Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 July 2011 — The midyear checkpoint [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The midyear checkpoint

t's July and more than half of 2011 is over. It's a perfect time to eheek progress on those New Year resolutions! Frequently, resolutions focus on such things as: cleaning out the garage, closet or yard, or redecorating a room or losing the weight gained in past few years. Admittedly, these tasks are easy to forget about, so just starting is an important step. Personally, I got help with pruning the plants and trees, and I've been diligent with weight maintenance (so, I don't have to face those 10 pounds

again). However, my garage is still full of things that need to be "tossed, donated or saved." I, hereby, renew my promise to get to the garage. What about those extra pounds? Understanding how weight loss and weight gain occurs ean help with weight control. Very simply, when fewer calories are eaten than are used by the body, weight is lost (exercise helps here). Eating more calories than the body uses results in weight gain. Eating the exact calories used by the body results in a stable weight. Changing the calorie equation depends on knowing whieh foods are higher or lower in calories. Highest in calories are fat foods (oil, butter, mayonnaise, nuts). Protein foods (fish, ehieken, beef, etc.) and carbohydrates (cereal, rice, poi, etc.) yield the same number of calories. Vitamins and minerals

yield no calories. Comparisons show that fats yield 9 calories per gram, while both carbohydrates and proteins yield 4 calories per gram. Clearly, fats yield twice the calories inprotein or carbohydrates. Therefore, avoiding fatty foods (and fried foods) reduces the calories consumed and weight loss occurs more quickly. (As a point of reference, there are almost 30 grams in an ounee.) It helps to know what "triggers" your desire to eat and overeat, as avoiding your "triggers" ean control eating. Triggers start the urge to eat. Many "external" triggers are easy to identify, such as the smell of bread baking or favorite foods cooking. Research on "internal" triggers revealed that placing "temptations" closer, like an open bowl of Kisses candy within 6 feet of secretaries' desks, resulted in a doubling the number candies eaten eaeh day. And, the secretaries gained 11 to 12 pounds within a year. Placing candy dishes farther away gave these secretaries

time to consider whether they were really hungry. Researchers found that people ean always rationalize overeating. Testing people who had just eaten a full dinner, researchers gave them buckets of stale popeom as they entered a movie theater. Those given larger buckets ate 34 percent more than those with smaller buckets. In another test, researchers gave very intelligent students a pre-holiday class on avoiding

overeating when large bowls of a favorite snack was served. After the holiday break, researchers served one student group enormous bowls of the snack mix and the other got smaller bowls. Students served from the larger bowls took and ate 53 percent more than students served from smaller bowls. This happened even after the students received instruction on strategies

to avoid overeating only six weeks earlier. There are many reasons, beside hunger, that we eat and overeat. Identifying "triggers" help to control eating behaviors. Keeping a daily log of what, when, the amount you eat, and your feelings, will reveal eating behaviors and triggers. Knowing yourself ean save you from gaining weight. ■

OLAKINO v www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org Y0UR HEALĪH / NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.

Understanding how weight loss and weight gain occurs ean help with weight control. - Photo: Stockbyte