Emotional Eating goes hand-in-hand with "bingeing" a very serious health problem and a major cause of weight gain. It can be caused by bouts of depression or the opposite, "skipping Meals". An example might be, you skipped lunch because you had no time, then you get home late and you're very hungry and just want to eat now. You grab a plate of leftovers from the frig and mindlessly finish them. A short time late you're still hungry so you start grazing and because you haven't eaten since morning you continue grazing until bedtime or until you're stuffed. Sound familiar?
For some, it takes a major event to trigger emotional eating -- getting fired or going through a divorce; for others, it's a constant struggle: the traffic on the way to work; the jammed photo copier; a tough day at the office ... the daily grind can lead to a seemingly unbreakable habit of turning to food to make it all better.
Emotional eating can sabotage your weight management efforts. Getting a handle on your tendency to eat in response to emotions can be one of the most important factors in achieving long-term weight loss success.
Sometimes, the desire to eat has nothing to do with a rumbling in your stomach telling you that you need to eat. We get a strong longing for foods -- particularly fattening, comforting foods -- when emotions spike or plummet. We want to eat and we think nothing else will do.
Personally, for me, eating was more about rewarding myself. Then later it became a way to satisfy a craving. I think the more you indulge yourself the more cravings you’ll have. So I defeated those cravings by eating something every three hours. Just remember to avoid empty calories. Eat something that will give you part of the nutrition you need for the day. When you use the small meal plan 5 or 6 small meals a day, it is easier to keep track of the amount of nutrition you're getting each meal.
The worst part about emotional eating is it actually causes your problems to multiply. Eventually, instead of avoiding the issues you're stuffing down with food, you've created another one altogether -- weight gain, guilt about eating, worsening health ... and then it starts all over again.
If you tend to give in to emotional eating, there are a few tactics you can use to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track.
o Step One: Identify Your Triggers
o Step Two: Recognize Hunger Signals
o Step Three: Limit Trigger Foods
Simply stop stocking your fridge and pantry with the foods you binge on.
o Step Four: Don't Skip Meals
Skipping meals almost always leads to over-eating.
o Step Five: Create Alternatives to Eating
Whether it's a bubble bath or curling up with a good book, planning other activities will help you relax and avoid binges.
When you trip up -- because you will (We all do!), don't give up. Forgive yourself and start over the next day.
You can contact me on LinkedIn or Twitter (@ray0369)
I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
Recently, I was meeting a friend at a park over lunch, and I noticed a really disturbing trend. Almost everyone there was opening a package or box for their lunch.
As you are probably aware, multiple concerns have been raised about processed foods, including the abundance of processed foods and the dangers they pose. In fact, a recent study performed by researchers at the University of Chapel-Hill found that more than 60 percent of the food purchased annually in America is highly processed.
As evidence mounts linking over-consumption of these products to major health consequences, highly processed foods are becoming a concerning trend.
Some basic food processing is necessary to ensure the safety of perishable items, such as fresh meat or dairy, the concern lies with products considered to be highly processed. These are the convenience foods that dominate the center aisles of your typical grocery store and include: ready-made meals, cereal, canned goods, cookies, chips, sodas, candy, sweets and other packaged items. In addition, many types of meat and cheese products, such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, lunch meat, and cheese slices or spreads are also considered highly processed foods. These types of foods constitute the majority of the calories consumed on a regular basis for the average American family.
Avoiding processed foods altogether may be impossible, but understanding why consuming too many may be detrimental is an important first step to improving your health.
For starters, these products typically contain increased amounts of salt, sugar, or fat—all of which are known as harmful.
Highly processed foods are also chemically treated with additives or preservatives to improve their taste, texture, or to extend shelf-life. An easy way to identify any processed food is to take a look at the label; if there is a laundry list of ingredients with unrecognizable, complicated names it is safe to say it's processed food.
Here are six ways overconsumption of processed food could be affecting your health:
Obesity
It is well known that sugar contributes to obesity, which can then lead to a host of other chronic diseases. Highly processed foods are often loaded with extra sugar but don’t be fooled if the word “sugar” doesn’t actually appear on the label. There are as many as 50 different words used to list types of sugar added to processed foods. The most common names are corn syrup, fructose, glucose, sucrose, malt or maltose, honey, molasses, or nectar.
Known as “empty calories,” any type of sugar, including those hidden or disguised varieties, adds no nutritional value and in fact, encourages your body to consume even more calories. What’s worse is that consumption of sugar triggers the same sense of pleasure and craving within the brain comparable to those who struggle with drug addiction. This not only explains why it is so hard to resist seconds after indulging in a sweet treat but why many experience subconscious cravings for all those other highly-processed meals and snacks.
So, how much sugar consumption is too much? The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends added sugars should be limited to no more than 10 percent of daily calories.
This equals about 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, which sounds pretty generous until you put into perspective that the average can of soft drink contains about 10 teaspoons alone.
Metabolic Syndrome Including Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes
O.K., I know all of this might sound a little technical, but if you're already taking medication and wonder why, it's more than just your weight causing your health problems, it's your diet.
As if obesity were not bad enough, processed food consumption is also linked to metabolic syndrome, which is defined as a group of risk factors that can lead to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is diagnosed when any three or more of the following five risk factors are present:
Increased waistline also known as being “apple-shaped” with abdominal obesity
Elevated triglycerides, or needing medication to lower triglycerides
Low HDL (healthy) cholesterol levels, or needing medication due to low HDL levels
High blood pressure, or needing a medication to treat high blood pressure
High fasting blood glucose or needing a medication due to high fasting blood glucose
The abundance of sugars found in highly processed foods is the main culprit of metabolic syndrome. Sugars are a form of carbohydrates, which the body needs for energy. However, when these types of carbohydrates are consumed in excess quantities, the sugars must be stored in the body—typically as fat—and may lead to several metabolic consequences. An example of these types of metabolic occurrences is frequent spikes in blood glucose levels requiring insulin to stabilize. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, as well as increasing the levels of triglycerides in the blood. The cumulative effects of these metabolic disturbances can raise the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Processed foods can also play a role in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, also known as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. This time, the culprit is a type of chemical additive called emulsifiers, which are used to extend shelf life and help hold the shape or texture of foods. They are found in nearly every processed food product, including breads, peanut butter, cake mixes, salad dressings, sauces, yogurt, pudding, processed cheese, ice cream, and desserts.
It may be surprising to know that the emulsifiers used in processed food are similar to those also found in your household soaps or detergents. This is because the primary function of an emulsifier is to allow water and oil to stay mixed, whether it’s for the purposes of removing grime and stains, or for holding together food substances that normally would separate.
In a recent study, mice who were fed a diet simulating the type and quantity of typically consumed emulsifiers found in processed foods were found to have changes observed in their gut bacteria that triggered several health conditions including the ones already discussed—obesity and metabolic syndrome—as well as inflammatory bowel disease. The reason for this connection is because the bacteria affected compromise the mucus protective layer that usually separates microbes from the intestinal wall, similar to how a detergent works to remove dirt, which led to an inflammatory response and increased the incidence of these diseases.
Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases are triggered when the body’s immune system goes haywire and attacks its own cells. There are over 100 different autoimmune diseases, but the more common ones are type 1 diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. In these diseases, the immune system confuses healthy cells as unhealthy and prompts an attack on the body it is meant to protect.
It is estimated that 70 percent of your immune system is located in your gut. This is not surprising when you consider all of the environmental toxins that travel through your digestive tract from start to end. Your intestinal tract is lined with a special layer of cells called epithelial cells, whose function is to serve as a protective membrane. The intestinal epithelial cells are joined together by tight junctions, which helps to keep them bonded together and strengthens the defense barrier against bacteria, toxins, and other harmful antigens. But when these tight junctions become compromised, they weaken the body’s defense and can allow the exposure of harmful antigens into the body by increasing intestinal permeability. This is termed “leaky gut” and is currently a hot topic in medical research.
Research has shown that seven common additives abundantly found in processed foods can damage the tight junctions, making them weaker and increasing intestinal permeability. This, in turn, opens up the door for toxins to harm the body, which can raise the likelihood of developing an autoimmune disease. The seven additives identified are glucose, salt, emulsifiers, organic solvents, gluten, microbial transglutaminase, and nanoparticles—all of which are commonly used in processed food products.
Colorectal Cancer
Processed foods can also increase the risk of developing colon cancer. This time, the culprit is processed meats, which include lunch meat, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and beef jerky or any other meat product that has been chemically treated in order to stay preserved. The risk also includes consumption of red meat such as beef or pork. Eating as few as 50 grams of processed or red meat daily, which is roughly the equivalent of a small hot dog or two slices of bacon, has been found to raise the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. It is believed that the risk comes from either the chemicals used to preserve these meats or the cooking process by which they are preserved, both of which are associated with exposure to carcinogenic compounds.
Anxiety and Depression
If you’re not compelled to take a closer look at processed food consumption yet, here is another health risk to consider. Diets high in processed foods are also linked to increased rates of anxiety and depression. One theory is that exposure to those added sugars can wreak havoc in your gut, where the majority of serotonin production occurs. Serotonin is an important mood stabilizer, and when dietary habits include the chemical additives common in processed foods, it can adversely affect your body’s ability to maintain healthy levels. In addition, remember that all those added sugars cause a spike in blood glucose and increased insulin production, which sets in a motion a roller coaster metabolic process that can result in hyperactivity followed by lethargy. Also, since those added sugars can become highly addictive, your body continually craves more, repeating this process over and over.
Overall, diets high in processed foods usually mean the less real food is consumed, which results in the body becoming deficient in other vitamins and minerals that are needed to support your mood and emotional health. Although it is virtually impossible to completely eliminate processed food from our daily diets, it is good to be mindful of just how much you are eating. This awareness can help to create a healthier lifestyle and help with many medical ailments. I always tell my patients that food can be a medicine or a toxin. Make your diet work for you not against you.
Often we don't know or understand why our doctor wants us to take a certain pill or pills. We assume it's because of our weight and indirectly it is, but it's because of the food we eat. Eating healthy is the cure for all your health problems. The medicine you need is in your food or will be in your food if you're eating the right thing.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog post.
E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
Still got a few hours until lunch, but you’re already hungry? Or is it 3 pm, and your energy is low? Sounds like snack time! Snacks are an important part of an every day meal plan. I think it's a necessity to eat 5 times a day. If you skip those two between meal snacks you overeat at the evening dinner. That's a big mistake, evenings are the worst time to eat a big meal. Breakfast, morning snack, and lunch should be 70% of your total calorie intake. See what the HungryGirl blog has to say about snacks.
Elli Quark
1 container: 80 to 90 calories, 0g total fat (0g sat fat), 50 to 60mg sodium, 6 to 11g carbs, 0g fiber, 6g sugars, 14 to 17g protein
You’ve probably heard of Greek yogurt, but what about German? Okay, technically quark isn't yogurt. It’s a spoonable yogurt-like cheese, and it’s so delicious! I love that it isn't sour like some yogurts. For less than 100 calories, you get a creamy, flavorful snack with no added sugar. And Elli offers many fantastic flavors: Bananas Foster, Mint Chocolate, Blueberry, Cherry! Find them in grocery stores nationwide.
Sargento Snack Bites Cheese Snacks
7 pieces: 110 to 120 calories, 9 to 10g total fat (5 to 6g sat fat), 190 to 210mg sodium, 0 to 1g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugars, 7 to 8g protein
Who doesn’t love cheese? Follow-up question: Who doesn't have a hard time controlling themselves around a giant block of the yummy stuff? That’s why I’m a big fan of these mini cheese sticks. Bold flavors in bite-sized pieces! From Smokehouse Gouda to Chipotle BBQ Cheddar, there's an option for every cheese lover. Why Gouda? It's low in fat and it slices like all the other hard cheeses.
Better Bean Roasted Chipotle Bean Dip
2 tablespoons: 35 calories, 1g total fat (0g sat fat), 60mg sodium, 5g carbs, 1g fiber, 1g sugars, 2g protein
Here's another find with potential weight-loss benefits!
This dip is a delicious way to incorporate more beans into your diet. Made with red beans, it’s got a kick of spice and a hint of lime. Pair it with baked tortilla chips, baby carrots, or fresh jicama sticks. Mmmmm! Head to the Better Bean site to see where their products are available.
Emerald Nuts 100 Calorie Packs of Natural Almonds and Natural Almonds & Walnuts
1 package: 100 calories, 9g total fat (0.5 to 1g sat fat), 0mg sodium, 3 to 4g carbs, 2g fiber, 1g sugars, 3 to 4g protein
Nuts are super good for you, but they’re also calorie dense. And it’s easy to toss back way too many when you snack on them from a multi-serving bag. Thank you, Emerald, for answering our nut needs! These packs are portion-controlled and easy to take on the go. Choose all almonds, or mix it up with a bag of almonds & walnuts. Grab a box from your local supermarket. Perfect emergency snack!
Jicachips
1 bag (0.9 oz.; about 25 chips): 100 to 110 calories, 1.5 to 2.5g total fat (0 to 1g sat fat), 70 to 200mg sodium, 19 to 21g carbs, 5g fiber, 6 to 7g sugars, 2g protein
Bye-bye, potatoes. Hello, jicama! These chips are delicious and the portion size is huge. With five times as much fiber as potato chips, these are the obvious choice.
They come in awesome flavors like Chili Lime, Cinnamon Sugar, and (my favorite) Smoked BBQ! Visit the brand's website to find out where to buy.
Personally, I'm not a chip lover, but if you are this is probably the way to go; 5 gm. of fiber is awsome.
Crunchies Freeze Dried Beets
1/3 cup: 35 calories, 0g total fat (0g sat fat), 140mg sodium, 8g carbs, 2g fiber, 6g sugars, 1g protein
These are so yummy that I could eat the whole bag in one sitting! And with only around 125 calories, why not? These chip-like snacks are as natural as can be, containing only one ingredient: beets. Slightly sweet and insanely crunchy, find them at CVS or buy some online. And if you wanna DIY, here's a recipe!
Larabar Minis
1 bar: 90 to 110 calories, 4 to 6g total fat (0 to 1.5g sat fat), 0 to 30mg sodium, 10 to 14g carbs, 1 to 3g fiber, 8 to 11g sugars, 2 to 3g protein
I love the taste of Larabars, but they’re a bit too high in calories for frequent snacking. Larabar Minis to the rescue! These have the same simple ingredients (usually a variation of nuts, dates, and little else) and come in seriously impressive flavors: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, and Cashew Cookie! I’ve spotted them at Target and over on Amazon.
I usually eat less calories for the main meals like 300+ and balance the snacks with about 200+ calories so I end up around 1700 or 1800 calories for the day.
E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
I read through dozens of newsletters and posts from weight loss websites and many of them are selling something. Every site or every company has something their pushing and they're taking advantage of people who have been trying to lose weight for years without success. I want to try to change your mind about losing weight. It's really easier than you might think.
Your need to forget about anything you think you know about weight loss, and get back to the basics. Losing weight is all about your diet and your activity level or how active you are. We'll start from scratch, the biggest mistake people make is that they don't want to give up the food they love, the food they grew up with. That's the mistake. You have to give up all the food you love, and that's the truth. You have to start your life over, there's no easy way, no short cuts. You can be a much healthier person with more energy and less body fat. You'll look better in clothes and you'll look better when you look in the mirror. You'll be a happier person.
It doesn't cost money to lose weight, it just takes a willingness to do it. I started by reading about weight lose. I read everything I saw and everything I could find on the internet. Now I'm a busy guy who doesn't have a lot of free time but there's nothing on TV anymore and I'm not into social media person so after dinner I browse the internet for good websites.
Back when I first started to investigate weight loss there wasn't as much information available, but today health food, celebrity diets and new diet pills are all the rage. Be careful about the information you believe. Losing weight is simply eat food that your body can use as fuel to create energy. That's called burning calories. The trick is to burn more than you eat.
So how many calories do I burn? That a guessing game. Everyone's different and everyone will burn a different amount of calories. The body works in "real-time", Your body will burn food for energy as it uses it. Medical science can only give us averages. They take a large group of people and give them the same amount of food and keep checking their weight and decide if they are losing weight or gaining weight and just their food until there is no weight changes and then they can assume that's the proper amount of calories. So it's not an exact science but they have no other way. What makes this hard to guess is that you might be the same size as someone else in your group but if you have more body fat you will burn fewer calories and if you move less than the next person you'll burn fewer calories. The more you sit, the fewer calories you burn and there can be only small differences in behavior but it will make a difference in the number of calories we burn.
So how do you lose weight? Start over with your food. Buy only fresh fruits and vegetables. Shop twice a week for the fresh stuff. When you have a list you can get in and out quick. The other stuff is a little more difficult. Some Diet Gurus will tell you to avoid dairy except for Greek Yogurt and get protein from some meat but mostly fish and protein powder like the kind you use in protein shakes. It's plant-based protein which is said to be healthier than animal protein. And I can understand that Animal protein has some animal fat mixed with it and animal fat is what you're trying to avoid.
I like the Mediterranean plan or sometimes called the food pyramid. You can find examples on my Home Page or on the internet. I made my food choices for the pyramid. There's no calories to count and you eat all you want, just stick to the pyramid and get in all the walking you can. I recommend 10,000 steps a day. This exercise plan has been around for a while and it works. It's great for beginners and because most people only take about 5000 steps a day you'll double your active level and lose weight. The diet will give you all the energy you need and in a few weeks you'll be losing weight and you'll start to feel good again.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
From WebMD; this confirms what I've been saying all along. Change your lifestyle, make time for you and make sure you're eating properly and getting the active your body needs to stay healthy.
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. 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.
“Instead, focus on finding health results in lifestyle changes that are more likely to last.”
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.
Forget the scale, think about "losing inches". How many pants sizes can you drop? Buying new clothes is the best reward. And you can do that by quit eating the food and drinks that put on the fat and eat the foods that will help you lose fat.
Good: Resolve to change daily behaviors
“If you’re totally inactive, it may be walking a mile by Feb. 1,” says Landau. “If you’re already pretty active, it might be training to run a 5k race.” Or it could be a more flexible goal, like being active every day. 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. 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 and you’ve won. Took a 20-minute walk during your lunch break? Pat yourself on the back. Work towards a healthy body and your body will burn that excess fat.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
Wondering if you’re getting enough protein? Chances are, you may be eating too much – data suggests many of us are already consuming twice the protein we need. Nevertheless, Americans continue to be obsessed with protein. The problem with our obsession is that the only thing we associate with protein is meat.
Part of the craze has been fueled by popular diets that encourage high-protein foods for weight loss and satiety. While such diets may promote weight loss in the short term, they have downsides, as well: too much protein has been linked with osteoporosis, kidney disease, calcium stones in the urinary tract, and some cancers. Be careful how much protein you get from animal meat, a better choice is protein from seafood and occasional poultry. Animal fat is the sources of many health problems. You can't separate animal meat and animal fat. The fat is marbled throughout the meat.
Still, there are some groups of people, like strict vegetarians and vegans, who do need to pay attention to their protein intake to make sure they’re getting enough. Protein requirements vary depending on your age and gender, but to simplify things, an adult needs about 60 grams of protein a day.
Search the internet for high protein, low-calorie meals and you can find many examples of 60 plus grams a day of protein and only 3 ounces a day of poultry or 4 to 6 ounces a day of seafood. Some meals have red meat, but very few.
Still, there are some groups, like strict vegetarians and vegans, who do need to pay attention to their protein intake to make sure they’re getting enough. Protein requirements vary depending on your age, gender, level of physical activity, special health conditions, and pregnancy. The DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.36 grams per pound.
This amounts to:
56 grams per day for the average man. 46 grams per day for the average woman.
Meat, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, dairy foods, and lentils are among the best sources of protein. But what about veggies? Vegetables tend to be lower in protein than animal sources, but here are some that pack in protein (and many other nutrients!) to help you meet your daily needs:
Potatoes
Bet you didn’t expect to see potatoes on this list! A medium potato has under 150 calories, virtually no fat, nearly 4 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Research shows they can help you feel fuller than you might with some other carbohydrate foods. That’s partly because their protein and fiber content. One study even found that boiled potatoes scored the highest on a “satiety index” of all foods.
And there’s even more good news packed into a single potato! A medium potato (with skin) has more potassium (860 mg) than a banana, making it a good source of this important and under-consumed nutrient. Potassium plays a key role in controlling blood pressure because potassium lessens the effects of sodium.
Broccoli
One cooked cup of this delicious cruciferous veggie has nearly 4 grams of protein. What’s more, broccoli is loaded with Vitamin C, a nutrient that protects against immune system deficiencies. And, as an added bonus, broccoli is rich in calcium and packed with fiber. Try this ginger shrimp and broccoli recipe to reap all of this vegetable’s wonderful benefits.
Kale
One serving (about 1 ½ cups chopped) of kale has 4 grams of protein and just 50 calories! No wonder everyone is going crazy for kale these days. It’s referred to as the “queen of greens” and is showing up in all kinds of restaurant menus as salads, side dishes, main dishes, and even snack chips.
Kale comes from the Brassica family, which includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These veggies are rich in sulphur-containing phytonutrients which may help guard against cancer. They’re so healthy that many nutrition experts recommend eating at least a few servings of Brassica veggies each week for their health benefits.
To retain kale’s nutrients, texture and flavor, keep cooking time to a minimum. Just, rinse, chip, and add to stir-frys, frittatas and other egg dishes, soups, salads, pasta dishes or casseroles. You can lightly steam it to increase its tenderness, making a great ingredient for salads.
Brussels Sprouts
Just one cup of steamed sprouts provides 4 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber in less than 60 calories. They’re essentially fat and sodium-free and an excellent source of vitamin C, and a good source of folate (folic acid).
Plus, Brussels sprouts have cancer-fighting compounds and are rich in antioxidants that help temper chronic inflammation that can lead to a whole host of chronic diseases.
The problem with animal protein is the animal fat that is marbled through the meat. Your body doesn't want to process animal fat. The fat in seafood or even poultry is a different kind of fat and is not associated with heart disease.
The moral to the story is to cut back on meat and eat more seafood. Our ancient ancestors ate seafood every day and were far healthier than we are today.
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.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
I reblogged this from one of my readers. She writes a good post on a subject that we all need to pay more attention to. Let me know what you think.
So I have decided that…I am going to start my diet…tomorrow. I have assigned an official start date, in writing!
Now, this is going to be a little bit more difficult, as I am still in holiday mode but I just want to feel good about myself… that is all.
I am not egotistic or suffer from vanity (clearly). Looking HOT would be great but it is way down on my priority list. I want to FEEL good…it has nothing to do with how I look. I just want to have confidence. I want to not care what anyone else things about me. If I feel happy in a black plastic bag then damn it I want to wear that black plastic bag with pride. I think we have all at some point started a diet and within a few days we are thinking “Damn – I feel good” and although the dress may be a size 20-22 we feel different.
That is what I want. I want that feeling EVERY SINGLE day.
Lately, there are a lot of people saying that you should be big and proud and that big confident woman are an inspiration to us all. I am a big woman and I completely disagree. Of course, if you want to be overweight and feel good about that – then good for you! But the bottom line is it is unhealthy …and is just as unhealthy as an anorexic person. We need to see ourselves in the same bracket as a person with an eating disorder… because we too have an eating disorder. We are no better or no worse but fat people are called lazy and presumed to be unmotivated to change their lives but that is not the truth… we have an addiction.
Now I am not looking for pity. I am just trying to explain the difficulties of having this kind of eating disorder. I know I choose to eat the 10 packets of crisps but in a way… it feels like I have no control! You see a “normal” person becomes LESS hungry or LESS interested in food the more they eat. They become SATISFIED. The more I eat; I become hungrier and more interested in food. If I don’t feel stuffed to the brim then I need to keep eating until I can’t possibly eat anything else.
I am really determined that tomorrow will be the answer to all my prayers. That tomorrow I will wake up and finally everything will make perfect sense and this “diet” will be a lifestyle change and I will be a new positive ball of loveliness.
I have great admiration for this women who know that she has a problem and knows she has to fix the problem. She has probably tried several times with little success but she doesn't stop trying. She will succeed, I know it and she knows it.
Not everyone can lose weight the same way. I personally think the Mediterranean diet could help her. You don't have to deprive yourself. No calories to count, just stick to the food pyramid for your food choices.
Spend more time walking. I like the 10,000 steps a day routine. That's enough activity to lose weight.
The chart above is broken down in 3 parts. It's not a skimpy diet. You can fill-up, but stick to the plan. The bottom half of the pyramid you can eat every day. The walking you should do every day and only water with one glass of wine everyday. The top of the chart you can only eat once a week and meat only once a month. So if you've noticed the emphasis is on carbs. Animal fats are in the diet but only sparingly. The reason this is a heart healthy diet is because the animal fats are the ones that raise your LDL or Bad Cholesterol.
Fats from plants like avocados or olives are good fats and will lower your cholesterol. I know many people who have changed their diet and have been able to get off their medications.
If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
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