New studies have found that consuming spicy foods can reduce cravings, and adding a little spice to your life may just be the tool you were looking for. One of the things that affects our diet, and in this context also our health, in the most significant way is the way we deal with cravings. Even if we manage to get into a regimen of eating regular and healthy meals, sometime throughout the day we will crave a salty or sweet food that will lead us to the snack drawer, or the pastry area in the supermarket, where we find ourselves loading the cart with empty calories that cause obesity and incr ..read more

We all need fruits and vegetables in our daily diet to give our body a dose of health and resilience with essential nutrients, minerals and vitamins.  Unfortunately, some fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of sugar and carbohydrates, which make the task of maintaining weight extremely challenging. If you regularly consume fruits like bananas and mangos, or vegetables like potatoes and corn, you should know that they contain large amounts of carbohydrates. And we all know that carbohydrates can make it difficult for you to achieve the results you desire.  What do you eat ..read more

When you think of a low carb diet, you probably are thinking high-protein (think Atkins, South Beach, Keto, etc.) If you have ever followed a high protein diet, you know that you lose a lot of weight in the beginning.  The whole debate around carbs is pretty complex (pun intended).  Cutting out carbs can affect your mood, your brain and your digestive system.  We aren’t saying you shouldn’t do it, but it helps to know up front what is going to happen. It’s water weight you are losing, not fat: It’s so exciting to drop those initial pounds but here is the science behind it. Carbo ..read more

There are are no shortages of diets that you can follow. They always sound good when you start out (no carbs but you can eat cheese and whipped cream and steak?  Or “anything you want” as long as it’s a whole food, a clean food, an ancestor food – the list goes on and on).  All of these top diets have solid thought behind the concept – it’s just hard to maintain one type of diet over time.  What if you could form your own plan using the top tips from each trend?  Here’s what we think it would look like…   Tips from the top 7   TIP #1 (PALEO ..read more

Sugar is our reward. You finished dinner - you get dessert. Need a pick me up? Have a quick snack. Doesn’t matter if it’s salty or sweet, your body turns it all into sugar. While we do need SOME sugar occurring naturally in our diet, as women we shouldn’t have more than 6 added teaspoons daily yet most Americans eat 19 or more teaspoons of added sugar daily. To put this into perspective – one 12 oz can of coke contains approximately 10 teaspoons of sugar. Each 6 teaspoons equal 100 calories. 16 little wheat thin crackers contain 4 grams of added sugar (that’s a teaspoon right there) and that’s ..read more

It’s said that our diet is a window into our emotional self.  If your emotional state is in turmoil, you are probably eating more and not taking care of yourself as well.  Nobody eats 100% healthy all the time, but when you start binge eating or emotional eating – it can create bad habits. And in turn, bad habits can lead to being overweight and a whole host of related health problems.   Here are five GOOD habits to cultivate that will help you take back control of your eating:   Organize your time!  This means you need to plan your food.  Last minute de ..read more

Coffee Naps or Nappucino’s are the latest trend in power-napping. Even if you aren’t big on napping, this might be something you can get behind to give yourself the energy boost needed to get through a crazy day. How does it work? Drink a quick cup of coffee then immediately take a nap. While it may seem counterintuitive, it takes the caffeine about 30 minutes to kick in. So, you fall asleep and when the caffeine kicks in you wake up with the perfect amount of sleep and the boost from the caffeine as well. It’s like setting a body alarm so you can’t oversleep. There are a few small studies th ..read more

NO – there’s no such thing as a French fry diet – but you can eat fries even when you want to lose weight. How? Surprisingly, French fries aren’t the diet villain we always thought. Yes, they are fattening, but they aren’t empty calories and potatoes have definite health benefits. Although it is considered a simple carbohydrate (which means your body burns up the energy quickly), white potatoes do contain a significant amount of nutrients.  We all know that sweet potatoes are a more complex carbohydrate and digest slower than their white counterpart.  We have also been told ..read more

Boost Your Body’s Natural Defenses If we’ve learned over these last couple of years it’s that we need to do our part to keep our bodies healthy.  There are many articles about how to boost your immune health.  Here are 9 tips to strengthen your immunity naturally.   9 Ways to Boost Your Body’s Natural Defenses 1. Get enough sleep Sleep and immunity are closely linked.  Inadequate or poor sleep makes you more susceptible to getting sick.  In a study in 164 healthy adults, those who slept fewer than 6 hours each night were more likely to catch a cold ..read more

Sunshine has a lot of benefits for our bodies. Here are seven great reasons to get outside and soak in the sun. Sunshine has a bigger impact on health than most would think! While there is concern over potential damage to the skin and the adverse effects of ultraviolet radiation, moderate sun exposure is still recommended. The benefits of moderate sun exposure go beyond the skin - they affect the entire organism. Modern beliefs tend to depict the sun in a bad light. We are often told to avoid direct sun exposure and always wear sunscreen before stepping outdoors. While it is true that some se ..read more