How Many Calories Do You Need Each Day?

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:23
Posted in category diet

In order to start a diet plan where you lower the amount
of calories you eat each day, you need to know how
many calories your body burns just doing what you
normally do. After all, if you lower your caloric intake to a
level that is still above how many calories your body
burns, you will still not lose any weight.

To calculate how many calories your body burns on a
daily basis, there is a handy formula you should look into.
It’s known as the Harris-Benedict formula.

Harris-Benedict formula

Harris-Benedict formula

By using data about how old you are, your sex, your weight, and how
active you are each day, the formula can determine the
amount of calories you burn on an average day. This
number is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate and is the
most important number you can know when trying to
lose weight using a diet based on calorie counting.
While you could input the data into the formula yourself,
there are a couple of easier tools that you should check
out. The first is a chart that was designed by for the
MyPyramid.gov website sponsored by the US
government.

You can find the chart here:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/discretionary_calori
es_amount_print.html . While it provides some good
data, it is rough and there are better options out there.
A better, more personalized, option in addition to the
above chart is a Basal Metabolic Rate calculator where
you enter in your own unique data. These calculators are
perfectly safe and easy to use. In about two or three
minutes, you’ll be well on your way to knowing exactly
how many calories your body burns on the average day.
Of all of the calorie calculators online, the best is one
provided at this website: http://www.stevenscreek.com/
goodies/calories.shtml . It gives a very precise
breakdown of how many calories you burn both during
activities and resting. Other good calorie calculators
include the one at the Mayo Clinic website
(http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caloriecalculator/
NU00598) and one found on About.com’s
Calorie Count Plus website
(http://caloriecount.about.com/).

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Meal Planning Guidline

Monday, June 15, 2009 19:04
Posted in category diet

Eat a minimum of three meals a day

eat a minimum of two snacks a day

Never wait more than three hours between meals
or snacks. Speacing of meals and snack very important

Never eat solely a carbohydrate and protin for a snack,
Protin is antagonistic to insulin.  It will keep your insulin
down, while stabilizing your blood suger levels.

Eat legumes a least once a day. They are filing, high in fiber
carbohydrate and protin and low on glycemic index. They are food that help you
stabilize your blood suger and lose weight.

vary your menu. keep your food selation intresting and satisfying by making new
selection every day.

Take your time to plan your menu until you are automatically familiar and confortable with your program

eat slowly.  It take twwnty minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you are full.

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Black Tea is also a Health Drink

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 23:34
Posted in category Health Drink


Tea is a good health drink. While some prefer Green Tea, did you know that you can get the same benefits by drinking Black Tea?

This is because Green tea and Black tea come from the same plant. In fact, there are two other teas that can also be made namely oolong and white tea. What makes these teas different from one another is simply how it is processed.

If you drink Black tea regularly, you will have healthy arteries and increase your blood flow because it has antioxidants known as falconoid that also give the tea this rich flavor. Your cholesterol levels will also drop, you can protect yourself from certain cancers, develop stronger bones, have fresher breath and fewer cavities.

Just like coffee, Black Tea contains caffeine. The difference between the two is the fact that a cup of Black Tea or any other only contains 30 to 40 mg. of caffeine while coffee contains about 135 mg.

Another benefit of Black Tea is the fact that it is calorie free. However, this will only stay that way as long as you don’t ass any sweeter or milk which can’t be helped since tea tastes bland without these additives.

Heating is important to get the most of a sachet of Black tea.  This is because the heat helps the tea leaves impart their taste to the water. To do that, you have to set the sachet in the kettle for 2 to 3 minutes before pouring it into the cup.

For those who decide to put the sachet straight into the cup, take out the bag first before drinking to prevent it from sinking to the bottom. Nothing bad will happen if you don’t except that when you are almost finished with the cup, the tea bag will probably land on your face.

If you don’t like the taste of Black Tea and want to sweeten it a bit, try putting in some sugar, honey or a slice of lemon. You may even add ilk similar to those who drink coffee.

You can have a snack whenever you feel like drinking Black Tea. This is great to have with biscuits, cake or cookies. This will even be better if you decide to have this before you go to work, as you are relaxing in the house or when you are entertaining visitors.

Black Tea does not always have to be served with hot water. You can enjoy a cold glass by adding some ice and honey. One alcoholic concoction is punch and for that, you will need some orange juice, apple juice, mint, gingerale and some rum.

It is also great to serve with egg nog by mixing some eggs, ground nutmeg, milk, vanilla extract, salt and whip cream.

Aside from these three drinks, there are other mixtures you can make with Black Tea. All you have to do is read up on it and try out a few experiments on your own. That way, you have something healthier to offer yourself and guests whenever you have someone over.

Black Tea is very popular which is why a lot of people drink it. While some prefer this over coffee, little do they know that doctors and other health professionals consider it as health drink.

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Three Deadly Eating Disorders

Friday, February 20, 2009 22:03
Posted in category Healthy food

Healthy eating is very important for our everyday lives, but unfortunately, many people develop problems with body image with prevent them from this healthy eating lifestyle. Eating disorders vary greatly from person to person, but one thing remains constant—they are very detrimental to a person’s health. If you or someone you know suffers from an eating disorder, it is important to seek help as soon as possible.

The first kind of eating disorder that a person may develop is anorexia. Anorexia occurs when someone is overly concerned with weight and simply refuses to eat. Someone suffering from this disease usually tries to hide it by discarding the food without anyone knowing, cutting the food into small pieces to make it look smaller, or lying about skipping entire meals. Anorexia is dangerous because it does not allow a person to lose weight in a healthy way. Cutting fat out of a diet is fine, but not getting enough proteins, vitamins, minerals, water, and other nutrients can make your body lose muscle weight and weaken.

Another major type of eating disorder is bulimia. While you may notice an anorexic person losing lots of weight in a hurry, someone who has bulimia may or may not be losing weight. If a person has bulimia, he or she does not have the will power to give up foods, but instead vomits or uses laxatives after meals to rid the body of these foods. Like anorexia, this can rob the body of key nutrients, and it can also lead to problems in the digestive system, throat, and mouth, which are not made for regular induced vomiting.

The third main type of eating disorder is binge eating. This is a combination of anorexia and bulimia in most cases. A binge eater will, like a bulimic, not deprive his- or herself from food. In fact, someone who is a binge eater will eat enormous amounts of food in a single sitting, and often these foods are not high in nutritional value. Instead of vomiting, a binge eater will then refuse to eat at all and exercise rigorously for a day or two, but then slip into a binge once again. This leads to major problems with weight.

Eating disorders can effect bother males and females, as well as people of any race, ethnicity, or age. Most commonly, victims of eating disorders are teen and young adult girls. Many people die every year due to complications with eating disorders, but if you or someone you know suffers from this problem, help is available.

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Making the Grade with Healthy Eating

Thursday, February 19, 2009 22:02
Posted in category Healthy Eating, Healthy food

College is one of the most difficult times of life to practice healthy eating. Because of your busy schedule, the amounts of stress, and pressure from friends to party, you may find that healthy eating is impossible. However, with a few tips you can make the impossible seem much more manageable. Healthy eating is possible in college as long as you are willing to work at it.

Make smart decisions when you are eating at your college’s cafeteria. Most students are provided with a variety of option every day, and although the dessert bar may be very tempting, try to limit the number of times you visit it every week. If your school has a buffet style cafeteria with many choices, try to choose one food from each of the food groups. Avoid anything that is processed, covered in cheese or dressing, and greasy.

Scheduling times to eat is also important. When you register for classes, look at the day with meals in mind. You should have enough time in the morning to get ready for the day and grab a quick meal, either in your dorm room or at the cafeteria. Around the middle of the day, make sure that you save time for lunch, and have a timeslot for dinner before 7 PM to avoid eating late at night. You should also plan times to stop for nutritious snacks, like fruit. If your professor does not mind, you can also take these snack foods with you to class. This is a good question to ask during the first day of classes.

The weekends can be very challenging for college students because of the pressure to go to parties, where the main food is usually pizza and the main beverage is usually beer. Order pizza and other foods can take an otherwise healthy diet and throw it down the tubes. If you plan to go out for the night and won’t be sure if there will be healthy food choices available, grab a light meal before you leave and avoid greasy calories. Having pizza and other such “college” foods, like wings or tacos, can be fine once in awhile, but if it becomes a weekly event, you’re looking at trouble

Of course, alcohol is also a great way to ruin a diet. Beer and mixed drinks have a lot of empty calories, and so skipping them altogether is a great idea. If you must drink, choose diet sodas for mixing your drinks, ask for red wine if it is available, or drink light beer. Again, these treat are fine once in awhile, because drinking alcohol every week will only make you pack on the pounds.

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