10 Healthy Eating Tips for Success

A Gynecology Specialists note: This month we shared healthy eating guidance inspired by nutrition expert Dana Carpender, author of nine cookbooks and the weekly online newsletter Lowcarbezine.

Carpender’s core message resonates with what our GYN doctors tell patients about sustainable weight management: there is no “finish line.” Whatever you do to lose weight, you have to be able to keep doing for good — so extreme, all-or-nothing diets are set up to fail.

Her practical advice, summarized:

• Balance, not extremes. Lower-carb eating doesn’t mean no-carb. Keep vegetables, low-sugar fruits, nuts and seeds in your diet, and make the way you eat varied and enjoyable enough to sustain for years.
• Expect an adjustment period. The first few days of a dietary change can feel rough while your body adapts to burning fat for fuel; energy typically rebounds within about a week.
• Eat a high-protein breakfast every day. A protein-and-natural-fat breakfast with a low blood sugar impact has been shown to reduce appetite and cravings all day long.
• Find non-food rewards. If you’re in the habit of using sweets as a reward, brainstorm alternatives — a pedicure, a massage, a call to an old friend — that don’t leave you feeling worse later.
• Eat real food. Build meals around meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds, vegetables, low-sugar fruit, and minimally processed fats, and limit anything with a bar code on it.
• Watch portions and labels. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re comfortably full, and read the label on everything — sugar, corn syrup and hydrogenated oils turn up in surprising places.

Our takeaway for our patients: healthy weight management is one of the most powerful things you can do for your gynecologic and overall health, from hormone balance to incontinence risk. If you’d like help building a sustainable plan, we’re happy to talk it through at your next visit.

If you are suffering from a GYN health issue, please contact our GYN clinic at (757) 312-8221. Our GYN doctors are here to help you.