It seems like a no-brainer. If you want to lose weight, eat healthy food and skip the junk. Why does it seem so difficult to stick to eating healthy foods when you are trying to drop a few pounds?
I struggled with cravings for junk food and sometimes resented the fact I couldn’t eat like I used to. I found it unfair that other people could eat junk and maintain a healthy weight while I seemed to gain weight by just looking at a piece of cake or smelling a bar of chocolate.
Healthy food doesn’t seem as appealing as junk food. I get that. You may like carrot cake a lot better than carrots or prefer ranch dip to hummus, but making healthier choices is not only possible but also enjoyable.
I think there are several reasons why it can feel hard to eat healthy when you are trying to drop pounds.
1) Junky foods are appealing.
Sure you’ve probably met people who say they hate fast food and would never touch a cinnamon roll at the mall, but the truth is that most people do find those types of foods appealing. Food manufacturers are experts at marketing foods to look good and appeal to your senses.
If I’m honest, I will tell you that I still look at some junk foods as slightly appealing, but now that I know what those foods did to my health and how difficult it was to lose weight while including them in my diet, they have lost most of their appeal. I am pretty sure that will happen to you as well.
Be firm in avoiding junk foods and over time their pull and appeal will lessen. I promise.
2) Healthy food takes time and planning.
It is easy to run into any grocery store and grab a deli sandwich, a frozen dinner that takes two minutes to heat up, or a box of cereal for lunch, breakfast, or dinner. It is much more difficult to do the same thing with healthy foods. Most healthy foods take some preparation.
For example, you have to cook oatmeal, cut up and wash vegetables before you cook or eat them, trim the fat off steaks and chicken before cooking, and do a lot more cooking at home when you are trying to eat healthy.
There is no quick fix for the fact that good food generally takes longer to prepare, but you can lessen the time required by planning ahead. Shop once a week and do a lot of prep work when you come home from the store. Precook meat and freeze it, wash vegetables, boil eggs, make overnight oats, and portion out yogurt and fruit for the week ahead.
3) Your friend group revolves around food. And not healthy food.
I had this issue when trying to eat healthier. My friends liked to go out to eat and they teased me when I ordered a salad or simple grilled chicken breast. They wanted me to join in on their food festivities.
It’s hard not to give in to this kind of pressure, but once your friend group realizes you are serious about changing your eating habits they will do one of two things. They will begin supporting you or they will begin to join in. Either one is a win for you.
4) Healthy food takes some getting used to.
If you have ever seen a baby try food for the first time you know that he or she gobbles up pureed pears and spits out peas. At least all seven of my kids did. If you haven’t regularly eaten vegetables, lentils, couscous, and other healthy foods you might not like them.
Start by disguising vegetables in tomato sauce or in soups and slowly add new healthier foods to your menus. Over time you will develop an appreciation for healthier foods. The longer you stay away from junk food the more appealing good food becomes because you appreciate the taste and how it makes your body feel.
Category: Nutrition x Advice
When I heard that cinnamon could be good for weight loss I immediately pictured a gooey cinnamon roll with icing. Reality set in when I resigned myself to the fact that although cinnamon is good for weight loss, cinnamon rolls definitely are not. If you are looking for a way to spice up your diet and help yourself lose weight, stock up on cinnamon and use it liberally.
I know it seems inconceivable that a simple spice like cinnamon could be good for weight loss, but there is scientific research supporting the claim. A study published in a 2011 issue of the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism supports the theory. This study, like most studies on cinnamon and weight loss, focuses on the fact that cinnamon seems to play a role in stabilizing blood sugar and insulin levels. When your insulin and blood sugar levels are under control, your body is able to more easily burn fat instead of storing it.
It needs to be said that cinnamon isn’t a magic bullet for weight loss. However, you can add cinnamon to your diet in a way that will actually enhance your dieting efforts.
Fortunately, it’s easy: Add cinnamon to food.
Cinnamon is a unique spice in that it can be used in breakfast foods, main dishes, desserts, and snacks.
Breakfast ideas
Sprinkle cinnamon on oatmeal, Greek yogurt, or scrambled eggs in the morning. The cinnamon will enhance the flavors of the food without overwhelming your senses.
Main dish ideas
Include cinnamon in vegetarian chili, in fajitas filled with grilled chicken marinated in lime juice, on sweet potatoes, over brown rice, and in roasted pork dishes.
Dessert ideas
A traditional use of cinnamon, and one of my favorites, is to sprinkle cinnamon on apple or pear slices, warm them in a cast iron skillet with a bit of water, and serve as a dessert. It doesn’t get much better than that. You can also add cinnamon to vanilla-flavored low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt.
Snack ideas
Roast pecans with a bit of coconut oil and cinnamon. The flavors pair well together and both pecans and coconut oil are good for weight loss. Other snack options that include cinnamon are homemade trail mix, popcorn sprinkled with cinnamon, homemade granola bars, and apple cinnamon fruit bars.
Spice up drinks with cinnamon
Sprinkling cinnamon directly on water is not very appetizing because the cinnamon just sits on top. Instead, I often add a bit of cinnamon to my coffee in the morning to give it a gourmet flavor and reap the health benefits. Other ideas to spice up your drinks with cinnamon are to add cinnamon to hot tea, sprinkle it in a fruit smoothie, mix it with almond or regular milk, or make a cinnamon vanilla yogurt shake.
Take a cinnamon supplement
There are several types of cinnamon, including Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon. While small amounts of cinnamon will not cause harm to most people, WebMD cautions that excessive amounts of cassia cinnamon can be toxic. If you purchase a cinnamon supplement make certain it is Ceylon cinnamon and do not exceed the recommended dosage.
It is important to understand that while it would be nice, cinnamon is not a magic spice for weight loss. It may marginally help your weight loss efforts, but adding cinnamon to your diet will not automatically cause pounds and inches to melt off.
Do you ever wake up in the morning and wish you could eat a cookie or a piece of cake and still lose weight? I occasionally have a craving for sweets in the morning. However, if you are trying to lose weight, the last thing you probably do is actually get out of bed and eat dessert with your healthy breakfast.
As crazy as it sounds, research out of Israel suggests this strategy might just work for weight loss. And work quite well.
Several researchers from Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University came together to study whether including dessert with breakfast would help or harm participant’s weight loss efforts. The study, which I read with great interest, was published in the March 2012 edition of the journal “Steroid.”
Over 190 people participated in the 32 week study. The participants were divided into two groups and consumed the same number of calories. Women ate 1,400 calories a day and men had 1,600 calories. The only difference between the two groups was the inclusion of a dessert item with breakfast.
The control group was given a 300 calorie low carbohydrate breakfast that had about 30 g of protein. That group had no cake with breakfast. The second group consumed a 600 calorie breakfast that averaged 60 g of carbs and 45 g of protein. Those lucky folks had a cookie, a piece of cake, or other dessert served alongside their healthy breakfast.
At first the researchers did not see much difference in the weight loss between the groups. Both groups lost an average of 33 pounds during the first half of the study, which verified to the researchers that either diet would work for weight loss. However, at the midway point, things changed.
Drastically.
By the end of the study, the dessert group lost an average of 40 pounds more than the control group. In fact, the control group began gaining weight after the midway point of the survey while the dessert group kept losing.
I found these results startling. After all, everyone knows that sugar has no nutritional value and is not good for weight loss. So why did this strategy work?
The researchers concluded that eating something sweet with breakfast served two purposes.
1) Avoided Deprivation
I am a firm believer in moderation in weight loss. While eating a perfect diet may look good on paper, the fact is that very few people can avoid dessert forever. Deprivation often backfires, which is what apparently happened with the control group in this study.
2) Suppressed Participants Appetite
Ghrelin, which is a hormone that suppresses your appetite, is usually lowest in the morning. By eating a higher calorie breakfast that included dessert, the participants felt less hungry throughout the day and had better appetite control.
The takeaway from this study is not that you should definitely eat dessert with your breakfast. The main takeaway is that what matters most in successful weight loss is your ability to follow a diet, stay within calorie limits, and feel satisfied throughout the day.
Extreme restriction never works long-term.
I found that eating the occasional dessert, sometimes in the morning, worked for me as well. There were mornings when I got up and wanted something sweet. Instead of feeling guilty for craving a brownie or a cookie, I sometimes ate it with my oatmeal or eggs. I went on with my day, making sure I adjusted my later meals for the higher calorie breakfast.
Controlling cravings and being aware of when you are likely to feel most hungry can help you lose weight and keep it off. All the better if you can have dessert with your breakfast.
It worked for me, it worked for these study participants, and it might just work for you.
I’m always trying different creams and lotions to get rid of dry skin and shave five years or so off my age. All this time, all I had to do was eat better. I know what you must be thinking. Healthy food tastes horrible. Not this time. These skin smoothing snacks taste incredible and they’re easy for anyone to add to their daily routine.
So what do these snacks do for your skin? Unlike that expensive face cream you’ve been using religiously, food works from the inside. These delicious and inexpensive snacks gradually change the look and feel of your skin.
I didn’t need to be told twice. After just a few months, I could tell a major difference and so could everyone else.
Smooth With Honey
I love honey, but I love what it does for my skin even more. Sure, it’s a sugary treat, but it’s good for you. It’s natural humectant properties helps your skin stay moisturized and supple.
If you check out many organic or all natural skin products, you’ll find many of them include honey. There’s a reason for this. I try to add a spoonful of honey to my yogurt or cereal everyday. It’s simple to use and your skin looks better. What do you have to lose?
Don’t just buy any honey though. I know they all say “honey” on the label, but more processed honeys aren’t as effective. Pure and organic honey works best and even tastes better.
Anti-Aging Power With Strawberries
Strawberries are my favorite snack on this list. They not only keep my teeth whiter without using those annoying strips, but they help keep my skin looking younger and smooth. I didn’t realize how much Vitamin C strawberries contain. They actually have more per serving than oranges.
Why does your skin need Vitamin C? Simple! This powerful vitamin fights free radicals that lead to fine lines which make you look far older than you really are.
You don’t have to just eat a handful of strawberries every day. I like mixing them in smoothies, topping my ice cream or adding them to a salad. Get creative and you’ll find it’s easy to add strawberries to your diet.
Heal Skin with Citrus
Strawberries not your thing? Any citrus fruit is full of Vitamin C. I always have oranges and grapefruits on hand. They make great snacks, help boost my immune system and smooth my skin.
Citrus works in the same way as strawberries. It’s just nice to mix it up a little from time to time. After all, who wants to eat the exact same snacks day after day? Eat an orange one day and strawberry smoothie the next.
Soothe Dry Skin with Oatmeal
I’ve used oatmeal based bath soaks for years to soothe my dry skin, especially in the winter. I was never a huge oatmeal fan otherwise. One day I realized if oatmeal helped on the outside, what would it do from the inside? Turns out, it does quite a lot.
The oats in oatmeal are full of fats to lubricate your skin, proteins to strengthen your skin’s moisture barrier and starches to hold in moisture. Sure, soaking in it is still great, but have a small bowl a few times a week as a snack.
I usually mix in some fruit or honey for a double whammy. Plus, it makes it taste much better.
Beautify Skin with Colorful Veggies
When it comes to skincare, vegetables are your best friend. Color is the name of the game, especially green, red, and orange. I admit I’m guilty of skimping on my veggies. I have noticed a difference since I’ve been sneaking more in.
Colorful vegetables such as spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, and greens provide you with Vitamin A. Trust me when I say this natural form of this anti-aging vitamin is much more powerful than anything you’ll find in supplement form.
Vitamin A works like an anti-aging machine for your skin. It’s a natural antioxidant. It improves your cell turnover rate, leading to more supple, youthful looking skin.
If you’re not too fond of veggies like me, try smoothies and shakes. The raw form is usually best, but I’ve found I eat more when carrots are cooked and seasoned.
Get Nutty For Better Skin
Nuts are probably the easiest snack to keep around on this list. You don’t have to worry about finding them in season or not. I’ve had no problem picking up a handful of almonds or walnuts as I walk through the kitchen.
Almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are the best nuts for your skin. They’re full of Vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Both help fight premature aging.
You’ve probably heard of omega-3 fatty acids. I mean who hasn’t been bombarded with 20 TV ads for the latest fish oil supplement? The ads are true though! These essential fatty acids improve heart health for better circulation while reducing inflammation and dryness in your skin.
I get some omega-3s from fish, but nuts are my favorite source. Plus, you don’t end up with fish breath later.
Fish to the Rescue
How does a tuna wrap sound for a quick, skin smoothing snack? Fish, especially cold water varieties such as salmon and mackerel, contain omega-3s and omega-6s. I know we’ve been trained to think fat is bad, but fatty fish varieties are actually good for you.
I like making a salmon spread to place on crackers. It’s easy for me to take this snack with me. Keep in mind, you get some of the same benefits from nuts and flaxseeds.
Healthier Skin with Whole Grains
You might just think the whole grains trend is just a fad. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was either at first. Whole grain foods are less processed and contain more nutrients as a result.
You don’t have to scarf down loaves of whole wheat bread to benefit though. Try adding some wheat germ to your cereal, yogurt or other snack. You’ll boost your skin with a much needed dose of biotin for moisturized skin.
A good rule to remember is to think “whole.” Opt for whole wheat or whole grain based snacks. For instance, I dumped my white bread for a mackerel sandwich on whole wheat. Did it make a difference? My mirror said it did.
Start Slow For Better Results
If you’re anything like me, you want to rush off to the grocery store right now. I had this plan to make over my skin in a week by not just snacking, but filling my meals with these skin smoothing foods. I burnt out before the week was out.
Start off slow by adding in some nuts and berries this week. Try replacing your white bread next week. Doing a little at a time ensures you don’t get tired of snacking healthier.
It’s okay. Your skin still benefits. Before you know it, you’ll skip the chips and opt for a cup of citrus fruit or veggies instead. Suddenly, you’ll look in the mirror one day and notice just how much your skin is changing.
Do you struggle with consistency in healthy eating? Do you have a hard time aligning your behavior with your good intentions long-term?
I want to share a powerful insight with you. It’s a statement that I repeat often because it’s a statement that can open your eyes to why you struggle.
“Why you eat determines what you eat.”
On the surface it seems very simple, but it holds the key to unlocking so much about the food choices you make.
Manufacturers design processed, hyper-palatable foods to hijack your brain chemistry on purpose. They create the perfect combination of sugar, salt, and fat to light up the reward and coping centers of your brain, knowing that you will continue to reach for these foods over and over again.
This is why committing to real food is a critical step in your journey to success. Real food doesn’t hijack your brain chemistry and send your hormones flying in all different directions. In fact, it does the opposite. This makes real food a very ineffective coping mechanism.
Here’s where the psychology of all this comes into play. If your life is full of stress and disorder and you don’t have a healthy, productive way of handling those stressors, your brain will beg for a coping mechanism to protect itself. Processed, hyper-palatable food is a fast, cheap, and easy coping tool.
On the flip side, if you’re in a great place in life mentally and emotionally and you’ve done significant work to mitigate stress, increase margin, and arm yourself with tools to handle the rest of the stress in a healthy way, you will not need the coping ability of processed, hyper-palatable foods.
Why you eat determines what you eat. If you’re eating to cope, you will choose the coping foods: processed, hyper-palatable garbage. If you’re eating to nourish your body and continue your snowball of success, you will choose real, whole foods. Your brain doesn’t seek out real food when you’re in a high stress, disordered state. It seeks out the food that will promote the release of feel-good neurotransmitters.
To complicate this further, I want you to notice that environments that lead to a high stress state are also where processed, hyper-palatable foods are found in abundance, e.g. the workplace.
So what’s the takeaway?
If you want to change your eating patterns, stop trying to consciously change your eating patterns. Instead, work to eliminate stress triggers and work to acquire the psychological tools to respond to stress in a healthy, productive way.
This is what I mean when I talk about changing your relationship with food. What you’re left with is a state of mind that is nourishment-focused rather than drug-focused. A state of mind that is not susceptible to being manipulated by food manufacturers. A state of mind that is almost effortlessly consistent.
You suddenly get a jittery shaking feeling. You can’t remember what you were thinking about. Your brain feels all foggy. You start feeling edgy. You’re past hungry. That is the sign of your blood sugar falling.
When your body doesn’t have enough fuel to function properly, it sends you warning signs. Unfortunately there’s another crappy consequence of letting your blood sugar fall too far down. You gain weight. Yea that’s right….weird, huh? You would think, that if you don’t eat enough that you would LOSE weight not GAIN it! Not the case and here is the reason why:
Your body wants to keep homeostasis or constant at all times, so it will do whatever it needs in order to maintain a non-change environment. When your blood sugar falls your body goes into panic mode or the fight/flight response. When you go into panic mode, your body releases adrenaline which serves to temporarily raise your blood sugar. Because adrenaline signals a stressful event, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. As soon as cortisol is released it triggers your body to store fat. Studies have shown that fat gained due to high cortisol levels sits in your belly. So not eating enough, or eating improperly, causes you to gain weight in your stomach.
Body fat located in your midsection is not only unsightly, it’s also really bad for your health. Visceral fat, the fat located in your stomach, is way worse for you than other fat because it surrounds your most important organs. People with a high amount of visceral fat not only have trouble getting into skinny jeans, but also have higher incidences of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
How do you keep your blood sugar stable and your tummy trim? By fueling your body the right way. Here are tips to help keep your blood sugar stable:
1. Eat small meals every 3-4 hours
2. Limit caffeine and alcohol consumption
3. Workout moderately for 30-60 minutes every day
4. Choose foods that have a low glycemic index, or don’t spike your blood sugar
The last bullet is pretty important as it affects your blood sugar the most. Foods (or food combinations) that have a low glycemic index contain a balanced mix of protein, fat and carbs that slow sugar absorption into your blood. Basically, protein, fat and fiber slow the absorption of sugar (carbs) into your bloodstream and keep your blood sugar stable. They also help you feel fuller, longer. You can choose a meal that has a combination of foods that slow absorption into bloodstream or you can eat a “power food” that contains all of that.
Peanut butter is a power food! In 2 TB serving, it has 13g of healthy unsaturated fats, 7g of protein, 2g of fiber and 3 grams of natural sugar. Not only does it keep you full and stable, but with lots of micronutrients like Vitamin B3, tryptophan and magnesium it also gives you immediate energy and helps you build bone and recover your muscles (for energy later).
There are so many peanut butter brands out there…which do you choose?
At first glance it’s best to always go with the one that says natural. Many contain added salt, sugar, hydrogenated oil and artificial ingredients to enhance the taste. With peanut butter, the less the amount of ingredients, the better. It’s important to watch sugar content. Commercial brands can have up to 250 mg per TB more sugar than natural ones. Also look out for excessive sodium. Natural brands typically have less than commercial ones so be sure to compare labels.