Foods To Avoid
Saturday, December 30, 2006

eDiets has posted a list of 7 foods to avoid. It's a good list but the foods are way too obviously bad for you. Everyone knows that doughnuts are bad for you. You don't see many infomercials about the new and amazing Doughnut Diet do you?

I'd rather see a list of foods being passed off as healthy that actually aren't good for you.

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posted by Anthony @ 8:26 AM, ,


Brain Wave Therapy

When I was younger and was willing to try anything that sounded cool, I stumbled across Brain Wave Therapy. Unlike some of the other odd things I tried, Brain Wave Therapy actually works.

Here’s how it works. Your brain resonates at different frequencies based on what you’re doing. You’re creating Delta waves when you sleep, Alpha waves when you’re focused and theta waves when you’re meditating. By listening to the right frequencies, you can coax your brain to do what you want it to. For example, if you listen to theta waves when you’re trying to meditate you should be able to achieve a deeper state of relaxation then you normally would without the theta waves. Sort of like your own meditation guru in a your MP3 player.

Eager to revisit Brain Wave Therapy I downloaded some of the BrainSync audio files. All I had to do was listen to them with stereo headphones and I would be on my way to the benefits of meditation.

If you don’t like the idea of listening to static then maybe BrainSync's Audio Recordings aren't for you. Well maybe not static, it’s more of a constant hum. There’s some bells and chimes and some of recordings sort of sound like music but you really shouldn’t expect to be rocking to the oldies. There are some other recordings that you could try such as those by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson but my experience is with BrainSync so I can't vouch for them.

But it definitely works for me and Brain Wave Therapy has been clinically proven to be effective. They are also offered to patients at America's most respected cancer treatment hospitals, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Dana Farber.

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posted by Anthony @ 7:31 AM, ,


E. Coli On The Menu
Sunday, December 17, 2006

Most people are aware that fast food isn’t the most healthy choice out there but lately it’s becoming deadly.

First there was the bagged spinach outbreak, then Taco Bell and now I’m seeing reports of E. Coli at the Olive Garden.

I think my policy going forward is going to be to try to cook and eat as much fresh food as I can. Conveniences like fast food and bagged greens are nice but if I want a taco, I should make it myself. As someone trying to eat healthy and lose weight, it’ll take more time to wash some greens from the produce market instead of ripping open a pre-washed bag but in the long run I’ll probably be better off.

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posted by Anthony @ 7:27 AM, ,


Body Mass Index (BMI)
Monday, December 11, 2006

A common way to quickly determine if you are overweight is by calculating your Body Mass Index or BMI. The number is based on your height and your weight. At a certain height you should weigh a certain amount. Go over that amount and you are overweight. Go way over and you are obese.

BMI is your weight divided by the square of your height. But before you break out a pad and pencil, you could try one of the many BMI Calculators on the web.

If your BMI is over 30, you're obese. Score 25-29 and you're overweight. A normal BMI is in the 18 to 24 range.

At 5 feet 10 inches and 225 pounds, my BMI is 32.3 and that firmly places me in the obese category.

But remember that muscle weighs more than fat. So athletes with heavier body mass because of their muscles are likely to be in the obese category as well. Unfortunately for me, I am no longer an athlete so the point is moot.

If I want to move into the "Normal" BMI category, then I'll need to weigh in around 170 pounds. Losing 45 pounds sounds like a really long term goal for me. My goal weight loss is about 25 pounds. That's a much smaller number and much more attainable.

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posted by Anthony @ 8:47 PM, ,


No more fast food
Sunday, December 10, 2006

The easiest way to immediately start cutting calories and eating healthier is to stop eating fast foods. I went for many years without eating any fast foods but sadly, I’ve started again. Being a father of kids ages 4 and 2, means that Happy Meals are a part of your life. I know that the right thing to do would be to introduce the kids to healthy foods at a young age so that they develop good eating habits early on but that just isn’t realistic all the time. Sometimes they’re so finicky that they won’t eat anything but chicken nuggets. We’ve even tried to buy chicken nuggets at the supermarket but they won’t even try them. And when your kids are yelling Wendys, Wendys, Wendys at dinnertime you usually give in just for the silence.

So Mommy and Daddy started to grab a meal with the kids and now we eating fast food again. 500 + calories for a hamburger and then add fries and a soda on top of that and that’s just not good for anyone. Especially if your on a diet.

Recently, the kids have started eating Subway sandwiches. They have a Kids Meal deal where you get a small sandwich, a fruit roll up and a juice box. Obviously still not the greatest thing for you but much better than a hamburger.

Avoiding fast food is a must and sometimes you have to get creative to find alternatives when you’re on the run or if you have small kids.

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posted by Anthony @ 12:02 PM, ,