Nutrition Guidelines For Weight Loss

We are what we eat! As you probably know, the nutrition has a very big role in preventing many diseases and keeping us strong. The main factors are: variety, moderation and balance.

Variety stands for eating a wide range of meals from all of the 5 main groups of food.
Moderations stands for not consuming too much of a certain food.
Balance is the equity established when following the moderation and variety, ensuring that the consumed calories do not exceed the burned calories.

The main groups of food are:
- Bread, cereals and rice;
- Vegetables;
- Fruits;
- Dairy-produce (milk, cheese, yogurt);
- Meat, fish, poultry, dry beans, nuts and eggs.

The fats, oils and sweets form a group very reach in calories and fat.
Better to eat them in moderation as they have more calories rather than nutritionally needed substances. However, there are exceptions too, for example the vegetable oils from sunflower, safflower, cottonseeds and corn have a good amount of Vitamin E. The soybean, olive and canola oils have the K Vitamin.
The diary produce- milk, cheese, yogurt- are a good source of Calcium, Protein and B12 Vitamin. When eating them, be aware of their fat percentage in order to have the cholesterol and fat under control.
Meat, fish, poultry, dry beans, nuts and eggs- these are a rich source of Protein, Iron, Zinc and more from the Vitamins B. Take off the fat from meat when cooking to minimize its intake.
Vegetables give us vitamins and minerals, also are a good source of fiber. Have some green , yellow and orange vegetables or starch, like potatoes.
Fruits have more vitamins, but especially are rich in Vitamin C. They do not have many calories and are very low on fat. It's always good to eat some fresh fruit.
Bread, pasta, cereals and rice provide us with LY6 fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

In conclusion - eat diverse meals for a healthy weight, follow a low fat diet, but rich in vegetables and fruits; consume sugar, salt and alcoholics in moderation.

Lose Weight the Vegetarian Way

By Scott Meyers
Do you need to lose weight? Even if you are only slightly overweight, and need to find a way to lose a couple of pounds, you may be frustrated with the options you have tried so far. Diet pills are designed for those who are severely overweight, and the side effects may not be worth the results. Other diets such as the low carbohydrate diet or the low fat diet may not help much either. It can be very difficult to eliminate fats or carbohydrates because they are found in so many kinds of food.

Perhaps a better way to lose those pounds is the vegetarian diet. It is not designed to promote weight loss, but if you use it correctly, it could be the answer to a thinner, healthier you.

Protein: The Hidden Fat

While consuming fat can certainly add the pounds, there are other sources of weight gain as well. Surprisingly, protein is one of them. If you are eating too much protein for your body to convert into muscle, your body will turn that protein into fat.

The main source for protein in most people's diets is meat. By converting to a vegetarian diet, you will be eliminating a major source of protein and therefore fat from your diet. It is not wise to cut out protein from your diet entirely: if you don't provide your system with any protein at all, your metabolism will slow and you will find yourself storing more fat.

A better idea is to change your protein source. Beans in combination with whole grains provide an excellent source of protein. As long as you keep your portions small you will be offering your body just the right materials without eating too much of a good thing. By eliminating meat, you will also be getting rid of a major fat source. Beans do not contain fat, but are instead a purer source for protein.

Adding Up the Good Stuff

On a vegetarian diet, you will be encouraged to eat more plant foods instead of meat. Fruits, vegetables and nuts all are great things to eat to boost your metabolism and to increase your weight loss capabilities. The sugars in fruits are more complex than processed sugars and are less likely to be stored as fat.

Vegetables are great sources for vitamins that your body needs to work efficiently. Plant foods are also good sources of fiber which aids in healthy digestion. All of these factors add up to give you the weight loss results that you are seeking.

A vegetarian diet is not about eating less. It's about eating right. By giving your body a break from the meats that you normally eat, you will be increasing your chances for weight loss. Eliminating meat means a reduction in protein intake as well as fat intake. In combination with eating a healthy vegetarian diet, you should also reduce your intake of other sugary and fatty foods. Replace vending machine snacks with fruits, vegetables and pretzels. By making good choices on a vegetarian diet, you will finally have the healthy body that want to have.

Source http://ar.ticul.us

Dieting And Will Power- Strange Bed Fellow?

By Mark Kimathi

It is never clear to many whether they need will power to diet or not. Depending on your source of information, you will probably be either way. But for many, the lack of will power in a dieting endeavor could be the reason they are never able to lose weight. Yet the question remains is dieting and will power unrelated?

You likely have come across information like you cannot depend on will power to lose weight. The question to retort back would then be what then should you depend on?

Will power is the ability to control ones action, emotions and impulses. The famous American motivational speaker Phil McGraw refers to being overweight as "loss of control" And this rings true because you grow fat to the extent that you lose control of your food choices, food portions and similar calorie related decisions.

To tell you the truth, there is probably no thing as powerful as the backing of will-power to lose weight. And this will power exists in everyone. And like all other major achievements in life it is a central requirement in losing weight.

And just to prove this point in case of weight loss surgery where the individual doesn't comply or is not willing to take up the after weight loss surgery lifestyle; they will still regain the dramatic weight loss achieved by the surgery. This is inspite of the fact that their stomach is 5% its original size and the intestines are re-routed to reduce calorie intake.

Indeed the concept that permanent weight loss is a change of lifestyle is exactly about will power. Changing lifestyle means changing your everyday decisions to agree with the desire to have a healthy weight.

The real problem with will power is not that it does not exist in the individual, rather is that there is no good reason to use it. Will power when deployed is a major resource in the human arsenal of performance. But it needs a reason to get activated.

Take the case of the Governor of Arkansas who lost 100 pounds and has literally ripped muscles all without surgery. He had tried several other diets before becoming successful. But a realization that he was following on the path of a parent who had suffered greatly due to diabetes caused by obesity scared him skinny.

To deploy will power you need motivation and to get motives you need desires - strong desires like the desire not to die young.

You need to want to lose weight. You need to have a good reason deep down within you of why you need to lose weight. This desire will kick in the will power you need to make the lifestyle change. From there you can depend on plain old discipline and routine to reinforce your dietary and lifestyle habits for a permanent weight loss. Indeed dieting and will power are not strange bedfellow they are just a distance apart in the continuum of permanent weight loss.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com