Fruit is the perfect diet food. It is low in calories, rich in dietary fiber to boost satiety, and satisfies your sweet tooth without the danger of weight gain. It’s an ideal food choice for anyone interested in weight reduction or weight maintenance.

Nutritional Benefits of Fruit
Fresh Fruits

Fresh fruit (or frozen fruit) is one of the richest sources of vitamins and some important minerals. To help prevent vitamin deficiency, the World Health organisation (WHO) recommends a minimum daily intake of five portions of fruit and vegetables. The most important micronutrient vitamin in fruit (especially citrus fruits) is the antioxidant vitamin C. In addition, fruit (eg. mango, cantaloupe, apricots, and red or pink grapefruit) may also contain useful amounts of vitamin A, as well as healthy phytochemicals like carotenoids and anthocyanosides. Fruit is also a rich source of dietary fiber. Oranges and orange juice also contain folate.
Juices

Fruit juice (eg. apple, blackberry, cranberry, grape, grapefruit, orange, pineapple juices) is a good source of vitamin C, although the high acidity levels and simple sugars in fruit juice can lead to an increased risk of tooth decay. Drinking fruit juice as part of a meal reduces this risk. “Freshly Squeezed” fruit juice is the only type of juice that can legitimately describe itself as “pure”, because it has undergone no processing except the extraction of the fruit. Cranberry juice is especially beneficial for urinary tract infections.
Dried Fruits

Dried fruit (eg. apricots, dates, figs, raisins) is not a particularly good source of vitamins, except some B-vitamins, although it does provide minerals (eg. iron and potassium) and dietary fiber. Dried fruit is high in energy (calories) and fruit sugar, which makes it an excellent energy-boosting snack. Dried apricots contain beta-carotene. Figs contain benzaldehyde, an anti-cancer agent.
How Much Fruit To Eat in a 1600 Calorie Weight Loss Diet

The latest Dietary Guidelines (2005) recommend 3-4 servings of fruit per day. According to the suggested diet plans, one serving is equivalent to:

- 6 oz fruit juice
- 1 medium fruit
- 1/4 cup dried fruit
- 1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned fruit

To ensure adequate fiber intake, consumption of whole fruits (fresh, frozen, canned, dried) rather than fruit juice for the majority of the total daily amount is recommended.

You can make weight loss quicker and easier by increasing your metabolic rate and burning more calories – here’s how:

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. A body that consumes 2500 calories a day, and burns 2500 calories a day will stay at the same weight. A body consuming 2500 calories daily but burning only 2000 will gain weight at the rate of about 1lb a week.

This explains why that ‘lucky’ person across the table from you doesn’t get fat from all that junk food.

You can do quite a lot to speed up your metabolism – the secret of burning calories lies in knowing what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.
You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:
1) Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive – even when you are lying down, doing nothing. BMR accounts for approximately 60% of the calories burned for an average person.
2) Burning Calories for Activity

This is the energy used during movement – from lifting your arm to operate the remote control to cleaning the windows. This accounts for approximately 30% of the calories burned by an average person.
3) Dietary Thermogenesis

The ‘thermogenic effect’ described as meal-induced heat production – the calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food.
You can influence all these factors, and speed up your rate of burning calories using some, or all, of the following tactics:
1) Build Muscle

Increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. In a recent study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. This is because muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.

Training with weights just 3 times a week for around 20 minutes is enough to build muscle. Not only will you be burning more calories, you’ll look better – whatever your weight.
2) Move More

Although the average person burns around 30% of calories through daily activity, many sedentary people only use around 15%. Simply being aware of this fact – and taking every opportunity to move can make quite a dramatic difference to the amount of calories you burn.

The trick is to keep the ‘keep moving’ message in mind. Write the word ‘move’ on post-it notes and put them in places you’ll notice them when you’re sitting still. Then, take every opportunity to move – here’s some ideas for burning calories:

* Tap your feet
* Swing your legs
* Drum your fingers
* Stand up and stretch
* Move your head from side to side
* Change position
* Wriggle and fidget
* Pace up and down
* Don’t use the internal phone – go in person
* Use the upstairs loo
* Park in the furthest corner of the car park
* Stand up when you’re on the phone
* Clench and release your muscles

You’ll find lots of opportunities for burning more calories if you remember that you’re looking for them! Keep thinking ‘keep moving’.
3) Eat Spicy Food

There is evidence to show that spices, especially chilli, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50% for up to 3 hours after you’ve eaten a spicy meal.

Drinks containing caffeine also stimulate the metabolism, as does green tea.
4) Aerobic Exercise

As well as the actual amount of calories burned during exercise – studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards.

Try 30 minute sessions of heart rate raising exercise, such as vigorous walking, step aerobics, jogging or swimming, 3-4 times a week.
5) Eat Little and Often

There is some evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.

Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you less likely binge.
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Most of us would love a pill to make extra pounds melt away. No supplement can work miracles, but nutrition and weight-loss researchers say that some supplements can give you a small advantage in the battle to be slim (helping you lose about 2 to 3 pounds a month). Here are the facts on five of the most promising supplements. These supplements work best if you also exercise, eat less, and deal with any emotional reasons for your extra weight, our experts say. You can combine them, but seek a health care practitioner’s advice before taking green tea and ephedra supplements together, as they are both high in caffeine.

Green Tea

How It Spurs Weight Loss

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) increases your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) and stimulates your body’s ability to burn fat, according to a handful of human studies. Research shows that the benefits come from an interaction between caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a plant chemical in green tea that triggers your production of the metabolism-boosting, appetite-suppressing hormone noradrenaline. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave 10 healthy men a green tea supplement (that contained 90 mg of EGCG and 50 mg of caffeine), 50 mg of caffeine, or a placebo. The men ate a normal diet and did not exercise. Only those who took the green tea supplement experienced a significant increase in calorie-burning ability.

The Results You Can Expect

Based on a study of obese people who took green tea supplements, published earlier this year in the journal Phytomedicine, you may lose about 2 1/2 pounds a month.

Effective Dose

Take a standardized extract of green tea in capsule or tablet form. Choose a supplement that provides 90 mg of EGCG and 50 mg of caffeine, and take it three times daily before meals, says Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., a nutrition scientist, exercise physiologist, and author of Dare To Lose (Avery, 2002) based in Pompano, Fla., and New York City. Drinking the tea may also help you lose weight, but this has not yet been studied.

Cautions

Green tea and green tea supplements are safe; no known adverse effects have been reported, but they may cause nervousness if you’re caffeine-sensitive.

Ephedra

How It Spurs Weight Loss

Researchers say the herb ephedra (Ephedra sinica), also known as ma-huang, increases your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) and reduces hunger. Studies show that ephedra works somewhat like green tea; ephedrine alkaloids in the herb stimulate your body to release the metabolism-boosting, appetite-suppressing hormone noradrenaline. Ephedrine is usually combined with caffeine to enhance these effects.

But ephedra is controversial. Critics called for its banning after a 2000 report published in the New England Journal of Medicine linked ephedra to 43 cases of hypertension, stroke, seizures, and heart attacks. However, a new study conducted at the New York Obesity Research Center in New York City and at Harvard Medical School in Boston looked at the supplement’s effect on people with healthy hearts and found that ephedra is safe and effective when used in recommended doses. The six-month double-blind, placebo-controlled study, published this year in the International Journal of Obesity, involved 167 overweight people who were screened to ensure they did not have heart problems. Subjects who took 90 mg of ephedrine alkaloids and 192 mg of caffeine daily experienced weight loss without significant adverse effects to their hearts. The participants could eat what they wanted and exercise moderately.

The Results You Can Expect

Ephedra may help you lose about 1 1/2 pounds a month.

Effective Dose

Do not take ephedra without the guidance of a health care practitioner; you may have a heart problem that has not been diagnosed. Because the supplement formula used in the most recent study is not available for sale, Anthony Almada, a nutritional biochemist in Laguna Niguel, Calif., recommends a more conservative dose: Take a supplement that provides ephedrine and caffeine in a 1 to 10 ratio, with 5 to 10 mg of ephedrine alkaloids and 50 to 100 mg of caffeine once a day for three days. If this dose does not cause problems (like heart palpitations), add a second daily dose. Do not take more than 60 mg of ephedrine alkaloids a day, he advises.

Cautions

Ephedra is a stimulant, so do not take it if you have a history of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, prostate conditions, anxiety, or mental illness. Don’t use ephedra for longer than six months; long-term effects have not yet been studied, says Carol Boozer, D.Sc., director of the Energy Metabolism Lab at the New York Obesity Research Center.

Fiber

How It Spurs Weight Loss

Fiber allows you to eat less but still feel satisfied, says Edward Saltzman, M.D., director of the Obesity Center at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston. One type, soluble fiber, slows the rate that food passes to your small intestine, causing you to feel full and eat fewer calories. And insoluble fiber prevents overeating because it requires a lot of chewing. A 2001 review of 80 fiber studies published in Nutritional Review found that subjects (both overweight and normal weight) who increased their fiber intake felt full longer and ate an average of 10 percent fewer calories than subjects who ate little fiber. The subjects did not diet but some exercised.

The review showed that fiber supplements and fiber from food were equally effective, but Saltzman recommends you get more from food; fiber-rich foods offer key nutrients and require chewing.

The Results You Can Expect

Raising your fiber intake to about 25 g a day may help you lose about 1 pound a month.

Effective Dose

Take 4 g or more a day in supplement form. Add additional fiber-rich foods to bring your total to about 25 g. (For example, 1 cup of black beans contains 15 g and 3/4 cup of bran flakes sup-plies 5 g.) Fiber supplements made from psyllium husk are commonly available. They’re sold as capsules or as a powder that you mix with water and drink. Fiber supplements are safe for long-term use. To prevent constipation, take them with plenty of water.

Cautions

Add this additional fiber gradually over the course of several weeks. Increasing your intake too quickly can cause bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.

Chromium

How It Spurs Weight Loss

This essential mineral appears to change your body composition by increasing the effectiveness of the hormone insulin. If your insulin works efficiently, your body turns fewer calories into fat and more into muscle, says Richard Anderson, Ph.D., lead researcher at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns. In an eight-week study of 83 overweight people presented at this year’s meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, half took 400 mcg of one of two forms of chromium daily and the other half took a placebo. Those who took plant-based chromium supplements lost 3 pounds more body fat than the placebo group, and those who took chromium picolinate lost 1 1/2 pounds more body fat than the placebo group. All subjects ate less than usual and exercised. Chromium does have detractors. Some researchers question if insulin’s effectiveness really plays a role in weight loss.

The Results You Can Expect

You may lose about 1 pound a month.

Effective Dose

Take 400 mcg a day with food, divided in two doses, for at least 12 weeks. Anderson says this dose is safe for long-term use.

Cautions

Studies have not found chromium toxic in these doses.

Find out how metabolism burns calories, how it affects your weight and ways you can burn more calories for greater weight loss.

You likely know your metabolism is linked to your weight. But do you know how?

Common belief holds that a slim person’s metabolism is high and an overweight person’s metabolism is low. But this isn’t usually the case. Weight isn’t necessarily directly linked to metabolism.

Instead, weight is dependent on the balance of total calories consumed versus total calories burned. Take in more calories than your body needs, and you gain weight. Take in less and you lose weight. Metabolism, then, is the engine that burns these calories.
Metabolism: Converting food into energy

Stated simply, metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories — from carbohydrates, fats and proteins — are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

The number of calories your body burns each day is called your total energy expenditure. The following three factors make up your total energy expenditure:

* Basic needs. Even when your body is at rest, it requires energy for the basics, such as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells. Calories expended to cover these basic functions are your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Typically, a person’s BMR is the largest portion of energy use, representing two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories used each day. Energy needs for these basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren’t easily changed.
* Food processing. Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. This accounts for about 10 percent of the calories used each day. For the most part, your body’s energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn’t easily changed.
* Physical activity. Physical activity — such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement — accounts for the remainder of calories used. You control the number of calories burned depending on the frequency, duration and intensity of your activities.

Metabolism and your weight

It may seem logical to think that significant weight gain or being overweight is related to a low metabolism or possibly even a condition such as underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). In reality, it’s very uncommon for excess weight to be related to a low metabolism. And most people who are overweight don’t have an underlying condition, such as hypothyroidism. However, a medical evaluation can determine whether a medical condition could be influencing your weight.

Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance — consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both.

So it seems you want to improve your diet. Fantastic idea. Do you know what can be done with a healthy diet?

You can lose weight, gain weight or just maintain your weight as is. You can lower your cholesterol or your blood pressure or perhaps just keep those numbers in a healthy range. You can improve your immune system, your energy level, your athletic performance, your skin, your teeth, your bones and a whole lot more. You can greatly lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes and a variety of other health issues. You can help control, prevent, aid, or improve nearly every aspect of your health and your body.

Of course, you probably know this already. What you may not know is where to go from there. I mean, this all sounds great and everything, but uh, what do you do now? The decision to improve your overall diet and nutrition leads a lot of people to a lot of questions. For example:

* What should I eat?
* What shouldn’t I eat?
* How much should I eat?
* Which nutrients should I eat?
* What does each nutrient do?
* What foods contain these nutrients?
* How much of each am I supposed to consume each day?
* Is this guy ever going to stop with the example questions?

If you’ve ever asked any of those questions or think you may ask them in the future, you’re in luck. Below I have compiled all of the answers in one convenient location. It’s what I like to call The Beginner’s Guide To Diet, Nutrition & Healthy Eating.

I have broken it all down into 2 fairly simple parts; the learning and the doing. First up, the learning…
Part 1: The Basics Of Nutrition

Along with each will be a short description explaining what it is, what its role is in the human body, the recommendations for how much of it you should consume per day, and the most common foods that contain a significant amount of it. For the most part, this is pretty much all there is to the basics of nutrition. Check it out..

Chalories
A calorie is the unit of measurement for how much energy there is in a food or drink. We consume calories in the form of carbohydrates, protein and fat (and alcohol) which all contain a certain number of calories per gram (see right column). The calories are used by the body to do literally everything it needs to do (pump blood, walk, etc.). This is why very low calorie diets are dangerous and should be avoided.
Recommended amount per day
The number of calories you should consume per day is based on way too many factors for there to just be a general guideline for everyone. Your height/weight, your gender, your metabolism, your activity level and your goals (weight loss, weight gain, weight maintenance) all play a role. For this reason, your daily calorie intake has to be tailored specifically to you and your body.

It’s alright though, relax. Everything you need in order to figure how many calories you should consume per day can be found in the Guide To Calories & Weight Control.

Source
Calories per gram:

Carbs: 4 cals
Protein: 4 cals
Fat: 9 cals
Alcohol: 7 cals

Creating good eating habits from the moment of birth is important to the lifelong health of a child.

Parents play a big role in shaping children’s eating habits. When parents eat a variety of foods that are low in fat and sugar and high in fiber, children learn to like these foods as well. It may take 10 or more tries before a child accepts a new food, so do not give up if your child does not like a new food right away.

Parents have an effect on children’s physical activity habits as well. You can set a good example by going for a walk or bike ride after dinner instead of watching TV. Playing ball or jumping rope with your children shows them that being active is fun.

Just like adults, children need to eat a wide variety of foods for good health. When you help children build healthy eating habits early, they will approach eating with a positive attitude—that food is something to enjoy, help them grow, and give them energy.

To have a healthy life, it needs a proper diet or a balanced diet.To have this kind of diet here is the eigth recomendations for a healthy diet.

First , Learn the four basic food groups:

* milk products: milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream
* meat/eggs: red meats, poultry, fish, and eggs
* grains: breads, cereals, rice, pasta, and so forth
* fruits/vegetables; may be consumed as solids or juices.

Twenty percent of a healthy diet should consist of milk, meat and eggs, and 80 percent should be vegetables, fruits, and grains. (Fiber is found in grains, fruits, and vegetables.) This is similar to the recommendations that children receive 55 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 30 percent from fats, and 15 percent from proteins.

Second, Eat three meals a day.

Breakfast is essential for children. Skipping breakfast can compromise performance at school. For dieters, skipping breakfast usually doesn’t lead to weight loss. All meals should contain fruits or vegetables, as well as grains. Meat or milk should be included in two of the meals.

Eating snacks is largely a habit. Snacks are unnecessary for good nutrition but harmless unless your child is overweight. If your child likes snacks (and most children do), encourage fruits, vegetables, and grains, but don’t give them close to mealtime.

Third,Decrease the amount of fat (meat and milk products) in the die.

Americans eat excessive amounts of meat and dairy products. Although cholesterol is important for rapid growth, children over age 2 should consume it in moderation (not eliminate it).

To decrease the amount of fat in the diet, follow these guidelines:

* Remember that one serving of meat per day is adequate for normal growth and development. (Don’t serve meat more than twice a day.)
* Serve more fish and poultry and fewer red meats, since the latter have the highest cholesterol levels. Lean red meats are lean ground beef, pork loin, veal, and lamb.
* Trim fat off meats and the skin from poultry.
* Don’t serve bacon, sausages, spareribs, pastrami, and other meats that have a high fat content. Cut back on hot dogs, lunchmeats, and corned beef.
* Limit the number of eggs to 3 or 4 per week. (Eggs have the highest cholesterol content of any of the commonly eaten foods. The cholesterol in one egg is equivalent to the cholesterol in 14 ounces of beef, 1-and-1/2 quarts of whole milk, or 1 quart of ice cream.)
* Serve 2 percent milk instead of whole milk for children over 2 years of age.
* Decrease the amount of milk your child drinks to 2 or 3 cups per day. (Encourage your child to drink water to satisfy thirst.)

On the other hand, some teenage girls may need to be reminded to consume adequate milk products (the equivalent of 3 glasses of milk) to lay down the bone mass required to prevent osteoporosis later in life.
* Buy margarine instead of butter.
* Keep in mind that red meat may be hard to give up because of the widespread misconception that red meat helps to build muscle mass and strength.

Fourth, Increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, and grains in the diet

Follow these guidelines:

* Children should consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. (Fifty percent of American children eat only one fruit or vegetable per day.)
* Try to serve a fruit at every meal.
* Offer fruits as dessert and snacks.
* Start every day with a glass of fruit juice. (Caution: limit fruit juices to 2 cups per day to prevent diarrhea.)
* Since fruits and vegetables are interchangeable, don’t force children to eat vegetables they don’t like.
* When making casseroles, increase the amount of vegetables and decrease the amount of meat.
* Serve more soups.
* Encourage more cereals for breakfast.
* Use more whole-grain bread in making sandwiches.

Fitfth, Include an adequate amount of iron in the diet.

Throughout our lives we need adequate iron in our diets to prevent anemia. Everyone should know which foods are good sources of iron. Red meats, fish, and poultry are best. One serving per day of these foods will provide adequate iron. Although liver is a good source of iron, it contains 16 times more cholesterol than beef and should be avoided. For young children who refuse meats in general, use low-fat luncheon meats as a meat source. Adequate iron is also found in iron-enriched cereals, beans of all types, peanut butter, raisins, prune juice, sweet potatoes, spinach, and egg yolks. The iron in these foods is better absorbed if the meal also contains fruit juice or meat.

Sixth, Avoid excessive salt.

Salt is not usually harmful for people without high blood pressure. However, to discourage a taste for excessive salt in infants do not add it to their foods. Remove the salt shaker from the dinner table. Use other herbs and spices instead of salt. Purchase salty foods such as potato chips and pretzels sparingly.

Seventh,Avoid excessive pure sugars.

Sweets are not bad, but they should be eaten in moderation. Most humans are born with a “sweet tooth.” They seek out and enjoy candy, soft drinks, and desserts. The main side effect of eating candy is tooth decay if the teeth are not brushed afterward. Eating food with a lot of sugar (”a sugar binge”) can cause, 2 or 3 hours later, jitters, sweating, dizziness, sleepiness, and intense hunger. This temporary reaction is not harmful and can be relieved by eating some food. A love of sweets is not related to obesity (if the total calories per day are normal) or hyperactivity. A high amount of sugar in the diet has not been correlated with coronary artery disease or cancer.

Eight, Know what to eat before exercise.

Eating meat does not improve athletic performance. The best foods to consume before prolonged exercise are complex carbohydrates. These include bread, pasta (noodles), potatoes, and rice. These should be consumed 3 to 4 hours before the athletic event so they have passed out of the stomach.

Water consumption continues to be important up to the time of participation and every 20 to 30 minutes during the activity.

Going on” a diet ” is not the answer to losing weight. This is because the weight is soon regained after you “go off” your diet. If diets really worked, there wouldn’t be so many of them! Instead, your usual eating and exercising patterns need to be changed so that your weight stays right for you.

Even though everyone talks about weight, it’s really how much fat you have that matters. Two people can be the same height and weigh the same, but one person may look overweight and the other may look fine. Someone who exercises regularly and has more muscle looks thinner than someone who is inactive and has more fat.

You may think you should weigh less when your weight is already a healthy one. Pictures of models in magazines pressure people into thinking that they should be very thin.

The high prevalence of obesity and overweight problems in our culture means much more emphasis is placed on losing weight rather than gaining weight. It is easy to forget about people who have the problem of being too thin.

Being underweight can result from eating disorders, chronic diseases, and it is also a concern for athletes and naturally thin people who wish to be bigger, stronger, and more muscular. Elderly people may become underweight. The gradual loss of taste and smell, or the inability to prepare healthy meals, results in becoming too thin.

While being overweight or obese is a well-known risk factor for chronic diseases, being too thin may also increase a person’s risk of dying from diseases such as heart failure and cancer. Elderly women who are underweight may become frail, which means they are more likely to suffer from osteoporosis and hip fractures. Being underweight may also increase a man’s chance of erectile dysfunction.

How to gain weight

Weight gain is as difficult as losing it, if you are naturally thin. Gaining weight is a problem for many people. They complain that they can’t put on any weight.

Increasing your intake of junk foods and greasy foods is not a good way to gain weight. Junk foods usually contain unhealthy trans fats or saturated fats. Even though you need to increase your calorie consumption to gain weight, those calories should come from foods that are good for you.

Healthy fats include omega-3 essential fatty acids sources like tuna, salmon, flax, and walnuts. Good sources of protein include lean meats, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds and legumes. Healthy carbohydrate sources include fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

It may be easier to eat five or six smaller balanced meals per day rather than eating three large meals, especially if you are not used to eating much at one sitting.

Protein powders and nutritional supplement drinks such as Ensure (buy direct) can be added as in-between meal snacks if you still need more calories. Some protein powders are flavored and only need added water and some others can be blended with your choice of juice or milk to improve the taste.

It would also be a healthy idea to add a small amount of flax seed oil and some psyllium powder to add some omega-3 essential fatty acids and extra fiber.

Why Men Want To Gain Weight?

1. Men, just like women have to live up to the medias expectations of what an ideal male body looks like. However, many men, especially young men are naturally thin with high metabolisms. So they feel they have some catching up to do to look “ideal”
2. Men feel women like men with larger muscles
3. Being skinny can make you look awkward in your clothes. It might be hard to find shirts that look good on you or pants that complement your body.
4. Men want to be macho. they want to feel strong and powerful.
5. Gaining weight helps men dramatically increase their confidence levels.

Tools to Help You Gain Weight

Use these tips and tools to help gain weight:

* Use a food diary to track your calorie intake to be sure you are getting all of the calories and foods that you need.
* You can also use an online program such as Calorie Count Plus to track your calorie intake, your exercise and your changes in weight. Calorie Count Plus has a large data base of nutrition information for almost any food you like to eat.
* Add healthy calories to breakfast with an extra slice of whole-grain toast and peanut butter.
* Mid-morning and afternoon snacks should be nutritious, not junk. Trail mixes contain healthy nuts, dried fruits and can add healthy calories to your diet.
* Don’t add calories to your meals by choosing unhealthy fried foods such as french fries, chicken nuggets and fish sticks. Choose healthy foods such as baked potatoes, baked chicken and fish, just make your portions a bit bigger.
* Keep your meals balanced. One meal should have a healthy protein source such as fish, low fat meat, chicken or legumes plus two or three servings of vegetables. Green vegetables add lots of vitamins and phytonutrients while starchy potatoes and corn add extra calories.
* Drink healthy beverages such as milk and fruit juices to add calories. Don’t choose sugary sodas, which only add calories and no nutrition.
* Design a weight training program with help from About.com’s exercise site and our weight training site.

How to Lose Weight

Weight loss is a tricky topic. Lots of people are unhappy with their present weight, but most aren’t sure how to change it — and many would be better off staying where they are. You may want to look like the models or actors in magazines and on TV, but those goals might not be healthy or realistic for you. Besides, no magical diet or pill will make you look like someone else.

Despite what you may think, losing weight isn’t a mysterious process. In fact, weight loss doesn’t even have to involve strange diets, special exercises or even the ‘magic’ of pills or fitness gadgets. Want the secret to weight loss? Make small changes each and every day and you’ll slowly (but surely) lose those extra pounds.

To lose one pound, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities.

Skipping meals is not helpful for a healthy diet,though skipping meals may work for a while, it backfires in the long run. This is because you get hungry and frustrated, and then eat too much at once.
You may be so used to skipping meals that you don’t feel hungry at normal mealtimes. For example, you may not be hungry in the morning. But after about a month of eating a normal breakfast and lunch and a light dinner, your body will readjust.

The best way to lose weight is to work on the things that have contributed to your being overweight. A new diet plan may help you lose weight for a little while. But the weight often comes back unless you find new ways to deal with the things that have contributed to your being overweight. This may include learning new ways to deal with your stress, finding ways to feel less lonely or talking with a counselor about how you’re feeling.

A few general tips may help you.

1. A regular exercise program. Few people lose weight and keep it off without exercise. Your doctor can help you plan an exercise program that will be right for you.

2. A regular eating pattern. For most people, this will be three meals a day. The three meals should be about equal in size, and the foods eaten should be low in fat.

3. Support. Support from family or friends is very important for long-term success in losing weight.

Exercise has so many benefits for people who want to lose weight. Regular exercise helps you burn calories faster, even when you’re sitting still. Exercise does this by raising your metabolism. It also helps you burn fat and build muscle. So, even if you don’t lose pounds, you may lose inches.
Exercise also tends to curb your appetite. It’s a healthy alternative to eating for entertainment. It can help reduce stress. Exercise is good for the health of your heart and bones too.

The best kind of exercise is exercise that you’ll keep doing throughout your life. Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate and helps burn calories. The longer you exercise, the more your body will burn fat. Working out for even as little as 10 minutes at a time will help you get some benefit from aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercises include swimming, walking fast, jogging and bicycling. Try to work up to 20 to 30 minutes at leas three times a week.

Walking, even at a slow rate, can be very helpful. If you choose this as your exercise, work up to walking for one hour, five times a week.
The main thing to remember is that any sort of exercise is better than none at all.

To be helpful in the long run, the exercise you choose can’t be a drudge or a chore. Choose an exercise you enjoy. Exercising with a friend may help. It may be hard for you to keep at something if you do it alone all of the time.

Tips on achieving a healthy weight

1. Eat only until you feel satisfied.
2. Begin meals with clear soups, broth or something light.
3. Eat vegetables, grain foods or other starchy foods and protein foods at each meal.
4. Eat slowly so your body has time to know when it’s full.
5. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
6. Exercise.
7. Stock your desk or home cupboards with low-fat snacks.
8. Don’t keep high-fat foods in the house.
9. Avoid alcohol.
10. Let yourself indulge now and then. This helps you not feel deprived, which may
cause you to eat too much later.

Being healthy is really about being at a weight that is right for you. The best way to find out if you are at a healthy weight or if you need to lose or gain weight is to talk to a doctor or dietitian, who can compare your weight with healthy norms to help you set realistic goals. If it turns out that you can benefit from weight loss, then you can follow a few of the simple suggestions listed below to get started.

Weight management is about long-term success. People who lose weight quickly by crash dieting or other extreme measures usually gain back all (and often more) of the pounds they lost because they haven’t permanently changed their habits.

In a recent study, older adults who condensed their calorie intake by about 30 percent performed better on memory tests.

Some animal studies suggest that low-calorie diets rich in unsaturated-fatty acids, like nuts, avocados and olive oil, may be beneficial for brain function in aging rats. In this latest study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers aimed to determine if these same effects apply to humans.

The authors studied 50 older adults (average age: 60) whose weight ranged from healthy to overweight. The participants were divided into three groups. One group reduced their calorie intake by up to 30 percent. The second group increased their unsaturated fatty acids intake by up to 20 percent, and the third group served as the control and did not change their eating habits.

The researchers tested the participants’ memory at the beginning and end of the three-month-long study. They found that verbal memory scores significantly increased an average of 20 percent by the end of the study in the reduced-calorie group. These memory improvements were also associated with decreases in insulin levels and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation). No significant changes in memory were reported in the other two groups.

Although these early results are promising, additional well-designed trials are needed to fully understand how a low-calorie diet may affect brain functioning.

For more information about a low-calorie diet, please visit Natural Standard’s Health & Wellness database.

At 500 calories a day, you would have to eat 250 fewer calories and exercise to burn off the ohter 250 calories. To lose 2 pounds a week, this would be increased to 500 calories each from food and exercise. Any more than this isn’t a good idea because you would start to lose some of that valuable hard-body muscle that you worked so hard to build. Losing muscle would also mean that your metabolism would slow down, and I know you don’t want that.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you should consume between 10 and 15 times your body weight in calories per day. A more accurate way would be to first determine your basal metabolism rate (BMR). Your BMR is the amount of calories that it takse for your body to function. Following are the steps to find your daily calorie requirements, using my numbers as an example:

1. First divide your weight by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms:
145 / 2.2 = 66 kilograms

2. Multiply that number by your appropriate BMR factor (men = 1, women = .9):
66 x .9 = 59.4

3. Multiply that number by 24 (for the hours in a day) to get your BMR:
59.4 x 24 = 1, 425 calories (BMR)

4. To find your activity level energy requirements, multiply your BMR by the appropriate percentage:
40-50 percent of your BMR: sedentary home body (armchair athlete)
55*65 percent of your BMR: lightly active home body (trains up to 1.5 hours a week)

1,425 x .75 = 1,068 calories (lower-limit activity level)
1,425 x 1 = 1,425 calories (upper-limit activity level)

5. Add your BMR and activity level requiremnets to get your daily calorie requirement:
1,425 + 1,068 = 2,493 calories
1,425 + 1,425 = 2, 850 calories

If you’re looking for information on cutting calories and fat in your diet, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, or your favorite low-calorie, reduced-fat foods and beverages (and the ingredients that make them possible)… you’ve come to the right place!

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) from the average USDA 2,000 calorie dietary guidelines - promoters of the famous food guide pyramid which haunted so many of us back in elementary school. Remember? Starches on the bottom and fats and sweets up top….

Interestingly, the new generation of elementary school kids are getting to hear a slightly different message: the USDA recently introduced a new pyramid which is called MyPyramid and emphasizes the following:

• avoiding trans fats
• limiting sugar intake
• eating more whole grains
• limiting saturated fat intake
• consuming monounsaturated and polyunsaturated
• fats eating 20% to 35% of daily calories from fats

The table below compares the old and the new pyramids for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Even though it is hard to compare the various units of the MyPyramid with each other, a few observations can be made immediately:

• the recommended ratio of meats to grains has almost doubled, and in fact, the recommended daily allowances are now almost the same
• milk allowance has increased, and by comparison, vegetables’ and fruits’ allowance decreased

The truth of the matter, though, is that dietary needs are dependent on a number of different factors, such as metabolism, age, gender, activity level and weight. The food pyramid gives us a good reference for enjoying a balanced diet, however, some diet plans literally turn the pyramid upside down. As an example, consider the Atkins diet where protein-laden fats are encouraged and carbohydrates banned.

To determine how many calories you need each day, use our daily calorie burn tool.