Your Weight! Your Health! Your Skin!

Unfortunately many people struggle with weight loss and in a world where we are constantly surrounded by unhealthy food choices we can struggle to find the balance between the foods that are readily available to us, and the foods that we need to eat to become and remain healthy. Well rest assured that there are a number of foods out there that we can consume, that are not only great for our health but that also taste great. One such food (or super food as some people might call it) is the potato.  Potatoes have a number of health benefits some of which will be explained here.

A Little About Potatoes History and Potatoes Nutrition

In the 19^th Century the Spanish and the English sailors would consume potatoes in order to fend off scurvy. For those readers who are unaware potatoes are surprisingly rich in the immune-boosting vitamin C. In fact it is recommended that you consume a medium potato with the skin, preferably organic, each day. Also if you are looking for a good source of vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, iron and magnesium, then look no further than potatoes. In essence when you think of potatoes, think nutrition, as potatoes are loaded with goodness. There is a good reason it is the number one vegetable crop in the world.

Cooking Potatoes for Maximum Benefits

There are a number of different ways to cook potatoes and each with its own health benefits be it weight loss or otherwise.  Potatoes can be cooked in some of the following ways:

• Boiled
• Baked
• Roasted
• Fried (not recommended especially if you are trying to lose weight)

Whichever way you prefer to cook your potatoes, most people will agree that the best way to cook potatoes and retain most of its nutrients is to cook them with the skin left on. A single baked potato with the skin on will give you roughly 10% of the recommended fiber that we need on a daily basis.

The only method of cooking potatoes that is considered to be unhealthy is fried potatoes; and that is not surprising. We all know that most fried food are not good for our health. Occasionally though when I feel the need to have something a bit ‘junky’ I’ll cook a potato rosti (click here for more details) although I use olive oil instead of butter and sometimes I don’t precook the potatoes and it still works out just fine. Just cook the rosti a little longer and on a lower heat.  Rosti’s seem to help my cravings for fried potatoes.

Potatoes and Calories

100 grams of steamed or boiled new potatoes will give you around 75 calories. Therefore you can feel free to include potatoes in a healthy or weight reducing diet.

A Final Note on Potatoes

Apart from being a great food to eat when you are trying to lose weight and remain healthy, potatoes have many other benefits. Just remember try to buy organic and when possible keep the skin on and avoid deep frying when cooking.  Also limit the calorie dense extras like cheese, sour cream or butter.

So go ahead and enjoy this ‘comfort’ food that not only tastes great but is good for your health.

Mid 2010 I was close to my goal weight but was still 5-6lbs over and no matter what I did the scales refused to move.  I had dropped a fair amount of weight over that year and I guess my body had reached a plateau.  Just increasing my cardio wasn’t cutting it.  So I decided to look a bit closer at my diet.

Generally it wasn’t too bad I I thought.  I follow a loose version of ‘The Mediterranean Diet’ (click here for more info on my favorite diet) but decided to make a few minor changes.

First was to change all fats in my diet to a low fat variety.  So I decreased my butter consumption to almost zero.  A lot harder than it sounds.  Why does butter taste so good?

I then changed my full milk to trim. I generally only use milk for preparing kefir.  Click here if you would like some more info on this healthy probiotic.

So far so good. Next was to decrease my portions slightly, especially the last meal of the day. As a side note of this I found I’m getting better quality sleeps.  Not a bad thing for a habitual insomniac.

I think the last significant thing I did was to try a mini fast on one day of the week. I only did this once but I liked the results so much I will be doing this again. Look out for my post on this later. I tried to go 24 hours without any food but keeping my liquid intake high. I got to 20 hours so pretty good for my first attempt I thought.  Also a lot harder than it sounds.  Incredible how many food cravings I had during that short period.  Foods that I generally don’t eat. Pizza or a good Indian bhujia, mmmm!

In total this was done over a two month period and lost three kilos. Now to keep it off.

I hope this helps in some way even if it only gives you some food for thought.

Kale is one vegetable whose nutritional value makes it a stand out among other vegetables. Kale is also known as borecole, a type of cabbage with a green or purple color. It belongs to the Brassica family which include broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. It’s been cultivated for two thousand years and can be identified by its tightly curled leaves. A descendant of the wild cabbage, kale was a common vegetable from the time of the Romans until the end of the Middle Ages. There are different varieties, the curly kale, dinosaur or Tuscan kale and the ornamental kale. This vegetable is easy to grow and is known to taste sweeter when grown in cold temperatures and in areas where there’s a light frost.

Benefits of Kale

Kale is an excellent source of beta-carotene, an antioxidant believed to help prevent cancer and heart disease. It also has the carotenoid lutein which helps prevent the development of cataracts and stops UV rays from damaging the eyes. Kale also provides significant amounts of calcium, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese and potassium. It also plays a big role in helping the body detoxify. Kale is also known as a natural weight loss food. Its high fiber content helps a person bulk up and feel full longer. People who are dieting can benefit tremendously from kale’s amazing combination of minerals, calcium, vitamins and phytonutrients.

Preparing and Cooking Kale

When buying kale, choose one with firm and dark colored leaves. Avoid kale with wilted leaves and stalks that are bruised and woody. It’s better to choose kale that has smaller sized leaves as these have a milder flavor. The taste does become stronger the longer kale is stored so try to use it 1 to 2 days after buying.  Wash kale thoroughly before cooking as dirt and sand often lodges in the leaves. Kale can be cooked using any method but keep the cooking time to the bare minimum to keep the nutrients intact. Steaming for a few minutes till it’s wilted down is one of the best ways I have found to prepare it.

To store this vegetable, place it in a clear plastic storage bag and remove as much air as possible. Don’t wash kale before storing since exposure to water hastens spoilage.

Easy Kale Recipe

Wash kale in warm water and drain. Discard any tough stems and discolored leaves. Roll up the leaves and cut into ½ inch slices. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet, add the strips of kale and stir over medium heat for 2 to3 minutes until tender and wilted. Or you can simmer them in a soup stock for 10 to 30 minutes until tender. You can also use kale in stews and stir-fry dishes.

So don’t be shy, experiment with this ancient vegetable and reap the health benefits.

Most of my adult life I have been a clean size eight. About 11 months ago, a little present from heaven made me gradually shoot up from my comfy size eight to an unshakeable size 12!  I now know how uncomfortable extra weight can be. It is even harder trying to lose it when you have a toddler to feed and take care of. You can’t seem to find the time to go on serious diets or do exercises routines mainly because of the amount of energy you need to devote to the new arrival. Even simple exercises like walking needs a bit of planning.

The day I heard that I could use green tea for weight loss piqued my interest.

I enthusiastically gathered as much information on this as I could. The one thing I found quite interesting was the actual means in which green tea helps to lose weight. We have heard that caffeine can work to help burn fat, right.  Well, green tea contains a substantial amount of caffeine which, together with a substance in green tea called epigallocatechin or EGCG for short, work to make the brain to release fat into the blood stream. The fat is then burnt for energy as opposed to it being deposited in the liver potentially causing weight gain. Sounded good to me.

For those of you whose weight gain is not because of bingeing or eating a lot of fatty foods and lack of exercise but maybe more of a metabolic reason, green tea has a solution for you. The EGCG in green tea works to speed up metabolism thus burning out fats faster and disposing off of what could end up accumulating and turning to bulky weight. This also works to block absorption of fats. The faster the metabolism rate, the more energy you have and the faster the fat in your body is burnt.

The beauty of using green tea for weight loss is you can just take it the way you take your coffee several times a day. Simply substitute your coffee and soft drinks with a few invigorating cups of green tea and you are well on your way to healthy weight loss. If you like using capsules more, or if you feel that you can remember these easier than actually taking the tea, there are green tea supplement capsules available.

I would love to lie and say that green tea can help you gain the perfect waistline in a month but reality is it takes quite a while for it to work that kind of magic on its own. Look at it as another utensil in your weight loss ‘toolbox’. You really need to incorporate the use of green tea with a sensible exercise program and most probably a calorie deficient diet in order to achieve high weight loss.

Clearly, there seems to be a correlation between green tea and weight loss. So the next time someone asks you how does green tea help you lose weight, you will be well equipped with the answer.

As we strive to lose weight and lead healthier lives through exercising and a proper diet, we discover the power of many foods that are often taken for granted or are overlooked. Foods that are not only good for your health but also good for weight loss. One such food is beetroot. If you are looking to include foods that are rich in calcium, vitamins A and C plus iron then incorporating beetroot into your diet is a smart choice.

Beets Nutrition Facts

Beetroot is a great source of folic acid. If you still need more reasons to include beetroot into your diet, like I did, then you will also be happy to know that beetroot and beet greens are an excellent source of vitamin B6, magnesium, phosphorous and iron.

Benefits of Beetroot

• Lowers Cholesterol – According to a study in the “Nutrition Research and Practice” 2008 Winter edition, it was noted that consuming beetroot even on a fatty diet can actually help to reduce high cholesterol. Additionally it will also lead to an increase in the good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Imagine that lowering bad cholesterol while increasing the good ones.
• Lowers Blood Pressure – Beetroot benefits also include its ability to lowering blood pressure. A study was conducted on people with normal levels of blood pressure and in roughly 3 hours after drinking the beetroot juice their blood pressure was significantly reduced. If this works so well for someone with normal blood pressure levels, imagine how well it would work for someone with high blood pressure.
• Increases Stamina – Another benefit that this healthy food has to offer you is an increase in stamina. The nitrate levels in the beetroot have been found to increase the body’s oxygen use, providing you with more energy and strength.  Essentially this means that the juice from the beetroot can assist you in maintaining a healthier cardiovascular system.

This leads me to my next exciting point, how beetroot helps you to lose weight.

Beetroot and Weight Loss

We all know that eating right and exercising is the best way to lose weight; however, the challenge most people have is keeping up with their exercise routine because they tend to get tired and winded quickly. In my research to understand how beetroot would help me to lose weight I stumbled on an interesting study that showed that people that drink beetroot juice as part of their exercise routine were able to exercise for longer periods of time.

The same study also revealed that those that drank beetroot juice were less winded than those that didn’t.  Or to be more precise consuming beetroot juice on a regular basis could actually help you to exercise up to 16% longer.

So if you are able to exercise for longer periods of time, then you can burn more calories leading to greater weight reduction.

Personally I make beet kvass and consume roughly 4oz a day. Unfortunately I don’t own a juicer so I regularly steam it for dinner and save and chill the liquid and consume it cold whenever I can.

Not only is beetroot great for you, it can be an aid to help you to lose weight.