Now…if you are still reading and you believe me, I am going to quit my fitness career and open a donut shop. Why do we believe these type of claims? Because they are much easier for us to consider than the tried-and-true, time tested facts. If we want to lose weight, we have to move our bodies more and eat with better awareness. Period.

For over 30 years, I think I have heard it all. And I live in my own little bubble I guess, because I keep assuming that the average consumer has heard it all too. So I’m continually amazed when someone asks me what I think about XYZ diet or product. So here I present to you 8 ways to clean up your eating and change the way you feel and look. Warning…these are all things you have heard before. But remember, common sense is not common practice. We, as a nation, are losing the battle. And as Yogis, I feel we have an obligation, and an opportunity to Be The Change.

1. Get the good stuff in. Think about what your body needs for optimum performance, instead of thinking about all of the things you ‘can’t’ have. The minute I tell you what not to eat, you will think of little else until you finally break down and eat that thing (or more likely several of them). But focusing on getting five servings of fruit and vegetable each day helps curb the appetite for those other things.

2. Strive for a colorful plate. A plate full of colorful foods means you have many different nutrients. If you have kids, let them help you choose different and colorful items from the produce section and think of ways to work new colors into familiar dishes.

3. Drink plenty of water. Approximately 70% of our body is water, and our metabolic activity relies on adequate hydration. If we can get in the habit of always having water with us, and drinking often, we might be able to kick the diet soda habit.

4. Consider eating less meat. My kids’ school now does “Meatless Mondays” which I think is pretty cool. If you need some encouragement, consider that the most common cause of death in the US is heart attack. 
Every 45 seconds someone in the US dies of a heart attack. The average US man has a 50% risk of death from heart attack, but the risk to a US man who eats no meat, dairy, or eggs is just 4 percent! Plus, research shows that adults and children who follow a vegetarian diet are generally leaner than non-vegetarians.

5. Learn to prepare more of your own food. Home cooked meals are obviously more healthy than fast food. Meals eaten at a table with real silverware are bound to give you more nutrition (and satisfaction) than meals that come in a paper bag. Maybe you could make cooking a once-a-week family experience. Let meal preparation become something that everyone looks forward to, and sit down to enjoy your creations together.

6. Be bold when using spices. Not only do they flavor foods, many of them also boost the metabolism and speed weight loss. For example, cayenne and cinnamon are both spices that speed up the metabolism and help with fatigue. Do a little research and experimentation. Find out what spices you like and notice that you may have less desire for fatty or sugary, sweet foods.

7. Always eat breakfast. If you’re not a breakfast person, consider a smoothie for the road. Throw in an assortment of fruits, veggies, yogurt, and flaxseed. If you’re still not convinced, how about this: among people who belong to the National Weight Control Registry, those who have maintained weight loss for at least a year, almost 90% reported eating breakfast at least five days a week. This suggests that starting the day with breakfast is an important strategy to lose weight.

8. Slow down. Take your time to eat, and taste your food. Not only will this help you enjoy your meals more, it will help you feel full faster and thus you will eat less. Thich Nhat Hanh gives us some suggestions on eating with gratitude. We can practice an eating meditation every time we sit down to eat by offering the following words:

• This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work.
• May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
• May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.
• May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.
• We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, strengthen our sangha and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.

If all of these things seem unreasonable, start with the one that seems doable. Every time we make one small change towards better health, it seems that three more positive changes follow, almost unconsciously. Give it a try. Or, send me a check for some tree bark.

First is to pre-eat. By this I mean, that if you have a party you’re going to be attending, and especially if you know that there will be food there (which you shouldn’t be eating a lot of) eat a light meal of nutritious food before you go. This way you won’t be as hungry, and you’ll have better willpower to only pick one cookie instead of five. Vegetables are great for this, since they have plenty of fiber and are very filling.

Second is to have one FULL glass of water for every serving of alcohol. So with every alcoholic drink you have, have a full glass of water after it, and before your next serving of alcohol. This will not only help you to drink less alcohol, but it will also help to keep you hydrated and reduce the dreaded hangover symptoms the next morning.

Third is to get in some extra exercise. If you’re going to be consuming extra calories, then you’d better be burning extra too. This can be way easier then you’d first think. While you’re shopping for gifts, do a lap around the mall before you enter a store. Not only will you get in some extra activity, but you’ll get to see all the options before you commit to one. Also, you can park further away from the mall entrance than what you normally would (you may not have an option during this season), so you’ll be forced to walk a bit extra. Of course, making sure that you get to the gym, and not skipping your workout, is always the best option.

Finally, if you’re hosting a party, make sure that you have more healthy options available than unhealthy ones. You’ll be doing yourself a favor, as well as your guests.

Being good with your diet over the holidays doesn’t mean that you have to deny yourself any fun. You just have to understand how much you can have before you start doing some serious damage to your waistline. So enjoy the holidays, but just be smart about it.

Changing the way we eat can be a challenge, as some unhealthy food choices can be a way for us to find comfort in our busy and hectic lives. Yet, could it be that we can still nourish ourselves with the foods we love, while building the body shape we desire?

I’d like to offer three easy ideas to help revamp your nutrition for body shape success:

1) Choose Healthier Versions of  Your Favorite Foods

You may want to consider the 80/20 rule. It works like this – if you can eat and live well 80% of the time, then go ahead and have the chocolate bar or the glass of wine the other 20%. Are your ratios reversed? Perhaps switching over to these healthier options could help:

Unhealthy Food Item vs. Healthier Option
• White processed breads and pastas  vs.  Sprouted Grained breads such as Ezekiel or Manna Breads, and Brown Rice Pastas.
• Ice Cream  vs. Plain Organic Yogurt with nuts and fruit or raw honey.
• Commercial Chocolate Bars  vs.  Antioxidant rich 70% Organic Dark Chocolate and Carob.
• Commercial Potato Chips  vs.  Baked Sweet Potato Chips, Kale Chips, and Gluten free Crackers with hummus or Guacamole.
• Pop  vs.  Kumbucha, a probiotic rich drink.

2) Become a Mindful Eater

Becoming as present as a Buddhist monk when eating can go a long way in staying fit. After all, have you ever seen an overweight monk? It can be challenging in our busy day-to-day lives to find time to eat, let alone, to eat mindfully. Yet, could this be time well spent in achieving your body shape goals while providing a much needed peace point in your day? Try taking one meal and spend 20 minutes to fully taste and digest your food. This can prevent us from overeating, as it takes the brain 20 minutes to receive information from the tummy to say we are full. Additionally, when we actually spend time tasting our food, could it be that we nourish our stress in a positive way rather than gobbling it down and consuming excess calories?

3) Choose Nutrient Rich Organic-Foods

By choosing organically grown veggies, we are helping out Mother Nature and optimizing our nutrition. Organic veggies have been shown to have as much as 50 to 90% more micronutrients than conventionally grown counterparts. Micronutrients are not calories like fat, protein, and carbohydrates, but are vitamins and minerals that support our body’s function. The abundance of micronutrients in organic foods can supercharge the body, satiating our appetites and supporting our fat burning and muscle building capabilities. Like mom always said, “You are what you eat.”

It’s better to take baby steps when it comes to lasting change. You may want to try one of the suggestions above and see how it works for you, then in time, adopt the others. Happy Eating!

The problem with this approach is that you might reach your target weight through dieting and light exercise, but also retain a higher percentage of body fat compared to a person who exercises more while watching their food intake, and who loses weight more slowly.

The upshot is that while weight loss through dieting is faster, it can also slow down the metabolism. In the end, a person who loses weight mainly due to dieting (general loss of overall mass) will burn fewer calories than someone who exercises and practices moderate eating habits (which builds muscle and burns fat). In addition, the former will actually find it harder to maintain the lower weight.

People can also wind up sabotaging their fitness routine by not getting enough sleep. On the other hand, when a person does sleep an adequate length of time, sleep quality is poor. What this means is that it saps what could have been a full tank of energy each morning. Over time, this can lead to a disinclination to carry out anything but the most routine of tasks, i.e., wake up, go to work, come home, and go to bed.

Poor or truncated sleep for more than two days a week means you won’t burn as much fat or build muscle as well as you could after having a good night’s sleep. A few ways to ensure that you’re well-rested is by keeping to a regular sleep time, and ensuring that your bedroom is completely dark at bedtime. Avoid watching TV in bed or using the computer before you sleep too, as this can cause mental restlessness.

Aside from this, it’s also important to treat injuries immediately, as untreated injuries can lead the body to compensate for decreased function elsewhere. Not only that, not sticking to proper eating habits, e.g., avoiding fats altogether, binge eating on weekends, assuming all drinks have 0 calories, is another way a person hampers their own fitness progress.

Juicing and juice fasts have long been used by those on the fringe of health communities. Many juicing enthusiasts tout benefits, including more energy, mental clarity, weight loss, and reversal of illness and disease. There are many theories behind these benefits as well.

Cooking foods, even lightly, reduces nutrients. By juicing fresh fruits and vegetables, you can pack a days worth of nutrient needs into one glass, making it a lot easier to catch up on any nutrient deficiencies in the body.

Another idea that juicing-proponents talk about is that digesting food takes up valuable energy in the body that may be needed for restoration and healing. Juicing for a period of days allows the body time to get back on track and to eliminate toxins.

Although many medical doctors do not agree with all the benefits that have been attached to juicing, adding fresh fruit and vegetable juice to your diet is definitely one of the easiest ways to ensure you get at least the daily recommended five servings. If you do choose to go on a juice fast, get your doctor’s approval first to ensure it will be safe for you.

If you do decide to start drinking fresh juice for better health, use these tips to get the best experience.

1. Buy a high-quality juicer. Juicers are a big investment, with many over $100. If you plan to make juice regularly, a well-built juicer is essential. Cheaper models will likely burn out very quickly, leaving you with a useless piece of equipment. You also should double check the juicer you are looking at to ensure it will juice both fruits and vegetables, including leafy greens.

2. Get a juicer that’s easy to clean. Many juicers are a horror to clean, requiring that you take apart a number of parts and then reassemble it. This will definitely impede on your juicing enthusiasm, so research the cleaning methods juicers before you purchase any.

3. Use certified organic produce. Although more pricey, if you have any concern for your health, organic food is the way to go. If you can’t afford to use organic food all the time, learn about which conventional fruits and vegetables contain the highest doses of pesticides.

Of course, starting the weight loss regimen may be easier than maintaining it.  Natalie Weiss, a registered dietitian in Chicago, supplied us with this advice to more easily make this regimen a long-term plan.

Tips to Make Starting a Weight Loss Regimen More Manageable

1. Spend 5-10 minutes thinking about why you are starting this new lifestyle. What are your intentions? Write down all your thoughts on paper. Keep this document in a safe place and pull it out whenever your motivation is low.

2. Start small. You will be more likely to make permanent changes if you create small goals to achieve. I recommend picking 1 or 2 specific goals to start. For example, “I will drink unsweetened drinks like water or iced tea instead of soda”. Once these goals have been consistently met, pick additional goals to achieve.

3. Don’t announce to the world that you are trying to lose weight. Telling everybody about your weight loss regimen you will create unnecessary pressure. People will begin to focus on all of your habits and may even make unhelpful comments like, “Aren’t you trying to lose weight? You probably shouldn’t be eating that.”

4. Start off on the right foot. Go through your pantry and refrigerator and get rid of any junk food that may tempt you during your journey. What you keep in your house is what you will eat.

5. Plan your meals and workouts ahead of time. You will be more likely to complete a workout or eat a healthy meal if you plan it ahead of time. Do your best to stick to this schedule.

6. Use resources available to you. Consider purchasing a healthy cookbook or use healthy cooking websites for meal ideas. Cookinglight.com is a good starting place.

7. Consider meeting with a local registered dietitian to help you achieve your weight loss goals. Use eatright.org to search for a RD in your area.

What is seasonal eating? By this I mean taking advantage of the unique foods that each season brings. For example, what we call spring eating can be summed up in three words: fresh, raw, and organic.

First of all, plan to eat fresh. Eat lots of fresh fruit (including fresh squeezed juice), fresh vegetables, and unprocessed foods. When we eat processed foods, we consume chemical preservatives, high levels of sodium, added sugars, and of course, many more calories. Choose fresh meats as well, including turkey breast and lean roast beef. Avoid cold cuts. Try steaming veggies until partially cooked, and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and lemon. What could be fresher?

Consuming raw food is a great idea, because raw foods retain water, vitamins, and fiber. Let’s consider that when we cook healthy foods, we turn them into not so healthy foods due to the ingredients that we add. For instance, frying foods can take quite a toll on your weight.

In addition, raw foods take longer to chew, which can further assist you in your mission to lose weight. Start your spring diet by eating more raw fruits and more salads with veggies.

Let’s talk organic eating, which is not a new concept. (Isn’t that why Trader Joes is so popular?) Anyway, organic foods do not contain chemicals that may be harmful to our health and to our earth. They are not mass produced, and they do not contain pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Organic foods also do not contain artificial flavors and colors. Most of us are unlikely to eat organic foods all the time, but we can try to do so more often, especially when we choose our fresh fruit, produce, and meat. For example, we can purchase more organic meats free of hormones, and wild fish such as salmon.

With these tips in mind, go out and enjoy spring eating and plenty of exercise. Hopefully the pounds will come off easily.

The tough diet and fitness program portrayed on the The Biggest Loser are actually easy to comprehend and follow. The regimen utilized on the show by contestants are really only just a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. So everyone can use this diet and exercise plan as a means to shed some pounds for the beach days that are about to come. You just have do the routines without the tough personal trainers, the temptations of delicious ribs and brownies, and other factors that are meant to create drama for the show.

The Biggest Loser diet is a low calorie diet, largely based on the 4-3-2-1 food pyramid theory. The theory consists of a diet which allows four servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of lean protein, two serving of whole grain and one serving of something extra like sweets, alcohol, or oils per day. This diet takes usually about 12 weeks to complete and during that time you can expect to eat small, frequent meals of food that contains plenty of fiber and protein to fill you up without gaining too many calories. That means you can’t have white foods like bread, pasta, and potatoes, which will stimulate appetite. This diet also encourages people to have logs which allow them to track their portion sizes and calories they intake.

As everyone knows, no diet can be effective without frequent exercise.With the Biggest Loser diet, you need to exercise every single day. Try for about 30 minutes each day, and increase to an hour if you are comfortable with working out that long. The exercise regimen includes cardio workouts, like jogging, bicycling and swimming. You can also do strength training, but remember to mix up your workouts often so you will have a better chance to continue your workout regimen.

With the Biggest Loser regimen, you can lose weight for the summer but also lower cholesterol, decrease blood pressure, and increase strength and energy.

Now, it is obvious that every one of us know that exercise is supposed to be beneficial to us. Although many of us know that exercise is good for us, not many do it on a regular basis, it is just like eating our vegetables. Many people don’t exercise on a regular basis because they are busy and their schedules are too hectic. Those are probably the oldest excuses in the book, you practically can use them for anything and everything that you don’t want to do. The key to a successful exercising regimen is to do the exercise that you like and do it often. Walking, strolling, bowling, playing tennis or any sport you love are all very good forms of exercise.

It is important to change what you do everyday in your exercise plan and switch things up if you find it tedious and boring. Another thing is that you don’t have to go to the gym for two hours a day or run 5K every single day. Just exercising 30 minutes a day will do a lot of good for your body. So, instead of catching a re-run of Seinfeld every day that you saw at least 50 times, take a stroll to the mall, walk around your neighborhood, or take the dog out for a jog.  Just 30 minutes can make you healthier than you were yesterday.

The other part of the Dynamic Duo is very important to helping one to get in shape. Healthy eating can be pivotal. If you continue to eat junk food while you are exercising, it won’t make any difference. I know that when many think of healthy eating plans, you think of small food portions and less than tasty dietary foods. But healthy eating really is all about eating all the food you like. Say what? Exactly, it sounds way too good. Eat what you love, for example a steak from Ruth’s Chris, but do it only once a week. Fill your other days with chicken, seafood, and prepared salads. Have side dishes that aren’t filled with butter but more herbal mixes.

It is simple as that, doing and eating the things you love can give you a healthier tomorrow.

The thing that can hamper everybody’s exercise regimen is not eating properly before a workout. It is very common, and this theory has beaten to death that eating too much food can cause people to have a less than adequate workout and other undesired effects like nausea and vomiting. Additionally, if you don’t eat at all before a workout, you can be easily become unmotivated. So it is important to eat the right way before exercising to maximize your workout’s benefits.

First of all, everyone needs to avoid those fatty meals before going to a workout because those who are trying to workout after consuming a Quad-Stacker from Burger King are not going to look very good in their workouts. Secondly, meals should be moderate in protein and just enough to satisfy hunger so a buffet meal before a workout is not the best way to go.

It is also important what you eat after an intense workout. Usually, the most precious time after a workout is the initial two hours after your workout. It is a time where many can relax, and it is when people can rebuild their tissues damaged in the workouts. A post-workout meal should include food rich in carbohydrates because we tend to lose some of it during working out, it only makes sense to get it back during the post-workout meal. In addition, protein is very important as it can help you to recover from your workout quickly.

Lastly, water is a key part of surviving not just workouts but life as well, so drink plenty of water to help you recover from the tissues that you have damaged during the workouts.