Daily Diet Blog

August 31, 2007

Spices May Be Good for Diets

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 5:39 am

I had always heard that adding lots of spice to your foods, that is, spices with flavor but not with a lot of sodium in them, such as jalapeno or other hotter spices, can rev up your metabolism, and I did think it made a little sense, if not it was a little overly simplistic.  Now, research is proving that adding spice to your diet can not only boost your metabolism as well as curb your hunger naturally and work as a natural appetite suppressant, but it can also boost your mental capacity and incline you more toward a healthier, less caloric and more diverse diet that is more likely to leave you thin and happy, not heavy and sad. 

Researchers found that women who added hot pepper to their meals and added things like hot sauce to eggs in the morning, at less than those that ate foods with little spice on them.  On a personal note, I notice that when I add spiciness to my food, my natural appetite suppressants kick in, and for some reason, I do eat a heck of a lot less than I would have without that spice on my foods.  I’m not sure if it’s because of the extra flavor, your appetite shuts off sooner and is more satiated more quickly, or because the hotness of the spice causes the stomach itself to feel fuller simply because it is a hot, and feels like it is taking up more room, so to speak. 

There are also a few Indian spices that are said to have excellent anti inflammatory properties, and are also rumored to be beneficial in cancer prevention of several sorts.  I really love to spice up my meals with a little curry powder, cumin and other Indian spices.  They really add a unique flavor to your meals and also they do tend to make you feel fuller longer when adding them to meals such as brown rice based meals, or different types of low fat white meats that tend to, in themselves, not be very fulfilling. 

It’s true what they say, the variety is the spice of life.  Or am I trying to say the opposite?  Boy, I need to go to bed, gettin’ tired! 

 

August 27, 2007

Eating Habits Originate Pre-birth?

Filed under: Health News — EatingToLive @ 5:43 pm

I read an interesting story the other day about how many scientists now believe that mothers who binge on sweets and salty, high fat snacks while pregnant may in fact be hurting their fetus more than they know by instilling these types of eating habits and cravings on the little person while they’re still in the womb.  Interesting, because my mom and I laugh about how I somehoe love processed American cheese, and she practically lived on Velveeta cheese loaf when she was pregnant with me.  So, by that example, I could totally see how this premise could hold true.

Researchers are saying that expectant moms who indulge in tons of junk and snack foods and high calorie content foods as well as high calorie diets while pregnant (hint : the phrase “eating for two” is not true), may be increasing their unborn child’s chances of becoming overweight or struggling with their weight througout their life by providing a basis for unhealthy eating and a tendency to crave these types of comfort foods since this is what they were used to while in the womb.

Going a step further, this can happen not only while the baby is still in the mother’s womb, but also when she is breastfeeding, she may want to be careful not to over do it on the junk food all the time, as this still may affect the child’s eating and appetite tendencies for junk foods and fatty snacks when they are of age to make their own choices, so moms also need to be conscious of their health and food choices while breast feeding as well.

Eating healthy, meaning fruits and veggies, whole grains and lean proteins, and not over eating, may help a child to develop a naturally more suppressed appetite than, say, a child who has been raised on too many calories and all the wrong types of food while in the womb and being breast fed.  I guess the lesson here, is what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, or what’s good for the mom is good for the baby.  Mom’s just may want to watch they don’t over eat when nursing or pregnant, and also to eat good foods, so the baby has a chance at having a healthy appetite control as well as healthy inclinations toward food choices in their future. 

 

August 24, 2007

Does the Proactol Weight Loss Pill Provide Additional Benefits?

Filed under: Herbal Supplements — EatingToLive @ 9:54 am

I wrote a while ago about a product that, at the time, was just busting onto the weight loss scene called Proactol, and I just did a little follow up research on the pill that doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription but still is supposed to provide some impressive results, and found that some customers are supposedly saying that taking the Proactol diet pill product, they are also experiencing some other pleasant side effects, aside from weight loss.

What are they?  Well, they said joint stiffness improved.  I’m not sure why this would be.  Perhaps the Proactol product contains some sort of herbs or natural ingredients with anti inflammatory properties, would be my best educated guess, but again, I’m no chemist or herbalist, but that would be my guess. 

My second best educated guess would be, that since people have also reported less pain, as well as decreased appetite, that maybe somehow this Proactol diet pill increases pleasure sensors like endorphins or seratonin, since when we experience increases in these powerful hormones, we tend to eat less naturally because we feel “fulfilled” in other areas of our life.  Again, this is just my best educated guess, as I cannot say the actual science behind the Proactol product works this way or not. 

Proactol is supposed to do a couple of things when it comes to weight loss, including binding up to almost 30% of the fat that you take in.  Sounds a bit like Alli, but this diet pill also provides appetite suppression, which in my opinion is superior to Alli, since Alli is strictly a fat binder and has some notorious unpleasant side effects because of the fact that it is a fat binder (if you eat too much fat, you can end up with cramping and diarrhea, and it’s recommended that users of Alli stay in for the first few days they try the diet product because of this potential side effect). 

Proactol is also reporting that some of its users experience a dip in their cholesterol (a good thing, but this of course logically could just be related to the fact that you are supposed to be losing weight, which most times will help to lower cholesterol).  Another one was improved concentration.  My only guess on that one would be about the same as the one for less pain and achiness in joints.  For a complete review of this product see Proactol reviews .

August 21, 2007

Calorie Needs Change

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 8:41 pm

I read an interesting article recently on one of my favorite news websites, MSNBC.com, about how calorie needs change as people change, age and evolve.  Remember the days the good ol’ 2000 calorie rule was the rule of thumb for a calorie allowance to not go over, and for some it seemed like it was too much?  Well, that same 2000 calorie rule definitely doesn’t apply for everyone. 

Think of how many variables there are between individuals, and you will see the answer.  People vary in metabolism, height, build, physical activity levels, and so many other factors that it is no longer appropriate to assign a calorie allowance to everyone.  It’s simply not practical or relevant any more. 

But how are we supposed to know what our individual calorie needs are for dailly consumption?  I mean, I know when I feel as though I’ve eaten too much or too little, but I certainly don’t sit there and count calories.  I don’t have the time or the patience to do that, and I doubt that anyone else does either.  Most Americans, in fact, when surveyed on this same subject had no clue what their average calorie consumption was in a given day.  So, I’m not alone and neither are you.  We’re all pretty clueless!

Factors that decipher what your caloric intake should be as set forth by physicians and a panel put together to determine this kind of stuff say that exercise levels make a difference, gender, age, height, and your personal metabolism as well.  But how do we know what our metabolism is like?  I mean, I can venture a rough guess that mine’s middle of the road, as in not too fast where I burn all my calories off in no time, but I also do not gain weight easily. 

Nor do I lose it easily when I’m watching what I eat any more (age be damned!).  I would have no clue if someone asked me, what my metabolism was like.  I’d say it used to be fast when I was younger, but now it’s just average.  But I don’t really “know” what it is.  Oh, and age does matter too.  They say, on average, you should subtract about 200 calories per day from your daily allowance of calories.  This accounts for the slowing of the metabolism as well as naturally declining activity levels that we usually see as we progress in age. 

Also though, our appetites are naturally more suppressed as we age, so thankfully we have one thing in our corner as we age!  It’s just that some people don’t psychologically cut down their appetites according to their natural appetite suppression, so although their appetites should have slowed down, they still are so used to mentally consuming that amount, they continue to eat the same way, and still put weight on. 

August 19, 2007

Carb Blocker Supplements Efficiency

Filed under: Dietary Supplements — EatingToLive @ 6:06 pm

It used to be that carb blockers were somewhat of a joke.  The ones that you saw on the shelves in the local drug store did sell quickly at first since carb blocking was a somewhat novel idea at that point, but it quickly became apparent that using these blockers really did nothing but block you up, literally. 

I tried one of them, and I was not able to go to the bathroom for a few days, and I’m usually regular and go every single morning after I eat breakfast. It seemed that whatever material they used that they said worked as a carb or fat blocker, expanded too much in the stomach, and actually created almost a sort of intestinal blockage, and that’s why I was having problems. 

Needless to say, I discontinued their use and hoped they might be more perfected one day.  Well, the Dietrine carb blocker that we talk about here How Carb Blockers Work, actually contains a patented ingredient that does really help to absorb excess carb intake, without making you irregular. So, basically it does allow for those extra carbs that you feel guilty about be absorbed and harmlessly flushed away.

August 18, 2007

Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines Might Be Revised

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 1:38 pm

Not long ago, and today in fact, many women joke that getting pregnant gives them a free pass to eat whatever they want and exercise minimally, since they’re gonna gain all that water and baby weight anyways. I was not immune to joking about this on several occasions either. In fact, just the other day I was joking with a pregnant, far along friend of mine and said I should get pregnant so I can go nuts and eat bad stuff and be lazy with my workouts.

I mean, after all, you’re still going to have to get back into shape after you have the baby anyways, so why not have a little fun while you can, right? Well, doctors are saying a big WRONG to this, and many have been pushing to revise what they say are outdated pregnancy weight gain guidelines that do not take into consideration the burgeoning waistlines of Americans.

Currently, most women are told that they should not gain more or less than about 35 pounds with each pregnancy, but the new guidelines want to be guided by a woman’s BMI, or Body Mass Index, rather than making a general blanket statement to all women when in fact 35 pounds may be too much for someone who is obese or heavy and too little for someone who is too thin to begin with (think Nicole Ritchie thin).

The general rule of thumb here, is that during pregnancy, you should take in no more than about 300 extra calories from what you consume per day than you do normally, when you are not pregnant. This is a far cry from what many women were doing, some consuming a thousand or more extra per day, thinking it didn’t matter because they’d have to lose the weight afterwards anyways.

Doctors have even cited the outdated pregnancy weight gain guidelines for the increasing obesity issues today, because many women do have great difficulty in shedding such high volumes of weight after they have had their children.

August 15, 2007

Are Diet Foods Making You Fat?

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 6:19 pm

You know, there have been stories about how diet foods, and especially sugar substitutes may actually be making people fat without them knowing it.  You see, “diet foods” as they are termed, which are foods that are reduced fat, reduced sugar and essentially reduced in calories on purpose, many times contain substitute ingredients that can actually do more harm than good when it comes to losing weight or even maintaining a healthy weight without spiralling out of control and into obesity as many Americans have done today.

Not only that, it is said that eating diet foods causes a sort of backwards thought process in those that do it.  I’ve even experienced this before, when the whole low fat craze was all the rage in weight loss and everyone thought that as long as everything you ate was fat free, you were golden and you wouldn’t gain a pound and this would supplement your health and fitness fat loss regimen with a good tasting snack that was guilt free. 

They forgot to mention that since there was no flavor from the fat being removed, they substituted it with extra sugar and extra salt.  Or remember that fat substitute which ended up being a digestive system nightmare, Olean?  It caused virtual nonstop bathroom sessions in most who ate it, especially those that over-ate it thinking it had no fat, so why not? 

People do tend to think they can eat more of a product that is labeled low fat or low calorie, and this is exactly the opposite of what these foods are supposed to be about.  Sure, the manufacturers don’t mind if you keep going back for another hand full of those reduced fat cookies or crackers or some sort of reduced sugar candy, but in effect you are sabotaging your weight loss by STILL overloading your body on food. 

Whether you overload it on low quality reduced calorie products or high fat high calorie foods, an overload is an overload, and your body will respond by storing the extra calories and substances ingested to fat.  So you see, it’s almost better to just choose foods that are naturally lower in fat and calories and sugar. 

I’m definitely not opposed to going lowfat on things like cheese, that should be used as condiments and not as a mainstay, but if everything in your pantry is low calorie, you do have to watch your portions still 

August 12, 2007

Why Hypnosis Works for Weight Loss

Filed under: Hypnosis Weight Loss — EatingToLive @ 8:07 am

I was just listening to a weight loss hypnosis CD, and musing on why it works, at least why it works on me. I get into such a deep sense of relaxation when I listen to them, that any suggestion that is made by the dictator of the tape (see Wendi Friesen weightloss hypnosis set review) is just absorbed by my mind, whether I like it or not.I used to think that hypnosis was sort of hocus pocus, but when I go throughout my day with nary an appetite when I was eating everything voraciously just the day before (I tend to be a hormonal eater - I eat a lot certain days which tend to coincide with my hormonal and menstrual cycle) I can’t help but acknowledge the wonderous effects that hypnosis can have on a person if they just learn to relax during their sessions.

Hypnosis is indeed a powerful concept, and it does work. You might even feel ridiculous listening to them, because they do tend to sound like affirmations of some sort, but they really get through to you, and if you think about it, hunger is all in your mind. If you can harness your mind and get hunger in your corner through hypnosis and actually curb your appetite without pills or just starve yourself, the possibilities to actually change your eating habits for life become almost unavoidable. I truly think that anyone who is trying to lose weight needs to try self hypnotherapy for weight loss.

August 9, 2007

Star Jones Admits to Gastric Bypass Surgery

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 12:48 pm

Star Jones, the quintessential outspoken “big woman” on television who started out as a major network legal correspondent (she’s an attorney by trade) and worked her way to become one of the most outspoken members of the women’s show “The View”, has just now admitted after years of public speculation, that she has undergone gastric bypass surgery.

The surgery is how she dramaticlaly downsized into what looks like a current size 4 or 6 from being over 300 pounds.Gastric bypas is a very serious surgery that is only medically allowable if a patient is classified in a certain class of obesity. A doctor must recommend you for the surgery for you to even begin to go about setting it up, or you must ask the doctor for a recommendation.

Since it involves actually altering the size of your stomach, you must adhere to a specific diet and avoid excess fat. Eating too much can make you sick, and in the worst cases, has even been known to cause complications that can lead to infection, and death.

Mostly, people who have tried everything else and nothing worked for natural weight loss such as the Proactol natural but also medically proven weight loss aid, and who are at wits end about weight and naturally big appetites that is spiraling out of control are candidates for this surgery. A prudent doctor would be wise to first put his patient on a diet and try natural weight loss options before jumping the gun on this serious surgery, but as with a lot of other medical procedures, it’s just considered the easier way.

This is not to say that it truly isn’t medically necessary in some cases, but I do question the amount that I am seeing this surgery done to people, or at least that I hear about in friends and coworkers, and wonder if it’s all really medically necessary.

I also tend to question the relative safety of the surgery when I’ve heard of several incidents of infection and other complications “through the grapevine” about people who have had the gastric bypass surgery done. If you think about it, you are dramatically altering your whole digestive system, and also introducing foreign matter into the body at the same time. This type of surgery constitutes some pretty serious trauma, and it does take the body time to heal and become well again afterwards.

I believe that most gastric bypass surgeries involve the “banding off” of the stomach, making it smaller, so the patient cannot eat a lot at one sitting. Because the food intake is drastically reduced through force, the patient tends to lose weight extremely fast. Another problem is because the weight loss occurs so fast, there is sometimes excess skin that hangs that can only be removed surgically.

August 6, 2007

Want to Gain Weight? A Subject We Usually Don’t Talk About

Filed under: Health & Fitness Tips — EatingToLive @ 5:56 am

Trust me, I know that decision-making isn’t easy when it comes to wanting to do something about your weight. What I’ve found though is that looking at all of your options can sometimes help steer you in one direction or another, so let me list the three main choices you seem to have right now so you can pick the one that’s best for you.

Give up your dream of gaining weight and having the type of body you’ve being dreaming of.  Sure, you can just throw your hands up in the hair and say “It’s not worth the trouble!” And you may feel that way now, but how would you feel a few years down the road when you look in the mirror and are still unsatisfied with the reflection staring back at you? Are you going to be happy then?

Are you going to regret the decision to give up? You need to think about these things, because even though gaining weight won’t be easy, if you start today you could achieve your goals in a matter of months. If you give up, you’ll be just as dissatisfied with your appearance in a year as you are right now, if not more so.

Work on gaining weight by yourself.  Obviously, this may financially be the easiest course of action, but I can promise you it won’t bring you the results you’re hoping for.  Unless you are an expert on nutrition, exercise, and the human body, you won’t have the right combination of information to make smart choices concerning healthy weight gain.  Instead, you’ll end up falling back on that misinformation. You may end up overweight instead of more fit.

You may end up causing damage to your body because of not eating a balanced weight gain diet.  You may end up harming your health because of a reliance on supplements. Do you want to take those risks just to save a few dollars now? Isn’t your health and your dream worth a small investment?  Hire a dietitian to assist you in the process. 

If you can afford their services, a dietitian could be quite useful to you. Of course, you have to remember that except in very specific circumstances most insurance providers won’t pay for these visits. You’ll have to cover the expenses out of your own pocket, and many dietitians will require you to visit them every week or every month during the entire duration of your weight gain. Those fees are going to add up quickly.

Not to mention that dietitians are similar to other medical professionals, and they don’t always explain things in terms that are easy for the average person to understand. After you read GainingWeight.info, you would be able to speak to the dietitian using his or her jargon and you’d be able to ask educated questions that will help you get the most from your time with them.

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