5 Snacks To Curb Your Sugar Craving

This post is good for: 

• Anyone looking for healthy snacks to stop sugar cravings
• Anyone looking for healthy, sweet snacks
• Anyone looking to avoid trips to the vending machine at the office
• Anyone looking to keep blood sugar in check

Is sugar your kryptonite? It is mine. I could incorporate a pound of Swedish Fish, a bag of Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups and a few oatmeal raisin cookies into my daily diet and not blink an eye.

The Best Diets of 2021 | DASH, Med & More!

This post is good for: 

• Anyone interested in learning more about various diet plans
• Anyone interested in the DASH Diet, Mediterranean Diet or Flexitarian Diet

U.S. News and World Report has released it annual Best Diet list for 2021 and there are some usual suspects atop the list. 

Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Day 5 Review: Is This For Real?!?

Wow. Done.

I really didn't think I could do but I did and only cheated just a wee bit.

Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Day 4 Review: Here Comes That Energy Boost

Day four on the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet? Gamechanger.

I woke up at 5:30AM with some energy. Not just some energy. I felt good. The headache I felt on days two and three still persisted but it wasn't as pounding. It was...manageable. I don't take aspirin, ibuprofen or any of that stuff, so I've just been dealing with it. Today it truly was tolerable.

Save this workout if you're looking for an upper body burner! pic.twitter.com/qKZU1OHoz3

— Women's Health (@WomensHealthMag) September 19, 2019

I felt so good this morning that I even did this light, stress light, arm workout from Women's Health. I had so much energy this morning that I almost skipped into school when I dropped of my daughter in her classroom.

Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Day 3 Review: The Brainfog Is Still There!

Prolon offers a daily email to offer words of encouragement. Day three's email said "Some people find day 3 to be challenging".

Great. That's exactly what I want to read when I wake up at crack-thirty in the morning with a caffeine withdrawal/fasting/brainfog headache. Ugh.

Day three on the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet offer another round of sparse meals: L-Bar, Butternut Squash Soup, Kale Crackers (damn, I was happy to eat those!) followed by White Bean and Spinach Soup for dinner. I supplemented the day with more tea, water, sparkling water and the L-Drink.

RELATED: Day 4 Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Review: Here Comes the ENERGY!

Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Day 2 Review: Brainfog Sets In

Another sneak peak from Instagram Stories

"I woke up like this and I didn't have one cocktail last night! Promise," that's what I told a number of friends and colleagues on my second day of my five-day Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet when they asked me how I felt.

Monday morning was not pretty. Literally and figuratively. I woke up with puffy eyes and headache! Way to enter the work week. 

Some individuals who fast experience brain fog or caffeine withdrawals. I think my headache might be both. I usually have one cup of black coffee in the morning and either a green tea or diet drink (I know, it's my thing, don't hate me!) in the afternoon. Since I was focused on eliminating that second hit of caffeine, perhaps some of the headache was from the caffeine withdrawal. Perhaps it was something else: sugar or carbohydrate withdrawal. Whatever it's from it sucked but I was still focused on powering through the day and staying on the protocol.

Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet Day 1 Review: It's Not So Bad!

"And why exactly are you doing this?" a colleague asked me when he saw the kale crackers I was eating instead of a typical pregame meal.

"I just want a reset," I deadpanned while actually enjoying the kale crackers.

This was my first day on the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet, a plan that, in theory, is supposed to replicate the benefits you receive from fasting. The difference is that you can eat, rather than not eat. Now, it's not feast on gorgeous produce. Instead it is is prepackaged food prepared by L-Nutra a nutrition technology that sells the five-day fast.

How To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

This is the least you will weigh all year.

How does that sound? Awful if you ask me. The fact is that Halloween unofficially kicked off what some call "The Weight Gain Season".

A Cornell University study recently determined that "In the U.S., weight patterns begin rising at Thanksgiving and peak around Christmas and New Year's." 😳

Super Simple Diet Tips: Put Down Your Fork To Lose Weight

Did you know that setting down your fork between bites during a meal is one of the most effective (and simplest) ways to lose weight?

This works because it forces you to eat more slowly. Eating slowly is important because it takes your brain 20 minutes from the time you start eating to send signals to your stomach that you're getting full. There are a ton of studies to back this up.

In fact a 2014 TCU study found that whether you're overweight or not, participants who ate slowly were significantly less hungry 60 minutes after the start of a slow meal than after the start of a meal during which they ate rapidly

RELATED: Learn How To Be Mindlessly Slim
RELATED: Visit The Diet Section On My Blog! 

8G Greens Superfood Supplement Review

While a $12 bottle of green juice is great once in a while, it's not a practical solution for people who work, travel and are running around all day. It also gets expensive. 8G Greens Superfood Supplement is a phenomenal solution, particularly for busy working moms and working women trying to stay healthy.

RELATED: 5 Delicious No-Cal or Low-Cal Alternatives Soda

You can carry the little tube of 10 tables with you anywhere you go. You simply drop them into a glass of water and they dissolve, Alka Seltzer-style, into a tangy, citrus drink that is really tasty.

Why Lean People Don't Diet...And Don't Gain Weight

Want to stay lean and healthy? Don't diet.

Severely restricting your calories isn't a longterm weight loss solution. You absolutely cannot stay sane or fueled on 1200 calories a day or on some wacky diet that only includes bacon and beef.

Restrictive diets don't work.

RELATED: Learn How To Lose Weight & Build Muscle Simultaneously

Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab recently concluded that people who have maintained a healthy weight throughout their lives (not gaining more than 10 pounds over the course of their lives) didn't diet. 74% of them reported that they never or rarely dieted. 92% DID say the were conscious about what they ate. 

5 Delicious Low-Cal or No-Cal Alternatives To Soda

I spent 15 minutes on the phone last week with my BFF talking her off the Diet Coke ledge. She is trying to cut back on soda in 2016 and says going off of it is about to kill her. She is having caffeine withdrawals, she misses that wonderful Diet Coke fizz and gets bored with water.

I feel her pain. I was a soda addict in the 90's and early 2000's. When I worked for the Dallas Cowboys we had free sodas all throughout Valley Ranch. I would drink two or three Diet Dr. Peppers and a Diet Mountain Dew every day. The whole 'diet' thing didn't do squat for me. I was still fat.

When I started scaling back my soda consumption and, not coincidentally, eating better the weight started dropping off.

RELATED: 8G Greens Superfood Supplement Review

I am not gonna lie. My favorite drink, to this day, is a Cherry Diet Coke from JD's Chippery in Dallas. There is something special about that cherry syrup they use. I could drink one every day but you, me and everyone in between knows that a daily soda habit isn't good for you. To that end, I limit my consumption to one delicious drink a week.

There is no disputing the fact that water is the best beverage out there. I love water but sometimes we all just get tired of it. Whether we're stuck at work and need something for that 3pm break or simply want a more interesting alternative to drink when we're running errands, water all day every day can become monotonous and, in turn, has us craving a Coke. Fortunately, there are some awesome low-calorie or no-calorie beverages you can drink in place of water and soda without damaging your waistline.

The Best Diet Of 2016: DASH Diet Tops The List

Click HERE to download a FREE DASH Diet meal plan.

The DASH Diet has done it again. U.S. News & World Report has named the DASH Diet the "Best Overall Diet" of 2016 in an examination of 38 different diet plans. It also ranked #1 as the Best Diet For Healthy Eating but ranked #12 in terms of Best Weight Loss Diets.

RELATED: The Best Diets of 2021. Did the DASH Diet Top the List? 

Learn More About the DASH Diet

The diet, developed by National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, is designed to prevent and lower high blood pressure. Weight loss is the nice bonus.

RELATED: Eat Less At Your Next Meal With This Simple Diet Tip!

Drink Water Before A Meal To Lose Weight: Fact Or Fiction?

Could one of the easiest ways to slash calories be as simple as drinking a big glass of water before we eat? Yes, according to a recent study by the University of Birmingham in the UK.

RELATED: 5 Tips To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Thanksgiving Diet Tips

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday planned. We were in Paris last year for Thanksgiving (a few pics here). I have spent countless Thanksgivings covering Cowboys games (their spread is fabulous, btw). We'll be home this year spending it with the family. 

Thanksgiving tends to kick off the holiday eating season. If you're not careful, you can pack on a few pounds during the final six weeks of the year. To avoid doing that, here are a few diet strategies that can help you survive and enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner without wrecking your healthy eating plan.

RELATED: 5 Tips To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Which Produce Is Best For Weight Loss

Grandma was right, you need to eat your fruits and vegetables. When it comes to weight loss, though, starchy vegetables and stone fruits may not be the most effective allies for dropping pounds. Leafy and cruciferous veggies are the weight loss winners while berries and citrus fruits top the list in the fruit category.

Does Too Much Fruit Make You Fat?

I will never forget talking to a trainer in the late 90's who warned me of the dangers of fruit. Yes, fruit. He told me that while it was healthy, it was full of a simple sugar called fructose. He stressed I would never get as lean as I wanted to eating it.

This advice seemed counter-intuitive in regards to eating a healthful diet. Fruit is packed with nutrients, antioxidants and is full of fiber.

The 5-Day Fasting Diet

Do you hear that noise? It's the buzz surrounding a recent study which indicates reducing your calories for as few as five days a month can reduce risk factors for aging, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The nice bonus? Weight loss.

4 Amazing Summer Salads You Need To Try Now

Summer is my absolute favorite time of year, food-wise. The produce is delicious and the heat lends itself to eating it.

The warm weather is also motivation to keep us in shape. Why? Wearing less clothing in warmer weather is incredibly motivating. The easiest thing to do? Go for a simple 20-30 minute walk after dinner, three to four times a week. Do this in addition to your normal workout routine. That extra calorie burn will make a difference over the summer.

4 Simple Diet & Fitness Tips To Help You Get Ready For Summer

With Memorial Day behind us, summer has unofficially started. Pools are open which, in turn, means bathing suit season is here.

Are you ready? Me? Sorta.

Innergy Fitness owner, trainer and nutrition expert Stephanie Hanson recently shared a few secrets with me to help us feel better during the summer months. You know the routine: we're wearing tank tops, shorts and bathing suits. We want to feel good about doing that. Stephanie's tips can help. They don't require any crazy weight loss regime, diet pills or ridiculous exercise program. They're along the lines of the smart, simple strategies that I have been preaching for years.