Secret Weapon for Weight Loss

1. Mushrooms
When people ate mushroom-based entrees, they felt just as satisfied as when they’d eaten those same dishes made with beef—though they’d taken in a fraction of the calories and fat.

2. Eggs
Dieters who ate eggs for breakfast felt full for longer and lost more than twice as much weight as those who got the same amount of calories from a bagel for breakfast. Think beyond breakfast, too: eggs boost a salad’s staying power and make for a satisfying snack.

3. Apples
For a mere 95 calories, a medium apple contains 4 grams of fiber. Boosting your fiber intake may help you to prevent weight gain—or even encourage weight loss.

4. Low Calorie Desserts
Banning sugary foods could lead to overeating. One reason may be that removing access to sweet foods stimulates the release of a molecule in your brain called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), produced when you’re afraid, anxious or stressed. And increased stress levels may lower your motivation to eat more nutritious foods, making it more likely that you’ll binge on junk food.

5. Soup
People who start a meal with vegetable soup eat 20 percent fewer calories over the course of their meal.

6. Oatmeal
Eating a breakfast made with “slow-release” carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or bran cereal, three hours before you exercise may help you burn more fat. Here’s why: in the study, eating “slow-release” carbohydrates didn’t spike blood sugar as high as eating refined carbohydrates, such as white toast. In turn, insulin levels didn’t spike as high and because insulin plays a role in signaling your body to store fat, having lower levels may help you burn fat.

7. Hot Chile Peppers
Consuming a little hot pepper (in tomato juice or in capsules) 30 minutes before a meal helped study participants feel less hungry and eat about 10 percent less.

8. Almonds
Chew more to curb hunger. Participants got maximum satisfaction—they felt fuller longer—from the nuts when they chewed 40 times. Chewing more may cause a greater release of fat from the almonds, which triggers hormones that curb hunger.

Lose Weight Faster

Exercise, along with a healthy eating plan, is key to losing weight.

Interval Walking and the Total-Body Workout, which you will do on alternate days, not only rev up your metabolism and lose weight faster (getting off those frustrating weight-loss plateaus), you’ll also tone your body and take inches off your waistline.

If you have never exercised before, you can work at a very easy pace until you feel confident moving ahead.


Interval Walking

* Designed to give your heart and lungs a great workout, which is vital for cardiovascular health
* Involves alternating periods of fast or very fast walking with periods of slower recovery walking
* Boosts metabolism so you burn more calories and fat, which translates to faster weight loss
* Results in increased fat and calorie burn even after you’re done exercising

Total-Body Workout

* Designed to work several muscle groups simultaneously
* Focuses on exercises that strengthen your core — the vital muscles in your abdomen, back, pelvis, and hips
* Promotes balance, stability, good posture, and coordination
* Tones your arms and legs and increases your flexibility

Weight and Fertility

If both partners in a couple are overweight or obese, they are more likely to have to wait longer before getting pregnant.

According to study, there is a relationship between being overweight and the ability to get pregnant. Sometimes women who are overweight have a condition called PCOS, which can contribute to fertility problems.

If overweight and obesity actually is a cause of subfecundity, and if the obesity epidemic continues, this reduced capacity to reproduce could become a serious public health problem.

The research also found that an underweight man with an obese woman was the least likely to get pregnant quickly.

Take Control in Your Diet

Here are the basic rules:

1. Pick your own eating and exercise plan.

2. DO NOT judge others for their diet and exercise plans.

3. STOP the negative self-talk. It does nothing to help you.

4. Post as often as you can. More posting equals more success.

5. Support other members.

6. No required weigh-ins or participation. You choose what you want to do. ALWAYS!

Diet Comfort Foods

Potatoes are one of the great comfort foods, especially when stuffed with a satisfying mixture of lean ground beef and broccoli florets plus reduced-fat sour cream and Cheddar cheese. Add a tossed salad and you have a healthy and hearty meal that will leave you feeling good.

Oven Fried Chicken- crunchy, flavorful fried chicken can be healthy. We marinate skinless chicken in buttermilk to keep it juicy. A light coating of flour, sesame seeds and spices, misted with olive oil, forms an appealing crust during baking. And with only 7 grams of fat per serving rather than the 20 in typical fried chicken—that is good news.

Whole-wheat lasagna noodles taste great in this recipe, plus they help boost the fiber to 9 grams, which is more than a third of the recommended daily intake and especially good news for a healthy heart.

Myth or Truth?

MYTH: If you exercise, you can eat as much as you want.

TRUTH: Unless you’re working out like an Olympic athlete, to lose weight you’ll still need to keep an eye on how many calories you’re eating. “Calories in” add up much more quickly than “calories out.” Consider this: two medium cookies cost you about 400 calories. To burn 400 calories, the average person needs to run or walk 4 miles

Get Enough Sleep

FACT: Lack of sleep can also lead to potentially serious health problems.

Sleep deprivation causes the body to continuously release cortisol, a stress hormone, into the bloodstream. High levels of this hormone can work against you in several ways.

Cortisol stimulates a rise in blood glucose, which prompts the body to release more insulin. Over time, the increased production of insulin may lead to insulin resistance, a condition in which the body’s cells become less and less responsive to the effects of insulin—and, in some cases, the condition can progress to type 2 diabetes. You might also get sick more easily: high levels of circulating cortisol suppress the immune system, making you more vulnerable to infections.

To get a full night's sleep, try going to bed earlier than you usually do. Engage in ritual relaxing activities before bed, such as reading a book. Don't take work-related reading material to bed with you. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day so you can program a sleep schedule into your body's biological clock. Avoid alcohol in the late evening; it disrupts your sleep cycle.

Salt Diet

Everybody knows that too much of a good thing can't possibly be, well, good. Too much sugar can lead to premature diabetes, too much alcohol can wreak havoc on your liver (aside from dehydrating you), too much salt can raise the risks of heart disease and high blood pressure and cause your kidneys to work overtime...and the list goes on and on.

But does that mean you should kiss salt (and salty dishes) goodbye? Of course not! Experts say that it is perfectly okay for one to consume one teaspoon of salt per day.

Exercise Tips

If exercise is new to you or if you have an existing health problem, consult with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. A beginner should start at the low end of the recommendation. Consider two 20-minute sessions per week and aim to increase the time each session. Alternating between two or three different cardio machines during a single workout is a good way to avoid physical and mental fatigue.

You Need

Every person needs to get a certain level of physical activity just to stay in good physical shape. Each week, you should be engaging in AT LEAST150 minutes of sensible aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of energetic aerobic exercise, plus a minimum of two strength-training sessions. And if you want to lose weight, you may need to work out even more. Stretching is compulsory too, during your warm-up and cool-down — and possibly as a separate practice if you want the additional mind-body benefits of yoga or tai chi, for instance.

These workout goals can be fairly intimidating if you’re new to an exercise program and are unsure of how to fit them into a full and hectic schedule.

Dietary Fats

To stay healthy and lower your heart disease risk and high cholesterol levels, you don't have to eliminate all dietary fats. There is such a thing as good fat that actually reduces high cholesterol and keeps your heart healthier. It's just a matter of knowing which dietary fats are which, and how to replace bad fat with good fat.


The Bad Fats

Saturated fat. This is an unhealthy fat found in animal products like beef, lamb, pork, butter, cheese, cream, and other whole-milk dairy products. Certain plant oils, like coconut oil, also contain saturated fat.

Trans fats and hydrogenated fats. Many processed foods, commercially prepared baked goods, and fried foods contain trans and hydrogenated fats, which lead to high cholesterol.

Cholesterol. Limiting intake of foods with high cholesterol content boosts heart health and lowers cholesterol.



The Good Fats

Polyunsaturated fat. Omega-3 fats are a type of polyunsaturated fat. You can bulk up on this good fat by eating fish two to three times a week; try great sources like salmon and mackerel. Plant oils are also a good source of polyunsaturated fats (sunflower, corn, and soybean oils).

Monounsaturated fat. You can also get this good fat in your diet by eating nuts (such as pecans, almonds, hazelnuts), seeds (including pumpkin and sesame) and avocados.

Which is a better motivator for you?

1) A time-based goal e.g. a six week fat loss program – lose as much fat as possible in 6 weeks, improve your chin-up ability as much as possible in a month -
or

2) an outcome based goal e.g. lose 10lbs – be able to do ten chin-ups – in other words a specific target - regardless of how long it takes.

Please post your comment below.

Cranberries - Powerful AntiOxidant

Cranberries are small and rounded berries that are native to many regions of North America. They have a distict sweet and tart taste and have a very rich, red color.

The Cranberry has had a long history of health benefits. Sailors used cranberries as a source of vitamin C to prevent scurvy. They are also rich in phytochemicals and a good source of polyphenol and antioxidant that are known to maintain health.

Cranberries are packed with powerful compounds that can help cleanse and purify your body. The anti-adhesion properties of cranberries maintain urinary tract health by preventing certain harmful bacteria from sticking.

Home Gym? Why Not.

A home gym can make smart fitness sense. But if you don’t choose carefully, you run the risk of wasting money on strength-training and aerobic equipment that is poorly designed, difficult to use, or takes up too much space in your home. A lot of these devices end up serving as clothes racks because they were inadequate or did not fit the needs of their owners.

The best home exercise equipment is often expensive — and you should think of it as an investment. You can spend several hundred to several thousand dollars on a treadmill, stationary bicycle, or a home weight machine system. Do keep in mind that quality matters, however — you will likely get a better workout from a more expensive, solidly built, and reliable machine that will hold up through daily use.

If you want to work out at home but price is an issue, look for less expensive alternatives. You might be able to convert a regular bicycle, if you have one, into a stationary unit without spending much cash and still burn fat efficiently. A set of free weights and a bench or a set of resistance bands is a fraction of the cost of a strength training machine and likely will take up less room, too.

You Are What You Eat

As the saying goes... It’s not just about eating regularly, it’s about the food you consume.

Do you know that too much fast food will clog your arteries (and you’ll feel it!); while eating just salad every day won’t give you enough energy to keep up with the demands of work. This is why developing a balanced diet—with stress on the "balanced"—is important.

For the junk food addicts (and by junk, we mean food with high levels of sugar, fat, and salt), eating healthy isn’t easy. Besides being high on the junk food meter, these foods are made to be very soft to reduce the need for chewing. If you chew less, you eat faster. The faster you eat, the less you’ll feel full—thus boosting the need to consume more food.

The piece de resistance is this: the food provides increased levels of dopamine, a pleasure-inducing neurotransmitter that causes you to eat more precisely because it makes you feel good.

The result? Something akin to addiction.

Getting over an "addiction" is hard, but the switch to a healthy diet is a necessity if you don’t want to end up an overworked, malnourished mess. So take that first step and take care of your body.

Here are some tips to jumpstart your diet:

* Popcorn with a sprinkling of salt is a-okay, as long as it doesn’t have butter.

* Exchange sinfully sweet favorites like cake and chocolate for dried fruit, raisin toast, and low fat/low sugar fruit yogurts.

* Celery sticks don’t need to be boring and tasteless. Mix them with other fruit and veggie snacks, and put them into salads and sandwiches.

Sip Soup

Adding two low-calorie soups to your diet every day could stave off hunger pangs and keep you satisfied longer. Choose soups that are broth-based, not cream-based, to reduce the calorie count; also look for soups that are low in sodium. Consider chunky, pureed vegetable soups, as they have been shown to produce the most lasting full feeling. Timing your soup so that you have it before a meal also reduces the amount you eat at that meal by about 20 percent, according to a study of 53 overweight adults.

Is It Okay To Skip Meals?

The answer is a big NO!

There are so many undesirable effects to skipping meals. Not only it slows down your metabolism but it can lead to overeating, because when you do eat you're overly hungry.

As for cutting your calories below your calorie allowance, this is tricky. The first golden rule is never to let your daily calorie allowance fall below 1,200 if you are a woman and 1,500 if you are a man. Falling below these daily allowances can do real damage to your metabolism and result in excessive loss of lean muscle tissue.

As a fitness trainer, I suggest that you exercise daily and live an active lifestyle to balance everything.

On Weight Loss Program

As a personal trainer, I do not recommend that you should go on a weight-loss program or follow a fad diet. I always tell my clients that they should develop healthy eating habits instead. The problem with these diet programs, people feel they can go off at any time. If you decided to change your lifestyle and how you approach food, then you are looking at a long-term plan for health.

Let me remind you again that it all comes down to calories. If you eat 100 more food calories than you burn each day, you'll gain about a pound a month. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you slowly but surely will lose weight.

Jot down how many calories you should be taking in to maintain your current weight. The number can range from 1,600 calories a day for a sedentary older woman to 3,000 calories a day for an active young man.

Also, please do not neglect any physical activity to match or outburn the calories you take in every day. Join my bootcamp activities and you will realise how important to have an active lifestyle for long term health benefits.

Myth or Not?

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but what about a shot of apple cider vinegar?

Apple cider vinegar has been hailed as a cure-all dietary supplement, with health benefits ranging from relief from allergy symptoms to helping the body burn fat and lose weight. Proponents of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar cite testimonials from people who believe that drinking apple cider vinegar has helped them, but is there any evidence to back up these claims?

According to a clinical dietitian, Apple Cider Vinegar deosn't help in losing weight. While a few studies have been conducted on the possible health benefits of apple cider vinegar, the number of people in these studies is typically small, and the evidence is not yet convincing.

Watch Your Belly

The bigger a person's waistline, the more likely they are to die of any cause, regardless of whether they are overweight or not.

After adjusting for body mass index and other risk factors, the researchers found that men and women with very large waists -- 120 centimeters (47 inches) or greater in men, and 110 centimeters (42 inches) or more in women -- were around twice as likely to die of any cause as people with smaller waists.

The risk of dying was greater regardless of whether a man or woman was normal weight, overweight or obese.

The study also found that men and women with very large waists were "more likely than those with smaller waists to be less educated, to have a high BMI (body mass index), to be physically inactive, to be former smokers, and to have a history of cardiovascular disease, cancer or respiratory disease."

Respiratory disease was the most likely cause of death among the very large-girthed, followed by cardiovascular disease and cancer, the study said.

Previous studies have associated large waistlines with heart disease, inflammatory illness, insulin resistance, high blood cholesterol and type two diabetes.

The link between waist circumference and mortality from a host of illnesses "may be because waist circumference is strongly correlated with fat tissue in the viscera - surrounding the organs in the abdomen - which is thought to be more dangerous than fat tissue under the skin," the study said.

The results suggest that, regardless of weight, avoiding gains in waist circumference may reduce the risk of premature mortality.

source: yahoo news

Lower Your Cancer Risk

Here are small lifestyle changes you can make today that may help lower your risk of developing cancer in the future:

* Limit or avoid fried foods.
* Choose whole grains over refined-flour products.
* Cut down on sweets.
* Avoid meats high in fat.
* Eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
* Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages to no more than one drink a day if you’re a woman or two if you’re a man.
* Quit smoking.
* Exercise regularly to maintain a healthy weight.

Battle With the Scale

Don't be discouraged if your weight fluctuates day by day. Shifts in water weight, changes in bowel habits, and even the amount of food you just ate can influence the daily variations you see on the scale.

Daily weight changes are particularly common when your body is adjusting to the new way of eating. You may also notice that you weigh more immediately after a meal. This is due to the actual weight of the food! Remember that it takes time for your body to digest what you’ve eaten, and it can take a couple of days for weight loss or weight gain to register on the scale. To avoid confusion and disappointment, weigh yourself only once a week. Let how much healthier you feel and how your clothes are fitting become the measure of your weight-loss success.

Are You Living A Healthy Lifestyle?

1. What's your fitness regimen like?
* I don't have one. I just can't find the time for it.
* Minimal. I don't have enough time to go to the gym regularly, but I walk (or run) around my village, play sports on the weekends, or do home exercises.
* Pretty good! I keep very active, I have a set workout regimen, and I also enjoy sports.

2. Do you get enough sleep?
* Nope. No rest for the wicked, unfortunately. I'm just so busy.
* I guess so, but not as much as I want.
* The full 8 hours! I like to make sure I'm well-rested.

3. What do you eat on a workday?
* Whatever's convenient, so that usually means fast food.
* It depends, really. Sometimes I buy fast food, sometimes I eat better meals at restaurants, and sometimes, I just bring food from home.
* Good food! Always good food. I make sure I have a balanced meal.

4. Are you on a diet?
* Nope! Food's one of the few things I have left that I enjoy right now; I'm not about to cut that out of my life, too.
* Yes! I'm kind of crash dieting a bit, cutting my carbs because I need to lose weight.
* Yes! It's a diet in the sense that I'm trying to get a good balance of every food group, and I'm trying to eat in moderation. It's all about keeping my body in tip top shape.

5. Do you drink a lot of water?
* No. I survive on coffee.
* Not a lot, but I do drink some water every day. I prefer other drinks.
* At least 8 glasses! I love how refreshing water is.

3 Principles in Losing Weight

1. Know the exact foods that cause accelerated fat burning in yourbody.

2. Know the particular foods that are preventing fat burning

3. Put the right foods together in a certain way to create the Fat Burning Effect

Lets Drink To That

Are you addicted to soda? You may want to consider some alternatives. Not only are regular soft drinks full of empty calories, but studies have linked the consumption of both regular and diet soda to an increased risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Water is still the best refereshing choice that you can drink. There are also flavored waters available in the market today but be careful because it still contain sugar or artificial sweeteners. A healthier choice is natural flavoring: Just add slices of your favorite fruits and veggies — lemons, oranges, watermelon, cucumber, mint, or limes — to a pitcher of ice-cold water for a refreshing and flavorful drink. Another great option is to put chopped-up fruit in an ice cube tray, add water, and freeze. Place these colorful fruit cubes in your beverage for instant flavor and color!

Iphone For Weight Loss

Do you know that your Iphone can be used for calorie counter? Yes, indeed. The free My Calorie Counter iPhone app was developed with a simple mission: to provide an easy-to-use tool to help you count calories in food and fitness activities, lose weight, and maintain a healthy lifestyle — wherever you are, whenever you need it.

Search the web now or go to your nearest MAC store to know more about this application and lets start on losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle.

Sandwiches ~ Healthy Alternative?

Okay, let’s face it; we thought all this time sandwiches are better option for our waistlines. Perhaps, you really should think twice before tucking into these breaded meals.

Before ordering two double cheese-burgers, you have to think twice of its nutritional values. These kinds of burgers are filled with high saturated fats and salt which is bad for our health. This might lead to increase in blood pressure that will cause stroke or heart attack.

Of course, there are still healthy sandwiches available in the market. However, it is useful to be aware that when choosing sandwiches, be sure to get the nutritional information before you make a purchase and pick those with low saturated fat and salt. The other option is to make your own using your own, fresh ingredients.

Here are some ideas in making your own sandwich.

Make your own and use rye bread or wholemeal, never white!

Spread thin if none at all or use a bit of olive oil

Resist eating all at once, save some for an hour’s time, make chunk sizes

Use pepper and herbs and hot sauces instead of mayonnaise etc

The Mediterranean Diet

Mediterranean Diet is a heart-healthy diet which includes food staples of people who live in the 16 countries around the Mediterranean Sea, such as Greece and Italy.

This type of diet emphasizes on foods with healthy fats — those containing omega-3 fatty acids — plus other foods that support a heart-healthy diet. This regimen is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, nuts and legumes, and olive oil. Mediterranean diets also tend to be low in red meat, and use yogurt and cheese as dairy products.

The Mediterranean diet was not purposely developed as a weight-loss or heart disease prevention diet, but it eventually evolved naturally over centuries based on the foods available in the region. Studies of large numbers of people following it reveal its health benefits especially against heart disease and can improve the way your body processes blood sugar and insulin. The diet is high in omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy fats that can help protect your heart. The high ingestion of fruits and vegetables strengthens your body against cancer and heart disease by providing plenty of valuable antioxidants.

Mediterranean diet offers a wide variety of meal options based on whole, fresh foods. From cheese and veggie-laden pizzas to cooked veggies and rice dishes, you can plan quite a feast.

A single Mediterranean diet meal might feature:

* Mediterranean-style vegetable or bean-based soup, such as minestrone or lentil soup

* Whole-grain roll or flatbread

* Grilled or steamed seafood

* Cooked fresh vegetables, such as spinach

* Fresh salad with oil and vinegar dressing

* Fruit for dessert

source: everydayhealth.com