The Official Blog of the Black Women Losing Weight Community. Tips, articles and weight loss resources for African American Women.
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Don’t Eat That! Wristband – Wear it as a constant reminder to stay on track with your healthy eating and wellness goals! Just $3.50 each (includes shipping and handling). The band is embossed with the words “Don’t Eat That!”. ~Get Yours Today~
Weight Loss Motivation Wristbands – Wear our Change 3 and “Don’t Eat That!” wristbands to help you stay on track and remind you of your goals.
Get the December Challenge Wristband – I’ve created a wristband for this challenge. Get it for just $3.50 (includes shipping and handling). The band says, “Thought = Action = Habits Change 3 = Changed Life”.
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Don’t Eat That! Wristband – Wear this as a constant reminder to stay on track with your healthy eating goals! Just $3.50 each (includes shipping and handling). The band is embossed with the words “Don’t Eat That!”.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it can be one of the hardest to make sure is healthy. We often start with the best of intentions but our busy lives can make grabbing the right thing difficult. Here are seven things to keep in your kitchen for a quick and healthy breakfast.
Fruit
Fruit can provide you with many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nutrients that are an essential part of a balanced diet. Most fruit is high in fiber which helps to process the nutrients the fruit contains and to aid the body in maintaining proper blood sugar levels and increasing protection against certain types of cancers. Fruit is filling, but can also be low in calories compared to other breakfast foods (with the exception of higher glycemic index fruits like mango and banana).
Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt has some very real advantages over its traditional yogurt partner. While both versions provide a good source of digestive enzymes, calcium and protein; the thicker Greek yogurt has also been strained to remove some lactose, whey and sugar. This means that Greek yogurt has a lower caloric count, lower sugar amount and more protein than the normal fare. It can be a great base (plain greek yogurt) to add in your fruit and protein powder to make a quick meal.
Egg whites
Using egg whites instead of the whole egg is a good way to cut the fat and carbohydrate levels in your diet. Egg whites can be prepared in the same way you would prepare a whole egg and retain much of the natural egg flavor. One thing to be aware of is that egg whites only have about half of the protein of the whole egg, so consider adding a protein powder to your breakfast or having some sliced avocado with your egg white if keeping a high protein intake is important. That said, egg whites remain a much higher source of protein than many other foods as the whole egg is a high protein source item as well.
Protein powder
Adding protein powder to milk or a milk substitute such as almond milk can help to add power to your morning. Protein is used for energy in the body to sustain major functions such as muscles, nerves and cognitive processes. Protein cannot be stored in the body so by the time you wake up, you are running low. Protein powders come with all of the essential amino acids that your body needs to properly synthetize the protein and many are also fortified with additional vitamins and minerals. Protein powders can also be very filling but most come in at under 250 calories per 8 ounce serving. Add them to yogurt, smoothies, eggs and more.
Turkey Bacon
Don’t want to give up bacon? Turkey bacon can be an important way of cutting down on salt and fat at breakfast without losing all of the traditional breakfast taste and flavor. It is very important that you read the nutritional label on the turkey bacon as not all of them offer a healthier serving than pork bacon. Check to make sure they are low in sodium and polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats are necessary parts of your diet so don’t worry about them too much. If gluten is a concern for you, there are varieties of turkey bacon available that are made gluten free as well.
Veggies
A good way to serve vegetables in the morning is raw. You can dip them in your Greek yogurt or carry them with you as a good solution for what to eat when you just don’t have time for breakfast. One of the many benefits of starting your day with a serving of vegetables, besides the vitamins and nutrients they provide, is they also provide you with a source of hydration and fiber. One cup of cut veggies can be as filling as pancakes, but without the unhealthy side effects. Add them to your eggs and omelets as well.
Whole grain cereal
Choosing a whole grain cereal is an important way to start changing your diet. Whole grains as more filling and fiber rich. A diet rich in fiber is important for more reasons than just aiding digestion. Recent studies have shown that diets that lack fiber can contribute to the development of certain types of diabetes and are a suspected contributing factor in promoting some cancers. Whole grain cereals are often a good source of minerals and antioxidants as well. You can fulfill your sweet tooth by topping the cereal with fruit too.
The poor avocado would have motion sickness from the way it gets thrown high up on the “must eat” list and then kicked back down the ladder to the bottom with a bunch of foods to avoid. It’s back again, this time being touted as a “superfood” and it may just have found a niche to settle in and call home. There are numerous benefits that come from making avocado a part of your daily diet, including promoting weight loss. That is something pretty spectacular for a high calorie and high fat fruit. The reality is that many people who have dismissed the avocado for its calorie and fat content haven’t understood the nutritional nature of that content at all. Here are 5 benefits of eating avocado that will convince you to add it to your diet.
Benefit #1 – It is loaded with healthy fats
The average medium size avocado contains about 14.4 grams of fat. These are all the healthy fats that your body needs to function at its best. The avocado contains oleic acids and Omega-3 fats that are necessary to promoting good heart health. The other fat varieties contained in the fruit benefit the collagen and elasticin production of the skin and provide the right kind of fuel to assist your brain in maintaining cognitive functioning.
Benefit #2 – It is a rich source of protein
While many fruits and vegetables offer high protein levels, the avocado is considered a rich source because it contains something else that is necessary for your body to be able to use the protein – fiber. Along with that fiber, the avocado contains all of the amino acid building blocks that the body requires to synthesize protein. Without the fiber and amino acids, you can’t do anything with the protein you consume. This is why adding avocado to your diet if you are a vegan or vegetarian is essential, it is one of the best non-animal sources of protein around.
Benefit #3 – All that Vitamin E
Avocado is loaded with vitamin E. This is the essential vitamin for protecting the skin. It helps the skin’s cells to resist damage from the sun and helps to maintain firmness and elasticity which leads to a more youthful appearance. The vitamin E can be obtained from the avocado by consuming it or by applying the pulped fruit to your skin. It is most effective when consumed as the surface of the skin is only moisturized, but not repaired by the avocado pulp.
Benefit #4 – A good source of potassium
When we think of potassium we tend to think of foot cramps and bananas. Potassium is one of the most essential minerals in the body. A deficiency in potassium will not only lead to muscle cramps, but it can also trigger a cardiac incident, kidney failure and other dysfunctions of the major organs. By adding avocado to your regular diet, you will consume more potassium then you would get from bananas. Considering all the other benefits that the avocado offers as well, it is a better choice too.
Benefit #5 – Lutein
Avocados provide an important source of lutein for your body that is easily used. Lutein is most often associated with promoting eye health and it is also being investigated as a supplement that may help protect against certain cancers of the colon and breast. While the studies concerning cancer prevention are inconclusive, the studies concerning how lutein protects the eye are conclusive. Maintaining sufficient lutein levels helps to prevent age-related macular degeneration. This is most often caused from simple sun damage to the eye and consuming avocados can boost your lutein levels.
The Avocado Tricks
There are two tricks to adding avocado to your diet successfully. The first is to keep it on your counter or in a paper bag in the pantry after your purchase it for a few days before using it. Avocado ripens once it is picked and placing it in the refrigerator will slow down the ripening process. The second trick is to be mindful of what you eat the avocado with. It is a high calorie food that can hit as much as 340 quality calories per fruit, make sure you are eating it with low calorie foods so you don’t overwhelm the benefits of the avocado with too many calories or chemicals in the meal.
Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip – #20: Learn How to Save Money on Fruits and Veggies. Consider this…
“Researchers at the University of Arizona recently spent a year tracking families’ food-use habits. Working with the United States Department of Agriculture, they interviewed the families about their eating habits, collected their grocery receipts, watched them prepare meals, and then sifted through every last discarded lettuce leaf, slice of bread, burger and bean. The results, reported in 2002, were pretty shocking. The families tossed out an average of 470 pounds of food per year—about 14 percent of all food brought into the home—at an annual cost of $600. Every day, they discarded more than half a pound of fruits and veggies. In total, Americans chuck a fourth of all the produce they buy, mostly because it’s gone bad, says Timothy Jones, PhD, contemporary archaeologist at the University of Arizona. Nationally, we dump $43 billion worth of food every year.” – Vegetarian Times
I would like to believe that since things are a bit tighter financially these days, with our economy, that we are doing a better job of not wasting money on food in general. Here are some tips to help you do that:
Deals at Farmer’s Markets –
Store Your Fruits and Veggies Properly – If you don’t know how long your veggies will last or how to properly store them, you may end up with wasted food which means wasted money.
Research Sales Online
Buy Fruits and Veggies in Season
Buy Frozen
It’s day 1 of our October 2013 Challenge. Each day I will share a tip for weight loss on a budget! My first tip, frozen food is your friend. If you are budget conscious, the frozen isle holds a lot of possibility for you. Here are some reasons why.
Foods that are out of season – Frozen foods are great because you can access out of season foods like mango or peaches all year around from sources where the foods are in season. Variety is key when losing weight so you want to have access to all of your favorite healthy options as much as possible.
100% Main Ingredient – You want to look at the ingredient list on the package and see ONE ingredient as much as possible. No fillers, no preservatives is Ideal!!
Look for Flash Freezing – Foods that are flash frozen may have better taste because they were frozen quickly and all the flavor and nutrients are sealed in.
Steam-in-bag– There are tons of steam-in-bag options in the frozen section that will help you to make healthy meals quickly. This is a big issue for those who a used to “fast food”. We are talking pasta dishes, vegetables, meat dishes, etc with the help of your trusty microwave. (Or…You can also buy a traditional steamer and you don’t even need the bag.)
Buy generic – Go for the store brand or generic brands for the lowest prices in most cases. This is not clothing or shoes…labels are less important.
Buy in bulk – If you have a separate freezer, consider buying frozen items in bulk. Just remember, frozen foods DO have an expiration date. A good tip is to use masking tape and a permanent marker to label foods in the freezer so that you see the expiration dates clearly.
Healthy Frozen Meals – I get asked about healthy frozen diet meals all the time. While I don’t usually recommend them because of high sodium content, many brands have scaled back on sodium and preservatives. If you don’t have time to cook your meals and you can find ones with quality, healthy ingredients for a good price or on sale…go for it. Just make sure that you READ the nutrition label and are aware of what is really in the meal.
List of foods to consider buying in the frozen isle:
Featured story of the day: Keita lost 100 pounds and is still on a mission to lose more. She changed her eating habits, counted calories, and exercised regularly. Here is what she shared with us:
Hi! I want to share my story. In August 2012 I ruptured a disk in my back and needed surgery. I was told that weigh loss would help me possibly avoid surgery. I’ve lost 100 pounds since November 2012 with a lot of prayer, healthy choices and daily exercise. I cut my calories down to 1200 a day and I go to the gym 5 days a week. I spend 35 mins on the elliptical and 25 mins on different weight machines. God told me it was time and that if I did what I could, he would do the rest. 10 months later, here I am. My starting weight was around 374 pounds. My current weight is 270 pounds.
I stopped eating fast food, used Pam cooking spray instead of butter and switched to diet sodas. I also made sure that I ate 5 serving of veggies and at least 2 servings of lean protein per day and cut out majority of the bread. If I do eat bread, it’s the Sara Lee 45 cal a slice honey wheat. My biggest thing was counting calories. I used Myfitnesspal to track all my food and exercise.
Fries, funnel cakes, cheeseburgers, and candy, why are they so addictive? If you have ever craved these foods you may wonder just that when you try to stop eating it. Some people do not consider junk food as something that you can be addicted to, but the truth is that many people do crave junk food like others crave cigarettes or cocaine. After a while, the habitual eating of sugary, salty, fat filled junk food can be quite addictive. Sugar, fat and salt are the tri-fecta of why it’s so hard to let the “good” stuff go and stop eating junk food all together. There are studies on the subject as well:
“This exciting new study was funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Since drug addiction and obesity are major national problems, researchers set out to see if brain changes that take place in drug addiction were present in the obese. Prior studies have shown that both drug addiction and obesity were associated with a dysfunction in the brain’s reward system. The more you indulge in drugs or sugary-fatty foods, the higher your reward threshold and the more you want. It becomes an vicious cycle of trying to curb a craving that can never be fully satisfied.” – WebMd
Sugar
Sugar can be just like a drug for many people. It’s a concentrated chemical substance that is refined in a similar way that cocaine and other drugs are refined. Like other known drugs, sugar helps to increase the dopamine found in the brain. This is the feel good chemical that hits brain receptors and will make you feel good. Thus, the “sugar high” effect is a real chemical reaction in the body that affects not only the brain but also your blood sugar. Often times, just like regular drugs, to get the next high you will have to eat more sugar as the brain gets used to the same amount of sugar and the high is less. High sugar consumption in a person can mimic the brain’s opiate system. Each human has a natural opiate system that can be triggered with high amounts of sugar or with drugs such as morphine and heroin. This trigger creates pleasure which in turn can lead to addiction and even sugar withdrawals. Limiting the sugar that you eat and switching natural sugars like fruit is highly important to avoid any type of addiction to sugar. Breaking existing addiction to sugar can be hard but it’s possible.
Fat
Fat is something that you wouldn’t think that people would get addicted to when you first hear the word. However, fat in foods can be just as addictive as sugar and salt and can lead to many problems. Fat addiction is much like sugar addiction in the way that the brain reacts to fat. Eating high fat foods over stimulates the brain receptors that are responsible for releasing dopamine. This dopamine release triggers a feeling of goodness or a high such that people want to eat it more. We are talking about saturated fat and trans-fat in things like chips, fried foods, foods with butter added, fast food, prepackaged meals, baked goods (used to keep them moist), microwave popcorn and cheese.
Salt
Salt is important in the human body but over-consumption of salt can lead to many problems. Salt can be highly addictive and anyone who sits down at the table can find themselves reaching for the salt shaker in order to salt their food. It’s very accessible and many just think of it as a harmless seasoning. That is until they get a diagnosis of high blood pressure or hypertension (both very common in the Black community). Salt does the same thing to the dopamine receptors in the brain. There are even studies out there that have shown that salt in a small form can help to cure depression due to this release of feel good chemicals. However, having too much salt can lead to a very bad addiction as well as many health problems. Finding alternatives for flavor is key to letting go of salt. Food can taste very bland to many people without salt so you’ll need to find other herbs and salt-free seasonings to take its place.
Many junk foods have all three ingredients in them, salt, fat and sugar. Combined together this makes for one very addictive class of food that you want to avoid.
By eating junk food you put yourself at risk for many different health problems including obesity, high blood pressure, heart problems, and neurological disorders. If you find yourself addicted to junk foods, do your research and work to get free of the compelling need to eat these foods. Like any other addiction, it will take time for your body to get accustomed to eating a different diet and you have to WANT to change.
Breaking up with an addictive junk food menu can be hard and many people find that they will feel bad for the first few days, much like an addiction to anything else. Switching to healthy foods and steering clear of all the bad foods will help ease this process. It will be well worth it in the end. You will be healthier and have a less risk for common, food-related health problems that affect so many people.
Day 5 of our No Meat/No Exercise Excuses Challenge and everyone is asking me about Protein!! I know that some people think that you won’t get enough protein on a vegan or vegetarian diet, but that’s not true if you eat the right foods. What you want to do is educate yourself about the protein content of plant foods. Many are full of protein and natural aminos. The fact is, many Americans may be eating more protein than they need. Also, much of that protein is coupled with a lot of fat, salt and calories that may need to be cut back. Fatty cuts of meat, salty meats and fried meats are staples in the diets of many Americans.
So, how much protein do we need to eat? Here are 2 perspectives:
“How Much Protein Is Enough? – Adults in the U.S. are encouraged [by the USDA]to get 10% to 35% of their day’s calories from protein foods. That’s about 46 grams of protein for women, and 56 grams of protein for men.
It’s not hard to get this amount if you eat two to three servings of protein-rich foods a day, according to the CDC.
Here is another perspective from the Vegetarian Resource Group:
“How much protein do we need? The RDA recommends that we take in 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram that we weigh (or about 0.36 grams of protein per pound that we weigh) 1. This recommendation includes a generous safety factor for most people. When we make a few adjustments to account for some plant proteins being digested somewhat differently from animal proteins and for the amino acid mix in some plant proteins, we arrive at a level of 0.9 gram of protein per kilogram body weight (0.41 grams per pound). If we do a few calculations we see that the protein recommendation for vegans amounts to close to 10% of calories coming from protein. [For example, a vegan male weighing 174 pounds could have a calorie requirement of 2,600 calories. His protein needs are calculated as 174 pounds x 0.41 g/pound = 71 grams of protein. 71 grams of protein x 4 calories/gram of protein = 284 calories from protein. 284 divided by 2,600 calories = 10.9% of calories from protein.] If we look at what vegans are eating, we find that, typically, between 10-12% of calories come from protein 3. This contrasts with the protein intake of non-vegetarians, which is close to 14-18% of calories.
So, in the United States it appears that vegan diets are commonly lower in protein than standard American diets. Remember, though, with protein, more (than the RDA) is not necessarily better. There do not appear to be health advantages to consuming a high protein diet. Diets that are high in protein may even increase the risk of osteoporosis 4 and kidney disease 5.”
To make the right choice you have to do your own research and listen to your body. I believe that you can get enough protein from vegetable/plant sources. I suggest you look to meat substitutes, dark leafy greens, vegetables of all kinds, fruits, nuts and whole grains for protein as you strive to go meatless this month. Do your own research online and use calorie counters like Calorie King to look up the protein content of what you are eating.
Protein Rich Plant-Based Foods – Here are a few examples with the number of protein grams noted (numbers are approximate because all food manufactures are different):
I would also note 2 other protein rich foods that many vegetarians (ovo/lacto vegetarians) eat that are protein rich…Dairy and Eggs. You can eat these in place of flesh meats if you so choose. It’s all about options. So do, some chose not to.
Responsible for how fast your body burns calories and fat, metabolism not only affects your current weight, it also determines how fast you will lose weight, how many calories you can eat per day, and how well you maintain your weight. With all of these factors relying on your metabolism, there are a lot of reasons why you want yours to be fast.
Recently, many diets have claimed that you can speed up your metabolism simply by eating certain foods. If such a magical combination of foods existed, anyone who wants to lose weight should know what foods speed up the body’s metabolic rate and include them in their diet, but do they exist?
Myth: Metabolism Boosting Foods
Each time you consume calories, you give your metabolism a little boost. But are there really some foods that boost it a little more than others? Aside from a few foods that increase the amount of calories burned – hot peppers, green tea, and cold water – there’s not much difference between the foods you eat when it comes to your metabolic rate. Even the few foods that do boost your body’s calorie-burning ability make such a small difference that it’s hardly worth mentioning. So, no, there are no foods that magically speed up your metabolism, making this tale a huge myth.
How Eating Affects Your Metabolism
Your body learns to rely on the amount of calories you consume each day, adjusting your metabolic rate accordingly. If you consume too few calories, your metabolism slows down, resulting in fewer calories burned. The more you eat, the faster your metabolism works. However, you have to eat only as many calories as your body can burn in a day for this to work. If you consume too many calories, your body will turn them into fat, resulting in weight gain.
Your metabolism also speeds up and slows down throughout the day according to how often you eat. If you go a long time between meals, your metabolism slows because your body doesn’t know when more food is coming. Therefore, it tries to reserve the calories it already knows it has.
Eating for a Speedy Metabolism
Increasing your metabolic rate has more to do with how often you eat than it does with what foods you choose. This is, of course, assuming that you eat healthy foods to begin with. Going a long time between eating slows your metabolism. When you finally do eat, your body burns the new calories slowly.
Eating increases your metabolism. Eating six small meals per day rather than three large ones speeds up your metabolism because your body is busy burning calories in anticipation of the next meal. For this to work, though, you need to be consistent. It takes time to train your metabolism to work at peak performance.
