Tips to improve your diet in 2024

For many people, the coming New Year will involve resolutions to get on a diet and lose weight. While slimming down is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, it is often easier said than done. Making the switch from the calorie and fat laden temptations that lure us during the six week long holiday fest can be quite difficult. If you’re planning to start your new year off with a pledge to lose weight, keep these tips in mind to help you ease into your resolution the healthy way.

Cutting everything out cold turkey is one of the most common techniques for approaching a diet; however, doing so may well spell disaster for a good intentioned diet. Instead of putting yourself on such a restrictive diet right after the holidays, consider options that will allow you to ease into a healthy eating regimen. This will increase your chances of sticking with your diet resolution and achieving success. 

Start by opting for foods that are grilled, roasted, baked or broiled instead of fried. This one technique will allow you to cut out a large amount of calories as well as fat. If you don’t care for the somewhat blander taste of grilled or roasted meats, don’t be afraid to add a little zing with some low-fat or fat-free sauces. Herbs and spices can also go a long way toward livening up grilled and roasted foods. 

Most people do not eat nearly as much fruits and vegetables as they should. Besides the fact that fruits and veggies are rich in healthy vitamins, minerals and fiber; they are also a good way to fill up without loading up with calories and fat. Look for ways where you can introduce fruits and vegetables into your eating regimen. Vegetable soups make a great dinner or lunch solution on a cold wintry day. Salads are easy and quick to pack for lunch with a low-cal dressing. Top it with some grilled chicken and you’ve got a quick dinner solution as well. 

After indulging in holiday sweets, cutting out the treats may be one of the most difficult aspects of starting a new diet. Increase your chances of sticking with it by substituting fresh fruit for calorie rich treats. Stock up on plenty of apples, oranges, berries and whatever other type of fresh fruit strikes your fancy. This is a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth without sabotaging your diet. 

Finally, DRINK MORE WATER! Your diet and your body will respond much better if you opt for plain water. The more water you drink, the more efficiently your body flushes out toxins; and in the end, it can help you to lose more weight faster. 

By easing your way into your new diet instead of torturing yourself with an overly restrictive or fad diet, you’ll find that you’re more likely to stick with your resolution and by next New Year’s Eve will be ready to show off your slim new shape.

Finding A Diet That Works in 2024

Searching for a new diet that works? If you’re a habitual dieter, wouldn’t it be nice to stop changing diets? Is there a diet that actually works?

Everyone has a habit or a vice. Some people smoke. Some people bite their fingernails. Some people can’t resist having a piece of chocolate before bedtime, and others snore when they sleep. Others are habitual dieters, always looking for a new diet that promises astonishing results.

How many new diet plans have you tried? Some people can tick off a list of new diets that they have tried. They yo-yo back and forth. Atkins, weight watchers, the grapefruit diet, the soup diet, the salad diet, the low-fat diet… some people can’t even count every new diet they have tried.

Often, each new diet is punctuated by a day of binge eating. Sure, you lost weight on that latest low-carbohydrate new diet, but now you’re craving a baked potato, french fries, and a big piece of garlic bread. Wouldn’t it be great to find a new diet that allows you to eat all the foods you want while still losing weight?

The bottom line is that the best option isn’t actually a new diet. It’s a concept that has been around for ages, but people fail to overlook it with so many new diet choices on the market. If you talk to most doctors, however, they will agree that fad dieting is not the smartest choice to lose weight.

However bombarded we may be with new diet choices; there is one fact that can’t be ignored. We lose weight when we limit our caloric intake. This isn’t about grapefruit, carbohydrates, fat-free products, or even following a strict new diet plan. It’s about eating in moderation. You don’t have to go hungry, but you need to use willpower to make sure you don’t overeat. Limiting your calories means shedding those unwanted pounds.

Why Fiber Is Key For Dieting

In this article, I will reveal some little known facts about the fibers and the beneficial effect they have over your body.

First of all, let me explain what fiber is…  

Fiber is an indigestible part of all plant foods. It is found in fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Your digestive system cannot stomach fiber, so it is excreted undigested. Well, you may think you don’t need fiber, because it’s excreted undigested, but that’s not true.

Let's imagine the following picture:

You overeat at least once or twice a week, more often on weekends, and your regular menu doesn't include much fiber. Well, this might be your lifestyle; however, you should consider that it may cause you lots of health problems like:

- indigestion

- discomfort stomach aches 

- gases in the digestive tract 

- constipation 

- hemorrhoids 

- you got tired faster 

- can't concentrate on what you're doing 

You become less productive at work and more irritable at home. Besides all this, you gain weight and that’s the moment when you realize you have a problem.

In order to solve a problem, you should first find the reason for it. In this case, it’s the lowered intake of fiber-rich foods and respectively - the higher intake of foods containing no fiber (like meat). The average amount of fiber intake is about 25-30 grams per day. Unfortunately, most people's regular diets include less than 10-15 grams daily. 

You should start consuming more fiber-rich foods:

- all bran cereal 

- beans 

- peas 

- spinach 

- sweet corn  

- whole meal brown bread 

- red cabbage 

- carrots 

- baked potato with skin 

- apples, bananas, oranges and all fruits 

There are two types of fiber - soluble and insoluble. If you start eating more fiber-rich foods, you’ll be amazed by its beneficial effects over your body, health and way of life. 

Soluble fiber forms glue like gel in the intestinal tract. The gel softens stools (no more constipation) and improves your digestion (no more indigestion).

Fiber slows down the emptying of your stomach making you feel full longer. This effect helps you eat less, your body burns additional calories to digest fiber and you can lose weight.

Insoluble fiber is an excellent natural laxative, because of its abilities to hold onto water and to push waste faster along the intestines - this way fiber decreases the risk of colon cancer. 

You could do worse than eating more fiber-rich foods. Like many other people, I used to not include enough fiber in my diet, and as a result, I suffered stomach aches. Then I started to eat more fruits and fiber-rich foods in my daily menu. I must admit that it really worked for me, and now fiber-rich food is the most important nutritious part of my regular diet.

4 Tips to Simplify Achieving a Healthy Weight

These four tips include suggestions in each of the four elements you need to work on in order to achieve your health, fitness, wellness and weight loss goals: (eating right, exercise, support and accountability).

1. Good Eating Tip

Next time you order pizza for yourself, or your kids ask for half the cheese. You’ll barely notice any taste loss. But what you will lose is tons of calories and a whole lot of grams of saturated fats. Pizza doesn't have to be left off the weekly menu anymore.

 

2. Making Exercise Safe and Fun

In order to lose weight, you have to become more active. Most people do anything to avoid moving their bodies. And society is an accomplice. You can pick up food, a prescription, your clothes and your kid without leaving your car. Aim to walk 30 minutes a day, even if you have to break it up into 10–15-minute chunks. Not only will you burn 200-300 calories, but you can also walk with your family and increase your quality time as well. Move family time away from the TV and onto the street.

 

3. Maintaining Your Support System

If you’re the type of person who feels guilty about things, great news. You can use that emotion to help you lose weight. Here’s how. Exercise with a partner. But before you start making a pact that you will not let the other person down and you will pick them up should they start losing interest. It’s much easier to let yourself down then another person. You won’t do it, because you’ll feel guilty if you do.

 

4. Accountability Tools

A food diary is a great way to keep track of what you are eating and when. Keep track of what you consume on an hourly basis throughout the day. If you do this for 2 weeks you will see exactly where those extra calories (and thereby those extra pounds) are coming from. Also, don’t forget to keep track of what you’re drinking.

For THE total solution to your overall wellness made simple, START HERE!

Losing Weight, Gain Health

Many people have thought about losing weight over the years, but often seem to fall short of an actual attempt to do it. The reason why so many people think about it so much is because deep down, they know that having that extra poundage is not at all good for them. The problem is, just knowing that being overweight is bad is not enough to really push many people to do something about it. Much like wanting to quit smoking, knowing it is bad for you doesn't induce people to quit doing it. However, if you were to find some really good reasons to quit smoking, like your doctor told you if you don’t quit, you will lose a lung next year, that might make you act and just do it.

Well, losing weight is just like quitting smoking, the better reasons you have to do it, the more likely you are to act on it and make it happen. If you have something driving your motivation aside from just knowing it is bad for you, you are also more likely to maintain your weight loss goal once you reach it.

First and foremost, losing weight means getting healthier. When you lose those extra pounds, you greatly reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and joint stress, all conditions associated with being overweight. When you reduce these risks, it means you can have a much better chance of being around to see your children grow up and being around to enjoy your grandchildren. That alone is reason enough to get that weight down.

Another reason you might want to consider losing weight is that you will feel better. As you begin to lose some of those extra pounds, you will start to notice your energy levels increasing. Being overweight by 20 pounds is like putting a 20-pound sack of potatoes on your shoulders all day. Extra body fat is nothing more than an extra burden to carry around with you every day, so the extra weight drains your energy. For this reason, overweight people tend to be less active, and this promotes more fat to collect up on them. As this continues, they become even less active and so this becomes a vicious cycle leading to obesity. 

As a nice little side benefit, losing weight will make you look better, and who doesn’t want to look better? Each and every one of us has a vision of what we want to look like. Most people are not completely satisfied with the way they look. They will always find something they don’t like about themselves and wish they could change and for people who are overweight; this can be a great motivator to lose weight. A recent study concluded that as early as age 5, girls who had higher body weights had lower self-esteem than girls with normal body weight.

When a person loses weight, what are almost always the responses of other people who know that person? You hear things like; you look good; you’ve lost weight, haven’t you? And think about how you would feel when you’ve lost enough weight to be able to fit into that dress or that pair of pants you wore back in high school. Now keep in mind, looking better is a great reason to lose weight but it should not be the only one.

When you have at least a few good, valid reasons to want to lose weight, it will be a lot easier to motivate yourself to get started and stay with it. Let’s face it, your health, wellbeing and self-esteem are very good reasons to get rid of those extra pounds and keep them off for good.

For THE total solution to your healthy weight goals made simple, START HERE!

How to bring more fruit and veggies in your diet

The new food guidelines issued by the United States government recommend that all Americans eat between five and nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. When you first hear that number, it may seem like a lot, but it is much easier than you think to fit that many servings of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. For one thing, the shelves of the grocery stores are fairly bursting with fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition, vegetables and fruits are some of the least expensive, most nutrient rich, foods in the supermarket. With all these fruits and vegetables to choose from, it is very easy to make these nutritious, delicious foods part of your daily meals and snacks.

When you consider how much a serving really is, it is actually quite easy to get five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables per day. For instance, the recommended daily amount equates to a quite reasonable two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables every day. When you consider how many fruits and vegetables are available, and how low the prices usually are, it is easy to see how to reach this daily goal.

One great way to get the nutrients you need from fruits and vegetables every day is to take full advantage of the variety of these foods available. Eating the same thing every day quickly becomes boring, so why not pick a variety of fruits and vegetables, in every color of the rainbow and in every conceivable shape, size and texture, to give yourself a varied diet every day.

When shopping for fruits and vegetables, it is important to choose a variety of different colors. This is for more than purely artistic reasons. The variety of color in fruit and vegetables represent different types of nutrients, and choosing a variety of colors will help ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need each and every day.

Finding new recipes is another great way to ensure you get those five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Everyone likes to try out new recipes, and these new recipes may just provide the impetus you need to eat all those fruits and veggies.

New recipes can also provide you the opportunity to try out some fruits and vegetables you have never tried before. For instance, everyone has eaten oranges, but have you tried kiwi fruit or mangoes? How about spinach or kale? Trying new things is a great way to find new favorites while getting the best nutrition available.

Many people mistakenly think that they do not need to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day if they just take a vitamin supplement. Nothing could be further from the truth. That is because fruits and vegetables contain far more than the micronutrients identified by science and synthesized in vitamin pills. While these micronutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E are important to good health, so too are the hundreds of other elements that are contained in healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. These elements are not available in any pill, they must be ingested through a healthy, balanced diet that contains plenty of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, fruits and vegetables are much less costly than vitamin pills. Fruits and vegetables are very inexpensive, especially when purchased in season and grown locally. In the long run, getting the nutrition you need from the food you eat is much less expensive, and much better for you, than popping those vitamin pills every day. 

Having said that, if you find yourself having trouble getting up to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables each day, consider supplementing with a meal replacement smoothie that fills potential nutritional gaps in your diet. I personally enjoy one that contains much of the recommended vitamins and minerals plus prebiotics and probiotics that support a healthy gut, and rarely found superfoods that optimize bodily function including increasing energy, curbs cravings and improves regularity.

So, try your best to get your five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables every day. It may seem like a lot, but you can meet this goal simply by including fruits and vegetables as snacks, as garnishes, as side dishes and as meals or in the alternative, supplement with a high-quality meal replacement smoothie.

Tips To A Healthier Gut

There are many things to learn about when it comes to gut health. But the basic concept is “What goes in must come out.” Your body is like a machine: it takes what it needs from what you feed it and gets rid of the rest by urine and the bowels.

If you notice you have a problem with elimination, you should take it seriously. Many people have this problem. Don’t be uncomfortable unnecessarily. Irregularity can seriously impact your health.

The first step is finding out if there even is a problem. First, evaluate how often you "go". If you go at least once a day You may not have a problem. The more the better if you eat more often. However, if you find you are having one per week or 2 per month, then you have a serious problem.

For some people, they might say they don’t find the time to monitor their bowel movements. Besides, they would rather "go" at home rather than in a public bathroom. But let me tell you, you will keep your colon quite happy if you go several times for the day. In short, "go" when you gotta "go". If you are looking for a trick to making you bowel movements easier, eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables, steamed beets and using digestive enzymes with your meals. It's okay to start slow, but in the long run, you'll reap the benefits.

I have just lightly touched on the subject, but if you have a problem, irregularity could just be 1 symptom of an unhealthy gut. Try an elimination diet that can help you improve your diet specifically for your needs and make "going" easier for you. As always, consult a doctor before starting any new nutrition or exercise program. Take care of it today and look forward to tomorrow. May you live a healthy and prosper life.