Food coach Cynthia Sass is a registered dietitian, health educator and author of the new book CINCH!: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches who can help you keep your diet resolutions with these simple tips. Click here to find out more about Sass.
TIP: Go to bed an hour earlier. Studies show that a lack of sleep fuels appetite as well as the hormones that increase belly fat.
Check out her other tips:
Make the ingredient list the first thing you look at on a food label. The label should read like a recipe, not a science experiment.
Eat breakfast. Breakfast skippers are 4.5 times more likely to be overweight, and studies have found that people who eat breakfast eater fewer calories throughout the day.
Skip the salt shaker and flavor your food with black pepper or herbs. Excess sodium ups blood pressure, and animal research shows it may affect the activity of fat cells, making them larger.
Swap half of your grains for spinach at lunch or dinner. One cup, the size of a baseball, provides five calories – 20 times fewerthan a half cup of cooked rice or pasta, and it's loaded with antioxidants.
Go nuts at snack time. More than 97 percent of women lack adequate intake of vitamin E, a major anti-aging, disease-fighting antioxidant. Almonds are one of the best sources.
Trade meat for beans in one meal today. Beans are loaded with filling fiber, and every gram of fiber you eat cancels out about seven calories.
Like bubbles? Upgrade from regular or diet cola to seltzer, sparkling water or club soda. All three are fizzy forms of good old H20.
Seventy five percent of Americans do not meet the recommended minimum of three servings of veggies a day. Don't make vegetables an afterthought. Think veggies first, and build the rest of your meals
Trade that second cup of coffee for medicine in a mug – tea! Research shows the cells of regular tea drinkers have a younger biological age than those of non-tea drinkers, and that tea drinkers experience lower levels of psychological stress.
Put down your fork between bites. Speedy eaters are three times more likely to be overweight than their slower-paced counterparts.
Saute veggies in extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. Not only is it better for your heart, studies show it's more satiating, even for the same number of calories.
Add snack time to your daily schedule to prevent late-night overeating. Among people with a 40-hour work week, an eight-hour stretch between meals led a 40 percent jump in calorie intake.
Strap a pedometer on your belt and gauge your speed. At least 100 steps per minute is the right amount to count as moderately intense exercise.
Sprinkle some cinnamon into your cereal or your coffee. One teaspoon packs as much antioxidant power as a half cup of blueberries.