Category Archives: Weight Loss

Why You Should Take Up A Physical Hobby

The working day is getting gradually longer and more of us are forced to work a greater number of days in the week In fact, it is not uncommon to finish work late and then continue work at home. You should try to avoid this situation if possible. Draw a line between your working life and your home life and only work late or from home when it is absolutely necessary.

The stress of longer days and longer weeks means that people not only have less time to unwind but that we also suffer from stress, depression and other illnesses more often. Taking up a physical hobby or pastime is a great way to combat illness and wind down after or prepare for work. Make a little time in your schedule on a regular basis to do some exercise.

Physical hobby

It is recommended that you exercise every day or two and if possible you should stick to this physical hobby. A daily routine is the easiest to adopt, although it isn’t always feasible to spend a certain amount of time every single day exercising. However, even half an hour a day can really benefit your physical and your mental health.

Exercise helps to burn off energy as well as fat and by doing so, it can help prevent heart disease and create chemicals in our bodies that are absolutely vital to a healthy life with a physical hobby. Similarly, it can reduce stress and depression so will benefit more than your physical well-being.

Walking and jogging are among two of the easiest, most affordable exercise regimens you could try. Apart from some very basic equipment for jogging, and even less for walking, you won’t have to pay a penny. Try and walk or run for half an hour every day and if you don’t find you have the time then try walking to or from work or get off the bus a stop earlier than normal. Even most gym memberships can be found for a cost no more than what one would pay for a coffee every morning. Overall a daily work out physical hobby is a great way to improve health and lower stress from day to day.

Interested in learning more about how to lose weight and keep it off? Check this out: http://bit.ly/1DbURHr

Your Anchors & How They Keep You From Your Weight Loss Goals

Anchors are the reasons that attach you to any behavior. Including your weight loss goals. Your anchors originated from extremely strong repetitive memory associations, which are triggered by your five senses of hearing, vision, smell, taste, and touch. You are constantly being anchored in different ways through out your life. For example, when you hear a certain song and it brings back a memory of a certain person, or a place in time, this is an audio anchor or an anchor triggered by your sense of hearing.

Weight loss goals

Have you ever met someone for the first time and noticed that something about them reminds you of someone or something else? This is a visual anchor or an anchor triggered by your sense of sight. Until now all of your anchors have been installed in your subconscious mind by someone else or by accident and in most cases you were not even aware of them. Now for the first time through the process of Burris MIND/FITNESS, you can learn how to anchor a reaction or behavior you want on purpose and consistently get the results you want over and over, until you are assured of attaining your weight loss goals.

It is important to understand that your subconscious mind can be triggered into a negative anchored behavior without even pausing to consider what it is doing. It is this type of behavior that is responsible for your worst eating habits. I refer to this type of behavior as “No Thought Eating.” At the time of “No Thought Eating” your subconscious mind has given no consideration to what it is doing and your conscious mind is not even aware that anything is taking place.

A good example of this is when you are feeling fearful, guilty angry, or bored. You immediately look for something to eat, even if you are not hungry. In most cases you will look for what you refer to as your comfort foods, which is anything that is high in sugar, fat or both. Let us say you come across a bag of cookies, without any hesitation you eat one and before you realize it, you are eating the whole bag. Sometime during this “No Thought Eating” binge your conscious mind awakens to what is taking place. You stop your eating binge and now along with feeling fearful, guilty, angry, or bored; you are also probably a little nauseous. The first thought that pops into your mind is: “Why Did I Eat That? I wasn’t even hungry!” How many times have you asked yourself this self-defeating negative question “Why Did I Eat That?” Not a good thing for meeting your weight loss goals.

The second you asked yourself this question, your subconscious mind is triggered into action to find an answer, which in turn produces a correlating picture. Surprise, surprise what did it find in your subconscious eating behavior program? It found you ate the cookies because you were feeling fearful, guilty, angry, or bored. Of course it did because that is exactly how you were programmed as a child to react to fear, guilt, anger, or boredom. Once again your subconscious mind will take this answer and the correlating picture of you being overweight and use it to anchor you even deeper to your childhood program.

Here is where the fun starts, what you have to do in order to change your existing negative anchored behaviors of “No Thought Eating?” You simply restructure your question from its negative form of “Why did I eat that?” to a positive form question of “How can I stop this no thought eating when I am feeling fearful, guilty, angry, or bored?” Do you see how this can impact your weight loss goals?

Your subconscious mind will now produce a positive answer to your new positive question such as: When you are feeling fearful, guilty, angry or bored, find an activity you enjoy in place of eating. Once again these new answers will produce empowering correlating pictures that will move you toward your weight goal. It is truly that simple, positive empowering questions = positive empowering results.

From this time on, it is essential that you are always conscious of your inner voice, thereby insuring that all of your self-questions are positive ones and insuring that you always maintain a positive emotional state.

Regardless of weather your goal is a change in diet for weight loss goals, an increase in your fitness program or to take control of an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. In the end the question you need to ask yourself is…Am I completely happy with the mind running itself or do I need to take control of it? If your answer is I need to take control of it, then Burris MIND/FITNESS is the answer.

The health of your body is dependent on your mental health and taking control of the subconscious is the key to lasting permanent change of any behavior.

For my story on how I was able to lose 40 pounds to meet my weight loss goals and keep it off check it out here: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

20 Weight Loss Tips

Here are 10 weight loss tips for helping to lose weight by using healthier meals and 10 weight loss tips for helping when you are eating out.

Weight Loss Tips: 10 weight loss tips for a better healthier meal

When it comes to cooking a meal for the family, don’t let your diet take a back seat. Just because you’re on a diet and the rest of your family are not does not mean that you have to eat a different meal. There are times when you have to draw the line e.g. Christmas lunch, Sunday lunch and family gatherings. Take a look at some of the these weight loss tips below for a healthier meal:

1. Try steaming or boiling your vegetables instead of frying or casseroling, also stay away from using cheese based dishes. Try to use herbs and lemon juice instead of butter or margarine.

2. Cooking with chickens can pose as a bit of a problem, although chicken is very healthy in its self, containing half the fat of red meat. Don’t go for the easy option of breaded chicken fingers or nuggets this is very unhealthy. Try roasting or steaming your chicken in a non stick pan, and eliminate the use of oil by using a cooking spray. Beware of the chicken skin as this is very fattening, try to buy a skinless chicken or remove the skin prior to cooking.

3. Watch out for different types of bread, stay away from white bread as it is full of sugar. Try to go for wholemeal bread, seeded bread and whole grain bread. Also look for brown rice, wild rice and basmati rice, the tastes are not all that different from white rice and have a much lower starch content.

4. When buying meats like pork and beef, try to buy lean and extra lean. Try some cuts like fillet and sirloin, these have less fat content than the other cuts. Roasting, grilling and dry frying are healthy methods of cooking meat. Once again try to use a cooking spray instead of cooking oil.

5. If you’re preparing turkey, why not try cooking the stuffing separate. This is a great weight loss tips. You will reduce the fat content by preventing the turkey fat from absorbing into the dressing. Be sure to use less margarine or butter when making the stuffing. Also don’t forget to skim the fat off of the gravy. Leave the drumsticks for the kids; as with chicken, choose light meat over dark and you’ll save a lot in the calorie department.

6. Why not try serving fruit as a dessert? Serving fruit instead of pie or cake can make a massive reduction in the amount of calories you find in your meal. Instead of cake and pie, try serving a whole piece of fruit, some yogurt or a fruit cocktail. You will usually find that we don’t need a dessert and have one just because of habit. I think you will be surprised at how fruit can substitute the sweet tooth in a dessert.

7. If you must have an ice-cream try a sugar free ice-cream of low fat frozen yogurt. Instead of topping with chocolate sauce or caramel, try some mixed fruit cocktail. The taste of the ice-cream is almost identical and the sugar from the fruit stops the sweet craving. All in all it’s fewer calories than the full sugar and chocolate variety.

8. When cooking save yourself a lot of calories by using powdered milk. Have you thought of this weight loss tips before? By doing this you will save on a lot of fat and calories. Also by using skimmed milk instead of cream in your favourite cream based recipes can also save on the calories.

9. Try some substitutions in your cooking. Use 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to replace 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate in your desserts, replace 1 egg with 2 egg whites or ¼ cup of egg substitute, replace half of the oil in dessert recipes with an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce, try reduced or non-fat frozen yogurt or sugar free ice cream on pies.

10. If you still find yourself hungry after your meal and you do want to tempt your self to seconds, then go for the vegetables. Choosing steamed vegetables over meat and bread is far healthier.

10 Weight loss tips for eating out when on your Diet

1. For a starter, try and keep it light maybe a prawn cocktail or a side salad. Make an effort to stay away from creamy starters and red meats.

2. If you are a pasta lover and find it hard not to eat endless amounts. You must try and stay with a single portion. Also don’t worry if you leave a little no one will persecute you for it, especially not your body.

3. When ordering a meat dish, always go for the chicken. Stay away from fried chicken. Always go for boiled, grilled or steamed. If you must ask for red meat, be sure to ask the waiter for a nice lean piece.

4. I like this one of the weight loss tips. If you don’t see anything on the menu, that is cooked to your liking. Ask the waiter if it would be possible for the chef to cook you a dish with say, boiled or grilled chicken, instead of fried. Don’t be embarrassed at this request as you will not be the first or the last to ask for it.

5. Avoid the temptation of cream sauce, butter, oil, batter and home made gravy.

6. If you do not like leaving your food, then you can always ask the waiter, to wrap it up so you can take it home afterwards.

7. If you are a take away person as I am. When you serve your take away at home, only serve half of it, and keep the other half for the next day or for another family member. Willpower is the key here!

8. If you know where you are going for your evening meal. Why not ring the restaurant and ask them to post a menu out to you, or go and pick one up. Now you can give the menu a good read and find out the best meal to suit you. When you arrive at the restaurant, your choice is already made and a healthier one it will be.

9. Buffets are the worst of all restaurant temptations. You must know your portion control. Try and have only one plate. Once again the key factor here is will power! A key one of the weight loss tips.

10. When the day comes for you to go out for your meal, try to eat smaller meals during the day, then you can keep an eye on the calories for the day and evening. However do try to remember not to starve yourself as you may just end up eating like a horse, which is never a good diet tip.

I always like sharing weight loss tips – it can make a difference in your life. It has in mine. Check out my weight loss story here: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

Understanding the Cause of Obesity

Understanding the cause of obesity might enable overweight individuals to treat their health problems. According to clinical studies, major causes of obesity among Americans are too many calories in food regimens coupled with inactivity and overeating. Acknowledging these two factors may help overweight or obese people lose weight and improve their health.

Cause of obesity

Obesity is a condition that has become a major health concern affecting many individuals in the United States. This condition refers to the build-up of excess body fat that may impair health conditions. Several medical studies show that obese individuals are prone to health risks like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, sleep apnea, and many more. These health hazards have prompted individuals to include a weight-loss program in their lifestyles. However, people who want to lose weight tend to exercise too much and eat unhealthy food. These conditions may bring do more harm than good. And can be a cause of obesity.

Understanding the cause of obesity might enable overweight individuals to treat their health problems. According to clinical studies, a major cause of obesity among Americans are too many calories in food regimens coupled with inactivity and overeating. Acknowledging these two factors may help overweight or obese people lose weight and improve their health.

Many specialists health specialists argue that weight-related problems and obesity can be caused by high calories in diets coupled with inactivity. A study conducted by the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in February, 2004 showed that Americans consumed more calories than they did 30 years ago. The study found out that from 1971 to 2004, American women increased their calorie consumption from 1542 calories per day to 1877. The men on the other hand, at the same time frame, increased their calorie intake from 2,450 to 2,618.

With the rise of calorie intake also came the decline of physical activities. However, less than 1/3 of adults engage in the appropriate amounts of exercise. Another leading cause of obesity. In addition, 40% of adults in the United States do not participate in any physical activity while 43% of adolescents spend more than 2 hours in front of the television. It is recommended that individuals should accumulate at least 30 minutes among adults and 60 minutes among children of moderate physical activity three times a week.

More are recommended to prevent weight gain or to lose weight.

Statistics also suggest that overeating is another reason why people tend be overweight or obese. Overeating is an eating abnormality where the consumption of food intake is inappropriately large for energy use. Triggers of overeating may include depression, stress, boredom, anxiety, and prolonged dieting. People with eating disorder feel that negative feelings may temporarily disappear through food consumption, often these food escapades are done in secret. This disorder can be treated with the help of health professionals coupled with the support of family and friends.

Obesity can be avoided and treated through proper exercise and healthy diets. People who want to lose weight tend to over-train and deprive themselves of healthy food. These habits may impede weight loss and cause additional health concerns.

Proper exercise coupled with the right diet is essential in weight-loss and weight-control. In addition, exercise may eliminates depression because physical activities promotes the release of endorphins. Endorphins are substances that is released by the brain and is the body’s natural pain-reliever. These substance may elevate the mood and promote a state of bliss. Many health specialists refer to this phenomenon as the runner’s high.

For overweight or obese individuals, it is never too late to partake in regular exercise and healthy diets. And to begin to reverse the cause of obesity. Exercise is good for different people of all ages, sex, and weight. It is necessary to maintain improved overall health and enhanced well-being. Individuals who decide to include a regular program of physical activity should consult doctors and other health professionals for advice. This is important because a lot of individuals tend to workout too much or workout improperly, which may do more harm than good. Understanding proper workout and including a healthy diet in one’s lifestyle may lead to improved health and overall well-being.

When I started to learn more about the cause of obesity, I took action. Here is my story: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

Weight Loss Survey: Why Dieters Fail To Lose Weight

Why do we find dieting so difficult? A new weight loss survey about the problems surrounding weight loss, suggests that motivation remains a critical factor. Lack of incentive to lose weight, hunger and inability to cope with “bad days” are common problems. Anne Collins explains how to overcome these problems and achieve your weight loss goals.

Weight loss survey results

Current levels of overweight and obesity, together with weight-related disease, have made weight control a major health priority throughout America. Yet statistics indicate that average weight reduction on conventional diets adds up to a mere 5-8 pounds per year. So why do we find dieting so difficult? According to a new survey (1), the answer seems to be: because we make 3 crucial mistakes. We don’t have a good enough incentive; we allow ourselves to go hungry; and we can’t cope with “bad days”.

The weight loss survey asked dieters to select the three biggest problems they faced when dieting. The most common problems reported were: “Inadequate incentive to lose weight” (76%); “Hunger” (72%); and “Bad days” (70%). Although these results will come as no surprise to most dieters, they highlight the importance of motivation in the dieting process. We examine how these problems occur, and what steps can be taken to overcome them.

Why Do We Need an Incentive?
We gain weight because we take in more energy than we use. Either because we eat too many calories, or burn too few, or both. As part of the weight loss survey we learned that if we want to reduce weight, we need to improve our eating and exercise habits. And this is not easy, because let’s face it – old habits are not easily discarded, especially if they involve cutting out our favorite treats. We need a powerful incentive to help us change. Specifically, we need an answer to the question: “How exactly will I benefit from losing weight?”

When faced with this question, many dieters have no answer. Those who do, typically reply: “I’ll feel better” or “my health will improve”. Others explain they are trying to lose weight to please their doctor, or their partner, or simply because they are “overweight”. Unfortunately, none of these reasons are strong enough to help us succeed. So when temptation strikes, we are unable to resist. At least that was reported in this weight loss survey.

What Type of Incentive is Best?
Our motivation to lose weight must be based on a selfish, specific benefit. A good example might be an upcoming beach holiday, or a family occasion, or the achievement of a specific mobility or fitness goal. It must be as specific as possible (general benefits are useless) and ideally related to a fixed date. In addition, it must be selfish. Losing weight to please others rarely works. The advice I give to my clients is very simple. Do not bother dieting unless you have a good incentive. According to the weight loss survey, because no matter how good the diet, no matter how valuable the exercise plan, unless you have a powerful reason to change your habits you won’t succeed.

Hunger Kills Diets
Most dieters are still convinced that calories are their enemy. So the less they eat, the faster they are likely to lose weight. This is not true. In reality, the less we eat, the more hungry we get and the easier it is to fall into temptation. The human body is trained to eat when hungry and no amount of willpower will neutralize this basic urge. This is why binge eating is such a common response to low calorie diets.

How to Avoid Hunger
No rocket science here in this weight loss survey. Avoiding hunger simply means eating regularly throughout the day, and keeping your calorie intake above 1000-1200 per day. This prevents hunger, thus reducing the urge to overeat, and in addition helps to maintain a regular high level of calorie-burning.

Eat Too Much Rather Than Too Little
We all have days when we feel extra hungry, even when we are dieting. This is no problem – simply eat more! It is always better to eat a little too much than not enough. Might this delay your weight loss? Yes. But so what? Taking a few extra days to achieve your goal is not a problem. The real danger is not eating enough and ending up hungry and depressed. This is a recipe for a binge.

Bad Days and The Problem of Perfection
No dieter is perfect. But you don’t need a weight loss survey to tell you that. The truth is, all dieters experience “bad days” or fall into occasional temptation. Sadly, most dieters insist on “being perfect”. They cannot tolerate these lapses. So if (say) they visit a friend and end up eating 2 containers of ice cream and a box of cookies, they go to pieces. “I’m useless!” they cry. “I’m a failure!” Overwhelmed by guilt at not being perfect, they then quit their diet in disgust.

It’s the Guilt That Does the Damage
In this situation, the actual binge is typically fairly harmless. I mean, we need to eat a huge quantity of food (3500+ calories) to gain even one pound of weight. The real damage is caused by the ensuing guilt. And this is what we need to address.

Guilt Comes From Trying to Be Perfect
All dieters make mistakes and this is perfectly normal. Having an occasional binge is no cause for alarm, far less guilt. Even my most successful clients – those who have lost 100+ pounds – had regular lapses. And as reported in the weight loss survey, the difference is, they didn’t see themselves as “perfect” individuals. So they felt “entitled” to make occasional mistakes, and so should you. Once you accept this, you will find dieting a whole lot easier.

We Need Support to Make These Changes
In order to overcome the 3 problems described above, an essential first step is to find proper support. This is just as important as choosing the right diet plan, because no matter how good the diet, it can’t motivate you to stay on track – only people can do this. Dieting is ten times easier when you receive encouragement from others. So when choosing an online weight loss program, choose one with an active forum. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about people. When we are alone and isolated, the smallest obstacle can seem like a mountain. But when we have people behind us, anything is possible.

If this information on the weight loss survey got your interest. And if you already know that you would like to learn more about losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle, find out more about my story at : http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

Notes:
1. Weight Loss Survey (Oct 2005) by annecollins.com. A total of 17,403 subjects replied to the survey. They were asked to choose 3 from a list of 10 diet-problems. The results were as follows:
(1) Inadequate Incentive (76%).
(2) Hunger (72%).
(3) Bad Days (70%).
(4) Boredom (69%).
(5) Stress (60%).
(6) Interference From Others (51%).
(7) Too Much Eating Out (32%).
(8) Eating on The Run (28%).
(9) Ill-health (5%).
(10) Lack of Sleep (1%).

You Are What You Drink

The average American today gets about 21% of their from beverages, consuming about 150 to 300 more calories than 30 years ago. Half of this intake comes from soft drinks and juice drinks. Why?….portions are bigger, and the percentage of people consuming these beverages has gone up.

You are what you drink

There is a connection with soda and juice drinks and obesity, as well as any beverages with calories. There are groups of adults who have tripled their daily intake of alcoholic beverages.

There is a connection with soda and juice drinks and obesity, as well as any beverages with calories. You are what you drink! There are groups of adults who have tripled their daily intake of alcoholic beverages, and other adults who have started having a smoothie a day. Studies show that weight gain occurs when you shift from noncaloric beverages to calorically sweetened ones. If you drink a beverage, whether it is a soda, alcoholic beverage or juice, you do not compensate by eating less food later.

Beverages are less satiating than solid foods. When you consume calories from beverages, you do not necessarily compensate by eating less food later. Calories that come from liquid do not register with our appetite controls. In fact many individuals eat even more calories than they normally would when they have an alcoholic beverage before a meal. Why?…alcohol lowers a persons inhibitions, as well as sets up a fall in blood sugar, which causes a person to want to more.

Water is really all we need to drink for a healthy balanced diet. The best solution to knowing that you are what you drink. Water does several things for our bodies. First it quenches our thirst, second it helps to eliminate the high amounts of sodium found in our foods today, and third it helps our elimination system work more effectively. Though an occasional alcoholic drink, fruit juice, soda or cup of coffee is ok, it is important for us to get back to basics and eat and drink in moderation to live healthier lives.

What should we drink? Below are recommendations made by Nutritionists for a balanced diet.

6 to 8 servings of water daily.
2 servings of unsweetened coffee or tea a day
2 servings of milk a day
No more than 4 diet drinks a day
Either one alcoholic, sports drink, or100% fruit juice a day
One soda a day

Does this make sense that you are what you drink?

For a complete healthy nutritionally-balanced program, check out what I use at: http://bit.ly/1bpVtzV

Food and Ageing: Your Food Can Prematurely Age You!

Did you know that the food you eat could be prematurely ageing you? Food and ageing is important. Science has made some amazing discoveries in the last decade in nutrition. We really should be taking note of what we put in our mouth because more than ever, “we are what we eat”. Do you know the impact of what you are eating? Probably not. It’s time to find out because over-indulgence in certain types of food cause the body to prematurely age.

Food and ageing

Did you know that the food you eat could be prematurely ageing you? Science has made some amazing discoveries in the last decade in nutrition. We really should be taking note of what we put in our mouth because more than ever, “we are what we eat”. Do you know the impact of what you are eating? Probably not. It’s time to find out because over-indulgence in certain types of food cause the body to prematurely age. This is a primary link between food and ageing.

Would you like some more free radicals with your lunch…? There is frequent mention these days about ‘free radicals’ and how they are constantly attacking the body, causing potentially serious damage.

A free radical is the name for a molecule that has an unpaired electron. They are a normal by-product of metabolism and without them you would die.

To put the record straight, when linking food and ageing, it’s the over-production of free radicals that causes damage to the body. We are advised by nutritional experts to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

This is because they are rich in antioxidant phytonutrients…substances that neutralise free radicals and so help protect the body.

One of the essential tasks of free radicals is in producing energy from the food you eat. Every time you eat, free radical activity is intense. The more food you eat, the more free radicals are formed, and the more antioxidants your body needs to neutralise them. Big meals are big trouble!

Effective Antioxidants include vitamins A, C, E; minerals such as selenium, zinc, and herbs such as aloe vera and grapeseed extract.

The Reality of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are root vegetables, pasta, rice, bread, grains, fruit, pastries, cakes, biscuits, crisps, sweets etc. They are easy to prepare, filling, tasty and cheap. Most meals are dominated by carbohydrates, as most of us ‘full up’ on them. When you eat carbohydrates you’re eating a form of sugar. Another link between food and ageing.

Carbohydrates are converted by the body into glucose, which is either used immediately for energy, or stored in fat cells. Carbohydrates make up an excessive proportion of the diet, add together a lack of exercise and excess sugar and the inevitable result is excess weight.

By reducing your overall carbohydrate intake and reducing the size of your meals, you reduce your body’s exposure to free radical activity, and, the amount of excess food that meals, you reduce your body’s exposure to free radical activity, and, the amount of excess food that gets stored as unwanted fat. A double bonus!

Big meals are too much stress

Food is in abundance – look around the supermarket shelves at the food mountain! Fill your trolley, take it home and fill your kitchen cupboards – fill your plate and fill your stomach till you can barely move. How many times a week do you overeat? How many free radicals are attacking your body and accelerating the aging process? Thank of how this impacts food and ageing. You could choose to eat less.

Think about your meals over the last week.

Better still, keep a food diary for the next week, record each meal by drawing a plate divided up showing how much protein, carbohydrate, fat, vegetables and fruit you eat at each meal/snack. After a week you’ll be able to see for yourself how much sugar you are eating.

When considering the link between food and ageing, if you would like to know more about anti-ageing, check out this product: http://bit.ly/1tIqo3L

You Say Tomato – I Say Superfood

Tomato superfood facts for the day: You Say Tomato – I Say Superfood

Want to help your body stay healthy? Eat a tomato!

Tomato superfood facts

The tomato has been called many things throughout history: Peruvian apple, love apple, and even, by Americans at least, a vegetable. Today, however, this lovely fruit is fast becoming known as Superfood! Tomato superfood facts.

While not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this super hero of the nutrition world is able to do some pretty amazing things. For example, some studies show the tomato may help decrease the risk of prostate cancer, as well as breast, lung and stomach cancers. And the Herald Sun reported in 2003 that the yellow jelly around the seeds have yet another benefit: They may stop blood cells from clumping together, which sometimes leads to strokes and heart attacks.

What is it about this little red fruit that makes it so amazing? Lycopene.

Okay, so the word lycopene doesn’t sound very appetizing, but this powerful antioxidant is the chemical in tomatoes that not only is responsible for it’s red color, but also responsible for its disease-fighting powers.

Just ask an Italian. Italian cooking relies very heavily on tomatoes and tomato products. And, some studies have suggested that this heavy intake of tomatoes by Italians has resulted in a lowering of cancer of the digestive tract.

Now, you’re probably thinking you have to consume tons and tons of fresh tomatoes to enjoy any health benefits. Not true. Tomato superfood facts in one research study it was reported that people who ate tomatoes at least every other day had greater lung capacity. And, the tomatoes don’t even have to be fresh! Again, research shows that the lycopene in tomatoes is more easily absorbed by the body if processed into ketchup, sauce and paste. So, not only are tomatoes a superfood, they’re an easy superfood to include in your diet.

Of course, fresh tomatoes are still beneficial, and packed with wonderful nutrients (not to mention delicious). Just remember the one rule of fresh tomatoes: don’t put them in the refrigerator. The refrigerator destroys not only the flavor, it also destroys the nutrients.

So, go ahead, do something good for your health tonight. Have a tomato. And that is the tomato superfood facts for the day.

Have a great week with you diet. And to learn how I lost 40 lbs. – yes, 40! – check out my story at: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

Your Diet And Nutrition – Are You An Emotional Eater?

Are you an emotional eater? Many people suffer from the same eating problems, but among those eating issues, there is one that stands out. Emotional eating. For most people, it is the leading cause of abnormal weight gain, as you end up compensating for your emotional distress by sitting down for a large snack. Once and a while this is fine, but do it too often and the emotional eater will find it hard to lose any weight.

Emotional eater

Many people suffer from the same eating problems, but among those eating issues, there is on that stands out. Emotional eating. For most people, it is the leading cause of abnormal weight gain, as you end up compensating for your emotional distress by sitting down for a large snack. Once and a while this is fine, but do it too often and you will find it hard to lose any weight.

Every time you eat anything, you need to write down your state of mind in your food journal. Were you feeling tired, upset, depressed, happy or energetic? Just writing a few words about how you felt at the time you decided to eat can make a world of difference when it comes time to analyze your eating behaviors. This will track if you are an emotional eater.

While your emotions are a good starting point, if you want to get even more in depth in your journal, you should go ahead and make that extra effort. At the end of each day, make a note about what happened during that day. Were the events good or bad? Did they lead to you eating more than you normally would have?

Once you analyze your emotions in regard to your hunger levels and how often you eat your meals, you may be able to find a pattern which you can use to become a more proper eater and not an emotional eater. Maybe you’ll find that you eat more when you’re depressed, even if you do not feel that hungry. Or perhaps you will find that you bolster happy days with food to make you feel even better.

The ultimate goal of any food journal you create is to be able to track your dietary patterns to see what needs to be changed if you hope to lose weight. While the core of your food notebook should be based on what you eat and how much of it you ate, you should also take the time to write about your state of mind, how often you eat, and where you have your meals. While these facts may seem useless at first, they can provide you with a number of interesting observations about what you need to change if you hope to lose weight.

I hope this advice gives you some clues to find out if you are an emotional eater. I know I have done that in the past. If you want to hear more about my story and how I lost 40 lbs. check this out: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c

You Are Not Doomed To Be Fat Forever

Do you sometimes think you are doomed to be fat? Once you stop dieting and start listening to your body it is easy and natural to live at your own perfect, normal weight.

Doomed to be fat?

I know, you’re probably thinking you have to diet to lose weight. But nothing could be further from the truth. With rare exceptions, most people were born into normal weight bodies. But then we learned to diet.

Dieting causes the body to go into survival mode. Dieting itself sparks the intense biological urge to consume large quantities of high calorie foods. It causes the body’s instinctual drives to override all intellectual controls. It primes the body to maximize food intake and minimize energy burned. You are not naturally doomed to be fat.

Diets have set us up to fight against our own physical survival, the body’s most basic instinct.

As a comparison, think of how difficult life would be if you had to go to the bathroom on a rigid schedule. What if you only allowed yourself to urinate 3 times a day?

At 8 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. you could release exactly 5 ounces. You’d measure it – of course – to be sure it was the right amount. If you needed to go more, you would force yourself to wait until the next scheduled time. And too bad if you needed to go at 10 am, hold it until noon.

You would be miserable. Your body would have a very difficult time complying with an arbitrary schedule. It would probably get ugly.

Overeating because your body refuses to starve doesn’t make you a failure. You are not doomed to be fat. It means you’re human.
*It doesn’t make you diseased.
*It doesn’t mean you are flawed forever.
*It doesn’t doom you to being permanently sick and trying to recover for the rest of your life.
*It means you did the best you could at the time.
*It means you can forgive yourself and move on.

Eating is the most natural thing we do and your body knows exactly what it needs to live at it’s very best. All you have to do is practice listening and ACT on the information. Your body knows what to do. Just as it knows how to breathe, reproduce, and heal.

Think of how children live, we can learn a lot from them…
*They rest when they are tired.
*They run, jump, swim, dance, and play as much as they can because it feels good and it’s fun.
*They are picky about what they eat. They’ll go hungry rather than settle for something they don’t love.
*They eat when they’re hungry.
*Once they feel full, they have to be tricked or bribed into eating even one more bite of food.
*They drink when they’re thirsty.
*They love their bodies and they don’t care how their thighs look or if their tummy isn’t flat and tight.
*They don’t have to think about all this. It just comes naturally and easily as a part of being human.
*And they don’t come with the notion that they are doomed to be fat.

All of these natural instincts live in each of us, too.

We all have the inborn ability to take care of ourselves. We are not doomed to be fat. We just have to remember. We just have to get back in the habit of listening to our bodies…of following their wisdom. Remember, a normal body weight is your birthright. It was stolen from you. Now you get to take it back.

So stop thinking of yourself as doomed to be fat. You are not doomed to either being overweight or to being on a perpetual diet. Let overeating and overweight fade into the past. They served you well to keep you alive. Once you stop dieting and accept the body you were born with, you can return to your unique, normal weight.

I’m not suggesting everyone is going to be model-skinny. The endless, tyrannical pressure to be very thin is a big part of the problem. Some bodies are meant to be soft and curvy. Others are naturally sharp and angular. We are variously stocky, tall, fleshy, muscular, sinewy, short, etc. There is wonderful beauty in diversity.

Accepting and loving the unique beauty of your body will heal you and set you free. Be like a child and delight in the body you have. Cherish the power in your muscles. Enjoy the feeling of being alive here on this planet. Let go of having to look a certain way. Be yourself. Let someone else try to be like the models or celebrities. The world will be a better place if it gets to have the real, unique, special person that YOU are.

Believe in your own healing. Believe that you can live easily and naturally at your own ideal weight. That faith is a huge part of what will set you free. Eating normally is completely natural. Deep down you know how to do it. And realize that you are not doomed to be fat.

I realized early that I was not doomed to be fat. If you want to know more about the program that has allowed me to lose over 40 pounds, check it out here: http://bit.ly/1DbURHr

Being Healthy For Life

A Green and Healthy Lifestyle for You and the Planet