Coffee Basics

They’re tempting, but watch out for fancy coffee drinks filled with calories. Switch from a Frappuccino to regular coffee and lose 100 calories or more.

Get Schooled

It's time to go back to the classroom. Sign up for that ceramics or pastry class you’ve always wanted to take. Study French, astronomy, or art history. Learning something new fuels your creativity and keeps your mind sharp. It's fun, too!

Welcome to Doing Weights

Even if you've never lifted a weight in your life, it's never too late to get started. You might even surprise yourself. First of all, stop thinking in terms of dumbbells and barbells at the gym. Did you haul a toddler on your hip for three years? Do you refill the paper in the copier at work? Do you regularly carry bags of groceries up flights of stairs? All of these things require some muscle. You wouldn't be able to do these activities if you had none. So get out there! You may not even know your own strength.

Finding Fiber:

Sure, eating more fiber sounds like a great idea, but how do you realistically work it in to your day? First, always choose whole-grain products like whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, and grains like bulgur and quinoa instead of white rice, white bread, and other refined-grain products. Also, follow these tips:


Start the day with whole-grain cereal.


When appropriate, eat vegetables raw, because cooking can reduce fiber content.


Avoid peeling fruits and vegetables when you can, because the skin contains a lot of fiber. (Just be sure to buy organic fruit so you can avoid nasty pesticides.)


Add beans to soups, stews, and salads.


Keep fresh fruit on hand for snacks.

Take Charge

Instead of feeling guilty or lazy about blowing off something you've been meaning to do, take out that to-do list and stop procrastinating. Do yard work, pay your bills, clean out the attic, purge your unwanted clothes and then take the bags to your favorite charity. You'll feel such relief when you cross those items off your list for good. Bottom line: When you start taking charge of the external things in your life, it will be easier to tackle the internal ones.

Be Cheesy

There are two things you can do to make cheese a part of your healthy diet. The first is to eat low-fat or fat-free cheese — skim-milk cheeses like mozzarella are good for you. The second is to measure and watch your portions.

Low Calorie Fillers

The biggest bang for your calorie buck? Foods with high water content, because they'll fill you up with fewer calories. Fruits, vegetables, and soups are all filling, low-calorie options.

A Pre-Workout Snack

Foods high in complex carbohydrates — such as fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread, rice, or pasta — are excellent pre-exercise snacks.

Eat for a Longer Life

While no one single food is a cure-all, researchers have found that certain foods do have superior disease-fighting properties. So fill up on salmon, dark chocolate, and blueberries!

Time Your Meals

Aim to eat your last meal at least three hours before bedtime to allow your stomach acids ample time to finish their work digesting food.

Stuck in a Rut?

The best way to break a plateau is to keep your salt intake below 2,000 milligrams a day and drink lots of water. Make sure you're not eating any processed carbs, period. That's right — no chips, sugar, white flour, and so on. And hit the gym hard! The boost in exercise will make your body swell and hold fluids for a few days, but after a week you should see the benefits on the scale.

Toning Doesn't Mean Bulking Up

Women always worry that they feel hesitant about toning exercises that require weights because they're afraid of building bulky muscles. Hear me out, ladies: It's extremely difficult for women to gain muscle mass simply by doing toning exercises ― we don't have the testosterone that guys do that lets them build mass. Using weights to tone your muscles will make you look trim and terrific, not big and bulky.

Think Before you Pop

Microwave popcorn might seem like a fast and easy snack, but it may expose you to the endocrine disruptor perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This chemical is used in the lining of microwave popcorn bags, so when you heat your popcorn, PFOA can leach out and coat it. Nix the microwave popcorn bags for an easy (and cheaper) alternative: Buy organic popcorn kernels and pop them in an air popper. Or put the kernels in a paper bag (make sure it's unbleached) and microwave them.

Stay Out of Danger Zones

If you're troubled by temptations on the job, see if you can really make an effort to avoid the high-voltage areas. If there's a vending machine in the office kitchen that gets you every time, or if the cafeteria offers a lot of high-fat or processed foods, stay away from those places. Bring in your own healthy meals, and keep good-for-you snacks at your desk or wherever your job takes you. Try to steer clear of anything that might throw you off course!

Overeating

What kind of emotional demons are lurking in your closet (or refrigerator)? Not sure? Well, it's time to find out, and to exorcise them once and for all. To succeed where you have failed, sometimes you have to take three steps back to take that first step forward. In terms of reaching your goal weight, "stepping back" means reviewing past and current self-defeating behaviors to identify where you got stuck, discouraged, or overwhelmed.


Here are several of the most common causes of overeating. Grab a journal and list all the excuses that are familiar to you. 


Emotion - Do you overeat as a coping mechanism, to numb suffering, allay fears, combat loneliness, and so on?


Reward - Do you indulge in eating to reward yourself when you've done a good job on something?


Seeking acceptance - Do you overeat because you're seeking social acceptance? Do you eat fattening foods at parties so as not to offend the host? If you're out with friends, do you feel the need to have a drink just to fit in? Add to your list any other situations that have derailed your success.


By doing this exercise, you can isolate specific problems and work on finding solutions for them. Find out (and conquer) what has locked you into self-defeating habits, and develop healthy, affirming behaviors instead. Whatever your downfalls might have been in the past, there is a way to deal with them in the present. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but if you hang in there, you will succeed!

Satisfy Your Cravings

If you're craving sweet or creamy, try light or frozen yogurt, fruit, or sugar-free pudding. If you have a yen for crunchy or salty, try pretzels, popcorn, a couple of graham crackers, or apple slices with a bit of peanut butter.

Eat nuts daily for healthy heart

Eating one ounce of mixed nuts (raw unpeeled walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts) a day may benefit those who are at high risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes, a new study has suggested.


Scientists have for the first time found a link between eating nuts and higher levels of serotonin in the bodies of patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS), who are at high risk for heart disease.


Serotonin is a substance that helps transmit nerve signals and decreases feelings of hunger, makes people feel happier and improves heart health.


Cristina Andres-Lacueva and colleagues from the Biomarkers and NutriMetabolomics Research Group of the University of Barcelona in collaboration with the Human Nutrition Unit of the Rovira i Virgili University explained that the rise in obesity around the world means more and more patients have MetS.


Symptoms of MetS include excess abdominal fat, high blood sugar and high blood pressure, which increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.


To check the biochemical effects of nut consumption, the researchers put 22 MetS patients on a nut-enriched diet for 12 weeks and compared them to another group of 20 patients who were told to avoid nuts.


The scientists analysed the broad spectrum of compounds excreted in the patients' urine and found evidence of several healthful changes.


One surprise was evidence that nut consumption had boosted patients' levels of serotonin metabolites in urine.


They point out that the study provides the first evidence in humans of the beneficial effects of nut consumption in reducing levels of substances in the body associated with inflammation and other cardiovascular risk factors in patients with metabolic syndrome.


The report appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.

Scrub Your Veggies

Recent research points to a possible link between ADHD and pesticides on produce. So next time you eat fruits and veggies, don't just rinse them. Give them a good scrubbing.

The Kitchen is Closed!

If you have the tendency to snack while you watch TV, you may be consuming more calories than you know. Give your kitchen a “closing time,” like 8 p.m., so you aren't tempted to eat into the late hours.

Laugh It Off

Relaxation doesn’t have to be so serious. Laughter is a great stress reliever, so take time out to watch a favorite sitcom or a classic screwball comedy.

Shake Up Your Routine

Alternate between cardio and strength-training machines at the gym, take fun workout classes, play sports with friends, or just head outside for an energizing walk, hike, or bike ride.

Keep it Old-School

Prepare the ultimate playlist of your favorite songs. Upload them to your MP3 player or burn a CD, then pump the tunes when stress strikes.

Kick the Sugar

Sugar gives you an instant high that can be addictive. In order to break this cycle, substitute healthy foods like fresh fruits to wean yourself off simple sugars. You can also try plain, fat-free yogurt with fresh fruit.

Are You Making Excuses?

It's always important to be honest with yourself about how much your relationships are really affecting your attempts to lead a healthier life. Many people blame their partner, for example, when they themselves should take on more responsibility. It's easy to blame someone else when you don't make it to the gym in the morning, but is it really that person's fault? If you have a clear goal, your motivation and determination must come from within ― not from an outside source. The support of your loved ones is invaluable, but those who always lean on someone else to motivate them will never succeed.

Going 'Veg' is Good for You

Why going veg is a good idea, even if it's just once a week. 


Detoxifies: A veggie diet contains dietary fibre (bottle gourd, pumpkins, spinach, cabbages), which flushes toxins out of the body. A diet containing only eggs, fish and mutton is a poor source of fibre. 


Stronger bones: Gorging on meat can lead to protein overload. This can tax our kidneys, interfere with the absorption of calcium and prompt the body to extract existing calcium from the bones. Such calcium excretion is rare amongst vegetarians. 


Carb deficiencies: A non-vegetarian diet is a poor source of carbohydrates. Carb-deficiency can lead to ketosis - a condition where the body starts breaking down fat (instead of carbs) as a source of energy. 


Easy digestion: Complex carbohydrates in vegetarian foods are digested gradually providing a steady source of glucose. Conversely, meats rich in fat and proteins are difficult to digest. 


Healthy skin: Eating beetroot, tomato, pumpkin and bitter gourd can clear off blemishes. And guava, apples, pears and peaches, eaten along with their peel, promise a glowing complexion. 


Weight management: Avoiding meat is the simplest way to reduce fat intake. Instead, eating whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and fruits, lowers cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and obesity. 


Easy on the teeth: Our molars are more suitable for grinding grains and vegetables than tearing flesh. Digestion begins with the saliva, which can only digest complex carbohydrates present in plant foods. 


Phyto nutrients: Diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, stroke and bone loss are partially preventable with a good intake of phytonurtients. As these are present only in vegetarian diet, the non-vegetarians are at a loss. 

Keep It Clean

Depression and anxiety can leave you with no energy to straighten up — but messy surroundings are bound to make you feel worse. If you're feeling particularly down, focus on cleaning the rooms that get the most traffic.

Fend Off Fried Food

Fried food can be a hard habit to break. If you must fry, use vegetable oils, and remember that pan frying is better than deep frying, and stir frying is better than pan frying. Even better, bake fries and chips in the oven.

Be Gracious

All it takes is a simple thank you. Showing your appreciation to your family and friends and being thankful for the good things in your life can lift your mood. And it makes other people feel good, too.

Clear out Your Closets

Cleaning out your closets may do wonders for both you and your home. According to feng shui, a cluttered house equals a cluttered mind — even when the mess is hidden from view.

The Role of Fat

You probably don't think of fat as an active part of your body, do you? Although researchers used to believe that fat cells were just big blobs of yuck waiting to get bigger or smaller, they now know that fat is an enormous endocrine gland, actively producing and reacting to hormones. The less fat you have, the less likely you are to overload your leptin receptors (the important hormone that helps your body figure out how hungry it is) and deafen them to what leptin is trying to tell them ― one more reason that fat-burning exercise is crucial for a healthy hormone balance!