We have always heard, and I have written a few times about the difference between good an bad carbs. I have just run across an article on “Thats Fit” website by Liz Neporent on the difference between good and bad carbs. Here is an excerpt from the article

Good carbs are good for you because they tend to be broken down more slowly by the body. Whole grains, for instance, include the three parts of the grain: Bran, sperm and endosperm. The body needs more time to process them so they enter your blood stream in a steadier, more controlled way which keeps your blood sugar and energy level more consistent. They’re high in fiber too, so they’re more filling and help push things along the digestive tract. They also tend to be relatively low in calories and fat while high in vitamins and minerals. Studies show a diet that contains lots of good carbs can offer some protection against cancer and other “lifestyle” diseases.

Bad carbs typically deliver a megadose of calories without adding much in the way of nutrition to your diet. They tend to come in large portion sizes and, though they may taste good, typically aren’t very filling or satisfying. You usually wind up eating way more than you intended because your brain takes a moment to realize what’s happening down in the old stomach. Bottom line: Studies have linked diets that contain an excess of bad carbs to obesity, heart disease and a whole array of other major health headaches.

Food cravings are every dieters nightmare. There are very few times that you will be on a diet and not be tempted at least a little bit by the foods that you see and memories of fatting foods that just drift into your mind from nowhere. I had a craving for greasy fish and chips from the beach after smelling the food in the office one day, the craving did not make any sense after I tracked down the food and found that it was actually fried ginger beef, your mind definitely plays tricks on you sometimes. Stopping food cravings will go a long way to controlling all of your eating.

Stopping Food Cravings

Eat at the same times everyday

It is important for you to set a stable eating cycle so that your body knows when to expect food. I know that I am very regimented during the week in my eating but on the weekend I get affected by food cravings because I am not eating according to schedule and my body does not trust that I will be eating when it expects food.

Eat small meals multiple times a day

One of the best things that you can do for your body is to keep your blood sugar even and the best way to keep a nice balanced blood sugar level is to eat smaller meals often.

Your blood sugar level is a big factor in food cravings because your brain notices the fluctuations in hormones and blood sugar even if you are not really in tune to it. Yo ucan imageinhow this one tip can stop your food cravings almost completely

Don’t starve yourself, don’t eat large

Again any time that you have the option to skip a meal or an option to go to a buffet don’t! These two actions are two ends of the spectrum. If you do not eat a meal then your body will crave foods until you eat and then when you do in fact eat you will tend to overeat.

If you have a giant meal, lets say for lunch then you will end up not eating dinner, maybe snack as a food craving fix in the evening or then not eat at all until breakfast the next day. This causes wide swings in your blood sugar and this is not only unhealthy but will also cause your body to start storing food as fat while thinking that it in danger of starvation.

Know your times of food cravings and take control of them

Most people have down times where they crave chocolate, pop, or chips and these times you should be able to identify. If you are going to a movie you may know that you are going to be craving popcorn, when you are sitting down to watch TV you know that you will be looking for a snack.

You can stop these food cravings by knowing ahead of time how you will deal with them or at least have a coping mechanism so that you do not succumb to bad binging in these time of food cravings.

Is this all you need to stop food cravings?

People pride themselves with using self control to fix their problems but in this case you have a plan of action to stop food cravings. Yes, by using these tips and lifestyle ideas you should help in stopping food cravings or at the very least reducing them and know exactly when they will hit and stop those cravings in their tracks.

I always love hearing the myths and lies about fitness and thinking about where they cme from. Here is a list of lies, or at least partial lies and why. Changing your mindset to reflect reality is  on  of the best things that you can do to make better eating and exercise decisions.

A lot of cardio is the most efficient way to lose body fat. FALSE!

Excessive cardio will strip muscle mass and body fat. This is definitely not the most efficient method for losing body fat. Once you begin stripping muscle mass, your body becomes less efficient at burning body fat. Muscle is metabolically active, which simply means it stimulates the metabolism.

For each pound of muscle you put on, you will burn up to 50 additional calories per day. If you strip muscle mass, all you accomplish is sabotaging your efforts to efficiently reduce body fat. Read the rest of this entry »

Healthy eating is the first step to making sure that you are getting yourself more fit. There a a lot of great advantages to eating better and these include more energy, better concentration and less stomach and digestive problems. Currently, the typical American diet is low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and high in saturated fat, salt, and sugar. As a result, more Americans than ever are overweight, obese, and at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers.

Older people are most likely to improve their eating habits, but nutrition is important for people of all ages, says Walter Willet, M.D., chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. “We know that when people have health problems or their friends become ill, these are strong motivators of change,” says Willet. “The more serious the health condition, the more serious the change. We’d rather people made changes early and prevent health problems in the first place.”

So what if you’re feeling trapped by a diet full of fast-food burgers and cookies? You can work your way out slowly but surely. Here are tips to move your eating habits in the right direction.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are some very high costs for Fruit and even vegetables these days. One of the best ways to stay healthy is to eat lots of fruits but the cost can be terrible. If you follow a few rules then you can lower you fruit costs.

Here are some tips to help you get a better deal on fruit or really any food that is seasonal or out of the area. Now that Spring is here and Summer is coming my house has a lot more fruit but we really struggle to buy cheap fruit. Here in Calgary I find fruit is expensive year round.

If you follow these produce buying tips you should get more bang for the buck as far as Fruit and vegetables goes.

• If your urban grocery doesn’t stock much produce, seek out local farmer’s markets or community gardens.
• Don’t forget that fruit and veggies in any form — fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice — count toward your 5 A Day requirement.
• Buy in volume from wholesalers or inexpensive food outlets like Costco, and freeze your excess stock.
• Keep it simple. More exotic fruits usually cost more than common varieties. For example, oranges are more affordable than kumquats, bananas are more budget-friendly than boysenberries, apples are easier on the wallet than Asian pears, etc.
• Get clipping — collect coupons and keep eyes peeled for in-store specials.
• Buy in season. As prices can vary greatly depending on the time of year and part of the country, know what fruits and vegetables are in season. Standard economics dictates prices rise with scarcity and fall with increased quantity.
• Remember that the closer that your produce is grown to you the fresher and lower the transport costs are.

This may seem like a strange way to shop for many people but as we run into more food shortages and the price of produce thanks to high transportation costs goes up this is a very good way to make your food buying dollar go farther. The biggest change for many people is not having any fruit and vegetables at any time as most of the list stresses better for you and better produce as it is closer to you and transported less.

I have come across this article by John Timmerman. Joe is a sport specific performance and fitness coach. He is also the Founder and President of The New Fit.

Calorie requirements vary from person to person. No two people have the same requirements. This is because we all have different body types and activity levels. So how can you find out what you need to do to fix your diet for fat loss?

Calories needed for maintenance

Well first we need to calculate out your body’s calorie requirements for maintenance. This is the amount of calories that you body needs to support your current activity levels and body weight.

Now I know what you thinking, calculations give you a headache. Me too, so I will only throw the necessary ones at you. Below you will find the basic equations you need to figure out your body’s caloric requirements are to function properly. After that we will look at how to optimize these calories for fat loss. Read the rest of this entry »

Well today we are for the 2nd time we are cooking a turkey. I tried cooking one last Spring and it was good although a bit dry. Years ago my wife made an Easter dinner with her mom and it was really undercooked, that night we ended up having Turkey soup at 10 at night.

Just a couple things. Turkey is very high in protein, this is good, another thing stuffing tends to be high in fat so as good as the stuffing is it is in fact a bit fattening. One more fact that you can amaze your friends and family with, Turkey has a lot of the amino acid Tryptophan which will cause sleepyness later so when everyone has overeaten dinner tonight and is feeling tired you can then blame it on the Tryptophan instead of the overeating.

So in the interest of everyone cooking turkey for the first time today here are some instructions for cooking a turkey. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years I have seen a lot of flimsy ideas of how to get a set of six pack abs. The most common scams are special machines that will do it and sometimes some kind of drink. I remember at one point Slim Fast seemed to be showing chubby people suddenly spawning a set of six pack abs.

Anyway I wanted to put this notion to rest that there is some magic to getting a six pack. Sure there is some genetics involved in sculpting perfect abs but the two most important factors are diet and exercise.

What? Did you think there was a shortcut?

Six Pack Abs Diet

The diet part is fairly simple; you need to drop any extra fat. You have probably heard this before but there is no such thing as spot reduction when you are losing weight. You will lose weight proportionately, generally, as you lose weight. What you may find is that you have a large stomach and if that is the case of course you will lose that fat faster than you lose the fat on your legs but that is just because that is where the fat deposits will be easiest for your body to use.
Read the rest of this entry »

You might be thinking about shutting yourself out from the world and staying in your cubbyhole during the whole holiday season just so that there is no temptation for you to attend holiday parties and gain weight that way. But let me tell you that there is no need to make your life miserable out of fear of weight gain.

Heck, people gain weight simply because they don’t follow the three basic healthy eating tricks that I am going to tell you about in this article. By using these tricks, you can enjoy the holidays to your heart’s content while staying fit at the same time.

Eat organic: People hate organic foods such as vegetables and fruits, and more so during the holiday season so that they could keep their stomachs empty for the tasty junk foods that they are going to gorge on at parties. Keep in mind that it is one of the reasons why people gain weight at the end of holidays. If you keep yourself full by eating natural fruits and vegetables, you will eat fewer junk foods. Being low on calories, these natural foods won’t make you fat either.

Cut down on holiday drinks: A lot of drinks available at the holiday parties are nothing but full of empty calories which make a person gain weight by leaps and bounds. One example of such a drink is alcohol. Among all alcoholic drinks, I would suggest that you specifically monitor your eggnog intake. Sure, eggnog is one of the tastiest holiday drinks available, but behind that taste exists an ugly reality which you may not be aware of: it is extremely rich in calories. In fact, even if you drink just one or two pegs it is not unnatural for a few pounds to be added to your body that way. So keep your eggnog intake under control.

Avoid emotional eating: By emotional eating I mean eating for the purpose of deriving comfort from foods rather than out of hunger. Of course, the reality is that food can never be a source of comfort to you; if anything, it could only bring distress by making you overweight.

Often people end up overeating because they have nothing better to do. If you indulge yourself in various activities such as hobbies, sports, crafts, etc, your chances of gaining weight are minimal. Also, when you attend a party, try to chat up with your old buddies rather than going after foods; you would avoid weight gain that way.

Don’t deprive yourself but control your portions: Many people think that avoiding or depriving themselves completely of their favorite foods is the surefire way to avoid weight gain! If you too think this way you cannot be further from the truth!

If you deprive yourself of your favorite foods, your food cravings would increase all the more and a day will come when you would gorge on junk foods like a hungry wolf, thereby adding several pounds to your body in an instant! So a better option is to eat your favorite foods at least once every week! But at the same time you should monitor your food intake.

A good way to make sure that you don’t gain weight by eating your favorite foods is by exercising the trick of ‘portion control’! When you eat slowly and in small quantities, you would become satiated even by eating very little food. This way you would not only be able to satisfy your junk food cravings but at the same time keep your weight under control!

2. Smash all your beer bottles: Yep, you heard me right: open your cellar and throw out all the beer and soda bottles from there! Then promise yourself never to touch them again! Why would you do so? Quite simply, alcohol is high on calorie and sugar, both of which are bad for your health, especially when you are struggling hard to keep your weight under control! With alcohol and soda out of your way, you will find it easier to keep the pounds away and stay fit during the holiday season!

3. Buy tighter clothes: You might hate me for this advice, or think that I am crazy, but the fact remains that this is a good way of reminding yourself that you need to lose weight urgently! Think about it: how often have you promised yourself that you would lose weight before the next Christmas, and how many times have you failed to keep that promise!

It is no wonder that many people fail to lose weight because they simply don’t make weight loss their number one priority! I know that wearing tight clothes would make you feel uneasy, but it is this very uneasiness which would propel you towards the path of weight loss! The more uneasy you feel, the harder you would try to lose weight and become slimmer! This way you would reach your weight loss goal quite fast!

And by the way, don’t you want to be able to fit yourself in your favorite clothes? Make your dream a reality by doing this right now and eventually you will see that you are able to wear your favorite clothes without any feeling of uneasiness!

And that day would come soon!

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