The Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that people who made small, potentially permanent changes in their lives every week lost twice as much belly fat, more inches, and four times more weight over a 4-month study than those who went the traditional diet/exercise route. The theory is that the incremental changes tend to be easier to adapt to your life over the long-haul, rather than an all-or-nothing diet that you see as having a beginning and an end.

I had a DUH! moment not too long ago. It was so ridiculously obvious it was ashamed to be in the same vicinity of an AHA! moment.

It occurred to me I could eat half an English muffin. I didn’t have to eat the whole thing. Duh. And it would save me money at the grocery store. Double Duh!

Maybe some of these ideas you already know, but maybe some will be Aha! or even Duh! moments for you. In no particular order …

• Find time every day to breathe deeply and count your blessings. Positive living has been linked with better health, just as chronic worry and a bad temper have been linked to heart disease and high blood pressure.

• Check the serving sizes on food labels in your pantry and at the grocery store. That one serving you’ve been eating might really be three.

• Replace up to half the oil in your baked goods with applesauce.

• Replace whole eggs with egg whites whenever possible. When I make myself scrambled eggs, it’s always one whole egg plus two egg whites.

• Eat slower so your stomach can figure out if it’s full.

• Use smaller dishes and glasses. They’ll look more full.

• Eat with chopsticks. That’ll slow most of us down and when we eat slower, we notice that we’re full before we overeat. Plus, it’s fun!

• Eat half your normal serving of your favorite food and replace the other half with vegetables.

There are lots more  … Parts One, Two, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten

Which will you try first? Which will you never try? Which do you already do?