I love the heat of summer, so although there is much to love about fall – football, cider, pumpkins, boots, etc. – I cannot say I look forward to fall. I certainly relish it once it arrives though, because fall also brings tailgating, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving feasts, and the promise of Christmas parties. It can be a dangerous season for dieting, especially combined with more inclement weather which tempts us to stay inside and inactive. At the advent of the autumn season, I encourage you to prepare your home to help you meet your weight loss goals throughout the cooler months when you will likely be spending more time inside.
Kitchen: Clean out the pantry and fridge, eliminating temptations. Place the healthiest options within sight and easy reach. Take the fruit out of the crisper and put it on the top shelf or on the counter. Make it easy to grab smaller plates, bowls, and flatware. According to Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink, when we choose a 12-inch plate over a 10-inch plate we are likely to eat up to 22 percent more, we eat up to 14 percent more using a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon, and we will fill a shorter, wider cup 30 percent more than a taller, thinner cup.
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Try as we might, there’s no way to escape the science of calories. Every calorie counts and unfortunately lots of our favorite foods have too many calories. But don’t fret, life doesn’t have to be lived eating flavorless celery and lettuce. There are lots of great ways to cut calories without feeling like you’re being deprived.
Here are 20 great tricks we’ve compiled to help you get through the most important meal of the day with fewer calories, and without sacrificing taste.
1. Use Blue Diamond Almond Breeze milk instead of cow’s milk
While a cup of whole milk contains nearly 150 calories, Almond Breeze contains no more than 45 calories. The unsweetened flavor has 40 calories per cup and the vanilla and chocolate flavors have 45 calories per cup. Yes, chocolate milk for 45 calories per serving, you read that right.
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By Michelle Schoffro Cook for Care2.com
Do you have a spare tire, love handles, or a belly bulge? Don’t fret. Here are a ten simple tricks from my best-selling book, The Life Force Diet (Wiley, 2006) that can help you make this a lighter and healthier year.
1. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to beat dehydration. Alcohol consumption, fatty foods, and insufficient water are some of the main reasons people feel “hung over” and heavy. Every cell in your body needs adequate water to function properly so try to drink at least two liters a day to flush fat and toxins out.
2. Take a high-quality B-complex and vitamin C supplement, both of which are depleted by alcohol consumption and stress, and chances are you had both recently.
3. Eat fruit in the morning on an empty stomach. Fruit is the best food to keep the lymphatic system cleansed and moving properly. The lymphatic system is what I call “the body’s version of a street-cleaner” — it sweeps up toxins, fat, and the by-products of bodily processes to lessen pain, inflammation, cellulite, and toxic overload in the body. Just don’t overdo.
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When you are trying to lose weight it can be easy fall off the diet wagon and slip back into patterns of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise. Recently, CNN identified “The Moments That Make us Fat” which included your friends suggesting a buffet restaurant for dinner or finding tempting dessert options at a cocktail party.
According to James Hill, executive director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, it can be dangerous to rely on your willpower to carry you through difficult diet situations.
“Willpower is not inexhaustible,” Hill told CNN.com. “You only have a certain amount of it, and it’s gone.”
Instead of relying on willpower, Hill recommends planning ahead. Identify the situations that tempt you to veer away from your healthy habits and plan strategies to keep yourself on track.
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This guest post comes from Paige Corley, a Program Director at the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.
It’s very difficult to really know what you need to do with your workout these days. Between the fad workouts that claim high calorie burn in a short amount of time to the magic pill that will result in miracle weight loss, we are constantly bombarded with misinformation that leaves us feeling confused and overwhelmed.
Advertising can make matters even worse when all we see is “Healthy Cookies” and “Fat Free Potato Chip” products claiming to lower cholesterol and have a lot of fiber. Even tougher, we hear that we can’t simply go to the gym and workout; we have to be concerned about what order we do the exercises, how high we get our heart rate and what formats are the best.
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