Healthize.com

WebMD has a neat slideshow featuring 12 things not to do while trying to shed some pounds:

Crash dieting. Patience is a virtue – especially when dieting. When you decrease your food intake to under 1,000 calories, your metabolism dramatically decreases, so that even if you lose weight, it’ll be hard to keep off (and probably come back).

Missing breakfast. D’oh! It’s hard to stick to your diet when you’re hungry to the point of distraction. To keep your cravings in check, start the day with a healthy, low-calorie breakfast like sugar-free cereal, granola, or oatmeal.

Snacking. A lot. There’s nothing wrong with snacking, but people have a way of letting themselves snack without even thinking about it – or without even being hungry. Don’t just eat food because it’s in front of you.

Snacking. Too little. Like Goldilocks, it’s up to you to find the perfect balance between over- and under-snacking. Having a healthy snack of nuts or dried fruit can help manage your hunger and make it easier to eat smaller meals.

Trusting the label. Low-fat and sugar-free foods aren’t always as healthy as they seem – these products are often loaded with calories or high in sodium, both of which can sabotage your diet. To make sure your food is as healthy as you think it is, be sure to read the label.

For the full list, click here!

Fitness, Health, Health Tips, Nutrition diet, dieting, dieting tips, diets, Health Tips, healthy snacks, losing weight, snacking, snacks, weight loss

WebMD has an interesting slideshow up about foods with high sodium contents, plus advice on how to make these foods healthier. We’ve summarized some of the most helpful tips below.

Canned Veggies: Canned vegetables are intermingled with sodium-rich preservatives, so WebMD recommends rinsing before serving, or just buying fresh.

Cereal: Even otherwise healthy cereals like raisin bran and corn flakes are often loaded with sodium, whereas puffed rice and wheat cereals never have any sodium. If you don’t like the taste, try combining puffed cereal and regular cereal in a one-to-one ratio.

Chips: Potato chips and other bagged snacks usually contain high amounts of sodium. Plus, baked chips, although healthy for other reasons, often feature unhealthy sodium concentrations.

Marinades/Flavorings: Teriyaki and soy sauce are two of the most notoriously high-sodium flavorings available – even their low-sodium versions are still pretty high. For an alternative, try lemon juice or vinegar, or pineapple or orange juice for your marinating needs.

All that being said, sodium isn’t all bad! In fact, it helps the body balance its fluids, allowing the nerves and muscles to operate at full capacity.

Health, Health Tips, Nutrition diet, food, foods with high sodium, muscles, nerves, Nutrition, salt, sodium

Cheers! According to WebMD, a study that followed over 19,000 women for about 13 years found that those who consumed one or two drinks a day were 30 percent less likely to gain weight. This statistic held up even when scientists considered other weight-gain factors like smoking and exercise.

At the beginning of the study, the women were all 39 or older, and none of them were overweight.

Another project by Texas Tech University in 2005 found that moderate drinkers of both genders were less likely to become obese. However, consuming more than four drinks a day and binge drinking were linked to becoming overweight or obese.

Of course, correlation does not imply causation. Scientists don’t know whether alcohol has certain biological implications to prevent weight gain, or whether moderate drinkers simply tend to follow healthier lifestyles.

In other words, you shouldn’t start drinking because of this study, but if you already consume one or two drinks a day, keep up the good work!

Fitness, Health, Health Tips, Women alcohol, binge drinking, diet, drinking, losing weight, moderate drinking, obese, overweight, weight, weight loss, wine, Women