Weight

How to Rid The Unwanted Stomach

July 15, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Achieving any goal requires the correct mindset. In weight loss it is often over looked. We look in the mirror and do not like what we see, “think how to rid tummy fat” and then we usually consider padlocking the fridge or setting up camp in the local gym or sports centre. A lot of us miss the first port of call, the engine room that drives our ship across the rough ocean to weight loss island, OUR MINDS!

This is one of the free lose weight tips that brings success, no pills or fads, just good focused mindset. Achieving the correct mindset does not arrive in the post the day after you order it, but the good news is that it is not hard to start to think the right way! I WANT KNOW HOW TO RID TUMMY FAT. If knowing how to rid tummy fat is your main weight loss goal? then write it down. Do not just write it on a scrap of paper and hide it where nobody else sees it. What you will end up doing is when you are near achieving your goal is to make it yours and the notes, little secret. Make yourself accountable; post the goal around the house and tell people about it. FREE LOSE WEIGHT TIPS ARE GREAT BUT. . . . Free lose weight tips are great but if you do not use them to achieve your goals then you are wasting your time. So you need to be specific with your goals. How much do YOU want to lose, and by when? How and what will YOU do when you have reached the goal. E. g. I am going to lose 12 pounds in four months by changing my eating patterns and I am going to walk for 30 minutes a day. And when I reach the goal I am going to take my family out for dinner wearing my favourite nice red top I used to be able to wear.

DO YOU HAVE A GOAL? Great: YOU HAVE A GOAL, but if YOU are going to reach it then you need to break it up into achievable sections. When Edmund Hilary climbed Everest he did not stand at base camp and think “right chaps I have got the sandwiches” and then charge off for the summit. This major accomplishment was split into numerous stages, with smaller goals of reaching camp one, then camp two and so on until reaching the summit. Break your goal into something like first month I will lose 3 pounds, 2nd month 3 pounds, and so on. Set dates for each mini goal and most importantly give YOURSELF a reward when you achieve each mini goal. YOU ARE NOT CLIMBING EVEREST Ok so you are not climbing Everest but you need to focus on how to rid tummy fat. One thing you must have in common with Sir Edmund is that with planning, commitment, devotion and most importantly the correct mindset YOU will reach your summit. If you follow these tips for losing weight, you are sure to notice that YOU will achieve some weight loss without having to go on the latest fad diet, and you will soon be back on track to being healthy and happy! Whatever you do, it is important to remember you can be successful and you will lose weight without starving yourself!

Filed Under Health Tagged With Free, Lose, Loss, Tips, Tummy, Weight

Finding Weight Loss Help

June 25, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

With summer coming and visions of summer clothes everywhere, how to find weight loss help is a problem many have to face. As a matter of fact, finding weight loss help is easier than you may think. The only real problem is how to find weight loss help that is right for you.

So, read on and find out what you have to be on the lookout for.

Points to keep in mind when considering a fat loss program: Avoid fad diets like the plaque! They will only make you gain weight in the long run. When considering an eating plan, keep your likes and dislikes in mind. It is also important that you keep your lifestyle in mind. You also have to keep your activity levels in mind. Most important, keep your fitness levels in mind. You have to keep these points in mind when you are looking for a slimming plan or product.

If you hate the food you have to eat, you will not be able to stick to the diet. Likewise if the diet needs a lot of extra shopping and meal preparation, you must have the time to do it. If you are very busy, you will end up grabbing something to eat and will not be able to stick to your meal plan. On the other hand, if you lead a very active life, you cannot eat too little and you will have to find an eating plan that supplies all your needs. Remember, it is very dangerous to try and exercise if you are not getting enough calories to give you the energy you need!

For how to find weight loss help, your fitness level becomes very important if you are considering a plan that requires you to exercise. If you are very unfit, it will be best to consult your doctor first before you embark on an exercise regime. So, it is clear, how to find weight loss help online is not really the problem, lots of help is the click of a button away. The real problem is finding a diet program that is right for you personally. Finding weight loss help is not a problem. There are many ways to reduce calories without having to actually count them.

Part of finding weight loss help is understanding weight loss. Your body is controlled by your metabolism and many people don’t understand what that is how how to control it. Many people ask when looking for help is how can I increase and control my metabolism. Here are a few simple things you must know when it comes to weight loss.

People who exercise regularly: This is because the more muscular you are, the higher the combustion you body is doing, even when it is at rest.

Men: Since typically men have more muscle mass than women.

Fat people: A fat man, even if it is just fat and not well trained, needs more power to maintain his body than a man less bulky and or thinner.

People that have a genetic tendency to have a faster metabolic rate: That means that it is likely that two people who have the same weight and the same amount of muscle mass have different basic metabolic rate due to their genes.

Young people: Because the basic metabolic rate decreases as the years pass (about 300 calories per decade), mainly because people lose more muscle mass, but also because they tend to exercise less.

Children and adolescents: During the body development the energy needs become greater-and thus the basic metabolic rate is proportionally greater.

Pregnant women: During pregnancy, and later, when the mother is breastfeeding her baby, there are increasing demands for energy. This is because during pregnancy the metabolic needs of the baby are added and during breast-feeding there is the need to produce milk that is rich in calories. Also, women have faster metabolic rate immediately after ovulation, because there is a slight increase of progesterone.

In winter, the basic metabolic rate of all people is higher. Because of the cold the energy needs of our organization is greatly increased.

When Does the Metabolism Increase?

In people suffering from specific diseases that increase metabolism, such as hyperthyroidism.

In people with fever.

In people with stress. It is true that acute stress generally increases the metabolic rate, because of the increased requirements of the body for energy. Instead, when the stress is chronic, it negatively affects the metabolic rate, making it slower due to the chronic hormonal disturbances caused.

For smokers, and those who consume substances such as coffee, tea, etc., which stimulate the sympathetic system and hence contribute to increased metabolic rate.

Exercise: The Best Way to Help Increase Our Metabolic Rate

The easiest and healthy way to make our metabolism faster is fortunately in our hands and not different from physical activity, and this includes both aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, various sports) and exercises with resistance (weights).

If we exercise we will have double benefits: We will increase our muscle mass (which would increase the basic metabolic rate, even in calm hours) and we will burn more calories during exercise. Also, you should know that there are two types of muscle fiber, the type 1 and type 2 – the type 1 muscle fibers are those that consume more energy (calories). Exercise except that it helps in the overall increase in muscle mass, increases muscle fibers especially type 1, which consume more energy (calories) even if we are calm. A minimum of 3 to 6 hours of exercise per week is the best. Through the day we can allocate the time devoted to exercise as desired, but also we can combine different types of exercise for maximum benefit: 15 walking in the morning, 15 evening and 15 running in the evening, along with exercises with weights.

How We Can Calculate Our Basic Metabolic Rate?

Women: B.M. = 655 + (9,6 x W) + (1,8 x H) – (4,7 x A)
Men: B.M. = 66 + (13,7 x W) + (5 x H) – (6,8 x A)

BM = Basic Metabolism, W = Weight in kilos, H = Height in cm, A = Age in years

Useful Help tips to Increase Your Metabolism

Apart from regular exercise, which is the best way to increase your metabolism, you can also:

Consume tea and coffee, which are substances that stimulate the sympathetic system, thus increasing the metabolism. Except from this there are some drugs and certain substances that increase metabolism because they also stimulate the sympathetic system. Many of these substances are illegal in many countries (many belonging to the banned anabolic such as ephedrine and caffeine).

Avoid the chronic stress, as stress affects our metabolism and increases the tendency for abdominal obesity.

Follow a steady daily life routine, eat well, sleep well, because when the body gets ‘de-organized”, the metabolism becomes slower

Eat many small meals (6), because the process of digestion increases metabolism slightly and ultimately we burn more calories.

Prevent the deprivation diets (less than 1,100 calories for women, less than 1,400 for men), since they will lead us to gain more weight and to do our metabolism even slower. This is because the first weight you lose fast in deprivation diets is mainly liquids, then muscle and fat tissue, but later you regain mainly fat. So basically we gain more weight, have less muscle tissue (we lost it in the process of losing weight), and thus a slower metabolic rate, and also have more fat, which also leads to generally lower metabolic rate.

Still looking for some more help or weight loss tips?

Filed Under Health Tagged With find, Help, Loss, Weight

Natural Weight Loss

June 22, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Which side are you? To be just thin or be slim and healthy? No doubt the second option is the one that many would choose. This takes us to a question every weight conscious people should answer before sticking to their weight loss program. . . is our weight loss program or diet plan healthy to our body? Many people are now into trimming down their weight, thanks to the sudden surge of weight loss companies promoting their own product “gimmicks” – the fastest, most effective, no-sweat method weight loss programs or products.

“Sexy is Fab!” “If you are sexy, you’re Hot!”

Sounds familiar? These are trendy words that many people are so eager to be part of. I’m not saying that this is totally wrong, but we also have to consider our health while dieting or following a weight loss program.

Don’t Fall For Those Quick Weight Loss “Gimmicks”!

There are many ways to lose weight that won’t affect your health negatively. One should also be aware on the type of diet they are going to take. Naturally, when a person is totally excited in losing weight and they wanted to lose it real fast, they will end up with a crash diet. These people check their weight very often – sometimes everyday! The result? They take crash diets that suggest them to eat less intensively! Well, here’s the fact, you will lose weight in a few days with this method but your body is also at stake. Our body needs enough calories to use as the energy to burn body fats. In order to get slimmer, we need to burn only the excess fats in our body. The reason why we are burning fat is because we want to convert it into muscle, to become proportionately fit with our body. If there’s no sufficient energy in the body, this will surely lead to fatigue, sickness and a weak immune system. It is always better to eat less quantity of the “right” food at the “right” time (at least five times a day). This will satiate your hunger and would boost your metabolism and fat burning effect. Others do not eat the right food for their bodies. You should have the right meal at the right time and the food must be prepared by roasting, boiling, or steaming.

Engage in any exercise.

There’s nothing more effective and healthier in getting you slimmer than doing exercises. Diet alone is not enough; you need to move your body with more effort to burn those massive fats. Diet and exercise always come hand in hand. If you don’t feel like jogging or running because it seems boring to you, try engaging to any dance group like aerobics or hip hop, ballroom or whatever kind of dance you like. Sports like biking, swimming, tennis or badminton are also a good option. Any form of exercise that matches with your lifestyle or personal interests is fine. It is not necessary to go to the gym and carry some weights, but do something that will help turn your fats into muscles. Strive to keep a healthy and energetic body while trying to lose weight at the same time. This will give you a lot of benefits in the future.

Have any health questions? Get all the answers you need now at Rachael West Designs. We also have diet programs that could assist you with your weight loss needs, don’t miss out on them.

Filed Under Health Tagged With Loss, Natural, Simple, ways, Weight

Weight Loss Myths

June 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Have you sometimes felt confused about weight loss and nutrition guides that should help you take the right decisions about your health, yet for some reason they don’t? Here are some of the most frequent weight loss theories, and their rebuttals.

Myth 1: If you want to lose weight, a fad diet is the best choice. Not always true. Fad diets usually promise fast weight loss or make you cut down on certain foods. Fad diets may be unhealthy because they prevent your system from getting all its necessary nutrients. The best way to lose weight is to eat healthy and work out, according to researchers.

Myth 2: Lose weight by skipping meals. False. If you do that, you`ll end up eating more snacks. Studies proved that people who don`t eat breakfast are heavier unlike those who eat breakfast regularly.

Myth 3: I can eat anything I want and lose weight at the same time. This is not always true. However, some dieters may actually be able to eat whatever they want and still stay in shape. When you try to lose weight you may eat some of your favorite foods while you pay attention to the amount of your food intake.

Myth 4: Never eat after 8. 00 p. m. or you`ll gain weight. False. The most important is how much you eat and how much you exercise, not when you eat. Don`t eat snacks while watching TV, using the computer, or playing video games. You need to be aware of how much you eat, and when you’re doing something else while eating, you may lose track of how much you’re eating.

Myth 5: Certain foods help you burn fats. Not really true. Certain foods that contain caffeine can enhance your metabolism for a short while. However, those foods do not result in weight loss, or make you burn fats.

Myth 6: Herbal weight loss products are efficient and safe for your health. Not really true. Weight loss products are not necessarily safe just because they are “herbal,” or “natural” . Many herbal products that claim to help you lose weight are not always scientifically tested for safety or efficiency. Certain natural products may cause negative effects along with other drugs or have unwanted effects on people with certain medical conditions.

Myth 7: Nuts should be avoided during a weight loss program. Not always true. Some types of nuts contain saturated fats that may increase the level of cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Other types of nuts also contain fiber, proteins, and don`t have cholesterol. They can be a part of a good weight loss program while they are consumed in small amounts.

Myth 8: Red meat is not the best choice for weight loss. Not always true. Foods like red meat, fish, chicken, or pork contain saturated fats, cholesterol, but also protein, zinc, and iron. However, lean meat is indicated for a weight loss plan.

Myth 9: Vegetables and fresh fruits are better than frozen products. Not always true. Both frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables are healthy. Fresh fruits can sometimes lose nutrients after light exposure.

Myth 10: Fast foods are always unhealthy.

Have any health questions or would like to get involved in a diet program? Then make your way through Rachael West Designs now and get all the answers you need now.

Filed Under Health Tagged With Loss, Myths, Weight

Lose Weight Quickly With The Right Diet

June 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

I know I need to get rid of all my excess pounds, but how? Lose weight quickly with a healthy balanced diet and moderate exercise. It is really that simple, the problem is, most of us want a miracle and that is simply not going to happen. The fat came with time and unfortunately it is going to go with time! Do not lose heart though; there are ways to speed up the process if you are willing to put in that little extra effort.

1. Start with a healthy balanced diet:

Very important: if you are saying “I need to get rid of my fat,” you have to eat healthy and you have to eat enough.

This is the problem with all the fad diets, you eat too little and lose mostly water and muscle instead of fat. As soon as you start eating normal again, the water comes back and so does the weight except for the precious muscle you lost. The muscle you lose with a fad diet is one of the biggest problems that results in yo-yo dieting. With less muscle to burn energy, your metabolism slows down and you gain weight much easier than before you went onto the fad diet! If you go onto the correct diet on the other hand, that will not happen and the weight loss will be real.

With the correct diet you will not only lose water but you will burn fat. This is very important as going wrong here can really cost you in the future. Do not fall for a diet that makes you eat very little or mostly one kind of food. Most of all, stay away from those liquid diets. I do not mean healthy meal replacement shakes, I mean those “soups” that you can eat in unlimited quantities, but you still starve all day!

For a normal healthy eating plan you will eat ordinary, everyday foods that are easily available. There is not need to eat expensive “special” meals and bars. You can do very well on the food you normally buy. Get a diet that gives you a choice and lets you choose the food you prefer and that are readily available. It is better for your health and it is better for your pocket! There are many diets out there, choose a good one, stick to it and you will have success.

2. Moderate exercise:

Here is where you can almost make the miracle happen. With moderate exercise you can speed up the process considerably. Take note though, “Moderate” exercise! No good will come of it if you go overboard. You’ll burn muscle once again and it will be counter productive. For the best fat burning exercise you need to exercise at 60% of your maximum heart rate for about forty minutes, three to four times a week. Doing more will not burn more fat. To work out what your maximum heart rate is, take 220 minus your age.

Now you can work out your optimal heart rate for fat burning take 60% of that. Now you have your maximum heart rate to work the most efficiently. For example, if you were 42 years old, the formula would look like this. 220-42= 178. And now you get 60% of the 178 and that is 107. Divide that by 6 and you have a 10 second count if you are checking your heart rate manually.

If the machine gives you your heart rate you can work harder or slow down as needed to maintain the fat burning zone. So, these are the basics if you are saying “I have to get rid of my fat, but how?” Lose weight quickly with a combination of the correct diet and healthy moderate exercise.

Check out the latest Nutrisystem Coupons for 2010 now and get all Nutrisystem Coupon Codes. We are continuously updating our Nutrisystem Coupons.

Filed Under Health Tagged With Diet, Lose, Need, Quickly, Right, Weight

Binge Eating Help – Being Over Weight is Not the Real Problem

June 3, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

From my experience, often people don’t believe or even imagine that they have a weight or food related issue because they are not actually over weight. However if you are dieting constantly or exercising to ensure you keep the weight off then you definitely have a negative association with food.

When I was going through my issues with Bulimia, other people weren’t aware that I had a problem, because my weight didn’t change too much. If I over-ate, I simply exercised more to get rid of it. But it was a constant fight that virtually drove me mad! My total focus was food and weight loss.

Food should not be a struggle and something we have to “watch” or keep in check. Because ultimately if we are always focused on food and worrying about putting on weight, that is when we are inclined to binge. From there we find ourselves in the negative cycle of binging, dieting and exercising and we are never at peace.

Medifast teaches us to listen to our body so we effectively eat when we are hungry, eat what we want and stop when we’ve had enough. It is a positive, empowering and permanent solution to weight related issues. Food is no longer my focus, I actually don’t even think about it any more as I have turned my old negative habits into positive life long habits.

Prior to discovering Medifast and recovering from Bulimia, I’d had 20 years of food and weight related issues. Always dieting, exercising, monitoring my weight and focusing on food. Since incorporating the Medifast Diet into my life I have now been the same natural and healthy weight for well over 12 years and know without a doubt that this will always be the case. Now when I get upset, bored, lonely, disappointed or angry I can turn to other positive outlets instead of automatically comfort eating and ending up in a full-blown binge.

One of my friends who has recently started eating naturally, said to me the other day, “I don’t care if I don’t lose any weight because I just feel so much better. I am in control now.” It is such a relief to have that feeling of control, instead of the food being in control of us. The wonderful thing is that my friend is now starting to lose the weight because he is listening to his body and it is responding in a positive way.

So if you find that for whatever reason you are being controlled by food or weight-related issues, simply let go and listen to your body. It knows what it wants if you give it the chance. Eat naturally and you will enjoy a life at peace with food.

For those that would like to get involved with the Medifast Diet the process is quite simple. Find the Medifast Diet Program that matches you needs and then incorporate one of the many Medifast Coupon Codes to save yourself money. This is a diet that can help everyone get to the weight and lifestyle they want.

Filed Under Health Tagged With binge, Bulimia, Eating, Health, Help, Weight

Lasting Weight Loss with Fat Burning Foods

April 26, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Those wonderful foods that speed metabolism and burn body fat will literally transform your body! In these sections is everything you need to know about them. If you increase your metabolic rate and sustain that increase, you will achieve lasting weight loss. In other words, eat the foods that will increase your metabolism and start losing fat for good.

It’s simple: The higher your metabolic rate, the faster you will lose body fat. To burn fat and lose weight, simply increase your metabolic rate. Your metabolism is all those chemical processes in your body that result in energy production. The higher your metabolic rate, the more energetic you will feel. The lower your metabolic rate, the more lethargic you will feel. By itself, eating well will increase metabolism. Stop eating the wrong foods and start eating the right foods.

Foods that Speed Metabolism 1

The Power of Proteins

Exercise and proteins are your greatest allies if you wish to lose excess body fat, cure or avoid obesity, and achieve lasting weight loss.

How do proteins relate to metabolism and fat loss?

In terms of its “thermic effect,” protein has twice the power as either of the other two macronutrients, namely, fats or carbohydrates. Your body must work much harder to process proteins than to process either fats or carbs. (Drinking plenty of water helps your body do this.)

So ingesting proteins powerfully boosts your metabolism. It will rev up your metabolism and accelerate your fat loss. In addition, protein makes us feel more satiated or full than either fats or carbohydrates. That feeling will also last longer than when it’s based on fats or carbs. Just stop eating when you feel full.

For both physiological and psychological reasons, and to avoid food cravings, eat proteins every 3 or 4 waking hours. See the companion page [the page link is given at the bottom of this page] for a full explanation about the reasons for doing this and exactly how to do it.

In time, ingesting complete proteins will also improve your insulin and glucose levels.

Foods that Speed Metabolism 2

Best Quality Proteins

Here are the best protein foods that speed metabolism

Wild-caught fish and seafood such as sockeye salmon, herring, mackerel, clams, halibut, Chilean sea bass, and anchovies. (To help avoid fish that is contaminated with heavy metals, eat large fish such as tuna sparingly.)
Lean game meat. (This was the staple food of our ancestors.)
Meat and organ meat from range-fed ungulates like cattle, beefalo, and bison that eat grass.
Organic chicken eggs (but don’t fry them and, since they are high fat, don’t eat more than one yolk daily).
Free-range, organic poultry.

Even though they are high in proteins, the proteins below should not be eaten:

Avoid farm-raised fish and farm-raised seafood. Since farm-raised fish neither move nor eat like their wild cousins, it may not surprise you to learn that their flesh contains more contaminants.
Avoid meat from ungulates that have been fed corn, given antibiotics, and raised in feedlots. Since they don’t move naturally or eat natural food, it may not surprise you to learn that their flesh is nutritionally inferior, in some important respects, to flesh from their more natural cousins.

Foods that Speed Metabolism 3

(Good) Fats

Even if you exercise well (as we encourage you to do on this website), you should not be getting much more than about one-third of your daily calories from proteins. You need to get over half of your daily calories from fats and natural low carbohydrate foods.

Which fats and natural low carbohydrate foods should you eat? The answer: good fats and good low carbohydrate foods!

“Good” fats have an ideal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fats that is between 2 and 3 to 1. Fats that most North Americans consume regularly, however, have a ratio that is between 10 and 15 (or even twice that!) to 1. (Some experts think that the best ratio is 1:1.)

You’ll naturally get good fats in the best protein foods listed above. Unfortunately, except for walnuts nearly all nuts and seeds have unacceptably high ratios, which is why you should consume them sparingly. The best oils to use are flaxseed oil and coconut oil. Walnut oil is acceptable. (If you use olive oil, blend it with one of the best oils.) Avoid all other oils. Bone marrow is a good fat that won’t raise your cholesterol.

Peanuts and other legumes should be avoided. They are not foods that speed metabolism, and they contain antinutrients (such as lectins) that can undermine your health. (This is why many people are allergic to peanuts and pine nuts in particular.) So avoid: peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, cashews, pistachio nuts, hazel nuts, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, and almonds.

Foods that Speed Metabolism 4

(Good and Bad) Carbohydrates

On average, North Americans consume a whopping 500 grams of carbohydrates daily! If you want to lose excess body fat, we recommend consuming about one-tenth of that.

In fact, if you want to lose weight quickly, you can go even lower than 50 grams. At least if you have your physician’s blessing, you won’t damage your health. There is no minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates.

If you restrict carbs, your insulin, glucose, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers will all improve. You’ll lose body fat, particularly around your middle. Your triglycerides will go down, your good HDL cholesterol will increase, and your LDL will improve in quality.

On the other hand, if you completely eliminate carbs, you may not feel well mentally and you may feel less energetic. Experiment to find what works best for you. Keeping their consumption between about 40 and 75 grams daily works well for many people.

Since fat has a lower metabolic rate than muscle, whatever causes you to lose fat and build muscle will help to increase metabolism. The good carbs that are foods that speed metabolism are the complex carbs. It’s true that, when digested, all carbs end up as sugar. Still, most complex carbohydrates contain small amounts of fats and proteins as well as vitamins and minerals.

Good carbohydrates are organic, rainbow-colored vegetables and low-sugar fruits like blueberries, apples, strawberries, bell peppers, celery, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, and spinach.

The bad carbs, which are not foods that speed metabolism, are the sugars and simple carbs. They are all unnatural, processed (refined) carbohydrates.

Bad carbohydrates include such things as cookies, bread, rolls, buns, pasta, tacos, corn chips, potato chips/crisps, ice cream, pizza, cakes, sweets, candy, cookies, biscuits, chocolate, cereals, store bought cooked meats/cold cuts (they have added sugars and additives), sausages/hot dog frankfurters (they have carbohydrate fillers, additives, and sometimes sugar) all sodas, sugars, and foods containing corn syrup, etc.

From a physical point of view, we function best eating the foods that we evolved to eat. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors centered their meals on lean meats and fish as well as vegetables and fruits. If flourishing physically is your goal as well as losing excess body fat, so should you.

Although that’s a summary of it, you’ll find lots more information about foods that speed metabolism throughout.

Filed Under Health Tagged With Approach, Burning, Diet, Foods, lasting, Loss, Natural, Weight

Summer Weight Loss Foods Made Delicious

April 21, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

You don’t need to starve yourself on a wacky fad diet if you want to look look better in your shorts or swimsuit this summer. The secret to weight loss is to choose healthy foods and take in fewer calories than you burn. And it’s just easier to make better food choices in summertime, when heavy, high-calorie dishes seem less appealing. The best foods for weight loss in summer are light, refreshing and, most important, keep you out of the hot kitchen.

The single easiest way to trim calories from your summer diet, experts say, is to load up on nature’s bounty. Produce is at its peak in summer. Delicious fruits and vegetables abound at farmers’ markets and in your local grocery. Besides being low in calories, produce is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.

“Enjoy fresh produce in season. You will be thrilled at how fresh, delicious, and satisfying it tastes,” says Susan Moores, RD, a St. Paul-based nutrition consultant..

“Save the oranges and apples for fall, and load up on fresh berries, melons, greens, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, beets, pea pods, and all the super-nutritious and low-calorie fruits, greens and vegetables that grow in the garden this time of year.”

As a bonus, you can forget about portion control when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables, Moores say.

“Go for it, because it is hard to do much damage to your waistline with these super-nutritious edibles,” says Moores

To keep your cool and cut your time in the kitchen, start with prepared produce, such as cut-up fruit and washed greens. Add rotisserie chicken, prepared soups, and pre-threaded kabobs when you need something a bit heartier. Pre-prepped foods may cost a little extra, but they save time in the kitchen.

Here are dietitian’s picks for some of the best foods to help with weight loss during the summer.

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 1: Chilled Soups

Moores loves all kind of produce but says cold soups are among her favorite low-calorie dishes. Chilled soups like gazpacho or cucumber-dill that contain lots of chunky vegetables are a great way to start a meal.

“Research shows that a low-calorie, broth-based soup at the beginning of the meal will fill you so you eat less at the meal,” says Moores, a St. Paul-based nutrition consultant.

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 2: Watermelon

Who doesn’t love diving into a crisp, juicy slice of watermelon when it’s hot outside?

“Half of the watermelon comes from water. …It’s a wonderful way to satisfy thirst and a yen for something sweet,” says Moores.

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 3: Grilled Veggies

For registered dietitian Dawn Jackson, a plate of grilled vegetables is a summertime must-have. She recommends keeping a plate of grilled onions, bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, eggplant, asparagus, and garlic in your fridge. You can use them to make dishes like:

Grilled vegetable and goat cheese salads
Grilled vegetable pitas
Grilled vegetable, ricotta, and fresh herb pasta and frittatas

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 4: Salads

Salads make for quick, healthy meals — with no recipes required.

“Just give the produce a quick rinse; slice, dice, toss fruits, vegetables, low-fat cheese, a handful of toasted nuts with some salad greens and a light raspberry or ginger vinaigrette, along with a whole-grain roll, and you have a meal in minutes,” says Moores.

Or try bean or whole-grain salads, such as wheatberry and tabouli.

Moore suggests flavoring your salads with herbs from the garden so you can go light on the dressing. And when adding meats or fish to your salad, she says, “think of them as an accessory to the greens, vegetables, and grains.”

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 5: Low- and No-Calorie Beverages

Smoothies, sweetened specialty coffee drinks, sweetened teas and sodas — they all go down so easily, especially when it’s hot outside. But the calories add up just as easily.

“Beverages can be the Achilles heel during summertime because we need to drink lots of liquids to stay cool, but liquids quench thirst and don’t usually impact our hunger,” says Jackson.

Jackson recommends these refreshing drinks and treats to enjoy this summer without blowing your diet:

Root Beer or Orange Dream Float. 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt in 12 ounces of diet root beer or orange soda (100 calories)
Tart Lemon Pom Spritzer. 12 ounces of lemon sparkling water mixed with the juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 cup pomegranate juice, served over ice (35 calories)
Large Ice Skim Latte from Starbucks (130 calories)
White Wine Spritzer. 5 ounces white wine mixed with 3 ounces lemon/lime seltzer water (120 calories)

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 6: Fruit-Based Desserts

“Cravings don’t take a summer vacation and your hot-weather sweet tooth can wreak havoc on your weight loss efforts,” says Jackson. “Ditch high-calorie desserts and opt for these naturally sweet treats that can tame the most ferocious sweet tooth.”

She suggests:

Grilled banana sundaes made with low-fat ice cream
Grilled pineapple with rum and pecans
Grilled white peaches with blackberries and honey
Frozen, dark, sweet cherries
A chocolate-covered frozen banana (such as Diana’s Banana, with 130 calories)
Frozen grapes

Filed Under Health Tagged With Foods, Loss, Summer, Weight

10 Foods to Avoid When Trying to Lose Weight

April 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

No matter what plan you are following there are some foods that should be avoided if you seriously want to lose weight. Let’s look at 10 of them and the reasons you should not allow them in your diet.

Sugar: Sugar is just empty calories with no nutritional value. There is even evidence that it causes disease. It definitely contributes to the growing incidence of diabetes. Do a Google search and you will find numerous articles on the danger, and disease causing, effects of sugar.
Soda: Again, just empty calories with no nutritional value. They also contribute to tooth decay.
Starchy vegetables: Potatoes are an excellent example of this one. I know everyone loves them, but your body treats potatoes just as it does sugar. They cause a rise in blood sugar, and are harder for your body to process. Potatoes and other starchy vegetables, when eaten often, help keep the body in an elevated insulin state, making it that much harder to lose weight.
White bread: Most of the nutrients have been bleached out of the bread during the processing, making it totally useless from a nutritional stand point. The high carbohydrate content makes it detrimental to weight loss also.
Fried foods: One of the main reasons for this is because they most often contain partially hydrogenated oil. The body doesn’t even know how to process this chemical because it’s not natural. There is even evidence it can cause cancer.
Fruit juice: You are much better off eating the actual fruit than drinking fruit juice. If you have to have fruit juice, make sure it is 100% juice with no fructose corn syrup added.
Caffeine: Not only does caffeine cause dehydration, it can also increase appetite in some people.
Margarine: It contains hydrogenated oil, and is not natural.
White flour: Most of the nutrients are removed in foods made with white flour.
High glycemic fruits: These include watermelon, bananas, citrus fruits, raisins, and pineapple. These fruits are too high in sugar.

It may seem impossible to eat if you eliminate all of those foods, but it’s not. You can still have a wide variety of tasty items in your diet. There are many vegetables that are not starchy that you should partake of
on a regular basis. Also, eggs and meat contain good fats that your body needs. Be sure and read nutrition labels and check for partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. Take this advice into account while shopping and make good food choices and your body will thank you by releasing those stubborn pounds!

Filed Under Health Tagged With Avoid, Foods, Lose, Trying, Weight

The Ultimate Enemies – Alcohol and Weight Loss

April 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

It seems that one problem many people encounter as dieters is not actually the foods they eat, but what they drink. Most people do not realize how many carbs are in alcoholic beverages and consume excessive amounts, causing issues with their dieting attempts. If you are someone who is serious about losing weight you are not only going to have to make changes to your eating habits, but also your drinking habits.

In the never-never land of diet hype, something new is on the scene—alcoholic beverages labeled for carbohydrate and calorie content, and many of them boasting of low carb beer, low carb wine and “no carbs” liquor. You may not have noticed the labels yet, but they are either in the marketplace already or in the offing. The labeling of beer, wine, and the hard stuff for calorie content is not a bad idea—it is useful to know the caloric content of anything you’re about to consume. But carbs?

Wine producers, on another tack, have lobbied for permission to use a “heart-healthy” label, but the agency with jurisdiction over such matters (the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, part of the Treasury Department, which has long regulated the “sinful” commodities, as well as firearms) has been cool to the idea, and has required so many disclaimers that a bottle of wine would need to come with a booklet tied around its neck.

However, though the wine industry can’t simply label wine as having heart benefits, the low-carb and no-carb claims on alcoholic beverages are legal—so long as the labels don’t actually say that they help you lose weight. But, in fact, the terms are now irrevocably linked in most people’s minds (especially young people’s minds) to “weight loss,” “Atkins diet,” or even “better for you.” “Cut carbs, lose weight,” many people now think. “Low-carb” has somehow come to mean “healthy.” Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to alcohol—and no subject could be more confused and confusing than the effect of alcoholic beverages on weight.

How Many Calories Does Alcohol Contain?

Pure alcohol contains about 7 calories per gram, which makes it nearly twice as fattening as carbohydrates or protein (both contain about 4 calories per gram) and only just under the caloric value for fat (9 calories per gram). This means that if you want to lose weight and reduce excess body fat, alcohol is not a good choice.

Examples of Carb Content in Alcoholic Drinks

Alcohol Item (serving size) Carbs (g)
Beer, regular (12 fl oz)….. 13g
Beer, light (12 fl oz) ….. 4.5g
Wine, red (3.5 fl oz) ….. 1.75g
Wine, rose (3.5 fl oz) ….. 1.5g
Wine, white (3.5 fl oz) ….. 1g
Cider, dry (1 pint) ….. 15g
Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whisky (1 fl oz) 0g
Sherry (2 fl oz) ….. 3g
Port (2 fl oz) ….. 6g
Guinness (1/2 pint) ….. 4g

Knowables and Variables

Scientists have not been able to tie alcohol consumption consistently to weight gain. Some studies have found that drinking beer or spirits, for instance, increases waist-to-hip ratio, while some have found no relationship at all. One study showed that among female twins, body fat actually decreases with increasing alcohol consumption. Other researchers have also found that heavy drinking reduces body fat, but still others point to evidence that it raises the risk of becoming overweight or obese. There may never be a simple answer, since there are so many variables. For example:

Genes affect how the body processes alcohol.
What you eat is important—if you consume a lot of cheese or other high-calorie snacks while drinking, you’ll most likely gain weight.
People who drink a lot may gain weight whether they drink beer, wine, or spirits.
But if you drink a lot and the alcohol replaces food and other beverages, you may lose weight, as some alcoholics do.
People in studies are prone to under-report how much they drink, rendering many findings unreliable.

The Mysteries of Alcohol and Carbs

Still, sensibly enough, the first thing nearly all weight-loss plans require is that you stop drinking. (Not the notorious “Drinking Man’s Diet” of yore, a prehistoric ancestor of Atkins, which consisted of martinis, steak, bacon, and eggs.) This is because alcoholic beverages give you calories with no other nutrition, and they also may loosen your resolve to lose weight and make you eat without thinking. Beer goes with peanuts, wine with cheese. Also, alcohol itself is high in calories—7 calories per gram, almost as much as fat (9 calories per gram) and more than carbs or protein (about 4 per gram). Here are some things you should know about alcohol and nutrition—facts that run counter to what many people believe:

Alcoholic beverages all contain calories, and most of the calories come from the alcohol. (We are speaking about straight spirits, wine, or beer—not mixed drinks made with added ingredients, which can bring calories to, well, staggering levels.)
Alcohol is not a carbohydrate.

Your body processes alcohol first, before fat, protein, or carbs. Thus drinking slows down the burning of fat. This could account for the weight gain seen in some studies.

Hard liquor is distilled and thus contains no carbohydrates. The current “Zero Carb” campaign for vodka and whiskey is baloney and may encourage mindless consumption. It’s like bragging that a candy bar is “cholesterol-free.”

When grapes are made into wine, most of the fruit sugars (carbs) convert to alcohol, but a few carbs remain. A 5-ounce glass of wine typically contains 110 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and about 13 grams of alcohol (which accounts for 91 of the calories). A 5-ounce glass of wine supplies roughly the same amount of alcohol and number of calories as a 12-ounce light beer or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits.

Beer, too, contains carbohydrates. The new low-carb beers are not new at all, though this type of beer does indeed have fewer carbs. Low-carb beers are simply the old light beers with a new label and ad campaign. The old Miller Lite has 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs in 12 ounces. The “low-carb” Michelob Ultra has 96 calories and 2.6 grams of carbs. Coors Lite has 102 calories and 5 grams of carbs. The differences are tiny—hardly worth mentioning. In contrast, a regular beer has 13 grams of carbs and 150 calories.

What It Boils Down Too

In spite of the strong implication that “low-carb” somehow means low-calorie, and that low-carb foods in general can help you lose weight—or, indeed, that they are “health foods”—there’s no evidence this is so, and particularly not when it comes to beer, wine, and liquor. Alcoholic beverages have calories because alcohol has a lot of calories—not because of carbs. The implication that low-carb beers and wine or carb-free spirits are a boon on a weight-loss program is simply deceptive advertising.

Filed Under Health Tagged With alcohol, Loss, Weight