People are busier than ever before. Several decades ago, the so-called experts predicted we would be living a life of leisure and that there would be almost no need to work at all. The reality that we live in now is much different; we are working more and under more stress. It doesn’t take much of a leap to figure out why people are eating out more often, and how that can lead to obesity. Still, eating outside of the home is convenient, so having a restaurant calorie counter can be a real life saver.

If you have ever tried losing weight, then you know how difficult it can be. Anything you can use to help you lose weight is a good thing. A restaurant calorie counter is the ideal tool for helping you stay on your diet when eating out. It just makes sense to have this information on hand.

A big problem people have is unrealistic expectations. They decide they need to lose weight, and vow to make super-healthy meals at home. They envision themselves in the kitchen making nutritious foods from scratch, and sitting down to a nice home-cooked meal. If you can do this, then that’s great, but be honest about it. If you’re not already in the habit of making meals at home, then being on a diet won’t be enough to change that.

It’s much better to face the fact that you’re the type of person who likes to eat out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it’s best to be realistic before starting a diet. Of course, once you’re in a restaurant you still have to watch what you eat, and that’s where a restaurant calorie counter can be so helpful.

Well, ‘helpful’ is one way to describe it, but ‘vital’ may be more accurate. While you can always check food labels for the items you have at home, very few restaurants put any kind of nutritional information right on the menu. Some fast food places will have a brochure that lists the info, but it’s rare for a regular restaurant to publish this information.

Without a restaurant calorie counter, the only thing you can do is guess how many calories you’re eating. That may sound reasonable, but studies have shown that people consistently underestimate the number of calories in the food they eat; and if you’re on a diet, then you can’t afford to be too far off. If you underestimate, then you may overeat; if you overestimate, then you may feel hungry all the time.

When selecting a calorie guide, it’s best to make sure it includes the restaurants you visit most. Of course not all locally owned restaurants will be covered, but most guides will give you a pretty close approximation for most foods. For example, if it’s an Italian restaurant, then make sure that the restaurant calorie counter you get includes listings for the foods most typically served at Italian restaurants.

Tags: Brochure, Calorie Counter, Calories, Decades, Diet, Eating Habits, Fast Food, Food Labels, Food Places, Habit, Healthy Diet, Healthy Meals, Home Cooked Meal, Leap, Life Of Leisure, Losing Weight, Nutritional Information, Nutritious Foods, obesity;, Scratch, Stress, Unrealistic Expectations, Vow —

There are a lot of things people can do to improve their general state of wellness. Perhaps the most important of these is healthy eating. If you have ever paid attention to experts when they talk about getting healthy, you will notice that there are two things that always seem to come up: diet and exercise. There is no question that what you choose to eat plays a major role in healthy you are.

All kinds of analogies are used when talking about the human body, but one of the most fitting for our purposes has to be comparing the body to cars. There are cars that are fairly new, but their owners don’t take care of them, so they start running poorly long before they should. Then there are the cars that are decades old and still run like new. This is rarely due to luck. Instead it’s all about how the owner takes care of their car.

We can continue this analogy a bit further. The kind of fuel you put into your car makes all the difference. Sure, an economy model may be able to run on any brand of gasoline, but a fine-tuned sports car requires premium. All cars require regular maintenance as well. However, this analogy can only go so far, and there is one huge difference between the two. You can always trade in a car for a newer model, but you only get one body. Yet, too many people take much better care of their cars than themselves. Healthy eating is like putting the right kind of fuel in a car, but a car that you can never trade in.

Now, there are a lot of diets out there that promise to do this or that. Some claim that they can get you to lose weight the easy way, others are meant to prevent cancer, lower your cholesterol, or reduce the risk of various ailments. The truth is that some of them really do work for some people. But there are so many bad diets out there that it can be hard to figure out which ones are worth trying. You can actually try most diets, but there’s a catch. You need to know what counts as healthy eating first, then only use those parts of the diet that will be good for you.

Choices are what it’s all about. Let’s face it, most of us already have a pretty good idea about which foods we should eat and which ones we should avoid. For example, if you have a choice between eating a large chocolate doughnut and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast; you would most likely agree that the oatmeal was healthier. That doesn’t mean you can’t ever eat a doughnut, not at all. But if you do, you should think of it as an occasional snack, and not a nutritious breakfast. And that’s only one example. Just being aware of the choices you make is an excellent start to eating right.

Tags: Ailments, Analogies, Analogy, cancer;, Cars, Cholesterol, Decades, Diet, Diets, Eating Habits, Economy Model, Exercise, Gasoline, Healthy Diet, Healthy Eating, Human Body, Ideal Weight, Losing Weight, Many People, Risk, Sports Car, Weight Loss, Wellness —

Hoodia gordonii is a plant that is grown in South Africa. This plant has a centuries old reputation for suppressing hunger and thirst and was used by bushmen as a way to keep them from getting hungry and thirsty before they set off on long dessert trek. The bushman not only didn’t show any ill effects from ingesting the plant they also spoke of increased vitality and energy. Drug companies have spent decades trying to isolate the compound that gives hoodia gordonii it’s seemingly miraculous powers.

P57 is the compound in hoodia that is credited with helping to suppress appetite and thirst by tricking the brain into thinking it is full and satisfied thus decreasing the desire to eat and drink. While scientists have been unable to incorporate the compound into a diet supplement, they have used the hoodia plant as a whole to create beneficial appetite suppressants. The hoodia side effects have been shown to not exist at all.

There haven’t really been too many documented studies to verify how safe the supplement is to use as a diet aid, but evidence suggests that it has no ill effects and that actually the health benefits of weight loss would seem to outweigh any potential negative side effects of the hoodia gordonii.

One note, since hoodia gordonii can suppress thirst as well as appetite you do need to be careful to drink enough water throughout your day. It’s very easy to get dehydrated if you wait until you feel thirst before drinking, since you won’t feel thirsty while taking the supplement. And, obviously, since hoodia suppresses the appetite it’s important that you are careful to eat enough high nutrient foods to keep your body healthy.

As with most drugs, it’s important to use caution if you are nursing or pregnant and you should always consult your doctor before you start taking a supplement, especially if you are taking other medications, to avoid dangerous interactions. Many people mistakenly believe that as long as the product is all natural they don’t have to worry about taking it, that is not always the case and it’s better to be safe than sorry, talk to your doctor.

Another thing to keep in mind when using, or considering using, any weight loss supplements is to not expect miracles. There is nothing wrong with getting some extra help but you have to be willing to eat properly (enough of the right kinds of food) and get plenty of exercise. A supplement is exactly that: a supplement. It shouldn’t be the do all end all of your weight loss plan, be willing to make the needed lifestyle changes so your weight loss can be permanent.

Hoodia gordonii is an all natural plant that can help you accomplish your weight loss goals (when combined with a proper nutrition plan and plenty of exercise) which has gained in popularity in recent years in large part due to the lack of hoodia side effects. As long as you talk to your doctor first and carefully following the dosing instructions, there is no evidence to suggest that you will have any negative side effects using this supplement. Good luck on your weight loss goals.

Tags: Appetite Suppressants, Bushman, Bushmen, Caution, Dangerous Interactions, Decades, Dessert, Diet Aid, Diet Supplement, energy;, food;, Health Benefits, Healthy Diet, Hoodia Gordonii, Hoodia Plant, Hoodia Side Effects, Hunger And Thirst, Ill Effects, Losing Weight, Medications, Miraculous Powers, Natura, pence, South Africa, Vitality —

Losing weight really can be a life or death situation, particularly for those people who are morbidly obese. Time is of the essence and the longer it takes to lose the weight the greater the risk to their health. For this reason gastric bypass surgery may be the best option. If you are considering this procedure but would like to know more about the recovery process, this article on gastric bypass post op can help.

This procedure has been available for decades and though there are some risks, as with all surgeries, they are minimal and rare. The most common issue faced by someone is the lifestyle changes they will need to make. These changes can be challenging which is why most patients are given a lot of pre-op counseling so that they fully understand what they will need to commit themselves to.

Most people understand the basic concept of gastric bypass, your stomach is made smaller so that you can only eat small amounts of food at one sitting. So, obviously, one of the most drastic changes will be a dramatically reduced food intake at each meal.

Other post op lifestyle changes may not seem so obvious such as the fact that you can no longer eat a lot of high sugar and high fat foods. Eating too much of this type of food can lead to fainting since it will be absorbed much more quickly than it would have been before the surgery when your stomach literally had more room.

When you are eating less, you are also drinking less which means that you will need to drink water, in small amounts, throughout your day to avoid dehydration.

While everyone is different and each individuals results will vary, on average many patients will lose up to 50 % of their extra weight within the first six months after surgery. From six months to two years the amount of weight loss will generally be as high as 70%. After two years post op the average weight loss tends to level off at about 80%. It’s very uncommon for someone to lose 100% of their excess fat so some people will claim that this type of surgery isn’t successful.

Only the individual can judge the success for themselves, but my guess would be that if someone is morbidly obese and weighs in excess of 300 lbs, they would be thrilled to lose 60 – 80% of their excess weight!

If you are extremely overweight and you are anxious to get yourself to a more healthy weight you may want to look into gastric bypass surgery. This is a viable way for you to take control of your weight more quickly than just diet and exercise. Your gastric bypass post op lifestyle will be considerably different and if you’re not willing to make significant changes to your lifestyle the process will not work for you. This article has given you a brief overview and now you have an idea of what’s involved, your doctor will answer the rest of your questions.

Tags: Bypass Surgery, Counseling, Death Situation, Decades, dehydration;, Drastic Changes, fainting, food intake;, food;, Gastric Bypass, Gastric Bypass Surgery, Health, Lifestyle Changes, Losing Weight, Lot, pre-op, Reason, reduced food intake, Risk, Six Months, Stomach, Surgeries, surgery, Time Is Of The Essence, Type Of Food, Weight Loss —