Diet Rundown

The Flat Belly Diet

2008-12-12T11:52:00.001-08:00

Recently, I was contacted by Prevention about their book, the Flat Belly Diet. They offered to send me the book if I would give it a try and blog about it on one of Prevention's blogs. I accepted and today is my fifth day of the diet. You can read about it at Buzz Prevention. I only have a couple of posts here so far since I just started, but I still wanted to share.

I have to say, at this point I am a bit disappointed. They said that during the four-day jumpstart you can lose up to seven pounds. I lost one. Of course, I am not able to be very active because of health issues, but still. I'm a little bummed.

I'm deciding if I will stay with the program. I really don't know if I'll lose much weight. However, the book is very interesting. The focus of the diet, monounsaturated fatty acids, are very well explained. And one thing I agree with, adding them to your meals will help you feel satiated. I have not been hungry, even when only consuming 1200 calories a day. (By the way, the 1200 calories is only for the first four days; it goes to 1600 after that).

Now I will mention, the others that are doing this diet with me are having much more success than I am. The diet isn't defective; it's more like my thyroid is defective. Really. My doctor said so.

So, for those who would like to check it out, here is the link to the book: Flat Belly Diet The recipes are actually pretty good and the book says you can lose weight without exercise. There is a section in the back with exercises, but they are totally optional.

The perks? Besides no exercise, you are required to add a MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid) to each meal. Like dark chocolate or avocados. Yum! How many diets require you to eat foods like that?

Check it out for yourself and let me know how you do! :)

Eat Clean for Family & Kids Part Two

2008-12-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

If part one of the Eat Clean Diet for Family & Kids has your interest piqued, you'll find the rest of this book fascinating as well.

There are chapters that discuss how to eat clean at school and at a restaurant. For those of us concerned with these hard economic times, you'll especially appreciate the chapter on Clean Eating on a Budget. But the meat of this book starts at chapter 15--the food!

You'll find some truly mouthwatering recipes for breakfast, lunch, main dishes, side dishes and treats. Yes, you can have treats. My personal favorites are the trail mix and the yummy apple pie (love apple pie!)

So, now is the time to get your copy and plan your healthy eating plan for next year. Only a few short weeks until 2009. Read the book, make your shopping list and get ready to lead your family into a healthy new year.

Book Review: The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids Part 1

2008-11-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

With the holidays fast approaching, you might be already planning to revamp your eating habits for the New Year. You might feel less guilty pigging out now if you know you'll start fresh in January! As you ponder ideas for the next diet for you, consider giving your whole family's diet an overhaul, too.

Impossible? Kids too picky? Husband too set in his ways? It's time for you to get the latest book by fitness expert Tosca Reno, The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids. I've mentioned before that Tosca's books are the most common-sense diet books I have ever read--and I've read a lot of them. This one is no exception.

You'll learn how to make life changes that make you and your family healthy. This isn't some gimmicky diet that makes you cut out whole food groups or makes you drink weird concoctions. This is a course in proper nutrition that teaches you how to really enjoy the foods you eat. Not only that, but you actually get to eat plenty of it!

No counting calories here. Just make good choices and teach your kids to do the same. You'll be surprised to see that they actually like good foods. Here is what you'll discover in this fabulous book:

Chapter One: What is Clean Eating? If you haven't read Tosca's first book The Eat-Clean Diet, this is where you'll learn the basics. If you have read the other books she has written, this will be a nice refresher. You'll learn about the things you eat that really have no part in the regular diet of healthy people.

Chapter Two: Our Kids' Failing Health We may not like to admit it, but the health of children in this country is going down the tubes. This is due largely to the processed, sugary diets that they are fed. Even foods that you might think aren't too bad (or even that claim to be healthy) can lead to excess weight. This weight problem leads to health problems.

Chapter Three: Get Your Family On Board This may seem like the hardest part, but if you make gradual changes it can be painless. Really! And small changes over time leads to greater success in the long-term.

Chapter Four: Making it Work at Home To pull off the healthy changes you are making, you'll need everyone to be a part of it. In fact, including your kids will not only make it easier on you, but will teach them valuable skills that they'll use the rest of their lives. This chapter offers 12 practical tips to make it work.

Chapter Five: Clean Up Your Eating Environment It's hard to expect your family to eat healthy foods when they find nothing but junk food all over the house. Learn how to clean out the junk while still providing foods that everyone enjoys. You'll especially enjoy Tosca's Top-10 Instant Kitchen Makeovers. It's a list of simple substitutions that will replace they yucky stuff with healthy alternatives.

Chapter Six: Habits of the Healthiest People Here you'll learn the 10 secrets that will get you on the right track. You'll also learn to be a food detective, how to read a nutrition label and 17 great snack options.

This is just a taste of the first six chapters. I'll tell you about the rest of the book in my next post.

And the Winner Is...

2008-08-02T03:54:00.000-07:00

The winner of the free workout book giveaway is GrnMtnGrl at Green Mountain Girl's Adventures! I will email her later today for her mailing information.

By the way Green Mountain Girl, I love your blog. :)

I want to thank everyone who stopped by to enter this giveaway. I hope you will all keep visiting and keep watching--you never know when I'll have another great freebie.

Thanks again everyone.

An Exercise Pill

2008-08-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

If you are like me and have a hard time exercising, you're going to like this news. Scientists have found two chemical compounds that may trick you body into thinking it has exercised more than it actually has. Now that sounds like my kind of workout!

Of course, this is a long way from being tested on people, but mice who were given these compounds were found to burn more fat and even were able to run longer than the mice who were not given the compounds.

This type of drug could be just the ticket for those unable to exercise much due to chronic illness or extreme obesity. This doesn't mean that no physical activity is needed however. The mice who did nothing noticed no benefits. On the other hand, the mice who were put on their little mousy treadmills were actually able to run significantly longer than mice who didn't have the extra benefit of the the compounds.

So if this becomes something that people can use in the future, a person who is only able to walk to the mailbox and back will be able to do more. No word yet on potential side effects though. Hopefully we'll hear more soon.

For more details read Drugs Give Couch-Potato Mice Benefits of Exercise.

Win a Free Workout Book!

2008-07-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Starting today, July 28 through August 1, Diet Rundown is having a giveaway for a free workout book. If you remember a short time back, I posted about the Show It Love Workout. Well, I just happen to have an extra copy and would love to send it to someone who will enjoy it.

To enter, just leave me a post here on this blog and tell me why you'd like a copy of the Show It Love Workout. Be sure to give me your email so I can contact you if you win. If you'd like, you can email me at Kathleen@DietRundown.com with your email address after you have made your post here. Be sure and let me know which post is yours if you used a screen name.

If you'd like to enter for more giveaways, visit Kathleen's Brand Buzz for another giveaway. You can also find lots more at Bloggy Giveaways.com so make sure to visit and check out all the fun!

Senior Exercises and More

2008-07-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of time today, but I wanted to share a site I found that has fitness information for seniors. There is also a nice page on exercises for seniors on this site as well as information on how hard you should exercise and how to improve endurance and flexibility. The site is called Responsive Health.

When you visit this site you'll find other information too. It's not just for seniors. There are sections on men's, women's and children's health as well as senior health. What I liked about the page on senior exercise is that these simple exercises would be great for people with illnesses that make it hard to exercise.

For example, I have some illnesses that make exercise very difficult. Some days I can't even walk from my bed to my kitchen (making coffee is a big motivator though!). Since most of these exercises involve sitting in a chair, I think I could handle them.

I hope you all enjoy this site. It has a great deal of helpful information.

Can You Have Too Much Water?

2008-07-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

We all know that drinking water is important to good health and weight control, but can you ever have too much? Yes! I remember some time back a woman died as a result of overdosing on water for contest to win a video game system.

More recently, a man died after drinking large quantities of cold water to numb his hurting gums. This is known as water intoxication or water poisoning according to Wikipedia.

In a similar vein, recently a woman won a judgment for large sum of money when advice from her nutritionist caused her to become epileptic. After being advised to embark on the Amazing Hydration Diet to detoxify, Mrs. Dawn Page became extremely ill. Mrs. Page was told to drink an extra eight cups of water a day and drastically cut her sodium intake. She was advised that the vomiting which struck her after doing this for a several days was part of the detoxification process. Later she had an epileptic seizure and was rushed to the hospital.

This is something that makes me repeat: It's not how skinny you are; it's how healthy you are. Mrs. Page was not an obese woman but she still felt she needed to lose weight. Unfortunately, the advice she received, from someone she should have bee able to trust, was faulty. She will suffer from this bad information for the rest of her life.

Be careful of fad diets. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

(Image courtesy of Stock Xchng; Photographer: Trudy Loosman)

Try SparkPeople for a Free Diet Plan

2008-07-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Have you checked out SparkPeople yet? If not, you are missing out on some great aids in losing weight and getting healthy.

SparkPeople is a popular website that offers all kind of helpful tools for your weight loss journey. The best part is, all of the tools are free! With your free registration you get a personalized diet and fitness plan and free email newsletters that are relevant to you. For example, I get one on high cholesterol because, well, I have high cholesterol. There are many others to choose from as well.

If you remember my post about keeping a food diary, this is a great way to do it. Input foods on your nutrition page as well as your water consumption. This food diary will tell you the calories you have consumed for the day. It also allows you to set nutrition goals, print grocery lists and print your meal plan for the week. What more could you ask for?

Wait! It gets better. You can also set fitness goals for strength and cardio and track your progress. You can also watch videos on how to do different exercised, like Pilates exercised on an exercise ball. Each week you can also input your weight so you can see how well you are doing.

You'll also have access to an online journal where you can express yourself thoughout your ups and downs. If you need extra support you can visit the forums and talk with others who are dealing with the same challenges--and victories!--as you are.

In a nutshell, SparkPeople is a one stop diet center and support group that helps you set and reach goals and offers the motivation you need to succeed. Join the thousands who love SparkPeople.

Free Online Diet Plan at SparkPeople.com

You Just Thought It Was Healthy

2008-07-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

I just saw an excellent video from Healthy Life, a part of ABC News.com. In it, the nutrition director of Prevention magazine tells about foods that many people think are healthy choices, but in reality they are poor choices for people who are watching their weight and their health. The baddies are:

Diet soda--as few as two can a day can make you 57 percent more likely to become obese
Blueberry muffins--high in calories and fat, made with white flour
Pretzels--high calories, white flour. Try whole wheat versions instead.
Spinach wraps--they just have green coloring, not actual spinach
Vitamin water--high calories, high sugar. Like drinking Kool-Aid with some vitamins added, not a healthy choice at all.

Foods that dieters avoid but are actually good choices include:

Bananas--high in potassium, eat the tiny ones to be calorie conscious
Potatoes--high potassium, antioxidants and vitamins
Dried fruit--eat small portions with no added sugar
Frozen veggies--nutrients are frozen into them, can be healthier than fresh because vitamins degrade as they sit

I have been trying for an hour now to embed the video for you to watch but I guess Blogger doesn't like the code. If I figure it out, I'll put it up for you to see. It is listed under ABC News Now, Healthy Life. The video is titled "What Foods Are Really Good for Us?" Sorry about that.

Naked Exercise!?

2008-07-10T16:09:00.001-07:00

I just read a hilarious post on AOL. It is about doing push-ups naked. Apparently it helps you be more aware of my body. I think this type of exercise will just make me more aware that I should never take my clothes off.

So go and read about naked push-ups and tell me if you feel the same.

Now that I think about it, one naked exercise session may just burn into my brain why I need to exercise more!

Keep a Food Diary

2008-07-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

A recent study has found that dieters who keep a food diary lose twice as much weight as those who do not. The study, involving 1685 middle-aged people, required that a food journal be kept to track everything they ate each day. Participants also were asked to consume fruits, veggies and whole grains while reducing fats. They also exercised 180 minutes a week, mostly walking. This works out to walking less than half an hour each day.

Keeping a food journal makes a dieters accountable for the choices they make. It also makes each choice a conscious choice instead of the mindless eating that so many of us do without realizing it.

This makes perfect sense. If you have to acknowledge and write down everything you put in to your mouth, you are more likely to make good choices. Why don't you give it a try? The study participants kept their journal for six months. However, even if you do it for one month, I'm betting you will notice a big change in your eating habits.

Let me know how it goes!

Eat Clean, Be Healthy

2008-07-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Have you read the Eat Clean Diet yet? This has to be one of the most sensible diets I have read yet. Written by fitness expert Tosca Reno, this diet focuses on speeding up your metabolism with the right foods in the right quantities. You will absolutely NOT go hungry with this diet. In fact, you might wonder how you are going to eat all of the food required.

Tosca discovered the principles of clean eating when, after a failed marriage made her take a look at how she was taking care of herself, she threw herself into exercise and self-improvement. She realized that the type of diet that athletes and body builders follow was a great way to nourish your body and help it to burn off unwanted fat.

This isn't a quick-fix diet where you can drop 10 pounds in a week. This is a change in lifestyle that will make you healthy and give you energy. You might be initially intimidated by the amount of food you have to eat (I know I was) but if you follow the guidance in this book, you'll soon see why it is important. Much like the idea of the Big Breakfast Diet, eating more of the right foods will help you have a beautiful body. Amazingly, you will find yourself eating six times a day in this plan.

Tosca's formula for a beautiful body is 80 percent healthy eating, 10 percent exercise and 10 percent genetic. You will want to include exercise in this diet plan, but it won't be exhaustingly intense workouts. Some basic weight training (at home) a few times a week is the best way to see results. Add other activities like walking, biking or swimming and you'll really take off.

In her book, Tosca explains the importance of water and protein in your diet. She also tells you why sugar is a big no-no. You'd be surprised at the sugar content in many of you favorite foods. You'll also learn about the right kind of carbohydrates and why they are important to a healthy you.

I highly recommend this book. It is for sure one of the most common sense approaches to weight loss to will read. Check it out today.

Enough of the Dog Food Already!!

2008-06-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I tried to be patient. I thought it might take a bit of time for my ads in the left sidebar to work right. No, I didn't really expect anyone to eat dog food and maintain a healthy diet. Although, my oldest son ate some once and assures me that it's really good.

I am tired of the dog food ads and will soon be adding an Amazon store to this site. At least then the products shown will actually be relevant to diet and nutrition for people!

Don't get me wrong. I love dogs. I have two of my own. But these ads are really getting to be silly.

Fast Food Without Regret

2008-06-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

I am not very happy with myself today. My husband suggested ordering Chinese take-out for dinner tonight and I said okay. We are fortunate enough to have a really wonderful Chinese restaurant about two blocks from our house. I had such a hard time deciding what I wanted.

Lately I have been ordering the vegetable lo mein. Today I thought I'd splurge with some lobster lo mein. And an eggroll. He also ordered crab rangoon so I had to eat two of those too. So as I sat here chastising myself over eating so many calories so late in the day I did a little research on calories in Chinese take-out.

What I found was actually a pleasant surprise, although I guess it shouldn't have been. After all, compared to fat-saturated, salt-coated burger stops, Chinese food is actually pretty healthy. Even when it isn't homemade.

Avoid the Sauces
What you need to watch out for is the sauces. Loaded with salt, sugar and oils those sauces can quickly sabotage all the hard work you have put into your diet plan. Many Chinese entrees can actually have a full day's worth of calories but if you are careful, you can enjoy eating out without the guilt.

Of course, you want to avoid anything fried. My crab rangoon and eggroll were not great choices. You can often request that the sauces be on the side. Our favorite restaurant gives us a large dish of sweet and sour sauce to go with the chicken (my kids eat the chicken) but we never use it.

Great Options
Great options include spring rolls, steamed dumplings (my personal favorite) and egg drop or wonton soup. Even my usual vegetable lo mein isn't too bad--as long as I don't eat the whole pint. Most Chinese restaurants offer steamed veggies that you can add to your meal. Rice is a terrific choice as well. If you are able to get brown rice, that's great too but white rice isn't too bad. I'm sure it beats my lo mein noodles. Fried rice, on the other hand, isn't such a good idea if you are trying to eat healthy.

I happened to notice that our local fav has a selection of diet dishes. Here are some examples:

Chicken Mixed Vegetables
Steamed Mixed Vegetables
Shrimp with Broccoli
Scallops with Mixed Vegetables

There are even more listed, but you get the idea. So next time we decide to order take-out I know I can do much better than I did tonight. Have I ever mentioned how much I love scallops? The best part is that one order will feed me for dinner and lunch the next day.

For more information on making better choices so you can enjoy fast food without the guilt, check out HelpGuide.org. They have an interesting article called Healthy Fast Food that you will enjoy.

(Image courtesy of Stock Xchng; Photographer: Chris Anderson)

"Big Breakfast" Study

2008-06-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

A recent study showed that eating a big breakfast can help you to lose weight and keep it off. I talked about it yesterday in Eat More, Weigh Less. This may be confusing for those who are trying to count their calories or watch their carbs. Really though, it makes perfect sense.

Why it Works
Here is the thing: in the study, both groups were allowed a low-calorie diet. The small breakfast group ate 1085 calories a day and the big breakfast group were allowed 1240 calories. It may surprise you that the group consuming more calories a day had a higher weight loss. However, if you consider when the calories were consumed, you begin to understand why this approach works.

By consuming a larger amount of calories in the early part of your day, you have more time to burn them off. You are also well fueled so you may even do more during the day, allowing you to burn even more calories.

Eating protein at each meal also keeps your blood sugar stable. This prevents the mid-day munchies that many of us deal with each day. It also prevents the afternoon crash-and-burn that many experience after thinking they have been fine all day. Often this late day crash is what causes people to eat more than they really need in an effort to get some energy.

A large meal at the end of the day--especially for those who eat their evening meal late in the evening--just fills your body with calories that won't be used. Of course, this means the calories will be stored as fat instead of being used as energy like they should be.

What About Carbs?
So, for those upset over the high carb part of this diet it is good to consider the type of carbs being consumed. All carbs are not bad carbs. In fact, carbs are what give you energy. You just need to eat the right kind of carbs.

White flour, sugar and processed foods are not the best kind of carbs to take into your body. These are known as simple carbohydrates. They are too quickly processed by the body and can lead to problems with your blood sugar levels. This is a major factor contributing to your afternoon slow down.

The less processed the carbohydrate, the better it is for your body. Carbs that are not processed (or processed very little) will take longer for your body to process. These are called complex carbohydrates. This means that the nutrients will be released slowly into your system. It also means that instead of a sudden spike of energy followed by a major low, your energy will gradually be burned over a longer period of time. You'll feel better and be less likely to pig out when you get off of work.

Read More
I found two great articles about the big breakfast study that I think you will enjoy.

*MSNBC Big Breakfast Article

*MedicineNet.com Big Breakfast Diet

(Image coutesy of Stock Xchng; Photographer: Alicia Solario)

Eat More, Weigh Less

2008-06-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Your mother always told you to eat your breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day, right? Well now there is scientific proof that eating a hearty breakfast not only fuels you for the day, it also helps you to lose weight and keep it off.

A new study done at the Hospital de Clinicas in Venezuela has discovered that when women consume half their daily calories for breakfast, they lose more weight than women who skimp on breakfast. They also keep the weight off.

Breakfast that contain protein and complex carbohydrates reduce the cravings for sugar and other junk food. This type of breakfast also boosts metabolism which helps to burn fat.

In the study, which was conducted with 100 obese women, half of the women had a breakfast that gave them almost half of their daily allotment of 1240 calories, while the other group had small breakfasts.

Initially the small-breakfast group lost more weight but by the end of the study they had gained back the weight. The big-breakfast group lost 21 percent of their body weight, a huge lead over the other group who lost only four and a half percent.

The big breakfast group ate 47 grams of protein, 58 grams of carbs and 22 grams of fat for breakfast. The other group only had 12 grams of protein and 7 grams of carbs.

So, the moral of this study is eat your breakfast! Start your day right with a high-protein, high-carb breakfast. Choose healthy proteins and carbs though, not junk. You will be pleased to discover that you feel better throughout the day. You'll be even more pleased to see the weight melt away.

(Image courtesy Stock Xchng; Photographer: Steve Woods)

Show It Love Workout Review

2008-06-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Show It Love Workout is an amazing book written by Kacy Duke and Selene Yeager. It is based on the idea that physical and emotional fitness go together, which is an interesting concept often forgotten in the world of diets and fitness.

This book is broken down into three sections: I Am, I Can and I Do. Each section offers suggestions on food, exercise and goal setting. They also include Milestones and Workout Log sections.

Overall, this book focuses on the fact that your workouts and weight loss goals need to be motivated from within. Kacy says in her book that in order to achieve success, a person must incorporate not only the physical things but also the spiritual and emotional things. All together, these help a person to reach their fullest potential.

In the Show It Love Workout, women are taught how to appreciate and love their own bodies instead of striving after the look of celebrities and other women that they see each day. The I Am section focuses on the woman's mindset and her relationship with her own body. You'll find the Your Body and You Quiz to be very enlightening. This is the foundation for building a successful workout routine that will work for you.

In I Can, you learn how to get the strength and motivation you need from inside yourself. Once you believe in yourself, you'll be thrilled at what you can accomplish. Not only will you learn to look at yourself in a whole new light, you'll also learn how to view food. Eating becomes something to nourish your body instead of something to hide your emotions.

In I Do, you learn the last step to a beautiful body--the exercises! These movements will build on the other concepts that you have worked on to create a workout that will sculpt your perfect body.

While the exercises in this book are for every fitness level, you will need a few pieces of equipment. Kacy suggests having a few items along with some comfortable clothing and good, supportive shoes:

A staff or broom stick
A body bar of about 18 pounds
Two sets of dumbbells--light and medium weight
A workout mat or thick towel

There are a few other props in the different sections, but they can easily be found in your home. You'll also find lots of tasty recipes throughout the book that will help you prepare good food that fuels your body instead of bogging it down.

The Show It Love Workout is a fantastic way for women to re-examine themselves and the reasons they have for failure in the efforts to achieve a healthy body that they can be proud of.

Welcome to Diet Rundown!

2008-06-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Diet Rundown. Here you will find reviews of diet books as well as health and nutrition advice. I have interviewed many diet experts and have found an abundance of interesting diet books. Some are great. Some are not so great. Find out which ones are worth a look before you spend your money and time on them.

Also learn what's new in other health-related topics. From Wii-Fit to Zumba, you'll see what is new and fun to keep you healthy. Remember, it isn't about how skinny you are; it's about how healthy you are.

This is also a great place to share what works for you. Please share your experiences in the comments section. You never know who you might inspire. Let's get healthy together!

(Image courtesy of Stock Xchng, Photographer: Sanja Gjenero)