Do You Have To Diet To Lose Weight?

 Do you have to diet to lose weight?

By Diana Kelly

The Rumor: You have to go on a strict diet to lose weight

It's fitting that "diet" has four letters because, for many of us, it's a curse word. We associate dieting with punishment, starvation, beating ourselves up, avoiding any fun social activities, and basically, waiting until it’s over and we can start living our lives again -- in leaner bodies, of course. In 2012, there were 108 million people on diets in the United States. To help them reach their goals, Americans spent about $20 billion on the weight-loss industry, including diet books, diet drugs, and weight-loss surgeries.

Is it necessary, though? Can you lose weight without being on a diet? We talked to nutrition experts Amy Jamieson Petonic, RD, of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Nutrition Twins, Tammy Lakatos Shames and Lyssie Lakatos, upwave's diet and fitness experts, for their tips on how to shed pounds the healthy way and keep them off for good. 

The Verdict: The most effective weight loss involves lifestyle changes, not crash diets. Change what You eat and change what you do.

“Successful weight loss isn’t all-or-nothing thinking,” says Lakatos. “Dieting is a temporary thing that you think you’re on or off of. When you tell yourself you can have this and you can’t have that, oftentimes it winds up backfiring. People end up giving in and eventually binging on the foods they avoided because it’s very hard to be extremely restrictive for a long period of time.”

“But healthy eating is a lifestyle,” says Lakatos Shames. “Focus on healthy options of what you know you should eat. If you concentrate on eating fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, there is less room for desserts and junk in your meals. Focusing on what you can’t eat is the dieting mentality.”

When I started to make progress in my battle with weight, I changed to a whole-food diet. What is that you might ask. Eating whole foods is eating food as close as possible to its natural state. I would only eat fruit and vegetables that I could touch and smell in the store. I didn't buy anything in a box, bag, or can. I bought fresh meat. I didn't buy any prepackaged meat. I stopped buying lunch meat or packaged cheese. I wasn't buying anything with a label. I stopped drinking anything with calories. I stopped cheating on the weekends. I ate all I wanted but I only ate whole foods. I picked all my food from the food pyramid below. It gives you several choices. I ate what I wanted and avoided some of the things I didn't want. Look on the right side for the brackets. Some foods you can eat every day, some once a week, and others once a month. I lost 20 pounds in a few months. Everyone can't expect the same results but If you stick to your plan you will see results in a couple months. At first, don't expect much the body has to get accustomed to the changes in your diet.

“Dieting [has] such a negative association with food,” says Petonic. “When you begin to associate good, whole foods with pleasure, weight loss will happen with very little effort,” Petonic suggests eating these foods to help you lose weight without dieting:

Whole grains: Eat 100 percent whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, or brown rice. All provide essential B vitamins and minerals that will fill you up and keep your energy levels high.

Quinoa: It’s a complete plant protein that gives you all nine essential amino acids and is packed with fiber and iron.

Salmon: This protein source is high in omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, which are anti-inflammatory, and they provide essential proteins for growth and development.

Pistachios: These protein-packed nuts may help increase your metabolic rate and promote fat burning.

But don’t forget to get moving! Exercise is just as important as nutrition because that’s how you burn calories, says Lakatos. “Exercising is how you speed up your metabolic rate and get your body going. We’ve found that when our clients exercise, they feel good about themselves, and they don’t want to undo their hard work by eating the wrong foods.”

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you 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 first 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. 

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.

Can You believe food labels?

When it comes to food labels, manufacturers are very good at finding the loopholes in labeling laws and requirements, and subsequently very good at pulling the wool over YOUR eyes.  One such loophole is the manufacturer's ability to claim "zero" grams of fat, or zero grams of trans fat, or zero calories on the label, when in fact the product does indeed contain plenty of fat, trans fat, and/or calories.

Here's the law, and how food manufacturers get around it:

Zero grams of fat or zero grams of trans fat:  As long as the food item has less than .5g of fat or trans fat, respectively, the label does not need to claim their existence on the label.  In fact, the product can even legally market "Zero grams of fat!" or "0g of trans fat per serving!"

More on why this is a HUGE problem, and how food manfacturers deepen this loophole in just a minute.

Zero calories per serving:  As long as the food item has less than 5 calories per serving, it can be rounded down and labeled 0 calories.
   

Deepening the Loophole with Unrealistic Serving Sizes

While .5g of fat or 5 calories may not seem like a big deal, remember that these values are "per serving", and while an entire package, box, can, or bottle of a product may contain hundreds of calories and loads of fat, as long as they can divide that package into small enough servings to meet the calorie and gram requirements to claim zero, it's legal.

Legal AND deceptive as hell.

We don't know about you, but we get angry when we see food manufacturers outright LYING to consumers on their labels and in the nutrition facts.  Some of these products should change the Nutrition Facts header to "Nutrition Lies" and it'd actually be a lot more accurate.

You see, at BioTrust we're here to provide you with honest nutrition advice and products, and as such, here are our "Top 3 Violators" of this deceptive food labeling practice.

1. Cooking Sprays and Butter Sprays - Cooking sprays are labeled as fat-free but their first ingredient is oil, which is 100% fat.  How in the world can this be?  Well, the serving size is 1/5th of a second.  What?  Last time we used a cooking spray (some of the organic ones are useful) it took about 3 seconds to lightly coat the surface of the pan.  Well, according to the manufacturer, we just used 15 servings.

Bottom line, no one uses the ridiculous and absurd microscopic 1/5th of second spray suggested serving, which isn't nearly enough product to be of practical use.

Cooking sprays aren't fat-free...they are nearly 100% fat.  In my example above, a realistic serving actually contains around 5 grams of fat and 45 calories.  A far cry from the 0 number reported on their nutrition facts.

Same goes for butter sprays, which are 90%+ fat in most cases.  For example, one popular brand of butter spray contains over 800 calories and 90g of fat per bottle, yet it's labeled as a fat-free, calorie-free product!  Yeah, right!

The serving size?  One spray.  Let's get real here...no one is using one spray, or five sprays, or 10 sprays.  In fact, twenty-five sprays equals just one teaspoon, when the servings size for regular butter is 1 tablespoon.  When you balance out the serving size to be the same as a serving of butter, you're looking at 75 sprays to get the same amount.

2.  Artificial sweeteners - Not only are artificial sweeteners bad news for you health, but they're also a top violator of "calorie free" deceptive labeling practices.  Many brands of artificial sweeteners use maltodextrin and/or dextrose (which is pure sugar) as fillers in each packet, and each packet can legally contain up to a full gram of sugar and 5 calories and still be labeled as calorie free.

We've seen people put 3 - 5 packets of this stuff in their coffee or on their cereal...hardly calorie free and even worse, maltodextrin and dextrose are two of the biggest insulin-spiking carbs around -- the entire reason people choose artificial sweeteners over sugar in the first place!

To learn more about how the popular artificial sweetener sucralose (known commonly as Splenda®) can destroy your health, click here.  

3.  Any food that contains "partially hydrogenated" oils in the ingredient list, period.  Bottom line, you should have a zero-tolerance attitude toward trans fats.  They are the most health-derailing nutrient known to man, and you should be truly consuming ZERO grams per day.

If a product claims "Zero grams of trans fat per serving", especially if they specify "per serving", they are almost always playing the serving size game and you're very likely to see partially hydrogenated oils on the list of ingredients when you flip the package over.  If so, avoid it like the plague.

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you 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 first 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. 

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.

What Is The Best Exercise For Weight Loss?

a Post on WebMD

When it comes to dropping pounds, there’s no substitute for pushing back from your plate. But what about exercise?

While it’s important for overall health and mental well-being, it’s probably not going to help you dramatically shrink your size. Exercise is good for Cardio and can boost your metabolism but as far as weight loss, not so much.

“It has dozens and dozens of benefits, but when it comes to producing clinically meaningful weight loss -- weight loss of 5% to 10% or more -- you really want to focus on dieting.”

Exercising when you’re trying to lose weight is tricky. It does help burn calories, but not nearly as many as not eating those calories in the first place. And exercise increases appetite, so if you’re working out intensely, it’s really easy to eat back all the calories you just burned.

Martin recommends that people who are trying to lose weight focus on moderate-intensity physical activities, like brisk walking or gardening.

The National Weight Control Registry, which tracks people who’ve successfully lost 30 pounds and kept it off for a year or longer, reports that 94% of members have increased their physical activity in some way. The most frequently reported form of exercise is walking.

Where exercise becomes critically important is for weight maintenance. Martin says most people who successfully lose weight and keep it off exercise a lot -- nearly an hour a day.

I want to add my 2 cents about my weight loss. I have lost over 60 pounds over several years. I believe as we age, we should lose weight every year we get older. A person's body function will slow down as we age, especially over 50. I do exercise, mostly walking, some biking, and some gardening. I don't workout one hour a day, except when I bike. I bike for about 90 minutes when I bike. I also do some yoga and stretches every morning. I have maintained 160 pounds for the last 10 years. Losing Weight and maintaining is all about diet. 

You can't eat the same foods that put the weight on in the first place. I have a protein shake in the morning. I eat chicken breasts almost one breast every day. I say almost because sometimes I have fish baked like a piece of salmon. I always have vegetables with a hot meal. I don't eat dessert but I will eat a piece of fruit. 

The hard part for me was to stop drinking alcohol. I wasn't really overindulging but Beer or wine can be 200 calories per glass. Even if you drink light beer it's about 100 calories each. Mixed drinks can be more than 200 calories each. I stopped drinking calories period. You don't have to cut back on food. You have to eat food with less calories. I only eat about 1600 calories a day. Most Americans drink over 2000 calories a day. 

Losing weight is really about losing body fat. We can't all lose weight the same way. The way I lose weight might not work for you, but you still have to keep trying. I tried everything for many years and had no luck. If I lost any weight it would always come back in a few months. When I started to eat healthy I finally started to lose weight. At the beginning, you won't get the scale to budge, but after 3 months you'll start to see a difference. Your body will take time to adjust to any change you make in your diet. Progress doesn't happen overnight or not even in the first few weeks. The people who tell you they can't lose weight are the ones who give up.

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you 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 first 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. 

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.

In Defense Of Food And The Rise Of Healthy-ish

 

A new PBS documentary and Bon Appetit’s January issue espouse a radically moderate approach to eating.

Sophie Gilbert

Abstinence, we are usually told around this time of year, makes the heart grow stronger. It’s why Dry January, which started in the green and pleasantly alcoholic land of Britain a few years ago before reaching the U.S., is increasingly being touted as a good and worthy thing to do, and why so many people are currently making plans to remove whole food groups from their diet: carbs, fat, Terry’s Chocolate Oranges. The key to health, books and websites and dietitians and former presidents reveal, is a process of elimination. It’s going without. It’s getting through the darkest, coldest month of the year without so much as a snifter of antioxidant-rich Cabernet.

The problem with giving things up, though, is that inevitably it creates a void in one’s diet that only Reese’s pieces and a family-sized wheel of brie can fill. Then there’s the fact that so many abstinence-espousing programs require spending money on things; on Whole 30 cookbooks and Weight Watchers memberships and $10 bottles of bone broth. For a process that supposedly involves cutting things out, there seems to be an awful lot to take in.

This, Michael Pollan posits, is the problem with food: It’s gotten extraordinarily complicated. The writer and sustainable-eating advocate has written several books on how the simple business of eating has become a minefield in which earnest Westerners try to tiptoe around gooey, genetically engineered sugar bombs without setting off an explosion of calories, corn sugar, and cancer. In Defense of Food, published in 2008, offers a “manifesto” for eaters (i.e. humans) that’s breathtaking in its seven-word simplicity: Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. This mantra is repeated once more in a documentary based on the book that airs Wednesday night on PBS, and it’s felt in the January issue of Bon Appetit, which is based almost entirely around the concept of “healthy-ish” eating: “delicious, comforting home cooking that just happens to be kinda good for you.”

Healthy-ish, as a concept, isn’t new. In fact, it’s the food industry’s equivalent of your mom telling you to finish your broccoli before you dive into the Twinkies, only dressed up with a sexy hyphenated coverline and some mouthwatering photos of chicken seared in a cast-iron skillet. “Healthy-ish” shouldn’t feel revolutionary. By its very definition it’s something of a big old foodie shrug—an acknowledgment that if we can’t all subsist on steamed fish and vegetables all of the time, we can at least offset the steak dinner for having salad for lunch. It is, as per Pollan at least, a philosophy that everything is best enjoyed in moderation, including moderation.

So why does it feel so subversive?

The reason, as explained by both manifestations of In Defense of Food, is that industries upon industries, even entire religions, have been predicated on the premise that eating (certain things) is bad and will kill you. The documentary draws on years of food-related quackery to illustrate how ingrained fearing food is. It looks back to John Harvey Kellogg’s sanitariums in the late 19th century, in which the renowned Seventh Day Adventist, convinced that protein was bad for you and that constipation was caused by a buildup of bacteria in the colon, gave prescriptions for yogurt enemas, all-grape diets, and chewing each bite of food 20 times before you swallow.

Kellogg is better-known now as the pioneer behind breakfast cereal, which he believed would help rid the world of the evil that is masturbation, but his experiments with fad diets have informed much of the thinking behind modern “healthy” eating regimes in the ways in which they take things to extremes. Paleo diets, although structured around an excess of protein that Kellogg would faint at, are based on the premise that humans haven’t yet evolved to eat grains, legumes, and dairy (the British Dietetic Association counters that they’re “a sure-fire way to develop nutrient deficiencies”). Veganism, by contrast, is touted by the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine as “the optimal way to meet your nutritional needs” (this may well be true, but it’s also the optimal way to get disinvited from a dinner party). Both involve intensive planning and work. Neither allows any leeway for an 11 a.m. office Krispy Kreme.

What’s so compelling about Pollan’s manifesto, by contrast, is that he obviously loves food, and not in a gets-orgiastic-over-fiber kind of way. Although the documentary is less nuanced and richly drawn than his writing, it communicates much of the passion he feels for simple pleasures like a crunchy, well-dressed salad, or a zesty hunk of warm sourdough bread. In a modern nutritional environment that still can’t decide whether protein is an important building block for human growth or a source of cancer-causing chemicals, there’s something comforting about seeing such a calming soul navigate his way between a golden rotisserie chicken and a buffalo wing, engineered in every way to tickle the relevant taste buds (sweet, salty, fatty, twice-fried).

What’s implicitly communicated by In Defense of Food, and wholly preached by Bon Appetit, is that the key to all this starts at home with the simple act of cooking. “If it came from a plant, eat it,” Pollan says. “If it was made in a plant, don’t.” The reason for this is that unlike large-scale food purveyors, humans are entirely less likely to put things like sodium stearoyl lactylate and soy lecithin in the meals they prepare at home. If you’re cooking dinner, chances are you’re baking potatoes rather than tossing them in a deep fryer, and steaming vegetables instead of dousing them in butter and salt.

“We’re not ascetic,” writes Bon Appetit’s editor, Adam Rapoport, in his January letter to readers. “Instead we think about what we eat, and when and why we eat it. We indulge when the situation arises ... and we try to eat smart other times.” It’s a food philosophy that’s sensible, moderate, conservative, and sound, none of which are particularly sexy qualities when you’re searching for a quick fix to atone for the sins of holiday overindulgence. But unlike going low-carb or alcohol-free, or (shudder) for a yogurt enema, eating healthy-ish is something most people can bear, even long after January rolls out.

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you 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 first 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. 

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.

Cardio Exercise On An Empty Stomach Burns More Fat

 Two fuel sources—carbs & fats—are used to generate energy for muscle contraction during exercise. For endurance exercise performed at a moderate intensity, you obtain 50–60% of the energy needed from glycogen (which is stored energy from carbs) and the rest from fats. 

When you deplete glycogen stores by fasting overnight or going several hours without refueling, fatty acids break down in the mitochondria to be used as a secondary energy source. As workout intensity increases, your reliance on carbohydrates increases as well. 

In one study that tested the fat-burning effect of cardio on an empty stomach, six healthy men cycled for 60 minutes at a low to moderate intensity:1

Group 1– Fasted overnight before the bike ride.

Group 2– Performed the bike ride after ingesting 0.8g/kg of glucose or fructose to replenish glycogen levels 1 hour prior to the workout.

Results: After 20-30 minutes of exercise, the rate of fat burn was higher in the fasted group than in the glucose or fructose group. This trend continued throughout 50-60 minutes of exercise. There was also a higher quantity of FFAs (Free-flowing fatty acids) available in the blood in a fasted state throughout the exercise. 

The Take Away: This particular study suggests that more fat was burned by the group that performed MODERATE activity on an empty stomach… DURING THE EXERCISE ITSELF.

But Empty Stomach Cardio Does Not Burn More TOTAL Fat

Not so fast. Notice how “moderate” exercise is emphasized in the example above? Research shows that people who burn fat during their workouts burn less fat the rest of the day. Over time, fat burning is not an immediate process, rather, it occurs over the course of, not a few hours, but a few days. 

As you burn more carbohydrates during your workout, the body will burn more fat post-exercise. This “afterburn effect” where your metabolism is elevated for several hours or days following your workout is critical when debating the benefits of fasted cardio. 

While you may burn more fat on an empty stomach during your workout, your overall workout intensity may decline.2 Your body’s ability to burn fat post-exercise is compromised. Consider the whole 24-hour period and cardio on an empty stomach is less effective.3

Evidence supporting fueled exercise

Researchers from Italy investigated the contrasting reports on whether training in a fasting condition enhances weight loss. There were 8 healthy young men who performed early morning slow cardio under 2 conditions: Adaptations to skeletal muscle with endurance exercise training in the acutely fed versus overnight-fasted state.

1. Empty stomach 

2. After eating

Eating increased oxygen consumption (VO2) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) significantly, 12 hours after the cardio, VO2 was still higher for the group who had eaten, although RER was significantly lower in the FED test, indicating greater fat burn. 

The group that ate before the cardio session continued to burn significantly more calories up to 24 hours after the exercise bout. The authors concluded that “when moderate endurance exercise is done to lose body fat, fasting before exercise does not enhance lipid utilization (fat loss); rather, physical activity after a light meal is advisable.” 4 Check out this article for more on pre-workout meal ideas.

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you 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 first 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. 

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.

Unhealthy Diets Can Cause Premature Death

 Reblogged from MedicineNet.com. I wrote about this same subject in my last post and then I found this article that confirms my findings.

Unhealthy diets may have contributed to as many as 400,000 premature deaths from heart disease and strokes in 2015.

And it’s not just the things you should be avoiding — such as salt and trans fats — that are contributing to these deaths. The excess deaths may also be caused by what’s missing in your diet — namely, nuts and seeds, vegetables and whole grains, the researchers said. I’ll also add that carrying the extra body fat is wearing out your body parts and also straining your organs.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, killing more people in 2015 than any other cause,” said lead researcher Dr. Ashkan Afshin of the University of Washington in Seattle. He’s an acting assistant professor of global health at the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The study results suggest that nearly half of heart disease and stroke (cardiovascular disease) deaths in the United States might be prevented with improved diets, he explained.

Debates on dietary policies in the United States tend to focus on cutting out unhealthy foods and nutrients, such as trans fats, salt, and sugar-sweetened beverages. But this study shows that a large number of heart-related deaths may be due to a lack of healthy foods, Afshin reported.

Looking at deaths in the United States from heart and blood vessel diseases for 2015, the investigators found unhealthy diet choices and lack of eating healthier foods had a part in the deaths of more than 222,000 men and over 193,000 women. The study could not, however, prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Low intake of nuts and seeds likely accounted for nearly 12 percent of deaths. Too few vegetables probably contributed to as many as 12 % of the heart disease and stroke deaths. And, low intake of whole grains may have been responsible for more than 10 percent of those deaths. Too much salt likely accounted for 9 percent of deaths, Afshin said.

Samantha Heller, a registered dietitian, said, “If someone’s diet is low in nuts, seeds, fruit, fiber, whole grains and vegetables, then they are likely replacing those foods with less healthy options, such as deli meats, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, sodas, boxes of mac-and-cheese, sugar-sweetened beverages and other highly processed, junk, fast and prepared foods.” Heller is a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

“A crummy diet means the body has to work at Mach-10 speed to battle the onslaught of biochemical, physiological and inflammatory consequences. No wonder so many of us complain about being exhausted all the time and suffer from very serious and oftentimes preventable cardiovascular diseases,” she said.

A more plant-based, whole food approach to eating reduces internal inflammation, which in turn helps protect and heal “gunked up” arteries and an overworked heart. It also enhances the immune system, improves gastrointestinal and brain health, and boosts energy, Heller explained.

Heller recommends simple swaps, such as sliced avocado, tomato, and hummus on whole grain bread instead of a ham and cheese sandwich; a veggie burger topped with salsa instead of a cheeseburger; brown rice, vegetable-edamame paella instead of mac and cheese; a salad pizza instead of a pepperoni pizza. Grocery stores today have a big selection of healthy foods and even healthy, fresh meals in the deli section. There’s really no need to cook anymore. In fact, there’s little need to shop for groceries when you can buy fresh food ready to eat in the deli section. Buy some bottled water, red wine, some nuts or seeds for a snack and your set.

I buy the basics: oatmeal with fruit in the morning, salads every day, prepared fresh meals with seafood or chicken, no fried food and no red meat, fruit, plant-based Protein Powder in the two-pound containers and plain Greek yogurt to make protein shakes for between meals and nuts, seeds and red wine for snacks and that’s it.

“The good news is it is never too late or too early to ditch unhealthy foods, dig into a plate of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains, and watch how our bodies respond by getting healthier and happier,” Heller said.

Follow me on Twitter or X @ray0369

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. 

The Reasons Why You Should Eat Better Quality Foods

 I reblogged this article from VeryWell.com.

By Shereen Lehman, MS A Healthy Balanced Diet

A Healthy Balanced Diet

Eating right is good for your health. This is so critical that you can just about blame all your health problems including a weight problem all on your diet.  Yes, if you’re more active it’s better for your heart and your joints and even your brain because your circulation will improve the active you are.

Eating a healthy balanced diet isn’t all that complicated. Just choose a variety of foods from all the major food groups including fruits and vegetables, meats or protein sources, dairy or calcium, grains and cereals, and healthy oils and fats. It also helps if you also want to consume the right number of calories to maintain a healthy weight and cut back on all the unhealthy junk foods.

Sometimes the question isn’t about what makes up a healthy diet; it’s about why a person should eat a healthy diet. So, in case you’re wondering, here are my top ten reasons why you should eat a healthy diet.

Makes Losing Weight Easier

Oh sure, you can lose weight by eating low-calorie junk food or by following the latest ridiculously restrictive fad diet, but it’s just not the best way to lose weight and be healthy.

Eating a healthy diet that includes lots of fresh low-calorie nutrient-dense fruits and veggies, high-fiber whole grains and legumes will help you lose the excess adipose and supply you with all the nutrients you need.

Makes Gaining Weight Easier

While there’s much more interest in losing weight, there are a number of people who need to gain weight due to illness or other reasons. Choosing healthful energy-dense foods like nuts, seeds and dried fruit can help you gain weight without resorting to junk foods that aren’t nutritious.

Reduces Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Having a history of poor eating habits and being obese are two major risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Increasing your intake of healthful foods and losing weight if you’re obese or overweight may help reduce the risk.

It’s Good for Your Heart

A diet rich in fish, nuts, fruits, veggies and other healthy foods (like a Mediterranean-type diet) provides you with omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats that are good for your heart. It also makes it easier to avoid most trans-fats that are associated with cardiovascular disease.

And Reduces Your Risk of Some Types of Cancer

Eating a poor diet, drinking too much alcohol, gaining too much weight, and heavy consumption of red and processed meats are associated with a higher risk of some forms of cancer. And although it’s difficult to say that any particular foods prevent cancer, eating a healthy diet overall may decrease your cancer risk.

Sets a Good Example for Your Kids

If you’re a parent or grandparent struggling with a picky eater, you might find the situation easier to handle if you set a good example for your child. How can you expect your kids to eat broccoli while you’re sitting there eating potato chips? Also, getting kids and picky eaters into the kitchen is one great way to get them motivated to try new foods.

No Need to Waste Money on Supplements

Eating a healthful, balanced diet will provide you will all the essential vitamins and minerals you need every day. I mean, I know there’s nothing wrong with taking a multi-vitamin to ensure an adequate intake, but research indicates there are more health benefits associated with eating a variety of healthful foods, and in some cases, taking supplements can be risky.

Please note, however, if your health care provider has you taking supplements for some reason, you shouldn’t stop taking them without speaking to him or her first.

Helps You Feel More Energetic

Eating a healthy diet provides you with the carbohydrates you need for energy, along with enough B-complex vitamins to help the process along. Don’t forget to start with a healthy breakfast because it helps keep you alert all morning and sets the stage for a day of healthy eating.

It’s Good for Your Skin and Hair

Eating a healthy diet helps you look your best by supplying the nutrients your skin needs to stay supple and smooth and maybe stave off those wrinkles. And your hair needs good nutrition, including plenty of protein, to be soft, shiny and healthy.

Helps Keep Your Digestive System Healthy

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, most Americans eat far less dietary fiber than they should. needs. Fiber is essential for a healthy digestive system and to help maintain normal cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Eat right and includes lots of fiber sources such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.

Eating healthy and avoiding processed foods will help you lose fat. Losing fat will fix all your health problems and give you the energy you had 20 years ago.

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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.