Diet and Nutrition

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Guest Blogger, Liz Rosenbaum, is a unique fitness trainer because her passion lies not only in helping women work toward their physical goals, but also in helping women restore inner peace and acceptance of themselves – regardless of their fitness level. She has her own fitness blog, www.LizRosenbaumFitness.com which she updates regularly with enthusiastic and inspiring words of wisdom.

I’ll never forget the first time I had to fill a car with gasoline. I was an inexperienced driver and was extremely surprised to see such a variety of choices when it came to fuel. There was unleaded, mid-grade, premium, or diesel. How was I supposed to decide?

The diesel fuel was the cheapest, so my first inclination was to use that. Lucky for me, however, I was with a friend who knew more about gasoline than I did and explained to me why I shouldn’t fill a regular car with diesel fuel. I had no idea there would be such negative complications by putting the wrong type of fuel into my car… and obviously, I wanted to avoid that detrimental outcome.

The same thing is true for our bodies. Each time we eat, we are putting fuel into our body that we rely upon for energy and stamina. However, just like with the car scenario, if we choose to put the wrong type of fuel into our bodies, there will be negative consequences. (more…)

Posted on April 18, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Understanding Obesity Related Diseases: Type 2 Diabetes

As more of our population become obese and overweight, obesity diseases become much more prevalent. Diabetes is one such disease, and here I explain what it is, why it affects the overweight, symptoms and prevention.

What is it?
Obesity can lead to diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, once called adult-onset and non-insulin dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition affecting the way your body metabolizes glucose/sugar. With type 2 diabetes, your body still produces insulin (a hormone that regulates the absorption of sugar into your cells), but your body has either become resistant to its effects or you can not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal glucose level. Left uncontrolled, the consequences of type 2 diabetes can be life threatening.

Why is it affected by obesity/overweight?
Obesity is a culprit to type 2 diabetes. With obesity, you are consuming calories beyond your caloric needs, therefore having more glucose in your body that your insulin is incapable of moving it into your cells. There is plenty of evidence showing that excessive abdominal fat and physical inactivity (both seen in obesity) is a major precursor to type 2 diabetes. (more…)

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Kinsey

Understanding Body Mass Index

There has been a lot of confusion about BMI over the years. BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to their height. Body Mass Index is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters.

Example for a 132 pound, 5’4″ female:
59.87 kg / 2.640625 m = BMI 22.7

According to the BMI chart, 18.5 or less is considered underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal weight, 25.0 to 29.9 is overweight, and 30.0 and greater is considered obese. (more…)

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Matt

Kentucky Grilled Chicken Offers Healthier Fast-Food Choice

In recent months, all fast-food restaurants have worked hard to introduce healthy meal options into their usual menu of fried fare. From Long John Silver’s to Dunkin’ Donuts, you can pretty much head to any drive-through and come away with a somewhat healthy meal, as long as you stick to the nutritious eats and avoid fries at all cost.

The latest fast-food giant to succumb to the demand for healthier convenience meals is KFC. The chicken giant just unveiled it’s new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, a lower-fat and lower-calorie alternative to the Colonel’s traditional bucket of fried breasts, thighs and legs.

The Kentucky Grilled Chicken also has its own clandestine secret recipe that contains six special herbs and seasonings. The mystery recipe is kept under tight security in a safe at the company’s headquarters, right next to the Colonel Sander’s handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices that coat the famous chicken. (more…)

Posted on April 16, 2024 by heather

The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part II

How do you jump the hurdle of self-doubt? If you do not believe a goal is achievable it will appear to be a wall rather than a hurdle. For my friend staying away from fast food seemed to be an impossibility. Fast food is readily available, easy, and relatively inexpensive. To avoid it might require him to spend more, drive further, learn to cook, or depend on others. It might also require some advanced planning to purchase and prepare food before one wants to eat. Beyond all that is the familiarity and comfort derived from such options.

He could have resolved one day not to eat fast food ever again, looked up several new healthy recipes, gone to the grocery and bought all the ingredients; however, my guess is that after a week or so he would be looking for a break from all that cooking or disappointed in his skill or time management. Going to the grocery may seem overwhelming when you don’t know where everything is or even what you really want. (more…)

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

Nutrient Rich Foods: Learn Them and Eat Them!

I say it often and I know you’ve heard others say it, but nutrient rich foods are key for your health and for weight loss (or weight maintenance). I recently received some information about the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition (NRF) and decided to check out their website. In doing so, I found some great information about incorporating nutrient rich/dense foods into your diet.

What is the NRF?

The Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition website describes this group as “a partnership that brings together leading scientific researchers, communications experts and agricultural commodities. Our members are composed of 12 food commodity associations that represent the five basic MyPyramid food groups.” Meaning, this group consists of experts in each of the five food groups (milk, grains, vegetables, oil, fruits). The website offers several tools that the public can understand and incorporate into their lives with the focus being on making calories count by choosing nutrient rich foods. (more…)

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Kinsey

The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part I

Changing your life is a process, undertaken one step at a time. I have written previously about why drastic changes like New Years Resolutions fail. Some steps toward change are too big to maintain. Lifestyle and dietary habits are often so ingrained that it can require a redefinition of yourself to make that change. It is important for success not to jump in over your head, but to consciously walk through each step of your journey.

Even when we take each step individually, some steps can feel like a longer reach than others. A friend who has been reading my posts at Diets In Review shared with me recently that in his struggle to lose weight the biggest hurdle was not finding new information on nutrition and exercise that could help direct his behavior or modify his metabolism or even avoiding the temptation of his comfort foods, but rather the most difficult part for him was believing that he could actually make it over those hurdles. Self-doubt is a hurdle in itself. (more…)

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

Carmen Staicer’s Weight Loss Success Story

Carmen before and after her 80-pound weight loss.

I’m Carmen, and I’m thrilled to “meet” you! I’m new to DietsInReview, in the position of Chief Mom. I’d like to share my story with you, since, right now, you are probably wondering just who in the heck I am and why do I feel qualified to talk diet/exercise/weight loss/raising a family.

For most of my childhood, I was the skinny one. Now, that doesn’t mean I was thin – just that I was the thinnest one. It helped that I was very serious about my ballet classes, and training for four hours a day, five days a week doesn’t leave you much time to put on weight. Then I got married. Then I had six kids. With each child, I didn’t gain much weight during the pregnancy, but after, I rapidly put on the poundage. Every so often, I’d try to lose weight, and it never worked. I’d end each diet the same – face down in a gallon of ice cream, depressed and disgusted. I just didn’t think I’d ever be able to lose weight and resigned myself to being The Fat Mom. (more…)

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Carmen

Seth Rogen Slims Down, Angers Some

It’s quite possible that comedic actor Seth Rogen is getting more air time than any person on the planet right now. He would appear to be one of the least likely candidates for such exposure, what with his regular-guy pudgy physique and all.

Could you have imagined that he’d be one of the biggest stars on the planet if you were watching him on his cult TV show Freaks and Geeks way back at the turn of the millennium? But alas, he is… however, now he’s big only in the figurative sense. The normally stout star has slimmed down a waist size or five to play the Green Hornet. You would think this is a totally positive experience. But apparently he has “let down” some of his fans.

“I think for chubby guys, I was their guy, so they were like, ‘I can be chubby. Seth Rogen’s chubby, so who cares.’ But now I’m not so chubby anymore. So now they’re like, ‘I have to lose weight.’ I’ve let them down. I’ve blatantly sold out. It’s only for money.” (more…)

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Jason

Vegetarian for a Week Challenge – Final Thoughts

I made it! We’d set-out to do six days as vegetarians and we did. In this last video I discuss the meals I had for my last day as a vegetarian, as well as some of my takeaways for the week. I found that living as a vegetarian was fairly economical, was much easier to implement than expected, and I wasn’t anywhere near as hungry each day as I’d anticipated. All-in-all being a vegetarian for a week was a fun experience, and one I’m now challenging you to take.

(more…)

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Natalie K

Diet and Nutrition

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