Who doesn’t love indulging on pizza, French fries, buttery popcorn and chocolate cake every once in awhile?
In a world where food – especially the unhealthy and highly processed kind – is so readily available, developing healthy eating habits can be challenging but certainly attainable with positive behavioral and mindset changes.
In her new e-book, Lose it Now: Tips for Permanent Weight Loss, Texas Children’s Dr. Carmen Mikhail shares clinically proven strategies to help families gradually adopt a healthier lifestyle and keep the excess pounds at bay.
“Since everyone’s weight loss journey is different, these tips are presented in an easy-to-follow format enabling individuals to move through each step at their own pace,” said Mikhail, the director of Texas Children’s A Weigh of Life program and associate professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and behavioral science at Baylor College of Medicine.
Based on her extensive clinical experience and research in cognitive-behavioral treatment of obesity in children, Mikhail outlines practical tips for successful weight loss including:
- Journaling to become more aware of food and beverage intake
- Listening to your body to determine when you are truly physically hungry
- Rearranging your surroundings to help you eat less and exercise more
- Setting and reaching realistic goals and staying on track with your weight loss
- Surrounding yourself with people who encourage you to get healthy
- Maintaining a positive mindset
“I’ve seen so many patient successes throughout the years and felt it was time to put together a synopsis of the techniques that worked,” Mikhail said. “I also wanted to share information obtained from weight loss literature in a simple form that non-academicians could understand.”
These weight loss strategies highlighted in Mikhail’s book are also taught to patients and families enrolled in Texas Children’s A Weigh of Life program, a 15-week lifestyle change program covering cognitive and behavioral change, and dietary and exercise intervention. The program targets the entire family since studies have demonstrated more effective results when family members change their habits together with their children.
As a faculty member in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Texas Children’s, Mikhail says maintaining a healthy body weight is an important first step in reducing the risk of medical conditions including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, sleep apnea and orthopedic problems. Being overweight and obese have also been linked to depression and poor self-esteem and body image.
“Early intervention in childhood obesity is extremely important since the risk of adult obesity increases for each additional year a child remains obese,” Mikhail said. “My hope is that this book will help parents attain a healthier lifestyle through healthy eating and exercise that will positively impact their child. When parents encourage these positive behaviors, their children are more likely to make healthier eating choices that become second nature.”
Mikhail’s e-book is available on Amazon. For more information on Texas Children’s A Weigh of Life program, click here.