Trying to LOSE weight during the holiday season can set you up for failure. Focus instead on MAINTAINING your current weight. This can be hard especially since everywhere you look there are all kinds of wonderful food and snacks. If you are diabetic (gestational, Type 1, Type 2) it is an even larger challenge to keep your blood sugars normal. Hopefully, by following some of these tips we can get through this season and maintain our current weight.

Use a small plate

• This makes the amount of food appear more than it is
• Eat slow and savor the flavors
• Wait at least 20 minutes before going back for seconds
• Before going back for seconds, figure out if you are really hungry or only craving the foods 

Catch up on the neighborhood gossip away from the kitchen

As Americans, two of the biggest mistakes we make in the way we eat are portion size and type of carbohydrate we consume. Carbohydrates are an important part of a healthy diet and our body needs carbohydrates in order to function properly. Carbohydrates provide the body’s immediate energy needs and are easier and faster to break down than proteins or fats. There are 2 types of carbohydrates; simple (or bad) and complex (or good). We will talk about complex carbohydrates later.

Simple carbohydrates:

Today we are going to talk a little about whole grains. We all hear about how important whole grains are, but how do we know we are getting a whole grain product when we buy it? Why are whole grains so important?

You must look at the package label or nutritional label and to see what the ingredients are. What you should not see in that ingredient list is “enriched flour”. Enriched flour is not the whole grain. What happens in the processing of the grain is the outer covering of the grain is removed. Then in the processing of the product the manufacturer “enriches” that grain with the vitamins and minerals that were removed with the outer covering.

Let’s start with the most important meal of the day, breakfast. About one out of four women skip this meal. There are several reasons for this including that hectic morning rush attempting to get children dressed, fed and off to school as well as getting ourselves prepared for our day. Another reason is the belief that there is not enough time or it is too “complicated” to prepare this meal. I think the main reason is our desire to cut calories with the belief that this will help us to avoid gaining excess weight. However, studies show that women who do not eat breakfast have a harder time not only losing weight, but may actually gain weight instead.

I am starting this blog in response to requests for diet and nutritional counseling from several populations of women including pregnancy, weight loss after delivery and insulin resistant conditions such as Gestational Diabetes, Type II diabetes and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Your obstetric caregivers at MacArthur OB/GYN, anesthesia providers at Third Party Anesthesia, and labor nurses at Baylor Medical Center at Irving want to help make the birth of your child a pleasant and safe experience for you and your partner. You should be aware of all your options for pain relief, or analgesia, in case you choose to make use of them during your labor. The purpose of pain relief is to help you have the most positive birth experience possible while maintaining safety for you and your baby.

The MacArthur OB/GYN family extends a big welcome to Dr. Wiyatta Freeman. She emigrated from Liberia, West Africa in 1991 with her family to the Houston area. After attending Prairie View A&M University where she received her bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, she became a high school science teacher in the Houston area just prior to attending medical school. She completed her medical school training at Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock, TX in 2004 and her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency training at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Freeman received the Outstanding Resident Teacher Award in 2008. Following residency Dr. Freeman began practicing in Irving prior to joining the staff at MacArthur OBGYN.