Straight Health offers easy to understand and accurate information on health, nutrition, diets and exercise. With this RSS feed you can stay up to date with all the new articles, FAQ and top 5 lists that are updated. http://straighthealth.com/ Achieving a toned and chiseled look is pretty much everyone's dream. Who doesn't want to have a perfect beach body all year round? Getting this look requires a low body fat percentage which is too often a misunderstood process. Hours spent doing sit ups, using topical creams and taking pills are all great examples of how not to get toned. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/sarticles/spot-reducing.html Having a defined and chiseled midsection is seen as the pinnacle of health which is why there are countless diets, workout plans and products that promise to help you get the abs of your dreams. Some of the most popular ones are these mini ab workouts ranging anywhere from 3-8 minutes. http://straighthealth.com/pages/qna/4-minute-abs.html There are plenty of drinks that promise to help you lose weight and improve your overall health. Most of these claims are bogus but there is one drink that can help you out. The results of a recent study have been released and suggest that water can help you lose weight. There's nothing magical about water, drinking it won't jolt your body into a fat burning mode nor will it give you a perfect trimmed look overnight. However, if used in conjunction with a calorie deficit, it can help you eat less which will lead to weight loss. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/water-weight-loss.html Losing weight can sometimes be complicated. The amount of food you eat, the type of meals you cook and even the drinks you have can all play a role in how much weight you lose. Even with all of these factors, there is only one rule you need to follow to lose weight: create a calorie deficit (burn more calories than you eat) with a combination of calorie reduction and exercise. http://straighthealth.com/pages/qna/skip-meals-help-me-lose-weight.html At one point in your life, you've probably needed to lose weight quick. Maybe you were getting married, going to your high school reunion or simply planning a spring break cruise. Either way, you probably didn't have a lot of time so you may have turned to unhealthy measures such as exercising for hours a day or going on a very low calorie diet. When the special event was over, you went back to your normal ways and probably ended up gaining more weight than you started off with. What if there was a way in which you didn't have to go through all that each time a special occasion came up. That way is called a healthy lifestyle and it's a lot more permanent than most diets. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/sarticles/healthy-lifestyle-vs-temporary-weight-loss.html Too often you'll hear people say they need to lose weight to get healthy. Though the body mass index (BMI) does show an increase in certain health problems after you reach a certain weight, simply being skinny doesn't necessarily mean that you're healthy. There are several key differences between dieting to lose weight and starting a healthy diet that will naturally lead to weight loss. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/difference-between-healthy-and-skinny.html Bad eating habits such as junk food, unhealthy snacks and skipping nutrition labels can wreak your health, diet and even fitness goals. http://straighthealth.com/pages/five/bad-eating-habits.html A recent federal study has been released showing that 9 out of 10 Americans take in more than the maximum recommended intake of sodium on a daily basis. The recommended intake is 2,300 mg per day and a combination of eating out, buying processed foods and not monitoring sodium intake can quickly put you over the limit. If you are one of the Americans that take in too much sodium, there are some steps you can take to lower your intake. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/ways-to-decrease-sodium-intake.html Building muscle and gaining quality weight is more than just hitting the gym and eating whatever you crave. If you want to get muscular and avoid the fat, what you eat is as important as how you workout. http://straighthealth.com/pages/five/muscle-foods.html Ever since the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) gave the FDA authority to mandate nutritional labeling of foods that it regulates, most of our packaged foods have a Nutritional Facts table on the side. This blog post will offer an overview of what it all means. http://straighthealth.com/pages/dietitian/nutrition-label-overview.html Ever since the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) gave the FDA authority to mandate nutritional labeling of foods that it regulates, most of our packaged foods have a "Nutritional Facts" table on the side. This blog post will offer an overview of what it all means. http://straighthealth.com/pages/five/reduce-calories-without-counting.html Since we last talked about lifestyle changes, I've gotten many emails asking for more examples of these types of changes. So I've compiled a short list of 5 lifestyle changes that can help lead to a healthier outcome. Remember, you don’t have to jump right in and do all of these at once, they are just examples. http://straighthealth.com/pages/dietitian/lifestyle-changes.html As people become aware of environmental problems, green products become popular. Hybrid cars, energy efficient homes and organically grown foods are all becoming mainstream. The organic food industry has been growing very rapidly in the last few years due environmental and health concerns. Before you rush out and convert your pantry into an entirely organic one, consider a few misconceptions that many people have about organic food. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/organic-food-myths.html Liquid calories, skipping meals and having a strict diet are just some of the bad eating habits that need to change if you're looking to improve your overall health. http://straighthealth.com/pages/five/healthy-eating-habits.html Energy balance is the basis of weight management. Do you want to lose weight, put on a few pounds or stay right where you're at? Whichever scenario you are in, energy balance will get you there. Energy balance is simply the amount of calories you eat versus the amount of calories you burn. The result will be either weight loss, weight gain or weight maintenance. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/sarticles/energy-balance-explained.html In our vocabulary, the word “diet” has come to mean a painful, restrictive eating plan designed to lose weight very quickly and easily as long as the plan is followed. There are all kinds of diets out there from the grapefruit diet to the atkins diet to the cabbage soup diet. http://straighthealth.com/pages/dietitian/diet-vs-lifestyle-change.html Grocery shopping is a ritual that everyone has to go through. Unfortunately, this ritual can sometimes get expensive and in a time when saving even the smallest amounts of money matters, grocery shopping offers an opportunity to save a lot. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/darticles/save-on-groceries.html Diet and exercise scams are growing at an alarming rate of speed. An increase in the public's awareness of the obesity epidemic combined with a misunderstanding of how to lose weight fuel this trend. Everyone is creating books, diets pills or workout devices that promise quick results with little or no change to your daily routine. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/acai-berry-scam.html Working nights is a reality for many Americans including those working as policemen, firefighters, EMS, doctors and countless others. With a backwards sleep schedule, your eating and exercise routine will naturally undergo some changes. Without careful planning those changes will probably be negative causing you to eat unhealthy foods, stop exercising and eventually gain unwanted weight. When you work nights, you have to readjust your sleep, eating and exercise schedules. Each is an important piece of the overall puzzle. If you ignore one, the other two won't fall into place. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/eatin-exercising-while-working-nights.html I was looking at the food label and it lists that fat has 9 kcal/gram, protein has 4 kcal/gram, and carbohydrate has 4 kcal/gram. I don’t see sugar anywhere on there. So I was wondering how many calories are there in a gram of sugar? http://straighthealth.com/pages/dietitian/how-many-calories-in-a-gram-of-sugar.html It is great to hear that you are taking the first step towards a healthier lifestyle. It is hard to recommend something without knowing much of anything about your daily habits. According to your stats, you have a BMI of 31, which puts you in a borderline obese range. http://straighthealth.com/pages/dietitian/need-to-start-taking-better-care-of-myself-dont-know-where-to-start.html The media says carbohydrates are bad. With all of these diet books telling you that carbs cause weight gain, you would think that getting rid of foods such as doughnuts, candy, bread, pasta, rice and fruits would help you lose weight. This is somewhat true but not because there is anything wrong with carbs. Carbs have calories and just like anything with calories, over eating will cause weight gain. Contrary to what some popular diets want you to think, not all carbs are the same and differentiating between the good and bad ones can have some real health benefits. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/darticles/difference-between-complex-simple-carbs.html A few days ago I went over the proper diet in order to get a beach body in time for the summer season. Today I'll go over how you need to exercise to get a beach body. Again, there's nothing hard about getting a beach body. The information is right here for you to read. The only hard part is getting off your ass and doing what you need to do to change. None of this stuff is rocket science, it just takes a bit of self discipline. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/kens-official-beach-body-exercise-routine.html Every year around this time people suddenly get back into the gym after months of hibernating. It's as if everyone has a New Year's Resolution again. Before you go crazy and buy a bunch of supplements, hire expensive personal trainers and go on an organic grapefruit diet, read my plan on how to get a beach body. It's easy in the sense that I'll lay it all out for you but it can be hard for some because it takes some initiative on your part. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/kens-official-beach-body-diet.html Starting this week there's a new feature on Straight Health that you can use to motivate yourself to exercise. The Weekly SH Fitness Challenge is now up at the Straight Health Forums and will encourage you to push yourself to new heights every week. http://tips.straighthealth.com/tip/2010/weekly-fitness-challenge.html It seems as though every month a new diet book, pill or product is released and claims that you can lose weight without giving up your favorite foods or even exercising more than you already are. Before you get all excited and spend your money on these miracles, realize that there is only one way to control weight: calories intake. http://straighthealth.com/pages/qna/how-many-calories-should-i-eat-each-day.html Nutrition is a very important concept to understand and not only for those looking to lose weight or go on a diet. Everyone that wants to be healthy needs to understand the difference between good and bad fats, between simple and complex carbs and between healthy and unhealthy foods. Good nutrition can help you live a healthier, more productive and fun filled life by giving you the energy you need to accomplish your goals. http://straighthealth.com/pages/articles/darticles/nutrition.html