Dieting - Share Your Experience

Mellisa asked:


Sodium causes you to retain water – which is not ideal if you’re on a diet. Eating habits must be adjusted to reduce your salt intake for dieting success, and for a healthy heart.

Diet, eating, salt and sodium are all considerations for a healthy heart. The sodium your body in takes during your diet eating habits causes water retention. Dieters must give special attention to water retention in order to meet their weight-loss goals. However, even non-dieters should be concerned with the water retention that comes from eating high sodium foods. Water retention causes high blood pressure because of the burden it puts on the heart and blood vessels. And as most dieters and non-dieters know, high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. A healthy diet, eating low-sodium foods, exercise and drinking plenty of water are the best ways to meet your weight loss goals, keep your water retention low, and keep your heart healthy and you happy.

Ironically, drinking more water best reduces water retention. That’s why many diet eating plans suggesting drinking more water. Drinking more water but continuing to eat foods high in sodium isn’t going to help your weight loss plans, or your diet. Eating a low-sodium diet doesn’t mean your food has to be tasteless and cutting out all salt in your diet. Eating food cooked with non-alcoholic wine, lemon and fruit juice can liven up meats, gravies and vegetables. Meats and sandwiches can be spiced up with low-fat spicy mustards or low-fat mayonnaise mixed with dill, tarragon, chipolte, Cajun or chili flavoring. There are hundreds of no-salt substitutes available that can make your eating so enjoyable you’ll love your low-salt diet.

Reading the label on the spices and the foods you choose is an important part of your low-salt diet. Eating foods that contain less than 200mg of sodium per serving is a must. Steer clear of eating foods with 400mg per serving. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends 2,300mg of sodium in your diet per day. However, for people already suffering from high-blood pressure, middle-aged and older people, and blacks, the AHA recommends only 1,500mg per day. Most of the sodium in your diet is in food. Baked goods contribute to one-third of our salt intake, and the average American consumes around 2,900mg to 4,300mg of sodium per day in their diet. Even if you’re not at risk for high blood pressure, a low-sodium diet is beneficial to weight loss and prevention. Nine out of ten Americans will have high blood pressure in their lifetime according to John Hopkins University.

Diet, eating, salt and sodium habits must be evaluated and considered for successful weight loss, low blood pressure, a healthy heart, and healthy eating. Diets such as the Atkins Weight Loss Program that minimize baked good intake, and require eight glass of water a day, have successfully incorporated a low-sodium diet together with their advice on how to lose weight. Healthy diet eating requires a low-sodium diet. The Atkins diet is a good example of a healthy start to a healthy heart. Lose salt and lose weight – and you’ll shake up your diet to have a healthier heart and a happier you.



Cooper

Wesley Atkins asked:


While the Low GI Diet is one of the most effective diets around and the easiest for many people to stick with over the long term, some people have found it difficult to come up with low GI Diet recipes they can fit into their diet plans. Below are two low GI Diet recipes that can be easily fit into your plan and prepared right at home.

For a great main entrée consider this recipe below for grilled salmon served with elegant baby spinach leaves.

Grilled Salmon

Ingredients

Baby spinach leaves, lightly rinsed

2 oz watercress

16 cherry tomatoes, halved

4 salmon fillets, trimmed and boned

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, halved

balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cannellini Bean Sauce

14 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 garlic clove, crushed

1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

2 teaspoons olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

First, start by preparing the cannelloni bean sauce. Place the beans, lemon juice, thyme, oil, garlic and 2 tbsp of water in the blender. May add salt and pepper to taste. Blend until the mixture has formed a smooth sauce. You may need to add a bit more water. Move the mixture to a saucepan and heat it on low heat for 5 minutes. Stir frequently until the mixture is very hot.

While the mixture is heating, cook the salmon. Start by placing the garlic in a non-stick frying pan and heating it for about 1-2 minutes. Next, add the salmon and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes. Be sure to turn the salmon halfway through the cooking process.

Next, drizzle the spinach leaves with some balsamic vinegar and toss them well. Place the cannellinni sauce on each plate along with a few additional spinach leaves. Top everything with the salmon. You may wish to add some olive oil for additional seasoning. Serve alongside the salad immediately.

Don’t forget to top your meal off with this luscious and creamy low GI diet recipe for yummy ice cream. It takes only 15 minutes to prepare and is ready to eat after another 2 hours in the freezer.

Mango Orange Ice Cream Dessert

Ingredients

4 large oranges, halved

2 large mangoes, peeled and stoned

2 tablespoons finely grated

unwaxed orange zest

3 tablespoons low-fat natural yoghurt

3 tablespoons low-fat

crème fraîche

2 squares plain chocolate, grated

Directions

Begin by scooping out the fleshy part of the fruit from the oranges, but making sure you have left the skins of the oranges intact. Place the flesh of the mangos and the oranges in the blender along with the orange zest, crème fraiche and yogurt. Blend the mixture until smooth; may take a few minutes. Next, spoon the blended mixture into a freezer safe container. You may need to stir the mixture from time to time to break up any ice crystals that have formed. This dessert can be served in a bowl or you may choose to spoon it back into the orange halves for an elegant presentation. If you choose to serve it in the orange halves, you may need to return it back to the freezer for another 30 minutes or so. Garnish with grated chocolate for an even more decadent dessert.

With a little creativity and imagination it doesn’t have to be hard to follow the low GI diet. These low GI diet recipes are just two examples of how easy it can be to dine well and still lose weight on the diet plan.

If you need to better manage diabetes or lose weight consider the Low GI Diet Plan. It provides numerous advantages such as reducing the risk of life threatening illnesses along with the ability to lose weight and maintain weight loss.



Morgan

Peggy Edwards asked:


Do you want to lose weight fast? There are many programs out there that claim rapid weight loss. Everything from the cabbage soup diet to grapefruit diets, cereal diets, and countless others. But if you want to lose weight fast it’s really pretty simple. You just need to start burning more calories than you take in. Keep reading to discover how you can accomplish this.

Water is a big factor in weight loss. Your body needs water to function properly. You should make it a point to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Try drinking a glass of water when you first get up in the morning and before each meal. You will lose weight faster if you do this every day.

Get rid of the sodas and start drinking green tea. This tea has many antioxidants and has been proven to help you burn fat. It also will help flush your system of toxins and make you feel healthier. It is a natural caffeine replacement so it can keep you alert throughout the day without the jittery side effects.

Eat fruits and vegetables and cut back on the breads and pastas. This will reduce your caloric intake significantly and help you lose weight faster. Eating small meals throughout the day will turn up your metabolism and help your body burn fat and calories. It will also keep you from being hungry and will reduce cravings.

The biggest factor in fast weight loss is exercise. If you want to burn more calories you are going to have to do something to burn them. Try to get at least an hour of exercise each day for rapid weight loss. Join a gym and work out with a trainer. He can help you sculpt your body and maximize your weight loss.

It’s important to remember that you should focus on the way your body looks, rather than the pounds that show on the scale. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you have started working out, you may find that the scale shows minimal weight loss. However, you will probably have lost a few inches around your waist and hips. Don’t get so focused on the numbers on the scale that you fail to realize you have just lost three inches off your waistline!

Always consult your doctor before you start any diet or fast weight loss diet. You want to lose weight, but you want to make sure that you do it safely.



Samuel

Starting out asked:


I heard that when you diet your metabolism goes down because your body is slightly starving. How do you make it go back up after dieting? And how do you not exercise as often or as hardcore and eat normal and not gain weight without being on a permanent diet?

Adrian

Tracie Johanson asked:


Perform a search for the word diet on Google and you’ll find 175,000,000 results. Run the same diet search on Yahoo and you’ll be presented with 118,000,000 suggested sites. The popular auction site eBay has more than 26,321 diet items for sale. Finally, searching for diet on myspace.com will reel in page after page of people interested in, confused about, and seeking answers for dieting.

With the staggering array of diet pills and diet plans on the market today, it’s should come as no surprise that most people are perplexed about which diet product is right for them. Approximately two-thirds of our population is overweight, and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 80 percent of overweight individuals and almost 87 percent of obese individuals are trying to lose or maintain their weight. In other words, there are literally millions of Americans seeking diet tips and advice they can trust.

That’s why we’ve created this list of top 10 diet tips. As personal trainers and health club owners, our goal is to offer you sound advice on how to achieve permanent weight loss with a healthy diet program. We’re not pushing any particular diet food, diet supplement or weight loss program. Instead, our goal is to provide you with some of the best weight loss information available.

1. Our first diet tip is also our most important. We strongly encourage you to seek medical advice before beginning any diet and nutrition program. This is good advice for anyone beginning a new exercise program, as well. Nobody but your own personal physician is qualified to give you the expert advice you need to make intelligent decisions about healthy weight loss, so first and foremost get some medical advice before starting any diet.

2. Our second diet tip is to look for all the free advice on dieting you can find. Be aware that the best, most reliable health advice will come from people actually working in the industry - NOT from marketers and salespeople. With this in mind, seek tips on losing weight from doctors, nutritionists and gym owners. Be wary of health tips from marketers who are solely interested in selling you a product or plan. The ulterior motive to sell may make their weight loss tips questionable.

3. Realize that if a diet has gained national exposure, it has probably worked for someone. However, just because a diet has worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. Just as legal advice and dating tips must vary from person to person, diets are not a one-size-fits-all commodity either. So when your relative or co-worker gushes about the great new online diet they’re on, check it out before you jump on the bandwagon. What works for them may not work for you.

4. Try many different diet recipes to decide which you like best. People enjoy different foods, and finding a diet recipe that pleases everyone is like trying to give the same relationship advice to every couple on the planet. It just won’t work. Attempting to force yourself to eat foods you don’t like, just because they’re low in calories, will only lead to frustration and failure. A much better approach is to experiment with diet recipes until you find the perfect match for you.

5. Our fifth diet tip is to avoid weight loss pills and prescription diet pills that may be unsafe or even deadly. Although some diet drugs are completely safe and effective, others (like Meridia and Phen-Fen) have surprised users with serious side effects. The promise of fast weight loss isn’t worth the risk to your health, so be cautious with weight loss drugs and other weight loss supplements.

6. Good financial advice always mandates that you journal your expenses in order to find out where your money is going. In the same way, you should start keeping a journal of everything you eat. Everything! This is one tip on losing weight that is guaranteed to work for virtually everybody. It turns out that just a bite here and a taste there really adds up, and keeping a diet journal will open your eyes to how many calories you’re actually getting. Armed with this information, you’ll know where to cut and trim to lose weight.

7. Join a support group. Some of the best weight loss tips and diet advice isn’t found in a book, but comes from other people just like you. Joining a diet support group like PRISM or TOPS can make all the difference when your willpower starts to fade and you’re tempted to throw in the towel. Whether you’re swapping Weight Watcher recipes or discussing the new diet patch on the market, a support group can be a tremendous help as you write your own weight loss success story.

8. Set realistic expectations. All the doctor advice on dieting suggests that, if you’re experiencing healthy weight loss, then you should be losing no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week. Lose weight any faster than that and you’re likely losing muscle tissue and water weight instead of just fat. This is one of the worst things you can do when you’re trying to achieve permanent fat loss. So forget the infomercials that promise you quick weight loss without any effort, because that’s just not true. Focus instead on achieving your ideal weight with a healthy diet and nutrition weight loss plan.

9. A diet tip that you may not expect requires you to eat more often. That’s right! Consume small high-protein and low fat snacks every 3 to 4 hours and you’ll keep hunger pangs away all day. This will go a long way towards eliminating the binges that are so tempting during a diet. Following this advice will also keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day, giving you more energy and preventing the ‘crash’ many experience when dieting.

10. Finally, remember that any weight loss diet must include regular exercise to be effective. It’s a proven fact that when you diet without exercising, up to fifty percent of the weight you lose may actually be muscle loss. Losing muscle is the absolute worst thing you can do when you’re trying to lose weight fast because for every pound of muscle you forfeit you actually lower your metabolic rate by about fifty calories. In other words, losing muscle makes it harder for you to lose body fat. With this in mind, coupling regular exercise with your diet plan makes success much more likely.

Take these diet tips to heart and you’ll soon be well on your way to weight loss success. Good luck, and we’ll see you at the gym.



Jocelyn

Anthony Robbinson asked:


Muscle building diet and nutrition is arguably the most important part of building muscle. What you eat plays a very important roll in how much lean muscle your body will grow. Put simply, if you do not have the correct muscle building diet you will not build muscle.

Muscle building diets are very different to your ordinary diet. Bodybuilders break their muscles down in the gym and a strict muscle building diet is needed to supply the muscles with adequate nutrients to grow.

A good method of checking muscle or fat is to use a set of body fat calipers. By using the calipers every two weeks that will show exactly what is happening, if muscle is going down due to not eating enough then that will show with the calipers and you will need to eat more. If the calipers show that bodyfat percentage is going up then you need to eat less. All good gyms will have a set of calipers and as long as the same person does the measurements every time you should be able to get a true reading as to what exactly is happening. You can also purchase them. Once you have obtained the amount of total millimeters and your bodyweight, the chart that comes with the calipers will show what bodyfat percentage you are. Now comes the clever bit. If you take your bodyweight in pounds and times it by the bodyfat percentage then that will come out with your total bodyfat. Then take this figure from the total bodyweight and that will give you a figure for your fat free mass. The figure is not all muscle but includes internal organs, bones etc. but just use the figure as muscle for our calculations.

To bulk up muscles you must also put on some fat. Under normal circumstances, you can not put on muscle and lose fat at the same time. To put on weight you must consume more calories than you expand, or you will not put on weight. Your high protein bulk up breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day besides the post workout meal. Post workout meal is the most important meal of the day. After working out your goals are to refuel and rebuild. You should eat 6-8 meals everyday and eat a lot during those meals. You should get proper sleep each night (8 hours plus) and you should drink at least a gallon of water each day. Eating is huge deal during bulking and you have to make sure you eat a lot and healthy foods while eating! Great bulking foods for bodybuilders include: milk, eggs, cheese, lean beef, whole grain breads, pasta, potatoes, etc.

A great bodybuilding diet is a balance consisting of 40% carbs,40% proteins, and 20% Good Fats. This sort of diet seems to work best for the purposes of losing body fat while gaining some muscle. Depending on whether you want to mainly gain muscle and bulk up or mainly lose body fat, you will adjust your calories upwards or downwards accordingly.

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy, and on a bodybuilding diet they should come mainly from complex slow releasing sources such as oatmeal, grits, brown rice, sweat potatoes in combination with fibrous sources such as green beans and broccoli.

If you want to build a powerhouse body you need lots of quality PROTEIN!

Proteins, the building blocks for all tissues in the body, should come from chicken, turkey, tuna, and lean red meats.

Here is a partial list of high quality protein sources:

Chicken breast

Venison

Round steak

Scallops

Sirloin steak

Lean ham

Pork tenderloin

Low fat milk

Lean turkey

Low fat cottage cheese

Turkey breasts

Low fat cheddar cheese

Whey

Egg whites

Fats, which are used by the body to manufacture hormones, lubricate the joints, brain function and other essential items, should mainly come from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources. Extra virgin olive oil and flax seed oil should be the main sources of these.

In addition to basic supplements, I would also recommend Creatine and Glutamine as these two supplements offer many of the same properties as anabolic steroids (such as increased recovery, increased strength, increased glycogen levels, enhanced immune system and higher nitrogen synthesis) without the side effects as they are not hormones.

Testosterone Boosting Supplementation would be optional.



Isaac

Dede Purneim asked:


The best cabbage soup diet recipe claims that you can shred large amount of weight in a short space of time. As with always, you have to do it in right way to get maximum benefit out of it. Eat as much soup as you desire for seven days and you can lose 10 to 15 pounds. The recipe varies slightly, but includes a variety of low-calorie vegetables such as cabbage, onions, and tomatoes, flavored with bouillon, onion soup mix, and tomato juice. Each day of the seven-day program has specific foods that must be eaten, including potatoes, fruit juice, many vegetables, and on one day, beef.

Day 1: Eat all the fruits you want (no bananas). Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, cranberry juice, and water. Also, eat as much soup as you like.

Day 2: All vegetables. Eat until you are full with fresh, raw, or canned vegetables. Try to eat green leafy vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas, or corn. Eat vegetables along with your soup at dinner time.

Day 3: Eat as much fruit, vegetables, and soup, as you like but no baked potato.

Day 4: Bananas and skimmed milk. Eat at least 3 bananas and drink as much skimmed milk as you can today. Bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates, as is the milk.

Day 5: Have unlimited cabbage soup plus six tomatoes and also 20 oz of been. Drink at least 6 glasses of water today.

Day 6: Eat 2 – 3 beef steaks with vegetables or salad. No baked potato. Be sure to eat the soup at least once!

Day 7: Eat all you want of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices, and vegetables. Be sure to drink your soup at least once. No bread, alcohol, or carbonated beverages, not even diet soda.

It is important to use the best cabbage soup diet recipe daily. This it to fill up your stomach and to stop you from eating more.



Lee

Gary Kidd asked:


A healthy weight is achievable, when the state of mind is calm and comfortable, when the body works optimally and, when the hassles are low in life. They have to be combined with some natural weight loss diet or healthy low calorie diet.

The scientific logic behind weight gain is, when the body is unbalanced, the digestive flaws start to appear, your metabolism changes and adipose tissue (fat cells) builds up, because of which you become obese or overweight.

Below mentioned are some natural weight loss tips, which you may consider to loose those extra pounds from your body:

All Natural Weight Loss Tips:

The primary thing for obese people is, to avoid any kind of vogue diets and quick-acting solutions that guarantee unbelievable weight loss. You need to focus more for remaining fit rather than being thin. This is because, aiming for becoming thin is to have limited eating, excessive workouts and anxiousness, and, this is an unhealthy weight loss practice.

For a natural weight loss, you need to eat five small meals on a daily basis. A bowl equal to the size of your palm needs to be the size of your meal. This is a natural way to loose weight and is very effective, as eating throughout the day helps avoiding starvation and excessive eating at your next meal. Try to have your last meal of the day after 7 p.m.

Next, avoid soda, sugar, and candies from your regular diet. Have fresh cinnamon sticks or peppermint leaves rather than candies. You may substitute sugar by consuming moderate quantities of honey.

Consume more compound carbohydrates, healthy low calorie diet food, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid excessive intake of dairy products, as they are high in saturated fats, which stimulate obesity, when consumed in bigger quantities.

You may opt for other lower fat dairy products such as non-fat milk, yoghurt, butter, and cheese. You need to avoid fried foods, processed foods, and fatty foods from your diet as much as possible.

Consume ample amount of water, you may have a minimum of 60 ounces of water daily. Next, it is particularly advantageous to consume plain hot water, as if you drink tea without sugar or tea powder. Also, try to have a tea prepared from boiling a lemon with its peel.

Healthy Low Calorie Diet:

Another great method to loose weight is to have a healthy low calorie diet. If you tend to use more calories than you ingest, you will loose weight slowly. Your healthy low calorie diet needs to be between 1, 000 to 1, 8000 calories.

Your breakfast has to be low-calorie protein and rich in fiber. Have a couple of scrambled eggs, one bowl of sugarless cereal with skimmed milk. Here, the calorie count is between 200 to 350 calories.

Your midday meal has to be rich in vitamin, such as a cheese sandwich of whole bread or a green salad with chopped chicken. Next, have a balanced low-calorie dinner as such, poultry, fish and brown rice.

Finally, one magnificent natural weight loss tip is to go on for a walk of 30-minutes almost daily.



Tyler

Cristy asked:


I’m in the process of losing about 20lbs. I feel like I’m wasting $ if I buy any pricey clothes cause they’re not going to fit once I lose weight. I still buy shoes, bags, etc. I know I’ll still need clothes till then but I try to only buy cheaper clothes like forever 21, ross, target etc. Does n e one else do this while they’re dieting?

Felix