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During these stressful, fast-paced times, more and more people are turning to fast foods and restaurants for convenient and pleasurable dining. However, dining out can be a pain on your wallet, and your waistline. While eating out need not be too costly or fattening, you certainly need to be aware of what you’re putting in your mouth. Here are a few tips for healthy eating in a restaurant. Restaurants Often Serve Sodium and Preservative-Laden Foods We all agree that the typical restaurant food far tastes better than the food we cook at home. Why? Because restaurants and fast food outlets often use a lot of flavor enhancers, preservatives and sodium-filled sauces, to make their food taste great. The sad thing is that these preservatives and sodium-laden sauces bloat our body, and add more bad cholesterol to our system. How To Have A Healthy Restaurant Eating Experience According to some nutrition experts, the biggest mistake in restaurant dining usually happens during the first and last...

Regular exercise, checking your serving portions and eating right. Healthy eating requires a lot of will power and commitment. However, there are a number of myths that continue to deceive dieters and healthy eating advocates. The key to eating healthy lies in how you check out the food items you buy, as well as on how dedicated are you in making sure that you watch what you eat every day. Here are some food myths that you need to watch out for. All Low-Fat Foods Are Healthy When you go to the grocery store, and you see food items labeled as “low fat” or fat-free”, beware of them. Just because they have the “fat-free” sign posted on them doesn’t mean that they’re truly healthy. The truth is that some of these food items actually have the same number of calories as the regular versions, and sometimes sugar is added to replace the flavor lost when fat is removed. By having more sugar, these food items will have empty calories, which may lead to you gaining weight instead. Fats come in di...

As more and more people are focusing on weight loss and toning muscle to improve health and reduce insurance costs, you may be operating under myths that will reduce your potential for success. Let’s debunk some of those myths and provide facts about fat that will only help you get rid of more of it. 1. You can lose fat in just one area of the body. This is a myth that has been spread for decades and feeds the spot weight loss and toning industry. Yes, you can spot tone, but your body will lose fat overall and not in just one place. The exception to the rule is belly fat which is really visceral fat. This fat is wrapped around your organs in the abdomen. It is the easiest to put on and to take off. 2. Reducing calories below 1200 calories per day will burn more fat. The truth is that when your calorie intake goes below 1200 per day your body goes into starvation mode and metabolism slows significantly. In this state your body will conserve as much fat as possible. 3. You can lose all t...

One factor in reducing body fat is to develop lean muscle that burns calories, gives your body a sleek appearance and creates a structurally sound support system for your skeleten and internal organs. And while those factors may sound more medical than sexy, lean muscle is nothing if not sexy. Strength training or weight training has two different objectives – mass with or without strength and lean muscle strength without bulk. These goals are accomplished using two very distinct and different training styles. Those who are after a bulky Mr. Universe appearance may not be as strong as the weight lifter whose goal is strength. And the individual who is after lean muscle mass may not be as bulky as Mr. Universe or as strong as the weight lifter. But each of these individuals has goals which are both attainable and admirable when they fit your lifestyle and ambitions. Lean muscle will also be achieved through specific nutritional intake that reduces the amount of carbohydrates you eat. Ca...

In the past 30 years the number of people who suffer from being overweight and obesity has grown significantly. The weight loss industry is growing to meet the demand, but the number of people who are overweight only continues to grow. What’s the problem? Here’s the bottom line. The real way that people can lose weight and keep it off is not related to a fad diet, eating only cabbage or plugging into some electrical stimulation program that promises to work off the fat and make you a lean, mean calorie burning machine. Instead, the real way that real people lose weight is to do the work of living a healthy lifestyle. Here are 10 of the most important tips you can follow to lose all the weight you want. 1. Sleep Often overlooked, sleep is important to your overall health and weight loss efforts for a number of reasons. Many people will eat more if they are tired in an effort to stay awake. The behavior is subconscious and most are never aware that they were doing it! Sleep reduces your ...

There are five components of physical fitness which insurance companies and trainers measure. These components of physical fitness are important to the overall evaluation of health. It is like fine-tuning a racing engine. You wouldn’t add diesel fuel to an engine that requires high octane. When physical trainers measure the fitness of a person they use 5 components of physical fitness to test the person against a set standard and to develop goals for further improvement. By incorporating these 5 components of physical fitness the person can not only improve health but also lose weight. The first component of the 5 components of physical fitness is muscular strength. This measurement is the ability of the muscle to exert a maximal force through a range of motion or to a given point. This is measured for a short period of time and usually incorporates the use of weights for evaluation. Muscular strength can vary throughout the body. So, for instance, you can have high muscular strength i...

Eating a heart healthy diet is often the goal of patients who have discovered they have coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, or another of the heart conditions. Unfortunately, although a heart healthy diet will help to delay the inevitable, if they had begun earlier they may be eliminated the condition in the first place. Sometimes combining weight loss and a healthy heart diet will accomplish several goals at once. The patient will gain more energy, increase the ability to remain active, decrease the risk of high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke and decrease the risk of stress related illnesses. The American Heart Association believes that weight loss and a healthy heart diet is so important that they have guidelines for selecting a weight loss and weight maintenance programs. They believe the food plan should be worked into the person’s current eating habits and preferences and set realistic goals for weight loss. Using a plan that cuts calories too quick...

Preventing heart disease with diet and exercise means more than dragging out your old running shoes and changing from ice cream to vegetables. Too many times life catches up with us. You may have been a runner or volleyball player before you were married and had kids but now, with the added stress of work and family life, exercise has been moved to a back burner. Something may have triggered your desire to exercise and prevent heart disease – it could have been an article, a friend who had a heart attack or a recent diagnosis of a chronic disease. What ever the reason there are steps to take before you begin. Your first step should be a medical examination with your doctor. Only your doctor can determine if you already have a degree of heart disease or coronary artery blockage that will kill you within weeks of beginning a vigorous exercise program. Depending upon your history, your health issues and your family history he will do specific tests to look for a coronary artery blockage. ...

Eating can actually be healthy and fun. But with the proliferation of fast foods and other tasty cholesterol-rich snack items, making your child see the beauty of eating healthy and natural food may become a challenge. Since access to unhealthy food choices are easy, and the choices are plenty, what‘s the best way for introducing healthy eating habits to your kids? Here are some effective healthy eating guidelines to consider. Healthy Foods Actually Tastes Good The typical fast food fare can be very tempting for most kids today. The problem is that the usual fast food fare consists of high-salt, high-sugar and high-calorie food items, which kids find so appealing, and are also easier to eat. For parents who are concerned about their children’s eating habits, learn to keep your cool. The reality is that healthy food can actually taste great. However, making your children love eating healthy food may require more effort and extra planning. While carrot sticks or cauliflower stalks may no...

Most of us are aware that eating less burgers, fries, pizzas and fried foods helps to improve our heart, and our overall health. However, eating more healthy food options can do more than just reduce cholesterol levels, or keep the heart healthy. Eating healthy foods also helps to improve skin tone, strengthen the immune system, sharpen the eyesight, and lower the risks of getting a heart attack or stroke. The consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially vitamin-C rich fruits and green leafy veggies, has also been found to offer a protective effect against stroke and other coronary heart diseases. Kiwi Fruit And Avocado Avocados are delicious and creamy, and they are also good at reducing LDL, or bad cholesterol, as well as regulate blood pressure. Avocados are also rich in plant sterols, soluble fiber, monounsaturated fats and minerals. The kiwi fruit is also a low-key but hardworking fruit that's good for the heart. Kiwi has a high potassium content, which helps in regulating...