Up Jawbone diet wristband

A new diet aid will be hitting the market soon – a diet wristband that claims to help you lose weight. But will it really do the trick and be a magic diet solution?

The Up diet wristband by Jawbone looks like a simple bracelet that you wear on your wrist, but the makers of it hope that it will play a valuable role in helping you lose weight. Of course, just wearing a standard bracelet is unlikely to do a lot for your dieting ambitions, but the Up diet wristband is a bracelet with a difference.

Designed to be used alongside a smartphone, the diet wristband comes with a special app for your phone that tracks and monitors your movement, exercise, sleep patterns and nutrition 24 hours a day.

The Jawbone Up wristband hasn’t been released onto the market just yet – it will apparently be released in theUSlater in the year – so it’s still unclear exactly how it will work. However, I assume some degree of user input will be required to let it know what you’ve eaten and consumed on a daily basis, as one little wristband is unlikely to be that clever and instantaneously know what you’ve been up to!

If you really need to lose weight and are struggling to eat the right diet or cut down on your daily food intake, then the device might not be enough to help you meet your goals – sometimes we just need more input, support and advice.

But it sounds like an intriguing idea and the app might be useful for helping you record your daily food, drink and exercise habits and help you analyse where you could improve, or where you’re going wrong.

No price details have been released yet (all I know is that several different colors will be available) but I’ll be waiting for more details with interest and look forward to finding out how people get on with it.

What do you think? Would you try out the diet wristband? And have you come across any other similar diet apps on the market? I’d love to hear your views!

New Diet Wristband: Could the Up Bracelet Help You Lose Weight? is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Get fit with Zumba

Remember I told you about the Zumba Fitness Craze a few months back? Well, I thought I’d write a little update to let you know how I’m getting on with it.

I’ve continued to attend my weekly Zumba classes and, low and behold, I’ve learnt to really love it. Actually, even though I’m really not one to get caught up in crazes, I could even go so far as to admit that I’ve become a bit addicted to it!

That’s not something I ever thought I’d be saying! Although I know fitness and exercise need to be part of a healthy diet in order to help weight stay off – and it seriously boosts the effect of dieting – I’ll admit to not being the greatest fan of exercise. But Zumba doesn’t feel like hard work or traditional exercise classes.

They call it a ‘global fitness party’ and, despite the sweating and the hard work involved, with all the different dance moves you learn, and the light hearted, encouraging approach that the leaders provide, it really does become a great night out.

In addition to attending my weekly classes (if I had more free time, I’d go to another!) I’ve invested in the DVDs, so that I can continue exercising at home. I’m still a bit self-conscious and aware that my version of the dance moves may not resemble the real thing too well, so I have to ensure I have the house to myself before I get started!

The DVDs are great to use alongside a class, as they provide more guidance about how the steps are performed and offer a short, 20 minute quick workout or a longer 45-55 minute session.

Many of the Zumba moves focus on trimming the tum and the bum – shaking your booty is an essential part! – and I’ve begun to notice a definite improvement in the size of both of mine!

So, if you’re still debating whether to give Zumba a try, I heartily recommend it. Find a friend to go with you to a class if you’re shy, or brave it and go on your own. If you’re not sure it’s for you, invest in a set of DVDs and give it a try at home. If even I can grow to love this exercise, I’m sure you can too!

Yours,

Delilah

Zumba Update: Dancing My Way to a Slimmer Tum and Bum! is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Diet pills

There are always loads of diet pill companies trying to lure people into trying their products – if you’ve been looking up diet information on the Internet, you’ll have no doubt come across some examples. But as there seems to be a new diet pill scam doing the rounds, and an acquaintance has already been caught out by it, I thought I’d give you the heads up so you can be aware of it.

Have you seen any adverts come up on the right hand side as you’re browsing Facebook proclaiming to tell you the secrets about successful weight loss? You know the ones, “The secrets of XXX celebrity’s diet revealed.” Well, they’ve been cleverly created to make it appear that the secrets are revealed in the pages of well-known magazines – click on the links, and they’ll appear to take you through to a diet feature in a magazine.

It’s very well orchestrated, but as much as it may look as if it’s a feature written by a magazine reporter who’s testing out the diet pills, it’s not really a genuine article, but a cleverly disguised fake magazine website.

The links in the article take you through to the websites of the diet pill companies, who are offering a seemingly generous chance for you to try their products for rock rock bottom prices. This is typically about $4.95 for a month’s supply, but they’ll recommend at least two different types of pills to use alongside each other – one being the diet pill itself, and the other a detox pill to help speed weight loss even more. As tempting as it may sound to give it a go, there is a catch lurking….

As my acquaintance soon found out, what’s not clear when you first place your bargain offer order, before 30 days are up you’ll automatically receive another two lots of pills – this time charged at the full fee, of $80 per pot!

Yes, you’ve guessed right – ordering the special offer deal automatically signs you up to receiving more full-priced diet pills every month! It’s all hidden in the small print, which is notoriously hard to find. It can be cancelled, but you have to jump through a few hoops, phoning the customer service line or cancelling online, and it will already have been charged to your credit card.

It’s so easy to get caught up by these scams, so I hope no-one else has fallen victim and got charged huge amounts of money for diet pills. If you do spot an ad whilst browsing Facebook, you’ll know to avoid it!

Of course, if you want to give diet pills a go, then go ahead – but be sure you know how much it will be costing you…

Yours,

Delilah

Watch out for the Facebook diet pill scam is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Golden retriever puppy

Have I told you about the new addition to our family yet? Meet our new golden retriever puppy, Simon!

I’ve been wondering for a while about getting a pet and my two kids were keen to have a dog, so we finally took the plunge and adopted this little cutie! One of the greatest benefits in terms of dieting, health and fitness is that this little fella ensures we get plenty of exercise on a regular basis.

Since we’ve had Simon, I’ve been out and about walking far more than ever before, which has had a great effect on my fitness levels. It’s also helped burn off some extra calories, which is always a great bonus. Being a lively puppy, he keeps us busy and active even we’re not out walking, chasing after balls and causing lots of mischief, so our general activity levels are being helped too.

As someone who’s ever conscious about the need to be healthy and active, to help keep trim and reduce the risk of major health issues, this is really important to me and I’m pleased that my kids are benefiting from their new pet in a whole host of ways.

At the moment, we’re taking a daily walk around the block, but as Simon gets bigger, we’ll increase it to twice a day, plus extra long walks at the weekend.

Do you have a dog and has it helped your fitness and diet plans? Please share your doggy stories with me!

Getting Fit and Trim With A Dog is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Dr Moreno 17 Day Diet

There’s a new diet phenomenon doing the rounds – the 17 Day Diet! I heard about it on TV and had to look up more details, so thought you’d like the lowdown too.

The 17 Day Diet was developed by Californian doctor, Dr Michael Moreno, and the diet plan is split it into four cycles of 17 days each. The diet is based on ‘clean eating’, which includes avoiding consuming processed foods and sugars, plus alcohol in the early stages. Each of the 17 day cycles varies the consumption of carbohydrates, proteins and fruits to help stimulate metabolism and help digestion.

The science between the 17 days is that this is right before the time when the body apparently starts to realise that the diet is a habit and metabolism starts to slow down.

The four different 17 day cycles are:

1. Accelerate – which aims to help remove sugar from the blood, discourage storage of fat, boost fat burning and provide rapid weight loss.

2. Activate – which aims to restore metabolism and increase and decrease the amount of calories you eat, to help improve fat burning and avoid plateaus occurring.

3. Achieve – this cycle re-introduces more foods and encourages you to develop good eating habits.

4. Arrive – this cycle is ongoing and is aimed at helping you maintain your weight goal through a healthy eating programme. You’re allowed to eat treats at weekends, which is said to fulfil food cravings.

In addition to the 17 Day Diet programme, Dr Moreno has also produced The 17 Minute Workout, to help with fat burning. It’s a cardio workout that can easily be done at home on a daily basis.

As with any diet, Dr Moreno says you have to be strict and adhere to the rules in order to lose weight. But fans of the diet have been reported to have lost between 10 and 12lbs in two to three weeks, so it obviously works for some people.

I’ve not tried it out, but would be interested to hear from anyone who has. Have you lost weight on the 17 Day Diet? Is it really as good as it sounds or is there a catch?

The 17 Day Diet: Lose 10lbs in 17 Days is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Eat more fruit and veg!

There’s no doubt that fruits and vegetables are healthy for us and should be eaten on a daily basis. But if you’re struggling to find ways of incorporating enough of these healthy ingredients into your diet, then here are 5 easy ways to help you eat more fruits and vegetables!

1. Add chopped fruits to your breakfast cereal

If your usual breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal and a slice of toast, why not add some fruit to the mix? Even if you don’t have time to prepare yourself a mixed bowl of fruit salad, simply chopping some fruit and adding it to your cereal gives you a boost towards your five a day.

Good fruit options to add to cereal include strawberries, bananas, grapes, raspberries or blackberries. Grated apple also works well added to muesli.

2. Make your own tomato and vegetable pasta sauce

For a quick supper, that’s tasty, nutritious and suitable for all the family, why not make your own tomato and vegetable pasta sauce? Mix together a tin of chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, peppers and courgette, cook and then whizz to a smooth consistency in a food processor.

If you’ve got children who aren’t keen on eating their veggies, then this is also a great way of ensuring they get a healthy meal, without any obvious sign of vegetables!

3. Drink pure fruit or vegetable juice

One glass of pure fruit or vegetable juice, which is full of essential vitamins and nutrients, can count towards one of your recommended five a day portions (drinking more than one glass doesn’t count). Try varying the juice and trying new combinations – apple and carrot, anyone?

4. Swap mashed potato for mashed carrot, parsnip or swede

When you’re choosing vegetables to go with a meal, why not have a go at mashing a mix of carrot, parsnip and swede together, instead of potato? Boil the vegetables, then use a masher and a drop of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk to get a smooth consistency. It’s also a delicious alternative topping for Cottage Pie.

5. Make casseroles and stews with lots of added vegetables

Casseroles and stews are fantastic meal ideas for winter days, as they’re warming and filling. They’re also a great way of increasing your vegetable intake, as all sorts of vegetables can be added to the dishes – potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, beans, peppers, garlic and swede, or whatever you have available.

As an added incentive, casseroles and stews can also be quite cheap to make, so are perfect if you’re on a budget. And if you have a slow cooker, you can add the ingredients in the morning and leave it on low to cook gently throughout the day, and be ready when you get home at night.

5 Ways to Eat More Fruit and Vegetables is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Yoyo dieting

Yo-Yo dieting – where you lose lots of weight, then pile it all back on again, plus a bit more, when you finish the diet – is a common phenomenon. If it hasn’t happened to you, then you’re bound to know someone who is a yo-yo dieter. Whilst some people claim it’s all due to poor self control, scientists have made a new discovery that could put an end to yo-yo dieting.

Researchers from eight European countries analysed the blood of a group of dieters who’d lost weight. Half of them successfully kept the weight off, or lost even more, whilst others regained the weight they’d lost.

The blood tests found an important link between a gene involved in regulating blood pressure and post-diet weight gain. The women who regained their lost weight had a higher change in the concentration of the protein – called angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE).

It’s still unclear exactly how the protein affects dieters, but it may be involved in interfering with the hormones that control how full people feel and by making the body store extra fat and water.

Up to 80% of dieters are prone to piling the pounds back on so, although this is the first time the link has been discovered, it could be a very important discovery.

More work now needs to be done, to understand the link more clearly, but in the future it’s hoped that a blood test could be developed to see who is more prone to yo-yo dieting.

We all know how hard it is to lose the pounds in the first place and it can be frustrating and demoralising to then put that weight back on. It’s not unusual to end up feeling like a failure when your pounds reappear, especially when other people seem to find it easier to keep the weight off.

The research sounds really interesting and I hope it could eventually offer help to a generation of women dieters.

Scientific Research Finds Clue to Yo-yo Dieting is a post from: Dieting Delilah

When you’re on a diet, it’s important to have healthy foods to hand for those moments when you need to snack. If you’re looking for some ideas of healthy and low calorie foods to keep close at hand, then here are five of the best low calorie options to munch on!

Delicious carrots

1. Oranges

Oranges are a great source of vitamin C, which gives a good boost to your immune system (this is especially important, as some research suggests dieters may be more prone to catching colds and flu).

They also contain a soluble fibre called pectin which helps to lower high cholesterol. A juicy orange contains an average of 37Kcal per 100g – they’re refreshing to eat, so should be kept close at hand for your dieting snack.

2. Cherries

Cherries are another great source of vitamin C. They also contain healthy levels of potassium and have a phytochemical in them called ellagic acid, which can help protect against cancer.

Cherries can have a mild laxative effect, which is great for getting your digestive system moving and clearing out any blockages. On average, cherries have 48kcal per 100g serving.

Marvellous mango

3. Carrots

It’s no surprise that carrot sticks feature in a number of diets. They have an average of 35Kcal per 100g of carrot and they’re a rich source of carotenoids – an important antioxidant. Carrots are filling to eat and take a while to crunch, helping you feel like you’re eating more.

4. Broccoli

This super duper green vegetable can be eaten raw if you wish, helped along with a healthy dip. But if you prefer to eat it cooked, it’s great steamed or boiled, as those cooking methods are the best way of retaining all the essential nutrients in broccoli.

In fact, this is one of the healthiest green vegetables you can eat, as it contains phytochemicals that can help protect against cancer, as well as calcium and magnesium. Broccoli has about 33kcal per 100g, so fill up your plate with broccoli!

5. Mango

Mangoes are a great source of vitamins C and E, plus they have cartenoids in them, which the body converts into vitamin A.

As they’re rich in fibre, mangoes are great for dieters to consume. They also have the added benefit of being full of sugar, so you get a much-needed sugar boost, whilst still eating a healthy food – bonus! Mangoes have an average of 57kcal per 100g.

Five of The Best Low Calorie Healthy Foods is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Tasty vegetables

Have you heard of the 4 Hour Body Diet? It’s one of the latest diets that’s taking the world by storm and, would you believe it, even encourages one day a week of binge eating!

One of hardest parts of dieting is having to eat healthily all the time and I’m a big believer in the idea that tasty treats – in moderation – are a good thing (being too strict just makes you crave them all the more, then if you give in, it’s easy to go mad and over-eat, leaving you back at your starting point).

Anyway, Tim Ferriss, who developed The 4 Hour Body Diet, is also a believer in the idea that treats are good for you, but he’s gone one step further in suggesting people following his diet should have one whole day a week cheating and bingeing! Not surprisingly, this caught my attention….

Tim’s reasoning behind the once weekly prescribed binge eating is that doing so will help to reset the body’s insulin sensitivity. No doubt it will also help you get all of your food cravings out of your system and set you back on the right path again the next day.

What the 4 Hour Diet involves

When not bingeing, the rest of the 4 Hour Body Diet involves eating what Tim calls slow carbs. You’re allowed to eat all vegetables, legumes and proteins, but have to cut out fruit, bread, nuts, oats and any starches. Each meal you eat has to include at least 20g protein, such as meat or fish. Put like that, it’s a good thing you can eat what you like on one day a week!

The other aspect of the 4 Hour Diet plan, and something that supposedly helps burn fat faster, is taking a series of supplements – or the PAGG Stack. This consists of four natural supplements – Poliocosanol, Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), decaffeinated Green tea flavanols and garlic extract.

If you’ve been reading my blog for long, then you’ll probably have already got the gist that I’m not a massive fan of taking diet pills. Whilst the PAGG stack is made up of supplements that are described as ‘natural,’ I’m not convinced that taking a load every day is really the right approach for long-term dieting and weight loss.

I’d be interested to hear your views, especially if you’ve tried the 4 Hour Body Diet or the PAGG Stack – what do you think about it and has it worked for you?

If you want to find out more about the 4 Hour Body Diet and the PAGG Stack, I’ve put together some more information about it.

A Diet That Lets You Binge: The 4 Hour Body Diet is a post from: Dieting Delilah

Christmas festivities

If you read my last post, about my quest to make lower fat pastry so that I can enjoy my favourite mince pies without feeling guilty, then you’ll be pleased to know that the recipe is here!

The recipe is easy to make and you can use any jar of homemade or bought mincemeat that you have available. I’m not 100% sure on the calorie content of these (ideas welcome), but the fact that they’ve got considerably less fat in than full pastry ones and that I’ve been able to control it has made me happier.

Best of all, I’ve been able to serve these special mince pies to friends and family and they’ve not even noticed that they’re not ‘real’! For me, that’s a sure sign of success for a diet food.

Special Lower Fat Mince Pies Recipe

227g plain flour
113g butter or margarine, chopped into small pieces (I’ve tried it with both of these, or a mix of butter and margarine, and both work fine)
Pinch of salt
Water
Low calorie cooking spray, such as Frylight
Mincemeat

Healthier mince pies

The pastry is made in the usual way, by gently chopping and rubbing the butter or margarine into the flour, until it forms a crumb-like mixture. Then add a few tablespoons of cold water – enough so that you can form the mixture into a solid ball, but one that isn’t too sloppy or sticky. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for about half an hour.

Once the pastry has chilled, roll it out thinly onto a floured surface (the thin part is important, as you want to make the most of these being lower fat mince pies!). Depending on the thinness of your pastry, you can get between 18 and 32 standard sized mince pies out of the mixture – I used a 3 inch fluted cutter.

I tried some ultra small, bite size tarts, and the mixture makes loads of these – or you could make some standard and some small. Spray a bun tin with the low calorie cooking spray, then gently place in your rounds and fill with a teaspoon of mincemeat. Rather than a pastry lid, I cut out Christmas pastry stars and popped these on top of the mincemeat.

Glaze the mince pies with a small dash of milk, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven, 190C/Gas Mark 5. The mince pies will be ready when the pastry has gone a golden colour and looks crisp.

Cool on a wire rack then enjoy – nom, nom, nom!

Delilah’s Special Lower Fat Mince Pie Recipe is a post from: Dieting Delilah