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Food and Nutrition helps you lose weight

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Digestion improves with fruits and vegetables

Lots of fruits and vegetables function as natural laxatives.   Natural laxatives help to regulate your body’s digestive process. They provide roughage and good natural fiber that is important in helping your body get rid of wastes.
white beans, navy beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, soybeans, split peas, , black eyed peas, lentils, chick peas and artichokes
Consume more fruits and vegetables daily.  It is not too hard to do.  I find that when I want some thing sweet I will pick up a fruit.  A hand full of grapes are great or a kiwi.  Just think how healthy that colorful kiwi is for you.  The more color the fruit the more nutrition.  Fruits have no cholesterol, now that’s great.

Red Foods – tomatoes, , red cabbage and watermelon .

Red foods contain many phytochemicals and these phytochemicals  reduce free radical damage. The phytochemical called lycopene is helpful to prevent prostate problems, and reduce the effects of sun damage on the skin. Lycopene is the phytochemical that make the red foods get their red color.

Potassium, which is rich in , tomato paste, tomato puree, cooked greens, beet greens, white potatoes, white beans, lima beans, carrot juice, sweet potatoes and prune juice may help maintain healthy blood pressure.  Walking 40 minutes a day is also good for blood pressure.

Vitamin C is high in kiwi, strawberries, sweet potatoes, kale, cantaloupe, broccoli, pineapple, Brussels sprouts, red green peppers,  oranges, mangoes, tomato juice and cauliflower.  Vitamin C is good for inflammation and stress also body tissues and cuts and wounds.

You know we need to have lots of water for our bodies but did you know that fruit contains 80 percent water?  Now that is another good reason to eat more fruit.  Fruit is so nutritious a diet that consists of 100% fruit and nuts will be rich in protein, calcium and vitamins essential for a healthy lifestyle. What’s more, it’s low in fat, sodium and cholesterol.

The body makes proteins to create muscles, tendons, ligaments, hair and nails. Proteins are also important in the make-up of enzymes, genes and hormones. Fruits that contain protein include: dates, figs, avocados, peanuts, almonds, brazil nuts, and walnuts.

Fruits that contain essential fatty acids include olives, avocados, nuts and seeds.  Essential fatty acids help our bodies stay healthy.

So when ever you think what can I eat as a snack think about sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, walnuts… and Fruit like kiwi, banana, strawberry, blueberry, you get my drift.  You will be surprised at how filling you will be by eating healthy.  Remember though, portions.  Don’t eat the whole bag of anything.  Nuts and seeds are a serving about the size of the palm of your hand.  Fruits about a half a cup.  Remember to snack on this stuff and not processed foods.

How To Lose Weight

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

You want to know how to lose weight.  Losing weight is a matter of simply burning more calories than you eat.   Eating less food if you don’t exercise enough is another way to cut calories.  Yes, you need to exercise to burn some calories.

Make some changes in your diet like eating 5 small meals a day, by cutting your portions down in half your able to get your stomach to slim down and consume less food.  5 small meals a day could be, a small breakfast and then a small 10:oo snack, a small lunch and then a 2:00 snack and then an early supper if at all possible so you can burn more food before going to bed for the night.

You can lose weight if you eat smarter.  Drink water instead of sugary drinks.  It’s a good idea to eat fruits instead of sugary foods and snacks.  Eat nuts or seeds some times instead of chips.  Contrary to what people think,  a small hand full of nuts or seeds is not that fattening.  What’s fattening is when we sit down with the whole bag.  These are some ideas to cut out extra calories.

How to make the weight come off

Calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate).  Your BMR is what your body needs to function normally.  The least amount of calories you need to eat each day.  This is not 100% , adjust as you go.

A Calorie Counter will calculate your activity level.  These are calories you burn during the day while sitting, standing or what you do daily.

Calorie Calculator, calculate the calories you eat and drink daily.  You can use a journal to do this.
BMR + Activity Calories – Food Calories

Eat less than you burn so you’ll lose weight.  Do not lose weight too fast, that can be dangerous.  You can lose weight at a steady pace and be happy. You can lose weight by eating healthy foods.  By Healthy foods I mean foods with nutritional value.  These foods would be fresh fruit and vegetables or frozen if need.  Healthy foods are foods that satisfy our bodies and nourish us.  Do the best you can to stay away from processed foods.  Processed foods are foods in the box or can.  Most processed foods are not nearly as healthy for us as fresh or frozen foods.  Processed foods with added MSG (a flavor enhancer) will tend to make you eat more because the flavor enhancer stimulates the brain to make you think they taste better, therefore we eat more.  Eat a variety of food this will satisfy you more and will let you stick to eating healthier.  These are some tips on eating healthier as a way to lose weight.