Have Acne? Choose A Diet To Suit You

Is your skin healthy lately? Or are you being plagued by that horrible skin affliction called acne? If you answer "yes" to the latter question, then you have a serious problem. Chances are you have already tried several different methods to treat your acne. You go to dermatologists to get prescriptions, ask friends what products they use, go to the drugstore to get the latest over-the-counter medication advertised on television, call the hotline number for the newest breakthrough featured in the infomercial you saw last night. But then none of them only seem to produce less than satisfactory results or none at all! Here's another question for you. What have you been eating lately? Has the idea of acne diets ever crossed your mind?

Are you eating healthy? A proper diet greatly contributes to having healthier skin. Even better, acne diets will help lessen breakouts and keep your skin soft, smooth and supple. Can you recall a simple concept called "garbage in, garbage out"? This is how acne diets operate. Always remember that what you eat has an effect not just on your body's physical strength, but your appearance as well. The very simple habit of drinking eight glasses of water a day helps a lot in flushing out toxins from your body. People who do not make a habit of drinking enough water every day suffer from skin dryness, pimple and other forms of skin ailments. Vegetables are high sources of fiber. Fiber-enriched acne diets also help in cleaning the body on the inside. Fruits are also sources of fiber. Apart from that they are rich in vitamins. What the skin needs most are vitamins A, C and E. These are highly present in citrus fruits. Fruits secrete enzymes that help fight acne. The vitamins present in fruits keep the skin soft and radiant looking.

Acne diets are very easy to follow. Water, vegetables and fruits are the keys to keeping an acne-free skin. Keeping tabs on the contents or ingredients of every meal is a step closer to having beautiful skin. Here are a few more tips – adequate rest, regular exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle can transform you in ways you never imagined possible. You are healthy, you look good and you have your confidence back. Remember, what's inside can be reflected outside.

About The Author
Luke Cameron is owner of Beauty Care Inc. - an online magazine offering news, tips and articles on beauty related topics. His website can be found at: http://www.beautycareinc.com.

Low Carb vs. High

Low carb diets can be classified as food plans that require keeping carbohydrates as low as 3% and never more than about 25 to 30%. This is much lower than the 50 to 60% recommended by most good scientists and valid research. Low carb diets include programs like Atkins, Protein Power, The Zone, Sugar Busters and the South Beach diet.

As you can see by the chart below, the Ornish and Pritikin diets at 70% and 80% carbs, are definitely high carb. One means used to distract people's attention away from the fact that the Atkins diet is basically an unhealthy food plan is to compare a "low carb" diet to a "high carb" diet. However, neither one is the best solution.

Although the in-depth research of Dr. Dean Ornish, using his high carb/low fat diet, has uncovered some amazing findings and produced phenomenal results in reversing heart disease, as a weight loss program and regular eating plan, it has some drawbacks. The Ornish diet, as with Pritikin, is proving to be too low in healthy oils from fish, olives, nuts and seeds. Plus, it may also raise triglycerides and lower HDL (good) cholesterol.

This chart shows you carb, fat and protein comparisons:

Carbs Fat Protein

Atkins 3-20% 45-65% 25-35%

South Beach 10-25% 50-70% 20-30%

Healthy 50-60% 20-30% 20-25%

Ornish/Pritikin 70-80% 5-15% 10-15%

Diets at both the top and bottom extremes have their problems. Anyone can lose weight on a diet – fad or otherwise - for a week, a month or even six months. But, for a weight loss program to be truly effective, your diet must become part of your lifestyle and the basis of everyday food choices. Besides health concerns, too many people find both low carb and high carb diets difficult to stick with for a lifetime. Your best bet is to develop a low calorie, healthy eating lifestyle that includes regular moderate exercise.

About The Author
Moss Greene is the Nutrition Host at Bellaonline.com. Visit her web site at http://www.bellaonline.com/site/nutrition to find out how to look better, feel your best and have more energy -naturally. Join her free health and fitness newsletter by going to http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2919.asp
nutrition@bellaonline.com

Eating Healthy On A Budget

Think eating healthy on a budget is impossible? Many people believe that cutting back on food costs means that you can't buy healthy food anymore.

Some people even convince themselves that healthy weight loss is not possible unless they spend a lot of money.

But eating healthy on a budget as well as healthy weight loss is not only possible, with a little planning you can cut food costs and still eat healthy food.

Here are a few tips to make it easier for eating healthy on a budget.

Plan your weekly food menus with healthy eating recipes and make a grocery list with those items before you shop. This saves you time in the store and can save you a lot of money because you are less likely to buy on an impulse.

Stock your fridge and cupboards with healthy foods, and to keep costs down, stay away from extras like soft drinks, chips, baked goods, and other high-calorie items.

Children and sometimes even spouses are usually the ones asking for junk food. Remember, food choices are a big factor in what determines the health of you and your family.

Buy more water or milk instead of soft drinks when shopping and you'll save money. You can still enjoy your favorite soft drinks at a sporting event or night out. For healthy weight loss just make it a diet soda.

Buy fruits in quantity when they are in season and freeze any extras. Just wash the fruit well, dry thoroughly, then freeze in plastic zipper bags.

While lean meat and seafood are a great source of protein, they can get expensive. To cut your costs, use beans a substitute for meat on a few occasions.

Beans are very economical and makes eating healthy on a budget really simple. There are several varieties of beans and preparing them in a crock pot and making a salad turns into an easy meal.

Another great way for eating healthy on a budget is brown-bagging your lunch. It takes a little more time, but with the right food choices, it is both healthier and less expensive.

Peanut butter is also great for those on a budget and almost everyone likes it. Use it for sandwiches along with jam instead of expensive lunch meat.

For healthy weight loss try adding sugar free jam because it has a lot fewer calories and fat than regular jam but still tastes great.

If you eat foods that have a high content of water like watermelon, salads and even sugar free gelatin, they are inexpensive, ideal for healthy weight loss and work perfect for eating healthy on a budget.

It easy to fall into a rut of eating the same unhealthy and expensive foods. But once you take back control by planning your weekly food menus with healthy eating recipes, you can enjoy a nice variety of meals again.

Eating healthy on a budget can be as simple as just making different choices.

About The Author
Gary Gresham is the author of "Fat Burning Secrets" at: http://www.fat-burning-secret.com where you can discover simple yet powerful changes that can have a major effect on your weight loss results. Get a free report at: http://www.fat-burning-secret.com/fat-burning-report.html.

What's Wrong With Dr. Phil's Food Plan?

I really like Dr. Phil, so I wanted to like his new book on weight loss. And I do like some of it, however, there's a big problem with the chapter on what to eat. Dr. Phil proposes exactly the same eating plan for everyone. This will NOT work!

His plan may include too many calories for some people, mostly small-framed people. I was actually eating a very similar amount of food at one time, watching my fat intake carefully, eating plenty of fiber, and my weight wouldn't budge. When I joined Weight Watchers, I learned that I was eating too much (for someone my size) to lose weight. After following their suggestions, I eventually lost 40 pounds and have maintained a healthy weight for almost 5 years.

Dr. Phil's plan also actually provides too few calories for many people to be successful. Sound impossible? Let me explain.

Your body needs a certain number of calories to sustain normal functions like pumping blood, breathing, and digesting food (called your basal metabolic rate, or BMR.) This need actually depends on your current weight. The heavier you are, the more calories your body needs just to function, even at rest. There are several websites to visit for a BMR calculator and more information on this subject. You also burn calories during exercise; your adjusted caloric needs including your activity level is called the AMR (active metabolic rate). Some of the sites you'll find will calculate both your BMR and AMR, so keep looking if you don't see AMR on the first one you hit. As you lose weight, your BMR and AMR will drop.

We all know that if we eat too much, we gain weight. We also all know that if we eat way too little, we can starve to death. But somewhere in between, we can lose weight healthfully. Our bodies are smart enough to know where that range is and to protect us if we eat too little. (It also tries to protect us from eating too much. That's what feeling uncomfortably stuffed is all about!) If you eat a little below your AMR, you can lose weight healthfully. If you eat farther below, your body will protect you by reducing your BMR (and AMR) to conserve energy, and you'll stop losing weight. Eat too far below, and you'll start losing again-but you're starving yourself.

What does this mean? You must eat enough to lose weight healthfully! If you eat too few calories, you'll likely either get stuck on a plateau, or you'll lose weight too fast with potential health consequences. A healthy rate of weight loss is no more than 2 pounds per week average, after the first 2-3 weeks on a plan. A good recommendation for healthy weight loss is to eat 500 calories under your AMR (not below your BMR!) and to remember to recalculate your needs as you lose weight (recalculate after every 25 pounds lost, if you get stuck and are not losing, or if you increase your activity significantly).

Dr. Phil doesn't provide different plans based on your starting weight and activity level, and he is against counting calories (or exchanges or Points.) But without knowing your approximate AMR and calculating the calories (or exchanges or Points) in a food plan, it's impossible to know how much food to eat to start out. And without recalculating your AMR as you lose and adjusting your food plan accordingly, it's difficult to keep losing weight at the proper rate. He makes no mention of changing your food plan until you reach your final goal. But people who have a significant amount to lose will need to adjust their calorie intake several times before reaching goal.

One size does NOT fit all! Frankly I am quite surprised nobody told him this before he published! If you are serious about losing weight healthfully, either calculate this for yourself or join a program (like Weight Watchers) where they teach you how much to eat without restricting your food choices. With just a little information about yourself and your body, you can do this RIGHT.

About The Author
Dale Reynolds is a weight loss counselor from update New York. She has written a book, "A Slim Book On Weighty Matters", about weight management and has a website with great tips and a free newsletter, www.slimdale.com
dale@slimdale.com

How To Stay Slim During The Holiday Season

The majority of people find themselves carrying additional fat once the holidays are over. Worst of all, most of them never lose this extra weight. Over the years, few pounds gained over the holidays here and there add up to 10, 20, 30 pounds of excess fat!

To avoid falling into the holiday fat trap, follow these simple tips:

1. Don't deprive yourself. Munching on a green salad while everyone is feasting on turkey and stuffing is just not worth it. You will end up miserable, and chances are you'll binge at home or on the next party. Depriving yourself once is likely to cause you to eat everything in sight the next day to "compensate" for your suffering.

2. Don't stuff yourself. You are not a turkey, after all! :-) Remember, this is not the last time in your life that you can eat.

3. Eat a small meal several hours before the party. This will prevent you from being too hungry when faced with abundant menu. When you are not starving, you can think with your brain, and not with your stomach.

4. Eat slowly. It takes our body about 20 minutes to realize that we are full. Also, the slower you eat, the less food you'll eat as opposed to eating fast in the same amount of time.

5. Be aware of what you are eating. It's easy to get carried away in conversation, and eat way too much before you know it. Don't automatically go for more helpings while you are talking to someone.

6. If you are cooking the food, prepare healthier versions of traditional dishes. Don't go too far by trying to completely cut out the fat. Just make some slight changes such as mashing potatoes with low-fat milk, adding less butter to the food, and serving more salads and veggies. Or make the stuffing in a casserole dish outside of turkey, so it does not soak up the extra fat.

7. Deal with the food-pushing hosts by complimenting them. When they try to force more food on you, smile. Say how much you love their food, but unfortunately you are so full, you can't get in another bite. And that you'll be delighted if they gave you some of this food to take home, if there is anything left after the party!

8. Choose the turkey breast meat, since it has fewer calories then dark meat. Also, most of the fat in a turkey is contained in the skin. So, if you can, don't eat the skin. Skinless turkey breast is actually a healthy choice. But go easy on a fat-laden gravy!

9. Eat small amounts of various foods, as opposed to large portions of few foods. Sampling everything on the menu will leave you more satisfied since you've tried everything there is. But remember, moderation is key.

10. Eat that dessert. The trick here is to eat a small piece of it. This way you can have your cake and eat it too!

About The Author
Melanie Mendelson is the author of Practical Weight Loss - the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off. Visit Melanie's site at http://www.practical-weight-loss.com