Slim For Life; Strategies For Losing Fat And Keeping It Off

Trying yet again to lose those last 10 pounds? We hear you. In fact, 50 percent of women say that within six months they gain back any weight they've managed to ditch. And more than a quarter have dieted so many times they've lost track of the number. Well, get ready to stop the endless yo-yoing: Science has finally come up with simple, groundbreaking solutions for lasting weight loss. We checked in with the top experts in the field and scoured the latest research to bring you the skinny on everything you need to reach your slim-down goals and stay there.

Make your fat burn fat.

Seriously: Your flab can help you shed pounds. How? Just as there's more than one kind of fat in food, there's more than one type in your body. White fat is the bad stuff you want to zap. But a second kind, brown fat, actually torches calories. "Up to 80 percent of adults have brown fat deposits in their bodies," says Aaron M. Cypess, MD, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School. This good fat is powerful because it's packed with mitochondria, the parts of cells that generate heat. When activated, as little as two ounces of brown fat can gobble up as much as 20 percent of your body's calories.

Exercise is one of the best ways to get your brown fat in gear. In a study, scientists at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discovered that working out releases a hormone called irisin, which converts white fat to brown. Exercise for a half-hour at least five days a week to turn up the burn.

You might be asking yourself; "I do that now, why can't I burn fat." There are a couple different reasons; the most common one is "your diet". When I was exercising to lose fat, I had to go on a low-fat diet. Very low-fat, that way my body was forced into burning body fat instead of the food in every meal. But at the same time, I had to cut my carbs.

Your body has to burn protein, carbs, and fat every day, but it will only burn about 30% fat. If you're eating the wrong foods, your body only has to burn the food your eating and not any of the excesses you have stored.

The second reason can be the exercises your doing. Different exercises affect everyone differently. If you are not getting the results you're looking for, you might want to change or vary the exercise program. You can get some help with that from my ebooks or the internet. You can't do the same exercise time after time and expect results. Your body will get used to that exercise and the results will diminish. Vary the exercise so you work different muscles. For instance do legs Monday, Thursday. Do Abs Tuesday, and Friday, Do upper body on Wednesday and Saturday. Rest on Sunday.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat 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, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

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

 

Is There A Best Time Of The Day To Exercise?

There might be some logic to this post, but I can't agree with the conclusion. I think the best time to exercise is the first hour after you wake up. But that might be because I'm 70 years old. Actually the experts have a different idea.

Two of the top reasons people give for not exercising regularly include lack of results and lack of time. So, for many people, the best time to exercise is the time that is most convenient and the time that fits into a busy schedule.

Research on exercise and time of day is growing, but still limited and not without controversy. In general, if you can find a time for exercise that you can stick with consistently, you will be much more likely to train regularly and get better results.

Human sleep and wake cycles follow a daily cycle called circadian rhythms. It's this cycle that regulates our body temperature, blood pressure, alertness, and metabolism, among other physiological functions. In general, these rhythms conform to our 24-hour day and may be reset based on environmental cues. The time of day that we typically exercise is one of these cues. Research by the University of North Texas in Denton found that although circadian rhythms are inborn we can reset them based upon our behaviors. For example, using an alarm clock, establishing meal times and even when we workout are all cues to help rest our rhythms. They found that people who consistently exercise in the morning "teach" their body to be most ready for exercise at that time of day. When they switched to evening exercise, they didn't feel as strong.

Also See: Does Jet Lag Decrease Athletic Performance?

The ability to adjust your rhythms is important for athletes training for a specific event. The message is to train at the same time of day that the event will occur. Research supports this advice. Studies show that your ability to maintain exercise intensity will adapt to your training time. Therefore, if you do your marathon training in the morning, you may perform better on race day (marathons typically start in the morning).

But if you train in the evening, a morning race day may leave you feeling weaker and slower.

Individual Differences and Exercise Timing

Some people are just naturally morning people. They have no trouble exercising first thing in the morning. Others don't get moving so quickly and are more likely to feel like exercising later in the day. If you have such an obvious preference it's pretty easy to decide what sort of exercise schedule you might stick with. The interesting thing is that research shows that no matter when you think you are better able to exercise, almost all of us are, in fact, physically stronger and have more endurance in the late afternoon.

Scheduling Exercise

Not everyone can choose to exercise when they feel like it. Work and family commitments often take priority and we end up squeezing in some exercise. If you find that the only time you have to exercise is when you least feel like it, don't despair. As we learned earlier, you can change your rhythms and your body can adapt to a new exercise time.

However, it may take about a month to reset your internal exercise clock. (get tips on adjusting your circadian rhythms during air travel).

Research and the Best Time to Exercise

While there is specific research being conducted on this topic, unfortunately, the answer to the question, "What is the best time for exercise?" varies based on the specific question you ask, your training goals, and your exercise adherence. Here are some of the latest specific research findings:

Late Afternoon is Best for Exercise
Research shows that the optimal time to exercise is when our body temperature is at its highest, which, for most people is 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (body temperature is at its lowest just before waking).

Strength is Greater in the Afternoon
Dr. Hill reported that strength output is 5% higher at around mid-day; anaerobic performance, such as sprinting, improves by 5% in the late afternoon.

Endurance is Greater in the Afternoon
Aerobic capacity (endurance) is approximately 4percent higher in the afternoon.

Injuries Are Less Likely in the Afternoon
Afternoon exercise is the best if you want to avoid injuries for many reasons. We are most alert; our body temperature is the highest so our muscles are warm and flexible; our muscle strength is at its greatest. These three factors make it less likely that we will get injured.

Morning Exercisers Are More Consistent
Even though afternoon exercise might be optimal from a physiological standpoint, research also shows that morning exercisers are more likely to stick to it than late-day athletes.

Evening Exercise and Sleep
Most research supports the idea that exercise can improve sleep quality. But does exercising too late in the evening keep you up? Studies have shown improvements in sleep from both morning and afternoon exercise, so it's not yet clear if evening exercise keeps you up. One study even showed that vigorous exercise half an hour before bedtime did not affect sleep.
One thing that is agreed upon is that sleep deprivation can hinder sports performance.

The Bottom Line

The good news is that you get to decide the best time for you to exercise based upon your personal goals, schedule, and lifestyle. Ideally, you will pick a time that you are able to stick with consistently and make part of your daily or weekly schedule. If you are training for competition, it's wise to modify your training to accommodate the event start time, and it's always wise to warm up before any workout. Also See: Why Your Workouts Don't Work.

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. 

Follow The 80/20 Rule To Lose Weight

What I want you to know is that living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be complicated. It is not something you are “on or off” like that “diet” word I don’t advocate. To help you meet your fitness goals, I’ve rounded up nine simple tricks I do as a fitness trainer and you can do too. Get ready to live your healthiest life possible.

1. Follow the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy 80 percent, or most of the time. This rule is easy to follow because you can assess your day or week and know if most of the choices you are making are healthy.

Choose to eat clean (real food!) most of the time and use that 20 percent as your wiggle room. I’m probably more like 90/10 but if you can aim for 80/20, that’s great. If you eat fresh produce and lean proteins most of the time and have a dish of ice cream on the weekend, you are following the rule. Plan for indulgences.  I know this can work if you don't overindulge. That's the reason most people can't make the 80/20 rule work for them. Instead of indulging on a bowl of ice cream once a week, they want to indulge every day with something small thinking it won't hurt the diet, but it does hurt and it will cause your diet to fail. When your diet gets you a 1 or 2-pound weight loss every week, it doesn't take much to erase that loss. 

2. Stick to the 2-day rule for exercise

I never go more than two days in a row without exercise, even if I am traveling. If I ever miss two days in a row, I will do whatever it takes to get a workout in on that third day, even if it’s running stairs inside of a building.

Using this rule will help you build routine and rhythm around your workouts. You can skip any guilt-trip you give yourself and just get right back into exercise on day three. Now you have a realistic game plan to keep you exercising for the long haul. Rules that fit the reality of “life happens” are rules you can work into your lifestyle.

3. Strength Training

Strength training builds muscle, improves posture, strengthens bone density, and increases confidence and quality of life. Having muscles is key to performing daily activities (gardening, home repair, picking up the kiddos) and there are a ton of benefits to feeling stronger and more confident as a person.

Strength training can reduce the risk of degenerative diseases and the overall quality of life. As we age, our strength levels and metabolism both decrease. That’s why it’s so important to stress your body through exercise so it can grow stronger. Plus, the more muscle you gain, the more calories you burn at rest!

4. Never skip breakfast

Breakfast sets the tone for your day. When you skip breakfast or don’t eat until several hours after you are awake, you are more likely to overeat at lunch or make less than healthy choices because your hunger is driving the bus. Eat a satisfying protein-based breakfast to start your day off fueled and strong. It doesn't have to be complicated—some of the best breakfasts are no-cook! 

5. Find exercises that you like.

Some people love exercise and can’t live without it and some people claim to hate it... and there’s a whole range of opinions in the middle.

Search for a form of exercise you love. When you love an activity, no one has to convince you to do it. You won’t have to work on your commitment to go to spin class or lift weights at the gym if those are both activities you love to do. Maybe you pick a group sport. Join a new gym. Find adult dance classes. Do aerial yoga at a studio, or resistance band training at home. You could surprise yourself with your love of running, or kettlebells.

I’m a professed group fitness junkie and can’t get enough of spinning, conditioning classes, and boot camps. So what’s your calling? Perhaps it’s nature, hiking the trails. You’ve just got to keep trying different exercises on until you’ve found the right fit for you.

6. Keep a positive attitude

Living with a positive attitude is something I preach and live because nothing productive happens out of negativity. I’ve got science on my side because research shows that when you are happy first, you are more likely to succeed in life. Having that positive attitude and being optimistic gives you the ability to set goals, believe in yourself and look for solutions to challenges.

With the right mindset, you have faith in your abilities and you are more likely to take action steps to reach your goals. Like attracts like, so if you are positive, it’s like opening your arms up for all the positive things coming right back at you. 

7. Drink Lemon Water

Every single morning, before I eat or drinking anything—and that includes my coffee—I reach for a big glass of lemon water. I squeeze about half a lemon into 12 to 16 ounces of room temperature water and sip. So simple, yet so good for your body! This has always been of my favorite tips to share with people who ask for an easy, start today tip, for better health. Lemon water flushes out toxins, balances your pH levels, and boosts your immunity. 

8. Do HIIT exercises

Okay, I’m partial to HIIT (high intensity,S interval training) because I love intense workouts, but I also love HIIT because you will see results.

HIIT is a type of workout where you give maximum effort through quick intense bursts of exercise followed by short recovery periods. HIIT workouts train and condition both your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. You get your heart rate up and improve your cardiovascular fitness level while burning more fat and calories in less time.

So what is HIIT? It's nothing more than starting off slow and after you want up speed up for 1 minute, then slow down for 1 or 2 minutes, then speed up for 1 minute, and repeat that routine for 6 times and that interval training. Read up about HIIT and see if it works for you. 

9. Never go out to eat starving

If you are watching calories, you might think skipping meals leading up to a party can help you save up your calories for the party, but that’s asking for trouble. When you go to a party or cookout starving, you are more likely to overeat and eat all the wrong things.

It’s okay to be hungry when you head out the door, but don’t go famished or you will eat too much and regret it later. Have a handful of nuts or something healthy that takes the edge off your hunger before you head out.

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. 

Is Sugar Bad For Your Brain?

Before you read this post I want you know that one of the newest health diets is to give up "sugar". Most of the people that have tried the no sugar diet aren't really overweight. And most of the people responding to a survey after being on the diet, said they feel better after stopping sugar.

5.3 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's disease, and that number is projected to sharply increase as our population ages. As we look at various ways to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, including mild cognitive impairment, one of the many areas that has been studied frequently is that of sugar.

We Americans, in general, love our sugar. But is it possible that sugar increases our likelihood of developing dementia?

Research on Sugar and Cognitive Functioning

There's an already established link between type 2 diabetes and the development of dementia. But how does sugar affect people who don't have diabetes?

Multiple studies have been conducted on how sugar, or more specifically, glucose levels in our blood, impact cognition. A few of them include the following:

• In 2008, the journal Neuroepidemiology published research that measured the fasting insulin levels of more than 1,400 middle-aged women who did not have diabetes. Beginning 10 years later, the researchers measured the cognitive ability of these women over the next four years. They found that the women who had higher insulin levels in mid-life were more likely to experience cognitive decline later in life.
• In 2013, the journal Neurology reported on a study where researchers again found that higher blood sugar levels were associated with significantly poorer performance on cognitive tests measuring delayed recall, memory, and learning. This study involved 141 participants with an average age of 63 years old, none of whom had diabetes.

• An article published in 2013 in the Physiology and Behavior journal described research involving 98 participants without diabetes. The scientists measured each person's cognition by using the Stroop test, which is widely considered to be an accurate measure of the brain's executive functioning ability. The results indicated that participants with an inability to regulate their glucose levels achieved lower scores on the Stroop test, indicating decreased cognitive ability. The researchers stated, "Our results indicate that even mild hyperglycemia in the non-diabetic range is associated with attentional processing difficulties in a sample of younger adults." 

How About Sugar Intake?

The British Journal of Nutrition in 2011 outlined a study that sought to determine if sugar intake (not blood glucose levels) affects cognitive functioning. 737 people without diabetes, ages 45 to 75, were involved in this study, which was part of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study conducted from 2004-2009. The participants' cognition was measured by a variety of tests including the Stroop test, clock-drawing test, digit span test, and verbal fluency tests. These results were compared to the amount of sugar ingested by each person. The researchers found that in general, higher levels of sugar intake were correlated with lower cognitive scores.

Effect on the Brain

Not only does research show a connection between cognitive functioning and blood sugar levels, it also has demonstrated a correlation with actual brain size and structure. A study reported in Neurology found that higher blood glucose levels in people without diabetes were correlated with brain atrophy (shrinkage) in the hippocampal areas and the amygdala.

White sugar or refined sugar is the problem and it should be avoided like the plague.

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. 

Understanding Why We Gain Body Fat

Have you ever noticed that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you exercise or no matter how many calories you cut, you still can't get rid of the extra fat. There could be another reason for your size.

My friend has a twin born at the same time but one guy's bigger and still is 40 years later. The bigger brother is overweight and the smaller one is thin and fit. The overweight brother can't seem to lose the extra fat. At family, gathering, they always eat the same amount of food but the smaller one never gains weight. So what's going on is pretty normal for siblings. I've read a lot about families with some overweight members and some thin members.

Research shows that we are all different even when we're twins. So even if we look the same, we all process our food differently. It's your DNA that's different. DNA is in every gene that you were born with and siblings from the same parents won't have exactly the same DNA. So in that respect, we are all different. Science is working on this right now. If everyone at the family table eats exactly the same thing, for some of them, it's too much and for some it might not be enough, but it's not just the quantity, because of different DNA each person processes that food differently. Maybe some of those people can't eat starchy foods, for example, their system can't process that much starch so the liver turns it into fat and stores it.

That can happen with any food group, my wife can't eat beef. She can't digest it. Some people can't eat dairy products, everyone's different even though we all look the same or come from the same family. 

You can still overcome these differences by listening to your body and understanding what your limitations are. It will take some work on your part, but if you really want to slim down and get back to a healthy weight You must take your weight problem serious and do the work, investigate your behavior and find out what foods are causing your weight problem. I know guys that are seriously overweight and know that bread and other bakery goods are their problem, but they won't stop. They won't change, they're in denial. Guys are harder to convince that “they need to make the tuff choices”. Generally, they won't change until their Doctor has the big “come to Jesus” talk about their health. 

People who can't lose weight dieting, don't understand what they have to do to lose weight. Just eating less of the same foods won't help you to lose weight. That's the denial I'm talking about. If you want to lose weight you have to change what you're eating.

Personally, I think the overweight problem is mostly genetic. Because of your DNA, you who are African shouldn't be eating Chinese or even Italian. Because of your ancestry, you should be eating more like Africans. Maybe the overweight problem in China is because of the recent prosperity and the introduction of food from different parts of the world. Even American fast food is becoming popular in China. Because of the DNA of different people and the relatively new craze of eating out and eating a big verity of different foods from different cultures, this may be causing the overweight problem. 

There's another possibility, and this one your Doctor can help you with. If you seriously want to stop the cravings you have to stop eating food or drinks that spike your blood sugar. Your blood sugar will normally increase when you eat, but you want the increase to be slow and gradual. We know that sweet foods or sweet drinks will spike your blood sugar, but now science says that wheat flour also will spike your sugar levels. And what's so bad about that you might ask. 

I'll explain as if you're looking at a graph. If a normal blood sugar is below 5.6 and you eat ice cream and your blood sugar spike to 8, and your body is working normally, your blood sugar will drop rapidly to say 4 because the effects of the sugar won't last very long, but now you're below your normal level and your body will trigger another craving to get you back up to your normal level of 5.6. Now these numbers are just numbers and if you're concerned about your level you want to see your Doctor and get a blood test.      

When you're overweight it's important to have regular checkups that include blood tests. High blood sugar levels are a serious problem. 

But let's get back to cravings, people that snack a lot often don't understand why, and snacks put on the weight. It can be caused by your blood sugar or glucose levels spiking and dropping so that you keep creating the cravings for more food. So we know sugary foods will spike glucose or blood sugars levels and now science thinks that wheat flour can do the same. Wheat flour is in almost any bakery goods. Bread, cakes, donuts anything that comes from a bakery. Now you might think because you don't eat wheat bread that you're safe. All processed flour is made from wheat flour or partial wheat flour. You want to start reading the labels and avoid foods with processed flour. 

Ever wonder why gluten-free is so popular now. Gluten-free means there's no wheat flour or any wheat in that food. Read the label on gluten-free bread and you find it's made of rice flour. Gluten-free products will help you control the spike in you blood sugar which in turn help you avoid cravings. You can buy gluten-free bagels, pasta, rice cakes, cereal and bread just to name a few at any of the major grocery chains. So gluten-free will help you control your weight and avoiding sugary foods and drinks will also help cut your calories.

This is the other part of understanding the problem. Most people think that losing weight is all about dieting or all about exercising. Yes, but it's important to understand how you gained the weight. 9 out of 10 people put the weight back in a few months. If you're going thru the trouble to lose the weight and don't forget the money your spending, it's important to keep it off. Losing the weight and staying with a moderate exercise plan will make you much healthier. You're going to feel like a kid again. You don't want to return to the old you, overweight and tired all the time.

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. 

The Basics Of Weight Loss

Eating a healthy balanced diet can help you keep slim and trim and give you lots of energy. You want to eat a diet with the right number of calories, lots of good foods, and a whole lot less of foods that are bad for you.

OK, that seems a little too simplistic. In reality, it takes a bit of work to eat a healthy balanced diet, so I'll walk you through the process. If you're unsure of what your diet says about you & your lifestyle, this quiz is here to help!

How Many Calories Do You Need?

On average, an adult will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day to maintain his or her current weight. The number of calories you need depends on your natural size (that's the size you should be), muscle mass, activity level, age, and gender. There are calorie tables and calculators that will help you estimate your daily calorie need. But keep in mind these really are estimates—since you may have differences in your metabolism, you may need a few more or a few less calories than what the calculators show. Over time, you will know to adjust your overall calorie intake up or down by monitoring your weight. The less you weight, the less calories you need. I think that 2000 to 2500 is okay for an active person that is working out everyday and weighs over 160 pounds. The average person doesn't need 2000 calories a day if they have a small frame and if your trying to lose weight 2000 might be too many calories.

Keep a Food Diary

If you need to lose weight, gain weight, watch your fat, protein, or sodium intake, you'll have an easier time if you use a food diary. You can use a notebook, or you can use a web-based diet program, to keep track of your diet online.

Start by just writing down everything you eat for 3 or 4 days before you start a diet so you can see how many calories you're currently consuming.

Look at how many healthy foods you eat now and how many unhealthy foods you choose as well.

Once you understand your current diet, you will learn which healthy foods you need to eat more of and which ones you need to eat less of. Eating the right foods will help you lose weight.

Choose the Right Foods

Once you know how many calories you need, your next step is to choose foods that will offer lots of good nutrition for the calories you take in. What that means is that for every calorie you consume, look for the nutrition you'll get out of those calories. Avoid calories that aren't giving you any nutrition like sugar. Sometimes you can burn more body fat, not by cutting calories, but by changing the foods you eat. Empty calories won't create any energy and you need energy to burn body fat.

For example, at snack time, you could choose a healthy food such as a cup of blueberries for about 85 calories or a small glazed doughnut for 100 calories. Although there is only 15 calories difference between the two, the blueberries make a much better choice for a healthy diet. The blueberries are packed with vitamins, antioxidants and very low in fat. The glazed doughnut has very little nutritional value and a lot of unhealthy fats and sugars for such a small treat. Eating snacks with protein like a cup of Greek yogurt will create energy for your body to burn body fat. Try and eat some protein at every meal. But only eat meat once a day. 

Here's another example. Think about selecting fish for a meal—either 6 ounces of salmon or 5 fish sticks. Both the salmon and the fish sticks would offer roughly about the same number of calories, but the salmon would be a better choice because it's a great source of protein, B vitamins, and omega-3 essential fatty acids, while the fish sticks contain loads of unhealthy fats and sodium from the breading. Don't get confused, seafood is not meat, and it's a great substitute. Poultry is also a good substitute for meat. The trouble with meat is the animal fat you consume with the meat. You can talk to your doctor about that.

In general healthy foods are foods that are not covered in sauces, not baked into desserts, not deep-fried, heavily refined or processed.

By this I mean:

An apple is healthy; a piece of apple pie is not.
A lean piece of broiled steak is better than a greasy chicken-fried steak.
Turkey or chicken is lower in saturated fats than red meats.
Whole grain bread and cereals offer more fiber than white, refined bread and cereals.
Whole grain plain breakfast cereals are a better choice than sugar frosted breakfast cereals.
Eating a healthy balanced diet also means eating a variety of foods. Choose foods from each of the food groups to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients that you need. And pick healthy foods, not junk foods.

If you're not sure of the nutritional content of any packaged food, be sure to read the Nutrition Facts food labels to understand the nutritional content for the amount of calories per serving.

Dairy and Calcium Sources

Choose two or three servings from the dairy and calcium group each day. If you don’t like, or can't eat dairy products, look for deep green leafy vegetables or calcium-fortified orange juice and other foods.

1 cup of low- or non-fat milk
2 slices of cheese
1 cup of yogurt
1/3 cup of shredded cheese
1 cup cooked spinach
1 cup cooked or fresh broccoli
Whole Grains and Cereals

The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that you eat from six to eleven servings of grains and cereals each day, and at least half of those servings should be from whole grains.

Whole grains and cereals are great ways to get enough fiber in your diet and to add beneficial vitamins and minerals.

1 slice of whole wheat bread.
1/2 cup brown rice.
1/2 cup cooked quinoa.
1 cup of whole grain cereal.
1/2 cup oatmeal.
4 or 5 whole grain crackers.
2 cups air-popped popcorn
More Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables provide lots of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber, and you probably need 2 or 3 cups, or more, of vegetables per day, plus some fruit. It's difficult to imagine being healthy without eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Good fruit and vegetable serving choices include:

1/2 cup of sweet corn
1 piece of fresh fruit such as an apple, a pear or a peach
1/2 cup fruit cocktail
1/2 cup berries like strawberries or raspberries
1/2 half cup of black beans or pinto beans
1 small baked potato
1 cup of green beans
1 cup of broccoli
Healthy Protein Sources

You can easily get all the protein you need from plant sources such as dry beans and nuts, but most people prefer meat, fish and eggs as their main protein sources. You need 2 or 3 servings of protein each day.

3 ounces of cooked lean beefsteak.

3 ounces of lean cooked pork chop.

I cup of non-fat Greek Yogurt

One small baked chicken breast.

6 ounces of cooked oily ocean fish such as salmon or tuna.

1/2 cup of dry beans such as pinto beans or navy beans.

1 ounce of nuts, about 25 almonds, 13 cashews or 9 walnuts.

Healthy Fats and Oils ( plant based )

Olive and canola oil are good fats. So are the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and soy.

Trans fats are bad and eating too much saturated fat—like the fat in red meat—isn't recommended. You don’t need to add a lot of extra oil to your diet, just make healthy food and cooking choices, and you'll do just fine. The Mediterranean diet (recommended by most doctors) will only recommend red meat twice a month. Poultry and seafood are the best meat choices. The fats in seafood and poultry aren"t the same as animal fat and your body can process these fats. 

Also, don't drink calories and don't drink anything containing fat. Your dairy should be non-fat and your drinks no-calorie. The best is filtrated water.

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

There’s two ebooks. “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 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.

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

I'll Be Off-Line For About 10 Days

I need a break from the job of writing and I'm planning a new book so I could use some quiet time to concentrate. So meantime stay on your meal plan, it's summer and in the hot weather we should always eat lite. More fresh fruits and vegetables and less meat. More seafood and more water. I'll be back by the 10th of July, I hope.

I'd like to thanks the hundreds of readers from several different countries for your support and interest in my blogs. I've been doing this now for more than 10 years. I've written 2 ebooks on the same topics and I know that there are several different authors writing about the same things. So thanks again for coming to my blog.

Ray0369