Healthy Raw Food Diet For Good Health
February 8, 2010 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Raw Food Diet for Good Health
If you are attempting to lose weight, bring down on your salty cholesterin consumption, or simply live a healthier life-style, you may prefer to look at the healthy raw food diet. This life style will assist you to free your body of adverse toxins a lot faster, and you may feel that you’ve more energy and sound sleep each night. Here are some tips on how to get started. Here are some tips on how to get started.
Adopting a raw food diet for weight loss of other health reasons is definitely a big step in making sure that you avoid conditions like heart disease or high blood pressure in the future. The diet will also help you to correct these problems if you have dealt with them in the past. However, it is best to slowly adopt this lifestyle, so that you won’t ‘relapse’.
One of the best ways to do this is to simply incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet each day. You can do this by eating a piece of raw fruit for breakfast in addition to your muffin or bagel, or carrying carrot or celery sticks as a snack during the day. Each week, try to add one more raw food to your diet, until you become accustomed to eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts on a regular basis.
When you’re adopting the raw food diet for your health, you can also include fruit and vegetable juices into your diet to ensure that you are getting the right amount of nutrients each day. Just because you are not eating foods that are cooked does not mean you shouldn’t feel full at every meal. Goji juice is a favorite among raw vegans and vegetarians, and the goji berry will give you a considerable amount of energy, as well as antioxidant benefits. You may also want to try Noni juice if you want to rid the body of toxins; the juice has also been known to help relieve migraines and menstrual cramps.
If you think you may be interested in trying the raw food diet for your health, you should talk to your doctor about the possible diet adjustments that you will have to make. This may interfere with some medications you are taking, so be sure to check with your physician to make sure you can continue with your regimen. It may also be a good idea to keep a food journal the first few weeks of your raw food diet, so that you can keep up with your energy increase, and document how much better your body feels over time. The journal will also help you to pick out your favorite raw foods.
Fresh Fruits
Fruits comprise a large share of the raw food diet. It’s not extraordinary for an individual to eat 3 or more slices of fruit in single session while sticking to a raw diet. They’re also practised to prepare fresh fruit juices, and they’re sliced and preserved as well.Choose different fruits for variety of vitamins from grapes,bananas,oranges,apples,pears,lemons,avocados and strawberries.
Vegetables
Veggies are in the equal level as fruit for their versatility. They’re likewise used as is, dehydrated and are in use for making juices,soups and sauces.Likewise fruits,pick up different varieties for their vitamin composition from cabbage,carrots,cucumbers,cauliflowers, tomatoes,celery,sprouts and leefy greens.
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Nuts
Nuts are rich in unsaturated fats,protein and fiber. If they are eaten up as raw rather than roasted,they have more nutrients.These include almonds,cashews,walnuts,peanuts,macadamia nuts,pecans and Brazil nuts.
Seeds
Seeds are also like nuts and carry unsaturated fats and they’re also rich in fiber and protein. Go for pumpkin seeds,sesame seeds,sun flower seeds and flax seeds.
Legumes
Legumes are also seeds. Beans are one type of Legumes.These are soaked in a pot or container filled with water to help germinate them and have them eatable. Examples are black beans,mung beans,lima beans,lentils,red kidney beans and aduki beans.
Grains
Grains are rich in fiber and they are average in protein. They can also like Legumes be sprouted and can be used as a raw food diet.Examples are buckwheat,wheat berries,spelt,rye and barley.
Others
There are some other foods whose raw types you may prefer to add, depending upon how rigorous you are. These are Eggs, raw milk,sashimi, raw cheese and sashimi.
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Diets to Lose Weight – 3 Tips to Consider While Choosing Yours
January 26, 2010 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Are you looking for diets to lose weight? Since you are reading this article, your answer is probably, yes. With so many diets to choose from, it can indeed be tough to make the right choice. But the fact is that you need to spend time looking for the diet that will work best for you. This is because just like every individual is different, every diet works differently for every individual. So, what are the factors that you should consider while choosing diets to lose weight? Well, here are some tips:
- It may be helpful to find out why you are overweight. Obesity often runs in families. You may have a slow metabolism. You may be overeating because you cannot effectively deal with your emotions. These are only some of the reasons. So, find out the reason why you are overweight. Once you have nailed the reason, you can easily find the right diet to lose weight!
- While choosing the best diets to lose weight, always remember that it should be healthy. A good diet includes foods from all food groups. It includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. It is always low in fats, especially saturated and trans-fat. It includes ample amount of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids from foods such as fish and nuts. Intake of sugar-sweetened drinks is limited. Always remember that any good diet should help you lose weight in a healthy way. If you keep that in mind, you will know whether a particular diet is good for you or not.
- Physical activity is essential for the success of all diets to lose weight. If you are sitting on the couch watching TV, you will not lose weight! So, any good diet always advocates some amount of exercising and physical weight. It can be as simple as walking for an hour each day or taking the steps instead of the elevator. Or it could involve some kind of exercising such as aerobics or weight training. Physical activity will help burn the excess calories. Weight training will build muscles. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. So, if you are choosing a diet, make sure that it advocates some amount of physical activity.
Of course, once you do choose one of the diets to lose weight, you need to stick to it. Going on and off on a diet will do more harm than good. You may consider introducing the changes slowly in your diet and your lifestyle. Maintaining a food diary can help you keep track of what you are eating and how much. Pay attention to your portion sizes, especially while eating out. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and lose that extra amount of flab!
Which Food To Lose Weight
January 25, 2010 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Is there really such a thing as food to lose weight? Can you simply eat a bunch of food and actually lose rather than gain weight? Are there even foods that will literally burn the fat off you?
Water
Water is, strictly speaking, not a food but it is part of a regular diet and it is essential for losing weight.
First of all, you need a regular, good supply of water for your digestive system and the rest of your body to operate properly. You will lose less weight if you are often dehydrated, for example.
Secondly, water itself contains zero calories. If you drink it cold then your body will actually burn calories because the cold water will absorb heat from your body and in turn your body will need to burn a little harder to regenerate the lost heat. Your body also needs to burn calories just to pass the water through you!
Thirdly, water can help to make the stomach feel full. This means that it can stop you from overeating and also keep away those urges for more food.
Negative Calorie Food
There are some foods that, like water above, are supposedly so lacking in calories that your body will burn more than they contain, simply to digest them and pass them through you.
However, there is some disagreement on whether this really happens – some people say that when you eat these foods you are therefore not eating higher calorie foods that you might have otherwise eaten.
Whatever the reason, these foods are definitely worth trying if you want to lose weight. Think of celery, lettuce and fruits like watermelon that are extremely high in water content (close to 99%).
Thermogenic Foods
There are some foods that, when compared to others, appear to have some sort of calorie burning advantage by actually causing your metabolism to rise.
Salsa is said to increase your metabolism by around 20%. The same is reported to happen with mustard and chilli sauce. It would seem logical that other hot foods have the same effect.
Protein Rich Foods
Meals that have a strong bias for protein compared to carbohydrates can raise your metabolism by up to 30%. In particular, eating fish protein such as salmon and tuna has been seen to lead to greater weight loss – this is thought to be due to the omega essential fatty acids that they contain. Turkey is also one of the best types of meat to eat as it is a huge 94% protein.
Cinnamon for Weight Loss
July 20, 2009 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Cinnamon is probably one of the most favorite spices. Its name is associated with tasty cakes, cappuccinos, apple pies, aromatic, refreshing teas, etc. Besides adding its specific aroma to food it also adds its healing properties. As a matter of fact cinnamon has been used for thousands of years not only for its warming aroma but also for its healing properties.
Here is an article written by Lynn Alex republished with her permission:
Cinnamon and Weight Loss
Cinnamon is a source of important nutrients such as manganese. It has anti-oxidant, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. Cinnamon can also help lower the cholesterol level.
Recent research showed that cinnamon can help improve blood sugar level and maintain a healthy insulin balance.
The blood sugar regulating properties of cinnamon are the factors that can help lose weight. However, please note that cinnamon is not a miracle weight loss product. If you want to lose weight you need to use it in conjunction with the other weight loss techniques.
How to use cinnamon for weight loss?
Sprinkle cinnamon on your morning coffee, use in herbal teas, shakes and smoothies. Note that you need to consume at least one teaspoon a day to see the benefits.
Try the following drink: 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of stevia (really a pinch because stevia is much sweeter than sugar and a healthier alternative to it), half a glass of hot water and half a glass of rice milk. It has a pleasant taste and increases the mind alertness.
Or you can add it to your shakes: 1/3 of ripe banana, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 full tablespoon of soft tofu, 1/3 teaspoon of cocoa, 1 glass of rice milk (or organic soy milk or low-fat organic cow milk).
You can also take cinnamon capsules. This is probably the best way to consume it since according to a research saliva destroys some of the beneficial properties of cinnamon.
Buy the cinnamon sticks or cinnamon powder in a natural food store to ensure the quality of the product.
Cinnamon can irritate the stomach lining so if you have stomach problems, consume it in moderation.
In general if you are pregnant, breast feeding or have a chronic disease, take precautions with any herbs. Ask your doctor or do your own research to make sure they won’t harm you.
Homemade Chocolate Recipes for…Weight Loss?
July 2, 2009 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Cutting favorite dishes out of diet for weight loss never works. Sooner or later you go back to your favorites and indulge. Chocolate is no exception – however it is not junk food.
While many ready-made varieties can be categorized as junk food due to the excessive amounts of sugar in them, homemade chocolate recipes can help make our favorite desert as healthy and weight loss friendly as possible.
Cocoa, the main ingredient of a quality chocolate bar, contains lots of vitamins and minerals. Cocoa also contains L-Tryptophan. It can help increase your mood and hence decrease the cravings for junk food. Chocolate, consumed in moderation, is actually a weight loss ally and not an enemy.
Vitamins B1, B2 and magnesium are among the vitamins and minerals found in cocoa. You can read about these nutrients here:
Magnesium: What it Can Do For the Body
Vitamin B Complex at a Glance
Vitamin E: Facts We Need to Know
Vitamin D: A Brief Introduction
A recent research in the United States found out that chocolate contains more anti-oxidants than the well-known green tea and red wine!
To benefit from everything cocoa has to offer you need to choose the darker chocolate variety, one that contains more cocoa. The cocoa content should actually be over 65%.
But even if you choose the right variety, it still will be loaded with sugar and contain at least one unwanted additive.
Also if you can control what can of chocolate bar you buy, it is harder to choose the healthier and weight loss friendly variety among other chocolate products such as chocolate cakes, ice-creams and multiple of other delicious chocolate dishes.
This is where the homemade chocolate recipes come handy.
First of all you can control the main ingredient – chocolate or cocoa, choosing the darker chocolate variety with less sugar and preferably very few of other ingredients.
Second you can substitute the ingredients in the recipe with weight loss friendly alternatives. For example, use healthy sugar substitutes instead of sugar, decrease the overall sugar content, add cinnamon and vanilla for additional benefits, add milk instead of cream, etc.
So if you are a chocolate lover and at the same time trying to lose weight, use homemade chocolate recipes, substitute the ingredients and enjoy delicious chocolate desserts while losing weight at the same time!
Low Fat Diet: a Problem or a Solution?
March 23, 2009 by Jay
Filed under Weight Loss Diets
Many weight loss programs advocate cutting fat out of diet. Following the fact that each gram of fat is nine calories as opposed to four calories of one gram of carbohydrates and proteins, cutting fat seems to be a logical choice for someone who wants to lose weight. However a two-year study had shown that a number of participants actually gained weight on a low fat diet.
Why did this happen?
It will help us if we consider the difference between the low-fat products and their original versions. Let’s take the example of cookies. Low fat cookies usually contain more sugar than their original versions.
Extra sugar is added to improve the taste of the low-fat cookies so the calories of low-fat and the original product are almost the same. Moreover if 1-2 cookies of the original “fatty” version were able to satisfy our sweet tooth, the low-fat version with lots of sugar actually increases our cravings so we eat more.
In fact eating low-fat products increases the consumption of simple carbohydrates, ones with a high glycemic index, such as sugars, white flour, etc. So the low-fat diet is actually also a high–simple-carbohydrates diet that promotes the weight gain.
All carbohydrates are converted into glucose before entering the bloodstream. Glucose is partially used for energy immediately. Unused glucose is converted into glucogen and stored in the body.
Since only a limited amount can be stored as glucogen, the excess is stored as fat. Low-fat diets inevitably lead to an excessive consumption of carbohydrates and this is how they turn us fat.
The ideal diet should consist of 20-30% of fat. This doesn’t mean that we must eat all existing types of fat. If you want to be healthy and attain your ideal weight reduce the consumption of saturated fats, margarine, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and all the products that contain them. Some fats are essential to health.
These are the Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids. They can also help if you crave fatty foods. The food sources of these important fatty acids are fish, flaxseed, pumpkin seed, sesame seed, other seeds and nuts. For cooking use organic cold pressed olive oil. It is also better to consume a limited amount of organic butter than margarine.
Make sure your fat consumption doesn’t exceed 30% of your daily food intake and eat right kinds of fat. This is important not only for the weight loss but for a maintenance of good health as well.
