Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Seven Super Diet Trends

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Anyone anxious to lose weight will be excited about these seven super diet trends. Each one is safe, practical, and if you are willing to follow them, you will lose weight. A well-balanced diet is always the best choice, but be careful of added ingredients that can add more calories than you are burning off daily. Never sacrifice your health in order to lose a few pounds.

1. The Clean Eating Diet focuses on eating clean with no added sugars, salts or chemicals. This diet may be difficult for some to adhere to. Transition slowly, eating less salt, sugar and processed foods. The diet abstains from processed foods and encourages lots of vegetables, fruits, water, and lean meats.

2. Dash Diet is a very good diet that focuses on healthy foods, particularly, heart-healthy foods. It’s a plant-focused diet—rich in fruits and vegetables, nuts, low-fat and non-fat dairy, lean meats, fish and poultry. Developed as a diet to help lower blood pressure, it’s also a diet that will help you lose weight.

3. Fitness4Her Diet the no-calorie counting diet that will help you love healthy food in a whole new way. You get to indulge in 5 meals per day. Smaller portions are the key to losing weight, but you’re never hungry because your next meal is only a couple of hours away. Based on the Fitness4Her principles of healthy eating, this diet encourages lots of vegetables and fruits, lean meats, and low fat and non-fat dairy. It discourages alcohol, caffeine, added sugars and salts. Processed foods are replaced with fresh, nutritious foods. This diet plan comes in 3 parts, diet, exercise and journaling. Keeping a fitness journal instills accountability and is more likely to help you succeed than dieting and exercise alone.

4. Flexitarian Diet for vegetarians who eat meat occasionally, the Flexitarian adds flexibility to your diet. It claims to be healthier for you than a strictly vegetarian diet because eating small amounts of meat will supply the protein needed for a more nutritionally-balanced diet.

5. Mediterranean Diet is popular for those who enjoy healthy, flavorful food. Emphasis is given to replacing fats like butter with healthy olive oil. A diet that consists mostly of vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains with smaller portions of lean meats and very little red meat. Replacing table salt with fresh herbs and spices to season your food.

6. New Nordic Diet isn’t really new, but it is a diet that offers a wide variety of foods. It’s based on whole foods that are filling and keep you satisfied from meal to meal. The diet includes foods that are rich in fiber and protein and while the Mediterranean diet is based on olive oil, the New Nordic diet is built around heart-healthy canola oil. Limited salt and sugar is key to this diet that has been proven to improve cardiovascular health.

7. Weight Watchers Diet is one of the oldest and most successful diets, and offers wonderful support. Working with a nutrition-point system, rather than calorie counting, it gives members a sensible and healthful eating plan with a variety of recipes that can be made at home and pre-portioned foods that can be purchased.

Every year there are a dozens of claims from celebrities and spokespeople, exclaiming the success they have had with the latest diet that is trending. It’s sometimes difficult to know what to believe. Some diets are extreme and should be avoided. Be sure that the diet you choose includes the proper nutrition you need for a healthy body.

Portable Protein, One Handed Healthy Snacks

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Protein snacks are excellent for staving off hunger and keeping the body satiated for a couple of hours. Every meal should include some type of protein, but it isn’t always convenient to eat a burger or a piece of chicken. Sometimes, especially when you are on the go, when you need a portable protein snack. You need a healthy snack that will satisfy your appetite until your next meal.

Protein is an essential element of every cell in the body. Your hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. You also use protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. An important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood, protein is a powerful nutrient that is necessary for a healthy body.

Along with fat and carbohydrates, protein is a “macronutrient,” meaning that the body needs relatively large amounts of it. Vitamins and minerals, which are needed in only small quantities, are called “micronutrients.” But unlike fat and carbohydrates, the body does not store protein, and therefore has no reservoir to draw on when it needs a new supply. This is why it is important to eat protein at every meal.

1. Beef or Turkey Jerky—Choose low sodium varieties, or make your own from turkey or beef. These dried pieces of meat are easy to eat, especially when you are on the run.

2. Nuts—A natural choice, nuts are high in protein. Be sure to choose unsalted nuts in a variety of types. Almonds, walnuts, pine nuts and soy nuts are great choices.

3. Cheese—Prepackaged brands are convenient to eat and easy to take along. Choose low fat varieties like Babybel or string cheese.

4. Protein Bars—Take them anywhere, these delicious bars taste just like candy. Full of protein, they’re a healthy in-between meal snack.

5. Peanut Butter Sandwich—Peanut butter is high in protein and delicious. Spread it on a piece of bread for a portable sandwich you can take with you. A small jar and a spoon is all you need for an emergency snack to keep in stock.

6. Boiled Eggs—Place in a bag, but don’t hold them out of refrigeration for too long. Eggs are best eaten within a couple of hours of preparation. A wonderful source of protein, a couple of boiled eggs will quiet a noisy stomach.

7. Protein Shake—Portable and good for you too. Keep it chilled until you are ready to head out the door.

8. Edamame Beans—Take them out of the freezer, thaw and eat. I like to carry these with me to eat as a snack or light lunch. Deliciously good with little mess.

9. Milk or Chocolate Milk—Milk is a great source of protein and calcium. Grab a small container at the convenience store when you are stopping in for gas. Milk will keep you satisfied until your next meal.

10. Spicy Roasted Chickpeas—Crunchy and spicy! Make them ahead and store them in a resealable plastic bag. They’ll stay crispy for a few days.

The Secret Tool For A Beautiful Body

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Athletes everywhere know the secret to keeping track of their diet and fitness level is by keeping a journal. Eating right and exercising are main components to staying in shape, but if you really want to see your performance soar, then start keeping track of your efforts by beginning a fitness journal. It’s easy, inexpensive, and can be lots of fun.

From everything you eat and drink to all of the physical activities that you engage in, a fitness journal will bring you closer to your goals. It’s a really low-cost method that almost always guarantees success. The only reason a woman doesn’t succeed when keeping a fitness journal is because she gives up before reaching her goal.

Fitness journals are successful because they keep you accountable and encourage honesty about the foods you eat and how much exercise you are really doing. All too often, we make estimates of our daily intake and even about the difficulty level of our workouts. The success of your journal demands honesty from you in order to give you the results you desire.

Keeping a fitness journal makes it easy to remember the exercises you have been doing and how far you have progressed from one workout session to the next. Writing down the exercise and visualizing the execution are all part of the mind, body and spirit connection. The journal will help you to remember every exercise and make it easy to keep track of how many repetitions work best for you.

Starting a new workout usually involves learning new exercises and developing new skills. Keeping a fitness journal allows you to take a few minutes to process what you have learned, repeat the concepts to yourself, and train your brain to put it into action. From one workout to the next, it can be difficult to remember which kettlebell you used or how much weight you lifted on your previous workout. You can also keep track of how much time you spend at different fitness levels, from a slow pace to a fast pace to a full aerobic workout.

Every successful diet and fitness program depends on accountability. Get a jump-start on your weight loss goals and start living a healthier, happier life. Journaling is the secret tool for all those women who desire a beautiful body, so begin your journaling journey today.

Arise and Shine

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Just because it’s no longer summertime doesn’t mean you need to sleep the day away. Early morning is one of the best times for affirmations. The quiet solitude of an early summer morning helps me to reflect on my many incredible blessings. With my household still asleep, I retreat to my place of meditation and allow myself this wonderful indulgence.
I repeat my affirmations daily, not the same ones, mind you. I have many. These beautiful words of hope are more like declarations of facts that I know to be true.

For me, saying my affirmations helps me to begin my day on a completely positive, self -directive path. Afterwards, my mind is clearer, my stress levels are reduced and I feel completely rejuvenated and refreshed. My affirmations help me to deal with life’s day-to-day challenges.

Affirmations in the morning are a lot like breakfast. Starting the day with these powerful words gives me guidance and instills a sense of confidence that sustains me for the day. Just as my body relies upon the food I eat for energy, my spirit draws upon the power of these affirmations to help me face the challenges of the day.

Arise each morning and be thankful for another day. You have an entire day to devote to all that you deem important. Whether that includes working outside the home or taking care of the household, how you spend your day can include a little time devoted just to you. In addition to your affirmations, you will want to set aside at least 30 minutes each and every day for exercise. You can take a day off each week to rest, just as long as you exercise at the very least, for 30 minutes on the other 6 days of the week.

Remember that affirmations should always be positive and without hesitation. Constant reminders of the goals that you want to achieve, your affirmations must be recited as a declaration of what you are doing and plan to do in the future. For instance, instead of saying, “I will get slimmer” use the words, “I am getting slimmer.” In the second affirmation the words “I am” indicate the action is already taking place, rather than a mere hope of something happening by chance.

It may take a little practice in the beginning but give affirmations a try. When I first started I couldn’t think of much to say, now I have so many it’s easy to say different ones each day.

Rice Cake Heaven

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My favorite snack, it can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. I sometime use the apple butter or peanut butter as a dip for the veggies and eat the rice cake on the side. Another choice dip the veggies in the butter, crumble the rice cake and roll butter covered veggies through the crumbled rice cake, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. However you choose to have this snack, I promise you it will be a tasty and nutritious pick me up.

1 rice cake
Your favorite apple butter or peanut butter
1/2 tsp pumpkin seeds
Carrots
Celery

Directions:

1. Cover one side of rice cake with apple butter or peanut butter.
2. Use remaining spread and spoon into celery hunks.
3. Dip carrot sticks into spread or shred carrots and sprinkle on top of rice cake.
4. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.

Health Benefits:
Low in saturated fat, low in sodium, low in calories, low in cholesterol, each of the ingredients provides a healthy amount of daily required nutrients. Protein, antioxidants, vitamins and fiber, this versatile snack covers all the food groups.