Problem: Article: Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is essential to weight loss. It also provides your body with essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and try to vary up the color as much as you can. Add some fruit and veggies to every meal to get your servings in.   Breakfast: add spinach, tomatoes, or mushrooms to your morning eggs in place of cheese. If you eat cereal or oatmeal, add fresh fruit such as a banana, blueberries, or strawberries. Lunch: Try making a big, filling salad with leafy greens, a lean protein, nuts, dried fruit, and some carrots, peppers, onions, or broccoli. Or, add some greens, tomato, onion, or cucumber to a sandwich or wrap. Dinner: Instead of canned tomato sauce, sauté up some broccoli, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers in some olive oil and eat with whole wheat pasta. If you're really going to start taking your health seriously, it's best to start from scratch. Get rid of all unhealthy foods and staples that you have in your fridge and pantry. This will eliminate any temptation to go back to your old ways. Donate what you can to a local food bank. Processed foods and sugars are linked to diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke. They fill you up without actually providing any nutrients. Fill your pantry with natural foods like whole grains (oats, quinoa, whole wheat breads and pastas), fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, meat, and protein or probiotic rich dairy products (kefir, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese).  Stick to food author Michael Pollan's rule of thumb: don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. If you can't pronounce an ingredient or the product has more than five ingredients, stick to something more natural.  Get all-natural sweeteners. For those with a sweet tooth, use honey or agave instead of sugar in your coffee, tea, and baked goods. Eating when you're not hungry is one of the easiest ways to gain unwanted weight. Only snack when you're hungry, and when you do, try to eat snacks high in protein, as this will keep you feeling full longer.  A piece of whole wheat toast with nut butter, a mozzarella cheese stick, a hard boiled egg, or hummus with veggies are great options for beating the mid afternoon crash.
Summary: Eat more fruits and vegetables. Dump your fridge. Eliminate highly processed food and refined sugars. Stop mindlessly snacking.

Problem: Article: In humans, you may notice muscle loss as muscles getting flabby. Your dog is similar, so look for flabby muscles on your dog that aren't as hard as they normally are. You may notice your dog feels "softer." When a dog loses muscle mass, the muscles will look visibly thinner. You may also notice a difference in how they feel; your hand may suddenly reach all the way around your dog's leg, when it didn't before, for instance. Sometimes, this type of muscle loss will only affect certain parts of the body. For example, if your dog has arthritis or an injury in it's back legs, you may notice the back legs getting thinner while the front legs get larger to compensate. Dogs who lose muscle mass are likely to lose weight, too, though not always. You may notice your dog feels lighter when you pick it up, or you may notice that it looks thinner overall. Try weighing your dog to see if it has lost any weight. If your dog has lost muscle mass, you'll likely notice some weakness, particularly if your dog has just lost muscle mass in one area. For instance, if your dog has lost muscle mass in the back legs, you may notice that your dog is favoring the front legs instead. When dogs lose muscle mass, they don't want to move around as much. That's because muscle loss makes it more difficult to move about, as it leads to weakness. Therefore, if your dog seems like it just can't move around as much, that could be a sign of muscle loss. Compare one limb with another. If you suspect your dog is losing muscle mass on one leg, compare it with the other side. Muscles attach to the bones, helping you stay upright. Therefore, when you have loss of muscle, your posture often changes. The same can happen in dogs, including a sagging back, so pay attention to changes in posture.
Summary: Pay attention to flabbiness. Look for thinner muscles. Check for weight loss. Look for weakness. Watch for lethargy. Pay attention to changes in posture.

Problem: Article: " Maybe you feel like the version of yourself lately isn't someone you recognize, and you just can't seem to shake the feeling. It's normal to have a bad day, or even a bad week, but if the feelings persist and continue to affect your life and the way you interact, it might be time to take the next step and see a therapist.  You may usually love being with your friends, but suddenly find yourself wanting to be alone most of the time. Maybe you find yourself getting angry often, when you never used to feel angry. Do you notice changes in your feelings and behavior only at work, or only at home? Or have you noticed changes that seem to affect home, school, work, friends, etc.? Maybe you've noticed that things at school and with friends feel worse, or things with your family and at work have declined. If the way you feel across situations is consistently different than what is considered "normal" for you, it may be time to see a therapist.  You may notice that your patience for other people at work has declined, and you explode at your kids more quickly than before. Perhaps you've noticed your productivity at work sharply declined, and your caretaking of the home became abruptly non-existent. Sometimes it's normal to not sleep well before a big presentation or something you're excited about, but if you find yourself oversleeping (sleeping much during the day) or having difficulty sleeping (such as trouble falling asleep, or waking up throughout the night), it may indicate distress. Both lack of sleep or oversleeping can be signs that something is wrong. You may notice you suddenly find yourself eating often as a way to cope with stress. Or, perhaps your appetite has completely left you and you barely eat, unable to enjoy food. Changes in eating habits can signal distress.  Eating food may become comforting to you, and you find yourself eating excessively. You may also find food unappetizing or lacking pleasant taste, leading you to not eat enough during the day. If you feel more down than usual, or experience hopelessness, apathy, and isolation and can't seem to get out of the rut, it may be time to see a therapist. Maybe you used to feel enthusiastic about life and activities and now it all seems dull to you. It's normal to feel sad for a day or two, but feeling sad for weeks can indicate a larger problem. The sooner you find treatment, the sooner you can begin to feel better. Maybe you worry about small things, but lately worrying about things is taking a bigger role in your life. Perhaps you've noticed your worrying is taking over your time and life. You might feel silly admitting what makes you fearful, jumpy, or worried, yet you can't seem to shake it. If you're unable to get things done because you spend so much time worrying about things, it may be time to get help. Other signs of a problem with anxiety can include restlessness, irritability, and trouble concentrating. Your regular doctor (general practitioner or primary care physician) is an important ally in determining whether or not you need to speak with a therapist, and she can also be a great resource to help you find a therapist that may help you. Make an appointment with your doctor and let her know how you've been feeling. She can then run some tests to rule out any medicinal contributors that may be the source of your negative feelings (such as illness, changes in hormones, etc.).
Summary:
Notice feeling "not yourself. Reflect on how your feelings affect your everyday life. Tune in to changes in sleeping habits. Check changes in eating habits. Observe a sad or negative mood. Note if you feel more "on edge," jumpy, or high strung. Speak with your general practitioner.