Who Says Vegetables Have To Be Boring?

Eat your veggies - especially your lettuce. But don't confine yourself to iceberg lettuce or salads! Darker greens have about the same number of calories and carbs -very low! - but pack a lot more punch in the vitamins and other nutrient categories. By substituting radicchio, watercress, escarole or spinach for the iceberg lettuce, you add vitamin C, riboflavin’s, manganese and other essential vitamins that aren't present in lettuce. Try them braised, steamed or grilled for something a little different from the usual salad.

Here are some recipes for greens that will tickle your taste buds and make your heart happy!

Wilted Spinach Salad

The onions take on a natural sweetness that contrasts with the tangy yogurt and the bite of the spinach. A family favorite that's low in calories and high in important nutrients.

Here’s what you need:

2 cups spinach leaves
1 medium onion peeled, sliced
2 tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Sauté onions in olive oil till transparent. Add spinach and toss in pan to coat with oil until leaves are barely wilted. Stir in yogurt while the spinach is still warm. Eat hot or cold. Only 50 calories per serving!

With this recipe, you’ll get: protein, calcium, vitamin c, manganese, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin A, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, beta carotene, vitamin K, ALA

Grilled Radicchio

Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce add spice to heart-healthy radicchio without adding much in the way of calories.

1 head radicchio
1 tbs. olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
A splash of Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients except radicchio in small bowl. Cut head of radicchio in 1/4 inch slices. Brush cut side with marinade mixture. Grill over hot coals till browned. Only 25 calories per serving!

With this recipe, you’ll get: magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, foliate, vitamin K, beta carotene.

Spinach, Mushroom & Anchovy Salad

Anchovies are one of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids AND they're low in calories. Simple to fix and delicious for dinner, on its own, or with a bowl of chunky pasta.

6 cups spinach leaves, loosely packed
1 2 oz can anchovies in oil
10-12 small mushrooms
Juice of 1 lemon

Wash and dry spinach. Drain anchovy oil into sauté pan and warm. Add anchovies and gently stir over heat till anchovies are dissolved in oil. Slice mushrooms thickly and add to anchovy oil, sautéing till browned. Add spinach, tossing with oil and anchovies till just wilted. Spritz with squeezed lemon. Only 50 calories per serving!

With this recipe, you’ll get: magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, foliate, vitamin K, beta carotene, niacin, thiamine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, omega 3 fatty acids, riboflavin, and calcium

Walnut & Raisin Greens

Get even more essential fatty acids and antioxidants in this great tasting warm salad.

6 cups greens, loosely packed (spinach, collard, turnip will all work well)
2 tbs. walnut oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Chop greens and place in shallow bowl. Heat walnut oil slowly over low heat. Mash garlic cloves and sauté in walnut oil till soft and browned. Add raisins and toss, and then add walnuts and heat through. Pour over greens and toss to coat well. Only 150 calories per serving!

With this recipe, you’ll get: magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, foliate, vitamin K, beta carotene, niacin, thiamine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, omega 3 fatty acids, riboflavin, and calcium


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Weight Loss Helps Prevent Diabetes

A few months ago (March 2005), the American Diabetes Association announced the findings of the comprehensive Diabetes Prevention Program. The DPP was conducted at over 25 medical centers nationwide and involved thousands of participants who volunteered to have their habits monitored and to follow dietary and exercise recommendations. All participants had been diagnosed with 'pre-diabetes', a condition where the blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet in diabetic ranges. Untreated, more than half of those people diagnosed with pre-diabetes will develop full-blown type 2 diabetes within a decade.

For the study, the participants were divided into two groups. One half were given dietary recommendations. The other half got the same dietary recommendations, plus the recommendation to exercise at least 30 minutes daily, five times a week.

The results? Those who included daily exercise in their routines and followed the diet recommendations cut their risk of developing diabetes by 58%. The reason? Those who made the recommended changes in their lifestyle lost 'a moderate amount' of weight. Even more important, researchers found something that they didn't expect. Those in the treatment group had a substantial chance of reducing their blood sugar level to normal, something that had been assumed was impossible.

Apparently, losing weight not only prevents a worsening of diabetes, it reverses the damage that obesity causes to the cells that produce insulin.

How much weight loss does it take to have an effect on the progression of diabetes? The key is in the definition of 'a moderate weight loss' - 5-7% of your body weight. In other words, depending on your boy weight, a loss of as little as 7-10 pounds can make a difference!
The recommendations suggested by the American Diabetes Society for a healthy diet to prevent diabetes is an ideal diet for steady, gradual weight loss - the kind of weight loss that stays lost.

The diet includes the following suggested daily diet allowances:

• Grain - 6-11 servings per day (Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta)
• Vegetables - 3-5 servings per day
• Fruits - 2-4 servings per day
• Milk - 2-3 servings per day
• Meat - 4-6 ounces per day (Meat, eggs, fish, dried beans, nuts and peanut butter)
• Fats, Sweets, Alcohol - Occasional treats

(Recommendations for portions are based on gender and activity level. For instance, a sedentary 40 year old woman needs fewer portions than an active 25-year-old woman.)

Look familiar? It's also the dietary recommendation for the Heart Healthy diet from the American Heart Association, and the recommendations from the USDA's new MyPyramid. The results just keep coming in, but the message is clear: losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet can help prevent most major health problems. Why wait till you're diagnosed? Start today - and it may never happen.


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The New And Improved Nutrition Pyramid

Just when you were getting the Nutrition Pyramid down to an exact science, the USDA goes and releases an all new nutrition and diet plan for healthy Americans. On April 19, 2005, the United States Department of Agriculture unveiled its new My Pyramid nutrition pyramid. Available at its own web site (www.mypyramid.gov), the new guidelines aren't so much NEW as they are more in depth, detailed and helpful.

For starters, My Pyramid can be personalized. On the main page, you have the option of entering your age, gender and activity level. Simply click “submit” and get a recommendation that's more specific than '6-11 servings of grain per day'. Instead of those vague, wide-ranging recommendations, you'll get a pyramid that says, "6 ounces of grain products", or 2 1/2 cups vegetables.

Even if that were the ONLY improvement on the new site, it would be tremendous. No more guessing whether you should aim for closer to six servings or closer to eleven. The nutrition calculator factors in your age, gender and activity level (above your normal daily routine) to come up with a recommended caloric intake. From there, it breaks down the calories by food group, and tells you exactly how much of each group you should eat per day for a healthy diet. It's far easier to figure out what 2 cups of milk is than it is to figure out how much '3-5' servings of dairy is!

But it doesn't stop there. Beneath the pyramid chart with the specific serving sizes on it, you'll find a list of links to 'tips' for making the healthiest choices from each food group - divided by food group. There are some great diet tips there, along with ways to serve foods in appetizing and nutritious ways. A sampling from each category includes:

• Grain: Substitute whole grain cereal for bread crumbs in toppings.
• Vegetables: Try crunchy vegetables raw or lightly steamed.
• Fruits: Try applesauce as a fat-free substitute for oil in baking.
• Milk: Trim down from whole milk to fat-free gradually, week by week.
• Meat/Beans: Replace some of the meat in your diet with nuts.

Want to know how your actual diet stacks up against the dietary guidelines and get specific, personalized recommendations for improving it? Tucked away at the bottom of the list of links in the menu you'll find the My Pyramid Tracker. It's easily the handiest tool that I've ever seen. Enter the foods that you eat in a typical day, click Analyze, and you'll get a detailed analysis that includes the calories, the amount of over 25 specific nutrients, the difference between your diet and an optimum diet, and specific recommendations for changes you should make to eat a healthier diet. Better yet, you can save your history day by day to keep track of your eating habits and watch the improvements. It's the diet diary with a difference. Use it - and see yourself eating better every day.


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Reward Yourself!

Looking better and feeling great may be their own rewards when you lose weight, but it never hurts to reward yourself for reaching goals and sticking to your eating plan. Building in incentives is a time-honored way of helping keep yourself on track. Did you pass up that piece of cheesecake at lunch? Reward yourself with a pot of fresh herbs! Did you get out and exercise for your daily half-hour? Take a luxurious bath with scented oils. Went the whole week without falling off your new routine? That calls for a big reward! Treat yourself to an evening out, or buy that book you've been dying to read.

Need some excuses for rewarding yourself? Try setting one of these goals to give yourself something to shoot for:

1. Weight loss goals.

Pretty traditional here - treat yourself to something special whenever you can mark off ten pounds toward your goal weight. Get a manicure to make you feel extra special.

2. Look, Ma, I dropped a whole size!

Well, that certainly calls for buying yourself something in that new size, even if it's just a pair of new exercise sneakers!

3. Whew! I made it ALL the way through the half-hour workout without stopping ONCE!

Now that's impressive! Call your best friend or your mom and brag - or just chat. Even if it's long distance.

4. I didn't do it! That chocolate chip cookie dough sundae was calling my name, but I turned my back and walked away.

In that case, don't you think you deserve fresh flowers for your desk?

5. I finally fit into THAT dress!

I'd say that calls for wearing it out somewhere special, wouldn't you? Take yourself out dancing to show it off!

6. I lost weight for the third week in a row. I'm so proud of myself!

Here's an ongoing reward - for every pound you lose, drop a dollar or two into a jar, and watch the money build up. Entertain yourself with plans on how you'll spend it when you reach your goal weight.

7. I got stuck for three weeks, but I finally budged from that plateau!

I'll tell you what - sticking to a diet when you're not seeing results is one of the hardest things that you'll ever do. Get yourself something that will make it easier to reward yourself. For example, buy a blender for whipping up frozen fruit smoothies.

8. I'm halfway there!

You deserve a Halfway Party, don't you think? Pull out all your old fat clothes and try them on so you can feel great about how far you've come.

9. I've been slugging away forever, and I'm starting to get discouraged...

Okay, so it's not a 'reward' situation -- but it is. You deserve a reward for sticking to it this long. Want a quick pick-me-up? Pick up the phone and get together with someone you haven't seen in months. This will guarantee that you’ll receive compliments at how great you look!

10. I did it! I made it! I reached my goal weight!!

Well, sweetheart, that calls for pulling out the stops! Remember that money you've been paying yourself for losing weight? Time to cash it in for something fabulous!


Eating healthy and losing weight are gifts that you give yourself, though they may not feel like it at first. By rewarding yourself along the way, you’ll not only increase the chances of your success, but you’ll enjoy the process a whole lot more!


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Is My Diet Deductible?

Dieting can be expensive, especially if you join a weight loss program or purchase special foods. As of April 2002, the Internal Revenue Service recognized some weight loss expenses as tax deductible under medical expenses. According to that ruling,

"...Uncompensated amounts paid by individuals for participation in a weight-loss program as treatment for a specific disease or diseases (including obesity) diagnosed by a physician are expenses for medical care that are deductible under § 213, subject to the limitations of that section." (IRS Ruling, April 2, 2002)

What does this mean to the average taxpayer? It means that the cost of weight loss programs recommended by your physician for the treatment of obesity, or conditions related to obesity MAY be deductible on your taxes!

Who can deduct weight loss programs on their taxes?

In order to deduct the cost of your weight loss program under the 2002 ruling, you must itemize deductions on your taxes. You can deduct the costs of weight loss treatment IF they are not reimbursed. In addition, you can only deduct expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross annual income.

Can I deduct my weight loss program if I'm not medically obese?

You may be able to deduct expenses even if you're not diagnosed as medically obese. If your doctor has recommended weight loss as a treatment for weight-related diseases such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease, you might be eligible.

What kinds of weight loss expenses are deductible?

You can deduct doctor-recommended treatments that are specific to weight loss and maintenance. Those include, but aren't necessarily limited to: bariatric surgery (stomach stapling or gastric bypass), FDA approved weight loss drugs, hospital based programs, nutritionists, dieticians, behavioral modification programs, exercise programs and even some commercial weight loss programs like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.

What can't I deduct from my taxes?

Not allowed are: health club dues, nutritional supplements, over the counter appetite suppressants, low fat foods, and exercise equipment. Liposuction is also not included as it is regarded as cosmetic surgery.

How about weight maintenance programs?

Weight maintenance programs may be deductible if your doctor deems it medically necessary to treat your condition. In other words, if maintaining your weight is part of a medically recommended treatment, it could be eligible.

Do I need documentation of my doctor's orders and expenses?

You don't need to submit documentation with your taxes, but it's wise to keep the following in case of audit: you doctor's written recommendation that you lose weight for treatment of a specific condition (and remember that obesity is an official disease), and receipts for the all costs that you deduct.

Can I still deduct the expenses if I didn't lose weight?

Yes. You don't need to show an improvement in your condition in order to deduct the costs.


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Helping Your Child Lose Weight

I was a chubby child. My mother, out of love and fear, tried everything to help me lose weight - bribes, threats, punishment, diets, commiseration, even hypnotism and diet pills. I usually lost weight, only to put it back on shortly after she stopped doing whatever she was doing. Her biggest worry was that I'd be unhappy - that I'd be picked on and unpopular, and no one would like me because I was fat. Now that I'm a mother myself, I can completely sympathize with her motives, but these days my concerns about my children's weight are far more serious than a little name-calling.

While the name-calling can be devastating, what's frightening these days is the growing evidence that obesity leads to serious health complications, even in young children. Doctors find that they're diagnosing children as young as ten or eleven years old with conditions that were once the province of middle-aged people. Diabetes, heart conditions, and arthritis - all of these conditions have a clear established connection with obesity, and more and more often, they are being seen BEFORE children reach adulthood. It's enough to scare a mother into the extreme methods that my mother used to try to take the pounds off of me, but there are healthier ways to help your child lose weight.

First: Consult a Doctor

Don't decide on your own that your child needs to lose weight. Many of us have grown up with distorted body images that we pass on to our children. Be sure that you're not seeing your child through your own misconceptions about 'ideals', and let a doctor make the judgment call.

If your doctor agrees that your child is overweight and should take off some pounds, your best bet is to serve up a healthy daily diet within the USDA Food Pyramid Guidelines and encourage daily exercise to help rev up his internal motors. Beyond that, here are tips for helping your child lose weight - while retaining a positive self-image.

• Put EVERYONE on a diet. Seriously. Since the best way for your child to lose weight is to eat a healthy, balanced diet in normal proportions, doesn't it make sense that your entire family will benefit from eating the same way? Your dieting child will feel far less deprived if everyone is eating the same foods.
• Serve an after school snack. It may be tempting to cut out the after school snacks, but the truth is you'll be doing harm rather than good. The human body was never designed for the 'three square meals a day' regimen that has been the norm for decades. A healthy snack in the mid-afternoon will provide fuel for afternoon play and stave off the 'I'm STARVING' feeling that leads to overeating at dinner.
• Shop smart. Leave the cookies and chips on the shelf, and instead grab the low-fat yogurt, fresh fruit and fruit cups, sugar free applesauce and other natural treats. If you make healthy snacks available and unhealthy ones hard to find, you'll keep temptation out of the way.
• Exercise with them regularly. Instead of just shooing them out to play - or taking away the Game boy, go out WITH them. Pull together a neighborhood kickball game, or take a walk around the block as a family. If you can get a family membership to a health club with a pool, make a family swim a once-a-week event. It's more than setting an example - it's having fun with your kids.
• Cook JUST enough food. Instead of trying to limit portions on the plate, limit them BEFORE you cook. Only prepare ONE portion per family member. That heads off requests for seconds before they even start asking. No, you can't have the last piece of chicken -- because there isn't one to have.

Follow those five suggestions, and chances are that no one in your family will even realize that someone is on a diet. And everyone will be healthier and happier.


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Five Healthy Weight Loss Tips

Are you tired of getting the same old advice when it comes to dieting? Are you looking for some quick tips to help motivate yourself during a diet? Why not follow along below to learn about some quick healthy weight loss tips?

Tip # 1: Take off five pounds quickly before a big event!

If you're generally in good shape, but you want to pare off a few pounds to look your best before a big event like a class reunion, one of the best ways to do it is to cleanse your system. For the week before, skip the breads and pastas, eat lots of raw vegetables and salads, and drink at least eight ounce glasses of water a day. You'll not only end up slimmer, you'll feel 100% more energetic and healthy.

Tip # 2: Lose weight without dieting!

It's a lot easier than you think. The key is exercise. Just one half hour of moderate exercise per day will burn calories - and better yet, kick your metabolism into high gear so that you continue burning calories at a higher rate. Bonuses: you'll be doing your health a favor, too. The latest research shows that adding moderate exercise to your daily routine can help lower cholesterol, slow the progression of type-2 diabetes and improve your circulation. What's moderate exercise? A brisk one mile walk, half an hour of dancing, or chasing the kids around in a game of tag will do it.

Tip # 3: Start your day off right!

Don't skip breakfast when you're dieting, and don't go for the convenience of a 'nutrition bar'. Give your body the pick-me-up of fresh fruit in either juice or raw form, and the staying power of a whole grain. One of the best breakfasts you can have is a bowl of whole-grain cereal with fresh berries, melon or peaches. You get the sugar your body craves, the carbs it needs to run on, and the added benefit of antioxidant vitamins to help it stay on track and balanced.

Tip # 4: Take a high quality multivitamin every day.

There's no substitute for a diet that has a healthy balance of all foods, but it's far too easy to skimp on the essentials when you're dieting. Make sure that your body doesn't miss out on the nutrients it needs just because you're cutting calories. A good multivitamin should contain, at a minimum, the minimum recommended daily allowances of vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E and K. While you're at it, get out in the sun for at least ten minutes a day to help your body manufacture the vitamin D that it needs.

Tip # 5: Eat your veggies - especially your lettuce.

But don't confine yourself to iceberg lettuce or to salads. Darker greens have about the same number of calories and carbs, but pack a lot more punch in the vitamins and other nutrient categories. By substituting radicchio, watercress, escarole or spinach for the iceberg lettuce, you add vitamin C, riboflavin’s, manganese and other essential vitamins that aren't present in lettuce. Try them braised, steamed or grilled for something a little different from the usual salad.


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Five Common Diet Tips That Really Work - and Why

Losing weight is a national preoccupation. I challenge anyone to turn on the television or radio, surf online or open a magazine without finding an advertisement for a weight loss product or an endorsement for a new diet or eating plan. Everyone wants to be healthy and look their best, and for possibly the first time in the last half century, those two things happen to coincide. The current ideal of beauty is far closer to what's attainable by a 'real' person than it has been in decades. Thanks to the recent popularity of actresses and singers who aren’t rail thin, coat hangers are out and healthy muscles and curves are in.

If you've been working toward that comfortable ideal body weight, chances are that you've read the same diet and weight loss tips time and time again. In some cases, it's because someone said it and it got repeated endlessly. In others, though, it's because the tip really works. Here are five of the most common diet tips that really work - and why.

Tip #1

Drink a full eight ounce glass of water 20 minutes before each meal. It's only partly because you trick your body into thinking that it's full. The real trick is in giving your body all the water that it needs. The usual recommendation is at least an 8 oz glasses of water a day. That's WATER - not soft drinks, not coffee. Just pure water. Your body needs water to maintain all its systems and to flush wastes away. When you don't take in enough water, it starts trying to conserve it by retaining water in muscle and fat tissues. Water your body as faithfully as you would a plant, and you'll find that it starts ridding itself of excess water regularly as well. Is it just water weight? Well, yes. But that water weight is weight you don't have to carry around with you as long as you're taking in enough water for your body's needs.

Tip #2

Eat your fruits and veggies raw. Aside from the fact that raw fruits and vegetables pack more nutrition per calorie, in many cases you're actually getting LESS calories when you eat your produce raw. Especially if you generally opt for canned fruits or vegetables, there are added preservatives and flavorings that can increase calories substantially. But there's another reason as well: your body works harder to digest raw fruits and vegetables, and that means that it uses more calories in getting all the nutrients out of it. Your body NEEDS the extra roughage present in fruit and vegetables that haven't been cooked and processed to keep it working right.

Tip #3

Eat a balanced diet. It's obviously more healthy, but will it help you lose weight? The answer is yes, and here's why. When your body lacks ANY nutrient in its daily intake, it tries to make up the difference by substituting other nutrients. The result can be false messages that you're hungry, when what your body really craves is enough of ONE particular nutrient. Eating a balanced diet provides all the nutrients your body needs in the proper proportions so that it isn't telling you it's starving.

Tip #4

Half an hour of moderate exercise five times a week. Your body uses the food it eats to produce energy for your daily activities. The more energy you use, the more of your food your body will use to fuel it. When you eat fewer calories than your body needs, it will turn to stored reserves to keep it going. Adding one half hour of moderate exercise to your daily routine five times a week increases your body's consumption of energy. But there's more. Your body is using up calories even when you're not exercising just to maintain circulation and health in its tissues. It uses up more calories maintaining muscles than fat. As you exercise, your body is converting fat to muscle -- resulting in a higher metabolic rate as it increases its activity to keep your muscles in tone.

Tip #5

Snack between meals. Our bodies were never designed for the 3-times-a-day eating schedule we've adopted. They work round the clock, and need energy all the time. Rather than eating all your calories in three sittings, spread them out over 5 or 6. The trick is to eat smaller meals - not add more food. You'll keep your digestive system busy, and your body at full energy all day long.


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Don't Undermine Your Diet

Let's start this article off right. You are not 'going on a diet'. Our concept of 'a diet' implies a temporary change that will work miracles - if we're only strong enough to stick to it. That way of thinking is encouraged by decades of 'fad diets' that promised us quick, low-effort weight loss, if we just ate this one miracle food. I still remember the Cabbage diet, the No-Carb diet and the Banana diet, among others. Over and over throughout the last 40 years, diets that advocated eating by a strictly enforced menu have been proven ineffective, or worse, dangerous.

Going on a diet also implies that you will eventually go off your diet - whether you 'fall off' it, or return to 'normal eating'. The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is to create a new eating plan that will BECOME your normal eating. And this is the place that most of the popular 'diets' fail. Any diet that restricts your intake of ANY necessary nutrients too severely will ultimately fail you. In order to lose weight and maintain your weight loss indefinitely, you need to teach yourself to eat a balanced diet in portions that your body needs.

Below is a list of common diet mistakes that will undermine your attempts to lose weight.

• DON'T restrict your intake to less than 1000 calories a day, unless you are under the supervision of a doctor. Restricting your intake that severely can lead to serious health complications. It also will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism so that it conserves your stores of food. In other words - your body will kick into gear to hold onto your fat so you don't starve to death.
• DON'T cut out one or more entire food groups, including fats. Your body needs an adequate intake of all nutrients in order to stay healthy. In every food group there are 'good' and 'bad' choices for weight loss. Stick to the good ones, and you'll see your weight dropping without compromising your health.
• DON'T fast for extended periods without medical supervision. For the same reasons that you shouldn't restrict your intake of calories to less than 1000 a day, you shouldn't embark on a fast that lasts more than 48 hours without a doctor's supervision.
• DON'T purge. Purging, whether by emetics, diuretics, vomit-induction or laxatives robs your body of more than the nutrients that you're getting rid of. It's unsafe at any speed. You can end up with far worse problems than a few extra pounds.
• DO see your doctor before starting a serious diet. He or she can recommend a visit to a nutritionist to help you design a common sense weight loss plan that will naturally evolve into a healthy eating style that will last a lifetime.
  

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A Simple Plan for Weight Loss

The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That's about 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week. All right - that doesn't sound like much, especially if you're more than 25 pounds overweight. Study after study has shown, though, that those people who lose weight gradually - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week -are far more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for a lifetime.

So how much exactly IS 500 calories? If you're going to reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, it helps to know what you need to cut out, right? Here's how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day:

• Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup.
• Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories
• Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings? 200 calories
• Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. A fresh salad with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories
• Pass by the bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories
• Eat your corn on the ear. A 1 cup serving of canned corn has 165 calories. An ear of corn has 85. Savings? 80 calories.
• Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.
• Love those fries and can't give them up? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. Thin French fries absorb more oil than the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

If you'd rather look at losing weight from an exercise perspective, you can also lose one pound a week by upping your activity level by 500 calories a day. How easy is that to do? Take a look:

• Take a half-hour walk around the park. Aim for a pace that's a little faster than a stroll, but not fast enough to be breathless. Burn: 160 calories.
• Get out your bike and take a ride. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories
• Go dancing - and really DANCE. The longer you're out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you'll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour
• Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. Do a few laps at a slow crawl - if you can get up to an hour you'll be doing great! Burn: 510 calories
• Get out into your garden. An hour of gardening tasks that includes bending and stretching can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.
• Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you'll be amazed at the difference. One hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners around. Burn: 800 calories

It’s important to keep in mind that all exercise/calorie numbers are based on a woman weighing 130 pounds. If you weigh more, you'll burn more. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you build muscle by converting it from fat. Three guesses which kind of body tissue burns more calories - even when you're not exercising. You got it - your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For best results, mix and match food savings with exercises that burn calories. Do keep in mind that eating less than 1000 calories a day for more than a few days will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.


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10 Ways to Exercise When You Don't Feel Like Exercising

Exercise. It's been endorsed by every major health organization in the country as one of the most beneficial things you can do for your body. One half hour of moderate physical activity a day is the key to better health, they say. The best diet in the world can only go so far in helping you lose weight. To really see the effects of changing your eating habits (in lost pounds and inches, that is), you need to rev up your body with physical exercise.

So why does the word bring a collective groan to dieters around the world? Maybe it's our mistaken impression that exercise is a chore, and a boring, painful one at that. Here are ten ways to exercise that should get rid of that impression for good, and make exercise something you can look forward to:

1. Take a walk through a favorite place. One half hour of moderately paced walking will burn 450 calories - and make you feel great. Make sure that you're wearing comfortable shoes, and pick a venue you enjoy. Try a walk around the lake, up and down the block or around the mall - your body doesn't know the difference.

2. Go out and play a game of tag with your kids. Making exercise a family activity turns it into fun that you share with them. Besides being good for your body, you're instilling good habits in them, and creating happy memories that will stay with them for life.

3. Go swimming. An annual membership to the local YMCA or YWCA is fairly inexpensive, and many have 'scholarships' and financial aid available. Swimming is great exercise - it's aerobic, low stress on your joints, and a lot of fun!

4. Join an exercise class. You can turn exercise into a social activity by becoming part of a class. Besides making friends, you're more likely to exercise if you're paying for it.

5. Get an exercise buddy. It's partly the same principle as joining a class - turn exercise into a social activity. In addition to that, making a commitment to a friend for a daily exercise date will make it far more likely that you'll stick to it.

6. Play ball! Seriously. If your company has a sports team (softball, anyone?), join up. Or join a bowling league, volleyball team or other sports group that practices and plays regularly.

7. Get a trampoline. Mini-trampolines are easy to set up, store in small spaces and provide a stress-free surface on which to bounce, dance and have a lot of fun.

8. Go for a bike ride. Even leisurely bike-riding burns calories and exercises muscles that don't get used in regular walking. No need for an exercise 'routine' - just ride your bike to the store, or back and forth to work each day.

9. Take up a new active hobby. Would you believe that gardening is exercise? Bending and stretching and digging and weeding - half an hour of energetic work in your garden burns more calories than a brisk walk.

10. Challenge yourself. If you're the kind of person who thrives on competition, challenge yourself to meet a new goal each week. Walk one more block. Do six more sit-ups. Take the stairs each day instead of the elevator. Goal-setting to meet challenges is a great way to commit to exercise.


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10 Real Life Diet Tips

Are you tired of diet tips handed out by someone with apparently unlimited income and time? For some of us, it may just not be practical to spend half of our Sunday preparing carefully portioned meals for the rest of the week, or financially feasible to buy all our meals prepackaged in just the right portions. And there are those of us who cringe at the thought of weighing food to achieve 'optimal portion sizes'. Here are ten real life diet tips for the rest of us.

1. Eating out? Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it's on the plate, we tend to eat it. If it's possible, order from the kid’s menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.

2. Keep healthy snacks around and easily accessible. A bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, a container of celery or carrot sticks in the refrigerator, or a couple of pop-open cans of fruit salad in your desk at work will help you grab for something healthy when those first hunger pains begin. In other words, you'll be more likely to grab something low-calorie and good for you if it's easy to eat.

3. Substitute frozen vegetables for canned. Canned veggies tend to be high in sodium, which you don't need, and low in real nutrition, which you do. Buy economy size bags with zip closures to make it easy to pour out a single serving for a meal.

4. Buy a vegetable steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook vegetables. The food retains nearly all of its natural nutrients instead of leaching it out into the cooking water. Even better, it makes your veggies taste great - which means you'll be more likely to eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods that pack on weight.

5. Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet is to 'eat without thinking'. Treat eating with the respect that it deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You'll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.

6. Spread your meals out. When you eat three meals a day, your body tends to store whatever it doesn't need right that moment. By adopting a 'grazing' habit, you'll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Have a small breakfast, a piece of fruit with crackers or toast at mid-morning, a light lunch and an 'after school snack' mid-afternoon. Just remember that you're breaking up the same amount of food into smaller meals, not ADDING more food into your daily diet.

7. Grab a fruit juice or flavored water instead of soda. Soda is nothing but empty calories. No nutrients, lots of sugar. Instead, grab a bottle of 100% fruit juice, or water flavored with a spritz of fruit.

8. Drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right. When you're dieting, you should drink even more. It's not just that full feeling - water helps your body digest foods properly and cleans out your system.

9. Can't afford a gym membership? Make a pact with friends to exercise together. Make a date at least three times a week to play volleyball, take a walk or spend half an hour doing something active.

10. Skip the potato chips. Fatty snacks fried in hydrogenated oil like potato chips contribute fat and calories and not much else. Instead, grab a handful of dried fruit or a cup of yogurt for the same amount of calories and a lot more nutritional benefit.


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