Healthy Lunch Tips for Back to School

When it comes time for kids to go back to school, there’s excitement in the air. Of course, for the person who is looking towards a year of brown-bagging lunches, the excitement may be quick to wear off. In order to make the process smoother for you and more fun for the child, here are a few healthy lunch tips for back to school you may want to try.

A healthy lunch for school is an important part of keeping your children functioning at their best during the day.

First, involve the kids. Let them help you decide what they want for lunch, asking them a few days to a week in advance. This gives you a chance to pick up the groceries you need. Let them taste new foods to be sure they like them; that way they aren’t coming home with a forgotten sandwich and missing cookies.

Second, don’t just send junk food. By talking with your child to determine what he or she likes, you get a head start on making lunches that they are going to enjoy, or helping them to make their own lunches. Look for foods that are fun, but still have nutritional value. Ants on a log are not only healthy, but also provide fun for the child receiving them. Make homemade versions of the less-than-healthy snack foods, such as slicing your own cheese, meat, and crackers as a replacement for lunchables. Look at labels to see which chips have a lower fat and sodium content. And don’t be fooled by brand names – sometimes the off-brands taste the same, are cheaper, and are healthier. Sometimes the opposite is true. Be sure to look.

Third, make sure that foods are served the way they are intended to be eaten. A thermos and freezer pack, as well as an insulated lunch box, can greatly improve the appeal of healthy foods. Who wants cold soup, soggy lettuce, and warm sandwiches? Package moist toppings separately from the sandwich bread, and let the child add those once lunch time arrives, giving them the chance to add their own personal touch. Sliced cold vegetables taste good with a little bit of dip, and if you look for a healthier dip (that the child actually likes), you may be able to get them to eat their vegetables or a salad. Leftovers can also be appetizing compared to some school lunches, so consider whether their favorite meals from home might make a good school lunch.

All in all, you can find many types of food that are not only nutritious, but also appeal to a child’s sense of fun and interest in being involved.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Healthy Weight Loss Methods for Teens”, “Low Calorie Lunch Ideas”, “Ways to Cut 100 Calories Daily” and “Talking to Your Children About Weight Loss”.

Weight Loss Powers of Low-Energy-Dense Foods

A lot of talk has surfaced in the weight loss community about low-energy-dense foods, but what are they? “Low-energy-dense foods” is just another way of describing foods that provide a lot of energy or can be eaten in larger quantities without having too many calories. Although at first glance it sounds like a fad diet, there is true weight loss powers in eating larger quantities of these types of food.

Low-energy-dense foods is a way of describing foods that provide a lot of energy or can be eaten in larger quantities without having too many calories.

When one compares the logic, it is apparent that a diet high in low-energy-dense foods can encourage weight loss. Let’s look into how this works. All food contains calories. The amount of calories contained in food is divvied out by portions which are measured by volume. For instance a cup of chopped carrots has an equivalence of about fifty calories. In order to lose weight, the body has to take in fewer calories than it would typically get on a daily basis. Not a lot, mind you, but just enough that it needs to start chipping away at the energy reserves (fat stored in the body).

If you set a calorie limit for yourself, it would be logical to want to eat more of the foods that won’t cost as much of your calorie limit in order to feel full, rather than splurging on a small portion of high calorie food that’s going to leave you hungry again in two hours. For example, you could have three apples at 231 calories or you could have a 2.8oz slice of plain cheesecake which costs you 257 of your daily calorie allowance. Three apples are definitely going to be more filling than one slice of cheesecake, plus they can be eaten at separate times throughout the day.

Eating plenty of low-energy-dense foods is an especially good weight loss program for most of us dieters as we don’t have to struggle so hard to fight against the typical dietary mindset that often feels suffocating and intrusive. If we constantly deny ourselves any indulgences and stick to a bland and very strict diet, we are more likely to break down and give into temptation in the worst sort of way: binge eating. But by eating more low-calorie foods throughout the day, we leave ourselves open to the occasional treat without suffering serious set-backs.

The great thing about low-energy-dense foods is that there are plenty of them out there. Raw fruits and vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, berries, apples, plumbs, and cherries have complex but pleasing tastes. Because of the complexity of their flavors, we are able to feel as though we’re eating normally or even receiving a treat rather than having to settle for a “lesser of evil” among diet foods. These foods are also great for burning fat more quickly because raw fruits and vegetables often use up more calories during digestion than they actually provide the body with.

Constructing a meal plan that consists of low-energy-dense foods is easy once you know what foods to look for. The idea is to stick to water and fiber-based foods. Water-based foods are those which have high water content, such as citrus fruits, melons, tomatoes, and carrots. These foods are great for snacking as they are light and you can eat loads of them without the burden of excessive calorie consumption.

Foods high in fiber, such as broccoli, avocado, and sprouts, are also good choices because they are relatively low in calories (although not as much as water-based foods) and they take longer to break down. Because the digestive process is a little slower for complex fibers, it has the effect of making one feel full for a longer period of time. The one thing to go easy on is whole grains, which are excellent sources of fiber but tend to be a little higher in calories.

It’s worth bearing in mind that a well-rounded diet does include healthy sources of protein, such as lean chicken and turkey, eggs, nuts, and beans. Fruits and vegetables make for excellent filling snacks and side dishes, but one should never completely cut out protein from their diet without the approval of a doctor.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Improving Weight Loss with Scheduled Meals”, “Adding Whole Grains to Your Diet”, “Carb Protein Fat Ratio in a Healthy Weight Loss Diet” and “Weight Loss Foods to Have on Hand”.

Improving Weight Loss with Scheduled Meals

Weight loss is a tricky task to accomplish. The old ways of apple cider vinegar and cabbage soup fad diets have been exposed as dangerous and unreliable, so alternative methods of weight loss are now being sought by seemingly everyone! Weight loss doesn’t have to be this big green monster that leads us on with great weight loss in the beginning and then leaves us standing on a weight loss plateau for sometimes weeks at a time with no weight loss.

The key to improving weight loss is with scheduled meals that the body can rely upon to get the nutrients it needs.

No, weight loss isn’t a monster—there is logic to losing weight at a steady and safe rate. The key to effectively dropping the pounds and keeping them off is to understand how the body treats the food that we eat and how we can manipulate this system into giving us the results we want. The real trick to fighting away the fat is to simply stick to a meal schedule and to make healthier choices in the foods we eat.

The most common mistake that people make when trying to lose weight is to believe that starvation or skipping meals will provide them with the results they are looking for. You don’t need me to tell you that starvation diets are not only ineffective for losing weight and keeping it off, but they are also extremely dangerous. With this said, skipping meals is not an agreeable alternative to starvation. Let’s have a look at why this is…

The human body is, in some ways, a creature of routine. Say Jane usually eats breakfast around 7am, lunch at noon, and dinner at six o’clock. She decides she needs to lose some weight fast, so she starts cutting out lunch. As far as Jane’s mind is concerned, she has made a conscious effort to do without this meal, but her body is kicking up a storm of protest. The next week, Jane decides to skip breakfast instead of lunch because she misses going out to lunch with co-workers. Now Jane’s body is not only continuing to miss a meal, but it’s confused as to why this happened and whether it will continue to happen. Eventually, Jane’s body will start taking control of the situation because as far as it’s concerned, there are elements preventing it from getting all of the daily nutrients it needs. This usually occurs in the form of hording excessive stores of fat in preparation for a “rainy day”.

The body will pull these fats from every piece of food that it can—especially those indulgences of not-so-healthy snacks, because these fats are the easiest to store away. So every time Jane eats a dessert or snacks on a pack of potato chips while still skipping meals, her body will continue to store away fat. As you can imagine, this is counterproductive to Jane’s efforts to lose weight by skipping a meal. Yes, the body will pull energy from the fat stores when it really needs to, but it will do so much more slowly compared to the rate that it stores the fat. At best, Jane will lose two or three pounds or stay the same weight. At worst, she will actually gain weight, especially if the only two daily meals she eats are unhealthy.

Scheduling meals is really the best way to ensure that our bodies don’t pull a “Jane” and start storing fat when we don’t want it to. If one can provide their body with a reliable schedule of fulfilling meals, there should be no cause for the body to store excessive fat deposits in preparation for a rainy day.

It’s also a good idea to consider making up a specific schedule of meal times that can easily be maintained throughout one’s day-to-day routine so that there is never a cause to skip a meal. The best way to go about this is to start by determining how long it usually takes you to prepare a healthy meal. Your schedule will need to compensate for meal prep time as well as to give yourself adequate time to eat. Many people find that preparing meals in advance allows more flexibility in their meal schedule but also makes measuring portions a much simpler process. If you have a particularly busy schedule or find it hard to resist snacking, then you may want to consider breaking up your meals into six smaller meals throughout the day rather than three large meals.

Skipping meals simply isn’t the answer to weight loss. It tricks the body into starvation mode which will have the opposite effect of safe weight loss. The key to improving weight loss is with scheduled meals that the body can rely upon to get the nutrients it needs.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Tips for Planning Your Weekly Meals”, “Daily Meal Planning”  and “10 Bad Habits that Cause Weight Gain”.

Weight Loss Tips That are Proven Effective

Whether you’re in the middle of a weight loss regimen or simply sifting through various options on how to lose weight, you’ve probably already come to the realization that you need help. Everyone needs a few more items in their weight loss arsenal whether they are trying to lose a lot of weight or those few inches that still cling to those pesky problem areas.

Choosing healthier alternatives for your favorite indulgences is an effective way to decrease calories in your diet.

Here are a few weight loss tips that are proven effective that can give you a hand in your weight loss journey.

Boost that self-control. You know what they say about watching what you eat, well, it’s absolutely true. If you want to lose weight, you should not just buy diet pills and think that’s all you need to do. Weight loss products and diet pills cannot do everything for you if you continue to gobble on junk foods and sit in front of the tv or the computer all day long. You have to stick that new diet plan and continue exercising. There is just no getting around the obvious.

Be active in an online support group. Knowing that there are people out there who are going through the same ordeal as you are can give you perseverance, optimism and faith in yourself. The knowledge that you are not alone will give you more determination than any self-help books out there. There are no shortage of weight loss forums and weight loss blogs to consult. Find some and get involved.

Record your before and after. This is one of the most common weight loss tips out there. Write down your weight before you started your weight loss regimen in a notebook. If you can take before and after photos then that might be helpful too. The idea is to be able to look back and see your progress. This will give you hope that you can do more than what you’ve already achieved.

Choose better alternatives. If you have a favorite food of all time that’s just dripping with calories, you need to find something that could compensate for the taste, but has fewer calories. Dietary control is extremely important in losing weight.

Hopefully, you can apply these weight loss tips and achieve success in losing the weight you want to. An aphorism says that when there’s no pain, there’s no gain. You will need to sacrifice some things to achieve the weight loss and healthy body that you want. Just remember to take it one day at a time and if you falter, get right back to it.

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Weight Loss Blogs Offer Online Support

With the increasing popularity of blogs, almost everybody is diving in to the world of the blogosphere.

Blog topics frequently revolve around personal experiences, music, celebrities, or the more pressing social issues like politics, weather and the like depending on the author’s preference. A weight loss blog is a series of entries related to weight loss and dieting. So basically, this is where you can get all the ideas, opinions, and other related topics about how to reduce weight. Blogs offer people the opportunity to make comments and share what they truly think about their experiences and the experiences of others.

Weight Loss Blogs are a terrific source of information about dieting and a great place for dieters to find support online.

It is easy to access a weight loss blog. You can go to any search engine, type in “weight loss blog” and you can see just how many people are making entries about weight reduction in their personal blogs. However, to gather more comprehensive and up-to-date information about weight loss, you should look for blogs fully intended for weight loss. These blogs aim to give you adequate knowledge about roughly anything you want to know about diet, exercise, diet programs, and supplements. They are also very helpful when looking into specific products. Many diet blogs will have a number of posts related to diet pill reviews. When you are truly looking to buy diet pills it’s great to have the opinion of a number of other readers and how their success and side effects affected them. In fact it’s a very good practice to look at diet blogs or weight loss forums before you ever buy diet pills.

Weight loss blogs are also good venues for finding support groups, especially when your efforts to reduce weight seem futile or frustrating. Most blogs accept comments and everybody who visits can leave their own; it creates a community within the site which can be helpful if you want to know real people who are struggling to lose pounds at the same time you are.

Whether you are overweight, obese, or a perfectly healthy person who wants to lose that last 10 pounds; you can benefit from a visit to a weight loss blog. These dedicated sites will help you to find out how to burn fat, or maintain that fabulous body you worked so hard to get. Who knows? You might even be surprised to know that even skinny people aren’t that healthy or secure as you once thought they were.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Weight Loss Blogging: The Best Dieting Tips I’ve Learned”, “Weight Loss Forums: My Perspective”  and “Weight Loss Online: A Tale of Perspectives”.

Weight Loss Online: A Tale of Perspectives

If you are searching for tips or information about weight loss online you will find blogs, forums, stores, Facebook pages, Tweets, and articles by the hundreds of thousands. Weight loss is a hot topic for just about everyone these days. According to the CDC 34% of Americans over the age of 20 are “overweight and obese” with the same number, 34%, of Americans listed as just “overweight”. With more people overweight than at their correct weight it is no wonder that weight loss is now an industry—and not only is weight loss an industry but probably one of the largest industries in the United States and western world with billions in yearly revenue. Just look up weight loss online and you will find literally thousands of sites selling weight loss books and diet pills.

Weight Loss Center is one of the best portals for researching weight loss online.

When scouring the web for the quickest and easiest way to lose weight (yes, that’s what we all really deep down want) you will encounter more sites telling you how to lose weight than you can shake a stick at! Each weight loss site has its own perspective on how to lose weight and stay healthy. Some will tell what to eat, others will sell you supplements, and still more hawk exercise videos. Weight Loss Center is one of the sites that I like to look over when doing weight loss research online because it offers multiple approaches, multiple perspectives, multiple voices, multiple tools, and the ability to purchase supplements. It’s a weight loss web portal, or in layman’s terms: it’s a pretty in-depth information library.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: everyone’s body and weight loss issues are different; everyone loses weight in different ways. Some people have a lot of luck with a high protein diet where “fats” are acceptable (bring on the bacon!). Other people can eat pasta until they explode as long as the food is low in fat. Some people can eat anything and everything as long as they work out. This is why you need to consider all perspectives when looking for your perfect diet and try to see which one aligns more closely to your own body type or situation. I could no more eat pasta every day than I could ice cream. They both go to the same place. So, when searching weight loss online be aware that one size does not fit all.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Weight Loss Blogging: The Best Dieting Tips I’ve Learned”, “Weight Loss Forums: My Perspective”  and “Choosing a Weight Loss Program”.

The Dreaded Body Fat Calculator

I signed up for Curves a few years back and one of the first things they did was weigh me and calculate my BMI (body mass index). I felt strangely violated. I mean, the last thing someone who wants to lose weight needs is someone telling them exactly just how much fat they really need to lose. I got over it because they meant well and I didn’t have much choice as I had already paid the fees. However, I remembered it so clearly that to this day I won’t get a personal trainer because I don’t want to go through that indignity again. I’d much rather do my own calculations than have someone with washboard abs and arms like Michelle Obama measure my waistline.

Body fat calculators are a useful, self-assessment tool to see where you are physically at the start of a diet.

You can find body fat calculators all over the Internet. A body fat calculator is just another online tool like insurance calculators or health assessments. It will ask you your gender, your waist measurement and your body weight. More complex body fat calculators may also ask for your neck size and your height. After putting these in, the body fat calculator will then provide you with an estimate of your body fat percentage.

Body fat calculators are a useful, self-assessment tool to see where you are physically at the start of a diet and where you need to go. Your body fat calculation isn’t necessarily something that needs to be done by a personal trainer or gym staff. If you can do it online, I say, “Do it”. It’s the exact same numbers and will produce the exact same percentages, only without the embarrassment of having someone with a tape measure going over the spots you may be sensitive about.

If you would like to know this prior to starting your diet, then they are fairly easy to find. Body fat calculators are all over the web. Weight Loss Center has a few different weight loss tools that you can use to measure your progress while dieting. In addition to the body fat calculator it has a BMI calculator, weight and height conversion calculators, healthy weight calculator, basal metabolic calculator, ideal weight calculator, and others. What I liked about the ideal body weight calculator is the fact that it tells me I should be 142.5 lbs for my height. That means I’m closer to my ideal weight than I thought I was! Go me!

Weight Loss Forums: My Perspective

Weight loss forums are a lot like blogs. You get a lot of people posting about what worked, what didn’t, and new products, et cetera. Sometimes I will log on to a weight loss forum to get information on a particular product that I saw advertised or in a store. This approach has been hit or miss for me in the past. So here are some tips for using weight loss forums when looking for weight loss product reviews:

Weight Loss Forums

Try these tips when seeking reviews and guidance about diets and weight loss products in Weight Loss Forums.

  • Don’t take any one poster’s word on anything. Everyone has a particular metabolism and some have an agenda. Some posters may be bitter about a particular supplement because it didn’t take the weight off as quickly or as successfully as they had hoped. A supplement may not have worked because you didn’t change anything else in your diet, or maybe they didn’t use the product correctly. Look at what everyone has to say and then weigh the comments against what you know of your own body and metabolism. Some diets and supplements work better on your body than others.
  • Don’t stick with just one weight loss forum. Some forums get overrun by vitamin resellers who log on and plug their product over and over and over again. It’s fairly obvious when the product claims are so over-the-top that it feels like an online infomercial. I have yet to find a miracle product and certainly don’t believe it when I read about them on weight loss forums.
  • Ask questions. Forums are interactive. If a particular diet or supplement worked out for someone, ask him or her what else they are doing in addition to that.
  • Look for “Before and After” threads. Believe it or not people put their “Before” pictures up on the Net. I’m not sure if I am that brave, but God bless the ones that do! Sharing pictures is a real motivational boost and allows you to see who is telling the truth about their diet.

So, if you are looking for more information on diets or supplements by all means check out some weight loss forums and see what’s going on with other dieters. I recommend those on www.weight-loss-center.net but that’s because it has other things going for it as well. I can do my various “calculations” and supplement searches all on the same site.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Weight Loss Blogging: The Best Dieting Tips I’ve Learned”, “Weight Loss Tips You Can Really Use”  and “Weight Loss Tips”.

Choosing a Weight Loss Program

Are you one of those weight loss nomads who are on a continuous search to find a program that could make you lose weight faster? Or are you an innate health buff who breathes and eats weight loss programs? The most difficult option to face when you’re on the verge of weight loss is choosing a program that you can stick with through thick and through thin. Literally. Choosing and staying with it for a long time might be hard but it is truly possible. Here are a few tips that you can consider when choosing a weight loss program from the hundreds worldwide.

Your dieting success depends greatly on choosing a weight loss program that suits your personality and lifestyle.

Get to know yourself. The first step in choosing a weight loss program to enroll into is to determine what you want. Ask yourself these questions. Do I lean towards slow, meditative workouts or those that require fast-paced movements? Do I work better when it’s done every day or just every other day? Will I keep with this program by hook or by crook? Knowing what you like and what you dislike is a good start to determine the program that’s right for you.

Check your schedule. The reason why most people fail in losing weight, next to being set up with weight loss programs that aren’t compatible with their personality, is the fact that the programs can’t be squished into their excessively busy schedule. So before immersing yourself into any exercise programs out there, decide on how many minutes per day can you dedicate for exercise. The time frame matters so much in establishing a new work out habit. If you have no time to do the exercise, it will never work for you.

Catch up on your reading. The best action to take when choosing a weight loss program is to arm yourself with knowledge. Read fitness magazines and surf different fitness and weight loss websites and blogs that provide tips and weight loss programs reviews. Ask the opinions of fellow dieters you know who have tried various diets and find out what their likes, dislikes and success with those programs were. The more you know, the easier it is for you to decide.

Go canvassing. If you’re decided on a specific weight loss program then the next step to take is to make sure you’re paying just the right price for the benefits that you could acquire. There are overpriced gyms and fitness centers that don’t necessarily mean better service. Sometimes, paying for expensive membership fees doesn’t mean anything to your problem areas at all. As well, some weight loss programs can be quite expensive, especially when they require you to sign up with a membership, take specific supplements or eat only their types of foods. Shop around to find the right weight loss program for you that will not only suit your lifestyle but also your budget.

Now that you have a few ideas on choosing a weight loss program that could work for you, go out there and start exploring. Good luck!

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Buy Phentramin-D and Get the Body of your Dreams

Have you ever looked in the mirror and just wished you could make all that flab completely disappear? Ever wish you could just cut off a couple of pounds every single time you step on a scale? Ever imagined seeing that tape measure on your waist shrink two or three inches? Well, now you can make that happen if you decide to buy phentramin-D.

When you buy phentramin-D, you get unique ingredients that are proven to enhance weight loss.

To those who are at a loss about what Phentramin-D is, let us enlighten you. Phentramin-D is the newest weight loss aide that not only delivers its promised result; it is also proven to be safe for most individuals out there with zero to minimal side effects. Phentramin-d is intended to be an improved, non-prescription version of Phentermine. The best part is that you don’t need a prescription to buy phentramin-D.

How it Makes you Thinner

When you buy phentramin-D, you get unique ingredients that are created in an FDA approved laboratory. These ingredients are exceptional weight loss compounds: 1,3 Dimethylpentylamine and 1,3,7 trimethylxanthine. The formula used for phentramin-D acts as a sympathomimetic amine. In other words, it mimics the normal sympathetic (flight-or-fight) response of the body.

This weight loss marvel increases your body’s metabolism, mobilizes fat and boosts the body’s fat-burning functions and in some may even provide a healthy and pleasant energy boost. The best part is, it suppresses your appetite. Instead of gobbling a plateful of pancakes, you will feel full after eating half the amount. Buy phentramin-D and you could expect nothing less but a body with less fat and more pizazz.

What to Expect

Now, it might be a weight loss pill but don’t expect to drop down a huge amount on the first day of intake. When you buy phentramin-D, don’t think of it as a miracle worker. Instead, think of it as a helping hand that can make losing weight easier.

Once you start taking phentramin-D, you can expect a weight loss of roughly five to seven pounds every week when it is combined with a calorie-reduced diet and regular exercise.

Getting the body of your dreams is now possible. Just buy phentramin-D, add it to healthy eating and an exercise regime and clear the path towards your dreams of a better body.

Other Related Posts and Articles you May Find Interesting: “Phentramin-D Diet Pills Worked for Me!”, “Buying Diet Pills Online” and “Diet Pill Reviews”.