Loose Weight Naturally For A Better Life

To Loose Weight Naturally for a Better Life you just need to do this:

Eat The Right Way, Stay Active.

You just have read all that you need to know about how to prevent being overweight. That simple set of instructions should be easy to follow, but not for 35% of Americans who are unable to prevent being overweight.

Of course, once we are overweight, we usually want to trim down for a whole lot of reasons, some related to health, others having to do with looks.

In addition, it is never too late to lose weight. But the fact is, it is a whole lot easier to prevent putting on pounds than to try losing them later on. And if there is one thing we all know, it is that weight gain is likely to happen if we do not take forward-looking steps to stop it.

Health experts say that most people who are into losing weight usually stray. They tend to go back to their old eating habits even after they learn to enjoy low-fat eating. They tend to return to sedentary ways even though they enjoy exercising.

But despite the momentum toward weight gain, you can stop it from happening, experts say. And there are plenty of good reasons to avoid excess pounds, reasons that go beyond vanity or social acceptance.

In fact, some health experts contend that the significance of excess weight is more than cosmetic. They say that it takes a huge toll on people's physical health.

The Way to Losing Weight'Naturally

The nuts and bolts of eating right maintaining a healthy weight is not all that complicated. In fact, it is a good bet that most people know pretty well what is best. Hence, losing weight the natural way should not be a problem at all.

Consequently, a reasonable approach for losing weight naturally is to stick to a diet that is high in complex carbohydrates, high in fiber, moderate in protein, and low in fat.

A complex carbohydrate is a baked potato. Fat is the sour cream and butter you should not put on it. Fiber is vegetables. Fat is the oil you should not fry them in. Protein is a lean cut of meat. Fat is the gravy you should not pour over it.

Moreover, health experts say that dietary fat promotes weight gain because it is a very dense source of calories. Also, when you consume excess calories from dietary fat, you store those calories as body fat more efficiently than excess calories from other sources.

On the other hand, it can also help you lose weight naturally if you will not fall into the so-called 'fat-free' trap. Manufacturers keep coming out with low-fat or fat-free versions of their best-selling foods, but Americans keep getting fatter anyway.

One of the greatest delusions of the 1990s is that 'no fat' means 'non-fattening'The truth is, you are often getting just as many calories from the no-fat version, even if the calories are not coming from fat.

The term fat-free can be a trap if you start to believe that you can eat any amount of the foods that are advertised that way.

What's more, it is best to respond to hunger with healthful snacks. Health experts say it would be better to try eating every three to four hours, which may mean a nutritious low-fat snack between lunch and dinner.

When you feel the urge for food coming on, snacking on something healthy such as a slice of whole-grain toasted bread is a better alternative. Never skip a meal and eat snacks instead because that is the worst thing you can do if you are trying to control your eating habits and weight.

Remember, if you want to lose weight naturally, you have to keep track of every food you eat and of every activity that you do. When you say natural weight loss means that you do not have to use some accessories or helpful aids just to lose weight.

Losing weight naturally is a process and not a fad. Hence, it would take a lot of dogged determination, self-control, and discipline just to achieve your ideal weight.

Is it possible to lose weight only with dieting & No exercise?

Is it possible to lose weight only with dieting & No exercise? To answer that question first we need to define what we mean by no exercise. By no exercise we mean no additional endurance other than what we do whilst performing our daily routines. With this in mind it is possible to achieve weight loss but depending on how active your daily routines are will depend on how much weight you will lose and it also depends on how heavy you are to begin with.


People who find themselves within the clinically obese bracket will find that by observing a controlled diet they will rapidly lose weight. This is because the body expends a lot of energy performing even the simplest of tasks.


For people who are obese the effects will be noticeable to start but will then become harder to notice the weight that is lost.


Overweight people who follow a controlled diet will gradually lose weight to become their ideal weight.


I don't condone some of the fad diets about such as the water diet or the atkins diet, but they do all have one thing in common and that is a reduction in some aspect of food. A normal male will burn around 2500 calories per day and a woman will burn around 2000. Many professionals now suggest that to lose weight instead of having three normal meals a day have six small ones, which does work but for me personally i wouldn't really know how big was small.


As long as you ensure that your calorie in-take in one particular day is less than your calorie expenditure then you will lose weight. Note that I say lose weight if your daily routine is extremely inactive not only will you lose any fat stores that you have but you will also lose any muscle mass that you have accumulated

Diet Chart for Weight Loss

Those who are not weighing more than 20% than the ideal weight (see Weight chart) need not count the calories. For them a proper diet (See Fat loss diet) with regular workout is enough to keep them fit and healthy. But for those who are weighing 20% more than the ideal weight need to follow a strict diet plan and routine workout.

Those who lead a sedentary life or lack physical activities in their daily routine need not to exercise more than 800 to 900 calories per day or 1000 to 1200 calories per day in case of those who are engaged in manual jobs. Those who follow this diet plan can hope to reduce about 4 to 12 pounds (2 to 5 kg) in about a month’s time.

Those who are weighing 30% more than the ideal weight should eat the food with a lesser amount of calories than suggested above. Similarly, those whose weight are not reducing even after taking the suggested diet, it is obvious that they should impose a further cut in their diet.

Given below are different diet plans for weight loss:

Diet plan providing 600 calories per day

Diet plan providing 800 calories per day

Diet plan providing 1000 calories per day

Diet plan providing 1200 calories per day

Many cases are recorded wherein no adverse effect is noticed even when persons subsisted on a 400 to 450 calories diet. However, such a drastic cut in the diet should be tried only in a hospital under proper medical supervision. Those who subsist on such a low calorie diet should take vitamins and minerals in the synthetic form.

Note: If a person undertakes too rapid a weight loss program, he may become victim of complaints like anemia, uneasiness, giddiness, etc. Those who reduce their weight at a miraculous pace generally find that the vitamin and mineral depots in their body are fast depleted.

Those who are suffering from heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure are commonly advised to reduce their weight. But such people should never undertake a speedy weight loss program. We must bear in mind that the weight loss program should be sensible with steady pace.

If you’re really serious to melt your stubborn body fat, be sure to pick up an ebook on fat loss diet of your choice given below and start working today! Targeted guide on fat loss...

Green Tea for Weight Loss

Check the back of the bottle of many popular diet pills and you’ll see “green tea” or “green tea extract” listed as one of the ingredients.

Diet pills are often dangerous and packed with other unhealthy ingredients, but there’s a reason they use green tea. Green tea helps you lose weight. Of course it won’t be “20 pounds in one week” or other nonsense that marketing companies like to claim, but green tea has been scientifically proven to burn calories and block fat absorption.

Green Tea Burns Fat
Food (including sugar and fat) is synthesized into a substance called “triglyceride” in the liver and small intestine. It is then carried into the bloodstream to other tissues in the body.

Triglyceride is used as source of energy for life support and physical activities, and is very necessary. The problem comes about when there are excess amounts of triglyceride, because then it’s turned into fat which subsequently causes obesity.

That’s where green tea comes in. It contains high amounts of polyphenols which activate the enzyme that is responsible for dissolving excess triglyceride. In the long run, this means that green tea effectively aids in burning fat.

Green Tea Stimulates the Metabolism & Accelerates Weight Loss
Green tea contains powerful antioxidants called catechin polyphenols that are responsible for many of the health benefits of green tea. One of them in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG for short), has been found to stimulate the metabolism and accelerate weight loss.

EGCG, along with the caffeine in green tea, stimulates the central nervous system and causes fat to be released into the blood stream for the body to use as fuel. This process of fat being used for energy is called “thermogenesis”. It provides extra energy, sheds excess water, and also helps to burn body fat.

Although caffeine alone can stimulate the metabolism this way, it’s important to note that researchers found that the combined ingredients of green tea were much more effective at this process than just caffeine by itself.

Green Tea Helps You Exercise Longer
Everyone knows how important exercise is to losing weight. It burns calories, increases your energy, and builds muscle which in turn boosts your metabolism even higher. The catechin polyphenols in green tea appear to stimulate the use of fatty acids by liver and muscle cells. This subsequently reduces the rate that carbohydrates are used and allows for more endurance and longer exercise times. In fact, a study using green tea extract on lab rats increased the amount of time the animals could swim before becoming exhausted by as much as 24%.

More endurance means more exercise, which means more calories burned, and it all adds up to more pounds lost for you.

Rapid Weight Loss Tips to Avoid

From the title of this post, you may be forgiven for thinking that we have gone slightly off track when it comes to helping people, and especially our readers, to lose weight simply and effectively. Surely, some well timed rapid weight loss tips would be of more help than other things especially to get those who are very overweight or obese jump started with their own diets and weight loss solutions?

Well, not all the rapid ways of losing weight are good for you, and this blog is primarily concerned with healthy, natural ways to lose weight. So while there are several tried and tested methods that are pretty fast and that work pretty well, there are others that should, in our opinion be avoided as being detrimental to health. So what do we prefer to avoid?

Well, first of all, the most dangerous method of losing weight is by undertaking surgical procedures except in the most extreme cases, where the alternative could be potentially fatal. But that occurs in such a tiny percentage of people who are overweight that we can generalize more about those surgical procedures that people request that are for cosmetic purposes only.

Cosmetic surgery for losing weight is an extreme measure that is far too actively promoted by many plastic surgery clinics for our liking and far too many people think it is okay to go ahead and take the cheat’s way to dropping a dress size or two.

The downside to surgery is that while most procedures are successful, people often return to their old bad habits and pile the weight back on again all too soon after the surgery. If it was liposuction that was used, people think its okay to just head back to the operating table for a repeat vacuuming out! That is such a bad idea We will not even entertain going into the whys and wherefores of why it is such a very bad idea indeed! Not only that, but while uncommon, complications can and do occur at times and those complications can leave you worse off than you were before you started. Some can leave you disfigured for life and in our opinion that is not worth taking a risk for. Taking the natural approach to weight loss is far safer and no one ever ended up with massive ugly scarring through eating a healthy diet!

Another of those rapid weight loss tips to avoid are the unbelievably hyped up berry extracts and pills. It may be true that some certain foods can cause the body to speed up the fat burning process, but so does exercise and it does it far more naturally than any pill can do, despite what the advertisers might want you to believe. You know the types of pills that are emblazoned all across a myriad of websites all trying to get you to part with your money for something that promises so much by in the end will deliver very little.

Why are we deliberately putting these products down? Simple. Because you can lose weight much more effectively through diet combined with exercise. The more you can exercise, the more fat you will burn. And when you combine that exercise with a healthy, natural diet that is low in fats and low in high GI carbs and high in fresh fruits and vegetables, then your own metabolism will get a boost and help you all by itself, without the latest greatest groovy berry extract pills.

One last rapid weight loss method to avoid is getting involved with fad diets that restrict or completely omit whole food groups. One such diet was Atkins that certainly worked as a rapid way to lose weight, but it loaded the body up with so much saturated fat that the resulting ill effects to health, especially to the circulatory system and the coronary vessels and muscles in particular, meant that long term use was almost dangerous.

A last word about all this. If you really must lose weight quickly, then don’t take short cuts, which is all the pills and surgery methods really are. Get into exercise as soon as you can and build it up over time, while combining it with a healthy diet and drink lots of plain water. These three things in combination will kick start your metabolism fast and get you burning fat whilst slimming down more effectively and for longer than any short cuts or cheats or rapid weight loss tips as mentioned above will ever do for you!

Lose Weight with Nutrisystem

Nutrisystem is a name that is well known to dieters the world over and the company, which has been providing their own brand of weight loss diets and helpful advice has been in existence for over 35 years. What that means to someone who wants to lose some weight but leads a busy life and needs a convenient and simple way to do that, is that here is a diet food delivery company that is long established, trusted and has a high rate of success for its customers.

So how good can it be to be able to take advantage of a great new offer provided by Nutrisystem to celebrate the start of another year? This one, as you may have already noticed from the colorful promotional image at the top of this page, is offering customers the chance to get 2 free weeks worth of their diet plan when you purchase their great new plan that is specially designed to put you on the fast track to weight loss success!. This means you get incredibly good value for money from a tried and tested diet program that has been proven to work for a huge number of people.

So how does the Nutrisystem work? Well, if you need an unbiased assessment of their diet food delivery plans, we already wrote one of the most comprehensive Nutrisystem reviews around. Just click that link to read it, or there is another the link in the right column. Too busy to read a full blown review? Ok, no problem, here’s how it works in a nutshell:

When you purchase a plan from Nutrisystem, you get, delivered direct to your door, 28 days worth of ready meals (3 full meals per day) that you keep in your freezer. Each day at your regular mealtime, you just take the respective meal from the freezer, place it in the microwave and in next to no time, you have your meal ready to eat. The meals are all devised to be low in calories, contain low GI carbs and plenty of proteins and nutrients to give your body everything it needs to work efficiently and healthily.

Those meals are designed to help you to lose weight, so you may at first think they are a little on the small side, especially of you are used to really big meals. Well, that’s probably why you’re overweight in the first place, so its something you are going to have to get used to if you want to have a slimmer, fitter body!

But that’s about the long and the short of it. These meals replace your regular meals, so if you’re looking at the Nutrisystem cost, remember you should deduct the money you’d normally spend on meals for those 28 days. That’s three meals a day don’t forget, so when you balance out the costs, you can see you are probably even saving on what you’d normally spend on your regular food that has made you overweight!

If you really want to lose some weight and are serious about doing it, then Nutrisystem really does have the perfect solution for you.

5 Best & Healthiest Foods

The Super Foods section of our website is very popular with our readers. It lists many healthy foods which are beneficial to health. Among all the foods listed there, I have decided to pick the top five healthiest foods for this article.



Salmon

Hands down! Salmon is my favorite food to substitute meats. It is a good source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids - which has been shown to decrease LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. In 2002, the American Heart Association recommended eating at least 2 servings of fish a week, particularly fatty fish such as salmon. With increasing public concerns over farmed salmon, choose wild salmon. Most canned salmon are wild.



Soy

Soy products are great substitutes for animal products. I love cooking tofu with various tasty Asian sauces and also enjoy drinking soy milk. Soy beans contain high amounts of protein which comprise of all essential amino acids (the only such vegetable source to do so). Soy beans are also a rich source of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. Numerous scientific studies demonstrated that a diet containing significant soy protein may benefit heart health. In addition, more and more studies are being published suggesting other health benefits of soy such as the prevention of prostate & breast cancer as well as osteoporosis.



Greens

Green vegetables such as kale, chard, collard greens, bok choy, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc... are packed with vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and phytonutrients. They are very filling, high in fiber and low in calories. Personally, I like eating them cooked so I usually stir fry them in a non-stick pan, but it is absolutely fine to eat them raw as well so go ahead and toss them into your salad and reap the nutritional benefits!


Berries

Berries by far are my favorite fruits! They are loaded with Vitamin C, folate, fiber and phytonutrients. Indeed, fresh berries are some of the most powerful disease-fighting foods available as they top the ORAC score chart (a method of measuring antioxidant activity). Berries are easy to prepare - just wash and rinse - no need to peel at all! In addition, you may serve berries (fresh or baked) as part of a dessert dish.



Whole Grains


Whole grains have some valuable antioxidants not found in fruits and vegetables. They also contain B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, iron and fiber. The new 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that all adults eat half their grains as whole grains - that's 3 to 5 servings of whole grains a day. To include more servings of whole grains in your diet, use whole-wheat flour in your recipes instead of white flour. Look for the word "whole" when purchasing packaged foods such as cereals, biscuits, pasta and breads. In addition, try adding wild rice, brown rice, quinoa or barley in your soup to increase whole grain intake.

Safe Ways To Loss Weight For People Over 40

Getting beyond your teen years, your 20's and your 30's will have you noticing many things about getting a bit of age on yourself. In today's world, 40 is not old, but it still takes effort and care to lose weight. There are many ways you can lose weight safely, and there are many ways in today's world that are still dangerous weight lose practices. Safe ways to loss weight for people over 40 are going to be a lot the same as the safe ways to loose weight for anyone of any age.

First of all, try to remember that an over 40 metabolism is a little slower to react than a younger person's. This means things will happen a bit slower for you. Not only will it take longer to loose the weight but you'll notice that your weight doesn't fluctuate back and forth as quickly either. Look for a healthy lifestyle instead of a weight loss program and you'll find your ideal weight as well as be healthier.

Finding your ideal weight is a personal journey. By the time you've reached 40 years of age you know whether you are happy at a certain weight. It may be 10lbs over or under the established weight for your body frame, or it can be even more. You and your doctor should discuss the ideal weight for you and how you can maintain that weight with a healthy lifestyle.

If you are not at the weight you would like to be, and you're exercising regularly and your doctor says your healthy, perhaps a bit of acceptance is in order.

Just as with any other weight loss program, consider the fact that you are over 40, that your metabolism has probably slowed down and that the best weight loss program may just be eating right, getting plenty of exercise through a favorite hobby, and getting plenty of sleep in order to maintain your personal weight.

Is it possible to lose weight only with dieting & No exercise?

Is it possible to lose weight only with dieting & No exercise? To answer that question first we need to define what we mean by no exercise. By no exercise we mean no additional endurance other than what we do whilst performing our daily routines. With this in mind it is possible to achieve weight loss but depending on how active your daily routines are will depend on how much weight you will lose and it also depends on how heavy you are to begin with.


People who find themselves within the clinically obese bracket will find that by observing a controlled diet they will rapidly lose weight. This is because the body expends a lot of energy performing even the simplest of tasks.


For people who are obese the effects will be noticeable to start but will then become harder to notice the weight that is lost.


Overweight people who follow a controlled diet will gradually lose weight to become their ideal weight.


I don't condone some of the fad diets about such as the water diet or the atkins diet, but they do all have one thing in common and that is a reduction in some aspect of food. A normal male will burn around 2500 calories per day and a woman will burn around 2000. Many professionals now suggest that to lose weight instead of having three normal meals a day have six small ones, which does work but for me personally i wouldn't really know how big was small.


As long as you ensure that your calorie in-take in one particular day is less than your calorie expenditure then you will lose weight. Note that I say lose weight if your daily routine is extremely inactive not only will you lose any fat stores that you have but you will also lose any muscle mass that you have accumulated

How to Avoid Obesity In Children

Obesity has become an increasing problem currently in the United States. With most of the problem taking place with children, the rate of obesity for children is 1 in 3. It is very important for the whole family to get involved in helping a child preserve a healthy weight and to support the child. How to avoid obesity in children, well, there are many trouble-free ways for a family to help and get the child to a healthy weight.

One of the easiest ways to do this is with the amount of food they eat and what type of food it is. Parents should be aware of the signals that kids give off when they are full; many parents try to get their children to finish their plate at dinner. Kids should not be forced to eat, but they need to reinforce the knowledge to only eat when they are hungry.

A second way to help with a healthy weight is to remove all sweets and snacks from the child's diet. Many kids will try to sneak the snacks instead. The parents could try just reducing the amount that they give their children instead, many parents give their children sweets for either good behavior or to try and stop them from behaving bad. Parents should reduce the amount of sweets that they allow, if they do not want to completely remove them from the diet.

An additional way that is very significant is exercise. This will not only help with the obesity, but it will help the child feel better about themselves, so that they will have better self-esteem and a body image and it will make them happier by the chemicals that the brain releases from the exercise. Parents should go with their children to exercise, this will help keep the child motivated and it will help the parents as well.

Kids will have a higher rate of success fighting obesity if their parents get involved and help out. It will help with them focusing on getting healthy. The most important thing about parents helping is that the children will know that their parents support them, and for a child that is really important.

What are Empty Calories?

You may have read the term "empty calories," or heard it used by nutritionists or even talk show hosts on TV. But what exactly are empty calories? Why are they so bad for you , and how can you avoid them?

Keep reading to discover where these sneaky calories may be hiding in your diet!


Empty Calories = High Calories but Low Nutrition

Contains Calories: Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat (collectively known as Macro-nutrients)

No Calories: All vitamins & minerals including antioxidants (collectively known as Micro-nutrients) as well as fiber



"Empty Calories" describes foods high in calories but low in nutritional values (also known as junk food!), lacking the health-promoting micro-nutrients listed above.

Examples of foods containing mostly Empty Calories


French fries, fried chicken, chips and all other deep-fried foods

A large order of fries from a fast food chain can contain up to 570 kcal with a whopping 30 g of total fat and 8 g of trans fat! Tons of calories from fat and very few micro-nutrients.


Candy, pop and other sweetened packaged foods

A can of pop contains about 130 kcal as well as additives and colorings. Again, lots of calories from sugar but no micro-nutrients.


Beer, wine and all other alcoholic beverages

A can of beer contains about 150 kcal from sugar and not much of anything else. In addition, calories from alcohol tend to be stored as fat in the abdomen (leading to a "beer belly").


Refined grains such as crackers, cookies, white rice and white bread

Refined grains do provide some B vitamins, but that's it.


How to Avoid Empty Calories?

Avoid deep-fried foods. Instead of deep-frying, use other methods of cooking. For instance, have a baked potato with skin instead of fries, or a piece of baked skinless chicken breast instead of fried chicken.
Avoid sweetened drinks and canned drinks.
Try whole grains instead of refined grains. Whole grains are packed with beneficial fiber and antioxidants. For instance, have a slice of whole-wheat bread instead of white bread. Have a bowl of whole-grain breakfast cereals or unsweetened oatmeal instead of corn flakes.
Snack on fruits! Instead of prowling for a box of crackers in the mid afternoon, snack on fruits. Better yet, dip them in low-fat yogurt to get additional calcium and protein.

A High Carb Diet does not make you fat

Another Study affirmed that a Low-Fat High-Carb diet does not cause Weight Gain
Researchers found women following a diet low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables and grains actually lost weight, not gained weight. Published in the Journal of American Medical Association in January 2006, the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial followed close to 50,000 post-menopausal women for more than 7 years. Results showed that, in the first year, the women trained to eat a healthy low-fat diet lost about 5 pounds. After 7 1/2 years, they still maintained a modest weight loss compared to the women who did not receive education on healthy eating.

Editor's Note - Finally: hooray for a low-fat high-carb diet!

Many diet books blamed high-carb diets as the reason for the obesity epidemics. Healthcare professionals, for years, have been explaining to the public that it's not the carbs - it's actually the total calories that contributes to weight gain. This long-term randomized trial with a large population is a perfect study to prove these diet books wrong. Indeed, it is important to note about this study - these women actually lost weight despite the fact that they were not intending to lose weight at all. Weight loss results would be even more dramatic if they were trying to do so. As the author Dr. Howard noted, the results of this study demonstrated that "long-term recommendations to achieve a diet lower in total and saturated fat with increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and without focus on weight loss, do not cause weight gain."

Carb 101: Carbohydrates are found in fruits and vegetables. Emphasize on choosing a variety of fruits and dark green leafy as well as bright-colored vegetables which are loaded with antioxidants and fiber. In addition, carbohydrates are also found in grain products. The American Dietary Guidelines recommend eating at least half the grains as whole grains - that's at least 3 servings of whole grains a day. For more information about whole grains, refer to our Whole Grains Guide.

To cut fat in your diet

remove skin and visible fats from meats
choose leaner cuts of meat such as skinless breast from poultry. For beef, choose eye of round, top round roast, top sirloin and flank; for pork, choose tenderloin and loin chops.
occasionally substitute meat products with fish and seafood (high in omega-3 fatty acids), soy products (high in heart-friendly soy protein) and nuts (high in omega-3 fatty acids and fiber)
use lower-fat versions if available of salad dressings, spreads, dairy products and cooking sauces etc

Super Fruits and Vegetables Guide

We used to say 5 a day. Since last year, the Centres for Disease Control has said at least 7 a day! You know you are supposed to eat more fruits and vegetables. But which kinds?

Fruits and Vegetables are all-stars. Not only are they low in calories and high in fiber, they contains unique phytochemicals, or antioxidants, that boost your health. It's important to eat a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables every day to reap the health benefits. That's because each color contains different sets of phytochemicals that provide different health benefits.

Super Fruits and Vegetables to Add to Your Diet


Super Red: Pink grapefruit, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon

Lycopene shows promise in fighting lung and prostate cancers. Lycopene is actually more available after cooking or processing so don't ignore canned tomato paste!


Super Purple: Concord grapes, blueberries and prunes

The anthocyanins that give these fruits their distinctive colors may help ward off heart disease by preventing clot formation. They may also help lower risk of cancer.


Super Green: Spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collard greens and bok choy

Lutein appears to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke as well as guard against age-related macular degeneration. Dark green leafy vegetables are usually high in folate, a B vitamin that shows promising results in preventing heart diseases. In addition, Sulforaphane, a photochemical present in cruciferous vegetables, was found to detoxify cancer-causing chemicals before they do damage the body.


Super Orange: Carrots, mangos, pumpkin and oranges

The beta carotenes in these orange super fruits and vegetables may prevent cancer, particularly of the lung, esophagus and stomach. They may also reduce risk of heart disease and improve immune function.


Super White: Cauliflower, mushrooms, banana and onions

These contain anthoxanthins and allicin, which can help lower blood pressure and protect against stomach cancer.

The Flat Ab Diet

Just can't get rid of your flabby belly, even though you do sit-ups and crunches until you're ready to drop? Assuming that you are already physically active and have a sensible diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and low in fat and your belly is still a bit bigger than you wish, read on. If you want to go from fat to fab abs, new research shows that what you eat is just as important as how - or even how much - you work out.

Ab Diet Tip 1. Eat more fiber.

Not eating enough fiber may be a major reason women are getting fatter and flabbier. To ditch the fat and show off firm, beautiful abs, you need to eat at least 25 grams of fiber daily, says leading fiber researcher David J.A. Jenkins, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor of Nutrition at the University of Toronto, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Food and Nutrition Board. Fiber, which is the indigestible part of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods, helps you achieve flat abs.

How to add fiber to your diet comfortably? One cautionary note: It's important to add fiber slowly but consistently to prevent gas. "Make higher-fiber choices throughout the day; don't have all your fiber in one bunch," Jenkins says. "This is particularly important with viscous fiber - a type of soluble fiber found in beans, oats and barley that also has the benefit of lowering blood cholesterol," he says.

For best results, increase your fiber intake slowly over the course of one month and drink plenty of water to keep food moving through your system as quickly as possible.

Ab Diet Tip 2. Opt for a sensible amount of high-quality carbs.

For flatter abs, make carbs 45–- 65 percent (202 - 292) grams based on an 1,800-calorie diet) of your total daily calories. Balance is the key here, so don't go below 45 percent (202 grams), or above 65 percent (292 grams), which can lead to water retention, bloating and temporary weight gain that shows up in your middle.

When you eat carbs, they break down into glucose, which is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. When glycogen is stored, it carries with it three times its own weight as water, compared to no water at all for protein and fat, according to Peter Garlick, Ph.D., a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. If you eat an extremely high-carb diet, you may store excess water, experience bloating and gain temporary water weight. (This is why people who go on no- or very low-carb diets can initially lose weight so quickly. They're really just losing water.)

Focus on balanced eating. For best results, eat at least three to five 4-ounce servings of veggies (15 - 25 grams of carbs); two to four 4-ounce servings of fruit (30–60 grams of carbs) and about 1 cup (8 ounces cooked or 2 ounces dry, or 2 slices of bread) of whole grains per meal (90 grams per day).

Ab Diet Tip 3. Drink up!

Many women believe that drinking too much water will give them puffy abs, but just the opposite is true. "Even though we associate water with being bloated, drinking more water can help to flush sodium out of the body, and that reduces the bloat," said Jeff Hampl, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition researcher and assistant professor at Arizona State University.

Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Beverages with little or no calories, caffeine or sodium, including herbal tea, are best. Avoid regular soft drinks and soups with lots of sodium. If you are eating plenty of water-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables and low-sodium soups, you can get half of your water requirements from foods, according to a 1998 NAS Food and Nutrition Board report.

Avoid carbonated drinks. Fizzy drinks, including soda pop and spritzers, increase bloating because the carbon dioxide trapped in the bubbles creates gas, which slows down stomach emptying.

Ab Diet Tip 4. Watch the sodium.

Sodium may have a bad rep, but it's essential for regulating body fluids and blood pressure as well as for nerve transmission, muscle function and absorption of important nutrients. But even a small amount of excess sodium causes bloating.

The American Heart Association recommends you consume no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily — roughly 1 teaspoon of table salt. That's enough sodium to replenish your supply even if you work up a major sweat.

Choose fresh, natural foods over fast, commercial or packaged foods. Instead of ordering french fries (265 milligrams of sodium), have a baked potato (8 milligrams). Instead of a pickle (1,730 milligrams!), enjoy a fresh cucumber (6 milligrams). And beware of cured meats: Three ounces of ham packs in 1,009 milligrams of sodium, compared to just 48 milligrams for the same amount of roast pork. Soups are also notoriously high in sodium; some canned varieties contain more than 1,100 milligrams per cup. Read labels carefully and stick with low-sodium brands like Healthy Choice.

Ab Diet Tip 5. Eat light at night.

It never fails: You have a heavier-than-normal evening meal or snack, and when you weigh yourself the next morning, you're up by several pounds. But as depressing as it may seem at the moment, such a quick gain is always water weight; you simply cannot gain that much fat overnight.

In a study conducted by Callaway, people who skipped breakfast or lunch and ate their largest meal later in the day had lower metabolisms. So by eating light at night you'll receive a double benefit: You'll wake up with a flatter tummy, and you'll also have a better appetite for a fiber-rich breakfast, which sets you up for a day of healthful eating. Some tips to get you started:

Eat five times a day. Your body needs food every three to four hours, so instead of eating three large meals, try to schedule five smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day (breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner). By staying full and energized, you'll avoid hunger pangs, maintain an even energy flow, make better, healthier food choices (no binging or craving) and enjoy the most efficient burning of calories.

Ab Diet Tip 6. Reduce stress.

Research shows that stress triggers the hormone cortisol to turn up your appetite and deposit fat around the organs in your abdomen. Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H., author of Fight Fat After Forty (Penguin, 2000) calls this "toxic weight," because it's associated with heart disease, diabetes and cancer.