GG Bran CrispBread

GG Bran CrispBread is a traditionally baked crispbread, which is still produced in Norway by the Gundersen family. Founded in 1935, Mr. Eugen Gundersen, who created the original recipe, began producing bran crispbread as he found that the original Scandinavian crispbread was the most effective and appetizing method of supplementing his diet with fiber.

Ingredients: Unprocessed wheat bran, rye flour, salt.

Nutritional Information: Serving size 1 slice (9g), Servings per container 12, Calories 16, Calories from fat 0, Total Fat 0g, Saturated Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 30mg, Total Carbohydrate 3g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Protein 1g.


You can buy single packs @ Netrition and Locarbdiner

Excerpt from The Thin Commandments

The Thin Commandments: The Ten No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss (Hardcover)
by Stephen Gullo (Author)

"THE SINGLE GREATEST SURPRISE of my professional life has been the discovery that success at weight control is not about willpower..."

I ordered the paperback version (click here) from The Book Depository (3rd one down) Book is brand new, comes from the UK and takes about a week.

I have skimmed through it, and now I'm about 1/3 of the way thru it reading. Great info and tips for now, but also for maintenance. Dr. Gullo has his own "diet plan" but it is not pushed, and actually it might be a good one to add to the list to consider using for maintenance. (I already have the Abs Diet sitting there in reserve) Because when I reach goal I intend to be very active and I am going to need a clean diet to support my toned and healthy body.


The following is an excerpt from the book The Thin Commandments Diet: The 10 No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss

by Stephen Gullo, Ph.D.

Published by Rodale; January 2005; $24.95US/$35.95CAN; 978-1-57954-898-8

Click here for full excerpt

Copyright © 2005 Dietech Co.

Tips for Keeping the Weight Off

Here are 9 critical behaviors and 1 additional shift in thinking that make up the 10 most important things to do on maintenance. The first 4 behaviors characterize all my winners. The 6 additional behaviors describe most of my clients. And while I believe that all 10 are important, the first 4 are critical for success.

SPECIAL ALERT: The single most important thing you can do to keep weight off for a lifetime is so important I've changed the format of the text to indelibly etch it into your psyche: Wear form-fitting or tight clothes! When you reach maintenance, you should have one size, and one size only, of clothing. I've found that nothing sounds the warning siren faster or motivates people to act with greater haste than when their clothing gets too tight!

Think about what motivated you to start your diet. If you're like many of my clients, you were uncomfortable with your clothing (or you couldn't fit into it) and appearance. When you have a little extra trouble buttoning a pair of jeans or find it necessary to add an extra notch to your belt, it reawakens the original motivation. When you have only one size, you have no choice but to stay trim. If you save larger sizes, you are making it easy -- too easy -- to just switch to a larger size instead of acting to correct any errors.

Also, if you don't plan to be heavy again, why save the larger sizes? When you reach maintenance, throw out the larger sizes -- immediately!

Knowing that you have only one size of clothing adds another powerful incentive to maintain your weight: economics! How many of us can afford to buy a whole new wardrobe especially one in a larger size? Your wallet gives you extra incentive to guard your weight loss.

Before people ever respond to the clarion call to health, they listen to the cry of their clothing getting too tight. I'd have a nearly empty office if I tried to motivate people to stay on maintenance on the basis of health alone.

Your wardrobe is the most powerful deterrent I know of against sliding once more into out-of-control eating. It signals your commitment never to be heavy again. That's why I insist that all maintenance clients discard all clothes that no longer fit, with one exception: I ask them to save the outfit that's their largest size (preferably one they disliked ever having to wear) as an eternal reminder.

Keep problem foods you have a history of abusing out of your home. Almost all the women and a very large percentage of the men I have worked with who regained weight started the slide in their own homes. The slide often began with a food they had a history of abusing but had avoided while they were losing weight.

Remember the study by researchers at the National Weight Control Registry that found that two out of three people who lose weight and keep it off keep problem foods out of their house? Although that food might not tempt you at this moment, I can't urge you strongly enough to remove it from your home or at least keep it permanently out of your sight. Remember, you're always vulnerable to the foods that have tripped you up in the past -- even on maintenance. Eventually, people tend to return to their old favorites if they are continually available. On maintenance, even more than weight loss, availability stimulates craving -- even if it doesn't happen immediately. Along with keeping only one size of clothes in your house, it's critically important to keep problem foods out of your home.

Set a weight ceiling, and defend it. Pick a number -- typically about 3 pounds for women, 5 pounds for men -- and don't let your weight go above it -- ever. No matter what happens, don't let yourself off the hook. Draw a line in the sand. When the weight is back down, you can return to maintenance eating. Most of my clients expect increases in weight on weekends because of higher-calorie maintenance meals at home and out. Monday is typically the "high number" day of the week, but by Friday, they bring the weight back down to their goal weight, via Phase A and B eating.

Weigh yourself every day. Your bathroom scale can't weigh your behavior. However, it will tell you when you gain a pound or two. If you step on the scale the morning after a big meal at a restaurant or special event, your weight could be up. Don't be alarmed. If it's water weight, it will dissipate in 24 to 48 hours. You should expect slight variations during the week, especially after maintenance meals.

If it's real weight (3 or more pounds that remain over a period of several weeks), that should be a warning to you to take immediate action.

If you find it a bit maddening to follow the daily fluctuations of the scale even though you are eating properly, pick three days of the week on which you will always weigh yourself (for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

Exercise. It gives you structure and control. It gets you thinking about calorie burn and health consciousness and directs you away from obsessing about food. It's been shown that dieters who exercise regularly succeed the longest at keeping weight off. A study of more than 32,000 dieters by Consumer Reports magazine found that "regular exercise was the number one successful weight-loss maintenance strategy" of more than 81 percent of the long-term maintainers. In second place, at 74 percent, was the related strategy of increasing activity in daily routines. Also, as your body becomes lighter, it burns fewer calories. Exercise helps expand your calorie budget by burning the higher-caloric foods of maintenance.

And remember: Exercise generates endorphins, increases energy, and elevates mood.

Exercise provides you with a healthy outlet for stress. These effects help you follow through on your commitments, especially to control your weight. And as an outlet for stress, exercise shortcuts mood eating. It's the perfect alternative to keep your moods out of your foods.

Keep a photo of yourself at your heaviest weight. For added emphasis, place it next to a picture at your lightest weight. Many of my clients put the photo in a place where they feel most vulnerable -- the refrigerator door or kitchen counter, for example. Others elect to carry the photo in their wallet or purse.

Some of you may find it upsetting to stare constantly at a picture of yourself at your heaviest weight. Instead, carry a picture of what you look like at your lightest weight. You may find it motivates you even more to protect your accomplishments.

When it comes to weight control, a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Keep a food diary. I'd like you to keep a diary for at least the first 90 days on maintenance. I ask my own clients to keep a diary for a full year. I want them to be certain they can manage the entire cycle of the year, with its holidays, vacations, special events, birthdays, summer versus winter eating, and so on. Since the same events and seasons come up year after year, once you get through the first year, you should be well prepared for the coming ones. After the first year, I frequently ask some clients to continue to keep a food diary or to keep a record of any "error" such as eating problem foods or excessive quantities of caloric foods.

A diary will serve as a daily reminder of the extras and/or negative eating habits. Writing out your meals and snacks a day in advance will help structure your thinking and help you steer clear of potential trip-ups.

Give yourself clear boundaries. Boundaries are a strong structure for your eating behavior. A major study of the winners found that 88 percent limited some type or classes of food. Another 45 percent limited the quantities of the foods they ate. Remember, if you don't have a good history of limiting a particular food, avoid it.

I help my clients establish clear boundaries and control their calorie budget with the lighter menus of Phases A and B of my eating plan from Monday through Friday, saving their maintenance meals or higher-calorie foods for weekends and special events. This clear boundary helps build an infrastructure of positive behaviors and smart eating habits that becomes automatic after a few weeks.

Most of my winners reinforce their boundaries with the techniques of Box It In and Box It Out. Many decide to Box Out a certain category or type of food. For some, it's baked goods, especially breadbaskets. Others avoid sweet baked goods (but may indulge in another type of sweet, such as a chocolate mousse). I want to emphasize again: They don't do this to make their lives difficult or to deprive themselves of something they want. They do it to make it easier to succeed at weight control -- which is something they want more.

Go beyond the food reward system. My winners enjoy the pleasure of fine food. Many of them dine regularly at fine restaurants. However, they've evolved beyond the childhood programming that views food as a reward or a treat.

They understand that no matter how beautiful a food looks or how enticing its aroma, if it's a food they have a history of abusing, it's no reward at all.

Some of my clients reward themselves with new clothes. Others enjoy a trip to a spa, a new necklace, or a weekend getaway with friends.

These are material rewards. A far more meaningful reward occurs each morning when they look in the mirror and see a trim body. There's no greater reward you can give yourself than to live the vision you have for your own life.

Reprinted from: The Thin Commandments Diet: The 10 No -Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss by Stephen Gullo, Ph.D. © 2005 by Dietech Co. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098. Available wherever books are sold or directly from the publisher by calling (800) 848-4735 or visit their website at:
www.rodalestore.com.

By Buzzle Staff and Agencies
Published: 1/26/2005

The Commandments in a Nutshell

The Thin Commandments - A diet expert offers a 10-point behavioral strategy for losing weight and keeping it off.
By Leanna Skarnulis
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Wonder why you lose weight only to regain it and then some? "You've lost the weight but not the vulnerability," says Stephen Gullo, PhD, author of The Thin Commandments: The Ten No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss. He maintains that losing weight and keeping it off is about adopting new strategies and changing your thinking about food. "If you go back to foods you have a long history of abusing, it's Psychology 101: Do what you've always done, and you'll get the result you've always gotten."

Although he disavows "the theology that you can have all foods in moderation," this book isn't the bible of faith-based weight loss programs. It preaches strategy, not prayer, as the path to lifelong weight control. Nor is the book related to The Thin Commandments written by Carolyn Costin, MA, MEd, MFT, for people with eating disorders. Her tongue-in-cheek commandments aren't meant to be followed but to illustrate beliefs that lead people astray -- maxims such as "Thou shalt not eat without feeling guilty" and "You can never be too thin."

Gullo's book presents 10 commandments or behavioral strategies plus his ABC Eating Plan and recipes. WebMD talked to him about why most diets fail and about his approach to permanent weight loss.

Successful Dieters Know Their Food History
Gullo says "the thin commandments" represent a new paradigm because they place a person's food history first and calories second. For example, seven almonds don't have a lot of calories, but someone whose weakness is nuts may stop at 70, not seven. "I'd rather my patients had a higher-calorie food at a dinner party than to start with the bread basket they have a long history of abusing. And I'd rather they'd have a crème brulee than a cookie, because the crème brulee doesn't translate to their daily lifestyle, but cookies they see every day."

He says the field of weight control is the only area of health care in which the importance of the patient's history is ignored. "The same people gain back the same weight with the same foods again and again. That's a major reason the field of weight control has produced a 90%-95% failure rate." He says his program has a success rate 15 times higher than the national average and has helped thousands of people maintain their weight for more than five years.

Successful Dieters Have Strategies for Controlling Their Eating
Gullo, former chairman of the National Obesity and Weight Control Education Program at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, says no diet can change decades of eating habits. "Changing habits of a lifetime takes strategy."

He maintains that once you know your food history, you should banish problem foods from your home. It almost feels as though he's been peeking into our kitchens when he says, "Every woman and most men have a counter with food, that as soon as they walk in their eyes and hands automatically go there. Throw out the kitchen-counter food."

That doesn't mean you can never eat those foods, but he says to manage them you must "box them in." "Don't eat them at home; limit them to a fine restaurant on Friday night. If you buy them for the home, only buy small bags."

Watch Out for Irregular Eating Patterns
Irregular eating patterns also sabotage weight control, so structure your meals and snacks. "If you go longer than three to four hours without a healthy snack and your blood sugar falls, you're more likely to have cravings," he says.

Arriving at a restaurant or dinner party hungry is another mistake. "The first thing they put in front of you is the bread basket," he says. "Frito-Lay had it right when they said, 'Bet you can't have just one.'"

He often tells his patients, who pay him $1,000 an hour, to get over feeling deprived and to grow up. "For the first time in history, people pay someone because they eat too much. We live in a world where there's cancer and AIDS. How can we feel deprived if we can't have an M&M? I can't eat pizza. I don't think I'm deprived at all. It's an adult decision. The only real deprivation is to trade off your life for a cookie, an M&M or a chip."

Although his degree is in psychology, he has no tolerance for psychobabble. "I realized when I was a student at Columbia, I wasn't even hungry, but if I took one cookie I wanted five or six more. I never thought it was because my mother didn't buy me a bicycle or because I was afraid to be thin or wanted to sabotage myself. You don't have to be crazy to be crazy about a cookie."

Successful Dieters Pay Attention to Food Neurochemistry
Ever notice that whatever you eat when you're starving tastes terrific? Gullo says neuropeptide Y, a brain hormone, rises when you go too long without eating and causes cravings for carbs to get accentuated. "If you want to eat sweets, and that's what you have a history of abusing, don't eat them on an empty stomach. The best snack might be a protein, or low-fat cheese and fruit."

He advocates combining foods and supplements -- seafood, cinnamon, calcium-rich foods, and high-fiber foods -- that have what he calls a "synergistic effect" in their ability to melt off pounds. He presents a 10-day Turbocharge Diet he says can safely take off from 10-14 pounds. The diet is limited to an A list of foods that include certain fast-food selections as well as meals you prepare at home. Next he has a B list of foods for continuing the diet and a C list for maintenance.

The Commandments in a Nutshell
1. Strategy is stronger than willpower.
2. Think historically, not just "calorically."
3. The problem may be in the food, not you.
4. Structure gives control.
5. Separate mood from food.
6. Take control of your favorite foods.
7. Slips should teach you, not defeat you.
8. Stop feeling deprived.
9. Treat your calories like dollars.
10. Losing weight is half the job. Keeping if off is the other half.


Another Point of View
Cindy Moore, MS, RD, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, reviewed Gullo's book and enthusiastically endorses his strategies. She tells WebMD, "He's very motivational. He puts people in touch with the reasons they do what they do, helps them identify their food histories and food triggers, and gives specific examples of what they can do to change their behaviors."

She appreciates his understanding of the pitfalls that occur at the various stages of dieting and the strategies he presents for overcoming them. "He writes in a manner that people can identify with and takes them through what they have experienced in the past when they've fallen off diets."

But Moore, who is director of nutrition therapy at The Cleveland Clinic, has problems with the second half of the book. "He goes over the edge a bit when he talks about how his diet 'turbocharges' the body's capacity to lose weight." She says there's nothing harmful in the foods or in adding cinnamon and calcium to the diet, but she believes they're overused and their benefits overstated. "As with most popular diets, there's no science to prove his claims. He can't prove the turbocharging effect of his diet or that the combination of foods he uses can have a greater effect than if you happened to eat them on occasion."

She also believes most people would have problems adhering to the diet and following the recipes. "The 10-day Turbocharge diet is very limiting, and you really have to like fish. And the recipes aren't very reader-friendly. Sometimes you have to refer back to another place in the book, and there could be a lot of flipping back and forth."

Her advice: "Read the book for the excellent behavioral strategies, and skip the diet and recipes."


SOURCES: Stephen Gullo, PhD, author, The Thin Commandments Diet: The 10 No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss; president, Institute for Health and Weight Sciences, New York. Cindy Moore, MS, RD, director, nutrition therapy, The Cleveland Clinic; spokeswoman, American Dietetic Association. Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center.

© 2005 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.