No more fast foods during lunch time! Learn how to eat at the office!

Hello hard workers! I think it’s important to give you guys some hints on what to eat at lunch break to avoid gaining weight and consequent diseases!

Some people spend too much time at the office others work a lot outside the office. Both eat badly when out of home and this must be fixed urgently before it’s too late! Not to forget the chocolate and biscuit temptations your colleagues want to share with you during working hours ;)

Do you feel concerned?

Most people do!! But we can do something about it!!

First of all, eat a very balanced breakfast before you leave the house so you will not feel very tempted to eat all sweets and pastries around you, and won’t be that hungry by the time it’s lunch! A balanced breakfast can be skimmed milk with a handful of cornflakes and a fruit, or a sandwich made of whole wheat bread and egg (not fried) or turkey ham with a small glass of orange juice for example! When you eat a healthy breakfast your blood sugar levels will be controlled and so you ll not feel that hungry and it will be easier for you to refuse a chocolate if someone offers you! If you are always in a hurry you can still have breakfast, no excuses, you can have a small box of cornflakes, or a small bottle of low fat yogurt to drink with a banana, or just an apple and a low calorie cereal bar…

Now at lunch time, if you are at the office, try to bring with you homemade food. This is by far the best thing you can do! Homemade food prepared without fat and a plate of salad or just a tomato and cucumbers will do the job! End with a fruit or a low fat yogurt for example. If you can’t do this, or if your job is outside the office all day, you can order a sandwich with 300-500 calories maximum, and today there are so many restaurants that make such sandwiches, so again no excuses! Or you can just order a chicken salad without mayo sauce or grilled chicken burger/no mayo! Just avoid fried foods and sweets! Skipping meals will not help you at all. You ll go back home and eat all you see and regret all night or at least you’ll regret when going up on the scale!

Move. Take the stairs, go get your glass of water, do the secretary tasks of bringing you a file for example instead of asking her, just bring it yourself! Park your car far from your office and walk. Every hour stand up and walk in the corridor for 15 minutes, believe me by the end of the day you will feel great and by the end of the month the calories burnt by these simple exercises will be summed up and benefit you greatly!

Hope you enjoyed these simple but very efficient tips to avoid weight gain and eat healthily at the office! Follow them and give me the good news! ;)

Samia Khoury Dietitian

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

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Study: Processed, Red Meat Can Lead to Type 2 Diabetes

Eating processed red meat and red meat in general, like hot dogs and hamburgers, on a regular basis can lead to type 2 diabetes, according to a new study from Harvard University.

Results from studying more than 200,000 people over 20 years showed that eating one serving of processed meat, such as hot dogs, bacon, salami or bologna, regularly or daily can increase the risk for type 2 diabetes by 50 percent. Even regular consumption of unprocessed red meats like hamburgers or steak led to a 20 percent increased risk.

"Many previous studies have shown the link between processed meats and diabetes, but this is one of the first large studies to show that unprocessed red meat is a significant risk factor," lead author Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health told USA Today.

Processed meats are high in sodium and nitrites, which contributes to an increased diabetes risk. Red meat, which is loaded with iron crucial for the blood, can raise the risk for diabetes if too much iron is consumed, according to Hu, who also believes there may be more contributing factors.

"Clearly, processed meat is much worse than unprocessed meat for raising the risk, but unprocessed red meat is not benign," Hu said.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also noted that substituting one serving of nuts, whole grains or low-fat dairy each day can lower risk for type 2 diabetes between 16 and 35 percent.

The Harvard researchers analyzed diet data from 442,101 individuals, adjusted for factors like age, general health, lifestyle habits and diets.

Type 2 Diabetes, the most common type of diabetes when the body does not produce enough insulin, affects millions of Americans, especially the overweight. Its complications can range from urinary tract infections, to atherosclerosis, stroke, blindness and death.

Hu recommends minimizing consumption of red meats, processed and otherwise, and replacing them with a serving of nuts, whole grains or low-fat dairy like yogurt.

"It's a very important message, given that diabetes is rising very rapidly and consumption of red meat, including both processed and unprocessed, is very high," Hu told The New York Times.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the

business news leader

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/195773/20110810/processed-red-meat-lead-type-2-diabetes.htm

Travelling this summer and afraid to gain weight? Check here how to prevent weight gain when you travel and even lose weight!

This is so familiar to many of you, isn’t it? I know exactly what you feel when you travel and want to try all the yummy foods and sweets in the country you’re visiting. It’s kind of impossible to resist, I mean you’ve been waiting for your so-deserved trip so bad and want to enjoy it to the MAX and when we say “enjoy”, food is definitely in the plan ;)

But you know, sometimes enjoying so much the food in your trip can put all your yearly efforts to lose weight down! Do you really want that? You have been struggling with your weight since the beginning of the year to look good this summer, and in one trip you ruin all your efforts! I don’t think this is right to do!

I think there are ways to coordinate between enjoying food when you travel and not gaining weight, and for some of my clients who follow strictly my recommendations, believe me they even lose weight when they travel!

First, breakfast at the hotel: everyday you have the morning buffet in front of you with all the croissants, donuts, jam, fried eggs, sweets, juices, and all the yummy stuff that we all love! Yeah I love them too!!! But we can’t let ourselves go to the point we feel so heavy and sick that we are not even comfortable with ourselves and with no one! And overeating is not that worth it if we think about it!

So I suggest that only the first day of your trip you eat whatever you want for breakfast, like put from all the choices you have in front of you but only the first day. You can’t do it everyday of your vacation because weight gain will be inevitable! The rest of the days, you can have skimmed milk with a handful of cornflakes and 1 fruit, or you can have 2 slices of bread with a medium slice of omelet and ½ cup of orange juice. Both are balanced breakfast choices available at hotels but consume them in these reasonable quantities.

Between meals I suggested you don’t nibble like don’t take with you bags of biscuits, pain au lait, kaak, chocolates, bzourat, you know what I mean, when we travel we tend to take some goodies with us just in case hunger hits! Hehe I can assure you we won’t die of hunger if we don’t take all these bags!! It will just save us from hundreds and thousands of unwanted empty calories!

Lunch and diner: My suggestions for those meals are that everyday you chose a dish you like at one meal and a light dish at the other. So if today for lunch you chose pizza, then for dinner you have a tuna salad without mayo or oil. Or if for diner you chose a ravioli dish, then for lunch just have a chicken salad without the mayo/oil sauce, just chose lemon mustard without oil.

And this is allowed ONLY because when you travel usually you WALK sooooo much that you burn the yummy dish you ordered and either keep your weight stabilized during your trip or sometimes you may even lose weight!!!

As for sweets, you gotta choose: It’s either you have 1 meal of your choice + 1 light meal and no deserts for the day OR Both your meals (lunch and diner are light, like grilled fish with salad for example) and so you can have 1 desert of your choice today! Fair enough, no?

Try to avoid fried foods, sauces, pastries, juices, cocktails, and too many deserts!

Try to choose smart choices for yummy meals like a burger with low-fat grilled meat inside and no mayo, no fries. It’s not that bad after all!! Smart choices are still delicious and can save you from so much damage and sadness…

Now I really hope this helped you!!! Take it seriously and you will be so happy with the result! After all, a trip is not just about eating. Enjoy the company, the beautiful sites to visit, the fun activities, the sports opportunities, the beach, sun, nature, and just the new air that we discover when we step in a new country!

Have a safe trip and fun to the MAX! Life is good and has to be lived abundantly!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86 or via email

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

twitter: @samiakdietitian

http://www.samiakhoury.com/

Add Fiber to Your Diet !!

Let me introduce you to Fiber. Fiber is my best friend. Fiber helps me lose weight, and makes me feel full for longer. Fiber decreases the absorption of fat and sugar in the blood, which means some fiber may help lower blood cholesterol levels and help to control the rise of blood sugar levels after a meal. Fiber helps with constipation problems and prevents from colon and rectal cancer as well as from hemorrhoids! Fiber prevents bloating and gas too!!

There are so many reasons why fiber should also be YOUR best friend!

In general where can you find sources of fiber?

-          In leafy vegetables and legumes

-          In fruits especially with the skin

-          In whole wheat bread, toast, rice, pasta, couscous, burghul

-          In beans, lentils and peas, oats, pop corn, potato with skin

You need 25g of fiber daily if you are a woman and 38g daily if you are man. This is easily reached if you consume whole wheat foods instead of refined (white bread etc…), eat salads and 3 portions of fruits daily, and beans or lentils twice a week! Also choose to eat potato with the skin, choose homemade popcorn as snack instead of chips, use oat in your breakfast meals with milk and you’ll be doing good!

Just careful because too much fiber (more than 50 or 60 grams per day) may cause diarrhea and bloating and can actually lower your body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals and  be sure to increase your fiber intake gradually, and drink a lot of water for the fiber to be efficient !!

It is important to read well your food labels at the supermarket because it will help you determine the fiber content of most packaged foods. When it is written high in fiber then the product has 5 grams or more per serving!

Now I am happy to have a mutual friend with you! ;)

Keep Healthy…

Samia Khoury Dietitian

www.samiakhoury.com

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86

or via Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

Twitter: @samiakdietitian