Weight Management Programs

Guidelines For Selecting a Holistic and Healthy Weight Management Program

The following are suggestions to consider as you select an outside program to assist you.

When selecting a holistic weight management program:

Its focus should be health-at-any size (going inside of yourself for your own answers), promoting the non-dieting approach. Check out: Dieting versus the Non-Dieting Approach section to explore this area. It needs to focus on making it a way of life, not just a temporary solution.

1. It ought to provide a flexible foundation food plan—one that provides “flexible structure”. It should be based on sound nutrition principles. The plan should be delicious and enjoyable to eat. A plan you can follow for a lifetime!

2. The program needs to promote personal independence. It ought to supply practical ideas about applying sound nutrition principles in everyday life—ideas for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. It is essential to provide meal-planning resources for busy lives, recipes, suggestions, tips.

3. Provide training to help you learn the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger, and provide resources to help you meet emotional hungers and learn the skills of self-nurturing.

4. It should emphasize the development of FUN patterns of lifestyle physical activity—for self and your family for a lifetime.

5. It should promote the development of self-management skills (learn the skill of problem solving when things weren’t going well), like becoming “your own personal trainer or lifestyle coach,” with the practice of going within for your answers (Like Overeaters Anonymous' step 4, 10, 11 and the Daily Personal Check-In).

6. It's essential to discuss the concepts of setting priorities in life and personal balance, with an understanding of our cultural conditioning influences.

7. It should provide information about referrals to appropriate community resources.

8. The program should include a maintenance component where you develop and apply your own healthful maintenance PLAN. As has been shared, weight is managed not cured. For most people learning and practicing all of the necessary lifestyle skills takes from 1 - 3 years.

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) provides excellent information on a variety of nutrition and food safety topics.

Follow this link to a PDF file on weight loss: http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/weightlossbroch.cfm

Weight Loss: Finding a Program That Works for You

December 2000: This easy-to-use booklet provides information and checklists for evaluating weight loss programs and helps consumers to choose a safe and effective weight loss method. This booklet was developed in cooperation with The Partnership for Healthy Weight Management.

Their web site: http://www.ific.org/ provides credible, science-based information of food safety, nutrition and health.

NUTRITION INFORMATION AREAS:

FOOD SAFETY INFORMATION:

Agriculture & Food Production
Food Allergies & Asthma
Food Biotechnology
Food Safety & New Technology
International Food Safety Resources

Nutrition
Child & Adolescent Nutrition
Dietary Fats & Fat Replacers
Food Ingredients
Functional Foods
International Nutrition Resources
Obesity & Weight Management
Oral Health & Nutrition
Sugars & Low-Calorie Sweeteners

They also have an excellent newsletter, Food Insight Newsletter: http://www.ific.org/foodinsight/index.cfm

See Choosing a Safe and Successful Weight-Loss Program from the Weight Control Information Network (at NIDDK) http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/choosing.htm for answers on selecting programs. Choosing a weight-loss program may be a difficult task. You may not know what to look for in a weight-loss program or what questions to ask. This fact sheet can help you make an informed decision about joining a program.