Best Way to Handle Sugar in your holiday diet

Turkey day is approaching. Here is a timely video to show ways to best handle sugar in your holiday diet. ENJOY !

Loosing Weight: a Battle against Fat and Biology

Loosing Weight: a Battle against Fat and Biology

(One of NPR's most emailed stories)

Most people who lose weight end up gaining it back — and it's not just

 a matter of willpower. In fact, once we begin to shed those first few

pounds, says one expert, "the biology really kicks in and tries to resist

the weight loss."

 

If you're among the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight,

chances are you've had people tell you to just ease up on the eating and

 use a little self-control. It does, of course, boil down to "calories in,

calories out."


But there's a lot more to it than that, according to obesity specialist

Dr. Donna Ryan,

 associate director for clinical research at the Pennington Biomedical

Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.


It's a popular misconception, she says, that losing weight is "strictly a

matter of willpower." It's a gigantic task, she says, because not only do

we move through an incredible buffet of food spread before us every

day, but we also face a battle with our own biological responses.


It starts when we begin to shed those first few pounds. At that point,

"the biology really kicks in and tries to resist the weight loss," she says.


Take 56-year-old Mary Grant, who's faced a lifetime battling fat,

beginning in childhood, when her father humiliated her in front of the

 family by publicly weighing her every Saturday morning and insisted

 on her trying diet after diet.


In the end, Grant unsuccessfully tried "the grapefruit before every

meal diet, Weight Watchers in the early days, when you had to eat

chicken livers, the hard-boiled eggs and salad diet, the tomato soup

 diet, the cabbage soup diet, essentially anything," says Grant, "to get

that weight off me."

But the weight did not "come off." It wasn't until after nursing school

that Grant was successful in dropping 100 pounds after a medically

supervised fast. Dramatic as that success was, it didn't last. Grant

gained much of the weight back. Most people do, according to health

experts.

 

 

Living Large: Obesity In America

And here's why:

When you begin to lose pounds, levels of the hormone leptin, which is

produced by fat cells, begin to drop. That sends a message to the brain

that the body's "fat storage" is shrinking. The brain perceives

starvation is on the way and, in response, sends out messages to

conserve energy and preserve calories. So, metabolism drops.

And then other brain signals tell the body it's "hungry," and it sends

out hormones to stimulate the appetite. The combination of lowered

metabolism and stimulated appetite equals a "double whammy," says

Ryan. And that means the person who's lost weight can't consume as


much food as the person who hasn't lost weight.


For example, if you weigh 230 pounds and lose 30 pounds, you cannot

eat as much as an individual who has always weighed 200 pounds. You

 basically have a "caloric handicap," says Ryan. And depending on

how much weight people lose, they may face a 300-, 400- or even 500-

calorie a day handicap, meaning you have to consume that many fewer

calories a day in order to maintain your weight loss.


This means no more grapefruit or cabbage soup diets:

You u need a diet you can stay on forever. For most people, that means

high fiber, low fat and low sugar. But you can fight back against a

lowered metabolism. You can "kick" your metabolism back up by

exercising every day. One recent study found people were able to burn

up an extra 450 calories a day with one hour of moderate exercise.


It doesn't have to be vigorous jogging. You can walk briskly, bike or

swim. Health experts recommend 30 minutes of moderate physical

activity a day in order to reduce risk for heart disease. But obesity

experts say if you want to lose or maintain weight, you have to double

that and exercise at least one hour every day.

My Low Carb TV Show... ok IF I really had one ! :)

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

Wednesday November2

My TV Show. Your blog is being turned into a TV show! Congrats – you’ve earned it. In fact, you get to co-write it. Write about the TV show based on your life or blog.

BIG EASY ON LOW CARB CHANNEL

Why should living The Big Easy lifestyle of New Orleans hinder the way we eat ? Good Cajun food has always been and always will be a part of me. Every Cajun has the love of cooking. Come as we explore the heart of Cajun culture and cooking. Travel with us, as we access the wildlife of the area and the seafood of the Gulf.

You'll meet fun-loving, God-fearing, hard-working people who grow their own food and catch their own meals in these small Cajun towns. We will absorb the Cajun culture and speak the Cajun language. We'll cook over open hearths like many on plantations. We'll sip mint juleps on the veranda, and watch the setting sun over the levee.

Since many of the Cajun foods are rich in carbohydrates, we'll learn how to simply prepare those recipes for those on a diabetic diet, or just for those who want to eat healthy. Cajun cooking may be time consuming, but it is well worth what you put into it. It has to be. Cajuns love eating their food as much as they love preparing it.

If Justin Wilson we're alive he'd say "I Gar-on-tee".

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I think my cable channel would be different from what is out there because it specifically is geared toward travelling down the back roads of Louisiana and deep in the heart of the Dixie countryside.

Local chefs Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, and John Besh will give us the low down on their favorite low carb recipes, fine dining tips, and what it was like growing up in New Orleans.

We'll have the return of Justin Wilson's cooking show -- listening to his Cajun comedy stories while showin' us how to cook real-like Deep Southern food and sip a little 'wine on the side'.

We'll travel the back bayous on an airboat exploring the marsh lands and the animals that live there -- hunt alligator, fish offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, and bow hunt some deer.

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The Big Easy on Low Carb Channel will also explore the present day Louisiana.

We'll revisit Hurricane Katrina survivors, and get their first-hand knowledge of what it was like to live in those desperate times. Did they bbq their food and tail gate ? Did they share what they had with others, or evacuate to other states ?

We'll find out what it was like for the seafood industry, seafood restaurants, and people who ate seafood when the Mobil Oil disaster occured. Travel to marshlands to see how the ecology is now a year later.

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge Prompts (#HAWMC)

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge Prompts (#HAWMC)

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

Titles of my future book. Say you’re writing a book about your life, community, condition, or Health Activism. Come up with 5 working titles and a quick book jacket synopsis.

Go Big Easy on Low Carb !  - Visiting New Orleans, LA ? Foods are high in carbs ! Join us as we seek out local restaurants offering foods that are richly decadent, but low on carbs. Pass the lips and onto the hips ? Not if you are traveling with this low carb gal :)

Low Carb Life for Dummies 101 -  Why count calories and fat grams when you can use this low carb book to get the low-down on easy carb counting !!  Is a carb REALLY   a sugar ? Are there good carbs vs. bad carbs ? We will explore just how to decipher food labels, and recipes for the low carb way of life !

How NOT to Low Carb Properly : My Life, My Struggle, My Story  Follow me, as I discuss my personal triumphs and tragedies with the world of low carb dieting.  What I thought as a success, caused more problems for me later on.  Discover what does NOT work in the world of low carb eating and what DOES.

Exercise and Me, a Low-Carb Love Story ... For most of my adult life, I thought a hard day's work was a substitute for exercise. If I felt mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day, I thought it meant I was keeping myself fit enough.  I reflect on this today, because we all have to start somewhere. We have to work through the pain to GAIN insight. I exercise and continue to do it because I think clearer and faster. I'm a more patient person, and have more energy. I wonder how much I could have accomplished if I'd discovered all of this sooner ?? When it comes to food, I do not believe in counting calories or fat grams. I count CARBS. Counting calories and fat grams took the air out of the balloon for me. You have to find out what works for YOU. Once my brain realized that a carb = sugar. Everything clicked. I do believe in enjoying all things in moderation. .. Follow me as we experience my low-carb journey though Diet and Exercise...

How To Write a Success Blog -  Have an idea, or something happening in your life daily that you find interesting and don't mind sharing with the world ?  Gain confidence and knowledge by reading this short but inspirational book on just how to find success in writing a daily blog. Emotional ? Whimsical ?  Got something to say that is on your mind ? Why not blog it ? I'll give you all the tools, you run with it ! :)