Losing weight after having a baby

The ABC’s of Slim is a well written article. I will use this in teaching my patients, friends, family, and students. This is an easy to read article and straight to the point. Excellent!

A is for Alcohol
You booze, you lose: A daily serving of hooch may be better for keeping off weight than abstaining. Alcohol may increase leptin, a hormone that curbs your appetite for sweets. To get the perks with minimal calories, order a glass of sauvignon blanc (119 calories per 5 ounces).

B is for Buddies
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine compared solo dieters to teams of dieters. After 10 months, the latter were likelier to have maintained their loss (66 percent versus 24 percent). Find a bud 24/7 at weightlossbuddy.com.

C is for Cortisol
Your adrenal glands secrete this stress hormone to help you handle threats, but too much can be bad news. Last year, researchers at the University of Leeds in the U.K. linked high levels of cortisol to increased snacking on junk food. Spend the cash you’d pay for a big dinner on a stress-reducing massage.

D is for Density
A yearlong study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found women eating water-rich foods low in calories but high in nutrients (like veggies) as part of a low-fat diet lost more weight than those who only cut back on fat. They were less hungry than the low-fat-only bunch, too, most likely because they ate 25 percent more food by weight. Go for grub with an energy density (calories per serving à weight in grams of serving) of 2 or less. Or snag ideas from Barbara Rolls’ The Volumetrics Eating Plan, which lists the energy densities of dozens of foods.

E is for Estimation
Developing an eye for appropriate serving sizes can make or break your diet. Commit these serving-size visuals to memory:
3 oz lean meat = a standard deck of 52 cards
1/2 cup of fruit, vegetables, or grains = half a baseball
1.5 oz cheese = 3 dominoes

F is for Fructose
A study published last year in the journal Hepatology found that feeding fructose-laced water to rats increased their risk of obesity. Ditch the artificially sweetened juices and sodas and get your fructose from fruit–a form that researchers say could be kinder to your waistline.

G is for Grapefruit
Kick off every meal with half a ruby red or 8 ounces of grapefruit juice–you could speed up your weight loss. Subjects of a 2006 study in the Journal of Medicinal Food who ate half a grapefruit before each meal lost more weight after 12 weeks than those who didn’t (3.5 pounds versus less than a pound).