5 Ways to Eat Healthier and Lose Weight without Going on a Diet

As the New Year dawns, many of us are planning to lose weight or eat healthier. This is the time of year when many join gyms, establish weight loss goals, swear off sugar or carbs or one particular food or food component. While it's wonderful to set goals and strive for healthier lifestyles, sometimes our desire to lose weight or become more fit requires so much restriction that we find ourselves falling short of goals, our will power drained and our self-esteemed deflated. In my own experience, the best way to approach weight loss and weight management is through the least restrictive, most balanced approach. While it may take you longer to lose the weight, more than likely you'll keep it off for much longer. Losing weight and eating healthy doesn't have to be complicated. Here are a few tips:

Avoid processed items. Stick with real food.

Much of our weight gain can be attributed to the refined sugars and flours found in over 90 percent of processed foods. Instead of giving up sugar or fat or carbohydrates, try to shop only for whole foods—foods that contain only itself as an ingredient, like fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, lean meats, etc.

Slow down while eating; have meals with friends and family.

Weight gain occurs both as a result of what we eat as much as a result of how we eat it. Overeating—eating past the point when you feel satisfied—is one of leading culprits of those extra pounds that sneak up on you seemingly from nowhere. You can easily avoid overeating by consuming your meals more slowly. Sharing meals with others over conversation is the best way to do just that. Slowing down your eating will help you enormously in becoming aware of when you are full, thus helping to avoid those moments when you stuff yourself from simply eating too fast.

Add color to your plate.

Ensuring that your meals are visually appealing, by incorporating as much color as possible (think green from spinach, red from tomatoes, yellow from squashes or bananas) tricks your mind into eating less. Also, it has been proven that more colorful (whole) foods have more nutrients.

Drink plenty of water.

Most people go through their day in a state of mild to moderate dehydration, which can lead to headaches, fatigue, and feelings of hunger. By drinking at least eight glasses of water every day, you'll be fuller for longer periods of time, and you'll have the energy to get more physical activity into your daily routine, thereby aiding and maintaining weight loss. Water also helps to flush out toxins and keep your bowel movements regular, which is essential in successfully losing weight.

Treat yourself to your favorite foods in moderation.

Completely depriving yourself of guilty pleasures like desserts means that one day your will power will weaken to the point that you'll binge on your forbidden treat. Make sure to reward yourself at least once a week with an item that you enjoy. Just have one small portion and savor it without feeling guilty. You'd be surprised by how little this "bad" foods contribute to weight gain if enjoyed once in a blue moon.

Losing weight this year doesn't have to mean following a very strict diet or exercising to the point of exhaustion. All you have to do is commit to eating well and eating mindfully. The weight loss will then take care of itself.

Author Bio: Hajera Blagg is a freelance writer based in Houston, TX. She often contributes content to Online Nursing Universities

Lose Weight, Feel Great & Look Fantastic- Making the New Year the Best Year Yet

By Lisa Schilling

New Year may not have arrived yet, but you can see it from here. In my industry we are flooded with New Year’s Resolution Participants, NYRPs for short. These very well-meaning folks, flood into the gym determined to finally lose weight and get healthy.

We see it every year. So what is the problem? The problem is February. When it arrives over half of the NYRPs are nowhere to be found. You may wonder why this always happens, I know I did. It sent me in search of Get REAL answers.

What I found is that NYRPs like the IDEA of being thinner and healthier but they do not like the actual WORK it takes to achieve it. That is only problem number one. This natural phenomenon can be overcome for a short period time by sheer white- knuckle willpower; however, that will be as temporary as the results they achieve.

Most NYRPs are fighting their natural guttural reaction to exercise and healthy eating. In their subconscious, they just don’t want to do it. Without a renewed perspective or major life-shift that causes a heartfelt motivation, the chances of success are slim; pardon the pun.

They are trying to put the cart before the horse. By putting your horse power behind you, you greatly limit the progress that can be made. In short, without the proper mindset, you can push and push, and still not find what you were hoping for.

It takes a mental shift to implement a physical shift. Often this comes in the form of a major life event, which forces you to “wake up and smell the coffee,” so to speak. When you approach the goal from a new direction and allow the horse power to pull you along, it won’t seem so tedious and painful.

So much of what I teach is to shift your focus from losing weight, to getting healthier and fit. When you exercise and eat better because your goal is to improve your functional health, you always meet your goal. If you only focus on losing weight it seems illusive, and what you must go through to achieve it, a chore.

By focusing on the health benefits of your behavior you are more likely to see the need for practicing these behaviors regularly. To most people weight loss is a destination. Hurry up and get there so you can go back to the old habits even faster. That is the rub. Those habits got you where you are now. Go back to what you did before, and you will end up back where you were.

By focusing on your health, you can embrace moderation and consistency without the guilt. This creates a sustainable lifestyle. By creating a routine that supports activity and healthy eating, you will gradually find a healthy weight and at the same time reduce the numerous health risk factors associated with caring too much weight.

The current situation facing our NYRPs is a sad fate of yo-yo efforts. In the long run, that kind of manipulation will lead to more health problems than it was intended to heal. To Get REAL results, you need to start slower and maintain longer.

The current situation typically finds sedentary, overweight people, setting unrealistic resolutions and then going at it full force. They know they should be doing something about their weight, so they start by exercising too much, too long and too often. While at the same time they are reducing their calories so low that the body will decide it needs to hold onto every ounce of fat for fear of starvation.

This is creating a very ugly situation. Have you ever been around someone doing it this way? These are not happy campers. No wonder they quit by February. They are taking on the routine of a conditioned athlete, in a not so conditioned body. Many end up injured, bummed out or burned out. This leads them to just chuck it all and go back to what they did before, which is usually…nothing.

This pattern is repeated annually around the world. I say it is time to Get REAL and decide to do it different. Get your thinking lined up and start a moderate activity plan that you advance as you gain more endurance. Start a beginner weight training program twice a week. And slowly begin reducing your calories by simply making mindful choices. Then advance this plan as needed to stay challenged.

By the way, don’t wait to start this new moderate wellness plan, start at your next choice. When you find yourself overindulging, cut yourself some slack and make a better choice at the next opportunity. Wellness is not a sprint, it is a marathon. You will still be here in 10 years, so make good use of that time and work toward being the healthiest, “whatever age you are” around.

If you wish to learn more please visit my site http://getrealwellnesssolutions.com

Healthy Weight Loss Help and Tips

Losing weight does not come easily. It takes proper mind set and determination to get that ideal weight. For that reason, a lot of people had turned to diet pills, fad diets, expensive exercise machines, and weight loss surgeries to get the desired result fast and effortlessly. Though this had worked for some people, the majority of these fast track techniques fail. The only real way to lose weight is the healthy way. More than that, you can also avoid the risks involved as well as splurging much cash. This article outlines 5 healthy weight loss tips that actually work.

Tip #1 Get your goal straight

Everything always starts with a goal. Getting your goals straight will help you stick to your weight loss plan. As we all know, losing weight is never easy, thus holding on to that goal will encourage you to keep going.

Tip #2 Do not eat when you are not hungry

Common mistake that people make is eating even when they do not feel hungry. Some people eat to relieve stress; some eat because they are offered to, while some eat because they are bored. These unnecessary eating habits will surely make you gain weight in no time.

Tip #3 Avoid meal meetings

Most people have “Dinner meetings”, “Lunch meetings”, or have their rendezvous in a restaurant. In these cases, you are forced to eat or drink something even if you just ate. Though this practice is to give courtesy to the restaurant or to the people you meet, this also adds unnecessary calories to your body. If possible, avoid these meal meetings and stick to traditional office meeting or meet a friend in the park instead.

Tip #4 Bring your own food

Personally, this is a proven weight loss strategy because it allows you to control the amount of calories on the food you consume. Bring a healthy tuna sandwich for lunch or vegetable sticks for snacks in the office. You can also prepare your healthy subway sandwich or popcorn minus the cheese at home to bring into a movie house.

Tip #5 Do workouts

Let’s face it, the best way to burn calories fast is by exercising regularly. Do workouts that get your heart pumping to the fat burning zone like treadmills, elliptical trainers, ski machines, rowing machines, versa climbers, and stationary bikes. However, if you are not the type of person who goes to the gym, you may try sports or any activity that requires your body to produce energy.

Weight lossing factor of Green Tea

Today Green tea has become a daily favourite drink. I am well conscious about me fatty figure and always try to get rid of it. Recently i could learn the weight lossing power of Green tea. I became mad the moment i learnt its awesome health virtues. Funny how something tastes better the healthier you think it is for you! So, what are the remarkable benefits of this auspicious drink?


Green tea has been found to promote weight loss, reduce the risk of heart attack, pevent against cancer, protect your teeth and gums and offer relief for arthritis. Not bad for a leaf! These traits are due to a super concentration of antioxidants called catechins known for their outstanding health traits.


Weight Loss Enhancement


Green tea can actually promote weight loss which makes it a very friendly cuppa if shedding pounds is the objective, and a great ally in any healthy weight loss regime.


A study led by Dr. Dulloo at the University of Geneva, published in the December 1999 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that men given a combination of both caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given caffeine or placebo alone.


Results found that the men taking green tea extract had a significant increase in their measured energy expenditure (the number of calories used in a 24 hour period) and significant decrease in their respiration quotient (how well the body utilized carbohydrates, proteins and fats over a 24 hour period) over those taking just caffeine or placebo. The men taking green tea extract also used more fat calories than the placebo group.


The scientists believed that the catechin flavonoids in the green tea extract (potent antioxidants) may alter the body's use of norepinephrine, a chemical transmitter in the nervous system, to increase the rate of calorie burning.

Green tea is a fantastic health ally and a refreshing and cleansing drink. If purchased loose a few leaves can be added to other herbal teas for variety.

They concluded, “Green tea has thermogenic properties and promotes fat oxidation beyond that explained by its caffeine content per se. The green tea extract may play a role in the control of body composition via sympathetic activation of thermogenesis, fat oxidation, or both.”

Source: miracle-superfoods.com