Fast Weight Diet Program

Trimming the fat in one's diet can be a great way to lose weight,and for those with high LDL cholesterol, it can pack a double punch by lowering cholesterol as well. Sometimes one change yields a huge difference. One patient just cut the weekly block of cheddar cheese out of her diet. After two weeks, she was surprised and thrilled to find that her pants were looser.

In most cases, particularly when high cholesterol is an issue, bodily changes may take longer. The steps below provide guidelines of where to look for unnecessary fat within your diet. Many programs suggest making changes gradually so that they can become part of your lifestyle and not leave you feeling deprived and prone to binge-ing on "forbidden foods." Our fast weight loss program encourages you to take more serious steps forward.

— Dr. Aron, Weight Loss NYC

Here are some of Dr. Aron’s low fat diet tips:

• Don’t Be Chicken

  Stick with naturally lowfat chicken, turkey and fish. Limit red meat consumption to once a week or less. Trim all visible fat from meat. Remove the skin from poultry. Look up fat content in fish. While the fat in fish can be heart healthy omega 3s, if weight loss is the goal, choosing lower fat options can speed progress.

• No Day is Fry Day

  Baking, grilling, broiling and roasting meat/poultry/fish serve up less fat than pan or deep frying. Note that sauté means "fry" in French so don’t be fooled that sautéed foods are healthier than fried dishes when reading recipes and menus.

• Butter or Not

  Cut back on butter. Lowfat or fat free cream cheese is an option as are some of the butter alternatives on the market. Read the labels to make sure margarine is free of partially hydrogenated oils (transfats). When cooking, use cooking spray on pan surfaces. Sprays come in olive oil, butter and other varieties so you can choose what works best for dinner dishes, baking or the morning omelette.

• Moo-ve on over

  Switch to low or nonfat dairy products. Lower fat versions of mozzarella, cottage, feta or ricotta cheeses hardly taste different from their full fat cousins, if at all. For dessert, nonfat frozen yogurt, sherbet , sorbet or soft-serve ice cream are generally lower in fat than hard ice cream. Be sure to check nutritional labels though because some brands do have high fat content despite their "frozen yogurt" or "sorbet" label. Experiment with various low fat dairy products to see which suit your taste. Some brands of the same product taste and/or work better in recipes than others.

• Read the Labels

  Read nutritional labels and steer away from foods containing partially hydrogenated oil, palm oil, coconut oil or lard. These are notoriously high in bad cholesterol. Beware of store bought baked goods which often contain these ingredients. Look for low fat alternatives or bake your own using small amounts of unsaturated oils and fats (e.g., vegetable oil, lowfat yogurt).

• Be Fruitful

  The healthiest lowfat or nonfat dessert is fruit. Try new fruits in season. Combine them with Cool Whip topping and angel food cake (which are also lowfat) for special occasions. Other lowfat desserts to satisfy a sweet tooth include sugar free jellos and puddings, flavored lowfat/nonfat yogurts and frozen fruit bars (that don't contain cream). If overall healthy eating is a goal, steer clear of products containing artificial sweeteners.

• Salad Days

  Use salad dressings, homemade or store-bought, that contain olive oil or other unsaturated oils. Mix together with vinegar, lemon juice and/or mustard and fresh or dried herbs to taste. If the dressing has fat of any type, use it sparingly. Many a healthy vegetable salad has turned into a high fat sabotage due to liberal use of dressing.

• Dining Room

  Restaurant eating can pose special challenges since diners are not aware of all ingredients used. Some basic guidelines: order meat/fish/poultry that is grilled, roasted or baked. If choosing broiled meat, ask them to broil without oil. Request sauce and dressings on the side so that the amount consumed can be limited. Skip the butter on the bread. Ask for lowfat milk instead of cream for coffee. Stay away from soups unless the fat content is known; many restaurant soups contain high amounts of oil or cream.

Weight Loss Consultation

Contact Weight Loss NYC today and schedule an initial consultation, 718-491-5525

Labels: 718-491-5525, appetite, blood sugar, calories, motivation, obesity, omega 3 fatty acid, overweight, portion control, protein, snacks, success, weight loss

Walk This Way

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise research has shown Americans walking less than other nations studied with lower obesity rates. Their conclusions suggest we try to increase our walking in our daily routines, as USA today has prepared some handy tips.

Fewer than 5,000 steps a day is considered sedentary;
5,000 to 7,499, low active;
7,500 to 9,999, somewhat active;
10,000 or more active

2,000 steps is a mile

Their suggestions are in addition to decreasing caloric intake, to add 3 to 4 thousand steps per day. Excerpts from their chart include:

• Taking a good 20 minute walk at lunchtime can account for 2,000 steps per day
• Four laps around a sports track is one mile, or 2,000 steps.
• At work, consider walking to people near you to communicate, over email or phone. Small distances over the day can add up!
• Take 100 step walk breaks during the day; Try taking longer walks in your routine including longer route to restroom, and extended walking before shopping at a mall.

Am I overweight?

You can use our free online health risk assessment tool to see if you are in the normal weight range for your height; and learn other facts about health and wellness pertaining to even a modest (10%) amount of weight loss.

Labels: 718-491-5525, calories, dieting, exercise, lose weight, obesity, overweight, self-control

Protein + Great Taste = Less Hungry

Strawberry Cheesecake protein bar only 140 calories?

It's great to know you have a new choice with new flavors - ask the front desk on your next visit for a variety box (shown) or buy any single flavor seven-pack for the same great tasty price.

New protein bars with satisfying flavor

Remember that proper nutrition and balance are crucial for your weight loss diet success.

Exclusively available at WeightLossNYC

Ask Dr. Aron if you have any questions about inclusion of any meal substitution supplements or to give us feedback on the items you like best.

Labels: 718-491-5525, appetite, blood sugar, calories, cravings, hunger, lose weight, nutrition facts, portion control, success

Plenty of misinformation abounds on how to attain a smaller waistline and sexy abs. Common tips to target this problem area fall short and are ineffective. By applying these realistic tips, though, you can improve your abs and midsection.

Crunches won't give you the abs of steel you desire because they only work the muscle hiding beneath the layer of fat. You cannot remove fat without weight loss surgery or going into caloric deficit, which is decreasing the amount of food you eat so that your body starts burning fat instead of calories.

Diet and exercise are vital. No matter the stomach-targeting exercise, if you consume too many calories you will gain weight. Do exercises that work your entire body for long periods of time so that your body goes into caloric deficit. This is the only way to lose the fat.

Gadgets and technology won't give you defined abs, only you can do it. Don't fall for the latest and greatest ab exercise product on the market. The results would be the same as doing crunches on your own, so they aren't necessary. Keep the above ideas in mind, while maintaining a healthy diet and aerobic exercise every day -- and you will see real results.

Source: familyhealthguide.co.uk

Labels: caloric deficit, calories, exercise, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss surgery

Savvy consumers have increasingly become aware of what's in the foods they eat, including the health risks of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Food makers have caught onto this and now want to change the name of HFCS to simply "corn sugar" so consumers don't perceive it negatively. But is that strategic move in the best interest of the shopper trying to buy healthy foods?

HFCS is found in sodas, candy and many processed foods. A combination of fructose and glucose, it's used as a sweetener and preservative. It's also been blamed for being a major cause of the obesity (which also puts you at risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease) epidemic in the United States.

Doctors advise against all types of sugar -- HFCS, sucrose, fructose and glucose -- which have the ability to make you gain weight. They are all believed to be equally harmful when absorbed into the bloodstream. Some lab rats in studies have shown to gain more weight with HFCS compared to other sugars, but sometimes they did not.

Limiting your intake of all kinds of sugar and sweeteners is recommended to avoid unnecessary weight gain. Read those nutrition labels and look out for sugar content. And soon enough, you may have to look out for one more -- corn sugar.

Sources: NYTimes.com, MayoClinic.com

Labels: artificial sweeteners, blood sugar, diabetes, dieting, high blood pressure, obesity, weight gain

Junk food is not only a hotly-debated topic between moms and children, it's a topic of interest to scientists as well. Researchers at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity wanted to find out how popular cartoon characters on the packing influenced children’s snacking preferences, and the results they published in Pediatrics in June are eye-opening.

40 children between the ages of 4 and 6 involved in the study were given 3 pairs of snacks (graham crackers, fruit gummy snacks and carrots). Each pair of snacks was identical -- except the packaging, which either had cartoon characters on it or not.

The children were then asked which snacks they liked better, and food items with the cartoon characters were mostly preferred, even though both choices were the same. When presented with the carrots, however, the children weren’t as swayed by the veggies with cartoon characters on them.

The findings then urged the restriction of using cartoon characters to advertise unhealthful junk food items to children. It’s also a wake-up call to parents to pay closer attention to such snack items aimed at children with their beloved characters on them.

Below are more food and obesity facts regarding children reported in the study:

• Obesity rates for children between ages 2 and 5 have more than doubled since the 1970s; among 6- to 11-year-olds, rates have more than tripled.
• Food and beverage companies spend more than $1.6 billion in advertising per year targeting young consumers.
• Based on the findings, children perceived the food items with licensed characters to taste better than those that came in plain packaging.

Source: NYTimes.com, YaleRudderCenter.org

Labels: childhood obesity, obesity, peer pressure, women

Omega-3 fatty acids have been touted by doctors and health experts as essential to a healthy diet and heart. We can find them in fish oil capsules and many grocery store foods, but a recent study conducted in Holland of omega-3 fatty acids in margarine, however, may challenge its benefits.

In the 40-month long heart study of 4,800 patients that received low doses of omega-3 in the form of margarine in addition to standard heart medication, it made no difference in their chance of experiencing a second heart attack or other cardiovascular problems. Participants in the study were between the ages of 60 and 80 and had experienced a heart attack within the past 4 years.

An important factor to note: the diet in Holland is also different from the American one, as it includes more fish and less red meat and fast food.

Still, a daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids is recommended by many doctors for a healthy heart and weight loss, which can be found naturally in foods like fish (salmon, herring and sardine), soybeans, flax seeds and walnuts.

Source: LifeScript.com

Labels: fat, health, heart health, medication, omega 3 fatty acid, red meat