Five Funky Food Facts

(This article has been updated as of Dec 4, 2020. Covid has now dramatically accelerated the already growing trend toward online wellness coaching and age group-specific guidance on healthy habits. To address these needs directly I have launched a comprehensive online program for Boomers like me with my longtime colleague and favorite healthy eating expert , Anne Moselle, R.D. Check it out here.)

Last week we covered some exercise tips to make keeping a workout program robust and sharp as convenient as possible. Here are some tactics to do the same for your food strategy:

• Drink only water or tea when you’re thirsty. Save the caloric beverages for nutrition (milk, vegetable juice, smoothies) or pure enjoyment (noting the surplus calories mindfully). Breaking the association of hydration with a particular taste/texture combination can go a long way toward minimizing high calorie concentrations consumed very quickly.
• Always go into a meal hydrated so you’re not trying to satisfy both hunger and thirst with the same meal. We often crave high water content or fatty meals when we actually just need a glass of water.
• Stepping up the percentage of veggies of your total intake is the most consequential improvement (after staying hydrated throughout the day) most people can make. An easy way to do that is to drink vegetable juice, eat a few pieces of raw cut veggies or have a little salad before each meal.
• Do the above, then wait five minutes before having the rest of the meal, noting how much less you really feel like you need.
• If you follow the two steps above, try eating half of what you normally eat, then wait another five minutes. If you’re still hungry, eat a piece of fruit. Think you’re still hungry? Wait another ten and have tea or decaf coffee. If you still want to eat after all that, it’s likely that hunger’s not the real issue…

Dan Taylor, ACE, NASM-CPT, is owner and head trainer at Pleasanton-based Tri Valley Trainer. They provide personal training and small group fitness solutions at their studio and a premium, innovative, medically endorsed web-based group coaching wellness program for the over-fifty tribe.