So one of the most common misconceptions when people visit fast food restaurants is that its the main food items that are the cause of their weight gain….i.e. the big macs, the whoopers, the burrito supremes, when in fact the slow killer that has remained somewhat dormant in the news is that it’s really the sugar content found in the diet coke and potato products that lead to the slow gain of weight, especially when people who try to stay “healthy” yet are under a time crunch opt for the salad or more “healthier” options when visiting these fast food restaurants. This primarily is seen in mothers trying to satisfy their children’s craving for their happy meals while at the same time stay healthy themselves. Want to really lose weight? Go for the water or non-soda option on your salad. While at it, skip the fries, and with that all other potato-based products, especially potato chips.

According to a recent report by the New England Journal of Medicine, just one extra serving of french fries resulted in an average of 3.35 extra pounds gained every four years, accompanied by the findings that even just an extra handful of potato chips each day could potentially add 1.69 pounds in the same time period. So next time you’re thinking about a quick snack, don’t reach for the bag of chips, try opting for something more healthy, like carrot sticks, celery, etc.. The same exact advice that you’ve been given to keep your children from becoming obese before it’s even up to them to make their own dietary decisions.

In the same report, they also tracked sleeping habits of the participants. Those who had a decent amount of regular sleep (mind you by decent I don’t mean too much) were also prone to lose weight rather than gain it. That was defined as:

People who slept between six and eight hours per night gained less weight over time than people who slept fewer than six hours or more than eight.

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Now if you’re practicing a balanced diet that includes proper amounts of vegetables and other essential nutrients, that also has been shown to counter-act the occasional ‘binge’ at the fast food counter. It’s those that live hectic lives, i.e. having to take care of children and/or work, that sometimes will go without that natural balance which displaces the starch/sugar/carbohydrate levels in your body and results in the additional weight gain.

So as I said, next time you’re at the drive-through, think twice about ordering that diet coke and large fries…..the salad won’t counter-act the effects they’ll play on your body in the long run.

Sometimes it is easy to fall into a sedentary lifestyle and just let ourselves go and become fat and out of shape. The television is too alluring, the potato chips taste too good, and the sodas are both addictive thanks to it’s sugar and caffeine content but also dangerously delicious! And it is so easy to fall into this lifestyle as well, after all, it is the easiest thing you can do. Sit down, watch television, and eat your favorite foods and slurp down your favorite drinks. Heck, if you’re a freelancer it makes it even easier to fall into this routine. Just start working on your couch one day, then the next, and next thing you know you haven’t been outside or interacted with people face to face in weeks!

Or you could take charge and start doing a little exercise each day. What?! Sounds preposterous, does it not? I am not asking you to become Lance Armstrong or a rock climber, or to even breaking out a serious sweat. Just do something, well, actually let me rephrase that – do ANYTHING.

All I am asking is that you devote twenty minutes a day to any exercise, be it light or heavy. Yes, yes, it is hard, but that is the point; this is going to build your muscles and trim away that fat. Those potato chips encircling your waist are soon going to fall off and you will wonder exactly where the old you went!

It does not matter if you do the lightest, least stressful exercises you can think of; but do them for a daily twenty minutes, and I guarantee you will not only feel healthier, but look better as well! Think of it as rehab for your body. So what if you can’t run around the block one time without getting sick. Try walking it. Then after a few days walking around the block, walk around another. Soon you’ll be logging some serious walking time, at which point you can re-try the job around the block to find that it’s a piece of cake!

That method works with just about every other type of muscle in your body. Regardless of how small of a weigh or low of a resistance, if you keep at it that muscle of yours will slowly build up until you one day find yourself looking (and feeling) better than you did in high school.

Who says yogurt is just a diet food? Apparently not researchers and doctors around the world as evidence is continually being released that this tasty snack contains loads of microscopic warriors in the form of beneficial bacteria that are a must for good health.

The National Institute of Nutrition has released data stating that a cup of yogurt (250 mg) contains 370 mg of calcium. This is 30 – 40 % of most adults’ daily needs! Not only that but at eight grams of protein per cup, yogurt meets 20 – 25 % of the average daily needs of an adult not to mention is a great source of the B vitamins your body needs on a daily basis. Bet you didn’t know this either – A cup of yogurt contains 250 mg of potassium – which is the same amount that your average sized banana has!

Yogurt sets up an efficient little health factory in your intestinal tract and creates B vitamins for you and also provides lactic acid, a key protein aid, calcium and iron assimilation.

Now if you’re on a low calorie diet, yogurt will soon become your best friend. It is easily available anywhere from grocery stores to even gas stations and is a snack that tastes great at any time of the day (also when eaten at night); it is low in calories and can easily fill up your appetite when eaten combined with a high-fiber vegetable or fruit as a combo.

Lookout America – Yogurt may just be the perfect ‘health food.’

Chronic inflammation can make you look old before your time and cause many other aliments. However, changing your diet can help prevent or even reverse the process. As well, the body is able to make its own anti-inflammatory compounds as long as we eat the right foods.

An anti-inflammatory diet contains foods such as: blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries, sour cherries, red grapes, red and yellow onions, garlic, broccoli, and apples. As well as: carrots and orange winter squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, spinach and kale.

The anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3s provide significant benefit to patients with chronic inflammatory diseases also. The most potent omega-3s are found in seafood, especially coldwater fish like salmon (preferably wild), tuna, and mackerel. Vegetarian sources of omega-3s include flaxseed oil, dark greens, and walnuts.

An anti-inflammatory diet suggests olive oil, which contains oleic acid, for everyday cooking. If you prefer safflower or sunflower oil may be used and is always a better health choice than refined oils. Canola oil, however, is a refined oil that contains a good amount of omega-3s and oleic acid.

Spices for an anti-inflammatory diet include: turmeric, which is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory compounds in nature, and ginger and rosemary.

Ask your doctor before beginning any diet.

The latest diet craze to sweet the nation involves a food item not typically seen in any traditional diet plan, Introducing Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet.

Dr. Sanford Siegal first developed the cookie diet in 1975 as a way to treat chronically obese patients (patients who are unable to keep off any weight lost due to exercise/dieting). He has treated more than half a million patients with the sugary diet and claims that there is less risk of obesity in the very low-calorie diet.

“I have yet to see the first case where anyone suffered any ill effect from eating a low-calorie diet,” said Dr. Siegal in an ABC News report.

The 1,000-calorie a day regimen, which ABC News has reported celebrities like Jennifer Hudson, Denise Richards and Kelly Clarkson have all reportedly tried is dangerously lacking in nutrients found primarily in vegetables and fruits.

Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet may result in quick weight loss, it’s nutritionally unsound and can even result in weight gain, experts say.

Cookie Diet followers drink water and eat six uniquely developed 90-calorie cookies each day, followed by a 500-calorie dinner of lean protein and sparse vegetables. With reports being mixed, there have been a bunch of documented success stories.

Josie Raper told “Good Morning America” that she went from being a size 24 to a size 6 in a little close to six months by following this diet.

“When I started the Cookie Diet, there was no splurging or sneaking little snacks,” Ms. Raper told “Good Morning America.”

I was very strict in keeping to the diet including waiting until the Monday of Thanksgiving to start this program so that I could get through every single holiday without snacking or caving in to my cravings.”

According to Josie Raper, she has been on the Cookie Diet for two years now and hasn’t regained the weight.

Weight loss experts say the Cookie Diet’s basic flaw is that it does not help dieters to retrain their eating habits, this results in a greater chance of the dieter falling off the diet or ‘cheating.’

“If you lose weight through diet and exercise alone and don’t change anything else in your life, you are probably going to gain the weight back,” says registered dietitian Anne Fletcher, author of “Thin for Life” and “Weight Loss Confidential.”

When you don’t deal with the underlying reasons for why you’re overeating, you’re definitely more likely to gain weight. This is like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound, it fails to treat the core reason for why the individual is overweight in the first place.

The diet also worries Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, because it lacks in serious good nutrition.

“I am concerned that if someone were to follow this over the long term, there are many different nutrients that they would be missing that you would normally get by eating regular food,” he told “Good Morning America.”

Cookie consumption as a weight-loss strategy is just another fad diet, says Dr. Stuart Fischer, who wrote “The Park Avenue Diet.”

“Every study shows that when people change foods only and rely on that to lose weight, they have a 95% failure rate. This cookie diet relies heavily on sweets but to lose weight you need to forget what sweet tastes like. When you lose your sweet tooth, you are about a fourth of the way to reaching weight-loss success.”

“It just doesn’t exist.” But Fischer says the diet is so low in calories that followers won’t have the energy to do any of the necessary exercise, which he says is important to maintain good heart health. He also added that staying on a cookie-heavy diet will most-likely result in dieters falling into a rebound phenomenon.

“The body goes into a starvation state,” Fischer explains. “And it holds onto every morsel and calorie until the person’s weight goes higher than it was before.”

Dr. Siegal is frequently in the news. Over the years he has been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, New York Daily News, CNN, and the Fox News Channel. Thanks to the recent resurgence of interest in hypothyroidism (“super-foods”) that was sparked by Oprah Winfrey, multiple media outlets have aired features on Dr. Siegal and his work.