Eat Like The Skinny Folks & Thin People

A recent article at WebMD.com revealed the trick to eating like a skinny person, as described in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.  Their advice is to stick with the two Fs: Fruit and Fiber.

According to the researchers, overweight folks ate about the same amount of calories as the leaner study participants.  The difference is that the overweight survey respondents ate more meat and less fruit and complex carbs.

But there's more to weight loss than just adding an apple a day to your diet, and lots of books have been written on the subject of "naturally lean" living.

Three I recommend:

The Ten Habits of Naturally Slim People by Jill Podjasek, which focuses on the spiritual and emotional side of eating.  The author suggests we nourish ourselves with what we truly need--love, fulfillment, etc.--and our diets will naturally follow.

The Seven Secrets of Slim People by Vikki Hansen and Shawn Goodman, which teaches us how to really assess our physical hunger and cravings, and offers practical tips for adopting a "natural" style of eating.

Thin for Life: 10 Keys to Success from People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off by Anne M. Fletcher, which relies on true inspirational stories and tricks from folks who have successfully lost weight.

The basic idea behind these books is the same: Learn to recognize true hunger, follow your instincts, and always eat what you're craving until you're satisfied.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but for many folks it really works.  That's because it's not uncommon for people lose touch with their true physical hunger--food becomes an emotional tool used to combat boredom, depression, stress, anxiety, etc.  These authors suggest techniques and offer guidance for giving up "emotional eating" and learning to recognize--and feed--real hunger.