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Planning a low calorie diet is easy and simple. The first thing you have to do is to look how do you normally eat and try to identify some foods which are high in calories, high calorie foods mostly tend to be either high in sugar or high in fat. High sugar foods mostly come from soda beverages, soft drinks, smoothies, sports drinks and juices. All those types of beverages tend to have high calories, now let’s say you want to drink a soft drink, the good thing you have to do is to flip over your can and make sure you check how much is the serving size, sometimes the calories written on the can is not for the entire can, maybe it is just for half of the can or less, for example if the calories written were 50 calories for 1 serving that is not necessarily means the whole can contains 50 calories, thus when you drink it you will maybe be taking 100 or 150 for the entire can instead of 50 calories, so again check the serving size it is really important to read the food labels very carefully, focus on the serving size. You can take sugar-free beverages but not frequently because it has artificial sweeteners that may harm your health, you can go for unsweetened tea or barely sweetened or simply water, by that way you will be eliminating a lot of calories from your diet.

The next steps is to watch your actual meals, how they are cooked or prepared, if it’s deep fried there will be a lot of calories that’s because all of the additional fat. If you are eating fatty meats such as bacon and sausage that’s going to have a lot of calories too. So you have to choose food tend to be so lean if you are going to choose meat, and if you are looking for plant sources, it is going to be healthy fats but still they contain high calories, so you have to practice how to control your portion size. For example if you want to eat some nuts you have to limit your intake to 1\4 cup not more, if want to eat avocados which contain very healthy fats you have to split it in half and share it with somebody, eat quarter of 1  small avocado at a day if you are watching your calorie intake.

 When it comes to olives, limit your intake to 3 large olives. When cooking or stir-frying food or vegetables or any item don’t use too much oil, just add a small amount to prevent sticking the food in the pan. One thing I do when I stir-fry my vegetables is to add a little bit of oil about 1 tablespoon to the entire pot and when it starts sticking I just sprinkle few drops of water and stir the food again, do it again and again until your vegetables are done, but do not use  a lot of water that will spoil your stir-frying.

Make sure you choose fat-free or low fat food when it comes to dairy products. Choose skimmed milk or low fat cheese.

If you want to enjoy a sandwich with mayo, why don’t you choose low fat mayo, you are going to save lots of calories by that, spread a little bit on your sandwich or you can substitute it with avocado spread, yes it’s high in calories but at least you will be taking healthy fats but remember to use it in moderation about 1 tablespoon  of avocado into your sandwich.

Another thing you have to know is to see how often do you eat at the end of the day, it is better to eat small frequent meals than eating large big meals that will help you not to feel hungry frequently between meals but you have to practice portion control, even when it comes to healthy fats such as seeds or avocado or olive oil.

One last thing to keep in mind when planning a low-calorie diet is to learn about food calories, it is all over the internet, just search for the food you want to eat to know what actually you are eating or how many calories you are consuming a day, some good sites are nutriotindata or calorieking or caloriecount . Try to search also for healthy recipes over the internet, most of them have nutrition fact list, so it is easier to know how much exactly your meal is going to be. I have written an article before about how to make pizza at home in a healthy way, it is going to cost you 300 calories for the entire pizza. Common pizza restaurants will cost you 350 calories for 1 slice.

So at the end I have to say that following a low calorie diet is so easy just follow the steps I’ve mentioned then see the great results in losing your extra weight permanently, it is not like the diet scams that make you lose 10 pounds in a very short period of time that you will gain it later so fast after going back to your normal eating patterns because it is mostly water loss not fat loss, following a low calorie healthy diet will make you lose weight slower than those fad diets (3 day diet or 7 days what you can eat and others) but it will certainly make you lose fat not fluids, in addition it keeps your body healthy not making you lose muscles and fluids.

Be active, plan to walk or jog at least 3 to 4 times a week, it is summer time what are you waiting for, why not to enjoy swimming, . Ride your bike, get out there walk or run with your friends or family even your pets, use your roll skates and enjoy, there are million of ways to get and stay active just use your imagination. All of that will help you keep your lost weight away in addition of getting and staying active, fit and healthy.

I hope you found  useful tips in this article that may help you in your daily diet. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and ask through Q&A page.

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Strawberry

• Has anticancer effects
• Raises body antioxidant level
• Rich source of vitamin C

Today’s health topic is about strawberries, well it’s summer and we have delicious fruit season coming our way, I will talk about one of my favorite which is strawberry. Strawberry come into season in april they last all the way through July so take advantage from them now while they are the most nutrient condensed and the most delicious.

Strawberry health benefits

So today I will be sharing with you the health benefits of strawberries, not we really need a reason to know the health benefits because they are really delicious but you have to know that they are packed full of antioxidants that are very powerful and has anti-inflammatory properties and very highly concentrated of vitamin C plus strawberries are very supportive for joint health, a great food to add if you suffer from arthritis, strawberries are also packed full of vitamin K and magnesium which support our bone health, it also contains potassium, vitamin B2 and B5.

Image source: whfoods.com

Strawberries are a key source of ellagic acid which is a phenolic acid that has a potent anticarcinogenic activity and also acts as an antioxidant. Lots of laboratory studies indicate that ellagic acid can inhibit the growth of tumors.

There has been a study done on animals which they eat strawberry rich diet they’ve found that strawberry actually fight free-radical that decrease brain function so they found that those animals improved their motor skills and their learning capacity, so that is really wonderful!

Strawberries are always a sensual delight and with their low calorie content they are a giult-free indulgence. 1 cup of strawberries contain about 43 calories so if you feel you need something sweet grab some strawberries instead of chocolate or candies, they are sweet by themselves!!

How to pick your strawberries?

Now you have to know how to pick your strawberries from supermarket or grocery stores, first of all you have to choose the ripen strawberries because once they are picked they don’t ripen anymore. Then you have to smell the strawberry it should have a really rich aroma, then next notice the color choose the deep dark red and healthy strawberries have a dark green stem to it.

One thing you have to know about strawberries that they do not last long so you have to eat your strawberries with in 3 days, and if you washed them before you refrigerate them that will actually shorten their life so try possibly to wash them right before eating.

Strawberries are really delicious as is, so you do not need a recipe to include strawberries into your diet, but if you need some healthy ways so you can add some strawberries to your fruit salad or eat strawberries with low fat cheese it is really delicious, you can add some honey on your strawberries and be a little creative and add some nuts to make it even more healthy so you have strawberries, honey and nuts yummy what could be better than that?! or you can bake a strawberry cake, try making strawberry cheese cake using low fat cream cheese into it, it will perfect.

And for a bonus strawberries have a low glycemic index about 40 so consider it if you are following a low-GI diet and certainly you can add it to a healthy balanced diet because it is low in calories as I mentioned previously.

So I hope youo enjoy strawberries while they are in season, and I hope you find good useful tips for you in this article.

Image Source: Freedigitalphotos.net

Pineapple

• May have an anti-inflammatory effects.
• Used as a meat tenderizer.
• Useful source of vitamin C and potassium.

This week I am going to talk about a healthy juicy yellow fruit which has that tasty tropical flavor, it is pineapple.

Pineapple health benefits

Most people complain about improper digestion due to over indulgence at weekends. Pineapple helps in digestion so if you know that you’re going to over indulge make sure to eat couple of slices of fresh pineapples right after your meal to avoid this discomfort feeling after eating. Fresh pineapple is famous for containing the plant enzyme bromelain, that acts as digestion aid, bromelain breaks down proteins and most is found in the stem rather than the fruit of the plant. Bromelain is used commercially as a meat tenderizer and there has been much interest in its potential medicinal uses as supplement. Bromelain is only found in fresh raw pineapple you will not going to find it in canned or cooked pineapple, so make sure you eat your pineapple fresh.

Canned pineapple are also delicious but I want to encourage you to look carefully on the label some contain antacid with has aluminum that cause kidney stones, it also inhibit mineral and nutrient absorption from our foods but you do have a natural solution and that solution is fresh pineapple.

Pineapple has anti-inflammatory properties to it so it is a very good food to add it to your diet if you suffer from inflammatory issues like arthritis or sinuses or even sore throats or asthma, also pineapple are very high in vitamin C which is a powerful antioxidant it also contains manganese and vitamin B1 and B6 and it is very low in calories about 76 calories for a full cup so it is excellent for a snack.

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How to purchase your pineapples?

Well it is very easy, all you have to do is smell the pineapple it should have a sweet aroma it should also be heavy for its size and if you press it with your thumb it should just give slightly, another thing, you don’ want to bring your pineapple at home unripe because once they are picked they do not ripen anymore.

The best way to eat your pineapple is simply raw, you can add this to your salad or to your smoothies, you can make fruit salad with pineapple, mango, kiwi and papaya for example it will be great. And you can add pineapple slices to your grilled fish with lemon, mustard sauce, or make it as a topping for your cooked chicken, you can make this topping by adding cilantro leaves, some lemon juice, little garlic and some small cubed tomatoes and olive oil to pineapple it would be a very tasty dish.

Pineapple has a medium glycemic index which is 59, make sure you add it to your diet.

I hope you enjoyed food of this week. always take care of your health because it is worth it!

Pumpkin seeds

• Helps lower your cholesterol levels.
• Have anti-cancer effect (Laboratory and animals studies indicates that phytosterols in pumpkin seeds can inhibit cancer development in colon,breast and prostate cells).
• Good source of omega-3 fats and zinc ( which is important for immunity and fertility)

This week I am going to talk about pumpkin seeds, those crunchy nutty delicious and nutritious food. After reading this article you are not going to throw your pumpkin seeds away from your halloween pumpkin, it has lots of health benefits. Now pumpkin seeds is a very good source of protein and contain healthy fats which is omega-3 a heart-healthy nutient. It also has beta-carotene.

Zinc is one further nutrient in pumpkin seeds that might impact prostate function, you may suffer from zinc deficiency if you are having common cold frequently or you may have impaired sense of taste and smell. Pumpkin seeds has an effect to lower you blood sugar level too, it also helps to promote prostate health, recent researches have shown that using pumpkin seeds help those who have benign prostate enlargement. Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin K also tryptophan ( an essential amino acid formed from proteins it may enhance relaxation and sleep and it has also many others health benefits).

Image source: whfoods.com

Preparing pumpkin seeds at home is very easy!

Now preparing pumpkin seeds at home is very easy, of course you can get them from any store so I encourage you to store them in a sealed bag in the fridge to protect those healthy fats and you can store them up to 6 months, make sure you avoid brown seeds which may be rancid and chew your seeds well. But you can prepare your own pumpkin seeds at home so easily. Just rinse them and dry them off, put them on a pizza pan or flat cookie sheet then preheat the oven to 160 degrees you don’t want to burn them keep it on low temperature to save those healthy fats in them.

Seasoning your pumpkin seeds is very simple you can add sea salt maybe cayenne pepper to make them a little spicy or you can be a little creative and add some soy sauce make a soy sauce mister ( spray) like alive oil mister and mist your pumpkin seeds like that.

Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes max you don’t want to burn them you want to protect the healthy oils there.

How much to eat?

One tablespoon of pumpkin seeds about 1\2 ounce (14 grams) unhulled contain about 60 calories.

Be creative!

Enjoy pumpkin seeds in salads, rice dishes and baking. You can make them a healthy snack, add them to your cereals or to your oat meal plus they are wonderful in greens so when you cook your greens add pumpkin seeds to them. You can be more creative, mash them and add them to your meat loaf or hamburger patties or you can substitute pumpkin seeds for pine nuts in home made pesto sauce, just grind pumpkin seeds with pesto or basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.

So now you know pumpkin seeds are very tasty very healthy, make them a part of your diet.

Not all people want to lose weight, some women want to gain weight, yes it is true there are lots of skinny women do not know how to gain weight, and if somebody asked about information how to gain weight she will be met by a blank look!!

So follow these tips to gain weight in a healthy way,

Identify if you have a poor appetite

A friend of mine asked me last week how to gain weight she is skinny so she made me come up with the idea to write about this. If you are really thin the first thing you have to is to identify that if you have a poor appetite, if you don’t feel like eating most of the time , if you have  a poor appetite then you should see your doctor regarding that to see why actually do you have a poor appetite, sometimes there are some underlined conditions maybe a deficiency in several vitamins and minerals or maybe you’re anemic and that makes you not to have a good appetite for eating, so you have to treat that in the first place to have a normal appetite so you can eat in a normal level and gain weight.

Follow a high calorie diet

If you have high metabolism and you don’t have a problem with your appetite, you feel that you are eating on regular basis so you have to concentrate on eating high calorie foods or follow a high calorie diet, well that doesn’t necessarily means to go out and eat lots of junk foods but you do need to eat more healthy fats for example, seeds, nuts or avocados, you need to prepare your food with healthy oils like canola oil or olive oil so those fats are truly healthy fats very heart healthy fats, they are not going to raise your cholesterol levels or triglycerides, you still can get a lot of vitamins and minerals and they are high in calories so you can include them into your diet to gain weight.

Another high calorie food to add are dairy products, choose whole milk or yogurt and full fat cheese, now even those food have more saturated fat in them than the other fats I’ve mentioned previously but they are not going to make a significant increase in your cholesterol or triglyceride levels if you use them for a short period of time just to gain your desired pounds, once you reach the weight you want to be so you can start cutting back those saturated fats in dairy foods and depend on taking the plant sources of fats, the healthy fats, which I talked about previously like avocados, seeds, nuts, or olive oil or even olives themselves.

But make sure that you stay eating other foods like fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein like fish, meat and poultry but again make sure that you are eating those healthy fats on daily basis.

Start your weight training, get over you fears

Another thing you can do to gain weight is to go to the gym do not be afraid of training go to the weigh section because muscles weighs more than fat so incrasing muscle mass should be a part of your plan to gain weight, don’t worry you are not going to look like bodybuilder women who have lots of muscles they mostly use unnatural steroidal drugs. A normal amount of regular weight training will just show your natural feminine curves nothing more besides it is good for your health.

Lessen your stress levels

Some people may gain weight if they became stressed, others may lose weight. Stress and poor rest are the main factors these days, not only for obesity but also in making thin girls lose more weight. That is because when you are stressed a hormone is released by your adrenal glands called Cortisol. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone which takes nurtients and sugar away from muscles and enters it into the bloodstream which makes you lose muscles and weight.

So decreasing your stress levels and improving your sleeping patterns are very important to be considered to gain weight in any woman. Make sure you are getting 8 hours of undisturbed sleep at night. Try some yoga or relaxing bath or massage, creat some time to be alone by yourself , try meditation.