Lose Weight In Time For Christmas

How much weight did you put on from the Thanksgiving dinner?

How much more have you gained from eating the left overs?

Soon after the Thanksgiving feast come all the Christmas parties and year end parties. You know those parties where everyone is dressed to kill and you get to wear fabulous party dresses... only that, they may no longer fit.

Whoever planned the holiday calendar must have had a sadistic streak. First, have a feast where you end up pigging out. Then, with all those extra pounds, squeeze into your party dresses for one party after another. Maybe in those days, fat was considered beautiful.

Would you fit into your party dresses? Will your belly bulge be more prominent. Tune in to.. whatever.

There is still time to lose weight in time for Christmas parties. How much you lose depends really on how motivated you are to lose weight. You must want to do it for yourself, not for someone else. It involves lots of discipline as you have to stick to an exercise schedule and watch what and how much you eat. Sure, there are quick fixes like pills and surgery, but the old fashion way, through diet and exercise is the healthiest way to go.

There is no need to starve yourself to get into that dress. Okay, your stomach may growl if you cut down your food intake, but there is no need to eat until like 100% full. Do like the French women. Eat until you are 80% full, then stop.

Control your food portion. Substitute junk food with healthy, yet tasty alternatives. Grill your food instead of deep frying. Eat fruit instead of candy. Frozen milk or yogurt instead of ice cream. A small scoop of vanilla ice cream is an okay treat a few times a week but hold the hot fudge, peanuts and other trimmings. Dress it with fresh fruit instead.

Remove the skin from the chicken before you eat it and eat chicken breast meat, or better yet, turkey breast. Eat lots of white fish.

Skip soft drinks or sweetened drinks in favour of water.

Get a calorie counter and a food diary. Record everything you eat and compute how many calories you consume each day. Make it a point to reduce the calories every way you can through food subsitutions and by watching your portion size.

When you party, go for sushi. Avoid the creamy ones though. Drink water instead of punch. Limit alcohol to a glass of the best wine you can get or a glass of the best champagne as alcohol is very high in calories.

Besides reducing your calorie intake, set aside 45 minutes everyday to exercise.

Go for a jog. Put on your sweats and run around the block.

Live in an apartment? Climb the stairs. Just go all the way up to the top of the building and down again, until the 45 minutes are up.

Hit the gym every day and workout for at least 45 minutes each time. Or get yourself a treadmill and set aside 45 minutes a day to run.

If that is beyond your budget, get a skipping rope and jump rope for 45 minutes. Get a hoola hoop to vary that with your skipping. Do jumping jacks as well.

Or invest in a workout video. There are so many available. Pick one that interests you or a few you can rotate to keep your workout from becoming boring.

Stick to this everyday and you should get in shape in time for Christmas


About the Author
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Healthy Eating Tips which you must follow

"Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy" - this is a common saying and it is very unlikely if you have not heard it in your lifetime. Every one of us wants to stay healthy. To maintain a healthy life, we need healthy diet too. Without having a healthy diet, we may not even survive too long. But healthy eating style does not necessarily mean a boring diet. On the contrary, you can add a great variety in your healthy diet and enjoy its delicious flavor.

Practically, there is no secret about healthy eating. This should be a perfect blend of variety, balance and regulation. Additionally, you need to promote healthy lifestyle in terms of maintaining few useful strategies such as not smoking, minimum level of alcohol consumption, and stress management. In this article, we will explore few great healthy eating tips that can keep you healthy without compromising your taste-buds.

Add fish meals at least twice a week

Typically fish is a 'must-have' inclusion in healthy eating tips. It is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. If you take at least 2 fish meals in a week, it offers you a great health benefits such as lowering high blood pressure, cardiac problems, and lowering cholesterol level.

Omega-3 fatty acids can not be produced by our body. Omega-3 fatty acids are helpful in decreasing cardiac problems, reducing high blood pressure, reducing the risk of arthritis, regulating abnormal heart rhythms, and promoting healthy brain function.

Add varied lean red meat meals several times a week

While considering healthy eating tips, a special emphasis must be given on lean red meat meals. You may have this meal several times a week. If you are a vegetarian, you must have legume or nuts daily in your diet. If you do not have it or its alternatives in your daily diet, it means you are lacking the required supply of iron and zinc. These are the essential minerals that can keep your brain healthy and active.

Add vegetables and fruits in daily diet

Vegetables and fruits are great source of dietary fiber. We need dietary fiber in our daily diet. It helps us not getting constipated. Additionally, it has other health benefits such as lowering cholesterol level, regulating glucose level and reducing the risk of cardiac problems. Remember it as an important ingredient of healthy eating tips.

Avoid eating in heavy volume

This is one of the important healthy eating tips that you probably should not avoid. Different scientific studies confirm that if you take your food in frequent segments rather than having it in bulk at a given time, it promotes healthy metabolism. That means, if you supply low amount of foods in different periods of time in a day, you actually help you metabolic system to function more efficiently. Hence, it lowers the risk of accumulated fat in the body and allows you to stay fat-free and healthy.

Drink plenty amount of water

'Water is life' and possibly there is no one on the face of earth who can deny the fact. Every one knows the health benefits of water. This is an essential part of healthy eating tips.

Almost 2/3rds part of our body is made up of water. Our blood contains 83% water, our muscles contain 75% water, our brain consists of 74% water and bone contains 22% water. Literally, the benefits we receive from drinking water are countless. Water is essential to absorb vitamins and nutrients in the blood stream. It also promotes the detoxification process by carrying out the bodily wastages from the body. Apart from that, it helps keep skin glowing and healthy. You should drink 5-6 liters of water daily to keep your system clean and healthy.

Exercise, Exercise and More Exercise

Although not directly belongs to the area of healthy eating tips, but if you wish to maintain a life in a healthy fashion, doing regular exercise has no other alternatives. You need to follow a daily schedule for exercise along with healthy diets to keep yourself fit and steady.

Dr John Anne is an ayurvedic doctor having years of experience in the field of Ayurveda and Alternative medicine. Visit Evening Primrose Oil Benefits at http://www.healthvitaminsguide.com - Information on Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids. Also visit Vitamin D Benefits and Sources for useful Information on Vitamin D.


About the Author
Dr John anne

Shampoo & Conditioner sometimes can do more Harm than Good

Hair is really very strong and does not pull out easily but it is possible with poor grooming to create a more unstable situation where hair thinning and breakage can be evident.

Although it is true that hair de-tangles much better if combed when wet try avoiding the use of fine tooth combs on wet hair as this is a common cause of hair splitting and breakage. Brushing wet hair can also cause weakening too if carried out too forcefully. The additional pressures on the shafts of hair when wet can cause problems. It is best to brush your hair before washing as this can stimulate the scalp and encourage blood flow to the follicles maintaining good health and healthy growth. Brushing will also remove dead flaking skin cells and make thorough cleansing of the scalp that much easier when shampooing.

Be aware that frequent shampooing is also likely to damage your hair. Whilst we all like to have clean shiny hair, you can have too much of a good thing and shampooing your hair too frequently can deprive it of certain minerals such as calcium, iron and phosphorus. If you must shampoo frequently then it is probably better to choose a shampoo containing only natural products. Look for a product containing keratin, this is a colourless natural protein which makes this outermost layer of the skin almost waterproof, and along with collagen and elastin, gives skin its strength it is also present in the cuticle cells at the base of the follicle. The cuticle cells form protective sheaths around the hair keeping it in good condition but they can be damaged by excessive washing, shampooing and artificial drying, restoring the keratin element can restore dry looking, brittle hair.

A lot of the shampoos you buy use alkaline ingredients to soften hair and increase hair volume by swelling the hair shafts. Conditioners also contain such ingredients to affect similar changes but try to find one with a well balanced acid/alkali ingredient a pH level of 5.5 is about right.

Other natural ingredients to look for are aloe vera, sage, nettle, burdock and chamomile.

Using perms and hair colours? Then you should be careful as some of the chemicals found in the ingredients can cause damage to the hair shafts and follicles and can be the cause of some hair loss.

Leave your hair untreated as much as is possible and you should never use a mix of chemical processes on your hair if you want to keep your hair as well as wanting to keeping it looking good for as long as possible.

Styling can cause problems too, pulling your hair too tight when using braids or even ponytails can cause your hair to be stressed and may even lead to thinning in the affected areas.

What to do for the best? A natural approach really if at all possible as leaving your hair in a loose style without over manipulation will lead to the best possible effect.

About the Author
Brian Potter is researching hair loss and hair loss products containing natural ingredients. For advice and recommendations visit his website http://www.hairlossassistant.com

pH miracle diet and weight loss

One of the biggest benefits of the pH miracle diet is weight loss. Many people have turned to this diet to lose weight as well as to improve their overall level of health The pH miracle diet is very efficient at removing extra weight.

Obesity is a nationwide epidemic. According to recent studies, over 59 million adults over the age of 20 are obese (30 or more pounds overweight). One in three Americans have a some degree of being overweight that puts them at medical risk for many different conditions, including heart disease, heart attack, diabetes and hypertension. Even more startling is the number of children that qualify as overweight and obese. In the early 1990s the National Center for Health Statistics found that 15 percent of children between 6 and 19 were overweight, which was twice as much as the results found in the early 1980s. The numbers have grown even more significant. Today, 9 million children are at least 15 pounds overweight with many millions qualifying as obese.

What is to blame for these alarming obesity rates? The environment of highly acidic foods and high levels of stress have made for a disastrous combination. The more acidic a body becomes, the more fat the body will store. Overweight conditions result from too much acid in the body. Eliminating acid from the diet with the pH miracle diet will help you lose weight.

The accumulation of fat is actually the body’s attempt to deal with the high levels of acid waste. Many people think that fat is bad and that fat is the enemy that needs to be attacked. Fat is just a symptom of a larger problem – acidity. You may be surprised to find out that your fat is saving your life. Fat is actually protecting your body from rising levels of acidity. When you eat massive amounts of sugar, starches, red meat, dairy products and other acidic foods, your body uses fat to bind to the acid to protect your cells.

The acidic cycle in your body functions in the following way. When you eat foods that produce acid when they are digested, this acid builds up in your body. When the acid is not eliminated in a timely fashion, it can disturb other cells and get in the way of their functioning. Pretty soon, many cells in the body are being negatively affected by the presence of acid. However, the body has a line of defense in the form of fat. Dietary and body fat are both used to neutralize the acid. The acid bound fat is either eliminated or stored, depending on how much there is. The body can only rid itself of so much acid bound fat, so when you eat a lot of acidic foods you will store a lot of fat.

So people who are overweight and obese are actually showing signs of being too acid. Their diets are too much for their body to handle, so body fat is being used as a line of defense. Fat is a symptom, not the main problem. Many people begin to think that eliminating fat from their diets is the key. However if they are still eating acidic foods they are actually robbing their bodies of the ability to protect themselves. Low-carbohydrate and high protein diets have high levels of fat, but the people on these diets need that fat because their diet is highly acidic (animal protein has acidifying effects).

The dietary solution for weight loss is to follow a program that is high in alkaline foods. The pH miracle diet balances out the acidity that you have been developing in your body and will restore you to your ideal weight.

Atkins Diet Basics

The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution and Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

A lot of people have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and there has been a lot of hype as a result. But what are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the over-consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called “insulin resistance.” He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.

When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Overtime, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain “fog” (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins’ research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and you’ll lose weight.
Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If you’ve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.

Atkins and Exercise

There is a lot of attention paid in the Atkins diet plan towards food and cooking. It’s true that your food choices on the diet are of utmost importance. But a lot of people make the mistake of ignoring exercise. The newly released Atkins food pyramid shows the importance of exercise. It shows an increase in food options with increased activity. Exercise is important on the Atkins diet, and important for everyone’s overall health.

Exercise is beneficial to body, mind and soul. It has many major benefits, even at limited levels. It not only burns fat but it boosts your metabolism and increases circulation. Daily exercise helps your body eliminate toxins through sweat glands and lymph systems. It is especially important to all low-carb weight loss programs because it regulates blood sugar levels.

Physical exercise is essential for Atkins diet success. Without exercise, your body isn’t configured to process carbohydrates successfully. Research has shown that sedentary individuals have extreme insulin reactions to even moderate amounts of carbohydrates. This means that exercise doesn’t only help you lose weight, it will help you keep it off too. Exercise will teach your body how to process the carbohydrates in your diet. When you exercise regularly, you’ll be able to eat more carbohydrates over time because your body will use them efficiently.

There are two basic types of exercise: aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. The best regimen combines these two forms each week.

Aerobic exercise’s primary goal is to increase your heart rate. This causes your body to consume more oxygen and it gives all of your cells a fresh supply of oxygen. If you’ve been without physical activity for a while, many of those cells have been deprived. Aerobic exercise will regenerate them and help you feel better in times when you aren’t exercising.

If you’ve been inactive for a while, it may take some time to get used to your new aerobic workouts. You may want to get some advice from your primary care doctor or a professional aerobics instructor. Make sure to start slowly to give yourself time to adjust to your new movements. It’s essential that you learn how to stretch and warm up correctly in order to avoid muscle strain. Some good beginning aerobic activities include walking, golf, tennis and dancing. These activities won’t cause a lot of strain on your body, but they will get your heart moving. Start slowly and set small goals for yourself. For example, if you are starting a walking program begin by walking four blocks. Then increase your training to five blocks, then six. Your body will respond well to the exercise…after all your body was meant to move!

Anaerobic exercise includes any activity that isn’t technically aerobic. Most of the exercises in this category build muscle mass. Weightlifting and strength training are examples of anaerobic exercises. Working out with weights is an important part of losing weight. As you lose fat, you’ll need to replace it with muscle in order to stay lean. Don’t be afraid of working out with weights. You won’t need to become a bodybuilder. Weight bearing exercises like isometrics and resistance training will help improve your bone density, your posture and your fat burning potential.

If an exercise program is not part of your weight loss efforts, you are setting yourself up for failure. Make a commitment to incorporating exercise into your weight loss efforts and you’ll see the results immediately.

Where to Find Free Anger Management Advice

Coping daily with anger issues individually or in a family environment is stressful. Anger brings out the worst in people and causes them to act recklessly and often violently. Families break up because of anger. People are abused by individuals who have problems controlling their anger. It is unfortunate when bad things happen because of anger. There is plenty of help for people experiencing behavioral problems arising from anger. There is free anger management advice available for those who are seeking solutions to their problems.

When a person realizes the time has arrived to seek anger management advice, a doctor ought to be able to provide information regarding free anger management advice. Normally, in every area there are government and medical organizations which are trained to deal with behavioral issues. Offering free anger management advice is likely one of their services to the general public. Making an appointment with or contacting a social worker in the area should help an individual to obtain free anger management.

For a school-age child, there ought to be free anger management advice offered at school. A guidance counselor or school nurse would be able to help a child with anger issues. If the problem was serious or involved the child's family, it may be passed on to a professional counselor who would access the situation and provide free anger management advice regarding support groups, techniques and other helpful details about anger management.

Sometimes a person may come across free anger management advice in a magazine or some other family publication. Since this issue seems to be a hot topic in society today, often it is touched on or discussed in family oriented material. Obtaining copies of this material may be a means of individual awareness and free anger management advice.

The Internet is perhaps one of the best sources for free anger management advice. There are countless sites dedicated to anger management and coping mechanisms. Prepared by government, social programs and other concerned individuals and groups, these sites offer people plenty detailed information and advice about anger management. Finding these sites is quite easy. A simple search for free anger management will produce many links to useful sites. There's free anger management sites designed solely for children and or teenagers. There are sites hosted for couples and families. There are many sites which are loaded with free anger management advice to be used by anyone.

It is a wonderful opportunity to have access to free anger management. This information is meant to help people deal with their issues with anger. However if people find free anger management advice and information, it is useless if they don't apply it to their situations. Obviously many people have realized how much anger issues effect society. This is why they've spent their time, energy and money, to provide free anger management. It is disappointing to know that people are not taking advantage of these opportunities to control or eliminate their feelings of rage and anger. Free anger management is an invitation for people to realize and work on their problems controlling their anger.

Preventable death and the pH miracle diet

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention evaluates several health factors when it compiles its list of preventable causes of death. Among the expected conditions on the list were death from tobacco, death from alcohol consumption and death from drugs. However, surprisingly, poor diet and lack of physical activity is actually the number 2 cause of preventable death in the U.S. It is poised to take over the number 1 spot from tobacco in the coming years.

Poor diet and lack of exercise currently count for 16.6% of total deaths, or 400,000 deaths in the United States each year. Yet the last twenty to thirty years have been marked with an increased interest in dieting and exercise. Most adults, especially women, claim they are on diets at least once a year. Despite this commitment, the nation is continuing to get fatter. Obesity rates are at an all time high, and childhood obesity is on the rise for the first time ever.

If many people are on diets, but the vast majority of the population is still overweight and unhealthy, the problem lies with the diets that people are trying. The pH miracle diet addresses the missing ingredient in today’s diet that is causing people to gain weight even when they think they are eating healthfully. Conventional diets disregard the body’s natural pH. They encourage eating a variety of foods that are acidic to the body.

Low-fat diets fail because they often substitute sugar for fat. They also allow processed grain products, dairy products and acidifying vegetables. Low-carbohydrate diets fail because they emphasize meat and other dairy proteins, which knock the body’s natural pH off balance.

Dr. Robert Young, the creator of the pH miracle diet, explains that the best diet will address the pH factor. The body has a pH of 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. Eating alkaline foods and taking steps to reduce stress will help bring the body back into balance. Many of the conditions that people suffer from are a result from too much acidic waste in the body. This acidic waste builds up when you eat acid-producing foods, experience a lot of stress and ignore your body’s need for exercise.

Alkalizing the body with the pH miracle diet will bring your bodily pH back to normal and will give you relief from a variety of symptoms. However, you cannot alkalize your body if you continue to drink or eat high sugar drinks and fruits. Drinking alcohol will also disrupt the pH of your system, as will drinking coffee, soda and teas. The best beverage to drink for alkalizing is ionized water. Starchy foods like potatoes, pasta and breads all break down to sugar, and then produce acid waste that collects in the body. Eating any of the animal proteins (chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc) will create excess acid waste in your body as well. Dairy products have concentrated sugars that break down into lactic acid, which creates acidic waste.

Non-food related behaviors also increase the level of acidity in the body. If you don’t exercise regularly you are allow acids to build up in your tissues. These acids increase your fat production and cause lethargy.

The solution for the acidic waste and the cure for the second most prevalent preventable disease both lay in some simple steps. Eat whole, natural unprocessed foods as the basis for your diet. You should emphasize alkalizing green foods, which have the vitamins, minerals and nutrients your body needs to restore balance. Drinking pH alkaline water will help, as will daily exercise. You need to get out there and get moving in order to release the excess acid from your body.

Atkins Diet Foods

Atkins diet foods are easy to find and available everywhere. There are many varieties to choose from, whether you pick prepackaged low-carb diet foods or make your own meals. No matter how you want to do the Atkins plan, there is a solution out there for you.

You’ll need to keep the Atkins food pyramid in mind when you make food choices. The Atkins pyramid looks much different than the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The base of the pyramid consists of protein sources such as eggs, fish, beef, chicken and tofu. On a daily basis, your diet should consist primarily of these foods. The second tier has low glycemic vegetables like salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach.

The third tier is made up of berries and avocado. Fruits should be used on an occasional basis after the initial stages of the Atkins diet. Vegetable and seed oils, cheese, dairy, nuts and legumes are used sparingly and in appropriate portions. While the FDA pyramid has oils and fats at the top peak, the Atkins pyramid places whole grain foods in this spot. Whole grain foods should be used very occasionally and don’t make up the mainstay of the Atkins diet.

When you start the Atkins plan, you’ll need to make sure you understand which foods are acceptable for your stage of the program. The Induction phase is the most restrictive, but it only lasts two weeks.

You owe it to your dieting success to stay within the acceptable foods list. One of the best ways to do this is to follow the Atkins menu plans that are printed within the New Diet Revolution book. There are also Atkins cookbooks and cookbooks that are geared toward other low carb diets that are helpful in formulating meal plans.

It’s a helpful idea to use a cheat sheet of acceptable Atkins foods wherever you go. If you are out and about and hungry, the last thing you want to do is to try to think back in your memory to figure out what you can and cannot eat. Carrying a list of acceptable foods with you will make finding a snack or meal while out on the run easy. You can’t always rely on “low carb” labels to tell you whether or not something is diet friendly. Ever since low carb became the new diet craze, manufacturers have been jumping on the bandwagon to attract Atkins dieters. They label items low carb to sell products and don’t have your health in mind. Relying on foods from your own personal list is the best way to stay on the plan.

Another good resource for keeping track of the appropriate Atkins foods is an online diet program. There are several available. Some are free and some have a small monthly fee. The programs require you to register and then they provide you with personal weekly menu plans based on your needs and your carbohydrate gram level. There are normally printable weekly shopping lists that make picking up your Atkins diet foods from the grocery store easy and quick.

Atkins diet food is easy to find once you know what you are looking for. The books, food pyramid and online resources can help you make better food choices and stay on the diet for the long term.

Carbohydrate Substitutes for the Atkins diet

Cutting down on carbohydrates with the Atkins diet is easy when you see the wide variety of proteins and vegetables that are on the acceptable foods list. However, it does take some time and adjustment to get used to this new way of eating. A lot of the American diet centers around complex carbohydrate foods like breads and pastas. Snack foods are full of sugars and refined carbohydrates. This new way of eating will challenge your old habits. However, there are many carbohydrate substitutes that can fill in the gap.

Some of the most popular replacement items are sugar substitutes. These can be good or bad depending on how you react to them. Each person has a different reaction to artificial sweeteners like aspartame and Splenda. They can be helpful in baking low-carbohydrate treats and making things taste sweet without risking sugar use. However, many people find that using artificial sweeteners makes them crave sugar even more. If you find you want more sweet treats after drinking a diet soda or eating a snack made with Splenda, its best to eliminate them entirely from your diet.

Bread is the number one challenge that Atkins dieters face when looking at their new diet plans. Bread is a staple food for many people, and eliminating it can be somewhat of a problem. There are some low carb breads available out there, but you have to watch for hidden carbohydrates and other unacceptable ingredients. If you are ambitious, you can try making your own bread out of almond flour or other non-traditional flours.

Many people say that they love pasta, but people vary rarely eat it plain. The best part about pasta is the topping. So taking those toppings (meat, cheese and vegetables) and putting them over something else is an easy solution. Many people who follow the Atkins plan have found that squash makes a good pasta substitute. Spaghetti squash, a yellow orange gourd with stringy insides, is a natural base for homemade meat sauce. Zucchini is also a good pasta substitute. You can grate in into fine pieces or chunk it up into sections to act as a base for sauces. Lasagna is easily made with large pieces of eggplant as a substitute for the noodles. The meats and cheeses used in lasagna are low-carb so there’s nothing to worry about there.

Another common problem for Atkins dieters is finding a good substitute for rice. One popular solution is to use cauliflower. Simply place the cauliflower florettes in a food processor and chop them until they are rice sizes pieces. Then microwave the “rice” without water. The pieces will come out fluffy and ready to be used in casseroles or as part of a side dish.

Cauliflower is also a popular potato substitute for Atkins dieters. This time, puree the cauliflower until it is smooth and creamy, just like mashed potatoes. You can add your favorite low-carb topping to it like bacon, sour cream and cheese.

Pizza is a favorite food for many people, but there are Atkins friendly solutions for homemade pizzas that taste just as good. You can make small pizzas using low-carb tortillas as the crust. You can also use the same method with large Portobello mushrooms. If the alternative crust options don’t sound good to you, you can also try a pizza casserole with all of the ingredient layered in a casserole dish.
These substitutes will help you avoid indulging in your high-carb favorites while on the Atkins diet.