Seasoned Woman Weight Loss

I have no choice - the weight needs to come off. Not just to look better, but to live. I just can't get my cholesterol levels down any other way. Plus, there's the problem of low Vitamin D and osteopenia to deal with now. Add that to High Blood Pressure and it's time to get serious.

Losing weight over 40 has always sounded like a mystery. But it doesn't have to be. Anyone can lose excess fat from their bodies. The secret is learning about your body. Each person is an individual and no one "diet" works for everyone. That's the problem with trying to follow a strict diet.

While the food levels might have worked for the writer of the diet (maybe), that doesn't mean it's going to work for you or your family member. The necessary thing to do is find what works for your body.

I did try to use a diet suggested by Curves Complete. For the first two weeks I tried to follow the diet suggestions. These weren’t too bad actually but meant adding in a lot of foods that I normally don't eat. There were some pretty good vegetarian ideas which I really appreciated. However, lots contained cheeses, which I needed to start eliminating from my diet due to the cholesterol issue.

I dutifully took my menu planner to the store and stocked up on the suggested food items. I even went so far as to purchase some frozen dinners, something I couldn't believe I would ever do. But the idea of needing to increase the amount of times that I ate during the day made me leery about being able to prepare and have the foods on hand that I needed.

Here are the main ideas that I incorporated that started to work for me although not all at once:

1. Increase natural metabolism by feeding the body instead of starving the body.

2. Monitor water intake to assure being hydrated.

3. Keep a food journal to measure how much food is eaten each day. This keeps you on track to put enough calories in each day to alleviate the starvation idea and keeps you on track to eat healthy, whole foods.

4. Increase exercise times.

5. Get sleep

These simple mandates were supported wtih diet suggestions. That's where bio-individuality really came into play as I'll explain in the next post.

Sneaking Sugar at the Fair

We went to the local Fair this evening. I've been wanting to go and sneak a cotton candy ever since I saw Bethany Frankel have some on her show, "Bethany Getting Married?" (Yes, I watch it; it's an enjoyable distracton).

After walking the entire fair, I couldn't find one cotton candy vendor. Maybe they don't make it anymore, or maybe they just don't sell it at our local Fair. Well, I found a moment to get off on my own in the Commerce Display Building and lo and behold, there it was. A candy display with vanilla fudge.

I always think things go better with fudge; so I ordered a 1/4 pound piece for $3.50. The amount really was too much to pay the amount given I was desparate; or so I thought. I walked around the corner while my husband was deeply entrenched in learning about some item from another vendor. Hiding the fudge in my purse, I pulled off bits and pieces, savoring them as I walked. However, I did notice something distinct.

I'd figured the fudge was fresh but it just didn't taste as good as I remembered. I could taste the artificial flavorings and it was too sweet. I kept thinking of the headache I expected to get and wondered how many calories I was consuming with that one piece of unnecessary candy.

Things had really changed. After that, nothing looked good. I shared a few bites of a Jalepeno and Cheese Pretzel fresh out of the oven that my husband got and left it at that. By the time I got home, the stomach ache started, the gurgling deep inside and reality hit. Guess my stomach didn't want to house a so-called treat that was full of white sugar and artificial flavorings. The pretzel probably didn't help either.

But I learned a painful yet needful lesson. I've gone through steps to start changing my body dynamics. I don't like going backwards in life so I have to move forward. What was noticably obvious was that there was little to nothing to eat for a person who is seeking to be healthy at the Fair. Sweets, salt, sugar, syrup were the main fare. All I found was roasted corn on the cob and the pretzels but that was about it. Some vendors had a few items; a bag of natural almounds among the sugar coated, salted ones. Even the roasted peanuts are gone.

There's a great opportunity to explore for the food entrepreneur.

Does Your Diet Contain Healthy Foods?

You know that eating healthier foods is necessary for longevity, but knowing what to eat can sometimes be difficult, particularly if you've formed bad eating habits over a lifetime.

These few easy tips help you remember which foods to eat in order to have a healthier eating lifestyle.

1. There are six basic food groups that you should select your daily menu items from. The food groups are: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, milk and other dairy products, protein, and lastly the group containing oils. A well-balanced diet will provide your body with all of the nutrients it needs to maintain health.

2. The food items in the whole grains group include whole wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain barley and millet. You should do your best to avoid eating refined grains which many breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals are made of.

3. The food items contained in the group known as vegetables include a variety of colorful vegetables. Remember that the deeper the color of the vegetable, the greater the concentration of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are contained in the food item. Dark greens, orange vegetables, broccoli, kale, mustard greens, butternut squash and sweet potatoes are good examples of these darker colored vegetables.

4. The fruit group contains foods that are more enjoyable to eat and we do so in many different ways such as eating them fresh from the garden, canned, frozen, dried, whole, cut-up or pureed. We can even make fruit juices from fresh fruits. Fruits can dress up a salad or become a tasty after school or mid-afternoon work break snack.

5. To stay healthy choose low-fat dairy products. Nowadays you need to be sure that your dairy products do not contain rBST (bovine growth hormone) by choosing organic dairy products. Individuals, who are lactose-intolerant, can choose lactose-free and lower-lactose dairy products, such as the harder cheeses, and yogurt so that they can get the calcium they need in their diet.

6. Protein is a very important ingredient in any healthy diet and to get enough protein from a variety of sources choose from fish, poultry, eggs, beans, peas, nuts and seeds. Try to minimize your selection of red meats that contain higher levels of saturated fats.

7. The oil group provides an excellent and necessary source of healthy fatty acids in your diet and should not be avoided. High quality fats from olive oil, avocado, raw nuts and seeds, coconut and fish are all important parts of a healthy diet.

8. A healthy diet needs to contain vitamins, which are organic compounds that our bodies need for normal growth, and to maintain good health. Certain vitamins are not good to take in too large of quantity, for instance, fat-soluble vitamins like A and D tends to accumulate in our bodies and become toxic when we ingest large amounts of them. Water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C are flushed through the body on a daily basis, so there is no concern for these vitamins. Mineral is inorganic substances and is also necessary to include in our daily diets in order for our bodies to function properly.

Children, pregnant women and boomers especially benefit from a well-balanced diet that provides for all of the needed vitamins, minerals and oils that the body needs.

9. Water is another very important ingredient to healthy eating. Water is essential to the proper function of our bodies. The typical individual should drink at least eight 8-oz glasses of water each day. Individuals who are overweight, pregnant, breastfeeding, or very active should drink more than eight 8-oz glasses of water each day.