Does What You Drink Jeopardize Your Fitness Efforts?

If you are exercising daily and eating well-balanced meals but still not losing all the weight you want, consider your beverage choices.

What you drink could be packing on quiet pounds and jeopardizing your fitness goals.

Consider some of the unhealthy beverages you may wind up sipping at some point during the day:

• Soda has empty calories and even diet soda may have caffeine that works as a diuretic, dehydrating your body;
• Coffee also has caffeine and adding sugar or milk will add calories;
• Whole milk contains essential nutrients but also has the highest fat content; and
• Alcohol causes dehydration, possible liver damage, minimizes absorption of essential nutrients and even interferes with the way fat is metabolized in your body.

There are, however, healthy beverage choices that support your fitness efforts:

• Green tea is a preferred choice over coffee because it's an antioxidant with lower caffeine;
• Tomato juice is an antioxidant with vitamins and minerals with a fun spicy flavor;
• Skim milk contains all the essential nutrients that whole milk has without all the fat; and
• Water hydrates your body, flushes out toxins from your system and has no calories naturally.

To boost your fitness routine, make sure you include healthy beverages on your everyday menu.

5 Tips For Healthier Eating in the New Year

If you are suffering from a high-calorie holiday hangover, you are not alone.

All those tempting treats can put on pounds quickly and the New Year gives you a fresh start for better eating and healthy living habits.

Consider these 5 tips for the healthiest New Year ever:

• Don't forget the fiber. A combination of protein and fiber helps to curb your appetite, regulates blood sugar, promotes regularity and reduces blood cholesterol. Ideally you should have 21 to 38 grams of fiber daily.
• Don't forget the fish. Not just brain food, fish has vitamins, minerals, protein and omega-3 fatty acids to help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and even minimize the potential for diabetes.
• Eat plenty of dark green, leafy vegetables. You mom told you to eat your veggies and she was right because dark green, leafy vegetable contain beta carotene and lutein to combat cancer, stroke and heart disease.
• Control your portions. By using a smaller plate and eating slower, you can eat less without feeling hungry.
• Don't forget the beans. Bean are rich in carbs, protein and fiber to control cholesterol, promote regularity and minimize the risk of cancers.

By facing the New Year with a healthier perspective, you will look and feel better sooner than you think.

A Halloween Sugar High and Holiday Sweets

Halloween seems to be the time of year that gets us started with sweet treats and it goes on right into the New Year, when we all get on the scale and make resolutions to lose ten pounds.

No matter how many people may succumb to this temptation, it is still an unhealthy choice to avoid.

The refined sugar found in Halloween candy and pre-packaged holiday treats offers no nutritional value and contributes to serious conditions such as obesity, diabetes and severe dental decay.

Consider these tips to steer clear of those tempting treats so you feel and look fantastic through the holidays:

• Keep in mind the U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for people on a 2,000 calorie diet diet are 10 teaspoons of added sugar (80 grams), which is the approximate amount of sugar in one glass of soda;
• With the amount of sugar in soda in mind, drink water rather than sweetened beverages;
• Buy Halloween candy you don't like so you won't be tempted to pick;
• Keep candy and sweets out of sight rather than displayed in irresistible bowls or on the counter;
• Make sure you fill up on healthy snacks so you won't be hungry for all the sweet snacks; and
• Avoid total self-deprivation during the holidays by allowing yourself just one of your favorite treats - but if you can't have just one - you need to stay away from the temptation altogether.

By keeping these few simple tips in mind from October through December, you can face the New Year without worrying about unwanted weight gain.

Thanksgiving Diet Tips

While we always want to know how big the Thanksgiving turkey is, do we bother to weigh ourselves before the big feast?

Often we avoid the scale from Thanksgiving until the New Year so we remain unaware of the pounds we are packing on.

With turkey day right around the corner, consider these simple Thanksgiving diet tips to avoid gaining an excessive amount of weight that will require you to make a New Year's resolution to knock it off:

• weigh yourself before Thanksgiving and after to judge just how much you indulged and use this as a guideline to avoid equal indulgences during the other upcoming holidays;
• eat a light, healthy snack, such as fruit, vegetables or low-fat dairy, an hour before Thanksgiving dinner so you are not hungry;
• avoid second helpings, even if those sweet potatoes are the best you ever tasted;
• stick to one dessert instead of piling your plate with tiny versions of everything available which wind up adding on lots of extra calories;
• take it easy on the butter and gravy - use only a small amount or none at all;
• don't add salt to your meal;
• and take a walk after Thanksgiving dinner to get a bit of exercise after eating.

By following the above Thanksgiving diet tips, you will look great for rest of the holidays and the New Year.

The GM Diet Versus a Healthy Lifestyle

Have you heard about the GM Diet?

The GM diet is a health and diet program that was developed for dependents and employees of General Motors, Inc. to encourage fitness and wellness. It was created in conjunction with a grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture, and field tested at the Johns Hopkins Research Center.

The GM diet was designed to target a weight loss of 10 to 17 pounds per week by cleaning the system and burning more calories than what is taken in. The plan was also intended to flush the system, boost overall well-being and improve disposition and emotional clarity.

During the first seven days, diet followers must abstain from alcohol and drink 10 glasses of water every day.

• The first day you eat fruit;
• The second day vegetables;
• The third day fruits and vegetables;
• The fourth day bananas and milk;
• The fifth day beef and tomatoes;
• The sixth day beef and vegetables;
• And the seventh day brown rice vegetables and fruit juice.

By this time, you are supposed to safely achieve a weight loss of 10 to 17 pounds. And after the first week, you can have two alcoholic beverages daily, such as white wine or cordials, to aid digestion.

Although it seems to be a somewhat safe way to shed excess pounds quickly, there is definitely no substitute for a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle. Developing a daily routine that includes the four food groups, exercise, relaxation and plenty of sleep is the key to outstanding lifetime health and fitness.

Four Fall Foods for Healthy Nutrition

As fall arrives, we have thoughts of harvest and other crops of fresh fruits and vegetables. Consider the following four foods to add tasty, healthy variety to your autumn meals:

Apples

Apples are sweet, delicious and very versatile by themselves or added to a number of dishes. Best of all, apples are low in calories, have no cholesterol, are high in fiber and contain nutrients such as calcium, potassium, folic acid and Vitamin C.

Winter Squash

Fall squash such as butternut and acorn are flavorful and make a great additional to any autumn meal. Winter squash is an excellent source of fiber and Vitamin A.

Pecans

Although portion control is essential when eating nuts such as pecans, they are also very healthy for you and are great on salads or as a snack. Pecans are high in vitamin B6, zinc, magnesium, folic acid and thiamine.

Pumpkins

Not just an attractive autumn decoration, pumpkins are savory and nutritious to eat. Pumpkins offer Vitamin C, E, riboflavin, potassium, iron, fiber and carotenoids to help prevent cancer and heart disease.