The Surprising Daily Habits of People Who Are Losing Weight (and Keeping It Off)

As a society, there’s no doubt that we are bombarded with weight loss advice, both good and bad. But since every body is different, there will never be a one-size-fits-all approach, which is part of the reason the diet industry is so profitable. That being said, as more and more research is being done, it’s getting easier to discover what works and what doesn’t — and your results will have less to do with your actual diet plan and more to do with your daily habits.

There seem to be some common habits among people who are able to lose weight and keep it off and those who are stuck in a perpetual yo-yo. And some of them might not be what you think.

They practice mindful eating and portion control 

Even if you eat healthy foods, you won’t lose weight if you’re eating too many calories. Portion sizes tend to be too big in this country, and it’s easy to pile way too much on your plate and devour it quickly when you’re starving. People who stay slim tend to take smaller amount, put their forks down in between bites, and savor their meals. This way, if they do reach for seconds, they know it’s because they’re truly still hungry.

They don’t label any foods as ‘bad’ or ‘off limits’ 

You might think that embarking on a weight loss journey means banning certain foods from your diet forever, but this is not the case. Of course, you won’t be able to eat a dozen donuts every morning or hit the fast food drive thru on a weekly basis. But rather than depriving themselves of junk food entirely, people who successfully maintain their weight loss tend to find a way to work it in as an occasional treat as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

They don’t drink their calories 

You’d be shocked at how the calories can rack up simply by maintaining a daily full fat latte, soda or juice habit. Successful dieters know that calories should come almost entirely from food, and they tend to stick to water, tea, or black coffee.

They have an accountability system 

Maybe this means joining a weight loss program like Weight Watchers, or perhaps it involves pre-paying for weekly workout sessions or having a standing jogging date with a friend. But the fact is, people who are held accountable lose more weight and keep it off. Plus, it helps knowing that you’re not doing this alone.

They start their day with a healthy meal 

Whether they eat breakfast right away every morning or choose to participate in a little intermittent fasting (to each, their own), successful “losers” make their first meal of the day a healthy one.  Not only will this fuel your body with energy, but it will help you make healthier choices all day long.

They set realistic goals 

The vast majority of adults are incredibly busy, and despite what some phony ads may claim, you can’t lose weight overnight. Setting small, realistic goals is the key to long-term success, especially when you hold yourself accountable to them.

They eat veggies every day 

This is probably the least surprising weight loss tip, but it’s the one tried-and-true habit of successful dieters that seems to be the most effective. Vegetables are the most nutritionally dense food you can eat, and learning to love them will change your life (and slim your waistline). Eating the recommended 2-3 cups of veggies per day isn’t as tough as it seems — a breakfast omelet or scramble with added veggies and a big side salad with dinner will do the trick.

Vital Things Your Doctor Will Never Tell You That You’d Definitely Want to Know

We all hope our doctor will be trustworthy, honest, and ethical when working with our own health. However, there are plenty of things your doctor is hiding from you. While they aren’t necessarily risking your health, they could be wasting you a lot of time and money.

These doctors and studies have revealed common practices doctors take that they’d never tell you about. One thing that doctors commonly do is just another way to shorten a patient visit (page 6).

I’ll almost always push surgery 

A USA TODAY review of government records and medical databases discovered that tens of thousands of surgeries performed each year are unnecessary. Take Jonathan Stelly, 37, who at 22 had his baseball dreams crushed when a doctor put in a pacemaker when all Stelly needed was blood pressure medication.

“In many doctors’ value systems, surgery is the default,” said Christopher Meyers, Ph.D., head of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at California State University. Studies have found that surgery often isn’t the best option. For example, some have found that taking the “wait-and-see” strategy when it comes to hernias may be just as effective as going under the knife.

There is often a cheaper pill than what I’ve prescribed you 

While the generic pill isn’t always right for every patient, the typical brand-name pill is equally as effective to its significantly cheaper generic counterpart. “Most doctors aren’t prescribing generic medicines because there are rewards to be had from the pharmaceutical industry,” said Evan Levine, M.D., author of What Your Doctor Won’t (or Can’t) Tell You.

While federal law prohibits pharma companies from compensating doctors, there are loopholes. An internist in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reader’s Digest that 94% of doctors take gifts from drug companies, even though research has shown that the gifts bias their clinical decision making.

You don’t need this test 

A nationwide sample of “surveillance” colonoscopies found that nearly 50% of doctors recommend these tests unnecessarily. This better-safe-than-sorry mindset isn’t limited to colonoscopies: The most overused procedures include MRIs, CT scans, echocardiograms, and stress tests.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t think about the potential for being sued. It makes me give patients a lot of unnecessary tests that are potentially harmful, just so I don’t miss an injury or problem that comes back to haunt me in the form of a lawsuit,” an ER physician from Colorado told Reader’s Digest.

I can only fix problems, not prevent them — and I can’t fix them all 

“I wish patients would take more responsibility for their own health and stop relying on me to bail them out of their own problems,” an ER physician from Colorado told Reader’s Digest. The trend to rely on physicians to fix problems, especially those associated with weight gain, while taking no steps to do so, is one that doctors notice more often than patients think.

A cardiologist from Brooklyn explained his frustrations with being his patients’ “mother.” “Every time I see you, I have to say the obligatory, ‘you need to lose weight.’ But you swear … ‘the weight just doesn’t come off,’ and the subject is dropped … So I’m supposed to hold your hand and talk you into backing away from that box of Twinkies. Boy, do I get tired of repeating the stuff most patients just don’t listen to.”

Taking psychiatric drugs can affect your insurability 

If you require psychiatric drugs like Prozac, Lexapro, or Valium, your doctor recognized you need the drug’s assistance for a mental health condition; by no means should they hold off prescribing the medication if they find it the best option for your health. However, it’s unlikely that your physician will tell you how this drug will affect your insurability.

“If you take Prozac, it may be harder and more expensive for you to get life insurance, health insurance, or long-term-care insurance,” Daniel Amen, M.D., a psychiatrist from California told Reader’s Digest.

I’m essentially prescribing you a placebo pill 

According to Howard Brody, M.D., director of the Center for Ethics and Humanities at Michigan State University, while doctors aren’t actually prescribing you sugar-filled pills, they may be prescribing you essentially ineffective ones. He said 40% of patients with colds who go to a doctor get an antibiotic — the doctor can choose to spend 15 minutes explaining to the patient why they don’t need the meds or take one minute to write the prescription.

A cardiologist from Maine agreed with Brody. “Sometimes it’s easier for a doctor to write a prescription for a medicine than to explain why the patient doesn’t need it.”

They get rewarded if you join a clinical trial  

Clinical trials are entirely experimental, however, there’s a major payoff for doctors: They can make nearly $5,000 for each patient they recruit. “The drug is being tested precisely because we don’t know how it will work,” said Steven Joffe, M.D., a researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Ask your doctor to explain any benefits of existing medications compared to the trial drug. You can also visit clinicaltrials.gov to research the study in question as well as contact the trial’s organizer to find out about any potential incentives doctors are receiving for their recommendations.

This Is What You Should Drink If You Feel a Cold Coming on, According to Science

The colder seasons are upon us, and that means so many wonderful things: falling leaves, cozy sweaters, crackling fireplaces, and the holidays. But, unfortunately, it also means flu season.

When your body begins showing signs of a nasty cold, like sneezing or congestion, or a whole body flu, like chills and fatigue, you might be inclined to hurry to the drugstore or your medicine cabinet to take over-the-counter meds—which may or may not work. But too often we forget about nature’s remedies for fighting the flu.

Turns out, sipping a hot cup of tea is not only comforting while you’re feeling under the weather, but according to research, it’s chock-full of benefits to help you combat this season’s biggest sickness.

According to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, drinking black tea is a major immune booster. The study, out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School, found that people who drank five cups of black tea a day for two weeks saw their immune system T cells pumping out 10 times more cold and flu virus-fighting interferon.

“We worked out the molecular aspects of this tea component in the test tube and then tested it on a small number of people to see if it actually worked in human beings,” explained Jack F. Bukowski, MD, one of the study’s researchers. According to Dr. Bukowski, the results are proof that five cups of tea a day can enhance the body’s disease defenses.  

Green tea is another noteworthy flu-fighter thanks to its antioxidant quercetin, as well as an amino acid called L-theanine. Various studies have shown that quercetin acts as a potent antiviral agent, hindering viral replication of many respiratory viruses, including influenza virus. One study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food found quercetin to inhibit the replication of a common cold virus in its initial stage of infection.

A study completed by researchers at University of Florida and the Nutritional Science Research Institute and published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that L-theanine and decaffeinated green tea catechins are capable of boosting the body’s immune system. The results suggest that green tea can decrease the incidence and duration of cold and flu symptoms.

“With this study, we were able to show that ingestion of a specific combination of decaffeinated tea polyphenols standardized to 45 percent EGCg and L-theanine, would enhance systemic immunity, and prevent cold and flu symptoms in healthy individuals. This is a significant finding,” said lead study author Susan S. Percival, PhD.

The benefits of tea have long been accounted for, but it is easy to forget that a soothing cup does more than just satisfy you—it can prevent against pesky, and sometimes life-threatening, viruses like the flu.  

8 Silent Signs Stress Is Making You Sick

Americans are more stressed than ever, according to an American Psychological Association survey, and nearly one-third say stress impacts their physical or mental health. If you have any of these symptoms, your stress might be making you sick. Here's how to combat them.

You break out in hives 

If you're suddenly covered in itchy red bumps, stress (not allergies) might be to blame. When your body experiences excessive stress (for either a short or long period of time) your immune system gets wonky and your body starts releasing the chemical histamine to fight off your ailment. If the stress doesn't go away, you essentially develop an allergic reaction and, boom, hives galore. When your immune system is weakened by stress, your skin can also become irritated by things it never used to be sensitive to, such as soap, cold or heat, lotions, or laundry detergent.

WHAT TO DO: Put a cool, damp towel on the affected area. if that doesn't work, take an antihistamine.

Your weight starts to fluctuate 

"Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol, which impairs your body's ability to process blood sugar and changes the way you metabolize fat, protein, and carbs, which can lead to weight gain or loss," says Shanna Levine, MD, a primary care physician and clinical instructor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Stress can also cause people to engage in unhealthy behaviors like overeating or undereating.

WHAT TO DO: Snack on nuts. The protein will help if you're undereating, and the fiber will fill you up if you've been bingeing.

You keep getting headaches 

If you've never suffered from headaches but suddenly your head is constantly pounding, you might be too stressed. Stress releases chemicals that can cause changes to nerves and blood vessels in the brain, which brings on a headache. Prone to migraines? Stress can trigger them or make them worse. It's also common for your muscles to tense up when you're stressed, which can also cause a headache.  

WHAT TO DO: If you don't want to take ibuprofen, try dabbing lavender oil or peppermint oil on your temples when a headache starts.  

Your tummy is just off 

Stress can disrupt the function of your GI tract in more than one way. It can cause the body to produce more digestive acid, leading to heartburn. "It can also slow the emptying of food from the stomach, which causes gas and bloating, and may even increase the number of times your colon contracts, leading to cramping and diarrhea," Deborah Rhodes, MD, a Mayo Clinic internal medicine physician, told Parents.com.  

WHAT TO DO: Take an over-the-counter antacid. Or, try drinking ginger tea, or one of these other medicine-free stomachache remedies. 

You always have a cold 

Stress suppresses the immune system, which makes it easier for you to get sick and harder to fight off bugs. "When people are stressed, they get sick. It could be a cold or cold sores, which pop up because the immune system can't suppress the virus," says Dr. Levine. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh infected volunteers with a cold virus; those who reported in a survey that they were coping with many stresses were twice as likely to get sick as those with fewer problems, Parents.com reported.  

WHAT TO DO: One study found that zinc supplements or lozenges can shorten the length of a cold by about a day if taken within 24 hours of feeling sick. Meditation, regular exercise, and plenty of sleep can also help you de-stress and boost your immune system.  

You have acne ... again! 

You thought acne was a distant teenage nightmare, but if your face is suddenly a mess of pimples, stress might be causing your breakouts. (Here are other sneaky reasons for acne breakouts). When you're stressed, your body pumps out more hormones, like cortisol, which causes skin glands to produce more oil. This excess oil can get trapped inside hair follicles, along with dirt and dead skin cells, producing pimples, according to Healthline.com.

WHAT TO DO: Topical creams containing benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid can clear up acne if applied regularly. For a more natural approach, wash your face with green tea or dab on some pure aloe. Their antibacterial properties can promote healing. Or give one of these home remedies for acne a try; they may help clear up your skin.

Your brain feels fuzzy 

Stress can make you mentally sick, too. Too much of the stress hormone cortisol can make it harder to focus or concentrate, causing memory problems as well as anxiety or depression, says Dr. Levine.

WHAT TO DO: Relax until you regain your focus. Practice closing your eyes and breathing in and out slowly, concentrating only on your breath. 

Your hair is falling out 

Losing a few strands of hair is normal (old hair follicles are replaced by new ones over time), but stress can disrupt that cycle. Significant stress pushes a large number of hair follicles into what's called a resting phase, and then a few months later those hairs fall out, according to MayoClinic.org. Stress can also cause the body’s immune system to attack your hair follicles, resulting in hair loss. 

WHAT TO DO: Be patient. Once your stress level returns to normal, your hair should start growing back. 

Florida shooting: FBI was warned about Nikolas Cruz in September

"I'm going to be a professional school shooter," the alleged Florida shooting accused Nikolas Cruz had said once.

The FBI was warned in September about a possible school shooting threat from a YouTube user with the same name as the heavily-armed 19-year-old student who killed 17 people in Florida state in the US.

Ben Bennight, the 36-year-old YouTube video blogger from Mississippi, noticed in September an alarming comment on a video he had posted. He immediately contacted the FBI, CNN reported.

"I'm going to be a professional school shooter," read the comment, left by a user with the name Nikolas Cruz -- the same name of the shooter who opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

It was one of at least two alleged threat reports about the suspected shooter that the FBI received, CNN quoted a law enforcement official.


In both cases, the FBI did not share the information with local law enforcement, the official said.

Bennight emailed a screenshot of the comment to what he thought was an FBI tip line, but the email address was invalid.

Bennight said he followed up with a phone call to the FBI. The comment on YouTube has since been pulled down.

The video-logger said that FBI agents came to his office for an in-person interview. He told the agents that he did not know anything about the user.

Robert Lasky, the FBI special agent in charge of the Miami division, confirmed on Thursday that the bureau received a tip last year about the YouTube comment.

"No other information was included with that comment which would indicate a time, location or the true identity of the person who made the comment," Lasky was quoted as saying.

"The FBI conducted database reviews, checks but was unable to further identify the person who actually made the comment."

Earlier in the day, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said after speaking to the FBI that the gunman had clearly prepared for the attack.


"The shooter wore a gas mask, had smoke grenades and he set off the fire alarm so the kids would come out of the classrooms," said Nelson. 

18 school shootings in US in 2018

The deadly gun rampage at a Florida high school on Wednesday took to 18 the number of school shootings across the United States so far this year -- a phenomenon that authorities seem powerless to prevent.

The deadly gun rampage at a Florida high school on Wednesday took to 18 the number of school shootings across the United States so far this year -- a phenomenon that authorities seem powerless to prevent.

The stunning number underscored how common place gun violence has become in America, with students in elementary and secondary schools regularly performing drills on how to react in an "active shooter" situation.

According to the independent Everytown for Gun Safety group, eight of the 18 school shooting incidents so far this year, which covers primary schools to universities, involved guns being discharged with no one injured.

Two were suicide attempts and the rest attacks on others.


The attack on Wednesday at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida -- about 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Miami -- appeared to be the worst so far in 2018, with 17 confirmed dead by the local county sheriff.

On January 23, a 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at the start of the school day at a Kentucky high school, killing two students and wounding others.

The day before, a teenager was wounded by a shot fired in her school cafeteria in Texas. The same day, a bullet grazed a 14-year-old boy in the parking lot of a New Orleans high school.

Earlier in January, shootings took place in Iowa, Washington state and California, among other places.

The frequency of the incidents has somewhat dulled their ability to shock.

The nation was stunned on December 14, 2012 when Adam Lanza, 20, shot dead 20 schoolchildren and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Since January 2013, there have been at least 291 school shootings, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control.

"Are we coming to expect these mass shootings as a kind of routine matter?" Florida Senator Bill Nelson told CNN.

Each incident like the one in Parkland brings calls for more strict laws on gun sales and ownership, but gun rights campaigners regularly succeed in stifling those calls.

Indeed, laws on carrying guns in public have been made less strict in many areas.


"If more guns and fewer gun laws made us safer, we wouldn`t have the highest rate of gun violence among peer nations," Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said on Twitter.

Experts discover lock of George Washington's hair in old library book

The last thing one would ever expect to come across on opening an old library book is a lock of hair - especially one belonging to the first President of the United States of America.

The last thing one would ever expect to come across on opening an old library book is a lock of hair - especially one belonging to the first President of the United States of America.

Yes, you read that right! Experts stumbled upon a lock of hair belonging to George Washington inside a long-forgotten book during an ongoing inventory of archival collections of the Schaffer Library at the Union College in the US.

“This is a very significant treasure. It’s a tremendous testament to history and our connection to some of the most important historical figures,” said India Spartz, head of Special Collections and Archives at the library.

While surveying some of the oldest books and records, Daniel Michelson, a historical records project archivist, spotted on a shelf a compact, leather book, “Gaines Universal Register or American and British Kalendar for the year 1793.”


The popular almanac, which includes population estimates for the American colonies and comparisons of various coins and currencies, is believed to have belonged to Philip J Schuyler, the son of General Philip Schuyler, one of the founders of the Union College.

The eldest Schuyler was also a close friend and supporter of Washington, served under him during the Revolutionary War, and later became a US senator from Albany.

Examination of the almanac by John Myers, catalogue and metadata librarian, uncovered a slender yellowed envelope tucked inside.

It was inscribed: “Washington's hair, L SS & (scratched out) GBS from James A Hamilton given him by his mother, Aug 10, 1871.”

The envelope contained several strands of gray or whitening hair, neatly tied together by a single thread.

The envelope also has an 1804 letter to the younger Schuyler.

A grandson of General Schuyler, James Alexander Hamilton was the third son of Alexander and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton served as a lieutenant colonel in the Revolutionary War under Washington and later joined his cabinet as the first secretary of the Treasury when Washington was elected the first US president.

According to Ron Chernow’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Hamilton, George and Martha Washington were close to the much younger Alexander and Eliza. Washington died in 1799.

“In an era when people frequently exchanged hair as a keepsake, it's quite probable that Martha had given Eliza some of George's hair, which in turn was given to their son, James, who later distributed it, strand by strand, as a precious memento to close friends and family members,” said Susan Holloway Scott, an independent scholar.

A lack of documentation on clear custody of the material found in Union’s archives or DNA testing makes it difficult to verify that the strands of hair are Washington’s.

“Without DNA, you’re never positive, but I believe it’s 100 percent authentic,” said John Reznikoff, a prominent manuscripts and documents dealer in the US.

“It’s not hugely valuable, maybe two to three thousand dollars for the strands you have, but it’s undoubtedly George Washington’s,” said Reznikoff who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Largest Collection of Hair from Historical Figures.”

George Washington served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the country. He is popularly considered the driving force behind the nation's establishment and came to be known as the "father of the country," both during his lifetime and to this day.