4 tips for choosing the best diet for you in 2016

ABC News reported there are 108 million dieters in this country. Dieters are spending upwards to $40 billion annually on diet books, diet supplements, diet foods, videos, weight-loss camps, and the like. There are volumes of information on dieting, some of it good and much of it not so much.
Do diets really work? In a word, yes, if the pounds came off the diet worked. The problem is people are looking for quick fixes. Far too many people return to their old eating habits once they go off their diets. Who can forget Oprah's loss of 67 pounds and her gain of 90 pounds when she went off her diet in the 1990s?
Too many dieters have experienced additional weight gain after reaching their goal because of their "once and done" attitude. We can blame the diet or we can approach weight loss from another perspective and with a new attitude.
While it is easy to the blame the diet, the truth is, choosing a fad diet or the wrong diet for your particular needs will almost certainly lead to frustration and failure. Starvation diets and quick weight loss diets can be unhealthy. Some diets lead to excessive water loss. Water loss and weight loss are not the same thing. Fad diets, crash diets, and celebrity diets not based in fact or science are not long term solutions.
Before making your final decision on the diet that best fits your personal needs you should do two things:.

• Track your food intake for 2 weeks before deciding on a diet. This is called knowing where you've been before deciding where you want to be. It is surprising how many people have little or no idea of the number of calories they consume every day.
• Set realistic weight loss goals. You didn’t put the weight on overnight and you won’t lose it overnight. A weight loss of 2 to 4 pounds a week should not negatively affect your overall health.You should be consuming between 1,200 and 1,500 calories on your diet for healthy weight loss.

If you want 2016 to be the year your diet succeeds consider the following as you review the data from U.S. News & World Reports:

1. Can you see yourself eating these foods for the rest of your life? Weight loss programs sending specially designed meals to your home are an easy way to start, but they can be very costly. More importantly, if you go back to your old eating habits consuming more calories than you burn once you leave the program, the pounds will return. Never forget you are looking to establish new eating habits for the rest of your life.
2. Choose a diet with foods that you like. It is important to learn the differences between protein, carbohydrates and fats. You will lose weight on a diet that is heavy in protein like Atkins, however, the question is are you better off transitioning to a more balanced Mediterranean style diet after reaching your goals.
3. Consider investing in a fitness watch like Fitbit so you can track your daily calories, exercise and physical activities. Our bodies were designed for work and physical activity. A lack of activity not only affects our bodies but our brains and our sense of well being. Exercise is important whether a person is dieting or not.
4. Use today’s technology to help you keep track of your weight loss goals, calories and exercise. There are multiple diet apps to help you succeed. Take advantage of them.

Once you've achieved your weight loss goal, you should be consuming no more than 1,700 to 2,000 calories a day. Remember less is more, and the older we get the fewer calories we need to live a healthy life.
One final point. Some of these diets were designed to address specific health issues that may not apply to you. You are an individual whose likes and dislikes will impact on your choice. As you review the rankings remember just because a diet is ranked high on the list, it doesn't mean it is right for you.

By Sandra Prew

Top 10 Holiday Diet Tips of All Time

Holidays bring family and friends together to celebrate traditions and spread good cheer. They also bring lots of opportunities for socializing, eating, and drinking. Even the most disciplined people struggle with temptation during the holiday season.

To navigate the party landmines with your healthy diet intact, you need a strategy. Experts agree: Having a plan in place will help you handle night after night of eating and drinking.

"Think of your appetite as an expense account, and figure out how much you want to spend on drinks, appetizers, entrees, and dessert," advises Michelle May, MD, author of Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don't Work. She suggests giving yourself permission to enjoy your favorite foods -- in sensible portions.

To help you survive the seasonal parties without packing on the pounds, WebMD consulted diet gurus across the country for their best holiday diet tips. Here are their top 10 recommendations:

1. Trim back the trimmings. Go all out and deck the halls with boughs of holly, glitter, and lights, but when it comes to holiday food, accessorize with care. To shave calories, go easy when adding nuts, cheese, cream sauces, gravy, butter, and whipped cream -- additions that don't add much to the meal, but can add plenty to your waistline. Trim calories wherever you can so you leave the party feeling satisfied, but not stuffed, recommends Carolyn O'Neil, MS, RD, author of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous.

2. Wear snug clothes and keep one hand busy. When you wear snug-fitting attire, chances are you'll be too busy holding in your stomach to overeat. While you stand around looking posh in your holiday finery, hold a drink in your dominant hand so it won't be so easy to grab food, recommends obesity expert Cathy Nonas, MS, RD.

3. Chew gum. When you don't want to eat, pop a piece of sugarless gum into your mouth. This works well when you're cooking or when you're trying not to dive into the buffet, says Nonas.

4. Be a food snob. If you don't love it, don't eat it, says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Melinda Johnson, MS, RD. Scan the buffet for foods you truly treasure and skip the everyday dishes that are available all year long. And don't think it's your responsibility to sample everything on the buffet. Go ahead and indulge in your personal holiday favorites, then find a seat and, slowly and mindfully, savor every mouthful.

5. No skipping meals. Always eat normally on the day of a party. "People who skip meals to save up calories tend to overeat everything in sight once they get there," says Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, author of Diet Simple. "Eating sensibly throughout the day will take the edge off the appetite and empower a bit of restraint." Start with a nourishing breakfast, have a light lunch, then a small snack or salad shortly before the event.

6. Check it out. First things first. When you arrive at the party, grab a sparkling water with a twist, and wait at least 30 minutes before eating. This will give you time to relax, get comfortable in your surroundings, and survey your food choices on the buffet before diving in, says Tallmadge. A buffet is an invitation to eat all you can, and unless you carefully scrutinize it and make wise choices, you're likely to overeat.

7. Add fun and games. Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, co-author of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy, proposes taking the focus off food and getting family and friends more active during holiday parties. Think horseshoes, badminton, sledding, ice skating, or building snowmen. Indoors, try a spirited game of charades, or rent an instructional dance video followed by a dance-off. "The best parties include dancing, so why not make dancing after eating a new holiday tradition for a great form of fun and recreation?" asks David Katz, MD, MPH, author of The Flavor Point Diet.

8. Alternate alcohol with nonalcoholic beverages.Alcoholic drinks are loaded with calories -- especially holiday favorites like eggnog. "Cut your alcohol calories in half by alternating water or seltzer between alcoholic beverages," Katz advises.

9. Skip the appetizers. "Eschew the appetizers rather than chewing on them," says Katz. If you need a little nibble before the meal, go for the veggies, fruit, salsa, or a small handful of nuts.

10. Limit the variety. Brian Wansink, PhD, author of Mindless Eating, suggests putting only two items on your plate when you go to the food table. Return as many times as you like, but only take two items each time. "Variety stimulates appetite, and if you limit your choices to just a few items and stick with these, it will be easier to control than eating a little bit of 20 different dishes," agrees Katz.

By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD,

End of Summer Workouts!

Simple Healthy Fish Tacos for End of Summer Meals- video

Sage Advice to Live By!

Can You Really Get Incredible Abs By The End Of The Summer?

Can You Really Get Incredible Abs By The End Of The Summer?

Chris Powell's Last-Minute Summer Fitness Tips by Chris Hunt

The final weeks of summer are approaching and that means that guys are looking shed those last few pounds and get lean and, of course, get a six-pack for all those tank tops they bought just for summer. Even fitness expert and host of ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss is cutting a pounds. The celebrity trainer is six weeks away from competing in a weightlifting competition and has already knocked off six pounds from his already-lean frame.
The secret, he says, is that he switched his nutrition plan to focus on carb cycling, a method that includes alternating your diet between high and low-to-no carb days. The high carb days are partnered with low fat intake designed to boost metabolism and build or maintain muscle. The low carb/high fat days are meant to maximize fat loss.

“You’re basically turning your body into a fat-burning furnace,” Powell said.
Whether you chose to take on carb-cycling as a nutrition plan or not, Powell agreed that there are countless ways to trim fat, lose weight and build muscle. But he also claims that the simple answers for discovering the body you want have been staring you in the face for years. Whether he’s working with an extremely obese client on his show or giving advice to a frequent gym-goer looking to knock off the last few pounds, he provided us with the basic rules that work for everyone.

Live By The Rules of Integrity

Simply put, do what you say you’re going to do. If you promise yourself you’re going to workout tomorrow morning, do it. When you break commitments to yourself, the disappointment can snowball. Also, you’re the best person to hold yourself accountable. So if you don’t hold yourself to your word, no one else will.

Don’t Make Dumbass Promises

How often have your heard someone say they’re going to go from sitting on the couch watching television to working out everyday, seven days a week and twice on Sunday? Powell reminded that it makes little sense to make promises to yourself that you can’t keep and small failures ultimately result in bigger ones. Start with small goals. “Instead of saying I’m going to drink a gallon and a half of water every day, start by drinking an extra quart of water a day,” Powell said. After you’ve done that for a week or two, try drinking two extra quarts. Make your goals manageable.”
Instead of planning on eating six small meals per day, as many trainers might suggest, Powell advises to simply start by eating within the first 30 minutes after you wake up to start the process of getting your metabolism firing throughout the day.

Eat Protein With Every Meal

Our bodies crave things that are sweet and salty or crunchy which leads many of us to chomp into foods loaded with sugar and heavy on carbs. Powell recommends eating lean protein with every meal. But don’t just add protein to your plate, eat the protein first. Protein is immediately satiating, making you feel fuller faster and less likely to overeat.

Chris Powell's Low-Carb Chocolate Almond Smoothie
Ingredients

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup ice

Directions Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour and enjoy.

Chris Powell's Guilt-Free Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients

• 1 banana, sliced and frozen
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 tablespoon almond butter (chocolate almond butter is a good option also)

Directions: Place all ingredients into a blender and puree, turning off the motor and stirring the mixture two or three times until smooth and creamy.

Tips to Conquer and Crunch the End of Summer Fitness Funk

Spans of oppressive heat and biting bugs can sometimes make spending summer outdoors an unpleasant undertaking. In June and July, many of us were compelled to remain indoors, grateful to find any place equipped with air-conditioning.
Now, suddenly it’s August, and hopefully we’ll be getting some relief from the worst of summer’s wrath – with plenty of time still left to still enjoy the outdoors.

The Best Post Summer Funk Fitness Tips

There is no shortage of healthy activities that can be packed into the last few weeks of summer to help make up for lost time, so do not get stuck in the post-summer fitness funk instead utilize some of these ideas to get the most out of it:
1. Up the intensity. Don’t just go for a leisurely jog on your usual neighborhood circuit; quicken your pace and feel the burn. If faster doesn’t seem possible, then add 10 minutes to your usual workout. Walking, jogging, hiking, inline skating and cycling are all great activities in which you can up the intensity at the end of summer.
2. Get out and explore. Discover park trails and open roads and take in some new scenery.
3. Hit up the water. If you live near the beach, get out and play volleyball, throw the Frisbee or football around, beachcomb, or play an energetic game of fetch with your dog. If you’re near a lake, try rowing for an unrivaled total-body workout and a change of pace. Late summer is a great time to do beach and water activities because these areas tend to be less crowded.
4. Think outside the box. Always wanted to stand-up paddleboard, take a whirl on a skateboard or ballroom dance? Ask any schoolchild – the beginning of the school year is a great time to try something new. Plus, you’ll likely discover muscles you didn’t you know had and you’ll see a new level of tone in your body.
5. Integrate exercise into your life. In addition to the obvious suggestions – like parking your car farther away from your destination and taking the stairs instead of elevators – here are a few that are less obvious: While at the kids’ soccer practice, instead of reading a book or visiting with another parent, why not walk around the outside of the field while they practice, or even warm up and cool down with the team? Schedule a ‘walking meeting’ instead of an in-office discussion. Swap the cart for your legs when golfing. You can also transform your commute by walking or biking to work, or taking a bus and hopping off a few stops early.
6. Playgrounds aren’t just for kids. Adults can rekindle their inner child and enjoy these outdoor play spaces, too – and get a great, affordable workout at the same time. Slides can be used for challenging push-ups or sit-ups, monkey bars can be used for pull-ups, and holding yourself stationary on a swing in plank position can provide an incredible core workout.
7. Plant a late-summer garden. If you’re looking to spice up your lawn or garden, August is a perfect time to plan a fall harvest. You can also keep your garden ablaze with color through the end of summer with a mix of fall-blooming annuals and perennials. The simple fact is that gardening is exercise, and done properly, can burn as many calories as more traditional exercises.
8. Farm your way fit. Find a local farm and volunteer to spend a day or more learning about farming, harvesting, picking and general farming chores. In return, you usually get fed locally produced, healthy meals!
9. Schedule breaks. I personally believe that an hour of sitting is too long, so make time to get up and stretch. Take a lap around the office or outside parking lot after each hour of sitting and stand while talking to a coworker. Use part of your lunch break to go for a stroll or pick up lunch at a place within walking distance. Just can’t get away? Take a call on your mobile phone and head outdoors – they’re called mobile phones for a reason!
10.  Practice yoga, Pilates or meditation outdoors. Put the tree back in tree pose and swap the mat for grass. The only thing more peaceful than a mind-body session is spending time in the beauty of nature.
As summer fades, we tend to return to a more sedentary routine. Challenge yourself to not let your fitness level fall with the end of summer.

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