Category Archives: Calories

Reducing Triglycerides and Cholesterol

FOLLOW UP WITH: Cholesterol and Triglyceride Reducing Foods

Understanding Triglycerides in the correct amount   The body needs a supply of two types of  lipids/fats that circulate in our blood stream: triglycerides and cholesterol. Triglycerides are made in the liver and stored in fat cells, playing a key role in energy for muscle function. While this article in brief, takes a closer look at triglycerides it is equally important to keep its partner in mind, cholesterol, which is key for muscle cell membrane and making of hormone’s.  The liver builds triglycerides by using a glucose (sugar) with three fatty acids attached to it, however they can be made without food consumption as well.  After triglycerides are built, they can be stored in the liver, or sent to and stored within muscles.

     Three functions, of triglycerides are:
  1. Energy for all parts of the body.
  2. Insulation to help keep the body in homeostasis (balance of temperature).
  3. Provide adequate nutrition when we are sick, delivering fat vitamins (K, A, D, E).

How it works:  The liver creates triglycerides as stored energy. When energy levels become low, the hormone glucagon orders the fatty acids to be broken off of the sugar base. The sugar and fatty acids can both then enter energy production cycles

Cause and Effect:  The calorie is a measurement of heat energy. Carbohydrates and proteins contain only 4 calories per gram. Fats contain 9 calories per gram, thus providing the body with more than twice the amount of energy as sugars and proteins.  Triglycerides are the most concentrated form of energy found within the body, producing more than twice the amount of energy per gram than other forms of energy (protein and carbohydrates), which is why the body can store large amounts of triglycerides.

Clearing up the confusion:  Keep in mind that triglycerides are stored in fat cells and some muscle cells. While your body prefers to use fat as the main energy source, it should represent less than 30 percent of your diet. High-fat diets leave you at risk of obesity.  Your blood value must be <150 (less than 150).  More than 150 puts an individual at risk.

Fish, fruits, vegetables promote HDL Cholesterol to reduce LDL Cholesterol

An excess of triglycerides causes fat buildup in the liver and around the muscles, causing an increase in body fat percentage. Triglycerides are the most common type of fat found in your body and blood plasma. The body absorbs and uses all the energy consumed from food eaten throughout the day, getting rid of anything it cannot use turning it into triglycerides, storing them in your fat deposits.  As a body takes in more food than it can store, the unused food is stored as triglycerides in lipid cells, the more that this happens, the bigger the risk for the build up in the system, placing the individual at risk for diabetes, strokes and heat attacks.

Foods to eliminate in dietary intake in order to reduce triglyceride levels are:  Alcohol, Dairy, Pork, White Breads, Reduce Red Meat to 3 ounces twice a week.  

Read More: Remove Alcohol For Quick Weight Loss 

Food Pyramid for improved Health

Include these foods for improved Triglycerides Cholesterol and Triglyceride Reducing Foods and learn more about how to balance your meals by following Dietary Serving Guidelines . Increase Fish: Salmon, Anchovies, Sardines, Herring, Mackerel intake 4 times a week to improve quality of Omega 3 (healthy fat) and protein. By introducing fish into your lifestyle, the body responds to a fat that is easier to break down with protein that the organs need in order to have improved function. For fiber include 4 servings of Fruit and 5-7 servings of vegetables a day. Quality of vitamins and minerals is critical to a reduction of unwanted food that would otherwise by stored as triglycerides in fat (lipid) cells.  By doing so you can keep your HDL Cholesterol >70, the LDL Cholesterol <120 and Triglycerides <150.

Recipes to include in your diet

Tuna Steak

Roasted Pepper and Carrot Soup

Lemon Infused Chicken or Fish

Written by:  Kim Crocker Scardicchio

Remove Alcohol for Quick Weight Loss

A fast approach to weight loss is by halting drinks that can influence weight retention. Alcohol is the most social and common kind of ‘drug’ we can take, and it’s a normal part of our society and socializing to have a few drinks. We’ve been drinking alcohol for centuries from simple fermented drinks to classy wines, champagnes, and exotic cocktails. There are obvious health and social problems associated with excessive or binge consumption of alcohol, but what about its effects on people aiming for weight loss?

All alcoholic drinks contain a significant amount of calories per serving, and we often have a lot more than just one serving! But how much damage does this do for your weight loss efforts? An ideal dietary plan reduces calorie intake by 250-500 calories per day to achieve a good amount of healthy weight loss per week.  One can easily see that 1-2 drinks per day puts pay to any good nutrition plan you might follow during the day. Simply said: 1-2 alcoholic drinks can seriously halt weight loss.

Another way to look at the effect alcohol has on weight loss is to compare the equivalent time needed to spend doing fitness training to burn these calories off! An individual of average fitness level and of average weight would apply the following effort to burn off 2 alcohol servings:

Training time required to burn off calories from alcohol:

Alcoholic drink Walking Swimming Running Cycling
Beer (355ml) 30 mins 17 mins 12 mins 13 mins
Light beer (355ml) 20 mins 11 mins 8 mins 9 mins
Low carb beer (355ml) 23 mins 13 mins 9 mins 10 mins
White wine sweet (200ml glass) 40 mins 23 mins 16 mins 18 mins
White wine dry (200ml glass) 29 mins 16 mins 12 mins 13 mins
Red wine (200ml glass) 28 mins 16 mins 11 mins 12 mins
Spirits (on ice / neat) 13 mins 7 mins 5 mins 6 mins
Water 0 mins 0 mins 0 mins 0 mins

There’s a lot of work to be done if  a few (or more) drinks are consumed. Think of all the blood, sweat, tears, and hard work that can go into a great fitness session….and how easily the efforts  can be reversed by drinking alcohol!  Additionally, alcohol contains no essential nutrients and reduces the absorption of Vitamins A, D, E, K, folate, B I, and B2 by altering Biotin (B7).  Lastly, alcohol does not contribute to muscle glycogen, so you may be left short on carbohydrates (Fruits, Vegetables and Whole Grains), which you need in order to train hard.

While it is true that red wines contain a natural phenol “resveratrol”, which permits blood cells to smoothly pass each

Handful of blueberries for improved health.

other instead of sticking to one another,  consider trading in your wine glass for fiber.  Resveratrol is also found in peanuts, soy, cranberries, blueberries, and Itadori tea which maybe a good substitute for red wine and linking it to possible human longevity.

By gaining knowledge on how to improve weight loss efforts, you can begin to feel better about your own appearance and body’s health over the next week, as your initial loss can be 2-7 pounds within the first days of working towards your new objective!

By: Kimberly Crocker

References:

Beauty of Wine and Grape Juice

Vitamin “H” for Haar and Haut

http://www.completefitness.com.au/articles/nutrition/alcoholweightloss.php

Vitamin C Reduces Body Fat, and More…..

Learning about nutritional properties within food will contribute to the overall success of burning the excessive stored body fat; reducing the challenge of resisting foods that we are surrounded by and better understanding how to make them work for us!

Important basic information.
1. Skipping meals will slow your metabolism. In fact, your body will store the food, because it preceives itself as having encountered famine. Therefore, the metabolism slows down and burns calories at a reduced rate.

2. Natural plant foods actually burn more fat than the calorie content of the food itself.

3. Reduce amounts of Salt and Sugar which can work against the body. Excess salt can be stored in the organs and create unwanted swelling. Counter salt with higher potassium intake (fruits and vegetables), which flushes out salt and provides homeostasis (balanced biochemistry in your body). Sugars from sweets, soda’s and wines do not benefit the body and are stored as fat. While wine is vasal-dialator and helps promote HDL cholesterol, it should be consumed in correct amounts; 1 glass per day for women and 2 glasses per day for men.

4. You can utilize your own body to determine a serving. Your closed fist is indicative of  a (approx.) half cup and would apply that is how much 1 serving of  fruit, or vegetable should be in your meal.  With an open hand, examine only your palm; the size of your palm is indicative of 1 serving of meat, fish or poultry that you should consume twice a day.

Food Properties and How we Benefit from them

  • Calcium Rich Dairy Products: Calcium in dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt act as fat burner that can boost weight loss by increasing fat breakdown in fat cells. 1 ounce of cheese a day or 2 glasses of skim milk daily can double the rate of weight and fat loss. Eating 3-4 servings of dairy products a day is more effective at enhancing weight loss efforts than calcium supplementation alone. Researchers found that overweight people who consumed 3 servings a day of calcium-rich dairy lost more belly fat than those who followed a similar diet minus two or more of the dairy servings.

    • Daily servings of 3 Dairy per day.  1 Milk= 1 8 ounce glass.  Cheese=1 ounce. Yogurt=4 ounces

  • Fish and Fish oil: Fish such as: Anchovies, Sardines, Salmon, Tuna are high in Omega 3 and are a great way to shed pounds. A recent study found that fish oil is effective in helping your body burn fat more efficiently. When using supplements make sure that the oil comes from the higher quality afore mentioned  fish.

    • 1 3 ounce Daily Serving of Fish. (considered Protein)

  • Fruits rich in vitamin C – Vitamin C helps the body process fat faster and also stimulates the amino acid Carnitine, which speeds up the body’s fat-burning capacity!  Vitamin C dilutes the fat and makes it less effective and helps in releasing the fat from the body. Berries,  limes, lemons, oranges, guava, grapefruit, papaya, tangerines, tomatoes, watermelon

    • Daily Serving 4-5 fruits.  1 serving =1/2 cup Fruit

  • Honey: Honey mobilises the extra fat deposits in the body.

    • Daily Serving of 1 teaspoon

  • Nuts help feel full while also increasing the body’s ability to burn fat

    • Daily Serving Nuts= 1 ounce (or 28 grams)

  • Pectin in apple restricts the cells to absorb the fat; and also encourages water absorption from the food which helps in releasing the fat deposits from the body. The antioxidants in apples may help prevent metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by excess belly fat

    • An apple a day keeps the doctor away! (Delicious  raw, cooked or baked)

  • SPICES: Chillies: Foods containing chillies or cayanne pepper which contain capsaicin that helps in increase the metabolism. Capsaicin is a thermogenic food, causing the body to burn extra calories for 20 minutes after you eat the chilies.
  • Cardamom: Cardamom is a thermogenic herb like Capsaicin that increases metabolism and helps burn body fat.
  • Curry leaves(Curry Patta): Curry leaves flush out fat and toxins, reducing fat deposits in the body.
  • Garlic: An effective fat burning food.

    • Add Spices to your foods through out the day in order to help your food work more effectively.

  • Proteins: Protein rich foods and high fiber foods are the best as foods burning belly fat. Protein needs more energy to digest than fat: low calorie dairy products, beans, whole grains, oatmeal, eggs, etc.Lentils are high in protein and soluble fiber, two nutrients that stabilize blood sugar levels

    • Daily servinug of Meat: 2 3 ounce servings per day.

  • Tea:  Studies show that green or black tea revs up your metabolism

    • Daily consumption; 4-6 cups a day.

  • Vegetables:  Due to the amount of effort that it takes to completely breakdown a vegetable, don’t forget to include them at your meals, some vegetables are also diuretics. Try these: asparagus, beet root, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, chillies, beans, lentils, soybeans, sweet potatoes

    • Daily serving. 6-7.  1/2 cup=1 serving

    Calorie Burning Foods

    Diet is not a verb, it is a noun!  Diet is a Lifestyle! Eating in a way that allows you to promote longevity and keep illness at bay. Let’s look closer at how foods can work for our bodies, providing nutrition, energy and an opportunity to for our bodies to burn extra consumed calories. 

    All foods have a nutrient (carbohydrate, fat, protein), caloric (calories) and vitamin & mineral content. Vitamins stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that breakdown the caloric nutrients of that food.

    The foods with negative calorie contain sufficient vitamins & minerals that produce enzymes in quantities which are then able to break down not only its own calories, but additional calories from previous digestion as well. This is called “negative calorie effect”.

    Calorie is a unit of energy. The energy can be measured by many methods. The calories in foods depend on their composition and the calorie value and the average energy of a large number of different samples of the food.

    1 calorie = 4.184 joule
    1 negative calorie = -4.184 joules
    Negative calorie foods use more calories to digest than the calories food actually contains! Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to use. In other words, the body has to work harder in order to extract calories from these foods. Even though a food may contain equal amount of calories, much less of these calories can possibly turn into fat in negative calorie foods, as fewer calories are actually available to the body. This gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage.

    Consider the facts:

    1. A piece of dessert consisting of 400 Calories may only require 150 Calorie to digest by our body, resulting in a net gain of 250 calories which is added to our body fat !
    2. On the other hand, a 5 calorie raw piece of celery will require much more calories to chew and digest, so resulting in a net loss of calories from our body fat !! It implies that the more you eat, the more you lose weight!!!

    Therefore, these foods are said to be good for achieving weight loss naturally without starving.  Several vegetables and fruits  written below have negative calorie effect, these are  foods that can be eaten in generous quantities .

    1.  Foods that will flatten your tummy are: Lentils, Cantaloupe, Kiwi, Plum.
    2.  Tricks to increase your metabolism include: Drinking Black and Green Tea’s, Coffee, eating Chili peppers and Curry in soups, rice and pasta’s.  Walk, Jog, Swim, or participate in a Sport 30 minutes a day.

    See below for more “tasteful” opportunities to enhance your Lifestyle by including Calorie Burning Foods.

    Negative Calorie Vegetables
    Asparagus
    Beet Root
    Broccoli
    Cabbage
    Carrot
    Cauliflower
    Celery    		 Chicory
    Hot Chili
    Cucumber
    Garden cress
    Garlic
    Green Beans    		 Lettuce
    Onion
    Radish
    Spinach
    Turnip
    Zucchini
    Negative Calorie Fruits
    Apple
    Blueberries
    Cantaloupe
    Cranberry
    Grapefruit    		 Honeydew
    Lemon/Lime
    Mango
    Orange
    Papaya
    Peach    		 Pineapple
    Raspberry
    Strawberry
    Tomato
    Tangerine
    Turnip
    Watermelon

    Chard & Beans served with Sausage

    Grilling tonight?  Try this Swiss Chard and Bean dish by itself , or served with grilled bread or sausage!

    Sausage with Beans and Chard

    SWISS CHARD is a power packed vegetable loaded with vitamins & minerals.  Looking for a great way to increase your calcium intake without drinking milk?   Try including Swiss Chard in your weekly diet!  Milk is a common way to ensure adequate calcium. However, swiss chard is a good substitute. One cup of chard has about 35% of the calcium (and only 35 calories) as one cup of 2% milk. Other nutrients include Vitamin K and A, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium and Zinc.
    Chard is a relative of beets and spinach. It has a slightly bitter and salty flavor that becomes stronger as the leaves mature. Avoid brown or wilted leaves or leaves with small holes. To preserve freshness, store unused chard in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

    Grilled Sausage with Beans and Chard

      Serves 4-6.  Cooking time 25 min.’s

    Ingredients
    1 pound Chard each leaf cut into 4 pieces.
    1/3 c. Olive Oil
    2 Garlic Cloves peeled
    1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
    4-6 cups Boiled Cannellini Beans
    Salt
    1/4 tsp Nutmeg

    Sliced toasted or grilled Ciabatta Bread or sliced baguette .

    Directions:  To remove bitterness from leaves, fill a pan with 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add 1 Tbsp salt and cut chard leaves. Boil for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and empty contents of pan into a colander. Allow water to drain from chard for 1 minute. In a frying pan on medium heat add olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes, allow to saute` for 3 minutes.
    Remove pan from heat and Add  the Chard and with 2 forks work Chard into the oil for 1 minute. Return pan to  heat and allow to cook for 3 minutes.
    Add beans to  chard in frying pan.  Add 1 tsp salt and nutmeg, allow to continue to cook together for 3 minutes.

    Best when served on a grilled piece of bread and topped off with extra virgin olive oil.  Absolutely delicious when served with sausage on the side.