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The Mayo Clinic Diet: The Healthy Approach to Weight Loss.

A Mayo Clinic expert shares a science-based, practical, and realistic weight-loss plan.

Overview

In The Mayo Clinic Diet: The Healthy Approach to Weight Loss, Donald D. Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., shares a straightforward weight-loss plan with endless food possibilities. You'll learn about setting your caloric goals, food prep short-cuts, and developing a physical activity plan, as well as how your thoughts and emotions affect your weight loss. This diet was developed with only one goal in mind-to help you feel better and become healthier by following a program that fits comfortably into your real life.

About

Donald D. Hensrud

Effectively managing weight is one of the biggest paradoxes I know. It sounds easy-eat less and exercise more-but the factors that go into that seemingly simple statement are tremendously complex.

INSTITUTION

Mayo Clinic

Donald D. Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., has been a member of the Mayo Clinic staff for 25 years and currently serves as Associate Professor of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine at Mayo Clinic and Director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. Dr. Hensrud holds four academic degrees: a B.S., an M.D., and Master's Degrees in public health and nutrition sciences. He is board certified in the fields of Internal Medicine, Nutrition, and Preventive Medicine, and is a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and The Obesity Society.

Dr. Hensrud has authored numerous scientific articles and book chapters and has contributed to lay education as editor of the books Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for EveryBody, The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook, The Mayo Clinic Plan: 10 Essential Steps to a Better Body and Healthier Life, and the New York Times bestseller The Mayo Clinic Diet. He was coeditor of the medical text Clinical Preventive Medicine and wrote a monthly health column for Fortune magazine for several years.

Dr. Hensrud has received the Charles E. Kupchella Preventive Medicine and Wellness Award from the University of North Dakota and the Distinguished Alumni Award from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. He consistently appears on the Best Doctors in America List.

By This Expert

The Mayo Clinic Diet: The Healthy Approach to Weight Loss.
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The Mayo Clinic Diet: The Healthy Approach to Weight Loss.

Trailer

The Science of Weight and Weight Loss

01: The Science of Weight and Weight Loss

With more than two-thirds of U.S. adults either overweight or obese, weight is clearly a national health concern. But how important is it for you to lose weight? Learn how your body-mass index, waist circumference, and medical history each impact your health. You’ll be surprised to learn which factors are most important and why.

34 min
Getting Ready for The Mayo Clinic Diet

02: Getting Ready for The Mayo Clinic Diet

Learn how to prepare your kitchen and what other tools you’ll need to begin Lose It!—the two-week jump-start phase of The Mayo Clinic Diet. But first, take this quiz to answer a fundamental question: Is this the right time for you to start a weight-loss program? Or are there other underlying issues to be addressed first?

29 min
Starting Your Diet: The Lose It! Phase

03: Starting Your Diet: The Lose It! Phase

Learn the five specific habits to add to your daily routine for the first two weeks of the program, the five habits to remove, and the bonus habits that will give your weight-loss journey the best possible jump-start. These changes are designed to bump you out of your comfort zone and head you in a different, healthier direction—but in ways that are both doable and nutritionally sound.

27 min
Assessing Your Weight-Loss Progress

04: Assessing Your Weight-Loss Progress

If you couldn’t follow every detail of the Lose It! program for the full two weeks, don’t worry. Chances are you did change some habits, and that is the beginning of success. Going forward, you can give yourself a bit of leeway on some habits—but others are too fundamental to your weight-loss success to be negotiable.

33 min
Maintaining Your Program: The Live It! Phase

05: Maintaining Your Program: The Live It! Phase

As you move into the long-term Live It! portion of the Mayo Clinic Diet, you’ll learn how to realistically set your personal outcome and performance goals, as well as your daily caloric intake. With The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid as your guide, you’ll see that no foods are completely off limits as long as you understand the crucial difference between serving size and portion size.

33 min
Tracking Your Weight-Loss Progress

06: Tracking Your Weight-Loss Progress

While you can use any method that’s convenient for you to track your daily food intake and activity—from pencil and paper to smartphone apps—the tracking itself is crucial for success as you begin the long-term portion of The Mayo Clinic Diet. Learn exactly what and when to track for maximum efficacy. But tracking your weight? That’s a more personal matter.

32 min
Adapting The Mayo Clinic Diet

07: Adapting The Mayo Clinic Diet

The Mayo Clinic Diet is an adaptable plan that can work whether you’re in your home kitchen or out on the road. If you usually follow a vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean, or DASH diet (for hypertension), no problem. These and other eating plans fit well within the framework of The Mayo Clinic Diet. With these five healthy cooking techniques and the five criteria for any food, you’ll be on your way.

37 min
Exercise, Activity, and Health

08: Exercise, Activity, and Health

Physical exercise provides a variety of health benefits with respect to heart disease, blood pressure, cognitive function, mood, diabetes, and some cancers—as well as helping the body lose weight and maintain that loss. In addition to structured exercise, learn how to incorporate more Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) into your day.

34 min
Behavioral Strategies for Weight Loss

09: Behavioral Strategies for Weight Loss

Many people believe they don’t have enough willpower to lose weight and keep it off. But the real issue is having the amount of willpower you need exactly when you need it—and you can plan for that. Learn how to give yourself every opportunity to be successful in changing your behavior long-term, and about the significant interplay between guilt and forgiveness.

32 min
Cooking The Mayo Clinic Diet Way

10: Cooking The Mayo Clinic Diet Way

How to plan healthier meals? Chef Jen makes it easy! With her simple suggestions for grocery shopping and easy-to-follow cooking demonstrations, you’ll learn to cross-utilize your ingredients to maximize efficiency in the kitchen. From barbeque pita pizza to pesto shrimp pasta, these delicious meals will help you meet your weight-loss goals.

41 min
Overcoming Obstacles to Weight Loss

11: Overcoming Obstacles to Weight Loss

Everyone who undertakes a long-term plan to improve health will face obstacles. Learn to anticipate specific challenges and plan your work-arounds in advance. Whether it’s grocery shopping, cooking, eating out, getting your family on board with food changes, or prioritizing exercise, you can identify and overcome potential obstacles to your optimum health. You can be successful.

29 min
Handling Lapses and Keeping Weight Off

12: Handling Lapses and Keeping Weight Off

Some days you will eat too much, and some days you won’t exercise, not even for five minutes. It happens to everyone. And eventually, you may even hit a plateau in your weight loss. Learn the best ways to keep negative self-talk at bay and continue to move forward toward better health, instead of expecting unattainable perfection and relapsing into old habits.

37 min