“If you just lose weight and don’t change your attitude along with your eating and exercise habits, you will gain the weight back.” –Anne Fletcher, M.S., R.D., author of Thin for Life: 10 Keys to Success from People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off
Category Archives: Tips
The UnDiet is on Facebook!
I know, I know, I should have done this a long time ago. The UnDiet has been on Twitter for years, but somehow setting up a page on Facebook kept getting set aside. Go on over to check out the UnDiet on Facebook and Like it if you – well, like it.
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How to Get Through Halloween Without Blowing Your Diet
It’s that time of year again – the month of the hallowed sugar rush – Halloween. The good news is that there are ways to whiz past all those piles of goodies without falling off your UnDiet, AND without feeling deprived. Note to self: these tips work for any party or tempting situation, such as the office lunchroom.
Be Prepared
Don’t rely solely on will-power to avoid the platters of home-made bat-shaped Marshmallow Rice Krispie bars and jars of pumpkin shaped candy-corn that are hanging out in every office reception area and kitchen this month. Instead, arm yourself with a purse full of UnDiet Halloween Treats. It’s much easier to leave the bowls of miniature candy bars alone when you can munch on a Caramel Chew instead.
Eat a Little
If you’re powerfully drawn to every bowl of candy-corn you pass, eat four of the little buggers, then move on. Don’t stand there staring at the bowl. Don’t analyze your craving. Don’t beat yourself up for wanting something that is coded into our genetic structure. It is. Really. Don’t try to figure out if you just gotta’ have one more. Just move on. Step away. Do it! Now!
Get Perspective
Stare at your naked or underwear clad body in the mirror. Relish the progress you’ve made losing weight, getting healthy and toning up. Ask yourself if you want to gain back any portion of your old body just for the temporary satisfaction of a handful of sugar. Remember how yukky it felt when you ate too much sugar; the sluggishness, the moodiness, the headaches … Now imagine yourself enjoying UnDiet sweet treats. Imagine enjoying guilt free Coconut-Almond Toffee Bars, indulging in Caramel Apples without gaining weight, munching on Honey Popcorn Bars without enduring that awful sugar rush and subsequent let down. Now do you still feel like snarfing miniature Snickers bars?
Treats to Munch On Instead of Candy
Put these treats out at your own gatherings right beside the expected sugar-laden treats, or bring one or two of these along to the parties you attend:
plain buttered popcorn
spiced up popcorn using some of our healthy popcorn recipes
whole wheat pretzels (Trader Joe’s sells a whole wheat and honey pretzel that’s incredible)
Sandwich Platter: stack 2 slices of whole grain bread. Using Halloween cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Tip: if your kids are resisting whole grain breads try packing these in their lunchbox. What child could resist devouring a “spooky sandwich”?.
sliced apples with a refined-sugar-free caramel sauce to dip them in
any of the treats from our Healthy Halloween Candy post
any of the treats from our Healthy Halloween Treats post
Give Unto Others What You Wouldn’t Eat Yourself
All right, this isn’t one of the Bible’s official ten, but it’s definitely one of the successful UnDieters’ tools!
After allowing your children to choose a designated amount of candy distribute the rest of their loot by filling gift bags to pass on to teachers, grandparents, hospital wards (don’t confine yourself to the children’s ward), nursing homes, aunts, uncles, elderly neighbors … It’s not the sugar that counts, it’s the thought. You could even include a cute note saying how sweet your connection to them is to tie it in with the candy theme.
Now go forth and enjoy Halloween, no longer afraid of the next bowl of candy-corn lurking behind the door.
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Eating Your Fruits and Vegetables
Our nation is riddled with health problems. From heart disease to obesity, it may seem like an uphill battle to try to stay healthy and ensure that you do not spend time, money and energy dealing with health problems that could have been avoided.
When you are trying to lead a healthier life, a great way to start is by getting in enough fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables will ensure that your body is getting the nutrients that it needs to avoid many diseases.
It’s recommended that an adult eat about nine servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. This averages out to about two and a half cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit.
This can be an overwhelming goal if you’re not accustomed to eating fruits and vegetables. While you’re working on incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet, you may want to start by taking a look at your day and making a mental (or written) note of where you can incorporate more fresh produce.
So if you’re planning to eat lunch at your favorite burger joint instead of automatically adding fries to your order, ask about different options such as coleslaw, grilled veggies or fresh fruit.
After grocery shopping prepare some fruits and vegetables so that they’re ready to grab when you’re on the go. Cut up veggies and put them into ziplock bags. Make up a fruit salad and divide it into individual containers. Getting everything ready once or twice a week will ensure that you have something delicious and healthy to grab on your way out the door.
Start thinking about new ways to prepare your fruits and vegetables that will make them healthier and maybe even get you excited about eating more fresh produce. For instance instead of automatically dousing your vegetables with cheese sauce or ranch dressing, try roasting them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. You just might find that you don’t need anything else to enjoy them. If you’re skeptical about whether or not you’ll like a new vegetable, toss it in a skillet with some of your favorite vegetables. And while we’re talking about sauteeing, be sure to use an oil that isn’t going to take the nutritional value away from them. Tossing them with a small amount of coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil will ensure that they’re going to get cooked without losing nutrients.
Starting off small by adding one more serving each of fruits and vegetables than you normally have and working up to nine servings a day will make this new way of eating much less overwhelming.
Thank you to Megadyne – an electrosurgical equipment supplier that understands the importance of a healthy lifestyle – for their contribution to The UnDiet. Megadyne specializes in electrosurgery. Megadyne encourages everyone to consult with their physician to find a healthy eating plan that is right for each person’s individual circumstance.
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Suppressing Hunger Naturally
Have you been sucked in by late night infomercials hawking the latest miracle supplement which will help you to lose weight without changing your diet or adding to your exercise routine? Don’t be embarrassed, I’ve tried many of them. Of course, I can pretend that I’m doing it as research for this blog, but the truth is that I had high hopes when I opened each little bottle of miracle pills. I had the highest hopes for the ones that were made of natural ingredients. But let me tell you – EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A WASTE OF MONEY. At least with the whole food supplements I could console myself that I was putting good things into my body, but as to weight loss – NADA.
In the end, the same thing that I’ve been telling you since day one on this blog and earlier with the website, eating whole, minimally processed foods is the path to weight loss. But did you know you can use food to suppress hunger naturally.
Eating a whole apple slows down the the digestive process due to the pectin which is an indigestible fiber. Almonds are another food that works to keep hunger under control. They are a good source of fiber and protein, but they can be high in calories so eat a small amount (6 to 10) as a snack. Oatmeal for breakfast is a good fiber source and also very filling. These natural appetite suppressants are also a part of a healthy eating plan.
If a sweet tooth is your diet downfall you can suppress that sweets craving using natural sweeteners such as Stevia. Stevia is an herb that sweetens foods but has zero calories and zero carbs!
One last tip – drinking plenty of water (plain water, herb tea and citrus flavored water) throughout the day is one of my biggest ways to help decrease hunger. Water cleanses the body of toxins and contains minerals your body needs.
What it all boils down to is that eating whole foods in place of highly processed foods works to decrease your hunger simply by giving your body the nutrition it craves. When you try to satisfy a craving by eating something such as a bagel made with white flour or a sticky cinnamon roll your body still cries for you to feed it because it didn’t get the nutrition it needed.
So add more whole, unprocessed foods and unprocessed water drinks to your day and you’ll find that your hunger will be safely suppressed without needing to waste your money on questionable supplements.
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Will You Lose Weight With Hoodia Diet Max?
Hoodia Diet Max is one of the more popular supplements that contain extract from hoodia gordonii, a plant that looks like a cactus, found in the deserts of Africa. Legend has it that when men from the native tribes of South Africa would go hunting, which can take days at a time, they would take hoodia gordonii with them because they found that the plant was a natural appetite suppressant, and that eating it would keep them full longer and get hungry slower. When news of this began to spread, hoodia gordonii products began to grow in demand, and Hoodia Diet Max is one among others that promise fast weight loss safely and effectively.
The hoodia gordonii plant has become endangered and is now a protected species due to its high demand, and since the plant cant easily be cultivated in other countries and climates, this makes getting real hoodia gordonii extract a bit of an ordeal for the countless manufacturers eager to earn money and provide all the people anxious to lose weight with their own versions of hoodia. This is why you hear more and more stories about fake hoodia products, items that contain too little hoodia to give any real effect, and sometimes these products have absolutely no hoodia at all.
Hoodia Diet Max is actually one of the products known for offering only a very minute quantity of hoodia gordonii extract. A website called diet-pills-reviews.co.uk reports that Hoodia Diet Max only contains about 25 milligrams of hoodia extract per serving, and that you will need as much as 400 mg to really experience appetite suppression and weight loss. This means that Hoodia Diet Max is similar to those homeopathic b12 injections benefits, where the solutions sometimes contain less than 54353370f real vitamin B12. Despite this reading, Hoodia Diet Max still remains one of the most popular hoodia-based products, largely because of its lower price when compared to the other products that promise a higher concentration of hoodia extract, and also because it is widely advertised and promoted all over the Internet.
Real hoodia gordonii extract may really be effective in helping one lose weight by decreasing the appetite, which will naturally make you eat less, but you may only experience real benefits with a higher concentration than what Hoodia Diet Max offers. Consult your doctor first on which hoodia products you should try, and on whether your body can really benefit from taking hoodia in the first place.
NOTE FROM UNDIET: we provide our readers with the information above as part of our quest to provide you with the most up-to-date information but do advise that you check this out for yourself by comparing various sources.
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Using Long-term Storage Beans Instead of Oil and Butter
You can’t bake without 0il and butter – right? Most cookie and cake recipes require some oil or butter and while that’s okay, the fact is that oil and butter, when used in excess, can be a cause of high cholesterol and can add more calories to your diet as well.
What can be substituted for oil and butter that does not have the same high cholesterol – high calorie effect? You can use pureed bananas, pumpkins or applesauce in your baked goods but they do impart their own unique flavors. What low calorie food could you use that won’t change the flavor of your favorite chocolate cake recipe? Well, I’m here to tell you about how the long-term food storage beans in your pantry can be a wonderful substitute for oil and butter. If you think this is unbelievable, you will just have to try it out for yourself. Now, you can definitely find a use for that huge bag of beans that you have recently gotten.
Here are some useful tips for oil and butter substitution:
1. Substitute oil for bean puree on a 1:1 ratio. Bean puree is simply beans that have been put in the blender and pureed.
2. Substitute drained cooked beans for butter.
3. Use a 1:1 ratio when employing beans as substitute for oil and butter.
4. Use the beans exactly how oil and butter are supposed to be used in your recipe.
While using beans as an oil and butter substitute may seem a bit far-fetched to you, I guarantee that it really works. Go ahead and try it, and you will definitely be amazed at the difference, or rather, the lack of difference. If you want to also check out other ways where you can use other food storage items, then you can click this link: twitter – daily bread food storage.
UnDiet Note: the tips in this article are geared towards baking rather than grilling or sauteing. We’ve tried this method with great success in chocolate chip cookies and brownies 🙂
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Ordering Take Out Food – Making Healthy Choices
When ordering take out food from fast food chains, it’s good to know how to choose healthier options. I know that this can be a difficult thing when you are talking about fast food but consider the following options.
Burger Restaurants
When ordering take out food from burger chains, choose any one of these to ensure that you are getting a healthier option:
1. Regular, single-patty hamburger without mayo or cheese and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.
2. Grilled chicken sandwich and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.
3. Veggie burger and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.
4. Garden salad with grilled chicken and low-fat dressing.
5. Egg on a muffin if it’s a whole wheat muffin.
6. Baked potato.
7. Side salad.
8. Grilled chicken strips.
With any of the above choices limit cheese, mayo, and special sauces unless you’re doing a high protein diet.
Fried Chicken Restaurants
When you decided to drop by a fried chicken chain restaurant go for these foods:
1. Skinless chicken breast without breading.
2. Honey BBQ chicken sandwich.
3. Garden salad.
4. Mashed potatoes.
Avoid breading and fried items. Limit gravy and sauces.
Mexican Restaurants
When your choices are Mexican restaurant chains, the following foods are your best choices:
1. Grilled chicken soft taco.
2. Black beans.
3. Shrimp ensalada.
4. Grilled “fresco” style steak burrito.
5. Veggie and bean burrito.
Avoid flour tortillas unless they’re whole wheat and definitely don’t choose breaded and fried items. Limit sour cream and cheese unless your doing a high protein diet.
Sandwich Restaurants
When you decide to go for a sandwich restaurant try the following healthier choices:
1. Six-inch sub instead of twelve-inch.
2. Fill your sandwich with lean meat (roast beef, chicken breast, lean ham) or veggies.
3. One or two slices of lower-fat cheese such as Swiss or mozzarella.
4. Add low-fat dressing or mustard instead of mayo.
5. Add extra veggie toppings.
6. Choose whole-grain bread and take the top slice off your sub sandwich and eat it open-faced.
Asian Restaurants
When you choose an Asian chain restaurant select foods that include the following:
1. Egg drop, miso, wonton, or hot & sour soup.
2. Stir-fried, steamed, roasted or broiled entrees (shrimp chow mein, chop suey).
3. Steamed or baked tofu.
4. Sauces such as ponzu, rice-wine vinegar, wasabi, ginger, and low-sodium soy sauce.
5. Steamed brown rice.
6. Edamame, cucumber salad, stir-fried veggies
Avoid sweet and sour as these contain sugar. Avoid deep fried.
Italian Restaurants
Italian fast foods are likewise on the rise and can be a great choice when you want to eat healthy.
1. Thin-crust pizza with half the cheese and extra veggies.
2. Grilled (“griglia”) dishes.
3. Antipasto with vegetables.
4. Substitute grilled or steamed veggies for the pasta.
5. Order an entrée with a side of veggies.
Avoid breaded and fried items.
So you see that when you’re ordering take out food you can choose to be healthy. There’s no reason to compromise your health with foods that are not nutritious. For a convenient way to order food online, check out vellka.com.
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Portion Distortion
Thank you to Leanne Ely, CNC – the Dinner Diva for sharing with us her thoughts on how to not let eating out in a restaurant destroy your health plan.
One of the things that I have struggled with in regard to my own personal body clutter is learning to eat less food than what I want to eat. What I want to eat and what I need to eat are often incongruous and I have a small battle inside my head trying to decide if I am going to “behave” or “sin”. You know exactly what I’m talking about! It’s an issue I know a lot of us all share in common. Getting a grip on how much you really need food-wise is tough. We are used to overfeeding ourselves, truth be told.
Take restaurants for example. Not only do they bring your food on PLATTERS and not plates, they give you enough to feed your entire family. And what do we do? The food comes, we oooh and ahhh over how big the portion is and then we dig in. We will either eat till we’re stuffed and bag it up to take home or we’ll eat it all and complain about how full we are.
Let me share with you how many calories are in a typical chain restaurant meal. For fun, I’m going to share with you something I just ate at a major chain restaurant a while back (thinking a salad would be a good choice) and how blown away I was that it was this many calories and this much fat it’ just unbelievable!
The Chicken Caesar Salad I ate had 1,010 calories and 76 grams (yes, SEVENTY-SIX) of FAT!!!!!!! Hello?? I was absolutely STUNNED!! That’s just not doing my body any favors! 13 grams of that 76 fat grams were saturated fat, too.
What does that tell you?
Two things:
1) BEWARE of “healthy” main course salad options at restaurants and,
2) Restaurant salad dressings are usually really, really over the top fat-wise, carb-wise and in calories.
And that brings me back to my original point: less food – we don’t need to eat all of that! The all-you-eat-mentality is particularly pronounced at restaurants. They BRAG about their hefty portion size!
So how do you handle restaurants? Know what you’re walking into, for starters. If it is a chain restaurant, look on line to see if you can find the menu and the nutritional info for the menu. Not all restaurants do that, but there are other sites out there with that info – just Google it.
Second, have a back up plan. Order sauces, dressings and anything else that you will lend a huge caloric and often, fatty punch to the meal, on the side. All restaurants will happily accommodate – just ask.
Third, if you haven’t split your meal with a dining companion, ask for a doggie bag right when your meal comes. Cut your meal in HALF or more, and bag it up. If it is off your plate, you are less apt to chow down on it and leave with a Thanksgiving-stuffed feeling.
And last but not least – keep restaurant eating as a treat and not a part of your weekly plan. Eating at home is always cheaper, most likely to be more nutritious, you control the fat and the salt and the service is predictable, right?
If you need help planning your menus, go to Saving Dinner and try our Menu-Mailer, your family will thank you. Enjoy!
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List Of Natural Appetite Suppressant Foods
Pills and supplements aren’t your only option when it comes to suppressing your appetite. There are many foods which have appetite suppressing properties and once you know which foods have this bonus you can start incorporating them into your diet and be on your way towards managing your weight. Here is a list of natural appetite suppressant foods that will work wonders in moving you towards your weight loss goal:
- Dark chocolate: a dark chocolate bar made of 70 percent cocoa is a good natural appetite suppressant. Its bittersweet taste can signal your body to reduce its cravings for other foods. Dark chocolate also contains steric acid which can work to slow down digestion. This means that you will end up feeling full longer than normal and therefore reduce your cravings to eat more food.
- Fiber-rich foods: fiber is an excellent appetite suppressant. It curbs your appetite simply because it is not digested quickly. It makes you feel full longer and quicker. Fiber-rich foods to consider adding to your diet are fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and whole grains.
- Protein-rich foods: just as with fiber, protein can be the best appetite suppressant as it can make you feel full longer, too. Some protein-rich foods you may want to add to your diet include nuts, tuna, and lean meats.
- Chili peppers and hot sauces: these condiments contain capsaicin, a substance that can lower the hunger-inducing hormones in the body. This substance can also increase the appetite suppressing hormones. Pile these condiments onto some of the other appetite suppressing foods in this article and you’ll pack a double appetite suppression punch.
- Potatoes: these tubers contain a special starch that can make you forget the feelings of being hungry for a long time. However, make sure you munch on healthy potato dishes such as boiled or baked potatoes and not French fries and potato chips.
Besides the foods listed above there are many more foods that you can trust to effectively suppress your appetite. Once you start incorporating these foods into your diet you’ll be on your way to a successful goal of shredding some pounds.
