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.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

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!

You are fondling your baby in your arms, and reading a lifestyle magazine, and what catches your eye is the sexy photo of Jennifer Aniston – her curves as well as her flat stomach. You look at your fat belly and immediately start hating it like never before! You now want your belly to be like that of Aniston. While it is possible, it would take you some work and self-discipline in order to achieve your dream!

First of all, you should be overjoyed at the fact that you have birth to a new life, your baby, and even if you have regained some extra pounds in the process, it is still a small price you paid to give birth to your baby. And by the way, don’t forget that this situation is only temporary and if you follow my advice in this article, it is only a matter of time before you become your former self and gain back the slim figure that you had!

1. Be realistic: Like I said earlier, if you are serious about losing pregnancy pounds, you got to be extremely patient and realistic. Think about it: if you gained twenty pounds over the course of nine long months, is it realistic to think that you would lose them all within a month or two? Of course not! You should assume that it would take you at least another nine months to lose that weight, or maybe longer, since it takes more time to lose weight than gain it!

2. Breastfeeding helps: I would say that a mother is in a more advantageous position than an ordinary woman, so far as weight loss is concerned! Why? That is because as a mother you need to breastfeed your baby and you lose a lot of extra calories that way! You will be amazed at how much weight you would manage to lose everyday just by breastfeeding your baby!

But breastfeeding comes with a flipside too; since your body burns extra calories for the purpose of breastfeeding, it needs back those calories! Therefore, reducing your food intake is not an option for you. And of course you should stay miles away from fad diets which are more harmful than helpful for a mother!

Okay, so what should you do to lose weight? Eat healthy and in small portions. If you used to eat two or three large meals in a day, you would need to split those meals into several smaller meals, and eat each of those smaller meals every two or three hours!
Small and frequent eating would not only help suppress your hunger but also keep your metabolic rate high, both of which are required for fast weight loss!

When I mean healthy eating, I obviously don’t suggest that you survive on a piece of lemon, as that is totally unhealthy. You should include foods such as whole grains, natural fruits, vegetables, dairy products, soy, nuts, legumes, fish, etc., in your diet! These foods are pretty good for quick weight loss. Stay away from sugary foods because they would make you fatter!

3. Workout: You might be wondering whether workouts are at all needed since caring for your baby is work enough for you! Of course, it is true that you burn a lot of calories simply by caring for your baby, but that is not enough for losing pregnancy weight! You need to participate in regular workouts so that you are able to burn a lot of fat quickly. The more workouts you do, the faster you would burn fat and lose weight!

Moderate cardios are good for a mother. I would suggest that you don’t do any form of intense workout such as strength training or weight lifting till your body has recovered completely!

Another exercise I recommend is the Kegels exercise. It is so simple that you can do it anytime you want! All you need to do is simply tighten and release your Kegel muscles, the muscles you use to urinate. Did I say it is easy?

Some mothers feel a bit weak immediately after childbirth, and may not be ready for workouts. If that is you then it is perfectly okay. Since your body went through so much strain during the pregnancy it is only natural for you to feel weak during the first few months. Just stick to eating healthy foods as I suggested above and you may begin the workout session when you feel better!

There is hardly anyone who doesn’t take one resolution or other during the New Year, and one of the most popular New Year resolutions is the weight loss resolution. Every New Year, millions of people resolve to shed the extra flab and get slimmer, and just a few weeks after that, most of them break their resolutions and get back to their normal (read unhealthy) lifestyle! The result: nada, zilch!

This year too would be no different either. Many would take the same resolution they have probably taken countless number of times before, and once again only a handful people would make it to the slim figure! But why should you follow their trail? In this article I am going to tell you about some of the tools and strategies I used to lose weight successfully!

Yeah, I too had taken countless weight loss but they came to nothing until I started doing the following things!

1. I cleaned up my kitchen and refrigerator: No, I didn’t make them completely empty; rather, I emptied all the junk foods out of them! When the culprits aren’t around the corner, there would be less of a temptation to eat them. Think about it: when are you more likely to eat gobs of ice cream: when it is not at your home and would need to be fetched from a store which is a couple of miles away, or when it is conveniently seated in your refrigerator?

When you would have to make a great effort to indulge in your junk food cravings, you are less likely to eat them and more likely to opt for healthy foods which should already be stocked in your home!

Oh, I totally forgot to tell you: once you clean your kitchen of all the junk and fatty foods, buy lots of natural fruits and eatables and stock them in your kitchen and refrigerator! I have found that this has helped me a lot in killing my junk food cravings!

2. I started keeping a weight loss journal: To make sure that I was really doing things which were conducive to my weight loss goal, I started keeping a journal in order to keep tab on my daily lifestyle. These days, most weight loss programs automatically offer you a journal for free where you could record all the detailed statistics about yourself, including but not limited to what foods you are eating and what not, what workouts you are doing and how far they have helped you with weight loss, whether you are eating something you shouldn’t, etc., and many other such tidbits.

You can also use it to keep a tab on your body weight, so that you know how far you have progressed and how many more pounds are left to shed! Some people prefer to maintain separate weight loss journals, each for food, exercise, etc., which is fine as well.

The rationale behind maintaining a weight loss journal is that it would act as your moral police by keeping you on the right track, and at the same time would act as your guardian which would lead you towards the path of weight loss success!

Holiday weight gain is almost inevitable! In fact, you would need to be a staunch, self-disciplined, health-conscious individual to be able to avoid the temptations of cookies, candies and alcohol at parties! In fact, the ‘food season’ starts much before Christmas – usually from Thanksgiving Day!

From Thanksgiving Day to New Year, people stuff themselves as much as they can with all of their favorite foods. A bite here, a bite there and then more bites follow!

All this while the individual keeps reminding himself that even if he gains some extra pounds during this time, there is nothing to worry about as he would work very hard after the New Year to lose all that extra weight! Truth to be told, you CAN lose holiday weight within just a few weeks, provided that you make a little effort and are determined to reach your goal!

Continue with your workouts: The first thing you need to keep in mind is that no matter how busy you are, you should continue with your regular workouts! If you haven’t exercised ever, start doing it right now, and continue doing it at least throughout the whole holiday season – up until the New Year, when much of the ‘food craze’ usually dies away and is replaced by a new craze: the craze of weight loss!

If you workout regularly then you would not only be able to lose weight, but also have very little chance of gaining weight either! However, to be on the safe side, I would suggest that you focus on the intense workouts which help you burn a lot of calories within a very short time! On one hand, you would spend very little time on your workout regimen and on the other, these intense exercises would help you burn calories even at rest!

There is no excuse for deferring your workouts or taking a sabbatical from your exercise regimen simply because it is holiday or that you don’t ‘feel’ like working out, or are too busy with shopping and writing and sending out party invitations! Keep in mind that health always comes before everything else, and nothing but your health should always be your number one priority!

Indulge yourself only on the ‘cheat’ day: Just because it is holiday season doesn’t necessarily mean that you would throw all dietary cautions in the wind; but at the same time, you also won’t want to deprive yourself from the fun and enjoyment of this period! What I recommend is that you eat healthy foods for at least six days pf the week and then use the next day as the ‘cheat’ day.

Now how would you choose this ‘cheat’ day? If you have a party to attend to soon, just plan things in such a way that you attend it on your ‘cheat’ day! That way, you would be free to indulge yourself in all the delicacies available to you: candies, cakes, eggnog, you name it!

Keep in mind that one day of indulgence won’t hamper your health or make you excessively overweight, provided that you don’t eat the same bad foods throughout the whole week! Even if you gain weight, it won’t be much and you would easily be able to lose it within a short time!

It is easiest to gain extra pounds in holidays than at other times of the year. Guess why? Well you don’t need too hard on it! Come on, it is holiday season, so we don’t have jobs to run after, which in turn means that we are less active than usual. Add to it the gazillion holiday parties that we have to attend to, and the calorie-rich foods served therein, and it won’t take you long to add two and two and make four! Fortunately though, it is not too hard to avoid holiday weight gain! But how would you do it? Read on to find out!

Usually people gain a minimum of five pounds during the holidays; some even gain as many as ten pounds which is not good news at all, and yet some others quit their diet programs! However, if you follow my step-by-step weight loss strategy, neither of these things would ever happen to you!

1. Stay active: Okay, since it is holiday it is understandable that you are taking a break from your job. But that doesn’t mean that you would be sitting at home the entire day, right? For starters, you may take the entire family on a brisk walk every morning! Or, how about a short vacation!

If you have children, why not play with them for a few hours everyday? That way, not only you but even your kids would remain fit and healthy by burning extra calories! Keep in mind that working out in the gym is not the only way to keep yourself fit; there are other and much easier ways to help you achieve the same results!

2. Savor but keep your appetite under control: With holidays arrive huge arrays of tasty foods that are simply irresistible! And there is no reason to deprive yourself of these foods simply out of fear of possible weight gain! Holidays come only once in a year, and if you don’t enjoy yourself at this time, when else you will? Plus depriving yourself of anything is really not a very wise decision on your part, for usually it increases your food cravings all the more!

What you could do instead is to control your appetite! No, I don’t mean to say that you should pop dozens of appetite suppressing pills before attending any party! What you should do is just taste all the foods available at the party by eating a handful of each of them, but you must NOT eat beyond that limit! Don’t gobble lots of junk foods as that would make you fat!