Friday, July 15, 2011

The Truth About The Subway Diet


So you want to get rid of a few unsightly pounds. Maybe you’ve even tried some of the traditional diets out there and they just don’t work. Maybe it’s because you don’t have the time to cook your own healthy meals, let alone time to weigh and measure ingredients and count calories.

Maybe your weight gain is due to the fact that you eat most of your meals either at work or on the go. If this describes you, then you may want to consider a diet that is considered non-traditional but certainly has worked for many people, including the man who invented it. Maybe the Subway diet would be right for you.

Before getting into what the Subway diet is, it is best to understand more about the creator of this diet, Jared Fogle. Jared Fogle around 1997 decided that he needed to lose weight. He weighed approximately 430 pounds, and was consuming approximately 10,000 calories per day.

It was when his roommate in college a pre-med student correctly diagnosed Jared with sleep apnea and edema. Jared went to the hospital for some tests. His father, a physician, told Jared the sobering news that if he continued on like this, he would most probably not live past 35.

Jared decided he was going to go on the Subway diet. Subway was his favorite place to eat, so he figured he wouldn’t really be sacrificing a lot. Every day for lunch he would have a 6 inch turkey sandwich and every night he would eat a 12 inch veggie sub. Within the span of 3 months, Jared lost 100 pounds.

Spurred by this success, he then started to walk everywhere. Instead of taking an elevator he would take stairs. The exercise, combined with eating the low fat low calorie Subway sandwiches, helped Jared to eventually lose 240 pounds. Jared now weighs 190 pounds. Eventually, Subway found out about him, and paid him to be their spokesperson.

1. So why exactly does the Subway diet work?

The subway diet worked for Jared and anyone else who goes on it, because of two factors: Portion control and caloric intake. If you stick with the subs that are low fat and are low calorie and avoid mayo, cheese, and oils, you are limiting the amount of fats and calories that you consume.

By sticking with a 6 inch and a 12 inch sandwich you are controlling how much you eat. Jared also walked a lot. Therefore, he was not only limiting how much he ate, his fat and caloric intake, but was exercising on top of it.

2. Was it strictly the Subway food?

Yes and no. Subway offers many healthier types of foods than most other fast food restaurants. It wasn’t specifically the Subway food; it was as mentioned above, the fact that Jared was not consuming high calorie, high fat foods. He was exercising regularly.

You could do what Jared did with just about any fast food restaurant. You just have to pick foods that are low fat and low calorie. Most fast food restaurants have their nutrition information available upon request.

3. Is the Subway diet right for me?

You should always consult a doctor before you begin any type of weight loss or exercise plan. It is suggested that if you decide to do the Subway diet that you include more vegetables and fruits into your diet. Jared skipped breakfast. This was a mistake. He could have easily prepared a low fat, low calorie, breakfast which included fruits. For example, a low fat fruit smoothie is a good option.

If you do eat on the go or a lot of fast food and you talk about it with your doctor then the Subway diet may be right for you. Though Subway offers more healthy choices, you don’t have to stick strictly with Subway. You just have to find the low fat, low calorie foods in other fast food restaurants. Be sure to get plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables too.


Saturday, July 2, 2011

It Is Important To Know How To Use Elliptical Machines Properly


Using elliptical machines, such as the2 in 1 Elliptical Cross Trainer & Exercise Bike, are very beneficial if you know how to use them. I know it is Often the easiest to just use the equipment rather than getting to know a little bit about them. Knowing how they work can help you use them properly and get the most out of your workout. By not knowing your elliptical machine you stand the danger of injuries and wasting your time.

Elliptical machines were designed to hit all of those target areas that so many people are struggling to keep in good enough shape, but because of the improper training and usage of these elliptical machines, many people simply give up too quickly with the resultant waste of money. Your training routine should not only consist of using the elliptical machines, you should also consider changing your diet, dramatically if you are living off of junk foods and fast food restaurants. You are the only one who can truly make a difference as to how you feel about your body weight, it is up to you, so decide to work harder from now on.

By working hard on making some changes within your life, to change the way that you look and feel, the benefits will definitely start happening, and once you begin seeing those first signs or results, you will be very satisfied with the results, there is for sure no doubt about that. The elliptical machines can be used as often as you like, but normally people who are beginners with any type of exercise program, would only need to do it for about 30-45 minutes, three or four days a week. That small amount of time out of your busy schedule can make all the difference in the world, when it comes to looking and feeling 100% better about yourself and your new and improved healthier lifestyle.

Aging is something that none of us can avoid, but did you know that eating healthy and exercising can help with slowing down the aging process? By doing healthier things within your life, you are adding healthier years to your life, as well as improving all other aspects of your overall health and wellness. By using the elliptical machines and keeping your heart rate up to its maximum during your workout, you are making unimaginable improvements that can lengthen your life tremendously.

Anything positive that you can do, whether it is training on elliptical machines or quitting smoking will help and it is never too late to start a new and improved lifestyle. These changes will last you a lifetime, believe me when I say that. All of the people who care about you, truly want you to be happier and healthier so that they can enjoy having you around for many years to come. So, it is never too late to choose a healthier lifestyle, but it does get more difficult as we grow older, so think about this while you are still young.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Whats Inside Your Cup Of Tea, The Advantages Of Tea

In the preceding years, a good bit has been uncovered as regards to the benefits of tea. It is branded as a “wonder drug” by many and regardless if it is right or not is still an argument in the health industry. Though returning to ancient times, tea have been utilized by quite a few countries specifically in Japan, China, England, and India to name a few.

The buzz about the benefits of tea is becoming more and more persistent so that it can no longer be ignored. Testimonies after testimonies of people who are discovering the health effects of tea can no longer be put to silence. Well, no one can actually deny the fact that countries who consume tea the most also have the most number of people who live the longest life.

1. Benefits of Tea in Aging

Tea is known to be rich in antioxidants which are generally known to combat the appearance of wrinkles, age spots, and other signs of aging. Experiments carried out shows that mice fed with tea display lesser signs of aging than those which are just fed with water.

2. Benefits of Tea in Bone Strength

Tea flavonoids can help strengthen the bones. People who regularly drink green, black, oolong tea have higher bone mineral densities compared to those who are not tea drinkers.

3. Benefits of Tea in Cancer Prevention

Tea is now known to be one of the best cancer fighting drinks in the world. Black tea and green tea top the list of teas which are beneficial to cancer prevention. The compounds found in teas are reported to help keep cells from turning malignant. Simply put, people who drink tea get lesser chances of getting cancer.

4. Benefits of Tea in Lowering Cholesterol

Bad cholesterol levels can be lowered down by tea. In one research where patients are asked to eat healthy meals and drink five cups of tea, levels of bad cholesterol dropped up to ten percent.

5. Benefits of Tea in Weight Loss

More people are looking for a cheaper and easier way to lose weight. Tea has made its way to the spotlight when research shows that it can increase metabolism hence reduces the chances of one gaining weight. Tea is also known to accelerate the burning of calories which includes fat calories. Aside from its weight loss benefits, tea diets encourage a dieter to exercise and eat well.

6. Benefits of Tea to the Heart

Tea drinkers have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and lesser chances of suffering from heart disease. Black tea is highly recommended to lower bad cholesterol.

Tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. Its health benefits are many and differ from person to person and from tea to tea. Tea’s antioxidant polyphenols are acknowledged to combat many health ailments such as cancer, blood clotting, high cholesterol levels, allergies, and many more. Decide on the right tea for your diet and reap the benefits of a healthy drink. Don’t forget to consult your doctor for advice on which one is right for you!


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Fat Smash Diet Plan Will Smash Down The Pounds

American are becoming more and more overweight. The fact is that the majority of Americans are at least a little overweight or full out obese. It is amazing because it is in spite of all the billions of dollars spent every year on diet-related products. Even so, we are all still looking at different diets, in our quest for the PERFECT diet that will make us lose weight easily.

If you would rather smash the fat than smash the scale when you step on it, the Fat Smash Diet plan may be just the tool to help you on your way to a healthier, slimmer, happier you. The plan is divided into four sections, or phases, and each phase is designed to help you lose weight while adjusting your lifestyle so that you never again feel the need to try another diet.

Phase I of the Fat Smash Diet plan is only nine days long, and in this phase, you clean out your system and detoxify. Getting rid of the impurities that build up over a lifetime is a great way to begin and before you even get to the second phase, you are likely to feel better than you did just nine days earlier. You eat your veggies raw, steamed, or grilled, drink lots of water, and limit fats. The best part of phase I is that you get to eat very often – four to five times a day. There are lots of really good foods that you are allowed to eat, too. You can have milk (soy or skim), legumes, oatmeal, as many vegetables as you want, tofu, and a few other items like beans and garbanzo beans.

Phase II of the Fat Smash Diet plan comes along after nine days of the yummy foods above and the list of allowable foods increases. After the first nine days, you can add meat to your Fat Smash Diet plan. Seafood, lean meats, whole grain cereals, and even eggs, butter, and sugar are added to the list of sensory delights that you can enjoy. You continue to prepare foods by steaming or grilling and continue to eat small meals many times per day. Phase II ends after three weeks.

Phase III lasts for four weeks, and the preparation methods are pretty much the same. Even more foods are now allowed, though, including pasta and bread. Who can be sad when they are eating spaghetti?

Phase IV continues with healthy food preparation and portion control. As the last phase of the Fat Smash Diet plan, this is the phase that is designed to last you the rest of your life. Smith, the diet creator, believes that all the good habits developed in the first three phases will now allow you to choose wholesome, nutritious foods and keep you in the habit of eating smaller meals more frequently.

Along with the “rules” and lists of foods that are allowed and not allowed, Smith gives you advice and tips on eating healthy. He also understands that people will have cravings and actually deserve an occasional treat, so you are allowed to indulge a little bit every once in a while. Completely denying yourself a little indulgence from time to time is what makes diets so hard, so Smith helps you deal with that.

So what you have to do is smash the old ways, get rid of those extra pounds start enjoying life again with the Fat Smash Diet plan. A change in lifestyle is all that is going to be a permanent solution and the Fat Smash Diet Plan can help you with it.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The “Quick Weight Loss Diet” Fallacy - Fad Diet Plans

In today's “instant” world we want to lose the weight yesterday. This is a sure way to set yourself up for a disappointment as it is impossible to lose 100 pound in one week. Even if you do not have a lot to lose, setting realistic goals will prevent frustration.

In reality, you will do much better setting smaller, achievable targets for yourself. If you must try the new-clothes strategy, go down a size at a time, and do not buy anything you have to take out a second mortgage to pay for.

Because, if you continue to insist on losing weight fast, you will end up falling for fad diet plans that offer quick weight loss.

There is no such thing as a quick weight loss diet and there is no easy weight loss for people who want to be slimmer than they are at the moment.

The problem with most people is that they tend to opt for quick fixes, but the fact is that these “quick” fixes are not effective at all.

What Does Not Work:

Today, there are plenty of weight-loss strategies that are guaranteed to backfire. This is because these “quick” fixes are not efficient because they do not employ the right principles and the right attitude towards weight loss.

These quick weight loss diet plans are known as fad diet plans because that is exactly what they are, just a fad. In time, when fashion is over and popularity wanes down, people will realize that the diet they have depended on is not reliable at all.

To know more about these fad diet plans that are selling like hotcakes in the market today, here is a list of some telltale signs that would tell you not to try it even once.

Here they are:

1. Skipping meals

Does your diet plan require you to skip meals? If it does, then, it is a fad diet.

To abstain from food completely is not a healthy habit. It may even cause some serious complications or problems especially for people who have diabetes.

Skipping meals will only cause hypoglycemia, or the condition wherein your blood sugar is really low, and will probably only be effective in making you eat twice as much at the next meal.

2. Dieting without exercise

Exercise is crucial to the human body. It is important for proper blood circulation and other activities of the human body system.

Therefore, diet plans that do not require you to exercise are not realistic. People are born to move. So, do incorporate exercise in your weight loss regime. If you do not want to go out to exercise, why not consider home exercise equipment, such as a Keiser M3 Indoor Cycle, and then you can exercise whenever it suits you, even while you are watching TV!

But then again, exercise alone is not enough. It is best to combine diet and exercise.

3. Continuous procrastination

There is no better time to start losing weight than now. If you really want to lose those excess fats, you have start now.

Delaying tactics will not get you anywhere and will only make the problem worse. So, if your diet plan suggests a certain time frame for you to start losing weight, chances are, you are following the trend of fad diet plans.

Boiled down, it is best to rely more on the way you feel than the tale of the tape. This means that if the weighing scale tells you that you are losing weight even if it is slower than you would like, but you are feeling energetic and positive about your weight-loss efforts, then, you are doing just fine.

As mentioned and is worth mentioning all over again, weight loss is not a quick process.

Moderation is the keyword here. Get a healthy balanced diet and combine it with a healthy, moderate and realistic exercise program and you will see the pounds dropping off. Set small realistic goals and it will help you to stay motivated.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Somersize Eating Plan

There are many diets on the market that promises you that they are the ultimate "Lose Weight Diets" and the Somersize Eating Plan is not different. Have a look at how the diet works and decide for yourself whether it is a good diet or just another of the Fad Diet Plans doing the rounds.

Remember Chrissy from Three’s Company? This plan was developed by her. Suzanne Somers has gotten into nutrition and fitness in a big way. It started with the Thigh Master® and has continued with what people are calling the Somersize diet.

Somersize gets its basis from the ideas behind several other plans. Eating food in certain combinations will help the participants lose weight. The body’s metabolism has to learn to function properly. Eating junk food and greasy fare has ruined our metabolism and thrown our bodies out of whack.

The Somersize plan blames white flour for the problem. Foods created with white flour are high on the glycemic index. This means that consuming these foods will increase insulin production in the body. We get hungry more often and overeat to maintain energy levels.

The Somersize plan came out of Suzanne’s book, Get Skinny on Fabulous Food. It sounds like a gimmick and several people consider that it is. It is not a complete plan that teaches the basis behind food composition, but does offer lists of eliminated foods.

The plan divides food into four groups. The first group is the protein/fats group. It combines these two food types because protein and fat in combination leads to slower digestion of the food.

The veggie group is self-explanatory. Most veggies can be eaten as long as they don’t contain a lot of starch. This still leaves a large pool to pick from.

Carbohydrate groups lean towards whole grain sources. Since white flour products are frowned upon, any carbohydrate that comes from healthier grains is a better choice. Participants can still eat cereal, cheese, and milk, but varieties with less fat and better ingredients.

Fruits are the last group. Fruits provide healthy sugars. No fruits are off limits just don’t add sugar or other sweeteners to them or you’ll defeat the purpose.

There is a list of foods to eliminate while on the plan included. They are foods that most plans which stress low calorie carbohydrates tell participants to limit. The only problem with this list is that there is no plan for incorporating them back into the diet in small quantities if the participant wants to do so.

The guidelines are general. Fats and protein can be eaten together but can’t be eaten with carbohydrates. Vegetables are allowed to be eaten with fats and proteins and carbohydrates. Fruit should be eaten at the beginning of the day.

There needs to be a span of several hours between a carbohydrate meal before eating one with proteins and fats. The Somersize plan is quite generic so participants definitely should do their research and be sure they understand the importance of portion control before beginning.

To be honest, I think you should also have a look at How Can I Lose Fat and the guidelines in it before you make a decision on your course of action.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Burning Fat With A Stamina SpaceMate Folding Stepper

If you are asking the question: "How can I lose fat?" burning some of it off with a Stamina SpaceMate Folding Stepper is a very good idea. Moderate exercise is always a good idea when you are trying to lose weight as it speeds up the process.

The Stamina SpaceMate Folding Stepper is a good idea as it does not take up too much space and can be folded and stored very easily. This is ideal if you do not have a lot of space.

So, how long should you spend on a stepper each day to help you get rid of those extra pounds? Well, to tell the truth, even ten minutes will help. As long as you increase you heartbeat you will be burning fat. Remember the old method of calories in and calories out will always apply.

To burn fat you do not have to become a marathon runner, every bit help. For the maximum benefit, though, it is good to exercise at 60% of your maximum heart beat for at least 30 minutes.

1. How to work out 60% of your maximum heart rate:

First you have to start with 220 minus your age. To work out your optimal heart rate, for fat burning, take 60% of that and you have your maximum heart rate for burning t. As an example if you were 42 years old, the formula would look like this, 220-42= 178x60%= 107. Divide that by 6 and you have a 10 second count if you are checking your heart rate manually. All you have to do now is count the amount of beats for ten seconds and you know if you are exercising at the correct heart rate.

For the purposes of burning fat, working harder as that will be counter productive. Exercising at this intensity has to be kept up at least for 30 minutes, 40 would be better. If you have other fitness goals, you have to adjust for those, of course.

So, start getting your beach body by working out with your Stamina SpaceMate Folding Stepper. What is so good about it is that you can even watch TV while you are doing it. Some ideal multi tasking for you!

Remember to have fun. Do not kill yourself. Build up to the desired intensity and duration until you are fit enough to do it without too much stress. Another important point, never start on a training program before getting your doctors go ahead.