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How often do you stop for a latte? Do you find yourself doing it more often that you used to? If you are, you’re not alone. Consumption of things like lattes, cappuccinos, energy drinks and sweetened teas have gained popularity. So much so, that liquid calories now account for 21% of our daily intake – that’s more than twice as much as 30 years ago and amounts to over 400 calories a day from beverages.

To put that into perspective, it’s the equivalent of two slices of Domino’s sausage pizza.

While that may be a startling statistic, it’s good news for you if you’re trying to lose weight! By just making some simple changes to what you’re drinking you could easily shed pounds.

A recent John Hopkins University study found that people who cut liquid calories from their diets lost more weight and kept it off for longer than people who cut food calories. By simple cutting your drink calories in half you could lose up to 23 pounds in the course of a year. Let’s look at some simple swaps you could make and the impact it could have on your waistline.

Stop drinking soda. The average American now drinks more than a gallon of soda a week. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a government nutritional study conducted from 1999 to 2000, tracked food intake of Americans and broke it into 143 different categories. A surprising discovery of the research was that the largest percentage of calorie intake came from soda, something that’s not even a food at all. More soda was consumed that chicken and fish combined!

Researchers say a person’s risk of obesity can be measured by how much soda they drink a day.

½ can = 26% increased risk of being overweight or obese ½ to 1 can = 30.4% increased risk 1 to 2 cans = 32.8% increased risk More than 2 cans = 47.2% increased risk

By changing this one habit you could lose up to 20 pounds in the course of a year.

Drink coffee, not coffee drinks. Researchers studied coffee habits in New York and found that two-thirds of Starbucks’ customers opted for blended coffee drinks instead of regular brewed coffee. The average calorie count of the blended drinks is 239 calories, whereas a regular coffee is only 63 calories after factoring in added cream and sugar. You can save 176 calories per day just by making this one change.

This one swap could result in losing 18 pounds per year!

Stay away from juice drinks. Most juice drinks contain very little juice but lots of sugar or corn syrup. Ocean Spray juices contain as little as 20% juice and earns fewer than 73% of its calories from added sugar, with most have sugar content closer to 85%. That amounts to about as much sugar as two scoops of ice cream.

You could lose 19 pounds in a year with this one change.

By being selective with beverage choices you could easily lose weight with little effort. Imagine the impact of making more than one change!

Lose weight and radiate! For articles, tips and expert advice sign up
for Vibrant Living at http://www.healthcoachteam.com Lynn Smith
empowers women to elevate their self-care and lose weight, creating a
shift in confidence and self-esteem.

As you go about your weight loss program, one factor that will definitely have an influence over how well you progress along is the self-statements that you’re saying to yourself.

Many people completely overlook their self-talk which is a big mistake because it can really play a key role in how well they are able to stick with the program and carry it through to success.

If you are constantly berating yourself and thinking that you’ll never be able to attain your goals, the chances that this does in fact come true will be that much higher. This will then only push you further and further away from what you really want to accomplish.

Let’s go over a few points to remember about positive self-statements.

Increase Your Awareness

The very first thing that you should be doing is to increase your awareness of the negative self-statements that you’re using. In many cases we don’t even realize that we’re talking negatively towards ourselves until we really stop and start paying attention to it.

For just a few days, try and pay more attention to everything that you’re telling yourself. It may even help to write these statements down on a piece of paper as getting them down like this proves to you just how real they are.

Replace Every Negative With A Positive

Second, after you have your list of negative self-statements or at least are paying attention to what you’re saying to yourself, then you want to start to replace any negative self-statement you make with a positive instead.

By shifting your focus towards the positive like this you’ll increase your confidence levels and self-efficacy that you can reach your goals rather than decreasing your confidence and feeling miserable about your situation.

It’s very easy to overlook the role the mind plays in realizing your goals but the fact of the matter remains that what you say to yourself on a daily basis is very likely to come true.

Keep The Statements Future Oriented

Another thing to remember is that as much as possible you should aim to keep the statements you’re using future oriented. This refers to keeping the statements focused around what you will be doing in the coming weeks.

For instance you might say, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to be sure to eat at least six mini-meals a day to keep my hunger under control’.

This then gives you a mission statement to try and accomplish for that day. This could have replaced the self statement of, ‘I’m terrible at following diets and can’t keep my meals in order no matter how hard I try’.

By changing what you say in this instance, you put your mind in a more positive place and increase the chances that you follow through on what you hope to achieve.

Set Realistic Expectations

Finally, the last thing you must be sure you’re doing is setting realistic expectations. Don’t use self statements that are too far fetched that you know you won’t accomplish. If you do this, you’ll just get discouraged if you don’t see the results that you’re hoping for.

So there you have the key things to keep in mind about your self-statements. By making the shift over to positive self statements you will definitely be moving closer to realizing success.

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May is National Strawberry Month so it’s time to get busy and start picking those ripe, red berries.  If you’re not a picker, then a visit to your local farmers market will suffice.  In any case, since strawberries are the fruit of the month, I thought devoting a little space to the virtues of one of my favorite fruits more than appropriate. 

The strawberry is not only tasty and easy on the eyes, but also an incredibly healthy food.  Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C which is necessary for collagen formation—collagen production in the skin declines with age so eating foods high in Vitamin C may help keep skin firm and supple. This fruit is a good source of potassium, fiber, folate, and low in sodium, making it a heart healthy option for those with cardiovascular disease.  Strawberries are loaded with cancer fighting flavonoids, phenols, and antioxidants which help fight harmful compounds called free radicals which may damage the body’s cells.  This fruit is truly a “super” food.

A word of caution –strawberries are quite perishable and should be purchased only a few days before use.  Unlike some fruits, once picked no further ripening occurs.  Unwashed and unhulled strawberries may be stored in the refrigerator one or two days.  Leaving fruit at room temperature or in direct sunlight for long periods of time may cause the berries to spoil.

Don’t miss out on the all too short strawberry season this year – fresh local berries are definitely the best!

Most of us learn what we should and shouldn’t eat to stay healthy. There is not much information published about when we should or shouldn’t eat. If you ask fitness experts or nutritionists, they will almost always say to eat frequent small meals throughout the day but none after 7 p.m. so that our metabolism can operate at optimum efficiency. Since our body slows down at night so we can sleep, late night dining is thought to be not a good idea. We just don’t burn many calories when we sleep.

Digestive problems are the problem with a big meal late at night. Our body is supposed to relax at night, if you fill your stomach up right before you go to bed the body has to work to digest food instead of resting. With your body devoting so much energy to digestion, you don’t sleep the way you should and you wake up feeling groggy and unenergetic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat a light meal at night. The time at which you consume the food has nothing to do with losing weight.. Consider the European habit of eating dinner around 9 o’clock at night. As a population Europeans have less of a weight problem than Americans do. The most important factor in weight loss is how many calories you consume; not when you eat them.

The American problem has more to do with snacking more frequently and consuming large quantities of high fat foods. If you eat a big meal right before bedtime, you may experience an upset tummy as our bodies prefer to digest food when we are upright and not lying down. You won’t experience any difference in weight loss though if you ate that same meal at 6 pm. A large meal is not good at any time if you want to lose weight.

Eating small frequent meals allows your stomach to stay fuller and you are less likely to overeat. Eating after 6 or 7 pm at night may be the only time you can sit and have a relaxed dinner. Eating at an unhurried pace also helps your digestive system. Eating food rapidly makes you gulp air with your food and gas problems result. Fat takes the longest to digest and leave the stomach, so if you are going to snack late at night try to avoid high fat foods such as nuts, meat, and cheese. Try eating complex carbs as they will fill you up but won’t take as long to digest as high fat food and won’t give you any kind of a sugar high. High fiber cereal, whole wheat bread and oatmeal are good example of complex carbs. Eggs are easily digested so even though they have a lot of protein, they are a good choice.

If you work a late shift you may not feel much like eating because at night your body automatically wants to slow down digestion and rest. Some foods can cause digestive problems at night yet be well tolerated if eaten during the day. Causes of gastrointestinal problems for late night workers are snack foods with a high fat content, caffeine and meals eaten in a rush or at irregular times. Don’t consume cabbage, onions, cucumber, high-fat or fried meals and spicy foods before work or during work to prevent heartburn or indigestion. Late night workers should eat small, regular meals with a balance of whole grain carbohydrates, protein, and heart-healthy fats before 1 a.m. Choose carbohydrates that are low in fat and high in fiber like whole grain bread, fruit, and low-fat dairy. Keep your fluid levels up by drinking lots of water. For snacks, bring fruit, vegetables, low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, whole wheat crackers, pretzels or popcorn. Before you turn in for the evening, have a very small meal or snack.

Dieticians also advise night shift workers to exercise either before or halfway through their shift, to help maintain alertness and overall cardiovascular health. Short periods of exercise can help you feel more alert and energized in the last part of your shift. Also, if you sit during most of your shift, getting up and stretching will help with your circulation and release tension from your muscles.

For those not in the know, May is National Egg Month.  In recent years, eggs have gotten a bad reputation based on their high cholesterol content.  However, eggs may have gotten a nutritional makeover based on new information from the USDA.  On average, a large egg today contains 72 calories, 186 mg cholesterol, 41 IU Vitamin D, and 6.3 grams protein. In contrast, in 2002 a large egg had 212 mg cholesterol  and 18 IU Vitamin D.  Why the change?  Better diet and improved breeding may be responsible for the improved nutritional profile. 

 For healthy people,  the cholesterol in eggs may not be an issue as dietary cholesterol is not the main trigger for heart disease–saturated fats and trans fats are the primary artery clogging contributors.  However, those diagnosed with cardiovascular disease should be aware of the dietary guidelines to limit dietary cholesterol to 300 mg daily.  Eggs can still be a part of the diet–just don’t overdo it.  For example, use eggs whites or egg substitutes instead of whole eggs in your recipes.

 When purchasing eggs, consider buying farm fresh eggs rather than grocery store eggs.  There are definite differences between the two–farm fresh eggs have a darker, richer looking yolk with a slightly thicker texture, not to mention a much fresher taste.  For egg lovers, perhaps the best dietary advice is enjoy eggs in moderation and eat a varied diet.  Don’t obsess about one particular food as it is the composition of your whole diet that packs the most nutritional punch.  Enjoy National Egg Month by being a locavore and purchase farm fresh eggs to support your local economy.

Check out this recipe for Green Eggs, No Ham!

http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=265