Tag Archives: dieting

5 Films About Body Image Every Man and Woman Should Watch

Body image is a tricky subject. It’s something we deal with every day, whether we realize it or not. “Do I look ok in these pants?” “Wow, she’s gotten thin.” “He has great muscles, why don’t mine look like that?”

We have thoughts like these so many times per day, we barely even notice any more. Even those who normally have great body image can catch themselves having negative thoughts about their bodies, or someone else’s.

Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to remind us that you can be happy and healthy without being supermodel thin or bodybuilder built. Here are five films that we think are worth your time to watch.

Embrace

Though this documentary isn’t out yet, we were inspired by Taryn Brumfitt’s story and her now infamous non-traditional “before and after” photo. In it, the before image is Taryn during a fitness competition, the very picture of a “perfect body,” but unhappy with how she looked. The after photo is her today, less “fit” but much happier.

“The day I learned to unconditionally love my body was the day I became unstoppable.” <– CLICK TO TWEET THIS QUOTE

After making that realization, she decided to create a positive body image movement and share it through, among other channels, a documentary she’s crowdfunding on Kickstarter, Embrace.

taryn

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Posted on May 30, 2023 by Elizabeth

Emilia Clarke’s Terminator Diet Sounds Awful

We expect that taking on a role in an action movie can be grueling, but “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke’s diet for “Terminator: Genesis” sounds just plain awful.

emilia clarke

The actress, who will be playing Sarah Conner in the upcoming film, revealed just how harsh her diet was in an interview with InStyle.

“I have not been allowed to eat anything that might taste good at all.” She then listed all the foods she’s been told to avoid, including wheat, sugar, caffeine, and dairy products. She did say she could enjoy a cup of tea, but only one, and without cream and sugar.

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Posted on March 10, 2024 by Elizabeth

Are Your Friends and Family Making You Fat? Maybe, Say Top Docs

By Team Best Life

It’s a simple fact: Your family, friends, and coworkers can make or break your attempts to eat healthfully or lose weight. In fact, a recent review study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that participants who were told that others were making a low-calorie or high-calorie food choice were more likely to make a similar food choice.

friends eating

You know how it is when one of your dining companions offers to split an order of potato skins or a slice of chocolate cake? You feel pressure to agree, even if you’re not in the mood for it. Likewise, when your tablemate orders a salad with grilled chicken, you’re less inclined to order the deluxe cheeseburger.

Ideally, you’d use your own internal cues to know when to put your fork down. But it can be easy to get distracted, especially when you’re dining out or with others. Use the tips below to eat well no matter where you eat or who’s at your table.

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Posted on February 18, 2024 by BestLifeDiet

Wally Bishop Lost Over 200 Pounds When He Said NO to Yo-Yo Dieting

This Sunday, if Wally Bishop goes out to dinner with his three children to celebrate Father’s Day, he won’t be nervous about whether the restaurant will have adequate seating for him, something he used to worry about on a regular basis. After losing over 200 pounds, Wally can just sit back and enjoy the time with his family. He might even save room for dessert.

Wally Bishop TWLS 1

If you live in South Carolina you’ve probably passed Wally and his lovely wife on their bikes as they peddle around town. Wally describes himself as an avid cyclist but says there was a time when even walking down the block was a challenge. Like many people, Wally was healthy and active until he graduated high school but then slowly the stress of his job and life in general, coupled with poor diet choices and not enough activity caused the pounds to slowly creep on. To make matters worse, whenever Wally would try to diet, he ended up gaining back more weight than he lost. He wanted to change but yo-yo dieting was sabotaging his efforts. Finally, he came to the conclusion that focusing on the scale was actually part of his problem. That’s when he switched gears.

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Posted on June 15, 2023 by Dani Stone

Yo-Yo Dieting Isn’t as Bad For Metabolism and Weight Loss as We Thought

If you’ve been attuned to the diet world for any time now, you’ve likely heard the idea that gaining weight and losing weight cyclically – often referred to as yo-yo dieting– can throw off your metabolism and cause a whole whirlwind of health problems.  

Well a new study would argue that point, suggesting that yo-yo dieters fare no worse than people who remain at a constant weight when it comes to a healthy metabolism. And furthermore, they aren’t any less capable of losing weight than their non yo-yo dieting counterparts.

As reported by NBC News, to conduct the study (published in the journal Metabolism), researchers gathered nearly 400 participants, all of whom were overweight or obese pre-menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 75.

Of this group, 103 women (24 percent) had a past of moderate weight cycling, gaining and losing about 10 pounds multiple times a year. And 77 women (18 percent) had a past of severe weight cycling, meaning they lost and gained 20 pounds several times a year. At the beginning of the study, those in the moderate-to-severe weight cycling categories were heavier on average than those who did not fluctuate in weight. (more…)

Posted on August 21, 2023 by Dana

Family And Friends May Be Unintentional Diet Saboteurs

Social gatherings can be difficult for dieters. Family food pushers like the grandmother who wants to care for you or the aunt who wants to be admired for a special recipe can make holidays and other family gatherings tricky. At other social gatherings it may be difficult to find things that fit within your food plan, friends may forget your diet, or acquaintances may not be aware of your goals. Medi-Weightloss Clinics recently commissioned a survey that they believe suggests that “it might be easier to lose weight these days if you live alone in a cave with no spouse, family, friends or colleagues.” As I look at the survey responses, though, I think there may be another interpretation.

The online survey was completed by 325 women between the ages of 25 and 55 who were currently dieting or had dieted in the past. It is unclear how these specific women were recruited or chosen. We are also missing further demographic information that might help us explain the results. When asked if they had ever felt others were not respecting their diet, 66 percent of participants agreed. Those most blamed for not respecting a diet were significant others, friends, and relatives; however, these are the people with whom we are most likely to have frequent interaction and most likely to share a meal. The more time we spend with someone, the more chance there is that person could disappoint us. Respondents were least likely (17 percent) to feel disappointed by their best friends.

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Posted on April 5, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

5 Things That are Wrong With Your Diet

Sometimes, good intentions go horribly wrong. How often does that happen with food and fitness goals? You aim to do the right thing but you don’t quite get it. If only the rules would stop changing! Here are a five diet errors I commonly see. Don’t let them happen to you.

You Eliminate Entire Food Groups

We all need a balanced diet to get a full complement of nutrients. The elimination of an entire food group – be it milk, meat, starchy grains, or whatever – calls for fancy diet maneuvers to make up for missing nutrients. In nutrition school, they teach us that eliminating entire food groups places people at risk for malnutrition.

You Neglect Healthy Fats

The focus is no longer on how low can you go with your fat intake. Those old, low-fat diets were often high in sugar and did not deliver health benefits as well as diets rich in healthy fats. The Mediterranean Diet, featuring nuts and seeds, olive oil and fatty fish, is the way to go. Just remember to eat healthy fats within your calorie budget.

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Posted on January 9, 2024 by Natalie K

80/20 Principle May Not Be Rigid Enough for Successful Weight Loss

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could ditch the food rules, eat what you want, and still achieve a healthy weight? Well, it may be possible. That is, if you follow the 80/20 principle.

The 80/20 principle is a guideline that encourages individuals to eat healthy 80% of the time while leaving 20% leeway for those less healthy choices. This allows you to incorporate all the foods you love into an eating plan, even the worst of them, (Twinkies, anyone?) without feeling guilty. Although this sounds too good to be true, many nutrition experts have found that this concept has helped many individuals fight the battle of the bulge over time, yet knowing a little nutrition know-how and keeping yourself accountable is pretty much essential if you want this concept to guide you towards better health.

First, you have to realize that this principle is a general guideline and not a precise equation that should be used at every meal. Instead, it suggests that if an individual gives their best and eats as nutritionally as they can, successfully sticking to this plan 80% or more of the time will result in success. Or in other words, you don’t have to be a perfect eater to successfully reach your healthy living goals.

And that’s a good thing according to nutrition expert and author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips, Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN. Zied who says that “by giving people permission to indulge in small amounts of nutrient-poor but delicious foods like candy or cookies, they may feel less deprived and perhaps it will motivate them to try to include more healthful foods in their diet.”

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Posted on January 3, 2024 by Kati

Focus on Better Habits Instead of Short-Term Weight Loss in the New Year

We’ve all heard there is no quick fix for weight loss. From diet pills to diet books, making drastic dietary changes typically only results in short-term weight loss success. Much can be said about the habits you pick up in the midst of following a new eating plan, diet or not, and although changing the way you eat often results in weight loss, only focusing on this outcome can often also result in disappointment, discouragement, and even failure. Instead, focusing on developing healthy habits as opposed to losing weight can help you feel great about your accomplishments and result in long-lasting health benefits.

For example, following a weight loss plan for four to six months as part of your New Years resolution often results in improved cholesterol levels, decreased inflammatory tone, and decreased heart disease risk even if you don’t keep off the weight. Although initial weight loss may play a role, the healthy habits you learn while making those dietary changes may be just as important, if not more so, in achieving long-term health success.

Focus on these positive changes instead of the numbers on the scale to ensure successfully fulfilling your New Years resolution.

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Posted on December 29, 2023 by Kati

Dinner for One: Healthy Cooking and Eating While Single

Cereal for supper? Fast food out of the bag? That’s not how singles have to eat. Eating right can be challenging when living alone, but singles have options to match their preferences and skills. To cook or not to cook? What’s your singles eating style?

To Cook

Singles can cook either fast and slow. Fast cooking involves making one simple meal from scratch. Think about a spinach and cheese omelet, a big salad with rotisserie chicken, a quick pasta dish, or beans and rice. Without being elaborate, fast meals cover all of the food groups (don’t forget your glass of milk and piece of fruit.) The trick to cooking fast is to assemble a repertoire of tried-and-true recipes and to keep the ingredients on hand at all times. The shopping list must be always up-to-date. Reheating frozen entrees or burritos is a type of fast cooking. Buy them on sale and keep the freezer full.

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Posted on December 16, 2023 by Natalie K

Mantras for Successful Dieting and Weight Loss

Dieting during the holidays can be torture, especially when you would rather be wolfing down delectable homemade goodies like fudge and eggnog without abandon. But, that is not how you are going to shed those extra pounds and fit into your favorite skinny party dress. For the best results, you must exercise some self-control along with your daily exercise routine and resist giving up at all costs; especially during this time of year when the lures of diet sabotaging treats are the strongest.

The following mantras will help you say no to high calorie Christmas cookies and say yes to your sleek and sinewy physique. Practice these mantras daily, or anytime you feel tempted by forbidden holiday foods.

I AM IN CONTROL

The phrase “fake it ‘till you make it” means that whatever you tell yourself you’ll soon believe it. Tell yourself you are in full control and before you know it passing on the whipped cream will be a piece of cake.

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Posted on December 7, 2023 by Jill