You are here: Home / Archives for Diet

4 Foods to Avoid Before Bedtime

January 7, 2016 by

If you’re the type of person who loves a good midnight snack, you may be wreaking havoc on your quality of sleep without even realizing it. While some foods are okay to eat right before bed, others will make it much more difficult to drift off into a dream state. Here are a few foods to avoid before hitting the hay!

  1. Potato chips. Foods that are filled with grease and fat, such as potato chips or French fries, take quite a bit more effort to digest. With your stomach working overtime, it is much more difficult to fall asleep.
  2. Ice cream. Think twice before having that bowl of ice cream while watching late night TV. Fatty foods like this are also more difficult to digest, which could lead to you lying awake with cramps and discomfort.
  3. Candy. Sugar-packed candies will cause your blood sugar levels to spike, leaving you feeling too restless for rest.
  4. Red meat. If you grab a fast food burger on your drive home after a late night, you may not be able to fall asleep once you actually crawl into bed. Red meats like this sit in your stomach much longer than other types of foods, and your body uses a lot more effort to digest them.

9 Things Your Should Never Eat or Drink After 9PM [Bodybuilding.com]
The 5 Worst Types of Foods to Eat Late at Night [Prevention]
The 10 Best and Worst Foods to Eat for Sleep [Fitness]
10 Foods to Avoid Before Bed [Fox News Health]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,

How to Cut Calories on Thanksgiving Day

November 19, 2015 by

Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when you can eat as much as you want (and, for many people, as much as you possibly can) without feeling guilty. Although you want to indulge in stuffing and pumpkin pie, you also don’t want to go overboard and wreak havoc on your diet. Here are a few smart ways to cut calories on Thanksgiving — without cutting out the sweet potato casserole.

  1. Remove the turkey skin. While the turkey is the focal point of any Thanksgiving meal, you can save up to 20 calories and 3 grams of fat per serving without even noticing it simply by removing the skin before eating.
  2. Eat light meat. Instead of reaching for the dark turkey meat, opt for the lighter sections and save about 20 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving.
  3. Create a low carb stuffing. If you’re in charge of bringing the stuffing, swap half of the bread for veggies like onions or water chestnuts and low-fat chicken broth instead of butter.
  4. Practice portion control. The only real foolproof way to eat everything that you want without going overboard on Thanksgiving is by limiting your portions. Split that piece of pie with a family member, or take small portions and only reach for more if you’re still feeling hungry.

21 Ways to Slim Down Your Thanksgiving Feast [SparkPeople]
20 Ways to Cut Thanksgiving Calories [FitDay]
Top 10 tips to cut back on calories and guilt this Thanksgiving [The Ann Arbor News]
10 Tips for a Thinner Thanksgiving [Web MD]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,

These Tips Can Help You Enjoy Fruits and Veggies on a Budget

March 5, 2015 by

If you think that you have to increase your grocery budget in order to begin a healthier diet plan, think again. There’s no reason why a meal plan filled with fresh fruits and veggies should cost more than one filled with snacks and sweets, and these helpful tips will show you how to do it — even on a tight budget.

  1. Buy in-season produce. You’ll often find better deals on fresh produce when it’s in season, so consider stocking up on large quantities of, say, apples in the fall or berries in the summertime. If you buy more than you can consume, freeze the fruit for future use.
  2. Plan meals in advance. One of the best ways to make the most of what’s in season (and avoid throwing away produce that has gone bad) is by planning a week’s worth of meals in advance. You can even make a few meals over the weekend and freeze them to eat on busy weekdays.
  3. Use sales to get adventurous. If you purchase only fruits and veggies that are on sale at the grocery store, it won’t just save you money, it will also give you an excuse to experiment with new foods that you wouldn’t normally try. Rhubarb, anyone?
  4. Store produce properly. If you get frustrated about how quickly your fresh produce goes bad, create a more organized storage system to maximize its lifespan. Keep vegetables separate from fruits, as many fruits emit a gas that causes veggies to spoil more quickly.

Fruits and Vegetables on a Budget [Fruits and Vegetables More Matters]
10 Smart Tips for Eating Healthy on a Super Tight Budget [The Kitchn]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,

How to Steer Clear of Saturated Fat in Your Diet

February 19, 2015 by

Saturated fats are some of the main things that you should watch out for when you’re trying to lose weight or improve your health, but unfortunately they’re very common in many of the foods on the market today. If you want to cut saturated fats from your diet, these three foods are some of the main ones to avoid.

  1. Butters and margarines. This is a tricky subject, because butter and margarine have both positive and negative qualities. When choosing a spread, first compare both the trans fats and the saturated fat contents of each product. Whichever one has the lowest number of trans and saturated fats is the healthier option.
  2. High-fat meats. Meats like steak, ground beef, pork, and sausage with visible, marbled fats are always very high in saturated fats. Dark meat poultry and poultry with skin on it also contains much more saturated fats than other types. Choose leaner cuts of meat, chicken, or fish instead, or you can substitute ground beef or sausage with ground turkey.
  3. Dried coconut. While coconut is a common topping on many cakes, cookies, and candy bars, it contains about 57 grams of potentially harmful saturated fats per serving. This is an alarming 286% of your recommended daily intake, so be sure to limit the amount of dried coconut that you consume.

Top 10 Foods Highest in Saturated Fat [Healthaliciousness]
Saturated Fats Are Primarily Found in What Groups? [SF Gate]
Saturated Fat [CDC]
Fat and Oils [Better Health Channel]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,

Pin It on Pinterest