Weight Loss Information Blog
Posts tagged Fruit And Vegetables
Easy ways to incorporate healthy eating habits in your daily life – Part 11
Jul 28th
We all know what we should be eating. Indeed we are incessantly bombarded with television programs, magazine articles and advertising about the right foods for our bodies. Very often, however, nutritious recipes can seem complex and time-consuming to make and the fresh fruit and vegetables we buy in a bid to stay healthy shrivel and rot before we decide how to slip them into our meals.
But, fear not, for there are easy ways to incorporate healthy eating habits into your daily life subtlety.
1) Many people skip breakfast usually because they are in a hurry to get to work, trying to loose weight or are simply not hungry in the morning. We all need to make a conscious effort to eat this most important meal of the day. A typical breakfast consists of cereal, bread, yoghurt, fruit or cereal bars all of which are excellent sources of essential vitamins and nutrients. Just grabbing a banana on the way to catch the train in the morning can really improve your eating habits.
2) Instead of relying on the school/work canteen for lunch, bring a packed lunch. This way you can monitor exactly what goes into your food and you won’t be tempted to give into the less than healthy options on those hot plates. Make a sandwich or wrap and fill it with green salad, tomatoes and cucumbers along with your choice of sandwich meat to work towards getting your five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
3) If you’re anything like me, given the choice between an apple or a bar of chocolate, it’s the chocolate every time I’m afraid. I’ve got around this one by not buying any sugary, fatty snacks in the supermarket. That way if I fancy something to snack on whilst watching TV in the evening I only have a choice of healthy foods. If you have a sweet tooth, replace sugar-laden sweets with fruit such as watermelons or pineapples. If like me you can’t resist savory treats such as crisps, swop to eating pistachio, hazel or brazil nuts.
4) Pop a cereal bar or piece of fruit into your purse or car. Oftentimes when we’re out and hunger pangs start we automatically swing by the gas station or drive-thru and give in to those naughty foods. Eating a cereal bar or fruit will fight off the hunger until you get home.
At five months pregnant my appetite has increased significantly compared to pre-pregnancy. I always carry around with me a healthy snack because if hunger strikes I just have to eat right there and then! The problem is when hunger catches you
Diet – Healthy Eating And Exercise
Jul 14th
Our life and health is impacted every day by the food we eat. Your body needs a constant supply of energy to fuel your heartbeat, breathing, digestion and to help repair body tissue. This energy is measured in calories. To maintain a healthy balance with calorie intake and fat intake in mind, you need to find a balance in the food you choose to eat.
There are five main food groups which people should be eating a varied mixture of on a daily in order to maintain healthy eating. Starchy foods make up one of these groups. Starchy foods refer to bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. These foods are your main source of carbohydrates and make up half of your daily energy intake. You need a sufficient amount of starchy food just like you need a strong amount of dairy products. Dairy products are rich in protein and your best source of vitamin D and Calcium. As well as starchy foods and dairy products you also need some intake of fats and sugar. Your fat intake should not exceed 35% but you should not cut it out of your diet completely as fat is the most energy dense nutrient that your body can get.
Probably the most important out of the five food groups however is fruit and vegetables. It is said that you should have at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. There is strong evidence that by doing this you are reducing the risk of things such as heart disease.
There is strong evidence that suggests by eating healthy you are reducing the risk of illness such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and several types of cancer, including bowel cancer. Having a healthy diet is important and can potentially extend your life.
Healthy eating can however be overlooked when it comes to dieting. The image of slim women is all that greets us in fashion magazines, the music industry and the film industry. These images are burned into our minds as what we should all look like and women and men across the country are doing anything they can to lose weight, including risking their health.
Every where we look there are new diet fads appearing, this is especially evident across the internet. The list of these diets seems never ending and most offer a quick fix to lose weight fast. One of these diets is the Atkins diet. On the Atkins diet you are encouraged to eat all types of meat, cheese, eggs and fats (butter or oils); completely throwing out the fact you are supposed to keep your fat intake down to around 35%. You are also told to limit the amount of carbohydrates you eat on this diet, which again throws out the fact that carbohydrates make up half of your daily energy intake.
Another diet fad that has grown in popularity is the liquid diet. Even though medically it is only really safe to go on this diet if you are going to undergo a medical procedure such as a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy; people are using it as a way of losing weight fast. In certain cases of extreme obesity, a liquid diet is used to make the person lose weight. A liquid diet either partially replaces meals or completely does meaning that your only intake will be fluids such as teas and juices.
A liquid diet could possibly disrupt the natural flow of your body and will not provide you with enough nutrients, energy or protein to get you through the day. A liquid diet will also not teach individuals the requirements of healthy eating to maintain weight loss over a long period of time.
Diet fads are growing more popular but these are just quick fixes and will not help you in a long term sense. The best way in order to loss weight as well as keeping a good balance of the five food groups is to eat the right foods in the right quantity. Cut out sugary snacks and replace them with more fruit intake; vary your diet so you aren’t eating the same things over and over.
As well as eating the right type of food you should also start a regular exercise programme which will get you in shape faster than any diet fad will. Regular exercise will not only keep you healthy it could also be the reason as to why you live longer as taking regular exercise will help to prevent against things such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
Medical guidelines state that healthy adults should be getting at least 30 minutes of intense activity five days a week. This exercise can be anything from walking, mowing the lawn, dancing, cycling, any type of sport, aerobics or even weight training. The key to exercise is finding one that best suits you.
Exercise combined with a good diet, which incorporates all of the five food groups is all you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to lose the weight that you want.
An overview of the Dean Ornish diet plan
Feb 16th
The essentials of the Dean Ornish, MD, diet plan are these:
It is a vegetarian (with the exception of nonfat milk and yogurt) diet that is intended to promote heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
There are actually two types of the Ornish diet: one aimed at Reversal of existing heart disease; and the other aimed at Prevention of heart disease.
There are no calorie restrictions within the general guidelines. Even with no calorie restriction, weight loss is a common side-effect for those who use the diet.
The diets are low in fat, with no cooking oils used. Avocados, nuts, and seeds are also excluded due to their high oil content.
The diets are high in fiber content.
Other key foods allowed in the diet are whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. I presume beans are also allowed in the diet.
Moderate ammounts of sugar, salt, and alcohol are also permitted for those using the diet.
The biggest complain about the diet are that it is “hard to follow” and that, by not including fish, it is low in the Omega-3 fatty acids which are very heart-healthy. Dr. Ornish does recommend fish oil capsules and flaxseed oil as supplements to boost the Omega-3 component of the diet.
It could be agued that any healthy diet is hard for the average American to follow because health is so far from the focus of any element of the standard American diet of meat, potatoes, and the occasional boiled-to-death vegetables, with a big, fat-laden dessert at the end.
It is the typical American diet that has strayed from the commonsense norms of a healthy diet, as enjoyed by most of the longest-lived people on the planet. The Ornish diet goes to extremes perhaps because it is intended to be a cure for the diseases caused by high levels of saturated fats and refined sugar in the American diet. In trying to reverse the occlusion of arteries with cholesterol buildup, it is only natural to go to the other extreme, so as not to add more plaque to the already-plugged arteries.
On the positive side, the diet receives praise for accomplishing its aim of reducing cardio-vascular disease without putting the patient through the expense and danger of surgery. That should be worth something.
There are also purported benefits for those with incipient cancers, especially those of the prostate, which respond well to a low-fat diet such as this one.
We should keep in mind that there can be no progress without some sacrifice and effort. Returning to a diet that is much closer to that prescribed to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden than is our present diet that requires mass slaughter of animals to keep us fed doesn’t seem like to much to ask if we wish to live free from heart disease.
How To Lose Pounds Secrets
Jun 18th
However, although there are plenty of weight loss programs that can help you to lose weight they aren’t going to help you keep it off in the future. Certainly when it comes to how to lose pounds that you have gained one should never solely rely on these. Rather what you need to do is eating the right kinds of foods and exercising.
When it comes to the diet you need one that is well balanced. Along with eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables you need to increase your intake of whole grain foods as well. If you are not sure what are the right kinds of foods get a copy of the food pyramid, which you can easily find online. Using this you will be able to devise a new diet for yourself that corresponds with the kinds of foods that you should be eating according to this plan.
However, when you are making changes to your dietary habit it is important that you don’t make changes to quickly, but gradually over time. This way your body will be able to cope more easily with the changes that you make. Remember the whole idea of making changes to your diet is to help your body function more effectively and by reducing your calorie intake drastically will cause your body not to have enough fuel to use for energy and you will soon find yourself unable to keep up with your new healthy regime. This will eventually lead to you giving up on your weight loss program and the weight that you may have lost will soon come back on.
As we all know and will have read exercising is a crucial part of any weight loss program and just with your diet you mustn’t make any dramatic changes. It is just as with your diet to make gradual changes in your exercise routines. Ideally as time passes you will soon find that as you begin to lose those extra pounds your energy levels increase and so you find that you can start doing a little bit more exercise.
During the first few weeks of your weight loss program keep the amount of exercise you do to around 30 minutes three times a week. These 30 minutes of exercise should incorporate 15 minutes of resistive training and 15 minutes of interval training which can help to improve your cardio system. The more oxygen and nutrients being passed around your body through your blood system the more energy is going to be provided to those parts of the body that need it the most i.e., your muscles.
So when it comes how to lose pounds you have gained you need to make sure that your diet is well balanced and full of fresh nutritious items. Plus only eat enough calories that will provide your body with the energy it needs. As for your exercise regime it should be one that allows you to burn off those additional calories you have eaten and also will help to burn off the fat already stored within your body which has caused the weight to be gained.
Best vitamins for women – Part 6
May 25th
In order for human life to exist, vitamins and minerals are essential. On the Earth, all living things have a specific set of nutrients they must obtain from the environment or make for themselves in order to survive. As humans, we need a variety of these vitamins and nutrients in order to survive. Deficiencies and overdosing of these nutrients can lead to diseases, or other problems like nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting if too much is ingested.
Vitamins come in two different types: fat soluble and water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins include things such as A, D, and E vitamins, and water soluble includes B and C vitamins. Because fat soluble can dissolve in fat, the body is capable of storing them inside of fat cells, and they therefore do not have to be replenished everyday. However, water soluble vitamins do need to be replenished every day. The best way to do this is though food, not a multivitamin.
Different cultures, throughout human history, have experienced through trial and error that a single crop cannot provide of all these nutrients. The best way to obtain the optimal amounts of vitamins and minerals is to have a wide variety in one’s diet. Fruit and vegetables make a good start. Scientists and doctors recommend as many as five to nine fruits and vegetables every day. Multivitamins are a useful tool, but they serve as no replacement for real fruits and vegetables. The best way for the body to absorb nutrients is to eat them, not to swallow a pill.
