Second, eat breakfast. You miss breakfast and you have denied your body the energy it needs to start the day. You are then playing catchup all morning and will no doubt give in to the assosrtment of work place sugar filled goodies.

Third, eat every three hours. You will actually eat smaller portions throughout the day by eating more often. This feeding technique also prevents the gorging syndrome and keeps your hunger switch in check.

Fourth, cook with olive oil. Although more expensive than big tubs of crisco, olive oil is exponentially better for you because of its high content of monounsaturated fat (mainly oleic acid) and polyphenols. Research indicates that polyphenols may have antioxidant characteristics.

Fifth, keep your meals simple. Stop spending two hours in the kitchen. Heat up some noodles, bake some chicken, eat a vegetable, be done with it.

Sixth, do not count calories, just understand them. Counting calories discourages us from sticking to our healthy eating patterns. Do we really think we are going to count every calorie, every day, for the rest of our lives?

Seventh, eat more chicken and fish, less beef and pork. Let's face it, beef and pork are great tasting because of the fat. Reduce your servings of these two meats and become creative with the white meat, chicken and fish.

Eighth, eat desserts only on Sunday. Find alternative products to satisfy your sweet tooth during the week. There is no reason to eat a large portion of a dessert. If your not going to avoid desserts, try eating one or two bites, very slowly. Savor and enjoy the sweetness. We do not need to each such large portions of desserts to savor the flavor.

Ninth, absolutely no doghnuts or cake at work. You must find a way to say no thanks to the work place desserts. If you partake in each employees birthday celebration, you will be eating desserts morning and afternoon and then taking some home with you. Just say no.

Tenth, do not drink soda pop. Soda's serve zero purpose in our nutritional lives. Might as well hook an i.v. of sugar to our arms. Soft drinks also disrupt our bodies nutritional needs by offering nothing to our thirst and hunger switches. When our bodies are craving nutrition or water, we input liquids that provide nothing in the way of nutrition or hydration.

Changes in our eating patterns need not be drastic. Stop a few activities and start a few others. With just a few adjustments in tactics we can reduce our weekly calorie intake by 30 percent. Which will equate to a loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.