Food - The Best and Worst Breakfasts for Your Health

Yahoo Health had a nice article, The Best and Worst Breakfasts for your health.

As we all know, eating breakfast is important for jump-starting your metabolism. When you skip breakfast, your body doesn't have the fuel it needs to be at its peak until your next meal. People who are not used to skipping breakfast tend to munch-out until lunch adding not only calories but unhealthy calories.

On the other hand, eating breakfast foods which are dripping in grease or full of fats are not benefitial either as they will contribute to heart disease and/or diabetes.

In this article, a study was performed to reveal the risks of eating different types of breakfast. They analyzed healthy participants before and after they ate breakfast sandwiches loaded with egg and cheese (the sandwich contained about 900 calories and 50 grams of fat). Two hours after they ate the breakfast sandwiches, their blood flow showed significant reduction to the heart - that's from one sandwich. Imagine if they ate that type of greasy food all the time. The blood's inability to reach the organs eventually leads to organ failure (including heart attacks).

Food - Oprah - Hidden Fat Traps on Restaurant Menus

Oprah's website has a great article this week on Hidden Fat Traps on Restaurant Menus. Learn to decode those advertising-slick words.

Salads - Ordering the dressing on the side can actually make you use more than the chef would drizzle over the top. Avoid empty calorie toppings such as crunchy noodles, croutons, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

Avoid "crispy" because it indicates food fried in oil. "Crusted" means the item was covered in butter or oil and covered with breadcrumbs. "Sizzling" contains lots of oil.

Stay away from Miso soup which is high in sodium and Tempura which is deep fried.

Some vegetable puree soups contain lots of cream or sour cream, actually making them fattening.

Just because dessert has fruit on it, doesn't make it healthy. This article pointed out a chocolate cake slice which had less calories than a bigger slice of pear tart. Disappointing!

Food - Ending Your Sugar Cravings

One of my biggest weaknesses - and most people's - is sugar. It's an endless craving that happens all the time and any time - in coffee, for breakfast, for snack, for dessert, for afternoon snack, before dinner, for dinner dessert, etc. In time, it becomes habit, an addiction, and it's difficult to stop. I've read articles that compare soda with cocaine addictions. Sugar definitely affects the brain. So now what?

Once sugar or caffeine becomes an addiction, there could be withdrawl symptoms when trying to quit cold turkey. Your body has become used to these flavors/chemicals. When you take them away, your body freaks out. But, never fear, they eventually go away!

First, in order to break the sugar addiction, one must stop the every day habit completely and you must want to stop.

Second, be cautious of substitutes. Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc) can have undesirable side-effects and will not teach you to avoid sugar. Sometimes we use more sugar substitute than we should because we can't reach the level of sweetness we crave. So instead of one packet in our coffee, we use two or three.

Third, improve your diet. If you feel satisfied (and full), you are less likely to turn to sweets.

Fourth, stop buying sweets/sodas. If you don't have access to them, you won't eat/drink them. It will take time to get over the cravings, but it will be worth it to your health and your body.

Have a craving attack in the middle of the day? Try going for a short walk. Get your mind off the craving.

Maybe you simply have an urge to chew - try some sugar-free gum.

References: Sugar Addiction by L. Wilson, MD. WebMd - 13 Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings Nourished Health - End the 3pm Slump Cravings Dr. Mark Hyman - How to Rewire Your Brain to End Food Cravings

Healthy Living - 50 Ways to Lose Weight

Reader's Digest has this great article - 50 Ways to Lose Weight - which lists some tips to reduce calories and improve health overall.

Tips include:
• Once a week, indulge in a high-calorie-tasting, but low-calorie, treat
• Treat high-calorie foods as jewels in the crown
• After breakfast, make water your primary drink.
• Carry a palm-size notebook everywhere you go for one week - to make note of what you are eating.
• Buy a pedometer
• Add 10 percent to the amount of daily calories you think you’re eating, then adjust your eating habits accordingly
• Eat five or six small meals or snacks a day instead of three large meals.
• Walk for 45 minutes a day.
• Find an online weight-loss buddy.
• Bring the color blue into your life more often
• Clean your closet of the “fat” clothes
• Downsize your dinner plates.

Food - The 15 Most Pointless Foods in Your Supermarket

What I love about the 15 Most Pointless Foods in Your Supermarket article from Rodale News is how many items I actually purchased from the list! If only I'd read this sooner...

Media is brilliant in how they hype up new products including those wonderful packages and trick consumers into buying things that are not healthy. It's a real lesson in reading those ingredient lists!

Some of the examples include:
• Mio Water Enhancer
• Uncrustables
• Bagel-Fuls
• Splenda Essentials with Antioxidants
• Yoplait Low-Fat Yogurt
• Lucky Charms Cereal
• Special K Cereal Bars
• VitaMuffin Vitatops
• WhoNu? Nutrition Rich Cookies
• Chocolate Milk with Omega-3s
• Pediasure Shakes

Food - 7 Food Swaps That Will Make You Skinny

Rodale News has a great article, Seven Healthy Food Swaps That Will Make You Skinny that has a slideshow with some really easy changes you can make to start saving calories and eating healthier today. Each slide also includes the benefit of the swap as well as healthy perk or tip.

Swaps include:
• Cabbage or Collard Greens Instead of Bread
• Summer Squash Instead of Hash Browns
• Spaghetti Squash Instead of Pasta
• Cauliflower Instead of Potatoes
• Lettuce Instead of Hot Dog Buns
• Oatmeal Pancakes Instead of Flour Pancakes
• Portobello Instead of Pizza Crust

Health - Boosting the Immune System - The Cold and Flu Season

Ask Dr. Mao, the website for author and doctor Mao Shing Ni, is an informative Natural Health Search Engine filled with articles aimed at healing your body naturally and taking care of your health in a natural or more holistic way.

One of the articles I found on Ask Dr. Mao's blog was Boosting the Immune System - The Cold and Flu Season.

We are in the midst of fall, which means cold and flu season is upon us. If you have kids, then you are probably already enjoying an onslaught of back-to-school germs!

Some suggestions for building up your immune system include:
• Simple Strategies for a Stronger Immune System
• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Eat lots of garlic, ginger, cilantro, oregano and other herbs and spices.
• Get enough rest—eight hours a night.
• Keep stress low with meditation, tai chi or yoga.

There is also a recipe for Immunity-Boosting Cream of Mushroom and Cauliflower Soup

Food - 5 Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Women's Health Magazine has lots of great recipes and workout tips - that both men and women can use. Don't be intimidated that it's main appeal is to women...

This particular nugget I found shows some yummy breakfast recipes that are quick and healthy. We like quick.

Click here to see 5 Healthy Breakfast Ideas article.

Recipes Featured:
• Breakfast Burritos - these will keep you feeling full through the morning
• Strawberry Parfaits - you can easily throw in your favorite fruit(s)
• Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Asparagus, and Goat Cheese
• Orient Express Oatmeal
• Multigrain Blueberry Waffles

Exercise - 15 minute workout to fit into skinny jeans

Women, ever tried to pull those pair of skinny jeans on only to get them stuck as soon as they hit your thighs? Or if you manage to pull them on, how about that belly blob that hangs over?

Women's health has a great segment of 15 minute workouts and my favorite is the one targeting those skinny jean problem areas! And you can't make too many excuses since it's ONLY 15 minutes!

Click here to see the workout: Skinny Jeans Workout

Moves include:
• SQUAT, LUNGE, CURL
• DUMBBELL SUMO SQUAT
• STABILITY LUNGE

Food - 5 Vending Machine Snacks to Avoid

Yahoo Health does a great job posting relevant food articles with nice slideshows. This article, 5 Vending Machine Snacks to Avoid (and 5 Healthier Options) comes at a great time for us - deciding what to buy to quelch those afternoon munchies! Snacks to avoid run around 280 calories (also check the number of servings on your favorite snack)

Snacks to Avoid:
• Lays Classic
• Famous Amos Cookies (which are my favorite!)
• Snickers (breaking into a Snickers Bar will cost you 280 calories)
• Skittles
• Entenmann's Jumbo Iced Honey Bun (I don't know about you but the ones in our work vending machine look like they've been rotting the past year!)

Healthier Choices:
• Triscuit Original
• Chex Mix Traditional
• Planters Peanuts
• Planters Trailmix (just keep an eye on the number of servings!)

Food - Vegetarian Recipes

You don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy vegetarian meals. It's great for non-vegetarians to eat at least one vegetarian meal a week for a healthier, more balanced regimen. Mayo clinic has some great recipes here Recipes include: Chinese Noodles with Spring Vegetables, Soft Tacos with Southwestern Vegetables, Eggplant with Toasted Spices, Apple-fennel Slaw, Baked Apples with Cheeries and Almonds

Food - Calorie Counter

Before starting any diet plan, you need to have a general idea of how many calories you can consume each day to at least maintain the weight you have (this is the baseline). More calories than the baseline will end up in weight gain. Less calories than the baseline will end up in weight loss. Pretty simple. Use Mayo Clinic's Calorie Counter Tool - Input your age, current weight, height, and activity level and see what your baseline calorie count should be.

Food - Cholesterol: Top 5 foods to lower your numbers

Mayo Clinic presents Cholesterol: Top 5 foods to lower your numbers - a wonderful article that provides the top five foods which are heart healthy and in turn will lower your high cholesterol numbers. The foods include: 1. Oatmeal, oat bran and high-fiber foods 2. Fish and omega-3 fatty acids 3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts 4. Olive Oil 5. Foods with added plant sterols or stanols When you review the list, the first four are typically mentioned in almost every single diet book on the market. We all know we should eat high-fiber foods and more healthy fats (fish, nuts). What I like about this article, however, are the tips the author provides for actually increasing your intake of these items. Very practical advice.

Food - Butter Flavouring Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

According to this article at Food Navigator's website, "An artificial food flavoring compound used for its butter-like taste and mouthfeel may be linked with key processes in the development of Alzheimer's disease." How scary is that? The chemical, Diacetyl (DIA), is used in a wide variety of food and drink products giving users a rich, butter flavoring. For example, "buttered" popcorn that you heat in the microwave might be a mixture of chemicals. What is good about this article is that it makes the consumers more aware of the products they eat contains CHEMICALS and not real or natural FLAVORING. One can only imagine all the chemicals we ingest with every meal. As we continue to ingest more and more chemical products, we are causing long-term damage (ie, disesases like Alzheimer's) to our bodies. That is why it is so crucial to investigate what you eat, the ingredients on the label. If you see a long list of chemicals, please reconsider. Read the article here: Butter Flavouring Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

Food - 6 Fish Dishes That Make You Fat

Most people automatically think that eating fish - any type and even fried - is healthier than eating red meat. It's the same mentality as eating vegetables that are deep fried is better than not eating them at all. Unfortunately, it's quite the opposite. It's actually worse eating fried fish than eating a burger. Check out these fish restaurant choice blunders: 6 Fish Dishes That Make You Fat The top of the list is PF Chang’s Shrimp with Candied Walnuts which is a really sweet dish with a hint of crunch. The bad part - it's 1,380 calories with 104 g fat and a gross 1,830 mg sodium! So you'd think soup would be a little healthier. Think again. Cheesecake Factory's Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo has a gross 1,570 calories with 2,249 mg sodium!

Food - The Most Shocking Diet Myths

I stumbled on this article at Yahoo's Healthy Living section. What I like about it is that it shakes up our normal beliefs on dieting and makes us question if we are getting the most out of beliefs or not. The very first question it poses - Does eating many small meals help you lose faster than eat three big meals? According to the article, it doesn't. What matters is how many total calories and the energy required to break that down. When you eat more than your body can break down in a single day, then you are setting yourself up for gaining weight. This is also true whether you eat unprocessed or processed food and when you eat (morning or night). Myth: Diet sodas make you fat by tricking you into craving sweets. They don't. See the article: The Most Shocking Diet Myths

Food - The Best and Worst French Fries in America

This article from Men's Health caught my eye because I seriously crave french fries every so often. Of course, most people would say not to eat french fries AT ALL, but realistically, the more I try to avoid them, the more aware I am of them and the more I want to eat them! Read the The Best and Worst French Fries in America here. Surprisingly, Cheesecake Factory's Sweet Potato fries are really terrible - 960 calories and 1521 mg in sodium! People get tricked into thinking they are healthier because it is sweet potatoes, but the portion and the frying oils makes it worse than regular french fries. Might as well just go for a small order of regular fries and indulge without all that guilt! And, with as much publicity McDonalds gets for being the evil fat-making king, their small fries are pretty decent - 230 calories and a surprising 160 mg of sodium. Not bad for a once-in-awhile snack. Of course, eating french fries every day is not a good idea. ;-)

Exercise - Six Moves to Sexy Legs

While I was browsing around the internet, I read several articles about celebrity legs especially Jennifer Anniston's legs or her rival Angelina Jolie's legs. Yeah - we all want long, shapely legs (for guys, probably muscular legs is better). So here are some quick exercises you can try to reach sexy leg potential: Six Moves to Sexy Legs. And you can view the demo movie to see how to do these right. An added benefit - a toned bottom! Moves include Rear Reshaper, Butt Lifter, Calf Carver, Twisting Toner

Healthy Living - Bethenny Frankel's Tips of Staying Slim, Sexy and Fabulous

Star of Bravo TV's Bethenny Ever After and author of several books, Bethenny Frankel knows how to keep slim and sexy and now she's sharing her tips here: Bethenny Frankel's Tips on Staying Slim, Sexy and Fabulous. Of course, being thin is only a small piece of the overall healthy lifestyle - she also talks about avoiding debt, dressing well, relationships, and more. Here are some of the topics she shares: Eat good stuff Realize there is no perfect. Avoid fashion don’ts. Don’t go into debt. Fight smarter. Be authentic. Don’t take no for an answer. Do the plank pose.

Exercise - Free Physical Activity Diary

Having trouble keeping track of your activities? Try documenting them in this free Physical Activity Diary from the CDC which lists day of week, activity, and duration. Do this for a few weeks to see where your weak points are and to encourage you to do more!

Healthy Living - Healthy Weight and Lifestyle Changes

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has a great site with lots of links and tips for making lifestyle changes for a Healthy Weight. You can check it out Here I really enjoyed reading the Success Stories - they are very inspirational, especially when you might get discouraged in your own health journey. You might want to start with the Getting Started guide which provides a nice overview of steps to take for beginning weight loss. For me, personally, I found the Eating Habits article especially helpful. Once you start assessing what goes in your mouth at every meal/snack, then you start to realize what some of your weak points really are (and then we can insert some denial). And there's also a Physical Activity page which shows some activities and the corresponding calorie loss. Seems like even stretching for 30 minutes will burn 90 calories - enough to burn off a small snack. :-)

Exercise and Diet - Flat Abs Fast

Check out this short yahoo article here that offers a few tips on flattening your middle section. Exercises include: Front Plank Half Kneel Life

Book Review - The Biggest Loser Quick and Easy Cookbook

The Biggest Loser: Quick and Easy Cookbook - What I really like about this book are the real-life tips and stories from the contestants who participated in the Biggest Loser show. It's really encouraging to read what others have gone through to lose weight and get health. The beginning starts off with tips on eating better, focusing on the food pyramid, keeping track of what you eat in a food log and some other food suggestions. The next section contains simple workout suggestions - starting with very basic moves and working up to more complex moves. These moves are more for building strength. For real weight loss, you will need to incorporate cardio as well. The final third of the book contains recipes such as Easy-Breezy BBQ Pot Roast Dinner and Chocolate Raspberry Dreamers.

Exercise - Three Essential Yoga Poses

Yoga is a good way to gain flexibility and strength and adds a way to shake up a dreary workout. This video from Yahoo features Yoga expert Mona Wells showing some beginning breathing methods and stretching poses: Click here for the video

Exercise - A Crunch-less Ab Workout

Getting your abs in shape without having to do endless crunches? Count me in! Yahoo has a brief workout video showing some other tricks to try to get those abs in shape: Check out the workout If you can get past the overly dramatic host (at times annoying), some of the exercises include a regular plank, a rotation plank, reverse fly back extension. If you have back issues, you might not want to try some of these.

Free - Bon Appetit Weekly Healthy Recipe Newsletter

Looking for healthy recipe ideas? Sign up for Bon Appetit's Healthy Recipe weekly newsletter - and it's FREE! Sign Up Here

Food - Surprising Snacks that aren't Healthy

Nothing is more defeating to your diet than hidden calories and snacks almost always help in that department. That healthy-looking granola you munch on at three o'clock every afternoon might actually be adding 300 calories to your daily calorie intake. That's the same as two cans of soda or two chocolate candy bars and not nearly as satisying! Take a look at this slide show from Bon Appetit which shows snacks like granola, rice cakes, and pretzels: Unhealthy Snacks

Exercise - The 3 Step Strategy to a Flat Stomach

The hardest area to tone and tighten is the stomach pooch - mainly because the muscle is hidden under a layer of blub. No matter how many crunches you do, the muscle is still hiding under the fat. Another thing about this belly fat is that it can get worse if you experience high levels of stress which produce cortisol (a hormone). Seems like an uphill battle. Patience and persistence will pay off! So what are the 3 steps? #1 - Exercise #2 - De-Stress #3 - Eat Right Read all the details here: 3 Step Strategy for Flat Stomach

Recipes - Grilling Chicken

On the road to nutrition means cutting carbs/sugar by focusing more on protein. One easy way to get protein in your diet this summer is by dragging out the ol' grill and firing it up! But, wait! Before you toss that hunk of chicken on the metal, read this quick little article so that you can prepare it better and not end up with a chunk of dried-out bland chicken. You want good, cooked, juicy chicken. And if you make enough, you can use it for several days - in stews, soups, sandwiches, etc. Read it here: 7 Common Mistakes with Grilled Chicken

Exercise - The Ultimate 5 Minute Workout

This is an interesting article by Bill Phillips which starts with some amusing observations on what people do in the gym - not much! The article says that gym-goers spend about 15 minutes actually working out and the rest of the time chatting or resting. So the article references several exercises that can be done in five minutes with the most impact. All you need are dumbbells! The exercises: #1: Dumbbell Overhead Shuffle Swing #2: Dumbbell Blast-Off Pushup #3: Three-Way Goblet Squat Check it out here: The Ulitmate 5 Minute Workout

Exercise - The Best New Exercises You're Not Doing

As part of our journey, we must start integrating activity into our lives (I know - boo hiss!) But only with activity, can our bodies become healthier. We can start slowly - with a little activity - and gradually work our way into full-blown workouts or hikes or runs around the lake, etc. So I started searching the web for some exercises that are easy enough to jump right into and that's when I stumbled upon this article from Yahoo. Some of the equipment required are an exercise ball and dumbbells which you should invest in now if you haven't. These are the least expensive and easiest items you need. If you don't have a workout bench, use the end of your couch. Check out these easy exercises: ABS - Mountain Climber with Hands on Swiss Ball HAMSTRINGS - Single-Leg Dumbbell Straight-Leg Deadlift CALVES - Single-Leg Donkey Calf Raise CHEST - Single-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press SHOULDERS - Scaption and Shrug TRICEPS - Swiss-Ball Lying Triceps Extension BICEPS - Split Stance Dumbbell Curl FOREARMS - Plate Pinch Curl UPPER BACK - Swiss-Ball L Raise LATS - Band-Assisted Chinup LOWER BACK - McGill Curlup Best Exercises You're not doing

100 Easy Ways to Cut 50 Calories

The first step of our health journey is to pinpoint easy ways to cut 50 calories - easy things like making swaps that don't affect taste. This Reader's Digest slideshow makes it so easy to shave calories on every day meals: http://www.rd.com/slideshows/100-easy-ways-to-cut-50-calories/#slideshow=slide1 I really like the tips such as:

• Swap a cup of whole milk for a cup of skim. Calories saved: 65
• Use egg whites when preparing your favorite omelet instead of whole eggs. Calories saved: 55 per egg yolk omitted
• Subs for lunch? Substitute 2 tablespoons of light mayonnaise for 2 tablespoons of the high-fat version. Calories saved: 100
• Choose a serving of canned fruit packed in natural fruit juice instead of heavy syrup. Calories saved: 60

Welcome to my journey!

Not another blog about dieting! No, seriously, this is not another blog about dieting. And it's not about my daily struggle with achieving a healthier me - because who wants to read about me all day besides me? So what exactly is this blog about, you ask. After I learned my cholesterol is through the roof and what I've been eating and doing (or actually, not doing, like exercise), I started searching the internet for guides to help me get healthy. And searching... And wading through "how I lost 5 pounds" blogs. And sleeping through scientific research on lowering cholesterol. Until I finally decided that I'd post my research for YOU here so that you won't have to torture yourself through all that research...and searching...and wading...and snoring. I want to share with you what I've found and am finding still on my journey to a healthier me! And hopefully it will help you become a healthier you! :-)