By Monique N. Gilbert – Original article located at the link – http://www.fwhc.org/health/high-protein-diet.htm

Protein is a vital nutrient, essential to your health. In its purest form, protein consists of chains of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids that combine to form different proteins, and 8 of these must come from [...]

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When starting on a diet, it would be helpful to write down everything in a food journal. Record daily what you ate, what were you doing, and how you were feeling. This would help in analyzing your eating habits, how much you eat, how often and how your emotions affect your eating pattern. With this [...]

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Easting to Lose Weight
by Jane Fonda
Article original link: http://www.jane-fonda.net/healthy eating/

If you’ve said it once, you’ve said it a hundred times: You want to eat healthfully and lose weight. Why then are you on a first name basis with the folks at the fast food drive-thru?
It must be because eating well requires too much time and [...]

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What’s New About the Label?
It’s Simple. Healthy eating has never been easier, thanks to the new nutrition label. Here’s the good news:

Most foods in the grocery store must now have a nutrition label and an ingredient list.
You can buy with confidence. Claims like “low cholesterol” and “fat free” can be used only
if [...]

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Advices

Avoid as much as possible fatty food, including fat from vegetables.

Reduce salt quantities.

Drink a lot, like 2 liters/day (slightly more than 1/2 gallon). Water is your best partner here, if possible drink [...]

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Are You Overweight?
Overweight refers to an excess of body weight, but not necessarily body fat. Obesity means an excessively high proportion of body fat. Health professionals use a measurement called body mass index (BMI) to classify an adult’s weight as healthy, overweight, or obese. BMI describes [...]

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“How to lose weight fast and permanent?”

Few weeks ago I read an article about quick weight loss; I read it twice then I went to get a coffee. When I came back – I read it once more. Why did I read it three times?

“Articles, books, adds about dieting…”

What I saw inside was indeed related to dieting and weight loss. It also contained links to various articles concerning weight loss, fitness and general wellness programs as expected. The fact that infuriated me and made me write this post was that everything inside was said to be easy and free: free dieting, free weight loss programs, easy way to lose fat, east way to get fit and be healthy and it went on and on.

“Real knowledge – the key to dieting success”

Judging for my dieting experiences so far – it was never easy, never! Long ago I lost track of the number of diets, weight loss programs and fitness regimes that I have tried. Every time I did one these …programs, it took away something from me.

My frustration made me recall many of the diets I did – my failures or successes and how I understood the truth about things. Don’t get me wrong – there is no universal truth; you need to find out your own – your own truth about your way of eating, your way to stay healthy, to be thin, slim, fit and all that.

“How can I stay fit? How can I lose weight? How can stay fit always?

At that point the right question is “how”. The answer to it is as simple as it gets. The only important thing is that the answer is different to different people.

My answer to the “how” was trial and error. That is “how” I did it, how I lost 22 kg and become the man closest to the one I saw in my mind’s eye.

It was not easy – everything else but easy! And the fact is you all know how it is done. You have the knowledge for it

How to do it?

1. First – find your healthy food – which foods are healthy for you, what agrees with your body and what does notI used combination to find out which foods are most suited. In simple words what agrees with body and what does not. Then I cut off the bad foods from my diet. By the way, now there is a blood test that can give you the results more quickly than me.
2. Second – eat more often. The second step was to break your eating in at least 4 times a day. That was the most difficult part for me. For years I was used to eat one or two times a day (rarely three). And I ate in huge quantities with full disregard for quality.
3. Third - exercise. We are meant to move. Walk if you cannot do anything else. The fitness is important. Exercise makes you feel more alive, grants you better sleep at night and more stamina during the day.

To be continued…

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Calories are not all equal..

Indeed, it has been proven that 100 calories coming from sugar, oil or seafood are not treated the same by our bodies. Calories are coming from 3 distinct nutriments.

Carbohydrates

Refined sugars and its pairs, sweets, candies… are almost pure carbohydrates, rich and quickly assimilated by our bodies. Starches, even if they don’t taste as sugary, are extremely rich in carbohydrates. Starches includes breads, crackers, cereals, pasta, potatoes, lentils, beans… Bananas, grapes and cherries are among the fruits with the most carbohydrates. Obviously wine and all alcohols are not your friends there.
Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per grams directly assimilated.

Lipids

Lipids are definitely your enemies. There are 2 main sources of lipids: animal and vegetal. You’ll find them typically in their almost pure stage in delicatessens, pate, sausages and so on, but also in the meat, like lamb, goose and duck. Beef is normally way leaner. Vegetal lipids are mainly found in oils (olive, sunflowers, peanuts etc).
Lipids provide 9 calories per grams that get assimilated slightly slower than carbohydrates.

Proteins

Proteins are mainly coming from animals and most specifically their meat. Horse meat contains the most protein. Beef meat, although slightly fattier, are extremely good sources of proteins. Again, lamb, pork, goose and duck have too much lipids to be considered a good source of protein. All the seafood, fishes, shrimp, crab, scallops are very lean and with a good amount of proteins. Eggs are good although, ideally, you should eat only the white…yuck
Proteins provide 4 calories per grams that get assimilated very slowly (at least 3 hours).

Let’s do some maths

Because of the protein molecules size, our body needs to spend some energy to digest them. Typically, to extract 100 calories out of proteins, our body has to spend 30 calories (vs 12 calories for the lipids and 7 calories for the carbohydrates). Also, take into consideration that only 50% of the proteins are really assimilable, the rest is pure waste. So a 100g beef steak will provide only 200 calories (100g * 4 cal * 50%) that will require 60 calories to get assimilated…hence your net calories intake will be only 140 calories….which is the equivalent of a spoon of olive oil that we’re pouring so easily onto our salads…

Calories intakes (100g)
Calories assimilated (100g)
Calories diet efficiency (100g)

Related articles:

• Pierre Dukan PROTAL plan diet
• Pierre Dukan, M.D. – the first customized diet book -”My Weight Book”
• Pierre Dukan, M.D. – Q and A about “My Weight Book”

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