The 17 Day Diet (37 page)

Read The 17 Day Diet Online

Authors: Dr. Mike Moreno

BOOK: The 17 Day Diet
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7.
Cut up raw veggies: carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, pepper or cucumber strips
8.
Baby carrots
9.
Single-serve box of high-fiber cereal
10.
String cheese
11.
One boiled egg
12.
Small bag of fat-free popcorn
13.
Small bag of grapes
14.
Healthy sandwich with veggies
15.
Beef or turkey jerky
16.
Orange
17.
Edamame

 

Exercising on the Road

Book a hotel with an exercise room, preferably one that’s open twenty-four hours a day. This has become a “must have” for me. These days, the only way I’ll stay in a hotel that doesn’t offer exercise facilities is if I’m forced into it (for example, if I have to stay at a specific hotel in connection with a medical convention or meeting I’m attending).

If the hotel doesn’t have fitness equipment, it may be affiliated with a local gym where you can get a one-day pass for a small fee. Once you get there, try a new class and a new instructor. You might be surprised at how fun it can be to do something different in another city. You might be able to find yoga, indoor cycling or step classes.

Spend a minimum of thirty minutes a day (or night) on the treadmill or stationary bike. You’ll be surprised how good you feel at the end of your exercise time. You’ll be more clear-headed and energetic for you business meetings, too.

I like to exercise in the morning. That way, I get it over with. At the end of a travel day there are too many variables that may get in the way. Besides, if you work out in the morning, you’ll perform better all day.

Be creative. Most hotel rooms have enough floor space to allow you to turn your room into a mini-gym. Pack workout DVDs or jump ropes. Stack phone books for a step workout performed to a favorite exercise video.

Bring elastic exercise bands. Learn basic exercises by asking for help from a body-sculpting group exercise instructor or a personal trainer before you leave town. Practice so you can do the exercises proficiently while traveling. When you’re back home, the bands will come in handy when you want to work out in your house, or you can’t make it to a health club.

But don’t forget bodyweight exercises like pushups, squats with some luggage in hand to add extra resistance and overhead presses with the phone book. Sit-ups, with or without luggage resting on your chest and crunches, help round out any on-the-road fitness program. If you travel light, tune into exercise shows on television and join right in.

Mix business and pleasure. Go dancing at a local club. It’s an easy way to burn calories and check out the local scene.

And don’t forget your bathing suit. If the hotel has an on-site pool, swimming laps is a great way to work up a sweat (yes, you sweat while you swim) and wash away the day’s stress.

Another trick I like is to ask for a room on the second floor or higher, so you can use the stairs in the hotel for a great workout. Mark off 17 minutes on your watch. Walk down the hall of the hotel to the stairs. Walk up a floor, then down the hallway of that floor. Go up another floor and walk that hallway. Continue in this manner for 8 ½ minutes; then repeat the “course” down and back to your room. Just make sure you get back to the right floor, and the right room. I’ve made that mistake before. It’s not a pretty picture, trying to get in a room that’s not yours.

Also, I bypass the elevator even if I’m carrying luggage and my room is located on the 12th floor. It’s amazing how much cardiovascular benefit you can get from using the stairs instead of the elevator as you come and go. Sometimes, taking the stairs will get you to your room faster than the elevator will.

If stairs aren’t your thing, consider the outdoors. How about seeing sights by walking, hiking or riding a rented bike? When renting bikes, rent helmets as well. Ask the local bike shop about the best and safest routes and for descriptions of the terrain (flat or hilly). Walking is a wonderful way to combine exploring a new place with maintaining fitness. It’s my favorite travel workout because it lets me take in the local sights, smells and sounds. Wear supportive and comfortable shoes. Ask the hotel concierge for suggestions. Walking to your destination can also decrease your taxi fares.

Whew. I just think I burned 1,000 calories writing about all that.

So many people tell me they can’t stay fit while traveling, but I don’t buy it—that just means they don’t want it badly enough. Good planning helps you fit fitness into your travel plans.

Review:


Make healthy choices at airports or on planes.

 


Use the airport as a “gym” if you have time. Walk the concourse for exercise.

 


Choose wisely at hotels, and when dining out.

 


Start your day healthy with a nutritious breakfast and exercise.

 


Book a hotel with a fitness center, or turn your hotel room into a gym.

 


Handle vacations by keeping up your exercise program, planning for special dietary needs, focusing on non-food aspects of the vacation and making healthy choices.

 

How to Handle Vacations
“Would you like soup and salad to go with your meal?”
“What would you like for dessert? “
“Where should we eat today? “
“Let’s hit the midnight buffet.”
R
ecently, I was bombarded with these questions while on vacation. I was being offered 12-course meals, all-you-can-eat breakfast and lunch buffets and a grill that was open 24 hours a day.
But after days and days of enjoying delicious foods, I realized that vacations do not mean diet disaster. Vacations mean enjoying yourself while maintaining your weight. Yes, they present additional challenges when you are trying to lose weight and maintain an exercise program. An example I hear over and over again from people is: “I love going on cruises, but every time I do, I end up triggering myself to fall off my program for the rest of the year.”
In cases like this, what should you do? I’d never suggest that you stop going on cruises, all-inclusive vacations or other destinations where food is so prevalent. But I might propose that you look for ways to be more active on one of these vacations, or plan to make healthier food choices or replace one of your yearly vacations with another type of vacation that is more active.
Vacations are not incompatible with watching your diet. They can always fit right into your lifestyle, and you don’t have to feel burdened to overeat every time you go out of town or enjoy a holiday. There are always alternatives. Here are some practical suggestions to help you through vacations without undoing all the hard work you have put into losing weight:

Decide on your goal over the vacation. Do you want to maintain your current weight or continue to keep losing weight? For weight loss, you’ll have to monitor your calorie intake; if maintaining your weight is your goal, then you can adjust your calories upward slightly.

If you have special dietary needs, plan accordingly. Some cruise lines, for example, offer heart-healthy meals low in fat and sodium and allow special orders.

Focus on the other enjoyable aspects of the vacation, rather than the food—the locale, the sightseeing and the activities.

Make healthy food choices as much as possible, with an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. To keep your hunger in check, lean towards high-fiber foods and foods with a high water content, such as raw or steamed whole vegetables and fruits. A sensible approach can help you avoid overeating.

Ask for special requests for food that may not be on the menu. Many resorts offer these types of dietary accommodations.

Keep an eye on your serving sizes and always practice portion control.

Join the walking, aerobics and dancing programs when you’re on a cruise or resort, and use the exercise equipment in the gym. Take the most active shore excursions, or visit ports of call on your own and use guidebooks to create your own walking tour.

Sightseeing activities get the muscles moving, but choose a tour that allows you opportunities to exercise. For example, time on your own in a city means you can jog or take a vigorous walk to attractions and shops. Ask whether the lodgings on a tour have lap pools or exercise rooms. If you happen to splurge, get back on course right away, whether this means taking a short walk or eating one healthy meal. Congratulate yourself for getting back on your program and acting in a healthy manner. After a few times of doing this, you’ll develop a positive mindset and begin to believe you can accomplish whatever it is you want.

 

13
Shift Work on the 17 Day Diet

 

I
’m sure you’ve
heard the song, “9 to 5.” It has catchy lyrics, but they don’t describe the real-life experience of about 15 million Americans. That’s how many shift workers—on duty evenings, nights, or in some rotating or otherwise irregular schedule—the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates are in the workforce. And you may be one of them. Occupations affected include: the military, food services, transportation, manufacturing, and industry, police, firefighters and security personnel, and health-care providers.

Unlike nocturnal animals such as owls and mice, most humans have some trouble adjusting to this strange lifestyle of working at night and sleeping in the day. This is because shift work, including night work, disrupts the body’s “circadian rhythm”—the internal clock that governs eating, sleeping, body temperature and other regular biological processes, all hardwired and regulated to the rising and setting of the sun.

As it turns out, messing around with that clock can have some serious consequences on your weight. Shift workers have a higher prevalence of being overweight—a fact substantiated by research. There are four main reasons why.

First, regular eating and exercise habits are tough to maintain on shift work. You can get bored easily, so you tend to nibble on junk food in response. According to a study by the New York Obesity Research Center and published in
Nutrition
in 2000, late-shift workers gained an average of 9.5 pounds during their late-shift tenure, while their day-shift counterparts gained only 2 pounds.

Second, there’s a hormonal issue. When you sleep and eat at irregular times, your metabolism gets thrown out of whack. At night, during sleep, your body’s insulin-making processes naturally go into hibernation. You’re not eating, so the body doesn’t require much insulin to process glucose from food. But if you eat on your night shift, there’s not much insulin action so your body drives nutrients toward fat accumulation this late in the day.

Third, digestive problems are at fault. Shift workers have two to three times as many digestive problems as their peers on the day shift. During nighttime, your digestive system shuts down and doesn’t secrete the normal enzymes. Plus, your metabolism slows down in the evening. Many shift workers report diarrhea or constipation, gastric and peptic ulcers, gastritis, nausea and weight gain.

Finally, there are sleep problems. Shift workers are among the most sleep-deprived segments of our population. It’s tough to sleep soundly during the day, when your body clock is screaming for you to be up and at it. Also, sleep deprivation drives down leptin, a hormone produced in fat cells that tells your brain when you’re full. At the same time, your substandard snoozing causes a rise in ghrelin, a hormone that makes you feel like you haven’t eaten since two Mondays ago. Numerous studies showed that those who sleep less than eight hours a night have lower levels of leptin, higher levels of ghrelin and more body fat than the long-slumbering subjects. Chronic sleep deprivation can thus drastically increase your risk of gaining weight.

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