Don't blame your mother if you're fat- You can lose weight regardless of your genes.

Don't blame your mother if you're fat- You can lose weight regardless of your genes. And don't blame your father, uncles, aunts going all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Yes your DNA controls much of the way you look but it doesn't control everything. That means whatever you've got you can look BETTER, and if you're overweight you can be SLIMMER.

YOU CAN BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE

and you can start now by getting on a diet program. Once you get on a program you can use the watchwords I post to help you stay with it. The last watchword/slogan was AWARENESS. Our next watchword/slogan is PORTION CONTROL

Sure lots of girls don't have the basic body type that every lets them be a petite super model and most of us guys don't have a body builder's build like the Governor of California. But we need to we can lose 10, 20 40 or more pounds that will make us better looking, more healthy and more confident.

I'll talk about how to beat the comfort food habit later. For now lets be AWARE and watch our portions.

I'll develop the portion control concept in the next post and you will see how you can harness the power of this concept to help you succeed. But now I want to respond to several requests.

Many have asked for a sample menu. They wanted something to give them an idea of what they have to do in order to get going towards their goal. So I searched the government sources and found a neat sample you can use and I'm posting it below. For fun I chose a Southern Style menu. It is for a 1600 calorie daily diet. You might prefer the 1200 calorie daily diet. They can both be found at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/southern.htm

You've gotten a start and that was the hard part. For those of you who are just joining us please read the old posts. They'll help you get started on your way to successful dieting. And you can season you diet with comments to us.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Breakfast

Oatmeal, prepared with 1% milk, low fat 1/2 cup
Milk 1%, low fat 1/2 cup
English Muffin 1 medium
Cream Cheese, light, 18% fat T
Orange Juice 3/4 cup
Coffee 1 cup
Milk 1%, low fat 1 oz

Lunch
Baked Chicken, without skin 2 oz
Vegetable Oil 1 tsp
Salad:
Lettuce 1/2 cup
Tomato 1/2 cup
Cucumber 1/2 cup
Oil and Vinegar Dressing 2 tsp
White Rice, seasoned with margarine, diet 1/3 cup
Baking Powder Biscuit, prepared with vegetable oil 1 small
Margarine 1/2 tsp
Water 1 cup

Dinner
Lean Roast Beef 3 oz
Onion 1/4 cup
Beef Gravy, water-based 1 T
Turnip Greens, seasoned with 1/2 cup
margarine, diet 1/2 tsp
Sweet Potato, baked 1 small
Margarine, diet 1/2 tsp
Ground Cinnamon 1 tsp
Brown Sugar 1 tsp
Cornbread prepared with margarine, diet 1/2 medium slice
Honeydew Melon 1/4 medium
Iced Tea, sweetened with sugar 1 cup

Snack

Saltine Crackers, unsalted tops 4 crackers
Mozzarella Cheese, part-skim, low-sodium 1 oz

Calories: 1,653
Total Carb, % kcals:53
Total Fat, % kcals:28
*Sodium, mg:1,231
SFA, % kcals:8
Cholesterol, mg:172
Protein, % kcals:20

1,600: 100% RDA met for all nutrients except: Vit E 97%, Magnesium 98%, Iron 78%, Zinc 90%1,200: 100% RDA met for all nutrients except: Vit E 82%, Vit B1 & B2 95%, Vit B3 99%, Vit B6 88%, Magnesium 83%, Iron 56%, Zinc 70%* No salt added in recipe preparation or as seasoning. Consume at least 32 oz. water.