Little way to be a big loser - after the holidays Part 5

7. Nut cracker.
No, not the musical, but a daily dose of mixed nuts or peanut. Research showed that a group of dieters who ate a handful of those nuts are more likely to keep off weight than a group whose regimen doesn't include those high-fat snacks.

8. Don't just sit - Stand Up!
The average person burns up about 100 calories per hour sitting down, and burn 40 calories more in 1 hour standing up. Get on your feet 2 hours a day while you work, and you could drop an extra 6 pounds over the year!

9.Get your beauty sleep, and lose more weight.
Insufficient shut-eye appears to increase production of the stress hormone - cortisol, which also regulate appetite High level of cortisol seems to worsen bingeing un hunger pang- moreover, too little sleep could keep your body from burning carbohydrates, which means, you'll store more body fat.

Little way to be a big loser - after the holidays Part 4

4.Stick a fork in it.
Put your salad dressing on the side instead of mixing it with the veggies. And dip your fork into it before stabbing your greens. Simple enough, but you could cut hundreds of calories.

5.Watch coffee calories in those fancy concoction.
You love hanging out and have one of those fancy concoctions you call coffee. What I doubt you'll love is the calories a cup of those concoction can pack is as much as your entire lunch.

6.Walk and talk, talk and walk.
When your mobile phone rings and you are ready to go into talk-marathon with your buddy, slip on you walking shoes and stroll the halls at work or hoof it outside, to have a mini marathon for you feet too. If you do this for 10 minutes every workday at a moderate 3 mph pace, not only you will exercise your facial muscle, but you will also burn about 1,000 calories a month and lose about 3 pounds a year.

Little way to be a big loser - after the holidays Part 3

Here are some small steps you could take :

1.Order two small appetizers instead of 1 big one.
Study shows that the average hamburger is 23% larger than their ancestor was in 1977. So, it's better to order a small pasta dish and a salad or soup instead.

2.Befriend the vending machine.
Though this might sound as if I've lost my mind, nibbling on a single servings from the vending machine when you can't help it is better than digging your way to the bottom of a megabag of chips from the big hypermarkets.

3.Start with salad
and eat less during the rest of the meal. Veggies are rich sources of fiber that will help you feel fuller. When salads were topped with low fat mozarella and low calorie Italian dressing instead of high fat alternatives, women ate 10% fewer calories over the course of the day.

Little way to be a big loser - after the holidays Part 2

The good news is, with a little determination we can make it through this three weeks and still be friends with our scales after the Lunar Chinese New Year. It comes down to doing simple things for a long run, until - it become your habit.

Consuming just 100 fewer calories from your diet is enough to take care 1 to 2 pounds the average human being like us gains each year. To lose weight, you have to downsize by 500 calories per day, but you don't have to slash them all from our plate. You can eat 200 calories less than usual and then burn the remaining 300 by walking for 45 to 55 minutes, daily. Over a week, that will get you about 1 pound of weight loss.

Though you won't see the result immediately, the result will show over time. You'll also benefit from it as it becomes your habit.

Little way to be a big loser - after the holidays Part 1

We are now in 2007. So, how's your new year resolution? Have you put it on the wall yet?

What about those extra pounds thanks to that sinfully delicious chocolate cake. Just when we made it through Christmas and New Year, here we are again, riddled with fear... of temptation ! Before we have to face yet another holiday just around the corner, lets make use of these three weeks before the Lunar Chinese New Year to shed off those extra pounds.

Shedding off those extra fat is actually very simple, really. IF you make it a habit to change one bit at a time. Most people fail at loosing those inches because they want it to happen too fast, then fail to practice good eating habit.

Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)

Here are some tips to keep trigger foods away while attending gatherings this holiday season:

Keep it in your family.
Let your family know what foods you can't handle so they will understand. If you don't let then know, you run the risk of 2 unfavourable outcomes:
1. Either you starve yourself at the next family gathering because you can't tolerate any of dishes served on the table.
2. Or, you eat something you shouldn't, and pay for it later.

Know your limits.
I know it must be tempting to push the envelope, but ask yourself, is it worth having your IBD symptoms flare-up again? Then suffer for the next few days?

Stick to your schedule.
Don't get out of schedule and habits you've worked so hard all year. Try keeping you healthy eating habit during the holidays too.

Know when to say 'no'.
As hard as it is, you have to say 'no'. We've all succumbed to pressure to eat ad drink things we know we shouldn't. There's no harm in a polite but firm 'no, thank you' when you need to say it.

And if all else' fails.
Bring a dish to share that you can eat from home. Explain to your host your condition or simply say you aren't feeling well. You don't have to be specific if you don't want to. Usually, 'I'm not feeling well' or 'I have upset stomach' will suffice. Most people could relate to these and won't press you overmuch to elaborate.

Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)

Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)

We have already covered IBS. Now let's find out more about IBS. I understand that keeping to a strict diet that is friendly to you body isn't exactly easy to do. For people with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), there's no comprehensive diet plan to follow. During a flare-up, you might be recommended a soft, low-residue diet, or it could even be a liquid diet for a few days to rest your intestines. Try discovering the cause of your discomfort by doing elimination process. Eliminate certain food for a few days, to see if your intestine flare-up, if not, probably, that food is the trigger food. If, inflammation still persist, put that food back into your menu and try to eliminate another kind of food. You have to do this through trial and error.

There are however, some culprits that are common to many with IBD.

Milk products.
Many adults are lactose intolerant even if they could drink milk when they were younger. For many, large amount of milk product will cause them bloating, gas and sometimes even diarrhea in some people.

High fiber foods.
Not many know this, but high fiber ingredients used in many holiday recipes,popcorn, nuts and seeds may result in cramping or diarrhea.
Fried and greasy foods.
Fried and greasy foods are very high in fat. If fat in your food isn't completely absorbed, it could lead to gas and diarrhea.

Holiday tips for people with irritable bowel syndrome

Some of us are blessed with a well behaved bowel. However, there are those who need to do a little bit more disciplining. Here some of the guidelines to keep your bowel in shape.

1. Eat several small meals a day, instead of three large ones, to allow your bowel to work more at leasure.
2. Keep meals low in fat, and high in carbohydrates.
3. Some common food triggers that put you into pastures include:

• Alcohol
• Artificial sweeteners
• Coffee
• Dairy
• Egg yolks
• Fried foods
• Oils
• Red meat
• Shortening

4. Bananas, beans, broccoli, cabbage, garlic and onions may all cause gas-read bloating.
5.Taking more soluble fiber may help with the symptoms. Some easy source for soluble fiber include:

• Brown rice
• Oatmeal
• Pasta
• Psyllium husk (Metamucil)
• Raisins
• Sourdough bread
• Soy

6. Some people are just sensitive to these food:

• Sorbitol (Sugar substitute)
• Fructose (found in fruit juice and dried fruit)
• Lactose (found in milk), caused by lactose intolerance.
• Wheat bran

7.Acidophilus helps maintain the 'good' bacteria in your gut, and easily found in yogurt that contains live culture. I'm not trying to advertise for them but Yakult and Vitagen are good and easy source for acidophilus.

5 ways to beat holiday weight and still keep you sane

Exercise.
Yes, you are busy, you couldn't care less, there much better think to do and so on. Before you start complaining, think about it this way, be creative (read my previous article on creative holiday workout). You are just going to have to make time because working out definitely help you reduce holiday stress (yep, holiday can be very stressful ordeal) AND help you keep extra holiday pounds from all that party food at bay. Instead of trying to fit an hour a day for exercise, try to break it into manageable segments by finding 15 minutes 2 to 3 times throughout the day. Do quick workout, it could be walking the stairs up and down, looking for your missing belt or running through the mall for last minute shopping-whatever works !. Also, instead of concentrating on one body part each exercise, why not do compound exercise where you target more than one body part at a time. You'll enjoy the holidays a lot more if you are relaxed, stress-free and feeling good about yourself.

Relax
No matter how busy your schedule is, always find time to cool down. Chilling out could make the holiday whirlwind much easier to face. Try taking a relaxing bath, reading your favorite book, doing some yoga or do some deep breathing. Even deep breathing can help keep your stress hormones in check. While sitting straight on a chair or floor, breath in deeply through your nostrils allowing your belly to bulge out with the inhale, then exhale through your mouth very slowly, contracting your abs at the end. Repeat this a few times.

Indulge moderately
Special occasions offer things we don't usually indulge in like pies, sweetcakes, fattening drinks, and those butter cookies... Its easy to get caught up and overindulge yourself. So the best way is to plan ahead (refer to Holiday Eating). Eat healthy snack beforehand to keep you full and grab a glass of water when you get there to fill up and keep you hydrated.

5 ways to beat holiday weight and still keep you sane

I know, I know, holiday is a lot of fun, and you want to enjoy yourself to the fullest. Think about this, do you want to carry over extra pound to next year, thanks to your late nights and late foods?

Read through these if you would rather be slim for new year celebration:

Eat
Its easy to blow your diet by skipping meals and hitting the vending machine for sustenance. I know, you are busy and all, yes, I also know you are doing double duty and just don't have the time to prepare a good meal. Before your ultra-busy days come, prepare some healthy foods nearby-nutritionbars, oatmeal, cereal, lots of fruits-anything that's easy to prepare and will keep at the bottom drawer of your desk.

Sleep
How will you ever get anything done if you are dragging-butt all day long, everyday day? Think of a good night sleep as a necessity-much like oxygen, you can't live with it could you?-to keep you sane and prevent you from violent thoughts towards your family and friends as you spiral into stress-mode. Whatever happen during the day, out aside enough time for an 8 hours sleep, and start winding down 30 mins before your bedtime. Trust me, you will thank me later when you wake up with great skin. Also, just to remind you, lack of goodnight sleep inhibits concentration and makes us less efficient and more irritable.

Holiday Fitness

Get into group activities
Challenge your relatives into a rousing game of football or touch ball in the backyard. If adults fails you, turn to the kids, they are one source of everlasting energy. Join them in a game of freeze tag or dodge ball and you'll be sure to shed off that meat pie you had last night. Also, avoid being a wallflower at events where dancing is the focus, dancing is also known as a good exercise and fun to do too !!
Take a twirl around or do a shimmy-either way, you'll burn a few calories and enjoy yourself at the same time.

However, whatever you do, plan activities that requires you to take more steps and move your body as much as you can. If possible, use a pedometer and accumulate 10 000 steps a day.

Holiday Fitness

Keep your activity level high even when you're at the backyard of your grandma's house.
Worried that you might get out of shape while you are basking under the sun? Fret not-all you need is determination and creativity to keep yourself in shape when you're away from home.

Turn your downtime into your exercise time
Avoid the temptation of becoming sedentary between activities and all those meals.
Instead, sneak away to the spare room and turn it into your mini gym. When going on a trip, pack a few extra items into your suitcase: exercise mat, hand weights, resistance bands or a jump rope and perhaps one or two of your favorite exercise video. Though in a small space like a spare room, you could still do yoga or pilates to keep active.

Take advantage of local offerings
Do a little research of your destination before you head down there. Is your health club part of a worldwide network? You might be able to visit the branch if its the case for free or a minimal fee. Also many hotels boast of excellent health facilities now, book your room at a hotel that offer these services. No matter what are your favorite holidays activities, check out National Park Service Web site for a listing of parks and their attractions. This way, you might utilize the local park for a quick exercise. Pack your hiking boots as well or a mountain bike to take advantage of local first-rate trails.

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Merry Christmas!!!

Its Holiday Again - Enjoy Eating

Remember portion control.
The a look at everything being serve on the buffet table before deciding what to put on your plate. It is advisable to use this ratio for your plate: 1/2 vegetables, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 grains.This way, most of the space on your plate are taken up by veggies which pack lower calories. Try choosing veggies that are not cook with a lot of fat. Alternatively, if you’d rather not make a heaping plate of food once in the day, it is also recommended to eat small portions frequently to avoid being overly hungry at any point.

Learn from Volumetrics.
People tend to eat the same volume or weight of food every day.To cut down on calories and not be hungry, eat more food with low calorie density. Food that has low calorie density has a lot of water bound to it, so vegetables, fruit, and puffy grains such as rice or couscous are perfect choices to help you feel full faster.

Choose wholesome and healthy over high-fat and processed.
When the holiday season draws nearer, it will bring with it the temptation of delectable (read: high-fat and high-sugar) dishes, which could mean disaster for your health. So, if you want to enjoy food that has high calorie density, just try to choose something wholesome like nuts and dried fruits, which are flavorful and nutrient-packed alternatives to highly processed foods that offer no healthy benefits.

Put things into perspective.
The upcoming annual weekful of feasting shouldn’t get you down about your diet. Instead remember that you have 51 more weeks in the year to eat healthy, so it’s OK allow yourself flexibility and some treats. Enjoy the spirit of the holidays and not focus on food so much, since it is not the main point of the gathering anyway. By doing that, chances are, you'll eat healthier because you are less worried.

Its Holiday Again - Enjoy Eating

Just because you're going on holiday doesn't mean your healthy eating habits have to do the same.
The season for savory dishes has arrived, but maintaining nutritious eating habits shouldn’t be daunting. Take these ideas and you might find the happy medium between being a diehard dieter and a guiltless gorger, happy eating!!!

Say so long to strict rules.
People who are too strict about their diet during the holidays generally don't get to enjoy the celebration and tend to rebound later - thats it, by eating more to compensate.

Prepare and set goals for gatherings.
Eat a snack or a serving of salad before you head to the infamous afternoon feast. You are less likely to overindulge on the mouthwatering dishes if you take the edge of your appetite. Once there, try to keep track of your calorie intake, and limiting your alcohol intake to one beverage and drinking sparkling

Keep on partying - the smarter way Part 2

Curb your option
Some people say varieties add spice to your life, but when it comes to buffet, its the recipe for overeating. Research showed that, those who take small amount of every kind of food on the table, eats more than those who take larger amount of only a few kind of food on the table. When you take small portion of everything, it's harder to determine how much have you actually eaten. It is better to bunding food with similar flavors together, for instance, put only meaty food on your plate at once. The idea is that you'll tired of the food sooner and ending up feeling satisfied on fewer calories.

Pace yourself
Research sows that people who eat at slower pace tend to it lesser too. This simply because, when you eat slower, you feel full much sooner. So take your cue from slowest eater when dining with your friends. When dining with friends we kind of just get along with them when they are asking for second or third serving, so when you take your cue from slow eater, you'll eat considerably less. However, if you are surrounded by fast eater, take a sip of water between bites to slow down your pace.

Drink slimmer
Alcohol weaken your resistance when it comes to eating not to say the calories in drinks add up rapidly. So, if you want to be a slender drinker, drink out of slender glass. Research also showed that people tend to drink more from short fat glasses, so try this optical illusion, use a white wine glass instead of a goblet.

Slip, don't slide
Always learn from your slip up. If you already ate three helping of mashed potatoes and a whole barrel of beer, don't just say you blew it and decide you might as well polish off the whole cake. Instead, do a self analysis, did you arrived at the party hungry? Did you end up hiding behind the buffet table because you knew no one? Next time, ensure you are not starving when you get to a party, get to know someone new and start a conversation far far away from the danger zone (the buffet table, may I remind you !)... lets your next time start today.

Keep on partying - the smarter way

Keep on partying - the smarter way

So we have covered the drinking part, now, the eating part. Yeah I know, good food that we girls can't afford to eat too much. But perhaps these eat-smart tips can help us with a little indulgence this season without gaining weight.

Be a food snob
Always pick the special items that have lots of effort poured into them, if possible take just a small amount and savour every bite. Skip on blase fare like chips or cracker.

Step away from the table
(kinda hard to do, but we are strong aren't we?)
Put your food on a plate so you know how much you are eating. The worse thing to do is to keep on dipping into the bowl.

Veg out
Pile up the greens and veggies on your plate, leaving only a little space for anything else. Those who ate most fruits and veggies were the least likely to be obese, even when they ate more food overall. hmmm....

Pare down those portions
Choose the smallest plate possible and avoid taking thise big plate, cause, the bigger your plate or bowl the more you eat,

Don't talk with your mouth full
First of all, you'll look pretty gross. Even if you might help some of us reduce our appetite after seeing you talking, when you eat and talk at the same tie, you're not paying attention of what you are eating and how much. Thus encouraging you to eat more.

more tips to come tomorrow...

Get on partying !!! It's christmas

Holiday season is around the corner, with Christmas another week to go, and new year coming up very soon. Some of us are blessed with perfect complexion and can survive partying night after night. But some of us, including me, won't last that long.

Here are some tips to party smart to enjoy the holidays without getting blitzed.

Holding a glass of wine in one hand while kissing under the mistletoe? romantic.
Making out on the sofa after getting trashed on rum and coke? uh uh, very very bad.

A recent Australian study suggests that liquor combined with an artificially sweetened mixer raises your blood alcohol levels more - read,very very bad and it will hit you harder-than the same drink made with a regular mixer.

So, you've been thinking, why?
According to Robert Swift,MD,PhD,associate director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University, sugar in a drink makes the liver get rid of the alcohol faster. So you may prefer to not to take natural sugar to save on the calories, but you won't appreciate feeling like you want to blow your head after a drunken visit to the supple closet.

In fact, if you are so worried about your calories, just skip the alcohol altogether. Calories contain in natural sugar is just a mere figure if you compare with your favorite alcoholic drink.

So, you must be thinking I'm a prude now eh?

Here are more things to enjoy drinking without flopping out.

Sip in moderation, and I mean moderation with big capital M. So, what is moderation? For woman, moderation means only one standard drink per hour if you don't want to get tipsy, 5 to 6 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or one mixed drink.

Switch off. No, not your mobile. It means, if you have more than one drink, alternate alcohol with water or juice. I'll stick to juice if I were you, keep your complexion really nice you know.

Drink on a full stomach. Why? On my layman understanding, when your stomach is full you drink less. But according to Dr. Swift, high eating slows down alcohol absorption, and high-carb foods like pasta work best.

Who Should and Shouldn't Detox

Detoxification is a great way to gain your health. If you are

1. overweight
2. tired all the time
3. have headaches or other aches and pains
4. frequent colds and flus
5. constipation or digestive problems
6. high blood pressure
7. PMS
8. allergies or sensitivities

There are some exception though, only underdo detoxification with the help of a qualified health care practitioner if you are

1. young children
2. elderly
3. chronically ill
4. suffering from a serious disease
5. addicted to drugs or alcohol
6. been exposed to dangerous chemicals, heavy metals or radioactive material.

However, pregnant women and nursing mothers shouldn't undergo detoxification.

How do I start to detox

First thing first, to lighten up your toxin load
These act as toxin in your body, so cut down if possible eliminate on the intake of

1. alcohol
2. coffee
3. cigaretters
4. refined sugars
5. saturated fats
6. minimized the use of chemical based household cleaners and personal care products (cleansers, shampoos, deodorants and toothpaste)