Are Food Cravings Your Problem?

Food cravings are one big reason for being overweight. Everyone has food cravings and the food industry is making millions off us. I was in Walmart yesterday to pick up some bottled water and I really believe there was more shelf space devoted to snacks and drinks then groceries. Then you add the frozen processed foods and all the candy and is it any wonder that we have an overweight population.

O.K., we do need snacks, but what can I buy that's healthy? What if you had a go-to salty/crunchy food that you could turn to in these instances that was actually healthy for you and your waistline?  Well you do...Almonds!

Almonds are loaded with healthy fats and protein that will keep you feeling full for hours, making them a terrific fat-burning snack to scratch that salty/crunchy craving itch. But I go one step further and buy salted mixed nuts. All nuts have good properties. Different nuts are rich in different vitamins and minerals so you don't have to skip any. I like a hand full in the afternoon and that kills the cravings until dinner. Remember just one hand full, the amount that will fill your palm. Nuts have calories and you can kill your diet by eating too much. 

So if you want to lose weight you have to start by changing what you eat. Start to eat natural foods, eat fresh, no processed foods, processed foods are foods that are pre-made and ready to eat, like the foods in restaurants and the foods in the frozen food section of the supermarket, no added sugar or salt, salt in foods adds to water retention and will cause high blood pressure. No enriched flour, including enriched wheat, it's as bad for you as sugar. 

Until you get back to a healthy weight you should make your own meals and brown bag lunch. One more tip "if you want to lose weight don't skip breakfast". For those who don't eat breakfast, have a protein shake. You need the protein first thing in the morning, the first hour your up.And here's another tip (after all, two tips are better than one):  While almonds are great, it's easy to overeat almost any food when eating straight out of the container.  In fact, research shows that you will eat on average two to three times MORE of a food when eating out of the container, than if you pre-portion your food out into a bowl.


Done of this is difficult, there are hundreds of websites that can help you. You have to want to change.
The point is that you can have healthy snacks. Losing weight doesn't mean starving.  I just changed  what I eat. So we covered snacks and that's a big part of your calorie intake, but drinks also count for almost as many calories as snacks. People will often forget about the calories in snacks and drinks because they don't think those calories are enough to count. But the truth is that snacks and drinks throughout the day will add up to more calories then your meals. 

Nuts, fruit including dry fruit that has no sugar added, seeds or some veggies like baby carrot are all good snacks, avoid the dips. 

For almonds, a 2 ounces (the typical serving size) is the perfect amount to set aside for a great fat-burning snack that will satisfy your cravings while holding you over until your next main meal.

A person should only consume about 1500 to 1800 calories a day depending on your weight. Now if you switch to drinking soda, they're about 200 calories a can unless your drinking a diet drink with zero calories. If your drinking a zero calorie can of soda you have to deal with the chemicals. And you might say "so what", "chemical are in everything anyway". Your right, but if your trying to lose weight, chemicals will affect your metabolism which is the bodies way of burning fat and if you slow down your metabolism your not burning fat, your just storing fat from the food your eating. 

If you start your morning at the coffee shop where you might order a Latte and then add sugar, you might be drinking 300 calories or maybe 600 depending on the size. If you drink plain coffee at work and put cream and sugar you might be drinking 100 calories and if you grab one of those donuts in the break room you might be taking a "500 calorie coffee break". It's now about 10 am you had no breakfast, just the Latte and your coffee break and your already consumed more then half your calories for the day. 

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. 

Tips For Losing Excess Skin

If you’ve lost a lot of weight recently, then you may have noticed that you have a bit of loose skin hanging around. From extra skin under the arms to a hanging pouch around the stomach, loose skin can pose an embarrassing problem, especially if weight loss has been achieved rapidly.  I love this post because as we age we all have this problem and you see very few articles that talk about it.

In this article you’ll learn why skin gets lose, how to tighten loose skin after fat loss, and you’ll also find out which creams, medical procedures, nutrition tactics and exercises will successfully tighten loose skin.

Why Skin Gets Loose After Weight Loss

Since it has to stretch as we move, grow, and--as in the case of weight loss--shrink, skin is an incredibly elastic living organ. Yes, that’s right, skin is not just one big piece of rubber that covers the entire body, but is instead an organ, and just like all the other organs in your body, it is comprised of cells.

Different layers of your skin have different types of cells, and though the skin cells on the outer part of your skin (the epidermis) are constantly being lost and replaced with new cells, the skin cells under the epidermis are a bit more permanent. These layers of the skin, called the dermis and subdermis, are made up of elastic connective tissues, fibers, blood vessels and all sorts of components that can stretch or contract depending on how they’re treated.

What Happens to Your Skin When You Lose Weight?

When you lose weight, and especially when you lose weight very quickly, these elastic components of your skin not only lose the layers of fat that keep them stretched out over your body, but they also don’t have much time for their elasticity to adapt to your new shape.

In addition to weight loss, age, poor nutrition, dehydration, excessive sun exposure, and smoking can all affect the elasticity of the skin and give you that elephant-like appearance you probably don’t want.

As you lose fat and your loose skin begins to appear, the first rule is: don’t panic! Because it is a living organ, your skin will slowly return to a shape that fits your new body. But since that process can take up to two years, here are steps you can take to make your skin tighten more quickly:

Tip #1: Don’t Lose Weight Too Quickly

Crash diets and excessive amounts of time spent exercising can rapidly shed both muscle and fat, resulting in a double-whammy on your skin--the supportive underlying muscular structure that holds skin against your body is lost, as is the fat that keeps the skin stretched out.

Quick and dirty tip for not losing weight too quickly: Aim for 1-2 pounds of fat loss per week, and make sure your weight loss program includes weight lifting so that you do not lose lean muscle. 

Tip #2: Stay Hydrated

Attend to your hydration needs. Water is a crucial component of maintaining skin elasticity. From both food and drink, you should be taking in at least two liters of water each day. 

Tip #3: Eat Properly

Two necessary ingredients that keep skin plump and elastic are collagen and elastin. Protein-rich foods such as cottage cheese, milk, legumes, tofu, beans, seeds, nuts, and fish all contain collagen and elastin forming components, as well as oils to help maintain healthy skin.

Quick and dirty protein tip: For optimum absorption, squeeze 100-200 calories of these protein sources in immediately after your workout. 

Tip #4: Take Care of Your Skin

Nourish and care for your skin. Daily exfoliation can help to remove dead skin cells and increase skin circulation. A hot bath with sea salts and minerals can improve skin tone. Skin tightening creams with herbal formulas and ingredients such as aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, yeast extract, soy protein, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A can help to hydrate and increase collagen and elastin formation in skin.

Stay away from harsh detergents, such a sulfates in soaps, shampoos and dishwashing liquids, limit your sun exposure and stay away from tanning booths, and limit your exposure to hot and chlorinated water—all of these things will decrease skin elasticity.

Quick and dirty tip: If you swim for fitness, use soap and shampoos that are specially designed to remove chlorine.

When to Consider Surgery for Loose Skin

Skin can only be stretched so far before it looses some of its ability to snap back. If you’ve had a 9-month pregnancy, then you’ll be able to tighten your loose skin. But if you’ve carried a hundred or more extra pounds for many years, you may be a candidate for plastic surgery to tighten and lift loose skin. This fix should only be used in extreme cases, and I should warn you: those who have undergone this operation have actually gained more fat afterwards while they were rehabilitating from surgery! Your body will store fat as a defense  against starvation so I would think storing up fat after a surgery maybe pretty common.

Bottom Line

As mentioned earlier, elasticity of your skin will naturally decrease with age. Though you can address issues such as not losing weight too quickly, staying properly hydrated, eating the right foods, and caring for your skin, you simply have no control over your age! Quick and dirty tip: Rather than letting age stress you out, you should focus on the things over which you have control—like exercising and eating right—and you’ll find that you always look good.

Whether you have a kangaroo pouch, an orangutan chin, or elephant legs, you can use the tips in this article to tighten loose skin or prevent loose skin in the first place.

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. 

Changing Your Life To Lose Your Fat

If you’ve already broken a New Year’s resolution or two, take heart. I can let you in on the ultimate secret for successfully making change in your life. If you want to be slim and trim and full of energy you'll have to change your life, there's no shortcut, no easy way. If the truth be known, anyone who loses weight fast has a much large risk of re-gaining the weight just as fast. Losing weight permanently is about losing body fat. Losing body fat will take a lifestyle change. No diets, just eating the right food and avoiding foods that add fat. Yes, you have to count calories at first until you learn what to eat and how much to eat.

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

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

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

Said differently:

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

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

1. Nature hates a vacuum: In the context of changing your life, this means you can’t just get rid of something that is an important part of your life and leave a big emptiness in its place. This is one of the great secrets of Alcoholics Anonymous: you substitute the location of a bar and the company of fellow drinkers with an AA meeting in the company of people committed to sobriety. If you want to exercise instead of watch TV in the morning, put a treadmill in the spot where your TV once sat. If you eat too much at night because you are lonely and it briefly makes you feel better, do something in the evening where food is not available and eat earlier in the day so you don’t starve.

Did you notice the similarity to the Weight Watchers program. It’s a proven method that works.

2. Make it easy: It is hard enough to change habits or behaviors, so don’t make it any harder. Let’s take me as an example. I’ve been trying for several years to lose weight but always failed due to two problem behaviors: once I start eating a meal I can’t stop myself from eating more than I should; and, although I do pretty well during the day, in the evening I invariably break down and eat more than I should.

So how have I lost 10 pounds recently? By going with these weaknesses and modifying my environment in ways that allow me to succeed in spite of them. Because I can’t regulate what I eat very well once I start, I’ve limited how often I eat – which means fasting for a good portion of the day. Because it isn’t practical to fast at night given a family at home (and my weakness for eating at night), I fast during the day when the environment makes it easy. I’ve changed my environment so that I avoid restaurants at lunch and make sure I keep focused on work during the peak time of my midday hunger. A final note on this strategy: you have to accept a blow to your pride to find ways to work with your weaknesses instead of against them.

3. Skin in the game: Recent studies are suggesting that you can use monetary rewards and punishments to help change problematic behavior. In essence, these strategies require that you change your environment in ways that make it so painful to fail that you are motivated to stick with the change you are attempting. Let’s take dieting/weight loss as an example. Imagine that you’ve set up your environment such that you will have to pay money to something or someone if you fail to reach your goals (some people have found it especially effective for the money to go to a cause they hate). How much money would need to be on the line to motivate you to shed those extra 20 pounds? Would the threat of losing $ 10,000 keep you focused on succeeding?

It sounds like the author has a point, but I would do it differently. I think a better way to motivate would be to weight yourself on time a week, everytime you weight yourself do it on the same day at the same time and with the same amount of clothes. If you gain weight you owe your partner $20. When you get tired of paying $20 a week you’ll start losing weight.

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

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

It boils down to the same answer everytime. Just because you haven’t had success, just means you haven’t found the way to succeed. Never give up, you will succeed if you keep trying.

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

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.

Compulsive Eating And How To Stop

This is a feature article on WebMD and is definitely worth a read. Compulsive eating and food addiction are a major cause of the overweight problem in this country. It will be worth your while it analyze your weight problem and how you got to where you are now. Failing to realize what caused your weight problem will only set you up for failure.

Compulsive Overeating and How to Stop 

By Jennifer Rainey Marquez

Reviewed by Joseph Goldberg, MD

Think back to the last time you ate so much you felt absolutely stuffed. Were you tearing into a huge cake to celebrate a friend’s birthday? Loading up on turkey and sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving? Or were you at home alone, maybe at the end of a tough day? How did you feel afterward -- simply annoyed that you gave yourself a stomachache? Or were you tormented by guilt or shame?

Eating too much every once in a while is normal. So is eating for emotional reasons. “From the moment we’re born, we’re nurtured with food, rewarded with food, and so emotional connections to food are normal,” says Michelle May, MD, author of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat.

People who compulsively overeat, though, may use food as their only way of coping with negative emotions. As a result, they often feel that their eating is out of control. They think about food all the time and feel guilty, ashamed, or depressed after eating. “That’s very different from what someone feels after, say, eating a big Thanksgiving meal,” May says. “You might feel full, and you might regret having had that last slice of pie, but you’re not consumed with shame.”

Some people who overeat have a clinical disorder called binge eating disorder (BED). People with BED compulsively eat large amounts of food in a short amount of time and feel guilt or shame afterward. And they do so often: at least once a week over a period of at least 3 months.

Not everyone who overeats is a binger. You might eat a lot of food throughout the day, rather than all in one sitting. And you might not do it regularly, but only when you’re feeling stressed, lonely, or upset.

How does it start?

In some cases, people simply overeat out of mindless habit, like always sitting down with a bag of chips in front of the TV at night. But oftentimes, it’s the result of underlying emotional problems. Having a negative body image can play a big role. 

For many people, compulsive overeating is part of a cycle that starts with a restrictive diet. May calls it the “eat, repent, repeat” cycle. You might begin a diet because you feel bad about your weight or size but find that it’s too hard to stick to -- especially if you use food as a coping tool. Eventually, you hit a breaking point and binge on “forbidden” foods, and then the guilt and shame set in, and the restrictions begin again.

The cycle can be hard to break. “Even people who say they’re not on a diet often have ingrained ideas about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods,” says Marsha Hudnall, president of Green Mountain at Fox Run in Vermont, a center for women who struggle with overeating. “But when you have a substance that is naturally appealing and soothing and comforting, and you make it off-limits, it just becomes more attractive.”

Can people be “addicted” to food?

In recent years, food addiction has become a popular idea among some scientists. Those researchers say that certain foods high in fat, sugar, and salt are addictive, causing changes in the brain similar to those made by drugs. Studies in animals have shown that rats that binge on sugar, for example, can develop signs of dependency.

But the idea of food addiction is controversial. For one thing, the standard treatment for addiction is abstinence, and that’s not possible with food. Also, “dieting is a very strong component of the binge eating cycle,” May says. “From that standpoint, it’s counterproductive to label certain foods as negative.”

There’s no doubt that eating can stimulate the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain, Hudnall says. “But that doesn’t make food an addictive substance. There’s evidence that it’s actually the behavior -- the restrict/binge cycle -- that causes the signs of dependency, not the food itself,” she says. Some researchers have even stated that the term “eating addiction” is a more accurate term than “food addiction.”

How can I control compulsive eating?

Seek help. It can be hard to stop overeating on your own, particularly if there are deep-rooted emotional problems involved, says Robin B. Kanarek, professor of psychology at Tufts University. Working with a counselor can help you uncover the psychological triggers -- like a negative body image -- that may be driving your behavior.The cycle can be hard to break. “Even people who say they’re not on a diet often have ingrained ideas about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods,” says Marsha Hudnall, president of Green Mountain at Fox Run in Vermont, a center for women who struggle with overeating. “But when you have a substance that is naturally appealing and soothing and comforting, and you make it off-limits, it just becomes more attractive.”

“Understand that you’re not a bad person doing bad things,” May says. “Labeling yourself can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of continuing the cycle.”

The same goes for labeling foods. “Food is food -- it’s not good or bad,” Kanarek says. “It can be hard to get over those deeply held beliefs, but research shows that if you eat what you deem a ‘bad’ food, you’re more likely to overeat afterward.”

Take a pause. When you feel like eating, pause for a moment and ask yourself: Am I hungry? “Sometimes people get so focused on what they want to eat that they don’t stop and ask themselves why they want to eat,” May says. If you use food as a coping tool, you may be out of touch with the cues that signal hunger or fullness, and it’s important to bring your awareness back to your body.

Change your environment. “A habit is very often simply a behavior that’s on autopilot,” Hudnall says. Making a tweak to your environment can return your focus to your behavior and give you a chance to make a more purposeful decision. For example, Hudnall says, “if you always sit in a certain chair to eat, move it to a different place in the room -- or sit somewhere else entirely.”

Give into cravings -- in moderation. Banning foods can cause you to overeat them later on. If you’re really craving something -- even if you’re not hungry -- give yourself permission to have a small amount. 

End restrictive diets . “Overeating and restrictive eating are often two sides of the same coin,” May says. “Deprivation can be a trigger for overeating just like stress, anger, or anxiety.”

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. 

Can't Do Yoga, Think Again

If you think you're not the yoga type, think again. Just about anyone can do it, and it's not about bending yourself into a pretzel.

For men and women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities, Yoga builds strength and balance. It's also a great way to ease stress. Yoga is the second most popular form of exercise next to walking.

"In a gym, you're really pushing yourself to go further when you're working out. In yoga, it's the opposite. The poses encourage all the range of motion that the body is designed to do," says Megan Dunne Krouse, a yoga instructor in Chicago.

Doing Yoga When You're Overweight

When Megan Garcia signed up for yoga at Smith College, she felt intimidated because she was the only overweight person in the class. She stuck with it, though, and noticed she started gaining strength, plus feeling and sleeping better, too.

Now she is a plus-sized model and Kripalu-certified yoga instructor who teaches in New York and specializes in teaching yoga to people of all shapes and sizes.

Garcia found that yoga changed her in unexpected ways. "Before I started doing yoga, I really lived life from the neck up," she says. "After yoga, I began to really feel at home in my skin. If I didn't have yoga, I can't imagine feeling so good in my body. Yoga has made it comfortable for me to sit on the floor, to twist, to bend. It grounds me in my body."

RaeAnn Banker, who owns River Yoga in Lahaska, PA, started taking yoga classes on her 42nd birthday as a present to herself.

"I was overweight, and since my mother was morbidly obese, I knew I better do something or I was going to end up just like her," Banker says.

"It took several months of driving by the yoga center before I got up the courage to go in. But once I started, I loved the classes. I was the weakest student in the class, but I kept going," Banker says. "I ended up losing 35 pounds over the next 2 years and becoming a yoga teacher. Yoga literally changed my life."

I personally started yoga at the age of 70. They were offering free classes at the senior center so I thought I'd try. I felt a little out-of-place at first, but after a few weeks, I was getting the hang of it. The instructor was older than me and most of the students were my age. After a few months, I started to lose body fat and build strength. The senior center only offers a class twice a week, but I do Yoga at home on the other days. I'm always trying to do the poses better each time. I don't have to go to class anymore. I know most of the poses but I go anyway, the instructor always adds new poses when she has time to fit them in. 

Today I'm a happier person who has more confidence and strength. I don't care how old I am, it's about how old you feel and I feel 30 years younger. If you're interested in changing your life I wrote two books on the subject.

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

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

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

What Is The Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods eaten by people living in the Mediterranean region, especially Greece. It's loaded with healthy foods and research findings suggest following this diet may help reduce some of the risk factors for heart disease. 

According to the Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, the Mediterranean diet was introduced in 1993 by Oldways, Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.

 The diet includes:

• Olives and olive oil
• Whole grains, mostly in bread and cereal rather than pasta
• Very little red meat
• Fish and seafood
• Some cheese, but less milk
• Lots of vegetables and fruit
• Plenty of legumes and nuts
• A little red wine

The Mediterranean diet is high in fiber and antioxidants from vegetables, legumes and nuts, far greater than the typical Western diet, and low in saturated fat. Very little red meat is eaten in this region, and milk consumption is limited as well, except for some cheese and yogurt.

Oldways designed a Mediterranean Diet Food Pyramid to help you see which foods are best.

The base of the pyramid is made up of foods like whole grain bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes and rice. Fruits, legumes, nuts, and vegetables make up another large share of your daily diet, along with smaller amounts of cheese, yogurt, and olive oil. Poultry, fish, and eggs are eaten weekly, and red meats are eaten about once per month.

Oldways also suggests you drink six glasses of water every day, along with moderate consumption of red wine for some people. The Mediterranean Pyramid even allows for one sweet treat every week.

How to Follow the Mediterranean Diet

Replace the fat you use now with olive oil. You probably don't want to add more calories to you diet so use olive oil in place of butter, margarine and other salad dressing oils.

Olive oil is good for cooking too.

Eat lots of vegetables. This idea just can't be stressed enough. Every healthy diet includes lots of vegetables. Many people in the Mediterranean eat a pound of vegetables every day. Green and colorful vegetables are low in calories and high in antioxidants. Prepare Greek vegetarian dishes several times each week.

Enjoy a little starch. Choose whole grains more often because they're higher in fiber. Potatoes and polenta, which is made from cornmeal, are also commonly used as starches in the Mediterranean.

Eat poultry and fish. Fish contains omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your heart and your brain. Plus, fish is low in total fat and calories. Poultry and eggs are also acceptable protein sources. Bake or broil your fish or chicken, don't deep fry it. Breaded and deep fried foods don't fit this diet at all.

Limit red meat consumption. Red meat has a lot of saturated fat that's not good for your heart, so there isn't much room for steaks and hamburgers in this diet (only about one meal per month).

Instead of a greasy burger from a burger joint, make a ground turkey burger on a whole grain bun instead. Add lettuce, a slice of avocado and tomato, and you won't miss the red meat.

Discover legumes and nuts. Legumes have lots of fiber, protein, and nutrients and can be used in the main dish. Choose fava beans and other dry beans. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and cashews make a delicious and healthy snack.

Enjoy fresh fruits as dessert. Avoid sugary pastries, cakes, and cookies. Fruit is lower in calories and high in fiber and nutrients.

Yogurt and cheese are sources of calcium. Choose some low-fat yogurt and cheese every day. You could make a yogurt dressing or try a healthy salad with tomatoes and feta cheese. Keep it light. 

Drink water and wine. The Mediterranean Pyramid includes six glasses of water every day and a glass or two of red wine. Water is good for everybody, but don't drink red wine if you're pregnant, underage or if drinking alcohol puts you or others at risk.

Switching from a typical western diet to a Mediterranean diet seems difficult if you're not used to olive oil, fish and some of the vegetables and seasonings often associated with this region. But it's quite delicious. After a couple months on this diet you will feel healthier and have more energy. You may over-eat at first but after the first week, you'll notice that you won't be eating as much. Stick to this diet and don't cheat, you'll become a healthier person with more energy and considerable happier. 

You'll have to follow the same simple rules to lose weight. Eat several small meals, one about every three hours. Don't drink calories, except for that glass of red wine. And don't eat anything the last 4 hours before bed.

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. 

There's No Magic Pill

Everyone looks for an easy way to do everything. We look for the App to change the stations on the TV, you look for the App to open the garage door, the App to do your Taxes, but for losing weight, there’s no easy way. Did You ever do a search: "lose weight” and see all the different websites that have the answer for quick or fast weight loss; just buy this or eat this and the weight will melt away. It won’t happen and if you lose weight it usually comes right back.

I lost weight by changing my diet and I never went back. And if I’m on vacation or go to a family gathering and I do slip up and eat something that will add fat, if you go right back to your meal plan the next day, any extra fat you added will disappear fast. When I changed my diet and started to eat fresh, mostly vegetables and fruit for dessert or for a snack, eating more nuts and not eating that food I use to eat. Not eating that food that put the weight on in the first place. I’m not a vegetarian, I do eat meat, but I stick to white meat chicken or tuna or wild salmon.

 My trick to losing weight is to eat as little animal fat as possible. White meat chicken has some yellow fat on the outside of the meat and It’s easy to remove, so you are eating meat that’s 95% fat-free. Fat on a fish is almost the same, the fat lays outside the meat under the skin. The advantage to eating fish is you get the nutrients from the Omega-3 fatty oil in the fish and salmon and tuna are rich in Omega-3. Other seafood has fish oil and minerals but for my money, I’ll buy wild salmon and tuna. I think you get more nutrients for your money. Red meat and even pork contain animal fat marbled through the meat. Some red meat is leaner than others but all animal meat contains animal fat. It’s a good source of protein but you can’t avoid animal fat and that’s the part your system doesn’t process very well and will turn most of it into Body fat and store it.

Yes, humans have always eaten animal meat, but throughout history, man has never had a very long lifespan. On average, we probably live longer today than humans have ever lived throughout history. Having said that, science has no idea how long humans could live if we could eliminate disease and illness. 

Now we all know the science can’t remove all diseases and illnesses in the next century, but we can change our diet and become healthier and whether science knows that or not eating healthy is the answer to longevity. That and exercise for your body and your mind will definitely keep you fit and active for many years to come. 

It would be nice to avoid all those health problems our grandparents had. And by eating healthy, I know I’m going to live a better, longer life. 

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 $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.