In the modern day we live in people are leading more hectic lives than ever before. It seems that we are always running around trying to get as much done as possible in the 24 hours that we have been given in a day.
So whenever we begin to think about slowing down and working to lose all that excess weight we are carrying we begin to think about things such as personal trainers, long tedious hours in the gym, expensive and tasteless food, and working day and night trying to prepare it all to eat.
But this idea that most people have of what it takes to lose weight is far from the reality. You can easily lose weight if you implement a few solid principles into your life.
The most important thing to do is avoid those scams out there, such as weight loss pills. They just don’t work!
The following tips will help you lose weight fast:
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Ever wonder how many calories are in a McDonald’s meal? If you do want to know just how nutritionally void that Big Mac is, you would have to pull up the information on the restaurant’s web site. Until now!
Today, the corporation announced that they will list nutrition information on restaurant and drive-thru menus nationwide. President Obama’s new health regulation requires restaurant chains to post calorie information. McDonald’s move comes ahead of federal government regulation that could require major chains to post nutrition information as early as next year.
Jan Fields, president of McDonald’s USA, said in a press release that the company volunteered to give out their nutrition information. “We believe it will help educate customers.”
I asked our resident dietitian, Mary Hartley, what she thinks of McDonald’s providing their nutrition information, and she said, “It’s good publicity and they (McDonalds) know it really won’t make a difference, but who knows what will happen over time. Many people have no idea of how many calories they need and so the information is meaningless.” She points to the fact that New York City has required calories posted on menus for several years and it’s done little to change buyer behavior there.
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Natural grocer Whole Foods recently decided to pull the popular SkinnyGirl cocktail line from their shelves.
Whole Foods claims that the low calorie alcohol beverages contain unnatural ingredients. Lisa DeFazio, MS, RD, and Hollywood Nutrition Expert, said that Whole Foods allegedly removed the popular beverages because they contained caramel coloring, which was not within their definition of “natural.”
According to the Whole Foods blog, natural can be quite a complicated definition.
“‘Natural,’ on the other hand, doesn’t have a strong governmental definition when it comes to food, so my team (the Quality Standards Team) spends quite a lot of time defining which ingredients make up the natural foods we sell in our stores. The basic tenets of our standard require that our products are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats,” Joe Dickson, Global Quality Standards Coordinator for Whole Foods wrote.
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For many people, snacking can be part of a healthy diet that can lead to effective weight loss. However, according to research presented at the 2011 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo, snacking, as well as beverage consumption outside of a regular meal, continues to increase among Americans, accounting for more than 25 percent of calorie intake each day.
Between 1977 and 2006, snacking in the American diet has grown to constitute “a full eating event,” or a fourth meal consisting of about 580 calories daily, according to Dr. Richard D. Mattes, Ph.D., professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University.
While overall, snacking has increased, “there has been a significant increase in the amount of calories consumed through beverages,” said Mattes. Beverages are estimated to account for 50 percent of all calories consumed through snacking.
According to Mattes, many Americans don’t equate beverage intake with calorie intake so they are less likely to count these calories or make up for the excess by cutting back elsewhere in their diets.
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A lot of people think alcohol is such a dieting disaster because of the excess calories, but it harms your weight loss efforts in a different way, too.
The majority of the population today fails to lose weight or stick to a weight management program due to the fact that they refuse to make the simple lifestyle changes necessary to do so. Everyone knows the difference between a high fat diet, full of hamburgers and french fries, and a low fat diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Everyone knows the benefits of exercise and how it can impact their lives for the better.
Another big issue today is alcohol. Alcohol is a total diet killer and completely harmful to the body. Alcoholic drinks are not only diuretics, but full of empty calories, loaded with sugar and salt, hinders performance, and can lead to severe liver diseases.
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