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Eating Right And Healthy During Sickness

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:04:02 +0000

Eating can be such a tall order when you’re down with the sickness. Sometimes all you want to do is throwing up whatever you ram in your mouth.

Diseases, especially the chronic ones, can undermine your appetite. People with cancer, for example, do not feel hungry all the time. Those who are clinically depressed may see even one teaspoon as very hard work.

It is normal to refuse food when coping with illness. Caregivers should know better than to tell off a sick person for not finishing that plate.

But not eating anything may aggravate your condition. The body needs nutrients notwithstanding the state of your appetite.

To regain your appetite, you would have to steer clear of the symptoms that make you less hungry. The doctor can help you treat symptoms by way of special medications. These symptoms over with, you’re on track to take back your appetite.

Life-threatening or mild, any medical condition should not completely impede your nutritional needs. To wit, tips and ways on how to eat when sick:

Protein

One non-negotiable for the body is getting its supply of protein. It holds true even if you’re sick.

Protein, the building blocks of cells, boosts the body’s healing factor. Not only that but it also curbs the loss of muscles and stabilizes body fluid levels.

There are infinite ways to get protein into your body. Its most universal provenances include pork, beef, chicken, lamb, fish, eggs and cheese.

There are nearly as many choices of protein for vegetarians. Vegans can get their protein from beans, nuts and many other plants. Soy products like tofu also contain much protein. However, you would need to eat a bigger amount of vegetarian food to match the protein content of a smaller amount of animal food.

Still, if you cannot get protein from any food at all, the doctor may prescribe protein supplements, which are easily available as powdered drinks and such.

Calories

When you become sick, calorie-counting makes no difference anymore. As your body depletes your calories to make up for decreased appetite, you may actually need to eat more, screw the scales.

A sick body needs more calories than ever because it is functioning harder to combat the condition. Then you lose weight, because your appetite just won’t cooperate—only that you can’t jump for joy this time.

Improve your caloric intake by eating more protein. Even dietitians would tell calorie-deprived patients to eat cheeseburgers just so they can compensate for their weight loss.

Yet there are diseases that have weight gain for their symptom. In view of this, high-calorie diets are only recommended for patients with diseases that cause weight loss. Do not begin ramping up your calorie intake without the doctor’s advice.

Fiber

Fiber is vital to a healthy lifestyle. Its most immediate benefit is that it wards off constipation and maintains your regular bowel movement. If you eat them long enough, you would become less prone to diabetes, cancer and other diseases. If you’re already struck with a disease, you also need fiber too, more than usual even.

Fiber can easily be derived from whole grains, vegetables and fruits. There are also many fiber supplements out in the market.

But patients tend to eat the wrong kind of food while in convalescence. They may eat toasted bread, for example, which has lower fiber content than whole wheat bread.

Not all patients would need fiber nonetheless. There are conditions wherein patients get bloated after eating fiber. Diarrhea also tends to worsen in patients who take fibrous food. Tell your doctor about your concerns with fiber.

Vitamins and minerals

No one can survive without minerals and vitamins. Even if you eat protein faithfully or munch on fiber-rich food like there’s no tomorrow, the body simply would not function well without minerals (like potassium and calcium) and vitamins (like A, C, D and E).

In fact, there are diseases caused by a lack of certain vitamins and minerals. If you habitually munch on fruits, vegetables and whole grains, then you have not much to worry about.

Supplements can never substitute the vitamins and minerals you get from natural whole food. Granted, supplements pack more vitamins and minerals in a smaller amount than whole foods. But whole food still has so many unknown nutrients in them; supplements just could not measure up.

Furthermore, supplements may be contraindicated against your medication. Among others, folic acid supplements may get in the way of cancer and arthritis treatments such as methotrexate. Supplements of omega-3 fatty acids are even known to be lethal, when combined with Plavix, Coumadin and other blood thinners.

Though seemingly innocuous, multivitamins may be unsafe too. Experts say the dosage for multivitamins have increased over the decades. Many drug companies have manufactured multivitamins that stray beyond the daily recommended dose.

Therefore, the doctor would serve as your arbiter in taking particular vitamin and mineral supplements. You must never self-medicate, especially if you have a medical condition. The same goes for alternative medications.

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10 Faster House Cleaning Tips

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:04:00 +0000

While you would give anything for a squeaky clean house, you do not really want to do all that housework. But you would want its occupants to feel safe from viruses and disease vectors. You would want to make it look more livable at least. You would want to feel at home.

If you just know how to maximize what little you have left in your schedule, and use the right housekeeping products, you can clean your house in no time.

If you really don’t have time for cleaning house, you may want to hire a housecleaner every now and then. You could easily build on what he or she started and just maintain your house’s cleanliness thereafter. However, a one-time general cleaner may be more expensive than a regular housekeeper.

You could always go solo, all for the price of vapor. Just follow these shortcuts to a clean home.

1. Clean as you go

It is best not to wait until all the dirt and clutter have pent up before you get down to work. Clean little but often. Otherwise, you’d be overwhelmed with the amount of accumulated mess you have to tackle. For one, water spots are harder to remove if you leave them to dry. Cleaning toothpaste on the counter is also difficult if you leave it for later.

2. Allow time for some cleaning products to kick in

If you want one-stop housecleaning, give some products time to work their magic. Pour cleaner into the toilet bowl at night before you sleep; you would find it easier to clean in the morning. The same goes for ovens with stains and burnt greases. Allow the cleaner to permeate the mess before wiping it away. Better yet, buy cheap oven liners (available in all sizes) to catch those pesky spills.

3. Keep dirt and dust outdoors

Put two mats on your doorway, one outside, the other inside. Outdoor dirt accounts for nearly all the dirt on your floors and carpets. As a preventive measure, you may ask occupants and guests not to enter the threshold with their shoes on. But be hospitable all the same; let guests choose from an array of flip-flops.

4. Replace air filter regularly

Every three months, change the furnace’s air filter. Clean or new filters trap more dust and grime from the air and do not deteriorate too soon. What’s more, clean filters consume less power.

5. Cut back on clutter

Many things in your house, like old newspapers and obsolete desktop monitors, serve no other purpose than catching dust. Ditch them to free space and make housekeeping more bearable. If your clutter is comprised of uncompleted projects, e.g. important papers and unreturned purchases, set aside time every week to follow them up. Meanwhile, store away clutter of sentimental value inside boxes and special containers. That is, if they really are worth keeping.

6. Use hangers

Put clothes hangers or hampers in the bathroom and all the bedrooms. With these around, even the busiest busybody in the house would not throw their clothes on the floor.

7. Invest in good cleaning tools

If your cleaning tools weren’t so irksome, you may just find cleaning fun. Look around the market, which bursts at the seams with affordable, innovative cleaning products. Try them out even after you find something very practical. Also, don’t forget to buy basic cleaning tools as well as the multipurpose ones.

8. Store cleaning tools properly

You’ll find cleaning a breeze if you know where to look for your tools and products beforehand. Store them in various places around the house, near the places where they are usually used. Consider storing them in containers with handles so you can carry them wherever in the house. After you’re done cleaning, return them to their appointed places.

9. Make the vacuum cleaner work for you

Many people do not like using the vacuum due to its weight, among other reasons. If you are one of these people, never fret because the latest models are lighter and more sophisticated than ever. Many vacuum cleaners today are easier on your back, such as the lightweight canister units. If you plan to buy a new vacuum cleaner, check out units marked with “HEPA”. This means they have High Efficiency Particulate Air filters, which catch finer particles than their conventional counterparts.

10. Make the most out of the dishwasher

One of the more efficient ways to clean kitchens is using the dishwasher. Not only can it clean pans, it can also tackle parts of the refrigerator, from ice trays to shelves.

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Helpful Strategies To Burn Fat

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:58 +0000

We get at a certain age when no matter how hard we exercise or no matter how strictly we impose a special diet regimen on ourselves, we just can’t seem to lose that unsightly muffin top or that annoying pot belly. Sure, we’re losing some of our excess weight. We may feel healthier and younger. We may even feel that we’re looking better than others who are in the same age bracket. But the fat just won’t go away. With all the hard work and sacrifice, we expected our flab to dissolve faster, but nothing seems to work.

So once and for all, here are some helpful strategies on how best to burn that ever-present fat.

Be Realistic

You cannot just pick and choose which fat you want to lose. You cannot just choose to get rid of the flab in your arms, or your muffin top, or your pot belly. In order to succeed in burning your fat, you have to reduce your overall body fat, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
You have to be patient. If you are diligent enough when it comes to your diet and exercise regimens, sooner or later your diligence will pay off. You have to accept from the very beginning that there’s no easy fix to get rid of your flab. Just give it some time and your flab will disappear little by little. Even if your weight does not change, you will notice that your clothes fit differently.
Don’t expect to have the flab-free body you had when you were 20. As you age, your skin loses elasticity which causes sagging of the skin. This adds to the unsightliness of your flab.

Aging also causes a decline in our muscle mass and a slower metabolic rate. This means that getting rid of the flab will definitely require more work than when you were younger. Flab seems to be inevitable with age, but it can be avoided if you make a concentrated effort early enough. If you’re already at that age when burning your excess fat becomes an uphill battle, it is still possible to reduce your fat, just be realistic with your expectations. Just remember that prevention is the key.

Do More Cardio

Walking is always an excellent cardiovascular workout. But the key factor is to pump up the pace in order to see results. You can increase the number of days in a week that you do your routine or increase the number of hours in a day. Another great strategy is to alternate bursts of intense and light activities. For example, you can alternate walking and jogging every five minutes. This way, you will burn more calories and fat. Additionally, increasing the intensity of your workout also burns more calories and fat.

Remember that a good overall cardiovascular conditioning routine is vital to losing that flab.

Pump Your Muscles

Again, it’s important to remember that a full-body workout will be more effective than spot-reducing. This way, you will be working all the major muscle groups, and not just a few, chosen, and flabby ones.

For beginners, it is always safer to get expert instruction from a trainer for the first few sessions. A half hour of weight training three times a week is recommended. For maintenance, once you have your flab under your control, two sessions of weight training per week should be sufficient.

While doing full-body weight training exercises, you can still focus on your flabby areas. Doing bicycle kicks focuses the training on your oblique (abdominal) muscles to reduce your muffin top. Doing oblique twists with the cable machine is another option.

You can also do some routines while you’re at home. Hold a broom straight up over your head and lean to the right and then the left. This routine focuses on your love handles.

Dumbbell kickbacks with hand weights target flabby upper arms. Bend your upper arm at the elbow and place it parallel to the floor over a weight bench or any low bench. Use your other arm to support your body. Slowly extend your lower arm holding the weight until it is straight. Repeat a few times and do the same with your other arm.

For women, you can maximize the fat burning by focusing on doing more reps rather than increasing the weight. Twelve to fifteen repetitions per exercise is ideal. Men on the other hand should increase the weight periodically and should aim for eight to 12 reps.

Crunch That Flab

Doing sit-ups or crunches, in itself, do not get rid of your abdominal fat. It’s not entirely true that a thousand crunches will make you lose your flab. What these abdominal exercises do is strengthen your abdominal muscles. With enough work out, your tummy will have a better appearance.

Toning the muscles in your abdomen helps especially if your muffin top is the result of lack of abdominal exercises. While crunches and reverse crunches help get rid of pot bellies.

Revise Your Diet

There is a little truth to some of the fat-burning food claims. Certain foods do increase metabolism. These foods include chili peppers, low-fat dairy, and dietary supplements. Click here to see studies on how capsicum burn up to 278 more calories than others.

The role of dietary foods in weight management is still under scrutiny. In obese people, a study showed that diets with at least three servings of low-fat dairy products daily show an increased rate of weight loss and body fat loss compared to a diet with little dairy.

Being on a diet of fat-burning foods does not mean that you can eat whatever you want and still get rid of your flab. To be effective, these fat-burning foods should be incorporated into a sensible diet of whole grains, lean protein, adequate fruits and vegetables, and plenty of water daily.

It does not work for everyone, but having more frequent meals but in smaller portions may also help you lose weight. This also helps keep your energy levels up.

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5 Uncommon Causes Of Weight Gain

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:56 +0000

You indulge in a diet of fast food, luscious desserts, alcoholic beverages, and sweet sodas, you gain weight. You eat more calories than you actually burn, you gain weight. Weight gain is a simple science. You decide to live a healthy lifestyle, to exercise regularly and to control your calorie intake. But you still gain weight. It can be maddening especially when you think you’re doing everything right, following a strict regimen that’s been proclaimed fool-proof by many. Basic science is telling you should be shedding the pounds, but your weighing scale is saying just the opposite.

Almost any magazine you open has an article or two about the “10 Simple Steps to a Leaner Body!” or the “Five Easy Ways to Trim your Waist!” Simple and easy sell. Weight gain is a simple science, for some. For others, it can be a lot more complicated. If you are watching your calories and being physically active but are still gaining weight, it can be the result of a combination of factors working together.

Here are some of the reasons why the arrow on your scale won’t stop going up.

Inadequate Sleep

A well-rested body performs at its best. A body that doesn’t get enough sleep, on the other hand, is put through physiological stress. The body responds in numerous ways to stress, one of which is biochemical; it stores fat more efficiently. Another is mental and emotional reaction combined, and as a form of coping mechanism, the person tends to eat.

Some people who have wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep develop the habit of late-night snacking. This only adds more calories to their daily intake.

To be fully rested, the body needs a full eight hours of undisturbed sleep every night. You will know that your body is not getting enough rest when you feel fatigued, irritable, and inactive.

You can start giving your body enough and better sleep once you develop good sleeping rituals and get regular exercise. You can start off by adding 15-minute increments of sleep to your bedtime every night. You’ll start feeling better right away.

Stress

Stress is the bane of today’s society, wherein there is no such thing as overreaching. Sometimes, too much is expected of us that if you are not feeling stressed, then, you are probably not doing enough. Stress has become the ultimate motivator. But it spills over to other aspects of our lives, especially our moods and emotions.

However we choose to respond to the stress, in our body, it triggers survival mode. In this mode, the body stores fuel, slows down metabolism, and dumps out chemicals. This is likely to cause weight gain.

In addition, many people respond to stress by eating because food gives them comfort. Stress eaters make themselves feel better by indulging on high-carbohydrate foods. These foods actually trigger the release of the chemical serotonin in the brain which has a calming effect. This is a form of self-medication for stress eaters. But this is only a temporary fix to their stress problems. In order to handle and get rid of stress effectively, the real causes should be addressed immediately.

To start off, relaxation techniques and regular exercise are a great means of handling stress.

Medications

If you are doing everything right but are still gaining weight, consider your overall health condition. You may be on some medications that are affecting your weight gain. These medications include some prescription drugs that are used to treat depression, mood disorders, migraines, seizures, diabetes, and blood pressure. If you are on steroids, hormone replacement therapy, or oral contraceptives, these could also be the culprits. If there has been no change in your lifestyle and you have gained 5 pounds or more in a month, then you should check your medicine cabinet.

There are many different ways by which drugs may cause weight gain. They may increase your appetite, alter the way fat is stored, change insulin levels. With antidepressants, for example, you may develop a heartier appetite as a result of feeling better. Some drugs, too, may cause fluid retention which may be mistaken as weight gain on the scales, but can actually be corrected.

The most common types of medications that may cause weight gain include steroids, heartburn medications, high blood pressure medications, diabetes medications, anti-seizure medications, antipsychotics, and antidepressants.

However, your overall health condition is still more important than any weight gain from a particular medication. You should just be more mindful of having a healthy diet and getting regular exercise.

It is rare that your medication is the sole cause of your weight gain and, therefore, changing it may not solve the problem entirely. Before considering going off on your medication, you should always consult your doctor first about your other drug options. You should not compromise your health over a few pounds gained. There could be more serious consequences than gaining more width.

Health Conditions

There a few medical conditions whose side effects include weight gain. The most common is hypothyroidism which is a deficiency in thyroid hormone. This condition decreases metabolism, which in turn causes both appetite loss and weight gain.

The symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, lethargy, headaches, swelling, hoarse voice, intolerance to cold, and sleeping too much. A combination of any of these symptoms should be addressed by a doctor immediately.

Another medical condition that may cause weight gain is the rarer Cushing’s Syndrome, which is caused by an excess of the hormone cortisol.

Menopause

Menopause occurs mostly in midlife but its occurrence covers a wide range of ages. Whatever the age of menopause, however, most women in midlife are often less active than when they were younger. In addition, with aging comes slower metabolism and hormonal changes which, in turn, results in hunger, depression, and poor sleep.

Menopausal women lose estrogen which results in a change in their body shape. Estrogen makes fat deposits go to the lower body. In its absence, the fat goes instead to the midsection. During menopause, weight in the hips and thighs are usually lost but the midsection gains more.

In order to avoid the extra fat around the belly, it is important to increase metabolism or the rate that calories are burned. This can be done by maintaining and increasing the amount of lean body mass. This is where weight lifting and strength training come in.

In addition to thwarting menopausal weight gain, exercise, together with a low-calorie and calcium- and Vitamin D-rich diet, also helps offset bone loss which is another effect of menopause.

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5 Ways To Make The Most Out Of Your Kitchen

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:54 +0000

Marie Antoinette did not make meals from expensive appliances and state-of-the-art kitchen tools. You may not know it but your kitchen is already complete; all you will ever need to serve a gastronomic bacchanalia for a healthy lifestyle is right under your nose.

Get back to basics in preparing healthy meals with these tips:

1. Smash your potatoes.

Don’t mash it, or else you would have to invest in mashers, blenders, mixers, or ricers. In fact, you don’t need a potato peeler because you can just boil potatoes, unpeeled. After boiling it, you can start smashing them using no more than your ordinary fork. Drizzle in olive oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper.

Extra tip: use red-skinned potatoes to make this side dish more aesthetically vibrant. If you want a dish with a more buttery taste (sans the butter), then go for the Yukon Gold varieties.

2. Use the heavy cast-iron skillet.

You really don’t need an indoor grill, let alone a ridged stovetop pan, to brown meat. This kind of skillet can grill lean sirloin, for example, using just 3-5 minutes of medium-high heat.

In fact, the meat would just turn out as golden as when you grill it outdoors. Then again, you would need a ridged pan to achieve those highly prized grilled meat marks.

On a nonstick skillet, you can easily grill a cheese sandwich for less of the fat. First, preheat the skillet (greased with a teaspoon of olive oil) for 3 minutes on medium flame. Take some low-fat cheese and slices of tomato, and sandwich them in two slabs of whole wheat bread. Cook the sandwich with a plate covering it. Wait until one side turns brown before doing the other.

With that, you just saved yourself the hassle of buying a Panini grill.

3. Use blender to prepare vegetable soup.

You don’t have to buy cream to concoct a fantastically creamy veggie soup.

To begin, simmer four cups of a vegetable of your choice in two cups of water. Toss in some slices of onion and potato. Sprinkle salt and pepper. When the veggies become softer, throw the mixture, plus one cup of low-fat milk, in a blender to make a smoothie. Heat the smoothie and—voila!—your soup is ready for sipping.

4. Maximize the microwave.

If you want to steam vegetables, just use your microwave oven. It can steam carrots and green beans better than a vegetable steamer. It can even steam chards, collards and broccolis in a single sitting.

These benefits also extend to fish and meat. Chicken breasts steam more uniformly in the microwave than a steamer. Also, if you steam fish fillet in a microwave, you will not need oil. Best of all, the fillet won’t come out all flaky.

If you want more flavor in your chicken or fish, use white wine or lemon juice instead of water. Include thyme, oregano, tarragon and other herbs.

5. Don’t buy a cooker to prepare brown rice.

They say you need a cooker for brown rice. Fact is, you can take advantage of a heavy-bottomed saucepan and you’ll have the same thing.

Just make a makeshift lid for the saucepan using aluminum foil. Wrap the foil tightly around the brim. Then place the actual lid over this.

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Healthy Goodness From 100-Calorie Snacks

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:52 +0000

Waiting for the next meal to come could feel like eternity for the insatiable ones. So you indulge in snacks, big enough to satisfy your raging hunger, small enough for you to finish the next meal.

But for those who desire to lose weight, snacks, or in-between meals, present a roadblock. Today, when supermarkets sell everything in super-sizes, snacks can be titanic detriments to your overall health.

Sometimes, it is less the snack than the size of it. You could be eating one portion when you really are eating four. It doesn’t help too that many consumers choose snacks with empty calories, like junk food.

Of course, you would want snacks with enough calories to sate hunger and nourish your health. You would want 100-calorie snack foods.

100-calorie snacks and how to prepare them

So experts have agreed that you could have your in-between fill, but kept to a minimum, preferably 100 calories or less. It would fill you up, making you just a little less hungry for the next meal. That’s good news for your diet.

Contrive not only to eat 100 calories of your favorite snack, but also choose something with some protein, fiber and carbohydrate. Ideally, your 100-calorie snack must also contain no more than 30 percent fat and little sugar.

To prepare this kind of snack would require not a great deal of counting, weighing and measuring. Get a calorie-counting guide and handy weighing scales. As you get used to your new snack habit, you would become more familiar with how big your snack should look like, and eventually keep the scales.

Without the convenience of scales, and you’re eating outside, make use of your hands and digits. One tablespoon is usually as big as your thumb’s last digit; three ounces of something is usually the size of the palm. An ounce of a lengthy food, e.g. string cheese, represents one forefinger.

Remember that restaurants and fastfoods often serve big portions as single ones. And more often than not, vending machines display snacks worth beyond 100 calories.

Best healthy snacks

There is no debate that fruit remains the perfect snack. Sweet without much sugar, fruits offer no more than 100 calories. Otherwise, here are 13 suggestions for your next 100-calorie snack:

mixed raw vegetables with 1/4 cup zero-fat dressing
5 ounces tossed salad with 1/4 cup zero-fat dressing
lean roast beef, 2 ounces
6 thin wheat crackers with 2 teaspoons peanut butter
2 large graham crackers with 1 teaspoon peanut butter
3 whole wheat crackers with 3 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
10 almonds
10 cashew nuts
low-fat yogurt, 6 ounces
1 small baked potato with 2 tablespoons zero-fat sour cream and 1/2 cup salsa
unbuttered popcorn with herb seasonings, 3 handfuls
3 ounces whole grain noodles with 1/2 ounce cheese and 1 tomato
4 small rice cakes with 2 tablespoons low-fat cottage cheese

Inner cookie monster

Your inner Cookie Monster could be so untamable, but you can indulge it for the most part. It’s okay to gorge on cookies and chips so long as you don’t empty out an entire box in a day.

There are food companies which have carried some of your burden in keeping track of snack calories. They now offer 100-calorie packs of snacks with every pack contains only around 3 grams fat and 7 to 9 grams sugar, and no trans fat.

Some sectors in society were quick to praise these companies for their foresight. Even so, these snacks are not the most nutritious. They are still cookies, which by their nature mean they contain at least two teaspoons of sugar in one pack. Eat them twice a day and do the math.

Nutritionists, on the other hand, have a sticking point about these products’ ingredients. These snacks apparently contain high-fructose corn syrup, believed by some researchers to cause obesity. Experts have noted how high-fructose corn syrup appears to have different properties from glucose. In other words, just imagine what something greater than table sugar could do to your health.

Moreover, expect to cough up more money for your newfound healthy lifestyle. Hundred-calorie snacks can be more expensive than ordinary ones. Also, be prepared to give up some of what you love about the regular products. For instance, 100-calorie packs of Oreo have no white filling.

Then again, this is a way better deal than eating no cookies at all.

If you want to cut out snacking effectively, please check this out!

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Cravings 911 – Recipe Substitutes For A Healthy Lifestyle

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:51 +0000

Gone are the days when eating healthy meant consuming bland meals and fake food. Healthy food has never been tastier than today. With these healthy lifestyle recipes, you’d forget whatever food they stood in for.

So rather than your average fastfood hamburger, why not eat Vegetable Burger:
Squash in veggie burger patties between sesame-seed buns. Include slices of lettuce, tomato and pickle. Top with catsup.
Nutrition info: 5 grams fat, 250 calories

Rather than fastfood pizza, try Pita Pizza
Cut 6” 1/2 pita bread into halves. Top one half with 1/4 cup light mozzarella cheese; 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes; and oregano or basil leaves. Add sprinklings of olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Bake.
Nutrition info: 5 g fat, 180 calories

Rather than fastfood French fries, try Homemade Fries
Preheat the oven to 425° F. Cut a 5-ounce baking potato into wedges, then toss with a teaspoon of oil. Place on a shallow pan to make one layer. Leave in the oven for half an hour or until the sticks turn gold.
Nutrition info: 5 g fat, 145 calories

Rather than gourmet ice cream, try Low-fat Choco Ice Cream
Choose any of these and mix with half a cup of low-fat ice cream:

1 low-fat chocolate bar, chopped
2 low-fat crumbled chocolate wafers
50 small chocolate chips

Nutrition info: 3 g fat, 120 calories

Rather than frosted chocolate layer cake, try Devil-Angel Cake
Halve an ounce of angel cake into two layers. Between the two layers, garnish 1/4 cup reduced-fat chocolate pudding. Mix cocoa powder with 2 tablespoons of whipped cream and spread over the top layer.
Nutrition info: 3 g fat, 165 calories

Rather than apple pie, try Cinnamon Apple Glee
Peel a 6-ounce apple 1/3 of the way. Spread brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg around the peeled surface. Bake in the oven for 3 minutes or until it turns softer.
Nutrition info: less than 1 g fat, 115 calories

Rather than strawberry shortcake, try Angel Strawberry Shortcake
Cut an ounce of angel cake into two thin slices. Top the first slice with two strawberries, sliced. Top this with the other slice of angel cake. Cover with 1/4 cup light whipped topping and sliced strawberry.
Nutrition info: 2 g fat, 125 calories

Rather than deli potato chips, try Homemade Potato Chips
Make 12 thin potato slices and arrange in a circle on oven pan. Sprinkle a dash of salt all over. Put inside oven in high heat. Leave for up to 6 minutes or until golden. (Make sure to turn pan in the middle of cooking.)
Nutrition info: 0 g fat, 15 calories

Rather than fried/breaded onion rings, try Healthy Onion Rings
Preheat oven to 450° F. In the meantime, make a paste by mixing:

a teaspoon of plain bread crumbs
a teaspoon of oil
a teaspoon of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Dunk 10 1/2-inch thick sweet onion rings into the paste. Lay them in one layer on a shallow oven rack. Put in the oven for 11 minutes, making sure to rotate the pan halfway.
Nutrition info: 5 g fat, 110 calories

Rather than salted peanuts, try Salted Oatmeal Squares
Preheat oven to 325° F. Coat two cups of toasted oatmeal squares with egg white. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon of salt or less. On a pan glazed with cooking spray, arrange them in one layer. Bake 20 minutes or until brown. (Make sure to rotate pan halfway through cooking.)
Nutrition info: less than 1 g fat, 60 calories

Rather than buffalo wings, try Buffalo Tenders
Cut seven strips of 5-ounce chicken tenders (breasts). Cook 5 minutes over a teaspoon of melted butter. Add one tablespoon of cayenne pepper sauce. Serve with 1/4 cup zero-fat cheese dressing and celery sticks.
Nutrition info: 10 g fat, 285 calories

Rather than chocolate-dipped ice cream stick, try Iced Banana Sticks
Skewer peeled bananas with ice cream sticks. Roll them over crumbs of a crumbled low-fat chocolate wafer. Leave in the freezer.
Nutrition info: less than 1 g fat, 70 calories

Rather than Chinese fried rice, try Steamed Rice with Vegetables
After cooking one cup of white rice, combine it with one cup of steamed stir-fry vegetables. Pour soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well.
Nutrition info: 3 g fat, 300 calories

Rather than ice cream sandwich, try Ice Cream-Coated Chocolate Wafers
Varnish 2 reduced-fat chocolate wafers with 2 tablespoons of low-fat ice cream. Then roll them over a teaspoon of chocolate sprinkles. Leave in the freezer.
Nutrition info: 2 g fat, 75 calories

Rather than milkshake, try Strawberry Smoothie
Into a blender, pour one cup of zero-fat milk, 4 ice cubes, 6 strawberries, and 1/2 banana. Blend.
Nutrition info: 1 g fat, 165 calories

Rather than steak hero sandwich, have a Portobello Mushroom Sandwich
Varnish one large Portobello mushroom with balsamic vinegar. Arrange it on the oven rack such that it lies on its top side. Heat it at 425° F for 10 minutes. Cut into halves then place on a hero roll.
Nutrition info: 8 g fat, 445 calories

Rather than French cruller, try Faux Cruller
Break two ladyfingers into halves then glaze them with cooking spray (butter flavor), cinnamon and brown sugar.
Nutrition info: less than 1 g fat, 55 calories

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How To Recover From Common Social And Conversation Blunders

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:48 +0000

You know the situation all too well. You just said something before even thinking of it, or just did that one irreversibly obnoxious act. Suddenly you feel like all the world’s spotlights are trained on you. Your face is burning, your fingers fidgeting. The silence around you seems like eternity. But instead of bouncing back, you only become more uncomfortable with each minute.

Even if you have a gift of gab to rival Oprah, you are not impervious to faux pas in social interactions. This world can be such a larger-than-life talk show and, on occasion, you just don’t know how to engage your guests.

Not all of us are enlightened in the ways of social etiquette, and when we miss a step, we become so self-conscious to a fault. Fortunately, no one fully expects you to be perfect anyway.

Learn these resilient moves next time you get in an interpersonal fix. In a roundabout way, you would create for yourself a healthy lifestyle, diverting yourself from needless apprehension.

“I’m—sorry. Really, I’m very sorry to hear that. So, so, sorry…”

You’ve heard that your former officemate’s 10-year old son has passed away. But the time between hearing the news and phoning your officemate seems to stretch on forever. You just don’t know how to stitch your condolences together. Should you say “I’m sorry”? Or should you throw “my condolences” like a seasoned undertaker? Eventually, you bump into him at the local coffee shop. You finally recite your piece, looking tentative as you do so. He graciously accepts the condolences—or did he?

Best move: Tongue-tied much? That’s normal for us non-undertakers; death is simply not an everyday event for us. The grandiosity of death should not really require as profound a message from you. You simply have to own up to the fact that words could do only so much in expressing solidarity with the bereaved. Just say you’re sorry. In fact, you may choose not to say anything at all. At a time when one needs to purge the emotions through talking, you only have to extend a listening ear. Flowery words of sympathy have nothing on this.

“It’s not you. It’s me.”

Rusty is well-mannered, athletic, and not bad-looking. You’ve known him in class for a few weeks now as your chemistry lab partner. He would be quite a good catch—only for others. He’s so not your type, yet he asks you out this Sunday for a date. So you delve into the inevitable “please don’t take this personally…” dialogue. But come Monday morning, you would have to sit next to him for your requisite date with graduated cylinders and beakers.

Best move: Many people have yet to master the skill of saying no because they do not want to hurt each other’s feelings. In 2003, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles found that the part of the brain connected to bodily pain activates when people feel rejected. Imagine how the brain would look like when one’s romantic advances are returned to sender. While you would want to spare someone those emotions, you need to stay true to yourself. So brush off a prospective paramour the nicest way possible; never be disdainful of another’s profession of love. When you do meet again, indulge your anxiety and try to be respectful.

“No, I’m not…”

You’re not the same frumpy Ugly Betty anymore. When you arrive at the 10-year high school reunion, you part crowds, Moses-like. That’s also when a sea of compliments come crashing down on you. “You look ravishing!” “How’d you do it?” “Call me.” Even your meanest bully is at your feet. It really is your moment in the sun, but you could feel your reddening mug is noticeable even from Jupiter.

Best move: When someone else is singing your praises, you always feel like you’re on center stage. Such attention can be too much, especially for people with low self-esteem. Compliments today can also pressure you to make yourself superior again tomorrow. However, you are not compelled to one-up yourself next time. All you have to do is say “thank you” and savor the glory. Do not be too self-conscious of your anxiety, lest you want to appear rude. If you don’t believe the compliments, opt to receive them as they are.

“I can do it myself.”

It’s your daughter’s 18^th birthday party and you are absolutely swamped with chores. You would hope your husband would pitch in for the preparations, but he phones you time and again to prepare platters of vegetarian dishes for his gym pals. You cannot do it all by yourself, but you agree anyway.

Best move: For many people, asking for help is a sign of dependence and incompetence. But showcasing an image of inadequacy is worth the price in achieving your goals. Once in a while, let go of your desire for expertise. Concentrate on your goals instead. Besides, people would cherish it when you ask for their help. It makes them feel valued.

“Hey, look at that bird.”

Queuing up to withdraw from the ATM, you fall next to the husband of your former officemate. You instantly find a common denominator, talking about the company that made his wife’s (and your) life a living hell. The conversation goes along pretty well, until you run short of things to say. A period of silence follows. It’s still light years away from the machine. Must you talk about…that bird on the post?

Best move: Enjoy the moment. Contrive to make a purpose out of any conversation by focusing on topics that interest you. Simultaneously, try to be interested in your partner in gab. This way, you look interested in the conversation, without sounding too self-conscious or self-centered.

“…”

Since you were hired last month, you have been getting along well with your supervisor—until today. Of all people, you happen to stand there as she storms out of a possibly inauspicious meeting with the CEO. She hurls diatribes at you in the corridor, screeching about your lackluster performance and your overall mediocrity. You are frozen on the spot.

Best move: You do not want to be at the receiving end of your colleague’s caustic outbursts. But avoid an impulsive reaction at all costs. Take time to breathe deeply and assess the situation. As much as possible, do not consider it as an impersonal attack.

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5 Steps To A Healthier Lifestyle

TrueLife — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:03:47 +0000

Want To Get Healthy?

Many people are interested in getting healthier, which is a commendable goal for anyone to have. If you have wanted to start living a healthier lifestyle, but you don’t know where to start, try not to be overwhelmed. It’s really much easier than people believe. All it takes is a decision to start living more consciously overall, and a refusal to participate in those activities that are known to be destructive. Chances are you already know which activities you would be better off without, but sometimes people need to be reminded. If you want to start living a healthier lifestyle, simply follow the five steps below to get yourself on the right track.

1. Get rid of the junk food.

Most people are not aware of how damaging junk food is to their overall health and well-being. The fact is that junk food is packed so full of sodium and preservatives that there is almost no possible way that it can be something positive for your life. The basic rule for food is, if you canít pronounce more than half of the ingredients, you most likely can live without that particular food. When you scrap junk food and replace it with fresh fruits and veggies, you will feel better and you will probably drop a few pounds as well.

2. Start an exercise regimen.

When you move your body, studies show that your mood increases. Therefore, how could you not be exercising? Lack of exercise is the cause of many ailments including heart disease and obesity. If you want to start getting healthier, try getting 30 minutes of exercise every day. This does not have to be difficult exercise. It can be as simple as taking a walk for a couple minutes before and after work. Find time in your day to exercise and you will start to have more energy and feel better.

3. Drop the weight.

Do whatever you can to drop extra weight that you are carrying. The risks of heart disease and diabetes go up significantly the longer you are obese or overweight. Therefore, one of the best things you can do for your body and yourself is to drop weight. Talk to your doctor and get yourself on a plan to drop your extra pounds in a safe and controlled way. Often, this will simply mean altering your diet and getting more exercise, as mentioned above.

4. Participate in group events.

Walks, runs and bikes that support causes are not only good for that cause, but they are also good for those people who are participating. Find a group of friends that you can attend these events with so that you have a support system. That way, you will be exercising, but enjoying every minute of it.

5. Start taking vitamin supplements.

Supplement your diet with essential vitamins and minerals to give yourself that extra boost you need in order to feel better on a daily basis.

Written by Elise Degrass. Elise writes about Massage Therapy for MassageTherapy.net

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How To Lose Weight In The Face

TrueLife — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:59:02 +0000

For all your efforts slimming down, your face fats are some of the most stubborn to burn. At times, chubby cheeks can spoil even the world’s most svelte body. In the same way, people are wont to notice weight loss in the face before anywhere else.

Bad news: you could not spot-reduce fats in the face any more you could those in your thighs, hips and gluts.

Good news: shedding a few pounds already goes a long way in your quest to lose a fat face.

More than just a frivolous cosmetic jaunt, losing weight in the face not only has stakes in your social reputation but also your healthy lifestyle. Outlined here are five ways to help you even out your mug’s bulges:

1. Lose 500 calories every day.

A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. So doing the math, you would need to reduce 500 calories every day to lose a pound each week.

Every day, burn 250 calories by exercising, and slash another 250 by dieting. If you faithfully stick to this weight loss plan, you would eventually get a big payback on your face, as well as your waistline.

It’s not difficult to chuck 250 calories from your diet. It can be as easy as swearing off snacks high in calories. But don’t crash diet, lest you want to decrease your metabolism.

To burn 250 calories in one day, you only need to perform an aerobic exercise, e.g. brisk walking or jogging, for 30 minutes.

2. Don’t forget weight training.

Your physical activity shouldn’t stop with aerobic or cardiovascular exercises though. You must undergo strength training to bring out those lean muscles, which are veritable incinerators for calories.

These tissues burn calories even when you’re sleeping. In fact, your metabolism is commensurate to how much lean muscle tissues you have in your body.

Lift weights, use exercise machines, or just take advantage of your body’s heaviness to strength-train. As your muscles grow, your mug would wax thinner. The skin on your face would also radiate vigor and youth.

3. Drink lots of water.

Water accounts for as much as five pounds of your weight gain. Eliminate this by imbibing at least nine glasses or 72 ounces of water a day.

You may ask why drink water when it adds to your weight. Simple: when your body is parched, it goes into DEFCON mode, thinking it must scrimp on releasing any moisture from the body. Bloating becomes a foregone conclusion then.

Be creative with drinking H20. You can get water from plenty of sources other than the tap, like sparkling lime water.

Of course, you can also get your water supply from fruits and vegetables. They offer glorious founts of H20. Furthermore, they are rich in fiber to make you just a little less hungry for food high in calories. Any sugar you get from them is negligible.

While coffee, tea, soda and juice may be great provenances of water, they are loaded with calories, defeating your purpose. In this view, avoid alcohol in all its incarnations because they dehydrate the body, compounding facial puffiness.

4. Increase your intake of calcium.

Several researches have vindicated calcium’s role in helping you lose face weight. Take at least 1,200 mg of calcium to better shed fats in your body. All the more if you’re female: you’d suffer from less PMS symptoms like bloating.

Calcium is ubiquitous in dairy products, from milk to cheese to yogurt to ice cream. Don’t refrain from fatty products altogether, for a little fat can sate an insatiable appetite.

5. Cut back on salt.

Sodium can make you bloat in the face, so keep your distance from processed foods, to say nothing of the salt shaker. Consume Chinese dishes sparingly, because they usually contain lots of soy sauce and other sodium-rich ingredients. Avoid for the same reason pretzels, chips and most canned soups.

Tip: strain canned tuna and other goods to drain away most of the sodium.

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