Five Superfoods worth Eating

So-called Superfoods are called that because they are extremely healthy for you and good for balancing your diet out so you store less fat, burn more calories, and achieve a great nutritional balance.

1. Berries

Blueberries especially are packed with antioxidants. They prevent all kinds of disease and are known for creating age-defying skin. They have high amounts of vitamin C, E and B, and a ton of minerals. Strawberries and pomegranate also rate high. Buy frozen blueberries and mix into oatmeal or mix with low fat / zero fat yogurt. Berries go well with almost everything.

My favourite? Strawberry milkshake with fresh strawberries.

2. Beans, Peas and Pulses

Low in fat, high in protein and fiber, beans, peas and pulses are incredibly healthy, versatile and make a great entree on their own or as part of your favourite pasta dish, soup or new culinary experiment. Black beans go great with burritos, chickpeas are nice spiced, and almost any bean tastes great made into a heated or cold salad with some tomato and corn.

3. Broccoli and other Green Veggies

Broccoli is particularly notable for being nutrient dense, containing vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium, folate and vitamin K. Frozen greens are just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts. Frozen spinach is really convenient if you like spinach. No picking through the stems and spoiled pieces, just heat and cook!

4. Nuts and Seeds

Use nuts and seeds in your cooking, for snacks and even healthy baking of oatmeal cookies. Many people are wary of nuts and seeds because of the high fat content (which to be fair, is Omega-3 fat so you want that anyway), but in moderate doses, they are full of fiber, protein, Omega-3's, vitamins and minerals. Raw almonds and walnuts are proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, prevent cancer, diabetes and they give you great hair and nails! The best seeds are sunflower and pumpkin when it comes to the nutritional value.

5. Oats

Oats! The breakfast of champions! Filled with protein, fiber, Vitamin E, thiamine, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc and many others, oats have amazing health benefits: Reduced risk of coronary heart disease, lower cholesterol, and they keep you full for a very long time! I personally like my oatmeal as a cookie with granola mixed in, but that is just me. Homemade Oatmeal Granola Bars!

BONUS SUPERFOODS!

You weren't expecting just five were you?

6. Green Tea

Although all tea have antioxidants, green tea is less processed and has more flavonoids (the antioxidants). Green tea has been reported to assist weight loss by increasing the metabolic rate. Green tea has also been shown to reduce gum disease, prevent kidney stones, and reduce the risk of stroke and cancer.

7. Tofu and Soy

Packed with protein, minerals, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acid. It's known to prevent cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and ease menopausal symptoms. It also makes a great dairy alternative if you are lactose intolerant.

8. Orange Veggies. Carrots, Squash and Sweet Potato

Very high in beta-carotene. These antioxidants boost cell communication and strengthen the immune system. They protect the eyes from degeneration, and ward off cancer and heart disease. They also contain a ton of useful vitamins and minerals your body needs anyway!

9. Yogurt

Plain, no fruity stuff, and with live bacteria. Just don't leave it in the sun or a hot place for a long period or it will go bad. Yogurt heals the digestive tract, lowers cholesterol, boosts the immune system, clears skin and fights osteoporosis and arthritis. It's high in vitamin B6 and B12, in addition to calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium.

Hot Dogs are Bad for You - But how bad are they?

Everyone knows hot dogs, cigarettes and greasy food is bad for you.

The Questions

How bad are hot dogs?

Is it possible to buy a healthier hot dog?

The Answers

Hot dogs aren’t nutritious – not even remotely. They’re made of processed meat and cholesterol-raising saturated fat and sodium.

The good news is if you read nutrition labels, you can find some hot dog wieners that are easier on your waistline and arteries. They're still not healthy, but they are better than the junk you are currently eating.

The average beef or pork hot dog (38 grams or kid’s size) contains:

110 calories
4 grams of saturated fat
350 milligrams of sodium

That is before the hot dog bun and any condiments.

“Jumbo Size” franks (75 grams)

approx. 230 calories
9 grams of saturated fat
740 milligrams of sodium

Shopsy’s All Beef Quarter Pounder (113 grams)

310 calories
11 grams of saturated fat (half a day’s worth)
1,120 milligrams of sodium (nearly a day’s worth for adults)

Indeed most hot dogs, buns and sugar-filled ketchup and other condiments are pretty bad for you. They raise your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers in an hurry. The heavy intake of processed meat – such as wieners, sausages, bacon, cold cuts – has been directly linked with a greater risk of colorectal cancer. So unless you want a doctor probing your bottom you might to avoid processed meats.

Also cooking meat to high temperatures (e.g. grilling hot dogs or frying bacon) forms heterocyclic amines, compounds shown to cause colon tumours in animals. Doing that with processed meats such as wieners also contain sodium nitrite, a preservative that helps prevent botulism food poisoning and gives cured meats their characteristic red colour, well its basically cooking your chemicals before eating them.

During cooking nitrite can also react with compounds naturally present in meat to form nitrosamines and nitrosamides, several of which cause certain cancers in humans and animals. Some weiner companies add sodium erythorbate (a form of vitamin C) to processed meat to inhibit this conversion and help minimize the risk - so they know their products are harmful, but they are trying to minimize that particular risk a bit... but what if the hot dogs you are buying don't contain vitamin C?

Even if you switch to chicken or turkey wieners you’ll still save saturated fat in the hot dogs. However most chicken or turkey wieners contain no more than two grams of saturated fat per serving so that at least is reducing the fat content. However it will still have lots of sodium.

Butterball Turkey Frank (56 grams)

470 milligrams of sodium, one-third of a day’s worth.

In contrast veggie dogs made from soy protein have no saturated fat and are much lower in calories than their meat and poultry counterparts. But they're still relatively high in sodium. However veggie hot dogs contain ZERO sodium nitrite.

Yves Veggie Cuisine Veggie Dog (46 grams)
60 calories
1.5 grams of fat (from canola oil)
390 milligrams of sodium

There are some companies which sell beef, pork or chicken wieners without sodium nitrite - including Life Choices Foods, Schneider’s, Maple Leaf and Loblaw - but you need to check the label to be certain.

Also, just a warning if you reading any labels that say "organic" or “natural” hot dogs, they often have similar or even higher levels of nitrites than normal hot dogs.

THE BIG TIP

Read the nutrition labels and don’t make hot dogs your regular fare this summer. An old fashioned hot dog once in awhile won't kill you, but eating them constantly will surely give you cancer.

Try to choose a wiener (38 grams) with no more than three grams of saturated fat and less than 400 milligrams of sodium and zero nitrites. At least then you are minimizing your risk.

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables each day, especially roduce rich in phytochemicals called flavonoids such as berries, cherries, red grapes, apples, citrus fruit, broccoli, kale, onions – are known to alter the harmful effects of heterocyclic amines that form during grilling. So try to eat a balanced diet when you are not eating hot dogs.

The Dangers of "Skinny Fat"

Are you one of those people who only seem to gain weight around your middle while your arms and legs stay skinny looking?

Blame it on your genes. Research shows that thin people with fat paunches are at a higher risk of diabetes and cardiac disease than other people.

If you have skinny legs and a bit of a paunch but think that’s okay because your pot belly doesn’t really show with the baggy shirts and tops you wear, think again. You are prone to collecting fat around the abdominal area caused by a biochemical abnormality known as Metabolic Syndrome.

So, never mind the skinny legs because collecting fat around your abdomen is not a good sign as such fat is deadlier than subcutaneous fat which is distributed evenly beneath the skin. This is because increased belly flab means increased visceral fat found between the organs in the main torso. Visceral fat is more active and drains directly into the liver. Free fatty acids into the liver resist the action of insulin, a hormone that helps absorb the glucose from the blood stream. The end result is what causes diabetes.

Contracting diabetes leads to an elevated risk of a whole lot of other health problems including cardio-vascular diseases and kidney problems.

Skinny Fat Quotient

Worldwide, Body Mass Index or BMI is a commonly accepted measure of body health. A BMI of over 25 indicates that you are overweight or obese. But the "skinny fat" abnormality makes people more susceptible to diabetes even though their BMI is well within the international limit of 25. Therefore there is a need to more closely monitor people who have the skinny fat abnormality for diabetes - and some doctors are arguing that people with the skinny fat gene should be worried if their BMI is over 23 instead of 25 because of the greater risk of diabetes.

But we shouldn’t trust BMI alone to assess risk for diabetes. Instead doctors are encouraging patients with skinny fat to measure their weight using their waist circumference, measured in centimeters (cm). A measurement above 80 cm for women and 90 cm for men is a matter of grave concern.

Those people with a waist measurement above those numbers are more likely to have Metabolic Syndrome and a higher risk of cardiac problems than those who have normal subcutaneous fat under their skin.

Metabolic Syndrome symptoms and signs include low levels of HDL cholesterol (known as the good cholesterol), high triglyceride levels (a type of fat found in the blood), high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardio-vascular diseases.

Metabolic Syndrome effects young and old alike too. People with rich diets, low physical activity, spend all day working at a desk and dismiss a paunch as an aesthetic issue. But it’s more like a warning sign that they will get diabetes if they don't watch their weight.

Doctors and scientists recommend that people with "skinny fat" consider a change in diet to reduce saturated fats, a brisk walk for 45 minutes per day and a background check into your immediate family history of obesity or diabetes.

Culturally, we associate fat with prosperity and wealth, hence the term "Fat Cat". But those "Fat Cats" are developing insulin resistance and abdominal obesity at a young age because they are not exercising, dieting and watching their weight.

PERSONAL NOTE

Last Friday (May 31st 2013) I may have saved a man's life who went into diabetic coma while on a TTC bus here in Toronto.

I was en route to pick up new arrows at Tent City in North York when I got on the 60 bus at Finch station and I noticed a young man sleeping on the bus. At first I thought he had just fallen asleep and didn't know he was at Finch station. I said something to him and he didn't respond. I shook him gently. I shook him roughly. No response.

I then notified the driver and he tried to wake the comatose man. We checked to see whether he was breathing. Still breathing. The driver called for paramedics and the bus went out of service.

Diabetic coma can be deadly. So hopefully he made a full recovery. I got on the next bus so I don't know how the story ended. I hope he turned out okay.

What scares me is what if I hadn't noticed him? When would someone have noticed the poor guy wasn't moving or responding?

How to Reduce Stress using Exercise, Diet and Sleep

Q.

"Hello!

I have a very busy schedule with work and it is extremely stressful. It isn't really a lot of hours, but its the stress and I am not sleeping properly either. I want to exercise more, and I do have time on the weekends, but I don't feel motivated because I am so exhausted and stressed out from work. HELP!

Seriously, any advice would be extremely helpful.

- Jonathan R."

Stop stressing out!

A.

Hey Jonathan!

I am sorry to hear work has got you down so much. But let me try to help you with some very sound advice (which I have separated into three sections below).

SECTION #1. DIET

I noticed you didn't mention your diet at all. What you are eating is often largely responsible for how you are feeling. From a nutritionist perspective diet plays a huge a role (about 80%) in everything we do. Sleep and exercise also plays a role, but the percentage of each is small in contrast.

When people are stressed out they tend to crave comfort food. Foods that are high in carbs, sugar, etc. Breads, pasta, ice cream, chocolate, and also salty junk food. The reason is because these foods cause a temporary boost in endorphin levels. They're like a drug and they are addictive. The extra carbs later makes you feel worse, bloated and depressed, so you go back for more just so you can get that temporary boost in endorphins. Its a horrible cycle and its only made worse if you are under a lot of stress.

So how do you fix this?

STEP ONE - Don't go grocery shopping when depressed. Go when you are in a positive mood and only buy things that are good for you. Whole wheat breads/pastas, get yogurt instead of ice cream, buy lots of veggies and fruits (LOTS!), skim milk instead of 2%.

STEP TWO - When hungry, snack on healthy things. Don't starve yourself until later. Eat now and eat healthy. Starving yourself is both unhealthy and adds more to your stress levels.

STEP THREE - Plan your meals ahead of time to make healthier meals. Doing so will help regulate your stress levels.

STEP FOUR - Don't get rid of carbs completely. You still need them. That is why whole wheat bread/pasta is good for you.

STEP FIVE - Avoid junk food, but don't be afraid to indulge during parties and special events. You are there to have fun and relax. Enjoy! Don't punish yourself either.


SECTION #2. EXERCISE

Many people who come home from work and are exhausted just want to chill in front of a TV and not doing anything active all evening. However exercising for 30 minutes to 60 minutes between 6 PM and 8 PM will also help you get a better night's sleep and will reduce your stress levels dramatically. I don't recommend exercising after 9 PM because then you can get insomnia from getting "too pumped up". Basically if the sun is still up, its a good time to exercise. Once the sun sets, its time to relax and get ready for bed.

Plus some exercises are really good at lowering stress levels. But what exercises can you do at home that help lower stress?

OPTION ONE - Boxing. I love boxing myself. It is very good for cardio. Just doing shadow boxing by yourself for 30 minutes every night will both provide exercise and reduce stress. Other forms of martial arts are also handy, but more difficult for beginners to learn and do at home.

OPTION TWO - Yoga. Yoga is great for developing your core muscles and also reducing stress.

OPTION THREE - Weightlifting. Try getting some dumbbells to start off and lifting weights while watching your favourite TV shows. During commercial breaks do jumping jacks and then go back to the dumbbells. If you progress further with this get a barbell and do deadlifts during the commercial breaks, but be sure to learn how to do a proper Olympic style deadlift so your form is correct and you don't hurt yourself. Start off with weights that are just heavy enough that doing 10 reps is a challenge. If you can only do 5 they are too heavy. If you can do 30 without feeling a challenge, they are too light.

OPTION FOUR - For the weekends look for exercises you can do that get you outside and are either "low stress exercises" like going for nature walks and similar "low cardio exercises", or alternatively try "stress release exercises" like archery, boxing, martial arts. Look for fun exercises that you can enjoy again and again every weekend.

You may be exhausted after work and on the weekends. But if you make a plan to do these things you will find the motivation because you've made it part of a schedule.

SECTION #3. SLEEP

Having a balanced diet and regular exercise will help you sleep better, but there are also other ways to improve your sleep patterns.

#1. Close the drapes / get thicker/blacker drapes so you can block out the light. This way you don't have the light bothering you while you are trying to sleep.

#2. Get more comfortable pillows.

#3. Clean your bedsheets and make your bed regularly. A smooth and comfortable (and clean) bed will help you sleep better because it will be more comfortable.

#4. Some people prefer to fall asleep to music. Get a stereo or program on your computer (or app on your smartphone) with a timer which will play music and then shut off automatically after 45 minutes or so.

#5. Seek psychiatric help. Some people have problems sleeping at night because of old guilt / unresolved feelings. Might even be giving them nightmares. Facing your demons, apologizing to past enemies, visiting the gravestones of your loved ones, etc can also help you to sleep better at night once you've figured out what is stressing you out.

#6. Sex. Ahem. Yes, that could certainly help you sleep too. Great for reducing stress too! And its exercise!


If it is really purely work that is stressing you out and you can afford to make a career change, you might also consider that as a possibility. It really depends on how much you love your job or whether you only do it because you are chasing the almighty dollar. That is for you to determine, not me. I will say however that money is not everything and learning to let go of our stress over money can also lead to a happier and healthier life.

A career change, taking a year off to travel and relax, taking a sabbatical - they are all options if you have the resources and/or will.

Balancing Your Carb Intake

Many dieters are low carb crazed. While nutritionists will agree that going easy on carbohydrates is a good thing, cutting out carbs entirely is really unhealthy.

What Do Carbohydrates Do For You?

Carbs are your brain food, the fuel that gives energy to your heart and muscles all through the day. Carbs are good for you, but too much of a good thing can also be bad for you.

 

Balancing your carb intake means focusing on whole grains, brown rice and healthier alternatives like whole wheat pasta. Avoid white bread, white rice, pasta. Also try bulgar, quinoa, beans and lentils.

What Will No Carbohydrates Do To You?

A low carb diet will make you lose weight. Unfortunately this will be mostly water weight. This is not a diet that can be sustained. Eventually your body will be unable to resist carbohydrates, and you will gain the water weight back. You will also experience very low energy, headaches, and stomach upset.

Striking The Carbohydrate Balance

Vegetables are a carbohydrate but gluten free and lighter than traditional rice and pasta dishes. Try a vegetable and chicken (or tofu) stir fry, but then the next day, try a bulgar, bean and vegetable stew. There is no harm in trying new foods.

By giving your body different types of meals to process, you will keep the metabolism working hard, and it won't grow accustomed to the same old thing. Some nutritionists believe that support that this "carb cycling" method speeds up the metabolism and aids in weight loss.

Mmm... Chocolate!

On the topic of dieting I will admit I do have several Achilles heels.

#1. Bacon. That is a whole other topic but basically I practice only eating bacon in small portions and as part of a balanced diet.

#2. Chocolate. The topic of this post.

I started limiting my chocolate intake many years ago when I learned that 90% of the world's chocolate is made using child labour in Africa - and if you know anything about that topic then you know child labour is basically child slavery.

Chocolate sold in North America is often very high in sugar. Especially so-called white chocolate and milk chocolate. White chocolate has zero cocoa in it. And milk chocolate often doesn't even have milk in it - and is just very high in sugar.

So when I do buy chocolate I often aim for dark chocolate (preferably over 70% cocoa) because it is healthier - and fair trade chocolate that wasn't made using child labour.

Cocoa in small doses is good for you health wise. It boosts your metabolism, gives you pleasant feelings, encourages weight loss and a host of other health benefits. Dark chocolate is - without a doubt - the healthiest way to consume cocoa.

It is when you start consuming chocolate in overly large doses - especially chocolate which is high in sugar - that it becomes a danger to your waistline.

In the winter I recommend eating a small dose of dark chocolate before going ice skating or doing other outdoor winter activities.

Hallmarks of the Successful Weight Loss Plan

Losing weight involves lifestyle changes and lots of hard work but planning is also very important. Planning for weight loss will guarantee a focused approach to stay on track and keep progressing / pushing yourself harder.

Planning For Weight Loss in Three Steps

Plan your Meals

Knowing every meal in advance will not only save time and money but is crucial for avoiding overeating and poor food choices. Some people have found that it is easiest to eat similar meals for breakfast and lunch.

For example: If you have different variations of oatmeal 2 days, cottage cheese, dried fruit and flax meal 2 days, and an English muffin with peanut butter one day, you will have enough ingredients to vary these meals based on what you feel like. It's simple enough that it doesn't take much thought or time to prepare. For lunch try sandwiches on whole grain bread and a piece of fruit.

Take extra fruits for snacks if you find yourself feeling hungry during the day!

Plan your Workouts

If you don't know when you will find the time to workout, you won't workout! It's very important to have a set time to exercise. Even better, the same time everyday will quickly accustom you to a routine. It will be amazing how much time you have for exercise when you actually want to exercise!

If you find that time is seriously pressed then do what you can, when you can. Do a set of squats while talking on the phone, or lunge across the house instead of walking. Try running up every flight of stairs you encounter during the day, and do calf raises waiting in line-ups.

Plan for Disaster

Plan for your weight loss program to be blown out of the water once in a while. Especially if the holiday season is approaching it will not be long before someone hands you a box of chocolates and you know you will eat 5 once you've tried one.

Don't be discouraged but do remember to share your holiday treats, eat them in moderation and remember that every new day offers the opportunity to start fresh.

If you live in Toronto and are losing weight or would like to start, feel free to hire me as you personal trainer. Mention this post and get 10% off any purchase of 10 sessions or more. (Limit of 1 per customer.)

Want to Beat Fat? Learn Your Enemy!

If fatty food is your waistline's enemy then you should try to learn more about this dreaded foe.

Fat is a slow burning energy source - and it is typically stored instead of used right away. Eating healthy fats will contribute to hormonal regulation, aids vitamin and mineral absorption and maintains healthy skin and hair. Of course, good and bad cholesterol, healthy and unhealthy fats, saturated and monounsaturated are terms which you have already come across, and it can all seem confusing if you don't know what they are!

Different Kinds of Fats

Saturated

They are the "bad fats." Saturated fat raises cholesterol. Foods such as butter margarine, meat and dairy contain high levels of saturated fat.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated

These fats do not raise cholesterol levels. Cooking oils such as olive and canola contain monounsaturated fats, while safflower and corn oil contain polyunsaturated fat.

Triglycerides

Fats that contain, in varying proportions, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Cholesterol

An essential fat made by the liver. Eating food high in "bad" cholesterol can cause heart disease. Cholesterol is carried through the bloodstream by lipoproteins.

HDLs (high density lipoproteins)

The "good" cholesterol which can move cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver.

LDLs (low density lipoproteins)

LDLs are the "bad" cholesterols because they keep cholesterol circulating in the blood, and this can lead to clogged arteries.

Eating healthy fats is easy, they are foud in seeds, nut, olive oil and avocado fruits. Bad fats are in baked goods, such as white bread, pizza and fast food. Don't stress about all of the different types of fat too much. Just focus on the natural stuff and avoid any fats which are "man made". You will still eat some of the unhealthier fats anyway, but if you know which ones to avoid it can help you to make healthier choices.

When To Detox Diet

Detox diets have been growing ever more popular for the past several decades. There have been dangerous detox diets, such as the lemonade or grapefruit detox diets, where necessary food groups and nutrients are restricted.

More recently detox diets are being designed so they are healthier, including lemonade / grapefruit diets which have been modified so you are now getting the needed nutrients (often through vitamin pill supplementation or the addition of specific foods).

Personally my own fitness philosophy revolves around good old-fashioned healthy eating and lots of exercise - but I am a personal trainer and not everyone is as patient as I am. Eating good food in abundance, and not so good food in moderation, and avoiding horrible food entirely is just the beginning.

Good food and a consistent fitness regimen, is the tried, tested and true way - short cuts are more likely to result in yo-yo dieting. However there are some benefits to detoxification, so lets explore the pros and cons of detox diets:

Pros of a Detox Diet

#1. If you have always had an unhealthy diet containing a lot of horribly carcinogenic foods a detox diet may help to correct bad habits. Many detox plans will be restrictive, such as avoiding nightshade vegetables, or bread but will allow most vegetables, beans, and legumes. Simply trying a detox diet might break the cycle of a poor diet, so it's worth a shot.

#2. Placebo Effect. Sometimes just doing something - anything healthy that it - will help you to feel better about yourself. Whether it's because the diet is actually working, or due to the psychological benefit of sticking to a goal, it has the potential to make you feel good about yourself and accomplished. And if the cycle of positivity continues then you will just continue to feel better and better about yourself, making huge strides towards both eating better and exercising more.

#3. Identifying food sensitivities. It's very common to realize that your 3 PM fatigue, bloated or stomach upset has been caused by something you are eating. A detox diet will eliminate fast, processed, fried and (saturated) fatty foods, while increasing water intake - and a lot of people don't drink enough water. This can make a person feel much better and discover that a certain food, like pizza or french fries has been causing breakouts, or gastronomical distress, or even excessive farting.

Cons of Detox Diets

#1. You don't need to do a really radical diet to cleanse your body of toxins. We are already designed to detox our own bodies through our internal organs, to rid ourselves of toxins and pollutants. A rich and well rounded diet will take care of "body flushing" without huge food restrictions... all you really need to do is cut out the fatty foods, foods that are not "natural" (basically anything containing chemical additives) and avoid cigarettes and alcohol. (Which is harder for some people who can't stop themselves.)

#2. Many detox diets claim to aid weight loss. However, many of these diets combine food and beverages with diuretic and laxative effects. Basically, you lose a lot of water weight that will simply come back once the body is rehydrated, just like when we sweat. So if you do detox, remember to drink a lot of liquids.

#3. Long term detox diets can cause certain sensitivities to food that has been restricted - possibly even making you allergic. If you never had a problem eating bread, and then you stop eating it for a year, you may find that your stomach can no longer handle it. Do you really want to give up bread forever? Thus if you want to preserve you ability to eat certain foods you should still eat them once in awhile.

#4. Any diet that is not sustainable on a long term basis will not be an effective weight loss plan. As soon as the detoxee person eats normally again, it can all come back again (sometimes very quickly) as your body will think you were on a fast and will want to replenish itself immediately. You need to be thinking a long term change in your eating habits if you want long term results.

I am not against detox diets. In fact I encourage them, but they need to be done in such a way that you are not hurting yourself and you make some kind of permanent change so that you kick a specific habit - like giving up sugary chocolate and switching to small amounts of dark chocolate instead.

Healthy moderation and balance is the key to a healthy diet. Learning that is something you have to do yourself - and once you've learned it you realize that the sweets taste that much better because you only have them when you're having fun with friends or family instead of consuming them when your bored, lonely or depressed.

You really should only be detox dieting if you have genuine worries about toxins in your system - like if you are quitting smoking and you want to detoxify. Or quitting alcohol. Or you were recently poisoned by a jellyfish... Doing a detox diet to "lose weight" is not a necessity if you already eat healthy.

Moderation in Dieting Vs Outright Banning Foods

I haven't given up chocolate.

But I have dramatically reduced my sugar intake by switching to dark chocolate. And what is better, dark chocolate cuts down on food cravings.

But sugary chocolate causes you to crave more, because the sugar causes a reaction in your brain which makes you want more.

Thus the first lesson to learn here is to stick to darker chocolates - the darker the better.

The second lesson is that you can apply this same principle to the rest of your eating habits by either moderating the foods you enjoy and/or banning foods you know are just plain harmful.

Example: Twinkies. They're mostly sugar and if you eat one the sugar-rush will cause you to crave more right away, resulting in a binge-fest of Twinkies. 150 calories each. If you buy and consume such sugary foods regularly you can pack on the pounds pretty quickly. So Twinkies are one of those things you should just plain give up entirely.

What to Give Up on Entirely

Fast food and soft drinks. If you count the calories and compare what you could have eaten for the equivalent amount of fast food you realize that you could have a lot more delicious / healthy food simply by cutting out the sugary treats. You will still eat out as fast food places maybe a couple times per year, but you will keep it to a very low moderation. Making healthier food at home gives you a lot of healthier alternatives such as baked potatoes or sweet potato fries, which saves you a tonne of fat calories and dramatically cuts back on sodium. Homemade hamburgers are way more delicious than their fast food counterparts.

Soft drinks can rack up calories very quickly - the simple act of switching to juice or milk or tea makes a big difference over the long term. A single soft drink has enough sugar for a small meal. Drinking 2 Litres of Coca-Cola or Pepsi in a single day is like drinking 6 small meals worth of sugar.

What to Eat in Moderation

Never try to deprive yourself of foods that you love. eg. Dark Chocolate is great if you love chocolate. Just avoid fudge, chocolate bars, white chocolate (there is no real chocolate in white chocolate, its basically all sugar).

Start thinking in terms of moderation and healthy alternatives. Instead of eating fried potato chips there are baked versions. There is also the option to bake chickpeas or make veggie chips to satisfy the salty cravings. Air popped popcorn is a whole grain, and without the butter and massive amounts of salt, is a low calorie and fast snack.

Bacon strips go great with your breakfast - but don't eat the whole 500 grams of it all at once! Save most of it for later!

Start Thinking Healthy Snacks

Apples, oranges, tangerines, bananas, berries... if you have a favourite fruit, veggie or berry start stocking up on those healthy foods you love. eg. I never get tired of carrot sticks.

Once you make the mental switch to healthy snacks you can still have your unhealthy choices once in awhile, but your goal is to make a mental switch in your brain to realize "Hey, I don't need those sugary snacks!"

Making vegetables an entree instead of a side dish is also a handy thing to do. Vegetables have no fat, lots of fiber and they are very filling. Eating whole grains, beans, low fat dairy and lean protein will be the sure way to guarantee a very full belly, without a trace of deprivation. You won't feel hungry because you won't be hungry.

Try also: Cooking more at home, making soups or stews, large hearty salads as a main dish, and cutting back on boxed, frozen and other processed food.

How to get a Thigh Gap

Now you might first be wondering - "What is a thigh gap???"

Basically it is a term commonly used by fashion-conscious young women to describe legs so skinny that the thighs don't touch when your knees are together.

It is therefore a standard of beauty to which very few women in North America fulfill - Not even Marilyn Monroe had legs that skinny.

It is the kind of legs you would typically see on a teenager or a woman in her 20s who does a lot of jogging, cycling or possibly ballet dancing.

So if you're looking for tips on how to achieve your own personal "thigh gap" then there are three very goods tips for you - running, jogging, cycling and/or dancing - basically any kind of cardio is good for you.

But lets not stop with cardio exercises. What other things could you do to help you get those skinny legs? And do it a healthy way using exercise and diet!

#1. Start limiting your intake of fatty dairy. Avoid cheese, cream, ice cream and anything more than 1% milk. Aim instead for skim milk.

#2. Avoid foods with high sugar or high carbs. Aim for breads with whole grains or multi-grains. Avoid white rice too, aim for brown rice instead.

#3. Eat your veggies and lots of them! Berries, nuts, fruits are good too. Avoid avocados however, they're very fattening.

#4. One way of measuring your legs - Stretch your leg along the floor and pinch the top of your thigh. If you can pinch a lot, it’s more fat; if you can barely get a grip, it is more muscle. Chances are much more its fat so you goal will be fat burning via diet and exercise. If its all muscle than you must be a freaking bodybuilder to have Popeye legs - in which case you won't really be able to do much and in theory would want to avoid exercising your legs if you really want a Thigh Gap.

#5. Daily stretches for your legs! Stretching (including yoga and pilates) helps elongates the muscles and gives you taller looking legs.

#6. Do jumping jacks in the pool/water - the light resistance of the water plus the cardio will help you build lean muscle.

#7. Don’t starve yourself because that will just result in yo-yo dieting - which will lead to loose skin and flabby thighs - Don't over-exercise either. Instead try to eat something small every two hours to keep your metabolism level. Eat moderate amounts of protein but stick mostly to fruits and vegetables.

#8. In addition to basic strength-building / stretching exercises you need to be doing cardio every day. Jogging and running is best, but you can also just walk, cycle, swim or even engage in more fun activities like volleyball, rollerblading or boxing.

#9. You can eat a big meal once in awhile because it helps with metabolism plateaus and makes your metabolism speed up!

#10. Do a lot of jump squats, squats, plie squats, lunges, reverse lunges. For extra challenge use 5 lbs dumbbells in each hand. Walk every day, and jog or bicycle 20 minutes at least twice a week. Do yoga or stretches at least once a week for an hour to stretch and relax muscles.

#11. Aim to eat 5 small and super healthy meals per day. Or if you can't 3 medium meals and 2 snacks in the late morning and mid-afternoon. Remember to take your vitamins and drink LOTS of water too. If bored of water try broths, teas, and pure fruit/veggie juices, and drinking protein shakes if you feel weak/tired.

#12. Dancing in the privacy of your home works really well for some people. The music can get you really fired up to do jumping jacks, abs and squats too. There are plenty of dance videos on YouTube.

#13. Stop drinking regular sodas, coffee with add ins, or any drink with calories and lots of sugar. Liquid calories are a huge factor in weight gain and if you cut them out, you will see results! If you must have caffeine for work in the morning, then only drink in the morning. No more caffeine after 2 PM.

#14. Get LOTS of sleep. Aim to be in bed reading a boring book by 10 PM and awake by 7 AM. On weekends try to get naps. Extra sleep helps recharge your body and speed up metabolism.

#15. Ignore anyone who claims Spot Training works. It does NOT work. (Spot training is the idea that if you exercise one muscle or set of muscles that you will lose fat in that one region. It doesn't work that way. If you want to lose fat, then you lose fat everywhere.)

#16. Stay hydrated - Drinking lots of water is very important. If you start to get a headache, drink water. Avoid alcohol, caffeine and anything that will dehydrate you. Toxins from smoking are also bad because fat cells store toxins and your brain won't burn fat cells with a high toxicity, so you need to detoxify your body by drinking lots of water and avoiding toxins.

#17. If you lose weight quickly, you can get saggy loose skin on your legs, stomach, under arms and thighs - which will look really awful. To avoid this aim to lose weight slowly - about 2 lbs or less per week, and use a moisturizing lotion (Aveeno works great) and lather it on your problem areas as much as you possibly can to help moisturize and improve the elasticity of your skin so it tightens up faster as you lose weight. See more of my tips on how to avoid loose skin.

#18. Don't give up if you don't see improvements right away. Instead what you need to do is set yourself a long term goal - like 25 lbs in 25 weeks. Then get yourself a scale and check your weight once per week, on a specific day and time such as Saturday morning after your shower. Don't bother checking every day because your weight will fluctuate a lot daily from eating, drinking, urination, etc.

#19. Stay motivated. Keep coming back to CardioTrek.ca for more advice on a regular basis. Better yet subscribe by email and get updates whenever new posts go up.

#20. Hire a personal trainer to help you stay motivated. If you live in Toronto you can hire me.

Make Your Family Eat More Veggies

New Ways to Make Your Family Eat More Veggies

Guest Post by Zara

We know how useful vegetables are, it’s very obvious! But equally obvious is the fact that how much we hate eating it at least our families. Many families do not consume the quantity and variety of veggies which they need to, on a daily basis. But though we hate it, we need to get it into our system to derive its health benefits. It is better to add them in our daily diet to enjoy great health and it is preferable to maintain the nutrients of veggies and greens to the maximum.

The following are some methods to help our family indulge and binge on vegetables:

Not eating veggies directly: The biggest challenge is to make kids eat more veggies. According to some
researches, kids take around 10–15 trials to learn about a new flavour and appreciate it. So you need to be persistent in your efforts in trying to make your kid at least taste it, so that their taste buds adapt that veggie.

The best way to make your kid eat veggies is by including it in a burger, his favourite snack, favourite drink or by combining with regular meals. Cleverly using it in gravies or curries, you can avoid it being easily spotted by your kid. There are vegetables which really taste good, so you can start with those and slowly make them eat the less tasty ones.

Growing vegetables in your backyard or a farm is a good strategy to get fresh supply of vegetables and fruits.

The technique of eating fresh vegetables: This includes the above-mentioned point, i.e., growing your
veggies. You can further the process by involving family members in the choosing the food they want to cook. This way not only kids but also other members would develop an interest to enjoy as a family..

The most important benefit is that you can use organic manure and pesticides for the plants which means that you will also be sure of no chemical interference in your veggies, and can be eaten generously without any hesitation. Pave way to organic food!

Know your veggies: Every vegetable has its nutritional value which is known to cure several ailments and
sickness. You can do a bit of research to find out the veggies which can be helpful to strengthen the appetite and health of your family. Each family has its own medical history. For example, if your family members are genetically prone to obesity, you can choose vegetables which can help you fight the same or if you have some other common ailments like hypertension and diabetes running in your family, choose veggies which can combat the same.

The question arises on why do we need to research? Can’t we just eat any veggies? Every vegetable is good for health in some way. The answer is you can eat all kinds of veggies but eating the ones which might help you fight your ailment is better for a better health.

Dramatize the situation! - Well how many of us as kids started eating more and more spinach after watching Popeye gulp that can of it and flex those flexible muscles. That’s what video and audio visuals can do, and not just kids but also it leaves a permanent impression on the minds of adults which is technically called photographic memory.

The kids can be lured into indulging into veggies by creating some make-believe stories of how eating
vegetables can make them ‘grow’ faster or make them smarter and stronger. You can just create a comic
sketch of how after eating veggies a hero becomes a superhero.

The grown-ups can be a little tricky to convince, they don’t fall for superheroes and stuff what they look for in a food is the taste. Then the best thing to do is to give them what they desire any and every vegetable can be made tasty, it all depends on the chef and the recipe used. There are a zillion ways to make any vegetable look appealing and taste good.

Use the internet and adopt strategies to help you out. Baked or grilled ones will also do to get it into your
stomachs!

Maintaining the balance: Eating veggies is good but just stuffing your diet with just one or two vegetables
and fruit will certainly do no good Yes, indulging in a variety of other veggies is not bad idea but a hint that exploring other vegetables can protect your health from those unhealthy foods and replenish your immune system.

About the Guest Poster

Zara is a blogger who writes on various subjects like health-related issues to reviews on latest
gadgets and apps. Right now she is working on articles related to instant ppi claims.

Healthy Habits of Fit People

Some people just have really healthy habits when it comes to exercising and eating... and to those people who are struggling with their weight such healthy-habit-people make it look so easy, don't they?

It is as if they're never too tired to exercise and they never crave junk food. (Actually they do get those cravings, but they control them better.) If you know how hard it is to stick to your diet and exercise plan then it certainly will be a moment for envy when you see other people who have already succeeded in their fitness goals and made it look easy.

But you can develop those healthy habits too. You have the same basic genetic makeup as they do, you probably even have the same amount of time available too. Reaching your health and fitness goals can happen if you put in the effort to develop the same healthy habits that fit people use and take for granted.

They all have a number of things in common. Lets look at them!

#1. They all have healthy activities that they enjoy, eg. Dancing.

Being able to work out almost every day is a lot easier if you enjoy the activity. Becoming resentful of going to the gym, or running every morning if you do not even like it, will only pave the way for failure and disappointment. Most people who have reached fitness goals look forward to their workout because they love the way it makes them feel first, before the way it makes them look. It is one of the reasons why

Speaking for myself I enjoy archery, boxing, swimming, ice skating, weightlifting, rock climbing and cycling. I never get bored of those actitivities and indeed encourage others to do them too.

#2. They know how to say NO

Saying yes to every dinner invitation, every chocolate offered to you and every event that would cut into your scheduled workouts, you would have a lot of difficulty achieving your fitness goals. YOU are responsible for your outcome and only you have the power to say NO. Don't feel bad for not trying every one of your mother or grandmothers's sixteen different kinds of cookies. She will forgive you eventually.

Your body will thank you over the long term every time you say no to unnecessary temptation.

#3. They make it happen no matter what

Some people are dreamers and some people are doers. Dream it and then DO IT.

Whether it's by waking up early to go jogging, preparing a week's worth of healthy lunches to take to work or packing the gym bag the day before so you can go to the gym after work, succeeding means not giving yourself room for excuses or procrastination. If you set out to accomplish a goal then you have to DO IT NOW.

Learn to avoid obstacles and excuses and make your workouts happen. If you give up on your workout just because your bicycle has a flat tire then you aren't thinking right. Make fixing your bicycle a workout instead. Clean your home while you are at it. (Cleaning counts as exercise.) Don't give up just because one little thing gets in your way. Either circumvent that problem, fix the problem, or do something else in place of your normal workout.

Understanding the Glycemic Index

You've probably never heard of the Glycemic Index. Well, now you have! The glycemic index is a relatively easy to understand rating system for ranking carbohydrate based foods.

A low rating on the glycemic index means that the food does not spike blood glucose and insulin levels quickly within the body.

Now you might wonder why that is important.

Foods that raise blood sugar levels quickly increase the chance of developing diabetes and heart disease but they also contribute heavily to weight gain. High GI carbohydrates are typically foods that don't keep you full for very long, like white bread and junk food, and instead you gorge yourself on half a loaf of bread or an entire bag of potato chips because you still feel hungry.



LOW GI FOODS

Breakfast Cereal All-bran Oat bran Rolled Oats Special K Natural Muesli Porridge Staples Wheat Pasta Shapes New Potatoes Meat Ravioli Spaghetti Tortellini (Cheese) Egg Fettuccini Brown Rice Buckwheat White long grain rice Pearled Barley Yam Sweet Potatoes Instant Noodles Wheat tortilla Dairy Whole milk Skimmed milk Chocolate milk Sweetened yoghurt Artificially Sweetened Yoghurt Custard Soy Milk

Bread Soya and Linseed Wholegrain Pumpernickel Heavy Mixed Grain Whole Wheat Sourdough Rye Sourdough Wheat Snacks & Sweet Foods Slim-Fast meal replacement Snickers Bar (high fat) Nut & Seed Muesli Bar Sponge Cake Nutella Milk Chocolate Hummus Peanuts Walnuts Cashew Nuts Nuts and Raisins Jam Corn Chips Oatmeal Crackers Legumes (Beans) Kidney Beans (canned) Butter Beans Chick Peas Haricot/Navy Beans Lentils, Red Lentils, Green Pinto Beans Blackeyed Beans Yellow Split Peas

Vegetables Frozen Green Peas Frozen Sweet Corn Raw Carrots Boiled Carrots Eggplant/Aubergine Broccoli Cauliflower Cabbage Mushrooms Tomatoes Chillies Lettuce Green Beans Red Peppers Onions Fruits Cherries Plums Grapefruit Peaches Peach, canned in natural juice Apples Pears Dried Apricots Grapes Kiwi Fruit Oranges Strawberries Prunes

MEDIUM GI FOODS

Breakfast Cereal Bran Buds Mini Wheats Nutrigrain Shredded Wheat Porridge Oats Special K Fruits Mango Sultanas Bananas Raisins Papaya Figs Pineapple

Bread Croissant Hamburger bun Pita, white Wholemeal Rye Staples Basmati Rice Couscous Cornmeal Taco Shells Gnocchi Canned Potatoes Chinese (Rice) Vermicelli Baked Potatoes Wild Rice

Vegetables Beetroot Snacks & Sweet Foods Ryvita Digestives Blueberry muffin Honey Legumes (Beans) Beans in Tomato Sauce Dairy Icecream

HIGH GI FOODS

Breakfast Cereal Cornflakes Sultana Bran Branflakes Coco Pops Puffed Wheat Oats in Honey Bake Team Total Cheerios Rice Krispies Weetabix Fruits Watermelon Dates

Bread White Bagel French Baguette Snacks & Sweet Foods Pretzels Water Crackers Rice cakes Puffed Crispbread Donuts Scones Maple flavoured syrup

Vegetables Pumkin Parsnips Staples Instant White Rice Glutinous Rice Short Grain White Rice Tapioca Fresh Mashed Potatoes French Fries Instant Mashed Potatoes

The glycemic index food chart above is a guide of which foods have a low, medium or high GI rating. By choosing healthier foods off of this list, it creates a very simple way to improve your nutrition without having to do a lot research/buying diet books/learning to count calories, etc.

The Glycemic Index is not just for weight loss. Regular exercise enthusiasts and athletes benefit from choosing low GI food. Low GI food before exercise maintains blood sugar concentration and increases the rate of stored fat being used for energy (fat oxidation). Low GI foods before exercise have been shown to increase endurance.

Nutrition is More Important than Exercise

Not long after I became certified as a personal trainer in Toronto I began to wonder if I should have been a nutritionist instead.

If you read the title of this post you've probably guessed why.

Its because nutrition plays a huge role in whatever fitness goal you are attempting to achieve. Some estimate that the role is as high as 90% nutrition / 10% exercise. And the reason is because without proper nutrition, regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or muscle gain, you won't reach your goal anywhere as quickly as you would if you were eating properly for that specific goal.

So for example if your goal is weight loss then you want to cut back on carbs and sugars, avoid toxins entirely, and you want to limit your diet to approx 1800 to 2000 calories daily while taking in lots of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, protein and fibre.

If your goal was muscle gain you would want to do the same thing, but up the percentage of protein (possibly by using supplements) in an effort to match your weightlifting regimen.

Now you might think its possible to achieve great results without changing your diet. And depending on your current diet, that might be possible, except most people in North America probably eat a lot more calories than they realize. Try counting all your calories for a week and keeping a daily record and you would get a better idea of what you are really eating.

Lets say for example you had two twins named Jeff and Greg and they both do weight lifting and exercise the same amount daily.

Jeff eats healthy, gets lots of veggies and makes certain he is getting enough protein for his weightlifting regimen by drinking 3 raw eggs every morning Rocky Balboa style.

Greg meanwhile eats lots of greasy food. He is still getting some protein, but comparatively little, and his intake of nutrients / minerals from fruits and veggies is almost non-existent.

Which one do you think will get the most muscle gain and which one do you think will have some belly flab? The answer is pretty obvious.

Here's another anecdote, this time for weight loss.

I know a colleague who is also in the fitness industry. She lost 45 lbs back in 2004 by making some drastic changes to her diet and coupled that with running 3 - 4 times per week.

She later became a personal trainer here in Toronto, and took up weight lifting and a variety of other exercise activities to stay in shape, but her initial weight loss she credits completely to the lifestyle change with respect to her diet. She admits the running helped, but it was the dietary change that made the big difference.

Lets stop and calculate how many calories she was consuming and burning while running.

Before she changed her lifestyle she had a yo-yo diet and when she wasn't on the latest fad diet she was consuming 2500 to 3000 calories per day. So lets average that out to 2750. So by changing her diet to 2000 calories per day she cut out 750 calories per day and stabilized her diet. Thanks to that change she prevented herself from gaining 1.5 lbs per week.

Next she started off weighing 185 lbs and ended up at 140. So her average weight during that training period was 162.5. So if I feed that into a calorie calculator and estimate that she did an average of 5 km in an hour each time she ran then she burned an average 382 calories per run.

And if she did that 3.5 times per week she burned 1337 calories per week... which is a little over one third of a lb.

Now imagine if she had NOT changed her diet and was still eating an extra 5250 calories per week. Even with all her running she still would have been gaining weight because she hadn't changed her diet.

By changing her diet she cut out a lot of extra unneeded calories and began a fat burning process.

In her own words:

"I had not done any weightlifting yet and the idea of doing physical activities for fun still had not registered in my brain. In retrospect I can guarantee that it was not all the running that helped me to shed all of that weight in under a year. It was changing my diet and my lifestyle!"

Research now supports that nutrition plays a much larger factor in weight loss success. Don't get me wrong, exercise is certainly necessary and important and speeds up the process. And exercise will help you to tone up so that when you lose weight your skin will be tighter and not loose or saggy. Not to mention, you won't get a hard-body or six pack by nutrition alone!

So far in my career as a personal trainer I have found that many people not only underestimate how much they eat, but don't have a good handle on food quality. The  real trick to eating really healthy is to make the most out of your daily caloric intake by looking for foods that are highly nutritious - or making more nutritious choices even when choosing a tasty snack. It's a huge difference in both the quality and the quantity of food, and thus creates a better overall nutritional profile.

If you're having trouble shedding weight through your exercise regimen, the answer to your weight loss problem may be rooted in the nutritional choices. The extra calories you are consuming are holding you back from your dreams.

It only take 21 days to make a new habit, so changing your lifestyle doesn't really take that long to change.