FOODS TO FIGHT FAT

HERE is an article with a list of foods that help to speed up your metabolism. The list:

1) Whole grain cereal/Oats
2) Jalapenos, habaneros, and cayenne (and Paprika, if you don't want your mouth to catch fire)
3) Green tea/Coffee (and White tea!)
4) Lean beef, pork, chicken, turkey (but soy protein and tempeh/tofu/seitan are MUCH healthier forms of protein and they have the same effect)
5) Salmon, tuna, sardines (OR stop the over-fishing of our waters and save a life by eating FLAX instead! Same Omega 3's!)

So fill up on Omega 3's, fiber, whole grains, protein, and lots of organic and colorful veggies to drop that last dress size!

GREEN ENERGY SMOOTHIE

Mmm mmm! Try this recipe from natural health magazine for a pick-me-up. Great as a breakfast replacement:

Ingredients

2 cups orange juice
1½ cups apple juice
1 cup kale, roughly chopped
2 bananas
Crushed ice

Directions

Combine orange juice, apple juice, kale, bananas, and crushed ice in a blender and blend at the highest speed until kale is thoroughly integrated into juice. Allow ingredients to settle and foam to rise to the top before serving. Pour into glasses filled with crushed ice.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving: 160 calories, 1 g fat (0.13 g saturated), 39 g carbohydrates, 2 g protein, 2.2 g fiber, 12 mg sodium (0.5% Daily Value).

TIRED? TRY THESE TASTY TREATS

Feeling fatigued? Try adding these foods to your diet for a pick-me up!
Energy boosters are:

1) Broccoli
2) Brown rice
3) Eggs
4) Green Tea
5) Oats
6) Oranges
7) Nut butters
8) Salmon (OR Flax)
9) Sea Vegetables
10) Yogurt

link to the article above for some great "super snacks" as well!

STARTING A NEW EATING PLAN

HERE is an article with some tips for surviving your next attempt at a diet.
Tips:

1) Eat protein and whole grains to avoid the tummy rumble you're destined to experience when you curb your intake
2) Drink lots of water to aid your body as it sheds excess water stores
3) Plan an ACTIVITY for the weekend (like a hike, bike ride, Wii fest, or LAZER TAG!) instead of planning a night to eat/drink out. You're less likely to engage in behavior that will blow your whole diet
4) Add strength training to keep weight loss up when you hit a plateau
5) Replace old habits (like snacking on chips while watching TV) with new healthy ones (hula-hooping in front of the TV!). Every-time you resist your old habits it gets easier to resist in the future!
6) Call your doc to get a cholesterol test. If you need motivation to keep losing, knowing you're getting healthier may be a good one
7) DON'T GET DISCOURAGED AROUND YOUR PERIOD! Your body naturally holds on to an extra few pounds of water weight. Don't sweat it or give up, it's temporary
8) As you drop the pounds, buy some new clothes or lingerie. Fitting into something that makes you feel sexy and beautiful can help encourage you to keep going
9) Seek out new coping strategies, like dancing or listening to music, so when you reach your goal you wont sabotage your hard work with a binge
10) Mix up your workouts, especially if you hit a plateau. Stimulating new muscle groups in different orders can help rev up your lagging metabolism!
11) Enjoy yourself but don't give up on yourself while you're on vacation! Don't deprive yourself but don't let loose either. For example, instead of choosing either the fetuccini alfredo or a salad without dressing, go for the pesto pasta. It still has the richness of the alfredo but without all the cream and calories!
12) When you reach your goal, reward yourself (NOT WITH FOOD). Take a vacation, get a massage, etc.

Best way to beat the dowsides of diets? Change your eating lifestyle entirely instead of focusing on short-term weight loss; you're more likely to avoid the yo-yo dieting that so many (myself included) have become familiar with.

NOT ALL SUGAR IS SO SWEET

HERE is an article about a recent study that showed once and for all that NOT all sugar is created equal!! In the study, participants stuck to strict guidelines and ingested a regulated amount of sweetened beverages every day, one group with glucose sweetened beverages and one with fructose sweetened beverages. The results?

Both groups gained weight (stick to unsweetened tea!), but the group that drank the FRUCTOSE sweetened beverages also saw increases in their fat deposits and alteration of their liver function! The fructose group also saw signs of the beginning stages of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. NOT GOOD.

This was regular old fructose, that natural sugar found in fruits. When combined with all of the ingredients of a whole piece of fruit (pulp, fiber, minerals, etc.), fructose does NOT have these effects. But when extracted and used alone it is harmful and leads to increased inflammation throughout the body (which can also lead to cancer).

Now think about HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Take the negative effects of fructose times 1,000! It has higher concentrations of fructose and therefore the negative effects are magnified; you might as well shove your face into a vat of table sugar... it'd be healthier!

Lesson learned: avoid anything sweetened with fructose if at all possible!

HEALTHY BODY AND PLANET

HERE is an article about 8 things you can do to help protect your health AND the planet! The 8 tips are:

1) Take shorter showers
2) Bypass the dry cleaners (also saves $$$!)
3) Go easy on beef
4) Ditch air fresheners
5) Buy organic coffee
6) Skip the liquid soap
7) Toss the flea collar
8) Nix the screen-saver

ALL good tips for saving energy and avoiding exposing yourself to toxic chemicals!

SLIMMER FOR SUMMER

HERE is an article on some additional tips for losing those last few pounds. I don't like the article's title, but the tips are legit. Summary:

1) Downsize dinner, then sip green tea (eat more calories earlier in the day)
2) Burn off your indulgences (if you DO slip and eat that cake, work it off in the gym)
3) Be a cereal swapper (go for oatmeal instead of cereal)
4) Do a whole body cleanse (like the one in my previous post!)
5) Cut liquid calories (drop the latte and go for black coffee or tea. And NO SODA!)
6) Pump the produce (EAT MORE VEGGIES! Especially ORGANIC veggies)
7) Keep a food diary (Helps you see how many calories you are REALLY eating)
8) Skip the condiments (No mayo or oil. Go for mustard or nothing at all)
9) Take a spa day (MENTAL cleanse!)
10) Take tips from the South Beach Diet (aka cut out refined sugars and overly starchy foods)

WALNUTS FOR HEALTHY BREASTS

NEW research shows that walnuts may help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer!

Great ways to get walnuts into your diet include sprinkling them onto your salad, throwing a handful of ground walnuts into your risotto or brown rice, and adding a handful to some greek yogurt (or SOY YOGURT!).

On top of the cancer prevention, walnuts also have a TON of healthy fats that help to prevent hardening of the arteries and help to keep skin and hair glowing and healthy!

So snack away! Walnuts are yummy and their benefits are still being discovered!

MORE BREAST FEEDING BENEFITS

So we all know that breast feeding is great for baby, but here comes yet ANOTHER study that shows that breast feeding is also beneficial for mom! Some of the benefits:

*Lower risk of osteoporosis
*Lower risk of heart disease
*Weight loss (yep, it burns calories and decreased fat storage!)
*Lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer

And ALL of these benefits are increased the longer you breast feed! Turns out mother nature knew what she was doing when she blessed woman with their ta-tas!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day! Celebrate with some of the ideas provided HERE !!

So plant a tree, turn off your lights for an hour, GET OUTSIDE, or contribute to a worthy eco-friendly charity (like The Nature Conservancy, The World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, etc.).

Happy greening!