Delicious-Food Health Guide

Keep Healthy - The Right Way

Archive for September, 2008

1. Increase your water intake to at least 1 gallon of Plain, fresh water per day. Start your day with a full gallon jug, and just make sure you sip on it all day long, and before you know it, it will be gone and so will some body fat.2. Increase the number of meals you eat each day to at least 5 or 6 small to medium sized meals.3. Eat nothing but lots of raw vegetables and baked, steamed or broiled lean protein (like skinless chicken, fish, egg whites or lean red meat).For a ton of f.ree, valuable tips, tricks, and secrets visit: http://www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com 2002-2004 Wisdom Books, LLC & Christopher Guerriero WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Christopher Guerriero, is the founder of the National Metabolic & Longevity Research Center and a best-selling author, speaker, and coach to millions. He is creator of the award-winning ‘Maximize Your Metabolism’ system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FR*EE how-to articles and F.REE teleseminars, visit http://www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com


Breaking Down Cravings One at a TimeI know you’ve heard of one-day at a time, but one-minute at a time? Come on, who needs that? Hum, maybe you. If you’ve struggled repeatedly, yet continue to fail in your weight loss efforts, what’s going wrong? Was the way you tried to stop eating a specific food too restrictive? Did you say, “I’ll never eat ice cream again,” or “I can’t eat cookies again.”If you set such absolute restrictions when the cravings for the forbidden food hit you like waves rushing ashore, you’ll likely give in. It’s too much work to try and avoid those waves. They keep hitting you and knocking you down until you’re wailing, “I can’t do it. I don’t have the will power. I’ll never lose this weight.”Trying to avoid the waves of cravings by sheer will or force doesn’t work. If you just stand there, they’ll crash into you and knock you right over, but you can learn to surf the waves. Once you learn to ride them, instead of standing and getting hit, then you’ll be able to see what life is like on the other side. The side that doesn’t have a weight problem.Learn to Ride the Waves of HungerGet out your boogie board, and you’ll be glad for those waves. Think differently about the situation. So you’re riding a wave of a food craving, ah, there’s the crest, now you’re free falling down the other side. Most likely you’ve forgotten about the wave entirely. Next thing you know, here comes another wave. What do you do? You ride it too and then the next wave and the next after that. Habits, like waves, hit hard, but each successive wave (craving) is a little less intense. By riding the waves you’ll find you can learn to surf them, then even enjoy them as they lose their power over you.Use EFT on Every WaveIf you haven’t yet learned to use EFT, get the fre.e materials and learn it. It’s simple and very effective especially for cravings. The EFT process takes no more than 20 or 30 seconds and gives you something tangible to do for what first moment when you think you can’t ride the craving wave at all. After the EFT, you may see you’ve already ridden it.Cravings are toughest to ride out at first because that’s when you are still stuck in the old pattern of diving into it. Instead, make an effort to try something new.Stay out of the WaterPost a mental “No Swimming” sign for the next wave. Decide in advance that you can go swimming anytime but instead of diving in, you’re going to ride the next wave. This way it’s always just one wave at a time, not the whole ocean.If you have a habit of overeating, no matter what time of day, realize it’s just a habit. No different than a habit of biting your nails, twirling your hair, or picking lint off your sweater. Habits are acquired by repeating the same thing often enough that it becomes an established pattern. Breaking habits happens the same way, but in reverse. Habits can be broken, if you are willing to ride the waves.Even if you were trying to drive a different way to work, the desire to travel the old route would be strong. Eating habits aren’t the only thing that’s difficult to break, but it can certainly be done. If your family moved, you’d get used to driving another route and it wouldn’t be traumatic either. Stop thinking you can’t and know you can.When the urge strikes, decide right then to ride this craving out. Tell yourself, “I’m riding this craving,” and then just do it. That means you decide in advance that you will wait 10 minutes perhaps or 5 minutes; whatever time works for you. Decide how many minutes you will wait before having the food and then see what happens. Waiting a few minutes gives you a chance for the wave to crest and you’ll be amazed how often it does.Every single time you ride that wave and get to the other side it gets easier and easier. Now, for you, it could be that it takes a thousand waves before it gets easier but I can guarantee it will. The day will come when you’ll realize you used to have a problem with this food or that, or you used to eat an entire bag of chips every night, but you no longer do. Now if you want a cookie, you eat a cookie but that crazy desire to eat them all has gone. The tide has turned.Couple this surfing metaphor with the EFT technique for cravings and you’ll have a winning combination, but even without EFT, this is one way to stop feeling out-of-control, and start taking control instead.~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com lost 80 pounds over 17 years ago. She maintains her weight using the techniques she teaches in her 8-week Ending Emotional Eating online weight loss program, private coaching practice an[1] [2] NextPage

Dieting is not easy. If it were, we would probably all be thin. Since we are not, here are some tips that successful people use to lose weight so that others can benefit, too.SUCCESS TIP NO. 1: DRINK 8-10 GLASSES OF WATER EACH DAYOkay, for many people this is a big problem. Water doesn’t taste all that great generally because water doesn’t 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.SUCCESS TIP NO. 2: EAT BREAKFASTDo 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 "bread" 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.SUCCESS TIP NO. 3: EAT AT LEAST 3 MEALS AND 2 SNACKS EACH DAYThis 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. For suggestions, just see the handy list of snacks and appetizers listed later.SUCCESS TIP NO. 4: AVOID WHITE FOODSThis is one easy way to remember what not to eat. If it is made from sugar, flour, potatoes, rice or corn - just say no. Remembering this rule of thumb will make it easier to recognize those rice cakes as an unhealthy high-carb snack.Always look for colorful fruits and veggies to substitute for the white ones. Buy broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers, green beans and peas, brown rice in moderation, leafy greens like kale and spinach, apples, melons, oranges and grapes.These foods are not only colorful they are also high in fiber, nutrients and important antioxidants. Eating colorful fruits and vegetables will give your diet variety as well as give you added health benefits.SUCCESS TIP NO. 5: EAT YOUR VEGGIESIt is so easy to use a low-carb diet as an excuse for poor nutrition. Resist this temptation. If the only vegetable you have eaten in the last 5 years has been the potato, now is a good time to begin experimenting with other vegetables. This is important for your overall health and to avoid some nasty side effects of not getting enough fiber in your diet.If you try hard enough, you will find vegetables that you enjoy eating. Experiment with grilling veggies and [1] [2] NextPage

Are you or your family members amongst the 65%?To help with weight issues and for overall improved health, many people turn to diets. In fact, government statistics show that while about 65 percent of Americans are overweight, 38 percent are actually doing something about it.And according to a recent survey by the National health Institute, about a third of overweight Americans who are trying to lose weight, are doing so by eating less carbohydrates (carbs) largely because of the increased popularity of fad diets like Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet.Although there have certainly been other low-carb or low-sugar diet plans before, and more will most assuredly come out in the years ahead, let’s take a look at the basics behind many of the major plans. And let’s take a look at how they fit into the real world today. Because while it might be great to lower the body’s sugar content and be healthier, wouldn’t it be great to learn how to do so while being part of this fast-paced world?In the world of instant messaging, quick Internet interaction and the already multi-faceted day-to-day hectic schedules, dietary food budgeting, planning, preparing and shopping are issues that can become major sources of stress and reasons for dieting failure. Dual income families on-the-go and other super-busy wage earners and dieters often already suffer from more than their share of everyday stressors like fears of being laid off, their jobs being relocated or terminated, juggling more than one job, dependents (both elderly and minors) and trying to fund and juggle continuing education into their lives, budgets, and daily routines.People want and need simpler solutions. And they need simpler dieting plans. Forget spending mega bucks on gourmet, hard-to-find items. Forget spending hours just to prepare meals. And forget counting, measuring, and weighing ingredients.Either a low-carb plan fit into real-world lives, or it doesn’t. First we’ll take a look at some basic terms and definitions to help understand the science behind low-carb plans. Let’s see how many of the major players’ plans measure up.Note that the contents here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and all dietary planning should be made under the guidance of your own medical practitioners. This content only presents overviews of low-carb research for educational purposes and does not replace medical advice from a professional physician.If you want to have a complete info on low carb diet, please enroll to our 5 day email course on low carb diet by sending a blank email to ezine@pushbuttonhealthguide.comGood material awaits you there, free.See you in the e-course.Resource Box:
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Many people think obesity means that a person is overweight, but that’s not exactly true. An overweight person has a surplus amount of weight that includes muscle, bone, fat and water. An obese person has a surplus of body fat. Body Mass Index (BMI) is commonly used to determine if a person is obese or not. A person with a BMI over 30 is considered to be obese, and a BMI over 40 is considered to be severely obese.Factors such as poor diet, lack of physical activity, genetics and certain medical disorders cause obesity, but it can be conquered.Eating DisorderObesity itself is not an eating disorder, but people who are obese or who fear becoming obese may develop one. There are three type of eating disorder:-Binge eating - binge eaters eat uncontrollably and quickly eating an unusually large amount of food at one sitting. They eat mostly sugar and fat. As a result, they may lack certain vitamins and nutrients.Bulimia nervosa - bulimics binge eat, usually in secret, then purge to get rid of the calories just eaten. They may also exercise intensely for long periods of time to burn off the extra calories, or they may go for long periods of time without eating.Anorexia nervosa - anorexics literally starve themselves due to an intense fear of being fat. Their bodies are severely depleted of nutrients. As a result, they develop muscular atrophy, dehydration, low blood pressure and organ damage to name a few. Because anorexia is so life threatening, the first stage of treatment is getting body weight back to normal. Treatments for eating disorder include therapy and medications.Fat & CholesterolFor years we heard that a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet would keep us healthy and help us lose weight. And many of us jumped on the bandwagon, eliminating fat and high-cholesterol foods from our diets. Well, unfortunately, we were doing it all wrong.Instead of eliminating fat completely, we should have been eliminating the “bad fats,” the fats associated with obesity and heart disease and eating the “good fats,” the fats that actually help improve blood cholesterol levels.Dietary TreatmentsAmericans spends millions of dollars each year on diet books, products, and weight-loss plans. But, why aren’t they working? Because people are doing the wrong things! These popular diets often offer promises of quick weight-loss with no hunger, and the majority of those dieters who do succeed end up gaining the weight back within a year.It’s important to remember that your weight should be lost gradually. When you first start dieting, you will probably lose more water weight, therefore you may be losing more pounds initially. But, if you’re doing it right, your weight loss will slow down to an average of one to two pounds per week. You can only lose three pounds of fat per week, anything over that is water loss or muscle loss.Medical TreatmentsIn some instances health professionals will perform weight-loss surgery. As with any surgery, it comes with many risks, and it’s not a solution for everyone. In order to qualify for surgery, most people must be severely obese or obese with serious medical conditions.Drug therapy is available for people with a BMI 30 or over with no medical conditions or for people with a BMI of over 27 with two or more obesity-related conditions.Natural AlternativesMany prefer to utilize natural alternatives rather than resorting to appetite suppressants and surgical procedures, it’s often more healthy. The alternatives include detoxification and live-food diet, low-carb high protein diet and ayurveda. All natural alternatives require some form of exercise.ExerciseExercise is vital to shedding excess weight and keeping it off. Any regular exercise that raise the heart rate for at least a half hour straight, will do wonders for your body. Simply taking a walk, starting slow, then working your way up to power walking, is an excellent method of exercise.Behavioral ChangesChanging your behavior is a key component to conquering obesity. Crash diets that cause people to lose weight drastically almost always backfire because there is no change in behavior and habits. Obesity is a lifestyle, and conquering obesity is a lifestyle also. Losing focus is a common problem with those who are trying to lose weight and keep it off.For more details visit http://no-obese.adipublishing.biz
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Stop Being Influenced by Food Ads on TV

There is much in the news today about obesity and you can be assured that the food industry fully intends to place the blame squarely on the individual, despite the fact they spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in an effort to entice us to buy more and more of their products. Children are especially vulnerable to the advertising for cereals, snack bars, crackers, cookies, candy, and fast foods. Colorful packaging, and now even colorful foods to encourage the little shoppers to badger their parents into buying the “convenient” snack packs for them. “Mommy I want it” is exactly the result advertisers are paying to obtain. They know that many adults will give in to the child’s demands, just to “keep the peace.”If you live in modern society, you can’t escape advertising. How many times have you been happily minding your own Business when suddenly the TV screen flashes a big, juicy, something! Your stomach may start gurgling, your mouth starts watering, and the launch sequence for hunger has begun. Once the countdown starts, nothing can stop the launch into the kitchen, or for the seriously dedicated, out the door to go get something to eat. This can happen only an hour after a big dinner. The ads are designed to do this, and they work well as we prove with our food dollars every day.

Count the Food Ads

Next time you watch TV keep a note pad nearby and make a little hash mark every time you see a commercial that encourages you to eat. You’ll also notice there are certain ads that seem to trigger the hunger response more than others. What is it about those ads? Do you start to mentally taste the food? Does it remind you of happy occasions? It can even remind you of unhappy occasions which then drives you to want something to eat because you “deserve” it.Notice whether it is the people in the ad, the message itself, the words they use, even the background music or scenery? See if you can pin-point what, exactly, it is about the ad that draws you in. Notice what you don’t like about ads that simply do not interest you. Play college student and do this as Homework, and if you can get your kids to do it with you, all the better.My son has come to me many times to tell me about something he’s seen on TV and now wants me to buy. He gets caught up in the half hour infomercials and becomes so convinced their product is the single best thing, that it’s difficult to change his mind.Evenings are an especially rough time for dieters because of the over abundance of advertising for food. Seeing delicious things to eat can create the sensation of hunger until it becomes a patterned response. Turning on the TV then begins to make you hungry, even without the food cues.

7 Ways to Combat Evening Snacking Habit

1. Mute the commercials or switch to another channel (channel surfers already do this anyway). Not watching or hearing the ad can help enormously. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.2. Use commercial break time to do housework. You’d be amazed at how much clutter you can clear in three or four minutes, and every hour you get at least four of these breaks.3. Mute the ads and keep your hands busy until your show comes back on with a project like knitting, reading or finishing that book you’ve been writing.4. Start a new Business (then you’re probably not in front of the TV anyway).5. Step outside and breath some fresh air for a few minutes.6. Exercise during the ads. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, do this for a full minute. It’s a great leg exercise. Use a kitchen chair rather than the couch to be kinder on your knees.7. Move to another seat in the room. Sometimes just getting up from your usual spot in the room (the coach, or your favorite chair) and moving to another location can help, so can getting a glass of water. Sometimes it’s thirst.

Be Willing to Experiment and You can Ov[1] [2] NextPage

Dieting is not easy. If it were, we would probably all bethin. Since we are not, here are some tips that successfulpeople use to lose weight so that others can benefit, too.SUCCESS TIP NO. 1: DRINK 8-10 GLASSES OF WATER EACH DAYOkay, for many people this is a big problem. Water doesn’ttaste all that great generally because water doesn’t really"taste" like anything. Drinking water 8 to 10 times eachday gets easier the more you actually do it. It is simply amatter of conditioning your taste buds, and yourself, sothat it becomes easier to do. Once you get started, youwill begin to crave water.To begin with, you should drink a glass of water in themorning first thing, before you eat. This is probably theeasiest glass you will drink all day and it will help youremember to drink water all day long. Better yet, why notdrink two glasses?If you really cannot bear the taste of water, try using awater purifying pitcher or filter. You can also add a fewdrops of lemon or lime to your water - but no sugar orsweetener! Ice also helps.Check out flavored waters on the market, too. Just keep aneye out for additives.SUCCESS TIP NO. 2: EAT BREAKFASTDo not skip breakfast. If you need to go to bed a littleearlier so that you can get up 20 minutes earlier eachmorning - do it! Breakfast is so important to your goodhealth and to weight control. According to Dr. BarbaraRolls a professor of nutrition at Penn State University,”Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn’t revback 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 ofthe day. You are more likely to binge on something sweetand in the "bread" group if you skip breakfast.You can always keep a couple of hard-boiled eggs in thefridge or some high-fiber, low starch fruit around. If youplan to eat fruit at all during the day, breakfast is theperfect time to do it.SUCCESS TIP NO. 3: EAT AT LEAST 3 MEALS AND 2 SNACKS EACHDAYThis can be one of the hardest adjustments to make. Afterall, you are busy! You already have a "full-plate". When doyou have time to worry about filling your plate with morefrequent meals?Just like eating breakfast will increase your metabolism,so will eating more often. This will also help you curbyour bad-carb intake by making sure that your snacks areplanned and occur regularly throughout the day.Really, it will just take a minimal investment of planningtime at the grocery store and at Home each morning beforeyou head out for the day to make some healthy food choicesand prepare a few healthy snacks and meals.SUCCESS TIP NO. 4: AVOID WHITE FOODSThis is one easy way to remember what not to eat. If it ismade from sugar, flour, potatoes, rice or corn - just sayno. Remembering this rule of thumb will make it easier torecognize those rice cakes as an unhealthy high-carb snack.Always look for colorful fruits and veggies to substitutefor the white ones. Buy broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers,green beans and peas, brown rice in moderation, leafygreens like kale and spinach, apples, melons, oranges andgrapes.These foods are not only colorful they are also high infiber, nutrients and important antioxidants. Eatingcolorful fruits and vegetables will give your diet varietyas well as give you added health benefits.SUCCESS TIP NO. 5: EAT YOUR VEGGIESIt is so easy to use a low carb diet as an excuse for poornutrition. Resist this temptation. If the only vegetableyou have eaten in the last 5 years has been the potato, nowis a good time to begin experimenting with othervegetables. This is important for your overall health andto avoid some nasty side effects of not getting enoughfiber in your diet.If you try hard enough, you will find vegetables that youenjoy eating. Experiment with grilling veggies and cookingwith rea[1] [2] [3] [4] NextPage

Are you trying to lose weight?If you are, STOP!Funny thing to say coming from someone that wants to help you lose all the weight you want, right?Actually, there’s a good reason.You see, you can’t try to lose weight. Don’t believe me?OK, let’s use an example. Look around where you are sitting right now and find a small object. Perhaps a pen, envelope or book. Got it?Now, try to pick it up. Go ahead.Is it in your hand? If it is, well, then you didn’t try, you actually picked it up. If it’s not in your hand, you didn’t.Simple, right?There’s no middle ground in doing. You can’t “try” to do anything, it’s a fallacy. You either do it, or don’t do it.The same applies to losing weight (or anything else for that matter). Saying that you’ll try gives your mind fuzzy instructions, and it will return fuzzy results, results that aren’t what you really want. It also gives you a “way out” if you don’t achieve the goals you set out to reach.You see, your subconscious mind doesn’t interpret your directions, it just goes to work following them as complete truth. When you say you’ll “try to lose weight”, it will “try” to follow your instructions, which we now know is impossible.What in fact you want, (if you really do) is to lose weight. To feel better. To have more energy. To overcome health challenges. To look great.Now, if you say you want to lose weight and are not successful, or continue to use language that includes words like “try” or “we’ll see” or “maybe”, perhaps you’re wired backwards.What does that mean? Well, maybe you say that you want to lose weight, but your mind says it doesn’t. Somewhere along the way you gave your mind instructions that it’s too hard, or impossible, to lose the weight you want. Perhaps you’re more comfortable where you are now, but know that it’s the right thing to say that you want to lose weight.If this is the case, ask yourself what beliefs you hold that are at odds with what you want. For example, “it’s too hard to lose weight”, “it’s impossible to lose weight”, “I can’t lose weight because I’d have to exercise all the time”, “I’ll lose my friends if I lose weight”, “I can’t lose weight because I’ve always failed”.Ask yourself if in fact they are true. Are they making your life easier, or more difficult? Do these beliefs serve you or harm you?Then, replace the old beliefs with new ones. positive, confident statements about how you want to look and feel.The best way to lose weight is to avoid saying you’ll “try” to lose weight, and say you “will” lose weight. See yourself at your ideal weight. Imagine how great you look and feel. Use positive language and give your mind specific instructions like “I’m now happily at my ideal weight of (number of pounds) weight” or “I now happily choose to wear a size (your ideal size)”.Watch your language and self talk closely and avoid using “try”. It may take constant attention at the beginning, but after a short time, you’ll get used to keeping your language positive, upbeat and confident.Your weight loss results will follow immediately, depending on how confident, committed and persistent you are in applying these exercises. The more confident, committed and persistent, the faster your results will appear.You CAN do it!Mark Idzik is a health coach with a national clientele who helps his clients lose weight, feel better, overcome health challenges and make better health choices. Get his 37 free tips to guaranteed weight loss by visiting: http://www.Everyday-Weight-Loss.com/?src=try


Carb Crazed-Weight Loss

admin on September-30-08

Low Carb diets have become as popular as apple pie (although apple pie wouldn’t be allowed!). Everywhere you go the message is "low carb, decrease your carbs, or no carbs". Unfortunately this message oversimplifies many of the healthy eating habits that nutrition experts have been teaching. The truth is, there are no quick fixes or easy answers when it comes to healthy eating, and one size never fits all.The idea that carbohydrates are bad or unhealthy is a misunderstood message that has taken over our thoughts on good nutrition. Low carbohydrate promoters push the theory that carbohydrates are to blame for the nation’s obesity problems. The truth is overeating and general lack of exercise are mostly to blame for the obesity epidemic. Think about it this way, if the theory was true that carbohydrates cause weight gain then every person including famous athletes who eat carbs regularly would be obese. It just doesn’t add up.The Truth About Carbs:Proponents of low carb diets claim that when carbs raise blood sugar and insulin levels, the process can make our bodies store fat more readily. This is true, but did you know that all carbs are not created equal?There are different kinds of carbohydrates: simple and complex as well as low glycemic and high glycemic. This is where most people fail to understand better carbohydrate choices. There are no bad food choices just those foods that should be eaten daily and those that should be eaten once in awhile.Fruits and Vegetables:While it is true that fruits and vegetables are made up primarily of carbohydrates, the majority of them have a low glycemic index (glycemic Index is a measure of how quickly a food increases the blood sugar). This is because fruits and vegetables contain fiber which naturally keeps blood sugars level. Fruits and vegetables are also the most important food groups in our fight against chronic diseases. They are loaded in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals which act like our own personal arsenal against chronic diseases. In fact, the American Institute for Cancer Research has compiled over 4000 studies and has concluded that eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day can decrease our cancer risk by 20%. Eliminating fruits and vegetables from your diet can lead to potentially serious health problems such as heart disease and cancer.Whole Grains- The Important Difference:Both whole grains and refined grains (sugar, white bread, pasta, etc) are high in carbohydrate but whole grains, found in foods like oats, barley, brown rice and whole wheat breads and cereals, contain all parts of the plant kernel thus keeping their important fiber content intact. Refined grains are stripped of these nutritious components during the milling process. Yes, it is true that eating large amounts of refined carbohydrates on a daily basis can drive sugar levels up quickly. However, the fiber in whole grains slows the rise in blood sugar and therefore the insulin response.In fact, eating small amounts of whole, complex carbohydrates throughout the day can keep blood sugars at a more even level preventing insulin rises and weight gain. Research shows that people whose diets are high in whole grains and fiber decrease their risk of Diabetes, certain cancers, and heart disease.Portion Control:The flip side of the coin is that most people consume extremely large portion sizes of carbohydrates, eating more refined carbohydrates than the healthy complex carbohydrates, which can lead to weight gain. The answer, however, is not to give up all carbohydrates. It is not all or nothing as we learned from the low fat craze. We need to learn how to balance our diets to provide enough energy and nutrients that we get from all of our food groups throughout the day. By removing all carbohydrates from your diet you are setting yourself up for potential health problems not to mention bad breath (side effect of ketosis), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), and low energy levels.Very low carbohydrate diets would not be of concern to health professionals and [1] [2] NextPage

Food Cravings: How to Practice Patience

During holidays and parties you may try to “plan ahead” so you can avoid some of the rush. Last year at Christmas I realized I had to take three major dishes for Christmas Eve dinner and it suddenly dawned on me that I’d have to bake the cake the night ahead.Baking a cake then waiting to eat it is not my favorite thing at all. I’ve always had a difficult time in making a cake a day ahead, in fact I tend to avoid receipes that say it needs to sit eight hours. (Whenever you catch yourself saying the word “always” that’s a hint something to use EFT on is coming to mind and notice I said I always have a difficult time with this? That’s when to use EFT).My past behavior has been to want to eat the cake as soon as it’s finished, so if it must wait for a day, it’s torture. I also prefer making huge three and four layer cakes that take up the entire refrigerator causing me to see the cake and nothing but the cake every time I open the refrigerator door.Practicing Patience in EatingPatience can be practiced all day every day. It is necessary when dealing with strangers, family, and most of all yourself. Just because you usually give in to your immediate desires for food doesn’t mean you must do so. Maybe you are trying to avoid feeling deprived but practicing and learning to exercise some patience may be of good use.If I bake a lovely cake and see it in the refrigerator, it beckons to me. Knowing I cannot take a slice without ruining the presentation doesn’t seem to help me avoid the siren call. I could be sitting, minding my own Business, when I suddenly snap my head upright, as if I’ve heard a ghost, “Come and get a piece of cake,” it calls to me. “I’m waiting,” it cries. “Stupid cake, I think.”Leftover cake isn’t such a big problem because I plan ahead to have at least one piece, sometimes two every day as long as it lasts. That’s another reason I prefer baking to take it somewhere rather than just making it for Home.Rather than trying to analyze why I have this strange desire to eat cake, I’m just going to tackle it head-on with some EFT. I may also use the Swish Technique (taught in the Ending Emotional Eating workshop, Session 4).If you’ve had similar struggles, try these suggested EFT phrases, or devise some for your situation. (EFT is easy to learn and use–see my site for worksheets and instructions specific to weight loss or visit http://www.emofree.com for general information on learning EFT).===== EFT for Patience in EatingWhile tapping the P.R. (psychological reversal) point say,”Even though I want to eat the cake, except I’m not supposed to because it’s for tomorrow’s dinner party, I deeply and completely accept myself.”Repeat that statement three times and say it like you mean it.Then tap the rest of the face and body points, using a short reminder such as, “eat cake.” The entire time think about that cake and how much you want it and how delicious it would be. Make it as strong a desire as you can (this is how EFT gets a strong neuropathway to disrupt so don’t fear you’ll make your cravings stronger, it actually will do the opposite).”Even though I can’t stand waiting, I choose to give myself permission to wait.”Reminder: “Can’t wait.”"Even though I hate this waiting and I’m going to stick my face in it right now, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway.”Reminder: “Hate being told what to do.”"Even though I can’t seem to deny myself what I want, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and give myself permission to wait.”Reminder: “Can’t deny.”Practice this on some food or beverage that seems to call to you, and see whether it helps ease that pull. If you are reluctant because you are afraid you’ll lose the desire for the completely (and this is you favorite food so you don’t want that to happen), don’t worry. That’s not going to happen. You may come to want it less often and certainly you’ll no longer feel a compulsive need for it, but most people discover they still enjoy the food just as much, they just no longer feel out-of-control about it. The control issue is what is being addressed. The desire or compulsion to have something that seems beyond a rational desire, that is what you are working to reduce.Smile today at every person you see, and practice patience. Think of an inside joke, remember a happy moment, or a funny movie you saw. Put a happy m[1] [2] NextPage