This study removes doubt that consolation really does what the term suggests: provide relief to distressed parties after conflict. The evidence is compelling and makes it likely that consolation behavior is an expression of empathy," de Waal said.

De Waal suggested that this evidence of empathy in apes is "perhaps equivalent to what in human children is called 'sympathetic concern.'"

That behavior in children includes touching and hugging of distressed family members and "is in fact identical to that of apes, and so the comparison is not far-fetched," he added.

There is also suggestive evidence of such behavior in large-brained birds and dogs, said Fraser, but it has not yet been shown that it reduces stress levels in those animals.

Previous research on conflict among chimps concentrated on cases where there is reconcilliation between victim and agressor, with little attention to intervention by a third party.

Fraser and collegues studied a group of chimps at the Chester Zoo in England from January 2005 to September 2006, recording instances of aggression such as a bite, hit, rush, trample, chase, or threat.

The results show that "chimpanzees calm distressed recipients of aggression by consoling them with a friendly gesture," Fraser said.

Consoluation was most likely to occur between chimpanzees who already had valuable relationships, she added.

The research was supported by the Leakey Trust.

Article by Randolph E. Schmid. 17 June 2008. Associated Press.