Weight loss is Very Easy

Diet Book Review:Eat This Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More!

2008-04-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Eat This Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More!
by David Zinczenko (Author), Matt Goulding (Author)
List Price: $19.95
Price: $10.97 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Editorial Reviews

Eat what you want, when you want--and watch the pounds disappear!

Americans spend more than $400 billion a year eating out, and behind each burger, turkey sandwich, and ice cream sundae is a simple decision that could help you control your weight—and your life. The problem is, restaurant chains and food producers aren't interested in helping you make healthy choices. In fact, they invest $30 billion a year on advertising, much of it aimed at confusing eaters and disguising the fat and calorie counts of their products.

All of that has changed with EAT THIS, NOT THAT!. This book puts the entire food industry under the spotlight, and arms you with the savvy tricks and insider information it takes to eat well no matter where you are. With EAT THIS, NOT THAT! you're the expert in every eating situation, from the frozen food aisle to your favorite fast food joint to your local sports bar. You control your food universe—and lose the pounds you want--because, unlike every other customer, you'll know the smart choices to make—instantly!

EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is jam-packed with secrets the restaurant industry doesn't want you to know. For example:

• Burger King doesn't want you to know that a BK Big Fish® Sandwich and fries have a whopping 1000 calories—nearly half your daily caloric intake! (Fish is usually healthy, but not this kind. Find out why with this book.)

• Pizza Hut doesn't want you to know that a standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories, but the same meal at Pizza Hut can top 2,100 calories! (You'd need to ride a stationary bike for more than three hours to burn off this mistake. Instead, eat all the pizza you want by making smart choices. EAT THIS, NOT THAT! shows you how.)

• Macaroni Grill doesn't want you to know that a single serving of their Grilled Teriyaki Salmon has more than three times your daily allowance of sodium! (Cut your risk of high blood pressure by making smart choices at the same restaurant. You'll find them inside.)

If only you knew the industry secrets, you could eat at any of your favorite restaurants—or chow down on everything from the company vending machine to your kids’ Halloween buckets—and know that every decision you made was smart, healthy, and the best possible choice for you. For example, did you know:

• At McDonald’s, an Egg McMuffin® is actually a healthy choice, with just 300 calories. (The Hotcakes pack more than double that amount!)

• At Krispy Kreme, all you need to do is order the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller, and you'll save 500 calories! (Do that once a week and you'll drop more than 7 pounds this year—without trying!)

• At Chipotle, you can cut 570 calories out of your Chicken Burrito just by ordering it as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (Same great taste, but with 94 fewer carb grams!)

• Choosing a cinnamon roll at Au Bon Pain over Cinnabon will save you 463 calories and 20 grams of fat!

• In the freezer section of your local supermarket, a turkey pot pie from Swanson’s has 610 fewer calories than a turkey pot pie from Pepperidge Farms.

• In the produce aisle, you'll get twice the vitamin C—and nine times as much vitamin A—simply by picking red bell peppers over green ones. (Who said eating healthy was difficult?)

And that’s why EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is going to change everything. It’s time to level the playing field. We're all tired of sneaky calories adding to our waistlines, and having to starve ourselves or spend hours on the treadmill trying to burn off the damage. Now—for the first time—you're in charge. With this simple illustrated guide to thousands of foods--along with the nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss--you'll make the smartest choice every time!

Customer Reviews
"That pie has the same calories as three Big Macs?"
By Sean P. Logue (Research Triangle Park, NC USA)
This is a great book. Slick and attractive, with fantastic full-color pictures. Very well researched too, which is expected coming from the folks behind one of the most densely-packed, informative magazines, Men's Health.

The truth is that casual dining restaurants have higher calorie meals than the much-maligned fast food joints. While the fast food restaurants are now required to publish calorie, fat, and sodium contents, the casual restaurants have been quietly fighting against requiring them to release the same information. Thanks to this book and the research behind it, we can now get a better idea of what we've been eating at these restaurants. And it is eye opening.

Each two page section has a high-calorie, fat trap food on the right, and a healthier alternative on the left. Lots of reasons for why one is a better choice than the other, as well as quick lists of other good choices (and not so good choices) on the left and right.

This simple, but effective layout conveys a ton of information quickly and easily. The sections are by restaurant, and by situation type (like shopping at the mall, or at a holiday party), so it is easy to read and get good ideas for how to make better food choices.

The only negative is that you might never get fries again, after you see all the things you could eat instead and still not hit the calorie count of the fries. Outback's Aussie Cheese Fries have 2900 calories. Wow!

Highly recommended book, even if you aren't trying to lose weight. You'll learn a ton about the foods you are eating at restaurants, which is well worth the price of admission.

Sean P. Logue, 2007

Check this Book out from Amazon.com

What we should eat. Before & After Doing exercise

2007-05-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Q Eating a meal before or after we’ve done exercise, which one is better for our heath?
A Both of them have differently advantage.

If you eat before you’re doing exercise, it helps you to get energy and to be active, because of the level of sugar in your blood is upping. However, you should leave out of time between your eating and doing exercise depending on your potential body. Some people get cramp and feel pressure when they eat a meal and immediately do exercise, but for other people, they might not get anything.
A research reports that a cyclist who eats carbohydrate 45 grams (giving energy 180 cal) before cycling 5 minutes, He can do exercise powerfully more than common in lasted 15 minutes, which it compares to a person who don’t get any meal. So that, before an hour you do exercise, you should get carbohydrate which give energy about 200-300 cal such as banana, cereal, whole meal, bread or wheat cracker.
After you’ve done exercise, you should get supper which has high carbohydrate and a little bit of protein such as cereal with milk or yogurt. In reason of protein will help decreasing your painful muscle, and recover it as well. Besides, if you immediately eat after your exercise, it will help you only eating less than your regularity. This is a good kind of diet process for your health as well.

Q How to we breathe in a while we are doing exercise of Cardio style?
A. The breathing in Cardio style, it is similar as your common breathing. It happens when we get fatigued or need some oxygen to use to be energy while we’re doing exercise. The frequency of breathing will automatically be improved follow by our exhaustion.
For breathing while we are lifting dumbbell, we will breathe in when we start and breathe out when we lift dumbbell. We have to control our breathing follow by our motion and not to stop breathing beat while we are doing exercise, because it will make a impact on your blood pressure.
* The exercise of Cardio style is a kind of exercise by running, swimming, cycling and etc. It efficiently helps our heart and lung to be healthy.

How to stop getting fat

2007-03-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

If you would like to success in your diet, you have to choose what food you will eat and not affect to your weight, that it won’t make you get starving and affect to your health as well.
Carbohydrate helps you’re long full.
Carbohydrate is a great benefit of nutrient for you health and let you get full in long time as well. It doesn’t make you apparently get fat as eating oily food and it also help you get well in your defecation. For example of carbohydrate food are brown rice, coarse rice, taro, and beans.
The popular food for dieter
The food which is suitable for whoever is being on diet is Carbohydrate. It is valuable for your health and not makes you often feel hungry. The carbohydrate food you eat, it should not be in high cholesterol one or its cooking process is deep frying. Besides, the kinds of meats which you should eat are fish, chicken or any avian meat. And also, you don’t forget to drink fresh water at least 8 glasses a day or low fat milks and avoid sweets and soft drinks as well.

This is Article of Want2diet.blogspot.com
coppyright @2007

Snack attack? Don't be tricked by low-fat labels

2007-03-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

It's easy to overeat when you think treats are ‘good’ for you

By Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 8:28 a.m. ET March 9, 2007

Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
• Profile
• E-mail

Using only two words, I bet I could get you to overeat a snack you don’t even really like.

Those two words would be “low fat.”

We're living in a world of fat-free, carb-free and sugar-free snacks. Most of the time, if we think they are at least low fat, we think “it must be good for us” — even if the snack is loaded with sugar.

When Nabisco came out with SnackWell's, a line of no-fat and low-fat cookies and crackers, they flew off of shelves, gobbled up by the people who believed they could eat them until they magically whittled down into a supermodel. Six months later and about 6 pounds heavier, the low-fat fanatics finally realized that these cookies had about only 30 percent fewer calories than regular cookies.
This happens all the time. Often the fat-free version is not much lower in calories than the regular version. For example, each low-fat Oreo cookie has 50 calories. The regular version has just over three calories more.

Low-fat labels can lead us to mindlessly overeat a product with guilt-free abandon.
ake granola. Where low-fat granola is indeed lower in fat, it is only about 12 percent lower in calories. It does not take a lot of mindless munching to scarf down an extra 12 percent of granola, especially while thinking you are doing your body good.

During a recent experiment, a French colleague, Pierre Chandon, and I invited people to watch some commercials and a video episode of the "Dukes of Hazzard." We gave them bags of granola that were labeled as either “Low-fat Rocky Mountain Granola” or “Regular Rocky Mountain Granola,” as we described in the current issue of Journal of Marketing Research. In reality, all of the granola was low fat.

While people watched the video, they ate the granola. Those given what was labeled as low-fat granola kept munching long after the other group stopped. After the movie, we weighed the remaining granola to see how much had disappeared. It turned out that those eating what they thought was low-fat granola ate 35 percent more, which translated into 192 more calories. When we offered them low-fat chocolate, they loaded up on 23 percent more calories.

Cruel twist
The low-fat label tricked people into eating more than if the product had a regular label.

The cruel twist is that these labels can have an even more dramatic impact on those who are overweight.
People who are overweight and eat more than their thinner peers are in danger of really over-indulging when they see something with a low-fat label.

The problem is that when we are looking for an excuse to eat something, low-fat labels give it to us.

What’s worse than overeating a snack?

Overeating one we don’t even really like that much. Few low-fat snacks are nearly as tasty as their regular version.

So rather than overeating something you don’t even really like, enjoy the regular version — but only half as much of it.

Big gulp: Liquid calories can sneak up on you

2007-02-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Studies find many Americans are pouring on the pounds
By Karen Collins, R.D.
Special to MSNBC.com
Updated: 12:48 p.m. ET Feb. 16, 2007

Karen Collins, R.D.

New findings are adding to the research suggesting that more than ever before, what and how much we drink may increase calorie intake and weight without our noticing.

The problem of increasing waistlines and obesity in the United States has escalated in the last 30 years. During this time, calorie consumption increased an average of 150 to 300 calories per day, with about half that increase coming from beverages. The variety of calorie-dense beverages and number of soft-drink servings per day both grew. Average soft drink portion size increased more than 50 percent from about 13 ounces to almost 20 ounces.
Several studies peg calories from beverages as one of the causes of increased numbers of overweight and obese people in the United States. Studies suggest that when people consume more calories from beverages, they don’t compensate by eating or drinking less.

One new study, for example, served 33 men and women the same lunch once a week for six weeks with only the beverage type or amount changing each week. Regardless of the type of beverage, people drank more when served 18 ounces than when served 12 ounces. When the amount of calorie-containing cola increased, women’s beverage calories increased by 10 percent and the men’s by 26 percent.

Participants ate the same amount of food independent of the higher amount of calories they drank, leading to an increase in the meal’s total calories. Yet after a higher-calorie meal containing sweetened soft drinks, participants reported no difference in hunger or satisfaction.
Short-term studies — generally one to three days — in which people decrease high-calorie soft drink consumption usually show a decreased total daily calorie consumption. Longer term studies ranging from six months to four years have found an association between drinking less calorie-containing soft drinks and weight loss.

Scientists offer several explanations as to why we may not notice calories from some beverages. A drink’s rapid passage through the mouth provides less time for signals to trigger the brain that you are eating. Compared to beverages, solid food seems to provide more of a feeling of fullness, which signals the brain to stop eating. Thick liquids (like smoothies and shakes) provide considerably more fullness signals than thin liquids, such as soft drinks, fruit drinks and sweetened tea and coffee.

As portion sizes of calorie-dense beverages increase, it is easier to gulp down larger amounts than to eat larger portions of solid foods. Finally, some researchers suggest that there may be a psychological component, too. Many of us consider beverages a separate category that does not “count” in the same way as solid food.
For people who either have trouble getting enough or limiting calories, this research suggests that beverage choice and portion are important considerations. Calorie-rich drinks offer an opportunity to boost calories without reducing appetite.

However, for those who look at drinks as a way to work in meals on the run, it suggests that this approach may lead to a higher calorie intake than chewing a meal. For weight control, limiting calorie-containing beverages to a few modest daily servings of nutrient-containing drinks and drinking water, unsweetened tea or coffee and other zero-calorie drinks is a smart strategy

Cannabis drug may help stop the munchies

2007-02-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

Drug company to test treatment as possible appetite suppressant
LONDON - Britain’s GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Tuesday it planned to start human trials of an experimental treatment for obesity derived from cannabis.

Cannabis is commonly associated with stimulating hunger and several other companies, like Sanofi-Aventis with Acomplia, are working on new drugs that try to switch off the brain circuits that make people hungry whem they smoke it.

GW Pharma, however, says it had derived a treatment from cannabis itself that could help suppress hunger.
“The cannabis plant has 70 different cannabinoids in it and each has a different affect on the body,” GW Managing Director Justin Gover told Reuters.

“Some can stimulate your appetite, and some in the same plant can suppress your appetite. It is amazing both scientifically and commercially,” he said in a telephone interview.

GW said it planned to start clinical trials of the new drug in the second half of this year. Medicines have to pass three stages of tests in humans before being assessed by regulators in a process that takes many years.

Sanofi-Aventis’ Acomplia, which it believes can achieve $3 billion in annual sales, is already on sale in Europe and it is waiting for a U.S. regulatory decision in April.
Secret location
Several other big drug companies also already have similar products to Acomplia in clinical trials.

GW is best known for developing Sativex, a treatment derived from cannabis that fights spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. Sativex, an under-the-tongue spray, has been approved in Canada, but has hit delays with regulators in Britain.

GW submitted Sativex for assessment by several European regulators in September, and hopes to secure approval for the UK, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands in the second half of this year at the earliest, the company said on Tuesday.

GW’s marijuana plants are grown indoors in a secret location in Southern England.

MSNBC.COM

McDonald’s finally picks trans-fat-free oil

2007-02-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

1,200 restaurants now testing healthier formula for cooking french fries
CHICAGO - McDonald’s Corp. has finally selected a new trans-fat-free oil for cooking its famous french fries after years of testing, the fast-food chain said Monday.

While it has developed a healthier new oil, the company is still not saying when it will be used in all 13,700 U.S. restaurants. It already trails competitors in committing to a zero-trans fat oil.

Spokesman Walt Riker said the oil is currently in more than 1,200 U.S. restaurants after extensive testing, but declined to provide details on timing or locations.
“We can confirm that we’ve got the right oil,” he said. “We’re phasing it in.”

The choice of a new oil comes as McDonald’s and others face a July 1 deadline to begin complying with an ordinance passed by New York City last month making it the first U.S. city to ban all restaurants from using artificial trans fats.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s has said for months it would comply with such a ban, and said it would introduce any new oil nationwide rather than have a separate oil for its New York restaurants. But it had not confirmed that testing was complete.

Riker said the new oil is canola-based and includes corn and soy oils.

Addressing long-held concerns that changing the oil could jeopardize the popular taste of its fries, he said: “We’re very confident in our test and taste results. ... We’re very confident in what we’re hearing back from our customers.”

The Chicago Tribune, which first reported McDonald’s decision on a new oil Sunday, said the company has tested 18 varieties of oil in more than 50 blends during the past seven years.
McDonald’s had been under pressure for moving more slowly than smaller rivals Wendy’s International Inc. and Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC and Taco Bell to rid its oil of the artery-clogging trans fats.

The $22 billion company was especially cautious after reneging within months on a September 2002 pledge to introduce a new oil, citing concerns about changing the taste of its fries.

“It’s just taking a little bit of time because as we move forward we don’t want to jeopardize the iconic nature of the french fry, which as you know is so very important to our brand,” CEO Jim Skinner told an investor conference in New York two months ago.
The company uses a healthier oil blend in some countries overseas but says regional differences in agricultural production require development of different blends.

McDonald’s has not identified the test markets the latest oil was used in. Riker denied that Phoenix was among them, as the Tribune report said.

MSNBC.com

Diet, exercise take off equal pounds, study finds

2007-02-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON - Eating less and exercising more are equally good at helping take off the pounds, U.S. researchers said in a study that challenges many of the popular tenets of the multibillion dollar diet and fitness industry.

Tests on overweight people show that a calorie is just a calorie, whether lost by dieting or by running, they said.

They found there is no way to selectively lose belly fat, for instance, or trim thighs. And their carefully controlled study added to evidence that adding muscle mass does not somehow boost metabolism and help dieters take off even more weight.
"It's all about the calories," said Dr. Eric Ravussin of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, part of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

"So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat weight and abdominal fat will all decrease in the same way."

Ravussin said the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, is one of the few done under controlled conditions that can actually demonstrate what happens to a human body while dieting and exercising.

Fewer calories for a longer life?
Ravussin's team has been testing volunteers for another reason — to see if taking in fewer calories helps people live longer. Strict diets have been shown to help animals from worms to dogs live longer, but it takes longer to study monkeys and humans.
They tested 24 people, 12 who ate a calorie-restricted diet, and 12 who dieted and also exercised five times a week for six months.

The dieters ate 25 percent less than normal, while the exercisers reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their physical activity to lose an extra 12.5 percent in calories.

Another 10 volunteers acted as controls. All food was provided by the university in carefully measured portions for most of the study.

The volunteers in both groups lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass and 27 percent of their abdominal visceral fat. Visceral fat is packed in between the internal organs and is considered the most dangerous type of fat, linked with heart disease and diabetes.

The distribution of the fat on the body was not altered by either approach — helping prove that there is no such thing as "spot reducing," Ravussin said in a telephone interview.

This suggests that "individuals are genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot easily be overcome," he added.

Exercise is still crucial
Ravussin has published other studies that also dispute the idea that exercise builds muscle that helps people lose weight.

"If anything, highly trained people are highly efficient, so they burn fewer calories at rest," Ravussin said.

Dieting alone also did not appear to cause the volunteers to lose muscle mass along with fat, Ravussin's team found.

"There is a concept that if you exercise, you are going to lose less of your muscle," he said. But his team found no evidence this is true.
Ravussin believes exercise is crucial to health, however.

"For overall health, an appropriate program of diet and exercise is still the best," he said.

His team found some small suggestion that cutting 25 percent of calories by either diet or diet and exercise might extend life.

"We found that two of the biomarkers of aging were improved — core temperature was 0.4 to 0.5 degrees C less," he said. "Insulin, which has been shown to be a biomarker of aging, was reduced," Ravussin said. That finding was published in the Journal of the American Medical Associaton last April.

Whittling away those last 5 stubborn pounds

2007-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

You're almost at your goal weight, so why won't the scale budge?

After all those passed-up treats and careful calorie counting, after all the effort put into losing weight (and lose it you did), those last 5 measly pounds just seem to stick around like an old bagel on a deli tray.

Plenty of MSNBC.com readers have expressed this frustration, including Sam from Monterey, Calif. She writes, “I eat really well, but can’t lose those last 5 pounds. I guess I should cut out wine in the evening, but a girl’s gotta have some fun.”

And right she is.

Losing weight and keeping it off are about finding the balance between consuming and burning calories. It’s about adopting healthy lifelong habits that ensure “fun” is part of the plan. If you focus too much on deprivation, you're setting yourself up for failure.

There are several reasons why it feels impossible to shake those last 5 pesky pounds.

It takes fewer calories to feed a lighter you.
Weight loss can slow down as you near your goal because it does not take as many calories to support your smaller size. For every pound lost, the body needs approximately eight fewer calories a day. That may not sound like much, but if you have lost 25 pounds, then your body may need 200 fewer calories than it did at the start of your weight-loss efforts. If you’ve downsized, so too must your calories.

No cheating or coasting!
People learn how to sneak in favorite foods and bend the rules for special occasions, says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian in New York. But as few as 100 extra calories a day can stall progress, she warns.

At the beginning of a diet people usually make many major adjustments to how they eat. Stick to it. When a weight goal is so close in sight, it's not uncommon for people to let their guard down.

“Sometimes I’ll see clients try to lose those last 5 pounds by skipping meals or undoing some of the great habits that have served them so well so far,” says Taub-Dix.

When you get toward the end of the diet phase, all that may be needed is an extra tweak or two and a little fine-tuning, says Taub-Dix. Otherwise, "those 5 pounds may be tough to erase.”

For example, if a cup of hot chocolate is a favorite bedtime ritual, switch to a soothing, chamomile or spiced tea. That's a quick 100-plus calories saved. If fruit juice is on the breakfast menu, substitute the whole fruit instead. Depending on the fruit, calories can be cut by one-third to one-half.

MSNBC.com

For healthy weight loss, slurp your dinner

2007-01-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

Soup helps reduce portion size, trim fat and boost veggie intake

For many people soup brings an image of a cozy comfort food that just has to be good for you. Indeed, soup can be a boost as you try to stay fit and healthy. But look before you eat, because the details of what’s in the soup make a difference. The long-held connection of soup to good health may stem from grandma’s advice that you should have chicken soup when ill. Some research has shown that one or more compounds in chicken soup provide mild anti-inflammatory benefits that reduce mucus production and thus, lessen a stuffy nose or cough. We still have relatively little research to confirm the link, but there’s no harm in trying
Soup could be an ally for weight control, too. Americans’ portions have grown markedly in the last 20 years, apparently contributing to our boom in obesity. Some research suggests that starting a meal with soup may help reduce portion size.

For relatively few calories, soup brings a feeling of fullness and makes it easier to eat less of other foods in a meal. The key for success with this strategy may depend upon serving smaller portions of the other foods.

Studies have clearly established that for many of us, eating super-size portions is not necessarily due to hunger; it is a response to seeing more food. If that’s true, then the fact that soup satisfies our hunger won’t necessarily lead us to eat less if we still see large amounts of food.

Drink your veggies
Soup can also benefit long-term health by serving as a vehicle to work more vegetables into meals. Tomato soup provides a serving of vegetables in the liquid itself, and then you can add a variety of vegetables.

Pureed winter squash is also an excellent base for soup that is packed with nutrients. (Simply puree steamed, microwaved or baked squash, and thin to the consistency you prefer with chicken or vegetable broth or fat-free milk.)

Broth-based soups can be packed with one to two standard servings of vegetables per bowl, too. If you start with commercial soup that’s light on vegetables, you can frozen, canned or leftover fresh veggies of your own.

The key to making soup a healthy food option is to make sure it is concentrated in the plant foods that we need to increase in our diet and not loaded with what we need to reduce sodium and saturated fat.

Dieting is more than what you eat

2007-01-21T04:26:00.000-08:00

Liquids make up 22 percent of daily calories, study shows

CHICAGO - Americans who have made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight should start thinking about more than what they eat, a beverage industry survey said on Monday.

The study, commissioned by the Milk Processor Education Program, found that liquids make up 22 percent of calories in the average American’s diet.

But most Americans only count the calories they get from solid foods.

People just may not be aware how these calories are sneaking into their diet .. and (they are) not understanding what an impact it has on body weight,” said Carolyn O’Neil, a dietitian, who is serving as a spokeswoman for the What America Drinks report.

Americans drink a daily average of 38 ounces (0.67 liters) of water, which contains no calories. Sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and teas were next on the list, at 17.5 ounces a day. Americans consumed an average of 7.5 ounces of milk and 8.9 ounces of coffee on a daily basis.

Soft drinks make up 6.4 percent of Americans’ total caloric intake but the percentage is even higher for teenagers. Soft drinks account for 10 percent of the calories in a male teenager’s diet and nearly 9 percent of a female teenager’s calories.

American soft drink makers such as PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. have been releasing healthier products in recent years to try and capitalize on health and wellness trends. Some school districts have removed machines that sell full calorie soft drinks from schools.

One-third of Americans are obese by U.S. health standards, which measure a person’s body fat.

Reuters.com

Latest dieting trend: Wishful thinking

2007-01-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

Weight-loss plans hit 16-year low, but most adults hope to shed pounds
LOS ANGELES - The percentage of Americans who are dieting is at its lowest in at least 16 years even though most adults say they would like to lose 20 pounds, according to a study released Wednesday.

Baby boomers are making their own dieting decisions rather than relying on medical advice, said Harry Balzer, author of the study by research firm NPD Group.

“This is a time in life where health issues begin to creep into our lives, and in the past, doctors provided advice,” said Balzer, NPD vice president.

Government health officials estimate about 60 percent of the adult population is overweight, with the number of those considered obese on the rise over the past decade.

A recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found about 23.9 percent of U.S. adults are obese, up from 15.6 percent in 1995 and 19.8 percent in 2000.

Reuters.com

2nd Day i'm Loser

2007-01-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

After post 1st my diet plan
today is my final day of my diet plan caz i'm going to eat everythink
so i'm loser
i will be back agian
soon !

Starting Diet : 1st Day

2007-01-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hello my name is Arm who own this blog i want to let you know
Today is My First Day to Diet
i will take 7 days diet plan by myself
and will show you how about Result

Day 1
Weight 85.9
Food

08.30 am Sleeping (wake up late :P)
12.00 pm 2 of Boil Egg and Salad
08.00 pm Mixed Salad
i'm alway drunk water when i'm hungry
Sleep Time :01.30 am

Why dieters are doomed on Tuesdays

2007-01-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

Monday doesn't have to mean deprivation to kick off weeks of weight loss
By Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 1:19 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2007

Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
• Profile
• E-mail
What day of the week did you start your most recent diet? Chances are it was a Monday.

Forty-six percent of people in our recent study said their last attempt launch a weight-loss plan started on a Monday morning.

Now, do you remember when you called it quits on that dieting attempt?
For 31 percent of people, the miserable experience is over by Tuesday evening.

Like most New Year's resolutions, Monday morning diets are doomed despite our very best intentions. That's because both are based on deprivation.

No matter what you're denying yourself — carbohydrates, fat, red meat, snacks, pizza, breakfast, chocolate — you are setting yourself up for failure. It doesn't make much difference whether we are deprived of affection, vacation, television or our favorite foods. Being deprived of what we enjoy most is no way to live. It puts our nerves and our willpower on a hair trigger.

Instead, go back to where it all started.

Beware creeping calories
No one goes to bed skinny and wakes up fat. Most people gain (or lose) weight so gradually they cannot really figure out how it happened. They do not remember changing their eating or exercise patterns. All they remember is once being able to fit into their favorite pants without having to hold their breath to get the zipper to budge.

msnbc.com

A balanced diet

2007-01-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

Dr Trisha Macnair

The key to a healthy lifestyle and keeping your weight in check is following a balanced diet that includes all the right foods in the right amounts.

Sitting here at my computer trying to find inspiration for my scribblings, I'm tucking into a bit of lunch. Today it's a ham and tomato granary sandwich stuffed with fresh salad leaves, followed by a low-fat yoghurt and an apple, washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice. Most people would recognise that to be a healthy meal, but does it fit in with the idea of a balanced diet?
A combination of food types

The term 'balanced diet' is one of those health mantras that is constantly heard but rarely explained. What it means is a diet that includes a combination of several different food types, including grains and pulses, fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy products, fats and oils.

All in proportion

Crucial to the idea of a balanced diet is including foods in the right proportions; the aim is to get all the nutrients your body needs while maintaining a healthy weight. The US government provides a basic idea of what nutrients we need at www.nal.usda.gov. (These are guidelines for Americans, but we Brits aren't much different!)

It isn't a case of having roughly equal measures of everything. There should be a lot of some foods and just a little of others. Some fats and oils, for example, are important in the diet for various reasons, including absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. But you only need a small amount compared with foods such as vegetables.
Balancing act

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency has developed a programme called The Balance of Good Health to show people what proportions and types of foods make up a healthy balanced diet.

This divides foods into five different groups:

* bread, other cereals and potatoes
* fruit and vegetables
* milk and dairy foods
* meat, fish and alternatives
* foods containing fat and foods containing sugar

The largest groups are bread and vegetables, followed by milk and meat. The smallest by far is the salt and sugar group. For more information on what's included in each one, see Nutrition basics.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are low in fat, calories and salt, and an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Most of us don't eat enough to meet the current recommendation of three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit a day.

Protein-rich foods and dairy foods are needed in more moderate amounts. Your diet should include two to three servings of milk or dairy produce a day, for example. Take care that protein-rich foods don't bring a lot of fat with them; trim the fat off meat and take the skin off chicken. Think about how you cook foods too; meat fried or in breadcrumbs adds extra fat.
How much is a serving?

The size of a serving of some foods, especially fruit, is easy to work out; common sense is also a good guide. More specifically, the USDA Food Guide Pyramid outlines standard serving sizes for many foods, based on the American imperial system of cups. For example, one cup of milk counts as one serving, as does half a cup of pasta or a slice of bread.

How many servings we need of each food group every day depends on our age, gender and level of activity.
Combining foods

It's not too difficult to keep track of how many servings of certain individual foods we eat each day, such as an apple of a piece of cheese. But what happens when you throw a number of foods together in a meal?

All you need to do is break a meal down into its individual ingredients. For example, shepherd's pie with a cheesy crust combines foods from two or more groups, depending on how you make it, including:

* minced lamb or beef (meat)
* potato, carrot and onion (fruit and vegetables)
* cheese (milk and dairy)
Starting early

The earlier the message about eating a healthy, balanced diet is drummed in, the better. Children form habits very quickly and, once set, bad ones are difficult to shift. If you need inspiration for healthy meals, or recipes that your children can cook with you, try BBC Food.
The goal

Don't forget what you're trying to achieve:

* a variety of foods
* plenty of grains, vegetables and fruits
* low fat intake, especially saturated fats
* moderate sugar intake
* moderate salt intake
* keep a lid on alcohol intake

And, of course, don't forget to balance food intake with physical activity.

For weight loss that really counts, count calories

2007-01-11T02:59:00.000-08:00

Enough with the dieting advice. Here is what actually worked for 99 percent of 5,000 people who lost weight and kept off at least 30 pounds of it.

Count calories.

Researchers identified these “big losers” using newspaper and magazine ads, according to a new study published in the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. The average weight loss in the group was 72 pounds.
The successful dieters had various methods for counting and controlling their intake of calorie and fat grams, such as restricting their intake of certain foods and eating smaller portions.

More than 90 percent of the participants exercised regularly, mostly walking or doing something else to sweat out the equivalent of a one-hour brisk walk.

And forget about skipping breakfast. Bad plan if you want to succeed. Nearly 80 percent of the losers ate breakfast daily, usually cereal and fruit.

Frequent visits to the scale helped too — 75 percent weighed in at least weekly.

Just Do it : You will Fit & Firm

2007-01-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

As i told.We have many way to loss weight it up to you
Just Do It !

Dieting at new low, but most want to lose

2007-01-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The percentage of Americans who are dieting is at its lowest in at least 16 years even though a majority of adults say they would like to lose 20 pounds, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Baby boomers are making their own dieting decisions rather than relying on medical advice, said Harry Balzer, author of the study by research firm NPD Group.

"This is a time in life where health issues begin to creep into our lives and in the past, doctors provided advice," said Balzer, NPD vice president.

"It appears people in this age group today are either not getting -- or not listening to -- their doctor's advice," he added in a statement.

According to the survey, in the 12 months ended in February 2006, 26 percent of women and 19 percent of men in the United States said they were on a diet. That's down from 35 percent of women and 26 percent of men in 1990.

Still, 60 percent of U.S. adults say "they would like to lose 20 pounds," the study said.

In 2006, the most popular diet in the United States was a self-made regimen, the study said. The second-most followed diet was one prescribed by a doctor and the third was Weight Watchers.

Government health officials estimate about 60 percent of the adult population is overweight with the number of those considered obese on the rise over the past decade.

A recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found about 23.9 percent of U.S. adults are obese, up from 15.6 percent in 1995 and 19.8 percent in 2000.

Cnn.com

It really is possible to exercise too much

2007-01-09T23:25:00.002-08:00

GUILDERLAND, New York (AP) -- Robert Irwin boosted his running to 80 miles a week when he was in his 20s. It felt good, until it started feeling bad.

"I really started to break down," said Irwin, now 34. "I got plantar fasciitis in both my feet, ended up getting bone spurs. I had a really bad hamstring that hampered me for a couple of years."

Irwin, now a chiropractor in suburban Albany, New York, dialed down his workouts to about half that. He worked his way back up over the years to a more manageable 70 miles a week -- with breaks when needed.

Irwin found out that, yes, it really is possible to exercise too much. Overzealous exercisers can run their way to stress fractures, spin their way to insomnia or even overdo it to the point their immune systems are compromised.

The danger is real for both tiptop athletes and middle-agers trying to work off the holiday paunch. Problem is, the line defining when exercise becomes risky is a blurry one. There are different thresholds for different people. But medical experts work off some general guidelines.

An hour a day

"The real sweet spot, as you would expect there to be in any biologic system, is around an hour a day," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, a surgeon at Columbia University and co-author of "You: The Owner's Manual." "After that, it's hard to show a great benefit."

There are no widely accepted recommendations for when adults should lay off exercising -- partly because health officials are worried about Americans being too sedentary, not too active. But it's also difficult to say with precision when healthy exercise becomes unhealthy among a population that includes extremes -- from triathletes to couch potatoes.

"It's so idiosyncratic, that's the tough thing about it," said Carl Foster, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

William Haskell, professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, says that in general the risk of harm begins to outweigh the benefits for adults after more than an hour a day. Above an hour, it's questionable whether you're going to get much more from it, he said.

An obvious concern is increasing the chance of injuries related to wear and tear, such as a muscle strain, sprained ankle or a torn cartilage. Oz notes that those sorts of injuries can be a double dose of bad news: Not only do they immediately sideline exercisers, but they can cause nagging problems decades later.

There are concerns beyond breaks and bruises, of course. Middle-aged men who suddenly ratchet up activity after years of inaction can risk a heart attack. And even hard-charging athletes will sometimes show signs of lethargy, decreased immunity or headaches. The cause of so-called overtraining syndrome among athletes is unknown, but Foster said failure to rest could play a part.

Oz's rule of thumb is that bodies don't bounce back as well after more than 12 hours of exercise a week. He said overexercise can create more oxidative stress, in which oxygen molecules called free radicals are formed that damage DNA and cells in ways that, over time, can accumulate to spur cancer.

Over time, oxidative stress has been linked to health problems, including cancer.

Listen to your body

In general, doctors' advice is listen to your body. If you are tired or achy, take a rest. Take days off and vary the intensity of your workout. Irwin counsels runners to watch out for signs they're working out too hard, such as a resting heart rate 10 beats a minute over the normal rate.

"You have to have recovery time even if you are healthy," Irwin said. "Give yourself some time to rest."

Foster offers some specific pointers for beginners trying to burn off the holiday bulge: Cross-train and give yourself six months or so to build endurance. Respect the limitations that come with age, he said, and "don't try to be 19 the first week. "

But whatever you do, don't stop exercising.

"This is not America's big problem. The opposite is," Oz said. "And people shouldn't use this as an excuse not to exercise."

Cnn.com

Starbucks to drop trans fats in 10 cities Wednesday

2007-01-09T23:25:00.001-08:00

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Starbucks Corp. is cutting trans fats from the doughnuts, muffins and other treats in half of its U.S. stores, and plans to eventually drop the artery-clogging fats from company-operated coffeehouses across the country.

The world's largest specialty coffee retailer has been working to eliminate trans fats from its food menu for about two years, spokesman Brandon Borrman said Tuesday.

"This is just something we have been working on, and our focus has always been on providing our customers with healthy and nutritious food options," Borrman said.

Trans fats, listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, are believed to be harmful because they wreak havoc on cholesterol levels.

Standalone Starbucks stores in Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; San Diego, California; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington; and Portland, Oregon will have zero trans fats in their food beginning Wednesday, Borrman said.

Getting the other half of U.S. stores to follow suit will take some time, as the company adjusts recipes with regional bakers and food suppliers.

However, Starbucks already had quietly replaced the fats in its nationally distributed food products, such as its seasonal pumpkin muffins and gingerbread, Borrman said.

In December, New York became the first American city to ban artificial trans fats in restaurants and eateries. With some exceptions, restaurants will be barred from using spreads and frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July 1.

All other foods in the city, including doughnuts, cookies and pies that use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil for texture, will have to be trans-fat-free by July 2008.

New York's ban didn't play a part in Starbucks' switch, Borrman said.

Starbucks has about 5,600 company-owned coffeehouses in the U.S. Other retail sites, such as kiosks in airports and grocery stores, are licensed by the company but operated by other businesses.

Starbucks posted net fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $117.3 million in October, on revenue of $2 billion.

Report: Low-fat diets may increase risk of heart disease

2007-01-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

BOSTON (CNN) -- A low-fat diet may increase the risk of coronary heart disease by reducing the amount of "good" cholesterol in the bloodstream, a group of doctors said in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

The doctors reached their conclusions after analyzing common dietary advice that suggests replacing foods high in total or saturated fat and cholesterol with high-carbohydrate foods such as pasta, potatoes, rice and bread.

"One of the problems with a low-fat diet is that it actually drives down the good cholesterol -- the HDL -- in our blood (and that) ... will probably increase the risk of heart disease," said Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, who contributed to the article.

The report said high-carbohydrate diets result in the lowering of bad cholesterol, known as LDL, as well as the body's much-needed HDL cholesterol levels.

"Diets that lower HDL cholesterol levels must be viewed with concern," the doctors wrote.

If a person wants to lose weight, Willett and his colleagues suggest reducing consumption of fat from dairy products, meats and partially hydrogenated oils and eat less sugar and highly refined starch.

They also recommend replacing saturated fats with oils high in monounsaturated fats such as olive oils.

"The experience in Mediterranean countries shows that diets high in monounsaturated fats can be attractive and that they are associated with longevity and a low incidence of coronary disease and cancer," the doctors wrote.

The report also emphasizes the need for exercise, stressing that Japanese and Chinese populations have low-fat diets and low rates of heart disease primarily because of their active lifestyles.

"The low rates of coronary heart disease in the Chinese and other rural populations may therefore be due to largely high levels of physical activity and low body fat," it said.

Cnn.com

Report: Diet drug Redux may not cause heart problems

2007-01-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA (CNN) -- A major study released Tuesday found no sign that brief use of the diet pill Redux causes heart valve disease -- as was feared when the drug was pulled from the market last September.

The study of a sustained-release form of dexfenfluramine, known as Redux, involved more than 1,000 patients and found no significant increase in the prevalence of heart valve regurgitation after two to three months, Dr. Neil Weissman of the Georgetown University Medical Center told a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

Valvular regurgitation is the backward leakage of blood, which can decrease blood flow to the rest of the body and increase the workload on the heart.

"These results should be reassuring for the majority of patients who have been on Redux," Weissman said.

However, the study did not rule out the possibility that taking Redux for many months, as it was intended to be used, could have harmed people. It also did not examine whether the chemically similar fen-phen -- pulled from the market at the same time as Redux -- is bad for the heart valves.

The study was sponsored by Wyeth-Ayerst Research. Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, which makes both Redux and fen-phen, pulled both drugs off the market at the request of the Food and Drug Administration. The government acted after a Mayo Clinic team reported 24 cases of heart valve problems among people taking fen-phen.

Government agencies eventually gathered several hundred cases of damaged heart valves among people taking fen-phen and Redux. Such reports cannot prove that the diet drugs actually caused the valve damage. However, the FDA estimated that one-third of people taking the pills could have suffered significant heart valve damage as a result.

'Reassuring' for some

Dr. Janet Woodcock of the FDA said that while the new study "is reassuring for people who took it for a short period of time," it does not settle the question of what happened to those who use Redux longer. She said the FDA believes longer-term use is where most of the harm occurred.

The study involved 1,072 patients who were testing the safety of a long-acting form of Redux.

The patients were randomly assigned to take regular Redux, the new form of Redux or dummy pills. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew what they were getting.

The study was stopped when Redux was taken off the market, and the patients were then given echocardiograms to check their heart valves. The doctors who read their scans did not know which treatment they had received.

Results showed no significant difference among the three groups in the kind of serious valve damage that the FDA had warned of in Redux patients.

Researchers said there was a slightly higher incidence of valvular regurgitation in patients who had been taking Redux in its original form or the new sustained-release version than in patients given a placebo, but they said the difference was not statistically significant.

Weissman said three out of four people in the general population have minor amounts of valve leakage.

The patients took the drug for an average of 77 days, which is about the same length of time that three-quarters of Redux patients used the drug.

Furor likely to persist

The findings are unlikely to quell the furor over Redux.

"This leaves the false impression that these drugs are safe," said Guerry Thornton, an Atlanta attorney who has filed lawsuits for women who used them.

Dr. Richard Bowen, a Naples, Florida, doctor who sent 122 cases of apparent valve damage to the FDA, said that while the new study is reassuring to those who used the drug briefly, he worries that valve problems may be more common among those who took Redux for longer periods of time.

A spokesman for Wyeth-Ayerst said the company has decided not to reintroduce Redux. "Given the legal environment, it doesn't make any sense," said Dr. Philip J. de Vane.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the company by people who took Redux or fen-phen. The government estimates between 1 million and 5 million Americans have taken the diet drugs.

Cnn.com

Diet supplement 'andro' raises hormone levels, study finds

2007-01-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK -- When master homerun hitter Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals publicly acknowledged taking the dietary supplement androstenedione, its sales among young adults increased fivefold. Now, a new study suggests the pills may cause serious side effects by raising hormone levels.

Available at health-food stores across the United States, androstenedione, commonly called andro, taken at high enough levels can raise male hormones -- testosterone -- and female hormones -- estrogen, according the study, conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate the sale of andro.

The study focused on 42 men. A third of them took 300 milligrams of andro a day, a third took 100 milligrams a day and the remainder, a control group, took none. The men who took 300 milligrams had an increase of 34 percent in testosterone levels as well higher estrogen levels. The men who took 100 milligrams had an increase in estrogen levels.

Researchers said increased estrogen levels in men could cause breast enlargement as well as higher risk for heart and pancreas problems. In boys, elevated levels of either estrogen or testosterone may prompt early puberty and premature cessation of bone growth, resulting in an adult height that is shorter than normal.

McGuire, who in 1998 set the seasonal homerun record, said last August that he no longer took andro and had never endorsed it. "I always discouraged children from taking it," he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Professional baseball allows players to use andro.

Often, athletes and body builders who take supplements like andro believe the chemical will increase strength, stamina and muscle mass through elevation of testosterone. The study did not measure muscle gain.

Dr. William Rosner of St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York said people who take andro often see muscle gain, but it may not be the pills that are responsible. "What happens is you get on these pills, and then you get on a (food and exercise) regimen that's much stricter than the regimen you might otherwise have gotten on (without the pills)... and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

The study, reported in the February 9 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, apparently conflicts with findings recounted last June in JAMA from a similar experiment at Iowa State University.

The report on the Iowa study said testosterone levels were not affected by short-term or long-term andro use by men. Researchers in the new study said participants in their study received higher concentrations of andro over shorter periods of time. That accounted for the inconsistency between the two studies, the researchers said.

Both studies found that andro increased female hormones in men. In minute amounts, andro occurs naturally in the human body where it is chemically converted into testosterone and estrogen.

The Iowa research was financed by Experimental and Applied Sciences, Inc. of Golden, Colorado. The company is a manufacturer of andro pills.

The Major League Baseball Players Association and the National Institutes of Health joined Major League Baseball in financially underwriting the Massachusetts study.

CNN Health Correspondent Dr. Steve Salvatore contributed to this report.

CNN.com

Energy Metabolised Food

2007-01-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

Food definitely gives you energy, and some food also helps your metabolism well working better than regularity. Then you’ll be as the biggest loser.

Seafood
Iodine from Seafood, it helps your body well producing “TYROXIN” which is a essential chemical in metabolism.

Green Tea
In Green Tea, there is a major chemical called “Fitochemicalflavanoid” which will help the lipids of your body rapidly metabolising as well as powerfully anti-oxidant that make your skin brightens beautifully.

Spicy food
For example spices, strong flavors, ground chilli, pepper and fresh chilli. They all have a chemical called “Capsaicin” which helps increasing the rate metabolism of whoever eat much as 50%.

Meat
It’s a kind of food which is hardly digested than the others. So,your body need to extraordinarily utilise much energy in your digestion.