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The reason why most people diet is to lose weight or burn fat. Recent studies have shown that restrictive skinny diets such as fad and mainstream diets are not the ideal weight loss meal plans for a long-term goal. Permanent fat loss diets like the Mediterranean and Asian diets do not restrict calorie or carb intake. Their only requirements are that the ingredients used are natural and organic. The Asian and other natural diets are now the new standard for fat loss diets.

Now, for those who insist on a low carb diet, getting skinny can be tough if you don’t follow these guidelines:

1. Never skip breakfast. Regardless if you’re on a low carb diet or not, you will gain weight faster if you skip breakfast. What you should do is eat a satisfying breakfast. For example, instead of simply drinking a glass of juice, why not eat the whole fruit instead? Eating a fuller breakfast regulates the release of energy and stabilizes your blood sugar. Come to think of it, a glass of orange juice has twice as many calories as that of the whole fruit.

2. Eat complex carbohydrates. Pick porridge for your cereal. Being a complex carbohydrate, your porridge will release energy in trickles and keep you feeling fuller for a longer period of time. This will keep you from overeating or craving high calorie foods. Porridge (especially oatmeal) reduces cholesterol and is therefore good for your heart. Choose big flake oatmeal and avoid the sugar sprinkled or sweetened oats.

Porridge is easy to prepare and only takes about a couple of minutes in a microwave oven. Eating your porridge plain can be boring, so you might want to add nuts, fruits and seeds. This will also add fibers and additional vitamins and nutrients to your breakfast. Further, these added ingredients have the effect of boosting your metabolism thus helping you burn even more fat.

3. Focus on natural foods. They may contain natural fats, but they’re usually the kind of fat that are used by the body to burn and metabolize fat. One culture comes to mind when talking about natural foods — the Asians. Theirs is a traditional diet unchanged for hundreds or even thousands of years. The natural metabolism boosters and anti-oxidants in the Asian diet are the reason why obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic illnesses are rare in Asia.

So the Fastest Way to Getting Skinny is to start eating like Asians — focus on healthy natural foods. There is a wide array of natural foods you can choose from. They include vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, beans and seeds. Try to include them all in your diet and you’ll be amazed at how fast you will lose weight.

4. If you like eggs you can include them in your breakfast and diet. However, don’t fry them. Poach or boil them instead. Eggs are a good source of Omega 3, but they are also rich in cholesterol and therefore shouldn’t be eaten every day.

Now you that know how important breakfast is to getting skinny and staying healthy, make eating a full, healthy morning meal a habit.

Eat the way Asians have for centuries and keep yourself youthful, vigorous and slim. Exercise in ways your body will react favorably to and reap the highest benefit without wasting effort. Visit Asian Diet Revolution now!

Runners have an easier way of losing stubborn belly fat than most people because they have a sure fire way of doing it! Running burns more calories than any other workout. That’s one known fact. The second way to burning up calories is by…watching what you eat!

The number one enemy is sugar. Your wife or girl friend may not like you going shopping with her, but it’s what you have to do. Every grocery item you purchase, you have to read the labels to see what’s in there. Of course what your suppose to be eating is raw food! They’re not going to be any labels on a tomato, carrot or an avocado. The can goods is what you have to see if they’re sneaking any sugar in. If there’s any more than a gram or two of sugar…then take it out of the basket.

Another beer belly keeper, is beer. That’s why they call it a beer belly! You’re just putting on the gas and the brake at the same time by drinking beer! That’s got to go, if you’re aiming for building some rock hard abs! The best drinks are pure water, cranberry juice and green tea.

There’s tons of sugar and or corn syrup in fruit juices and soft drinks. If you must drink a soft drink, at least the diet drinks have no calories and no sugar. They do have sodium though. Throughout the day you can drink as much water as you want. It actually helps to curb your appetite anyway. It speeds up your metabolism too. This speeds up the overall fat burning process.

Like I’ve mentioned before in other article’s, concentrate on the running and what you eat. In returned the weight and washboard abs will come naturally without even thinking about it. What do you eat for in between snacks? Carry a bag of goodies. No, not candies, chocolates and jelly beans. A bag of carrots, celery sticks, apples, raw broccoli, cauliflower sticks and crackers.

A favorite of many, including me is the dried fruits like apricots. Don’t go hungry! You may not care for my recommendations. Sorry, it’s the price to pay for washboard abs! After a couple of weeks you truly do get use to this stuff!

The last of my raw raving on burning belly fat is what kind of meats should you eat. Only one or two servings a week is OK. Providing it’s turkey, chicken or fish. The fish should be salmon, rainbow trout or tuna. You can’t beat grilled salmon out there on your patio in the backyard!

Sometimes the question comes up, “What do you do if you travel a lot and can’t get your miles in?” I can answer that with one word, jump rope! Many motels these days have a treadmill but if not, a jump rope is an excellent alternative. All you need is a two foot square in your motel room. That’s it. My summary of how to get rid of the belly fat working from the outside in!

Gary Cooper is a writer/runner who reports on exercise & nutrition from a runner’s prospective. He says, “You truly can renew your youthful years of strength, flexibility & vitality.” Stop by his site to learn much more! http://runningrunnersrun.com

As they say, the eye is the window to the soul. The look in someone’s eyes communicates things that words may never express. That is of course if the eyes in question are devoid of eye wrinkles and undereye wrinkles. Like venetian blinds affixed to a window, eye wrinkles distract people from seeing straight into a person’s eyes.

So here are some tips on how to get rid of eye wrinkles. So the next time someone looks at you, they can peek straight through the window and not stare at some poor-looking stiff plastic curtain.

Know the Cause- This is basic. One should first identify the possible causes of a problem before solutions can be determined. Eye creases and lines is just one of the many signs of stress and aging. A person who lives an unhealthy lifestyle without the support of necessary supplements, are more susceptible to these unwanted aging symptoms.

Eye wrinkles just like other sorts of wrinkles is due to loss of elasticity, strength, and moisture in the three layers of skin namely the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue.

Get Enough Sleep- Exhaustion and lack of adequate amount of eye rest lead to eye wrinkles and undereye wrinkles. So in order to avoid these unwanted signs of aging, each person should at least get 6 hours of sleep a day. Occasional power naps also prove beneficial especially for those immersed in stressful working environments or profession.

Take Sufficient Fluid – All sorts of sagging skin can be a manifestation of dehydration. Always replenish the body’s fluid stock through ample consumption of water as well as fruit juices. Fruit juices also give added skin benefits through their natural antioxidant content.

Use Natural Eye Wrinkles Eliminator

Certain unprocessed foods seen in everyone’s kitchen can be an instant cure for eye and undereye wrinkles. Such foods include cucumber and egg white. These home remedies can reduce eye puffiness, swelling and even eye creases.

Apply Sunscreen And Natural Anti-Aging Creams

Sunscreen protects the skin from the damaging effects of too much sun exposure. It keeps the skin from showing early signs of aging like skin blotch and wrinkles.

Meanwhile anti-aging creams, especially those of the highest quality and paraben-free, work in minimizing or eliminating all sorts of wrinkles including those that appear around the eyes. Be sure to use one that is natural and without any harmful chemicals.

The eye is the window to the soul. Without eye wrinkles, one can sure to attract more people to take a peep. Have healthy glowing eyes and have the look of sheer joy and contentment.

Bonus Tip!

For more information on eye wrinkles and the absolute best natural skin care products that will truly give your skin that healthy, glowing and youthful look, visit my website listed below.

Jennifer S. Levin is a long time user and passionate advocate of natural skin care products. Visit her website today to discover cutting edge, natural skin care products she recommends after extensive research: http://best-natural-skin-care.net.

On Feb. 1, 2011, news around the U.S. broke recapping the new guidelines for dietary consumption from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which it modifies every five years. The move to a heavier plant-based diet is huge news considering the Food Pyramid, which has yet to be revised, has been heavy in grains and dairy for many years. Essentially, the USDA is recommending that 59% of your total daily calories come from vegetables and 42% from fruit, 15% from whole grains and 40% from fiber, which will happen easily if people adopt this way of eating.

Critics would argue that the dairy is too high at 52% and that there is little indication of where meat falls. The guidelines are not the Food Pyramid, but may help to shape it when that change becomes final. If anything, these updates are heading in the right direction.

In a nutshell, here are the recommendations:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid over-sized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Are these guidelines perfect? Well, no, but everyone, without a doubt, can and will benefit from eating more fresh, raw, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. Research is ongoing and shows exponential great health and vitality the more fruits and veggies a person eats. You can’t argue with the fruit and vegetable emphasis and here’s why:

According to new data from the Epic Study from Europe of 300,000 people in 8 different countries, those who eat at least 8 servings of fruits and veggies daily have a 22% lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease than from people who have 3 or fewer servings daily. The study shows 4% reduction in risk of death for every portion of fruits and veggies over two per day.

Are you feeling inspired yet?

If not, read on because I can personally attest to a lecture I attended on January 28 by Dr. Paul Williams, a 20-year ER physician from Memphis, TN. Dr. Williams shared some astonishing facts about what antioxidants do to the body. (He also had some funny come-backs to excuses people use to thwart the idea that they need to take care of themselves.)

One such astonishing physiological process in the body is how LDL (low-density lipoprotein), or “bad” cholesterol, is simply harmless by itself. LDL carries cholesterol through the blood stream. Consider it a “boat” of cholesterol “love” pumping through the vessels with every beat.

However, because of stress, smoking, poor diet, which is devoid of antioxidants, increased activity without the proper nutrition to support it (picture a young athlete eating Little Debbies instead of an apple) and other situations that cause oxidative stress, your body’s reaction to its environment, to life and processing calories for energy causes sparks of energy that oxidize (like rust) the cells within it. This process is necessary and good in a small dosage. The problem is, too many of us are producing way more free radicals that bombard our internal cells and DNA, causing lots of harm, that leads to chronic inflammation and disease.

Now, back to our harmless LDL cholesterol. Here is this guy, minding his business (asking, “Why does everyone think I’m so bad?”), until he gets hit by a free-radical. Picture “Hagar the Horrible” crashing into it.

Once LDL is hit by free-radicals, it loses its stability and lipid peroxide is left as a byproduct, which is very damaging to the inner lining of the blood vessel walls (endothelium). The endothelium soaks up these lipid peroxide molecules and stores them within the lining walls of the blood vessels.

If too much LDL is circulating and too many free radicals continue to damage the LDL, the inner lining continues to soak up the lipid peroxide and increases the chance of rupture. This rupture is what causes many heart attacks and strokes, as the plaque that lines the inner walls become free-floating and can lodge in other places along the circulatory system.

Does this news awe you as much as it does me? I am enthralled by what the human body does.

So, what is the BEST way to reduce this free-radical damage and prevent heart attacks and other terrible conditions? Consuming loads of vine-ripened fruits and vegetables and supplementing to help bridge the gap with a high-quality NSF-certified whole foods capsule like Juice Plus. With conventional farming practices weakening the soil and, therefore, our produce, supplementing with whole foods (not saying vitamins, which have mixed research at best) is the safest way to go. Don’t delay investigating this for yourself.

Stay tuned for more articles on how nutrition supports or thwarts your longevity.

Liz Donnelly, NASM-CPT, IYCA-YFS, is owner and head coach for Athletic Revolution and president of Training by Liz, LLC. She counsels families on nutrition and fitness and runs athletic development programs for youth and adult fitness programs the Cleveland area through her company, Training by Liz, LCC. She also writes a blog called FamilyFitnessGuru.com.

Our super fast and busy lifestyle compels us to compromise with healthy living. We don’t have enough time to check what we are stuffing ourselves with. All the time we are consuming junk and fast food which are readily available to us.

This lifestyle that we continue for years and years takes a toll on us. The most common side effect of this unhealthy living is obesity. Say no to junk and fast food and take to raw diet if you want to shed all those extra pounds which have piled up for years.

Fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, dairy products can help you lose weight fast and bring about a lot of improvement to your body and your mind. Junk foods contain a lot of saturated fats which pile up in our bodies. They form the extra fats which make us plump. They are also toxic and pollute our bodies. Raw foods on the other hand are devoid of all toxic agents and have vitamins and minerals which help us in many ways. They contain fats and sugar which are digested as soon as they are consumed.

Raw food diet means consuming uncooked food which comes straight from nature. They are not processed either. So they do not contain preservatives and other external agents which make our bodies toxic. When we are on a raw diet, we consume the following things: fresh vegetable and fruits, legumes, beans, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouts including seaweeds, coconut milk etc. you can also drink the juice of fresh vegetables and fruits as they have very high nutritional value.

Juices only lack in fiber content which is found in whole vegetables and fruits. As far as dried fruits and nuts go, soak them in water and have them when they have swelled up sufficiently. Wait for the seeds to sprout and then eat them. This holds true for legumes as well.

The advantages of being on raw diet:

Raw diet has numerous health benefits. Being on raw food diet presents weight loss program. Not only weight loss, raw foods have several other benefits also. Raw foods come straight from nature. Therefore they do not contain toxic substances which hinder digestion process.

Digestion becomes smooth and easy. As you are consuming plenty of fiber, you have a lot of energy. Your skin becomes smooth and glows with life. They completely detoxify your body and help you to get rid of the toxic substances that occupy your body.

A word of caution:

Do consider some facts before you completely switch to a raw food diet. Changing completely to a raw food diet may have some side effects. It may make you feel nausea at times. Some people have complained of headaches when they have switched their dietary habits. However, these are temporary side effects because with time your body gets accustomed to the change and you don’t experience these any more. Absolute raw food diet is not good for pregnant women and growing children.

Would you like to learn more about raw food, an easy weight loss program, and why the Raw Diet is the simplest, smartest, and healthiest way to lose weight plus maintain a youthful body and mind? If so, please visit http://www.rawdiet.com today. Davina DeAngelo is a wellness consultant, health writer, and Raw Diet evangelist who works closely with the world’s top nutrition coaches.

In our busy lives sometimes we don’t often think about some of life’s most important things namely our own good health. When we get sick, many times we just tough it out and not even take off long enough to go to the doctor. The best thing however, is to take preventative measures to ward off evil sickness and down time.

A couple super foods that come to mind that helped me stay away from the doctor’s office have been wheat germ and apples. Of course everyone uses apples but not so many people have heard of wheat germ. It’s a sodium and cholesterol free food found in the cereal section of your local food store. It’s an excellent source of vitamin E and folic acid.

Wheat germ can be sprinkled on your cereal, oat meal and apples or any other fruit as well. Mix it in your next meat loaf will bring the whole family asking for more! The secret is to replace bread crumbs with wheat germ. I’ll even give you a recipe for it at the end of this article. Wheat germ is excellent to help your complexion, nails and hair growth and it helps to prevent constipation.

Apples are rich in vitamins such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and provides important minerals as well. They help to cleanse your teeth, mouth and supply pectin, an aid to good digestion. They’ve proved to improve bone density, lower cholesterol and help with weight loss.

Apples are good to help prevent Alzheimer’s, lung cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer and to help manage diabetes. The apple juice has been proven to help asthma in children.

OK here’s that special quick and easy nutritional booster recipe for replacing bread crumbs wheat germ in your favorite meat loaf.

Mini Meat Loaves with Honey-Mustard Sauce

Ingredients: 1 ½ pounds lean ground lean beef or turkey
¾ cup Kretschmer original wheat germ
½ cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 egg white, slightly beaten
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons pure honey

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. For meat loaves, combine first seven ingredients in large bowl; mix lightly, but thoroughly. Sharpe meat mixture into eight 3 x 2-inch loaves; place in baking dish. Bake 30 to 35 minutes to medium done (160degrees F) or until center is no longer pink and juices show no pink color. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. For sauce, combine mustard and honey; mix well. Or, for added convenience, use ready prepared honey-mustard sauce. Serve sauce over meat loaves.

Nutrition Information: 1/8 of recipe

Calories 240, Calories from fat 110, Total fat 13g, Saturated Fat 4.5g, Cholesterol 50mg, Sodium 220mg, Carbohydrate 14g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Protein 19g, Folic Acid 70meg (15% of DV) Vitamin E 4.5 I.U. (15% of DV).

Cook’s Tips:

* Substitute barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce or ketchup for mustard and honey
* Serve with noodles, couscous or quick-cooking rice.

Fitness and nutrition guide Gary Cooper a master runner that’s spanned the last two decades. Gary shares his advice and encouragement on proper nutrition and exercise. He says, You truly can renew your youthful years of strength, flexibility and vitality. http://runningrunnersrun.com Skype:gary.cooper471