9 Foods to Help You Lose Weight

Losing weight is a matter of simple math. To drop pounds, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. There’s no way around that. But what you eat can have an impact.

"Certain foods can help you shed body weight," says Heather Mangieri, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, "because they help you feel full longer and help curb cravings."

Some even kick up your metabolism. So consider this list when you go to the supermarket:

1. Beans

Cheap, filling, and versatile, beans are a great source of protein. Beans are also high in fiber and slow to digest. That helps you feel full longer, which may stop you from eating more.

2. Soup

Start a meal with a cup of soup and you may end up eating less. It doesn’t matter if the soup is chunky or pureed, as long as its broth based. You want to keep the soup to 100 to 150 calories a serving. So skip the dollops of cream and butter.

3. Dark Chocolate

Want to enjoy chocolate between meals? Pick a square or two of dark over the milky version. In a Copenhagen study, chocolate lovers who were given dark chocolate ate 15% less pizza a few hours later than those who had eaten milk chocolate.

4. Pureed Vegetables

You can add more veggies to your diet, enjoy your "cheat" foods, and cut back on the calories you’re eating all at the same time. When Penn State researchers added pureed cauliflower and zucchini to mac and cheese, people seemed to like the dish just as much. But they ate 200 to 350 fewer calories. Those healthy vegetables added low-cal bulk to the tasty dish.

5. Eggs and Sausage

A protein-rich breakfast may help you resist snack attacks throughout the day. In a study of a group of obese young women, those who started the day with 35 grams of protein -- that’s probably way more than you’re eating -- felt fuller right away. The women were given a 350-calorie breakfast that included eggs and a beef sausage patty. The effect of the high-protein breakfast seemed to last into the evening, when the women munched less on fatty, sugary goods than the women who had cereal for breakfast.

6. Nuts

For a healthy snack on the run, choose a small handful of almonds, peanuts, walnuts, or pecans. Research shows that when people munch on nuts they automatically eat less at later meals. 

7. Apples

Skip the apple juice or the applesauce and opt instead for a crunchy apple.  Research shows that whole fruit blunts appetite in a way that fruit juices and sauces don’t. One reason is that raw fruit contains more fiber. Plus, chewing sends signals to our brain that we’ve eaten something substantial.

8. Yogurt

Whether you prefer Greek or traditional, yogurt can be good for your waistline. A Harvard study followed more than 120,000 people for a decade or longer. Yogurt, of all the foods that were tracked, was most closely linked to weight loss.

9. Grapefruit

Yes, grapefruit really can help you shed pounds, especially if you are at risk for diabetes. Researchers at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego found that when people ate half a grapefruit before each meal, they dropped an average of 3 1/2 pounds over 12 weeks. Drinking grapefruit juice had the same results. But be careful: You cannot have grapefruit or grapefruit juice if you are on certain medications, so check the label on all your prescriptions, or ask your pharmacist or doctor.

Shop Smart

Remember to load your shopping cart with lots of lean protein, fresh veggies, fruit, and whole grains, says food scientist Joy Dubost, PhD, RD. "The overall nutritional composition of your total diet remains the most important thing when it comes to lasting weight loss."

Source:  http://www.webmd.com/

A Few Extra Pounds Linked to a Longer Life

Overall, people who carry a few extra pounds tended to live longer than those who are either normal weight or very obese, new research shows.

The review, of 97 studies that included a combined 2.88 million people, questions the notion that people of normal weight live longest.  

“It is possible that under certain circumstances, being a little overweight is good as opposed to bad,” says Steven B. Heymsfield, MD, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. Heymsfield wrote an editorial on the review but was not involved in the research.

About 30% of women and 40% of men in the U.S. are overweight based on their body mass index (BMI), a measure of size that takes into account a person’s height and weight.

While they may not be able to wear their favorite clothing size, Heymsfield says it doesn’t necessarily mean they are sicker than people who are at so-called normal BMIs.

“You have to separate out the cosmetic part from the health part,” he says.

Study Details

The review, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, takes a fresh look at nearly two decades of research into the relationship between body weight and death risk.

“We have a huge amount of data because we collected almost 100 studies,” says researcher Katherine Flegal, PhD, a distinguished consultant with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics in Bethesda, Md.

People with BMIs under 30 but above normal were less likely to die during the studies compared to people with normal BMIs.

A reduction in the risk of death from all causes was about 6% lower for people who were overweight, and it was remarkably consistent from study to study, Flegal says.

Those people considered obese based on BMI, however, were worse off. They were about 18% more likely to die of any cause compared to those of normal weights.

Research Comes With Caveats

Though the findings are provocative, they come with some important caveats.

The study only looked at the association between death and body size. It didn’t include other measures of health that may be related to weight.

“Total mortality [death from all causes] is important, but it doesn’t tell you much about quality of life,” says Heymsfield. “It’s not whether you’re at risk of developing diabetes. It’s not whether you’re at risk for developing joint problems."

The study also just shows an association; it doesn’t prove that body weight is the reason that some bigger people tended to live longer than those at normal weights.

For that reason, Flegal says, people shouldn’t give up on their goals to eat right and exercise.

“We’re not trying to make any recommendations,” she says. “It’s not intended as a call to any kind of action.”

But the findings may be reassuring to people who carry some extra weight but are otherwise healthy.

“Maybe a few extra pounds is not as lethal as we’ve been led to believe,” Heymsfield says.

Source:  http://www.webmd.com/

The Benefits of Flaxseed

Some call it one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet. There’s some evidence it may help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. That’s quite a tall order for a tiny seed that’s been around for centuries.

Flaxseed was cultivated in Babylon as early as 3000 BC. In the 8th century, King Charlemagne believed so strongly in the health benefits of flaxseed that he passed laws requiring his subjects to consume it.  Now, thirteen centuries later, some experts say we have preliminary research to back up what Charlemagne suspected.

Flaxseed is found in all kinds of today's foods from crackers to frozen waffles to oatmeal. The Flax Council estimates close to 300 new flax-based products were launched in the U.S. and Canada in 2010 alone. Not only has consumer demand for flaxseed grown, agricultural use has also increased.  Flaxseed is what's used to feed all those chickens that are laying eggs with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

Although flaxseed contains all sorts of healthy components, it owes its primary healthy reputation to three of them:

• Omega-3 essential fatty acids, "good" fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.
• Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flaxseed contains 75 to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods.
• Fiber. Flaxseed contains both the soluble and insoluble types.

The Health Benefits of Flax

Although Lilian Thompson, PhD, an internationally known flaxseed researcher from the University of Toronto, says she wouldn’t call any of the health benefits of flax "conclusively established," research indicates that flax may reduce risks of certain cancers as well as cardiovascular disease and lung disease.

Cancer

Recent studies have suggested that flaxseed may have a protective effect against breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. At least two of the components in flaxseed seem to contribute, says Kelley C. Fitzpatrick, director of health and nutrition with the Flax Council of Canada.

In animal studies, the plant omega-3 fatty acid found in flaxseed, called ALA, inhibited tumor incidence and growth.

The lignans in flaxseed may provide some protection against cancers that are sensitive to hormones without interfering with the breast cancer drug tamoxifen. Thompson says some studies have suggested that exposure to lignans during adolescence helps reduce the risk of breast cancer and may also increase the survival of breast cancer patients.

Lignans may help protect against cancer by blocking enzymes that are involved in hormone metabolism and interfering with the growth and spread of tumor cells.

Some of the other components in flaxseed also have antioxidant properties, which may contribute to protection against cancer and heart disease.

Cardiovascular Disease

Research suggests that plant omega-3s help the cardiovascular system through several different mechanisms, including anti-inflammatory action and normalizing the heartbeat. Fitzpatrick says new research also suggests significant blood pressure-lowering effects of flaxseed. Those effects may be due to both the omega-3 fatty acids as well as the amino acid groups found in flaxseed.

Several studies have suggested that diets rich in flaxseed omega-3s help prevent hardening of the arteries and keep plaque from being deposited in the arteries partly by keeping white blood cells from sticking to the blood vessels’ inner linings.

"Lignans in flaxseed have been shown to reduce atherosclerotic plaque buildup by up to 75%," Fitzpatrick says.

Because plant omega-3s may also play a role in maintaining the heart’s natural rhythm, they may be useful in treating arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and heart failure. More research is needed on this.

Eating flaxseed daily may also help your cholesterol levels. The level of LDL or "bad" cholesterol in the bloodstream has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. A  study of menopausal women showed a decrease in LDL level after the women ate 4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed each day for a year. Fitzpatrick says the cholesterol-lowering effects of flaxseed are the result of the combined benefits of the omega-3 ALA, fiber, and lignans.

Diabetes

Preliminary research also suggests that daily intake of the lignans in flaxseed may modestly improve blood sugar (as measured by hemoglobin A1c blood tests in adults with type 2 diabetes).

Inflammation

Two components in flaxseed, ALA and lignans, may reduce the inflammation that accompanies certain illnesses (such as Parkinson's disease and asthma) by helping block the release of certain pro-inflammatory agents, Fitzpatrick says.

ALA has been shown to decrease inflammatory reactions in humans. And studies in animals have found that lignans can decrease levels of several pro-inflammatory agents.

Reducing inflammation associated with plaque buildup in the arteries may be another way flaxseed helps prevent heart attack and strokes.

Hot Flashes

One study of menopausal women, published in 2007, reported that 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed mixed into cereal, juice, or yogurt twice a day cut their hot flashes in half. The intensity of their hot flashes also dropped by 57%. The women noticed a difference after taking the daily flaxseed for just one week and achieved the maximum benefit within two weeks.

But another study reported no significant reduction in hot flashes between postmenopausal women and breast cancer patients eating a bar containing 410 milligrams of phytoestrogens from ground flaxseed and women eating a placebo bar.

The results, says Thompson, are consistent with other studies that have shown no siginifcant difference in the effect on hot flashes between flaxseed and placebo

Flaxseed Isn't a Magic Bullet

It's tempting to think of flaxseed as a super food because of its many potential health benefits. But keep in mind there is no magic food or nutrient that guarantees improved health.

What matters is consistently making great dietary choices as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

Who Shouldn’t Use Flaxseed?

Until more is known, Thompson says, pregnant women and possibly breastfeeding mothers should not supplement their diets with ground flaxseed.

"Our own animal studies showed that flaxseed exposure during these stages may be protective against breast cancer in the offspring. But a study of another investigator showed the opposite effect," Thompson says.

Tips for Using Flaxseed

Many experts believe it's better to consume flaxseed than flax oil (which contains just part of the seed) so you get all the components. But stay tuned as researchers continue to investigate.

Thompson says, "Ground flaxseed, in general, is a great first choice, but there may be specific situations where flax oil or the lignans (taken in amounts naturally found in flaxseed) might be as good."

How much flaxseed do you need? The optimum dose to obtain health benefits is not yet known. But 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed a day is currently the suggested dose, according to the Flax Council of Canada.

Here are more tips for using, buying, and storing flaxseed:

• Buy it ground or grind it yourself. Flaxseed, when eaten whole, is more likely to pass through the intestinal tract undigested, which means your body doesn't get all the healthful components. If you want to grind flaxseed yourself, those little electric coffee grinders seem to work best.
• Milled = ground = flax meal. Don’t be confused by the different product names for ground flaxseed. Milled or ground flaxseed is the same thing as flax meal.
• Buy either brown or golden flaxseed. Golden flaxseed is easier on the eyes, but brown flaxseed is easier to find in most supermarkets. There is very little difference nutritionally between the two, so the choice is up to you.
• Find it in stores or on the Internet. Many supermarket chains now carry ground flaxseed (or flax meal). It’s usually in the flour or "grain" aisle or the whole-grain cereal section and is often sold in 1-pound bags. You can also find it in health food stores or order it on various web sites.
• Check the product label. When buying products containing flaxseed, check the label to make sure ground flaxseed, not whole flaxseed, was added. Flaxseed is a featured ingredient in cereals, pasta, whole grain breads and crackers, energy bars, meatless meal products, and snack foods.
• Add flaxseed to a food you habitually eat. Every time you have a certain food, like oatmeal, smoothies, soup, or yogurt, stir in a couple tablespoons of ground flaxseed. Soon it will be a habit and you won’t have to think about it, you’ll just do it.
• Hide flaxseed in dark, moist dishes. The dishes that hide flaxseed the best are dark sauces or meat mixtures. No one tends to notice flaxseed when it's stirred into enchilada casserole, chicken parmesan, chili, beef stew, meatloaf, or meatballs. For a 4-serving casserole, you can usually get away with adding 2 to 4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed. For a dish serving 6 to 8, use 4 to 8 tablespoons.
• Use it in baking. Substitute ground flaxseed for part of the flour in recipes for quick breads, muffins, rolls, bread, bagels, pancakes, and waffles. Try replacing 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the flour with ground flaxseed if the recipe calls for 2 or more cups of flour.
• Keep it in the freezer. The best place to store ground flaxseed is the freezer. Freeze pre-ground flaxseed in the bag you bought it in or in a plastic sealable bag if you ground it yourself. The freezer will keep the ground flax from oxidizing and losing its nutritional potency.
• Whole flaxseed keeps longer. The outside shell in whole flaxseed appears to keep the fatty acids inside well protected. It’s a good idea to keep your whole flaxseed in a dark, cool place until you grind it. But as long as it is dry and of good quality, whole flaxseed can be stored at room temperature for up to a year.   

Source:  http://www.webmd.com/                                                                                              

How to lose weight fast.

If you want to lose weight, you're not alone. While there are many things you can do to shed pounds, losing weight too quickly can be dangerous. Fad diets, diet pills, and fasting may help you reduce the number on the scale, but these methods can cause severe health complications.

However, if you are generally healthy and you're determined to drop several pounds quickly, there are some techniques and tips you can adopt to help you reach your short-term goals.

Method 1 of 3: Fad Diets

The purpose of most fad diets is to promote rapid weight loss that you can see almost overnight. Fad diets are short-term solutions; if you stay on a fad diet for more than a few days, you could cause your body serious harm. You should always consult your healthcare provider before beginning any kind of weight loss program to make sure your body can take the added strain to its system. Here are some popular fad diets with simple instructions that claim to result in fast, short-term weight loss.

1) The Water Diet. This diet involves drinking a daily total of about 64 fluid ounces (8 cups) of cold (preferably refrigerated) water, at regular intervals.

• Drink a glass of water before each meal and before each snack to suppress your appetite by making you feel fuller.
• Do not add sweeteners or flavorings to your water.
• Do not replace meals with water.
• Take a daily multivitamin to replenish the nutrients lost through more frequent urination.

2) Juice Detox Diet, Juice Fast, or Hollywood Diet. Although there are many variations on a juice detoxification fast or crash diet, they generally last for one to three days.

• You can only drink fruit and vegetable juices on this type of fad diet.
• Some variations of this diet involve taking vitamins or nutrients along with the juices, while others let you have a single meal per day.
• The juices are meant to help your body flush out toxins and eliminate several pounds of (mostly) water weight from your system.    

3) The Master Cleanse, Maple Syrup Diet, or Lemonade Diet. This fad diet is a liquid-only diet.

• Drink between 6 to 12 glasses of a special mixture of lemonade, cayenne pepper, water, and maple syrup each day.
• You will also drink a cup of herbal laxative tea twice a day.
• There is an optional period of easing into this fad diet, as well as an easing-out process.
• It should only be done for very short-term weight loss and is supposed to function as a detoxifying cleanse rather than a strict weight-loss routine.
• There is also an optional salt-water flush that can be incorporated into this diet.

4) The Cabbage Soup Diet. This diet claims it can help you lose up to 10 pounds in one week.

• It involves eating a low-fat, high fiber diet.
• You mainly eat a special type of cabbage soup, but you can also have moderate portions of certain fruits and vegetables, occasional meats and rice, a minimum of 4 glasses of water and a multivitamin each day.
• This diet lasts 7 days and is not recommended as a permanent solution for long-term weight loss because of the lack of nutrients you consume on it.

5) The Salt-Free Diet. This diet helps you lose water weight by eliminating water retention in the body.

• On this diet, you cannot have any salt, which includes not only table salt, but also all the added sodium found in pre-packaged and prepared foods.
• This involves preparing sodium-free products at home or avoiding processed foods all together, which also means avoiding to eat out at restaurants.
• It also involves drinking up to 2 liters (about 8 cups) of water each day to replenish essential bodily fluids, although green tea is also allowed in moderation.
• Many prepared foods have as much as 30% of your daily value. You get your daily requirement of sodium from a healthy diet; too much can cause you to retain water weight.
• Because some dietary salt is essential for good health, the Salt-Free Diet should not be followed for more than one to two weeks.
• It's important to note that this diet is more effective for those people who tend to retain water more easily than others. If you're not sure whether you're particularly prone to water retention, pay attention to your hands and feet the next time you eat something salty. If your rings are more difficult to take off, or your shoes become tighter after a salty meal, those are signs that your body is sensitive to sodium.

6) The HCG Diet. This diet combines injections or supplements of HCG (human chorionic gonaotropin) with a severely restricted calorie intake.

• The calorie restriction alone (only 500 to 800 calories per day) is enough to promote weight loss in most people; it is significantly under the recommended daily calorie allowance, even for people attempting to lose weight.
• HCG is not monitored by the FDA, and can have unpleasant side effects in many people.
• Those who follow this diet typically gain the weight back immediately after stopping it.

Method 2 of 3: Weight Loss Spa Treatments

Another easy way to get fast weight-loss results is to get beauty treatments specifically designed to help you shed inches quickly. By visiting a spa, sauna, or wellness clinic offering weight loss beauty services and procedures, you can have your pick of numerous beauty treatments and spa services that are designed to help you lose weight quickly or to alter your appearance by reducing bloating, tightening your skin, or removing body fluids. These processes only involve temporary weight loss, but the results are immediate and do not involve dieting or exercise.

1) Ask about a mineral body wrap. Some mineral wraps claim to help you slim down by literally making you “lose” inches off of your waist, thighs, and arms. The process involves a mineral-based cleanse that is supposed to detoxify your body, helping you shed weight, reduce cellulite (fat near the surface of your skin), and tone and firm your skin almost instantly.

2) Get a lipase body wrap. Lipase body wraps are another quick-slim beauty treatment that follow a two-step phase.

• First, an enzyme wrap is applied to rid your body of fat tissue near the surface of the skin.
• A second mineral wrap is then applied, designed to tighten and smooth your skin.

3) Get a European body wrap. European body wraps are another potential option for spa services aimed at dropping inches off of trouble spots. This procedure is supposed to firm and tone skin, reduce the appearance of cellulite or stretch marks, and temporarily promotes weight loss.

4) Get a hot body wrap. Heat-based body wraps are perhaps a more well-known spa treatment, designed both to detoxify your body and stimulate smooth, toned skin. The heat and massage involved in most heat or steam treatments is targeted at improving circulation and helping your body slim down quickly.

5) Go to a sauna. Saunas may result in a loss of a pint of sweat in just a quarter of an hour.

• You should hydrate by drinking a few glasses of water after spending time in a sauna to reduce the risk of dehydration.
• Keep in mind that time in saunas must be limited, preferably to no more than one 15- to 20-minute session per day.
• People with blood pressure or heart problems should not use saunas, nor should young children.

6) Get a colonic. Some spas offer colonic irrigation treatments, which involve physically flushing your colon with large amounts of water to remove fecal accumulation.This process may help some people who suffer from bloating, gas, and constipation and claims to spur weight loss in some individuals.

7) Liposuction can shed pounds instantly. Liposuction is a surgical option for fast, targeted weight loss, generally only recommended for people with one or two specific areas of highly fatty tissue but otherwise relatively healthy body weight.

• Because it is a surgical procedure, it carries significant health risks and should only be performed by a licensed professional.

Method 3 of 3: Healthy Eating Habits

Change general nutrition and lifestyle habits. Adopting a number of simple but significant dietary and behavioral changes can be enough to jump-start weight loss for many people. Combining the suggestions below with your short-term diet plan will enhance your chances of reaching your weight-loss goals faster and maintaining those results in the long-term.

1) Develop a healthy and personalized meal plan. Figure out how much you should be eating by scheduling a consultation with a dietitian or a physician to discuss your weight loss goals, special dietary needs, current eating habits, and potential areas for improvement.

• Choose meals that have a healthy balance of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean proteins. A typical dinner plate should be filled with half vegetables or fruits, half whole grains and lean protein.

2) Plan your meals in advance. This can help you incorporate more nutritious foods into your diet and limit your calorie intake.

3) Determine your daily calorie needs. Your individual calorie needs will vary based on age, gender, height, and activity level. Knowing exactly how much your target daily intake is will help you stick to your diet.Monitor the number of calories and grams of fat you consume each day and try not to exceed USDA guidelines.

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Weight-Fast