Just Tell Me What to Eat!
The Delicious 6-Week Weight Loss Plan for the Real World
Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP has counseled thousands of his patients on healthy, sustainable weight loss. Now he's compiled his best tips and recipes into a six-week plan for you to learn how to eat great food that just happens to be great for you.
Get the prescription for better health as well as healthy weight loss, including:
- What to eat
- How to cook it
- When to eat it
- What to eat at a restaurant
- What to eat if you're in a hurry
- and best of all....
- Why eating great food is the best health decision you'll ever make.
It's easy to get answers about health and nutrition! Just send your question by email to [email protected] and Dr. Harlan will respond to selected questions of general interest. Answers will be posted in the Ask Dr. Gourmet newsletter (sign up now!) and archived in the Ask Dr. Gourmet section of the website.
Please note that the Ask Dr. Gourmet feature is restricted to questions regarding food and nutrition. Due to the many questions we receive, not all questions may be answered. For more specific questions about your individual health, please contact your doctor. About Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Ask Dr. Gourmet
How can I make better food choices and stick with them?
Do you have any tried and true suggestions on how to make better choices and how to stick with it? Or better yet, how to eat less in a world where portions are out of control - I've become accustomed to them and my body shows it!
Dr. Gourmet Says...
Successful projects take planning, and being healthy is no exception.
1. The first step is to make your choices. What foods do you love? Make that list first and find recipes that you can cook so that you have your favorites as part of your plan.
2. Choose recipes that let you make the correct portion size. One of the reasons that I develop many of my recipes to make fewer servings is because most people will eat just their allotted servings and be satisfied. Research has shown that when recipes are healthier and portion sizes are normal people are just as satisfied as when the portions are enormous.
3. Plan every meal. Start by planning the week's meals on a Saturday and then go shopping for your food and ingredients. This means that you get to have the foods that you love in portions that are satisfying because you have planned for it. You should work very hard to use only foods that you make or control. For the most part, fast food is not part of being healthy because the food is very calorie dense and the portions are so large.
4. Snack on fruit and nuts. Research has shown that people are very satisfied with these as snacks. Make having them around part of your plan so that something is available when you're hungry.
5. Keep a food diary. You can download a PDF food diary or use any number of online or phone-based apps.
Over and over studies have shown that keeping track of what you eat and weighing yourself at least twice a week will keep you on track.
6. Exercise. Find at least four 30-minute slots in your weekly plan to walk, ride a bike, go to the gym, do aerobics tapes, anything.
7. Remember that being healthy is a long term deal. The fad diets and advertisements that say you can get to your goal in 8 weeks are just silly.
The plans that you make for being healthy this coming Saturday should be similar to the plans you are making two years and twenty years from now.
8. Plan to cheat. That's right. Make it part of your life to indulge every now and then. Don't feel guilty while you are doing it or after. Remember you have a plan that you can go back to, and it will always help you to bring things back into focus.
Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Dr. Gourmet