Posts filed under 'Food'
CARLITA Collins has the perfect outfit to wear to a Christmas party and she wants to lose 10 more pounds for an even better fit. She’s not interested in using a fad diet that could take the weight off quickly, but might not keep it off. So she’s planning to cut back on the number of calories she eats and hopes to find an exercise routine that she likes to help her complete her move from size 14 to size 12.
“I’m not somebody who works out,” says Collins, a 31-year-old CPA and accounting manager at BlueCross BlueShield in Chicago. “It’s easier to get me to cut back on food than to get me into a gym. Exercising and walking bore me.”
Dr. Ian Smith, an NBC News medical correspondent, and Rod Johnson, a medical news producer for CNN in Atlanta, say Collins’ way of thinking is on the right track. They agree that the best and fastest way to lose weight is to reduce calories and increase physical activity.
“If you’re doing cardiovascular exercises for 30 minutes, increase the time to 45 minutes,” says Johnson, who is also a certified fitness consultant. “If you’re only doing cardiovascular exercises once or twice a week, increase them to four or five times a week for at least 45 minutes.”
Weight-train the entire body, including all the major muscle groups, at least two times a week. Or do the upper body one day and the lower body the next day. Remember, weight-training burns calories for 48 hours after a workout, and a cardiovascular workout burns calories for 45 minutes.
Johnson, who has helped clients get in shape as a kickboxing instructor and as a personal trainer, says it’s important to develop a regular exercise schedule and then stick to it. Don’t skip days in your routine. Exercise more days a week than you have been to lose weight faster. Avoid excuses and work out with a friend or relative who has similar goals.
But with your zeal to lose the pounds, be cautious. Medical experts say don’t try to lose too much weight too fast. Don’t try to lose 50 pounds in three months. Give yourself time in advance of an event to get the weight off. Without using a fad diet, try to develop good habits in a short amount of time by being consistent, and motivate yourself by thinking about your goals. Think about that dress you want to wear.
Dr. Smith, author of The Take Control Diet: A Life Plan for Thinking People, also recommends sticking to a realistic goal. Don’t try to lose more than 2 pounds per week, he says. When people begin to diet, if they’re not chronic dieters, a lot of weight will come off initially. As their bodies adjust to the diet, the weight will start to plateau. Combining exercising and dieting is the one-two punch that takes the weight off quickly.
But hidden calories found in gravies, dressings and butter can sabotage weight-loss efforts, experts say. Salads should be ordered with no-fat or reduced-fat dressing on the side. Use very small portions, if any at all. Don’t order gravy on mashed potatoes. Another place calories can hide is in alcohol. Smith suggests having no more than one alcoholic beverage a day because alcohol is full of empty calories. Sweets and chips should be avoided and substituted with raw fruits and vegetables.
Fruit and preferably raw or steamed vegetables should be what you eat mostly when you’re trying to lose weight in a short amount of time, experts say. Nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day is best. Each serving should be about the size of a fist. But be careful not to overcook vegetables because it eliminates the nutrients. Also, the serving size of carbohydrates and meats should be reduced. But Smith doesn’t advocate a low-carbohydrate diet or eliminating carbohydrates altogether.
Eating three meals and two snacks at the same time every day is important. Don’t eat heavy dinners. Don’t eat anything two hours before going to sleep, including fruits and vegetables. Everyone’s metabolism slows down when sleeping, so the body burns fewer calories, Dr. Smith says. Calories eaten less than two hours before bedtime turn into added fat.
The heaviest meal of the day could be lunch or an early dinner. (Even after dinner, it’s suggested that you do some type of physical activity.) Scheduling meals helps your body anticipate when it will be supplied with nutrition. Metabolism and hunger get synchronized when you don’t trick your body by changing mealtimes. Eating breakfast at 8 a.m. one day then 10 a.m. the next throws the rest of the day off.
Fried food is another element that should be avoided. Try to eliminate all fried foods for two weeks, eating only foods that are grilled, seared, steamed or baked.
All of these tips sound good to Collins, who plans to continue eating less and exercising more with aerobics videos at home. She also wants to stick to some guidelines she came up with when she lost 22 pounds, which she has kept off for a year and a half. She plans to drink eight glasses of water a day. She says she’ll eat more vegetables before eating anything else at mealtimes and eat desserts less often.
Despite this success, Collins realizes the hard part is still ahead of her. She knows holiday parties and dinners will make it tough. “It’s hard to resist drinking extra eggnog,” she says. “Sitting around with the family, you eat more because it’s there, not because you’re hungry. Last year, my family brought fruit instead of sweets to be healthier.”
This year, she hopes there will be fruit and healthy snacks at the parties she attends as well.
LOSING WEIGHT QUICKLY
Whether you want to lose weight to wear a new dress or if you just want to shed a few pounds, here are five ways to lose weight quickly.
1. Eliminate hidden calories in gravies, dressings and butter. Have no more than one alcoholic beverage a day. Avoid snacks. Substitute sweets and chips with raw fruits and vegetables.
2. Try to consume mostly fruits and vegetables, preferably raw or steamed. Have nine servings a day. Reduce the serving sizes of carbohydrates and meats. But don’t eat a low-carbohydrate or no-carbohydrate diet.
3. Burn calories. Include some type of physical activity in your daily routine. Increase your amount of physical activity by 30 percent to lose weight faster. For example, if you only walk five blocks to a bus and don’t exercise, you should increase your routine to seven or eight blocks.
4. Schedule your meals. Try to eat at the same time every day. Have three meals and two snacks a day.
5. Eliminate all fried foods for two weeks. Eat only foods that are grilled, seared, steamed or baked.
* Recommendations by Dr. Ian. Smith, NBC News medical correspondent
5 WEIGHT-LOSS TIPS
1. If you know you are going to a party, eat fewer calories during the day. Don’t starve yourself beforehand so that you are not tempted to eat too much at the party. Avoid eating too many starchy foods and solids. Instead, drink more water and eat fruit, yogurt, salad, grains and vegetables. This will help you eat fewer calories at an evening event.
2. Weight-train the entire body. Include all the major muscle groups at least two times a week.
3. Avoid negative talk. Motivate yourself by thinking about your goals.
4. Be consistent. Develop a regular exercise schedule and stick to it.
5. Be realistic. Don’t try to lose 50 pounds in three months. Give yourself time in advance to get the weight off.
* Recommendations by Rod Johnson, CNN medical news producer and personal trainer
COPYRIGHT 2002 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
December 1st, 2006
Soft Drinks, The regular stuff!
We all know sugar sweetened soft drinks are empty calories and help contribute to the overall obesity problem in the western world. What most of us don’t know is how much of an impact these have and how switching to diet drinks may be an even worse choice.
In 2000 Americans alone spent $60 billion on carbonated soft drinks and billions more on non-carbonated “fruit” beverages. During the same year the average American consumed more than 53 gallons of soft drinks. (Source: National Soft Drink Association). Those 53 gallons are equal to over 283 12 ounce cans each on average.
In 2004, soft drink companies produced enough non-diet soda to provide each U.S. resident with about 395 12 ounce cans, and enough diet soda for about 160 cans each, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
North American consumption represents more than 44% of worldwide consumption, Europe, with a per capita average of 12.7 gallons per year, represented 31%. The fastest growth in soft drink consumption is in Asia and South America. (Source Beverage Marketing Press Release June 15, 2001).
During the late 1950’s the typical soft drink order in a casual or fast food restaurant contained about 8 ounces of soda. Today a “child” order of Coke at McDonalds is 12 ounces. A “large” Coke is 32 ounces and about 310 calories.
The average 12 ounce can of soda contains about 40 grams of refined sugar. That’s about 8 Teaspoons! Did you ever consider you were eating 8 teaspoons of sugar with every can of soda pop? For comparison the USDA recommends that for a 2,000 calorie per day diet we should not consume more than 40 grams of refined sugars per day. In addition each can contains about 150 calories with zero nutritional value per 12 ounce can.
You can see how an extra 300 to 400 calories per day can contribute to weight gain.
Dr. Caroline Apovian, an associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center, says one study found that the chance of becoming obese increased 1.6 times for each sugar sweetened drink consumed per day.
In addition to the calories, the sugar and the impact on weight gain and obesity, soda contains caffeine. Caffeine as we know is a mildly addictive stimulant drug that keeps us coming back for more. Research has shown that the caffeine delivered in a single 12 ounce can of soft drink is enough to produce mood and behavioral effects. (Source: Dr. Roland Griffiths in Eileen O’Conner’s “A sip into dangerous territory,” Monitor on Psychology, 32, June 2001.
Fruit Drinks:
Like I said repeatedly in my book “Living To BeYounger”we are literally being marketed to death. I go into great detail about how ad agencies and food companies are packaging products as a healthy alternative to junk foods.
There is no better example than the “healthy alternative” fruit drinks marketed by the soft drink companies. These companies market non-carbonated drinks that pretend to be rich in fruit juice and nutrients, but are basically sugar water. Coca-Cola Co.’s Fruitopia and Hi-C, for example contain only 5% to 10% fruit juice but they contain as much (or more) sugar as the carbonated soda pop. Don’t be fooled by the claims of added vitamins and minerals on these products packages, they are still junk food.
The sweetener commonly used in soft drinks and other foods may lead to more body fat than drinks sweetened with plain sugar. A new study shows that fructose may alter the body’s metabolism in a way that prompts it to store body fat.
Fructose is a sweetener found naturally in fruits and honey and is widely used as a sweetener in soft drinks, fructose is usually found in the form of high-fructose corn syrup which contains 55% fructose.
Researchers say the findings may help explain the recently established link between rising soft drink popularity and obesity rates in the United States and other parts of the world.
In the study, researchers led by Dr. Matthias Tschop of the University of Cincinnati compared the effects of feeding mice fructose-sweetened water, a soft drink flavored with table sugar, a diet soft drink or water. The mice were allowed to drink as much as they wanted of their assigned beverage.
The mice that drank the fructose-sweetened water gained significantly more body fat than the others, even thought they decreased the amount of calories they ate from solid food.
” We were surprised to see that mice actually ate less when exposed to fructose-sweetened beverages and therefore didn’t consume more overall calories,” says Tschop, “Nevertheless they gained significantly more body fat within a few weeks.”
Body fat increased 11% in the fructose group, 5% in the water group, 7% and 8% in the diet and sugar water groups.
Researchers say the findings suggest the body metabolizes fructose differently than other sweeteners or carbohydrates and in a way that favors fat storage.
Between 1970 and 1990 high-fructose corn syrup consumption increased by more than 1000% largely because the nations soft drink producers switched from sucrose (sugar) to high-fructose corn syrup.
Making syrup is the second largest use of corn in North America, feeding livestock is the largest. On average Americans consume 48 pounds of corn syrup a year. (Source Anan Duming, “Junk Food, Food Junk World Watch September / October 1991)
A 2004 report showed that Americans eat 132 calories each day of high-fructose corn syrup and that figure is closer to 300 for the top 20%of Americans.
Number who are obese goes from 12% to 17.9%.
The number of Americans who think about dieting and losing weight is probably at an all-time high. But surprisingly, so too are the number of Americans who are overweight (BMI >25) or obese (BMI >30): at least 30% of the population. The percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight has doubled since the early 1970s, raising concerns for long-term health effects. Excess weight is a health risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. By mid-1999, there were 7.1 million physician visits related to weight concerns.
Let’s see high-fructose corn syrup production up 1000% from 1970, obesity and overweight doubled since 1970? Tripled in England during the same period?
To my simple way of thinking, “It ain’t the whole answer, but it’s a big part of it”!
For then full FREE Special Report on Soft Drinks and Astounding information Diet Drinks visit this link.
I felt this information was important enough to provide a free excerpt of this chapter of my book, “Living To Be Younger”. People need to know the facts about what their consuming and the impact on their health.
We simply are not getting good information, and the result of that lack of knowledge is becoming more and more evident.
June 7th, 2006
Are there any foods that burn body fat? If yes, how is it possible? It should be possible to lose weight by simply eating such foods. What are these foods?
The fat burning foods are foods that burn more calories than the calorie content of the foods itself. There are certain foods which actually burn more fat than the calorie content of the food itself. These fat burning foods or so called negative calorie foods are natural plant foods.
Fruits rich in vitamin C like limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit and tangerines have fat burning properties. Some of the other fat burning foods are asparagus, beet root, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, apple, blueberries, and watermelon. It you eat these fat burning foods and do some exercise, it will boost your metabolism and burn calories at a faster rate for several hours even after exercise.
A recent research reports that calcium in dairy products can boost weight loss by increasing fat breakdown in fat cells. If you compare a dairy-rich versus a dairy-poor diet you can nearly double the rate of weight and fat loss with the same level of calorie restriction.
Not eating enough will slow your metabolism and deteriorating your health. Note that in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. This can be done by eating negative calorie foods. This will help your body burning up the excessive stored fat.
By P. Mehta
May 17th, 2006
What’s for dinner tonight? Probably not Raisin Bran. But why not? Research shows that whole-grain cereal is an excellent source of vitamins and fiber, and is low in calories and saturated fat. So why don’t we eat cereal for dinner? The problem is that cereal is not marketed as a dinner food, so we don’t associate it that way. Now, what if Kelloggs came out and launched a “dinner cereal?” It’s not that this “dinner cereal” would be different from any other cereal; it would just give us “permission” to steer from the norm and do things a little differently.About 7 years ago I put my theory to the test. I ate cereal for dinner 5 nights a week for about 4 months, and I can honestly say that my stomach was flatter than ever, I never felt full or bloated and I got used to it pretty quickly. In fact, I found myself driving home from work excited about what cereal I would have that night, and I looked forward to it. I felt great.
Our overweight problem is largely cultural. Big, dinnertime meals are part of what we do even though research proves that consuming our largest meal at night is a big reason for our bulging waist-lines. Not long ago I read an interesting study about the timing of our eating. The researchers investigated the eating habits in some community in Scotland and compared them to ours. This community was a farming town and the people, on average, consumed the same amount of calories per day that we do, but they did not have a weight problem. The reason: Breakfast was their big meal. About two thirds of their daily calories were consumed in the morning and they ate sensible lunches and dinners. In our culture, we consume two thirds of our calories after 5:00 P.M. The body’s metabolism slows down significantly after 6:00 P.M. and our bodies just aren’t burning all of those calories effectively. Timing is everything. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
I remember what my mother used to say to me during my “cereal for dinner days.” She thought I was crazy and would say things like, “that is not healthy for you.” “You need “food” for dinner.” I beg to differ.
In our world, we do what seems normal, what everyone else is doing. A family sitting around the dinner table eating a bowl of Cheerios with sliced bananas sounds ludicrous. It just doesn’t fit into our cultural schema. But obviously something has got to change in our country or we’re just going to keep eating ourselves to death. Try the cereal plan for a few weeks and see if you lose weight. There is such a huge selection of good, healthy cereals, so you don’t have to worry about getting board. Dare to be different
Thomas J. Kersting, LPC, Ph.D is the author of FAT PROOF: Power Programming Your Bodies Weight-Loss Computer (Harbor Press, coming in Winter 2006). Dr. Tom has helped countless people to lose weight with his power programming method. Please visit his website to receive a free copy of his Power Programming Weight-Loss CD. http://www.FatProof.net
April 4th, 2006
Previous Posts