DietMotion

Can chocolate really protect your heart (like many studies show) and fit into a weight-loss program? Well, yes, but not all chocolate is the same.

If you’re one of the dieters that cannot live without chocolate, go for the purest dark chocolate you can find. That’s the kind loaded with flavonoids — antioxidant chemicals that help prevent cell damage, reduce clot formation and improve blood sugar levels. The cacao plant, which is what chocolate is made from, contains the same antioxidants — including catechins and phenols — found in red wine, apples, onions and grapes. Stay away from the milk chocolate or the chocolate with stuffing. This types of chocolate have more calories than the dark one.
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I noticed that people found my True or False post from a few weeks ago to be useful and some of the comments even asked for a part 2 . So here it is Part 2, split into 2 categories.

False facts:

• Grapefruit burns body fat - Grapefruit is a great fruit, with 39 calories and 0 g fat for 1/2 fruit, but it does not burn fat. No such food has yet been discovered.
• All tuna cans have the same calories - Tuna canned in water has up to 160 fewer calories per serving than the oil-packed variety.
• Bananas are fattening - Let’s take 1 medium apple with 72 calories, 1 medium orange with 62 calories and 1 medium banana with 100 calories. Now tell me how fat can a banana make you? (more…)

At first, all the numbers on the Nutrition Facts from a food label may look meaningless, but you will familiarize in time with the format and with their meaning. The law requires that all processed foods carry a “Nutrition Facts” label and ingredient list. It also sets strict government definitions for certain terms used and health claims made on labels. These regulations have helped discourage misleading advertising and have made food labels more useful for us, the customers. (more…)

When your body is rested your organs will function more effectively and you will look better and appear thinner, but if you are tired, your kidneys will retain fluid and you will appear fluffy. Sugar, caffeine and refined carbohydrates give you an energy boost, so you tend to eat more and more of that which can result in an extra weight.

If you want to lose that excess weight try to get the right amount of sleep each night. The average adult needs 8 hours sleep a night. People who sleep less than that have a 45% greater risk (more…)

It is a known fact that 1 in 3 Americans are trying to lose weight, but in 3 years most dieters will regain their weight and in another 5 years they will gain some extra pounds also.

According to Harvard University researchers, there are 4 common reasons why people give up their diet. I think if you know them from the beginning you will be able to overcome them and continue with your weight loss plan.

1. Too much or too fast.

“Cause number-one [for failure] is setting too unrealistic of goals, losing too much too fast,” said Barbel Knauper, an associate professor of psychology at McGill University in Montreal. Instead of trying to lose 15 pounds (7 kg) in a month (very unrealistic) most experts suggest a slow, steady loss, about one or two pounds a week. (more…)

The aim of stretching is to gently lengthen muscles before and after any form of exercise, and to improve tissue elasticity/flexibility. If practiced properly, stretching will help prevent injuries and increase athletic performance.

The following key points should be remembered while stretching:

• Begin with gradual mobility exercises of all joints: simply rotate the wrists, bend the arm and roll your shoulders. This will allow the body’s natural lubrication (synovial fluid) to protect the surface of your bones at these joints. When you’re first starting out, you may not be able to stretch your joints very far. Don’t push it or you may end up damaging your tendons, ligaments or muscles (more…)

• Chocolate is an energizer - True - Our brain feeds with glucose and chocolate is rich in glucose. If it’s black chocolate, the cocoa also stimulates you just like the coffee does.
• The more you exercise, the fitter you’ll be - False - Your body becomes more fragile through over-exercising.

• The food must be cold before refrigerating it - False - According to Food and Drug Administration, the food, especially the meat, must be refrigerated in the next 2 hours after cooking. Every 30-40 minutes after this interval the bacteria on the food will double. (more…)

Whenever you start a weight loss program you have to include exercises too and this could not be that easy. There are different types of activities that you can do in order to achieve your goal and the first one that comes up in my mind is joining a gym. Analyze the pro’s and con’s and decide if this is the place for you!

Pro’s:

• There are multiple classes to attend, there should be one for you too
• There’s usually a wide range of equipment to help you target weigh loss
• Professionals are often on hand to offer advice on fitness and exercise
• Most modern exercise equipment will have a heart rate monitor, making it easy to stay in the target heart rate zone during (more…)

Most of the dieters try to avoid parties as they tend to overeat. If you are having the party, then you can control the food and the drinks to be as diet as possible and can still have fun:

• At parties, try serving raw or marinated veggies as appetizers instead of the usual meat and cheese choices.

• Create a “build your own pizza” party with a variety of toppings, including red, green, and yellow bell peppers, pineapple cubes, spinach, zucchini, and broccoli.
• Looking for a fun appetizer when you entertain? Try making spears of fruit by attaching strawberries, grapes, melon slices, or pineapple chunks onto small pot. Use low-fat or non-fat yogurt for a dip. (more…)

The Food Pyramid

Released in 1992, the food pyramid is a nutrition guide suggesting how much of each food category one should eat each day for a healthy diet.

In general terms the food guide pyramid recommends the following intake of different food groups each day

• 6-11 servings of grain a day such as rice, bread, cereals, and pasta;
• 3-5 servings a day of vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables;
• 2-4 servings of fruits a day;
• 2-3 servings of meat, fish, eggs, nuts, or beans a day;
• 2-3 servings of dairy products including cheese and yogurt every other day;
• occasional use of fats, oils, and sweets.

The pyramid allowed individuals to consume the foods within a certain range of servings, but in the original version released in 1992 (more…)