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The purpose of our blog is to share what we have learned about nutrition, weight loss, fitness, and health, in order to help you find ways to feel better and live longer. It is amazing how much our diet and lifestyle affect our health and well-being.

Did you know that you can reduce your risk and even prevent many diseases and health conditions simply by making some changes to your diet? Check back often for valuable tips and information.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF:

For the first time in my life I have found weight loss success. During my adult life I have tried dozens and dozens of so-called "diets" and none of them worked over the long-haul. Oh, I was able to lose weight with some of them, but once I went off of the "diet" I quickly gained back all of my weight (plus some).

I have finally learned that losing weight has to be a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix. Crash diets and all the other crazy diets will not only cause you to fail, they are harmful to your health. To lose weight and keep it off you must NOT go on a "diet." What? Why? Because we all consider a "diet" a temporary thing. For example, how many times have you said, "Oh, I will go on this low-fat diet until I lose 20 pounds." Okay, what happens after you lose the 20 pounds? Or you simply give up? You go back to your old habits and gain that 20 pounds back.

The only way you will ever be successful at losing weight, with the added benefit of improving your health, is to make healthy changes that you can live with for the rest of your life. Period. Not for a week, a month or 3 months, but for life. For me, my initial goal was to lower my cholesterol level. I had to have a blood test for my insurance coverage and my cholesterol level had to be lower than the previous year's levels or I would have to pay a much higher premium. Well, that was a pretty good incentive for me make some positive changes.

I sat down and figured out what I needed to do. I knew I had to change the way I ate and I knew I had to exercise in some form or other every day. So, I made a list and I stuck to it. It was difficult at first. To make matters worse, I am a compulsive eater. However, as the days went by, it became much easier because my body stopped craving sweets and processed foods. For the first time in my life, I was never tempted to binge because I never felt deprived.

Use the list below and make whatever changes you need to make in order for it to work for you. FYI, my cholesterol level dropped 65 points after 7 weeks, and my triglycerides dropped 70 points! Another benefit that I hadn't planned on was that after being an insomniac since my teen-age years, I now sleep like a baby every night!

MY LIST FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCESS:

1. Avoid "white" Foods & Processed Foods. These foods have no nutritional value and are "empty" calories. Sweets, anything made with white flour,and anything that comes in a package with a long list of ingredients. Always read the food labels. Stay away from those long lists of ingredients. The longer the list, the more chemicals and additives are present. These are extremely toxic to your body.

2. Drink Lots of Water. Water keeps your body's organs hydrated and flushes out unhealthy toxins. It helps to fill you up and reduces your urge to over-eat.

3. Eat a Healthy Breakfast. Instead of coffee and donuts, try fruit, yogurt, grains like oatmeal or whole grain toast, and lean protein. NEVER skip breakfast. By eating a large, healthy meal when you get up in the morning, your metabolism will "rev up" and you will not be hungry by mid-morning. If you skip breakfast, your body will go into starvation mode and store calories in your body as FAT, yes FAT! So do yourself a big favor and eat breakfast.

4. Reduce Your Stress Level. So many of us live with too much stress. Stress lowers your immune system, making it easier to get sick. It also makes us lethargic, tired, and depressed. There are a lot of simple things you can do and a lot of ways to feel better about yourself and your life. Take a long, hot bath, read a book, listen to music, get a massage. Do something nice for yourself. Giving yourself something to look forward to is a tremendous mental incentive.

5. Move! Oh my gosh! There are so many ways to incorporate movement into your day, even at work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Get up every hour and walk around your floor, your hallway or your desk. Park your car in the farthest space from where you need to be. Walk or bike to work. Skate, dance, golf, jump rope, clean house, play tag. The best exercise you can do is to walk. Try to take a walk every day! The more you move, the more your metabolism will be your friend. (I walk 3 miles every day whether it is raining, snowing or freezing.)

Eliminate Sugar Cravings

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Much of the poor health and chronic diseases that are prevalent in our society today is due to the increased sugar and refined carbohydrates in our diet. The effect of sugar on our health is alarming. Because they’re so addictive and exist in so many processed foods, however, most people have a very difficult time steering clear of them.

While you may be aware of the reasons to avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates, your chances of being successful at removing them from your eating habits is limited. You need to learn what to eat instead of sugar and refined carbohydrates, how to read ingredient labels and how to avoid cravings.

WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD OF SUGAR AND PROCESSED FOODS

If you suffer from diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or any other of a host of conditions caused by poor diet, you will be happy to know that once you change your eating habits from processed sugar and refined carbohydrates to natural whole foods like vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries, and lean protein, you will see an improvement in your overall health.

How do you know what’s healthy to eat? Ask yourself if the food you want to eat existed a thousand years ago. If it did, you’re on the right track. How do you know if it existed then? If it is packaged in plastic or a box, it is processed and probably contains sugar and/or refined carbohydrates. Processed foods did not exist then, only whole foods.

HOW TO READ INGREDIENT LABELS

If you stick to eating whole healthy foods, you will not have to worry about reading ingredient labels. However, if you do eat processed foods, to determine whether or not it contains sugar or refined carbohydrates, it will be listed as a sugar, a syrup or a word that ends in “ose.” You should also avoid flour. Flour, a refined carbohydrate, like sugar it has no nutritional value.

HOW TO AVOID SUGAR CRAVINGS

*Eat Regularly. The healthiest eating plan for your body is to eat a small, nutritionally balanced meal every 3 or 4 hours. This keeps you full and keeps your metabolism running at optimum speed.

*Drink Plenty of Water. Sometimes we mistake dehydration for hunger. If you sip 6 to 8 glasses of water throughout the day, you won’t be so likely to suffer from hunger pangs.

*Avoid Processed Beverages. Soda, sports drinks, sweetened iced tea and other flavored drinks are extremely high in sugar and should be avoided as much as possible. Even natural fruit juices that aren’t from concentrate are still high in sugar. (Fruit juice does not provide the same nutritional benefits as whole fruit. Most of the nutrition is destroyed during processing and the fiber from the fruit is eliminated.)

*Take a Walk. If you get hit by a sugar craving, put on your walking shoes and hit the pavement (or track or trail, etc.). Walking is an amazing aerobic exercise that floods your body with feel-good endorphins, tones your body and makes you feel good all over.

*Go Ahead, BUT in Moderation. Have one cookie, one little piece of chocolate, etc. As with anything, moderation is the key. This prevents you from feeling guilty or “stuffed.”

*Keep a Food Journal. Write down everything you eat in a day; everything meaning every little piece or morsel of food. You will probably be amazed at how much you are actually putting in your mouth.

No Artificial Sweeteners! Artificial sweeteners were created to provide the sweet taste of sugar without it’s negative impact on health. Unfortunately, they are more of a risk to your health than sugar. Most artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame (NutraSweet or Equal) and sucralose (Splenda), are synthetic substances that are toxic to your body. As long as you don’t have a health condition that prevents you from eating sugar, you live a healthy lifestyle most of the time, and you eat in moderation, you should go ahead and enjoy real sugar.
 Beat Sugar Addiction Now!: The Cutting-Edge Program That Cures Your Type of Sugar Addiction and Puts You on the Road to Feeling Great - and Losing Weight!

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