Preventing Obesity | Strategies for a Healthy Weight

 Let's be clear: To make strides in reversing the obesity epi&mic, changes must come from all parts of society—from governments and schools, businesses and non-profit organizations,neighborhoods and communities. Effective policies and programs are essential in ensuring that children and adults live, work, and play in environments that are conducive to healthy eating and offer opportunities for physical activity.

Personal preferences and knowledge or beliefs can influence lifestyle choices, but there are so many complex factors that strongly impact individual behaviors. This page covers individual-and family-level strategies associated with maintaining a healthy weight, with the acknowledgement that we are too often fighting against a flood of accessible unhealthy options, persuasive advertising, and policies that make it far from easy.

Strategies for a Healthy Weight –

Preventing weight gain over the years may not be possible for everyone, but there are strategies to help reduce the amount of weight change by increasing awareness of modifiable risk factors and working toward healthy lifestyle behaviors. Most of these strategies are covered in-depth throughout the website, so keep an eye out for links to more information below.

Eat well –

Nutritional quality matters when maintaining a healthy weight, and a healthy pattern is crucial to good health. Additionally, how we eat matters too.

Eat and drink these:

Vegetables, fresh or frozen (choose a rainbow!)

Whole fruits, fresh or unsweetened frozen (but minimize fruit juices)

Healthy protein sources, including plant protein (tofu, tempeh, legumes, nuts, seeds) and lean animal protein (seafood and skinless poultry)

Whole grains like whole wheat, steel-cut oats, intact whole grains like brown rice, bulgur, barley, amaranth, quinoa

Healthy fats, including liquid plant oils such as olive, avocado, and sunflower oil

Water, tea, coffee (limit excess sweeteners and creams added to these beverages)

Eat and drink less of these:

Sugar-sweetened beverages (soda, fruit drinks, high-sugar sports drinks) and foods with added sugar

Fruit juices

Refined grains (white bread, white rice, white pasta)

Red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and processed red meats (salami, ham, bacon, sausage)

Low-nutrient ultra-processed foods and snacks, and other highly processed foods, such as fast food

How we eat and how much:

Age, gender, body size, and level of physical activity dictate how much food you need each day to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. With extra-large restaurant portions, easy access to low-cost ultra-processed snacks and fast food, it's far too easy to overeat. Try the tips below to avoid overeating.

Eat breakfast. While it seems like skipping a meal is an easy way to cut calories and is often promoted with certain intermittent fasting regimens, skipping breakfast entirely can backfire when hunger comes raging back mid-day, often leading to overeating. Breakfast doesn't have to mean a big bowl of cereal, eggs, and toast. It may mean a slice of whole grain toast with nut butter, a hardboiled egg or leftover piece of chicken and an orange, or a low-sugar protein smoothie blended with plain Greek yogurt, calcium-fortified plant milk, and fresh fruit.

Choose small portions and eat slowly. Slowing down while eating and using smaller bowls or plates can help avoid overeating by giving the brain time to tell the stomach when it's had enough food. Limiting distractions like turning off screens from phones and computers can also help us to increase our focus and enjoyment on food.

Eat at home. Fast food, restaurant meals, and other foods prepared away from home tend to have larger portions and richer ingredients. When cooking meals at home, you have more control what you put into them. If you feel too busy to cook, try meal prep strategies.

Eat mindfully. Taking time to think about why you're eating and if you're truly hungry can help you to make better food choices. When you do eat, focus all of your senses on the food with sight, smell, touch, and taste so that you can fully enjoy what you are eating. Learn mpre about mindful eating.