Weight Watcher's New Program

I found this post on WebMd and if you have tried again and again to lose weight with no success, think about Weight Watchers. I don't promote pre-packaged foods or diet pills and that's why I think Weight Watcher might be for those who haven't been able to lose fat on their own. There is a membership fee but that's all you pay and I think you can pay by the month.  The Promise Pasta, steak, cheese, ice cream... You can eat what you want on Weight Watchers. While the popular weight-loss plan has been revamped, the basic principle of eating what you love remains -- though the program steers you toward healthier foods with its points system. In its new program, called Beyond the Scale, fitness also takes a bigger role. You'll be encouraged to move more every day. Weight Watchers isn’t so much a diet as a lifestyle change program. It can help you learn how to eat healthier and get more physical activity, so you lose the weight for good. You can follow the plan online on your own. You'll track your food choices and exercise, chart progress, and find recipes and workouts. There’s a coaching option if you prefer one-on-one consultations by phone, email, and text. Or you can go to in-person group meetings, where you’ll weigh in. A Consumer Reports survey found that people who went to meetings were more satisfied with the program and lost more weight than people who used only the online tools. What You Can Eat and What You Can't No food is forbidden when you follow this plan, which doesn’t make you buy any prepackaged meals. Weight Watchers assigns different foods a SmartPoints value, which replaces its long-standing PointsPlus plan. The concept is the same, though. Nutritious foods that fill you up have fewer points than junk with empty calories. But the eating plan now factors sugar, fat, and protein into its points calculations to steer you toward fruits, veggies, and lean protein, and away from stuff that's high in sugar and saturated fat. You’ll have a SmartPoints target that's set up based on your body and goals. As long as you stay within your daily target, you can spend those SmartPoints however, you’d like, even on alcohol or dessert. But healthier, lower-calorie foods cost fewer points. So,when you eat low-cal foods, you can eat more. If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

What's Behind the Gluten-Free Trend?

This is an article I found and I think it's a "most read". Today there's a trend to find the answer to our weight problems. Some people are convinced that you should quit sugar; no sugar diet is really popular now and most of these believers don't need to lose weight. They believe that any processed sweetners are bad for your health and many people who quit sugar admitt that they feel better. Gluten-free is another popular way to eat. Some people can eliminate health problems by going gluten-free and others feel it might help them lose weight. Processed wheat flour is as bad for you as processed sugar according to recent studies.


By Kathleen Doheny

Not that many years ago, the letters "GF" on a restaurant menu would likely have puzzled many people. No longer.

These days, a gluten-free lifestyle has become one of the most popular diet trends in the U.S. One in five people now reduce or eliminate gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley or rye, in their diet, according to a 2015 Gallup poll.

Avoiding gluten is crucial for people with celiac disease. That’s because gluten damages the small intestine and nutrients can't be absorbed. Its symptoms include diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and pain.

Researchers say that some who follow a gluten-free diet without a diagnosis of celiac disease may have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. People with non-celiac gluten sensitivity have similar symptoms but don’t have celiac disease. People with a wheat allergy may also follow the diet to prevent an allergic reaction.

But do others need to go gluten-free?

Who Is Going Gluten-Free, and Why?

Nearly 100 million Americans say they ate gluten-free products in 2015. Americans spent an estimated $4 billion on gluten-free products in 2015.

Kim’s research has found that women are more likely than men to avoid gluten, and the diet is more popular among 20- to 39-year-olds. It’s also popular among world-class athletes. In another survey, 41% of 910 world-class athletes and Olympic medalists said they followed a gluten-free diet at least half the time, and most had self-diagnosed their gluten sensitivity. Among the many stars reportedly going gluten-free are Gwyneth Paltrow, Russell Crowe, and Kim Kardashian.

"It's a trendy diet, people want quick fixes, and diets are frequently used as a quick fix for issues.''

Many health care professionals such as dietitians and psychiatrists promote the diet to people without diagnosed celiac disease, Green says. He says that an executive, who did not have celiac disease, told him his life coach recommended going gluten-free. He suspects that the association with celiac disease gives the gluten-free diet a medical legitimacy, so health care professionals may feel it's responsible to recommend it.

Who Really Needs Gluten-Free and Does It Help?

If you have celiac disease, a gluten-free diet can provide relief from bloating and intestinal problems, Kim says. Although people who self-diagnose their gluten sensitivity report the same relief from symptoms, Kim says more research is needed. In one study, Balistreri notes, people with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) reported a gluten-free diet helped their symptoms, although more research is needed.

People have also reported that they lost weight after avoiding gluten, according to a commentary accompanying Kim’s study. But the Celiac Disease Foundation says gluten-free diets may actually result in weight gain. In people with celiac disease, more nutrients are absorbed into the body as the intestines heal on a gluten-free diet, and gluten-free foods may also be higher in sugar and fat.

Some experts say that the sensitivity to the gluten in wheat might not be the whole story. Wheat contains both gluten and poorly absorbed carbohydrates that can make you gassy. Limiting these carbohydrates has helped those with irritable bowel syndrome. This involves cutting out wheat, rye, lactose, fructose, apples, and other gassy fruits. Other research has also found that those with self-reported non-celiac gluten sensitivity improved on a gluten-free diet but improved even more when these carbohydrates were cut out, Balistreri says.

People who cut out gluten may also simply be eating healthier, others suggest. Many highly-processed foods contain gluten, and eliminating them may help people feel better.

Gluten-Free: The Downsides

While the gluten-free diet ''is lifesaving for those with celiac," Green says, for those without medical indications, ''we don’t think a gluten-free diet is a very healthy diet. ... It's low in fiber and often enriched in fat and calories."

It also puts people at risk of nutritional deficiencies, Green says. "Wheat flour is fortified. They add folic acid, [other] B vitamins, and iron. Rice flour, a mainstay of gluten-free foods, is not. We have seen people with vitamin B deficiency." B vitamins help convert food into fuel, help repair cells, and have other important roles. Gluten-free diets are not always easy to follow, Green says. The products are typically more expensive than products that contain gluten.

Also, parents should not place children on a gluten-free diet without a medical reason, Fasano says.

"If the kid does not have celiac disease or allergy [to wheat], there is no reason to go on a gluten-free diet," he says. People who go on a gluten-free diet without a medical need often think they are choosing a healthy lifestyle, but they may be harming their health, Green says.

In an op-ed piece he co-wrote for the Los Angeles Times, he writes: "What gluten-free faddists don’t seem to realize is that in excluding gluten, they’re also excluding a host of nutrients that keep them out of the doctor’s office, not in it."

I can't agree with everything in this article, some cultures don't have any wheat products in their diet and are far healthier than North Americans. Wheat flour is enriched and fortified but that's only because processing the wheat for flour strips the nutrients from the wheat, so they think by adding chemicals to the flour they can put back some of the things they eliminated. We don't need bread in our diet or any bakery goods. I think the enriched flour that we have today is one reason we have an overweight problem in this country. Understand that the white flour we buy today is not the wheat flour your Grandmother used in her kitchen. Remember that when you buy the next loaf of bread.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

What You Eat Can Add Years to Your Life

Find out what foods you can eat to live healthier, longer lives.

By Joel Fuhrman, MD

A good post that emphasizes a good diet. This post first appeared on VeryWell.com.

We all have the ability to live healthier, stronger, and longer lives simply by eating the most nutritious foods for our bodies.The importance of good nutrition cannot be overstated. I have personally seen how an optimal diet can prevent and reverse disease. I have written books about the effects the right foods can have on such problems as heart disease,  high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, asthma, autoimmune illnesses (including lupus) and headaches.

I firmly believe that few people can expect to have good health without paying attention to the consumption of high micronutrient foods. The latest scientific advances in nutritional research continue to provide evidence in support of these facts.

The latest study cited poor eating habits as the most significant risk factor for premature death worldwide. It found diet was the primary factor responsible for the greatest number of premature deaths starting in 2000 and up to the most recent data for 2013, accounting for 11.3 million deaths worldwide in 2013.

In recent decades, the American diet has undergone a transformation that has put disease-causing refined carbohydrates, oils, and animal products at the center of every meal, with natural plant foods playing only a minor role. This dietary shift became apparent when researchers looked at the data. As new parts of the world continue to adopt these eating habits, diet is becoming a larger burden on health and lifespan all over the world.

What Foods Place You at High-Risk?

When researchers looked at some of the dietary risk factors individually, they found that between 2000 and 2013 there was a global increase in the numbers of deaths associated with the following factors:

• Low Fruit Consumption
• High Sodium Intake
• Low Fiber Diet
• Low Consumption of Nuts and Seeds
• Diet High in Processed and Red Meats

Based on the above dietary factors, it should be no surprise that there was an increase in the number of deaths over this same time period associated with high blood pressure, high BMI or body mass index, and high fasting blood glucose rates.

The Good News

The study didn’t yield all bad news. Mortality due to the consumption of trans fat and secondhand smoke declined during that time and, as the authors pointed out, each of the risk factors have the potential to be eliminated or reduced in our diets. Already we are seeing a stronger emphasis on whole foods, clean eating, and a wider interest in more thoughtful food selection. Our individual choices have a huge potential to positively improve our health.

The trends the study spotlighted are reversible, and the deaths associated with a poor diet are avoidable. It took many years, but today everyone knows that smoking causes lung cancer and as a result, tobacco use is declining and so are the negative health effects associated with its use. The data suggests that this is beginning to occur with trans fat, too. We are certainly not there, yet, but we are moving toward a time when processed meats, commercial baked goods, and sugar-sweetened beverages will be viewed by everyone as dangerous.

I encourage everyone to eat a nutrient-dense, plant-rich diet of greens, colorful vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and some fruit. Make salad the main meal. Eat big salads and lots of tomato, onion, raw and cooked greens, and mushrooms. Until everyone learns to avoid processed food, excessive animal products and oils   preventable diseases will continue to plague us. A diet that delivers a broad array of micronutrients via a wide spectrum of healthy foods is the most satisfying and the most healthful. 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

The Reasons You're Addicted to Junk Food

By Shereen Lehman, MS 

This is a good post to read. The mistakes you're making when you make those food choices will affect your life, your performance, and your health for years to come. You can straighten out your health by eating better and exercising more, but in most cases, you can't reclaim all that you lost.

Question: If junk food is so bad for the body and bad quality overall, why is it so popular? You'd think no one would touch it."

Answer: That's an excellent question, and I certainly can't say that I have the answer. I do have some thoughts on the subject -- and maybe one or more are correct, so here goes:

First, let me back up and define 'junk foods.' It's the stuff you eat that has little to no nutritional value, usually combined with ingredients that are bad for you, or is high in calories when consumed in excess.

So that means candy, chips, cookies, cake, sugary soft drinks, greasy burgers, hot dogs, French fries, ice cream, and most things that served at fast food restaurants qualify as junk foods.

So why do so many people eat junk foods? Here are three possible reasons:

#1 It's Cheap

I think one big reason junk food is popular is because a lot of it is cheap to buy. I mean you can go to most any fast food restaurant and order something off a 'dollar' menu of some sort. If you have a couple of bucks in your wallet, you can buy a full meal. 

Same story at the grocery store. Cheap snacks, inexpensive high-sodium and high-fat meals can be found on the shelves. Healthier foods -- like fresh fruits and vegetables-- tend to be more expensive. Those bags or cups of instant ramen noodles cost less than 50 cents, whereas an orange costs a dollar. 

Although a lot of junk food is cheap to buy up front, I think the argument can be made that cheap junk foods end up being more expensive in the long run due to their negative impact on health.

#2 It's Easy

This reason goes along with the being cheap part. Junk food is lurking in vending machines, convenience stores, and even stores that don't typically sell food items might have snacks and sodas near the cashiers. And those instant meals I already mentioned? They're easy to prepare, and you can store a bunch of them in your kitchen cabinets for a long time.

Of course, fast foods live up to the name. You can order a fast food meal and then eat it a minute or two later. Or you can order your meal from your car to can save time by wolfing it down while you drive away.

That drive-thru thing isn't good, though. Not only is the food bad for your health, but dropped fries can accumulate in your car, under the seat. And that gets kind of gross.

#3 It's Sweet, Fatty or Salty (Or All Three)

Rarely do junk foods tempt you with delicate or complicated flavors. They pretty much hit you hard with sweet, fatty and salty flavors. I think those simple flavors might be preferred by people who are picky eaters -- it could be the slightly bitter flavor of many vegetables turns some people off, especially kids. 

But it's more than flavor. Various combinations of sugar and fat make for textures people like. Fat makes foods feel smooth and creamy, like ice cream. Starchy potato and corn chips cooked in hot oil have a satisfying crunch. That's not to say that healthy foods don't have a nice texture, but sometimes the textures of fresh fruits and vegetables take a little getting used to.

Then It Becomes a Habit

Since junk foods are easy to find, easy to make, and a lot of them just flat out taste good, consuming them becomes a habit. That's the real problem. I mean eating a candy bar now and then or snarfing down a bag of fries once in awhile isn't all that big a deal. But when junk foods make up a big part of your daily diet, then you run the risk of becoming overweight and obese, plus you're not going to get enough of the nutrients and fiber your body needs for good health.

So, next time you find yourself standing in line at a burger joint or staring at a vending machine, think about how your choice could affect your health. Then walk away and find something better.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to get "fit and healthy". You can go to amazon.com, b&n.com, iBooks, kobo.com, scribd.com and many others.

The Secrets to Changing Your Life

If you’ve already broken a New Year’s resolution or two, take heart. I can let you in on the ultimate secret for successfully making a change in your life.

A century’s worth of psychological research reveals an interesting paradox in who we are. On the one hand, once we reach adulthood our basic personalities remain unchanged for the rest of our lives. We keep doing the same things—and feeling the same ways—over and over. But, on the other hand, every day we change our behavior drastically in response to different environments. Most of us are one person at work, for example, and another person at home.

The implication of these findings for making (and keeping) New Year’s resolutions is clear:

It is easier to change our environment than to change ourselves. So, if you want to change yourself, change your environment.

Said differently:

Whenever possible, don’t try to fight temptations – avoid them!

The easiest way to make a change in your life is to modify the world around you in ways that will naturally drive you toward making, and maintaining, the change you want. There are many ways to change your environment, but let’s focus on 4 that have stood the test of time:

1. Nature hates a vacuum: In the context of changing your life, this means you can’t just get rid of something that is an important part of your life and leave a big emptiness in its place. This is one of the great secrets of Alcoholics Anonymous: you substitute the location of a bar and the company of fellow drinkers with an AA meeting in the company of people committed to sobriety. 

If you want to exercise instead of watch TV in the morning, put a treadmill in the spot where your TV once sat. If you eat too much at night because you are lonely and it briefly makes you feel better, do something in the evening where food is not available and eat earlier in the day so you don’t starve.

2. Make it easy: It is hard enough to change habits or behaviors, so don’t make it any harder. Let’s take me as an example. I’ve been trying for several years to lose weight but always failed due to two problem behaviors: once I start eating a meal I can’t stop myself from eating more than I should; and, although I do pretty well during the day, in the evening I invariably break down and eat more than I should. So how have I lost 10 pounds recently? By going with these weaknesses and modifying my environment in ways that allow me to succeed in spite of them. Because I can’t regulate what I eat very well once I start, I’ve limited how often I eat – which means fasting for a good portion of the day. Because it isn’t practical to fast at night given a family at home (and my weakness for eating at night), I fast during the day when the environment makes it easy. I’ve changed my environment so that I avoid restaurants at lunch and make sure I keep focused on work during the peak time of my midday hunger. A final note on this strategy: you have to accept a blow to your pride to find ways to work with your weaknesses instead of against them.

3. Skin in the game: Recent studies are suggesting that you can use monetary rewards and punishments to help change problematic behavior. In essence, these strategies require that you change your environment in ways that make it so painful to fail that you are motivated to stick with the change you are attempting. 

Let’s take dieting/weight loss as an example. Imagine that you’ve set up your environment such that you will have to pay money to something or someone if you fail to reach your goals. How much money would need to be on the line to motivate you to shed those extra 20 pounds? Sounds like a plan, right? It didn't work for me, so I dreamed up a new one. I would weigh myself every Friday morning first thing when I got out of bed. If I gain anything I would pay my partner $20. When I got tired of paying out $20 every week, I started to control my weight.

4. Don’t do it alone: Change is infinitely easier if you are surrounded by a group of people who are working toward a similar goal and can understand your challenges. And the opposite is also true: change is much harder if you spend your time with people who encourage, or participate in, the very activities or behaviors you are trying to overcome.

The fact that it is easier to change your environment than to change yourself comes with a final bonus. It means that if you are struggling to make the change you want in your life, it is important not to blame yourself, or beat yourself up, but to recognize that you simply have not found the right strategy yet for leveraging the power of the world around you.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Calories In, Calories Out; How Many To Lose Weight?

This was originally a post on the WebMd site. They are correct about consuming less calories than you burn, but it's very hard to determine those two numbers. Anyway, there's more to it than just eat less calories. When you want to lose fat, a lot depends on the type of calories your eating. You gain the extra fat because of the bad calories your eating. Eating less bad calories won't help you lose weight if you're still eating bad calories. So as you read the post below, remember that to lose fat you have to eat healthy calories and not just calories.

Some calorie calculators help you find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. But what if you want to slim down? Then, what you really want to know is how many calories to lose weight?

It's an easy process to get the right number. Just follow three simple steps. Then, you'll know how many calories to eat each day and how many calories you need to burn for weight loss.

Step 1: Use a Weight Loss Calculator

To get the best weight loss numbers, you should use a calorie calculator or a simple weight loss calculator.

My favorite is the weight loss calculator at "Calorie Count". It's simple and easy to use.

Use the Calorie Count Calculator

The calculator will ask you a few questions about your activity habits and your goal weight in order to calculate the most accurate number. Be honest about your exercise and realistic about your weight. If you fudge the numbers, you won't get an accurate result. It sounds easy, right? The first thing you should know is that all calories aren't equal.

It sounds easy, right? The first thing you should know is that all calories aren't equal. Calories you get from eating protein burn the best. In other words, your body has to burn calories to keep the body functioning. Your body will burn about 30% protein, 30% fats, and 40% carbs. Every gram of protein burned generates 9 calories, a gram of carbs is only about 6 calories and fats is about 4 calories. As much research that been done on burning calories, science doesn't really understand why there's a big difference from one person to the next.

step 2: Find Out How Many Calories to Lose Weight

The calorie calculator will provide you with the number of calories you need each day to lose weight. You'll also find out how long it will take you to reach your goal weight if you eat that number of calories each day. And that's just a big guess, all they can do is use an average. It's up to you to come up with the number yourself and you can't do that until you stop eat the foods you eat now and stop drinking anything with calories. Start eating fresh, clean foods. If you don't understand what that means, google "fresh, clean foods".

Step 3: Reach Your Calorie Deficit

A calorie deficit is simply an energy shortfall. When you create a calorie deficit, you cut calories (or energy) and deprive your body of the fuel it needs to function. So your body burns stored fat for fuel, instead. How many calories do you need to cut for weight loss?

 That's the wrong way to look at weight loss. It's not weight loss that you really want. You want to lose body fat. If you lose the extra fat, you will be thinner, slim and fit with more energy.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

The Worst Salad Ingredients

I write a lot about eating salads in restaurants, that's my go-to restaurant meal, but many salads are laden with calories. You have to be careful what you order.

Dieters often choose salad as a meal option because they think it will help them to lose weight. But many times the salad that they make or that they order in a restaurant is full of fat and calories. The result is that they are adding body fat.

If you want to slim down faster, avoid these unhealthy salad ingredients. While they are popular ingredients in many restaurant salads, they add very little nutritional value to your meal. Instead, they fill your salad bowl full of needless fat grams and useless calories.

The bacon loaded on top of your favorite weight loss salad might add a whopping 400 calories and 30 grams of fat to the total nutrition. Of course, the number will depend on how much bacon is added. But bacon on any salad is bound to boost the fat and calorie count through the roof.

So are bacon-style toppings any better? Not really. Many processed bacon (flavored) bits aren't really made out of meat, so they provide no nutritional benefit. In fact, some contain a mixture of trans fat, salt and, believe it or not, sugar! So skip the salty, fatty toppings and add crunch and flavor with savory vegetables like radishes or peppers.

Croutons aren't the worst offenders when it comes to diet-disasters, but they add calories without providing any other nutritional benefit. And many times the croutons are fried so they add unnecessary fat to your otherwise healthy meal.

If you're making your own salad, be wary of crouton brands that look healthy or low in calories. The serving size listed on most crouton nutritional facts labels is just two tablespoons. That's about two croutons! If you add the number of croutons that most people add, you'll probably add 100 or more calories in bread and oil.

If you absolutely love croutons on your salad, try adding a tablespoon or two of Grape-Nuts cereal. You get all the crunch with the benefit of whole grain fiber.

Chicken is a healthy salad ingredient. Shrimp is a healthy salad ingredient. Fish is a healthy salad ingredient. But when you fry these foods in oil, they aren't healthy anymore. Fried foods are full of fat and calories - even when they are fried in oils that are healthy.

The best way to avoid fried foods in your salad is to get smart when you read the menu. Foods that are "crispy," "battered," "breaded," "crunchy," or "crusted" are almost always fried. If you're not sure, ask your server. Then ask to substitute a grilled item instead.

Even if you fill your salad bowl with healthy, nutritious ingredients you can easily ruin it with a creamy dressing. Check out the calorie counts of these popular flavors.

Blue Cheese: 146 calories, 15 grams fat
Ranch Dressing: 126 calories, 14 grams fat
Thousand Island: 114 calories, 11 grams fat
Green Goddess: 128 calories, 13 grams fat

These numbers are for a 2 tablespoon serving.

And if you think that fat-free dressings are better, think again! Many brands add sugar to compensate for the fat that was removed. And the calorie count isn't always very low. Some run as high as 60-80 calories per 2 tablespoon serving.

If you love dressing, stick to a single serving of a healthy, homemade vinaigrette. Or make your own creamy dressing at home. Or better yet, fill your salad bowl with tasty ingredients and skip the dressing altogether. I use salt, pepper and wine vinegar. I like to taste what I'm eating. Another thing, I've noticed that lately some restaurants add the salad dressing before you see it. I always order a salad with the dressing on the side.

It's a great idea to add protein to your salad, but processed deli meats aren't the best choice. Salami, for example, is a popular meat that is added to many restaurant salads. A single thin slice of salami adds 43 calories and 3 grams of fat to your waistline. While those numbers don't seem very high, a typical meal-sized salad can easily have 4-5 slices worth of salami on top.

If you like meat on your salad, stick to chicken or turkey. But keep in mind that almost all deli meats are relatively high in salt, so dieters who are trying to cut their sodium intake might want to stick to grilled meats instead. The salads with the highest concentration of processed meats and cheeses would be the Chef's Salad and the Cobb Salad. Avoid those and if you can the best choices may be grilled chicken salad or grilled shrimp.

Many restaurants offer Asian-style salads that are full of healthy vegetables and lean meat. But others fill the salad bowl with fried ingredients like crispy wontons. They might add wonton strips to your salad or wrap veggies in wonton wrappers and fry them. Either way, the fat and calorie count of your salad goes up and your meal is no longer diet-friendly.

So should you skip the Asian salad altogether? No. But ask your server to serve the salad without the wontons. You'll save yourself 100-200 calories and 7-13 grams of fat by leaving wontons out.

It's hard to find a taco salad that is healthy. But the easiest way to make a taco salad healthier is to delete the fried taco bowl. Not only is it messy and unnecessary, but an 8-inch fried taco shell adds 220 calories and 11 grams of fat to your meal.

If you want to build a healthier taco salad at home, use a regular bowl and fill it with healthier taco meat. Use marinated chicken breast or lean ground turkey. Limit your serving of cheese to just one ounce and your serving of avocado to 1-2 tablespoons. Flavor your salad with spicy peppers, fresh tomatoes, corn and crunchy greens for a diet-friendly tex-mex meal.

Cheese isn't necessarily a bad addition to your salad. A popular cheese variety, like cheddar, provides protein and calcium. But it is also a source of saturated fat. So if you add cheese to your salad, you need to be careful about the amount that you add. And since most of us aren't very good at estimating or measuring portion sizes, sometimes it's better to skip the cheese.

If you do add cheese to your salad, follow a few guidelines. First, make sure it's real cheese. There are several cheese "foods" available in your grocery store that provide a cheesy flavor (and all of the fat) without providing any nutritional benefits. Second, measure the cheese before you add it to your salad. A single serving of cheese is just one ounce. Use a digital scale to make sure you aren't adding more than you need.

Even though beef can be part of a healthy weight loss diet, the beef that is added to many salads is often not very lean. The taco salad that you order at a fast-food restaurant, for example, may contain beef that is very high in saturated fat and calories.

If you're making your own salad and want to add beef, try adding lean, grilled steak. If you like the meaty taste of ground beef in your salad you can also try using lean ground bison or lean ground turkey.

Yes, salads are a healthy choice but you can easily change that into a calorie busting meal. Be careful, but don't give up on salads, it's the best way to get veggies at lunch.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Mysteries of Weight Loss Continued

I'm not a big fan of low-carb diets for losing body fat, but some people are insulin-resistant, which means when they eat carbs they spike their blood sugar. "So, what?" When you eat foods that cause your blood sugar levels or glucose levels to shoot up very fast after eating then get ready for a quick drop. That's the real problem, that quick drop will cause more food cravings so you'll be snacking after a big meal and you won't be hungry but you have the cravings for salty or sweet and it drives you to eat more and those cravings will continue until you ate some much you're uncomfortable.

Low-carb diets are all about balancing blood sugar (blood glucose) levels. Beyond weight loss, we eat low-carb diets to keep our blood sugar normal and stable. To fully understand the connection, it's helpful to first familiarize yourself with how the body processes blood sugar in a normal state and even explore how that changes when there's a problem, such as in diabetics.

What Do Carbohydrates Have to Do With Blood Glucose?

Carbohydrates have everything to with blood glucose.

All foods with carbohydrate -- whether rice, jelly beans, or watermelon -- break down to simple sugars in our bodies turning into glucose through metabolic processes. This process is what causes our blood glucose to rise. The carbohydrate in most starchy foods (potatoes, bread) is simply a collection of long chains of glucose, which break down quickly and raise blood sugar.

What Does Our Body Do When Blood Sugar is High?

When our blood sugar goes up, our body responds by secreting insulin to stabilize it. The sugar is then taken out of the blood and converted into fat; insulin's primary function is facilitating the storage of extra sugar in the blood as fat. Diabetics are unable to balance blood sugar when the process of converting food to energy takes place. When sugar levels are high, the ability of cells in pancreas to make insulin goes down. The pancreas overcompensates for this lack of insulin and insulin levels stay high, as does blood sugar.

Over time, the pancreas is permanently damaged and other bodily functions are affected such as hardened blood vessels, among other ailments.

What are the Problems with Blood Sugar Going Up?

However, for many people, this metabolic process works fine. Sometimes, though, people reach a point in their lives when it goes awry (or it doesn't work well from childhood).

This is called insulin resistance, and one of the consequences is that there gets to be too much insulin in the blood as the body tries harder and harder to bring the sugar down. When insulin is high, weight gain is more likely, since a main function of insulin is fat storage. Conversely, people with high insulin levels are more likely to lose weight on low-carb diets.

Keeping blood glucose normal has other health benefits, such as the prevention of heart disease and diabetes. Even non-diabetics have an increased heart disease risk with higher blood glucose levels.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

The Mysteries of Weight Loss

So you’re finally ready to lose weight. Now the question is: How?

The standard advice -- to eat less and move more -- isn’t so helpful when it comes to the “how.” You probably know you need to cut calories, but how many? Are you better off getting those calories from low-fat or low-carb foods? And what’s going on with your metabolism, your personal energy-burning furnace? Is it programmed to keep you overweight? Is there any way to fan the flames so you can dream of one day eating a piece of pie without gaining a pound?

Even science is still stumped on many of the basic questions of weight loss.

“Amazingly, in this era of obesity, there are still many things that we really don’t know,” says Robin Callister, PhD, professor of human physiology at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Here’s what we do know about some of the most persistent mysteries of weight loss.

Do You Have to Cut 3,500 Calories to Lose a Pound?

No, the trouble is that the theory might have applied in 1958 when we ate real food. But today, our diets are different. We eat fake food, manufactured food and most of this food can't be processed by the body and that's why all of us have so much fat.

The 3,500-calorie rule doesn’t work because the body adjusts to the drop in calories. It quickly decreases the number of calories it needs to maintain its new, lighter size, says Corby Martin, PhD, director of the Ingestive Behavior Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA. That means weight loss slows down over time. People who expect to drop a pound for every 3,500 calories they cut will soon become frustrated when the scale doesn’t cooperate.

Let’s say a dieter knows they need to eat 2,500 calories a day to maintain their current weight. But they want to slim down. So they decide to shave 500 calories off their daily intake. According to the Wishnofsky Rule, after about a week of doing that, they should lose a pound.

“For the first week or two, the 3,500 calorie-per-pound rule kind of works, roughly, but after the first couple of weeks it doesn’t work,” Martin says.

Here’s why: In 3 or 4 weeks, you need less food to maintain that new, slimmer shape. I know you only lost a couple pounds and if you might only have to lose 10 pounds, you're going to plateau several times. The problem with this formula is that we don't have the same food today that we had in 1958. Believe me, I was there, I just started high school. In those days farmers did use pesticides to control bugs but we didn't chemically engineer our food like we do today. It's chemically engineered food that will cause food addiction and furthermore cause obesity.

Forget cutting back on the food your eating; you have to go back to eating fresh foods. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, it's best to buy organic. Ration the red meat your eating; it's marbled with fat and it's causing you to increase your body fat. Seafood and chicken or turkey are a better choice. Never eat tube meat or any other processed or manufactured food. If you don't eat foods that add to your body fat, your body will burn the stored fat you have.

Are All Calories Equal?

 “Some folks, when they drink alcohol, feel like they have a license to eat whatever they want to, and they get into problems.

If a glass of wine weakens your will to resist that plate of cheese and crackers, it’s not doing your waistline any favors.

But if booze doesn’t affect your eating, then one or two drinks is probably OK.

As for calories from fat, carbohydrates, and protein, this is where one size, or one eating plan, really doesn’t fit all.

There is good science to show that people who have high blood sugar levels -- associated with conditions like type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and fatty liver disease -- benefit from diets that are lower in refined carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats and lean proteins. Examples of this kind of diet are South Beach, the Zone diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the low GI diet.

If insulin levels aren’t a concern, there’s little difference in the amount of weight people lose if they cut their calories from fat or from carbs, says Kevin Hall PhD.  But he says protein calories are a different story.

In the lab, researchers have shown that higher-protein diets tend to increase the number of calories a person burns, Hall says. “So in that sense, a protein calorie is not equivalent to a carbohydrate or a fat calorie,” he says.

Protein helps you burn more calories during the day and helps preserve muscle. When people lose weight, they don’t just lose fat -- they also lose muscle. The more muscle you lose on a diet, the more your metabolism slows. That can make it tough to keep the weight off down the road. Protein also helps you feel satisfied for longer after your eat.

But people can eat only so much protein without changing their kidney function. U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that adults keep their protein in a range of 10% to 35% of total calories each day. Most diets fall into that range. Atkins, for example, one of the highest protein diets around, supplies 35% of daily calories from protein.

Weight loss is a mystery to some of us because we don't know how we gain the excess body fat, so we don't know what we have to do to lose the fat. Most of us think if we can just lose some weight the fat will disappear, but it doesn't work that way and that's why most of us give up trying.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Get and Stay Healthy at Any Age

Great post, everyone needs to exercise no matter what your age. Exercise of any kind, will keep you limber, strengthen your muscles and bones and help keep you healthier.  I found this post on VeryWell.com and it's worth a read.

You're not as young as you once were, and you're still looking for an exercise routine that works. Or maybe you think you're too old to bother. Not so. It's never too late in life to get started, according to Joan Pagano, author of 8 Weeks to a Younger Body.

The key may be to start small and work yourself up. No-Gym Strength Exercises, Pagano recommends these four moves. You can do the whole routine in about 5 minutes.

Squat. Stand in front of a chair, arms forward at shoulder level. Inhale as you bend at the knees and lower yourself as if you were going to sit down -- just enough to touch the chair. Exhale and return to standing. Only go part of the way down until your knees warm up if your knees are uncomfortable or stiff, It may take a couple of weeks before you can do the exercise properly. Aim to do this move 10-15 times.

"This is the No. 1 exercise for life," Pagano says. It's practical because "you have to get up from a seated position all the time, from a chair or the toilet. It works the three major muscle groups of the lower body: the glutes, quads, and hamstrings."

#2 Diagonal pushup. You don’t have to get on the ground to do this pushup. Instead, put your hands on a fixed support, like the kitchen counter, so your body is on a diagonal. Try to do 10-15. After some time you can more to another fixed counter or chair that's lower. Just make sure the object can't move. This exercise can help you prevent hunchback.

"This targets the three major muscle groups in the upper body: the chest, the front of your shoulders, and the back of your arms," she says. "This is good for strengthening the typical fracture spots that happen during osteoporosis."

#3 Pelvic tilt. Strengthen your core muscles with exercises like this one. Lie on your back with bent knees, feet on the floor. As you exhale, tighten your abs and curl your hips 1 inch off the floor with your lower back flat. Release and repeat. Shoot for 10-15.

#4 Back extensions. Stand up, hands on your butt below your waist. Gently pull your elbows toward each other so your upper back arches, slightly. Release and repeat 5-10 times. Another exercise to help prevent hunchback.

"These reverse the tendency we have to hunch as we get older and lengthens out the spine," Pagano says.

You can also do a couple of the simple yoga poses to help relieve muscle pain in the legs. Look on the internet "yoga poses for beginners".

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Why Eat Breakfast?

Breakfast: Is It the Most Important Meal?

Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, helping you burn calories throughout the day. It also gives you the energy you need to get things done and helps you focus at work or at school. Those are just a few reasons why it’s the most important meal of the day.

Many studies have linked eating breakfast to good health, including better memory and concentration, lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and lower chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and being overweight.

It’s hard to know, though, if breakfast causes these healthy habits or if people who eat it have healthier lifestyles. 

But this much is clear: Skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating. When you wake up, the blood sugar your body needs to make your muscles and brain work their best is usually low. Breakfast helps replenish it.

If your body doesn’t get that fuel from food, you may feel zapped of energy -- and you'll be more likely to overeat later in the day. 

Breakfast also gives you a chance to get in some vitamins and nutrients from healthy foods like dairy, grains, and fruits. If you don’t eat it, you aren’t likely to get all of the nutrients your body needs.

Many people skip the a.m. meal because they’re rushing to get out the door. That’s a mistake. You need food in your system long before lunchtime.  If you don’t eat first thing, you may get so hungry later on that you snack on high-fat, high sugar foods

Breakfast and Your Weight

Can a morning meal be good for your waistline?
Some studies say yes. 

Researchers have found that, on average, people who eat breakfast are thinner than those who don’t. That could be because eating foods with protein and fiber in the morning keeps your appetite in check the rest of the day.

But it doesn’t guarantee you’ll fit into those skinny jeans. A recent study compared weight loss among people who ate breakfast with those with didn’t. The meal didn’t make any difference.

If you’re dieting, don’t think cutting calories by skipping the meal will help. Studies show that most people who lose weight and keep the weight off eat breakfast every day. 

On the other hand, you need to pay attention to what, when, and how much you eat.  One study showed that people who had large breakfasts ate more during the day.

Why Kids Need Breakfast

Sometimes children don’t feel like eating in the morning, but it’s important that they do. Their growing bodies need the nutrients and fuel.

Kids who don’t eat in the a.m. have a harder time focusing, and they become more tired in school. They may also be cranky or restless. And it isn’t just their moods that can suffer. Their school work can, too. One study showed that kids who ate breakfast had higher test scores than those who didn’t. Most children don’t get all the vitamins and minerals they need from just lunch and dinner.

Kids who skip breakfast are more likely to eat junk food during the day and be overweight. One study showed that teenagers who ate breakfast every day had a lower body mass index (BMI) -- a measure of body fat based on height and weight -- than teens who never ate the meal or who sometimes did.

If your youngster doesn’t want to eat in the morning at home, pack something he can have on the way to school or between classes. Opt for fruit, nuts, or half a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, orGardner Books in the U.K

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If I Cut 3500 Calories, Will I Lose One Pound?

Let’s start with some history. Max Wishnofsky M.D., conducted the original fat burn research in 1958. He published the 3500 calorie deficit formula which continues to be cited in thousands of educational websites, studies, and scientific articles.

Dr. Kevin Hall challenged the formula and released a manuscript in 2007. He has redefined the 3500 calories to burn a pound idea. His paper is impressive with enough scientific data and formulas to stump even the brainiest nerd. We will not be jumping into math class right now but sticking with the discovery.

Losing fat is a challenge. We have been under the impression simply subtracting 3500 calories per week, we would be able to lose one pound of flab. This is based on the old simplistic theory where 3500 calories represent only fat and not taking into consideration lean mass (muscle).

New research takes all tissue into account understanding muscle is also lost during the calorie burning process. The amount of muscle lost depends on initial body fat level and caloric deficit. That means weight and fat loss calculation will differ from person to person. For example, a lean person will tend to lose more muscle and retain fat while an overweight person will lose more body fat and retain lean mass.

This is why an overweight person can better tolerate lower calorie diets and the opposite applies to a lean person. However, restrictive diets are not recommended for either since they're linked to eroding muscle tissue.

The original 3500 calories to burn a pound theory needed to take into consideration fat and muscle metabolize (use) energy at different rates. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories but approximately 600 calories. If you applied a 3500 weekly caloric deficit and lost 100% muscle hypothetically that would equate to 6lbs. This would be ludicrous and the takeaway to remember is lean mass loss equals greater weight loss. Losing lean mass is what we're trying to avoid.

If you created a 3500 caloric deficit and lost 100% body fat then you would lose one pound of fat. Again, this is impossible because both lean and fat tissue are lost during the weight loss process.

Other factors implemented in the new formula applications are caloric deficit adjustments as body weight decreases and energy levels decline. In addition, studies recommend stimulating more fat loss to lean mass through progressive resistance training and higher protein intake.

Does this mean throwing the old 3500 calories to burn a pound formula out the window? No. Lots of great research went into creating a basic way to figure out daily caloric requirements. Using the 500 to 1000 calorie per day deficit does provide a generic guideline for losing 1 to 2 pounds per week.

This post appeared in verywell.com and tries to clarify a few points about an old theory. Cutting calories will cause you to lose a few pounds, but this theory is from 1958 and back in those days we didn't have the amount of processed foods on the market like we have today. Because 60 years has changed our diets completely and the fact that obesity today is the number cause of most of our health problems whereas 60 years ago obesity was only about 1% of our population, the idea that simply reducing calorie intake by 500 calories a day will cause you to lose fat, is ridiculous.

Today, the average American consumes 3500 calories a day. In 1958 the average American consumed about 2000 calories a day. Today, if you want to lose fat, you have to quit eating processed foods and start eating whole foods, fresh foods and quit drinking bottled and canned drinks that add calories to your diet.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.