Online Diet Consultations by Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

Hi Everybody !!!

I am happy to be your dietitian, helping you get rid of your excess weight, alleviating diabetes problems, putting your blood exams
under control, and helping you work on the mental side of dieting

ONLINE DIET CONSULTATIONS AVAILABLE:

I provide my services at my clinic in Beirut, Lebanon or online in 5 different languages: English, Arabic, French, Portuguese & Spanish.
So whether you live in Lebanon or abroad, contact me at samia.khoury@gmail.com to know how to set up a session.

I can help you achieve all your health and weight loss goals now! Check some success stories here and get motivated to start a diet with me whenever you like, wherever you live!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Diet-ing…it all starts in the mind! Change your mind before changing your diet to finally feel comfortable with your body!

How many times have you tried so many different ways to lose weight fast? I have a lot of people that come to me looking for a new miracle diet that could make them lose 5 kg in one week! Quick miracle diets, though might be effective sometimes, are nonetheless bad for your health and won’t help you maintain your new weight for a long time.

I communicate to my clients and patients that before they attempt to start any diet, they need to have the will to do it; otherwise they will stop even before the first week of diet ends! Has this ever happened to you?

Everyone knows the formula for weight loss: a balanced diet combined with calorie burning through exercise. But did you also know that emotional aspects contribute to the success or failure of a diet –like in every situation, emotions affect anxiety and other feelings that lead us often to take refuge in food. Therefore, in order to obtain positive results in weight loss process, we must also find the emotional balance. there isn't a worldwide healthy long-lasting and guaranteed method to lose weight, without starting by changing the way you think and behave being a person who wants to achieve, and primarily maintain ideal weight.

Let me help you out with some tips on how to build a good will so then you can finally start a diet and most importantly do it until you lose every kilo you need to and keep the weight off after the diet (The maintenance part is even more important than the dieting part). For both dieting and maintenance you need to set your minds on mode: I love myself!!! If you start by loving yourself you are most likely to reach your goal!

1.      You need to set a goal and keep it in mind for if you don’t know where you’re headed you probably won’t reach there. Every time you are in a tempting environment full of delicious foods you should not give up! Even if you feel you are not losing weight quickly. Just forget about the scale and keep your goal in mind, Trust me you will reach it.

2.      You need do have a succession of “NO”! No to quick radical diets, no to giving up, no to frustration, no to cheating on diet, no to impatience, no to sweets, no to dough, no to fried items...and a beautiful YES to beauty and health!

3.      Imagine that those irresistible sweets or chips or whatever you love and make you gain weight simply don’t exist. When you see them in front of you or on TV or billboards, just train your brain and eyes that you are not seeing anything interesting and think of your goal immediately and repeat many times: I am not interested in this cookie I prefer to be healthy and wear my new jeans or dress. You should imagine these cookies are your enemies and want to destroy you!

4.      Find a reason to motivate yourself to lose weight. Motivation has to start from within. Some people are motivated by a love relationship, some to fit in a dress, some to improve his/her bad blood tests but most importantly is to know that after losing the weight a constant weight should be maintained, this will become your new goal to reach. Write a reminder of the reason you want to lose weight and place it in a place you can read it several times per day!

5.      Don’t focus on food. Forget about it. It shouldn’t be the center of your attention. We have other things to do than just think of eating. Keeping yourself busy in shopping, movies, reading, Praying, dancing, sports, helping, entertaining family, etc… Choose distractions that won't encourage eating.

6.      Pray. What seems impossible to you is possible to God. It’s the same as when you ask Him to help you find a husband or wife, to have healthy kids, to make more money, to live a healthy life, to get a better job or position etc... You can also be creative with your unlimited free requests to God by asking Him to give you the will to start a diet and to maintain it till the end.

7.      Avoid the “all or nothing” mindset. Many people think that they either don t eat anything at all or they eat till they drop. We need to find a balance and learn to eat a variety of foods in right quantities, otherwise the yo-yo effect will be inevitable

8.      Have positive thoughts and say out loud every day that you will succeed in your diet! Don’t be negative, don’t think you “can’t make it” or “it’s too slow it will take you forever”. Repeat many times per day: I am beautiful, I have a fit body, and you will end up by believing its true, this will help you continue your dieting and later on maintaining your ideal weight. Be positive and you will see how things will move faster and easier!

9.      Find the reason that made you gain weight and solve it. Sometimes just by solving the primary cause that made you gain weight will help you solve reach your goal.

10.   Try your jeans every week to motivate you to continue your effort and reward yourself

11.   Delay! Every time you feel the craving for a snack, just say to yourself: “I can make it just 5 more minutes” that’s the time you need to get rid of the snack!! J

12.   Keep a role model in mind. Put the photo of your favorite shape on your fridge I bet it will help you think twice before opening the fridge and ruining all your efforts to keep your weight off

13.  Walking 30 minutes everyday releases anxiety and helps you think things over — try it for a few weeks.

To succeed at weight loss, it's not our diets we need to change -- it's our minds. That's why only permanent weight loss solution is to correct the self-sabotaging thinking that caused it in the first place and shift the focus from a new diet to a renewed mind.
  
Anything achieved quickly won’t last, if we want to succeed in anything we need to have a goal combined with hard work, patience and faith.

Always remember: The battle to lose weight begins in the mind where will power and the discipline necessary to succeed originate. Win the battle of the mind first and you'll have a greater chance of winning the battle to lose weight!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Careful with hidden causes of obesity! Inadequate sleep increases weight gain!




The fast track lifestyles we are living driven by the demands and opportunities of the modern society we belong to is causing the habit of not having the regular 8-hour sleep.

Several studies have concluded that people who sleep less than 6 hours per night are more susceptible to obesity.
This forms the relationship between irregular sleep and increased body mass index (BMI); so when the BMI* is more than 30 Kg/m2 this indicates that a person is obese.
Inadequate sleep is linked to hormonal imbalances regulators of appetite, increased incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, noted James Gangwisch, a respected sleep researcher at the University of Columbia. Short periods of sleep increase the ghrelin hormone levels and decrease the leptin hormone levels thus generating hunger and an increase in appetite. This can lead to a largest caloric intake (especially of foods rich in fat and carbohydrates as seen in the studies) promoting obesity.
Briefly stated, leptin is the hormone that sends a signal to the brain that the body has had enough to eat— this promotes satiety. Ghrelin, on the other hand is responsible for informing the brain when we need to eat. During sleep, levels of the hormone leptin increase informing the body that we have enough energy for now while that of ghrelin go down.
Furthermore, staying awake a longer time may allow greater opportunity for food intake during night and can also result in fatigue the next day which tends to decrease the level of physical activity.
My advice to you is to pay attention to the duration and quality of your sleep (minimum of 8 hours) as a way to control your weight and prevent obesity. Please, never forget to always combine this with a regulated diet and physical activity!

A few good tips for a good nights sleep:
1.   Solve your problems during the day, reconcile with those you have argued with and only think of praying before bed,
2.   Avoid caffeinated drinks after lunchtime,
3.   Avoid sleeping immediately after dinner; the ideal is to give an interval of 4 hours before bedtime. Also avoid high fat dishes at night!
4.   If you're having trouble sleeping, take a hot drink. Chamomile or warm milk are always great choices,
5.   Perform physical activities at least 3 hours before bedtime — those help in the release of certain hormones that regulate sleep and let your body tired at bedtime, making you feel the need to sleep
Samia Khoury Dietitian

·         BMI = (Weight in Kilograms / (Height in Meters x Height in Meters))