Positive attitude aids in weight loss

Around 55% of the 170 million American adults who are overweight or obese say they want to lose weight. But it’s a challenge — many folks try but fail to shed significant weight, and most of those who succeed regain much or all of it within three to five years.

Why is it so tough to reach your goal? One obstacle you might not have considered: your attitude toward yourself when you overeat, eat foods you’ve declared you will avoid, or eat at a time you said you wouldn’t.

A new study published in Appetite says that if you can acknowledge how tough it is to change your eating habits and understand that one slip doesn’t mean failure, you have a much better chance of continuing to improve your nutritional habits and shed excess pounds.

You can learn to achieve more self-forgiveness by practicing mindful meditation. It allows you to recognize your self-defeating attitudes and let them drift away. A Brown University study even found that mindfulness directly promotes more healthful food choices.

Want another way to make your weight-loss journey more successful? Add more of the prebiotic fiber inulin to your diet — or consider a supplement. According to a study in Gut, people taking 30 grams a day of inulin were more likely to select medium- or low-calorie foods than high-calorie ones — and their brains showed less activation in the reward network when shown high-calorie foods. Find more food sources of inulin in iHerb.com’s blog “What Are Prebiotics? 15 Natural Food Sources + Health Benefits.”

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.