Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

  How to Eat 37 Grams of Fiber in a Day When it comes to getting enough fiber in our diets, most of us fall short. But it's easier than you think to eat the recommended daily intake. For adults 50 and younger you need 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. This sample menu gives you 37 grams of fiber from tasty, familiar foods: Breakfast:  One serving of whole-grain bran flake cereal (5 grams of fiber), topped with half a sliced banana (1.5 grams of fiber) and skim milk Morning snack:  24 almonds (3.3 grams of fiber) mixed with a quarter cup of raisins (1.5 grams of fiber) Lunch:  Turkey sandwich made with 2 slices of whole wheat bread, plus lettuce, tomato (5 grams of fiber total), and an orange (3.1 grams of fiber) Afternoon snack:  Yogurt topped with half a cup of blueberries (2 grams of fiber) Dinner:  Grilled fish served alongside a salad made with romaine lettuce and shredded carrots (2.6 grams of fiber), plus half a cup of cooke...

  Anti-sugar fever seems to be on the rise. Last week, a friend who does not have type 2 diabetes asked me about my diabetes diet: “How many carbs can you eat without raising your blood sugar?” Another pal is on a 21-day cleanse – no sugars allowed. And folks in my neighborhood recently formed a support group for going cold turkey on sugar, which one member claimed is harder than giving up cigarettes: “No one wants you to smoke, but they’re happy to see you eat a slice of birthday cake.” With the publication of books like Gary Taubes’  The Case Against Sugar,  in which he indicts sugar for health problems like obesity, heart disease, and, of course, diabetes, the health-conscious are taking heed. I have to admit, all of the hysteria is kind of amusing to me. To treat my type 2 diabetes, I abandoned sugar ages ago, so not eating the sweet stuff is second nature to me now. Scanning labels for sugar’s aliases – glucose, simple syrup, fruit sweetener – has also become an...

  So why is it important to lose body fat? Extra body fat is extra mass that your organs have to keep alive and the bad fat you’ve accumulated is of no value and you probably won’t be able to burn it as energy. As an adult, your organs will develop to the size they should be to maintain your body mass. All of this is predetermined by your genes. Because of your genes, which you get from your parents and have been passed down over generations, things like your height and the size of your body are built into your genes. The part that most of us forget about is that you inherited those genes when your parents were young and in their prime. Adding weight as you get older is not predetermined. You do that on your own because of the habits you acquired. Generally, if you’re adding weight in adulthood it’s because you’re not as active as you were and you're picking up bad eating habits. It has very little to do with your genes. That said, you have fat cells throughout your body, some will...

  The government spends a lot of time looking at the behavior of Americans, especially our eating habits. Maybe more so than ever since President Obama is in office. When the government is paying for or paying part of your healthcare believe me eventually you’ll be eating what the government wants you to eat. Last month they outlawed “trans fats”, which wasn’t a bad thing but it will increase the cost of pre-made foods. After the band on trans fats, I believe they’ll find a way to cut animal fats in your diet. I’m not sure how, but the obvious way will be to put more restrictions on the industry to drive up the prices. I remember my grandparents to be healthier then my parents. During the 1920’s and 30’s Americans were spending 25% or more of their paycheck on groceries. Average working Americans today will spend 10% or less. My grandparents ate more home-grown fruits and vegetables because meat was very expensive. During both the World Wars meat was rationed. Of course what the go...

  The idea that being overweight isn’t unhealthy got a turbo-charge in 2013. That’s when a study in  The Journal of the American Medical Association  reported that people who were up to 30 pounds overweight were less likely to die early than people at an average weight.  A close investigation revealed major flaws in the study's methods, though. Turns out, our happy weight isn't so healthy after all. What's more, decades of research show that obesity leads to many serious health problems. These extra pounds make you more likely to get a wide range of diseases, from  diabetes  and  high blood pressure  to  dementia  and  cancer . Going up just a single skirt size over any decade between your mid 20s and mid 50s, for example, makes you a third more likely to have  breast cancer  after  menopause . The health problems tied to obesity, especially chronic diseases like  diabetes , can have a long-term impact.  "Th...

 I've written several articles about losing body fat and now want to explain why. For years I tried to lose weight, but I always gained it back. I would make small gains of 10 or 15 pounds but always gained it back. My goal was to lose 50 pounds but I could never reach my goal. I read plenty of articles from experts like WebMD, and Mayo Clinic and finally decided I was going about this all wrong. I should be trying to lose fat, not weight. Then I learned that I have to change what I'm eating to lose fat. When I was dieting before I was losing a few pounds but I was losing mostly muscle mass, and only a small amount of fat. I increased my protein intake to 60 gm a day and started to lose fat instead. My waist started getting smaller, and I could wear a smaller pants size. Soon I was buying size 34 jeans instead of 38s. I knew I was going in the right direction. Losing fat instead of muscle mass is the key to keeping the weight off. The food I was eating just added fat to my body...

 Hang Out With Friends Life expectancy can be increased by hanging out with your friends and family. Studies have shown that the more connected someone is to loved ones, the better their overall health. Scientists are not exactly sure why relationships play a role in health and longevity. It could be that people in positive relationships are less likely to take risks and are more likely to take care of themselves. It could also be that having people around you reduces stress in your life. On top of this, people who engage in "meaningful" relationships tend to have better life expectancies. This means having conversations about each other's beliefs, interests, or history or engaging in activities that both parties enjoy. Relationships and Longevity A study in the journal PLoS Medicine concluded that, based on 148 studies involving 308,849 participants, people who reported strong social relationships had a 50% lower risk of premature death than those who didn't. Instead...