Can Excess Body Fat Cause Cancer?

Yes, it’s proven in several different studies done by many different health organizations all over the world that excess body fat can cause Breast Cancer and Colon Cancer, but that’s only the Cancers that have been positively proven. Many other Cancers are attributed to a poor diet.

I wrote in a previous post about Ideal body weight;  “How can I find my Ideal Body Weight?”  In order to avoid Cancers caused by being overweight, most Doctors will tell you to reduce your weight to the lowest end of the scale that is recommended for you. I can give you an easier way to find that perfect weight.

Remember when you were 20 years old, do you remember how much you weighed? When a person is fully grown, which usually happens between the ages of 18 and 22, that’s your ideal weight. You should maintain that weight throughout your adult life. Now, I know that sounds impossible. It might be more like 18 for women and 22 for men and your organs might take a year or so longer to fully develop, but the range is close enough. As you gain weight over the years you’re putting extra stress on your body and aging your body faster than your years.

New Studies recommend that adults remain as lean as possible through their adult years. The fact is that putting on weight can increase your risk for cancer, even if you're still within the healthy range. So the best advice for cancer prevention is to avoid weight gain, and if you are already overweight aim to lose weight.

Avoiding certain foods in your diet will also help you avoid cancer. For instance, there’s evidence now that processed meats including ham and bacon will cause colorectal cancer. If you consume any of these, do it sparingly. Red Meat is also a big cause of colorectal cancer and should be eaten sparingly. You should not eat more than 500 grams a week of meat cooked or about 1 pound a week, that’s about 1 1/2 pounds of raw meat.

Dietary supplements are not recommended for cancer prevention. There’s more evidence than ever before that drinking alcohol will increase your chances of cancer.

The finding of this report is a real milestone in the fight against cancer. These recommendations are not based on just one study, but these findings are compiled from the findings of 7000 different studies. In trials around the country, progress has already been made in school children by tackling obesity with improved physical conditioning and healthier lunches. The best improvement has been in grade school where the new diets in the lunch program have been a big success.

Losing body fat will lessen your chances for cancer and also increase your life span. There should be more talk about the importance of losing body fat, increasing your activity and eating healthy.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

Yoga For Weight Loss

While walking around your city, you’ve probably seen a variety of yoga studios—everything ranging from Bikram to Anusara, Jivamukti, and Vinyasa yoga. Bikram is known for hot rooms and sweat-dripping bodies, while vinyasa is all about the flow of movements.

If your goal is to get lean and lose body fat, you might be wondering whether, or how, yoga fits into your program. There is a multitude of benefits to practicing yoga, but does yoga help with weight loss?

Yoga Only Burns 3-6 Calories Per Minute

In order to lose body fat, you have to create a deficit of calories. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight, and one pound of fat is equivalent to about 3500 calories.

Yoga classes often endure for about 60-90 minutes. According to research done by the American Council on Exercise, the average individual burns about 3-6 calories per minute practicing yoga, which equates to a total of only 180-360 calories burned during that class. In contrast, a kettlebell workout burns about 13-17 calories per minute, which equals about 800+ calories burned in an hour. That’s a significant difference in calorie expenditure.

While it depends on the type and intensity of the class– certain styles of yoga are much more rigorous such as power yoga, hot yoga, and vinyasa, whereas yin yoga, restorative, and hatha yoga are more gentle and slower-paced. Regardless of the intensity of the yoga class, circuit training is still superior in terms of overall metabolic boost and calorie burn.

But even with the calorie difference, yoga has other benefits that can help the weight-loss individual. Yoga will keep you flexible. Yoga involves stretching and it will get your blood flowing. Morning Yoga is best, I feel awake and invigorated after a morning with Yoga. The soreness I have when I wake up will disappear and I feel like I’m younger, I have more energy.

From 2000-2002, medical researcher and yogi Alan Kristal, in association with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, conducted a study on the effects of yoga on weight loss. The study surveyed 15,500 middle-aged men and women about their physical activity and weight over time, controlled for factors such as diet, health, and other forms of exercise that could cause changes in weight. The study found that both overweight and normal-weight adults who regularly practiced yoga for at least 4 years were less likely to gain weight than those who did not practice yoga. In fact, those who were overweight and practiced yoga actually lost an average of 5lbs during the four-year period, whereas the overweight non-practitioners gained about 14lbs.

If calorie expenditure didn’t account for weight maintenance or loss, what did? The researchers found a strong association between regular yoga practice and mindful eating, which they did not find in other activities such as walking or running.

How Can Yoga Help You Lose Weight?

Reasons that yoga might help the weight loss process include:

Effective stress management, reducing the likelihood of stress eating
Increased body awareness, specifically relating to hunger and satiety
Mindfulness and mindful eating
Although practicing yoga doesn’t burn the most calories, it might still have a place in your workout routine. An effective fat loss program that encourages the maintenance of lean muscle and maximizes calorie burn should be founded on a combination of resistance training and cardiovascular activity. However, yoga could be used as active recovery and flexibility training between more intense workouts. The benefits of stress reduction and mindfulness associated with yoga could lead to improved sleep, better-eating habits, and increased self-awareness, which could mean more weight loss and improved maintenance of weight loss results over time. Regardless of the exercise, you’re doing, however, good nutrition is essential. If you’re not paying attention to your diet, you won’t see the results you want. Exercise right, eat clean, and you’ll be able to realize your goals.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

We Only Have One More

We got past Christmas, now comes New Year's Eve. I don't really do much eating on New Year's Eve but there are parties. And we are expected to attend. There will be drinks and some food, mostly finger food. I'll tell you how to avoid some of the calories.

Most people will avoid food all day so they can splurge that night, don't do it. That's the best way to eat a lot of food that you would never eat normally. Get back to your normal diet right now. I will discard or give away any of those cookies, pies, or cakes I still have in the frig. Yes, I know it's not easy especially if you bought them. If you don't and you eat those desserts you'll hate yourself later. That's way too much sugar. Remember that you can't exercise away a bad diet. Excess calories will turn into fat, you can't avoid it. 

I always eat before I go to a party. Sometimes you're expected to eat especially if you have relatives over or you're going to a relative's home. In that case, eat very little, taste a few things. Avoid the desserts or just take a bite. Don't fill your plate, only take small amounts and only eat half. Remember the rule, always eat before the party. Eat something healthy, and eat a normal size meal about 2 hours before you arrive. 

Following these simple rules, you can avoid eating a lot of fattening foods when you go out. Also, drinks contain calories too. Cocktails might be the worse or the highest in calories. Wine comes in second with about 150 calories per glass on average. Beer is about the same as wine, some light beers are 100 calories, others can be as much as 200 calories. If you want to have a drink that is low in calories and almost organic or as organic as alcohol can be, drink a good clear Tequila over ice. They are made from the Agava cactus with no additives. Clear Tequila is about 100 calories per ounce. Always drink the 100 proof Tequila. Don't waste your money. A good Tequila is as close to organic as you can get. You won't need more than one double. 

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

It's The Season

It’s the season, and we shouldn’t go hog-wild and overeat or consume too much Holiday Cheer, but we shouldn’t avoid parties and other gatherings because we’re trying not to gain weight.

The holidays only come once a year so enjoy it, taste those things you like, just don’t overdo them. What helps me keep my weight is at parties and other gatherings I stand as much as possible. Staying on my feet helps me burn more calories.

Enjoy the season, be happy, I’ll be back on the downside. 

Can You Be Kind Of Fat And Still Fit?

The short answer is NO!! It's not possible to be both. Yes, younger adults will feel fine even if they’re overweight, but if they don’t exert themselves, they don’t use much energy so they feel fine. In their minds, they don’t see what’s wrong with being overweight. Young people all have that attitude that they will deal with it if it happens.  As a person ages, the extra weight caused by the extra fat you are carrying will cause health problems. This blog post will give you the details.

Extra weight is linked to extra risk, even if blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol are all normal.

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

No amount of extra weight is good for your heart, no matter how fit you are by other measures, new British research shows.

“Our findings suggest that if a patient is overweight or obese, all efforts should be made to help them get back to a healthy weight, regardless of other factors,” said study co-author Camille Lassale, from Imperial College London’s School of Public Health.

“Even if their blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol appear within the normal range, excess weight is still a risk factor,” Lassale said in a university news release. In fact, the increased risk of developing heart disease was more than 25 percent, the study found.

The study used statistics about the health of people in 10 European countries. Researchers focused on weight and signs of heart disease when blood vessels become clogged.

The authors looked at more than 7,600 people who had cardiovascular events such as death from a heart attack and compared them to 10,000 people who didn’t have heart problems.

After adjusting their figures so they wouldn’t be thrown off by other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that people with three or more heart risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or large waist sizes (more than 37 inches for men and 31 inches for women) were more than twice as likely to have heart disease, regardless of whether their weight was normal or above normal.

But those who were considered overweight yet healthy were still 26 percent more likely to develop heart disease than their normal-weight peers. Those considered healthy but obese had a 28 percent higher risk, the study found.

The findings, which don’t prove that extra weight causes heart risks to rise, were published Aug. 14 in the European Heart Journal.

“I think there is no longer this concept of healthy obese,” said study co-author Ioanna Tzoulaki, a senior lecturer in epidemiology at the university.

“If anything, our study shows that people with excess weight who might be classed as ‘healthy’ haven’t yet developed an unhealthy metabolic profile. That comes later in the timeline, then they have an event, such as a heart attack,” she said.WebMD News from HealthDay

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

It's almost Christmas Eve

I found out today that I have readers in the Netherlands and now I can add you to the list of countries that follow my blog. I’m really surprised after 8 years of writing 4 different blogs how many readers I have amassed. I write these blogs for fun, I get nothing out of it but because I found success in my weight loss venture, I thought I should write about it. Let those know that it’s not hopeless and that anyone can lose weight.

I know there will be a sacrifice. You do have to change the way you live. I have to live every day like I’m in training. I decided that from now on I would be more active, and eat a proper diet that would help me burn my body fat. I know now that no one can totally avoid all the foods they love, but until you achieve that slimmer, trimmer body you want to have you will have to sacrifice just like a pro athlete training for the Superbowl or a big title fight.

I weighed about 220 pounds several years ago and now I’m 155. I reduced my body fat to about 20% and I have all the energy of someone 20 years younger. We don’t realize what extra weight can do to your body, your health, and your mind. Yes, I know I look my age but you don’t have to feel as old as you look. Yes, the weather takes a toll on your skin and you can do something about that today if you want. That’s an option I don’t care to do. But you don’t have to feel your age. You can turn back the clock and stop your body from aging just by keeping in shape.

Your diet plays a big part in staying in shape. Cancer is a real threat to all of us and medical science is spending millions of dollars every year in research trying to find a cure, but the real cure can be found in your diet. Excess body fat increases your chances for cancer, I read that in a newsletter but why is that? When you add weight as an adult you’re adding body fat so your blood vessels have to grow in length to accommodate your growing body and because you’re not a child any longer it’s more difficult to grow these blood vessels. Your heart has to pump blood to all these new fat cells to keep them alive. I believe when these fat cells aren’t getting enough blood to stay alive they become Cancerous.

So what’s the answer, Don’t add weight to your body after you are fully grown, usually between 18 and 21 years of age. Naturally, there are several other ways you get Cancer. Like smoking, but all of the ways involve cells in your body that are dying for one reason or another.

People, in general, will eat food that they like, regardless of the health consequences. We forget that eating food is to fuel our bodies and give us strength, eating is not for pleasure. Eating is a necessary part of survival just like walking. It’s just that North Americans don't do enough walking to help their bodies.

Lose your fat and stay healthy and you’ll be a much happier person.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

If You Want To Lose Weight Fast

Working on weight loss? Then you probably want results — fast.

Let me save you some time: skip the fad diets. Their results don’t last. And you have healthier options you can start on — today!

You can safely lose 3 or more pounds a week at home with a healthy diet and lots of exercises, says weight loss counselor Katherine Tallmadge, RD.

I will warn you that this might not work for everyone. And I’ll add that if you're under doctor's care consult them first before changing your diet or doing lots of exercises.

How to Lose Weight Fast

If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you should lose about 1-2 pounds

If you want to lose weight faster, you’ll need to eat less and exercise more.

For instance, if you take in 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day, and exercise for one hour per day, you could lose 3-5 pounds in the first week, or more if you weigh more than 250 pounds. It’s very important not to cut calories any further — that’s dangerous.

Limiting salt and starches may also mean losing more weight at first — but that’s mostly fluids, not fat.

“When you reduce sodium and cut starches, you reduce fluids and fluid retention, which can result in up to 5 pounds of fluid loss when you get started,” says Michael Dansinger, MD, of NBC’s The Biggest Loser show.

Diets for Fast Weight Loss

Dansinger recommends eating a diet that minimizes starches, added sugars, and animal fat from meat and dairy foods. For rapid weight loss, he recommends focusing on fruits, veggies, egg whites, soy products, skinless poultry breasts, fish, shellfish, nonfat dairy foods, and 95% lean meat.

Here are more tips from Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet :

Eat vegetables to help you feel full.
Drink plenty of water.
Get tempting foods out of your home.
Stay busy — you don’t want to eat just because you’re bored.
Eat only from a plate, while seated at a table. No grazing in front of the ‘fridge.
Don’t skip meals.
Keeping a food journal — writing down everything you eat — can also help you stay on track.

“Even if you write it down on a napkin and end up throwing it away, the act of writing it down is about being accountable to yourself and is a very effective tool for weight loss,” says Bonnie Taub Dix, MA, RD, author of Read It Before You Eat It .

Besides jotting down what you ate, and when, you might also want to note how you were feeling right before you ate it. Were you angry, sad, or bored? We often focus so much on foods and calories, but our emotions are a huge part of our eating habits.

If you see a persistent pattern in your emotional eating, please consider talking to a counselor about it. They can be a big help in finding other ways to handle your feelings.

You have to take weight loss seriously if you’re going to make it work for you.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

Staying Fit Over 40

This blog post spells it out. This doctor tells us what he does to live a healthy, fit lifestyle. Most professionals today are well schooled and not kids anymore. It takes a lot of education and a lot of money to rise up in your profession. Anyone who has 4 years of college and then 4 more years getting a post-grad degree knows he’ll be working for a long time. My brother has a law degree and after many years in his own practice was asked to be a judge in the county where he lives.  He now hears mostly criminal cases and will probably work into his 70’s. This isn’t unusual, I know doctors and dentists that will do the same. Professionals have a lot of time and money invested in their careers and simply working to 65 doesn’t always work out.

Today a professional or executive doesn’t reach their earnings peak until later in life and then just to quit because you’re 65 is pretty stupid. This blog is about a doctor who is staying fit to be able to continue with that middle-aged lifestyle as long as possible.

It always amazes me how much work it takes to simply maintain my health – and each year past 40 it seems to get harder. So, I’ve made some changes over the past few years to my diet, especially my workweek meals. They’re small changes, but since I’ve been consistent (for the most part), they’ve really helped.

Here are some of the tricks that are working for me:

Stick to a routine: I’ve read routine is a key player in weight management, and I don’t have any extra calories to waste. So, I eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning during the workweek. I make a big batch of whole oats (more fiber than instant oats) and add almonds, walnuts, raisins, and cinnamon. I measure everything, so my portions (and calories) are controlled and consistent. And, then I divide it into 6 bottles so in the morning all I have to do is heat it up and go. It’s tasty, and the best part is I’m full until lunch!

Cut back where I can: I’m a coffee drinker, and for years added artificial creamer (I’m lactose intolerant). But when I learned about the trans-fat in the creamer, I went cold turkey and cut out the creamer (and sugar!). It took a little while to get used to it, but I love my black coffee now! Never going back. I have a second cup of coffee in the early afternoon. I’d like to cut out the coffee to not be so dependent on the caffeine, but I’m not fighting it at the moment.

Bring my lunch: I’m on again, off again with how strict I am with lunch, but my WebMD lunch buddies are a pretty good influence. I bring my lunch from home most days and sit in our kitchen area to chat with coworkers. I like to eat a green salad every day plus a bean or lentil dish, or whatever food is leftover from my fridge.

Variety at dinner: While I’m pretty regimented and routine with my meals during the day, I need variety during dinner with my family. Over the years I’ve collected many tasty recipes originating from around the world. I have a formula for the ingredients I choose when making my weekly meal plan. Every weeknight is a different protein – either red meat, poultry, seafood, or a bean/lentil dish. And for carbs I do the same – it’s either rice, a pita or roti; a pasta (high fiber!); or a starchy vegetable like peas, corn, and potatoes. And, of course, every night we have a colorful veggie side. Of course, some weeks, schedules are crazy and the formula goes out the door – but I try!

Think the Mediterranean: I look to the Mediterranean diet for all the various food ingredients I’ve added to my diet. A lot of my focus over the years has been to add nuts/seeds, beans/lentils, and fish to my diet. I’m always trying to increase the quantity and variety of vegetables I eat. And I’ve cut down on red meat a lot! I do tend to run short on dairy, but I try to get a little cheese and yogurt on most days.

Save restaurants for special occasions: I don’t eat out at restaurants much, and when I do, I want it to be because I’m craving a certain food, or it’s a social event – not because I don’t have any food at home to cook. To be honest, I have a tough time ordering healthy when I’m out – I’d rather just order what I want to eat. But, I’m getting better: if I really want the Reuben, I get a half sandwich with a salad, rather than the full sandwich with chips. Like I said earlier, it’s about small changes.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

Plant Based Foods Are The In-Thing

The new year is just around the corner, so it’s time to usher in the latest food trends that will soon hit restaurants and grocery store shelves. With more of us paying attention to the environment and our health, food manufacturers are responding by offering more innovative, plant-forward foods that are better for people and the planet. Get ready for seaweed, algae, fungi, and other plant-based edibles that will delight your taste buds.

Here’s a sneak peek at the healthy trendsetters:

Seaweed

Tired of kale? Seaweed is here to help … and dazzle your palate with rich flavors and nutrients. Seaweed is low in calories and fat and provides several essential nutrients including vitamins A and C, B vitamins, fiber, iron, iodine, zinc, and magnesium. A fixture in Asian cuisine for centuries, seaweed has been growing in popularity in the U.S. and is now poised to be the next trendy superfood. In fact, some estimates project that seaweed will surpass kale-based snacks.

Wondering how to infuse seaweed into your diet? This new year, ditch the greasy potato chips and opt instead for a tasty seaweed snack. Annie Chun’s Organic Roasted Nori Snacks have 25 to 30 calories per serving compared to 150 to 160 calories in most fried chips. As a bonus, preliminary research suggests compounds in seaweed may even quell the hunger.

Blended Burgers

A good burger is always on-trend, but with more emphasis on healthier, sustainable eating, top chefs are reinventing the burger to be more eco-friendly … and delicious!

The James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project calls for chefs across the country to blend at least 25% fresh chopped mushrooms into a burger patty. Blended burgers combine finely chopped mushrooms with meat, creating a burger that’s tastier, healthier, and more sustainable than all-meat burgers. So far, the blended burger has been adopted by some of the nation’s most creative and adventurous chefs and the foodservice industry, according to Kristopher Moon, vice president of the James Beard Foundation. In addition to restaurants, many leading universities and public schools offer blended burgers on their menus too.

Make your own savory burger with this Mushroom Monster recipe.

Algae

To create a healthier and greener food system, innovative companies have developed plant-based protein and fats to replace resource-intensive dairy and meat ingredients. Nutrient-rich algae, made from a resource-efficient fermentation process, is the hot new plant-based ingredient that is being used to replace animal-based ingredients. For instance, TerraVia’s lipid-rich whole algae, which is high in beneficial monounsaturated fat and low in saturated fat, can replace eggs, cream, and butter in baked goods, sauces, dressings, and ice cream without affecting the taste or texture. Algae-based foods are now in every aisle of the supermarket — from baked goods and snacks to salad dressings and smoothies.

Pasta

After years of slipping sales during the height of the low-carb craze, pasta is back on the plate – and it’s better than ever. Based on Google data search trends, more consumers are buying, preparing, or ordering pasta in all its forms, including rigatoni, tortellini, penne, fusilli, and linguine. Pasta can be a healthy and earth-friendly choice because it’s a key component of the Mediterranean diet, which is considered the gold standard for healthy eating, and it has a small environmental footprint. Since pasta is made from semolina, a protein-packed wheat variety, a 200-calorie cup of cooked pasta has 6 grams of protein and a low glycemic index to help keep you fuller, longer.

Looking to make a satisfying, health-conscious meal in minutes? Add this Angel Hair with Tomato Basil and Peppers to your menu this new year.

Also, you probably haven’t heard much about it but bugs, worms are other insects will be next. Other countries have experimented with these tiny critters and found they are loaded with nutrients. In Africa and the Far East, they are a major supply of protein for the masses. I think we will see more and more bugs and worms in our stores as they become more popular.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

Forget The Diet, It's Christmas

It’s a very special day for every family. A day of celebration. I hope you can spend some time with your family, even if it’s on the phone.

Celebrating has always involved food and drink, it’s a tradition that has gone on for thousands of years and I’m sure it will continue on, but we don’t have to pig out.

Yes, you have to taste the important traditional dishes that your friends or relatives have taken hours to prepare, but use a small plate, take small amounts and try and avoid the sugary stuff. Remember you can’t work off a lot of calories.

A one-hour workout for an experienced athlete will only burn about 300 calories. For a person with less athletic experience, you might only burn 100 calories. On a festive holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year it’s easy to consume 3000 to 4000 calories between all the food, snacks, and drinks for the day. That kind of consumption can increase your weight by 2 or 3 pounds at least.

So if you can hold down your calorie count to say 2000 calories which should only be a few hundred more than normal, you should be able to work off those extra calories in a couple of days.

The problem we all have this time of year is the continual party, one after the other with very little time in between to recoup. Then there’s the shopping for gifts. We go after work and spend a couple hours trying to find gifts and no time to eat, so we eat in restaurants with friends which involves more celebrating and more calories.

Did you know that the holiday season is the busiest time of the year for restaurants? It’s not unusual for a family to eat out 4 or 5 times a week during the holidays. So if you add up all the meals we eat in restaurants and all the social events we have to attend, it’s no wonder that the average adult will gain between 5 and 10 pounds during the holidays.

This is the typical weight gain you have to avoid. It can take months to recoup if you can recoup. Most of us will try to diet in January. We’ll lose some weight but not much because the winters are cold and in the cold weather we tend to eat more comfort food and that’s a high-calorie food.

Eating the wrong foods even in small portions will keep you from losing weight. You can’t exercise away a bad diet. Once the weather starts to warm up most of us find it easier to cut back on food, but by that time it’s hard to break the bad habits we had during the winter. We will trim down a little because we are more active in the spring and summer because the days are longer and we have more time to work outside.

I know all about this life cycle because that is the way my life was. All the weight I would gain during the cold months never quite left me. I always ended up one or two pounds heavier at the end of the year. Of course, we never remember how much we weighed the year before, so we don’t realize we keep gaining weight every year. That cycle is called “creeping obesity”. The one or two pounds you gain every year and don’t even realize it. Then when you get to be 50, you wonder how you gained all that weight. On average, a 50-year-old male will weigh between 40 and 60 more than he did on his 21st birthday. The more you weigh when you are 21, the more you’ll gain over the years. This doesn’t hold true in all cases, it’s an average over the entire population, some people are very athletic and never gain weight. I weigh the same today as I weighed when I was 17, of course, I spent years yo-yoing from 220 pounds down to 160.

Be mindful of what you eat. Keeping your body in good condition is your responsibility. It would be better for you and better for your health if you never gained any extra weight. When an adult gains weight they are adding body fat. Not good. The human body is only built to carry a small amount of body fat, like 15% of your weight. It’s there in case of emergency. When you can’t find food your body will still have fat to survive on. But because of the American diet, we are adding too much fat and it only causes health problems.

Controlling your weight and keeping your body in good condition is your responsibility. Your doctor can only relieve your symptoms, give you a pill or repair a broken bone. Your body has to heal itself and you have to feed it the nutrition it needs to do that.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.

The New Years Resolution

This is the one big promise we make to ourselves every year but seldom keep. I can’t speak for everyone, but for the ones obsessed with losing weight, don’t make that resolution about the bathroom scale. If this is the promise you have been making for years, “this is the year I’m going to lose weight”, it’s time for a change. This year you want to promise you're going to “live a healthier life”. I know it's a little early to write about the new year, but it's only 3 weeks away. If you're careful and watch your diet closely you won't have that regret in January that you gained too much.

Step off the scale now and no one will get hurt. Focusing just on weight loss can lead to cycles of losing and regaining weight, lower self-esteem, and a preoccupation with food and body image.

“You’ll do better if you have goals that have to do not with weight, but with health,” says Carol Landau, Ph.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Alpert Medical School, Brown University. While a New Year’s resolution is a great way to get in touch with what’s important and how you want to change, “Most diets don’t work,” she says.

“A focus on weight loss tends to result in a quick-fix approach to a permanent challenge,” she says. “Instead, focus on finding health results in lifestyle changes that are more likely to last.” It would be better to focus on changing your diet.

The irony is, if you make your resolutions about wellness, rather than weight, you may get the best of both worlds: You’ll feel better, get healthier and yes, lose weight. By eating the right foods and being more active your body will burn up that excess body fat.

“The reason most people fail to lose weight is that they don’t realize that it’s their lifestyle that caused them to gain the excess body fat and it’s their lifestyle that prevents them from losing their fat.” In almost all cases when an adult gains weight, it’s because they’re gaining body fat.

Good: Resolve to change daily behaviors

“If you’re totally inactive, it may be walking a mile every day”. “If you’re already pretty active, it might be training to run a 5k race.” Or it could be a promise to cut out processed foods. Let your goals be achievable and based on things you can actually do, rather than weight-loss results. It could be eating a healthy breakfast every morning, or eating fish twice a week and making sure you sit down when you eat.

You might resolve to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal of the day. Eating more fruits and vegetables, along with drinking plenty of water and walking daily, has been shown to be a pretty powerful combo when it comes to weight-loss success. But that’s not your concern now. Before you get there, your goal is to create a healthy habit you can sustain. The same goes for exercise: Your goal is to create a habit that will improve the health of your body and mind.

You won’t have to rely on the scale to know if you’ve been successful, either. If you have an orange at breakfast, a salad at lunch, and a green vegetable at dinner, you’ve won. Took a 20-minute walk during your lunch break? Pat yourself on the back. Any improvements you can make in your diet or your activity level will improve your health.

That said, The more improvements you make the quicker the results. Yes, any small improvements will help over the long term, but big improvements can show results in a short amount of time.

When I first decided to “get healthy” I stopped eating my normal diet and started to eat a low-fat, low-carb diet of meat and vegetables. Oatmeal for breakfast and a salad for lunch. That it. I didn’t skimp on food, I ate a small amount of food every two hours or so. Between my three basic meals, I’d eat fruit or a yogurt cup. I was eating 6 times a day in small quantities. I never got hungry. I was eating all fresh foods. That alone will curb your appetite. Fresh food is more satisfying than manufactured food and yogurt are manufactured, but I stuck to Greek yogurt, it has less sugar and has more protein. Eating protein is important and you should try and eat protein at every meal.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then 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 $3.99. 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.