7 Ways Your TV Is Making You Fat

Your TV is making you fat. In fact, it’s killing you. And your children too.
While watching television is not inherently hazardous—unless you accidentally roll off the couch onto a hard floor—TV viewing time is associated with weight gain, an increased risk for weight-related disease and a shorter life. An Australian study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 22 minutes. By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes. Long term, that means an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect their, ehem, season finale to come 4.8 years sooner than a person who does not watch TV.
But wait. It gets worse: The results hold true, study authors say, even for people who exercise regularly. There are a number of reasons why the boob tube is not only hindering your weight loss, it's making you and your family fat. Here are 7 of them:

It Frees Up Your Hands for Munching

Computers, TVs, smartphones, tablets, game systems: all can be blamed for keeping us sedentary and mesmerized by a screen, but only the television, researchers say, is responsible for weight gain. A study in the journal Pediatrics showed teenage boys who reported paying the most attention to what was playing on television weighed 14.2 pounds more than teens who reported paying the least attention. For girls, the difference was 13.5 pounds. On the other hand, focusing on video games or computers was not linked with a higher body weight. Why? Researchers note that unlike typing or texting, watching TV frees up our hands to grab at snacks, which are often promoted during commercials. While it may not be practical to shun screen-use entirely, just being aware that the risk of being overweight increases with television use can help shape media use. You can wean yourself–and your kids–away from the TV with more interactive devices and content.

It Makes You a Sitting Duck

Most of us–unless we’re half-arsing a cardio workout at the gym–watch TV while sitting down. Or lying down. Or otherwise engaging in “sedentary” activity that researchers say poses a significant risk for weight-related diseases like diabetes. One study in the journal JAMA, for example, followed more than 50,000 middle-age women for six years. For every two hours spent watching TV each day, women had a 23 percent higher risk of becoming obese and a 14 percent higher risk of developing diabetes. A more recent analysis of similar studies found that for every two hours spent watching TV, the risk of developing diabetes, developing heart disease, and early death increased by 20, 15 and 13 percent, respectively. Scientists are still figuring out exactly why sitting is so detrimental to health, but one obvious and partial explanation is that the less we move, the less fuel we require; the surplus blood sugar floods the bloodstream and contributes to diabetes and other weight-related risks. In addition to generally cutting down on TV time, make a concerted effort to get up off the couch while you watch. For instance, challenge yourself to non-stop jumping jacks during the TV commercials (and pushups for every food-related ad!).

It Makes You Choose the Wrong Snacks

It’s a fact: The more hours we spend watching TV, the more unhealthy foods we eat. But why the correlation? According to a study in The International Journal of Communication and Health that investigated the psychological reasons for strong association, people who watch more TV have both a poorer understanding of proper nutrition and a more “fatalistic" view toward eating well. In other words, TV-fanatics are more likely to hold the belief that nutrition is too difficult to understand, compared to those who watch less. The study author suggests that because consumers are inundated food ads and conflicting messages as to what they should and shouldn’t eat, they develop these poor attitudes toward and knowledge about eating well. The good news is understanding nutrition has never been easier with the Eat This, Not That! newsletter. Sign up today and get the straight-forward, practical advice you need to keep you and your family healthy, straight in your inbox.

It's a Total Food Pusher

You weren’t even hungry. But then Paula Deen pulled something deep-fried and chocolate-dipped out of the oven and now you’re driving to the (next) nearest bakery for (another) slice of something sweet. That’s the devilish genius of food TV and commercials: they give us the munchies while suggesting foods that, more often than not, are particularly unhealthy. One study in the journal Appetite found people who watched a cooking program while snacking (on M&Ms) ate 34 percent more than a group that watched a nature program. And a study by the University of Liverpool found people who watched commercials for junk food on TV were more likely to then order high-fat and high-sugar foods from a menu–even when given the option to eat something healthier–compared to those who watched commercials for non-edible products. And, unfortunately, the food porn is hard to tune out. In fact, researchers say children and teens are exposed to at least one food ad per day, and nearly all (98 percent) of them are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium. So turn off Food Network and be mindful of the strong subliminal messages that are sent via food commercials. If you’re truly hungry, pregame your viewing session with a protein- and fiber-rich snack—away from the television.

It's a Mealtime Menace

Parents who let their teens watch TV during family meals tend to serve less nutritious food and have poorer family communication, according to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Researchers say reinforcing healthy media habits, especially around mealtimes, can’t happen soon enough. In fact, a recent study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting found watching-while-snacking during pregnancy can set the stage for childhood obesity, as expectant mothers who regularly watch TV while eating are more likely to continue the habit during their baby’s feedings and miss the subtle cues that indicate their child is full. Enforce a no-electronics policy at the dinner table, and encourage conversation instead. Study authors say given the opportunity, most children will talk about themselves and their lives at mealtime, leading to better family communication.

It Distracts You While You're Snacking

It’s right up there with drunk driving: distracted dining. OK, hardly as deadly, but eating in front of the TV is dangerous to your waistline. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that people who eat while watching television often miss satiety signals and consume 10 percent more in one sitting than they would otherwise. Not only that, distracted diners go on to consume an average 25 percent more total calories over the course of the day than those who dine unplugged. High-action television is particularly fattening. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found people consumed 65 percent more calories from snacks while watching a high-action, high-volume Hollywood flick than viewers who munched while watching an interview. Researchers say the more distracting a TV show, the less attention people pay to eating, and the more they eat. So turn off the tube and savor a meal in silence. It’s one of the pleasures of mindful eating—a form of food meditation that’s associated with weight loss.

It Interrupts Sleep

About 71 percent of adolescents have TVs in their bedrooms, and that poses a health risk, researchers say, because basking in the nighttime glow of a TV screen can seriously disrupt sleep, throwing off hunger signals and natural biorhythms that can cause weight gain—especially among children. One study in the journal Pediatric Obesity found that kids with access to a TV in the bedroom were 1.47 times as likely to be overweight as kids with no TV. That increased to 2.57 times for kids with three electronic devices. A second study found that children who slept in bedrooms with TVs gained about one extra pound of weight each year over the course of four years than kids without TVs in their rooms. Simply moving the TV out of the bedroom is one way to limit kids’ TV time, especially around bedtime. It’ll burn some calories too!

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Confidence-Boosting Strategy to Help You Lose Weight

Many factors can impact the success or failure of a new diet or exercise program. We often spend a lot of time researching and choosing the best weight loss program, finding the most effective workout, buying trendy weight loss supplements and researching the right foods.
But there are also psychological factors that can affect whether or not you lose weight. One of these factors is self-efficacy, and it’s easy to change. Learn how to train your inner voice to make your weight loss process faster and more effective.

What is Self-Efficacy?

Self-efficacy is your belief that you can successfully carry out a specific task. If you start your weight loss journal with the words, “I can lose weight!”, your self-efficacy with regards to weight loss is probably high.
Self-efficacy generally relates to a specific goal. For example, you may have strong beliefs that you are capable of skipping a high-calorie late-night snack. That means your self-efficacy regarding late-night snacking is high, but you might have doubts about whether you’re going to get up early the next morning to work out. Your self-efficacy regarding the morning workout is low.

Self-Efficacy vs. Self Confidence.

It might seem as if self-efficacy is just another version of self-confidence, but that’s not true. Let’s use an example: say Carol is a graphic designer who has worked her way up the corporate ladder to become the head of her department. She's proud of her accomplishments, comfortable in social settings, strong but respectful in dealing with her boss, and positive about her personal relationships. Carol has a strong sense of self-confidence.
But let’s say that Carol is overweight. She's tried dieting repeatedly, has worked with personal trainers to stick to an exercise program, and has even gone to weight-loss camps to shed her excess pounds. Nothing has worked. Carol now believes that she just can’t lose weight. So even though Carol is self-confident, her self-efficacy about her ability to lose weight is low.

Why Does Self-Efficacy Matter?

Researchers have found a strong link between one’s beliefs in her ability to successfully perform a task, and her completion of that task. Quite a bit of research has been done with regards to self-efficacy and weight loss — most confirming a relationship between strong beliefs (either negative or positive) and actual success.
To see why it matters, let’s go back to our example of Carol. Let’s say that Carol’s new diet coach has identified a weak link in Carol’s diet: she's good for most of the day, but she tends to eat too many of the cookies and cakes that are left in the lunchroom at work. Let’s say that Carol has never been able to pass up those treats in the past, so her belief that she can do it now is minimal. When she's faced with a tray of brownies, she's not likely to muster the willpower to walk away, because she knows that she always fails anyway. Her attitude is, “why bother to make the effort?”, and she eats a brownie. Carol’s beliefs about her abilities have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But let’s say that her diet coach was able to build her self-efficacy. The coach was able to remind Carol of the many other situations where she has successfully passed up treats in order to stick to her diet. He tells her that he believes she can do it. Now, when Carol is equipped with the belief that she can, in fact, walk away successfully, she's more likely to do so when she's faced with the tray of brownies.

How Do I Build Self-Efficacy?

So how do you turn a negative belief system into positive thoughts? Researchers have identified four things that impact self-efficacy: mastery of experiences, social modeling, social persuasion, and emotional responses.  But if weight loss is your goal, here's how you can improve each self-efficacy factor to lose weight.

4 Ways to Improve Self-Efficacy to Lose Weight

1. Set and reach small goals. To improve your mastery of experiences, you want to successfully complete small goals that will act as stepping stones to larger accomplishments. Break each long-term goal into smaller achievable goals, and as you complete each one, acknowledge it in your journal and remind yourself of your success. The completion of each small task will build your level of self-efficacy for completing larger tasks in the future.


2. Surround yourself with positive messages. If the people that surround you are successfully completing the goal that you want to achieve, you're more likely to believe that you can do it, too. Find friends that have some habits you admire. Skip the lunchroom snacks and spend your break with a crowd that eats a healthy meal. Instead of going to happy hour with your buddies, find a few friends that want to hit the gym and exercise. You can also surround yourself with positive messages electronically. Sign up for newsletters that provide healthy messages, fill your Facebook feed with posts from weight loss coaches and successful dieters, and follow health-oriented Twitter feeds.
3. Social Persuasion. Talk to your family and friends. Let them know that their encouragement and positive messages make a difference. Then, make it a habit to acknowledge the compliments when you get them. If your friends and family are not supportive, this is another area where social media can help. Several recent studies have found that positive messages sent electronically can help people lose weight.
   
4. Learn to Relax. If you have intense emotional reactions to situations, your self-efficacy with regards to your ability to handle that situation will probably be low. Take some time to identify the situations that cause you to react strongly. Then, learn relaxation techniques that will help you to manage them with a calm demeanor.

If the concept of self-efficacy is new to you, don’t worry. Simply your awareness of your positive and negative beliefs may help you change the things you need to adjust in order to lose weight. Remember to start small, make changes gradually, acknowledge your successes and move forward from there.

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Ways to Lose Weight When You’re Crazy Busy

We understand in the DC metropolitan area, your schedule is totally insane. Between a full-time job, getting the kids to soccer practice and squeezing in time to see friends, it may seem like there’s not enough hours in the day to hit the gym or cook a healthy meal–let alone lose weight. But if you want to trim down, there’s absolutely no reason your jam-packed life should stand in the way. No matter what the roadblocks may be, we’ve got ways for you to work around them and meet your weight loss goals.

Try Snaxercise

Between unexpected late-night meetings, happy hours with colleagues and a laundry list of errands, making time for weeknight workout sessions may seem nearly impossible.  According to research, multiple, brief, snack-sized portions of exercise may be more effective than a single, continuous workout. Why? Breaking up a workout can help control blood sugar, keeping ravenous hunger at bay. Even super busy people can spare 12 minutes in the morning and 12 minutes in the evening to break a sweat, and with snaxercise, that’s all the time you’ll need to set aside.

Break Up With The Vending Machine

Instead of hitting up the vending machine or office candy bowl when your tummy starts to rumble, keep your desk stocked with healthy snacks. We suggest Emerald 100 Calorie Packs, apples, pears and Larabars because they don’t spoil easily and are loaded with nutrients like fiber and protein that will help crush your 3 pm munchies. Bring in a new batch of eats every Monday to ensure you always have a fresh stash on hand.

Change Your Commute

If a formal exercise program doesn’t sound appealing to you, that’s not a problem! Instead, burn extra calories each day by making some tiny tweaks to your commute. If you take the bus or subway to and from your office, get off one stop early and walk the rest of the way. Travel by car? Park at the far end of the parking lot to get in some extra steps before settling in at your desk. If you work in a highrise, take the elevator half the way up to your office and then switch to the stairs. Working in bouts of activity throughout the day takes up very little time and can help you slowly–but surely–reach your weight loss goal.

Give Your Kitchen a Makeover

Toss bad foods out of your kitchen for good and restock your pantry and fridge with  weight loss staples. Swapping bad-for-you fare like sugary cereals and juices for healthier picks will ensure you always have food on hand that will help you reach your goals. Set aside time this weekend to dive into this makeover project. The effort will be well worth your while and won’t require much time to maintain moving forward.

Rethink Your Drink

Switching up your beverage is one of the easiest, least time-consuming ways to lose weight. If you drink a 12-ounce, 140-calorie cola each day, you could easily shed a pound in just 25 days by replacing your daily beverage with a no-calorie option like unsweetened iced tea, water or seltzer. Besides soda, calories also lurk in juices, sports drinks fancy coffees. Avoiding drinks like these will help you slim down in the time it used to take you to order that two-pump, half-caf white-chocolate mocha with extra whip.

Plan Workout Dates

Instead of getting together with friends for dinner or drinks after work, meet up for a sweat session. If you all like to run, hit the track; if you prefer group fitness, sign up for a strength training, spin or yoga class. Not only will you be less apt to back out of a workout when a buddy is counting on you, working out with friends ensures you won’t sacrifice quality time with them in the name of fitness. You’re much more likely to stick to your new routine if you’re not giving up something in the process. Feel bad leaving your significant other at home while you workout? Take them with you! A recent JAMA Internal Medicine study of nearly 4,000 couples found that people are more likely to stick to healthy habits like exercise when they team up with their partner.

Always Keep Food With You

While storing food in your glove box, purse or brief case may sound like a weight-loss no-no, it may actually be the key to reaching your goals. When you’re trying to lose weight, you need to be prepared with healthy foods whenever hunger strikes. If you aren’t, you’re more apt to scarf down the first thing in sight—despite its terrible nutritional profile. Mixed nuts, Three Jerks Jerky and KIND Fruit & Nut Delight Bars are all low-cal, portable protein-packed options that will chase hunger away.

Prepare Make-Ahead Meals

If you can set aside just two hours over the weekend to cook, you can easily prepare enough healthy food to mix, match and eat throughout the week. Start by prepping an overnight oat recipes for breakfast. Then make a big pot of brown rice, roast a tray of your favorite veggies, grill up some chicken and chop some fresh produce. Store everything in the refrigerator and mix and match the prepared components throughout the week to quickly pull together healthy lunches and dinners without suffering through the same recipe all week long.

Don't Try to Change Everything

Eat This, Not That! is all about making healthier choices at fast-food joints and restaurants you’re already frequenting. While it may not always be obvious, there are tons of delicious ways to cut hundreds–even thousands–of calories from your daily diet without going hungry or giving up your favorite foods. Armed with tips, you won’t have to change your current routine; ordering a healthier menu item will be quick, easy and before long, second nature.
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How Much Should You Exercise to Lose Weight?

The contestants on The Biggest Loser spend hours a day in the gym with one goal in mind—to lose the most weight. But how frequently should you exercise to drop pounds in the real world? For Michelle Bridges, a trainer on the Australian version of the show and author of Total Body Transformation, the amount of time you work out every week can unlock a key to weight-loss success that is about more than just caloric burn.
Bridge's magic number for her weight-loss clients: six days a week, ideally for 50 to 60 minutes at a time. But while hours of exercise a week will surely help you create a calorie deficit, that's not the only reason the trainer wants her clients to find time for a work out almost every day. "We're setting up habits and rituals," says Bridge. "Think about the last time you had to psych yourself up to brush your teeth," she says. In other words, when your workout becomes just another part of your day, you're more likely to do it without a second thought.
If the idea of almost-daily hour-long workouts sounds exhausting, Michelle assures you that it won't feel like that. She recommends you break up your workouts into three "hard" days of exercise, such as interval training, along with two moderate days and one "passive" or light-exercise day. "You don't have to train like an Olympian all the time, but it's [about] building in those habits," says Bridge. "I guarantee that someone who has the habit of training six days a week, even if they miss a couple, is going to be more consistent than someone who only trains three days a week." Just like how regular brushing maintains your bright, healthy smile, a habitual workout routine will produce real weight-loss results.

The Surprising Reason Most People Get Cancer

Load up on plant food. Use your gym membership. Apply sunscreen religiously. Steer clear of cigarettes. Taking on healthy behaviors like these is supposed to lower your lifetime cancer risk. Now, along comes a bombshell study that seems to suggest many of these odds-lowering efforts are less impactful than you may have previously thought: The study, from Johns Hopkins University, determined that two-thirds of all adult cancer incidences can be attributed to random gene mutations that drive tumor growth. In other words, most incidences of cancer are caused by plain-old bad luck, according to study authors.
The study came about because researchers wanted to understand why some body tissues, such as those in the small intestine and pancreas, have higher cancer risk rates than others. So they tracked the number of stem cell divisions that happen across 31 tissue types, comparing these figures with the lifetime risks of cancer in these same tissues among American adults. The conclusion: The higher the number of cell divisions the tissue endures, the higher the cancer risk rate was. “Our study shows, in general, that a change in the number of stem cell divisions in a tissue type is highly correlated with a change in the incidence of cancer in that same tissue,” said study investigator Bert Vogelstein, M.D., the Clayton Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a news release. The more cell divisions that happen, the greater the chance that a random mutation occurs—and malignancy develops.
So should you throw in the towel when it comes to healthy living since the study results imply that cancer is mostly out of your hands? That would be a resounding no. Though the researchers identified 22 cancer types with risk rates largely driven by random mutations, nine others—such as one type of skin cancer as well as head and neck, colorectal, and lung cancer—were tied to environmental factors you can at least partially control, in this case exposure to UV rays and smoking. These nine were also influenced by hereditary factors, which means that regular screenings can help you ID a tumor before it becomes life-threatening. Also, if you’re worried about breast cancer, this study offers no answers, as researchers didn’t look at breast tissue at all.
The other thing is, “random” mutations aren’t necessarily random at all, says David Katz, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Instead, they may arise as a result of lifestyle factors. “Mutation rates are higher in those exposed to toxins and lower in those exposed to health-promoting conditions,” says Katz. “Studies have already shown that cancer-promoter genes are turned off and cancer-suppressor genes turned on by healthy living; this doesn't change that."
Bottom line: Cancer is a collection of diseases caused in varying degrees by genetics, environmental factors, and the random gene mutations cited in the Johns Hopkins study. Since some cancers offer more leeway than others for you to reduce your odds, it’s smart to adopt healthy behaviors that could do just that: Stick to a diet low in animal fat and high in fruits and veggies, get regular physical activity, and minimize your exposure to UV rays and cigarettes, suggests the American Cancer Society.
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16 Cancer Causing Foods You Probably Eat Every Day

It’s probably not something you think about every day, whether or not the foods you are eating could contain carcinogens, but with almost 1.5 million people diagnosed with some type of cancer just last year, perhaps it’s time to look at what is in our foods that could be causing such a huge number of new cancer patients. Here is a list of the top 10 foods that you most likely consume every day that may contain carcinogens or be suspected of causing cancer.

1. Microwave Popcorn

Those little bags of popcorn are so convenient to just stick in the microwave, you wouldn’t think for a minute that they could be dangerous to your health, but they are.
First, let’s talk about the bag itself. Proved by Wikipedia, conventional microwave popcorn bags are lined with a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA). This is a toxin you can find in Teflon also. According to a recent study at the University of California, PFOA is linked to infertility in women. Numerous studies in lab animals and humans show that exposure to PFOA significantly increases the risk of kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas and testicular cancers. You can read more about this substance and the above mentioned studies at cancer.org.
Now, let’s talk about the contents. Although every manufacturer uses slightly different ingredients, most of them use soybean oil (a GMO product) as well as various preservatives such as propyl gallate, a chemical that is causes stomach problems and skin rashes. Now they don’t actually say they are using GMO corn kernels, but that’s because the government says they don’t have to. Even if they don’t use GMO corn, you can bet they aren’t using organic corn!
Also, applied to the popcorn itself, is a chemical called diacetyl. Use of this chemical caused Conagra Foods to remove it from their brand of popcorn, ACT, because it was causing lung diseases in the workers at their factory.

2. Non-organic fruits

Fruits that are non-organic are contaminated with some very dangerous pesticides such as atrazine, thiodicarb, and organophosphates, as well as high nitrogen fertilizers.
Atrazine is banned in European countries but still used here. This is a weed killer that causes severe problems in humans, especially in our reproductive capabilities.
A 2009 study found that when pregnant women drank water contaminated with atrazine, their babies had reduced body weights. Were you aware that the sewage from cities in the USA (nicely called bio solids) is used in the fields of farms in the USA as a form of fertilizer? You will never find organic food being cultivated in composted human sewage waste!
Conventional foods are also subjected to an enormous amount of these types’ chemicals as well as hormones, to make the fruit and veggies grow bigger. Apples are probably the worst offenders with pesticides showing on more than 98 per cent of all apples tested. Fruits with a 90 per cent positive rate of pesticide residue included oranges, strawberries, and grapes.
Washing fruit does not remove 100 per cent of the residue. Pesticides are toxic chemicals to insects as well as human beings.

3. Canned Tomatoes

Actually, most canned foods are a concern because of what the can is lined with. The lining of almost all canned foods are made with a chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA.
A study published in May of 2013 by the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences showed that BPA actually affects the way genes work inside the brain of rats. Even the FDA agrees that there is a problem with BPA as it is supporting efforts to either replace or at the very least, to minimize the amounts found in canned foods. You know it must be bad when even the very lax FDA is concerned!
Tomatoes are exceptionally dangerous due to their high acidity, which seems to cause BPA to leech from the lining of the can into the tomatoes themselves. The level of BPA can be so high in fact; you should seriously consider not feeding them to children. Due to FDA laws, there are no standards for labeling BPA so simply because a can does not say it has it does not mean that it does not contain BPA. Be safe and avoid cans. Cook fresh or buy glass bottles.

4. Processed Meats

What exactly are processed meats? This is a long list that includes, but is not limited to, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, most lunch meats like bologna or pimento loaf.Researchers who wrote in the journal of BMC Medicine said that the excessive salts and chemicals that are used when making processed meats are damaging to your health. The study showed that 1 in every 17 people who were involved in the study died and those who ate 160 grams or more of processed meats increased their risk of early death as much as 44 percent within 12 years as opposed to those who ate 20 grams or less. This study involved people from 10 European countries and went on for almost 13 years.
All these processed meats contain numerous chemicals and preservatives, including sodium nitrates, which make them, look appealing and fresh but are well known carcinogens. Smoking meats seem to be particularly bad as the meat picks up tar from the smoking process. Yes, tar, the same deadly ingredient that cigarette smoke contains.

5. Farmed Salmon

Although fish sounds like one of the healthiest foods possible, farmed salmon is one you should avoid. Unfortunately, more than 60 percent of the salmon consumed in the USA is farm raised.
These fish are fed unnatural diets and are contaminated with chemicals, antibiotics, pesticides, and other known carcinogens. They live in very crowded conditions which results in these fish having 30 times the number of sea lice than wild salmon. (Doesn’t that sound appetizing?) Farmed salmon are fed chemicals to make their meat that reddish pink color that should occur naturally but doesn’t because of the diet of chicken litter that they are fed.
Also, due to their diet, they have less of the healthy omega-3 that we think we are getting when we consume fish. Studies have also shown that farmed salmon contain high levels of PCB’s, mercury, and cancer causing dioxins. Avoid farmed salmon and buy it canned or look for labels in your market that state the fish you are buying is wild sockeye salmon.

6. Potato Chips

Yes, we know, potato chips are cheap, great tasting, quick snack, however, the negative effects they have on your body may not be worth the little bit of pleasure you derive from these crispy snacks.Potato chips are high in both fat and calories, which are sure to bring on weight gain. A study done in the New England Journal of medicine found that eating just 1 once of potato chips per day caused an average 2 pound weight gain in one year. Besides being full of trans-fats which can cause high cholesterol in most people, they have excessive sodium levels which, for many people, cause high blood pressure.
Potato chips have artificial flavors, numerous preservatives, and colors as well, which is something else your body doesn’t need. Potato chips are fried in high temperatures to make them crispy but this also causes them to make a material called acrylamide, a known carcinogen that is also found in cigarettes.
It’s hard to say no to your kids demands for chips sometimes, therefore, as a sneaky alternative, buy them baked potato chips or tortilla chips which are at least lower in both fat and calories. Air popped popcorn and whole wheat pretzels are another healthier option. Or try baked apple chips or banana chips which are dehydrated. Both are crispy and are far healthier than regular potato chips.

7. Hydrogenated oils

Let’s start from the point that all hydrogenated oils are vegetable oils. Vegetable oils cannot be extracted naturally like butter is, vegetable oils must be chemically removed from their source, and then they are changed to be more acceptable to consumers. They are frequently deodorized and colored to look appealing.
All vegetable oils contain high levels of Omega–6 fatty acids. An excess of Omega- 6 fatty acids cause health problems, such as heart disease and in increase in various cancers, especially skin cancer. You need a good balance of both Omega 3 and Omega 6. Try to get plenty of Omega 3 every day. You can do this in the form of supplements and grass fed meats, also fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel are a very good source of Omega 3.
Hydrogenated oils are used to preserve processed foods and keep them looking appealing for a long as possible. Hydrogenated oils influence our cell membranes’ structure and flexibility, which is linked to cancer.

8. Foods that are highly salted, pickled, or smoked

Foods that are cured by use of nitrates or nitrites act as preservatives as well as adding color to the meat. Although nitrates do not cause cancer in and of themselves, under certain conditions these chemicals change once they are inside the body into N-nitroso composites. It’s this N-nitroso that is associated with a greater increase the risk of developing cancers.
Smoking foods such as meat or nuts causes these food items to absorb considerable amounts of the tar that smoke produces. Tar is a known carcinogen. Meats such as bacon, sausage, bologna, and salami are high in fat and salt. Pickled foods are also very high in salts.
There is overwhelming evidence that eating these types of foods greatly increases the risk of colorectal cancer and higher rates of stomach cancer. The rates of stomach cancer are much greater in places such as Japan where a traditional diet contains many foods that are highly salted, and/or smoked.

9. Highly processed white flours

Most of you have already heard by now that white flour is not a good thing, but you most likely have no idea just how bad it really is for your health. Refining grains destroys its natural nutrients. Mills are no longer content with waiting for their flour to whiten with time; mills now bleach flour with a chemical called chlorine gas.
The EPA states that chlorine gas is a dangerous irritant that is not safe to inhale and in large quantities can be lethal. White flour lurks in many processed foods. White processed flour has a very high glycemic rate which quickly raises the blood sugar level and insulin levels, which can be a direct cause of diabetes, not to mention it is believed that it spreads cancer cells by feeding the cells directly.
Cancerous tumors feed mostly on the sugars in your bloodstream. By avoiding refined grains such as white flour, you can avoid, or at the very least, starve tumors.

10. GMO’s

Genetically modified organisms, more commonly called GMO’s, are foods that have been modified by chemicals and grown with chemicals.
In a study done by Dr. Pusztai at the Rowett Institute in Scotland, rats were fed GMO foods, especially potatoes. ALL rats showed damaged immune systems, pre-cancerous cell growths, along with smaller brains and livers, in just the first 10 days of the project. American consumers believe that the FDA has approved these GMO foods and this is simply not the case.
The FDA has NO testing procedures for GMO foods, NONE. The only human study ever published showed that those foreign genes that are present in GM food transfer to the DNA in the bacteria in our digestive systems. We, the American consumer, are the guinea pig (or rat) in this case. Unfortunately, almost all grains, including soybeans, wheat, and corn, have been grown via GMO’s.
GMO’s do not have to be listed on food labels, so read carefully and look for labels that state the food is GMO free.

11. Refined Sugars

Refined sugars are not only known to spike insulin levels, but also to be the most preferable food for cancer cells, thus promoting their growth.
Cancers seem to have a sweet tooth. This is a known fact that has been around for many years. The Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, back in 1931, first discovered that tumors and cancers both use sugars to “feed” themselves and/or to increase in size. In order to proliferate, cancer cells seem to prefer feeding on fructose-rich sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS); the reason is that HFCS is being metabolized by cancer cells most quickly and easily.
Now it is clear why high-fructose corn syrup is considered the worst offender. And since cakes, pies, cookies, sodas, juices, sauces, cereals, and many other extremely popular, mostly processed, food items are loaded with refined sugars and HFCS in particular, this helps explain why cancer rates are on the rise these days.

12. Artificial Sweeteners

Most people use artificial sweeteners to either lose weight or because they are diabetic and must avoid sugar. The main problem in all this is that there are numerous studies that show people who consume artificial sweeteners on a regular basis, such as in sodas, or coffee sweeteners, actually gain weight. It also does little or nothing to help those with diabetes.
In fact, artificial sweeteners actually make it even more difficult to control their blood sugar levels and worsen conditions that are related to diabetes such as cataracts and gastro paresis. Sometimes aspartame has been found to cause convulsions, which some people will mistake for an insulin reaction.
Not to mention that artificial sweeteners inhibit your body’s ability to monitor its daily calorie consumption and make the body crave even more sweets. Well, we’ve already discussed how refined sugars can cause cancer.
There is mounting evidence that the chemicals that make up these sweeteners, especially aspartame, break down in the body into a deadly toxin called DKP. When your stomach processes this chemical, it in turn produces chemicals that can cause cancer, especially brain tumors.

13. Diet Anything

Diet foods, including frozen foods, or prepackaged foods labeled as “diet” or “low fat”, including diet sodas, generally contain aspartame, which is a chemical, artificial sweetener that we talk about in detail above. There are numerous studies showing that aspartame causes many diseases and sicknesses such as cancers, birth defects, and heart problems.
All “diet” food is chemically processed and made from super refined ingredients, excessive sodium levels, as well as artificial colors and flavors to make it taste good. Don’t ever forget, artificial anything is NOT real food! Although the FDA says that all these added chemicals are safe to eat, you might want to take their advice with a grain of salt. After all, don’t they also tell you that sugar and vegetable oils are safe to eat? (Not to mention GMO’s and fast food!)
There have been many studies that show that these additives, for some people, can actually be addicting. They feed that “feel good” part in your brain, similar to cocaine! Well, that actually makes sense because if you become addicted to these foods, the companies making them are certain to score a lot of money, aren’t they?
Be smart and eat nature’s own, natural “diet” food; fruits and vegetables! (Organic, of course!)

14. Alcohol

An American study that followed the diet and lifestyles of more than 200,000 women for almost 14 years found that postmenopausal women who drank one drink per day or less had an almost 30 percent increase in breast cancer rates compared to women who did not drink at all.
Alcohol use is the second leading cause of cancer, right behind tobacco use. While a moderate or low consumption of alcohol can be healthy and lead to a reduced risk of heart disease, excessive drinking is known to cause heart failure, stroke, and sudden death. In 2007, experts working for the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer looked at the scientific evidence regarding cancer and alcohol use from 27 different studies. They found sufficient evidence to state that excessive alcohol use is the main cause of mouth, esophagus, liver, colon, mouth, rectum, and female breast cancers.
Don’t fret! You can still enjoy that glass of wine with dinner, but, for your health’s sake, no more than one!

15. Red Meat

For those of you, who love your T-bone steak, calm down. There is evidence that shows that red meat is actually a good thing in your diet, in small, infrequent amounts, Grass fed beef contains conjugated linoleic acid that actually fights against certain cancers.
However, in a study done over a 10 year period, eating red meat every day, even a small amount, such as that quarter pound hamburger you like to enjoy at lunch, increased a man’s risk of dying from cancer by 22 percent and a woman’s chance by 20 percent. A separate research study has shown that eating a lot of red meat increased the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
Red meat seems particularly dangerous when talking about colon cancer. A study done in the US followed almost 150,000 people between the ages of 50 and 74. This study showed that the long term consumption of red meat significantly increased the amount of colon cancer found in the subjects studied. On the other hand, the long term consumption of fish and poultry appeared to be protective in nature.
Enjoy that T-bone, but not every night, perhaps not even every week. Save those steaks for a once in while treat and be sure you are consuming grass fed, organic beef for your best health.

16. Soda Pop

Perhaps you heard about the recent study that was published in May in the American Journal of Nutrition? It found that people who consumed more than one soda per day had a higher risk of stroke than people who did not drink sodas.
Loaded with sugar, sodas are an empty source of calories that cause weight gain and contribute to the nationwide epidemic of obesity. Drinking large amounts of this rapidly digested sugar causes your blood sugar to spike which can lead to both inflammation and insulin resistance. Soda is often the root cause of gastro-esophageal reflux disease, which is when the contents of the stomach leak into the esophagus causing not only pain but an actual burning of the esophagus from stomach acid.
Although sodas are not a direct cause of ulcers, they are known to irritate and make those with ulcers have more pain. Sodas also contain artificial colorings and food chemicals like derivative 4-methylimidazole (4-MI); no wonder soda pop has been shown to cause cancer.
I know this was a rough one to grasp but I had to share this with you all.
Thanks for reading....

8 Daily Habits That Blast Belly Fat

By David Zinczenko

If I were a wise, grizzled guru sitting on the top of some Himalayan mountain, and you traveled halfway around the globe to seek my wisdom, you’d probably be surprised by what I told you. My one secret for a better life—a healthier, wealthier, happier life—isn’t “Spend more time with your friends,” “Do what you love,” or “Find your higher power.” It’s this: “Lose your belly.” Because when it comes to physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, belly fat is more damaging to you than you would ever think.

Belly fat—what scientists call “visceral fat”— is the most dangerous fat there is. This deadly fat wraps around the organs deep in your abdomen, spiking your risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome. If you let that fat stay there, nestled on your lap, growing and making you sicker, there is no doubt about the consequences.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #1

Have a Smarter Starter

A study printed in the journal Metabolism found that eating half a grapefruit before meals may help reduce visceral fat and lower cholesterol levels. Participants in the six-week study who ate a Rio Red grapefruit 15 minutes before breakfast, lunch and dinner saw their waists shrink by up to an inch, and LDL levels drop by 18 points. Researchers attribute the effects to a combination of phytochemicals and vitamin C in the grapefruit. Consider having half of one before your morning oatmeal, slicing a few segments for a starter salad, or eat one for a snack shortly before a meal. (P.S. A good snack is in the 100-250 calorie range.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #2

Can the Canned Goods

What separates a healthy green bean from a not-so healthy one? About three aisles in the grocery store. Canned vegetables are typically loaded with excess salt and “flavor enhancers” like monosodium glutamate (MSG), which studies suggest may increase cholesterol levels and visceral fat accumulation. Just a half cup of canned cut green beans contains 380-390 mg of sodium—that’s more salt than you’ll find in a snack-size bag of Doritos! Go with fresh veggies instead—or you can find some of the cheapest and most nutritious produce just a few aisles along, in the freezer. In fact, a study by the University of Georgia found that amounts of vitamin A, C and folate in frozen vegetables are sometimes even greater than their fresh counterparts.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #3

Swap Your Cup O’ Joe for Green Tea

Sipping on green tea throughout the morning has proven to shrink your gut. Thank the compounds called catechins, belly-fat crusaders that blast adipose tissue by revving the metabolism, increasing the release of fat from fat cells (particularly in the belly), and then speeding up the liver’s fat burning capacity. In a recent study, participants who combined a daily habit of 4-5 cups of green tea with a 25-minute workout lost 2 more pounds than the non tea-drinking exercisers. Meanwhile, a research team in Washington found that the same amount of coffee (5+ cups/day) doubled visceral belly fat.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #4

Eat More Carbs—the Right Ones

It’s not carbs, per se, that lead to belly fat; but the type, researchers say. In fact, whole grains are a dietary staple of people with the littlest middles. A Tufts University study found that participants who ate three or more servings of whole grains per day (oats, quinoa, brown rice, wheat) had 10% less belly fat than people who ate the same amount of calories from refined carbs (white stuff: bread, rice, pasta). When it comes to diet, being unrefined is a good thing—the fiber fills you up.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #5

Go (Wal)nuts

Dietary fats are kind of like lovers. Some of them make you a better person, and others—as you often discover too late—are catastrophically bad for your health. The absolutely worst match for your apple-shaped figure? Saturated fats. Saturated fats, like the kind you’ll find in baked goods and red meat, “turn on” certain genes that increase the storage of fat in the belly, researchers say. Polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, activate genes that reduce fat storage and improve insulin metabolism. Try walnuts, one of the best sources of polyunsaturated fats, with about 13 grams per one ounce serving. Sprinkle a handful on your morning oats or entree salad for belly-busting benefits.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #6

Make Room for Musical Fruit

There are diet pills on the market that actually work. They’re called beans. Researchers suggest beans, as they’re particularly rich in soluble fiber, can lessen the accumulation of abdominal fat deposits. A study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that for every 10-gram increase in soluble fiber eaten per day, visceral fat reduced by 3.7 percent over five years. Fill up, without filling out, with just 1/2 a cup of beans. If the musical fruits tend to leave you bloated, soak them overnight—that breaks down the gas-causing oligosaccharides.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #7

Sprinkle Pepper on Your Meals

Meet piperine, the fat blasting ninja! A powerful compound found in black pepper, piperine has been used for centuries in Eastern medicine to treat multiple health conditions including inflammation and tummy troubles. But recent animal studies have found that piperine may also have the profound ability to decrease inflammation and interfere with the formation of new fat cells—a reaction known as adipogenesis, resulting in a decrease in waist size, body fat, and cholesterol levels. More pepper, please! And for a slim tummy, stay away from its evil sister, salt.

BELLY FAT BLASTER #8

Swap Cooking Oils for Coconut Oil

What smells like an exotic vacation and can shrink your waist faster than your favorite Zumba class? You got it: coconut oil. A study of 30 men in the journal Pharmacology found that just 2 tablespoons per day reduced waist circumference by an average of 1.1 inches over the course of a month. What makes coconut oil superior to other fats is its medium chain triglycerides. Unlike the long-chain fatty acids found in animal sources of saturated fat, coconut oil doesn’t seem to raise your cholesterol and is more likely to be burned as energy than stored as blubber. At roughly 117 calories per tablespoon, it’s a near identical caloric swap for olive oil. Plus, its high smoke point makes coconut oil great for just about every dish, from eggs to stir-frys. Thanks for Reading....