Protein is a very necessary part of your diet but it shouldn’t make up a huge portion. We need essential amino acids it produces to repair our bodies, and it also figures in metabolic reactions. It helps us to keep alert. It is found in a wide range of products from meat to dairy products.

What should you do? Here are some ways you can benefit eating the right amount of protein at the right time of the day.

1. Start your day with a high fiber breakfast with a little bit of protein.

Your energy stores have been depleted overnight so you may be tempted to fill up on carbohydrates. Eating a lot of fiber will kick start your digestion system and help to release energy and relieve constipation which often times can cause stomach bloating.

2. The amount of protein you eat per day should be spread across all of your meals and not just concentrated in one.

Most people eat their protein allowance in the evening. As it provides essential amino acids which the brain needs to function properly, you would feel more alert and capable if you were to eat your protein allowance at the start of the day. Adding protein to every meal will help your food to release energy slowly. Eating little and often also helps to increase your metabolism rate which helps you to lose pounds faster.

3. Include high quality protein in your diet.

Buy high quality meat and remove all of the visible fat. Eat plenty of fresh fish, low fat dairy products such as skimmed milk and cottage cheese. Beans are high protein, low in fat and high in fiber. They will help make you feel fuller for longer. But they can cause unpleasant side effects in some people so you may want to gradually increase your intake. Eating more legumes may be the secret to achieving longer life. They have been proven to help fight disease particularly breast cancer.

4. When you start to follow a low carb diet, avoid drinking caffeine.

You probably know that too much coffee is bad for you but do you know that it can make you fat? Studies show that caffeine affects insulin production and we need to keep our insulin levels low to inhibit fat production. So cutting out your regular coffee will not only save you money but it will also help you to keep insulin levels low.

If you answered yes, to any of the above questions, you should read on to learn how arthritis diets and weight loss; can help bring relief to your aching body.

This article is not intended as medical advice, nor should it be taken as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. As always with a physical illness you should consult with your personal physician right away. Now back to your information.

Arthritis diets have an ultimate aim of assisting your body in the management of this degenerative disease. Your doctor will advise you, early in the diagnosis period of arthritis, about which foods should be avoided and which should be increased in the diet.

You, as an arthritis sufferer, should be prepared to plan your meals regularly, but allow some sort of flexibility when dining out. Keeping in mind that swaying from the diet at times is ok, as long as it doesn’t happen too often. This way you will be able to enjoy a normal life without too many restrictions as far as your food intake is concerned.

Some foods that are known to assist with arthritis symptoms include:

•    Dairy foods for calcium – This includes yogurt and milk and not so much chocolate and ice cream. Yogurt is also good for general digestive health.

•    Fruits and vegetables – These are recommended for everyone regardless of whether you have arthritis, are overweight or not. But they can also assist you as they                   provide healthy energy, weight loss and strong bones and muscles.

•    Starchy foods – It has been noted that some starchy foods like potatoes may assist with arthritis symptoms

In addition to the above diet tips, consider other changes to your lifestyle to assist in coping with arthritis.

This includes losing weight (if you are overweight). Even the loss of a few pounds can help relieve pressure on your joints and other bones. Prior to undertaking a major weight loss, be sure and consult with your doctor.

While you’re checking with your health professional, you should ask them about increasing your calcium intake with supplements. Your obvious benefit will be stronger bones and joints. Furthermore, because you will be feeling better, have more energy and strength; you will become more active.

As an arthritis sufferer and possibly overweight you can also get some relief and lose weight while doing light resistance weight training. Tests have shown that resistance weight training is good for the overall health of the body. Don’t worry! This doesn’t mean it has to be expensive or difficult.

You as an arthritis sufferer, must educate yourself as to what‘s right for you. You know your body and your own mind. You know what you can do and not do. Therefore, you’re the one, which can make the life changing decisions, such as weight loss and a healthy diet, necessary to ease the daily pain in your joints and bones.

Some of the things you have learned in this article will help make your life a little more comfortable. By eating the right foods, not only will you reduce your pain and suffering, you stand a good chance of losing those extra pounds, if you need to. Arthritis diets need not be restrictive. They are simply designed to help people cope with a disease that can so often become much worse if an ideal diet is not undertaken

The biggest tip to a program not being free is when your credit card information is required, even though they claim you won’t be charged for using the site. Oftentimes another site will be linked on the original site and somewhere in the fine print there will be a disclaimer informing you that if you click the link you are agreeing to the terms and fees of the site. Since they have your credit card on file, you’ll start to notice an unexplainable and recurring charge until you have it taken care of with either your bank or directly with the sneaky website.

Some sites have weight loss services that are free, and then once you have signed up you’ll see an offer for complete access to their site for some amount of money. The free part of the site will usually include a list and explanation of exercises as well as some recipes for low fat and low calorie foods. The complete site will lure you in with personal care from a representative who will be able to email or even call you with emotional support. They may even offer personalized meal plans for you and exercise plans that will maximize the effectiveness of your workout.

“Free trial” posted somewhere on the website of a free weight loss program is the most obvious way to tell that it will only be free for a trial period. Credit card information will most likely be asked for before you can begin the free trial, but charges won’t come until after the trial period is up. Sometimes, these sites will also offer a money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the program. Ironically, it’s usually a 30 day money back guarantee which isn’t always enough to show weight loss results as you could easily lose or gain weight due to other factors in your life during that month!

There are programs available that actually are looking to make the world a better, healthier place and are not looking to take your money. These sites generally don’t have a person who will talk to you one on one but they do have communities of people just like you trying to lose weight.

Forums are a great way to communicate on these sites and see how other people are doing on the program. Sometimes the sites will have the options to let you customize your own meal plans based off of meals they had already put together. Emails full of healthy tips are also sent from the free weight loss programs, so when you find the one you want be ready for a healthier lifestyle.

But dieting is not without risks, especially in an age when so many fad diets clamor for attention. The desire to lose weight rapidly can lead to health problems that outweigh the benefits of dieting. Rapid weight-loss dieting in particular can lead to a ‘rebound’, defeating the purpose in the first place.

First, what do we mean by ‘diet’ in this context?

No matter what specific weight loss plan one chooses, the basic equation of weight loss can not be eliminated: more calories consumed than burned equals weight gain as the body stores the excess in fat. Conversely, more calories used than taken in leads to weight loss, over the long run.

In a resting state, we burn about 70 calories per hour. In a vigorous hour-long hike we burn about 440 calories. A brisk walk for an hour will use up about 240 calories, jogging nearly 600. But balance that against the average 2,000 calorie per day diet. That shows it can be very difficult to lose weight solely by exercise.

On the other hand, reducing caloric intake means reducing the amount of certain foods and drinks. It may mean an apple rather than a candy bar. It might mean fruit juice instead of that high-calorie cappuccino. The cravings that typically accompany dieting can be hard to quell.

Second, dieting has to be done right to be beneficial. It requires the right weight loss plan.

Too-rapid weight loss from drastic diets leads to a ‘rebound’ effect. All too many dieters know the frustration of seeing hard-to-shed pounds return a few months or a year later. It tends to encourage subsequent overeating as the dieter is motivated to just give up.

Dieting by foregoing needed nutrients presents even more of a health risk. We need a certain amount of unsaturated fats daily to have proper nerve function and hormone balance. Carbohydrates are the body’s basic energy source, which is used to power everything we do from simple movements to life-preserving cellular reactions. Sodium and potassium are vital to proper heart and nerve function.

But there are definite health advantages for an individual who commits to a healthy diet and weight loss plan.

Obesity is a factor in the development of diabetes. It increases the odds of coronary heart disease. It increases stress on bones. It often plays a role in depression. All these are serious health issues and dieting is one of the best ways to combat obesity.

It isn’t mere vanity to want an attractive body, either. An attractive body is one that is fit. That leads to ample energy to carry out whatever goals one wants to pursue. Lack of energy makes it much harder to motivate oneself to complete challenging tasks.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting an attractive form for psychological or social purposes either. Humans are social. It’s appropriate to take pride in having achieved a certain body type, within the limits of what is possible to each of us. It presents an image of self-regard and that psychological self-assessment is a significant factor in basic health.

Done well, taken up as a long-term lifestyle strategy and not as a quick fix, dieting is healthy.

Nevertheless, it’s an inescapable fact that proper diet has to be accompanied by an age-appropriate, regular exercise program – if the goal is good health and an attractive body. Diet is essential, but exercise is its essential partner. Diet provides the proper fuel, but exercise uses that fuel to generate health and fitness.

There’s no need to become a fitness fanatic, but there are several simple exercises you can begin today. Start a daily stretching routine of at least 10 minutes before doing any vigorous training. A 20-minute walk every other day is a great beginning for those not used to exercise.

Work up to more effort slowly. Most of those new to exercise get discouraged and quit too soon because they try too hard at first. This produces soreness and sometimes injury. That reduces the motivation.

Instead, start with some light weight training, using 5lb, 10lb, then 20lb weights. Curls, squats and other exercises are simple and you’ll soon graduate. Then add a 10-minute jog, a 20-minute jog, then 30-minutes. Once you hit an hour-long run, you’re into the serious workout category.

If you can, invest in equipment that may help you get motivated. Others will need the social stimulus of a gym to keep their willpower up. But in either case, don’t let your money go to waste. Make a commitment to regular workouts, whether at home or away. If you do join a gym, don’t be shy. Take advantage of the expertise of more experienced fitness enthusiasts and the staff.

In order to lose weight, you want to be sure to include some cardiovascular exercises in your routine. That can be running, cycling or any number of alternatives. To tone muscles and tighten the slack skin that will result from major body fat reduction, you’ll need to add resistance and weightlifting exercises. You can use stretchers, rope and pulley or other equipment to supply the resistance. Weight machines are great for lifting exercises.

As you get into the routine, you may or may not actually lose weight. If you’re not obese but merely overweight, you may not see much loss. As you reduce fat deposits the difference can be made up by gains in muscle mass. Don’t pay much attention to early losses, they may well be due as much to water loss as anything else.

But as you reduce excess body fat and tone muscles you’ll experience many side benefits beyond a more attractive body. You’ll feel better overall, be more energetic and should experience a heightened mood.

Feel good about it. You worked hard for the results.

While no miracle cure, many offer exactly what the struggling dieter needs. Many who have committed to dieting seriously for a length of time become frustrated. It can be tough to see those pounds that were shed too hard and slowly then come back too fast and easy. A weight loss clinic with a good nutritional program can help on both those fronts.

Organizations like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and others are well known. But not everyone knows what they offer, in terms of diet plans and support.

As with any offer, beware of promises ‘to melt pounds off easily’. Dieting is difficult. It requires a long-term commitment to a healthy diet and calorie control, usually coupled with age-appropriate exercise. But with a realistic outlook, it is possible to make good progress with any of these.

Jenny Craig

Jenny Craig was founded in Australia in 1983 and began in the U.S. two years later. It offers a three-level plan composed of ‘food-body-mind’ to help shed pounds and keep them off.

It starts with food selection and eating patterns. Clients are offered a wide range of foods to enjoy, but emphasis is placed on eating smaller portions more often.

To implement that they offer prepackaged meals (mostly frozen) that are balanced to contain 50-60% carbs, 20-25% proteins and 20-25% fat. Those numbers (and the specific foods) are consistent with the USDA Food Pyramid. Clients can supplement meals with fresh fruit and non-starchy vegetables, whole grains and reduced-fat diary products. No food is specifically forbidden.

That is combined with a program that instructs customers in how to increase activity level. Weight loss is only possible when calories used is greater than those consumed. Age and circumstance-appropriate exercise will always be a part of any well-rounded weight loss program. To keep pounds that are lost off over the long run, that activity-level-to-calories-consumed ratio has to be maintained.

Jenny Craig also offers a 24/7 phone line where customers can get needed emotional and moral support anytime of the day. One of the most difficult aspects of dieting and weight loss is to stay motivated over the long run. Changing one’s attitude is hard. Phone counselors help do that by providing a friendly voice and useful information.

Jenny Craig has over 600 centers in the U.S., Canada and Australia/New Zealand.

Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is a much older organization, having been around since the early 1960s. It too has a fairly holistic view of dieting. It emphasizes a lifestyle that includes all the aspects – mental, physical, emotional – required to lose weight and be healthy.

It offers two basic programs, one of which tracks calories (Flex Plan) and another that focuses more on specific food groups (Core Plan). It may also provide clients with a kind of calculator device that helps them track calorie content.

In the program, no food is forbidden. Each one is assigned a number of points and clients track how the points add up. Something lean like a cup of broccolli = 0 points, while a potentially high-fat bean burrito = 5 points, for example. A 6-oz steak = 8 points. Each customer picks a desired Daily Point Range. A 5 foot 6 inch woman weighing 180 lbs might target from 22-27 points. That makes it easy to track things.

The Core Plan, by contrast, simply focuses on eating nutritious foods. It may draw from the fruit and vegetable group, grains, lean meat and fish, and others to implement the plan.

Both are coupled with guidelines for exercise. But exercise doesn’t necessarily mean working out. It can mean simply having a less sedentary lifestyle, including parking far from the front door of work or store, taking the stairs and so forth.

It also offers a support system, one which encourages group meetings over phone contact. Some find this a little intimidating or time consuming, though, and Weight Watchers offers an online support system as an alternative.

Summary

Any weight loss or diet program that helps an individual achieve his or her nutrition and health goals is a good one. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are only two of the best known and each has its advocates and critics. The key to any successful program is agreed to by all, however. Each person must make a commitment to the goals he or she sets.

When seeking out that weight loss program there are a number of important questions the second type will want answered.

The most essential, and therefore the first question is: What are the facts about diet, exercise and weight loss? There are dozens of fad diets, special exercise regimens and all manner of junk science surrounding the subject.

It won’t be easy for those not trained in science to sort the wheat from the chaff, to sort fact from fiction. But anyone with common sense and some persistence can fairly quickly find one or more sources of reliable information. Scientific studies don’t stand in isolation, they either support or contradict others. When you find a number, from serious sources, that agree there’s good reason to give them some credence.

Similarly, it will be important to find knowledgeable and experienced people at the gym and nutritionist that help you along. Most people can distinguish between people who are trying to give wise counsel and those who just want to sell you something that may or may not have any value. People deserve to be paid for their services, but offering something worthwhile is fundamental.

Once you find a gym and/or nutritionist that can offer you good guidance and moral support, you’ll get added benefits. Such people can help remind you, when the going gets tough, why you chose to make the effort in the first place. It’s difficult to adhere to a long term program when the progress is slow.

Any wise diet and exercise program needs be oriented toward lifestyle changes that will help you lose the weight and keep it off, and keep you healthy and fit. Counseling provided by fitness and nutrition professionals can help you do that. They can help you unlearn bad habits and learn better ones, and encourage you to stick with them.

You’ll need to monitor your progress, so you need to ask where and what are the tests and tools to do that. You’ll need food charts for measuring calories and types of nutrients. You’ll need a BMI calculator and other tools.

Some of those tools are as simple and inexpensive as a scale, a flexible tape measure and a mirror. Others may be a heart rate or pulse monitor, a device that measures body fat percentage and other things that often accompany a treadmill.

You’ll want to judge any program by how many people have actually found success using it, of course. But beware the hype. A few unsolicited opinions from people you don’t know won’t tell the whole story. Find out how many finished, and how much they lost, and whether there were any downsides or side effects.

It’s your health. That’s worth doing some homework to find the right weight loss program for you.

But there is nevertheless ample evidence that a low fat diet can be a great boon to those seeking weight loss and good health in general.

Eating fat doesn’t make you fat. In fact, certain fats are essential to good health. Fat is necessary for proper nerve function, hormone production and other vital processes. About 30-35% of the diet should consist of fats. But not just any fats, only those of a certain type.

Trans-fats raise the level of ‘bad’ cholesterol – LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins). At the same time they lower the ‘good’ type of cholesterol, HDL (High Density Lipoproteins). The good type is essential for proper brain function, just as one example. By contrast, a high ratio of LDL to HDL is a contributor to the risk of heart disease. LDL builds up in the arteries, hardening them and making them more narrow. Trans fat calories should be no more than 1%.

Saturated fats have similar effects. They raise the level of LDL, which leads to the same problems for arteries and blood pressure. They should be limited to no more than 7% of calories.

Monounsaturated fats, by contrast, are those that actually help the body perform those needed functions without contributing to the problems caused by the other two types.

It’s still true, though, that a high fat diet, even the ‘good’ kind, can have a number of drawbacks.

A gram of fat produces 9 calories during digestion. By comparison, carbohydrates and proteins produce only 4 calories per gram. That makes fat ‘energy dense’. And the basic calorie equation remains true: more calories consumed than used leads to weight gain. Therefore, one of the easiest ways to reduce calorie intake is to consume less fat.

Choosing meats that are low in fat and reducing regular milk consumption are two good ways to implement the plan. Certain nuts, like cashews and peanuts, are also high in fat and should be consumed sparingly.

That will help achieve a goal of no more than 65 grams of fat per day based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. That is equivalent to getting no more than 30% of total calories per day from fats. Those on a very restricted calorie diet (say, 1200-1500 for women and 1600-1800 for men) will want to reduce the amount accordingly.

Keep in mind that every person has individual nutritional requirements. Guidelines appropriate for a middle aged adult seeking to shed a few pounds may not be right for a teen. Any time you consider substantial changes to diet, consulting with your physician first is wise.

No single dieting method is perfect for everyone. But low carbohydrate diets help lower the one thing that all good diets aim at: reduced calories. There’s no getting around the fact that more calories consumed than used leads to weight gain. Reducing carbs the right way can ‘cut to the chase’, nutritionally speaking.

A carbohydrate is just some combination of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They’re consumed in the form of sugars or starches. A sugar is a relatively simple carbohydrate. Starches are considered complex carbohydrates.

Far from being harmful, carbohydrates are the body’s primary energy source. That makes them essential. But in modern society, some people get too much potential energy, which turns into real body fat. Any excess calories the body acquires are stored mostly in the chemical bonds in fat cells.

But low carb does not mean no carb. Even the most extreme low carb diets recommend that no less than 40% of calories should come from carbohydrates. Most are in the range of 45-65% depending on the individual. Some people simply process carbs more efficiently than others. At the high end of the range, about 10% should be sugars, 55% complex carbs.

Those considering a low carb diet also sometimes believe it necessarily recommends no fruit or vegetables. Fruits like apples and oranges, it’s true, are often high in sugars. Many vegetables are very starchy. But here again low carb does not mean no carb. A healthy, balanced diet, even while focusing on reducing carbohydrates, will include some fruits and vegetables.

One of the big advantages of a low carb diet is that it doesn’t spend too much time counting calories. The focus, instead, is on adjusting the percentage of certain types of foods eaten. In particular, things like pasta and bread are reduced, sometimes considerably.

But that can lead to a problem, because the bottom line is calories consumed vs calories used. Reducing carbohydrates doesn’t just reduce calories from that source. It alters the way the body uses them, tipping the scales. As with any diet, it’s necessary to observe the results. A healthy diet, even one that aims chiefly at weight loss, should not leave you feeling low on energy all the time.

The way out is simply to adjust according your specific body’s responses. It may mean abandoning the low carb diet approach entirely. It isn’t the perfect choice for everyone.

Some who consider this approach worry about not getting enough fiber. Since fiber contains carbohydrates (technically, it is a carbohydrate), it may need to be reduced. But no responsible low carb diet recommends eliminating fiber entirely.

More importantly, fiber – because of its unique properties – is not digested, at least not fully. That’s part of its usefulness in the diet. So, since it isn’t digested it doesn’t contribute to the body’s amount of calories consumed. It aids digestion and health in many ways, but not by adding to the ‘energy store’. No need to forego fiber.

Investigate the different types of low carb diet and find out if one of them is right for you.