Dieting - Share Your Experience

Cliff Smith asked:


Anyone on a low carb diet knows that sugar is harmful to the body in so many ways, including weight gain. If you need some motivation to avoid a sugar addiction, read this list of health problems associated with sugar. The information here has been compiled from medical journals and other publications, including, “Lick The Sugar Habit” by Nancy Appleton, PhD.

1. Sugar suppresses the immune system.

This is the most important reason to avoid a sugar addiction, whether you are trying to maintain a low carb diet or not. Two different research projects that have been done at Loma Linda University evaluated the effects of sugar on phagocytes, the white blood cells of the immune system that eat up harmful bacteria. One of the Loma Linda studies showed that sugar caused the phagocytic index to drop dramatically, which had a negative effect on the amount of bacteria that could be removed by the immune system. To put it simply, the more bacteria consumed by the phagocytes, the stronger the immune system, and the less chance for disease. So, to avoid running low on Pac Men that eat foreign invaders in your immune system, stay away from sugar, including high fructose corn syrup and dextrose.

2. Sugar disrupts the mineral balance in a healthy body. Calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, iron and zinc are crucial minerals for the body to function properly. If just one of these minerals is depleted, the entire body chemistry can be disrupted. With just two teaspoons of sugar, micronutrients in the body change radically, causing blood chemistry to shift. Some mineral levels increase, some decrease, and delicate ratios are disturbed. If you are on a low carb diet and concerned about getting enough essential nutrients, such as calcium , this is another good reason to avoid sugar. Even a little sugar can negate the effects of consuming extra calcium or mineral supplements.

3. Sugar can cause obesity, hyperactivity, anxiety, and concentration difficulties in children. Sugar Smacks, Cap ‘N Crunch, Corn Pops, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms and Trix are just a few of the cereals loaded with sugar that are still being eaten by kids everywhere before they head off to school. Even something as healthy as oatmeal is full of sugar in those instant flavor variety packs. You may think oatmeal is a good low carb, high fiber food, but once the sugar is sprinkled on it, oatmeal is no longer part of a low carb diet. In addition, look at all the sugar being consumed by children in sodas and other products that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup.

Writing for The Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1986, J. Goldman noted in “Behavioral Effects of Sucrose on Preschool Children” that a dose of sugar equivalent to that found in a 12-ounce soda did indeed disrupt the performance of children at school. It caused their concentration levels to decrease and their inappropriate behaviors to increase. It is important to note that in 1976 the sugar industry found it was less costly to make sugar from corn than from beets or sugar cane. High fructose corn syrup has since replaced sucrose as a sweetener in many processed foods and sodas. It has been shown that fructose causes the white blood cells of the immune system to become inactive and unable to defend the body against harmful intruders. Anyone on a low carb diet should watch out for high fructose corn syrup, and avoid a sugar addiction.

4. A sugar addiction speeds up the aging process. When sugar is consumed on a regular basis the pancreas can become over stimulated and secrete too much insulin. Excess insulin can cause a drop in normal blood sugar levels, and hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, may develop. Symptoms of hypoglycemia can include fatigue, memory failure, rapid heartbeat, anxiety, tremors, headaches and depression. These may sound like diseases of the elderly, but more and more young people are noticing these things. If you notice any of these symptoms, try removing sugar from your diet and see what happens. If nothing else, eating a low carb diet with less sugar will probably give you more energy.

5. A sugar addiction can cause arthritis. Arthritis is another disease that has been linked to old age, but now there are many indications that sugar is playing a role in younger people developing arthritic symptoms. As mentioned earlier, a body that is suffering a mineral imbalance may produce inflammation in the bones, joints and cartilage due to the accumulation of toxic minerals, mostly calcium. Once again, the delicate mineral balance has been upset by too much sugar. When one mineral decreases, another may increase, and in some cases, excess calcium will end up in joints, causing arthritic spurs and other problems associated with bone diseases. Simply eliminating sugar and consuming a low carb diet, may result in weight loss, which will help take some of the stress off those achy knees and ankles.

This is just a short list of the many ways that a sugar addiction creates health disasters. It is hard to avoid sugar in foods being sold at grocery stores. However, on the Internet, you can find low carb foods, healthy snacks for a child, nutrition for athletes and other all natural foods that are not loaded with refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Have you ever heard of stevia sweetener? It is the one sweetener that may actually be good for maintaining normal blood sugar levels, and healthy for anyone on a low carb diet. Stevia sweetener is not an artificial sweetener as it is made from the stevia plant. Primarily grown in Peru, stevia has been used by indigenous peoples of South America for centuries as a sweetener for their foods and beverages. So, there are ways to avoid over consumption of sugar, but it takes some awareness. Watch out for high fructose corn syrup, dextrose and dextrin to avoid sugar in many of the foods that line the shelves of grocery stores in America.



Nicholas

Dane Fletcher asked:


For most of us, daily life is very structured and consistent. We wake up, shower and get dressed, and hit the road for work. We put in our eight hours at work, taking breaks on regular schedules. We come home, make dinner, get the kids ready for bed (if we’re at that stage), then we have a few hours to ourselves.

This daily structure is actually very good for bodybuilding nutrition - most of the time. The consistent schedule of a work day is wonderful for getting in all of your bodybuilding meals on a regular basis. Breakfast is consumed at the same time every day, because you have to. Breaks give you a chance to drink a protein shake, and lunch and dinner are on the same schedule as well, dictated to you by your schedule. There isn’t much time to stray into junk food arena either, as that food typically isn’t available and there isn’t time to think about it - you’re just too busy.

Those hours in the evening are the most dangerous to bodybuilding nutrition. This lack of structure is wonderful for unwinding and enjoying life. But it also leads to boredom and the willingness to break from a diet and eat junk food, or to miss a meal entirely. Here are a few ideas for stopping the nighttime collapse.

Alternative snacks

It’s a good idea to have fat-free and sugar-free foods on hand for those times when night-time urges kick in. Snacking on them can help the urges pass. Don’t make them a regular thing though - they may interfere with sleep and provide empty calories you don’t need.

Schedule

If you can plan the first 12 to 14 hours of your waking day down to a tee (including meals), you can plan your relax time just as easily. You might even find you are able to enjoy more fun things every evening if you plan it out ahead of time.

Discipline

What is more important to you - possessing an incredible physique and reaching your personal potential for muscle mass and vascularity, or goofing off? Be strong, remain focused, and put all of your energy into reaching your bodybuilding goals.



Mia

Anthony Lee asked:


In general, a good body building diet program should be composed of a combination of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The approximate percentages of each component should be about 40% for carbohydrates, another 40% for proteins and 20% for fats. This diet program is specifically for body builders who intend to gain muscle while losing their body fat. This diet can be easily modified depending on what your goals are.

Your body building diet program should include carbohydrates from complex sources, such as brown rice and oatmeal; proteins should come from lean sources, such as red meat and tuna; and fats should come from unsaturated sources, such as flax seed oil and olive oil.

When going on a body building diet program, you should have an idea of your caloric needs throughout the day. In general, approximately 10-15 calories are needed for every pound you weigh, to be able to keep your weight as is.

Although most people are used to eating three square meals a day, engaging in a body building diet program usually requires you to eat more often. Eating about five meals a day helps you to spread out your calorie intake throughout the day. This can help you maintain a constant energy level without making you feel hungry. This also makes sure that your body tissues get adequate nutrition before and after you work out.

When trying out a body building diet program, make sure that you modify the diet to suit your body. For example, if you have a fast metabolism, you can eat more calories than an individual with a slow metabolism. It is also a good idea to find a body building coach or a fitness trainer that can help you personalize your diet and your training, as well.



Brandon

David Timms asked:


Okay, for many people this is a big problem. Water does not taste all that great generally because water does not really taste like anything. Drinking water 8 to 10 times each day gets easier the more you actually do it. It is simply a matter of conditioning your taste buds, and yourself, so that it becomes easier to do. Once you get started, you will begin to crave water.

To begin with, you should drink a glass of water in the morning first thing, before you eat. This is probably the easiest glass you will drink all day and it will help you remember to drink water all day long. Better yet, why not drink two glasses?

If you really cannot bear the taste of water, try using a water purifying pitcher or filter. You can also add a few drops of lemon or lime to your water but no sugar or sweetener! Ice also helps. Check out flavored waters on the market, too. Just keep an eye out for additives.

Second Tip Eat breakfast Do not skip breakfast. If you need to go to bed a little earlier so that you can get up 20 minutes earlier each morning do it! Breakfast is so important to your good health and to weight control. According to Dr. Barbara Rolls a professor of nutrition at Penn State University, “Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn’t rev back up until you eat again.”

Eating breakfast is not only good for overall weight loss, it will help you stay on track with your diet the rest of the day. You are more likely to binge on something sweet and in the bad group if you skip breakfast.

You can always keep a couple of hard-boiled eggs in the fridge or some high-fiber, low starch fruit around. If you plan to eat fruit at all during the day, breakfast is the perfect time to do it.

Third Tip Eat at least 3 meals and snacks each day This can be one of the hardest adjustments to make. After all, you are busy! You already have a full-plate. When do you have time to worry about filling your plate with more frequent meals? Just like eating breakfast will increase your metabolism, so will eating more often. This will also help you curb your bad-carb intake by making sure that your snacks are planned and occur regularly throughout the day.

Really, it will just take a minimal investment of planning time at the grocery store and at home each morning before you head out for the day to make some healthy food choices and prepare a few healthy snacks and meals.



Julius

JAH asked:


I have been dieting for a while, I need some new food ideas. Recipies, or just a food list. Thanks.

Rachel

Roger Wakefield asked:


The Mediterranean Diet is based on the diet of people living in Greece, Italy, Southern France and Spain. Mediterraneans consume about the same amount of fat as Northern Europeans and Americans yet live longer, have a lower incidence of heart disease and cancer, and lower cholesterol levels.

An American doctor called Ancel Keys was the first person to comments favourably on the Mediterranean diet, way back in 1945, but its current popularity is based on research and observations from the last twenty years. The surprising thing is that people living in the Mediterranean typically consume more fat than North European countries and the USA, but have much reduced incidence of heart disease - the exact reasons are unknown, but it is likely that the main reason is that most of the fat in the Mediterranean Diet comes from olive oil and that there is more physical labour involved in their lives.

Nevertheless, we can all use Mediterranean diet recipes in our daily lives to be more healthy.

The Mediterranean Diet is rich in olive oil, fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, fish and unrefined cereals. Mediterranean people have a moderate consumption of dairy products and wine, and a low consumption of meat, meat products and saturated fat. The typical constituents of a Mediterranean diet are:-

Olive Oil

People living in the Mediterranean use olive oil, a monounsaturated oil, instead of saturated fats. They drizzle olive oil on their bread instead of butter, they use it as a salad dressing and cook with it.

Olive oil is rich in vitamins and antioxidants which help to prevent cancer, clogging of the arteries and heart disease. Olive oil lowers bad cholesterol and increases the amount of good cholesterol, keeping our arteries healthy. It helps to keep our digestive systems healthy, is good for brain development and is thought to help dissolve blood clots.

Look in your recipe collection for diet recipes using olive oil and substitute olive oil for saturated fats.

Fish

Northern Europeans and Americans eat a diet high in red meat, Mediterraneans eat a diet high in fish and shellfish. Red meat is a source of saturated fat which can cause heart disease whereas fish and shellfish are high in minerals and proteins, and low in fat. Oily fish such as salmon, fresh tuna, anchovies and swordfish are a good source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids which help to prevent heart disease.

Browse online for free recipes and Mediterranean diet recipes to incorporate more oily fish into your diet.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

The Mediterranean Diet is high in fresh fruit and vegetables. Mediterranean people shop at markets and buy fresh, seasonal produce. Fruit and vegetables are high in fibre, vitamins and minerals including antioxidants and do not contain cholesterol. A diet high in fruit and vegetables helps to protect us against cancer and heart disease, and also keeps our digestive systems healthy.

Wholegrains

Wholegrains are rich in essential vitamins and fibre. The fibre helps to keep our digestive systems in good working order. Wholegrains help to reduce cholesterol, reduce our risk of heart disease, some types of cancer and diabetes.

Legumes

Legumes are a good source of vitamins, minerals and soluble fibre. They help to reduce cholesterol, keep our digestive systems healthy and help to balance blood sugar levels. Look for diet recipes which use dried beans and pulses and add beans to stews and casseroles.

Red Wine

Mediterraneans enjoy drinking red wine in moderate amounts. Red wine is rich in flavanoids which contain antioxidants.

It is fairly easy to find Mediterranean diet recipes to add to our recipe collection, and even easier to modify our normal recipes to include more of the above foods, so why not give it a try.



Aubrey

Clinton Walker asked:


To effectively lose weight you must eat a healthy and balanced diet. Fad diets, pills, and other gimmicks are not effective or healthy. While these products usually produce short term results, they have more side effects than benefits.

Here is a simple breakdown.

Carbohydrates should be 60% of your daily diet

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. You must consume enough carbohydrates daily to remain healthy. Restricting your calories with low-carbohydrate diets decreases your energy.

Types of Carbohydrates

Simple carbohydrates like (sugars, including glucose and fructose from fruit and vegetables, lactose from milk, and sucrose from cane or beet sugar)

Complex carbohydrates like (carrots, broccoli, corn, potatoes, bread, cereal, pasta, rice, and beans) which contain glucose, fiber, and other nutrients.

Fat should be 30% of your daily diet

Fat adds flavor to food, and is an important component of a healthy diet. Fat is necessary for energy production, transporting fat soluble vitamins, protection of internal organs, insulation, healthy skin, hair, and supplying the linoleic acid[1].

Types of fat

1. Triglycerides are the chemical form in which most fat exists in food as well as in the body. They’re also present in blood plasma and, in association with cholesterol, form the plasma lipids.

2. Saturated fats come primarily from animal sources:

EXAMPLES

Butter, whole milk, dairy products, and meats.

Coconut and palm oils are also high in saturated fat. Saturated fat raises cholesterol[2] levels more than any element in your diet. Less than 10% of your daily calories should come from saturated fat sources.

3. Unsaturated fats can be either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

Monounsaturated fats. This type of fat can reduce LDL cholesterol without affecting beneficial HDL’s. This is the preferred form of fat in a diet.

Examples include olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, and avocado oil.

Polyunsaturated Fats are divided into omega-6 vegetable oils and omega-3 fish oils.

Examples include sunflower, corn, and sesame. The omega-3 oils come from fish like mackerel, halibut, salmon, albacore tuna, and whitefish.

Benefits of Omega-3 oils are decreased blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood clotting.

THE PROBLEM:

Most people eat almost twice as much fat as the human body is designed to handle. 36% to 41% of total daily calories often come from fat.

Protein should be 10% of your daily diet

Protein builds and repairs muscle, red blood cells, hair, and other tissues. Protein is also necessary for the synthesizing hormones.

Examples from plants include: Fruits, grains, and vegetables.

Examples from legumes include: Dried beans or tofu with rice or bread.

Meat is a good source of protein, but too much may lead to high cholesterol.

Here are some less fatty cuts of meat

Beef…………….Top round, eye of round, round steak, rump roast, sirloin tip, short lion, strip steak lean, lean and extra lean ground beef.

Pork……………Tenderloin, sirloin roast or chop, center cut loin chops

Lamb………… Foreshank, leg roast, leg chop, loin chop

HOW TO PLAN A DIET

STEP 1

DETERMINE YOU’RE EATING PATTERNS

Take a few days to record what you are eating and drinking, being specific as possible. Logging your diet will give you an idea of what and when you are eating. Tracking your diet is important in determining the changes needed.

Visit www.thebrim.com/fitness and use the calorie counter to determine the breakdown of calories for most foods. Enter the name of the food into the box and press enter.

Analyze your log sheet and determine how many calories you consume daily. Calorie intake needs will differ for each individual. Many people mistakenly eat too few calories. Consuming under 1200-calories for women and 1800-calories for men is severely low.

Typically it is best to eat about 500-1000-calories less a day than your total calories burned.

(See Chapter 1: Harris Benedict Equations)

After you determine an estimate of your calorie intake, use the chart below to determine the breakdown where your calories should come from.

STEP 2

PLAN AND MAKE CHANGES TO YOU’RE DIET.

If you are not eating enough, increase your calorie intake. Women and men should eat at least 1200 and 1800 calories a day respectively. Severely restricting calories will result in an eventual weight gain or lack of energy. If you are restricting your calories, start eating more immediately. If you are eating too much start by cutting your portion sizes.

Tips to control Portion size

Decrease your portions by half

You can lose weight and still enjoy your favorite foods. Just decrease your portion sizes by half. Take your typical dinner serving and decrease it by half. Try supplementing your meal with fresh fruit or vegetables on the side. After you eat, wait a few minutes to allow yourself to feel full. You will probably notice you don’t feel the urge to eat as much.

Don’t eat a three-course meal at restaurants

When dining out, watch how much you are eating. Most restaurants serve huge portions for the main course. Eating an appetizer, main course, and desert is too much food. Many restaurants offer lunch size portions of their dishes, which are smaller than their full-size dinner entrees. In most restaurants you can purchase the lunch size entree at dinnertime. Ordering from the lunch menu helps with portion control.

Don’t biggie-size anything

Fast food portions are normally too large. Upsizing meals give you extra food you don’t need. If you decide to eat fast food (which should be rare), order the regular size.

Start Reading Labels

Look carefully at the serving size for your food. Find out how many servings you are actually consuming. You will soon know how to measure a serving size simply by looking at the food.

· NO BUFFETS!!!

It is nearly impossible to practice portion control in an “all-you-can-eat” situation. Many individuals mistakenly eat as much as possible in a buffet. This is not good for someone on a diet.

Learn the standards:

3 oz. of meat is the size of a deck of cards or an audio tape; 1 oz. of meat is the size of a matchbook; 1 cup of potatoes, rice, or pasta looks like a tennis ball.

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[1] Linoleic acid is a member of the group of essential fatty acids called omega-6 fatty acids, so called because they are an essential dietary requirement for all mammals.

[2] Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a building block of cells, vitamins, and hormones in the body. The human body makes cholesterol in all cells of the body and also gets cholesterol from some foods in the diet. It is transported in the bloodstream to other cells or for elimination by the body.

Cholesterol is a solid fat carried in blood by lipoproteins and deposited in the walls of arteries which therefore narrow and when they block completely cause heart attacks and strokes.



Bailey