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  • Trying to Lose Weight? Avoid These Foods

    Trying to Lose Weight? Avoid These Foods

    It’s natural to want to avoid junk food when you’re trying to lose weight. After all, the most successful weight loss is the kind you pursue because you love your body, not because you hate it. As such, today we’re going over some of the foods you need to cut out to get healthy and lose the pounds.

    Remember, you only get one body in this life. Treat it with respect, and don’t fill it full of junk food.

    Avoid These Foods if You’re Trying to Lose Weight

    Fried Foods

    Fried foods are straight-up bad for your health. They’re delicious, yes, but they’re so full of trans fats, salt and cholesterol that they’re terrible for you. Beyond simply being a factor in weight gain, fried foods can contribute significantly to heart disease and diabetes.  If you’re remotely health conscious, stay far away from fried foods.

    Sugary Drinks

    Sugary drinks like sodas, energy drinks, sport drinks and some fruit juices can be incredibly impactful when it comes to weight gain. The average can of soda contains 90 calories per serving, while energy drinks can contain up to 210 calories per serving. And you’d best believe there’s more than a single serving in those cans.

    That’s not to mention that your brain doesn’t register these drinks as actual calories. You just add these calories on top of your normal daily intake. Instead of relying on sugary drinks to quench your thirst, opt for water! It’s good for you, you need tons of it and it’s got zero calories.

    Potato Chips

    These fall under fried foods, sure, but potato chips in particular bear repeating. Some studies suggest that potato chips could cause more weight gain per serving than any other food. That means a few bags of chips during the week could be worse for you than having fried chicken for lunch a comparable number of times.

    White Bread

    Unsurprisingly, white bread is a terrible addition to any diet. It’s heavily processed and very high in sugar, offering little to no nutritional value. Instead of eating white bread, consider opting for a healthier choice like Ezekiel bread.


  • Have You Gained Weight over the Holidays? Simple Diet Changes That Lead to Weight Loss

    Have You Gained Weight over the Holidays? Simple Diet Changes That Lead to Weight Loss

    Are you looking to lose weight? Have you gained the ‘stay-at-home’ 15? Losing weight isn’t easy, but if you pay attention to what you eat, you may be surprised at the weight you can lose. Simple choices like replacing ultra-processed foods that come out of bags, boxes or cans can make a big improvement to your diet.

    More specifically, you can shed weight by reducing 500 calories a day, or about a pound’s worth of calories each week, all while eating the same foods you love.
    Most Americans get nearly 60 percent of their daily calories from eating processed foods. We took a look at a study conducted by National Institute of Health which studied the differences when people eat processed foods versus unprocessed options

    Results Are In:
    Participants spent two weeks indulging in ultra-processed foods, resulting in gaining about a pound of weight each week. They then spent another two weeks eating the same exact foods, but this time they were unprocessed. The results showed a loss in weight of about a pound each week when unprocessed foods replaced processed foods.

    To do this for yourself- try avoiding foods in the ‘middle’ aisles of most grocery stores. Many of these foods may be your favorites- but this is exactly where extra calories lurk.

    Undeniable Health Benefits:
    While the meal prep time increased by an average of 15-20 minutes, the health benefits far outweighed the processed options. Not only did they lose up to a pound each week, but their overall health improved greatly. Lower cholesterol levels, lower sodium levels, increased energy, and overall mood were some of the benefits reported.

    The best part? The participants all noted that they found both diets to be equally delicious! They also reported they preferred to continue with the healthier options rather than the ultra-processed options.

    Misleading Nutrition Labels:
    While it may be easy to fall victim to misleading nutrition labels claiming to offer “fat-free” options, this is far usually far from the truth. Next time you hit the grocery store, skip the frozen dinners and chips- opt for a healthier, do it yourself version from the produce section. Your health and waistline will thank you!


  • Discover How New Home Food Delivery Services are Revolutionizing the Industry

    Discover How New Home Food Delivery Services are Revolutionizing the Industry

    Eating right is one of the most beneficial changes you can make to your life. While many make this a New Year’s resolution, the best time to start is now. There are a variety of cooked and uncooked food delivery services that can help you kick off your healthy eating practice. We’ve made the decision a little easier and put together a list of our favorite food delivery services.

    Home Chef: 40-385 for weekly meal plans

    Home Chef specializes in providing you with all the ingredients to easily create classic dishes from home. They tend to focus on dishes that are simple but hearty like steak or sesame chicken and potatoes. They also feature international meals like Vietnamese pork and Cuban steak burritos. Home Chef also takes its responsibility to the environment seriously. Every piece of food that comes to your door is wrapped with fully recyclable packaging and instructions on the best way to dispose of it.

    They also feature memberships that fit what you’re looking for. There’s no commitment and you can cancel any time you please.

    Blue Apron: $48 to $120 for weekly meal plans

    Blue Apron is one of the most recognized names in the food delivery space. They focus on easy recipes that should take less than 45 minutes to make. They take pride in focusing on using sustainable and locally sourced ingredients for their recipes when possible. While they focus on simple dishes, the flavors are far from it. They also offer an additional service that will pair various wines for your meals.

    Freshly: $50 to $108 per meal plan

    Freshly is different from the first two services that we’ve chosen. They not only focus on saving you time at the grocery store, but they also save you time in the kitchen. Freshly meals come prepped and cooked by their chefs so all you have to do is heat it up. They claim every recipe is free of refined sugar and gluten, so they are perfect for those following the Whole30 or Paleo diets. They even allow you to schedule your meals weeks in advance so it is truly a service that you can set and forget.

    Martha & Marley Spoon: $48 to $131 for weekly meal plans

    Some people love the creativity and attention to detail that Martha Stewart puts into her famous dishes. Her recipes in the past have been known to be complex and challenging. But with the Martha & Marley Spoon home delivery you get the chance to make those dishes in a simplified and delicious form. The ingredients are all high quality like grass-fed beef, artisanal vinegar and come perfectly portioned so you don’t end up with leftovers that go to waste.


  • Follow These Simple Hacks and Watch the Weight Melt Off!

    Follow These Simple Hacks and Watch the Weight Melt Off!

    So, you want to drop a few pounds? What if we told you it’s easier than you think? You can literally drop up to a pound per week by simply replacing the ultra-processed foods that come out of bags, boxes or cans for similar DIY options!

    More specifically, you can shed weight by reducing 500 calories a day, or about a pound’s worth of calories each week, all while eating the same foods you love.

    Did you know that Americans get nearly 60 percent of their daily calories from eating processed foods? Shocking, we know. We took a look at a study conducted by National Institutes of Health.

    Results Are In:

    Participants spent two weeks indulging in ultra-processed foods, resulting in gaining about a pound of weight each week. Ouch! They then spent another two weeks eating the same exact foods, but this time they were unprocessed. What were the results? You guessed it – they dropped a pound each week!

    The only difference was that instead of heading to the middle isles of the grocery store, which are stocked with ultra-processed foods that come out of bags, boxes or cans, they shopped for healthier, unprocessed options.

    Undeniable Health Benefits

    While the meal prep time increased by an average of 15-20 minutes, the health benefits far outweighed the processed options. Not only did they lose up to a pound each week, but their overall health improved greatly. Lower cholesterol levels, lower sodium levels, increased energy, and overall mood were some of the benefits reported.

    The best part? The participants all noted that they found both diets to be equally delicious! They also reported they preferred to continue with the healthier options rather than the ultra-processed options.

    Misleading Nutrition Labels

    While it may be easy to fall victim to misleading nutrition labels claiming to offer “fat-free” options, this is far usually far from the truth. Next time you hit the grocery store, skip the frozen dinners and opt for a healthier, do it yourself version from the produce section. Your health and waistline will thank you!


  • Losing Weight Without Dieting: Changing Lifestyle

    Losing Weight Without Dieting: Changing Lifestyle

    Fad diets are a dime a dozen. Maybe you’ve even tried some yourself. There’s been all kind recently: paleo, keto, the list goes on. What many people find is that when they do a fad diet, they lose a bit of weight at first, but then they burn out, eat normally and gain the weight back. How can you lose weight without having to worry about your lifestyle just putting it back on? Well, you have to change your lifestyle.

    Losing Weight Without Dieting

    Healthy Lifestyle

    A healthy lifestyle is made up of a combination of tons of different factors. There’s a lot of important things you need to pursue to be healthy, but the place you need to start is a determination to live better and a mindset that puts your health above everything else. Dedication and discipline are of utmost importance when it comes to living a holistically healthy lifestyle.

    Regular Exercise

    Get out every day and exercise. It doesn’t matter whether this is weightlifting, running, yoga, tai chi or rock-climbing, you just need to get out and move. If you’re never burning calories, your body is storing them as fat. That’s just basic nutrition. Whatever you need to do to squeeze in at least half an hour of exercise per day, do it.

    Maybe you like playing video games. Well, don’t let yourself play until you’ve gotten in a half-hour jog through your neighborhood. Maybe you love shopping. Don’t buy any new shoes until you’ve hit your half-hour goal for yoga for a straight week. The specifics don’t matter: what matters is that it works for you and it gets you moving and burning calories.

    Sleeping Better

    A huge factor in living a healthy overall lifestyle is sleep. If you’re not sleeping right, you’re going to feel bad and you’re going to find it hard to lose any weight. Make sure you’re getting to bed at a reasonable hour, getting between 6 and 8 hours of sleep, and waking up at a decent time. Sleeping in late every day is a surefire way to encourage your body’s metabolism to be slow.

    To help encourage better sleep, you can try a few things. Make sure you don’t drink any caffeine within eight hours of when you want to sleep. If you’re following our advice about regular exercise, you’ll probably be tired enough by the end of the day to hit the hay. If you work second or third shift, try to stop doing so if you can. Ask for a transfer to day shift or try to change jobs. If you can’t, then try to keep your sleeping schedule as consistent as possible.

    Junk Food

    We know we said this was an article about losing weight without dieting, but trust us on this one: you need to cut the junk food out. This includes greasy, fried foods, snack foods and everything high in saturated fats. If you want to snack, that’s fine, just make sure its on something like carrots, apples, bananas or other fruits and veggies. They’re good for you and they’ll help you keep from overeating during meal time.

    While you’re at it, make sure you cut sugary soft drinks and sports drinks out of your normal diet. This isn’t to say you need to go on a diet: feel free to eat whatever else and operate normally. However, if you want to live an overall healthy lifestyle to encourage weight loss then you’re going to want to leave these incredibly fatty, sugary foods out of your diet. If you follow these steps, you’re not guaranteed to lose weight, but we do guarantee you’ll feel a lot better.


  • Losing Weight Without Dieting: Changing Lifestyle

    Losing Weight Without Dieting: Changing Lifestyle

    Despite what some people say, it’s not hard to lose weight. Anyone can pick up a fad diet and see a few pounds fall off in the short term. The trouble, as with anything, is sticking to a lifestyle. Fad diets only get you so far, and by the time you say “forget this” and go back to eating normally, you gain the weight right back.

    Today we’re going over some of the best ways you can lose weight by changing your lifestyle. Remember, as with anything in life, you need to be dedicated to losing weight and you need to be consistent in your lifestyle changes.

    Getting Enough Sleep

    Sleep is a huge factor in weight gain. If you’re constantly staying up too late, you’re likely sleeping in too late. If you’re sleeping in too late, you’re likely slowing your metabolism considerably. Not to mention, when you stay up later at night, you’re more likely to snack on junk food before bed and then sleep on empty calories.

    One of the best places to start when it comes to shifting to a healthier lifestyle is with your sleep. Try to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. There are a lot of positive associations with people who awake early and start their day off in an active way.

    Exercise

    Waking early means you have more time in the morning to yourself. Use this time wisely! You’re trying to get healthier, so why not exercise? Consider getting an exercise mat or a treadmill so you can work out at home before work. This will not only be good for you, but it gets your blood pumping and adrenaline up for the day!

    Exercise is one of the key ways to lose weight. Most people find that the more they work out, the more they want to work out. This, in turn, develops muscles that are better at burning calories, helping you keep the weight off. It’s a really positive, self-reinforcing cycle that keeps you healthier. Not to mention, you’ll look great with those fit, toned muscles!

    Don’t Skip Breakfast

    You might be noticing a theme here: your mornings are really quite important. After your morning workout, make sure you grab a big, hardy breakfast. Seriously, go all out. Sausage, eggs, fruit, grits, whatever otherwise healthy foods you want to layer on. If you have a big breakfast, you’re actually helping yourself to lose weight.

    Here’s what we mean: when you skip breakfast, you put your metabolism in slow-motion. By the time lunch rolls around, you’re sort of hungry, so you have a medium-sized lunch. Then, your metabolism kicks in, you start getting hungry, and by dinner you have a huge meal. Then you snack all night until bed time, when you sleep on those calories. Why not reverse this trend, front-load the calories and burn them off throughout the day? It’s way better for you!

    Drink More Water

    Stop drinking all those sodas and beers. Liquid calories are really, really hard to notice: they creep up on you. They don’t make you feel full, and then you throw food on top of them. Often, these liquid calories are comprised mostly of sugar, meaning your body pretty much instantly stores them as fat.

    Instead of drinking sodas, consider drinking black coffee or tea for your caffeine. As for the beer, it might be better for you to simply not drink alcohol when you’re trying to lose weight. While not exactly “good” for you, if you would like to drink but don’t want the calories, most hard liquors are nearly zero calorie.


  • Trying to Lose Weight? Avoid These Foods

    Trying to Lose Weight? Avoid These Foods

    It’s natural to want to avoid junk food when you’re trying to lose weight. After all, the most successful weight loss is the kind you pursue because you love your body, not because you hate it. As such, today we’re going over some of the foods you need to cut out to get healthy and lose the pounds.

    Remember, you only get one body in this life. Treat it with respect, and don’t fill it full of junk food.

    Avoid These Foods if You’re Trying to Lose Weight

    Fried Foods

    Fried foods are straight-up bad for your health. They’re delicious, yes, but they’re so full of trans fats, salt and cholesterol that they’re terrible for you. Beyond simply being a factor in weight gain, fried foods can contribute significantly to heart disease and diabetes.  If you’re remotely health conscious, stay far away from fried foods.

    Sugary Drinks

    Sugary drinks like sodas, energy drinks, sport drinks and some fruit juices can be incredibly impactful when it comes to weight gain. The average can of soda contains 90 calories per serving, while energy drinks can contain up to 210 calories per serving. And you’d best believe there’s more than a single serving in those cans.

    That’s not to mention that your brain doesn’t register these drinks as actual calories. You just add these calories on top of your normal daily intake. Instead of relying on sugary drinks to quench your thirst, opt for water! It’s good for you, you need tons of it and it’s got zero calories.

    Potato Chips

    These fall under fried foods, sure, but potato chips in particular bear repeating. Some studies suggest that potato chips could cause more weight gain per serving than any other food. That means a few bags of chips during the week could be worse for you than having fried chicken for lunch a comparable number of times.

    White Bread

    Unsurprisingly, white bread is a terrible addition to any diet. It’s heavily processed and very high in sugar, offering little to no nutritional value. Instead of eating white bread, consider opting for a healthier choice like Ezekiel bread.

  • Weight Loss Programs for Men: Where to Start

    Weight Loss Programs for Men: Where to Start

    A lot of guys don’t know where to start when they want to lose weight. Maybe you’re embarrassed to go to the gym due to your current shape. You’ve heard about weight loss programs, but it seems like they’re aimed at women.

    Where should you start? Today we’re going to look at some of the best weight loss programs for men.

    Weight Loss Programs for Men

    Before We Begin

    Before we begin, we want to stop and remind everyone that all bodies are good bodies. You’ve only got the one body in this life, so you should love the skin you’re in. Just because you’re not cut like a bodybuilder or lean like those other guys doesn’t mean that you’re not attractive the way you are.

    Remember, only you can define your worth. Your weight, your appearance and your amount of muscle all have nothing to do with your inherent worth. All people are worthy of love and respect, regardless of their body type, their gender or their background. Guys aren’t told that enough, so we just wanted to make sure you heard this message.

    Weight Loss Programs

    There are a number of weight loss programs you could opt for. For instance, Noom is a great option, as it allows you to use your smartphone to track your calories and workouts. There’s a monthly fee, but it’s a really robust and well-rounded program.

    Guys don’t have to feel embarrassed about it, as it’s a very community-focused way to lose weight and stick together with a program.

    Weight Watchers is another example of a weight loss program you can keep up with from your smartphone. You don’t need to go to meetings, but you can sign up for them if you want. Otherwise, keeping up with your “points” is a fun way to watch your weight and intake!

    Like Noom, Weight Watchers gives you a community of like-minded people to help you lose weight and stick to your goals. This is a great way for guys who are self-conscious to lose weight and have a support network without going out to meetings in person.

    Exercise

    Remember, a good diet and exercise can go a long way. Not only for weight loss, but for your mental health! If you’re worried about how you look, start doing some workouts at home or going for runs and jogs. It’s amazing how much good a little exercise can do for one’s self-esteem!

  • Best Weight Loss Programs: Get Started Losing Weight Today

    Best Weight Loss Programs: Get Started Losing Weight Today

    Losing weight can be hard. Whether you’ve got a desk job that keeps you on your butt all day or you just find it hard to shed the pounds, maybe you’re looking into a weight loss program. Which ones are right for you, though? There are so many options!

    Today we’re looking at some of the top-rated weight loss programs. Remember, nutrition is as much art as science, and everybody is different. What works for other people might not work for you.

    Best Weight Loss Programs

    Weight Watchers

    Community is a huge part of Weight Watchers, which holds that it’s easier to make healthy dietary choices when you’re held accountable. Much like working out with a buddy, Weight Watchers offers you the support of a community of like-minded dieters so you can feel like you’re not alone.

    The program offers an app that you can access for a fee, which gives you access to various meal plans and “points” values. You can also add weekly meetings, which allow you to feel like you’re a part of a community. The main appeal to Weight Watchers is the straightforward and easy-to-follow dietary guidelines that make nutrition simple.

    MyFitnessPal

    A smartphone app that helps you stay on track and in shape, MyFitnessPal is highly recommended. For a  monthly fee, you get access to day-to-day workout and nutrition tips. If you don’t need the community-minded approach of Weight Watchers, MyFitnessPal is a good pick.

    You get daily tracking of your fitness and nutritional advice to keep you on track. Those with good discipline but no direction are recommended to try this app out. It’s relatively affordable when compared to options like Noom or Weight Watchers.

    Noom

    Noom is a great virtual weight loss app, though it’s on the pricey side. You get access to a lot of resources, such as educational info and nutritional help, that rival the in-person experience of Weight Watchers. Noom is considered a “high-end” weight loss app, and is priced as such.

    While you don’t get the in-person meetings of Weight Watchers, phone-only fitness can be a great fit for busy people. As long as the price tag doesn’t scare you off, Noom can be a good fit for a busy lifestyle.

    Final Thoughts

    Importantly, remember that skinny doesn’t inherently mean healthy, nor does fat inherently mean unhealthy. The only reason you should want to lose weight is if you feel you’ll be happier at a lower weight. Don’t let societal beauty norms make you engage in behaviors that you find unhealthy or unsustainable.