Hibe Media Health Blog » Diet Tips

Include More Fibre In Your Diet

Hibe Media Team — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:32:17 +0000

Including more fibre in your diet is a great way to crowd out less helpful foods that inhibit weight loss. The ideal recommended daily intake is 35 grams and it’s easy to include this amount by including whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, lentils and beans on a daily basis.

There are two types of fibre:

1. Soluble fibre helps slow down the absorption of carbohydrates and keeps blood sugar levels balanced. You’ll find soluble fibre in oats, legumes (peas, kidney beans, lentils), some seeds, brown rice, barley, oats, fruits (such as apples), some green vegetables, eg, broccoli and potatoes.

2. Insoluble fibre increases the rate at which food passes through the intestine and it helps to remove toxic substances from the body. It has a dense structure and absorbs water which means that you’ll feel full faster. Foods high in insoluble fibre include whole wheat breads, wheat cereals, wheat bran, rye, rice, barley, most other grains, cabbage, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, turnips, cauliflower and apple skin.

Do Your Beliefs Prevent You From Losing Weight?

Hibe Media Team — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:21:00 +0000

Making healthy choices and becoming more active are important when starting a weight loss program and trying to improve your health and fitness. However, your beliefs are just as important because this is what actually determines what actions you are going to take. If you are trying to lose weight, it will be helpful for you to examine the beliefs that may have made it difficult for you lose weight. The following four factors are commonly held beliefs that many people have. Take a moment to think about what you feel has contributed to your current weight and fitness challenges.
Genetics- Do you feel you have inherited your weight problems from your genes? Do you have overweight family members and feel you might be doomed to the same fate? Has this belief caused you to give up or have feelings of helplessness when it comes to your weight?

Environment – Do you feel your challenges are caused by your lifestyle or environment such as working hours, family priorities or frequent exposure to unhealthy food choices? Do you feel that your hectic lifestyle prevents you from making healthy food choices or finding time to exercise? Has this belief caused you to feel like you have no control over your environment and the challenges it presents?

Knowledge – Do you feel you just don’t have the right information and are unsure of what you should be doing to lose weight? The magazines say one thing, the television tells you another and you just don’t know what to do? Do you feel so confused about what a healthy diet is and how to achieve an active lifestyle that you it prevents you from reaching your goals?

Motivation – Do you have trouble getting motivated to reach your weight loss goals? Have certain past actions and experiences affected your motivation? For example, feeling pessimistic about your ability to lose weight because of past failed attempts? Do you have defeated thoughts that your situation will never change and you will always struggle with your weight?

The good news is that besides your genes, you have total control over changing your beliefs and taking action to achieve your weight loss goals. Changing your beliefs allows you to change your behavior to address your weight and fitness and challenges. You cannot control what natural traits you were born with but you can control what you eat and the activity you do. If you can start to believe in your ability to change the things that are clearly within your control, you can succeed in managing your weight and improving your fitness level. Make a commitment today, believe in yourself and you will get there!

Increase Your Metabolism with the Negative Calorie Diet

Hibe Media Team — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:25:00 +0000

Many people are surprised to learn that they can lose weight simply by eating certain types of foods. How is this possible, you ask? Everyone knows that if you burn more calories then you take in you will burn excess body fat. The problem is most people go about this the wrong way by cutting to many calories only to find out that their metabolism begins to slow down because of the lack of caloric energy.
One of the best ways to increase your metabolism is by eating a negative calorie diet that consists of healthy foods. Look at it this way, the more nutritious the food you eat the better off your body will be. Kind of like your mom used to tell you when you tried to hide those peas in your napkin.

The Negative Calorie Diet works because it uses your body’s metabolism to burn all that excess body fat you’ve been trying to get rid of. If you understand how the body digests and processes food and the types of calories those foods provide you’ll begin to see why this type of diet works so well.

Everyday your body needs a certain number of calories to function all the way down to the cellular level. If you don’t get enough calories during the day your metabolism will actually begin to slow down as your body begins to conserve the energy it needs to function properly. If you have enough of a calorie deficit your body will begin to hold onto its fat stores as it cannibalizes its own muscle tissue to supply the energy it needs. This is the worst thing that can happen if you are trying to lose weight.

So what is a negative calorie food and how does it work?

It’s not a food that has a negative amount of calories because all foods have calories; there is just no way around that fact. What is known is that thee are many foods that actually cause a caloric deficit because of the amount of energy it takes to the body to digest and process these foods. It takes more energy to digest a nutrient rich food then food itself contains.

Here’s a simplistic snapshot of how this works. Let’s say you eat a piece of chocolate cake that comes in around 300 calories. Your body uses up 125 calories digesting that piece of cake leaving 175 calories that for the most part is stored as fat. Now let’s see what happen when you eat an apple that has 35 calories. If it takes your body 70 calories to digest that apple you’ve just burned an extra 35 calories simply by eating.

By increasing your metabolism you burn extra calories which results in a loss of bodily fat. One way to bring about that metabolism boost is by eating a negative calorie diet consisting of healthy food choices and by making the necessary lifestyle changes needed to live a long and healthy life.