Watch out for Empty Snacks

Watch out for empty snacksSnacks can be a big source of daily calories. But if you make sure they are good snacks choices you will feel fuller and healthier. Instead of picking up processed snacks like chips or candies, try food choices such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, yogurts, or whole grain snack bars. These are nutrient rich foods so you will be getting essential nutrients while snacking. Also, these are snacks that will create a feeling of fullness and help discourage unneeded eating. Watch out for foods that are high in sugar, sodium, and saturated fats.

If you want more help picking out the best food choice check out StopDietingandLive.com

Is Coffee Fattening?

Do you drink coffee?

If you do decided to drink coffee, here are some smart decisions you can make to stay slim. Try drinking coffee the old-fashioned way. Add just a small splash of non-fat milk and a dash of sugar.

Most of the fancy, store-bought coffee drinks contain calorie rich ingredients like whole milk, whipped cream, and/or chocolate. Skipping these extra additives can significantly reduce calories consumed.

Here are some examples from Starbucks, these are all grande size, if milk is added it is 2%

Starbucks Bold Pick of the Day: calories 5

Starbucks Iced Coffee with Milk:  calories 120

Starbucks Caffe Mocha: calories 330

Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha: calories 400

Remember, Stop Dieting and Live is about life style changes. Make small changes and keep them forever. Changing your morning coffee is just one example, try it out, see if it makes a difference.

Best of luck!

http://www.starbucks.com/menu/catalog/product?drink=brewed-coffee#view_control=product

Organize your food for weight loss

Organize your food for weight loss
Hello everyone,

This week was my spring cleaning. Yep, I finally got the courage to clean out the refrigerator. I had bad tomatoes, soft apples and an old avocado in the two bins below. Isn’t it funny how food hides away down there.

While I was working I realized something, there could be a way to organize food for better health and weight loss. This started a fun process of organizing the refrigerator

I emptied the fridge and put everything  fattening and unhealthy in the bottom bins. I moved the stuff the spoils quickly to the top, this included the vegetables, fruits, milk, and yogurt.

Now every time I open the fridge, rather then being tempted by sweets, I see healthy, nutrition items. Try it for yourself, you’ll feel better, and who knows, it might even save you some money.

Lipofuze Scam

I’ve been asked about the Lipofuze weight loss pills and so I decided to go and investigate.

Lipofuze claims to be an ‘extreme weight loss formula’. On their sales page they list 10 ingredients as their secret to weight loss success. I want to review each of these.

Let’s start by ignoring the patent statement, just because someone patents something doesn’t means it works. Now about their claims to science, they include scientific papers for some of their ingredients. After careful review, here is what I conclude with their science.

Thermodiamine™ – Their clinical study was done on mice. Animal studies don’t compare well to humans, we are much more complex. Also, the studies abstract concludes that evodiamine mimics the characteristic anti-obese effects induced by capsaicin. Capsaicin is the hot taste from chili pepper. So really you could probably just buy a cheap bag of chili pepper.

Razberi K™ – This is another animal study on mice. The study showed that having an antioxidant like raspberries can prevent free radical damage in heroine addicts. Honestly, this study doesn’t even address weight loss. It just says that antioxidants can prevent oxidation damage. You could just get some raspberries or blueberries.

FucoPure™ – Again we have a study on rats and mice. The animals were put on specific diets of sea weed for four weeks. At the end of this study, some of animal organs showed less fat mass. Honestly, are you going to be eating a sea weed rich diet, no, you are taking a small pill with a tiny bit of sea weed. Plus our bodies are much more different and complex.

Forslean® – This was a human study, finally. It consisted of oral ingestion of forskolin (250 mg of 10% forskolin extract twice a day) for a 12-week period. The study was only done on overweight and obese men. It raised serum free testosterone levels. This may be a red flag for any women considering the product. Do you want an increase in the male sex hormone in your body?

In men the study did alter body composition while concurrently increasing bone mass and serum free testosterone
levels in overweight and obese men. However, it was only done on 30 people. I would be careful before I alter my hormones with a supplement that is still poorly understood.

BioPerine® – This is the extract of black pepper. In this study the black pepper was shown to increase plasma levels of supplemental coenzyme Q10. The paper never spoke of weight loss. They are considering using coenzyme Q10 for diabetes, heart disease or other treatments. This study has nothing to due with weight loss.

Green Tea – This is green tea, you can get it from any grocery store.

Capsaicin – This is powder from a chili pepper, again you can get it from any grocery store..

Synephrine HCl – They gave no scientific research on this item. Be careful, there is no science to support this item. Also, HCl is hydrochloric acid.

They also listed a few other more common items like cinnamon, but I think this is enough for a quick scientific overview of their research. As you can see, most of it has no real weight loss potential.

Now let’s review cost – This is a really expensive product. We are talking about $57 dollars a bottle with shipping. Any you pay for shipping even if you send it back.

Will Lipofuze work? – I personally don’t think Lipofuze will work at all. This is another internet pill product with a very high price. And, even if it does work, do you want to pay $57 a month for the rest of your life, trapped to these pills? No, no one does. If you want to lose real weight, make permanent life changes. Invest the money in healthy foods, a gym membership, or a trainer.