HealthyWeek

Two good diet foods: Fruits and veggies. They're low in calories and high in fiber, which makes them great ammunition in the battle of the bulge. They have a pretty super side effect too -- they're loaded with antioxidants to boost your health. Next time you're shopping for your diet goods, pick up these five colors, each featuring unique antioxidants to keep you healthy while you whittle away at your weight. Red: Pink grapefruit, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon all contain lycopene, a lung and prostate cancer fighter. Purple: Concord grapes, blueberries, and prunes have anthocyanins to ward off heart disease and lower the risk of cancer. Green: Spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and bok choy come with lutein, great for reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and macular degeneration. Orange: Carrots, mangos, pumpkin, and oranges are the keepers of beta carotenes, the stuff that prevents cancers of the lung, esophagus, and stomach and keeps ...

To truly make the most of your weight loss and fitness efforts, it's best to follow a program that covers all the bases. Resistance training is a great way to build lean muscle and reduce fat, but it may not be enough by itself to produce the results you're looking for. Therefore, be sure to also include regular cardio sessions in your workout and spend some time stretching, as well. The same logic applies for doing cardio by itself; you will drop pounds, but not as fast as you would if you also weight train. And, without resistance training, you will not put on any considerable amount of lean muscle. But, what do you do if you don't have any weights at your disposal? Simple - use your own body weight. This article, from the popular fitness website iLookLikeFit.com, offers some great tips on how to get a solid body weight workout. The solution? Take a moment to reevaluate your workout. Be sure to include both resistance training and cardio sessions throughout the week. And,...

In what by this point seems like a past life, I was at one time a personal trainer. And it was during those couple of years that I met some truly inspirational people, many of which had never before stepped foot in a gym. Why? Because they felt as though they were too heavy to work out. Seems almost counter-intuitive, doesn't it? Yet, when you factor in the greater difficulty and the understandable feelings of insecurity, reluctance of this kind begins to make perfect sense. So for those you remarkable folks out there who are looking to start a workout, but wonder if there are any tips a heavier person should be aware of, here are I few I feel are worth mentioning: Don't starve yourself. Heavier people tend to burn calories more quickly than skinny people, so you do not want to deny yourself the fuel you need to complete your workouts. Drink plenty of water. Bigger people tend to sweat quite a bit, which means that they are losing plenty of water. Be sure to replenish that lost...

We all want to save money when grocery shopping -- who wouldn't? But, as Maggie mentioned last month, bargain foods, while light on the wallet, can be heavy on your waistline and hard on your health. An article in Shape magazine says that research has shown less expensive items often have more trans fats than those that are slightly more expensive . Trans fats, as you may know, have been shown to raise your bad cholesterol, and can show up in the ingredient list as partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oil and shortening -- not stuff you want in your snacks, no matter how great the price is. The University of Minnesota researchers Shape refers to found that 24 percent of the products they examined still contained trans fats -- the amounts might have been reduced from previous versions, but the products were not trans fat-free. Be choosy when buying snacks -- don't let a bargain get in the way of your health! To see some surprising foods that have trans fats, check out this sli...

Recent research shows that people who are newly diagnosed with type II diabetes can gain better control over their health if they lose weight. While that isn't terribly surprising, what is surprising is that the benefits seem to last even if the patient gains back some of the weight . Losing some excess pounds helps people with type II diabetes better control blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. In the study, more than 2,000 people recently diagnosed with type II diabetes were followed for four years. 12% of those patients lost a mean of 25 pounds. Other groups either gained weight or their weight remained stable. Within 36 months almost all of the patients who had lost weight had regained it. Surprisingly, those patients continued to have better blood sugar and blood pressure control at the end of the four-year study -- even though their weight had been regained. Obviously, this isn't an argument for losing and regaining weight. Researchers don't know how long the...

If you've been eating (or feeding your kids) oatmeal for breakfast with the understanding that it's one of the healthiest choices you can make, you need to rethink your strategy . While oatmeal can provide good nutrients, a recent study showed that kids who only ate instant oatmeal for breakfast experienced increased appetites and calorie consumption throughout the day. In fact, when compared to having a vegetable omelet and fruit, oatmeal increased appetite and calorie consumption by more than 80%. Steel-cut oats didn't have as drastic an effect as instant oatmeal, however. The researchers attributed their findings to fluctuations in blood sugar resulting from a meal of processed grain products. Adding some protein at breakfast is essential in keeping blood sugar (and appetites) from fluctuating wildly throughout the day.

Vacation is a time for sitting on the beach with a blended drink in hand, right? But if you're sick of being out of shape and overweight, that choice is likely one more reason you're averting your eyes from the scale. Why not take those two weeks or more of vacation time to shake up those bad habits and develop good ones instead? I just returned from a week in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park . Yes, I'm a backpacker and rock climber at heart, but two young kids have dampened my energy and time for outdoor pursuits. After hanging with the kids all summer, I nearly begged my husband to make our first no-kid vacation in eight years complete with a beach ... and cabana boy. Nope, he wanted backcountry camping and mountain ascents. Deep down, I knew I wanted them, too. But you don't need to be a backcountry guru to reap the benefits of hiking hours a day amongst beautiful mountain lakes, winding trails and stunning overlooks. Rocky Mountain National Park offers an...

Recent photos of Britney Spears in a bikini in Mexico show that the starlet is doing well with her healthy makeover -- she looked trim and healthy, and, most importantly, happy. However, getting to that point came with a hefty price tag. Britney has reportedly spent $22,000 a month to get back in shape! So what does this $22,000 go toward each month? Britney is paying a nutritionist, buying diet supplements, and has a personal trainer and private dance choreographer on call. One thing she's not spending her cash on: Red Bull. She has switched it out for a much more healthful option, and now drinks lots of water. Additionally, she's sticking to a 1400 calorie per day diet, though she allows herself one "cheat day," and snacks on edamame beans. Her meals are made of fresh foods, and she's only eating two-thirds of what's on her plate. It sounds like she's got a very healthy system in place, and while most of us couldn't afford her "people," al...

Those interested in the lives of the stars will recall that mega celeb Nicole Kidman gave birth a few weeks ago to daughter Sunday Rose, who is no doubt cute as a button. But recent photos of the actress getting into her car for yoga class are raising some eyebrows -- not because motherhood has changed her but because she looks, well, the same as she did before she got pregnant: Thin. Check out these photos -- from the looks of it, I would bet she is back in her pre-baby jeans already, and the baby isn't even three weeks old. Granted, Nicole has always been thin and she maintained her svelte figure throughout the pregnancy, but do you think this is a little extreme? Or are all the naysayers just raising a fuss because they're jealous? Whatever the case, it takes dedication to look that good, don't you think?

When emotions run high, a lot of people run for the fridge. Emotional eating is a complex habit. For many people, it's a habit that they've practiced for years and years -- maybe even since their childhood. Many people who eat due to emotions such as sadness, anger, depression, boredom, stressed, or loneliness, are fully aware that they are emotional eaters. Even though they're cognizant of their eating habits, in the heat of the moment it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between real hunger and emotional triggers. But knowing your body and finding healthier outlets for your emotions is important for health. Everyday Health shares some tips on determining real, physical hunger from emotion-based hunger : Physical hunger builds gradually, causes your stomach to growl, isn't accompanied by a sense of compulsion, occurs hours after you last ate, and goes away after eating. Emotional hunger develops suddenly, is a more mental craving (when you "get a taste...

Trivial Pursuit Question: What's the most important meal of the day for athletes? If you answered 'breakfast,' then off to your nutrition tutor, you just flunked. According to Dr. Jose Antonio , the most important 'meal' of the day is what you consume before, during, and after exercise! Dr. Antonio gave a seminar to a packed house at the National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas this week. He showed proof that if you consume a combination of protein and carbohydrate during the pre-, during, and post-workout period, you'll put on lean body mass better and lose body fat. Breakfast doesn't do that my friend. Dr. Antonio calls this the science of nutrient timing. So when you re-take that quiz, make sure you answer Before, During, and After exercise! Then you get to go to the head of the class To learn more about Nutrient Timing click here .