OBESITY

If you are overweight you’re probably tired of the constant struggle with food. If your child is overweight you are probably ambivalent about what food to serve, sweet? no sweet? Take heart. Expert help is available to get you past the obstacles to your good health. Grace Shih helps clients from childhood obesity to, teens and adulthood with creating a healthy life style and making sound food choices. Grace focuses on learning intuitive eating and promoting a positive self-image. She often takes away tension between parents and their children. She serves as a behaviorist, a nutritionist, a counselor and a teacher.

Tools and Tips for those Struggling with Obesity
Why Diets Fail
5 Easy Steps for Making Changes Now
Shopping List for A Healthy Family
Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas
Common Portions

BARIATRIC SURGERY

Ms. Grace Shih works with Bay Area renowned bariatric surgeons. She conducts pre-surgery nutritional evaluation; and helps clients with post-surgery nutritional care to prevent any nutrient deficiency due to limited intake or mal-absorption.

Why Do Diets Fail? (children and adults)

When starting a diet, many dieters set unreasonably high expectations
Diets focus on restricting certain types of foods and are often so low calorie that hunger is a major obstacle
Foods that are on the ‘bad’ or ‘forbidden’ lists become more desirable and difficult to avoid
Psycho-social and emotional issues that led to overeating in the first place are not resolved by dieting

With childhood obesity, the American Dietary Association has found evidence of the following contributors to obesity in children or teens

Skipping breakfast
Eating out often
Increased portion sizes in restaurants and food packaging
Parental restriction of highly palatable foods (e.g. candy, cookies)

Five Easy Steps for Making Changes Now

Work on lifestyle changes one step at a time…

Step 1
Identify the problem area and choose one habit to change

Keep healthy snacks in a back pack
Redefine meal times
Do your grocery shopping once a week

Step 2
Minimize restricted eating behavior
Have at least 1-2 food items for breakfast
Pack a food bag
Take few minutes to plan ahead before you sit down to eat

Step 3
Practice proper portion sizes – avoid ‘Portion Distortion’
Read nutrition labels
use appropriate cup and plate sizes for serving food
Work on preparing and serving a meal using correct portions, see what it looks like on the plate!

Step 4
Metabolic fitness – rev up your body’s engine!
Exercise for health for 30 to 60 minutes daily

Step 5
Listen to your body – read your body signals
Ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?”
Do I need to eat this, or can I substitute something healthier?
Is this a good portion size, or can I cut it back some?
Am I still hungry after eating?

Shopping list for a busy family

Unavailability of healthy foods in the house is one of the reasons contributing to over eating. The family eats out more; and individuals snack or graze on high calorie foods.

Protein:

Meat patties
Frozen salmon
Frozen grilled cooked chicken
Tofu, veggi-burger patties (if vegetarians)
Eggs
Assorted canned beans
Non-fat refried beans
A jar of peanut butter
Nuts

Grains:

Assorted dry pasta, a jar of spaghetti sauce
A pkg of rice
A box of cereal
A container of oatmeal
Few rolls of ready to bake croissants
Frozen bread products
Instant potato, instant rice
Frozen cheese ravioli

Dairy:

Cheese sticks
Non fat assorted cheeses as desire
A container of parmesan cheese
A box of dry milk

Fruits:

Oranges
Whole melons
Frozen strawberries
Canned pineapple or fruit cocktail, non-syrup

Vegetables:

Frozen vegetables
Baby carrots
A bag of fresh cut broccoli (if available)
A bag of salad mix (if available)

Snacks:

Pkgs of non-sweetened jello
Molds to make popsicles
Wheat crackers
Pkgs of non-buttered popcorn
A jar of strawberries preserve
Mini-bagels
Assorted dry fruit