Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Benefits of Raw Juicing and Gym Workouts




We see the infomercials on television to purchase juicing machines for our homes. We see an old man with energy of a youthful man jumping left and right across the TV commercial advertising the juicing machine to help folk stay healthy. At first , some were skeptical if juicing actually works. If you think about it, raw fruit and vegetable juicing saves time of someone having to consume twice or triple the bulk of the fruit or vegetable required in order to receive the potential health benefits associated with juicing two or three fruits and veggies at a time. Not only does drinking raw vegetables and fruit help with energy levels, but it may potentially add to immune function as well as aid muscle building during gym workouts.


When people eat watermelon, they normally discard the rhine, because it has a taste which is not interesting to the mouth. Most people bake and boil sweet potatoes, better known as yams. Hardly anyone would sit down and eat apples whether it's red delicious or granny smith directly to the core. Think about it. These are able to be juiced. Fact is, the watermelon rhine has quadruple as much nutrients as the red does. The red part of the watermelon is just the sugar and fiber, which is appealing to everyone. Energy boosting benefits are hidden inside of juicing green watermelon rhine while sweetening it up with another juiced fruit or vegetable. Very few people know that yams are used in conjunction to the development of anabolic steroids.


Yams, or better known as sweet potatoes, help with the nitrogen retention inside of human muscle and natural muscle building. Juiced alone and consumed over a long period of time, yam juice helps to increase heavy loads on the bench press as well as cardiovascular output. I myself have discovered that juicing 2 yams with one granny smith apple on an empty stomach combined with Universal Nutrition "Animal Pak" thirty to forty five minutes before any treadmill or weight lifting session shot my personal energy levels through the roof! In fact, I once had to force myself off of the treadmill, because I normally do a few minutes warm-up before I start lifting weights. I do this in order to beat the sluggish feeling and keep my heart pumping at a fast pace.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Low Calorie Food and Drink Dishes You Can Make at Home




Is it time that you set yourself on a diet? Not just any diet but a whole new lifestyle change? If so, then perhaps you want to forget the Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers type pre-packaged foods and set yourself on a course for perpetual low calorie living? Is that what you want to do now?


One thing that you need to know is that if you are worried about calories you need to switch to eating whole wheat breads, low fat milks and power down the fruits and vegetables. In fact you can eat unlimited vegetables and not get fat. May I suggest that you have for a snack a vegetable dip plate with perhaps;


- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Beats
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Celery


And for the dip do not use salad dressing, but rather use Virgin Olive Oil, a couple of tablespoons and sprinkle on top some spices like basil and garlic and Italian Seasoning instead. It is quite tasty and actually better than a Thousand Islands or Blue Cheese dressing. It is better for you and tastes better too.


When considering a snack, blend up a fruit drink smoothie at home. Blenders are really inexpensive and you can get a killer blender for under $20.00 at Wal-Mart. There really is no excuse for you not to try these simple techniques and recipes to stay healthy, thin, happy and fit eating the low-calorie way.


I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Low Sodium Foods




When it comes to a low sodium foods lifestyle, every cook needs some quick easy salad dressing recipes. They are easy to make in small batches. These are some of my favorites:

Sweet & Spicy Salad Dressing

1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tsp horseradish

I really enjoy this dressing. Amazing, you don't really taste the hot horseradish when using honey. A very quick salad dressing to make adding plenty of flavor to salads! I enjoy it on a garden salad.

Balsamic Vinegar Marinade

1 cup balsamic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp mixed spices such as garlic, basil, oregano, lemon pepper etc.

If your a fan of Italian cuisine like I am, then a balsamic vinegar dressing is a must. I use it a lot with my low sodium foods Balsamic is a dark-brown syrupy vinegar with a smooth sweet-sour flavor, produced in the Modena region of Italy.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1 cup water
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbs. cornstarch
Cook until thick and then cool.

Then add:

½ tsp paprika
1/3 cup honey
1 tbs. canola oil
Mix well and store in a container and refrigerate..

By making it yourself, this can be a nice healthy recipe.

There you go, three of my favorite quick and easy to make salad dressing. Adds great flavor to a low sodium foods lifestyle.

A low sodium diet is often recommended for those trying to prevent or reduce high blood pressure, diabetics or those with chronic kidney disease. Research also shows that populations with high sodium diets experience higher blood pressure as they age. Low sodium diets also tend to have fewer processed foods and more fruits and vegetables, which carry their own health benefits.

Are you looking for a healthy lifestyle? I use low sodium foods to help fight high blood pressure. I am constantly asked about low sodium foods. So I would like to share with you how to go about using low sodium foods in your new healthy lifestyle...Rick

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Alaskan Smoked Salmon is Healthy and a Treat




What could be better than some bold colored, flavorful Alaskan smoked salmon? As a snack with a bagel, or in a delicious meal for your family, it's a great and tasty way to make your dinning upscale. And have you heard that it's also healthy?

That's right, Atlantic smoked salmon is healthy! Along with its great taste, it also helps to protect your heart. I know what you're thinking, how is that possible, it's just a piece of fish. How can eating something possibly be good for me?

Because it's filled with Omega-3 fatty acids. What makes Alaskan smoked salmon taste so great is also what helps to keep your healthy by protecting your heart. I'm sure you're thinking, but it's a fat, how can it possibly do that. Because Omega-3 fatty acids are the 'good fat' that you've been hearing about on the news. Scientifically proven to protect your heart, they act as blood thinners, which lowers your risk of heart attack and stroke. Which of course, means that smoked salmon is healthy along with tasting great!

There are many different options when deciding on which healthy Alaskan salmon you'd like to purchase. Wild salmon grows to maturity in the wild, and is therefore thought by some to be healthier for you, as a leaner fish. Farm raised salmon is another great Alaskan smoked salmon alternative. Raised not in the wild, but in a tank, it therefore helps to allay concerns of mercury in fish, so you can eat it without worry every day!

This is also packed with protein, and will help you to stay full throughout the day, which is an excellent way to avoid snacking. It will also give you the energy you need to make it through your busy day.

Alaskan smoked salmon is healthy. It tastes amazing, and it's amazing for you, helping you stay heart healthy, and full and energized all day. The next time that you're hungry for a snack, you should pick Alaskan smoked salmon.

When your ready to start enjoying the healthy and tasty Alaskan Smoked Salmon, feel free to visit Smoked Salmon Delivered. They have a wide and varied choice of Alaskan Smoked Salmon Gift Baskets as well as other items such as Alaskan Smoked Salmon Gift Boxes

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Low Fat Cooking For Weight Loss




The secret to weight loss through low fat cooking isn't to cut all of the foods you love from your diet. It's learning to make the foods you love in healthier ways.

If you want to lose weight, you have to burn off more fat than you consume. So cutting the amount of fat you have in your diet is the first step. And one way to do this is to substitute some of the high fat ingredients you cook with, instead using fat free or low fat alternatives.

You Can Eat Meat

A low fat diet doesn't mean you have to give up meat. What is important is the type of meat you choose.

Removing the skin from chicken also removes a lot of the fat. With beef or pork, choose thin cuts. And if there is any visible fat on a cut of meat, trim it off.

Even on a low fat diet, you can still eat sausage and bacon. Sausages made with chicken or turkey contains less fat than beef or pork sausages. And turkey bacon is better for you than bacon make from pork. And it tastes good, too.

Cooking Your Meat

How you cook your meat also makes a difference. Chicken that has been baked, broiled or grilled is going to be lower in fat than chicken that's been deep fried. Coating chicken with spiced breadcrumbs and then frying them can make a tasty substitute for deep fried chicken.

If you need to sauté your meat for one of your recipes, do so in a skillet that you have lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Butter and Oil

Instead of using butter or oil to cook your eggs in the morning, spray the skillet with nonstick cooking spray instead. If you must use cooking oil, choose olive oil or canola oil over something like regular vegetable oil.

There is no denying that butter adds flavor to your dishes. But you can add flavor in other ways. For example, with egg dishes, you can experiment with all kinds of herbs and spices to give them more flavor. And, when you cook rice in fat free chicken broth, you taste buds won't even miss the butter, and it tastes delicious!

Milk and Cream

A lot of the dishes you make that call for milk will work just as well with fat free milk as they would with whole milk. Dishes that call for heavy cream, you can substitute fat free evaporated milk.

And you can still make those delicious cheese cakes. Just substitute reduced fat cheeses for the ones you usually use.

Weight loss through low fat cooking doesn't mean completely giving up on the foods you love. In most cases, it just means replacing some of the ingredients with healthier alternatives.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Low Calorie Desserts - A Sweet and Healthy Option




Low Calorie Desserts are an alternative and delicious way to enjoy traditional treats. Generally, all desserts have high sugar and fat level that adds to our calories intake and also add pounds to our waist. If you want to keep yourself slim, trim and healthy, then there are two options. First is to completely stop eating desserts (something next to impossible for dessert lovers) or go in for the second option to have low calorie desserts. The second option seems to be a better one and most preferred among all. Here are some of the luscious low calorie desserts for you to taste.



Low Calorie Desserts # 1 CarbRite Brownie Mix

CarbRite Brownie Mix is a delicious dessert with less amount of carbohydrates. It is a dessert that is apt for people who want to add protein to their diet. Unlike other brownies it has no trans fats or artificial sweeteners. For having the real taste of brownie, eat them with chocolate chips.



Low Calorie Desserts # 2 Low Carb Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

For some it is hard to think that chocolates covered with marshmallows are sugar free. Well they are ... La Nouba presents sugar free chocolates that are sugar free, fat free, soft and have smooth texture.



Low Calorie Desserts # 3 Low Calorie Fudgie Rolls

Low Calorie Fudgie Rolls are like true friend for diabetics. They contain low amount of carbohydrates, sodium and are sugar free. Less calories is one thing that make them popular among all.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Very Low Calorie Diets - Good or Bad





I believe that calories are the first thing people take into action when they begin their fitness plans. Many people think that "starving" themselves is the best way to lose weight.

Flaws with low calorie diets:

What people don't realize is that doing this puts your body into what is called starvation mode where your metabolism slows enormously. It is also extremely difficult to workout. I remember plenty of times when exercise felt impossible because i was too low on food. But on the other side, even more times when i felt slugish from eating too much.

I believe that you should eat enough that you dont feel slugish when you work, but that the meals are fitting to your diet. Never fast or processed food!

Which diet is the best?

There is none. You see ads everywhere for the best diets and wonder, which one is the RIGHT one? The reality is, for the most part, they all have an element of truth. find one and stick to it. It all depends on your body type. I will say this though. If you are a runner or extreme "cardio-holic", lay off the low carb. Good garbs in pastas, breads, ect. are a solid base of energy that lasts a long time. If you are a lifter, obviously, you need protein. Lay off low cal or vegan type diets. Read lower too see what some experts say about calorie counting.

My take again, Are there any positive results to a low calorie diet?

I suppose. I have seen it work, but results are very short term and usually comes back to bite you in the butt when you cant maintain it. At the same time, the diet does produce fast results, but at the end of the day it's always better to be smart. Eat Smart. Workout. The only true way to lose weight.

Monday, April 7, 2008

A Perfect Low Calorie And Vegetarian Recipe For Sweet Desserts




Now, I believe that a dessert has a particularly interesting role to play in an evening meal. It’s the part of the meal that people look forward to even when they have had a hugely satisfying entrée and main course!

So, really, it is not there to fulfill a nutritional need but it is there to fulfill an emotional need! Therefore, you do want it to say something like:

I’m so glad that you’ve enjoyed yourself so far. But before you go, here’s a little kiss to let you know how sweet you are!

Desserts are meant to be sweet, which is why they are also called sweets. And when there’s sugar, there are calories, often more than you really need.

One of the health gems that I have discovered along my vegetarian journey is that there are some naturally occurring calorie-busters, or ‘thermogenics’ that you can easily incorporate into almost any recipe. My all-time, all-purpose favorite is ginger - fresh, root ginger!

I have to admit, that as a child, I used to resent the flavor of ginger in my food and especially in my dessert! That, as far as I was concerned, was an unforgivable transgression! Strangely enough, as I got older I acquired a taste for ginger. Could this have had anything to do with the fact that I was beginning to hold more weight on my body?

Was my body helping me incorporate a natural calorie-buster in my diet? I don’t know. However, I can tell you about some of the remarkable properties of the humble ginger and that, if you’re game, you’ll discover how friendly it is with so many different food ingredients, from tea to toast!

Aside from being a natural calorie-buster as I mentioned before, ginger helps in digestion. It is particularly good for relieving stomach bloating and cramps. It is also great for relieving nausea and morning sickness and is a great blood regulator, improving circulation and reducing LDL cholesterol.

I could go on, but let me give you a tantalizing, low-calorie, vegetarian dessert recipe that includes ginger. You can of course omit the ginger in but I urge you to give it a try. Chances are you’ll be begging for more!

Now you’ve got to hand it to this one for its looks, taste, texture, nutritional value and calorie consciousness!


Carrot Ooo la la!


½ cup carrot, freshly and finely grated
1 packet gelatin, orange flavored
1 slice ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 teaspoon Sangria/orange flavored liqueur

(If you’ve got a particularly sweet tooth, add 1-2 tablespoons of honey).

Simply prepare the gelatin following directions on the packet. When set, add all the ingredients, mix well, scoop into small dessert bowls and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve decorated with a sprig of mint or a small wedge of orange.

Discover all the other great low calorie and vegetarian recipes just waiting for you at my low calorie and vegetarian recipes website or at http://www.low-calorie-and-vegetarian-recipes.org

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Fat Burning Natural Foods





There is a category of food that does just what overweight people want it to do. There are actually foods that are natural fat burners. Amazingly, they are not difficult to find. The thing is that some of these foods may actually surprise you. There is a concept that has been around for some time. It is called negative calorie foods. What this means is that there are foods that require more energy to burn than they provide. Some of these are celery, spinach and apples.



These are just some of the natural foods that are fat burners. There is another group of natural foods that are not fat burners. Citrus fruits are not negative calorie food burners. However, they perform a helpful function in weight loss programs. Citrus fruits aid your body in the release of fats. It also helps your body to process the fat more efficiently and quickly.



Coconuts and coconut oil is another natural food that is a fat burner. This natural food is helpful in many ways. It has been used by the women of India to treat weight problems, hair and skin conditions.



Fat burning natural foods are not hard to come by. Here are some examples that you can find in your super market or natural food store (if available, organic produce is preferable). These delicious root vegetables are just what you need if you are trying to lose weight. They are packed with fiber and nutrition. They include: carrots, parsnips, radishes, rutabagas and turnips. Turnips are a great substitute for potatoes.



You probably already use onions. Now you can also add chives, leeks, scallions and shallots. These are very tasty and versatile in your cooking.



Remember your mother's admonition about eating your greens. It's true that they're not much fun but they do burn fat. With some creativity you can incorporate these foods into your menu, lose weight and feel satisfied when finished eating. This would include cabbage, dandelion greens, Chinese cabbage, mustard and collard greens. The emphasis here is on changing your diet, not dieting. By focusing on what you eat as opposed to losing weight, you will naturally, effortlessly lose weight and feel better.

Friday, April 4, 2008

You Too Can Make Delicious Pancakes With This New Free Diet Food




This Dr Seuss style article introduces okara, a by-product of soy that has been around for more than 22 centuries, yet is almost unheard of in America. This high protein, high-fiber, pulp that remains after the soymilk is extracted from soybeans, has always been little more than animal feed, but because of its low calorie content, could hold the key to America's weight problems.

You can whip up some pancakes
That's what you can do.
You can stew up some soup,
You can soup up some stew.

You can add it to flour
to make muffins and cake
Even scones and soufflés,
Oh the things you can make.

You can even make meat balls,
and sausage, and fish.
I could go on for pages
If that's what you wish.

But where do you get it,
this marvelous stuff?
You make it yourself
and the stuff isn't tough.

Just start off with soybeans,
they're easy to get.
And soak them in water,
they love to get wet
and the longer they soak
the bigger they get.

They swell and they swell
till they're three times the size
they were at the start,
now they're fat little guys.

I hate what comes next,
it couldn't be fun,
to be put in a blender
and get chopped up and spun.
and your bones turn to soymilk
before it gets done.

But then to get boiled.
What a terrible thought.
To get dumped in a pot
and that pot it gets hot.
I wouldn't want that,
Oh no, I would not!

The milk is delicious,
but cows don't like it a bit.
Milk can't come from a bean
cause a bean's not a
bit like a cow, and they're
off in a snit.

The pulp is strained out
of the milk by the way.
And up until now
it was all thrown away,
or fed to the cows
who were happy that way.

We call it okara
when we use it to bake
those wonderful goodies
that great tasting cake
The sandwiches that
I take to the lake.


And the cows are contented
they don't mind what we do.
'Cause we eat the okara,
not beef, in our stew,
and they know that most soymilk
is used for tofu.

Okara is a high protein, high fiber cooking ingredient that adds a lot of extra bulk to baked goods like scones, muffins, and pancakes without extra calories, making it the ideal food for losing weight.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

New Idea - No-Calorie Soda Pop Syrups




In spite of their world-wide reputation as being fattening, pancakes are the perfect breakfast food. It is the toppings and fillings that turns them into fat generators. Take away the butter, milk, sugar, eggs, cooking oil, sour cream, whipped cream, syrups, and jams, and there is nothing left but a perfect balance of protein, carbohydrate, and fat.


Two big pancakes made with cake-flour and smothered in fresh crushed strawberries, sweetened with a good sugar substitute like Splenda, contains less than 250 calories. A tablespoon of cooking oil adds an extra 120 calories, and butter contributes another 100 or so. By the time you add in the sugar, eggs, creams, and syrups, your poor pancakes resemble a skinny dad padded with pillows to play the role of Santa.


Of course, pancakes aren't pancakes without syrup. But now days, syrup doesn't have to be made with sugar. There are many brands of sugar-free syrups on the supermarket shelves. But none of them are as good as some of the things you can make in less than two minutes in your own kitchen!


All you need is water, flavoring, sugar substitute, and cellulose gum to provide the thickness and viscosity of sugar syrups. Maybe add a bit of coloring for a rich, full-bodied look. Mix it for 30 seconds or so in your blender and you've got delicious, thick, slow-pouring maple, almond, strawberry, orange, or lemon syrup.


For a very unusual treat, just add cellulose gum to any flavor no-calorie soda pop. Just imagine - root beer or cream soda syrup! The kids will go crazy! How about a variety of orange crush, lemon-lime, Dr. Pepper, strawberry, peach, and ginger ale. I haven't tried coke or Pepsi, but they should make good syrups too.


You can turn almost any liquid into syrup with cellulose gum. Chocolate milk becomes chocolate syrup, Add some vanilla, cinnamon, and Splenda to soymilk for a healthy and delicious eggnog syrup.


So forget the frozen waffles, toaster strudels, and French toast stix. Stir up some cake flour, baking powder, and water and cook the kids some pancakes. It takes just a couple of minutes. While they are cooking, make a fresh batch of syrup. Everybody will love them and they'll go to school filled with all the even, slow-burning energy they need to keep them active and alert all morning.


Cal Smith is the author or 'The No-diet Diet' featuring pancakes and other low-calorie, high-bulk foods.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

List Of Negative Calorie Foods




You will find a list of negative calorie foods below, but first let's consider what this means. There is no such thing as a negative calorie - a calorie is a unit of heat and it cannot be negative. So when people talk about negative calorie foods, this just means a food whose calorie level is low enough that it takes more energy to eat and digest it than the food contains.

For example, if you consider water to be a food, then cold water is certainly a negative calorie food. It contains no calories at all and the body has to expend energy to bring it up to blood temperature. So every time we drink a glass of cold water we burn up a couple of calories and lose a little weight. But there are very few foods like this. Most foods that are on the list do not really use more calories than they add, or if they do the effect is negligible ... until you remember that at the same time the body expends energy just to keep alive and breathing. Celery for example does not give us enough calories to cover both the energy that it takes to digest it, plus the energy that we expend even when we are doing nothing. So that is why people call it a negative calorie food.

Negative calorie foods are most attractive to anorexics. A negative calorie diet would obviously result in starvation in the long term and nutritional deficiencies can occur surprisingly quickly. The calories burnt usually come from muscle mass, and the result is debility and wasting.

A more healthy way to use a negative calorie diet is as a form of fasting or detox. It is something you can do for one to three days right after the Christmas season or another time when you have been eating a over-rich diet. Provided you are otherwise healthy it can be a great way to clean out the system. However it is still best to take medical advice before attempting this.

If you decide to use a negative calorie detox, keep the following points in mind:

1. It is never a good idea to eat huge quantities of one type of food, especially fruits. A lot of foods contain substances that can be damaging if consumed to excess. For example, the acid in grapefruit and pineapple can damage your stomach lining. Other foods put an excessive burden on the liver or may cause diarrhea. So try to use all the different foods in small quantities.

2. Do not spend all day eating. You will just become bloated and feel sick. If you are only doing this for a couple days, you should not feel too hungry. Plan four or five salad meals each day, and let your digestion rest at other times.

3. You will feel more satisfied if you eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly. You will also use more calories that way. So if the foods can be eaten raw, that will be more effective than cooking them. Foods like carrots and beets will also be more satisfying if you eat them grated.

4. Schedule time when you do not have any important commitments. As with fasting or any kind of detox, you may suffer some uncomfortable symptoms including headaches, tiredness, depression and irritability. If these become severe, stop the diet and see a doctor.

5. When you end the detox, plan a gradual return to normal eating.

If all the above points are checked and passed, let's move on to the list of foods.

* Apples * Asparagus * Beets * Blueberries * Broccoli

* Cantaloupes * Carrot * Cauliflower * Celery stalk * Celery root

* Cranberries * Cucumbers * Eggplant * Endives * Garden cress

* Garlic * Grapefruit * Green beans * Green cabbage * Lamb's lettuce

* Lemons * Lettuce * Onions * Papayas * Pineapples * Prunes

* Radishes * Raspberries * Spinach * Strawberries * Tangerines

* Tomatoes * Turnips * Zucchini

Please use the above list of negative calorie foods wisely.

Discover how to lose 10 pounds a month - a nice, safe loss of about two or two-and-a-half pounds a week - painlessly.