diet – HackALife

NoTakeOut – Great Meals Made Easy

nto_logo Has it been pretty hectic around your house? Do you feel like you have no time to get dinner on the table when you get home? Well NoTakeOut has made it easy on you, they have great meals made easy for anyone on the go.

THE SKINNY: No more mediocre meals cobbled together last minute. No more trolling recipe websites to figure out what side dish might work with steamed halibut. No more shopping fiascos — like when you arrived home without eggplant for the ratatouille. NoTakeOut.com helps you plan, prep and cook an entire meal, not just one dish. We provide a complete menu, a shopping list and a game plan – basically, we help you organize to go from kitchen to table with ease.

‘Making mealtime manageable’ is kind of a mantra for us. When you say you’re busy, we get it: you’re taking care of kids, working, shopping, maybe grabbing a workout – oh yeah, and the laundry… You don’t need another hassle! Our goal is to make food, meals and dining-at-home an easy family ritual and a daily pleasure.

Each day they give you a menu, with a side dish and even suggestions on what wine goes best with the recipe of the day. Tools you may need, shopping list and pantry items. And they give you serving size, prep time and total time. Check out NoTakeOut for yourself and start cooking tonight!

Fun and Unexpected Calorie Burners

274000_1093 Exercise is important for a healthy body and brain but the cost of a gym membership is a bit too much for most these days. Ever since we had to sadly cut our gym membership from our budget, I have been looking for ways to burn calories and keep in shape. Over at divine caroline I found this article on fresh ideas for fun calorie burners.

Here are some of divine carolines ideas:

Solo

Hula hooping – up to 600 calories burned an hour.
Hacky sack – 263 calories burned an hour.
Sledding – 461 calories burned an hour.
Tai Chi – 263 calories burned an hour.

With a partner

Playing catch – 164 calories burned an hour.
Ping pong – 263 calories burned an hour.
Fast dancing – 316 calories burned an hour.
Slow dancing – 197 calories burned an hour.
Sex – 104 calories burned an hour.

With a group

Ultimate Frisbee – 527 calories burned an hour.
Water volleyball – 197 calories burned an hour.
Kickball – 460 calories burned an hour.

Around the house activities

Gardening – 263 calories burned an hour.
Raking the lawn – 283 calories burned an hour.
Painting – 296 calories burned an hour.
Mowing the Lawn – 362 calories burned an hour.
Grocery shopping – 151 calories burned an hour.

For more on Fun and Expected Calorie Melter’s click here.

Lose 10 Pounds Fast!

While going to physical therapy I learned that your core strength is very important. I was learning that while walking, running, and doing any kind of exercising you need to keep your abs tight. It goes right along with what I was reading the other day in Family Circle magazine about how to lose 10 pounds fast.

Experts have found that if you stand up straight when you walk, you’ll burn more calories, flatten your belly and look thinner. And really thats the goal, isn’t it? To look thinner and flatten your belly?

The simple trick to helping yourself become an ab-conscious walker is:

Before going out for a fitness walk, place a belt around the thinnest part of your waist(not through any belt loops). Make it snug, but not too tight. As you move, pull your abs up and your shoulders back so that the belt begins to feel almost loose. Wear the belt every time you go walking and in about 3 weeks you’ll automatically start tightening your abs.

Heres the workout plan designed by Brooke Siler –

2 Minutes – Walk with your hands clasped on top of your head. This causes the heart to pump blood upward, increasing the cardio benefit and jump-starting the calorie burn.
5 Minutes – Focus on your belt and the ab-conscious walking described above.
2 Minutes – Make an effort to push harder off of your back foot and feel how that changes the dynamic of your gait.
5 Minutes – Continue ab-conscious walking at a brisk pace.
3 Minutes – Pump your arms, keeping elbows in (no chicken arms) and your fists moving in an arc from chin to hip level.
5 Minutes – Return to a brisk ab-conscious walk.
3 Minutes – Add large arm circles to engage your obliques and further elongate the waist. Circle forward and then backward.
3 Minutes – Try one more burst of the ab-conscious brisk walking.
2 Minutes – Slow it down to reduce your heart rate.

The Skinny Jeans Workout

I was reading CNN news online and came across this article ‘Skinny jeans’ class aims to aid your zip. Having never heard of this workout before I was interested to find out more about it. Jessica Ordona, a retail specialist with a commercial real estate firm in Bethesda, Maryland, says “It’s different than your typical workout class, it’s not high-impact cardio, but you’re sweating the whole time because you’re working every muscle group.”

The Skinny Jeans Workout concentrates on core muscles, balance and posture. A cross between ballet, butt-burning stretches and light weight lifting, the workout involves the entire body. Participants of the Skinny Jeans Workout class are encouraged to go barefoot during the class. Instructors say it increases the balance, and forces the body to be smarter. The class is held two days a week and each session is only a hour. Regulars at the class, swear that they have dropped several jean sizes ever since enrolling in the class months ago.

We have all worried about how we look in jeans and having a workout dedicated strictly to wearing jeans is attractive to most women and maybe even some men.

Another site, yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com, has written an article with 7 exercises you can try at home for whatever specific issue you are dealing with.

If you want to buy the DVD, your best price is Best Buy – Lisa G’s Skinny Jeans Workout DVD.

7 Simple Ways to Lose Weight

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is or what holidays or vacations are coming up, in almost every household in this country and beyond there is someone on a diet or someone who is trying to stay at their current weight.

Here are 7 simple ways to lose weight:

1. Eat at least 8 grams of fiber at breakfast. Four tasty high fiber breakfasts – Egg and cheese tortilla, whole wheat french toast, oatmeal with wheat germ and bananas or fiber rich banana pancakes.

2. Have a 150-calorie morning and afternoon snack. You can skip the am snack if your not hungry but an afternoon snack is nonnegotiable. If you go too long without eating your body will get low on blood sugar making you feel more hungry and cause you to eat more at dinner time than you would if you just had a small afternoon snack.

3. Plan at least 3 go-to breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. Meals that are healthy that you can grab when you need something quick so that you don’t grab something that is bad for you.

4. Think twice about toppings and add-on’s. The simpler the better when dieting. You would be amazed by the amount of calories something as little as nuts or cheese add to your meal.

5. Make veggies the base of your lunch or dinner. Think of your meals as a pyramid: veggies should be the base, lean protein next, then a small amount of healthy carbs to top it off.

6. Have an after-dinner treat every day. We’re human; we need goodies, if you take them completely away then your diet plan will backfire. You should limit your after-dinner treat to 120 calories.

7. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. Many studies have shown that people who don’t get enough sleep tend to weigh more than those who do.

For more information on these 7 Simple Ways to Lose Weight check out Glamour Magazines May 2009 issue.

9 Diet Plans That Will Give You Results

Weight Watchers: We know you want to keep weight off for the long haul. What you eat is important, and the Momentum program will help you to make smart choices and keep hunger in check. And what you learn will stay with you for a lifetime.

The Atkins Diet: When you eat too many carbohydrates(carbs), your body burns some of those carbs for energy and stores the excess carbs as fat. When you eat fewer carbs – especially white flour and sugar, your body begins burning fat as its primary fuel source. That’s how Atkins works – you learn to eat the right foods and change your body from a carb-burning to a fat-burning machine.

South Beach Diet: The South Beach Diet is unique, successful, easy, and works in a three-phase process. Unlike many other so-called diets, with the South Beach Diet, simply substitutes your bad carbohydrates and fats for good ones. After trying this, you will be amazed by how well and quickly it works.

Big Breakfast Diet: Researchers have found a possible way to overcome the common problem of dieters eventually abandoning their diet and regaining the weight they lost. Eat a big breakfast packed with carbohydrates (“carbs”) and protein, then follow a low-carb, low-calorie diet the rest of the day, the authors of a new study recommend.

Jenny Craig: We start by reviewing your YourStyle® Profile – a simple but powerful tool that identifies your personal eating style, activity stage and weight loss mindset. We use the results of the YourStyle® profile to customize our Program to be most effective for you. We’ll also do an initial weigh-in and take your measurements.

The Zone: Based on the best-selling Zone® books by Barry Sears, Ph.D., the Zone is more than a diet. The Zone is a clinically proven lifestyle program designed for losing weight, fighting the effects of aging, reducing the risk of chronic disorders and improving mental and physical performance—all by eating the right combination of fat, protein and carbohydrates at every meal and snack.

Nutri System: NutriSystems mission is to provide a weight loss program based on quality foods and a nutritionally balanced meal plan; individualized counseling is the core of their commitment that customers always have the privacy, support and knowledge needed to reach their goal weight.

Eat Right 4 Your Type: While you cannot change your blood type, you can use knowledge about its nature to implement a dietary plan biologically suited to your makeup, says Dr. D’Adamo, who supplies copious details on eating plans for all four types. “Most of my patients experience some results [within two weeks of starting the diet plan]-increased energy, weight loss, a lessening of digestive complaints, and improvement of chronic conditions such as asthma, headaches, and heartburn.”

LA Weight Loss: LA Weight Loss is much more than a diet. It’s a proven system that has helped millions of people lose weight quickly without giving up foods they normally eat. When you follow your personalized plan correctly, you¹ll lose the weight and learn how to keep it off.

5 Tips to Help Beat the Holiday Weight Gain

Everywhere you look people are offering you Christmas goodies and high calorie sweets to eat and enjoy. Although they taste great and we usually only get to enjoy them during the holidays, the amount of fat and calories that are in them is enough to put you over your ideal weight, making it tough to shed those pounds once the new year begins. Its not only the sweets that add those pounds, sugary drinks, specialty lattes, spiced eggnog(or other alcoholic drinks) and rich festive foods are also a big problem.

Here are some things to consider before you get too far into this holiday season:

1. Count your calories – Before indulging on large quantities of food or drink, check out the calories on-line at nutritiondata.com. Be prepared before you go to a party or gathering. At Nutrition Data they have a BMI and Daily Needs Calculator that will tell you where your recommended daily intakes should be.

2. Snack a little between meals – A handful of nuts will help keep you from eating a big lunch.

3. Chew gum – Chewing gum will keep your mouth busy and not thinking so much about food. Research on monkeys has demonstrated that chewing helps release cholecystokinin, a powerful hormone that helps make you feel full.

4. Choose fruit over Juice – An apple will satisfy longer than drinking the same amount of calories in an 8 oz glass of apple juice.

5. Stay on your exercise routine – It may seem that you don’t have time with all the holiday happenings but you must make your exercise routine a priority if you want to keep your girlish figure.

Now this doesnt mean you have to miss out on all the great food the holidays have to offer, it just means you need to be selective, chosing lower fat options and puttng limits on the amount you do eat.

10 Ways to Lose Unwanted Pounds By Christmas

With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years on its way, it would be nice to lose some weight and look great for all those festivities, along with the many photos that are taken! If maintaining your weight is important these can help with that also.

As was mentioned on greenglancy yesterday, here are 10 Ways to Shed those Extra Pounds by Christmas:

1. Start with a healthy breakfast! Don’t skip breakfast; thinking it will help you loose weight because it actually does the opposite. It takes calories to digest calories, so eating in the morning fires up your metabolism. Breakfast options: Whole grain cereal, two pieces of whole wheat toast with two tablespoons of peanut butter and add a banana or an apple.

2. Snack Healthy 2-3 times a day. If your place of business doesn’t offer healthy choices for snacks, then you have to start bringing your own snacks. Plan ahead and try to have snacks on hand. Healthy snacks: An ounce of nuts, pretzels, or string cheese; a medium piece of fruit; six graham cracker squares; or six cups of low-fat microwave popcorn.

3. Cut your alcohol consumption in half. I know it’s hard, especially at this time of year but alcohol can really pack on the pounds. Check out this article 5 Ways to beat the beer belly.

4. Switch to drinking green tea. Drink two cups of organic green tea a day. With each sip of green tea, you get health-promoting substances: two potent flavonoids — anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin — and a healthy dose of catechin. It also is a proven, natural metabolism booster.

5. Drink lots of water. Even if all you did was start drinking more water you would likely lose weight. That’s because the body needs to be fully hydrated in order to maintain a healthy metabolism.

6. Start a weight-training regimen. You’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but did you know that muscle burns more calories? Building lean muscle through weight training causes the body to burn more calories throughout the day. When combined with regular aerobic exercise, weight training can help you lose more weight.

7.Don’t eat after 8pm. This gives your body a break from digesting while you sleep.

8. Go for lighter choices. If you drink 2% milk, switch to 1% or non-fat. If you use butter, switch to low fat margarine. In any area that you can go low fat try the switch.

9. Share! When eating out start sharing meals. This stops you from eating too much and lets you leave without that awful full feeling.

10. Last but not least, don’t be too hard on yourself. Give yourself rewards every now and then to keep you on your diet. Indulge in conservative amounts of your favorite foods once a week. But remember a serving should be the size of an average apple.