Healthy Food Choices

Get off Your Weight-loss Resistant Merry-go-Round…

December 6, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

If your goal is to make permanent lasting changes, lose weight and keep it of then healthy hormones is the key.

Leptin is a master hormone secreted by adipose (fat) tissue that controls hunger and the feelings of satiety. The more overweight someone is, the higher the leptin levels are likely to be.

If you have tried and continually failed at dieting or health changes in the past, look to fixing your Leptin. If your leptin is not regulated you’ll never experience the lasting changes you are after.

Since Leptin is produced by fat cells, it seem logical that those with more fat cells (such as overweight individuals) would naturally produce more Leptin. More Leptin in turn would then tell the body to eat less and weight would normalize.

However, damaged metabolisms or endocrine issues that overweight people experience prevent this from happening. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Hormones and Weight Resistance, Lifestyle change, Why Can't I Lose Weight? Tagged With: leptin resistance, weight loss resistance

Re-Balance Your Hormones for Permanent Weight Loss…

November 21, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

There are two hormones that play primary roles in a weight loss resistant body and breaking through that weight-loss barrier you are experiencing is about re-balancing these hormones.

Insulin is the hormone that tells your body to use energy or to store it as fat and glucagon is the hormone that tells your body to release extra energy from storage fat.

When we eat foods loaded with easily digested sugars and starches (you know…all those processed foods), it floods our body with sugar all at once causing our body to release lots of insulin to try and clear it from the bloodstream. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Hormones and Weight Resistance Tagged With: balancing your hormones glucagon and insulin for permanent weight loss

Factors That Effect Energy Intake and Body Weight…

October 25, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

No matter what you’ve read or been told about your body weight the truth is, your body weight will always be determined for the most part by…”energy in versus energy out.”

Although certain factors can influence the type of weight gained, bottom line is your calorie intake and expenditure dictates the direction the weight scale goes.

However, and this is important, you are not just after reducing that scale weight what you are really after is loss of fat. Losing fat means you are moving in the right direction…losing muscle mass means you are not. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Exercise and Weight Loss, Healthy Food Choices, Weight Loss Basics Tagged With: building muscle, factors that influence hunger, losing fat and keeping it off

Switch Your Focus from Calories to Nutrients…

October 11, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

If your goal is to lose weight permanently and enjoy amazing health and super energy you must shift from your eating habits from nutrient-poor to nutrient-dense.

All those processed, highly refined convenience foods must be replaced by fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, healthy proteins and healthy fiber.

For the most part, we’ve been a bit mislead by the “diet” industry that pushes macro-nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats in our diets in some crazy specific ratio; more of this and less of that, include this but exclude that.

Although there is a bit of truth in these formulas, these calorie containing nutrients are not the basis of healthy eating. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Lifestyle change, Weight Loss Basics Tagged With: enjoy stellar health and boost your energy by eating the right foods, micro-nutrients are key to weight loss

Power-House…Super-Star Blueberries

July 11, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

Blueberries are nutritional stars bursting with flavor that ranges from tart and tangy to mildly sweet. These plump berries are not only beautiful to look at, they are an amazing super-fruit that can be a great addition to your diet if you are trying to lose weight.

These little blue gems contain catechins that help to activate fat burning genes. According to studies done at Tufts University, eating foods loaded with catechins such as blueberries can actually double your total weight loss and may help reduce stubborn belly fat.

Fat free and low in calories (40 calories per ½ cup) they pack a potent punch and rank number one out of all fruits for antioxidants that neutralize free radicals. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Super Foods Tagged With: anthocyanin antioxidants, super food blueberries

Switch Your Metabolic Motor Back On With Strength Training

June 26, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

If it doesn’t challenge you it won’t change you.

Simple but powerful words.

Permanent weight loss is not about restricting foods…it is about boosting up your metabolism…your body’s engine.

Your metabolism burns the food you eat into the energy so you can burn it up rather than having it pile onto your body in unhealthy and unappealing places like your stomach, your hips and your thighs.

Unfortunately most people have a fairly good job of killing their healthy metabolism through years of sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Exercise and Weight Loss, Healthy Food Choices Tagged With: boosting your metabolism, fat burning engine your metabolism

Fragrant Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Bars

May 31, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

Cinnamon is a fragrant and sweet spice that is available year round and has long been used as both a spice to flavor foods and as a medicine.

It is one of the oldest spices known to man and used as far back as ancient Egypt as a beverage flavor, embalming agent and as medicine. Believe it or not, at one time cinnamon was considered so precious that it was valued higher than gold. It is also mentioned in a book on Chinese botanical medicine that dates back to 2,700 B.C.

There are two varieties of cinnamon; Chinese and Ceylon. Both varieties have similar flavor but Ceylon is more refined with a slightly sweeter taste…it is however harder to find in local supermarkets. If you are looking for Ceylon cinnamon you will likely have to shop in ethnic markets or possibly a local spice store. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Super Foods Tagged With: cinnamon, cinnamon sticks, spices

Phytochemicals are Life Giving Compounds

May 7, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

The discovery of some vitamins and minerals at the beginning of the 20^th was an exciting time that led scientists to believe that they had discovered the keys to health. But the truth is, they soon discovered that it was but a small piece of the puzzle.

More recent studies show that the micronutrients required by our bodies for health and longevity are phytochemicals.

You cannot get phytochemicals from a supplement because phytochemicals are natural chemicals that whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, berries, seeds and whole grains offer.

The world of phytochemicals is barely scratched as it’s been estimated that there are thousands of different ones that have not even been discovered or studied yet, however the ones that have been discovered all have protective effects on humans. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Super Foods Tagged With: micronutrients, phytochemicals

Foods that Help Shed Pounds

April 15, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

Without a doubt one of the hardest obstacles to overcome when dieting is combating the “hunger button” or the ever persistent desire to eat. That’s why its important to focus on eating foods that will help to fill you up.

Foods that contain fiber, protein and plant based fats are the most satiating. They slow down the digestion process and the absorption of nutrients which in turn helps you feel fuller longer with no blood sugar or insulin spike. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Super Foods Tagged With: black beans, cruciferous vegetables, foods that help drop weight, grapefruit for weight loss

Villainous High Fructose Corn Syrup

April 2, 2015 By slwradmin Leave a Comment

Dietary intake of fructose has dramatically increased in the US in the past decade and the consumption of HFCS is the primary reason.

People worldwide…in particularly Americans, are being poisoned by a toxic additive for food and beverage called HFCS. It is presently being used in a huge variety of foods from soft drinks to salad dressings, to cakes, cereals, breads and cookies…and lots of packaged and processed foods in between.

HFCS is short for high-fructose-corn-syrup and experts now believe that we face a serious epidemic of metabolic disease in the near future directly related to the excess consumption of HFCS. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Healthy Food Choices, Why Can't I Lose Weight? Tagged With: HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, toxic HFCS, Type 2 diabetes