When you eat protein it requires more calories to digest than fruit and vegetables. Beans are good, as they also contain fiber, and like protein, fiber takes more time to digest, and leaves you feeling fuller longer, so you don’t feel a need to eat so much. Be careful what type of beans you eat though. Baked beans might be tasty, but some brands contain huge amounts of sugar.

Eggs are a good source of protein, but some sources recommend that you don’t eat too many eggs, because of the cholesterol content – no more than one a day.

Although fat in general has a bad name these days, not all fats are bad, and some can actually boost your metabolism. Avocados are a good source of good fat, and so is olive oil, because it helps regulate cholesterol.

Almonds contain good fats, the mono saturated kind, and are also a good source of protein.

Raw fruit and vegetables are good to eat also, as the enzymes they contain helps your body to rid itself of some of that belly fat.

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Between 1970 and 2005 the obesity rate in the United States roughly doubled, according to data from the National Health a and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the USDA.

On the BMI scale over 30 is defined as obese; over 25 is overweight.

TruthAboutAbs

We’re eating over 200 calories more each day, most of which come from carbs. We are also eating more meat, although most of that is actually leaner than it used to be, so the calorie contribution to the average diet has gone down.

We’re taking in about 100 calories more in sweeteners each day on average, and High Fructose Corn Syrup has about half of that.

We drink less regular whole milk, and more reduced fat, and fat-free milk.

We consume a lot more oil, particularly vegetable oil, than we were back in the 1970′s. Mostly corn, and soybean and canola oils.

The increase in obesity has come about because we eat a lot more wheat; increased sweeteners, and processed oils instead of fat from meat.

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• First of all we must be determined to remain slim and work towards it.
• Develop a mind set towards it.
• Set realistic goals.
• Make lifestyle changes like giving up alcohol, smoking, avoiding fatty food, refined food,… Include fresh foods as far as possible as processed foods tend to contain high level of salt and sugar
• Do not expect immediate results.
• Never go for crash diets instead reduce weight gradually and slowly.
• Never skip meals as you tend to eat more, the next meal.
• Do not skip breakfast in particular. Include lot of fiber in your diet as it gives a feeling of fullness, thereby preventing you from gorging spicy and fatty food.
• Nuts contain lot of fiber .They are satisfying and cause people to eat less at meal time.
• Take warm lime juice mixed with honey the first thing in the morning.
• Go for skimmed milk.
• As far as possible avoid weight loss supplements.
• When you have cravings for sweets, take a fruit instead. When you have cravings for certain type of food like chocolates or ice cream, once in a while, you can take in small quantities .
• Take fruits and vegetables which has lot of water content like watermelons, cucumbers and white pumpkin..
• Keep yourself engaged as boredom leads to overeating.
• Drink lot of water, at least 8 glasses per day.
• Use the stairs instead of elevator.
• Park the car a little far away and walk to your office.
• Use every opportunity to be physically active.
• Walk, Walk and Walk as much as possible .Even if you are busy, go for walk at least 5 days a week.
• Aerobic exercise like jogging, swimming, cycling, running accelerates weight loss. Consult a physician before starting any weight loss program.. Aerobic exercise combined with healthy eating will certainly help in weight reduction.
• Make your exercise session enjoyable.
• Keep yourself free of stress
• Finally, weight loss is a slow process, so do not get disappointed and give up.

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“Dirty” skin is a commonly missed medical condition.

The skin is hyper-pigmented, in a smooth, yet irregular, shape. It can be found in the “folds” of the skin.. at the neck, axila, navel, knees, elbows, ankles, and groin.

It is called Acanthosis Nigricans, and the main cause is Insulin Resistance.

Insulin Resistance is a pre-cursor to diabetes (pre-diabetes) and the main symptom of Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS.)

Type-2 (Adult-Onset) diabetes used to be something only adults needed to be concerned about..

But, many children are now being diagnosed with diabetes.

Insulin is a regulatory hormone, in the body.  It works with Glucagon, to tell the body when to store and not store the fat that we consume, in our diets.  It is triggered by carbohydrates or “sugars.”

When insulin levels are high, the body stores fat (converted “sugars”,) to use, later, for energy.

Glucagon is a regulatory hormone that pulls “fuel” from the body..  It is a reaction hormone and dependent on  insulin levels lowering, to react, to burn stored energy.

When we constantly consume “sugars” and junk food, we over stimulate our insulin production.  We burn out this imaginary switch, that tells the body to start producing Glucagon.

It doesn’t matter, to the body’s functioning whether we are not producing any insulin (Type I Diabetes) or if we have a constant supply of high levels of Insulin (Type II Diabetes.)  All that matters, is that Glucagon is not being triggered..

The body is constantly storing fat.  The “sugars,” being consumed, are being converted to fat, and also being stored.

Insulin Resistance is the main cause of obesity.

(Nothing in this article is intended as medical advice. Nothing in this article is intended to diagnose or cure disease.  It is purely for informational purposes.  Please allow your medical doctor to diagnose your illnesses.  Seek the advice of a medical professional, if you feel that you have a medical problem. This article was not written by a professional medical doctor.)

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Have you heard “Oh, it’s ok, it’s just baby fat!” ?

Well, baby-fat turns into ‘puppy’ fat which turns into adult fat. Kids that are overweight, are more likely to turn into adults that remain overweight.

It can sometimes be traced to genetics, but it’s more often down to too much food, particularly junk food, and too little exercise.

Kids used to play in the street, or at the park, and more and more now sit in front of the computer, TV, or games console for hours on end instead.

Kids don’t need to be put on fancy diets either. That can often promote unhealthy ideas later in life, and give kids the impression that they need to be picky and fussy about what they eat. It’s good for parents to lead by example. No good telling junior they shouldn’t eat candy or fast food junk and should exercise if they frequently see you snacking on chocolate or pizza while not moving from the couch all day.

It’s no going to work if you suddenly decide to go on a healthy eating regime, and expect them to follow along without protest either.

Just stop buying one or two items. Cut back on chips. Let them have one bag a week, not three bags a day. The same with soda. It works best for ourselves, and for kids too, if we’re gradually weaned off the junk.

Try and make time to sit at the dinner table and eat, not at the TV. It promotes family conversation too, and gives you an opportunity to show enthusiasm for healthy options, by talking about them. Educate kids about what is best for them, but don’t ban them from junk totally or they’ll simply rebel and go buy it with their allowance behind your back in any case.

Often too, it’s good to cut back on portion size. Remember that your body takes about 20 mins to tell your brain that’s it’s full, so try and eat more slowly. Make it more of a family event, rather than the latest TV episode. You’ll all enjoy your food more, and less food will be more filling, and without feeling stuffed and bloated afterward.

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A recent report in the journal Circulation took a look at over 20,000 doctors for 20 years, and found that even those doctors who were not obese, but were just slightly overweight, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25 and 30 still had almost a 50% increased risk of heart failure, against those who had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of under 25.

Exercise was a huge factor in reducing the risk too. Working out three times a month reduced the risk by almost 20%, and those who worked out every day cut their risk by around 35%.

It’s back to those four words. Eat less, move more.

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No not beer. Soda.

15 billion gallons a year are consumed each year in the United States alone. Did you know that drinking just one can of soda a day can add more than a pound of weight every month. That’s mainly because that one can can have the equivalent of over a dozen spoonfuls of sugar (usually High Fructose Corn Syrup).

Ok, so you’ll drink diet soda instead? The jury is still out on that one. All those artificial sweeteners taken over time aren’t necessarily much better than the sugar either.

Even done the experiment of putting a small piece of meat into a glass of soda overnight, and seeing it dissolve? It does the same to your teeth enamel too.

It could also help to bring on kidney stones, and liver damage – thought to be the sodium benzoate in it.

It can lead to caffeine addiction, and it’s not goo for the stomach as it’s quite acidic, and can damage the lining of the stomach.

Oh one last thing, a can a day habit will cost you over $100 a year. So if there are 4 in your house drinking 3 cans a day, that’s over a grand a year, plus the health risks above.

TGFC recommends you make sure you drink your eight recommended 8 ounce glasses of water each day. It won’t do any harm to your health or your wallet!

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A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that about 32 percent of children were overweight, 16 percent were obese, and 11 percent were extremely obese.

Meanwhile junk food companies continue to promote so-called healthy choices, such as diet sodas, and low-fat chips. Many cereal products are way less than healthy too, containing large amounts of sugar or the ubiquitous High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Whatever the recent commercials from the corn industry might say about HFCS, the bottom line is that it’s still empty calories, and eating less calories is one way to lose weight. Quite simply, if you burn more calories than you take in, you’ll eventually lose some pounds.

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Is that crazy? No, it makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Most of us eating a Western diet eat far too much. Too much of the wrong stuff to a large extent as well.

Eat more fruit and vegetables. Eat more whole grains. Eat more fish.

Eat less fried food, eat less sugary food, eat less white rice and bread. Eat less red meat.

I know you like fried eggs with some syrup, and accompanied with steak, and toast, and some sweet tea.

It doesn’t hurt occasionally. Like once a month.

Where folks trip up, is that they’ll tell you they only eat pizza once a week. They only eat a Big Mac once a week too. Same goes for Chinese take out, fried chicken, doughnuts,  pancakes…

You get the picture?

Sure they only eat those things once a week, but they eat plenty of it when they do, and they eat one of those items most every day.

So cut back on your portions if you eat out. Don’t supersize everything. I guarantee you’ll still feel full in about twenty minutes in any case. That’s how long after eating that it takes your stomach to tell your brain to stop sending the triggers to tell you to eat more. It probably derives from when man lived in the wild, and had to gouge as much food as he could, in any given time, as he didn’t know when his next meal would be.

Thing is too, with all that processed food about these days, that’s super high in calories, you end up eating way more calories than you need to, even before you feel full.

So, spend more on better quality food, and buy less of it. That works however large or small your food budget is.

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It’s good for you right? Yes it is.

So if I go out and eat Italian, that’s a Mediterranean diet, and so that’s good for me too, right? Not necessarily, no.

That fried calamari that you’re so partial to at the local Italian chain restaurant can have as much cholesterol in as eating a large omelet.

You see, Italians are big on pasta. That’s great, but it’s the sauce you get with it in many American Italian restaurants that is the killer. Italians also eat a lot of vegetables.

In your average US Italian restaurant, you’ll end up with a plate of watery iceberg and a few bits of tomato, and carrot. Not so bad, but once you put that dressing on top, you might as well go to the fast food drive thru down the street, and eat a portion of fries.

Chinese food is usually lower in fat, but there’s all the added sodium to deal with then.

Our advice. Stick with dishes that have a high pasta content, are low in sauces, particularly meat based (high fat) sauces, go easy on the cheese, and if you’re somewhere like Olive Garden fill up on the salad, as you can have as much as you like. Just don’t flood it with that dressing.

Better yet, find some healthy low-fat recipes (that avoid read-made processed sauces) and try your hand at cooking Italian at home. That’s just what we’re doing this evening.

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