Negative calorie foods are said to use more calories to digest than the calorie content of the foods themselves, resulting in a negative calorie balance. It is therefore natural to consider a diet containing these foods for weight loss.

A diet is a combination of a balanced selection of foods designed for medical or nutritional reasons. A good diet should include all major food groups. The weight loss diets (with or without negative calorie foods) are made to reduce body fat and weight. Some of the popular weight loss diets are: Atkin’s diet, cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, Hollywood diet, negative calorie foods diet, Pritikin diet, the South beach diet and the zone diet.

Most of the weight loss diets promote to eat a particular food group and restrict other food groups. Such diets may show temporary results. If you follow these restricted diets for a long time, you may develop some health problems at later stage as these diets do not contain all the necessary nutrients needed for your body.

The secret to losing weight is to eat and drink the right kind of foods until you are satisfied. Skipping of meals is not the answer for weight loss, it can rather deteriorate your
health. A healthy weight loss diet plan should include vegetables, fruits, grains, lentils and beans in your diet. Following is a sample daily diet plan that is good for keeping
healthy weight and good health, irrespective of whether you follow a diet plan with negative calorie foods or not.

- Skim milk and skim yogurt.
- Salads or boiled vegetables or vegetable soup as starter.
- Whole-wheat bread/tortila, whole grain cereal and rice.
- Whole grains like kidney beans, chick peas and lentils.
- Lightly cooked green vegetables.
- Any dessert with minimum sugar.
- Lean variety of meat (it is better to avoid).
- The dinner should be light. If you had bread for lunch then have rice for dinner.

Include as much negative calorie foods as possible in the above diet plan. If you are meat eater, choose from a lean variety and restrict to one serving in a day.

A diet with negative calorie foods as main ingredients can include foods that are loaded with carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers necessary for keeping you fit. The diet with negative calorie foods can be tailored for fast or gradual weight loss. The fast weight loss diet that can lower the weight up to two pounds per day, is not recommended for long term. The gradual weight loss diet can reduce one pound in a week and can be followed until desired weight is achieved. The diet can be made according to ones needs. The negative
calorie foods will not give you much benefit if you are eating foods loaded with fats and sugars. If you eat a serving of potato fries, don’t think that you can reduce the calories gained from fries by simply eating some negative calorie celery.

Copyright 2004, www.NegativeCalorieFoods.com

[You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as it is used in its entirety including this resource box), all HTML hyperlinks, references (clickable) and copyright information.]

————————————

For more information on negative calorie foods, negative calorie recipes and diets, visit the web site:
Negative Calorie Foods, Recipes, Diet.

————————————

Bookmark to:

The average American eats about twice as much protein than what they require. Some people, in the pursuit of thinness, are going on low-carb diets and are eating up to four times the protein their body needs. Protein deficiency is certainly not a problem in America. So exactly how much protein do you really need? Much less than you think.

Protein is a vital nutrient, essential to your health. In its purest form, protein consists of chains of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids that combine to form different proteins, and 8 to 9 of these must come from the foods we eat. Our body uses these amino acids to create muscles, blood, skin, hair, nails and internal organs. Proteins help replace and form new tissue, transports oxygen and nutrients in our blood and cells, regulates the balance of water and acids, and is essential for making antibodies.

However, too much of a good thing may not be so good for you. Many people are putting their health at risk by eating to much protein. Excessive protein consumption, particularly animal protein, can result in heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and kidney stones. As important as protein is for our body, there are many misconceptions about how much we really need in our diet, and the best way to obtain it.

According to the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, as little as 50-60 grams of protein is enough for most adults. This breaks down to about 10-12% of total calories. Your body only needs 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight. To calculate the exact amount you need, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36 (if using kilograms, multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.8). This will give you your optimum daily protein requirement in grams. Infants, children, pregnant and nursing women require more protein.

People on low-carb diets are consuming up to 34% of their total calories in the form of protein and up to 53% of total calories from fat. Most of these people are unaware of the amount of protein and fat that is contained in the foods they eat. For instance, a typical 3-ounce beef hamburger, which is small by American standards, contains about 22 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat. You achieve quick weight loss on these diets because of this high fat content.

High fat foods give you the sensation of feeling full, faster, so you end up eating fewer total calories. However, this type of protein and fat combination is not the healthiest. Animal proteins are loaded with cholesterol and saturated fat. Many people on these diets also experience an elevation in their LDL (the bad) cholesterol when they remain on this diet for long periods. High levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood, clog arteries and is the chief culprit in heart disease, particularly heart attack and stroke. So while you may lose weight in the short-run, you are putting your cardiovascular health in jeopardy in the long-run.

Another reason weight loss is achieved on these low-carb diets, at least temporarily, is due to water loss. The increase in the amount of protein consumed, especially from meat and dairy products, raises the levels of uric acid and urea in the blood. These are toxic by-products of protein breakdown and metabolism. The body eliminates this uric acid and urea by pumping lots of water into the kidneys and urinary tract to help flush it out. However, a detrimental side effect of this diuretic response is the loss of essential minerals from the body, including calcium. The high intake of protein leaches calcium from the bones, which leads to osteoporosis.

Medical evidence shows that for every 1 gram increase in animal protein ingested the body loses an average of 1.75 milligrams of calcium in the urine. Additionally, as calcium and other minerals are leached from our bones, they are deposited in the kidneys, which can form into painful kidney stones. If a kidney stone becomes large enough to cause a blockage, it stops the flow of urine from the kidney and must be removed by surgery or other methods.

Plant-based proteins, like beans, legumes and soyfoods, also provide fiber, which helps lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL (the good) cholesterol. This prevents the build up of arterial plaque, which leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and heart disease, thus reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The amount and type of protein in your diet also has an important impact on calcium absorption and excretion.

Vegetable-protein diets enhance calcium retention in the body, and causes less calcium excretion in the urine. This reduces the risk of osteoporosis and kidney problems. Interestingly, kidney disease is far less common in people who eat a vegetable-based diet than it is in people who eat an animal-based diet.

By replacing animal protein with vegetable protein, and replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat (like olive and canola oils), you can avoid the pitfalls of the typical high-protein low-carb diet. You will improve your health and regulate your weight while enjoying a vast array of delicious, nutritionally dense, high fiber foods.

Remember, eat everything in moderation and nothing in excess. Also, the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat nutritiously and make permanent lifestyle changes that allow you burn more calories than you take in.

Copyright © 2005 Monique N. Gilbert. All rights reserved.

Monique N. Gilbert, B.Sc. is a Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, Certified Personal Trainer/Fitness Counselor, Recipe Developer, Freelance Writer and Author of Virtues of Soy: A Practical Health Guide and Cookbook. To learn more about Monique’s personal coaching program, go to
http://www.MoniqueNGilbert.com

*****

Author Bio . . .

Monique N. Gilbert, B.Sc. has offered guidance in natural health, nutrition, fitness, weight-loss and stress management since 1989. Through her coaching and writings, Monique motivates and teaches how to improve your well-being, vitality and longevity with balanced nutrition, physical activity and healthy stress-free living. For more information, visit http://www.MoniqueNGilbert.com

*****

Bookmark to:

For years the experts have been telling us that diets do not work, and my experience in the field for almost twenty years confirms that. Yet every year several new fad diets and supplements emerge, claiming they have the answer, and making people rich.

Any diet will help you lose weight, there is no arguing that. I have several personal friends who have lost significant weight on the new low carb diets. Whether you can lose weight on a diet has never been the issue. I worked for Nutri-System several years ago and saw some people lose tons of weight. The issue has been and always will be whether a person keeps the weight off. Research has always shown that within 5 years, anywhere between 85 and 90 percent of people will put the weight back on after stopping a diet.

The key here is after “stopping a diet”. Very few of the fad diets, or the diets where you buy special food, can or will be followed permanently. This is precisely why they don’t work. There is also evidence that so-called yo-yo dieting is worse for your health than being moderately overweight. Most people I know with a weight problem have lost and gained at least 3 or 4 times in their lifetime.

The key then is to find a way to develop a lifestyle of eating and exercise that you will implement permanently. Human nature will not tolerate deprivation well, so you must be able to have some of you want, and the luxury to not do what you have to some of the time. You must eat the things you like once in while, and be able to say I don’t want to exercise once in while, or you give in and give up.

For most people, making some very subtle adjustments to their lifestyle can help immediately. Things like cutting down your meal portions by one third, and eating slower, can make a big difference. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. These little things can make a difference, and most people can implement and maintain them without too much grief.

You have to give your body a chance to adjust over the long term. The cells in our body reproduce themselves once or twice a year, and when they do, they carry the memory of their environment with them. Therefore you must provide them with a new environment for at least that long before your body stops fighting you.

Also remember that if you starve your body, or even just lose a lot of weight quickly, your body is going to strive to regain it’s original weight, and store what you take in. Again you must give it time to adjust and fight the impulses that it sends you. The experts know that a good rate of weight loss for keeping it off is about 2 to 5 pounds per month. This allows the body to gradually adjust. You can lose more than that, but expect your body to react more.

For a full proven program to keep your weight off, click below.

http://www.wholelifegym.com

Article written by Sean Harder, founder of WholeLifeGym

Sean has been a therapist and life coach for over 13 years. He is a published author and founder of WholeLifeGym.com, home of “The 10 Pillars of Health and Happiness eBook.

Bookmark to: