Would you believe me if I told you that knowing the answer to one simple question could improve your chances for weight loss success by up to 100%? Well, it’s true. Here’s the question:

Which of the following is the single most important factor in long-term weight loss success?

A. Calorie Counting
B. Regular Exercise
C. Starting your sentences with the pronoun “I”
D. Both a and b

The correct answer to this question is: C—starting your sentences with the pronoun “I”.

Here’s why it’s so important:

You already know that to lose weight, you must eat fewer calories and burn more through exercise. But if just knowing this was enough to drop the pounds, you wouldn’t be sitting here reading this. You’d be off flaunting your incredible body in that new swimsuit you’ve got your eye on. Or doing something—anything—but reading about how to lose weight. There’s a big difference between knowing what to do, and knowing how to do it.

People who succeed at doing what needs to be done are people who have mastered the art of defining problems accurately, and choosing (and implementing) effective solutions.

You can master this art by starting your sentences with “I” statements.

Here’s how this works. If you have persistent difficulty actually exercising like you know you need to, for example, you probably don’t describe this problem to yourself with thoughts that begin with the pronoun “I”. You may tell yourself that your job or your family responsibilities don’t leave enough time or energy for exercise; that the gym is too far away but you don’t have the money to buy exercise equipment; or that your body is so large or out of shape that you can’t do enough exercise to make a difference. This is the helpless thinking of a victim, which will get you nowhere fast.

What would happen if you started thinking about the same problems but started your thoughts with an “I” statement? When you say to yourself, “I have made working and family priorities, and I haven’t put exercise very high up on my priority list,” you define the problem much more accurately. You also bring the only realistic solution to your problem into sight for the first time. That solution, of course, is to put exercise high enough on your priority list that it gets the same amount of effort and attention as other important responsibilities in your life. This is something only you can do, and starting your sentences with an “I” will help you acknowledge that, and take responsibility for your own decisions and their consequences.

This self-responsibility is the necessary foundation upon which all success is built. Unless you take the time to build this foundation for yourself, your chances of being successful at permanent weight loss are not good. This doesn’t mean, of course, that starting your sentences with an “I” statement is going to make all your conflicting demands go away. There may well be days when deciding not to follow your plan is the best choice you can make under the circumstances. And, as long as you know that it is you making these decisions—not the job, or the family, or the food—you won’t have to worry about falling off the wagon completely. You’ll know that it is just one decision, and that you can make a different one 10 minutes later if you want to. That can really help you take a lot of the stress out of difficult situations, because it’s usually the feeling of being powerless that really gets those stress hormones flowing.

 A key to staying in control is using “I” statements.

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t use many “I” statements, especially when it comes to diet and exercise. It may take some time and practice before this becomes second nature for you. Here’s what you can do to help yourself out:

Before the fact
Whenever you notice a persistent problem in any aspect of your weight loss program—whether it’s related to food choices, exercise, or motivation—try to define the problem in writing. What specifically are you doing (or not doing) that you need to change? Why do you think this keeps happening? What are the major triggers or causes of this problem? Do this writing without thinking or worrying about being “correct” at first. Just write down whatever comes to you when you are thinking about the problem, and don’t worry about finding solutions at this point.

Then, go over what you have written with a fine-toothed comb, looking at the language you used. Do those words make it sound like you’re in charge, or as if something else is in charge of you? Go back through the words you wrote, changing any passive verbs to active verbs (“My lunches are packed by my husband” becomes “I let my husband pack my lunches”) and replacing any external forces with “I” statements (“It was too cold to walk outside today” becomes “I decided I didn’t want to walk in the cold today”).

 After the fact

Go through this same basic process whenever you have done something you wish you hadn’t done. Describe what happened and why you think it happened, and then put your words under the microscope, as above, changing your words to “I” statements to form solutions.

Try to do this every day, or whenever you are having a problem. It won’t take long for you to automatically think in “I” statements, and your odds of avoiding problems and finding good solutions will increase dramatically.

Every once in a while it is going to be a given that your motivation may ebb and flow. So how do you get back on the horse? I always try to remind myself that it’s all about adding instead of taking away. Whenever I can I add to my daily routine. A few almonds before each meal to help tame my hunger. A small walk, 20 minutes a day to get started again. I even challenge myself to drink an extra glass of water here and there. It’s all about adding in the small stuff, and slowly to replace some of that bad stuff.

Chromium in the form of picolinate has been widely studied for support of blood sugar metabolism. Decreases in carbohydrate cravings have also been noted. Other studies have shown chromium picolinate can increase lean-body mass in obese patients and enhance the effect of other weight-loss strategies.

Every house needs fire-extinguisher foods — good-for-you snacks that will put out three-alarm starvation fires. Ideally, you’ll want to always be satisfied and not hungry, meaning you can go much longer without food. But sometimes, we know, it feels as if you haven’t eaten since junior year of high school. Here’s our list of foods to reach for when that happens:

• Cut-up vegetables. Cut them, bag them, eat them. Nothing wrong with baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and broccoli florets, but if you prefer jicama, sugar snaps, and orange pepper strips, go for it.
• Sauteed vegetables. Saute them in olive oil with chopped garlic, red pepper flakes, or a good dash of turmeric. Refrigerate, and then reheat when you need a snack.
• Nuts. A handful of almonds, peanuts, or walnuts. (But just a handful; as healthy as they are, they’re still high-calorie foods.)
• Edamame. Another name for soybeans; look for microwave bags in the frozen food section.
• Soups. Once a week, make one or more of the filling YOU Soups (try Garden Harvest Soup and Quick Black Bean Soup), and store them in serving-size cups in the refrigerator.
• Steel-cut oats. If you’re worried about time in the morning, cook up a week’s worth of oatmeal — it’s full of filling fiber — and store in the refrigerator. That may sound as appetizing as a slice of baked wrapping paper, but reheated oats actually taste great. Add some raisins and walnuts for sweetness and crunch.

Medical researchers have been studying ashwagandha with great interest and as of this date have carried out 216 studies of its healing benefits, summarized below:

• confers immune system protection
• combats the effects of stress
• improves learning, memory, and reaction time
• reduces anxiety and depression without causing drowsiness
• stabilizes blood sugar
• lowers cholesterol
• reduces brain-cell degeneration
• contains anti-malarial properties
• offers anti-inflammatory benefits

Some studies have also found that ashwagandha inhibits the growth of cancer cells in small animals, but further research is needed to determine whether the herb prevents the development of tumors in human beings.

The Path to Wellness Begins Here
© Copyright 2009 The Chopra Center at La Costa Resort and Spa

Simple carbs are mainly added sugars, which have very little nutritional value. They are considered “empty” calories. Types of simple carbs are soda, many sweet breakfast cereals, candies, high fructose corn syrup, and more. Fruit is also considered a simple carb, but it is a naturally occurring sugar that is packed with many nutrients.

Complex carbohydrates (also referred to as starch) are made up of many sugar units and are found in both natural (brown rice) and refined (white rice) form. They are structurally more complex and take longer to be broken down and digested, which allows you to feel full longer and gives you lasting energy. Complex carbohydrate foods have been shown to enter the blood stream gradually and trigger only a moderate rise in insulin levels, which stabilizes appetite and results in fewer carbohydrates that are stored as fat.

Choosing the right foods isn’t always as simple as choosing complex carbohydrates over simple ones. Case in point: White bread is highly processed but is a complex carbohydrate and many fruits, which are wholesome and natural, are simple carbohydrates. And certain foods that contain complex carbohydrates, like white potatoes, quickly raise blood sugar levels, while some foods that contain simple carbohydrates, such as whole fruit, raise blood sugar levels more slowly.

So what should you choose? Instead of labeling carbohydrates as simple or complex, look at how whole or processed the food actually is. Unrefined or whole-grain carbohydrates found in products like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and bran cereals are digested slowly and contain vitamins, minerals and fiber which promote health. Fiber and nutrient-rich vegetables, fruits and beans, which also contain carbohydrates, also make excellent choices for health and weight loss. Try to limit your intake of highly processed, sweetened and sugary foods and choose the most wholesome and natural foods possible for your health and weight-loss goals.

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