Archive for August, 2009

Article: From the Harvard Health Publications Special Health Report, Healthy Eating: A Guide to the New Nutrition.

Your mother was right: Fruits and vegetables are good for you. We’ve known for decades that fruits and vegetables contain important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Science has more recently established that eating lots of fruits and vegetables can help prevent some life-threatening diseases and help you live a healthy lifestyle.

Even more recently, researchers are coming to understand that the key to this advice is the phrase “fruits and vegetables.” While a diet high in fruits and vegetables is healthful, that doesn’t mean that taking pills and supplements that contain individual vitamins and minerals in megadoses will do the same thing. Out of hundreds of studies that have tried to separate individual components of foods and determine their specific health effects, only a tiny handful have produced convincing results. Many have fallen flat. Remember when everyone was taking vitamin E for everything from heart disease to memory loss? How about vitamin C to prevent colds? Or antioxidants to prevent cancer? Promising early evidence has failed to pan out for many of these links.

Fruits and vegetables contain hundreds of components known as phytochemicals, the majority of which have yet to be discovered. These phytochemicals appear in a vast number of combinations in the plants found in nature. In addition to phytochemicals, fruits and vegetables are a valuable source of fiber. Fiber serves many functions in the body. In particular, it keeps the digestive system running smoothly and may reduce the risk of heart disease and some gastrointestinal problems, and possibly some cancers. Finally, fruits and vegetables are high in beneficial minerals such as potassium, which lowers blood pressure.

Which combinations of which substances protect against which diseases? The answers are proving elusive. However, when it comes to food, such major studies as the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study have shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help lower the risk of hypertension, heart disease, and stroke, and that people who follow such a diet live longer than those who don’t. Studies also show that such a diet may reduce the risk of some forms of cancer — probably esophageal, stomach, and lung cancers, according to a review of hundreds of studies by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

As if these benefits weren’t enough, research also suggests that people who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables are less likely than others to develop two common age-related eye diseases — cataracts and macular degeneration — as well as diverticulitis, a painful intestinal condition. Such findings give fruits and vegetables a prominent place in the Health Eating Pyramid, which recommends eating fruit two to three times a day and eating vegetables “in abundance.”

Click Here to have a Healthy Lifestyle

Creating a healthy lifestyle is a way of living. Making changes that you know are good for you. Changes that can help achieve you Healthy Lifestyle goals.

We are all about having a healthy lifestyle. To maintain a healthy lifestyle you need to  maintain a weight that is proportionate to your body type and height.

I am going to tell you the top 5 weight loss secrets of thin people. Some think that thin people do not have to work hard to stay thin. That is not true. I have many friends that are thin and they are constantly working at maintaining their figure. They worry about weight loss and gaining weight. Here are some of there secrets:

Healthy Lifestyle Secret 1. Water, Water, Water

I can not express this enough. Water is very important. It keeps you hydrated throughout the day and helps you to feel full. Sometimes when we feel hungry we are actually thirsty.

Healthy Lifestyle Secret 2. When you are full stop

Listen to your body. It is something that was embedded in our brains as kids that we must eat everything on our plates. Well serving sizes are bigger now and a lot of restaurants serving portions are actually for two people. Take home the leftovers or share with your dining partner. Sometimes when we cook at home we feel like we do not want to waste the food. Save it for another night. Most thin people will tell you their secret is they stop when they are full and they do not always clear their plates. Listen to your body.

Healthy Lifestyle Secret 3. Do not deprive yourself of foods you want to eat

To lose weight successfully you need to not starve yourself and deprive yourself of your favorite indulgences. Limit your indulgences. If you like potato chips try packing a 100 calorie snack bag full of chips and drink a big glass of water with it. If you like ice-cream put a scoop in a bowl and eat it. Still watch your portions. But if you do not eat your favorite foods and deprive yourself of them then you will end up over indulging and overeating when you do get a chance to eat them.

Healthy Lifestyle Secret 4. Choose a buddy to lose weight with

When you have someone to be accountable to you usually succeed in the weight loss game. You and your buddy can report your success and failures and help each other through the diet and fitness plan you set for your self.

Healthy Lifestyle Secret 5. Do not aim to high

Set your goals so that they can be accomplished. So many of us set big goals and the slightest mishap we want to just give up. Do not plan on doing an extremely exhausting work out plan your first week. You will get really sore and then not want to continue because you do not want to feel that pain again. Build your endurance. Start off with walking and doing some small muscle toning workouts, then work your way up to some higher calorie workouts if your body allows it. Listen to your body.

If your main weight loss goal is to lose 80 pounds do not set that as your first goal. Say you want to lose 20 pounds so when you accomplish that you can set another goal to lose another 20 pounds. This will help you stay on tract a little better.

Remember a healthy lifestyle is only a few steps away.

Click Here to Visit GetSkinnyContest.com

Creating a healthy lifestyle is a way of living. Making changes that you know are good for you. Changes that can help achieve you Healthy Lifestyle goals.

As a mom of two and 9 months pregnant, practicing a healthy lifestyle and eating healthy is very important. I have to set the example for my children and take care of myself. By all means I am not perfect and do not have a slim figure. I have caved into some sinful cravings.

I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I will have plenty of pounds to shed after my baby is born especially since I was overweight when I got pregnant. My goal is to lose at least 45 pounds after my baby is delivered.

My plan of action for weight loss and achieving a healthy lifestyle is to eat slowly and stop eating when I feel full. My plate does not have to be cleaned. So many of use feel like we have to eat everything on our plate. Many restaurants serve these huge portions that can feed two people. Can you imagine how many calories and fat are being consumed? When I am at home I will serve small portions. I will try to listen more to my body.

I have tried every crash diet out there. The Cabbage Soup Diet. This is so boring who wants to eat the same thing everyday for about a week straight. I’ve tried Slim Fast and Medifast these two diets you have to drink shakes and eat bars. I have tried the Lemonade Diet or also called the Master Cleanse. That made my headaches so much worse, I could not hang on that diet.

I have decided that the only way to lose weight is build a diet that you can stick to. If you go on a diet that makes you eat the same thing every single day, you will get bored and dream about the foods you cannot eat. Shakes are good if you decide to make a smoothy one day or something but to have to supplement two meals a day with a shake is so boring.

I have learned that diets do not work it is a lifestyle change that needs to be made. A healthy lifestyle change and learning to make the right choices in life.

Eat what you want to eat but watch your portions. If you want ice cream, serve yourself some in a portion that is directed on the container or about 100 calorie portions. Eat some chips but again watch your portions. At meals stop eating when you feel full. Drink lots of water through out the day.

Eating what you enjoy eating but not overeating those foods will allow you to not feel deprived. If you are on a diet that does not allow you to eat certain foods than all you do is think about those foods and then you “Cheat” and overindulge in that food.

So that is my advice and my diet plan for myself I will keep you all posted on how it goes for me. I just need to think about losing the little baby weight in my stomach first. So when this little one comes out. My plan begins.

Remember a healthy lifestyle is only a few steps away.

Click Here to get some great dieting tips

Creating a healthy lifestyle is a way of living. Making changes that you know are good for you. Changes that can help achieve you healthy lifestyle goals.

Resveratrol and Weight Loss

Resveratrol Antioxidant

Recently a new product has come to light that may help people trying to lose weight stay on the healthy end of the spectrum and create a healthy lifestyle for themselves: Resveratrol Select, which is unlike many diet supplements in that it uses a combination of natural and herbal ingredients designed to help the body stay healthy while losing weight.How? By mimicking certain aspects of the Mediterranean diet.Studies have shown that part of America’s war with weight lies in the uniquely modern American combination of stressful lifestyle and fast-food consumption, and that the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle seem to be more conducive to healthier weight levels and longevity.

In fact, much as been made on the news in recent months of the purported “French Paradox,” (how the French eat a high-fat diet, enjoy rich desserts, drink wine and still have better cardiovascular health than the rest of us). One of the biggest differences between the American and French diet seems to be the wine consumption, and red wine (a staple on most Mediterranean tables) contains one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants, resveratrol, which is a key ingredient in Resveratrol Select.In addition to wine, resveratrol is also found in grape skins, blueberries, cranberries and other plants, and recent animal and in vitro studies indicate that it can have a positive effect on helping to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, supporting insulin health and optimizing metabolic and immune pathways that protect cells and improve mitochondrial function.

* And one capsule of Resveratrol Select includes as much resveratrol as 200 glasses of wine—without the added calories that alcohol can add to the waistline.But consuming resveratrol alone isn’t enough to help with weight loss—so the manufacturers of Resveratrol Select also added a different type of antioxidant, Green Tea Extract (EGCG), which could make a big difference. Over time, green tea consumption helps increase metabolism, burn fat and reduce fat storage due to its caffeine and L-theanin content, which can be pivotal in helping to maintain energy for exercise.

*Resveratrol Select combines these two powerful antioxidants with yet another energy boosting ingredient, Chromium, a niacin-based mineral that plays an important role in how the body uses insulin to burn sugars, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins for energy.

*Although relatively new to the market, Resveratrol Select seems to be making a big splash, and many people are taking advantage of the free trial offer to see how well the product works for them. The trial offer also includes two bonus tools to help with weight loss: an e-book with over 70 weight loss tips, and a weight loss visualization audio. Of course, consuming fewer calories while burning more is the most efficient form of weight loss, and it’s always a good idea to inform your doctor before taking a weight loss supplement, but this new combination herbal supplement is worth a look for those concerned about maintaining good health while losing weight.

For more information on creating a healthy lifestyle and losing weight click here.

GET YOUR FREE BOTTLE OF RESVERATROL SELECT HERE

Creating a healthy lifestyle is a way of living. Making changes that you know are good for you. Changes that can help achieve you Healthy Lifestyle goals.