Nestle has this very active campaign - exercise and replace two of your meals with Nestle Fitness cereals and you will lose weight fast.
Well, I think it makes sense. Honestly, if you have one 'portion' (as portion is defined by Nestle) for one meal and then don't abuse your last meal, you should lose weight for a very solid reason: low calorie intake.
From the good point of view - cereals are very good for losing weight if you can eat as much as they suggest you should. Nothing more. They are high in fiber, high in B's; so yes, losing weight makes sense. If you have them with milk or yogurt - again, Calcium, which also helps lose weight.
So if you haven't considered this diet yet, you should. ;)
My biggest problem with diets was (and is) vegetables and fruits.
Normally, if you experience stomach aches or you feel bloated or your burp after veggies or fruits, you will have a problem with most of the healthy diets.
I, personally, cannot have a salad without having stomach aches, unless I have something next to the salad.
The best thing to do - boil the veggies. You don't like them boiled? Bake them - they will taste even better.
When you have a salad - for vitamins, if not for other reasons - do not mix too many veggies together. Keep it simple, and use herbs for flavor. For example, I love tomato salads with white cheese and oregano, olive oil, and black olives. I like simple lettuce salads next to my dish, only with lime or lemon juice and olive oil. I like cucumber salads on their own. But be careful - problems can come not only from stomach but also from your gall bladder.
Some veggies with problems for gall bladder are:
cucumbers
green or red pepper
cabbage (cooked or raw)
Yes, there are others too, but these are the ones can cause me trouble.
There are people who suffer from food allergies and this cannot be denied. Allergies to nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, dairy, and soy are the most common ones. And from this list, fish and nuts are at the top. People with such allergies meet the adverse reaction in a matter of hours or minutes, and they can feel that something is wrong, and others can also see that. Some people can even die eating these foods if they are allergic to them.
However, this new trend of cutting out food just because some crazy dietician or website tells people that one is allergic to it, is wrong.
Go to a normal doctor, get an allergy test or a blood test to test for allergies and only then call yourself allergic to some foood.
Professor Tom Sanders, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics at King's College London says:
"Many women believe they have a food allergy or intolerance but in reality numerous studies have shown that only 1-2% or the population suffer from a food intolerance and only 0.3% suffer from Coeliac disease. Cutting out wheat is almost always an extremely bad idea - at best it will lead to mental and physical underperformance but at its worst this type of fashionable fad will set women on the slippery slope towards an eating disorder. The quality of a diet is all about what you include not what you cut out." (The Flour Advisory Bureau)
This new trend claims indirectly that everyone who is overweight has to suffer from some kind of food intolerance. Therefore, they advice their 'patients' to cut out wheat or fructose or sugar. Of course, the patients lose weight right away. You don't need to be a genius to understand that not eating any kind of bread and any kind of sugar will reduce your weight. But is it healthy?
Their most common claim is that people feel bloated or get headaches after certain foods and this is why we should cut them off. It seems to me that these guys haven't heard of bloating from eating mixed foods. The stomach cannot digest properly if you throw inside everything all mixed - see my previous posts on separating food for better digestion and for losing weight. For me, no matter what I eat, if I mix them too much, I get a headache and I feel bloated. Is that supposed to mean that I am allergic to everything and that I should stop eating? I think it's supposed to mean that I should stop treating my stomach as if it were a trash bin.
Sometimes people are not even allergic to wheat or dairy: they are allergic to all those "E's" added to the food. This is why I am in favor of organic food.
There are people who are lactose intolerant or who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (spastic colon).
If you think you have IBS because you are allergic, think again and look at what can cause (and therefore cure) IBS:
stress
medicines
caffeine
large meals
lack of exercise
wheat
dairy
alcohol
chocolate
too much sugar
not enough veggies
Excess of any of the above can irritate the colon. I have a problem with some of them too so I eat carefully.
Easy exercise (walking, bike, etc) improves digestion. Alcohol and caffeine are known to irritate the colon. Large meals - obviously, since it's hard to digest. Milk and related - it's known to happen to the best of us. This is why they say that milk should be drunk by itself, separately from any other kind of food. Milk IS hard to digest.
Caffeine normally constipates but coffee on an empty stomach can cause diarrhea. Yogurt is good when you are constipated but on an empty stomach it works just like coffee. Bread is better when it's older, not when it's hot and fresh. And rye bread or whole cereals should be preffered to white puffy bread. Lots of sugar can also cause constipation. Haven't you ever had a chocolate bar or something sweet on an empty stomach? I get stomach ache on the spot when I do that.
The colon needs fiber so this is why everyone tells you that you should eat veggies and fruits. And in order to work properly, the colon also needs plenty of water - not coffee or sodas or other pops.
So stop getting paranoid about food intolerance and check your diet first.
Some foods that contain B6 are nuts, liver, internal organs, green beans, veggetables, fish, whole bread and cereals, brown bread, wheat germ, and bananas.
What to avoid: black tea and coffee, and caffeine in general, even though it is said and proved to dehydrate.
Other important aspects: wear lose clothing that facilitates blood circulation. Never buy socks that, after one or two hours of wearing are leaving marks on your legs. Never buy pants that are so tight that you cannot zip them or that are very tight on your legs. Wear high-heels only if necessary. They are very bad for blood circulation in your legs.
Massage your feet. It helps. Massage the problem areas as well.
If you have dandelion root, use it. Or just dandelion. Also nettle juice or tea helps. I have seen my aunt using that. In Romania, we boil the baby stinging nettle and cook it like you would cook spinach puree (I'll give you the recipe).
I, personally, have a problem with traveling; if I spend more than 7 hours in a car, even if I stop for one hour, I become extremely bloated! (You should see the picture of me right after the bus trip and the ones taken the day after, in the morning. You'd be shocked.)
So, after travelling or when you feel your legs are swollen, use cataplasms with cabbage leaves on your legs (good also for varicosed veins), lie on your back, and place a pillow under your feet to lift up your legs a bit. Do some stretch prior to going to bed and then sleep for at least 3 hours. It can be an afternoon nap. That should do the trick!
And I am saying this again, because it is important: drink water! Up to 8 glasses a day! You wonder again why? Because the body will keep the old water and the toxins if you don't give it enough water to run its functions. So drink water!
Usually heavier people retain more water than fit people.
Sometimes we retain water because we don't eat properly. But sometimes people just suffer from medical conditions and cannot eliminate the water. In case you have a severe case of water retention, consult your doctor. If nothing is found, you can start thinking about better eating habits, drinking more water, exercising, and maybe reflexology or acupuncture.
First thing you need to know is that water is retained many times if you don't drink enough water; the body cannot rid itself of toxins. And toxins - obviously - are bad for the body.
Second - Sodium is responsible also and mostly for water retention. You wouldn't believe if I told you how much Sodium processed food contained. If you have processed food every day, you are in trouble, because totalling that Sodium passes the normal amount the body can take in one day.
Don't live with the impression that only salty food contains Sodium - salt, called in a more familiar way. Sweets contain a lot too (biscuits). Other foods containing unexpected amounts of Sodium are bread, tomato sauce, or Chinese food (!!!).
Always read the labels! You can have at most 2.3 grams of Sodium a day.
My advice: stick to natural food. Use frozen veggies instead of cans. Eat fresh fruits and not the canned ones. Forget McDonals and any processed food for some time, at least.
Try NOT to take pills, unless prescribed. One of my collegues at work took one, lost about 6 (!) pounds in about 24 hours (!!!) , by peeing non-stop. She took half a pill again in the morning. That did it. What happened was that at work she felt so sick that we had to send her to ER. I am not kidding. Overdoing it can be worse than better.
Well, I call it dieting for your sake, not for mine. For me, this is not dieting. "Diet" is a bad word that makes you nervous. For me, it's just breaking thr routine.
So... my exercise yesterday came from two or three hours of walking and running to get things done.
I ate out, at McDonalds, but I I only ordered six Nuggets and a bottle of water. In other words, I separated the food - only proteins. I thought about having some tea, but I don't like the teas these guys have: it's either fruit flavored or black tea. So I chose water.
I didn't get to eat anything else until six or seven at night when I prepared for both me and my husband bulgur (brown fine bulgur from Lebanon - Organic whole wheat) and a delicious avocado dish that Anna had on her blog, Free Weight Watchers Recipes. We both loved it. So, Anna, thanks a lot! :)
I wll give you the recipe for the bulgur dish. It does have calories, but if you don't pass 1500 calories a day you'll be just fine. Actually, if you exercise and you are an active person you can have even 2000 calories.
Bulgur - Side Dish
1 cup bulgur olive oil 1 tomato (roughly cut) 3 spoons chopped champignon 1 medium onion 1-2 cups tomato juice (not paste) 1/2 -1 cup frozen green beans 1 chopped carrot (small cubes because they cok faster) 1-2 (up to you) boneless chicken breasts or pork meat (quantity up to you again), cut into long strips salt grounded black pepper
Place the pan over small fire and add up to 2-3 spoons of olive oil;
Add the onion and the carrot and allow to soften and fry for 5-6 minutes, mixing now and then;
Add the mushrooms and allow them a few minutes to cook;
Add the chicken or the meat and continue mixing until met changed color and becomes white;
Add the bulgur and fry everything for 5 minutes - continue mixing and if necessary add 1 tablespoon of oil;
Add 1/2 cup water and the tomato juice and allow it to cook until bulgur and carrots are soft;
Then add the green beans and the tomato, the salt and the pepper and leave it on the fire 5-10 minutes more, until the the beans and the tomatoes are almost cooked.
So you had too much food to eat yesterday and you feel guilty. You had a party and you couldn't stop eating those cakes and puddings and steaks.
Don't worry, there is a solution!
As you know, the food you eat doesn't transform into fat on the spot but it takes time. The same it happens when you go on a diet and you don't lose any weight for a few days and then you start losing fast all of a sudden.
The truth is, it takes a while for the body to process what you ate and therefore the results of your little 'food adventure' show up only the next day.
So, today is a new day and you have a chance to stop the food from transforming into fat.
First thing on your list today: no sugar. Absolutely no sugar. Take out bread and anything that could increase the level of sugar in your blood. See my previous post on Foods that Increase Appetite. And have at least 8 glasses of water or tea (without sugar). Take out fruits as well. Reduce the number of calories and try to have some vegetables (lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, avocado, green beans, etc) and proteins (yogurts, cheese, meat, chicken, fish, etc.).
You do this, you wash away the food from yesterday, you decrease the sugar in your blood, and you don't put on weight.
But do yourself a favor and don't exagerate with this 'solution'. If you do this three times a week it will not work.
Turkish recipes are delicious, like any other Middle Eastern dishes.
Yesterday I missed the Yogurt Soup (Yayla Corbasi) I used to have there, so I prepared it. This soup is an instant hit with any foreigner! It's tasty and refreshing.
Yayla Corbasi
8 1/2 cups beef stock (or 8 1/2 glasses of water and the required amount of beef stock concentrate - cubes) - where 8 1/2 glasses equal about 2 liters 1/2 glass rice 1 egg 1 spoon all-purpose flour 2 cups yogurt 2 spoons olive oil 2 small spoons dried minced peppermint red hot pepper (paprika) and salt
1. Wash the rice in lots of water, ten times if necessary, to remove all starch. 2. In a pot add stock and rice and bring to boil on medium fire. Cover if necessary. It takes about 20 minutes for the rice to cook, but make sure your rice is very well cooked. 3. Separately beat the egg and add flour. Make sure you blend your flour properly or else those flour balls will turn your soup into a big failure. Add 1/2 cup water and the yogurt. 4. Add to the boiling mixture, reduce fire to minimum, and continue cooking and mixing. Add salt if necessary. 5. When the mixture is ready to boil, take away from stove. 6. Separately fry some hot pepper in olive oil. Mix it with the soup. 7. Serve soup with peppermint on top.
I know it works, no matter what some say. I know it works because I tried it and it was the only thing that didn't make me hungry. I know people who lost a great deal because they separated food.
The idea beyond this diet is that certain combinations, like carbohydrates and proteins create, in the end, body fat. If you eat food from the same 'group', you will not put on weight. And even if this food is in the same categorie, do not combine more than three of them together once.
If you want to change the group you have to wait a certain amount of time for the food to leave your stomach or to move to another level. Meat usually takes at least 4 hours to digest, so don't have meat and then, right away, an apple. The apple would wait in your stomach 4 hours for its turn, would ferment and, after a long and nice process, it would produce fat.
Everything can be divided as follows:
non-starchy and green veggies (celery, cucumber, lettuce, eggplant, turnip, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.)
non-starchy or green veggies only with protein or with starch;
nuts with citrus;
lettuce and salary with fruit;
avocados with salad;
sub-acid fruits with one of the other two fruit categories;
tomatoes - with green and non-starchy and with protein;
melons - always alone;
meat with green vegetable;
sweet fruit with sour milk;
eggs with green veggies;
cheese with green veggies;
milk alone;
grains with green veggies;
legumes, beans, and peas with green veggies.
Never have proteins with starches, acid fruits with sweet fruits, no fruits (except forthe ones approved before) with proteins, starches, or vegetables.
Wait at least four hours in between meals. Do not use more than three things in a combination and do not have more than one concentrated protein or starch at a meal.
Actually, if you look closer, you will see that the ideas above can be found in the low carb diets or in the Atkins diet, or in many other diets that group food.
I will write later on about this diet. I remember Demis Roussos lost weight with it.
It's hard not to eat junk food when you know the period will hit you. Your body asks for sweets and weird stuff. You bloat like a melon. Your tummy hurts, your head hurts, and only if killing people was allowed... Well, you know the symptoms.
How can you control pain? Funny enough, there are ways. I thought there weren't - since I could live only with Ibuprofen - but there are. I used Earl Mindell's "Vitamin Bible" and I am extremely pleased with it!
First of all, you need to help your body digest the food easier and also help intestinal transit, so don't give it food that makes you burp!
Exercises ease pain during periods. Easy exercise, not heavy exercise, because heavy exercise can cause hemorrhages. It is also good to rub your tummy a little but do not take hot baths.
And about food (which can help you ease the pain a lot) - you should have:
bananas - Potassium reduces the bleeding. I always have at least one banana a day during these days;
strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, watermelon, peanuts, sunflower seeds, figs, peaches - they all contain Potassium or help your body digest food easier, thus reducing cramps and pain.
What you should avoid at all costs:
salt and salty food - aren't you retaining enough water already?
cold drinks and food, since they intensify cramps;
any kind of caffeine - coffee, Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc. (Note: caffeine increases your need for sweets!);
black tea;
alcohol;
spinach.
These should definitely help you. They helped me and I thought I was a lost case.
Not today. Today it's gone and you want to enjoy your pasta still.
But be ready for tomorrow. Get positive! You will defintely not start a crazy diet to famish yourself! You will simply apply some of the easy tricks I shared with you. You will have fun tomorrow by making a change!
Changes are fun, aren't they? Routine is boring, and all that eating and living in front of the TV became too much. So making a change is like having a small vacation.
When you wake up, imagine the energy you will have! You are full of life, ready to start. Remember: no sweets! Try lots of teas and bubbly water (if you need pops), eat until almost full but only good calories. Do not famish yourself!
You should find 10-15 minutes to exercise a bit, so you can actually feel the adrenaline being released into your body. Force yourself a little, and try to touch those muscles to see how nice they feel when they are like steel. Don't worry - soon you will get there!
Encourage yourself!
Go shopping! Not to the fast food place, but to the super market. Or go shopping for clothes. If you shop for food - which might be a wonderful idea - admire the sweets on the shelves and don't buy! That will give you more confidence! Buy instead any veggies or fruits that you feel like eating. Instead of chocolate, have a fruit yogurt - preferably a diet one. They will definitely make you feel better! Get ham, get white cheese, olives, lemons, limes, chicken breast, or fish. If you buy bread, remember that rye bread is the best, so go for it. Do not have more than two slices a day though! Buy juice without sugar: grapefruit, orange, apple, whatever you like.
When you get home, don't start eating everything. But if you want to try everything however, take one bite from whatever you please (the good things that you've bought, that is). That will calm you down. Remember, your plan today is not to lose 5 pounds, but to change your frame of mind and get yourself used to the new life!
The best way is not to lose tens of pounds a week and then put them all back on. Your goal is to have fun with your new diet and feel the change in you. Your goal is to feel that today you took the step towards losing one extra pound, one step towards building a beautiful body, one step towards feeling your body clean again.
So go for it and stop whining! Boost up your morale tomorrow!
Losing weight and staying healthy is easy, when you care. Forget famishing yourself: there are other ways.
Since I was 15 I've been obsessed with healthy diets, losing weight, sports, and everything included. I read books after books and I collected articles on staying fit and healthy. Even now, 12 years later, I am still reading everything I find on the subject.
I will share with you, step by step, everything I know. Free advice.
About Me
Name: Andreea Home: Bucharest, Romania About Me: Post graduate student, happily married, who has found the perfect job in a perfect company. :) See my complete profile
