Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Aerobic Exercise: Top ten Reasons To Get Physical

At least 30 minutes of daily aerobic activity — such as walking, bicycling or swimming — can help you live longer and healthier. See how aerobic exercise affects your heart, lungs and blood flow. Then get motivated to reap the rewards!
How your body responds to aerobic exercise

During aerobic activity, you repeatedly move large muscles in your arms, legs and hips. You'll notice your body's responses quickly.

You'll breathe faster and more deeply. This maximizes the amount of oxygen in your blood. Your heart will beat faster, which increases blood flow to your muscles and back to your lungs. Your small blood vessels (capillaries) will widen to deliver more oxygen to your muscles and carry away waste products, such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid. Your body will even release endorphins, natural painkillers that promote an increased sense of well-being.
What aerobic exercise does for your health

Regardless of age, weight or athletic ability, aerobic activity is good for you. As your body adapts to regular aerobic exercise, you'll get stronger and more efficient. Consider 10 ways that aerobic activity can help you feel better and enjoy life to the fullest.

Aerobic activity can help you:

  1. Keep excess pounds at bay. Combined with a healthy diet, aerobic exercise helps you lose weight — and keep it off.
  2. Increase your stamina. Aerobic exercise may make you tired in the short term. But over the long term, you'll enjoy increased stamina and reduced fatigue.
  3. Ward off viral illnesses. Aerobic exercise activates your immune system. This leaves you less susceptible to minor viral illnesses, such as colds and flu.
  4. Reduce health risks. Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of many conditions, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancer. Weight-bearing aerobic exercises, such as walking, reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
  5. Manage chronic conditions. Aerobic exercise helps lower high blood pressure and control blood sugar. If you've had a heart attack, aerobic exercise helps prevent subsequent attacks.
  6. Strengthen your heart. A stronger heart doesn't need to beat as fast. A stronger heart also pumps blood more efficiently, which improves blood flow to all parts of your body.
  7. Keep your arteries clear. Aerobic exercise boosts your high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol and lowers your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. The potential result? Less buildup of plaques in your arteries.
  8. 8. Boost your mood. Aerobic exercise can ease the gloominess of depression, reduce the tension associated with anxiety and promote relaxation.
  9. Stay active and independent as you get older. Aerobic exercise keeps your muscles strong, which can help you maintain mobility as you get older. Aerobic exercise also keeps your mind sharp. At least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three days a week seems to reduce cognitive decline in older adults.
  10. Live longer. People who participate in regular aerobic exercise appear to live longer than those who don't exercise regularly.

Start slowly

Aerobic activity is safe for most people, but sometimes it's important to get a doctor's OK first — especially if you have a chronic health condition. When you're ready to begin exercising, start slowly. You might walk five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening. The next day, add a few minutes to each walking session. Pick up the pace a bit, too. Soon, you could be walking briskly for at least 30 minutes a day — and reaping all the benefits of regular aerobic activity.

Other options might include cross-country skiing, aerobic dancing, swimming, stair climbing, bicycling, jogging, elliptical training or rowing. If you have a condition that limits your ability to participate in aerobic activities, ask your doctor about alternatives. If you have arthritis, for example, aquatic exercises may give you the benefits of aerobic activity without stressing your joints.

Thanks for Aerobic Shoes

Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Good Diet Plans for Meat Lovers

If you cannot stand the thought good diet plans of having to eat rabbit food just to lose weight, then your best bet may just be to start on Atkins. The Atkins diet is a good diet plan for meat lovers as it does not really restrict you from eating meat. It just asks you to stay away form carbohydrates. Protein is your friend and carbs are your enemies.

See a list of approved or acceptable food items while on the strictest and most restrictive part of the Atkins diet, the Induction phase. This is just another reason proving that the Atkins diet is a good diet plan for meat lovers (fish, fowl or meat) as a whole.

For meats: Pork (Say hello to your dear old breakfast pals bacon and ham!), beef (Quarter Pounder please! Hold the buns!), veal and lamb.

For fowl: Chicken, turkey, duck, quail, goose and pheasant.

For fishes: Salmon, sardines, tuna, trout and herring.

Not only that, you can also have a dosage of shellfish like lobster and crabs and eggs. It is a tailor fit, good diet plan for all the hard-core carnivores out there.

An important thing to note though is that you may want to cut back on processed meats like jerky as these have sugars on them.

The only down side here is that you may initially feel constipated with the lack of fiber in your diet as well as a bit cranky from the shift of diet but soon after, about a couple of days your body gets to adjust. Just drink plenty of water and have the discipline to stick to the plan, and in a week or two, you already get to see visible results.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Dr. Ian Smith's 90 day diet plan

During 90 day diet plan the taping of VH1's fat-fighting reality show "Celebrity Fit Club," the director pulled aside diet guru Dr. Ian Smith and confessed: He'd filched and photocopied the top-secret diet Smith had used on celebrities like Chastity Bono and Kelly LeBrock and shed 30 pounds himself.

You don't have to be a sneak or a celebrity to get your hands on Smith's secret strategy. The diet program is laid out in his new book, "The Fat Smash Diet" (St. Martin's Griffin, $12.95), already a national best seller.

But Smith stresses that his common-sense approach to weight loss is by no means designed only for the rich and famous.

"I believe all dieting should be painless, simple and inexpensive," says Smith, a medical contributor to "The View" and a columnist for Men's Health magazine.

That's why he insisted his slim book be published in paperback. He would have banished the word "diet" from the cover, too, since his four-phase, 90-day plan pushes for sweeping lifestyle changes rather than quick fixes.

Beyond unhealthy eating habits, Smith, 36, believes Americans have an unhealthy ­relationship with food. Our obsession with jumbo portions and the pride we take in our multiple trips to the buffet, he says, speak directly to our competitive drive. "Americans always like to feel like they're getting one over on the restaurateur," he says.

What's more, he says, Americans tend to use food to self-medicate. "We eat out of guilt, we eat out of joy or we eat out of sadness," he says, "but we rarely eat for sustenance."

Smith hopes his book will help people "smash" these bad habits and teach them to treat their bodies like a temple instead of a receptacle.

The four-phase plan starts with a nine-day purifying "detox," during which food intake is limited to fruits and vegetables (raw, grilled or steamed, with minimal ­dressings). Then chicken, fish, pasta, egg whites and wheat bread are gradually reintroduced. He calls his the "last diet you'll ever need" because, ideally, the fourth "phase" is more of a lifelong maintenance plan - one in which it's all right, by the way, to have a glass of wine or pizza dinner.

The doctor says his diet is more "forgiving" than most because it allows for the occasional Fluffernutter binge. "I say if you're going to cheat, then cheat all the way," says Smith, "enjoy it - and then get right back on the wagon."

Key to his diet is the nine-day detox, which yields a significant weight loss - around 10 pounds. Some in the medical community might argue that's too much, too fast, but Smith believes it's all about the jolt. Such immediate results "hook people in" from the get-go.

That's what happened to Angelene Hardaway, 30, who lost 11 pounds in nine days after Smith plucked her from the audience at a taping of "The View" last month and threw down the "Fat Smash" gauntlet.

"After just a few days of watermelon and apples, I stopped craving sugary sweets like cake," says the 5-foot-2 Hardaway.

"The nine days flew by. Suddenly I had a lot more energy. And I started doing things like kick boxing, yoga and tae kwon do, which I'd never done before."

Until recently, the New Rochelle resident owned a Subway sandwich franchise in the Bronx with her sister, Lena, 31. Over the last two years, she put on 40 pounds, she says, largely because she spent all of her waking hours at the restaurant, reaching for cookies and sugary soda whenever she needed a pick-me-up.

The pressure of being weighed on national television kept her on the straight and narrow, says Hardaway, who logged in at 158. But she started feeling "so much better, so quickly" she continued with the diet long after the cameras stopped rolling and has since dropped an additional 4 pounds.

She has become a bit of a zealot about her new healthful, "everything in moderation" lifestyle. Just last week she and her sister, Lena, who has been dieting with her, chatted up a stranger over the supermarket corn bin about how they were going to steam their corn and eat it without butter.

Lena Hardaway, who has dropped 11 pounds (from 180) says having a "buddy system" is crucial on days "when you need to be dragged out of the house to go exercise." (Exercise is central to the Smith regimen. But he stresses that walking is just as beneficial as joining a costly gym.)

In lieu of a buddy, Laura James, 21, has some serious personal motivation. Like Hardaway, the recent Rowan University grad was chosen from the audience at a taping of "The View" in June. She was carrying extra pounds she blames, in part, on "the college lifestyle: pizza at 2 a.m. and plenty of alcohol."

She says she was mentally primed to lose the weight. "I'm going to get my M.B.A. in the fall, and I was eager to get in shape for the bigger world." At 5-foot-7, James weighed in at 210 pounds and has since lost 12 pounds.

"Weight's always been a sensitive issue for me," says James. In the food journal she kept during her detox, the Rockaway Township, N.J., resident admits that she used to watch "Celebrity Fit Club" and fantasize about being famous so that she, too, could be put on a diet.

James admits she was "a little freaked out" by the meat-free detox, which deprived her of her daily piece of chicken. "But during those first nine days, I felt more energized than I've felt in my whole life," she says. "Eating things I knew were good for me made me feel good about myself, and when you feel good about yourself, you just want to keep going."


Sidebar:

'FAT SMASH' TIPS

1. Bag the white bread; go for wheat.

2. Flavored seltzers, not Frappucci- nos.

3. Frozen grapes are the perfect summer snack.

4. At restaurants, leave one third of your food on the plate.

5. Red wine is the booze to choose.


CHILLED ASPARAGUS WITH ROSEMARY AND LEMON VINAIGRETTE (FROM PHASE I)

Serves 4-6

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon low-fat mayonnaise

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

light sprinkle salt and pepper

30 asparagus spears, peeled and tough ends trimmed

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, rosemary, garlic, and mayonnaise in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil slowly to create a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring a large sauté pan of water to a boil and add asparagus. Boil until tender. Remove the asparagus, then shock it in ice water (a gallon of water and three trays of ice) for about 2 minutes to stop the asparagus from cooking.

Drain asparagus again and place on paper towels and pat dry. Arrange the asparagus on a serving platter. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour to chill.

When it's time to serve, pour vinaigrette evenly over the asparagus.


SEAFOOD GUMBO WITH BROWN RICE (from Phase II)

Serves 4

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup diced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced green bell pepper

1 pound raw seafood, in any combination of fish or shrimp

3 tablespoons filé powder

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

11/2 quarts vegetable stock

11/2 cups okra

1 cup tomatoes

1 tablespoon each fresh oregano, basil and thyme

1/2 pound seafood or turkey sausage

cooked and sliced (optional)

8 ounces brown rice

1 quart water

salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat and add flour. Stir into a paste and cook for several minutes, stirring, until a rich nutty brown color develops. This mixture is called a "roux."

Add onion, garlic, celery and green pepper to roux and cook for approximately 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Roux will cling to vegetables.

Add seafood and cook for approximately 3 minutes. Add filé powder and cayenne pepper. Add chicken stock and bring mixture to a simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add okra, tomatoes and herbs (and sausage if using) and cook for 5 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over brown rice. (To make brown rice, bring rice, 1 quart of water and salt to a boil in an uncovered pot. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for approximately 45 minutes.)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Refresh Your Diet Plan With Tasty

Lately it seems like wherever you turn there is a new smoothie shop opening up to serve you the latest refreshing frozen fruit shake.It is easy to see why smoothies are so popular and all the rage.
Smoothies can be so soothing and invigorating. When you are in a hurry, they can be a great meal replacement. Plus they are quite tasty and they can be made with low-fat ingredients.Smoothies are easy to make. You can grab them and take them on the go — both huge advantages in our busy lives.

Smoothies are also an easy way to pack lots of fruits and vegetables in your meals or snacks and they refresh and energize your body and can play a role in a healthy lifestyle.What you may not know is smoothies can also be a great tool to help you lose weight.

Drinking smoothies to lose weight really can work. You won’t feel hungry or deprived or like you are on a diet when you incorporate healthy smoothies into your diet plan. Keep in mind, because smoothies can contain so many different ingredients that not all smoothies are created equal. You want to be careful that your smoothies have a variety of nutritious fruits and vegetables. You want the majority of the ingredients in your smoothie to be low fat and low calorie this does not mean that your smoothie won’t be delicious…. on the contrary…you can make smoothies that are highly habit forming because they taste so good!

Smoothie recipes that encourage weight loss and improve your health are simple to find online and in many books.You can hasten your weight loss, boost your energy, enhance your health and improve your appearance all by adding nutritious tasty smoothies to your daily regimen. So try adding smoothies to your menu today and begin to see the new healthy you begin to emerge.

Dominique W. Brooks, MD, MBA offers articles, e-books, and e-courses to improve the health of you and your family — from nutrition and exercise to better work habits. For more information, please visit

Anne Collins Diet Plan


Anne Collins Diet Plan if you anytime searched for weight loss advice on the web, you've apparently appear beyond the website of Irish nutritionist Anne Collins. The website has an cutting bulk of pages - although abounding of the pages assume like they are advised for a seek engine rather than a person.

A abrupt assay of the website map shows us advice again over and over. Anniversary of the afterward phrases has it's own web page (containing a branch or two cogent us to eat beneath and exercise more); Fast Weight Loss, Lose Weight, Lose Weight Fast, Lose Weight Forever, Shed Fat, Shed Pounds, Get Lean, Get Leaner, Burn Fat Fast... I anticipate you get the picture. This is spam and is advised to abduction as abounding visitors and advance them to the weight loss program.

Anne Collins' weight loss program can be ordered on-line for the bashful fee of $19.97. Once paid you actualize your user id, and are accustomed admission to the members-only page.

The one-off fee provides you with 12 months admission to a clandestine abutment forum, and admission to all of the afterward eBooks:

Low Carb Diet

A advantageous low carb diet for fastest accessible weight loss.

14-Day Low Calorie Booster Diet

Short-term 1000 calorie plan for best weight loss.

No-Nonsense Counterbalanced Weight loss Diet

Anne's No-Nonsense Weight loss Plan.

Low Glycemic Diet

For humans who charge to lose weight and advance abiding blood-sugar levels.

Cholesterol-Lowering Diet

For humans with aloft cholesterol.

10-Minute Commons Diet

Ultra-convenient, lots of fast-food options.

Vegetarian Quick-Start Diet

Simple plan for new or accomplished vegetarians.

Diet for Life

An simple continued appellation weight loss plan.

Vegetarian Diet for Life

An simple continued appellation vegetarian weight loss plan.

There's a lot of best there, but Anne Collins aswell provides a page to advice you adjudge which one to choose.

Pick Your eBook : Cover page of the eBook

I chose the "No-nonsense counterbalanced weight loss diet" and downloaded it. It is a 57 page PDF book absolute 28 circadian meal plans, bite and fast aliment options. Anniversary day is fabricated up of 3 commons added snacks. There are two options for banquet - a home-cooked compound or a packaged meal - such as Lean Cuisine.

The circadian Calorie amounts absolute about 1100 Calories added snacks. For variation, Anne Collins takes an abnormal access of acceptance added Calories based on how abundant weight you accept to lose.

For example; If you are changeable and accept just 11-30 pounds to lose, add 200 calories anniversary day from the candy account (thus authoritative a circadian absolute of about 1300 Calories). If you are macho and accept up to 20 pounds to lose, add 200 Calories per day.

While I can see some faculty in the access (more calories for a added person) - it a lot of absolutely wouldn't plan for me, and basing Calorie recommendations on how abundant a being feels they should lose seems a rather inaccurate method. For me alone this would beggarly just 1300 Calories per day. I apperceive from acquaintance that beneath 1500 Calories per day I rapidly lose beef mass!

Exercise

There is acknowledgment in casual that recommends exercise, but this is a lot of absolutely a diet plan only. Based on some of these Calorie levels, I would acquisition it actual harder to accept the activity to exercise anyway. Cardiovascular contest and weight training are an acutely able allotment of any weight loss program and charge to be accustomed added emphasis.

NOTE: I downloaded addition plan - the Low Glycemic Diet - and this had an all-encompassing breadth on exercise - so conceivably anniversary eBook has acquired over time.

Health Issues

The eBooks accomplish acknowledgment of a bulk of bloom issues (Diabetes and PCOS) and provides added recommendations in this area.

Sample Low Glycemic Plan

DAY 1

Breakfast: Traditional Oatmeal, Honey, Seeds and Nuts

Lunch: Tuna and Bean Salad

Dinner: Baked Chicken Breast and Vegetables

Milk Allowance: 1 cup skimmed/fat-free milk

DAY 2

Breakfast: Fruit Yogurt/Smoothie

Lunch: Avocado and Chicken Salad

Dinner: Baked Cod with Mustard Sauce, Green Beans, Carrots and Rice

Milk Allowance: 1 cup skimmed/fat-free milk

Summary

When it comes to bulk - it seems that Anne Collins would be harder to beat. With a alternative of eBooks acclamation a lot of comestible regimes - Anne has all the bases covered. Every meal plan is abundant and comes with abounding options and substitutes.

This is no eDiets, but does accommodate a ample alternative of meal program and diet account to accept from. The Calorie recommendations are a little apropos and absolutely for me alone (190 batter male) would spell disaster. Yes I would lose weight but at huge bulk to both my metabolism and beef tone. The 14-Day Low Calorie Booster diet comes in at just 1,000 Calories (only 200 aloft the medical analogue of a Very-Low-Calorie-Diet). The advocacy is to chase it for no added than 14 canicule - I would say no added than 3 days!

The program will address to some, but the ample bulk of spammy web pages in the capital website backbite from the appeal. The bulk of advice accessible can assume amazing and lacks accord - although the associates is backed by a acceptable abutment apparatus (including forums and email to Anne herself).

Compared to abounding added weight loss eBooks on the market, Anne Collins is a bigger choice. However I feel added eBook offerings such as Tom Venuto's BFFM are superior. When it comes to diet and weight loss - there is no one-size-fits-all - we are all different and have to acquisition what works for us.

Weekly Diet Meal Plan Week 2

I like Diet Meal Plan to start the week off with a really yummy meal and work my way to easier meals. I’m (weekly diet food plan) too tired by the end of the week to prepare something fancy. Don’t forget to print my grocery list. I hope you enjoy the week 2 meals! If so, please tell your friends or give this post a stumble. Thanks! - Amy

Monday

Avocado Enchiladas



Filling
8 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Juice of one lime
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
20 corn tortillas (flour tortillas optional)

2 Cans Enchilada Sauce
1/3 cup canola oil
1 pound Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
Chop avocado and toss with cilantro, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice and salt.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. In saucepan, heat oil over medium flame for about 2-5 minutes. Once oil is hot, fry tortillas one at a time for one minute each side, or until lightly brown and blistered. Remove and blot on brown grocery bag or paper towel (if you skip frying the tortilla, the enchiladas will not hold form).
Spread 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of casserole dish. Dip fried tortillas in pot of remaining sauce, spoon 3 heaping tablespoon of avocado filling in each tortilla. Roll up and arrange rolled tortillas side by side in casserole dish. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas sprinkle with cheese.
Cover and bake for 25 minutes take foil off and bake for another five minutes. Serve with rice, black beans and a side salad.

My edited version of a recipe by Deena Kastor Photo credit: A Taste of Home Cooking
Spanish Rice

courtesy of Matt’s Rancho Martinez in Dallas, TX (One of my FAVORITE Tex Mex Restaurants!!)

3 tbsp oil
1½ cups uncooked long grain rice
2 cloves minced garlic
½ cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
8 oz. can of tomato sauce
Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the rice until it is golden brown.
Add the vegetables and seasonings, and continue to saute for 1 to 2 minutes longer.
Add the broth and the tomato sauce, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove the rice from the heat and let it stand 3 to 4 minutes, still covered. Fluff and serve.

Recipe found via Alosha’s Kitchen
Fast & Cheap Version

• Buy ready made Guacamole, canned black beans and rice in a bag (EASY!)

I love Wholly Guacamole’s Organic brand- YUM! Make sure to buy several boxes. Sometimes I can find this at my grocery store 2 for $4.


Jazzed up Canned Black Beans:

Drain and rinse beans with water. Pour them into a glass bowl and simply top with any favorite taco sauce or southwest seasoning. Heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

Tuesday

Salina-Style Spaghettini with Cherry Tomatoes
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 dozen (8-10 ounces) small ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 lb dried spaghetti
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1/2 cup heaping and loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1 1/4 freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. (Parmesan would work too)
Bring a large pot of water to a boil
Put olive oil and tomatoes in a large pan, sprinkle with cayenne. Warm over medium heat until the tomatoes begin to give off some of their juice, shaking the pan every so often.
Generously salt the boiling water and add the spaghetti. Cook, stirring often until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Transfer pasta to the pan, add the garlic and toss with teh tomatoes.
Add 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss over medium heat until water and oil emulsify. Add more wter as necessary, until you have a nice creamy consistency and all the strands of spaghetti are well coated with sauce.
Rip mint leaves into small pieces and toss with spaghetti. Add to plates and top with cheese.

Serve with Salad

Recipe from On Top of Spaghetti by Johanne Killeen & George Germon (one of my FAVORITE cook books)

Wednesday

Turkey Burgers with Horseradish and Cheddar Cheese



1 package ground turkey (about 1-1 1/3 lbs)
2 rounded tablespoons fresh prepared horseradish
1/3 pound sharp white cheddar cheese, diced or crumbled into 1/4 in. pieces
2 Scallions (green onions), finely chopped
1 rounded palmful of grill seasonings (such as McCormick’s Montreal Steak seasoning) (Less is more!)
extra virgin olive oil
spicy brown mustard

poppy seed Kaiser rolls
1 tub or can of good quality whole-berry cranberry sauce (optional)
Romaine lettuce
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
In a medium bowl, mix together meat, horseradish, cheddar pieces, scallions, and grill seasoning. Form 4 patties and drizzle them with EVOO. Cook the burgers for 5 to 6 minutes each side.
Spread mustard on bun bottoms and cranberry sauce on bun tops. Place the burgers on the buns with lettuce leaves.

Sides: Chips or Oven Baked Fries and carrots

Recipe & photo by Rachael Ray, found via Bella Casa

Bella’s Notes:
I do not put the cranberry sauce on my burger, but rather serve it on the side. I also serve it with a side of broccoli as well, since this is a vegetable that we all like. Even my older son LOVES these Rachael Ray Turkey Burgers and he can be very picky!!! They are very tasty and moist, not dry, like Turkey burgers can be.
Amy’ Picky Kid Alternative:

Make little turkey burgers with no onions (or have hot dogs handy! ha)

Thursday

Left Overs
Friday
Chocolate Chip Pancakes



(Try blueberries or bananas for a healthier version.)

I will be making mini whole wheat pancakes from a box.
After pouring the batter into the pan, I add mini chocolate chips. I then pat each one down so the batter covers them. Flip and they are ready to eat!
Top with a powdered sugar or a spoonful of Cool Whip and add sprinkles…. your kids will be so happy!

Sides: Bacon & Apples

Friday, February 20, 2009

Diet Food Plan

It's common knowledge that significant weight loss boils down to being consistent. In order to reach your weight loss goals, you must daily do the things that bring you closer to your goal. Even when you reach your ideal weight, you must continue with your diet food plan and exercise in order to keep from regaining the weight.

Easier said than done, you say? Not when you have the following tips!

1. Begin with a detailed diet food plan. Don't guess at what you're eating and don't be vague about your plan. Saying you're going to count carbs, fat or calories is MUCH different than having an easy-to-follow menu you can use each day without thinking about it too much.

2. Give your diet food plan a fighting chance. Throw away your junk food! Get it out of the house so you won't be tempted. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach. Junk food is less tempting if you're full. If you really feel the need for something naughty, buy a single serving of whatever you're craving and eat it as you leave the store. That way, you can satisfy your craving without bringing home a shopping bag full of junk.

3. Find exercises you enjoy. Because exercise is vital to your weight loss efforts, it's critical that you find ways to move your muscles that are enjoyable to you. Make a list of exercises you enjoy. Pick one each day and do it for at least 30 minutes. Switch it up often to keep from getting bored.

4. Make your diet and exercise routine a priority. Plan your exercise time. Make it part of your daily routine just like brushing your teeth. Eating well should be something you do to take care of yourself rather than something that is dead last on your "to do" list.

Applying these 4 ideas should help make the weight loss process easier for you. Consistency is the key factor to successful weight loss regardless of your choice of diet food plan.
It's impossible to be consistent with a diet plan that doesn't fit your individual lifestyle.

Day 1

Breakfast:
1/2 large melon.
Light meal or snack:
Vegetable soup or carrot and celery juice. Raw vegetable salad with brown rice and olive oil and lemon juice dressing
Main meal:
Mixed salad, any cooked green vegetables with a well-rinsed can of beans (not baked) and 1 tsp olive oil
Day 2:

Breakfast:
Freshly juiced apple and carrot or fresh orange
Light meal or snack:
The rest of yesterday's soup, salad, baked sweet potatoes.
Main meal:
Salad, cooked green vegetables, cooked cauliflower sprinkled with grated cheese and browned under the grill
Day 3:

Breakfast:
A cup of hot water mixed with soya milk and 2 tbsp treacle. 2 slices of wholewheat bread and butter
Light meal or snack:
Large selection of fruit with raisins and dates
Main meal:
Salad, cooked green vegetables, wholewheat pasta and tomato sauce