26 Foods to Avoid if you want to lose belly fat

Some foods are good for you health. Some foods are good for your waistline. The following is a list of foods that are neither.
These foods either contain trans fats, are high in animal saturated fats, are highly processed, are highly refined or are full of sugar.

* Anything that has been deep fired (yes, this includes Mars Bars!)
* Margarine (Can you name the ingredients in maragrine?)
* Non lean cuts of meat (Pork, Porterhouse)
* Lollies (Sugar in different shapes is still sugar)
* Chocolate (Some 70% or higher cocoa is OK)
* Cookies, Cakes and biscuits (Danger. All calories, no fibre, no nutirents)
* Soft Drink and Cordial (Liquid sugar goes straight to the waistline)
* Pies (Fatty pastry with fatty ‘meat’ = Bad News)
* Donuts (You know they’re bad)
* Croissants (Just because they are European doesn’t make them healthy!)
* Alfredo Sauces (Cream, butter and some flavour. Generally added to pasta for a double kick)
* Potato and Corn Chips (Refined, fried with added salt. Not even closed to a healthy choice)
* Hot Dogs (What’s really in a hot dog? Who knows, but it’s not pretty)
* Take Away Burgers (Cheap, fatty and nasty ‘meat’, normally with added cheese and bacon!)
* Pretend Peanut Butter (Anything but the natural type)
* Flavoured Full Fat Milk (Too much sugar, especially when combined with th fat content)
* Processed Lunch Meats (Pretend Ham, chicken, turkey)
* Salami (See hot dog.)
* Sausages (They’re cheap for a reason)

Do what you can to avoid these foods. There are so many great tasting, healthy options out there that don’t really take any more work to make. Over time the less you eat from this list the healthier and leaner you will be.

Five Tips for Healthier Eating at Restaurants

Eating out can be a large part of people’s lives. Today’s lifestyle of entertaining clients, social gatherings and traveling means that you will have some huge barriers to overcome to maintain your healthy, lean body lifestyle when eating out.

To make life easier for you I have put together a list of some easy-to-implement tips to keep your diet on track even when you aren’t in charge of the food preparation.

1. Keep the liquid calories to zero. This means no soda (soft drinks), juices or alcohol. For maximum benefit stick to water and green tea.
2. Minimise starchy carbs. Go for salads instead of potatoes, rice or potatoes.
3. Avoid the fry up! Anything deep fried is going to be full of unhealthy fats and calories that will take forever to burn off back in the gym.
4. Say no to desert. Whist there are some balanced, nutritious deserts available, 99% of the time you will have to make them yourself. At the restaurant  they will be full of sugar and saturated fats which won’t help your waistline.
5. Be smart with portion control. Eating out doesn’t always have to be about getting the best value for money! Getting the all you can eat buffet will cost you more time and effort in the long run. Be sensible and don’t be afraid to leave some food on the plate.

So putting this all into practice means that you will be having a moderate sized (lean protein/meat based) main accompanied by a glass or two of water. Always try to get the inevitable side of fries changed over for a serve of salad or vegetables. You want to skip the free bread, garlic bread or herb bread whilst  you are waiting for your meal. This is a surefire way to add processed calories to your diet and inches to your waistline.

If we have a look at the improvements you have made with meal selection, you will see how much of a positive impact it will have on your body.

Option A – The regular menu

• Garlic Bread
• Burger or pasta dish
• Chips / Fries
• Soft Drink (soda), beer or other sugary / alcoholic drink.

If you care about your health and your body, a much smarter alternative would be:

• Lean meat or chicken dish
• Salad or vegetables, or both
• Water and green tea.

These small changes will result in a saving of between 400 and 800 calories every time you eat out. Even more if you tend to have more drinks or upsize all the options. You will also be eliminating almost all of the bad fats and processed carbs along the way.

It doesn’t have to be hard, and you don’t have to go without. Just a few small changes applied frequently will make a massive difference in the long run.

What tips or strategies do you use? Share with us by leaving a comment below.

Bikie War – The Real Killer

While the police are out there doing their thing, Sherlock Holmes style, hitting the streets in search of clues, I have been working in the background to find the real killer in the latest round of bikie wars.

Who can this killer be? Well the answer isn’t who but what. The danger lies circulating around in your very own blood stream. The answer? High Cholesterol.

According to stats from the Department of Health and Ageing, about half the Australian population have high cholesterol. Put simply, there is a one in two chance that you are putting yourself at risk of heart disease.

Now if you are over 45, overweight or obese, have a family history of heart disease, high blood pressure (sounds like the stereo typical ‘motorcycle enthusiast’ to me) then you need to get your blood tested (by a doctor!)

If that test comes back with a high reading (say, over 5.5mmol/L total) then you need to be looking at changing that ‘life in the fast lane’ lifestyle.

Start by reducing your intake of trans and saturated fats. These are generally found in full fat dairy, fatty meats, fried foods, biscuits, pastries and butter. By reducing the intake of these fats you can have a significant reduction in your total cholesterol levels. To take action on this, choose low fat or no fat dairy, lean meats and try to decrease or avoid the fry ups, biscuits and pastries.

Instead of this being a one way, stop eating this, street you want to add some goodness into the diet. The best way to do this is to add some polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats back into the diet. Foods such as extra virgin olive oils, mixed nuts (walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, cashews), avocado. By replacing the bad fats with good fats you will also improve your ratio of LDL (bad cholesterol) to HDL (good cholesterol).

Make sure you are also getting in plenty of soluble fibre as well. Try to get most of this from your non starchy vegetables, beans and pulses. A serving of rolled oats for breakfast will also give you a a hit of beta-glucan which has been shown in studies to reduce cholesterol.

It has been said many times that prevention is better than a cure, but if you are already in the killers sight then your options are limited. Follow the steps above, stay healthy and keep your name out of the paper!