Key Steps to Staying Vegetarian

I've been a vegetarian for over 23 years which I did not see as an achievement until recently. Often the things we value the most or our greatest achievements are the things we just don't notice in ourselves or give ourselves credit for.

It was a friend who has been considering becoming a vegetarian to lose weight said to me, "How did you stay being a vegetarian for so long?".

Well, for me there are three aspects to any major lifestyle change:

1. Motivation
2. Persistence
3. Temptation

Motivation is really answering the reason why. This becomes very important when you later might feel weaker in your convictions.

Persistence is about sticking to your guns not matter what. Upholding that promise to yourself that you are going to follow through on what you say.

Temptation is feeling weak when you arrive at a choice point and feeling like you have little or no option other than the 'wrong' choice.

In terms of becoming and staying a vegetarian, you must be sure of your reasons. Is it for health? Weightloss? reducing cholesterol? animal welfare or the environment?

Whatever it is, remind yourself of this reason. Think about it every day. Pin images to your fridge or mirror. This will help you to remember why it was important to you in the first place.

Persistence is taking one day at a time and simply recommitting every day to this reason. If you fall off, get back on and try to go just one day further next time. It will not be easy and may take a few runs at it but realise each day is a positive step in the right direction. 

Understand you will have good days and bad and if you have fallen off yet again, 'don't throw the baby out with the bath water' and blame your goal or vegetarianism as a whole. Remember, it is not the goal that is not worth achieving, it is that you simply haven't built the capacity to achieve it yet. This takes time and practice. Be gentle on yourself because Rome wasn't built in a day!

In terms of temptation, the answer here is preparation and being realistic. The more you know your own eating patterns the better! Are you able to cook your own meals every day? Are you a snacker? Do you eat out with friends every week? Are you disorganised in your food shopping and preparation? All of this is OK. There is nothing 'wrong' or 'bad' with any of these things in terms of becoming a vegetarian. 

Simply, if you know this is how you do things then you can simple plan for it. If you are a bit disorganised with shopping and cooking then start with a new shopping list or menu plan and just give it a try. Don't overplan. Start simple and then it is easier to keep up the momentum.

Believe me, after only 4 weeks you will notice just how much of a habit it has become in your life and how good you can feel about yourself.

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Stretching Exercices-Healthy Body

Stretching has so many wonderful benefits that many people are beginning to take advantage of daily stretching exercises. Typically by setting aside about ten minutes a day you can get in enough stretching to start affecting your body in a positive way. 

The thing that many people have a hard time with is figuring out which stretching exercises are best for their body and for the results they want. Fortunately, doing any type of stretching will give you positive results. But if you want to come up with a good stretching exercise routine, you may need a little help.

There are a number of wonderful places that you can go to that will help you design a good stretching routine free of charge. The best place to begin is on the internet. There you will find more information about stretching exercises than you will ever need. You can find what you need quickly and easily. As you begin looking online research a number of different websites. 

That way you will get the perspectives of a number of people and have more variety in the types of stretching exercises. Try out each stretching exercise at least once before finalizing a stretching routine. You may find that your body has difficulty with certain stretches or that you don't feel the stretch the way you are supposed to. Often you can get good stretching tips on these websites too, like how long to hold each position and how many repetitions to do.

Also consider looking at books that focus on stretching. Some books will have pages of different stretching exercises to try with good illustrations and easy to understand steps. Make sure that you get a book that shows stretches for many different parts of the body, rather than a book that only focuses on upper body or legs.

 The biggest benefit to getting a stretching exercises book is that if you forget how to do a stretch or if you want to change up your routine, you can always glance back at the book rather than spending time searching for the information.

So remember to check out a number of sources when looking for stretching exercises and find something that has illustrations and easy to understand steps. If you find the stretches online, make note of where you found the information, so that you can go back to it whenever you need to. Also, look up safety rules on stretching so that you don't overstretch and injure yourself.

Diane Winter provides articles that gives you a lot of tips and information about the best stretching exercises for your body. Visit her website to learn more about the benefits of fitness and exercise [http://www.best-fitnesstips.com/] to get a healthy body.

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How to Practice Good Sports Nutrition

Sports nutrition is defined as the study and practice of nutrition and dieting as it relates to athletes and their performance. It is mainly concerned with the types and quantities of food and drink ingested by athletes and deals with vitamins, minerals, supplements and organic substances such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats, which are the most important macro-nutrients needed to build the ideal athletic diet.

Sports nutrition is something you'll commonly hear in strength and endurance sports like weight lifting, swimming, cycling and running because these are the sports that require athletes to strike a perfect balance in order to sustain themselves during intense workouts and competitions. Sports nutrition is a concept that has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks, who credited their Olympic victories from being able to ably combine wine, meat and bread that gives them all the nutrition they need, as well as the strength and energy to win challenging competitions.

Sports nutrition these days has come a long way from the simple bread, meat and wine regimen of the Greeks. Continuous study has proven that diet along with specialized exercise and training routines enables athletes to lead healthy and productive lifestyles and helps them prevent or manage non-chronic diseases like non-insulin dependent diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and osteoporosis to name a few.

What you eat and what you drink greatly affects your performance and how you feel during your workouts/training which is why knowing your basics on sports nutrition can not only help keep you healthy but also ensure you make the most of your exercise routine. It is known to often focus on carbohydrates, an example of which is the training routine of endurance athletes, who load up on carbohydrates days before their event to boost their performance. It is also best to complement your diet regimens with the best sports supplements as well to take care of any nutritional gaps.

Sports nutrition goes beyond what you eat because you need to consider the times when you need to eat as well as coordinating your meals, snacks and drinks helps you maximize your workout. For starters, you need to eat something every 2-4 hours to keep your blood sugar levels stable and your energy high enough to boost your metabolism. By coordinating your meals and snacks, you make sure that you are never too hungry to reach for the nearest bag of chips and will be able to train at any time during the day.

Ideally, you will need to eat a pre-exercise meal that will depend on the kind of exercises and workouts you do but generally they should be food that is easily digestible and high in complex carbohydrates like pasta, breads, salads and fruits. You can also go for a big salad that is high in protein or select a small amount of lean meat like chicken or fish.

 If you're the type who likes to train or exercise in the morning, a light snack of fruits, toast and an egg will probably be best.

On the other hand, if you would prefer to have a snack thirty minutes before you start your workout, it would be best to partake of trail mix, half a granola bar, a big banana or a few graham crackers to get your energy levels going. 

Remember though, to drink lots of water before you start working out so you can replenish the electrolytes you lose when you sweat. Make sure you keep yourself hydrated before, during and after your training and workouts to keep from being dehydrated.

To maximize your training and exercise, you need the best supplements to complement your sports nutrition efforts. Find them all at affordable prices on http://www.nutritionwarehouse.com.au and be at the top of your game every time, all the time.

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Detox and Nutrition

General health

As the Christmas season has come to an end, most are (relatively) happy to see the back of it and thinking of regaining our health in the New Year!

Our livers have been given a good run, so the first thing to do is to take some time off drinking alcohol. Processing alcohol creates numerous toxins in your system (such as Acetaldehyde) that your liver has to process. Your liver is a resilient organ and can regenerate but needs time to do so! A few other things to consider:

Whole Foods

Try to eat whole foods (naturally grown and unprocessed foods). There are several thousand chemicals that can be used in processing foods. Your liver filters out and detoxifies these chemicals. Organic whole foods (fruit, vegetables and meat) will take pressure off your liver as it will not have to filter or detoxify the food chemicals.

Exercise

Exercise increases blood flow around the body. This enables blood to more rapidly carry toxins and waste to the liver and kidneys, to then be filtered out of the body.

Through aerobic exercise, breathing increases, allowing lungs to expel more toxins from the body.

The skin is our largest organ. Waste is eliminated through the skin by sweating.

Detox Foods

There are a diverse range of foods that are good for your liver/digestive tract and for detoxing. Some are a bit more unorthodox than others such as seaweed and dandelions (which contain powerful antioxidants to cleanse the digestive tract and liver) to household items such as lemons and garlic.

A full list of detox foods are as follows:

Citrus fruits

Citrus fruits such as lemons and limes contain Vitamin C and help cleanse the liver and digestive tract. The also alkalise the body to offset the acidity of foods.

Fresh fruit

Full of vitamins, antioxidants and fibre, fruit is great for detoxing after a boozy Christmas season. Although if you are not active/exercising try to restrict your fruit intake to one piece per day, as it is high in natural sugar.

Ginger and Garlic

Ginger and Garlic are beneficial to the liver because they help it get rid of free radicals (molecules that can damage body cells) that are built up in the body.

Greens

The chlorophyll in these plant-based foods rid the body of harmful environmental toxins, as well as help the liver in detoxification. A blood cleanser and natural antibiotic, chlorophyl also reduces blood fats, thinning the blood and lowering blood pressure.

Beets

Fiber in beets help increase the production of antioxidant enzymes in the liver, which help the liver and gallbladder eliminate bile and other toxic substances from the body.

Cabbage

Cabbage is rich in antioxidant nutrients, which neutralize free-radicals. Antioxidants have been strongly linked to the protection from numerous diseases, from heart disease to regulation of the immune system.

Dandelions

Dandelions are great for detox and particularly effective for treating a build up of toxins in the liver by helping to remove waste products. It also may help reduce side effects of medication and as it can help improve bile flow & reduce inflammation.

Seaweed

Seaweed rids the body of toxins that cause a variety of health problem such as obesity, arthritis and high blood pressure. It is rich in minerals like iodine and potassium, and is also believed to boost the body's natural immune system, and improve thyroid and liver function which also helps with detoxification.

Practical advice

Personally I can't see myself cooking up seaweed and dandelion soup! But there are plenty of practical and easy ways to detox and improve your diet. Try to make these changes permanent as a temporary change to your diet will only return temporary result.

Eat whole (unprocessed) foods

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables although more vegetables than fruit

Eat at least two vegetables with your meals - one green and one coloured

Restrict your fruit intake to one piece a day if you are not active

Eat plenty of different coloured fruit and vegetables

Drink plenty of water (at least 1.5 litres per day), more if exercising regularly

Put a slice of lemon in your water

Stay off the booze for a few weeks

For references and further reading see:

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com

http://www.livestrong.com

XRWear was founded through an interest in, and knowledge of cycling, running, adventure racing, triathlon and hiking. We offer you a wide range of top quality products at competitive prices. In addition to our excellent product range, we have regularly updated blogs on Training and Nutrition, Triathlon Training and Adventure Racing to ensure you get extra value from visiting our site. Some of this is from experience and some is research. We encourage you to let us know your comments on our blogs and products.

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Health Benefits of Quinoa and Some Quick Recipe Ideas

Quinoa Nutrition

It is high in fiber and protein and low in fat. It is one the few sources of complete of protein making it a popular food for healthy vegetarians. It is full of minerals and vitamins and best of all unlike most other grains, it is completely gluten-free.

Although it is a seed, it is often referred to as a grain. It has a nutty flavor and the texture is somewhat fluffy and a little soft. It is extremely versatile making it adaptable in many recipes. A whole cup of quinoa is quick to make taking only 15 minutes. I do recommend as in other grains and seeds that you soak the quinoa overnight. By soaking grains and seeds, your body is able to digest better and efficiently.

Quinoa recipes

Basic recipe requires cooking it with two parts water and one part quinoa. Combine water and quinoa in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. You can substitute chicken or vegetable stock for water. One way to know when the quinoa is done is when all the grains have a transparent color to it. It is cooked very similar to how you cook rice. this is a basic way of cooking quinoa and from here you can create some yummy recipes.

The most common type of quinoa is beige, cream color but there are also red and black variety available. Quinoa is quite reasonable is price so I do recommend buying organic.

It can be turned into a hot breakfast cereal with cooking it as mentioned above and adding thinly sliced apples or raisins, milk or a little cream with some brown sugar.

Saute some diced carrots, garlic, green onions, celery, and sweet red pepper in a pan. Add salt, pepper, oregano, and any other of your preferred spices to taste. When the vegetables have been cooked for about 5 minutes, add the cooked quinoa. You can add some olive oil or a little bit of butter. Enjoy as a complete meal or as a side dish.

You can make a great stir fry recipe. Use Sesame oil or tea tree oil as that is a great oil to use for oriental cooking and flavor. Add oil to a pan and saute with garlic, grated ginger, green onions, snow peas, broccoli, bok choy, and any other vegetables you want to throw in there from your refrigerator. Add soy or tamari, and chilli sauce. Tamari is basically soy sauce without the gluten so I prefer to buy that over the traditional soy sauce. You can also add steamed shrimp or chicken to this. Pour over quinoa and enjoy.

You can substitute half of your all-purpose flour for quinoa flour in your baking and instantly make your baked goodies healthier. You can also use this substitution technique for making waffles, flatbreads, and even oven baked chips.

You can pretty much substitute quinoa with any other grain especially rice. Because of its high content of protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamins, it is a superfood that should be part of your diet.

Jaya Patel has a health and wellness online store. She is a blogger for all things healthy and non-toxic. She is dedicated to empowering others to achieve holistic health for them and their families through their food choices, cleaning products and personal care products. Examples of topics she writes about are home remedies for various ailments, super foods that pack the most nutritional punch, natural and alternative therapies, non-toxic and truly natural products for your home, skin and hair.

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Vegetarian Diets and Recipes

Vegetarianism is not a modern phenomenon. Indeed, as a lifestyle vegetarianism began with the Greek aesthetes and was subsequently adopted by many Romans who thought a frugal lifestyle to be beneficial to themselves and to the state.

However, through much of human history people have relied on a mainly vegetarian diet to survive. The great civilizations of central and south America also had a predominantly vegetarian diet. This actually isn't as easy as it sounds, as the human body needs to source a number of proteins from the diet. Now, one way to ensure that these proteins are gained in adequate quantities is to combine grains and beans.

This is why almost all cultures have their mix of the 'grain and bean' staple either as part of their current cuisines or as parts of their historical cuisines. In Africa, historically this was a millet pap or porridge served with a black eyed pea stew. Today it tends to be a maize-based porridge with the same beans. In Europe it was a grain-based gruel (oats, barley or wheat) with the broad (fava) beans or peas stirred into it. Asian diets had rice and dishes in which beans, if not a direct part of the meal were a condiment (soy sauce, black bean paste, yellow bean paste).

In Central and South America it was a mix of maize and beans. The interesting thing about this diet was the inclusion of chillies. Chillies both act to spice and flavour the food. However, the fresh chilli fruit are also a good source of vitamin C which is critical in a vegetarian diet as it aids in the uptake of non-haeme (ie non-blood) iron into the body.

 This may well explain why chillies spread worldwide so quickly and why they remain very important in countries and regions where meat remains, or historically was, a very small portion of the diet (Asia, the Caribbean, Africa and India).

However, you don't have to have a subsistence diet to be a vegetarian, far from it. But the rules of the subsistence diet remains in terms of eating a healthy vegetarian diet. Mix grains and beans or mushrooms to ensure you get all the necessary dietary proteins. Add nuts for proteins and essential oils and ensure you have plenty of vitamin C in the diet. Beyond these basic rules what you eat is very much limited only by your own imagination and the number of ingredients you have to hand.

Here, however, are some classic vegetarian dishes to get your started.

Chanterelle Risotto

Ingredients: 

1 small red onion, finely chopped 

1 garlic clove, finely chopped 

1 tbsp finely-chopped basil leaves 

250g chanterelle mushrooms 

90g butter 

60g freshly-grated Parmesan cheese 

180g Arborio (or other risotto) rice 

150ml white wine 

450ml vegetable stock

Method:
Add half the butter to a frying pan and use this to gently fry the onion and garlic until soft and golden. Now add the basil and chanterelles and cook for a few minutes before adding the rice. Fry to coat the rice grains in the butter and continue cooking for 4 minutes before adding the wine and half the stock.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cover and allow to continue cooking. Check every now and then, topping-up the liquid when the risotto becomes too dry. Continue cooking until the rice is creamy and just al dente (about 30 minutes). Add the remainder of the butter and the parmesan cheese at this point.

Cook for a few more minutes, stirring all the while then serve with crusty ciabatta and a green salad.

Chickpea and Lentil Stew

Ingredients: 

4 tbsp olive oil 

2 onions, chopped 

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

60g coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped 

140g lentils, soaked over night and drained 

450g cooked chickpeas 

4 tomatoes, chopped 

1 tsp ground cumin 

1/2 tsp dried thyme, chopped 

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 

1/4 tsp harissa 

750ml water 

60g green olives, sliced 

2 tbsp lemon juice 

salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan and use to fry the onions for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and coriander and fry for 3 more minutes. Now stir-in all the remaining ingredients (except the olives and lemon juice). Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 35 minutes, or until the lentils are tender (add more water, as necessary).

Season to taste with salt and black pepper then add the olives and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes more then serve on a bed of couscous.

Dyfed Lloyd Evans is the creator of the Celtnet free recipes site where you will find hundreds of traditional and modern vegetarian recipes as well as a wide range of recipes with wild ingredients, many of which are vegetarian in nature.

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Weight Loss Nutrition Plan - Your Complete Guide To Finding Your 6-Pack

You want to find your 6-pack, and you've got a workout plan, so what do you eat? Am I eating enough? I'm not losing weight, why? Those questions, by far the most asked on the message boards. I'm going to give you the straight skinny on research I've done, what I feel works, doesn't work etc.

What You Stuff In Your Face Will 100% Impact Your Results

First, it's not a "Diet Plan", if you want a crash diet, it's not going to work long term. Really what most of us need to do is adjust our thinking on food and nutrition. In the world today it's been way to easy to sacrifice nutrition for convenience That's how I got fat, I'm lazy when it comes to cooking for myself. I'm a single guy, and making an ornate meal is about the lowest thing on my agenda, just above cutting the grass or shoveling snow. I just like to eat, and if someone else wants to make the food I stuff in my pie hole that's even better.

So what will it take to get your 6 Pack? Well I'm going to be honest, it's going to take dedication like no other. You need to be sub 10% body fat for a guy or sub 15% for a female. The food you stuff in your face is one of the few things you control in your life. Double Bacon Cheeseburger, or Extra Lean Turkey Tacos? You decide, and the path you chose will have consequences, and that is either carrying around a keg, or a 6-pack.

MATH. It's Not Just For School - Your "Food Budget"

Losing weight, in it's simplest form is easy math. Calories Eaten - Calories Your Body Needs To Live - Calories Exerted On Other Activities = Weight Loss/Gain. To lose weight you need to be in what is known as a Calorie Reduced State, a negative number.

To lose 1lb weight, you need that equation to = -3500/week. Or roughly 500/day. So how the heck do you figure that out? Well there are a number of studies and formulas, but the one I use is this:

Calories Your Body Needs To Live (aka you Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR):

Men: 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)

Women: 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)

So lets use me as an example, 213lbs when I started, I'm 5'11 and I'm 34 years old... a quick Google calculator conversion to get from Imperial to Metric gives me this: 66 + (13.7 x 96.61) + (5 x 180.34) - (6.8 x 34) = 2,522.46 calories just to breath, and sleep.

Then we need to figure out what does life take to live, so there are some other generally accepted numbers:

1.0 Sedentary - you do nothing but sleep and veg out on the couch

1.2 Very light activity - nothing too physical, you work an office job,

1.4 Light activity - office job but a lot of walking, but no real "working out"

1.6 Moderate activity - your job requires physical labor, maybe an occasional workout

1.8 High activity - you are training a lot, running regularly, lifting etc.

2.0 Extreme activity - very physical job, plus working your butt off on the off hours.

The way I use this is NOT to factor in any working out (we'll get to the why later). So for me, I'm a 1.2, I'm a computer nerd by trade sitting in cube world so:

2,522.46 * 1.2 = 3,026.95 calories just to maintain my weight doing what I do all day or 21,188.65 calories a week. So now that we have that, lets subtract 20% to get some weight loss going. 3,026.95 * 0.8 = 2,421.56.

If you look at those numbers, reducing my caloric intake everyday by 20% will come out to a 605.39/day or 4,237.73/week deficit. Since 1lb = 3500 calories, just doing this will be a 1.21lb/week loss.

Let's take that a bit further, I want to lose on average 2lbs (a generally acceptable weight loss for someone overweight), that means I need to consume 7,000 calories less in a week or 1,000/day. So, if we take my BMR - 1,000 calories, we're down to 2,026.95 calories a day is my food budget. That is the number of calories I need to eat, each day to keep my body running, but still losing weight. AND THAT IS WITHOUT WORKING OUT. Even if you're not exercising this will work, I've done it in the past, I know it works. What that DOES NOT MEAN, is to limit yourself to 1,000 calories and lose 10lbs a week, your body doesn't work that way, it's smarter than that and there's more on that below.

How Does My Workout Plan Figure In?

So any workout plan, be it P90X (which I currently use), Insanity, training in the gym, the boring treadmill, is going to burn extra calories, just think of it as a bonus. Everyone will burn a different amount of calories depending on size, exercise, length of workout etc. If you want to know, strap a HR monitor on yourself and it'll tell you what it thinks you burned based on the metrics above (height, age, weight), but that can be inaccurate. I've done the HR monitor, and a number I'm comfortable with is 400 calories/workout on average when I do P90x for example. Sometimes way more, sometimes less, it all depends how I'm feeling, how much I put into it etc, but for the sake of a constant # I use 400.

Sooooo, where does that get us?

2026.95 calories - 400 = 1626.95 calories a day is what's left over for my body to use to sleep. Back to the top, we can easily figure out that 1626.95 - 3026.95 = -1400/day * 7 days = 9800 calories "saved" a week. Then we take what we saved, 9800 I either didn't eat or burned working out and divide it 3500 and I'm at 2.8lb/per week loss. THIS IS MY AVERAGE Loss this round so far, by eating about 2,000 calories a day. Math is math.

All Food Is Not Created Equally

Running hard for 20 on a treadmill will burn somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 calories. What is 200 calories?

two pieces of whole wheat bread - nothing on them.

or 29 almonds

or a doughnut

or less than two 8oz glasses of apple juice

or not quite a pint of Guinness

or 1.5 cans of soda

or two cans of energy drink

So, what would you rather do, run your butt off for 20 minutes, or eat/drink one of those things? The thing to remember is your body is not a computer or calculator. How your body handles nutrients is different based on the nutrients you're consuming. While eating less calories than you need will indeed help you lose weight, you should be conscious of what that food you're stuffing in your face contains. Try and eat lean proteins. Eat GOOD carbs, you know, ones that grow from the earth, not put together in a factory and have a bunch of junk added in as fillers and other junk. Get your fats from good places like nuts, seeds, avocados.

The way I usually eat is on the 50/30/20 plan. 50% of my calories are from lean Protein sources, 30% from Carbs, and 20% from fat. This works for me all the way through the workout program I use and I see great results. I'd recommend this at least through the first 30 days and then listen to your body. Different nutrients make you feel different ways. This particular breakdown, while being in a big deficit tends to make me feel hungry at times once I hit week 3 and 4, at which point I tell my brain and stomach to be quiet and drink some water. I also am intaking calories every 3-3.5 hours the entire time I'm awake (5am-9 or 10pm). The major meals have more calories than the in between "snack" times.

So how do you track all this? First, you buy all your own food, and limit going out to eat as much as possible. Second, you need to track your caloric intake, which is WAY easier than you might think. I use a website called MyFitnessPal.com. It's a free site, has a great free application for your phone, and a huge user supported and verified database of just about anything you want to eat, easily searchable by brand and what it's called on the bag (including a lot of restaurants). It sounds daunting, but once you do it a few times, it just becomes second nature. The key is to find a variety of foods that you can put together and hit your needs. The third thing you need to buy is a cheap food scale, I personally use the Taylor Precision 37204014T, it's $4.50. Then you measure out every portion you put into every meal, it takes 2 seconds. You can even create custom "Meals" on MyFitnessPal based on ingredients you're using, so it's easy to recall it later to track.

So I Should Just Really Stop Eating And I'll Lose All The Weight Right?

WRONG! Your body is a smart machine, and it adapts. I can't constantly keep eating 1,900 calories and keep that weight loss up. Some people call it "Starvation Mode", call it what you will, but your body adjusts your metabolism in an effort to keep you healthy and protect itself. After the first 30 days, I take my weight, and refigure things. I also INCREASE my caloric intake. The reasoning is because your muscles will actually burn more fat while sleeping, sitting, working out than the tubs of lard you just spent 30 days burning off. Remember, you want your body going after the fat stores, not the lean muscle mass you're working on toning and building. Your body needs more to keep the furnace pumping. If you've hit a plateau with your weight loss, my first reaction is Eat MORE! I typically will bump up my intake by 400-500 calories after the first month, and believe me, it works, there are plenty of resources and forum posts discussing this.

Anyway, that's my "quick" lesson on nutrition, this should set you in the right direction. If you have any questions at all, PLEASE get a hold of me on my website!

Learn what to eat to make the most of your weight loss journey!
http://www.pbjfitness.com

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How Vegetarian Diets Can Help You Lose Weight

Trendy meal plans are frequently taken on in order to drop some weight however in recent years no-meat diets are actually increasing in attractiveness because of their noted effectiveness along with the rewards they offer for the dieter. Even though eliminating almost all based goods within your diet regime could be difficult, the extensive benefits significantly overcome any downsides. Starting every weight loss plan calls for a robust self-control in order to adhere to and a vegan diet regime will likely be no exception.
 For most people, any vegetarian diet might actually come to be simpler in order to comply with when compared with regular meal plans because they don't really currently have predetermined personal preferences for foods that they like.

Vegan practitioners get a lot of choice in what precisely they eat and should not feel trapped. Because tofu absorbs tastes so effectively it can generally be used as an awesome meat replacement without giving up any quality. Vegan practitioners can easily take pleasure in pretty much unlimited portions of nutritious foods such as whole grains, vegetables and fruit while still being able to readily shed extra pounds.
Vegan diet plans won't leave you constantly being starving such as various other diet plans. The significant benefit of this is that it increases your current probability of exceeding your weight loss target.

A lot of weight loss diet plans have a far lower success rate than a straightforward change over to a vegan diet program. People on standard diet programs often experience food cravings, diet-related depression and weakness due to a reduction in the normal intake of food that makes good results tough. Because dieters can eat normally on a vegan weight loss plan they do not put up with most of these ill effects. Since you will get stuffed on whatever plant-based food, you are able to set about your typical routines feeling powerful and empowered.

 On any diet plan you want a steady supply of nourishment to enable your whole body to function properly but vegetarian eating habits make this straightforward. A number of meal plans give the dieter the capability to drop a remarkable number of pounds in an exceedingly small amount of time. Sadly most of these weight loss plans are really detrimental and cause a great deal of problems for the dieter. On these diets, many people usually feel very unhealthy for most of the time and end up giving up the diet plan in spite of the results.
Regaining the lost weight in addition to a few supplemental pounds is a really common side effect of such eating plans.

Naturally, nobody desires these outcomes but they are not really abnormal and it doesn't appear to impact the attractiveness of the lousy meal plans. Thankfully, a vegan food plan can be a genuinely good diet that will result in maintainable fat loss instead of the common weight loss yo-yo. Beginning a vegetarian weight loss plan may very well be a life changing decision and you could actually notice that you do not hunger for animal products after some time. You'll rapidly adjust to a vegan eating routine once you notice how much healthier you feel even though the hard adjustment might not make this appear likely.
Becoming a lifelong vegan is just the trick of feeling great and healthy on daily basis.

Losing weight from a vegan healthy eating plan is really amongst the best choices in the area of dieting. Vegetarianism is a healthier long term alternative than gimmick weight loss plans though the results might take additional time to achieve. Scientific studies have demonstrated that obesity is not regarded as a common concern amongst people that follow a vegetarian weight loss plan.
The chance for acquiring life threatening medical conditions which include high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease are shown to be reduced through a vegetarian healthy eating plan.
Therefore, should you be trying to find a safe weight loss routine that will provide extensive health benefits, you should give veganism a try.

Stacey Davis has been a vegan since 2005 and is one of the foremost experts on veganism. She enjoys educating people about vegetarian diets and their positive lifestyle benefits. Learn more about Veganism For Weight Loss [http://vegetarianlifechange.com/veganism-for-weight-loss-great-diet-wrong-reason/]

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The Nutrition Weight Loss Secret - The Thermogenic Effect of Food

Thermogenesis, or the "Thermogenic Effect", is the heat-producing effect of calories consumed from food. In other words, when your body digests the food that you eat, it produces heat in the body that temporarily increases your metabolism. In fact, it is this heat produced that facilitates the very digestion of that food, and in turn, provides you the greatest degree of nutrition weight loss and other health benefits per quantity of food eaten.

A calorie is actually a measurement of a unit of heat. And heat is a measurement of energy. Digesting food and properly absorbing it for nutrition weight loss and general health requires energy, which requires heat, which is measured in calories.

But not all calories are built alike.

Some calories are more available to the body for easy digestion through the production of heat than others. By the same token, some calories require more energy to digest than others.

An Easy Example: Chew Your Food!

For a familiar example, the more your chew your food, converting it from a solid mass into a more liquefied mush, the more available those calories become and thus the easier they are to convert to heat (or energy) for easy digestion. Who hasn't had the experience of inadequately chewing their food, only to later suffer bloating and/or indigestion?

Which Calories Are More Thermogenically Available Than Others?

The easiest macronutrient for reaping the most nutrition weight loss and other health benefits for the least amount of food eaten is protein. An average of 27% of the calories consumed as protein are converted to heat to be utilized in the digestion of that protein.

Meanwhile, 7% of the calories consumed in the form of carbohydrates are converted into heat energy for use in the metabolic processes of digestion and absorption. That means not as much energy is produced by eating carbohydrates as by proteins, and therefore it requires the body draw on various other energy sources (like exercise) to get the job done, or else it won't get done at all.

Keep that in mind as we look at the last-and worst-macronutrient in terms of thermogenesis, and that is fats, which only convert 3% of their calories into energy for use in digestion and absorption. That means a body must find 97% of the energy it uses to digest and absorb those fats from other sources. And what happens if it doesn't?

Why is Knowledge of the Thermogenic Effect Important For Nutrition Weight Loss and General Health?

The answer to this question is simple. Because what do you think happens to those other calories not used in the thermogenic process (in other words: not converted to heat for use as metabolic energy)? Some of it gets digested-yes-its nutrients absorbed into the bloodstream.

But the rest is either eliminated as waste (leading the body to crave more food to meet its nutritional needs) or stored as fat. Either way, this contributes to all that unwanted weight gain. The more calories not used in the thermogenic effect, the likelier that some of the remaining calories in that food-whatever it is-will show up on your belly, thighs, hips, cheeks, or wherever it is that your body typically and most easily puts on weight.

It's About More Than Macronutrients - Thermogenesis is Also About Eating Patterns

The more food your body takes in at once, the harder it is to convert any part of that food into heat for digestion and absorption. So the more you eat at once the harder it is to produce and sustain an appropriate metabolic rate for proper nutrition weight loss and general health. That's why it is always recommended that you eat several smaller meals throughout the day rather just one or two large meals. In this way, you can actually eat more and still wind up weighing less!

Download your free copy of the "Experts Guide to Understanding Weight Loss" using the below link right now and get started losing weight naturally and healthily right away.

Dr. William Berkowitz has been in the natural health field for more than 23 years. His focus is on maximizing health and vitality through natural means. One of his passions is Diet and Nutrition and its application to Weight Loss. Frustrated by the confusion in the Weight Loss marketplace, through his research he developed a Weight Loss program founded on the Laws of Human Physiology. He has also developed a companion Exercise Program that turns up the metabolism in just minutes a day. Click on this link to download your FREE copy of the "Experts Guide to Weight Loss - 7 Keys to Weight Loss" [http://RapidNaturalWeightLoss.com/]

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Healthy Recipes for Weight Loss

So do healthy recipes for weight loss really exist? And if so, do they work?

Well, yes and yes.

Healthy recipes mean a nutritious balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat. It's not about banning whole food groups or eating nothing more than lettuce. The weight loss part comes in because the healthy dish should have less fat/sugar/calories than the regular version. And to achieve weight loss we have to give our bodies a bit less fuel so that they can use up some of our battery power (that's our stored fat).

The easiest way to ensure a recipe is healthy is to cook it at home. That way we can see what goes into it - and after all, we really are what we eat! Even non-cooks can put a jacket potato in the oven, or assemble a fruit salad. A good way to eat more healthily is to put as many colours into a meal as possible - red tomatoes, green peppers, yellow eggs, orange carrots, purple aubergines, brown mushrooms, and so on. Variety should be the spice of life...

We can still eat the meals we enjoy, with a few healthy tweaks. Even the British take-away staple of fish and chips can get a slim line makeover. Instead of deep-fried battered fish, sprinkle chopped herbs and breadcrumbs over fish fillets and oven bake. Cut potatoes into wedges (skin on), plunge into boiling water and drain, then mix with a few drops of oil and some paprika and bake on a non-stick tray. Accompany with chopped chives stirred through plain yoghurt instead of fat-laden tartare sauce.

Any recipe that uses minced meat can be made with less fat if the meat is drained after dry frying. Also try replacing one quarter of the meat with cooked red or green lentils.

And a good non-stick wok or frying pan can be used for all kinds of frying with only a few drops of oil rather than lots of fat. Just add a splash of hot water if things start to stick.

As TV chefs are so fond of reminding us the success of a recipe is in the seasoning and taste of a finished dish. Unlike them, we don't have to load our recipes with salt and butter and cream to get wonderful flavours. We can let our culinary friends be herbs, spices, chillies, citrus fruits and yoghurt. Remember that dairy foods will tend to 'deaden' the flavour while lemon juice will pep it up.

Working out healthy recipes for weight loss isn't rocket science, it just means reducing the fat and sugar content of regular recipes. Of course eating fresh seasonal ingredients helps too, as they will be at their most nutritious. Don't be afraid to try something new - it's only food after all.

© Eleanor Knowles 2012

Find out more about healthy recipes and weight loss at http://EatLeanNotMean.com Keeping the excess pounds at bay can be done without 'going on a diet'. I know because I NEVER diet and love eating, but still fit into clothes I've had for more than 20 years. Though what that says about my fashion sense I dread to think...

For a bit more information, check out my blog posts at http://www.eatleannotmean.com/Blog/ AND you could also get a FREE book full of healthy superfood ideas and delicious (but not too sinful) recipes. This offer is only for a limited time, so hurry! Remember, happy and healthy eating is just a crunch away. Enjoy!

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Tips to Become a Healthy Vegetarian

As more and more people start being aware of their quality of food goes into their body, the lifestyle of vegetarian is getting more attention than ever before.

What is a vegetarian?

Generally speaking, a vegetarian is a person who chose not to eat any sorts of meat, including beef, chicken, pork, or fish. However, there are many different kinds of vegetarians with different philosophies.

• Flexitarian - like a vegetarian beginner that occasionally eats meat.
• Pesci - eats daily products, eggs and fish but no other meat and poultry
• Lacto-ovo Vegetarian - No meat, but eats dairy products and eggs
• (Lacto means dairy, Ovo means eggs)
• Lacto Vegetarian - No meat, no eggs, but consumes Lacto (dairy products)
• Ovo Vegetarian - No meat, no dairy, but eats Ovo (eggs)
• Vegan -The ultimate vegetarian (I think). They don't intake any animal products including meat, dairy, eggs, gelatin nor honey.

Benefits of Being a Vegetarian

Being a vegetarian requires disciplines since we are surrounded by animal products in our food sources. But, many choose to become a vegetarian based on their commitment to their...

• Improve Overall Health
• Environmental Concern
• Natural Approach to Wellness
• Food-safety Concern
• Animal Welfare
• Weight Loss/ Weight Management

Whatever their reasons may be, it is noted that people who are plant based diet do not suffer from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity as much as meat eaters who tends to eats less fiber and too much saturated fat. Animal products contains high volume of salt, chemicals, hormone which can causes the blood to retain water and can cause plaque to build up in an arteries. So, lifestyle of vegetarian seems to be much more healthy than our modern diet..

BUT, Here Are 3 Major Challenges in Vegetarian Diet

1. Junk-Food-Eater-Vegetarians

Some vegetarians have health problems just like any others including obesity because they consume too much junk food, like soda pop, cookies, chips, French fries, too much candy bars, etc. Technically, they are not animal products, but they are nutritionally empty bulk food, high fat food that are not healthy for anyone. Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health says "the healthiest vegetarian diet will have a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes."

2. Lack of Protein

We need protein for our body growth, maintenance and repair our cells. Most of protein source in our food are meat, eggs, fish, dairy produce etc that are not part of vegetarian diet. But, there are many other plant based protein, such as peanut butter, tofu, almonds, beans, potato, spinach. So, just make sure there is enough protein in your diet.

3. Lack of Nutrition in our vegetables and fruits

Eating fresh fruits and vegetables itself cannot provide you nutrition necessary for your body to be nurtured any more. Nutrient content of our vegetables and fruits have greatly diminished last five decades because of mineral depletion of the soils, mass production of food, genetically modified food...For example, you only needed 2 peaches to supply woman's required vitamin A in 1951. Today, we need to eat 53 peaches to meet the same requirements. It means drinking kale smoothie is not enough! I don't think anyone can possibly have time and money to eat all produces necessary for our body to flourish. So, REAL supplementation is necessary to stay well.

Conclusion

Non-meat eating diet does not promise you to stay healthy. But, overall, living as a vegetarian can be healthy for you if you choose to stay proper vegetarian standard of consuming a lot of fresh vegetables, fruits, fibers, nuts, and protein with proper supplementation. And, remember to be moderation in all things.

The choice is yours.

Always Be In Harmony

Kazumi

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Good Nutrition: Benefits of Optimum Nutrition

Nourishment of your body is known as nutrition. Nutritious diet is required to maintain overall health of your body. Your diet should be a balanced one which contains vegetables, fruits and poultry. The benefits of optimum nutrition are numerous. Nutritious and healthy diet gives energy to function throughout the day and promotes sleep. Let's take a look at the various benefits of good nutrition.

Why you should have Nutritious Diet

Good diet is required to perform your daily activities - Carbohydrates, Fats and proteins are some of the nutrients that provide energy to your body. However, the body also needs vitamins and minerals to use as well as convert the energy. When you diet does not contain the required vitamins and minerals it can lead to serious health issues.

Nutritious diet ensures growth and tissue repair - Optimum nutrition helps in growth during your childhood, healing and maintaining muscle mass in case of injury. To build muscles you surely need protein. This can be obtained from legumes, beans, eggs, milk and meat.

Nutrients are required by the body cells - To synchronize the functioning of all the vital organs, you need to consume a nutritious diet at least once in a day. Though many nutrients are produced by the body, there are many more nutrients that have to be got from the food we consume. Without the essential nutrients, the cells of your body cannot simply function.

Balanced diet prevents lifestyle diseases - Many health issues that arise due to your lifestyle such as diabetes, blood pressure, obesity and overweight can be combated with the help of balanced nutritious diet. Avoid saturated fats and sugar. Consume many helpings of green leafy vegetables. Phyto-chemicals fight the free radicals in the blood stream and prevent terminal diseases such as cancer.

Strengthens your bones and teeth - A balanced diet rich in calcium during the growing years is a must if the child needs a set of healthy teeth and strong bones. As an adult you can control the intake of sugary junk and soft drinks. However, you can snack on nuts, cheese and plenty of vegetables.

Along with good sleep you also need highly nutritious food for good mental health - Including food items such as fruit and vegetables, lean meat, poultry and diary, unprocessed cereals and grains can keep depression and mood swings at bay. Consumption of sea food especially the fish that is rich in omega-3 acid can even prevent Alzheimers and improve your concentration.

Summary

Optimum nutrition is essential to keep you mentally and physically fit. Therefore your diet must be a balanced one that contains proteins, carbohydrates and fats. If you are planning to reduce your weight, then it is mandatory that you follow a good nutritious diet.

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Weight Loss Secrets: Diet, Nutrition, and Healthy Living

Weight loss secrets that consist of nutrition and diet product has helped many people nurture a healthier and better lifestyle by supplying essential minerals and vitamins in the diet. Nutrition and diet is substantial for everyone, especially for runners, or for those who work hard. If you're on a diet, or you're sick, or you regularly eat fast food, you have to really pay attention to what you and your family get from the food, whether it meets the standard diet and proper nutrition for your body or not.

Nutritious diet is important for everyone because these foods provide the nutrients the body needs to stay healthy, grow, and work well. In 2005, the dietary guidelines for US citizens, introduced something called "nutrient density," a term that sounds complex but simply refers to how many nutrients are contained by a food. Nutrient density is absolutely important, especially when nutrition and health has become primary consideration.

Experts believe that the nutrients can help avoid heart attack, fight some cancers, and even slow the aging process in particular ways. And if you're like most of us, did not get enough to eat unhealthy foods, you may be trying to trick your body by providing nutritional supplements to make up for the guilt of not paying attention to your diet.

Even the best weight loss secrets will give better results when coupled with regular exercise and proper nutrition, because when people consume a healthy diet and do some exercise, they will feel better, have so more energy and more immune to health issues. Health and nutrition products can help to ensure the proper level of nutrition to be given to your body so that your body remains healthy.

Nutritious snacks can be very important to your overall health and nutrition. When you eat snack, you can fill in nutritional gaps, if you increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. 
This will help you keep your mood stable, and helps suppress appetite and control weight. However, too much snacking can also be a bad thing as well, and can definitely contribute to adding some excess weight to your body. If you're searching for a major culprit in US's obesity epidemic, the majority of nutritionists will tell you to stick a poster on a wall: a picture of glass of cold, bubbly soda pop.

Good nutrition is one way to improve the body for health. As you can see, the habits of good nutritional and adequate caloric intake are very important. However, it is expected to also keep the intake at least some dairy products because they represent a lot of good sources of nutrients, such as calcium and protein. And good nutrition is synonymous with good health.

In the end, it all comes back to each of us to learn all that we can learn about these weight loss secrets, and then apply that knowledge for the good of our lives. Nutrition puts us on the path to good health, and good health is something we all want to live and be happy. 

For a more detailed information, diet, nutrition, and healthy living plans, motivation and specific weight loss secrets, please visit http://www.weightlosssecrets90.com/

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