Category Archive: Diet and losing weight

February 17th, 2010
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Eating Turmeric To Lose Weight

My all-time favorite dish is chicken cooked with turmeric. I like the chicken cooked with lots and lots of minced turmeric and shallots. My dad cooks one of the tastiest turmeric chicken and I can eat the entire plate of dish all by myself and yet not get fed up and still eat it the next day. I ate a lot of turmeric chicken during my 3 confinements.

Turmeric is a yellow, powdered spice that gives curry its distinctive color and flavor. Scientists believe that turmeric, which is used in most Indian meals, has an active ingredient that can help fight obesity.  A meal that includes turmeric will lead to less weight gain than one without the yellow root.

Turmeric contains a plant-based chemical called curcumin, which suppresses the growth of fat tissue in mice and human cell cultures, according to a study by Tufts University in Boston, published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Curcumin is also easily absorbed by the body, the researchers said, after experiments on mice.

“Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis,” said senior study author Mohsen Meydani of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts.

“Based on our data, curcumin appears to suppress angiogenic activity in the fat tissue of mice fed high fat diets,” he said in a statement.

Turmeric is effective when added to a high-fat meal, suggesting it could help fight obesity.

Researchers gave one set of mice high-fat diets and another set the same food with 500mg of curcumin added to each meal.

After 12 weeks, the mice which were fed curcumin weighed less than those which did not eat it.

Widely acknowledged to be a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties, turmeric is currently under investigation in several studies to determine its use for cancer prevention and treatment.

So if you are lost for ideas on what to cook, go whip up a turmeric chicken dish.  There are several ways of cooking chicken with turmeric.  Chicken cooked with turmeric is delicious, wholesome, helps you to lose weight and may help prevent cancer too.

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Diet and losing weight, Interesting Information
February 12th, 2010
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Losing Weight Is All About Sacrifices

I know of many people who are struggling with the battle of the bulge. They go on a yo-yo diet or a crash diet, take weight loss products including trying discount diet pill, yet they don’t lose much weight. I tell them to exercise but they always tell me they don’t have the time and they cannot wake up half an hour earlier each day to exercise. To me, weight loss includes lots of sacrifices, including sacrificing a little beauty sleep. I wake up very early every morning, rain or shine to exercise. So far, my weight is right on track!

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Diet and losing weight
February 12th, 2010
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Green Tea Is A Potent Termogenic Fat Burner

One of the things that I must have every morning apart from my cuppa decaffeinated coffee is my cuppa Japanese green tea. No matter where I am and what I am doing, downing a cuppa green tea a day is a must. Today, I read that green tea extract is one of the powerful thermogenic fat burners. It’s combination of caffeine and catechin polyphenols make it a potent fat fighter. Several recent studies have shown that green tea was found to significantly decrease abdominal body fat area, subcutaneous abdominal body fat and fasting triglycerides. That means that not only is green tea extract a great fat burner, it also has a positive effect on fat in the blood! This said, in order to successfully achieve weight loss, one has to reduce calorie-intake and must exercise.

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Diet and losing weight
February 7th, 2010
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Is There a Right and Wrong Time to Eat?

Though I am a health freak, I tend to have a weakness for certain snacks and carbs like cookies, cakes, bread and the occasional sinful Cheezels, Twisties and fish muruku 😀 And do you know that I eat my carbs mostly in the morning and during lunch time? After 3pm, I try to refrain from carbs. I have a rather heavy breakfast, a medium heavy lunch and a light dinner. That’s because I am busiest in the morning and afternoon, minding my 3 kids and running about. So the calories and fat will be burnt more efficiently during that time. By evening, my activities are slowed down, thus logically calories intake and carbs should also be reduced. I hardly ever eat supper, hate the idea of having food in my tummy when I’m sleeping. That will surely be transformed into fat and added to my jelly belly! In between meals, I try hard not to snack on carbs, though I will snack on cherry tomatoes, fruits and nuts.

Some researchers suggest that eating late at night, when our body says we should be sleeping, will disrupt our circadian rhythm, or internal clock, which governs not only our sleep cycles but feeding and activity cycles as well

Here’s an excerpt of an interesting article from healthnews.com:

“Sleep has a very important role in metabolism,” said lead author Deanna Arble, a neuroscientist at Northwestern. “While I do not believe the field is advanced enough to prescribe appropriate eating times for each individual, I believe we can at least say that humans should avoid eating during their normal sleeping phase because this could lead to increased weight gain.”

But Arble says it is also important not to lose sight of the importance of total caloric intake. “If you are taking in excess calories daily, the time you eat probably doesn’t matter—you will still gain weight,” she said. “Similarly, if by eating small meals for dinner you decrease your overall caloric intake, that could be more beneficial than timing.”

For someone not consuming excess calories each day, and they’re doing everything by the book but still gain weight, maybe look into the time of day you’re eating. It could be a factor.”

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Diet and losing weight, Me
February 4th, 2010
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How I Eat My ‘Pan Meen’ (Board Noodles)

I love pan meen but I hate the carbo that goes with the noodles. Pan Meen is strictly a no-no food for dieters because of the high carbo content of the noodles. So this is how I eat the Pan Meen:

A bowl full of protein and fibre MINUS the noodles — minced pork, deep fried anchovies, fish balls, meat balls, mushrooms, wood ear fungus, anchovies-pork soup and lots of green veggie.   Sometimes I request for an egg in the bowl of ‘liu’ (ingredients).  I tell ya, this bowl of protein and fibre can really fill you up!


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Diet and losing weight
February 3rd, 2010
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Fast Eaters Get Fat!

After reading an article from the February 2009 issue of the Reader’s Digest, I have been reminding myself to eat SLOWLY!! Most busy mothers, especially mothers with many kids have to eat hurriedly and gobble down their food without really enjoying and savoring their food. If you are one of them, I am sure you will be reminding yourself to eat SLOWLY… chew properly before swallowing your food, enjoy your food and eat slowly lol!!

Here’s the Reader’s Digest article :

Eating slowly could help you win the battle of the bulge. A study of more than 3000 Japanese adults published in the British Medical Journal found that those who ate their meals quickly were about twice as likely to be obese as their slow-munching counterparts.
People who ate quickly and who ate until they were full were three times more likely to be obese. The research supports previous evidence that people tend to consume more calories when they eat quickly, but also that eating quickly is linked to obesity regardless of how many calories are eaten.

Dr Elizabeth Denney-Wilson, an obesity expert from the University of New South Wales, says research suggests people can learn to eat more slowly and recognise their internal cues for fullness. She adds that while it is not known what drives us to eat quickly, behaviour such as eating while distracted and eating fast food on the go may be to blame.

Setting aside meal times and chatting between bites can help slow the rate of eating and allow your body to send fullness signals before you’ve overeaten.

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Diet and losing weight, Interesting Information
November 15th, 2009
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Losing Weight With Lemons

One of the fruits that is always stocked up in my fridge is lemon.   I drink freshly squeezed lemon juice or lime juice almost everyday, after my meals.  I love the taste of lemon and lime and feel very refreshed after a drink of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (minus the sugar or honey) especially after a heavy or fatty meal.

A lemon detox diet is effective for both cleansing and weight loss. Consuming anything sour makes the liver and gallbladder purge stored toxins. The liver is especially important for weight loss and overall health. When the liver is filled with toxins, it cannot do its critical tasks in metabolizing fat. So that is why it is essential to keep your liver in top working condition.

In a lemon detox diet, you use the juice of a fresh lemon in a cup of hot water in the morning. The morning is when our bodies are in a natural cleansing phase, so it is a good time to consume cleansing foods and juices.  The added benefit of lemons in the morning is that your digestive system gets a jump start when it is stimulated by the lemons. Doing this as early in the day as possible will help you digest all meals more efficiently.  You also use either fresh lemon juice or a slice of a lemon in water that you drink throughout the day. In the lemon detox diet, water is a key component. You should drink at least 64 ounces a day.

Lemon juice provides an added benefit by supplying the body with a good dose of vitamin C.

Lemons are a common ingredient in many cleansing fasts and diets. The reason they are so effective for weight loss is their cleansing properties. Lemons help flush out the digestive tract and their acidity stimulates digestive enzymes. When the digestive system is clear and functioning properly it eliminates more waste as opposed to storing it all as fat. Still, to achieve any long-term weight loss goals you must eat healthily and exercise regularly.

Lemons are high in vitamin C. Scientists at Arizona State University have reported that the presence of vitamin C in the cells helps people burn fat while exercising. If you do not consume an adequate amount of vitamin C, it will be harder for you to lose fat than someone who does.

Lemons in the Morning
Drink a cup of hot water with three tablespoons of fresh lemon juice each morning when you wake up. An average sized lemon yields about three tablespoons when juiced. Sweeten the drink with raw, natural honey if desired. If you want to maximize weight loss, take a walk after you drink the lemon water. After the walk, eat some breakfast. You will have your metabolism and digestive system up and running by then–and ready to burn calories.

A note of caution about drinking lemon juice. Regular consumption of lemon juice can erode part of the outside enamel of our teeth as lemon juice is highly acidic. Some healthcare practitioners suggest drinking citrus fruits through a straw to avoid this possible damage to the tooth enamel. Diluting the lemon juice with plain water is also a good idea.

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Diet and losing weight, Fruits
September 26th, 2009
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Foods That Burn Fat

Did you know that by adding foods that burn fat to your diet, you can lose weight without working too hard, thus achieve a slimmer physique?

Here’s a list of the various foods that burn fat and why they’re supposed to work:

Foods that Contain Vitamin C
Because the body requires vitamin C to burn fat, eating foods that are high in vitamin C is said to help metabolize fat faster and make losing weight less difficult. You might want to try eating more oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, lemons, limes, green peppers, red, peppers, etc. These foods that burn fat are tasty and have few calories too to help increase the health in your diet.

Foods High in Fiber
Fibre is a fat burning food
When you eat more fiber, your stomach thinks that it’s fuller than it actually is. And while this isn’t quite like foods than burn fat, it lessens the amount of overall calories that you can ingest, which leads to fat loss.

You’ll want to choose foods like complex carbohydrates, beans, carrots, etc. when you’re looking for high fiber foods. Even just adding a high fiber cereal in the morning can help boost your fat loss efforts.

Green Tea
While tea doesn’t really fall into foods that can assist in fat burning, it certainly can help you find a slimmer new you. Because green tea contains caffeine, it’s a natural stimulant that can help your body burn more calories while at rest – meaning that you can burn fat without doing a thing.

But it also includes ECCG compounds that are also supposed to help boost your metabolism as well. You can find green tea supplements as well as normal tea bags in your local grocery store.

Dairy Foods
Dairy Products can assist in fat burning
According to new research, it seems that dairy products are the latest foods that burn fat. Studies have shown that dairy suppresses a fat producing hormone called calcitrol. By drinking two to three glasses of low fat milk each day or eating a few servings of low fat cheese or yogurt, you can help to suppress that hormone and make fat burning a breeze.

Hot and Spicy Foods
When you eat foods like jalapenos or hot peppers, you stoke the fat burning fires in your body. What happens is that a chemical is released into your body that increases your metabolism, if only for a short while.

By eating more spicy foods that burn fat, you can have tasty meals without the added guilt. Just add a little Tabasco sauce to your eggs in the morning or to your soup at night for all the kick your body needs.

Drink Plenty of Water
Water can assist in fat burning
Water helps to rid the body of toxins and chemicals that make be slowing down your overall metabolism.

By drinking six to eight glasses of water a day, you can make sure that your digestion is running smoothly and that anything that shouldn’t be in your body is eliminated.

This water intake will also help you feel full longer, which allows you to eat less and lose more weight. Many times our hunger is really just thirst in disguise.

High Protein Foods
Protein – While you might already think this because of the Atkins Diet, protein is thought to help increase your metabolism. Eating protein rich foods that burn fat will help you give your diet an edge. All you need to do is choose low fat protein items (and this includes soy-based items if you’re vegetarian) for each meal of the day.

Foods that burn fat are tasty and easy to add to your daily diet. With a little diet renovation, you can create a daily eating plan that’s working for you, instead of against you.

Information extracted from 24hrfitness.co.uk/nutrition/foods-that-burn-fat.html

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Diet and losing weight
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