Health Education: calories and weight loss

Do you want to lose weight or maintain a healthy one?  Monitor your calories and eat a nutritious, plant based diet that is low in energy density, solid fats and added sugars as recommended in the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  To lose weight, it is necessary to upset the energy in energy out balance that you currently maintain.  If you can figure out the amount of calories you are consuming on average right now you will know the amount you are currently burning - on average.  Talk to a nutritionist and consider the Weight Watchers program to design a weight loss program to meet your needs. Exercising more than you are now will add a little to the energy expended(used) side, but it takes a lot of effort to burn a few calories from exercise.  Reducing your intake is sometimes easier and quicker.   Get to know calories:   If you understand that a soda has 200 calories, a tablespoon of oil has 120 and whole milk (1 cup =150 cals) and cheese are calorie dense, you can make adjustments that reduce calories without much pain. A great many apps and websites can help you to learn the calorie content of foods.  You do not need to know everything, or count everything, but you must become familiar with the amount of calories in foods because you may be eating much more than you realize.  Soon the calorie labeling law will help you assess your meals away from home.  <a href="http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list" target="_blank">Here</a> is the website that I visit the most often. Avoid Gimmicks When ads tell you that you can lose weight without changing anything - it is A LIE.  It is NOT POSSIBLE.  Especially avoid fiber supplements, such as Lipozene.  Though the advertisement states that clinical trials have proved weight loss, no details or publication of this research exists. And if you read the fine print, the average pounds lost in two months is less than 4. Supplements such as this are not regulated by the FDA and we can't judge their safety or efficacy without this protection. In a research review of 14 scientific studies of the main ingredient of Lipozene, glucomannan, the average weight loss was less than 2 pounds.  Yes - it worked, but for how long?  Lipozene pills cost about 60 dollars for a months supply and they are just water soluble fiber tablets.  They make a person feel full but come without the health benefits of fiber that is found in a plant based, whole grain, fruits and vegetable diet. As I researced for this blog, I reviewed the Dietary Guidelines, which recommend at least 25 grams of dietary fiber a day.  I also read this <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fiber-full-story/index.html" target="_blank">FANTASTIC post</a> on the Harvard Nutrition Source website.  Please read. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdUYb8VFria5uZuiUP-CpVE9MbSOdUoQrCFNg3w6oc2NKD829w0H-kjWUsqFpFvw6Fbso0Rw2mkIMD9enzRLYHJtsAiHjdVbvj_u5J_rUOEsPVl8or3SvFxNqSIuU_IIUf6mQ1Ek7umra/s1600/fiber.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdUYb8VFria5uZuiUP-CpVE9MbSOdUoQrCFNg3w6oc2NKD829w0H-kjWUsqFpFvw6Fbso0Rw2mkIMD9enzRLYHJtsAiHjdVbvj_u5J_rUOEsPVl8or3SvFxNqSIuU_IIUf6mQ1Ek7umra/s640/fiber.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HSPH Nutrition Source. Fiber: Start Roughing It!  Accessed 1-1-2013. www.hsph.harvard.edu </td></tr></tbody></table>To the right is a chart from that website.  It lists the two types of fiber and foods that are good sources of them.  The recommendations for fiber intake do not specify amount by type.  Intuitively, it seems best to have a diet rich in both. Health studies involving fiber sometimes differentiate between the two.  You can learn about disease prevention from fiber intake by clicking on the link provided above.

Lipozene is not YOUR solution

Do you want to lose w eight or maintain a healthy one? Mon itor your calories and eat a nutritious, plant based diet that is low in energ ...

Health Education

Lipozene is not YOUR solution

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