Category Archives: Weightloss

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

Shrimp Mango Salad

  

Delicous! Refreshing! A meal all wrapped into one dish. Anytime Salad that adds a refreshing twist to everyday vegetable and fruit serving.

4 cups lettuce (washed, dried tore into bite size leaves)
12 shrimps (pre-cooked and shelled) For OPTIMAL taste, grill shrimp and add to salad.
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 avocado diced
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Dressing
1 Mango (peeled, remove pith, dice mango)
Juice of 1 Lemon or 1/3 cup orange juice

For dressing: Blend mango and juice for about 30 seconds.
In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients. Add dressing to salad and gently turn dressing into salad with large spoon.

Risotto Milanese (with Saffron)

Throughout the centuries saffron has been a symbol of wealth and elegance. Cleopatra used saffron water to keep her skin soft. Roman Emperor Nero sprinkled the streets with saffron water to honor his return to Rome. Persians considered it a tonic for the heart as it was thought to alleviate melancholy.  The  spice was introduced into Spain by the Arabs, and later cultivated in Mediterranean regions and  throughout Europe.  Today we use it for the Health Benefits of Saffron .

Rice was introduced into Italy during the Middle Ages by Venetian or Genoese merchants, who traded with the east. The earliest documentation of rice cultivation in Italy dates to 1475. Risotto is specific to northern Italy where rice paddies are abundant.

The secret to Risotto is the constant movement of rice being stirred with a wooden spoon. The outward grain breaks away from the rice and a creamy effect is quickly noticeable.
4-6 Servings
3 Tbsp Olive oil
1 onion peeled and minced
300 g. Arborio Rice
1/2 c white wine
2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Saffron or 1tsp Tumeric
1/2 c parmesan cheese`

In a small sauce pan, add water and 2 bullion cubes and bring water to a simmer.  Turn off water.  In a separate frying pan add olive oil and onion.  Allow to saute` over medium low heat for 5 minutes. Add rice and slowly incorporate into oil and onion. Add white wine, all while stirring the rice. Continue to stir rice for about another 5 minutes. Add salt. Slowly add in 2 ladles of  broth at a time always stirring . As water is absorbed by the rice add in additional broth. From the time the rice is added to the frying pan to the end of preparation will be about 17 minutes.  Add in Saffron all while stirring rice and the rice becomes  yellow.  Stir in cheese.  Rice should be barely al dente and creamy in texture.

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