Posts Tagged ‘diet’

“Fad” Weight Loss Diet

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Overview:

Obesity is a physical state that refers to excessive body fat. Chances are you have experienced the frustrations of dieting at least once in your life, if you have problems with your weight. Close to a hundred million Americans go on a weight loss diet in any given year and up to ninety-five percent of them regain the weight they lose within five years. Worse, a third will gain back more weight than they lost, in danger of “yo-yoing” from one popular diet to another. The conventional approach to weight problems, focusing on fad weight loss diets or weight loss drugs, may leave you with just as much weight and the additional burden of ill health.

Today, an estimated sixty-five percent of all American adults are obese or overweight. Our culture obsesses about staying thin even as we grow fatter, but this isn’t about appearances. Obesity is known to be a precursor to many debilitating health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder disease. Obesity contributes to as many as 375,000 deaths every year. In addition, the public health costs for obesity are staggering. According to researchers at Harvard University, obesity is a factor in 19% of all cases of heart disease with annual health costs estimated at 30 billion dollars; it’s also a factor in 57% of diabetes cases, with health costs of $9 billion per year.
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5 Ways to Manage your Diet for Diabetes

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Since my diagnosis with diabetes at the age of eleven, my own diet has changed dramatically. I maintain my current healthy weight with a great diet/eating plan. If you do plan on losing more than about a stone in weight then I would visit your doctor for more tips on how to do this without risk.

I’ve had diabetes for seven years now, but to tell you that how I maintain weight is perfect would be totally wrong of me. However, I can advise you to follow my steps because I know what works and what doesn’t. Before I really begin I must also say that I have been brought up by great parents who taught me to eat everything, and so I do! If there is something that you don’t like, there are loads of other diabetic recipes and ideas that you will eat and appreciate.

I am a university student and I like to buy fresh and organic produce from where I live. I believe that this is important because it can be the most good for your body and contain more nutrients and vitamins than most supermarket produce. I like to source food from my fortnightly farmers market in town, which sells amazing meat and dairy produce and fresh in season fruit and vegetables. This is another important thing to remember, that eating fruit and vegetables in their season means that they will taste better as well as doing you good. I have a lot of influence from Western European cuisine (mainly France and Italy) as you will tell, but I do not profess to be a chef and everything is easy to make and very convenient.

I have read countless diet books and diabetic recipe/diet books, and I came to a conclusion that I think really works. I fused all the good things from the diets (but not from every diet) and sort of put together my own one. I call this my Juvenile Diabetes Healthy Diet!

The “rules” that I would lay down are as follows:

1. Cut back on snacks and then change the type of snacks you eat.
Certainly my biggest downfall although it wasn’t really apparent to me. When I first started at University, I had little or no routine which meant that filling my day was difficult and popping into the kitchen for a snack, no matter how healthy it felt, was a regular occurence. This is one of the hardest things to do for some people, but establishing a great routine is essential to great diabetes care. The types of snacks to be eating are unsalted nuts, dried unsweetened fruit, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables (I love fresh red pepper and cucumber), dark chocolate (richer and nicer and you only want 2 squares usually).

2. Cut back on white flour and embrace wholemeal carbs.
This is the most essential part of your diet, and the thing that can show the biggest increase in loss of weight. Some diets in fact jsut focus on this point, and are very successful. Wholemeal (especially stoneground wholemeal) is so good for you and has so much more flavour in it that switching is much easier than you think. Most people are really surprised at the ranges you can get in you supermarket, again remember that the bread that is best for you is the one that is freshest with least perservatives or added ingredients. Also, brown or basmati rice is great with a lovely nutty texture. Wholemeal pasta is great and for your potatoes I would totally recommend the smaller new potatoes.
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“The Way to Health & Vitality”

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

It’s time to start a Healthy life:
your 7 days program

How many times have you gone to sleep at night, swearing you’ll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you don’t feel like exercising?

While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn’t mean you should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness — and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The more you know about how your body responds to your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you. When you eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and
exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This translates to burning fat more efficiently for energy.

In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work with less effort.

The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message to the body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength, aerobic capacity and overall fitness and health. Each time you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night, Exercise doesn’t have to be intense to work for you, but it does need to be consistent.

I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25 minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a
one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to increase lean body mass and burn more calories around the block.

Here’s a sample exercise program that may work for you:

* Warm Up — seven to eight minutes of light aerobic activity intended to increase blood flow and lubricate and warm-up your tendons and joints.

* Resistance Training — Train all major muscle groups. One to two sets of each exercise. Rest 45 seconds between sets.

* Aerobic Exercise — Pick two favorite activities, they could be jogging, rowing, biking or cross-country skiing, whatever fits your lifestyle. Perform 12 to 15 minutes of the first activity and continue with 10 minutes of the
second activity. Cool down during the last five minutes.

* Stretching — Wrap up your exercise session by stretching, breathing deeply, relaxing and meditating.

When starting an exercise program, it is important to have realistic expectations. Depending on your initial fitness level, you should expect the following changes early on.

* From one to eight weeks — Feel better and have more energy.

* From two to six months — Lose size and inches while becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely. You are gaining muscle and losing fat.

* After six months — Start losing weight quite rapidly.

Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a week, don’t stop there. You should also change your diet and/or eating habits,’ says Zwiefel. Counting calories or calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is
impractical. Instead, I suggest these easy-to-follow guidelines:
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8 Ways To Create Balance To Achieve Lasting Weight Loss

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Need to lose weight? Dreading the thought of another diet program? You don’t have to follow diets to lose weight. There are many people discovering this for themselves and they are the ones who are finding long term weight loss apposed to short term fixes. The key to weight loss is finding the right balance of what you eat, what you think, and what activity you do. It is not about following a perfect plan. It is impossible to be perfect every day! Finding the right balance helps you to decrease your calorie intake, increase your metabolism and keeps the self-sabotage at bay. Here are 8 steps to bring more balance into all corners of your life so you too can find weight loss success.

1. Eat more frequently during the day-
Skipping meals or waiting too long between meals can have a negative impact on your metabolism and results in overeating later in the day. It’s best to have 3 small meals and 1-2 snacks throughout the day. You will feel more satisfied and eat less. Plan to have a snack or meal every 4-5 hours.

2. Watch portion sizes-
Appropriate portion sizes are still quite misunderstood. Most Americans are eating 2-3 times the recommended portion sizes. Limit your grains, cereals, pastas, and rice to ½ – 1 cup serving sizes. Keep meat, poultry and fish to 4-ounce portion sizes. Restaurants are notorious for giving extremely large servings of food. Keep this in mind when eating out. Eat half of the food on your plate or take the rest home for lunch the next day. Studies show that when people are given large portion sizes, they eat up to 56% more calories without realizing it. To add insult to injury, our portion sizes are larger than they have ever been. Start to become more aware of the portions you are served wherever you are.

3. Eat the right fats-
Yes some fat is important. Omega 3 fatty acids are an important strategy for weight loss success and yet most Americans are not eating enough of these healthy fats. Some reports show these fatty acids may be helpful in increasing your metabolism. They are also shown to be a wonderful mood supporter and people report significantly less food cravings and triggers to eat when they incorporate omega 3 fatty acids on a daily basis. This is especially important for any emotional eaters out there. Omega 3’s are found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, cod; they are also found in canola oil, walnuts, and ground flax seeds.
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