Nov 24, 2009 5:44 pm US/Eastern
8 Ways To Feel Thinner Over The Holidays
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Add potassium rich foods like tomato sauce and spinach to your diet.
WBZ
With the holidays coming up, most of us want to look and feel our best when we put on that little black dress or Thanksgiving sweater.
But if you don't have time for a diet, WBZ's Dr. Mallika Marshall has some tips on how you can change in your diet to look and feel slimmer in just one week.
WHY AM I BLOATED?
Do you ever get the feeling that as you get older, your stomach seems to get bigger?
It may be bloat. It turns out as we get older, it takes longer for food to leave our stomachs, plus air can get trapped there too and that makes clothes tight around the waist. But there are simple ways to solve the problem quickly by adding -- or subtracting -- things from your diet.
ADD FIBER
First, add not one, but two kinds of fiber -- soluble and insoluble.
It is important to eat both because if you only eat foods with insoluble fiber, water can be held in the gut and it stays there, causing discomfort. Making sure you have both kinds of fiber in your diet will help move things along.
Many foods already have both, like fruit and potatoes. The peel or skin has insoluble fiber and the inside is the soluble fiber. You also get insoluble fiber in bran and soluble in oats.
REDUCE SODIUM INTAKE
Another way to feel thinner is to reduce sodium, which makes you retain water and look and feel bloated.
Most people eat more than two times the recommended daily amount of 1,500 milligrams of sodium.
EAT POTASSIUM PACKED FOODS
Add potassium rich foods, like potatoes, bananas, oranges, yogurt, milk, tomato sauce and spinach to your diet.
Potassium can help prevent water retention.
SCRAP THE 'RAW' PRODUCE
Subtract "raw" produce because it takes up a lot of volume in the stomach.
For example, substitute a big salad with cooked broccoli or cauliflower.
DON'T CONSUME SUGAR ALCOHOLS
Subtract sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, mostly in gum and mints. They can cause bloating because the body is not able break them down well.
BYE, BYE CANDY, GUM & SODA
Subtract candy, gum and soda.
When you chew gum or suck on candy with your mouth open, you're ingesting air which bloats your stomach.
With soda, the problem is it's carbonated, so it had gas added to it, which usually translates to more gas for those who drink it.
DRINK MORE FLUIDS
Women should get 90 ounces a day, or 11 eight-ounce cups. Men should get 125 ounces a day, or 15 eight-ounce cups. The best choices are water and tea.
Coffee is good, but be careful of what else you put in it because of the calories. Juice also has benefits, but if you're counting calories, dilute it.
Skim milk is also a good choice.
PROBIOTICS
Add yogurt with probiotics to your diet. Probiotics are good bacteria and help with digestion.
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