As a disabled vet I am eligible for the Veteran Administrations MOVE program, a national weight management program designed by the VHA National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention to help veterans lose weight, keep it off and improve their health. I am all over that!

A Partner With Your Healthcare Team

This little device here is my new friend, it greets me every morning with all kinds of cool suggestions on how to make healthy food choices. It attaches to a scale that I can send in my weight with and is connected to the nursing center at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix where I have been assigned my own personal nutritionist. I weigh in once a week but check in daily for tips, helpful suggestions and questions designed to motivate me. Check out the one here on How Do I Get Started With Changing My Eating Habits

How Does A Veteran Get Into The Move Program?

I wasn't kidding about the saving my life part. Since leaving the Marine Corps in 1972 I have struggled and fought a mostly losing battle to maintain my marine corps weight or some semblance thereof! Even accounting for my age (61) I am way over the line for any kind of healthy outlook, pre-diabetic and fed up with the way I look and feel. I have tried everything but I think this time between the support I get from the Viterion 100, my VA nutritionist, the follow up MOVE Forward programs, and the staff of the VA MOVE Program in Phoenix, I may just have a shot at becoming human again! The good news is that a low carb approach works great with the MOVE program – so stay tuned for progress reports!

Summer is just around the corner and you know what that means! You need to lose the pounds FAST, for that upcoming beach vacation, cruise vacation, or just to get back into that favorite pair of jeans.

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And Not Gain Weight

It's after we get out that we have problems with weight gain or obesity. Here is a tip from a former marine who gained too much weight after leaving the Marine Corps.

You don't have to dedicate yourself to any diet plan or low-carb regimen to lose weight. Just substitute what you might eat in carbs with protein, bacon vs donuts, cheese vs cereal, or a sandwich with mayo without the bread.  Doing this will have much less impact on insulin levels, where upswings cause weight gain.

There is no secret to losing weight, only hard facts. If you can stay away from sugar and processed foods you can beat the big O. Obesity.

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Of course, when my mouth could handle it I too started eating like my Dad, I didn't just pick up this eating style during my stint in the Marine Corps, although I ate fast because I either had to or was in a hurry to get somewhere. The marines will tell you "eat all you want, but eat all you take".

Ufortunately, as a result of his eating habits,  Dad became extremely overweight, developed diabetes and died at the tender age of 62 from complications of a gastric bypass operation.

I had to learn how to eat all over again. In USMC boot camp I was always hungry, not because they starved me (just the opposite) but because I was expending so many calories in training I needed the nourishment. And the food was darn good too! Since leaving the marines I have had to watch what I eat and was not always successful. Before I discovered the low-carb lifestyle I was headed toward repeating my Dad's mistakes and fortunately I woke up in time to reverse it.

As a low carb aficionado my sandwiches (I call them roll-ups) now consist of ingredients such as ham, turkey, cheese and lettuce, minus the bread and I don't really miss it. I may never be able to give up bread completely but the carbs I have not resisted not eating bread with a sandwich allow me to eat other carbs I enjoy, especially pasta (low-carb) and fruit.

What brought all this up was  coming across an article in Men's Health titled Chew on This which brought back memories of Dad's eating habits because the article is about what Dutch researchers discovered;  big bites (and fast chewing) can lead to overeating. I didn't know about this and was surprised to read that people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52 percent more food before feeling full than those who chewed smaller bites for 9 seconds. Their findings suggest that tasting food for a longer period of time (no matter how much you bite off) signals your brain to make you feel full sooner.

I wish these Dutch scientists had discovered this in time to help my Dad, he might have lived longer had he been able to change his eating habits by taking smaller bites and chewing longer.

Get Me OUTSIDE!

This is why I don't like treadmills in the spare bedroom, garage, working out at health clubs or other forms of indoor exercise,  other than they are boring, boring, boring, wall mounted TV or not. I don't care if Oprah has Michelle Obama, Tom Cruise, David Letterman, Ellen, Donald Trump and Tiger Woods on the same show! (wouldn't that be a show?), indoor workouts just don't work for me, even if I have a window to look out of.

If you ever wondered why your new year's resolution to exercise and lose weight lost it's momentum after only a few weeks here is a clue:

Hello! It's winter out there, cold, rainy, gloomy, etc. Your brain wants to be doing something outdoors, walking, hiking, just about anything as long as it's outside while your body cringes at the thought. Some refer to exercising outdoors as eco-therapy, or green exercise, although I think that word green is overused. Did you know for example that the color green balances the nervous system and is supposed to have a calm, soothing, effect?

When there isn't a whole lot of green around during winter where you live it can be tough to get motivated, much less stay that way until spring. But don't despair, just by seeking the natural world you can reap the benefits of re-connecting with the environment – a reduction in anger and stress levels only to mention a couple. Take the dog for a walk, bundle up and breathe the fresh air.

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Low-Carb regimens that follow similar paths to those of the Atkins and South Beach Diets can be diets that include animal fat and  protein. Or they can be vegetable and fruit inclusive. The problem is that even though it's a "very good thing to do," most people don't know how to eat well. They don't bother to learn the differences between simple and complex carbohydrates and what's involved in maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. People go to extremes," said Dr. Stuart Weiss, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "In general, carbs should be limited just like saturated fat needs to be limited. . . If you eat too much of anything, you're bound to get into trouble."

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Low-Carb regimens that follow similar paths to those of the Atkins and South Beach Diets can be diets that include animal fat and  protein. Or they can be vegetable and fruit inclusive. The problem is that most people don't know how to eat well and do what it takes to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

People tend to go to extremes, carbs should be limited just like fats. If you eat too much of anything, you're headed for a fall.

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