Friday, September 23, 2011

Top 7 Tips To Stretch Your Back, Hip And Leg Flexibility


How much time should you spend stretching? This is up to you. To do all the repetitions of all exercises in the following would take at least 30 minutes. It is encouraged to try all the stretches and then decide what works best for you. You may choose to do only a few exercises that seem most helpful for your back condition. Or you may decide to do fewer repetitions of each exercise. Or you may do everything. You are the best person to decide what works for you. The exercises do not all have to be done at once. You can do a little here and there over the course of your day. Here are some of the tips that you can consider to adopt.

1. Trunk Rotation

Lie on your back with your arms out to your sides. Bend your knees and either place your feet flat on the floor or pull your knees up toward your chest. Roll your legs to one side and then the other. Experiment with leg positions to find the one that is most comfortable for you. Move from side to side 20 times. Hold the last stretch to each side for 20 seconds while you relax and breathe easily.

2. Knees To Chest

While lying on your back, pull one leg at a time up to your chest. Then raise your knees and pull both toward your chest at the same time. Do 20 repetitions of each motion, holding the last repetition for 20 seconds.

3. Hamstring Stretch

Lie flat on your back in the neutral position. Keeping your left leg straight, bend your right leg, at a 90-degree angle so that the lower right leg is parallel to the ground. Clasp your hands behind your right knee, and begin to straighten your right leg. Do a gradual stretch three to five times, holding it for 20 to 30 seconds. Repeat the stretch with the opposite leg.

4. Hip Flexor Stretch

Kneel down on your right knee. Make sure that your upper body is straight and that your left leg is bent a 90-degree angle. Keeping your hips square and your upper body perpendicular to the ground, drive your hips forward. As you move forward, you should feel the stretch in your right hip. Hold the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat three to five times. Repeat with the other leg.

5. Quadriceps Stretch

While standing, reach back and grab your right foot or ankle with your right hand. Pull your foot up toward your buttock to stretch the muscles on the front of your thigh. Keep your knee pointing down and next to the other knee. Be sure to stand up straight and avoid twisting. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat three to five times. Repeat with the opposite leg.

6. Calf Stretch

Stand with one foot in front of the other or with your feet together. Keep your toes pointing forward and your heels on the floor. Lean forward to feel a stretch at the back of your ankle and calf. Hold it for 20 to 30 seconds. Relax and repeat three to five times.

7. Gluteal Stretch

Lie on your back with both legs flat on the floor. Grab your knee and ankle with your hands and pull it toward the opposite shoulder. Hold it for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat three to five times. Repeat with the other leg.

Friday, September 16, 2011

7,389,432 Weight Loss Tips Guaranteed To Help You Lose Weight!


 

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7 Calorie Burning Tips

 

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

10 Day Secret to Good Health

Summary : For almost 60 years there's been a kind of weird system for transforming the way you look and feel in just 10 days.


          

1 Pound Of Fat = 3,500 Calories

Summary : There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. Thus, if you cut back or work off just 3,500 calories, you will lose an entire pound of fat. While it is possible to cut back on your calorie intake and increase your exercise regimen in order to lose pounds quickly, it is important to note that doctors recommend that you lose no more than 2 pounds of weight per week in order to ensure that your body properly adjusts to the weight loss. Here are some tips to help you safely dro...



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"Fad" Weight Loss Diet

Summary : Obesity is killing us but using fad or extreme weight loss schemes may be making it worse!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Live a Longer and Healthier Life

Live a Longer and Healthier Life
You should balance your activities with the proper amount of rest. Some of the leading experts in the field of aging now believe that regular exercise along with the proper amount of rest may actually add years to the life span. Results from a number of tests indicate that speed and muscular strength of many of the elderly can be extended.
Leading authorities agree that this new data is going to shatter many of the myths about aging and physical performance. The conclusion now is that the performance and ability of the elderly has long been underestimated, diet, proper sleep and exercise along with rest and relaxation are all important factors in preserving our bodies.
Laughter is one of the best things for your mental and physical state. People are naturally attracted to someone who has a good sense of humor. You can develop a good outlook and a good sense of humor by associating with and surrounding yourself with pleasant happy people.
Recognize that stress is a killer. A life filled with stress can really wreak havoc on your body causing a number of illnesses such as heart attacks, strokes, asthma, gastric problems, menstrual disorders, ulcerative colitis, angina, irritable colon, increased blood pressure, ulcers, headaches, etc.
There are different types of stress such as mental, emotional and physical. Emotional stress seems to take the greatest toll on everyone. All stress is not bad; in fact, life would not be very interesting if it were not met with challenges. However, too much stress, too often with no effective and appropriate outlet, does not allow the body and soul to recuperate. You might review a typical week to see if you can identify things that might be making you anxious or causing you stress. Once identified, stressors can be attacked and eliminated.
Are you a worrier? Chronic worriers don't have more serious problems than others - they just think they do. Many worriers try to cope by trying not to think about their problems, but this just makes things worse. Doctors say that chronic worriers feel less anxious if they actually spend a half-hour a day thinking specifically about their problems.
Get plenty of exercise. People who are physically fit look good and feel good. A good exercise regimen will lengthen your life. Improve your appearance, build self confidence and help delay the aging process.
Remember that you need to do something physical every day. If you don't use your joints, quite simply they'll tighten up with age to create the stooped, bent and worn out appearance we so often associate with old age. Studies have shown that people with arthritis experience less pain if they continue to keep their joints flexible. As one gets older, the bones tend to get brittle which is why it is common for senior citizens to break bones and especially their hips when they fall.
Eating right, getting proper sleep and learning to relax are all very valuable in maintaining a healthy body and mind. And keep in mind that eating healthy foods and avoiding those high in fats, sodium and cholesterol will help to decrease your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and associated problems.

Diets Don't Work!

Diets Don't Work!



By Chad Tackett
Many Americans view a healthy lifestyle as something difficult to attain--and something that's not much fun. Traditional diets have taught us that to lose weight, we must count calories, keep track of everything we eat, and deprive ourselves by limiting the amount--and kinds--of foods we eat. Diets tell us exactly what and how much food to eat, regardless of our preferences and individual relationships with hunger and satiety. Dieting can help us lose weight (fat, muscle, and water) in the short term but is so unnatural and so unrealistic that it can never become a lifestyle that we can live with, let alone enjoy!
While very few diets teach healthy low-fat shopping, cooking, and dining-out strategies, many offer unrealistic recommendations and encourage health-threatening restrictions. Even more important, diets don't teach us the safest, most effective ways to exercise; they don't teach us how to deal with our cravings and our desires, or how to attend to our feelings of hunger and fullness. Eventually, we become tired of the complexity, the hunger, the lack of flavor, the lack of flexibility, the lack of energy, and the feeling of deprivation. We quit our diets and gain back the weight we've lost; sometimes we gain even more!
Each time we go on another diet of deprivation, the weight becomes more difficult to lose, and we become even more frustrated and discouraged. Then we eat more and exercise less, causing ourselves more frustration, discouragement, depression. Soon we are in a vicious cycle. We begin to ask ourselves, "Why bother?" We begin to blame ourselves for having no will power when what we really need is clear, scientifically-based information that will help us develop a healthier lifestyle we can live with for the rest of our lives.
Deliberate restriction of food intake in order to lose weight or to prevent weight gain, known as dieting, is the path that millions of people all over the world are taking in order to reach a desired body weight or appearance. Preoccupation with body shape, size, and weight creates an unhealthy lifestyle of emotional and physical deprivation. Diets take control away from us. .
Many of us who diet get caught in a "yo-yo" cycle that begins with low self-acceptance and results in structured eating and living because we lack trust in our body and are unwilling to listen and adhere to our body's signals of hunger and fullness. On diets, we distrust and ignore internal signs of appetite, hunger, and our need to be physically and psychologically satisfied. Instead, we depend on diet plans, measured portions, and a prescribed frequency for eating.
As a result, many of us have lost the ability to eat in response to our physical needs; we experience feelings of deprivation, then binge, and finally terminate our "health" program. This in turn leads to guilt, defeat, weight gain, low self-esteem, and then we're back to the beginning of the yo-yo diet cycle. Rather than making us feel better about ourselves, diets set us up for failure and erode our self-esteem.
The attitudes and practices acquired through years of dieting are likely to result in a body weight and size obsession, low self-esteem, poor nutrition and excessive or inadequate exercise. Weight loss from following a rigid diet is usually temporary. Most diets are too drastic to maintain; they are unrealistic and unpleasant; they are physically and emotionally stressful. And most of us just resume our old eating and activity patterns. Diets control us; we are not in control. People who try to live by diet lists and rules learn little or nothing about proper nutrition and how to enjoy their meals, physical activity, and a healthy lifestyle. No one can realistically live in the diet mode for the rest of their life, depriving themselves of the true pleasures of healthy eating and activity.




We Don't Fail Diets; They Fail Us!




Decades of research have shown that diets, both self-initiated and professionally-led, are ineffective at producing long-term health and weight loss (or weight control). When your diet fails to keep the weight off, you may say to yourself, "If only I didn't love food so much . . . If I could just exercise more often . . . If I just had more will power." The problem is not personal weakness or lack of will power. Only 5 percent of people who go on diets are successful. Please understand that we are not failing diets; diets are failing us.
The reason 95 percent of all traditional diets fail is simple. When you go on a low-calorie diet, your body thinks you are starving; it actually becomes more efficient at storing fat by slowing down your metabolism. When you stop this unrealistic eating plan, your metabolism is still slow and inefficient that you gain the weight back even faster, even though you may still be eating less than you were before you went on the diet.
In addition, low-calorie diets cause you to lose both muscle and fat in equal amounts. However, when you eventually gain back the weight, it is all fat and not muscle, causing your metabolism to slow down even more. Now you have extra weight, a less healthy body composition, and a less attractive physique.
Diets require you to sacrifice by being hungry; they don't allow you to enjoy the foods you love. This does not teach you habits which you can maintain after the diet is over. Most diet programs force you to lower your caloric intake to dangerously low levels. The common theory is that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. But when you eat fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its life-sustaining activities, you're actually losing muscle in addition to fat. Your body breaks down its own muscles to provide the needed energy for survival.
Traditional diets which use calorie restriction to produce weight loss are no longer appropriate. Most weight-loss programs measure success solely in terms of the number of pounds lost per weight loss attempt. Diets don't take into account the quality of the process used to achieve that weight loss or the very small likelihood of sustained weight loss. For long-term good health, you need to move away from low-calorie diets and focus on enjoyable physical activity and good nutrition. Exercising regularly and eating lean-supporting calories, protein and carbohydrates, and reducing fat-supporting calories will not only help you look and feel better, it will also significantly reduce your risk of disease.
America spends billions of dollars on different ways to fix people. If we focused more on prevention and on improving our day-to-day behaviors, we could cut health care costs in half. Contrary to popular belief, leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to be difficult; it doesn't have to painful or time-consuming. Making gradual, simple changes in your diet and physical activity will make great improvements in your health and well-being, and they can drastically reduce your risk of disease.
If your weight management program is to be a success, everything you eat and every exercise you do must be a pleasurable experience. If you're not enjoying yourself, it is unlikely that you'll continue your program. It's that simple. These small, gradual changes are not painful or overwhelming but rather the core of an exciting lifestyle that you will look forward to.
Take the frustration, guilt, and deprivation out of weight management, and allow yourself to adopt gradual, realistic changes into your life that will make healthy eating and physical activity a permanent pleasure. You will soon discover what your body is capable of and begin to look, act, and feel your very best. Good luck and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Does Cabbage Soup Diet Help You To Loss Weight

If you have been trying to lose weight for a long time, you may have come across the Cabbage Soup Diet. This easy to follow diet is a radical weight loss diet which claims that the more low-calorie cabbage soup you take over a period of 7 days, the more weight you will lose. In fact, this diet claims that you will see drastic weight loss of about 10 pounds within 7 days. As this diet is designed for short-term weight loss and requires no long-term commitment, it is little wonder that it has become one of the most popular diet around. Another reason for its popularity is that with cabbage, which has negligible calorie, as the main ingredient of this fat burning soup, you need not worry about spending too much money on it or gaining weight. So Does This Diet Work?This do-it-yourself diet claims that you can lose up to 10 pounds within a week. While that may be true, nutritional experts have pointed out that the weight loss is mainly due to water loss and not fat. They noted that it is quite impossible to lose that much fat within a week. Another point to note is that the loss of weight from this diet is temporary and hence you will probably gain back your weight soon after that. Another point to note is that the original Cabbage Soup Diet tastes bland, hence many recipes for this diet has high salt content to make it palatable. For people who are not able to take such high sodium content, they should stay away from this diet. Dieters should should realise that there is practically no protein from this diet. As a result, people have reported feeling weak and light-headed during the course of the diet. One common reported side effect that result from the diet is flatulence. Hence, you should be prepared should you take up this diet. Of course, it is always advisable for you to consult your doctor before following this diet.The fact is that Cabbage Soup Diet, although is a low-fat and high-fiber diet, is not a nutritionally balanced plan nor can it bring about permanent weight loss. With the emphasis on cabbage as a main ingredient, the diet lacks certain important vitamins and minerals. To follow this diet, you must also be prepared for the monotonous meals. Personally I believe that this diet can be counter productive. Since the diet would force your body to go into slower metabolism, it would then encourage your body to hold on to your fat reserves. In the end, you may only be delaying your weight loss plan.

Using The Green Tea Low Carb Diet To Get Healthy

One of the best ways to help yourself get healthy is to find a diet that really meets your needs. For some people, this means that something like a green tea low carb diet is going to get them on the right track for fitness, and the right track for their continued good health.What Is It?Going on a green tea low carb diet has many different parts. First of all, you are going to want to stick with the low carbs that you have probably already been experimenting with. This is something that you are going to want to think about because having a green tea low carb diet requires that your carb intake is much smaller. This is a good diet for most people, but not for everyone. You have to be sure that your body can handle the smaller amount of carbs in a green tea low carb diet so that you know it is going to be successful.Also, the other part of the diet is to drink lots of green tea or to have green tea extract as part of your diet. The green tea low carb diet combines the idea of not having so many carbs with the idea of being able to get the health benefits that are associated with the green tea. Green tea has so many health benefits that adding them to the benefits found in a low carb diet can make just about the perfect diet for a lot of people.Do It RightGoing on a green tea low carb diet isn’t something that you should just decide to do without talking to your doctor. You have to be sure that your body is going to benefit from this type of diet. So you have to do your research to make sure that this is going to be right for you. Even after you have researched it, you still want to talk to your doctor about your particular body and how it will react to the green tea low carb diet.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Sensible Diet Tips

Start your diet with a food diary, record everything you eat, what you were doing at the time, and how you felt. That tells you about yourself, your temptation, the emotional states that encourage you to snack and may help you lose once you see how much you eat.
Instead of eating the forbidden piece of candy, brush your teeth. If you're about to cheat, allow yourself a treat, then eat only half a bite and throw the other half away. When hunger hits, wait 10 minutes before eating and see if it passes. Set attainable goals. Don't say, "I want to lose 50 pounds." Say, "I want to lose 5 pounds a month." Get enough sleep but not too much. Try to avoid sugar. Highly sweetened foods tend to make you crave more.
Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Water itself helps cut down on water retention because it acts as a diuretic. Taken before meals, it dulls the appetite by giving you that "full feeling." Diet with a buddy. Support groups are important, and caring people can help one another succeed. Start your own, even with just one other person.
Substitute activity for eating. When the cravings hit, go to the "Y" or health club if possible; or dust, or walk around the block. This is especially helpful if you eat out of anger.
If the pie on the counter is just too great a temptation and you don't want to throw it away, freeze it. If you're a late-night eater, have a carbohydrate, such as a slice of bread of a cracker, before bedtime to cut down on cravings. Keep an orange slice or a glass of water by your bed to quiet the hunger pangs that wake you up.
If you use food as a reward, establish a new reward system. Buy yourself a non-edible reward. Write down everything you eat - - everything - including what you taste when you cook. If you monitor what you eat, you can't go off your diet.
Weigh yourself once a week at the same time. Your weight fluctuates constantly and you can weigh more at night than you did in the morning, a downer if you stuck to your diet all day. Make dining an event. East from your own special plate, on your own special placemat, and borrow the Japanese art of food arranging to make your meal, no matter how meager, look lovely. This is a trick that helps chronic over-eaters and bingers pay attention to their food instead of consuming it unconsciously.
Don't shop when you're hungry. You'll only buy more fattening food. Avoid finger foods that are easy to eat in large amounts. Avoid consuming large quantities of fattening liquids, which are so easy to overdo. And this includes alcoholic beverages. Keep plenty of crunchy foods like raw vegetables and air-popped fat-free popcorn on hand. They're high in fiber, satisfying and filling. Leave something on your plate, even if you are a charter member of the Clean The Plate Club. It's a good sign that you can stop eating when you want to, not just when your plate is empty.
Lose weight for yourself, not to please your husband, your parents or your friends. Make the kitchen off-limits at any time other than mealtime. Always eat at the table, never in front of the TV set or with the radio on. Concentrate on eating every mouthful slowly and savoring each morsel. Chew everything from 10 to 20 times and count! Never skip meals.

Top 18 Benefits of Weight Training

Weight training tones your muscles which looks great and raises your basal metabolism... which causes you to burn more calories 24 hours-a-day. You'll even burn more calories while you're sleeping.
Weight training can *reverse* the natural decline in your metabolism which begins around age 30.
Weight training energizes you..
Weight training has a positive affect on almost all of your 650+ muscles.
Weight training strengthens your bones reducing your risk of developing osteoporosis.
Weight training improves your muscular endurance.
Weight training will NOT develop big muscles on women....just toned muscles!
Weight training makes you strong. Strength gives you confidence and makes daily activities easier.
Weight training makes you less prone to low-back injuries.
Weight training decreases your resting blood pressure.
Weight training decreases your risk of developing adult onset diabetes.
Weight training decreases your gastrointestinal transit time, reducing your risk for developing colon cancer.
Weight training increases your blood level of HDL cholesterol (the good type).
Weight training improves your posture.
Weight training improves the functioning of your immune system.
Weight training lowers your resting heart rate, a sign of a more efficient heart.
Weight training improves your balance and coordination.
Weight training elevates your mood.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Does Cabbage Soup Diet Help You To Loss Weight

If you have been trying to lose weight for a long time, you may have come across the Cabbage Soup Diet. This easy to follow diet is a radical weight loss diet which claims that the more low-calorie cabbage soup you take over a period of 7 days, the more weight you will lose. In fact, this diet claims that you will see drastic weight loss of about 10 pounds within 7 days. As this diet is designed for short-term weight loss and requires no long-term commitment, it is little wonder that it has become one of the most popular diet around. Another reason for its popularity is that with cabbage, which has negligible calorie, as the main ingredient of this fat burning soup, you need not worry about spending too much money on it or gaining weight. So Does This Diet Work?This do-it-yourself diet claims that you can lose up to 10 pounds within a week. While that may be true, nutritional experts have pointed out that the weight loss is mainly due to water loss and not fat. They noted that it is quite impossible to lose that much fat within a week. Another point to note is that the loss of weight from this diet is temporary and hence you will probably gain back your weight soon after that. Another point to note is that the original Cabbage Soup Diet tastes bland, hence many recipes for this diet has high salt content to make it palatable. For people who are not able to take such high sodium content, they should stay away from this diet. Dieters should should realise that there is practically no protein from this diet. As a result, people have reported feeling weak and light-headed during the course of the diet. One common reported side effect that result from the diet is flatulence. Hence, you should be prepared should you take up this diet. Of course, it is always advisable for you to consult your doctor before following this diet.The fact is that Cabbage Soup Diet, although is a low-fat and high-fiber diet, is not a nutritionally balanced plan nor can it bring about permanent weight loss. With the emphasis on cabbage as a main ingredient, the diet lacks certain important vitamins and minerals. To follow this diet, you must also be prepared for the monotonous meals. Personally I believe that this diet can be counter productive. Since the diet would force your body to go into slower metabolism, it would then encourage your body to hold on to your fat reserves. In the end, you may only be delaying your weight loss plan.

Using The Green Tea Low Carb Diet To Get Healthy

One of the best ways to help yourself get healthy is to find a diet that really meets your needs. For some people, this means that something like a green tea low carb diet is going to get them on the right track for fitness, and the right track for their continued good health.What Is It?Going on a green tea low carb diet has many different parts. First of all, you are going to want to stick with the low carbs that you have probably already been experimenting with. This is something that you are going to want to think about because having a green tea low carb diet requires that your carb intake is much smaller. This is a good diet for most people, but not for everyone. You have to be sure that your body can handle the smaller amount of carbs in a green tea low carb diet so that you know it is going to be successful.Also, the other part of the diet is to drink lots of green tea or to have green tea extract as part of your diet. The green tea low carb diet combines the idea of not having so many carbs with the idea of being able to get the health benefits that are associated with the green tea. Green tea has so many health benefits that adding them to the benefits found in a low carb diet can make just about the perfect diet for a lot of people.Do It RightGoing on a green tea low carb diet isn’t something that you should just decide to do without talking to your doctor. You have to be sure that your body is going to benefit from this type of diet. So you have to do your research to make sure that this is going to be right for you. Even after you have researched it, you still want to talk to your doctor about your particular body and how it will react to the green tea low carb diet.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

100 Painless Ways to Cut 100 or More Calories

"Losing weight can be as simple as cutting out a meatball here and an egg roll there." ~~Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D. REACHING YOUR FAT-LOSS GOALS may be easier than you think. To lose a pound of fat a month, all you need to do is cut 100 calories a day from your diet, assuming the intake and expenditure of all other calories remains the same. That's because a pound of body fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. So if you cut 100 calories a day for 31 days, you're cutting 3,100 calories--or about a pound. Wait...a pound a month? Isn't that a little slow? Well, mounds of research indicate that you're more likely to keep weight off if you lose it slowly. Besides, losing a pound a month doesn't require drastic changes in your eating habits. It can be as simple as eating two egg rolls with your Chinese stir-fry instead of three. Here are 100 painless ways to cut 100 or more calories a day. As a bonus, they all reduce fat or sugar, which means, calorie for calorie, you're getting more vitamins and minerals. 1. Spread 1 tablespoon of all-fruit jam on your toast rather than 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter. 2. Replace 1 cup of whole milk with 1/2 cup of nonfat milk. 3. Eat 2 poached eggs instead of 2 fried eggs. 4. Replace 1/2 cup of granola with 2 cups of Cheerios. 5. Instead of using whole milk and eggs to prepare 2 slices of French toast, use nonfat milk and egg whites. 6. Snack on an orange and a banana instead of a Snickers candy bar. 7. Munch on 35 pretzel sticks instead of 1 ounce of dry-roasted peanuts. 8. Replace 1 cup of sweetened applesauce with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce. 9. On your lamb-and-vegetable kabob, replace 2 of the 4 chunks of meat with fresh whole mushrooms. 10. Dip an artichoke in 1 tablespoon of low-fat mayonnaise instead of 1 1/2 tablespoons of regular mayonnaise. 11. Steam your asparagus rather than saut้ it in 1 tablespoon of butter or oil. 12. Instead of a 5-ounce glass of wine, opt for cherry-flavored sparkling water. 13. For a chewy snack, have 1/2 cup of dried fruit rather than 9 caramels. 14. Replace 3 slices of bacon with 3 slices of Light & Lean Canadian bacon. 15. Eat a Lender's egg bagel instead of a Sara Lee egg bagel. 16. Select 1 cup of home-style baked beans instead of an equal serving of baked beans with franks. 17. Replace 2 biscuits with 2 dinner rolls. 18. When making a sandwich, use 2 slices of Roman Light 7-grain bread instead of Pepperidge Farm wheat bread. 19. Eat 1/2 cup of steamed fresh broccoli instead of 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli in cheese sauce. 20. Make a burrito with 1/2 cup of fat-free refried beans and 1 ounce of nonfat cheese instead of the same amount of traditional refried beans and cheese. 21. Replace an apple muffin with a high-fiber English muffin. 22. Reduce a typical serving of chocolate cake (1/8 of a two-layer cake) by one-third. 23. Switch from 1 cup of whole-milk hot chocolate to 1 cup of steamed 1% milk flavored with a dash of almond extract. 24. Replace 1 cup of caramel-coated popcorn with 2 1/2 cups of air-popped popcorn. 25. Switch from 1/2 cup of yogurt-covered raisins to 1/2 cup of plain raisins. 26. Snack on 1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt instead of 1 cup of custard-style yogurt. 27. Top your celery sticks with 2 tablespoons of fat-free cream cheese instead of 3 tablespoons of regular cream cheese. 28. Replace 2 fried-chicken drumsticks with 2 roasted drumsticks and a cup of peas and carrots. 29. Instead of eating 5 chocolate-chip cookies, savor the taste of 2. 30. Lighten your 2 cups of coffee with 2 tablespoons of evaporated nonfat milk instead of 2 tablespoons of half-and-half. 31. Replace a 12-ounce can of cola with a 12-ounce can of diet cola. 32. Thicken your cream sauce with 1 percent milk and corn starch instead of a roux of butter and flour. 33. At the appetizer tray, choose 4 fresh raw mushrooms instead of 4 batter-fried mushrooms. 34. Use 2 tablespoons of fat-free sour cream instead of regular sour cream (on baked potatoes or in stroganoff). If done twice in the day, 100 calories will be cut. 35. Reduce the size of your steak from 4 1/2 ounces to 3 ounces. 36. Grill a cheese sandwich with nonstick cooking spray instead of margarine. 37. Replace 1 cup of chocolate ice cream with 2/3 cup of nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt. 38. Snack on 2 ounces of oven-baked potato chips instead of regular potato chips. 39. Instead of topping your salad with an ounce of croutons, get your crunch from 1/4 cup of chopped celery. 40. Instead of 1 cup of macaroni salad, eat 3 1/2 cups of spinach salad with 2 tablespoons of low-calorie dressing. 41. Cut the peanut butter on your sandwich from 2 tablespoons to 1 tablespoon. 42. Serve your turkey with 1/4 cup of cranberry sauce instead of 1/2 cup. 43. Order a sandwich on cracked wheat bread instead of a croissant. 44. Complement your hamburger with 1 1/4 ounces of oven-baked tortilla chips instead of a side of fries. 45. Split an apple Danish with a friend rather than eat the entire thing. 46. Order 2 slices of cheese pizza instead of 2 slices of pepperoni pizza. 47. Grab a Dole Fresh Lites Cherry frozen fruit bar instead of a Sunkist Coconut frozen fruit bar. 48. Snack on 1/2 cup of fruit cocktail canned in water instead of 1 cup of fruit cocktail canned in heavy syrup. 49. Switch from 1 cup of fruit punch to 1 cup of sparkling water flavored with 2 teaspoons of concentrated orange juice. 50. Instead of eating garlic bread made with butter, spread baked garlic cloves on French bread. 51. Rather than snack on 1 cup of grapefruit canned in syrup, peel and section 1 small grapefruit. 52. Dip your chips in 1/2 cup of salsa instead of 1/2 cup of guacamole. 53. Switch from 1/2 cup of Frusen Gladje butter pecan ice cream to Breyers butter pecan ice cream. 54. Use 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise in your tuna salad instead of 2 tablespoons. 55. Hold the tartar sauce on your fish sandwich, and squeeze lemon on it instead. 56. Replace 3 fish sticks with 3 ounces of grilled halibut. 57. In sandwich spreads or salads, use 3 teaspoons of dijonnaise instead of 4 teaspoons of mayonnaise. 58. Use 2 tablespoons of light pancake syrup instead of 2 tablespoons of regular syrup. 59. Top your pasta with 1 cup of marinara sauce instead of 1/2 cup of alfredo sauce. 60. For each serving of pasta salad you make, reduce the oil or mayonnaise by 1 tablespoon. 61. Replace 1/2 cup of peaches canned in extra-heavy syrup with 1/2 cup of peaches canned in water. 62. Prepare 1/2 cup of steamed peas and cauliflower instead of frozen peas and cauliflower in cream sauce. 63. Cut back on sampling during cooking. The following "tastes" have 100 calories: 4 tablespoons of beef stroganoff, 3 tablespoons of homemade chocolate pudding, 2 tablespoons of chocolate-chip cookie dough. 64. At an Italian restaurant, snack on a large breadstick instead of a slice of garlic bread. 65. Eat a 3/4-cup serving of pudding made with skim milk rather than a 1-cup serving of pudding made with whole milk. 66. Choose 1/2 cup of brown rice instead of 1 serving of frozen rice pilaf with green beans or 1 serving of frozen Oriental rice and vegetables. 67. Compliment your sandwich with 3/4 cup of split-pea soup instead of 1 cup of chunky bean and ham soup. 68. Replace 3 tablespoons of strawberry topping on your ice cream with 3/4 pint of fresh strawberries. 69. Pass on the second helping of mashed potatoes. 70. Eat 3 grilled prawns with cocktail sauce instead of 3 breaded and fried prawns. 71. Make a pie crust with 1 cup of Grape-Nuts cereal, 1/4 cup of concentrated apple juice and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, instead of using a traditional graham-cracker crust. You'll save 100 calories per slice. 72. Replace 8 sticks of regular chewing gum with sugar-free chewing gum. 73. Snack on a papaya instead of a bag of M&Ms. 74. Substitute 3 ounces of scallops for 3 ounce of lean beef in your stir-fry. 75. Rather than spread 4 tablespoons of cream cheese on two slices of raisin bread, dip the bread in 1/2 cup nonfat apple-cinnamon yogurt. 76. Munch on 1 cup of frozen grapes instead of an ice cream sandwich. 77. Rather than drink a strawberry milkshake, make a smoothie of 2/3 cup of low-fat milk, 1/2 cup of strawberries and 1/2 a banana. 78. Replace 2 brownies with 2 fig bars. 79. Eat 2 meatballs instead of 4 with your spaghetti. 80. On a hot day, quench your thirst with a glass of ice water with lemon or mint instead of a can of light beer. 81. Eat 1/2 cup of black beans instead of 3 ounces of roast beef. 82. Replace 1 1/2 tablespoons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread with 1 1/2 tablespoons of Nucoa Smart Beat margarine. 83. Choose 1 serving of vegetarian lasagna instead of lasagna with meat. 84. Eat 2 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars instead of 2 Kellogg's Pop-Tarts. 85. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of low-calorie French dressing on your salad instead of 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing. 86. Replace 1 large flour tortilla with 1 six-inch corn tortilla. 87. Eat a turkey sandwich instead of a chicken salad sandwich. 88. Choose 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in water instead of 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in oil. 89. At Burger King, have a Whopper Jr. Sandwich with regular fries instead of a Whopper With Cheese Sandwich. 90. Order your Quarter Pounder without cheese. 91. At Jack in the Box, eat a regular taco instead of a super taco. 92. Fix 1 cup of turkey chili with beans rather than regular chili with no beans. 93. Use 1 cup of fat-free cottage cheese instead of regular cottage cheese. 94. Order a sandwich with barbecued chicken instead of barbecued pork. 95. Replace 1 cup of corn with 1 cup of carrots. 96. Reduce your helping of turkey stuffing from 1 cup to 2/3 cup. 97. Have a single scoop of ice cream instead of a double scoop. 98. Replace 2 ounces of corn chips with 2 ounces of SnackWell's wheat crackers. 99. Eat 1 hot dog at the baseball game instead of 2. 100. Shred 2 ounces of fat-free cheddar cheese on nachos instead of regular cheddar.

Why Most People Fail At Losing Weight

Why do so many people fail at losing weight? Is it because they are lazy? No. Is it because they are addicted to food? No. Is it because they aren’t good at exercising? No. Failure at weight loss stems from a few main factors:
People don't truly understand the risks of being overweight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a 1000 pound gorilla in the room and it’s often ignored. Being overweight for a long period of time kills thousands of people each year. Thousands of studies have shown and proven without any doubt that losing body fat will improve and lengthen your life. Knowing the dangers of being overweight is a tremendous motivator to not only lose fat, but to keep it off.
People don't commit to permanent lifestyle changes. So many people think of a "diet" as something temporary. When they are on a "diet" they restrict themselves so much that they are miserable. Sooner or later failure is inevitable because of the unreasonable demands of most "diets." Some of these diets force you to only eat certain foods (e.g., no carbs, special soups etc…) You, like myself, have probably tried them before. The key to losing weight long term is to make gradual lifestyle changes you can stick to forever.
Most individuals are not provided the truthful facts of losing weight and becoming healthier. With the conflicting information in the media, and all of the different lose weight quick fad diets, it’s understandable why so many people really don’t know the truth about losing fat and keeping it off long term.
Most people don't understand they are constantly either gaining fat, or losing fat. There is no in-between. Some people justify binging or giving up because they hit a small road-block. This isn’t an all or nothing game. For example, when I was overweight, if I ate an unhealthy lunch, I’d go ahead and eat an unhealthy dinner since I already "messed up" the day. Or I’d say, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday since I’ve already eaten poorly this weekend. Every person at times eats too much. The successful people will not let a road bump completely derail their entire lifestyle change. If you are not implementing positive lifestyle changes and losing weight, you are gaining weight. Again, there is no "in-between."
Most people don't realize what they consume each day. So many overweight people eat thousands of extra calories and fat without realizing it. It’s tough to know if you are gaining weight or losing weight each day unless you are keeping an eye on what you’re consuming.

Weight-Loss Pills Can Help the Seriously Overweight


Weight-Loss Pills Can Help the Seriously Overweight
Weight-loss pills can be effective tools for patients whose weight jeopardizes their health. Learn why.
By Diane Stresing
Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD
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Pop a pill and lose weight? It may sound great, but weight-loss pills aren’t magic bullets, and they’re not for everyone. Losing weight is more than a cosmetic concern for seriously overweight and obese people; it’s a medical necessity.
Prescription weight-loss medications are recommended for people who have a lot of weight to lose and who have medical conditions or risks tied to obesity such as:
Diabetes
High blood pressure
Some forms of cancer
Weight-Loss Pills: Who Needs Them to Shed Pounds?
Weight-loss pills should be prescribed only for people who are seriously overweight or obese. For those who have weight-related medical complications or risks, such as hypertension or diabetes, prescription weight-loss medications are recommended for those with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or above. Weight-loss prescriptions may also be appropriate for people without a weight-related disease or medical complication if their BMI is 30 or higher.
Weight-Loss Pills: How They Work
Most weight-loss drugs work by convincing people that they feel full a lot sooner than they would without the drugs, says Karen Cooper, DO, a bariatric physician at the Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric and Metabolic Institute in Ohio.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

15 Best Diet Tips Ever

Best Diet Tip No. 1: Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages.
People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger. So you can end up eating extra calories when an ice-cold glass of water is really what you need.
"If you don't like plain water, try adding citrus or a splash of juice, or brew infused teas like mango or peach, which have lots of flavor but no calories," says Cynthia Sass, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
Best Diet Tip No. 2: Think about what you can add to your diet, not what you should take away.
Start by focusing on getting the recommended 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
"It sounds like a lot, but it is well worth it, because at the same time you are meeting your fiber goals and feeling more satisfied from the volume of food," says chef Laura Pansiero, RD.
You're also less likely to overeat because fruits and vegetables displace fat in the diet. And that's not to mention the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. More than 200 studies have documented the disease-preventing qualities of phytochemicals found in produce, says Pansiero.
Her suggestion for getting more: Work vegetables into meals instead of just serving them as sides on a plate.
"I love to take seasonal vegetables and make stir-fries, frittatas, risotto, pilafs, soups, or layer on sandwiches," Pansiero says. "It is so easy to buy a variety of vegetables and incorporate them into dishes."
Best Diet Tip No. 3: Consider whether you're really hungry.
Whenever you feel like eating, look for physical signs of hunger, suggests Michelle May, MD, author of Am I Hungry?
"Hunger is your body's way of telling you that you need fuel, so when a craving doesn't come from hunger, eating will never satisfy it," she says.
When you're done eating, you should feel better -- not stuffed, bloated, or tired.
"Your stomach is only the size of your fist, so it takes just a handful of food to fill it comfortably," says May.
Keeping your portions reasonable will help you get more in touch with your feelings of hunger and fullness.
Best Diet Tip No. 4: Be choosy about nighttime snacks.
Mindless eating occurs most frequently after dinner, when you finally sit down and relax.
"Sitting down with a bag of chips or cookies in front of the television is an example of eating amnesia, where you mindlessly eat without being hungry, but out of habit," says American Dietetic Association spokesperson Malena Perdomo, RD.
Either close down the kitchen after a certain hour, or allow yourself a low-calorie snack, like a 100-calorie pack of cookies or a half-cup scoop of low-fat ice cream. Once you find that you're usually satisfied with the low-cal snack, try a cup of zero-calorie tea, suggests Perdomo.