Dont wait for the first hot day of the year to realize last seasons bathing suits and shorts are too snug. Be happy about the way you look and feel by starting an Awesome April routine. I call this The Buckle Down Diet, because it requires hard work and dedication and it isnt easy.

April is the perfect time to start. It gives you a good two months to slim down and get into shape before Memorial Day weekend. The weather is good enough to lift your mood and energy, but not SO good that you want to slack off and grab a few cocktails while lounging outside.

Following these instructions for the next two months will make weight loss achievable and should help you drop two pounds per week. Bring food from home and avoid eating out as much as possible. You dont need to be a cook, but you can assemble ingredients, pack them up and go.

TIP #1: CALORIES

Newsflash: Not all foods are created equal! You can eat more food for fewer calories, or less food and more calories. The choice is yours. A calorie is a measurement of heat. Everyone burns a different amount of calories based on their height, weight, sex and activity factor. The goal is the same for all who want to lose weight: eat fewer calories than you burn. Im not saying to eat less food, just less calories because calories arent all equal. Just one slice of pizza can be 350 calories. A big bowl of tossed salad with cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, peppers, mushrooms, grilled chicken, half of an avocado and vinaigrette dressing can also be 350 calories. Maximizing your intake without maximizing your calories is the best way to keep weight off. Hunger makes us go off our plan. The following food combinations are essential for staying full.

With the protein from the yogurt and fiber from the berries and cereal, its a sure way to stay full or hold you over a few hours until lunch. Fiber One can be dry on its own so give it a little natural sweetness by adding berries.

LUNCH: 100-CALORIE WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLA WITH TOMATOES, 1/2 CUP OF BLACK BEANS AND 3oz OF GRILLED CHICKEN

Protein from lean grilled chicken, plus the fiber provided in the tortilla and beans will be satisfying. Most takeout places that have wraps and burritos are 350-400 calories and hardly any fiber in just the wrap/tortilla alone. Instead of fatty sour cream, slice of an avocado and mash it in. You want the satiety and flavor from the avocado, but eating more than of the fruit will make this meal higher in calories. Other good dressings for your wraps are mustards, low fat mayo and salsa.

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An ‘Awesome April’ plan for shedding pounds

I do not wish to be the type of person who slowly, sadly shakes his head, pining for a simpler past, longingly opening conversations with When I was a kid ... . Moreover, when I become aware of an unfortunate societal trend, I try to prevent cranking up my inner curmudgeon, cynically inquiring of my peers, What has gone wrong with our society?

Having said that, something has gone wrong with our society because -- when I was a kid -- brides-to-be didn't shove tubes up their noses to lose weight before their weddings.

While skimming TV channels, images of young women commuting to work with feeding tubes hanging from their noses flitted across the screen. They didn't seem ill; quite the contrary, they looked to be in the pink (yet another reference from when I was a kid). The reporter explained that some women with upcoming nuptials are resorting to a severe calorie-restricted crash diet to drop 10 to 20 pounds in the two weeks prior to their big day. That unto itself is not newsworthy; long before I was a kid, I imagine women (and even some men) resorted to last-minute diets in order to present their best in front of friends, family and God.

What was exceptional was that, in these cases, the method of choice consisted of consuming only 800 calories a day, delivered in the form of shakes served through a medically implanted feeding tube threaded through the woman's nose, down the esophagus

As long as there has been belly fat, there have been odd and controversial get-thin-quick schemes. Yet, this is beyond the pale.

First of all, restrict your daily intake to 800 calories and it makes no difference whether you consume carrots, cottage cheese or cognac. You'll have no choice but to drop several pounds a week. That doesn't mean it's healthy, and it belies the bigger question: What is it with this unattainable, unrealistic goal of achieving perfection? It's a fantasy state that remains forever out of reach; its pursuit generates self-loathing, frustration and, in cases like these, possible medical complications.

I'm not saying they should show up to the wedding in ratty PJ pants and bunny slippers, but if they're doing it for their husbands, be assured that any groom not overjoyed with the appearance of his bride as she comes down the aisle better not be standing next to her in front of the preacher. That marriage is doomed from the get-go, whether she's a size three or a size 16.

Beyond that, it's sad that the pressure to be perfect is so pronounced that otherwise healthy women feel such self-deficiency that they choose to live with a feeding tube shoved up their nostrils and a sack of protein-rich formula attached to their person. They are hunting for happiness that will not be found.

Ironically, if they redirected that money to themselves -- or even their honeymoons -- they would remember the results more fondly, and far longer, than whether they were a size seven or a five when they said, I do.

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Read more:
STRIVING FOR 'IMPREFECTION': You're going to wear THAT for your wedding?

Earlier this year, my mom pledged to adopt the nothing white diet, as in no white food. I also swore off white flour, sugar, and dairy to see if this shift in diet might help with my feelings of fatigue and generally blah-ness. While I was no means perfect in adhering to it, I did notice an improvement.

Dairy. I cut out milk, half n half, and cheese, and anything made with those ingredients such as ice cream or hot chocolate. My exceptions were butter (because really, life is too short to go without) and dark chocolate (because it is good for you). Immediately, I felt less sluggish and lost five pounds. Also, I spent less money and less time at Starbucks by ordering a small black coffee instead of my triple-shot latte with whole milk.

White flour. This one is tough. Whether its bread at a restaurant (almost never whole wheat) or choosing between GMO corn tacos or white-flour tortillas, white flour is everywhere. I was doing pretty well so long as I was cooking all my own mealsbut extensive traveling put an end to that. Heres what Ive noticed, though: After eating white-bread-based food, my stomach hurts, as if theres this giant dough ball in it. I feel much better without.

Sugar. Did you know that sugar is in everything?! It was even in the organic whole wheat bread we had been buying! Its in even good snacks like the dried fruit or granola bars (though I found Kind Bars, which are made with honey). Cutting out sugar also means cutting out almost all beverages other than water, tea, and coffee.

Tips for trying this at home:

Keep a food diary or food checklist. If you have to write it down, you will be less likely to eat it. I organized mine by categories (fruit, protein, dairy, baddies) so I could see at a glance how I was doing.

Try This Easy Way to Create a Food Journal

Cut one vice a day. Perhaps Wednesday is no-sugar day, Thursday is dairy free, Friday is white flour free. Its a mental trick that will help you cut down consumption without feeling too deprived. Also, the end result is largely the same since all these baddies tend to hang out together. (Hello, baked goods!)

Stock up on good stuff. Make sure you have fresh fruit and vegetables on hand. Heck, wash it and put it in a pretty bowl to facilitate snacking. Sip green tea with ginger and lemon.

Give yourself a chance to succeed. Weaning yourself off this stuff is hard. But a funny thing happenedafter a few weeks my palate changed and I didnt want to eat a ton of crap. Its no longer a rule to not eat something, its simply a preference.

Read more from the original source:
The 'Nothing White' Diet

In a new study examining diet, physical activity and obesity in prison populations, researchers at the University of Oxford in England have found that in most cases, male prisoners are less likely to be obese than men in the general population. Female prisoners, on the other hand, were more likely to be obese than other women at least, in the U.S. and Australia.

The findings, which were published Thursday in the journal Lancet (subscription required), reflect broader health disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged people, the researchers wrote.

They noted that in 2008, 36 million out of 57 million deaths worldwide resulted from non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and respiratory disease. Vulnerable populations, including prisoners, are often hit hardest, they added.

Most of the 9.8 million people imprisoned worldwide are from the poorest and most marginalised sections of society and are therefore likely to be at greater risk for non-communicable diseases, the team wrote.

The Oxford researchers reviewed 31 studies that looked at more than 60,000 prisoners. The studies originated in Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, east Africa, Germany, the Ivory Coast, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and west Africa.

It wasnt easy to get a uniform dataset, but trends emerged.

The team found, for example, a possible reason why the female prisoners were more likely than women in the general population to be obese. While male prisoners in high-income countries ate diets that provide appropriate calorie intake, female prisoners diets provided too many calories.

The evidence suggests that female prisoners are simply supplied with a diet designed for males, the authors wrote. This finding is in accordance with current concerns that prisons are institutions designed by men for men with little concern for the needs of women who form a minority of the global prison population.

Sodium intake was more than twice the recommended level in diets for both men and women in all nine studies where it was analyzed.

Results on physical activity (which were available only for Australia and the U.K.) were a mixed bag: prisoners in the U.K. were less likely to get the recommended amount of exercise than other people in the population; Australian prisoners exercised more than the general public.

Originally posted here:
Study examines diet, exercise, obesity in prisons worldwide

Diet Diet focuses on stress awareness month by offering weight loss programs that also aid in hormonal balance though proper diet, nutrition and exercise.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) April 20, 2012

April is National Awareness Month and Diet Doc offers personalized hCG diet plans that support healthy hormone levels. Their diet uses the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, enhanced with vitamin B12 combined with a supervised ketogenic diet. The elements of this program, combined with proper exercise, are designed to support healthy hormone levels in the body. New theories have suggested that hCG encourages the bodys master hormone glad, the hypothalamus, to reset the endocrine system, the bodys entire hormone system.

Cortisol, also known as the primary stress hormone, is a steroid hormone that not only increases blood sugar and suppresses the immune system but it also plays a key role in aiding in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Higher and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream, known as high stress, are found to have many negative effects on the body such as high blood pressure, suppressed thyroid function, weakened immune system and obesity to name a few.

Diet Docs weight loss program mainly supports hormonal balance through their supervised diet plan. Their plan, inspired by the ketogenic diet, puts an emphasis on nutrient-rich vegetables and protein, essential supplements and uses a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil as their source of fat. They claim that this diet plan in combination with regular intake of hCG will provide healthy, lasting weight loss. In fact, a recent study done by Dr. Sherri Emma, has shown that the hCG diet has lasting weight loss effects through the use of burning fat instead of muscle.

HCG Diet Research Study. The Dr. Oz Show. 15 March 2012, http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/hcg-diet-research-study?page=2#copy,

Diet Doc are known to be the leader and expert in the hCG diet world. The do not follow the original hCG protocol, created by Dr. Simeons in the 1950s, which limits the daily caloric intake to 500 calories. Instead, Diet Doc modernized the plan by increasing the calorie intake and even added key supplements to their plan, which was prohibited on the Simeons protocol. The company continues to expand their brand and now offer pre- packaged meals, meal replacement shakes and bars and supplements to support their diet plan.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/4/prweb9424938.htm

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Diet Doc Offers Customized hCG Weight Loss Plans That Support April’s National Stress Month