This time of year, all our thoughts tend to turn back home. Thanksgiving or Christmas often conjures up happy memories of around the table–everyone laughing, cooking and eating together. Holidays can be a wonderful time of building those memories and celebrating them. And, of course, it’s about the food.

Quite often, it’s rich food–food high in calories, high in fat, and often high in sugar. Because it’s a time of feasting. But studies are showing that for many Americans aren’t feasting just on Thanksgiving or Christmas day. It’s all season long–from October well past New Year’s. And that can pack on the pounds real fast.

A Mounting Problem

Some recent studies done at Cornell University have pointed out that our holiday weight gain often takes 5 months or more to come off.  But, of course, holidays aren’t the only reason why more than 1 in 3 adults in America are either overweight or obese. Or why 1 out of every 5 children or teens are obese. The Center for Disease Control reports that obesity in children and teens has more than tripled since the 1970’s. It’s a mounting problem across America and it’s one we can’t afford to ignore.

Being overweight carries with it some serious risks, including:

• Type 2 Diabetes–almost 90% of adults with diabetes are either overweight or obese
• High Blood Pressure
• Heart Disease
• Sleep Apnea
• Osteoarthritis
• Kidney Failure
• Fatty Liver Disease
• Gestational Diabetes–if you are pregnant, excess weight can lead to short and long term complications for your baby. It can also put you at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Gaining a few pounds may not seem like a big deal. But those pounds add up over time. But here’s some good news! Losing even 5% of your body weight can make a huge difference in preventing and reversing many diseases, including diabetes. Let’s say you weigh 200 pounds. This means if you lose as little as 10 pounds, you’re going to see great improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood flow.

Help for Diabetes

The National Institute of Health sponsored a large clinical study named the “Diabetes Prevention Program” to look for ways to prevent type 2 diabetes in adults who are already overweight. They found that losing just 5-7% of your body weight and doing moderate exercise for 150 minutes a week can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

What would 150 minutes of exercise look like? Let’s say you are going for a 15 minute walk after breakfast and lunch. That would give you 30 minutes a day of exercise. So if you do that Monday through Friday, you’d have your 150 minutes. Just like that. And it wouldn’t take long before you’d start reaping the benefits–more energy, lower blood sugars, lower blood pressure, and a smaller waistline.

Perks with Daily Walking

When I started losing weight, I found that my body was getting leaner before I saw the numbers change on the scale. Many people who lose weight sensibly find that to be the case. I also find that I sleep better because I’m exercising every day. You will also have less joint pain and build stronger bones. Walking is a great way to prevent osteoporosis.

Your eyesight can also improve with daily exercise. I used to have floaters in my eye and the start of macular degeneration. But I discovered when I would walk on our treadmill, that the floaters decreased. They eventually disappeared. How does that happen? Cardio exercise increases the blood flow to the optic nerve and the retina. It improves your circulation and perfect health–even for your eyes–depends on perfect circulation. So if you’d like to prevent the development of floaters, macular degeneration and even cataracts, get in those 150 minutes of walking each day.  As your cardiovascular health improves, your eyesight will as well. Sometimes dramatically.

Top Secret #1

Exercise isn’t actually a secret. We all know it is important for losing weight. But when you couple that with a plant strong way of eating, you’re going to have success. There’s no need for crash diets, starving yourself, or even counting calories. If you’re going to count anything, count how many minutes of walking you get in every day.  I kept an exercise log when I first began walking. It helped me reach my exercise goals for the day and to build the habit of walking more.  But now I don’t need it because I’m addicted to walking. It pumps me up, revs up my metabolism, burns more fat, and gives me lots of energy. I smile so big because I can run up the stairs without pain. I feel I’m just as energetic now as I was in my 20’s. All because of daily walking.  So it’s my Top Secret #1.

Top Secret #2

Top Secret #2 is a special ingredient we talk a lot about at HealthBites Kitchen. What do we find in plant foods that give you the edge to losing weight or just feeling great? Fiber! We find ample amounts in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, peas, beans, nuts, and seeds. How about cheese? Will we find fiber there? No, there’s no fiber in milk or dairy products.  What about fish or red meat? No fiber there either. Only plant foods will give us the fiber we need to live well naturally.

How much fiber should you be getting every day? According to the Institute of Medicine, men should get 38 grams and women need 25 grams a day. But most Americans only get 15 daily grams of fiber.  Our children need fiber too. Toddlers require 19 grams, and young children ages 4-8 actually need 25 grams of fiber every day–the same as a mom! Older boys (9-13 years) should get 31 grams and older girls (9-13 years) need 26.  Once our children reach 14 years of age, they will require the same amount of fiber as an adult. So fiber is necessary for the whole family. It keeps us all feeling full from one meal to the next. We won’t feel our energy drop or that gnawing feeling in our stomach. Which means we won’t feel like nibbling or snacking in between meals. Which will be a great perk for losing weight.

What should our goal be each day? Aim for 12-15 grams of fiber at each meal.  Go for 15 grams if you need to lose weight or are trying to reduce your blood sugar. But you don’t need to count those grams if you aim to be a First Class Foodie–eating mainly from our 4 plant food groups–vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans.

Top Secret #3

Another top secret has to do with fats. Gram for gram, olive oil has the same number of calories as beef fat. One tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories and 14 grams of fat. A 130-pound woman would have to jog about 1.2 miles to burn off just one tablespoon of oil! So 2 tablespoons of olive oil have 7X the total fat as 4 ounces of chicken!

This doesn’t mean we should all be on a fat-free diet. A plant-strong diet is not a fat-free diet. Our bodies actually need dietary fat to function properly. But guess what? Whole plant food has all we need. Even broccoli, kale, beans, and quinoa have fat in small amounts. You can also find healthy amounts of fat in nuts and seeds, avocados, coconut, and olives. However, if you want to drop some weight and it has been hard to come off, you might want to avoid nuts and some of these higher-fat plant foods until you have reached a healthier weight.

But, keep in mind, there is healthy fat in all plant foods.

• 1 cup of raspberries has 16% of your daily omega-3 fatty acids
• 16% of the calories from zucchini come from fat
• 14% of the calories in spinach are derived from fat
• Fruits contain fats too–less than we find in vegetables–but they do contain a small percentage of fatty acids

So in a nutshell–as long as you eat a wide variety of plant foods and get sufficient calories, you will get all the essential fat you body needs when you eat a plant-based diet.

Top Secret #4

One more important secret for easy weight loss is one which we have studied before: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and supper like a pauper. That means to eat your biggest meal at breakfast, a slightly smaller one at lunch, and your lightest meal at supper. In my family, we like to eat fruit for our supper at our house—and high-fiber fruits like berries, apples, and pears will fill you up and help you have a good night’s rest too. Some people find that eating 2 meals a day works for them. If you skip supper even a few times during the week, you can help your body become more efficient at burning fat. I try to do this 3X a week.

One more perk about losing weight–if you are dealing with chronic pain, high blood pressure, or any kind of autoimmune condition–when you lose weight, your body has an easier time reducing inflammation in your body. So as you see the weight come off, you’ll experience greater health in more ways than just a lower number on the bathroom scale. Losing weight, however, is the key to achieving stronger health–to live longer and feel better.

Top Secret #5

Now here’s the most powerful secret that I have found in losing weight. Tap into the power of God’s promises. The one that has helped me most is found in Philippians 4:13–“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” How much can we do ourselves to turn our health around? We can do some things, but when we’re trying to make lasting change, we often feel powerless, don’t we? This is why I rely on this promise. I can do ALL things through Christ because He gives me the strength I need.

I like that word ALL, don’t you? No matter what we’re going through, God can empower us to do it. One day at a time. One meal at a time. But God will get us there. And when we connect God’s power with our top 4 secrets to losing weight, we are going to have success. You can do it. You can be fit and strong. And New Start is here to encourage you on that journey.