Eat Great And Lose Weight - A Man's Guide

Knowing how to eat great and lose weight means that eating bland food or endless 'rabbit food' can be a thing of the past. Do you really want to east nothing but lettuce leaves just to lose a few pounds? Didn't think so. The fact is, if you choose good quality ingredients and be willing to try something new (and delicious) then the 'eat great lose weight' mantra will always ring true.

Choosing the Proper Foods

It may sound obvious, but if the ingredients you use to prepare your meals are themselves highly processed and loaded with high saturated fats or sugars then there's no way you can lose weight. Only by avoiding these foods and sticking with natural, fresh foods can you get on the right track. If your weekly shopping list is filled with food that comes in boxes, cans or other packaging then it's time to throw it away and start afresh.

Your new shopping list should include foods like lean meat (organic is best), whole eggs, fresh fish, raw nuts, fresh herbs and, of course, plenty of healthy and ripe fruits and vegetables. Aim for a good variety of fruit such as bananas (a great source of potassium), apples, oranges and peaches. With vegetables, go for some leafy greens like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, plus others like carrots, capsicum, cucumber and mushrooms.

If you have a local farmer's market, try to get your food from there. Yes, it may be a little more expensive but you're supporting local farmers, and you know exactly where it came from. It will also be free from preservatives and other nasties that can cause all manner of health problems like diabetes, heart disease and weight gain. Natural foods are much more beneficial as they have little (or no) calories and plenty of vitamins and minerals that your body needs to work at its peak.

Try New Recipes, Flavors and Techniques

Grilled chicken is often touted as an ideal food for diets. Provided it's lean and has the skin removed it's a great source of protein (essential for building muscle and burning fat). Like anything though, you can't eat it every single day - you need variety to keep things interesting. However, there are literally thousands of chicken recipes out there on the web from all over the world. Search for a few and give them a try.

If you already have some favourite recipes that contain ingredients that aren't that healthy, then you can easily substitute them for better ones. For example, a pasta recipe might call for cream in its sauce. Since cream isn't great for weight loss, you can swap it for evaporated milk which is much better for you. Similarly you can add in some new flavours quite easily with spices without adding calories.
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You also don't have to cook food the same way - try some different methods. If you always fry your chicken in lots of oil, try slicing it up first and stir frying it in a little olive oil - it's much healthier. If steak is your thing, try grilling it rather than broiling it.

Eat Great and Lose Weight With These Recipes

Here are two very simple, delicious and healthy recipes for you to try. Give them a go and see how you go.

Sticky Chicken Drumsticks

This recipe is probably one of the easiest chicken drumsticks recipes you'll find. It's very versatile, very healthy and tastes great.

Also, you could use chicken thighs or even chicken wings instead of drumsticks. Just make sure you get skinless chicken to make sure it stays healthy.

What you'll need (for two people) is:

4 chicken drumsticks/thighs/wings
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Chinese Five Spice powder
Firstly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Mix the tomato sauce/ketchup, and soy sauce together in a bowl.

Using a pastry brush, coat each piece of chicken with the sauce mixture, then place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle a little Five Spice powder over each chicken piece. One side is fine, but you could do both sides if you like.

Place the chicken into the oven, and bake for one hour.

To serve, simply place the chicken on a plate, along with perhaps a simple green salad. Pretty simple, I'm sure you'll agree!

Sicilian Pork Penne

This recipe is an often-cooked dish of mine. I cook it regularly because it's really easy to make, tastes great and is very healthy.

What you'll need (for two people) is:

180 grams (6 ounces) pasta. I use Penne pasta, but you can have whatever you prefer.
250 grams (8 ounces) lean pork, sliced thinly.
1 small Spanish onion, sliced thinly.
1 clove of garlic, crushed.
200 grams (7 ounces) tinned chopped tomatoes.
Some fresh basil leaves, washed.
Black olives (whole or sliced is OK)
Some grated parmesan cheese.
Olive oil.
Fill a saucepan with water, and add a couple of tablespoons of salt. Stir the salt until it's completely dissolved (this stops the pasta sticking together). Bring the water to boil and then add your pasta. Cook for however long the packaging recommends.

While the pasta's cooking, add a little olive oil to your frypan and heat to a medium-high heat.

Throw in the pork strips and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until they're lightly browned. Then remove the pork and place them aside on some paper towel.

Now add the garlic, onion and tinned tomatoes to the pan. Stir continuously until the tomato juices start bubbling a little, and it all thickens up. Then turn the heat down to low.

Return the pork to the frypan and chuck in the olives and basil leaves. Mix everything together well.

When the pasta's ready, drain it and add it to the mixture in the frypan. Remove the pan from the heat and mix everything together well.

Serve into some pasta bowls, sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top and enjoy.

Start Eating Great and Losing Weight - Now!

Don't forget you can change things around in these recipes - experiment, but keep it healthy! You may just find you have a knack for cooking, and you'll enjoy your food and look great into the bargain. That's what 'eat great and lose weight' is all about.

About the Author

Nick Daval is a full-time web publisher and author who has written for and created sites in various niches, particularly cooking and weight loss.

He has a special interest in male weight loss and providing men with great advice and teaching practical skills for them to get their weight under control.

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Ten Things You Really Need to Know About Losing Weight!

Ten quick weight loss diet tips to help you get the best from your weight loss programme

There are many myths being quoted as to the ideal way to lose weight fast or the many tips and tricks on how to lose weight fast, we are here to dispel some of the rumors that are blatantly untrue and to educate you as to the correct way to lose weight the healthy way.

The first thing you are going to need to do is to listen to the updated research of what is a safe and effective diet and weight loss plan that is not solely endorsed by 'celebrities', that has a proven track record and that will not make you fat again if and when your 'will power' fades.

Here you will find 10 of the most important things you will need to know in your quest to lose weight...

TIP # 1: DO NOT SKIP MEALS! It may seem to make sense that when you skip a meal that you automatically lose those intake of calories and therefore will be an aid to losing weight..NO! let me explain why not...

When you miss a meal your brain reacts differently and you become more susceptible to eating and being attracted to eating the wrong (fatty) foods rather than the healthy meal you may have planned.

TIP # 2: USE SMALLER PLATES! Yup! does that sound easy or what? well it has been proven that when people switch from a 12 inch plate down to a 10 inch plate that you are likely to eat up to 22% less food! You should serve yourself smaller portions on smaller plates so that your brain won't process the need to finish a much larger portion that you do not need, but only want because it is there to eat!

TIP # 3: COUNT YOUR CALORIES! Yes I'm afraid so, to effectively 'diet' and lose weight you will need to 'count your calories'!, I can so see that many people are already heading for the next article on the next 'miracle' drug that will make you lose weight fast! Hold on, to effectively lose weight and maintain that 'ideal' weight you will need to learn a little more about what you eat!

We all know that eating fatty foods will increase your calorie intake and therefore your weight will rise and you will be miserable longer than the pleasure that bar of chocolate or doughnut gave you! But you can also be forgiven for thinking that you are eating healthily when in fact you are not...watch out for the hidden calories!

TIP # 4: DON'T BLAME YOUR METABOLISM! OK, so what if you are one of those people who seem to eat all the right foods and stay away from the fatty unhealthy lifestyle and still cannot get a handle on weight loss? must be your 'slow metabolism' right? Tests have shown that: SLOW METABOLISM CAN BE A MYTH AND USED AS AN EXCUSE FOR PEOPLE TO EXCUSE THEIR GAIN IN WEIGHT! Don't be fooled into thinking that your body has a slow metabolism as more often than not it is our brain that is fooled into believing that we are doing everything we can to eat properly and ignoring half the food we consume. Also the portion size still counts if you are eating healthily too and cutting back or by decreasing our plate size can have a dramatic effect.

TIP #5: PROTEIN STAVES OFF THE HUNGER PANGS! OK on a diet in order for you to 'stick at it' or should I say continue to eat healthily what do you need to do? basically you need to NOT get "starving hungry"! and here you will learn that certain foods are much better at reducing those 'hunger pangs' than others - proven by research studies.

So, what kinds of foods leave you feeling fuller for a longer period of time? Protein...from any food group, eating a protein rich diet could be the secret you need to help you keep the hunger at bay!

TIP #6: SOUP KEEPS YOU FEELING FULLER FOR LONGER Is soup the answer? can it be that simple? could soup be the 'best kept secret' in dieting? Eating food as a soup or broth can have a dramatic effect on our perception of hunger and the way that the body translates what we eat into energy that we need to go about our daily life. This simple yet effective technique, yes you may well have seen people extolling the health benefits of the 'smoothie', could have a serious effect on your hunger levels throughout the day and keep you from eating more than you need in the way of reducing the need to snack between meals.

TIP #7: THE WIDER THE CHOICE, THE MORE YOU EAT! Buffets are bad for us! Yes choice makes us who we are but to have so much choice in one meal makes us overeat or at least feel that we are missing out on the foods that we didn't try! Fact is that too much variety when choosing a meal leads us to overeat, so when considering a meal out you should not consider going to the 'all-you-can-eat' buffet! Perhaps too you should create a list of set menus to consume with equal calorie intake and stick to a set diet plan of foods to eliminate the 'choice factor!'

TIP #8: LOW FAT DAIRY HELPS YOU TO EXCRETE MORE FAT! Milk, cheese, butter and yogurts are usually one of the first things people give up when going on a diet or at least cut down on, based purely on the assumption of the fat content in these products. Research has shown that a diet that is higher in dairy (calcium) helps the body to excrete the fats even if you are eating healthy low fat meals with a low calorie count, in fact they can help to double the amount of fats excreted from the body! (I won't go into the details of the studies but take it as a real life study of inherent value!)

TIP #9: EXERCISE GOES ON BURNING FAT, EVEN WHILE YOU SLEEP! Well weight loss solutions do bear fruit such as exercising more to help you burn off any unwanted fats stored by the body, but did you know that you can burn off calories (and therefore fat) while you are asleep? During exercise our muscles use mainly carbohydrates to create energy because they are easier for the body to burn and so after exercise you will have depleted your reserve of carbohydrates and your body will take up to 22 hours to replace this. So in the mean time your body needs to find other sources to burn off to keep the basic functions alive at least! In fact the body is forced to utilize fats to create energy instead to keep you going, walking, talking and even sleeping!

TIP #10: KEEP MOVING AND LOSE WEIGHT! Well exercise does have its benefits when helping us to keep the excess weight of and to burn fat, but for those who do not have the time (or inclination) to go to the gym there may be another option... just a few small changes in our usual routine can play a large role in helping you to lose weight, it makes sense that just to keep moving and being less 'sedentary' will help you to burn more calories and therefore fat. Try to see where you can be more active, leave the car at home when you need to go to the shops or at least park further away from the store entrance in the supermarkets car park! Little steps can build to have a big effect on your overall desire to lose weight and keep healthy, and cause you to burn off more calories in your daily routine, try to be less 'sedentary' think of ways you could actually move around and use some calories.

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So there you have it 10 tips for weight loss.. the Ten things you really need to know about losing weight!



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Olive Oil Does Not Make Us Put on Weight - Makes Us Lose It!

Olive oil does not make us put on weight!!! Some may assure that olive oil makes us put on weight and it is true that the oil has a high content of calories, but that does not necessarily mean that it is going to make us put on weight. In fact, there is no scientific research supporting this. However, there are some reviews in which scientists state that extra virgin olive oil makes us lose weight. Yes, that's what I've written: Extra virgin olive oil makes us lose weight.

Through a recent study carried out by the Pharmacy Faculty of the University of Navarra in Spain, scientists stated that the inclusion of extra virgin olive oil in our diet favor body weight reduction. In this research, scientists studied the diet of a thousand different individuals. Their diets were changed to another one which was very similar to the Mediterranean one. The conclusions showed that, with time, this new diet made the individuals lose weight due to the increase of the antioxidant capacity of their bodies. This increase led directly to a weight reduction. In addition, parallel scientific studies revealed that major quantity of antioxidants in our blood is related to body weight reduction. It was also shown that those individuals with tendency to gain weight were, in a way, more protected against overweight when they changed their usual diet to the Mediterranean one.

One of the scientists that took part in the Spanish research determined that if the Mediterranean diet, when compared to low fat diets, presents greater antioxidant capacity. Then, this led to the conclusion that a diet with high content of mono and polyunsaturated fat is very healthy for our bodies.

The role of the extra virgin olive oil in the Mediterranean diet is essential and it is considered to be its basic and fundamental ingredient. The well-known antioxidant capacity of oil comes from polyphenols, the natural antioxidants that contribute to the bitter taste in oils and which are very beneficial to our body. They reduce cholesterol, regulate blood pressure and decrease coronary risks. Its quantity is determined by several facts: oil variety, olive time picking, altitude, irrigation, extraction methods and storage.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7453248