Posts Tagged ‘Eating Right’

Eat to Greatness

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Copyright © 2011 anthonyflatt.com

Get rid of white bread, white bread is awful for you. It uses white bleached flour, it uses white bleached sugar, it uses massive amounts of sugar, it use chemicals to make it shelf stable because it’s a very unstable food. It is filled with chemicals, it is filled with sugar, and it is filled with acids, which is what bleaches and when they say they bleach it that’s exactly what they do. And that bleach is still on that food.

Buy only whole grain wheat bread. If you buy any other kind of wheat bread, it is actually white bread disguised as wheat bread and marketed to be wheat bread. You can actually hold the packages side by side, look at the ingredients, look at the calorie count, look at the sugar count and they will be almost the same. So look for whole grain. Now you don’t have to buy the cardboard multigrain, stone ground bread that’s out there. If you don’t like that kind of bread don’t buy it, but you do need to buy a firmer full whole grain wheat bread. It’s a lot healthier and you need to cut back on the bread anyway.

You need to also buy sugar free drinks. Drink water, drink water every day and if you are trying to lose weight you should be drinking a gallon of water a day that will help flush your system, it will help flush toxins out of your system. You drink water and it causes the toxins to get carried out of your system in your urine and also through your sweat. So even athletes that are trying to cut weight they should be consuming a gallon of water every single day up until about 48 hours before their competition and then they can start cutting back on their water but they don’t want to cut their water out. If you cut water out from your body, you stop drinking water, you stop eating, your body shuts down because your body thinks you are either sick or dying. So it starts conserving and it’s going to conserve everything and it’s very, very hard to lose weight if you are fighting against your body. So just know that you have got to drink water.

I take a very, very large glass, 32 or 64 ounce glass and I pack it full of ice and then I pour some sugar free Kool-Aid over it, fruit punch grape whatever you like. I will pour that over that massive amount of ice and it will dilute and it will melt overtime and I am actually consuming a lot more water than I am the Kool-Aid and sometimes I even mix my Kool-Aid 50/50. I put twice as much water as the package calls for. So if I am making a two-quart pitcher I will actually make four quarts out of that same recipe.

Soda is not only bad for you where they have sugar in it but even the no calorie, no sugar added or no sugar sodas are bad for you. First off they have got a ton of chemicals and secondly one can of soda has the equivalent of about as much salt as you are supposed to have for an entire day. So, you are consuming 4, 5, 6, 10 times the amount of salt your body requires. Sodium is salt, anytime you see sodium you know that that’s salt. Consuming a lot of salt is bad for you because when you consume a lot of salt it causes your body to retain the water.

Retaining massive amounts of water weight is what is contributing to making you fat. You see a lot of people eating a lot of salads with their diet drink next to them and they are still fat and they are probably going to stay fat. So get away from the sodas. The sodas are bad for you because they have chemicals, they have sugars in them and they are bad for you because they have so much sodium in it. If you don’t have sugar in something and it still tastes sweet then that means it’s a man made chemical that made that sweet and you are drinking a chemical. Those chemicals have proven to cause cancer in many lab animals and there is all kind of debates about how much it takes to kill a lab animal, I don’t really want to know how much it takes to kill a lab animal because I don’t want to be the lab animal. So just stay away from the sodas and those drinks altogether.

Snacks, get away from the sugared snacks. There is no reason you need to be buying sugared snacks, no Twinkies, Ho Hos, Cupcakes, Dolly Madison cakes, no sugar donuts, no chocolate donuts, no Krispy Kreme. You know that stuff will kill you, it’s got the highest amount of oils and fats and animal lard, its got the highest amount of sugar and they taste great. I am not going to say they don’t but it’s going to kill you. So you have got to cut that stuff out. I just see so many people packing this stuff in their kids’ lunches and having them as after school snacks.

So lets be smart, don’t pack it. Okay get rid of those snacks. They should be eating oranges and apples and other kinds of fruit but you need a blend, if you are going to have a little fruit and you are going to have a little snack, go to the sugar free snacks. And go to the flavored yogurts, go to the low calorie stuff. It’s not that hard to replace that in your kids’ diet, it’s not that hard to replace it in your own diet.

If you are really watching your weight for a competition, don’t eat the school food. School food today is some of the worst food out there. It is processed, the way they store it, they way they serve it, the way they re-serve it. Today’s hamburger patties are tomorrow’s Salisbury steak. So if they don’t sell it today, they are selling it to you tomorrow as something else. So just know that that stuff has been chemically treated and it’s probably better than somethings that kids at home I would guess because there still is some mandates on what you are supposed to get. But the truth of the matter is you should be sending your kids to school with packed lunches especially if they are competing and especially if they are trying to watch their weight.

We need to do exercises and play games at home and there are all these different programs being invented, the football guys have this play 60 minutes a day program going, I am sure other sports do. Get your kids outside, get yourself outside, go to the park, do what you have to do get these kids outside and get them to do something. That’s one of the things I love so much about wrestling is if nothing else its getting the kids off the couch and getting them to do something that’s physically active and is making them better but you can’t say that my kid is overweight and obese and I am going to take him to wrestling practice and in two practices he is going to be a state champion. That’s not going to happen, believe it or not, I know parents that think that.

I know there are kids out there that are really good athletes in football or at another sport and then they come to wrestling and they are really not in that good of shape, maybe they are good in football because they are big and they can push people around. Well wrestling is not about just pushing somebody forward and backward and side to side, its about all forms of motion and controlling the resistance of your competitor and those guys often times don’t do well and they want to know why, I am the best running back we have, I am the best linebacker we have. Well that’s fine but you know the little bookworm Harry Potter if he has been wrestling for five years knows that when you charge him he is just going to duck under and get out of the way and watch you fall flat on your face.

So don’t be discouraged if you know your athlete is a super stud in another sport and he has to come and struggle in wrestling. Wrestling is a great equalizer. There is no shortcut. You have to work, and you have to pay your dues. So there is nothing that you can do to short-circuit that.

USA Wrestling Chairman of the year Anthony Flatt is using life lessons learned throughthe sport of wrestling to be a successful businessman holding management positions at GE, Digital Equipment, LG Electronics and Fujitsu where he won the Presidents Award for Excellence. FREE Audios/Videos http://www.anthonyflatt.com http://www.clubstarterkit.com

5 Quick Techniques To Make Your Diet Better

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

If you might be concerned with shedding some weight and feeling better, improving your diet is a excellent place to start. Making changes to your diet is a really good thing, of course, but it requires tons of commitment because it’s hard to stick to it day after day. From personal experience, it could be a bit too much to totally overhaul your diet, so modifying things bit by bit can be more effective. Just begin with eating less junk food, swapping it with something healthier. Below are some tips for improving your diet:

1) Make Your Diet Balanced

It’s important to eat a well balanced diet, as an excessive amount of one thing is not good. The rule is, moderation is often better, especially when it concerns what you eat. It’s ok to consume fat – just attempt to avoid the bad ones. Your cellular material require a good intake of protein for fuel. To keep your energy up, you have to take in carbs, too. You also have to have fiber to maintain your digestive tract and keep it functioning regularly.

2) No More Enormous Servings Of Anything

Smaller portions will benefit you. Simply because food is on your plate doesn’t mean your ought to eat it. Even when we have been really “starving”, portion management is important so as not to be overwhelmed with that stuffed sensation when we’re through. Eating too much means you’ll put on body fat and your stomach will grow larger meaning you will start desiring more food to feel fuller, which isn’t a good thing. Don’t reduce your portion sizes drastically, simply reduce them slowly making sure that your stomach gets used to it and it’ll then shrink.

3) Get Fruits And Produce Into Your Weight Loss Program

You need to try and get fruit and vegetables in your diet as they’re great for you. Your body demands their minerals and vitamins. Shoot for five pieces of a fruit or veg for each day. Suck on an orange. Carve up an apple. Peel a banana. Cook up some broccoli or green beans. It really is up to you. It really is fast and uncomplicated!

4) Take Some Time

Did you understand it takes roughly 20 minutes for your stomach to start feeling full? This signifies you should slow down your eating. We’ve all already been through it; we inhale a huge plate of food, a meal unto itself, but we’re not really at all full so we grab for a little something more to eat. Then after another 10 minutes they really feel totally stuffed. So, sit back, unwind and appreciate your food!

5) You Shouldn’t Ingest Too Much Sugar

Sugar really adds a nice sweet taste to the majority of things you put it in, so it’s no wonder all of us like it so much. Since it is in all kinds of extremely unlikely foods, you can’t completely avoid it, but you sure can restrict it. When it involves desert or a snack, try going for some fresh fruit or anything you like that has a smaller amount of sugar. Try to enjoy diet sodas instead of full sugar soda pops.

Just by doing little things to your diet you can make a difference to your overall health and in addition your weight. Following these simple tips is a piece of cake – oops! Let me rephrase. It’s easy as slipping off a log, so why not start now?

For more information about restarting a diet check out this metablic cooking review. There are lots of cool tips there!

Can Foods Help to make Your Sinuses Better?

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Most people don’t even think about our sinuses until something goes wrong with them or they start to get clogged. Clogged sinuses might be extremely painful and help make an undoubtedly miserable flu even harder to deal with. Most of us try to treat our sinuses with medicine or maybe with steam but the truth is that the different things we eat can have quite a major effect on the tiny passageways that run through our faces. So how do you assist your sinuses by using food? Keep reading to find out which foods actually do or do not help the sinuses in the faces feel better.

If you start to have difficulties with your sinuses, you need to keep away from milk and other dairy products. Dairy increases the generation of mucous plus phlegm in your body. This stuff will work its way from other parts of your body–your lungs and stomach straight into your sinuses and keep them from being able to drain properly. These forms of blockages will breed different types of bacteria whose only goals will be to keep you sick. This is the reason that the majority of milk products ought to be avoided altogether when you are ill–the phlegm gets built up in your body making your cough worse and making you sicker than you want to be.

There usually are some individuals who are convinced eating things like spicy foods (like wasabi, horseradish, etc) will be super helpful in clearing up sinus problems. While this can certainly help thin out the mucous within your sinuses, it is additionally likely to give you a seriously runny nose and other, temporary, relief. If you suffer from challenges like acid reflux or heartburn, you should avoid spicy foods because, in some cases, the regurgitated stomach acid can work its way up into your throat and cross the barrier into your sinus membranes and cause some really bad problems for you.

If you are struggling with sinus problems you should probably not drink any alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates your body and helps to harden the mucous and phlegm that is all the way through your body (especially in your sinuses). This makes it virtually impossible for your sinuses to begin to drain when you’re unwell so, even though you might fall asleep a lot easier when you drink alcohol, you could just be prolonging the illness that’s making it hard to sleep in the first place. At the same time, tea can show to be incredibly beneficial. A mug of hot tea, while putting off the steam that can help bust up sinus clogs, also offers other healing properties that will help cure the illness, though it depends on what kind of tea you choose to drink.

Don’t consume or drink caffeine. You may be tempted to drink coffee as opposed to tea or plain hot water. Don’t do it. Caffeine, just like alcohol, dehydrates the body and makes it tougher for you to stop your sinus issues and the illness that is contributing to them.

Obviously you’ll want to talk to your doctor about this because everybodys body reacts differently to things. What works for your close friend may not work for you so, if your sinus issues are extended you need to talk to your doctor.

For more information on getting rid of sinus pain through food check out this article on Smoke Deter. It will really help you live a more full, healthy, pain free life!

Improve the Health of Your Brain, Heart, Blood, and More With One Tip for Eating Right

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

When it comes to essential fatty acids, good nutrition isn’t always the best nutrition. Generally, people ingest too many omega-6 fatty acids. Even if they think they are eating right, these fats sneak into healthy meals as well as unhealthy ones. As a general rule of thumb, everyone should concentrate on adding more omega-3 fats to healthy diets. Keep reading to learn the details.

The payoffs of making an effort to learn how to eat healthy with omega-3s, specifically EPA and DHA, are far-reaching. A wide scope of research on these two omega-3 fatty acids tells us everything we need to know in order to start making healthy eating choices that improve our lives as a whole.

In the first research study we reference, people with mild Alzheimer’s were given EPA/DHA supplements. After 6 months of this treatment, their scores on cognitive tests improved. We also know that an EPA/DHA treatment can reduce depression. Conversely, people with low levels of DHA in their brains are more prone to depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is associated with low levels of EPA and DHA and high levels of omega-6 fats in the blood. All of these health concerns relate to the brain, an all-important organ in everyone’s bodies.

Another study looked at the effects of omega-3s on body composition. Healthy weight loss and effective muscle increase are the goals of body re-composition systems, and EPA/DHA supplements just might be the best addition to diet food to reach these goals. To show why, men and women who were overweight took 6g of tuna oil a day, which meant about 1.9g of omega-3s. After 12 weeks of combining this healthy eating plan with moderate exercise, they lost clinically significant amounts of body fat. Healthy women and men can also get some help maintaining ideal fat-burning rates, as approximately 2lb of fat were lost due to increased lipid oxidation when these people ingested 6g of fish oil in place of another type of dietary fat each day. Healthy weight loss happens because EPA and DHA, most likely, are the catalysts of advantageous anti-inflammatory processes and are preferentially incorporated into cell membranes. Either way, the fats are being used in ways other than storage, which is the goal of learning how to eat healthy in order to improve body composition.

People with rheumatoid arthritis can find some relief from debilitating symptoms by using omega-3 diet food as treatment. Two recent meta-analyses showed that EPA/DHA supplementation lessened pain intensity, decreased morning stiffness, limited the number of affected joints, improved physical performance, and reduced the amount of necessary pain medication.

Essential omega-3 fatty acids can be found in healthy diets that include plant oils (chia, pumpkin, hemp, flax), but these are alphalinoleic acids. The fatty acids we are focusing on as the origin of multiple health benefits, EPA and DHA, are linoleic acids and come from the sea (fish, algae, shellfish). While any nutrient under the umbrella category of omega-3 fat is good nutrition, EPA and DHA are the ones every person should focus on obtaining. Instead of turning healthy meals into seafood smorgasbords, people normally take a fish oil supplement. But, times are changing, and research has identified a new marine source of omega-3s that is even more effective and beneficial than fish oil.

This source is a tiny shrimp-like crustacean called krill. Their habitat is the frigid Antarctic Ocean. The high levels of EPA and DHA in their cell membranes helps them survive in their environment. This feature, coupled with a lack of toxic build-up, makes krill a safe alternative to fish. Another unique feature of krill is that its EPA and DHA are in the phospholipid form, instead of triglyceride, which means more efficient intake by cells. These phospholipids include extra components that also provide benefits above and beyond fish when they are ingested. Choline is an important nutrient for brain development and astaxanthin is an antioxidant that protects cells from damage and boosts immune function.

Are you wondering how krill oil can actually help you and if it’s worth it to start a supplement regimen? For a few examples, if you suffer from PMS, deal with inflammation in your body, or want a healthier heart, then you should be taking krill oil. A research study took 70 women who were diagnosed with PMS and treated them with 2g of either fish oil or krill oil. Both supplied 600mg of EPA and DHA, but remember that krill oil has a bonus: naturally occurring phospholipids. Krill outperformed fish oil in lessening joint pain, irritability, depression, stress, and bloating. Also, the participants who received krill oil did not need as much analgesic pain medication as the fish oil group.

Inflammation in the body manifests in conditions like heart disease and arthritis. People familiar with inflammatory diseases know that CRP is a systemic marker of inflammation. A recent study involving high CRP levels coexisting with either rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or heart disease concluded that krill oil swiftly lowers CRP levels. In fact, after 1 week, they were reduced 19%. Being treated for 30 days resulted in levels being reduced by 30%.

Another study focused solely on heart health. People with elevated blood LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which are common risk factors for heart disease, were given one of the following treatments: 1-1.5g/day or 2-3g/day of krill oil (based on individuals’ BMIs), 3g of fish oil, or a placebo. The lowest dose of krill oil lowered LDL cholesterol and raised healthy HDL cholesterol. 2g/day added the effect of lowered triglycerides. The fish oil did lower cholesterol, but it was a smaller change than what the krill oil produced, and it did not help out triglyceride levels.

The bottom line on eating right with omega-3 fats is that you should choose EPA and DHA from marine sources. Krill oil will give you the daily dose needed to complete a proper ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats, plus additional health benefits. Check out EFA Icon from Prograde if you’re ready for a healthier life.

Discover other diet food that is essential for good health.

Eating Right From Grocery Store Aisles

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Diet food can be found in unexpected places. For example, look around the drink and spice aisles at your local grocery store. There you will find green tea and cinnamon, two ingredients that can actually teach you how to eat healthy for weight loss. These two foods work for healthy weight loss and improved overall health in different ways but together provide exponential health benefits. Let’s look at cinnamon first.

Dr. Richard Anderson (PhD) is a USDA scientist whose research on cinnamon has been published. He and his colleagues conducted one study that aimed to determine the effects of cinnamon in daily diet plans. Subjects took 2 capsules of cinnamon at breakfast and 2 more at dinner, totaling 500mg of extract in a day. This amount is roughly equivalent to 10g of cinnamon powder or 1.5Tbsp. 12 days of this regimen produced great results: reductions in body fat and increases in lean body mass.

Another research study concluded that there are even more exciting benefits to take advantage of by adding cinnamon to healthy diets. This one concluded with improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood glucose regulation in participants who were lean and healthy. For a person who is already eating right and not necessarily trying to achieve fat loss, more efficient insulin sensitivity lowers their risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

There is nothing but good news associated with the use of cinnamon as good nutrition, but there is one roadblock. 10 grams is a lot of cinnamon to work into 3 healthy meals a day. The planning and creativity would have to happen every single day. Coming up with weekly menus would be like creating your own fad diets.

Dr. Anderson adds another consideration: “When consuming high amounts of polyphenols in the diet the salivary glands produce a protein that binds and minimizes their effects.” Polyphenols are the chemicals that most likely give cinnamon powder its diet food power, so greater consumption backfires. Cinnamon in capsule form is an easy and effective solution to this problem.

This capsule ties us in to the subject of healthy eating with green tea. Green tea is another ingredient that, when added to healthy diets in large amounts, produces surprising but gratifying outcomes. Unfortunately, drinking 3-4 cups of green tea every single day is as grueling a mission as eating 1.5Tbsp of cinnamon.

Around 3 or 4 cups of brewed green tea is the amount that has been figured to produce healthy weight loss effects. To understand how this diet food works, we first turn to Drs. Kimberly Grove (PhD) and Joshua Lambert (PhD), who are from the Department of Food Science at Pennsylvania State University. Their work focused on compiling all the evidence from research studies that presented green tea as a treatment for obesity. They state that 1 cup of brewed green tea contains between 240 and 320mg of catechins. 30-50% of the catechins are the type that probably burn more calories: epigallocatechin gallate, or, more commonly, EGCG.

A popular research study by Dulloo et al. tested the effect of 270mg of EGCG in daily eating plans. Participants took in this amount, which is found in 3-4 cups of green tea, through 2 capsules of extract 3 times a day. Over half of the subjects ended up experiencing, on average, an additional 78.3 calories burned over 24 hours, which is really impressive since the same number can be achieved by running at a high speed on a treadmill for a few minutes. The actual number of extra calories burned ranged from 63.5 to 200.

Now, you might be looking at that 3-4 number and thinking you would enjoy drinking a few bottles of the sugary tea you pick up from the gas station every day. In fact, fad diets like this might be an easy way for you to get good nutrition. However, the tea drinks that come in cans and bottles lose a significant portion of EGCG during manufacturing and storage, so this is not the route you want to take. Additionally, other types of teas contain smaller amounts of catechins. Green tea alone boasts the highest numbers of catechins, and particularly EGCG. You must be strict with your tea selection if you want the healthy weight loss benefits.

The fat-fighting ingredients in green tea, like those in cinnamon, are most effective and easily incorporated into diet plans in the form of a capsule. Instead of sprinkling a tablespoon of cinnamon on your healthy meals and washing it down with 3 cups of green tea, add a supplement to your healthy eating and exercise plans. Metabolism, by Prograde, uses a team approach by soliciting the efforts of cinnamon, green tea, and other fat-fighting ingredients in their supplement that gives your healthy weight loss a boost.

Find Metabolism, your healthy weight loss partner, at Prograde.

Everything You Need To Know About Omega-3 EFA Diet Food

Sunday, February 20th, 2011

Can you think of a 3-letter word that immediately brings fear and worry to mind? FAT. Many people think they’re eating healthy diets by avoiding all fatty foods. Actually, essential fatty acids, like amino acids and dietary fiber, are good nutrition. Learn how to eat healthy with fat and then see if it makes a difference in your overall health.

Essential is the key word in this nutrient’s rising popularity. It means that these fats are necessary for survival and that they can not be synthesized by our bodies. We must get them from food and supplements as part of healthy diets. Making a concerted effort to include essential fatty acids as part of healthy meals is the only way to avoid deficiency symptoms and to ensure that the body is primed to perform functions at its best ability.

Fat is present in foods in the form of triglycerides. This structure looks like a capital E, with glycerol as the trunk and different types of fatty acids as the arms. Carbon molecules are linked together by different numbers of bonds and create different lengths. These are fatty acids, and the length and bonds define the categorization. For instance, saturated fatty acid has a single attachment. A double attachment signifies monounsaturated fatty acid. The type that we want to focus on has 2-6 double attachments and is called polyunsaturated fatty acid, or PUFA.

Essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated and can be categorized as either omega-3 or omega-6. Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fat known as LA. Alphalinoleic acid is an omega-3 fat known as ALA. The enzymes that are used to make these fatty acids are not present in any vertebrates, which includes humans. Plants are the original source of LA and ALA enzymes for humans, and they can also be acquired by consuming animals who have eaten the plants. Once the enzymes are in our bodies, we can make these fatty acids that are essential to good nutrition.

Omega-6 LA is easy to obtain through healthy eating plans, as there are several sources: safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, evening primrose oil, and animal fats. A few more sources offer a significant amount of LA and some ALA: soybean oil, canola oil, walnuts, walnut oil, and wheat germ oil. One group of food sources delivers a ratio of omega-6:omega-3 that has been found to be the healthiest. These are the seeds and oils of hemp, chia, and pumpkin, as well as special omega-3 eggs. One oil stands alone as the single significant source of ALA in healthy diets, and that is flaxseed oil.

Why is it important to mention the limited availability of omega-3 and the ease with which omega-6 is incorporated into diet plans? Because the more omega-6 that is introduced into fad diets and daily eating habits, the more health problems that occur.

The beginning of the 1900s saw population booms and huge industrial advances. One created a problem: the need to feed thousands more people. The other created a solution: grain-fed cattle and poultry and processed packaged foods. This, along with new fat scares, created a food environment full of margarine, refined vegetable oils, white fish, and low-fat versions of protein. Animal fats and tropical oils were cut out and people thought they were eating right.

Our earlier ancestors, who consumed natural meat, wild plants, fish, eggs, nuts, and berries, had enough omega-3 in their healthy diets to complete a 1:1 ratio of LA:ALA. As a result of our diet food changes over time, we now consume ratios between 15:1 and 20:1, favoring omega-6 LA. To be fair, there are several societal shifts that have occurred since the time before heart disease became the top killer of relatively young people. High-sugar diets and less physical activity are two downfalls. However, dietary fat imbalance is a big enough factor to elicit our attention.

Excessive amounts of omega-6 fat as compared to omega-3 fat can cause several problems in the body. When omega-6 LA is present during the metabolism of omega-3 ALA into EPA and DHA, it competes with the process. The result is less unsaturated fatty acids for your body to use. Much of the EPA and DHA that is available is unable to incorporate into cell membranes because of omega-6. More oxidized compounds are formed in the presence of large amounts of omega-6 fats because they are especially vulnerable to attacks by free radicals. For example, oxidized LDL cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries. ALA converts to products like prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes, which are pro-inflammatories that add plaque to arteries, trigger allergic reactions, irritate bowels, increase blood pressure, and contribute to tumor growth.

These conditions are serious enough to make a person want to cut all omega-6 fats out of their healthy eating plans. But it is not that easy, since omega-6 fats are critical. Balance is the key in how to eat healthy with omega fats.

Equal amounts, or a 1:1 ratio, of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is virtually impossible to achieve in today’s world. So, a healthy and reasonable ratio to strive for through healthy diets is 6:1 (omega-6:omega-3). In a typical diet that includes 60 grams of total fat, 4 grams should be omega-3. This amount is easy to take in through food and supplements.

As mentioned earlier, EPA and DHA are hard to come by when our bodies are left to the task of making them. These omega-3 fatty acids are important for lowering disease risk, preventing cancer, avoiding depression, and leveling attention deficit disorders. DHA just by itself helps with visual acuity and brain development. Eating right will let us experience these benefits because we can get EPA and DHA through food. Krill, marine algae, shellfish (like shrimp and mussels), and cold water fatty fish (like trout, mackerel, sardine, salmon, and herring) are all significant sources of EPA and DHA.

The importance of fats in healthy diets is evident when a person chooses to cut fats out or select ones that are low in LA or ALA. The health of body cells starts deteriorating, and signs of deficiency symptoms start showing up. In laboratory studies with rats as the subjects and fat as the manipulated factor, fat-free diets led to inhibited growth, damaged reproduction, and failure to remain healthy.

With all of this information about good nutrition that comes from good fats, you can start modifying your diets and eating right for optimum health.

What else do you need to know about how to eat healthy?

Do You Know How to Eat Healthy For Hormonal Balance?

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

The subject of hormones and the power they have over a person’s body is more familiar to women than to men. This does not mean that men can ignore the subject, though. When it comes to healthy weight loss and quick weight gain, hormones can be a nightmare for men and women.

Certain hormones, known as weight loss hormones, have a great deal of power over a person’s weight gain, weight loss, and appetite. Leptin is one of these, and it is secreted from adipose fat tissue, which was previously thought to be harmless storage of extra energy. Now scientists know that the amount of this tissue is related to food choices and the success of healthy diets.

When leptin is released, it binds to the hypothalamus, which is the central control system of appetite. A full level tells the hypothalamus that enough food has been consumed. The hypothalamus then lets the brain know that no more food needs to be eaten. So leptin helps to shut down appetite and start burning calories.

This would be a great system for healthy eating if it worked accurately all the time. A huge problem results when a person gets stuck in a cycle of obesity and leptin malfunction. Insulin resistance often develops in a person who is obese. This condition makes it necessary for the body to produce extra insulin to do its normal job of eliminating sugar from the blood. High levels of insulin block the communication between leptin and the brain. As a result, a person has a hard time satisfying their appetite. You eat unnecessary calories, develop more fat tissue, and then even more insulin is used. The cycle starts to repeat. Healthy meals and diet food don’t matter as much when too many calories are being consumed anyway.

Ghrelin and cholecystokinin are weight loss hormones that are influenced by the amount of food in the stomach. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin stimulates the hypothalamus to notify the brain that it is time to eat. Food enters the stomach and it starts stretching. This cues the secretion of cholecystokinin, an appetite suppressant. As food moves into the intestines, the hormone peptide YY signals the brain to stop eating.

All of the hormones that have been mentioned play important roles in controlling appetite. The effectiveness of each one maintains appropriate feelings of hunger and weight levels. If one hormone fails, it is possible that another can take over the job. However, leptin and insulin are more powerful than the others when it comes to keeping the entire system up and running.

Sugar is the key cause of leptin and insulin failure. A high-sugar diet changes the way leptin works and produces unsafe levels of insulin. If these hormones are off, appetite control is off and ceases to work with your healthy eating plans. To start correcting this problem, cut a good portion of sugar out of your daily habits. Then, to maintain hormonal balance that will help you to achieve healthy weight loss, get good nutrition from a high-protein low-sugar diet. Knowing how to eat healthy for your hormones is one thing, but actually eating right will take you a long way in your diet plans.

There are more healthy eating tips waiting for you at this healthy weight loss blog.

Hot Red Pepper Offers Good Nutrition For Weight Loss

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Does diet food have to come in pre-packaged healthy meals from the companies that offer weeks of healthy eating plans on TV? Or from warehouse club stores that sell crates of grapefruits to fit into fad diets? The answer is no. Components of healthy diets are available in a much more convenient and practical place: your local grocery store.

One common ingredient: capsaicin. Capsaicin is better known as the fire that ignites in your mouth when you eat hot red peppers. This compound can also ignite your metabolism so that it burns more calories. One researcher, Dr. Toshio Moritani (PhD) of Japan’s Kyoto University, says that the amount of capsaicin needed to achieve elevated calorie-burning can actually be consumed through healthy diets.

In Moritani’s study of what capsaicin has to offer regarding how to eat healthy for weight loss, female study participants consumed a curried rice meal. This dish contained 3mg of capsaicin and raised calorie-burning rates by 10%. This effect was only measured for 30 minutes, but 24 hours of a 10% increase would burn an extra 129 calories a day.

An assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, Dr. Anita Belza, also has some expertise in this area. These two doctors agree that healthy meals made for healthy weight loss would have to include too much capsaicin for most people to handle. Adding 7 cups of coffee to daily diet plans would be effective, but it is impractical. The same is true for eating hot red peppers as a diet food all day. In fact, some studies that attempted to measure the high calorie-burning rates of capsaicin-rich diets saw participants drop out. Stomach discomfort is a common problem when large quantities are consumed. So is a sensitive palette.

A great strategy to achieve healthy weight loss success is to incorporate all different kinds of diet food into healthy eating plans, taking advantage of the benefits of each ingredient. Capsaicin can be combined with caffeine, green tea, and cinnamon to provide a moderate and sensible increase in calories burned every day. The role of capsaicin is to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. This ingredient offers only the positive and healthy effects.

Healthy diets involve exercising and eating right, and can be enhanced by Prograde Metabolism. This convenient capsule uses hot red pepper, caffeine, green tea, and cinnamon to provide you with healthy weight loss support.

Eating right starts with learning the basics about good nutrition and healthy meals. Start with this blog about how to eat healthy.

Eating Right With Supermarket Secrets

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Coffee, hot red pepper, cinnamon, and green tea are not part of fad diets. They are 4 diet food ingredients that can be found in any grocery store and can push you into negative fat balance when used in healthy diets. They cause you to burn more fat than is stored, as a result of increasing your calorie-burning rate. Take a closer look at one of these common foods – coffee – and see if you can use it to achieve your own healthy weight loss goals.

Research-based evidence confirms the calorie-burning effectiveness of caffeine. The question is whether or not this principle can be applied to drinking coffee. Dr. Abdul Dulloo (PhD), from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, has an answer: “There have been a couple of studies that have compared coffee with its equivalent in caffeine on metabolic rate. No differences have been found, suggesting that the thermogenic effect of coffee (as assessed at rest) is explained essentially by its caffeine content.”

Basically, yes, drinking coffee can burn extra calories. Dr. Dulloo and his colleagues believe that the minimum amount needed for effectiveness is 1 cup. When they gave research study subjects 100mg of caffeine, which is the same as about 1.2 cups of coffee, their calorie-burning rates spiked up 4% for 2.5 hours.

The following shows how this plays out in your diet plans. Assuming a resting metabolic rate of 1,500 calories, meaning that amount is burned every day, a 4% increase in calorie-burning over 2.5 hours would amount to 6.25 calories. So, drinking 1 cup of coffee per day would burn off an extra tablespoon of nonfat milk, for example, each day. If you are wanting to know how to eat healthy for sustained weight loss, this probably does not seem like your solution.

Fortunately, Dr. Dulloo and his colleagues also measured the thermogenic effects of coffee in a more aggressive way. 100mg of caffeine was given to subjects every 2 hours, totaling 600mg over a 12 hour period. Throughout this time, the participants’ calorie-burning rates were maintained between 8% and 11% higher than before. With this effect, a person would burn as many as 83 extra calories each day. The negative aspect of this scenario is that 7 cups of coffee would be the goal each and every day.

Even if your current coffee habit already has you drinking 7 cups a day, there is some evidence that the equivalent amount of caffeine might be more effective if consumed in a different way. That is, your body would experience a greater thermogenic effect if you ingested 600mg of caffeine through a supplement than if you drank 7 cups of coffee containing a total of 600mg of caffeine. Most people agree that drinking that much of any caffeine drink day after day is not a good idea anyway.

Using all your tools that you know about how to eat healthy, remember that variety is key. A team of fat-fighting ingredients, including pure caffeine, works together in a capsule to supplement your own healthy eating plans. Adding 7 cups of coffee to your healthy meals would help you lose 1 pound of body fat in a month and a half by burning 83 extra calories a day. Doubling this amount would have you shedding 1 pound in only 20 days.

What are your supermarket secrets for healthy eating? Join the conversation today.

Remember Sleep in Healthy Weight Loss Plans

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

The National Sleep Foundation recommends 8 hours of sleep per night. If this sounds like a lot to you, you might be a college student, work a night shift, have small children, or just have trouble getting more than a few hours of sleep each night. In fact, 30% of Americans aged 30-64 get less than 6 hours of sleep at night. This is according to a National Health Interview Survey by the CDC.

Americans’ fight with chronic sleep loss is widespread. This is a big problem for those Americans who also struggle to achieve healthy weight loss. Even the most strict healthy eating plans and most carefully prepared healthy meals will go to waste if the person is not getting enough sleep. Research tells us that long term sleep loss is related to an increase in obesity and diabetes.

Manipulation of hormones that affect weight loss and weight gain is another result of sleep deprivation that research has brought to our attention. The resulting insulin resistance increases the chance that you will gain weight. Other body processes that are affected by insufficient sleep are appetite, energy expended at rest, and insulin sensitivity.

Insulin resistance is an initial symptom that eventually may lead to type 2 diabetes and increased weight gain. The way this happens is that glucose is not cleared from the bloodstream, so the body must start producing extra insulin to get the job done. The pancreas is then damaged and can no longer produce the amount of insulin required. At this point, weight loss stops and insulin medication must be started in order to regulate the system.

The body’s level of cortisol, a stress hormone, is another consideration for people who maintain healthy diets for weight loss issues. Obesity, particularly belly fat, and blood sugar levels are influenced by cortisol. Now, for the reason this is relevant: a research study has shown that cortisol levels increase after just one sleepless night. The study followed 33 men for 36 hours. During this time, some men stayed awake the whole time, while others slept for either 8 or 4 hours. When cortisol levels were measured, they had jumped up 37% from baseline in the men who slept 4 hours and 45% in those who were completely sleep deprived. Elevated cortisol levels are a hinderance to healthy eating and exercise plans because it raises blood glucose levels, which breaks down muscle protein, which slows the metabolism.

In addition to the hormonal and chemical changes that sleep deprivation triggers, there are some logical tendencies that take place when you do not get enough sleep. These tendencies, as you can imagine, do not condone how to eat healthy. The more hours you are awake, the more times you are going to eat. It would be one thing if these feeding opportunities were healthy meals, but if you are tired, you are probably going to reach for a quick and easy processed food snack. Additionally, research reveals a higher amount of food consumption and stronger cravings for carbohydrates exist for people who are sleep deprived. For your own healthy benefit, do whatever you can to keep eating right, including using this suggestion: keep protein powder on hand so that you can quickly make yourself a tasty and healthy shake. Consume good nutrition while feeding your body the snack that it thinks it needs.

To develop better sleeping habits, try going to bed at the same time every night, avoiding alcohol before sleeping, keeping your bedroom at 70 degrees or cooler, and turning off the television when you lay down. It is possible that these suggestions will not work for you. Consult with a sleep doctor if you think your issues are more complicated and have underlying causes. The doctor will test your sleep pattern and figure out how you can have the best chance at sleeping well and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.


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