5 Healthy, Effective Diets

5 Healthy, Effective Diets

5: Flexitarian Diet

If you've ever thought about going veggie but just couldn't part with spaghetti and meatballs, there's an option for you: the Flexitarian Diet. As the name suggests, it's a more flexible type of vegetarian eating.

This diet was dreamed up by Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian who cites an April 2006 study in Nutrition Reviews that found vegetarians weigh, on average, 15 percent less than non-vegetarians. She also points to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on vegetarians having lower cholesterol and advice from the American Institute for Cancer Research on eating a plant-based diet to lower cancer rates. Oh, and according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vegetarians live about 3.6 years longer than the rest of us [source: Blatner].

5 Healthy, Effective Diets (Part 4)

5 Healthy, Effective Diets

4: Mediterranean Diet

Who wouldn't want to spend time in the Greek Isles? While it sounds dreamy, you don't need to sail to Santorini to eat like you enjoy a beautiful Mediterranean life -- a life with a lower risk of heart disease, Parkinson's, cancer and Alzheimer's [source:Mayo Clinic].

Put the butter aside and reach for the extra-virgin olive oil. It tastes just as amazing on bread, on pasta and in your cooking. You'll have to cut down on the red meat, but in return, you can indulge in a moderate amount of red wine. And you don't have to go veggie -- you'll be grilling tuna, salmon or trout twice a week or so, because the omega-3s in those fatty fish will help ensure that your cardiovascular system stays clean and healthy.

5 Healthy, Effective Diets (part3)

5 Healthy, Effective Diets

3: The Instinct Diet

The Instinct Diet has a major thing going for it: its author, Susan B. Roberts. She's a nutrition and psychiatry professor at Tufts, she's been overweight herself (by 55 pounds) and she used to be a chef.

Roberts points out that there are three centers in the brain that tell you when you're hungry: satiety, reward and pleasure. As she told the Tufts Journal, "When people get hungry, they want to eat. If there's food there, you eat it. If it's got calories, you like it more. If there is more variety, you eat more" [source:Flaherty].

5 Healthy, Effective Diets (part 2)

5 Healthy, Effective Diets

2: Step Diet

So you really want a Krispy Kreme doughnut. The "hot" sign is on in the window and your craving is officially impossible to deny.

On the Step Diet, you could eat that doughnut -- 3/4 of it, anyway. You just have to park in the far corner of the parking lot and maybe do a couple of laps around it when you're finished.

The bottom line: If you cut everything you eat by one quarter and walk 10,000 steps a day, you'll lose weight. It's that simple. And the man telling you that, James Hill, who co-founded the National Weight Control Registry, knows what he's talking about.

5 Healthy, Effective Diets (Part 1)

5 Healthy, Effective Diets

1: Thin for Life

"Thin for Life" sounds nice, doesn't it? Registered dietitian Anne M. Fletcher, a health and medical journalist, writes that it's an attainable goal, and she has witnesses to prove it.

What makes her diet different is that it's presented and supported by people who have lost at least 20 pounds on it -- and kept it all off for at least three years. Someone who's been where you've been is telling you the joys of "high flavor, low risk" foods. (Like jelly beans!)

How to lose weight the healthy way (Part 2)

How to lose weight the healthy way (Part 2)

Write down your plan

Once you've decided on what changes you're going to make, write them down. For example:

Week 1

• Exercise: one 20 minute walk every lunch hour.
• Alcohol: none in the week, two small glasses of wine on Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• Food: no chocolate or biscuits in the week, choose healthy snacks such as fruit, trim all fat from meat, eat no fried or fast food.
• For each week list your targets concerning alcohol, exercise and your food plan.
• Each day should then be listed in a simple chart and items you have had should be written down. It is also important to make a note of your mood and any comments you would like to get off your chest for each day.

How to lose weight the healthy way

How to lose weight the healthy way

The healthiest way to lose weight is neither crash diets nor bursts of exercise. The body likes slow changes in terms of food and exercise.

For example, someone who hasn't exercised for years shouldn't rush into running miles a day or pounding the treadmill. Not only will the struggle to do so leave you feeling disheartened and demotivated, you're also far more likely to injure yourself and set your fitness levels back further.

The same goes for people who suddenly start starving themselves. Diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food 'allowed' can lead you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs.

So, if you need to lose weight, what should you do?

Simple Actions to Start Losing Weight (Part 2)

Simple Actions to Start Losing Weight  (Part 2)

25. Cook your own dinner. Preparing your own meals is the best habit you could implement into your routine. Not only does it cost you far less than dining out, it continues to improve the quality of the foods you consume. You get to decide what does and does not make it onto your plate, how it is prepared, and where it comes from. You are in total control.

26. Check the nutrition information. When you eat, be aware of how much. Check the nutrition label, know the serving size, and make yourself accountable for how many calories you’re consuming even if you are not actively tracking them.

Simple Actions to Start Losing Weight

Simple Actions to Start Losing Weight

As of this past Sunday, I have lost 107.6 pounds. I can honestly say to you that it has not been difficult. I know it is because I have not felt deprived and I don’t deny myself whatever I want to have (it’s not just about eating salads!). How am I doing all of this? By making small shifts in my habits and small changes to my routine. The kind of things that will last a lifetime.

I didn’t force myself to conform to a list of “rules” that don’t work for me. I took a hard look at my reality, and have spent the last fourteen months adjusting accordingly to promote a healthier lifestyle. I am listing here 45 of the simple actions I took to start losing the weight. Pick one and get started on your own journey.

Walking for health

Walking for health

Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier.
It's underrated as a form of exercise but walking is ideal for people of all ages and fitness levels who want to be more active.
Regular walking has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke and some cancers.
Use this guide to increase the amount of walking you do every week and maximise the health benefits.
Before you start
A pair of shoes is all the equipment you really need. Any shoes or trainers that are comfortable, provide adequate support and don't cause blisters will do.

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• What a 60kg person burns in 30 minutes
• strolling (2mph): 75 calories
• walking (3mph): 99 calories
• fast walking (4mph): 150 calories

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Start losing weight

Start losing weight

If you're overweight, losing weight will bring you a range of important health benefits. The key to success? Making realistic changes to your diet and level of physical activity that can become a part of your daily routine.
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Evidence shows that the best way to lose weight is to make long-term changes to diet and physical activity that result in a steady rate of weight loss. Aim to lose weight at around 0.5kg to 1kg a week (1lb to 2lb), until you achieve a healthy BMI
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Is Weight Loss Different for Men? (part 2)

Is Weight Loss Different for Men? (part 2)

Another difference he notes is that women sometimes tend to be better than men at describing exactly what they did to lose weight. "We try to get men to articulate what they did so they can repeat it," he says.

But online support groups -- especially those aimed specifically at men -- may help to make the process more guy-friendly.

Zelman says that male members of the Weight Loss Clinic wanted a resource just for them, prompting the clinic to launch its Dieting for Men: Support Group message board. "I think they're at least open to the fact that if support and chat help women, why wouldn't they help us?"

Is Weight Loss Different for Men?

Is Weight Loss Different for Men?

A weight-loss expert gets a phone call from a friend: "I just made a $50 bet to lose 20 pounds in a month. Tell me how to do it." Guess the caller's sex.

"I get these calls from friends and relatives," says Gary D. Foster, PhD, clinical director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "These types of calls are always from men."

That's probably what you'd guess, but you'd be hard-pressed to find research supporting that or any other assumption about how men and women differ when it comes to dieting, Foster says. "Most of the weight-loss research is about women," he says. "There are probably fewer than 10 good studies that separate men and women, and what they address is that men lose more weight and lose it faster."

HOW DRINKING COFFEE COULD IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

HOW DRINKING COFFEE COULD IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

If you rely on coffee to get through the day, or just to get it started, you might be lacking sleep or something in your diet. Nobody, after all, is ever going to mistake coffee for health food.

But like wine, chocolate and popcorn, coffee has joined the ranks of unlikely foods with health benefits. An increasing body of research has found that drinking coffee—even four or more cups per day in some instances—provides health benefits. And a 13-year study of 402,260 AARP members conducted by the National Cancer Institute, which was published May 17 in the "New England Journal of Medicine," concluded that devoted coffee drinkers were associated with a reduced risk of early death by up to 16 percent.

QUICK WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT FOR MEN

QUICK WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT FOR MEN

Seventy-four percent of American men are overweight or obese, according to the Weight Control Information Network in 2008. The health consequences of carrying too much weight include an increased risk of heart disease, some cancers, stroke, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. To lose weight, men need to burn more calories than they consume. This does not mean you have to spend hours on the elliptical trainer or eat "rabbit" food for weeks on end, men can induce quick weight loss with some simple strategies.