Quality is Important

The biggest thing that you will need to pay attention to is the quality of the calories that you are taking in. While many diet programs focus on hard to understand ratios, a healthy diet is really only about one thing: balance. You should be eating whole foods, and a proper variety of them. This will ensure that you have a balanced diet, full of quality calories.

A whole food is anything that is in its natural state. For example, while white flour has to go through an extensive processing protocol to come to its final form, wheat flour is milled directly from wheat berries, with all of the health benefits left intact. The same is true of brown rice. Things like fresh fruits and vegetables can be eaten straight from a patch of earth. In simple terms, a whole food is recognizable in its natural state. If there is processing that takes place, it should be minimal. This is the cardinal rule for quality eating and good nutrition.

Feast Your Eyes on Colors

While eating whole foods will give you a good place to start, you also need to be a bit more educated to ensure good nutrition while working towards weight loss. One of the best ways to keep things in that balanced state that you need is to make your plate colorful. You may like carrots, but you need more than that one vegetable to pull a full palette of vitamins and minerals. Mix things up a bit and make sure that you are eating dark green leafy vegetables, as well as fruits that have a red hue. The color of a fresh fruit or vegetable gives you a clue as to its basic nutrition profile, so variety really does matter.

Know the Calorie Profile

No matter what your eating plan is, when it comes to weight loss, you need to understand how calories work. Calories are a measure of energy in a food product. When you take in more calories than you expend, weight gain occurs. Putting out more energy than you are taking in leads to weight loss. This is a fairly simple formula. Luckily, it’s not hard to find calorie counts for whole foods, so become familiar with those charts. Also, keep in mind that these foods give you much more nutrition for each calorie, so you should be able to eat plenty of healthy foods. A properly balanced diet should fill you up, and still make it possible to accomplish your weight loss goals.

Many people who have a weight loss goal struggle with what to eat. However, developing a good nutrition plan isn’t that complicated. Take the time to understand the basics of healthy eating and work to change your mindset. This will help you have the best chance of long-term success.

Just click here to learn how to Bulletproof Your Knee with the IT Band Friction Fix!

So if you eat your fruits and vegetables, expose yourself to adequate sunlight, get plenty of sleep, and stay well hydrated, your body shouldn’t really need a supplemental source of vitamins and minerals, right? Wrong. Here are 5 powerful reasons that you need to take a multi-vitamin, no matter how healthy your lifestyle may be (by the way, stay tuned towards the end of the article, where I tell you about a good way to read more on the best multi-vitamin sources).

1. Nutrient depletion in the soil. Modern farming techniques utilize fertilizers that actually deplete the soil of essential nutrients. Agriculture relies on the elements in the soil for absorption of proper amounts of minerals, and when this process is interrupted, the plant does not contain essential minerals and cannot form essential vitamins. And if the plant doesn’t have it then you’re not going to get it from eating the plant!

2. Your ability to absorb nutrients from food actually decreases as you age. So while growing children should absolutely be taking a multivitamin to support healthy tissue and bone formation, supplementation becomes equally important for the older population. Sure, you could just eat more food, but this introduces a problem with caloric balance. Beware that many medications also interfere with proper nutrient absorption.

3. Commercial harvesting, shipping processes, long term food storage, processing, and addition of preservatives degrades the nutrient content of food. Therefore, unless you’re eating a very fresh plant, it is a far different species at consumption than it was when initially harvested. In addition, compounds added to the food during many of these processes, such as MSG, saccharine, nutrasweet, splenda, colorings, and flavors will increase your body’s need for nutrients to deal with these damaging synthetic derivatives.

4. Pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals found in the modern food supply are combined with chemicals in water, environmental contamination from elements such as degraded plastic, air pollution from carbon monoxide, lead and mercury. These synergestic elements vastly increase our need for extra vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to combat formation of free radicals and the attack upon our metabolism and immune system.

5. Exercise increases nutrient needs. Are you an athlete or frequent exerciser? The vast amount of extra oxygen and energy used by active individuals will necessitate nutrient consumption that far exceeds the typical RDA of the average population. Consuming just the stated RDA can actually limit your athletic performance.

So what are you waiting for? Get your hands on a multi-vitamin and high quality dietary supplement today.

I’ve actually found a fantastic book that tells you exactly which types of multi-vitamins and dietary supplements will give you the most “bang for your buck” from a metabolic and health standpoint. It is called “100 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism” and you can get it by clicking here:

Think proper nutrition is complicated? It doesn’t have to be.
Follow these simple principles and you’ll never go wrong.

I would bet that without even thinking, you could name 4 or 5 diets or eating plans that are in the popular media…Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Every time you turn around, there’s a fantastic “new” approach to eating. It’s enough to make your head spin!

By Nick Nilsson

Have you ever wished for a diet where you ate bacon, eggs,
red meat, butter and sausage all day? Surprise!
It’s not the Atkins Diet.

The Atkins Diet has been in existence for over 30 years and has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last few years.

Pioneered by Dr. Robert Atkins, the theory behind the Atkins Diet is simple. Your body prefers to utilize carbohydrates (such as in grains, cereals, breads, etc.) for energy and will burn them first prior to body fat. By cutting down dramatically on carbohydrates in your diet, you force your body to burn fat for energy.

An essential element of good health is regular exercise. Aerobic exercises, such as walking and jogging, are excellent ways to bum calories. Always begin with a warm-up period of 3-5 minutes, gradually reaching your target heart rate. (Me is 60 to So percent of your maximal heart, which is estimated at 220-age. For example. if you are 60 yrs. old your target heart would be 96 beats per minute through 128 beats per minute.) Always start at the low end of your target heart rate. Exercising in this range for 15 through 20 minutes will allow for fat reduction to occur. A cool down of 3 to 5 minutes is recommended as this allow* for your heart rate to gradually return to normal.

In order to shape and tone our bodies we need to do body shaping exercises. This will add muscle and firmness to our physiques. Many women tend to deposit fat around their thighs and buttocks, while males tend to put fat around their stomachs. Here are a few exercises that can help tighten these areas.

For peanut butter lovers, there is the Amazing Peanut Butter Diet. For lemonade lovers, there is the Lemonade diet. For meat lovers, there is the Atkins Diet. For sweet lovers, there is The Cookie Diet. The list goes on and on. 

And now, some folks are claiming the miraculous cottage cheese diet is the best thing in the world for losing weight; one beauty pageant contestant springs to mind immediately.  Regardless of what she says, eating one kind of food most of the time is not the way to go. I mean who wants to constantly eat grapefruit or drink lemonade? How boring is cottage cheese the fifteenth time you spoon it in? Is that any way to live and enjoy the abundance God gave us? I think not.

That being said, however, the cottage cheese diet does have some merit in a way.  Basically, cottage cheese is good for you, and the dairy industry is now claiming that dairy products really do help people lose weight.  So, incorporating dairy into your diet, including cottage cheese, is probably a very sound idea.

What exactly should you do with the cottage cheese? Well, I have picked up a container off my refrigerator shelf, and I can see that a serving has only about 160 calories. My particular brand is made using 1% milk. That is not a lot of calories. My little jar also explains to me that my cottage cheese has twenty-eight (28) grams of protein. That’s a lot of protein, and we all know that protein is healthy.

You know how doctors are always saying you should eat “lean protein?” Well, 160 calories and 28 grams of protein sounds like the definition of lean protein to me.

Cottage cheese is also very versatile. You can top it with some berries or peaches for a yummy dessert or afternoon snack. That is obviously better than hitting up the office vending machine for a chocolate bar. The cottage cheese diet might also suggest that you put a spoonful atop some greens and veggies for a little dash of protein with your garden salad. 

You can also experiment with jazzing up your curds. Do you love apple pie? Why not throw a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg in your cottage cheese?  Do you enjoy fruit smoothies? Try throwing some strawberries, a banana, a dash of water or milk, and some cottage cheese in your blender. You will get a nice consistency to your drink, and it will be absolutely delicious. 

Finding interesting ways to add healthy items into your daily eating is the best way to get great nutrition, and the best cottage cheese diet of all is one that replaces higher-fat and higher-calorie foods with cottage cheese once in a while.

Healthful Weight Loss Food 1: Soy Protein

Protein gets plenty of effort for our body to digest and break down…even more than calories. So while our body is working tough to process the protein, you are burning fats. The best kind of protein for healthful weight loss is soy based. A soybean is the nearest thing you can have to a magical weight loss capsule. I start daily with a soy based protein juice to guarantee I am having the best nutrition that money can purchase…and I do not miss the bagels and donuts one bit!

Healthful Weight Loss Food 2: Whole Grains

Abdominal fat is not healthy or not attractive on anyone, and whole grains can go to work on that flab around your abdomen. One of the most effective ways to have whole grains into your diet is through nutrition supplements since you do not have to consume tons of cereals to get your daily needs.

Healthful Weight Loss Food 3: Grapefruit

You must have been neglected and uneducated if you don’t know that Vitamin C is great for you. Along with the effective antioxidant advantages, this vitamin aids in burning calories. The next time you are looking for a snack on a burning summer day, go into a luscious grapefruit. It will assist you to lessen insulin stages, which saves you from being starving all the time!

Healthful Weight Loss Food 4: Green Tea

Green tea is the 1^st thing I consume in my breakfast when I wake up, and I frequently consume another cup in my lunch just because of its amazing health advantages. This super drink assists us to lose our weight by increasing our metabolism, which will eliminate off fats faster than you thought. Cold or hot, do not let a day pass by without utilizing it to your healthful weight loss benefit.

Fat Burning Food 5: Water

OK…it is not really a foodstuff, but it is essential to consume lots of liquid if you are trying to eliminate fat. This is the component that a lot of people miss the most. Our body cannot work successfully if it is dehydrated, so it is very essential to store a bottle of water with you at always. Do not worry, you will get used to it and be thankful to yourself when you do. And no, soft drink (diet or regular) is an unhealthy substitute.

As you can clearly tell, there are a lot of food choices we can use for a healthy weight loss. Almost all people look on trying new products that they see being advertised on television without thinking that it is always right to just follow with the basics. Two, three, or four decades ago, we didn’t have the technical advances we have nowadays, and being overweight was nearly unheard of.

Conversion weight tables explained in simple terms are tables that convert the amount you currently weight by a predetermined standard and advise on what your ideal or standard size should be based on that standard. For example, you may be looking at conversion weight tables explained in a manner that asks you to input your height and current weight and subsequently tells you what you should weight based on your height alone. This is just one way to examine the results of a particular conversion weight table you are looking at.

There are advantages that can be gained by comparing conversion weight tables explained in a sense of looking at the information side by side and seeing what the differences are as well as understanding what those differences mean. Some conversion weight tables only take one aspect of the physical body into consideration, such as what you currently weigh. Obviously conversion weight tables explained have to be considered for the respective information that they contain but no one weight table can be said to be the reigning all purpose and infallible authority.

Conversion weight tables explained can be an excellent resource for your weight loss needs. First because they give a detailed breakdown of what your current weight size and height have to do with how far or close you are to your ideal weight. This is an important goal in reaching your ideal weight and you need to know exactly where you are in your efforts, not just how much the number on the scale says represents your current body condition.

The main objective of losing weight is not to get to a particular size on the scale but to eliminate body fat. Even though conversion weight tables explained go into detail about what your number on the scale should be, this is second in line to how much body fat you have. You may be close to the ideal number and still have too much body fat which would mean that your body is not in the best shape that it can be and you may need to add some form of exercise such as walking, aerobics, swimming, jogging or something different that will attack the body fat you are storing and cause it to come off your muscles. The end result will be a body you will be proud to show off wherever you go.

Understanding conversion weight tables can be somewhat complicated so don’t hesitate to seek the advice of a health professional for conversion weight tables explained in a manner that you do not understand.

Think proper nutrition is complicated? It doesn’t have to be.
Follow these simple principles and you’ll never go wrong.

I would bet that without even thinking, you could name 4 or 5 diets or eating plans that are in the popular media…Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Every time you turn around, there’s a fantastic “new” approach to eating. It’s enough to make your head spin!

But it doesn’t have to be that complicated. I’ve got some easy-to-follow nutritional principles that will help keep you on the right track. Beginner or advanced, these will work for you!

1. Focus your eating on natural, unprocessed foods as much as possible.

While I know it’s not always possible to get fresh fruit and veggies and other unprocessed foods everywhere you go, your body will always respond best when you feed it foods that are not altered through processing. Your body has evolved over thousands and thousands of years to process foods in their natural state – it’s only relatively recently that processed foods have appeared on the scene.

Your body has the digestive mechanisms for efficiently processing foods in their natural state. When you add in the fats, salt, sugar, additives, etc., your body starts having a hard time digesting and coping. Think of it like trying to put regular gas into a vehicle that runs on diesel. It may run, but it’s not going to be very efficient with the fuel and it could cause problems down the road (no pun intended!)

Bottom Line: Eating foods that are not processed allows your body to function more efficiently. You’ll lose fat without even trying.

2. Get plenty of good quality, lean protein sources in your diet

When you’re training, your body has a much greater need for protein. During weight training and endurance training especially, your body is constantly breaking down muscle tissue. Protein is required to rebuild it. By regularly feeding your body good protein sources, you’ll be able to hold onto and build muscle mass easier.

Good sources of lean protein include meats (look for leaner cuts like sirloin), poultry, eggs (while not lean, eggs will not shoot up your cholesterol as many worry), fish, low-fat dairy, soybeans, and various legumes (beans).

As far as how much protein your body needs, this will vary according to how much you weigh and your activity level. A level of around 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight is a good guideline (we don’t count total bodyweight because fat is not metabolically active and doesn’t require protein to sustain it).

3. Don’t be afraid of “good” fats

Fats can be extremely beneficial, even when you’re trying to lose weight! Fats are important in a tremendous variety of bodily processes including hormone production, immunity, joint and organ protection, and even burning bodyfat. Without the “good” fats, your body will not function as well as it could.

“Good” fats include sources such as fish, nuts, flax oil, borage oil, and olive oil (there are many other good sources as well). Increasing your intake of these good fats can help keep you feeling good and burning your own bodyfat more efficiently.

Your total fat intake should be around 30% of your daily calories. A good way to go about getting this is to try and keep your focus primarily on low-fat foods while purposefully adding the “good” fats into your diet (like eating a few almonds every day or taking fish oil or flax oil capsules).

4. Carbs are fine

Despite all the talk about carbs being the enemy, it’s important to note that carbs and foods that contain carbs can actually be quite good for you! It’s generally the refined sugar added to foods that is the problem, not the carbohydrate as a nutrient on its own.

5. Non-nutritious foods should be minimized

This is an easy one. More than likely, you already know that you shouldn’t be eating Cheesy-Poofs or chocolate bars 3 meals a day. The calories you get from these foods don’t come with any actual nutrients. When your body is missing nutrients, it craves more food (not to mention the insulin response to the sugar in many of these foods) and you tend to eat more of the poor food that doesn’t have nutrients in it.

It’s ironic to think that many overweight people are actually malnourished! When you eat nutrient-dense foods, your body gets the nutrients it needs and functions much better.

5. Salads, fruits and vegetables will give you lots of fiber, roughage and nutrition

Eat plenty of salds, fruits and veggies every day. This is usually one that everybody already knows yet doesn’t normally focus on. The fiber in the foods helps keep you from getting too hungry and helps keep your digestive system clean.

6. Just do the best you can

It’s not always easy or convenient to follow good eating principles. There are plenty of tasty temptations to be found every time you turn around.

The REAL key to proper nutrition is to focus on trying to do well MOST of the time, not all of the time. It’s what you do most of the time that will give you the long-term results you’re looking for. Determining that you MUST be perfect all of the time is a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment when the time comes that you don’t eat a perfectly healthy food choice.

Sometimes, you just have to eat those Cheesy Poofs and not worry about it.

——————

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (Betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.