I found a great list of diet tips from AOL Health. These tips are tried and true favorites of top US registered dieticians.

Some are no-brainers, like switch out your whole milk for 1% (I use Fat Free myself). Did you know that if you drink one glass of milk a day, then this switch could generate a 5 pound weight loss in one year?

Here are a few more of the tips that were provided to AOL, by Prevention magazine:

“Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage and dessert.” Be sure to put your leftovers into a refrigerator promptly.

“Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.” Fresh fruit has fiber and fills you up. Juice does not.

“Have a V8 or tomato juice instead of a Diet Coke at 3PM.” Excellent! I just purchased some Spicy Hot V8 yesterday. 

“Mix three different cans of beans and some diet Italian dressing. Eat this three-bean salad all week.” I suggest adding finely sliced slivers of red onion to the mixture. Tastes excellent when spooned over a green salad.

“As obvious as it sounds, don’t stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you’ll find you eat less.” I saw something on TV that said to turn away from the food, because if you face it, you’re more likely to reach for another serving.

Image credit: Sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

5 Easy Ways to Increase Weight Loss

Not surprisingly, the suggestions offered (such as eat more Vitamin C and take a walk) were just plain common sense. But one suggestion really surprised me: taking a photo of your plate of food. The article says, ” People who took pictures of everything they ate for five days reported consuming fewer snacks and being less likely to go back for seconds.”

Well no kidding. Can you imagine taking the time to hunt for the camera before every meal? I’m lucky I can get everyone to drink a glass of milk and use a napkin. Besides this, even if you are a “serious dieter,” is this something you are really going have time to do?

What do you think?

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Photograph Your Food, Banish Your Belly

To show you just how easy it is to walk for your health, the American Heart Association has started a National Start! Walking Day. The day is April 8th, and you are encouraged to participate!

The movement has a website with loads of great information on getting your coworkers involved as well. Wouldn’t it be great to go for a walk at lunch instead of sit and complain about your job? You don’t need a lot of time to do this, either. The site says that ” just 10 minutes three times a day to walk will help you live longer. In fact, studies show that just one hour of vigorous exercise will increase your life expectancy by two hours.”

Why not commit to a healthier lifestyle and join others who want to do the same? Mark your calendar for April 8th, and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

Image from www.sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

National Start Walking Day

1. Vigorous exercise workouts 8 times a week.
2. Self-control when it comes to eating, be conscious of what, when and why you eat — which includes NO WHITE FOOD (refined carbs)
3. No alchoholic beverages (except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve)
4. No food after 7:30pm

This is a serious self-improvement program. There is even an “Oprah’s Boot Camp Contract” on Oprah.com that can be printed out, signed and used as incentive.

On the show, Oprah proclaimed that for those across the country who decided to take the challenge to “not be fat for another summer” — a collective 1 million lbs. were lost.

The point of the challenge is to really change the way you think about losing weight and about how you live your life.

Which means, I have a lot of inner work to do before I can get serious about this program. Today’s lunch started out innocently enough: Salad, I thought.

But a salad of beautiful Jersey tomatoes, turned into a traditional Panzanella (bread) salad. To make matters worse, I piled this on top of a left-over slice of pizza…basically a big ‘ol triangle of white food, with a little red sauce.

If I have one more transgression, which could easily be wine with dinner…I can kick myself out of my own boot camp.

I hope you do better.

Post from: Blisstree

Oprah’s Weight Loss Boot Camp.