WHY CAN'T I LOSE WEIGHT?

Do you dread getting on the scale? Are you tired of being overweight and tired?

Are you trying to lose weight, but it's not coming off? or worse you're putting more on?

This happens to alot of people and one of the biggest reasons is: They are not getting proper nutrition.

If your body is lacking in essential nutrients it will store everything you do eat and save it for when it is needed.   However, if you are consistently not getting enough nutrition, your body will consistently continue to store and turn it into fat.   This can be changed by following a few simple rules:

1:   Do not skip meals ( you can use nutritional meal replacement shakes for breakfast and/or lunch if that helps)

2: Make your calories count, this means don't fill up on empty calories that don't provide nutrition.

3:  Drink plenty of water, the average person needs half their body weight in ounces of water per day (this means if you weigh 200 lbs you need 100 ounces of water)

4:   Snack, yes I said snack.   The best way to boost your metabolism is to keep feeding it, eat something about every 3 to 4 hours.   Now this doesn't mean chowing down on chips and cookies, choose healthy snacks (yogurt, low fat cheeses and some fruits or veggies... you get the pic?)

5:   Choose low fat, low carb and high protein meals.  A trick I learned is to first eat the low fat protein then your veggies and last your carbs (by then you will be full and won't eat too many carbs) 

Well that's all for today! I look forward to sharing more tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Jacqui Allen 

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THE LOWDOWN ON LETTUCE

I have always been a lettuce lover, I can't remember too many meals that  haven't ended with salad.   Where I grew up salad was believed to be a helper in digestion (it also cleanses you palet) and so we always had our salad at the end of the meal.  To this day I still believe that.   Now I am not talking about the fat and calorie packed salads that are commonly consumed today, I am talking a simple green salad (maybe throw in some tomato and cucumber, I wouldn't object to that).   But, what kind of lettuce is the best for you?   Well, in cooking school I learned that romaine lettuce has the most nutrients than any other lettuce, so here is the lowdown. Iceberg versus Romaine:

One cup of iceberg lettuce has:

8 calories


0.5 gram protein

0.7 gram fiber

10 mg calcium

78 mg potassium

1.5 mg vitamin C

16 mcg folate

13.3 mcg of vitamin K

164 mcg beta carotene

152 mcg of lutein + zeaxanthin

One cup of romaine lettuce has:

8 calories

0.58 gram protein

1 gram fiber

16 mg calcium

116 mg potassium

11.3 mg vitamin C

64 mcg folate

48.2 mcg vitamin K

1637 mcg beta carotene

1087 mcg of lutein + zeaxanthin.
 
 
and the winner is clear ROMAINE WINS (I knew it would and it tastes better too)
 
Nutrition info obtained from http://www.about.com/
 
So, enjoy a green salad everyday and help you digestive system it will thank you!
 
Jacqui Allen

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