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Two years ago I wrote a blog post on my fitness blog about the myth of eating once a day to lose weight. Surprisingly, that post still generates comments and if you read through the ones that are there, you will notice that almost all of them promote eating once a day. Over the years, I have read that eating healthy means eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks in between. It is all too common to read about eating 5 to 6 small meals per day.

Personally, I would go crazy if I only ate one meal per day. When I haven’t had enough to eat, I get moody and I usually get a headache. It seems too extreme to eat once a day just to lose weight. If you eat the proper foods and exercise, weight should come off just the same and in a much safer way.

I guess it will always be a topic of debate but it just doesn’t make sense to me.

What do you think? Why do some people cling to doing this as a way to lose weight?

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Everyone has different living situations and for some with families, eating healthy meals is somewhat easy when everyone is willing to try. However, there may be those who live with someone who isn’t into healthy eating habits. What do you do when temptation surrounds you because you share a home?

It certainly isn’t easy to live with someone who eats whatever they want. It could mean junk food everywhere from candy to soda. Temptation is literally in your face so what can you do?

These are just some ideas from the top of my head. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.

Section Off the Fridge

As silly as this may sound, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Sectioning off the fridge may mean keeping certain drawers for your healthy items or just sectioning the entire thing down the middle if possible.

Hide the Junk

Maybe the person or people that you live with would be willing to hide their junk food from you. The last thing you need is having that stuff staring you in the face – unless you have tremendous will power.

Train Your Brain

Sometimes the other people just are not willing to bend to accomodate your healthy lifestyle. If that is the case with you, then it is time to train your brain. You have already made the decision to eat clean so viewing junk as unhealthy shouldn’t be that difficult. Train your brain to view their junk as evil and you have a much better chance of avoiding it all together.

Are you in this type of living situation? What do you do to avoid the junk in the house?

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There’s a lot I didn’t know about the stomach and there are a lot of myths out there about how the stomach works. For example, have you ever wondered if your stomach shrinks when you start to eat less? This would be ideal because the assumption is, the smaller the stomach, the less you will feel hungry. For those of you who thought this was true, it is a myth.

Our Stomachs Don’t Shrink By Eating Less

Once we are adults, our stomachs remain the same size unless you undergo some type of stomach reduction surgery. Eating less will not shrink your stomach.

Thinner People Do Not Have Smaller Stomachs

In fact, thinner people can have larger stomachs than overweight people. A person’s weight does not determine the size of their stomach. Even people who have had stomach reduction surgeries can still gain weight.

Abdominal Exercises Like Crunches Won’t Reduce Stomach Size

The stomach will not become smaller by doing tons of ab exercises. However, you will be helping to burn the fat around your stomach and strengthen your ab muscles.

There is no way to reduce your stomach size unless you have surgery to do so. Even then, it is not a 100% gaurantee that you will not gain weight. Eating the right foods and exercise will keep you on the right track to maintaining a healthy weight.

You can read all of the stomach myths including more details on the ones above by visiting:

9 Surprising Facts About Your Stomach

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One of the comments in my last post got me to thinking about how strict some people are with eating clean. Many people eat clean for various reasons. Some people simply do it to get lean and cut, while some people do it for weight loss, or even medical reasons.

Some people have the discipline to eat clean with no desire to cheat. Then there are those of us who stray every now and then but for the most part stick to it 90% of the time.

Strict Clean Eater

A strict clean eater has made clean eating a 100% lifestyle choice. This means they probably never, ever stray and cheat by eating things that aren’t qualified as clean eating foods. They are disciplined and don’t think twice about what to eat.

Weekend Cheater

This type of person eats clean 5 to 6 days a week but uses the weekend to indulge in all of the foods that would never make the clean eating list. This means eating junk and then getting back on track at the start of the week.

Allows Typical Diet Foods/Beverages

This could mean allowing foods that contain sugar substitutes like diet colas, sugar free desserts, etc.

How strict are you with eating clean? Do you struggle with it or has it become a lifestyle change that you don’t worry about anymore?

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Having a sweet tooth can trigger the urge to eat desserts that aren’t so good for you. I have a weakness for desserts and I like eating them after dinner. Luckily, I am not picky about what type of dessert I eat, as long as it satisfies my sweet tooth.

Depending on how strict you are with your eating habits, you may allow yourself one small dessert after a meal such as a small piece of chocolate. However, some people can’t handle eating such a small portion and will be tempted. If that is the case for you, it is probably a good idea to keep certain foods stocked so that you can fight the dessert cravings with much better alternatives.

The list below are just ideas and all of them may not fit into your eating plan but they are things that may help when the sugar cravings are just too strong.

• Keep berries (strawberries, bluberries, etc.) in stock when in season
• Plain, low fat yogurt (easy to mix with fruit)
• Cottage cheese (also to mix with fruit)
• Always have some fruit in the fridge
• Jello (sugar free)
• Pudding (sugar free)
• Frozen fruit bars (natural)
• Fruit smoothies

Eating fruit has done wonders for my sugar cravings. My favorite is cottage cheese with any type of berries. It is filling and sweet enough to be a good dessert.

What do you do when the dessert cravings attack?

If there is one obstacle that holds people back from losing weight it is our eating habits. Many of us have lived our lives eating whatever we’ve wanted and over time, we have added on extra pounds. The saying “you are what you eat” has never been more true in terms of weight loss.

Eating clean can solve the issue of “what should I be eating?” because you are sticking to the right foods in the right amounts. Clean eating is quite simple if you keep the following things in mind when purchasing food:

• Stick to the outer perimeter of the supermarket
• Avoid processed foods
• Avoid white foods (flour, sugar)
• Avoid soft drinks (soda, artificial fruit juices, etc.)
• Eat more vegetables
• Eat more fruit
• Lean proteins

Food plays a significant role in weight loss. Even if you don’t exercise, you could still lose weight by simply changing your eating habits. There are tons of diet plans on the market but most of them are crash diets and not the types of meals you could create a lifestyle with.

Eating clean can easily become a lifestyle change to the point where you don’t even think twice about what you should be eating. I admit, I am not perfect when choosing what to eat, but I have become much better in my food choices.

Getting into clean eating should eventually cause you to lose weight. Adding an exercise program will make weight loss faster and boost your overall health. If you are struggling with dieting, research clean eating and discover how it can transform your eating habits and help drop those extra pounds.

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I have met several people in my life who cannot stand vegetables. It is like reliving their childhood all over again when you mention eating vegetables in front of them. Eating clean involves eating healthy and vegetables play a big role in the menu for several reasons:

• You get your vitamins from actual food
• You get your fiber
• You can eat a ton and not worry much about calories

What can someone do who doesn’t like to eat vegetables? Well, basically you don’t have to eat them. You can always go the supplement route as there are plenty of vegetable supplements out there such as Amazing Grass Green Superfood Powder. They may not taste the best but you can certainly chug it down and be done with your vegetables servings for the day.

You can also try adding vegetables into your meals in such a way that they won’t overpower the flavor. For example, I find that spinach is a great vegetable that doesn’t have a strong flavor when eating it with other food.

If you are a smoothie drinker, you can blend in vegetables but add more fruit so that you can mask the taste.

Overall, I think eating vegetables is always better than taking just a supplement but when you have no desire to eat vegetables, a supplement is better than nothing.

What do you think? Do you dislike vegetables?

photo credit: Claudio Matsuoka

Eating the right foods can be a challenage for everyone. It is even more difficult if you have spent a majority of your life eating whatever you want. It can be hard to break bad habits and even harder to create new ones.

Eating clean shouldn’t be something done temporarily just to shed a few pounds. A good goal would be to make clean eating a way of life – turning it into a lifestyle so that choosing the right meals no longer feels like a challenge.

1. Always eat breakfast – Part of a clean eating lifestyle is always eating breakfast. Start your mornings off with a clean meal such as oatmeal, fruit and yogurt, or a protein. Make breakfast a habit and you are on your way.
2. Test out recipes – Pick out several recipes that sound appealing to you and try them all out. Make note of the ones that you really like and add them into your weekly rotation. Continue to do this on a regular basis and you will always know what to eat.
3. Make dining out a game – Instead of dreading the times you have to eat out, turn it into a game. Do your best to make your restaurant meals as clean as possible eliminating sauces, butter, etc. When you get your meal, know in your mind that you have won as you look around at some of the meals other people are eating that are probably much higher in fat and calories.
4. Try it for 30 days – The best way to make eating clean a lifestyle change is to do it consistently for a month. After a month’s time it will have developed into a habit and one that will be difficult to break.

You don’t have to be perfect when you are attempting to eat clean. Just do your best and over time, you will make the right choices more often than not.

Can hemp milk do a body good like regular milk can? I had never heard of hemp milk until reading a small blurb about it in one of my fitness magazines. If you are lactose intolerant, chances are you are always looking out for milk substitutes. There are some good ones out there such as soy milk, rice milk, and almond milk.

Hemp milk is very similar to cow’s milk in several ways in terms of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. However, unlike cow’s milk, it contains no cholesterol and has less saturated fat. It also contains a lot less calcium than cow’s milk so some manufacturers will add calcium carbonate.

The big benefit of hemp milk is that it contains no casein or lactose which is great for people who are lactose intolerant. It is a great alternative for someone who likes to drink protein shakes or loves milk in general.  Hemp milk is also a source of complete protein and vitamin E.

I have yet to see hemp milk in any of the markets I frequent so I don’t know if any of the brands add sugar or sweetener like some of the soy milk products out there.  Have you tried hemp milk before? Does it sound like a good alternative?

Source: Hemp Milk [Wikipedia]

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Eating healthy can be expensive if you are not catching sales or buying in bulk. Shopping at specialty stores is even more expensive because prices are typically much higher than a regular supermarket. Even if you do tend to spend a little more for your health food, isn’t it worth it because it is for your health?

There are ways to save money on your clean eating foods as long as you avoid the pitfalls that can occur with switching to a healthy diet.

Buy Foods in Bulk

Eating clean usually involves eating the same types of food on a regular basis. Lean meats, vegetables, fruit, whole grains and more are usually the types of foods that you will find yourself eating over and over. Since this may be the case for you, you can save more money buy shopping at bulk food stores like Costco.

Don’t Buy Organic

Unless you prefer organic foods, you don’t necessarily have to purchase them. Foods which are labeled organic tend to cost a little more than their regular versions. If you’re on a budget, cutting out organic foods may save you some cash.

Eat The Same Meals Regularly

Most clean eating meals tend to be simple but you can keep it even simpler by rotating the same meals week after week. This can be boring for some but if you don’t mind eating the same meals several times a week, then you can save money because you are not having to buy extra ingredients for more complex recipes.

Those are just a few tips to save money on your clean eating shopping list.  Do you have any tips to share?