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.

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.

Unless you have been under a rock all this while, you must have heard of the 3-day Detox diet or master cleanser Diet, more popularly known as the lemon diet. Do you know that your weight gain is partially caused by toxins and other waste products that get deposited in your body over time?

Lemon is said to act as a detoxifier by cleansing your body of all these toxins. When your body gets rid of these harmful toxins, it not only becomes lighter, but also healthier. Further, after going through detoxification, you would find it easier to lose weight. Now that you know about the pros of detoxification, let’s go into the actual detail of how far useful this lemon diet is.

Apart from cleansing your body of toxins and making you lose a few pounds of weight in the process, lemon diet has many other pros: Read the rest of this entry »

Calorie here, calorie there. Every time we try to lose weight, we are asked to monitor our calorie intake. Now what the heck is this calorie? Well, as a matter of fact, each of the foods and drinks we consume contain a certain quantity of calories. Once food enters our body, those calories are transformed into energy. In turn our body uses this energy to perform its day-to-day operations.

Now our body requires a certain minimum level of energy to be able to function properly. If the current energy level is below this minimum requirement, we would suffer from fatigue, weakness, and a host of other maladies. On the other hand, if our body receives more energy than required, it would deposit the extra energy as fat for future use.

As you can see, if you want to get rid of fat, you need to control your body’s energy production, which can be done only by reducing your daily calorie intake level. One way to do that is by controlling your food intake by dieting. Dieting of course means eating balanced, healthy meals rather than fasting. Another way to keep the energy levels at normal level is by burning the excess calories with the help of workouts. Read the rest of this entry »

Most experts would tell you that there is no other way to lose weight except by starving for days! Now if you have ever starved you know only too well that it is easier said than done! Even if you are able to keep up with the hunger pangs, your body won’t tolerate it.

If your body notices that it is not getting enough nutrition, it will store existing fat (instead of burning it) for the purpose of energy production! This is the reason that you don’t lose much weight with starving, and you gain back whatever you have lost once you get back to your normal eating habits!

Fortunately however, you don’t need to starve at all in order to lose weight. There are five special foods out there that can help you lose weight easily and quickly! If you can lose weight by eating, then why starve? Read the rest of this entry »

Fad diets such as Atkins recommend an almost total abstinence from carbs. Apart from that, even many experts believe that carbs are the real culprits behind the rising cases of obesity. They recommend a carb-free diet as the ‘healthy’ way to lose weight. Truth however, is that this is an ‘unhealthy’ weight loss method!

Carbs are needed by your body for producing energy! You use this energy for performing your daily activities. This energy also helps your body in performing its ‘bodily’ functions. If your body doesn’t receive an adequate amount of carbohydrates, it will start burning off your lean muscles for the purpose of energy production. This is known as ketosis.

If you are a pregnant woman or a diabetic patient then ketosis can result in your untimely death! As you can see, carbs are your friends and not enemies. A healthy diet is one which contains a healthy dose of all nutrients, including carbs. Read the rest of this entry »

Why journal?

When I talk to people about their fitness goals I tend to see a couple of major problems over a one or two week period and those are inconsistent eating and exercise and a lack of commitment, more often than not cheating and not really being to aware of it.

There are 168 hours in a week. These hours are taken up mostly on autopilot. If you think of all of the things that you do in a week there is 56 hours of sleep, 28 hours of preparing and meals, 5 or 10 hours of commute time and many other things that we just do and not think of it. If you begin fitness journaling everything that you do as far as your health and fitness are concerned you can change little things in these autopilot parts of your life and make real changes to your lifestyle.

How do I journal?

First what do you need to fitness journal? Really just some kind of book is good, a small notebook that you can keep with you all of the time and a pen. The setup of the pages is what is important. You want to capture the important things during the day so that you can reflect on how you did later on. Here is what I suggest, but by all means adjust to what you would like to track of.
Read the rest of this entry »