Journaling in January and Renewing My Mind

Wouldn't it be exciting if there was some health trick or special formula that would help you to double your weight loss efforts? One that was easy to do, had no side effects and didn’t cost you and arm, a leg and your first born? Well, there is something that you and I can do that is better than all the health tricks and special formulas according to one of the largest and longest running weight-loss trials ever conducted.

You ask what this new weight-loss miracle is. Well I can tell you that it is so very simple and many weight loss programs like Weight Watchers and others have already tried to encourage it in their programs!
The miracle is just this -- keeping a food diary or journal -- recording what you eat throughout the day can double a person's weight loss efforts, according to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.

This study, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, found that keeping a daily record can keep your diet on track. Weight Watchers has enforced this good habit for years; but today we have a method much better than filling out forms and weight loss logs using pen and paper! Today we have our computer key boards!

According to Kaiser Permanente lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D. in a press release, “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost," and he also stated, “Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories."

You know, I have known this is really an effective dieting trick for quite some time, but I never even think about how much I am eating or how many calories I am taking in when I am in the midst of shoveling down a country buffet or indulging in my favorite Chinese cuisine. Lord, please forgive me! I am guilty of living an unhealthy life of abandon! When I am in the middle of a buffet line, I have sinned to my tummy’s content and I am sure that I am not the only person who has gotten caught up in this buffet feeding frenzy! So, let me encourage you to renew your mind! Stay out of buffets! Record your daily food intake. Keep up with the calories that you consume. Follow a balanced heart – healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables and keep a daily record of it!

According to the study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine the average weight loss over 6 months was roughly 13 pounds, with more than two-thirds of the nearly 1,700 participants losing at least 9 pounds. Those who participated in this study were asked to follow the heart-healthy DASH diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables, and they attended weekly support group sessions and exercised for at least 30 minutes a day, as well as kept track of what they ate daily. Participants of this study who used their daily food journals doubled their weight loss results!

Here is another fact of this study….more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight …with the African American community being particularly susceptible to problems linked to obesity, like heart disease and diabetes. But this study was one of the few trials to have a large percentage (nearly half) of the participants who were of African American decent.

If we all just lost 9 pounds, like the majority of people in this study did, our nation would see vast decreases in hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Losing as little as 5 pounds can reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure by 20 percent!

If it's as simple as tracking what you eat to lose weight, then fire up that computer. Download one of the available Diet Journaling Programs and practice this new behavior! If you eat anything, type it in! One thing I have learned as a Christian and a pastor’s wife is that we need to be held accountable for our actions. Food diaries increase accountability and demonstrate where excess calories are coming from, according to the study participants. Keeping this food diary doesn't have to be a formal thing but taking account of what we eat helps us to become aware of our daily eating habits and it helps us to be able to change our unhealthy behavior.

I want to encourage you to do as I am doing and use the tools that are now conveniently available to us. The study has proved that people can lose more weight if they have and use the right tools and have support. So please use the weight management programs and diet classes in conjunction to journaling your food intake daily. There are several programs out there but please let me suggest a few to you. Below is a short list of these programs:

1. http://www.dietpower.com/ - DOWNLOAD RIGHT NOW AND START MINDING YOUR DIET COACH within as little as 2 minutes! Plans meals, favors foods that you like, analyzes recipes, counts and tracks calories, monitor 33 valued nutrients and has helped people who have 200 + pounds to lose!
2. http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/ - After providing a day's worth of dietary information, you will receive an overall evaluation by comparing the amounts of food you ate to current nutritional guidance. To give you a better understanding of your diet over time, you can track what you eat up to a year.
3. http://www.weightbydate.com/ - this is the WHOLE PACKAGE folks! It includes everything you need for recording health, diet, fitness, low carb foods, huge food database. Highly Recommended. Daily journaling of all food, exercise, weight, and other measurements; the close to perfect program!
4. http://www.fitday.com/ - Can you say…FREE? Yes, it’s completely FREE!
· Track your Foods, Exercises, Weight and Goals
· View your Calories, Nutrition, Weight Loss and more!
5. http://www.betbyte.com/kdiet.htm - This powerful program analyzes recipes, builds meals, tracks your progress (weight, ketosis, measurements, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, exercise and medications) and even stores pictures in the photo album. Make a slide show!
I hope that this information will help you get your diet off to a great start this January! I am looking forward to a lighter healthier YOU & ME this year and for years to come! Here is our favorite promise from God’s word to His people to help encourage you:
1 Corinthians 1:7
“Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing His will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Isn’t THAT a beautiful promise of God? Just think of that! We have every single grace and blessing (if you claim them and walk in them) and even more than that, EVERY spiritual gift and power for doing His will. Stop and think of what ability that this gives us! Not just a little power is given to us but every spiritual gift and power are yours! God has never asked us to do anything that He has not already made provision for! All of us who believe can walk in this power which He has so freely given to us! Just think of it, God didn’t devise a plan where we had to be brilliant; He simply said that all we have to do is believe! Now listen to what this next scripture says:

1 Corinthians 10:13

“But remember this – the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it.”

Isn’t that wonderful? It says right here in God’s holy word that we are not alone. Our temptations, of food, drink, sex, and so on are no different than anyone else’s temptations! Others face the same problems that we do! So relax! And just “Tarry Still” this is a word that came to me last week as I was praying. So I looked us the word “TARRY” in the Webster’s Dictionary and here is what the definition was – ‘to linger with expectation” – and “still meant “Nevertheless.” Praise the Lord! As we continue on our journey to the land of health and wellness we will be faced with temptation, but God has equipped us with EVERY GRACE and EVERY SPIRITUAL GIFT and POWER from on high to accomplish our goals as long as we are in His will. So do not be deceived! We can overcome our temptations of over eating or eating food that is not healthy for our bodies! Just STAND upon His promises! Tarry still! Linger with expectation, nevertheless – and we will overcome by accepting health in our bodies! Then we can offer our bodies as a holy sacrifice to service for our Lord and Savior!

Keep that Food Diary! And Be Blessed and Healthy!