In our busy lives, many of us find ourselves in the drive-thru choosing our meals from a [tag]fast food/[tag] menu rather than carefully planned, home-cooked meals. If you are one of these people, you will enjoy this article… especially if you are trying to lose weight!

If you’re trying to shed those extra pounds, one question remains. How can I survive extra value meals and greasy foods? Is healthy fast food even possible?

A recent study published in Shape magazine by nutritionalists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) found that healthy fast food choices could be made on the run. They studied the menus of some of the most popular fast food restaurants and found healthy fast food choices on their menu. Some of these healthier food choices include:

Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad: This salad contains 420 calories and includes mixed greens, one chicken breast, roasted almonds, mandarin oranges, and Oriental Sesame dressing.

Burger King’s Chicken Whopper Jr.: Any grilled chicken sandwich is a good choice, but this one is only 350 calories and is quite tasty!

Subway’s Low-Fat Subs: Subway’s newest select subs like Honey Mustard Ham, Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki, and Red Wine Vinaigrette Club range from 310 to 370 calories.

McDonald’s Fruit and Yogurt Parfait: A good choice for breakfast, snack or dessert, this triple layer parfait (berries, yogurt, and granola) comes in at 380 calories.

Other suggestions from nutritionalists include choosing a smaller order of french fries with meals and water as a beverage rather than a drink full of sugar and caffeine. Choosing ethnic take-out like Chinese, Thai or Indian is another great choice because they tend to be rich in vegetables so you acquire more nutrients, leading to more energy.

Don’t get stressed out when you have to rely on fast food meals when you’re on the go. I know you are busy, but if you take the time to make educated decisions when it comes to fast food, weight loss is still possible. By just reading through the menu a little longer and making healthier substitutions your weight loss goals can be achieved. This is a fact my friend…it is possible to find healthy fast food!

Tags: salad, breakfast

When I first learned about the raw food diet, it took me years to figure out how to do it properly. Then it took me even more years - making mistakes and compromising my health - until I started experiencing the benefits I was looking for from the start!

Let’s face it, if you’re going to bother changing your diet at all, there’s got to be a reason for doing it. I would bet you want to improve your health and energy, right?

But why take years to get those results, when you can get them in months or even weeks? Here are some of the things that I’ve found can help you get faster results from your raw food diet.

1. Incorporate Fitness

It’s interesting to note that even though a person may be fit but unhealthy (think of all the athletes who died of a heart attack!), it’s *not* possible to be healthy without being fit.

Until you reach the point where your body fat is at an optimal level and your fitness “above average”, you probably won’t get all the results you’re looking for even with an ideal diet.

Fit people not only digest better, the entire process of nutrition is improved with improved fitness. This means assimilation will be better, blood sugar will be more under control, and much more besides.

To start improving your fitness, you have to identify your areas of weakness and work on improving these first. We explain how to do this in the Perfect Health Program and we put it into action in our 30-Day Body Enlightenment System.

2. Address Emotional Issues

Just like fitness, your emotions are an integral part of your nutrition. You’ve probably had the experience of hearing a piece of bad news and suddenly losing your appetite. This shows that emotions are an integral part of how your body processes food. It’s an essential part of your health.

Often people jump into a raw-food diet, hoping that it will help them “clear emotional problems”, when in fact it puts these problems right in their face and they can’t deal with it!

Let’s face the fact that most people eat for emotional reasons, most of the time. It’s really easy to do so with heavily processed or fatty foods, because these foods literally “drug” us and “numb” our feelings.

With raw foods, it’s harder to eat emotionally. That’s why you don’t see lonely overweight people eating buckets of apples to “comfort” their feelings. Instead, they do it with a pint of ice-cream!

Be aware and ready to feel and face your emotions. Equip yourself with whatever tools are necessary to get over emotional baggage - including self-improvement seminars, tapes, and group support.

3. Cleanse

One of the best ways to accelerate your health success is to go on some sort of cleanse, such as the Green Cleanse or the one included in the Body Enlightenment System.

A cleanse should be easy to do, while giving you results in terms of increased energy, weight *release* (if necessary), and increased vitality and health.

My favorite cleanses are:

- Green Cleanse: consuming only green smoothies and fruit for 5 to 10 days or longer.

- Fruit Cleanse: consuming only mono meals of fruit for 3 to 7 days or longer.

- Low Fat Cleanse: consuming only fruits and vegetables without any fat (avocados, oils, etc.) for 3 to 7 days or longer.

While it’s possible to do a cleanse on your own, it’s best if you have someone to coach and support you in the process.

4. Find Raw Friends

Feeling alone and isolated can kill your success with the raw diet! It’s very important to find at least one “buddy” who can support and encourage you on this path.

Now with the Internet, it’s possible to connect with more people than ever. In our different programs (such as the Body Enlightenment System), we have seen the value of offering phone coaching and support, as well as discussion forum support.

Connect with other raw-food enthusiasts using available resources, such as local potlucks, teleseminars and phone coaching, coaching programs and discussion forums.

5. Get a Coach and a System

Besides lack of social support, the reason why most people don’t succeed with a raw-food program is that they don’t have anybody coaching them personally and showing them a system that works for incorporating all of the different elements of a healthy lifestyle.

Unless you think you can do it on your own, you need someone to show you a system that works!

No matter what the coach and system you choose for yourself, you have to make sure that:

- You find a supportive and non-judgmental coaching environment, yet one that challenges you enough to keep improving.

- You have enough quality tools and easy-to-use systems to make progress with your health, fitness and diet.

- The support you get is *constant* or *daily*, not just occasional.

- The program or coach you choose has a track record of success and lots of experience in the field.

Make no mistake about it, you can either take 2 months to put all of the pieces of a healthy raw lifestyle together, or you can take 2 years or 20 years! Do yourself a favor and choose the shortest route to success.

Tags: raw food diet, lifestyle

When people are shopping for a new weight loss system there are certain things that should be kept in mind. Weight loss systems that are affordable solutions should be at the top of the list, as well as systems that work, and keep weight off permanently. It also helps if you find a system that is easy so that the user does not easily feel like giving up.

The Nutrisystem is a popular choice because you do not need to worry about meal planning and staying on the system is pretty much going to guarantee you weight loss. However, there are reasons why it may not be the best choice.

Recently a friend approached me wondering about whether or not she should try a new weight loss program and was wondering whether or not the Nutrisystem would be a good choice for her. She had recently tried Weight Watchers and although found some success with it, she found it hard to keep up with the program. At the time she did not know about my involvement with the Strip That Fat program because it is still very new on the market.

She went on to explain that the Nutrisystem would plan her meals for her and she was excited about that aspect. I explained that any system where you have to purchase your meals is going to be hard to stay on for a few reasons. One being that the bills add up fast and the meals cost more money than planning healthy meals yourself. I asked her how long she planned to stay on the system and she told me as long as it took her to lose about 20 pounds. I asked her what she was going to do after this time. I do not think she realized that she was setting herself up to go into the same yo-yo diet loop that she did when she tried Weight Watchers. After she would stop the expensive new system she would probably go back to her old eating habits and put the weight right back on.

I then told her all about the new Strip That Fat program and she immediately went online and got a copy for herself. I explained that the Strip That Fat system is a real lifestyle change and it was not something that would cost her a lot of money. The system comes with a diet guide as well as a diet generator. You start with the foods you already like to eat and you type them into the generator. Then you build healthy meal plans around this. You buy your own meals at the store instead of sending them to your house so you save money. Also you are eating the foods you like already so you do not need to worry about eating food you hate making it difficult to stay on the diet.

It turned out to be truly a winning solution for her.

If you are interested in learning more out the Strip That Fat program, please visit Strip That Fat Diet Review

Tags: Nutrisystem, weight loss

The Truth about Junk Food & Fast Food = Clinical Nutrition

Can junk food and fast foods make you physically and mentally sick?
Whole foods and nutrient dense foods build a healthy body.
McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s and other fast food places have high carbohydrate, high fat products with low vitamin and mineral content.
Junk food addiction equals a slow death; weight problems, obesity, low energy, emotional problems, etc.

Tags: Burger King, low energy, Clinical Nutrition, Wendy’s, Junk Food, McDonalds, Fast Food, obesity, weight problems

The Truth Behind Losing Weight with Eggs!

There are many different foods that have had diets centred around them - cabbage, for example, or lemonade even - but there is one food that seems to keep coming up time and time again, not in its own diet plan, but as a part of other diets. And that is eggs - and there is good reason for this - to lose weight with eggs as a part of your diet can be much easier!

Let’s take a look at why…

Every successful diet has the same basis - take in fewer calories than you burn each day and your body will burn fat to make up the difference, so you lose weight. Nice and simple! But, of course, there are many ways to enhance the weight loss and adding extra protein to your diet is one of the best. This is because your body uses that protein to replace the fat in your muscles - and lean muscle mass will always burn more calories than fat, so your weight loss accelerates the longer you pursue this plan. So how does that tie in to lose weight with eggs? - Simple - eggs are a GREAT natural source of protein!

Not only that, but eggs, especially if you only use the whites, are a very healthy source of protein. If you have cardio-vascular problems, you may well be recommended a diet including egg whites - because of that low risk way of getting protein into your diet. Much healthier than a steak!! So you can lose weight with eggs and strengthen your heart at the same time.

Protein is also a great way to keep your hunger under control. Your body takes a lot longer to break down protein than carbohydrates, so a high protein meal will always satisfy your hunger for longer than one without protein. And if you get caught wanting a snack between meals - high protein, low calorie is the answer. When you lose weight with eggs, you have a naturally packaged, easily carried and stored source of protein right there! I did not personally have much success with the Atkins diet, but one of the things that I did gain was to learn the use of eggs as snacks and quick meals. Amazing how you can lose weight with eggs when you just grab a boiled egg instead of a cookie for a snack - AND it helps your hunger for longer!

Having said all that - I heard on the radio this morning a discussion of how eating nine eggs a day would absolutely cause you to lose weight with eggs. Now - I am sure that is true - but there is a downside to all this protein. First off - your body is not actually all that good at absorbing protein, especially if you are not used to a high protein diet. And the results can be a little “gassy”! If you are going to lose weight with eggs or any other high protein method, make sure you supplement your diet with enzymes to help you absorb that protein safely.

Secondly, as with all targeted diets, there is another side to the story! Your body does not only need protein! It ALSO needs calories, carbs, vitamins, etc - the danger of an “egg only” diet is that it can totally bias your diet in one direction, which is not a healthy way of losing weight, and as soon as you get off the plan, you may find weight gain incredibly fast.

So - do I think you can lose weight with eggs? Absolutely! But be aware of the balance in your diet, and, if you want the healthiest option, make sure you incorporate some physical activity too! The absolute best way is to get on a program that lays out exactly what you need to do to achieve balanced, long term weight loss - the best around that I have found is Strip That Fat - which absolutely lays out what you need to do to achieve success, so all you have to do is follow the plan. But whatever you do - stay healthy and you will find your weight stays off much better!

Tags: lose weight with eggs, weight loss

The holiday season is fast approaching and if you are like most, this is the time of year to catch up with family and friends. You have spent the last few months watching what you eat and losing weight. You are excited to show off the new you!

Those delicious puddings, cakes and those sweet, absolutely delicious chocolate cookies will be calling you to reach out and grab a handful but if you are on a weight loss program, that is the last thing you want to do.

One little cookie won’t do much damage, right? Well, did you realize that one little cookie a day for a month can add an extra pound to the scale? Well, the temptation of those mouth-watering treats and sumptuous dinners can be a little overwhelming at times, here’s how you can keep yourself glued to your weight loss goals and prevent weight gain during the holidays.

Never Skip Meals This is the best way to make you crabby, feeling tired and hungry all the time. If you think skipping a few meals can make up for your intentions to splurge on those tasty holiday meals, you are dead wrong! What will be more likely to happen is that you be famished and will eat pretty much everything in site. You will end up eating a lot more calories than you even thought possible and of course blow all aspects of your diet plan.

Eat Before the Party It is a good idea to snack before the party, and select a high fiber meal. A diet high in fiber can make you feel full, so there is less chance of binging on those delicacies and in turn prevent weight gain during the holidays.

Stay as far Away as Possible from the Buffet Table Resisting those tasty looking dishes can be a real challenge and you don’t want to stimulate your senses in a negative way that may cause your willpower to be threatened unnecessarily! Choose a healthy helping of those foods you need…salads, fruits and a snack or two and move away from the table as fast as you can! Get involved in a good engaging conversation, and soon you’ll get your mind off food to be able to survive through those tempting times and coast through the party with flying colors!

Drink Lots of Water Water is a great lubricant and helps you keep hydrated. Drink plenty of water during the party to avoid feelings of hunger - water does a good job of keeping your tummy full instead of binging on the food. Water will also help to fire up your metabolic rate and helps flush fats away.

Get Plenty of Exercise Getting a lot of exercise is crucial to keeping your metabolism geared up and the adrenalin going so that you won’t need to resort to food to get you feeling good. Choose an exercise that is fun and makes you feel good about yourself. The holiday season is simply not an excuse not to exercise!

The holiday season is an exciting and stressful time for people. Do not let the holidays be an excuse to give up your weight loss goals……you have come so far already! Keep on track, prevent weight gain during the holidays and keep those extra pounds off the scale. You have already lost them…….don’t give them a chance to come back!

Tags: weight loss, losing weight, prevent weight gain, weight loss goals

This video exposed the nutritional values of fast food (McDonalds) compared to the nutrition facts of fruits and vegetables.

Tags: fruits and vegetables, fast food, nutritional values, nutrition facts