Archive for December, 2011

What is Gluten, Why Avoid Gluten in Food

What is gluten? Gluten is a type of protein found in rye, wheat and barley. Not only is it in most cereals and breads, but gluten is added to many processed food to provide stability, chewiness and protein. Several types of grains are naturally without gluten, for instance wild rice, corn, buckwheat, millet, oats, soybeans and sunflower seeds.

For some, eating food that contains gluten can cause damage to the villi in their small intestine. The health condition is classified as an autoimmune disorder, known as Celiac disease or gluten intolerance. This food intolerance commonly causes abdominal pain and diarrhea when gluten is consumed. However, a little gluten may cause no symptoms, yet damage is still being done. Therefore, gluten in food must be strictly avoided for those with this health condition.

Fortunately, there are unprocessed foods that are naturally free of gluten, specifically:

  • fish
  • nuts
  • fruits
  • eggs
  • meat
  • seeds
  • beans
  • poultry
  • vegetables

Anytime a food is processed the risk for gluten being included goes up. One way to avoid food with gluten is to consume nature produced whole foods from the above list.

Other digestion related suffers report improvement in their symptoms after consuming a diet that’s gluten free. The fact that gluten plays any role in other digestive disease process is unproven and controversial for now.

Healthy and Easy Weight Loss Diet to Lose Weight Quick

Do you want to lose weight quick and easy? Starvation is probably the quickest way, but not the healthiest nor easiest. Why? Because not eating, or fasting, causes a nutrient deficit and difficult to control hunger or cravings.

Fortunately, there is dietary alternative that is much healthier and easier. And should you follow it, some adipose tissue will start to melt away almost immediately.

But before reading on regarding what to eat, ask yourself if you are mentally focused on the task of losing weight. And failure must not be an option. Because if you are not 100% committed to making the required adjustments in what you eat, your attempt to follow this diet will likely be futile.

Keep in mind that another round of yo-yo only continues to weaken your overall resolve to become as healthy as possible someday. And until you reach the point of feeling physically better because of your weight loss, you must rely on mental discipline to carry you through. How do I know this? I’ve personally been a “weight loss diet” quitter many times.

But I’m not anymore thanks to this very basic diet. I continue to follow it today and happily struggle to keep some weight on. Besides losing weight quick and easy, this healthy diet has caused me to feel incredibly well generally. Why not discover this for yourself? Enough said.

Here’s what you need to do. Go to the produce section of your nearest store and buy a quantity of all the fruits and vegetables you enjoy eating, with the exception of potatoes and other tubers. Purchasing from a warehouse store, like Costco or Sam’s club, can be a cost saving option. To be successful, you must have an ample supply of a variety of produce on hand.

During the first couple of weeks on this diet, graze freely on your stock from the time you wake up until you go to sleep. Certain vegetables you may only enjoy cooked. Then eat them cooked, adding just a touch of salt or some other flavoring is OK.

Then in a couple of weeks, add nuts and lean meat to your grocery list. With these additional items, your grazing on them needs to be limited. However, continue eating your fruits and vegetables in unlimited quantity.

Now step on the scale, if you haven’t already, to be pleasantly delighted how quick and easy you’ve lost weight. Keep on eating this way until you reach your weight loss goal. Then to avoid losing too much weight, you may need to introduce a small amount of additional calories into your diet. For instance, I frequently eat potato chips because they add calories, replace salt lost during exercise and bulk for bowel movements.

And allow yourself an occasional break (like once a week) to dine with others in your culture’s customary manner.  No big guilt trip so long as you pick up your diet grazing activity the next morning. In time, you may not enjoy eating the foods you once did.

Eating this way may not be easy initially, but the weight loss is guaranteed and a quick reward for motivation.

Stop Food Cravings, Constant Craving for Sweets

Do you often have a strong desire to eat a particular food? This constant want is known as food cravings, for which sweets is a category high on many craving’s list. Unfortunately, many find their aim to withdraw from the consumption of this craving frequently ends with a relapse. The information in this diet blurb may help you stop your unhealthy habit and replace it with good eats.

Rather than thinking of your food craving as a negative desire, instead consider how this intense feeling can benefit you. When the body is malnourished, a craving to eat food containing the nutrients that are in short supply can provide the nourishment necessary to bring the body back into balance, or homeostasis. So, cravings can be health promoting and envisioned as a survival mechanism.

Picture this. Remember standing around in the kitchen or sitting in a restaurant saying to yourself I have a craving, but I don’t know what I want. It’s like your body is sending out a fuzzy message. Then you may find yourself opening cupboards and the refrigerator, laying your eyes on all your food choices in an attempt to initiate a gut response. Or peruse the menu over and over. And you get nothing by way of feedback.

In your befuddled state, you may go ahead and opt for that one food you know will make you feel in control. Sweets! Why? Because you expect to quell your cravings with glucose, which raises the amount of dopamine produced by your brain. Mentally you’re probably a little happier, yet physically you remain deficient.

Here’s a proposal that might stop the constant craving generated confusion causing you to revert back to sweets. Consume only the foods your body needs to function properly and stop eating all that nutrient empty junk! Yes, it is that simple. When your body is satisfied with what you feed it, natural survival cravings subside. In turn, you’ll feel better and move more. Thus, dopamine can be generated in another way, like anticipating fun filled activities.

The ideal diet to help stop constant food cravings is a nutrient dense one. Highest on this list of foods are fruits, vegetables and nuts. Nothing boring about it because food is not intended to be a source of entertainment. It’s only natural function is to keep you alive. In other words, quit looking for fun in all the wrong places.

Use your cravings as a signal that you need to go straight with your diet. Denial leads to an unhealthy state of being. And no amount of sugar will ever right this wrong.

Amazingly, your once craving for sweets will miraculously be replaced with “better for you” food stuff, for instance a juicy apple or grape. What it takes for this to happen is time on an improved diet. How long? Give yourself the rest of your life so you won’t be disappointed. Now you can focus on other things rather than what you crave to eat.

Information is based on personal experience of a recovered chocoholic.

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