In Better Shape

What Every Dieter Needs To Know About Restaurants

2012-10-22T03:53:00.001-07:00

Eating out in a restaurant can be a dieters worst nightmare. There are so many scrumptious looking meals that can tickle our temptations. Unfortunately though, many of these are not good for the waistline. But luckily, with a bit or care and discipline, eating out can be lots of fun even if you are watching your figure.

Once you’ve got into the routine of eating healthily at home you’ll most likely be feeling the benefits. As you get used to it, you will probably realise that it is not that hard.

When you go out to dine though, it can hard to resist the temptation to tuck into a tasty looking high calorie meal. You need to be careful when dining; eating one high fat meal could undo a weeks worth or hard work and discipline.

When eating out, do a bit of research and take care. Before dining out, narrow down your local restaurants to only the ones that do not serve oily and greasy foods. Or, see if the restaurant offers lightly sautéed or grilled dishes rather than just frying them.

If you’ve gotten used to eating healthily at home and eating all the right things, eating responsibly in a restaurant will be as easy as ABC. Like when eating at home, be sure your intake of fresh veggies is high, whether this is in the form of salads or side dishes. If you are to eat a fatty meal like pizza, balance it out with fresh greens.

A wise way to dine out is to eat multiple small dishes rather than having one big dish. This makes eating out a lot of fun, and lets your taste lots of different fascinating flavours. Again, balance out whatever you eat with healthy salads, and stick to water and fruit juice rather than carbonated sodas.

If possible, don’t eat all of your meal in one go; ask if you can take some of it home to eat later.

If you are eating fast food, be responsible and only order a single burger with salad, and avoid topping it off with cheese and mayonnaise. Stick to just thin crust pizzas and go easy on the cheese.

Eating out does not have to become boring just because you are on a diet. In fact, it can be a lot of fun because it will make you realise that are lots of healthy meals out there that taste wonderful.

With a little bit of care a discipline, you can enjoy eating out whenever you like without having to worry about what it will do to you waist.

Once you’re back from eating out, a great diet to get stuck into is The Lunch Box Diet developed by acclaimed personal fitness expert Simon Lovell. Called ‘the best diet’ 5/5 by Elle Magazine, the diet is said to be ‘a way of life’. Click here to find out more.

All the best

Daryl

Top 10 Foods For Smooth Glowing Skin

2012-10-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

People who want great looking skin often look for the best creams and lotions they can find to give their skin a vibrant glow. What many don’t realise is that they can give their skin this vibrant glow naturally by eating all the right foods.

A healthy eating plan rich in vegetables and healthy foods provides countless benefits to your health and skin. Adopting a healthy diet containing the top 10 foods for skin listed below has even been known to reverse diabetes and skin disease, and reduce the risk of cancer.

Healthy eating is the key to having beautiful young looking skin. Here are the top 10 foods for skin put together by Simon Lovell, media expert and author of The Lunch Box Diet:

1. Avocado

The avocado is known for its numerous properties that benefit the skin. It contains many healthy fats that plump up the skin and smooth away the dryness. Avocados have the highest content of vitamin E when compared with other fruits, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps strengthen the white blood cells.

2. Berries

Strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are all good for the skin because of their high antioxidant content. These 3 berries have been found to have the highest antioxidant capacity of any foods. They produce collagen which keeps the skin smooth and plump.

3. Low Fat Yoghurt

Low fat yoghurt is rich in one of the most important components of skin health â€“ Vitamin A. Experts have stated that the health of skin cells is largely dependant on how much Vitamin A is present in our diets.

4. Broccoli

Broccoli is a vegetable that contains an abundance of health benefits, and is good for the skin. Broccoli is high in Vitamin A and thus promotes good turnover of skin cells. Eating broccoli can help to renew skin cells quickly making your skin look fresher.

5. Whole-Grains

Whole-grains are rich in the mineral Selenium, which is why they promote healthy skin. Selenium has been shown to reduce skin damage after prolonged exposure to the sun. High levels of selenium in your system prevents your skin from oxidative damage that can increase cancer risks.

6. Spinach

Rich in vitamins B, C and E, spinach possesses strong anti-aging properties and helps to give the skin a healthy glow. Also, the iodine contained in spinach is said to combat skin disease.

7.Â Omega-3 Fish

Omega-3 is one of the healthy fats that are highly sought after by the health-conscious. Omega-3 fatty acids are good for strengthening the skin cell membranes and preventing toxins from being absorbed.

8. Non-Starchy Vegetables
Non-starchy vegetables are high a fibre and bolster your age-defying bacteria. If you have blotchy or tired skin this can often be due to a lack of fibre. Lack of fibre can lead to disrupted digestion that stops nutrients from being absorbed properly. This starves your skin of the nutrients it needs to look younger and healthier.

The health benefits of a diet based mainly on non-starchy vegetables are endless. In fact, a UK study has shown that adopting a diet consisting of only liquid diet drinks and non-starchy vegetables has been shown to reverse diabetes and cure the condition in just 3 months. Because they are non-starchy, they do not affect blood glucose.

Common non-starchy vegetables include carrots, broccoli, sprouts, celery, asparagus, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, peppers, lettuce, beets and watercress.

9. Green Tea

The health properties of green tea are vast. The list of skin benefits that green tea provides goes on and on. Green tea, whether consumed as a drink or applied to the skin, can decrease risk of damage from the sun and thus lessen the risk of skin cancer.

Green tea also has strong anti-inflammatory properties. Being as it is rich in polyphenols, it prevents inflammation and is beneficial to overall skin health.

10. Lean Red Meat

Not getting enough iron can result in having unhealthy skin. Lean red meat is a good source of iron for anyone who needs it, but you should be careful not to eat any red meats that are too high in fat.

With a healthy diet that includes the top 10 foods for skin listed above, it’s unlikely that you’ll need to rely on creams and lotions to give your skin a healthy glow. Fill yourself with nutritious and healthy foods, and your skin will take care of itself. The Lunch Box Diet is great for the skin because it’s packed full of the foods that your skin needs to look smooth and healthy. Within 7 days you will notice a difference. Click here for more information.

All the best
Daryl

Pointers on Losing Weight Safely

2012-09-26T09:03:00.003-07:00

People who want to lose weight commonly, and first of all, think about reducing the amount of food they eat. This may be quite a solution but not exactly the best there is. In fact, depending on the amount you reduce in your food intake, it may even be dangerous to one's health. So how does one lose weight effectively and safely? Here are some points one should consider when trying to lose weight:

Beware of the Crash Diets

Most people think that trimming down the calories can alone shed off their unwanted excess. Probably this is because of the fad there is in advertising about low-calorie food products and beverages. What people don't know is that this could be dangerous because when they decrease their calorie intake way to below the required levels, the body begins to digest the fats. Sounds good but it doesn't actually. Burning fat requires a lot of energy. Since there is not much energy in the body to facilitate metabolism of fat, it will run at a very slow pace resulting to fatigue, illness and weak immune system.

Low-calorie diet is also compensated for by the body by burning muscle. People on this type of diet who revert back to their old eating habits end up gaining back some, if not all the weight they have shed off. This would consist mainly of fats. And since fats have more volume per mass than muscle, they end up having the same weight as before but more bulkier. In losing weight, one should keep in mind that they should lose excess body fats only.

However, one can try out eating small meals at more frequent intervals. This way the body will not think that it is being starved and will not store food as fat.

Eat Properly

One may have considered junking the crash diet option but he should also not forget to watch what he is eating. Variety must always be considered so that one may be able to get the necessary nutrients from his diet.It is also healthier to eat food which are roasted, steamed or broiled rather than fried. It is also important to include a lot of fiber in the diet. Frequent rehydration is also necessary.

Pump Up lean Muscle Mass

Muscles burn calories when they work; they even do so at rest. Unlike fats which just lie around, bulge around the pants and dangle beneath the sleeves, muscles burn calories all-day round. With this fact, one can start weight loss by increasing muscle mass. The more muscles, the less fat will be left. This is attainable starting with working out with resistance exercises.

Engaging in Aerobics

Aerobics are not only good for the heart by increasing cardio-vascular endurance. Aerobics also help in increasing lean muscle mass while simultaneously decreasing excess body fat. Aside from these, aerobics make the metebolic process more efficient and its rate high, even after a long while. Imagine burning fat efficiently while driving along the freeway or even while watching television.

Extra "Push"

Some people believe that smoking and caffeine can actually help in losing weight. This can perhaps be true; however, they do the body more harm than good because of their side-effects. For that extra "push", one can try out taking food supplements. Afterall, 95% of these products out in the market actually does good.

On Taking Diet Pills

Over-the-counter diet pills affect the amount of weight one loses as well as how long one keeps that amount of weight off. However, one must be wary of the side-effects of these diet pills. As such, one must faithfully follow the instructions provided for in the packaging. It is also prudent to consult the physician anyway before trying out these drugs and also to find out which type would be best for the individual.

Losing weight does not have to mean sacrifice and suffering. It actually means opening up to a more full and healthy life where one may not have to feel bad about himself having to look the way he does or not being able to do what he wants to do. Losing weight might entail a little adjustments plus the discomforts, but as the old saying goes, "no pain, no gain." Besides fat, what has one got to lose anyway?

All the best

Daryl

In Better Shape: The 8 Week Diabetes Cure?

2012-09-10T06:03:00.001-07:00

In Better Shape: The 8 Week Diabetes Cure?: For a long time now it has been speculated that type-2 diabetes can be cured by adopting a low calorie diet. This claim has been met by sce...

The 8 Week Diabetes Cure?

2012-09-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

For a long time now it has been speculated that type-2 diabetes can be cured by adopting a low calorie diet. This claim has been met by scepticism in many corners, but now we have evidence to prove that it may actually be true. But I’m not so sure it’s all cracked up to be…

Scientists from Newcastle University in the UK conducted a two month long study which they believe shows that type-2 does not have to be a life-long illness.

There study involved 11 participants who cut their calorie intake to under 600 calories per day for 2 months. 3 months after the experiment finished, 7 out of the 11 participants were free of diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is caused when there is too much glucose in the blood. Unlike type-1 diabetes, which develops in children when their bodies cannot convert insulin into glucose, type-2 is very closely linked with obesity. This explains why theorists have suggested that a low calorie diet could cure type-2 diabetes.

Just a week into the study, the pre-breakfast blood sugar levels of the participants had returned to normal. MRI scans taken at this time showed that the fat levels inside their pancreas had also gone back to normal. This means that the pancreas had now regained the ability to make insulin.

One of the participants in the study, who had suffered from diabetes for 6 years, said that 18 months on he still did not need to take his old diabetes tablets. This is great, but what about the others?

So now the question is, how can a diabetic go about adopting a new low calorie diet plan that could free them of this disease? Going for 600 calories straight away… I don’t think so, but you could build up lower calories until you reach your optimum level, and stay there for life. How does that sound?

I’m not saying that if you have diabetes you shouldn’t use this 600 calorie method, but I know from my dieters that they are able to sustain their weight loss after my diet and I believe it can be used to reverse diabetes too. Many of them simply reduce their lunch box and breakfast and meal sizes over time. They lose weight, get healthier and have more confidence.

You could just eat a 600 calorie Lunch Box from all day from breakfast to you evening meal but I think there’s the way I just described would be more effective, long term.

We need to remember that those on this study would have been working under strict conditions and if you’re overweight and have diabetes, the chances of switching and sticking to a very low calorie diet are very slim, especially if you’ve been a yo-yo dieter in the past. We need to consider so many
different variables.

Slow and steady is the key when introducing any new eating habits so that the results can be sustained. I’d bet a fair amount of money that if 1,000 people tried eating 600 calories for 8 weeks and then maintaining a healthy weight, not even 10% would succeed long term because of the psychological and emotional battling that goes on when you restrict yourself for this long.

Low-Calorie Diabetes Diet Plan

As we have seen from the study, the participants restricted their calorie intake to 600 calories per day. So, the way a diabetic can design a new diet plan is to learn about the calorie levels in different kinds of foods and drop their calories down.

With this knowledge, a diabetic can plan their daily meals accordingly and make meals and snacks out of the low calorie foods they enjoy.

Before getting on to what kinds of foods are good to eat on this kind of diet, we need lay the ground-works. The key to dieting is not just about what you eat, but how you eat.

Eating Schedule

When starting out on a diet, it’s important to get a good eating routine going. Rather than just eating 3 large meals a day, it is much better to eat smaller meals, and then have snacks in between (ie from a Lunch Box). As I mentioned earlier, instead of reducing your calories to 600 straight away, you could use The Lunch Box Diet by gradually reducing the box size over time and then reduce the portion size of breakfast and evening meals so you’re reducing your calorie intake more steadily. This is how a lot of people have had amazing weight loss results on the plan.

Figuring out a rough time to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day can start a good flow that your body will get used to. Then you can identify the mid-point between these meals when you can have a snack. So if you decide to have breakfast at around 8am each morning, and lunch at 12:30, you can have a snack (or eat from your box) in between at around 10:15am.

Eating in this way is important for all sorts of reasons. It fills your body with energy frequently and keeps you metabolism moving fast. It is especially important to eat this way with a very low-calorie diet, as you are likely to get hungry quite often. Eating more frequently throughout the day will make sure you are less hungry because there will be no large gaps in between your meals.

Knowing About Calories

So after working out a rough eating plan, the next step will be deciding what to eat. To ensure the eating plan stays low, knowledge about the calorie levels in different kinds of foods is needed.

With good knowledge of calorie levels, it becomes easy to design appropriate meals. It can even be a lot of fun to create meals out of the low calorie ingredients that are to your liking.

Low Calorie Foods

To give a brief overview of the calorie levels of some common foods, here is a breakdown of some of the lowest calorie foods:

Under 50 calories (per 3.5oz):

Boiled Beans

Brocolli

Brussel Sprouts

Lentils

Fat-free yoghurt

Under 100 Calories (per 3.5oz)

Mung Beans

Low-fat Cottage Cheese

Low-fat fromage frais

Noodles

Porridge

Tofu

Under 150 Calories (per 3.5oz)

White fish

Lite Mayo

Boiled Bleached Pasta

Wheat Pasta

Boiled Chick Peas

Long Grain White Rice

Brown Rice

Spaghetti

Hopefully this list gives a good idea for what kinds of low-calorie meals can be designed to fit in with this diet.

With knowledge of calorie levels, creating meals can be a lot of fun, and involve a lot of creativity.

There are plenty of options for low calorie breakfasts, lunches and dinners. For breakfast you could enjoy a bagel with fat-free cream cheese, or oatmeal with raisins for less than 200 calories.

A simple tuna, turkey, or smoked chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes can be eaten for lunch at around 240-280 calories, or you’d have your lunch box to nibble on. It’s better this way because you’re blood sugar levels tend to spike when you’re just eating ‘lunch’. I try not to think of ‘lunch’ as lunch and just graze…

A low calorie dinner option could be salmon with a quick serving of brown rice, salad and low calorie salad dressing, or maybe a 2oz whole wheat pasta dish with frozen shrimp, feta cheese and marinara. Perhaps Asian stir-fry containing carrots, broccoli, red pepper and garlic would go down well with little over 300 calories.

For snacks in between meals, a tossed salad, a fruit salad or a slice of raisin bread is unlikely to be over 50 or 60 calories. If you’re on the go you could pick up a quick low fat cereal bar or rice cakes to keep you going.

These are just some of countless possible examples of how creative you can be with a diet like this. There are actually lots of low calorie eating options, so there are plenty of possibilities for making meals that contain the foods you like best. Obviously dieting is much easier if you enjoy the food you are eating, so you should focus on including your favourite low calorie foods as often as possible.

If you know all the possibilities available for designing low calorie meals and snacks, adoption this diet can be easy and a lot of fun. The health benefits of having a diet plan like this are vast. As we have seen, some people have been able to cure their diabetes for good by adopting a low calorie diet.

Even if the diabetes doesn’t go away, no-one can possibly not be in better health by eating a diet like this. Chances are having diabetes would be easier to cope with anyway, that’s if it doesn’t get cured all together.

All the best

Daryl

Sneaky Tactics To Give You More Energy & Productivity At Work

2012-08-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dealing with the pressures and challenges that most of us face in the workplace on a daily basis is no easy task. You really have to go an extra mile in the workplace in order to get noticed, but you certainly do not have to compromise your health to do this. Eating healthy at work isn’t hard when you know how…

It’s no surprise that some people get tired and stressed at the end of a long day at work. However, there always seems to be some people who are bright and vibrant all day long who seem to deal with all situations easily. These are the people with more energy – more often than not they are the ones who are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need from their diet to stay sharp and focused throughout the day.

So, how can you improve your productivity and performance at work through your diet? Here’s how…

First of all, make sure you eat breakfast every day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and can determine your energy levels for the entire day. A combination of milk and oats or cornflakes is an ideal breakfast and provides your with lots of calcium. Boiled egg is also a good way to start the day – this gives you lots of proteins and carbohydrates to get you through a busy morning and afternoon.

While you are at work, do you ever get tempted to drink coffee? I know it can be very tempting, but in actual reality coffee can have the reverse effect that people are hoping for. Most people drink coffee to boost their energy levels, but too much caffeine can lead to lethargy, and can cause your body weight to increase at faster rates.

It’s important to not skip any meals during the day and that’s where the Lunch Box Diet comes in, it’s always available to you, you can keep it on your desk or in your office fridge. When your workload piles up, it can be easy to skip meals in order to get things done, but try your best to eat all the meals you need. Take responsibility for the food you eat. If you are being served a work lunch, get yourself a nice salad or whatever is the healthiest option. Your choice of food will have a big impact on you work performance.

If the food provided by your work is not up to scratch, don’t hesitate to make your own lunchbox and use my tasty combinations to keep you interested, that way you’re more likely to stick with it.

If you are going to snack when you get home, which you will probably be tempted to, try and supplement it with something healthy like a piece of fruit. So if you feel like eating some fried food, eat something healthy along side it to restore the healthy balance. A great healthy diet plan to look at is The Lunch Box Diet which has been called one the best diets ever by Elle Magazine who said it became a ‘way of life’. Click here to find out more.

Summary: Eating Healthy to Excel at Work:

- Eat breakfast every day

- Avoid drinking too much coffee at work

- Don’t skip any meals

- Stick to salads and healthy sandwiches made from home

- Supplement fatty snacks with healthy accompaniments

All the best

Daryl

Simple Tricks To Save Money While Losing Weight

2012-08-02T05:54:00.003-07:00

Lot’s of dieters right now are talking about how hard it is to eat healthily now that they don’t have as much money to spend on food as they used to. Yes, the economy has hit everyone hard, but eating healthy on a budget is still very easy with a little know how. In fact, buying healthier foods can actually help us save a lot of cash.

All it takes is for you to keep track of your expenses. Have you ever kept a record of how much you spend on food every week? Most people don’t. If you do this, you naturally save pennies.

Start tracking all of your food expenses. This includes any kind of food you eat – trips to the donut shop, meals from restaurants, pints of beer at the pub etc. As time progresses, saving money on food will just get easier and easier. You will able to see your average expenses per week and per month.

When you do this, it opens your eyes to where you are spending money on unnecessary foods. Then, you can start making wiser choices.

Here’s a few examples, for each doughnut you buy from the bakers, you could buy say a whole box of cereal bars for only a little more than the cost of one doughnut. So, if you ate one cereal bar from your box each day rather than buying a doughnut a day, you’d save a lot of money and lose a lot of weight!

Here’s another example, you total up all your expenses and notice that you buy 5 sandwiches a week from a sandwich shop. You could spend less money on a loaf of wholemeal bread, fresh salad and healthy sliced meat. Then you could make 5 sandwiches from home for the same cost of 2 sandwiches from the sandwich shop.

Major savings can be made in supermarket shopping. One method to save is to buy fruits and vegetables in bulk quantities as this gives you a better price. A word about vegetables – avoid trimmed vegetables as they tend to cost more.

Things like potatoes, garlic, ginger and onions are relatively cheap and carry strong health benefits like strengthening the immune system.

With regards to meats, do not buy boneless meat as this will be more expensive. Avoid red meat as much as you can and opt for white meat. This is easier on the wallet and the heart.

If you eat high calorie foods for your breakfast, changing to a healthier breakfast can help you save a lot of pennies. If you eat fried bacon and eggs for breakfast, you’d be a lot better of financially and health-wise if you bought things like oatmeal and whole wheat muffins instead.

If you are going to eat things like pizzas and burgers, make these at home and avoid eating out at restaurants. The kind you can make at home will be a lot healthier than the types you would get in restaurants. Also, if possible, try to invite your friends around more often instead of going out to pubs. We all know how our wallets can get drained quickly when we go to pubs often.

Believe it or not, eating healthily can actually be a good way to save money. Keep track of your food expenses and you’ll be surprised at how much you can save by cutting out the junk and buying healthier alternatives. A great diet that you can lose weight with and you can save money on is The Lunch Box Diet by Simon Lovell. In fact MSN reported that this diet could save you hundreds per year if you stick to it. Click here to find out more

All the best

Daryl

2012-07-24T09:17:00.001-07:00

The world of weight loss seems to be full of confusion. The basic concept we are taught about dieting is that a low calorie diet is the key to losing weight. This notion is being challenged more and more these days.

Most people think that simply limiting the amount of food they eat will make them lose weight fast. For many people however, this does not work.

The vital piece of the puzzle that most people are missing is that how they eat is just as important as what they eat. Common eating patterns for the majority of people include eating three large meals every day until they are full. This method of eating can be detrimental to weight loss.

What is Grazing?Grazing is a way of eating that spreads outr your food intake into smaller chunks. So, rather than just eating 3 large meals each day, you have a smaller breakfast, lunch and dinner and then eat small snacks in between. Some people already graze without knowing it, but do it in a very unhealthy way. This means that in between meals they snack on things like chocolate bars and packets of crisps. When grazing is done right and you snack on healthy foods rather than crisps and chocolate, it can be very effectively for helping you to lose weight fast.

Benefits of Grazing
There are several health benefits that you gain from grazing healthily:

It keeps your metabolism moving fast
It prevents hunger and overindulgent eating
Stabilizes your blood sugar
Reduces cravings for comfort foods
Fills you with energy all day long
Speeds up weight loss

How Grazing Makes You Lose Weight

Grazing has a completely different effect on your body than if you were to eat large meals. Usually when people eat large meals, they eat until they are full and can’t eat any more.

Doing this is almost like expanding your stomach. At every meal time, you need larger amount of food to compensate for what you haven’t eaten since your last meal. Being as your stomach expects lots of food every time you eat, it needs more room to store it all. Thus, you put on weight.

Grazing has a different effect. Eating smaller amounts of foods more frequently makes it easier for your body to digest and it puts your metabolism into constant action. This is necessary if you want to lose weight.

Every time you eat a meal, it is important not to eat so much food that you feel full. If you eat until you are full it is like putting a speed bump in front of your metabolism. To keep your metabolism moving fast, you need to keep your meals small.

What to Eat

Your between-meal snacks should contain as many natural foods as possible.When food is eaten it gets converted into glucose (blood sugar) so the body can use it as energy. Natural unprocessed foods release energy slowly, while unhealthy foods like crisps and chips release energy quickly.

When foods get converted into glucose quickly, the body reacts and releases a lot of insulin. Insulin converts sugars into fat and thus prevents the body from burning it.

Eating natural foods helps to maintain your blood sugar levels and gives you stable insulin levels. This means your body won’t burn fat so quickly and you will be able to lose weight fast.

Grazing Tips

Ideally, your between-meal snacks will contain lots of vegetables. Vegetables contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy. If you have the chance, you can prepare various salads to snack on throughout the day.

You could prepare a different fresh salad each day and carry it in a lunch box when you go to work. You can make things fun and create a new original salad every day.

If you are really not used to eating vegetables you should try to bring them into your diet gradually. For instance, start by eating just two or three new salads a week, and then start eating more. Chances are you will gradually begin to enjoy various kinds of vegetables.

You could also carry a snack pack with you to work including quick and easy healthy snacks to eat if you don’t much time at hand.

If you really don’t want to eat veggies all day then stick to natural healthy alternatives. Always choose healthy pieces of fruit, cereal bars, dried fruit or nuts over things like chocolate bars and crisps.

A Balanced Diet

While you will receive an abundance of goodness from vegetables, your diet also needs other good food sources to provide a healthy balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. Include things like salmon, chicken breast, lean pork, tofu and boiled eggs in your diet for a good source of protein.

Complex carbohydrates are contained in foods like brown pasta, brown rice, rice crackers and wholemeal bread. Carbs can help supply your body with sustained energy.

Allow yourself to have your favourite treats every now and then. Treats shouldn’t be eliminated from you diet all together because you may lose the will power to stick to your eating plan. Consider treats as a reward for the times when you have stuck to your diet well.

Also, be sure to drink lots of water and exercise regularly. Water flushes toxins out of the body and keeps energy levels high, while exercise can provide that extra boost you need to lose weight faster.

Grazing is being recognised more and more these days as a vital component to successful weight loss. For many people, learning the proper way to eat throughout a day is the missing piece of the puzzle they were looking for. Whilst eating healthy meals is obviously very important for losing weight, the frequency and size of your meals is just as vital. One of clear winners when it comes to grazing diets is the Lunch Box Diet which has been called ‘the best diet ever’ 5/5 by Elle Magazine. Even Cameron Diaz is said to be a fan of this healthy plan that becomes a ‘way of life’. Click here to find out more.

All the best

Daryl

In Better Shape: How To Find The Best Diet For You?

2012-07-16T05:24:00.001-07:00

In Better Shape: How To Find The Best Diet For You?: With all the different kinds of diets out there promising to be the better than the last, finding the best diet to suit you seems like an o...

How To Find The Best Diet For You?

2012-07-16T00:58:00.000-07:00

With all the different kinds of diets out there promising to be the better than the last, finding the best diet to suit you seems like an overwhelming task.

For instance, some diets will say you should eat more protein or carbs, while another equally well renowned diet will suggest that you should eat less of them. With all the seemingly contradicting information, how do you know which is the best diet to follow?

There are lots of fad diets out there these days promising quick success. These diets that promise instant results are usually unsustainable.

Often the severely restrict your food intake, prohibit your favourite foods, require you to make lots of time consuming meals, and will have you marching around in the supermarkets trying to find bizarre ingredients.

That’s the problem with many faddy diet programs. While they promise you quick results, they are very difficult to stick to as they do not match your own lifestyle.

It has been said on countless occasions that the best diet plan a person can follow is one that they know they can stick to. If you follow a diet plan that doesn’t agree with you, it makes the whole process of trying to eat healthily a big stress.

The result? You feel bored, stressed and miserable. And then we know what happens, you resort back to your old unhealthy eating patterns.

It is much better to avoid miracle diets and stick to one that you know you can stick to for a long time. Beware of diets that promise instant results and seek a more long-lasting diet plan that promises sustainability.

A good healthy option is The Lunch Box Diet which is regarded as one of the best and most sustainable diets around.

Imagine how much easier it would be to be healthy and lose weight if you follow a diet plan that is perfect for your personality and lifestyle, doesn’t have a strict set of rules and allows you to eat your favourite foods every now and then.

Here are some of the key characteristics shared by the best diet plans:

Focus on taking in a variety of different nutrients
Allow you to eat snacks between your meals
Have a scientific basis
Advise you to drink lots of water
Advise you to introduce changes gradually
Are sustainable and promote long term weight loss

So when looking at diet plans, evaluate them to see how closely they match-up with the factors outlined above. If they do, there’s a much higher chance that you’re going to be able to stick to the diet plan for a long time to come.

If the diet plan contains all these elements, you may be on to a winner. There is then a few more things to take into account before you decide whether or not the diet you are looking into seems like the best diet plan you you:

Your Eating StyleIf a diet doesn’t fit well with you style of eating, then it probably won’t work for you. The best diets plans for you will be able to fit in with your eating routine, the way you like to cook food, and your eating-out and travelling patterns. Ask yourself if you would be able to stick to the timing and amount of meals that the plan advises.

Your Favourite FoodsA diet that bans you from ever eating your favourite foods could make life very boring for you. Many plans include a huge list of forbidden foods. Most people find that the best diets for them allow them to treat themselves every now and then and don’t tell them to lay off their favourite foods all together.

Your Exercise PatternsExercise is approached differently in dieting programs. Some encourage you to exercise X amount of times a week, while some simply ask you to take frequent walks or gentle jogs. Your best diet plan will involve exercise practices that seem very doable to you, or at least allow to progress slowly to more rigorous exercising.

Your Habits
A diet plan that can help you eradicate bad habits can be very effective. If you have unhealthy habits like drinking too much coffee or wine, or lounging of the sofa for hours, look for a diet that may address the issues and advise you how to break these patterns.

Money
Yes dieting can sometimes cost your money. Some plans will have you buying and cooking specific quantities of food every week. Something to consider if you have a strict budget.

You now are aware of the things you should look for in a diet plan, and what things in your own life you should consider before settling on a new dieting routine.

If you are adapting a new diet specifically to lose weight, the main consideration when choosing a new plan is to adapt an eating routine that will help to reduce your calorie intake.

If trying to lose weight, it can be very helpful to see a nutritionist who will be able to help you find out how many calories you consume daily.

This process will usually require you to record everything you eat and drink for a week or two. Even if you are not adapting the new diet purely for weight loss purposes, doing this can be very insightful as it will show what negative aspects of your diet you could work on gradually changing.

One final thing to say is that you’ll never find the best diet plan for you without experimentation. It could takes several months to finally settle on a diet plan that is ideal for you.

Test out different routines if you need to. Usually your body experience new effects every time you start a new diet, so it may take time to get accustomed a new eating pattern.

Keep at it and continue experimenting. With enough persistence, you’ll have no problem discovering the best diet plan that you will be able to stick to for a long time to come.

All the best

Daryl

How To Combat Stress Through Healthy Eating

2012-07-09T02:38:00.001-07:00

Stress can be one of your biggest challenges if you are trying to lose weight. Unfortunately, stress is virtually unavoidable in this day and age. When you’re feeling stressed out, the effort involved in sticking to a responsible eating plan can feel like something of a nuisance.

The big problem is that if stress leads to unhealthy eating, then the unhealthy eating will lead to more stress. And in reverse, healthy eating will result in a reduction of stress. I know it seems hard at times, but the times you when you feel most stressed are the times when eating healthily is most important.
Often, pressures in the workplace can lead to unhealthy eating.

Sometimes it’s just a lot easier to pop into the nearest fast food restaurant when you don’t have much time to eat. The harsh truth though is that this is simply being irresponsible if you are trying to lose weight.

There are plenty of healthy foods that you can buy that can be prepared quickly. A sandwich shop can easily whip you up a healthy sandwich with wholemeal bread and a piece of fruit just as quickly as McDonalds can crank out a greasy cheeseburger. Alternatively, make a healthy lunch at home and take it to work with you.

This way you won’t even have to leave the office at lunch time.
Now I understand that fast food can be very addictive and tasty, but they do a lot of harm to your body, and can even weaken your immune system.

Not to mention they will make you fat. Eating greasy and fatty foods will not help your concentration levels at all, so if you want to perform well at work, you should eat something better.

Remember this, the more stressed you are, the more healthy you need to eat. Be sure to start your day off well with a nutritional breakfast. A simple bowl of cereal and a glass of fruit juice can be prepared in seconds if you don’t have much time.

There’s so many healthy options available for lunch meals that you really have no excuse to go to McDonalds. A healthy lunch could consist of rice noodles or pastas with fresh boiled vegetables. Sandwiches with granary bread filled with egg white, meat or vegetables are another easy lunch to make.

Try to go easy on adding butter and cheese to your sandwiches, as you want to keep your calories under control. In addition, a piece of fruit or two is a great snack to eat along side it.

Eating healthily and reducing stress involves eating healthy meals and eating at appropriate intervals. It’s a good idea to eat healthy snacks in between your meals. You could keep some canned fruit, cereal bars and whole wheat crackers in your store or office to keep you going throughout the day.

So remember, when you are stressed you have two cycles to chose from:
Stress > Unhealthy Eating > More stress > Health problems
or…
Stress > Healthy Eating > Reduced Stress Levels > Stronger Immune system

Which would you prefer? The Lunch Box Diet is a great option as a healthy diet plan because as well as helping you lose weight, it is also a great stress busting diet due to all of its health properties. Click here to find out more.

All the best
Daryl

6 Reasons Why Exercise Programs Fail

2012-07-02T04:09:00.003-07:00

By Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

You are all psyched about your new fitness program to build, or at least maintain muscle, and shed body fat. Everything is written out to the letter of what you must do to accomplish your goals. All the numbers add up to ensure success and now the trick is to follow it.

As time passes, don't let other things become more important. Don't put your fitness endeavors on the back burner and only exercise when time permits. Do something everyday that supports your fitness lifestyle and avoid the pitfalls.

Common Mistakes Why Exercise Programs Fail

Reason #1 - Failure to set goals – Setting goals is one of the most important aspects in anything you attempt. What do you want to accomplish and in what time frame? If you don't have concrete goals, you don't have a plan.

You should set short-term goals, (daily and/or weekly) as well as long-term goals (monthly and/or yearly). Goals give you vision and depth. They allow you to work toward something, rather than floating around aimlessly with nothing to shoot for.

Reason #2 - Jumping in with both feet – Jumping into a fitness program with both feet is very common. Many times people get all ho hum with their goals and exercise program and have a do-or-die attitude. Granted, it's a good attitude to have, but it can also be a legacy.

Begin your program slowly by taking small successful steps each day, week, and month rather than just diving into the program and hitting rock bottom suddenly. You must have elbow room to ensure success. The body does respond to small amounts of exercise and those who begin by doing too much too quickly end up on the sidelines due to burnout.

Discover How to Avoid Weight-Loss Plateaus

Reason #3 - Carrying all your eggs in one basket – All too often, many people begin their fitness endeavors by cutting calories, adding endless hours of cardio, and popping weight loss supplements left and right. Your body adapts very quickly and if you use all your resources at one time, you won't have anything to fall back on when you hit a stalling point.

Begin lowering calories slowly and adding cardio slowly. Keep harmony and balance. After a few weeks you can incorporate the supplement of your choice to help give the body a boost.

Reason #4 - Not knowing where to begin – Not knowing where to begin is not uncommon. Many people don't have a starting point or know how to create one. Establishing a starting point is crucial and can be a significant factor in your success.

A quality starting point should include your current body status (weight and body fat percentage). This will allow you to determine your caloric base and macro nutrient intake. In addition to your stats, you need to make a fitness plan to include resistance training and cardio to build lean muscle and decrease body fat.

Reason #5 - Not following the fitness plan – Many create wonderful fitness programs, yet fail to follow it properly. This can be anything from not doing it at all or simply doing too much. Most of the time my focus is on those not following it, but in this case I want to tap on those who do follow it, but in excess.

If you create a plan of weight training four days a week for 45 to 60 minutes and cardio for four days a week for 30 minutes for the first week and cardio 40 minutes the second week, then do that. Don't overstate your cardio before it's time. More is not better. It's how you implement it.

You Deserve The Facts and You Deserve to Change

Reason #6 - Improper nutrition – You can exercise until you are blue in the face and you won't see desired results until your nutrition is in order. Many venturing onto a fitness program choose poor quality food rather than whole food that nourishes the body.

For continual success in your fitness endeavors, set short and long-term goals, pace yourself, create a fitness program and follow it as prescribed. Staying consistent on your program will ensure success.

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions
MsFit

P.S. For ADVANCED weight loss or fitness information, please check out How to Lose Weight; FOREVER!

Thanks for that Karen.

All the best

Daryl

How to Avoid A Yo-Yo Diet In Simple To Follow Steps

2012-06-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

There are certain characteristics that differentiate healthy diets and unhealthy diets. The less effective diets are the usually the ones that promise rapid weight loss and only last for a month or so.

The healthier diet programs give more of a focus on losing weight over a longer period. These diet plans are tailored for the individual so are easier to stick to for a long time.

Something that is common with people looking for a weight loss solution is that they don’t have the right knowledge about what healthy eating really consists of. Many people are attracted to fad diets that promise them fast results.

These diets are usually temporary solutions. Many people have good success with such diets, but being as they don’t know what a healthy diet really consists of, they return to their old eating patterns soon after and start piling all that weight back on.

There is nothing wrong with trying out a fad diet, and they may well work. The problem is that many people don’t have a plan B for when the diet finishes. There’s no real use in eating healthily for 30 days and then returning to your usual unhealthy diet.

These diets are sometimes referred to as ‘yo-yo’ diets. Sometimes the dieter will regain twice as much weight as they lost after returning to their old eating habits. This is because of the effects that these eating changes have on their metabolism.

Here are some of the characteristics that fad diets often possess. If you spot things like this then you know that they are most likely not a diet with sustainable long term benefits:

They focus on just one or two nutrientsThere are several dieting plans around that focus on drastically reducing carbohydrates. These once popular diets have begun fading away, which hopefully reflects the new awareness people are gaining regarding long term healthy eating practices. For long term health benefits, your body needs a good variety of nutrients, including carbohydrates and fats. Balance is the key.

They promise fast weight loss resultsWhile they may make you lose weight quickly, they are just temporary diets. This means that when the diet is over there’s a good chance you’ll pile that weight back on. You could even put on more weight than you lost.

They focus on magic foodsA big trend with diets these days is claiming that a certain food like lemon, grapefruit, cinnamon, celery etc. will burn fat fast. While certain can foods can have a positive effect on the metabolism, they should not be considered the solution to long term weight loss.

They come in supplement formThere’s all sorts of magic diet pills and supplements doing the rounds. Remember, they are called a ‘supplement’ for a reason. They are intended to supplement an overall healthy eating plan. There’s nothing wrong with taking supplements, but they should not be solely relied on in order to lose weight.

There is no exercise involvedYes some fad diets even claim that no exercise is required and that the special diet alone will make you lose weight. Exercise is a vital practice regardless of your diet. If a dieting product attempts to sell you on the fact you don’t need to exercise, stay well away.

As you may have noticed after reading the above, fad diets are unbalanced and focus on miraculous and rapid changes. Truly healthy diet plans a like a reality check. The best way to be healthy and lose weight is to eat well consistently in the longer term.

There are many healthy diet programs out there that promote long term health in order to lose weight. While they don’t promise success in just a few weeks, they give the groundwork for eating healthily in the long term. Stick to a sustainable plan like this and you body will naturally form its optimum weight over time.

Because a true healthy diet is stuck to for the long term, there is no danger of sudden weight gain as the diet does not end. So the way to spot a healthy diet among all the unhealthy diets out there is to focus more on long term health, rather than overnight weight loss.

In addition, a healthy diet plan focuses on proper eating practices. This includes the frequency and size of meals, which is an important factor which many dieters overlook.

Here are the common features of a healthy diet plan:

Ensure You Consume Enough Calories

Many fad diets can contain a drastically low amount of calories. Starving your body of calories is not the best way to lose weight – you need to reduce calories gradually.

A healthy plan will be tailored the your current calorie intake. Seeing a nutritionist can be helpful to calculate your average weekly calorie intake. A major decrease in your average intake will not serve you well if trying to lose weight properly.

Allowing Snacking Between Meals

Rather than just eating your 3 main meals a day, it is better to have a slightly smaller breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then eat some small healthy snacks in between. This increases metabolism and fills your body with energy. It also settles your appetite and prevents overeating.

Contains a Wide Selection of Foods
You shouldn’t be confined to eating just one kind of food. A healthy diet plan will contain a good mixture of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and lean meat.

Sustainable & Flexible
A healthy diet is designed to last for a long time. This is why the best diet plans can be tailored to your own eating habits and your lifestyle.

An effective eating plan will include all your favourite foods to some extent – as long as you don’t overindulge. This makes the diet more effective as you will have more will-power to stick to it.

When you search for a healthy diet plan, evaluate the plans you see and try to identify the above elements. Doing this can help you separate the genuinely healthy diet plans for the fads.

Look for a sustainable diet plan that you know you will be able to stick to for a long time. Find a suitable plan and it will make achieving your health goals a lot easier. The Lunch Box Diet by Simon Lovell reached acclaim because it’s one of the few diets that causes yo-yo dieting as it’s more of a healthy lifestyle plan. Voted ‘the best diet’ by Elle Magazine they said it became ‘a way of life’ – very few diets offer that kind of benefit. Click here to find out more…

All the best for now

Daryl

10 Tips For Losing Weight Fast

2012-06-18T05:15:00.001-07:00

Getting rid of those extra kilograms around your waist can be a grueling task but if you follow these 10 Tips for losing weight fast, you should be well on your way to being slender and healthy.

There is a ton of information out there on the internet about what you should and what you shouldn’t do when it comes to weight loss but the problem is that some of it is simply to generic or isn’t really useful.

This is why I have tried to come up with a great list of tips for losing weight fast so that all the information you get from it is both useful and ready to be applied, with immediate results.

So, without further ado, I give you my personal list of 10 Tips for Losing Weight Fast and healthy.

1. Take the time to experiment with food

Everyone knows that eating healthy is the first prerequisite for a diet with enduring results. It is the only way that you will lose weight and kept the extra pounds off. This is why, you should try a lot of different healthy foods so that you will never get bored of your menu and start eating foods that will add to your waistline.

2. Have Smaller Meals

This is something that you will see mentioned in many diets and for good reasons. If you eat smaller meals you won’t put any strain on your stomach and you will also get used to eating less every time you sit down at the table. This is a sure fire way to cut down on your portions on the long run.

3. Drink Lots of Water

This is mandatory not only for losing weight but for living an overall healthy life. Water is the fuel that drives your metabolism so get a lot of it to make sure that you keep burning as many calories as possible throughout the day.

4. Avoid Alcohol

In case you didn’t know it, Alcohol comes with a significant sugar concentration so if you want to lose weight fast, remove it from the menu completely. If you are in a social situation where you absolutely must raise a glass, go for red wine because it gives you a nice metabolism boost and increases your blood flow.

5. Don’t eat after 6 pm

This is another golden rule in the Tips for losing weight fast book. The idea behind it is to avoid eating during the period of the day when your physical activity will be reduced significantly and you won’t burn as many calories.

6. Stay away from Junk Foods and Processed Foods

This should really go without saying but there are many people out there that manage to convince themselves that it’s ok to eat that McDonald’s Salad and completely forget about the fat-laden dressing that it comes with.

7. Run

Out of all the tips for losing weight fast, this is the simplest and most effective I can give you. Just go outside and run because there is no way you will get rid of the extra pounds fast, without any physical exercise.

8. Eat Raw Food

Include vegetables and fruits to your menu but don’t add them, use them to replace other cooked foods.

9. Don’t eat before you sleep

Try to always be active after a meal because it is the only way you will lose weight fast.

10. Never leave the table feeling full

If you want to shed off pounds fast, always leave the table feeling a little bit hungry.

There you have it; these are my 10 Tips for Losing Weight Fast. Follow all of them and you should see results sooner than you expect

All the best for now

Daryl

Fat Genes or Phat Jeans

2012-06-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

Fat Genes or Phat Jeans

You've been genetically programmed to bear extra weight

By Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

Thorough studies and extensive research have determined that you may be overweight or obese due to heredity. Everyone from doctors to dietitians proclaim that you gain weight and/or get fat due to genetics.

Even though your parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents were healthy and at an ideal weight, you can inherit this "genetic fat gene". *enter sarcasm here* They reason, "it's not your fault", to make you feel better.

How does that strike you? This should down right anger you that they are spending millions of dollars to "prove" that you are genetically predisposed to be heavy with the inability to lose weight.

You've literally been brainwashed by leading officials in the "health care industry" that you gain weight due to a genetic disposition. On top of that, they want to create a drug to combat this "genetic fat gene".

This is along the same lines as, "if heart disease run in your family, there's a great chance you'll get it too". I'm sorry, but that's a load of crap. Families inherit eating traditions and unhealthy lifestyle habits.

If you follow an unhealthy eating pattern, you will suffer the same risk factors and consequences as your parents and grandparents. If you change your eating, you can change your health and well-being.

When the "health care industry" tells you that you have a "genetic fat gene", you will be more likely to tolerate weight issues and accept prescribed drugs to "balanced" the condition for the rest of your life. What a brilliant marketing plan. They take themselves and you out of the equation, and blame weight issues on something beyond your control.

My primary question is, if obesity began to increase at an alarming rate in the last 25 years, where was that fat gene then? Why did it all of a sudden become an issue? Is the fat gene contagious? Is there a fat gene epidemic?

When the pharmaceutical industry funds certain "studies" and "researches", drawing out conclusions that are beyond one's control without the aid of drugs, something is wrong.

There is a lack of true science involved in most researching, simply because they are focused on the result they want. By manipulating time, subjects, amounts, etc., ANY study can be created with any result they want.

Get The Weight-Loss Truth and Start Losing Weight TODAY!

Breaking the Silence

Granted, heredity can play a great role in weight issues, but it does not determine whether you will be skinny or fat. These factors can be broken down into body types and body shapes. What I can say is your diet and exercise can be based on these two factors to create the type of body you desire.

Some causes of weight gain can be contributed to overeating, carbohydrate abuse (past or present), eating too much processed food, lack of exercise, etc.

As you can see, these are learned or acquired behaviors. You don't pop out of the womb with these traits.

There is another side to the equation, such as medical issues, including metabolic challenges due to hypothyroidism, sluggish liver, improperly functioning pancreas, sluggish digestive track, medications, and so on. I will tap on a few of these later.

How to Battle the Bulge

Dietitians, physicians and other "experts" declare that to lose weight you must eat fewer calories and exercise more. Burn more calories than you eat. Of course, that sounds logical.

Another panel of "experts" suggests that to lose weight you have to reduce the amount of fat you eat, because we all know that fat makes you fat, right? This too sounds logical.

So there you have it. In order to lose weight you have to lower calories and fat, and exercise more. Now, if we lower calories and fat, we are left with eating only carbohydrates and protein.

Pardon my sarcasm, but isn't the latest trend in the weight loss and fitness industry, that carbs make you fat?

Therefore, we are left with cutting calories, fat, and carbs, and doing a lot of exercise. That must be the secret to weight loss. I'm sure many of you have tried this method only to lose muscle and energy and ended up a smaller version of your previous fat self. Right?

After a quick scan of our top "expert's advice", we realize that they are all wrong.

Statistics show that what we are being taught about weight loss is not working. Rather than giving us true facts about how to master fat loss, we are being told that it's in our genes. How absurd is that?

Look at all the success stories of people who were over weight and even obese that ate right and exercised and lost fat. What happened to their fat gene?

Break the Mode and Start Shedding the Pounds!

Revealing the Truth

No matter what, the truth is usually the hardest thing to face. So, what's the truth about fat loss? Technically, it's your body's chemistry.

Your body chemistry determines how your body responds to food. The benefit to this is that you can alter your body chemistry and make it work in your favor. The detriment is that you can also alter your body chemistry and make it worse, causing weight gain.

This is where it's important to know how to play the weight loss game. The secret is in understanding how your body responds to certain macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbs) and using that information to manipulate the body into burning fat.

Undisclosed Facts

There are many factors affecting one's weight loss, and many of these issues have not even surfaced through the media or magazines.

Specifically engineered diet foods and other processed foods are one of the leading causes you may be overweight or have a difficult time losing weight, not a genetic fat gene. The majority of the population is consuming chemically altered substances called, food.

These man-made food imitations are loaded with various toxins, such as sugar, artificial sweetners, MSG, and many other chemicals that prevent the body from breaking them down to use or dispose of. These toxins literally clog your body's systems, alter your body's pH, and virtually pollute your body to the point where it can't lose fat or retain muscle.

To make a bad story worse, these chemicals (additives) causes illness and diseases.

Today, people are eating diet foods by the truck loads for that extra weight loss advantage. These foods are labeled, "fat-free", "low-calorie", "cholesterol-free", "sugar-free", "“low-carb", "carb-free", etc. Why aren't people losing weight on this stuff?

It is marketed to those interested in losing weight. These diet food products to lose weight and be healthy that couldn't even be manufactured 50 years ago.

The dirty little secret about these wonderful diet foods is that the food industry is putting ingredients in food products to make you hungry and make you addicted. Now, it's not just diet foods only.

Anything processed contains chemicals to work against the body and cause adverse reactions.

Envision this. You are composed of 73 trillion cells that are engineered to be healthy. Cells perform all the fundamental functions of life.

These cells carry out daily tasks to keep you healthy and alive.

A healthy and clean diet rich in natural foods produced by Mother Nature will equal healthy cells that function optimally. On the other hand, a polluted diet composed of processed and commercial diet foods including deli cuts, anything boxed or canned, fast food, and such will yield polluted cells that don't function as they were engineered to.

Simply stated, your body is designed to breakdown and digest natural foods, those you can hunt, gather, fish, and pick. When you put a foreign food in your body (processed), your cells don't have the ability to break it down and digest it.

This foreign matter can't be used to rebuild the body's tissues, and these toxins just hang around in your body, clogging up your system and altering your pH. When your body can't rebuild itself with a toxic diet, it will turn on itself to feed its needs.

This literally means that your body will rob your bone and organs to get the enzymes it needs to survive.

Therefore, when you develop osteoporosis at a young age, look at your diet. Is your diet high in processed foods, which lack and rob calcium? Are you eating enough natural vegetables that are calcium rich? Osteoporosis is not genetic, it's acquired.

When you develop heart disease before the age of 40, take a good hard look at your diet. Your body doesn't care where it gets the enzymes, as long as it gets it.

If this means robbing Peter to pay Paul, it will do it! Before you go blaming your parents and grandparent's, take a look at your own eating habits first. It's not your fault. "Conventional-wisdom" has deceived you.

Why Wait? Start Losing Belly Fat NOW!

Failure to Inform

Why isn't this in the news? Why isn't our doctors' telling us this? With the cost of insurance and doctor visits, you would think they would enlighten us rather than telling us we have inherited a genetic fat gene.

Well, one reason your doctor doesn't tell you this is because they are taught very little, virtually two clock hours of nutrition in medical school.

Doctors are taught how to write prescriptions and do surgical procedures in medical school. If our bodies survive on food, which is comprised of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, then why do they dismiss the very essentials that we are built on and our bodies thrive on? They simply don't know.

The United States is number 37 on the World Health Index and in the top 5 in technology. With all our technology, why are we so overweight, out of shape, sick and diseased? Why is our health at stake? A new drug is not the answer.

Obviously all their studies and research aren't doing much good. The public is being kept in the closet on fitness, nutrition, and health. The true scientific facts are being suppressed, at the cost of your waistline and health. Angry yet?

Metabolic Weight Loss Challenges

Earlier I mentioned certain conditions that could be hindering your weight loss endeavors, such as a poor functioning liver or pancreas and such. Not always, but generally your filtering and metabolic organs can become toxic and prevent them from functioning optimally.

Usually people go straight to their doctor to get the latest drug or surgery, but before you do, give detoxifying a try. Often times our bodies run under par due to the amount of toxins we receive from processed foods, personal hygiene, and/or polluted air and water. Toxins need to be flushed out because they get trapped and stored in fat cells.

They can bloat you, alter your pH, prevent fat loss, and cause a whole host of illnesses and diseases. A simple detoxifying program can purge all the impurities out of your body and allow it to operate as it was intended to do.

Bust out of Those Phat Genes

Now that you know that you are not genetically predisposed to be overweight, you can look into eating more natural foods and detoxifying your system to get your body to work with you, and not against you.

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

P.S. Discover how to take weight off naturally and safely... and keep it off in How To Lose Weight; FOREVER!

Thanks for that Karen

All the best

Daryl

How Can A Healthy Diet Give You A Healthy Heart?

2012-05-30T03:51:00.002-07:00

We live in a world where people are seduced by fat food every day. So many people choose the taste of greasy and fatty sausages or burgers over the nutritional value of healthy fresh salad. It is pure madness, but it shows how addicted people have become to the taste of junk. These people have a total disregard for what it is doing to their hearts.

Alarmingly, more and more medical related deaths have been recorded in the last few decades that are related to heart related problems and cardiac arrests. It is no secret that fast food has played a big part in this.

Studies have shown us that around 80% of heart disease can be prevented through healthy eating. A staggering figure I’m sure you’ll agree. To have a healthy heart, all it takes is the willingness to learn new habits.

While learning new eating habits may seem like a massive step, don’t worry, you don’t have to make 100 drastic changes all at once. You won’t need to turn into a rabbit and only eat vegetables and nothing else for the rest of your life.

If you want a healthy heart, you can start by changing how you cook your favourite non-vegetarian foods. Adding spice to non-veg foods like sage, dry mustard, dill, tarragon, marjoram or oregano can reduce fat saturation and cholesterol. If you like to eat lots of meat, stick to lean red meat and white meat.

Pure vegetarian foods however need to become a large part of your diet. Start gradually eating more and more fresh vegetables. Veggies still contain fats,but not as much.

Foods like cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and leafy vegetables are very healthy and don’t add cholesterol to your body. The Lunch Box Diet is a great healthy diet based on the popular grazing principle that boosts your metabolism through eating small regular meals.

Red and green fruits, low fat milk, olive oil and wholegrain foods are also good vegetarian foods you should have a lot of in your diet if you want a healthy heart.

When you buy foods from the supermarkets, be careful and don’t always trust the labels when they say the product is low cholesterol. Always avoid Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) – this is bad cholesterol, which can cause heart complexities. In contrast, High Density Lipoprotein is good cholesterol – this can help to protect against cardio-vascular risks.

Unhealthy non-food related habits are also important to eradicate. If you smoke or drink lots of caffeine and alcohol, this is something you should cut back on. Exercise is also good for strengthening you cardio-vascular system. So if you’re a bit of a couch potato, now is the time to hit the gym.

All the best for now and speak soon,

Daryl

A Useful Article On Healthy Travel Food

2012-05-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

If you go travelling a lot you might be horrified by the lack of nutritional food on offer. Most companies that dish food out to travellers are more interested in profit than nutrition.

Going travelling can often force us to eat lots of unhealthy meals. It’s hard to have control over your calorie intake as your food options will be so limited.

Don’t be worried though, you can still enjoy delicacies on your travels without turning into a pig! With a little care, you can enjoy yourself without being over-indulgent.

If you want to try various delicacies, try to share them with a partner and use your common sense to pick out snacks and meals that are most likely to have the most nutritional value.

If you’re on the road and eating breakfast at service stations, avoid eating deep fried eggs and bacon. Stick to cereals and sandwiches. If you’re going to have eggs, stick to boiled eggs or an omelette.

Take plenty of healthy snacks with you from home to ensure that you and your kids are guaranteed to get some nutrition. You never know what your food options are going to be when you travel, so at a bare minimum you can make sure you have a few healthy snacks in your bag. Take things like protein bars, whole wheat bread sandwiches, fruit and juices. Don’t take high fat and salty snacks like crisps and chocolate bars. Alternatively a great diet for on the move is The Lunch Box Diet which you can combine with a simple cool bag to keep everything fresh.

When food is offered to you during your journey, be it on a plane, a train or a ship, use you head to analyse the negative and positive aspects of the meals before tucking in. If possible, stick only to boiled, roasted or baked dishes rather than fried meals. Make sure you have adequate salads or vegetables to accompany your meal. These should always be provided as standard. You can check what food will be served before you arrange your journey.

Long distance travelling can be quite boring so it’s hard not to stuff yourself along the way. This is why you should take only healthy snacks in case you get this urge. If you are serious about dieting or losing weight, then you should have a natural eye for filtering out healthy food from junk. When travelling, its time to put this instinct in to use and stay disciplined and eat as healthily as you can.

All the best, see you soon

Daryl

10 Best Fat Burning Foods

2012-05-15T04:17:00.001-07:00

When it comes to losing weight there are some foods that can really help speed up the process. Some foods have properties that make them ideal for fat fighters. Inclusion of such foods in a healthy long-term dieting plan can really help us to shed those pounds a lot faster. Here is a list of the 10 best fat burning foods from Lunch Box Diet author Simon Lovell.

1. Green Leafy Vegetables

Leafy green veggies such as lettuce and cabbages are rich in fibre, folic acid, vitamin C, and various other nutrients. As well as being rich in all these nutrients, they are also very low in calories. Vegetables like this should be heavily included in any healthy diet plan

2. Whole Grain Cereal

Whole grain cereals are rich in both fibre and complex carbohydrates. Both of these are helpful for maintaining low insulin levels and boosting metabolism. Keeping insulin levels low is crucial for losing weight.

3. Eggs

Eggs are another food that give your metabolism a boost, and they are also a good source of protein. Eating eggs in the morning can get your metabolism in good shape for the rest of the day. Eggs are very good to eat if you exercise a lot. You may want to avoid the egg yolk however if you are worried about cholesterol levels.

4. Brocolli
Low in calories and high in fibre, broccoli and other green vegetables are excellent for burning fat. Broccoli contains indoles and sulforaphane which reduce oestrogen levels and increase out natural fat burning hormones. Known as ‘Green fibrous fat burner’, green veggies like broccoli should be consumed a lot if you are looking to lose weight.

5. Beans

Beans have no fat and are high in protein and fibre. They clean your system out and keep the digestive system working efficiently. The soluble fibre in beans traps bile and also lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) without affecting good cholesterol (HDL). Lima beans, white beans and navy beans are all great fat burning foods.

6. Lean Meats

Leans meats are a good source of amino acids and are very rich in protein. Being as the body has to work and use up a lot of energy to digest proteins, it burns a lot of calories in the process. The amino acids are good for boosting metabolism and building lean muscle tissue.

7. Oranges

Oranges contain vitamin C as well as fibre which are both beneficial to burning fat. The vitamin C in oranges promote production of Carnitine which helps to oxidise fatty acids. Oxidising fatty acids breaks down fats so your body can burn them.

8. Low Fat Yoghurt

By providing us with protein, calcium and positive bacteria, low fat yoghurt can give a great natural boost to our metabolism and improve the efficiency of our digestive systems. The high protein levels mean lots of calories are burned while digesting.

9. Green Tea

The health benefits of green tea and green tea supplement have been known for many years. Green tea is low in calories and rich in polyohenois and catechin which help the body to burn calories faster. Catechins help to stabilize glucose levels which is necessary for avoiding weight gain.

10. Brown Rice

Substituting white rice for brown rice can help speed up your weight loss quest. Brown rice in rich in fibre and supplies the body with complex carbohydrates needed for keeping the body full of energy.

If your diet plan includes many of the foods mentioned above, then you’re well on the way to shedding those pounds. Remember though, there is no one super-food that is going to magically make your body fat disappear.

A long term healthy eating plan with a variety of nutrients is necessary if you want to lose weight. Don’t expect results overnight, but if you commit to eating healthy foods like the ones listed above as the core of your diet plan, you’ll see results soon enough. Check out The Lunch Box Diet as a great healthy way of losing weight, it’s been voted ‘the best diet’ 5/5 by Elle Magazine. Click here to get started.

Look out for another great Article from The Lunch Box Diet,

all the best

Daryl

The best diet I’ve ever done’ Elle Magazine ***** 5/5 Stars

2012-05-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

At last here is the most exclusive and indept piece we have ever put together on any New Weight Loss Diets
over the years.

Over the coming weeks you will receive every last piece of information that we have put together so that you
will know exactly what the Lunch Box Diet not only is about, but also if it is right or not for you.

Make sure you do not miss any of our emails.

"Elle Magazine ***** 5/5 Stars"

OK! Magazine
‘Popular among celebrities such as Cameron‘

Woman’s World
‘The easiest diet’ & ‘gold star results’

The Sun
‘Set to become the biggest slimming craze’

The Brisitish Dietetic Association
The Lunch Box Diet is a positive and humorous approach to weight loss’

Woman
‘Easy weight loss with no calorie counting or hunger pangs’

More
‘This diet is packed full of essential nutrients, vitamins & minerals’

Zest
‘This diet really worked for me’

Top Sante
‘The diet allows you to nibble all day, satisfying your urge to snack’

Top Sante
‘The diet allows you to nibble all day, satisfying your urge to snack’

I know it all looks really exciting and you will be in the perfect position to not only know what all the fuss
is really about, but more than anything you will know the answer that is asked of
every diet there has ever been.......DOES IT WORK?

LOOK OUT FOR NEXT ARTICLE COMING VERY SOON!

All the best for now

Daryl

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind

2012-05-08T04:17:00.001-07:00

Don't Be Misled by Weight Loss Myths

For many people, weight loss is a struggle. Many people spend their time jumping on and off the scales only to find themselves disappointed. The reason so many people become disappointed is because they don't have their weight loss facts straight. Many people are misled when it comes to weight loss. Before you become frustrated, take time to read these weight loss facts.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #1: Muscle Weighs More Than Fat
If you are exercising in hopes of speeding up the weight loss process, don't get discouraged if the scales won't budge. Even if your weight goes up a few pounds, this isn't a reason to get discouraged. The fact is, as you exercise, you will build muscle which will weigh more than fat. Instead of getting on your scale every week, pay more attention to other signs that show your weight loss.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #2: Starvation Slows Down Metabolism
Many people think they can simply cut their calorie intake down to 500 calories per day and speed up the weight loss process. The fact is, when you starve yourself, you are actually slowing your metabolism down. Your body will begin to hold onto to fat and calories as a means of sustaining itself.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #3: A Two Pound a Week Weight Loss is Healthy
Many people get discouraged after their second weigh in. This is normally because their first weigh in was a large number, such as 5 pounds. When they don't see another 5 pound weight loss, they become frustrated. Don't let this happen to you. The fact is, many doctors will tell you that a 2 pound weight loss is healthy and should be what you're reaching for each week.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #4: Exercise Will Increase Weight Loss
Many people feel that a simple change in their diet is enough to take off the extra pounds. But, the fact is, you need to exercise in order for your weight loss goals to be met. Exercising will increase muscle mass, which will in turn increase the amount of calories you burn each day.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #5: Diet Pills Can Be Deadly
Diet pills will cause you to lose weight, but is this weight loss worth risking your life over? Over the years, many diet pills have been pulled from the market because they caused heart attacks. Instead of rushing your weight loss, remember this little fact, and choose healthy foods and exercise for your weight loss regimen.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #6: There Are Ways to Speed up Your Metabolism
Increasing your metabolism isn't complicated. This fact is, exercise increases your metabolism and so do certain foods. Spicy, red peppers have been proven to increase metabolism levels and so has green tea. Green tea can even be found in pill form, but green tea tastes so good, why not drink it instead?

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #7: Water Naturally Curbs Your Appetite
Many times, people will think they are hungry, when in fact they are actually just dehydrated. The next time you find yourself rushing to the snack cabinet, stop to drink at least 8 ounces of water. More than likely, you will find yourself feeling full. If not, this step will at least prevent you from overindulging.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #8: Fiber Will Help with Weight Loss
The fact is fiber keeps you full longer. When you start your day with a healthy breakfast that includes oatmeal, or a high fiber cereal, you will find that you don't want to snack as much before your next meal. Fiber also helps with weight loss by carrying fats out of the body.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #9: Any Food in Moderation Is Okay
One of the major reasons people fail to lose weight is because they cut out all of their favorite foods. When you do this, it will be much harder to eat healthy for a long period of time. Instead of going on a diet, make lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes allow you to still indulge in your favorite foods. The fact is, if you cut out all your favorite foods, instead of enjoying them in moderation, you will quickly ditch those carrot sticks on go on a junk food binge.

Ten Weight Loss Facts to Keep in Mind #10: Your Pants Don't Lie
One last weight loss fact to remember is that your pants don't lie. Even if the scale has remained at the same weight for weeks, remember that the way your pants fit is what's really important. As you change fat to muscle, you may find that your weight loss has come to a stand still, but the important thing is you're still getting rid fat and the weight will come off.

Published by Amy Brantley - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

thanks for some great facts Amy

Chat soon

Daryl

Summer Around The Corner – You Can Look Good On The Beach!

2012-05-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s that time of year again: Summer is just around the corner and your already thinking about those summer out-fits and of course the Beach.

It can be really tempting to start making a LONG LIST of things that you would like to change about your body…

And I don’t know about you, but in the past when I have created a long list of to-do’s I thought I needed to take…many of those new “to do’s” didn’t get “to-done.”

Well, I have an exciting solution to share with you…

I am excited to introduce you to Samba Dance Teacher, Theresa Stevens.

Theresa is an expert in “losing weight by dancing,” who lives by the philosophy that a woman’s “pleasure center” is in her hips.

She teaches how to use “the delicious art of shaking your hips and booty” to tap into the natural wellspring of creativity, pleasure, sensuality and power, innately within your female body.

Once that tap is turned on, says Theresa, you are reminded you that ANYTHING is possible, including slimming down in a pleasurable, sustainable way.

I’d love for you to be impacted by Theresa’s inspirational teachings, and I want to introduce you to her inspirationaland educational video sharing her top 3 secrets on how pleasure and happiness can help you dance with confidence and joy, love your body, and lose weight in the process.

Theresa’s been getting the feedback from her community that watching this free 23 minute video alone has caused them to feel more beautiful, sexy and alive, and I believe her.

I was riveted when I saw this videoand you will be too.

Enjoy

Daryl

Exercise Myths

2012-05-02T06:59:00.001-07:00

By Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
aka: MsFit

Everywhere you look you will find exercise information. It can come in fitness magazines, the beauty salon, your co-workers, the Internet, and infomercials.

You will see snappy headlines such as, “Lose 10 Pounds in a Week with No Exercise at All!”, and “Melt Pounds without Dieting.” These marketing ploys don't end. They will use any tactic to get you to buy their product.

Along with the vast amount of exercise information coming to us at every conceivable angle, there are many myths leaving the consumer thoroughly confused. In this article I will be discussing several exercise myths, giving you the facts and dispelling the fiction.

Exericse Myth #1: Exercising with weights will bulk you up.Fact: - Excess calories from protein, carbohydrates, and fat will bulk you up, not resistance training. Fat is bulky and inactive while muscle an active, lean and dense tissue. The more muscle you acquire, the more fat you will burn at rest and during activity.

Exercise Myth #2: Muscle weighs more than fat.Fact: - A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same, a pound. As previously stated, muscle is more dense, and takes up less space than fat. Adding muscle to your physique will create curves and make you appear smaller in the absence of excess fat.

Exercise Myth #3: If I stop weight training, my muscle will turn to fat.Fact: - Muscle cannot turn into fat any more than fat can turn into muscle. The two are not interchangeable. They are two completely different tissues. You can increase or decrease fat and muscle, but the two cannot change into the other, ever!

Don't You Deserve the Body You Want?

Exercise Myth #4: Crunches will make my abs visible.Fact: - Crunches will build the abdominal muscle, but your abs won't shine through until you remove the layer of fat covering them. When it comes to "ripped" abs, they are built with balanced nutrition, coupled with proper exercise.

Exercise Myth #5: Weighted crunches will make my midsection thick.Fact: - The abdominal muscle is a thin layer of muscle tissue, and not able to grow much in size like other body parts. Therefore, adding resistance to your abdominal training will just increase your midsection strength. It is the side bends and twists that can contribute to a thick waist.

Exercise Myth #6: Exercise burns fat.Fact: - Exercise burns calories, and eating correctly with added exercise can aid in fat burning. Weight loss is not a one-shot approach. There are many angles, and you have to tackle each of them in small to moderate amounts. Knowing the right food combinations can give you the advantage on fat burning.

Exercise Myth #7 : Exercising with light weights and a lot of reps will get me defined.Fact: Training with light weights will build muscle endurance. If your goal is to get defined, you should also incorporate a healthy diet balanced in macronutrients and add some cardiovascular exercise.

When You Demand the Absolute BEST Weight-Loss Information!

Exercise Myth #8: I just want to tone up, not build muscle.Fact: When you weight train you build muscle. There is no “toning” about it. As a woman, you have the ability to control the amount of muscle you add to your frame to a certain extent. Hormonally, women will not build a large degree of muscle mass. However, you can add more muscle size by increasing your protein intake and overall calories. For a woman to add a lot of muscle, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and sometimes steroids.

Conclusion to Exercise MythsNow that we have dispelled exercise fact from fiction, you are better equipped to get in the shape you desire. Always strive for excellence and keep a positive attitude.

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

P.S. This is just the tip of the iceberg... For more SHOCKING myths INSANELY EXPOSED check out How to Lose Weight; FOREVER

10 Steps on Improving Your Metabolism

2012-04-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

By Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

Are you sluggish and low on energy? Do you feel like you work and work toward your weight loss goal and never seem to make any dramatic improvement?

You could be suffering from a slow metabolism. Even though you may have a slow metabolism, it does not have to destroy your weight loss efforts. You can dramatically improve your metabolism, and boost your energy levels without taking supplements.

Your metabolism simply refers to the conversion of food to usable energy by the body. It is the biological process, by which energy is extracted from food, and the net result is how fast or slowly the body burns those calories.

A few steps you can take to improve your metabolism naturally are:

Drink Water for Improving Your Metabolism - Water is great to drink and you should be drinking a minimum of 8 to 10, glasses daily, of course, more is better. It will help increase your metabolism and flush out sodium, toxins, and fat. Drinking water before meals will fill your stomach so you feel full and prevent overeating. Avoid excess colas, coffee, teas, and sugary juices. Caffeine will dehydrate you, and the sugar will do more damage than good in the long-run.

Eat Every Three Hours for Improving Your Metabolism - Eat a small balanced meal every three hours, including snacks. Meals and snacks should be balanced, meaning they should contain a complete protein, carbohydrates, as well as natural fat. Failure to eat consistently can lead to a slower metabolism and fat storage. Also, skipping meals slows down your metabolism. To ignite fat loss you need to be consuming the right foods in a balanced manner throughout the day.
Don't Skip Breakfast for Improving Your Metabolism - Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets your metabolism running in high gear. You wouldn't drive your car to work on an empty tank, and you shouldn't start your day without adequate nourishment. Your first meal sets your metabolism for the day and keeps it going, as long as you eat every three hours. If you get up early and eat a late breakfast, you miss out on several hours of burning calories.

Don't Fear Fat for Improving Your Metabolism - Fat has developed a bad reputation. Many people think fat makes you fat. This is false. The type of fat and how much fat you eat impacts your body fat composition. Fat is needed by the body. Those who follow a very low-fat diet have a harder time ridding their body of fat. Choose natural healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, various nuts, flax, and natural peanut butter to receive your necessary fats.
Omit Trans Fat for Improving Your Metabolism - Trans fat is the bad fat, the cause of weight gain, low energy, depression, cancer, and heart disease. You will never get the body you desire by eating "healthy" fast food, frozen dinners, and other processed choices. If it's man-made, it's not the best choice and will halt fat loss endeavors. Eat the foods Mother Nature has provided to meet your fat loss goals.

Be Active Daily for Improving Your Metabolism - Stay active at least six days a week. Take the stairs when possible or park further out to get that little bit of extra movement to keep the heart and lungs working optimally. The more movement you get daily, the better you will feel overall.

Do Cardiovascular Exercise for Improving Your Metabolism - Cardio exercise is necessary for heart and lung health. It also burns calories. Doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach can tap into fat stores, and keep your body burning calories at a high rate for about an hour after cardio is finished. If you fail to eat adequately daily, first morning cardio on an empty stomach can work against you. Doing morning cardio on very low calorie diet can burn muscle. Another good time to incorporate cardio is in the evening after your last meal. This allows you to burn calories so you are not sleeping on them. You do not have to implement a morning and evening session, choose one or the other or cycle between the two to prevent staleness and boredom.
HIIT It for Improving Your Metabolism - Blend some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your cardiovascular program from time to time to give your body and metabolism a good shock. The body is programmed for adaptation Therefore, doing the same cardio format day in and day out can become stale really fast. Take one or two days a week and implement some HIIT to give the body an added shock.

HIIT is basically alternating low intensity and moderate to high intensity cardio training. For example, a 20 minute HIIT session would look similar to this: Minute 1 and 2 - Low Intensity (Walking)
Minute 3 and 4 - High Intensity (Light jogging or running)
Minute 5 and 6 - Low Intensity
Minute 7 and 8 - High Intensity
and so on.
Weight Train for Improving Your Metabolism - Resistance training builds muscle, which is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you acquire, the faster your metabolism will be. Adding more lean muscle tissue to your body will put curves in the right places and allow you to eat more calories a day.
Listen to Your Body for Improving Your Metabolism - Killing yourself with workouts is just as dangerous as not working out at all. Listen to your body and get proper rest. Don't train if you are ill, still sore from the previous workout, or just simply too tired. Training in such a state can cause more problems than it solves.

If any of the above fail to prove results in 4 to 6 weeks, there could be an underlying problem, such as a food allergy, sluggish thyroid, hormonal imbalance, toxins, parasites, etc. If so, I recommend searching for a natural healer in your area to determine the cause and work from there. For the most part, proper diet, detoxifying, and herbs can correct any ailments.

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
aka: MsFit

P.S. Want even MORE weight loss secrets? Stop running around in circles and get the facts that will shed the fat in How to Lose Weight Forever!

Thanks Karen -

Daryl

How to Avoid A Yo-Yo Diet In Simple To Follow Steps

2012-04-23T06:28:00.007-07:00

Many people have good success with such diets, but being as they don’t know what a healthy diet really consists of, they return to their old eating patterns soon after and start piling all that weight back on.

There is nothing wrong with trying out a fad diet, and they may well work. The problem is that many people don’t have a plan B for when the diet finishes. There’s no real use in eating healthily for 30 days and then returning to your usual unhealthy diet.

These diets are sometimes referred to as ‘yo-yo’ diets. Sometimes the dieter will regain twice as much weight as they lost after returning to their old eating habits. This is because of the effects that these eating changes have on their metabolism.

Here are some of the characteristics that fad diets often possess. If you spot things like this then you know that they are most likely not a diet with sustainable long term benefits:

They focus on just one or two nutrients - There are several dieting plans around that focus on drastically reducing carbohydrates. These once popular diets have begun fading away, which hopefully reflects the new awareness people are gaining regarding long term healthy eating practices.

For long term health benefits, your body needs a good variety of nutrients, including carbohydrates and fats. Balance is the key.

They promise fast weight loss results - While they may make you lose weight quickly, they are just temporary diets. This means that when the diet is over there’s a good chance you’ll pile that weight back on. You could even put on more weight than you lost.

They focus on magic foods - A big trend with diets these days is claiming that a certain food like lemon, grapefruit, cinnamon, celery etc. will burn fat fast. While certain can foods can have a positive effect on the metabolism, they should not be considered the solution to long term weight loss.

They come in supplement form - There’s all sorts of magic diet pills and supplements doing the rounds. Remember, they are called a ‘supplement’ for a reason. They are intended to supplement an overall healthy eating plan. There’s nothing wrong with taking supplements, but they should not be solely relied on in order to lose weight.

There is no exercise involved - Yes some fad diets even claim that no exercise is required and that the special diet alone will make you lose weight. Exercise is a vital practice regardless of your diet. If a dieting product attempts to sell you on the fact you don’t need to exercise, stay well away.

As you may have noticed after reading the above, fad diets are unbalanced and focus on miraculous and rapid changes. Truly healthy diet plans a like a reality check. The best way to be healthy and lose weight is to eat well consistently in the longer term.

There are many healthy diet programs out there that promote long term health in order to lose weight. While they don’t promise success in just a few weeks, they give the groundwork for eating healthily in the long term. Stick to a sustainable plan like this and you body will naturally form its optimum weight over time.

Because a true healthy diet is stuck to for the long term, there is no danger of sudden weight gain as the diet does not end. So the way to spot a healthy diet among all the unhealthy diets out there is to focus more on long term health, rather than overnight weight loss.

In addition, a healthy diet plan focuses on proper eating practices. This includes the frequency and size of meals, which is an important factor which many dieters overlook.
Here are the common features of a healthy diet plan:

Ensure You Consume Enough Calories - Many fad diets can contain a drastically low amount of calories. Starving your body of calories is not the best way to lose weight – you need to reduce calories gradually.
A healthy plan will be tailored the your current calorie intake. Seeing a nutritionist can be helpful to calculate your average weekly calorie intake. A major decrease in your average intake will not serve you well if trying to lose weight properly.

Allowing Snacking Between Meals - Rather than just eating your 3 main meals a day, it is better to have a slightly smaller breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then eat some small healthy snacks in between. This increases metabolism and fills your body with energy. It also settles your appetite and prevents overeating.

Contains a Wide Selection of Foods - You shouldn’t be confined to eating just one kind of food. A healthy diet plan will contain a good mixture of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and lean meat.

Sustainable & Flexible - A healthy diet is designed to last for a long time. This is why the best diet plans can be tailored to your own eating habits and your lifestyle. An effective eating plan will include all your favourite foods to some extent – as long as you don’t overindulge. This makes the diet more effective as you will have more will-power to stick to it.

When you search for a healthy diet plan, evaluate the plans you see and try to identify the above elements. Doing this can help you separate the genuinely healthy diet plans for the fads.
Look for a sustainable diet plan that you know you will be able to stick to for a long time. Find a suitable plan and it will make achieving your health goals a lot easier.

The Lunch Box Diet by Simon Lovell reached acclaim because it’s one of the few diets that causes yo-yo dieting as it’s more of a healthy lifestyle plan. Voted ‘the best diet’ by Elle Magazine they said it became ‘a way of life’ – very few diets offer that kind of benefit. Click here to find out more…

Chat Soon

Daryl

How Can A Healthy Diet Give You A Healthy Heart?

2012-04-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

While learning new eating habits may seem like a massive step, don’t worry, you don’t have to make 100 drastic changes all at once. You won’t need to turn into a rabbit and only eat vegetables and nothing else for the rest of your life.

If you want a healthy heart, you can start by changing how you cook your favourite non-vegetarian foods. Adding spice to non-veg foods like sage, dry mustard, dill, tarragon, marjoram or oregano can reduce fat saturation and cholesterol. If you like to eat lots of meat, stick to lean red meat and white meat.

Pure vegetarian foods however need to become a large part of your diet. Start gradually eating more and more fresh vegetables. Veggies still contain fats, but not as much. Foods like cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and leafy vegetables are very healthy and don’t add cholesterol to your body. The Lunch Box Diet is a great healthy diet based on the popular grazing principle that boosts your metabolism through eating small regular meals.