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    How to Lose Weight Safely and Effectively

    November 21st, 2009

    The key to a safe and effective weight loss diet starts with an understanding of why and how we gain weight. In most cases, weight gain results from some combination of a lack of exercise and eating too many wrong foods. The shift in our diet over the last fifty years has been dramatic and really quite shocking. What passes for food these days is, chemically speaking, not food at all and certainly not healthy. Processed foods are packed with non-nutritive flavourings and additives that put a heavy stress on the body and often will render the food undigestible. Undigested, un-utilized food is stored in our body as fat. The food additives that don’t pass through our body are distributed to our fat cells, thus making them bigger.

    If we were to do only one thing to improve the quality of our health and the weight of our body, it is simply this: eat more foods in their natural state. More organic fruits and vegetables (steamed or raw), brown rice and other whole grains, breads baked with non-refined flours, nuts, seeds, beans, and lean meats that are not fried. Less packaged foods, fast foods, deli meats, fried foods, and foods with artificial ingredients.

    Researchers now tell us that the high fructose corn syrup found in our sodas and many other prepacked foods is a non-natural sweetener. The saccharides in high fructose corn syrup break down very quickly in the body, signaling intense rises in insulin, which in turn tells the body to store fat. High fructose corn syrup is one of the single greatest contributors to obesity in the world today.

    A diet of wholesome, nourishing foods can taste good and be very filling and nourishing. A healthy diet does not require you to give up sweets. There are quite a few excellent healthy alternatives to sugar. The quantity of your food consumption does not have to change as much as the quality and nutrition of the food you eat.

    A seasonal body detox will help clean up your body, increase your energy and promote a healthy immune system. Be sure to detox your body in a safe and gentle way.

    Here are some excellent health resources:

    Guide to Healthy Sweeteners

    Detox Weight Loss Recipes


    Attire Tips and Ideas for Halloween Parties

    September 22nd, 2009

    Still need a dashing Halloween costume for your kid that won’t break your budget? Then see these five marvelous ideas! Utilizing items from around the household and a few craft store provisions, you can put these handy outfits together in moments. And the most delightful function? They’re all $25 and less! See additional eleventh hour costume ideas for grownups and pets too!
    Glorious, Glorious Unicorn Costume Halloween ideas

    She’ll sashay around in this fantasy-inspired costume long after Halloween is done!

    Start with a pink leotard and leggings. Cut up a white marabou feather boa into strips lengthy enough to fit around her ankles and waist and glue in place.

    To prepare a tail, trim the boa in strips long enough to settle from her seat to the back of her knees. Connect the strips together with a rubber band. Ready a bow out of pink ribbon and paste to cover the rubber band. Tie the tail to the seat of the pants with a safety pin.

    Dress your child in her outfit, ballet shoes and a unicorn headband. Utilize your own make-up to add on a black nose and pink crimson.

    The Yoda dog attire is hands down my favourite. There is something about those green ears that is just brilliant! Your dog can also dress as Princess Leia or Darth, and you have a mass of “Star Wars” character costumes to pick out from.


    Differences between Men and Women in Weight Loss

    July 20th, 2009

    Fact: women and men does not have the same physique. We are built differently. This is because hormones that shape how our muscles and bones are put together and how our body fat is stored on our bodies. For men, the result of the hormones (the testosterone in men) is a deep voice, a sturdier bone structure, as well as more muscles. It also regulates the size of the muscle mass, which it turn regulates the metabolism. The more muscle mass someone has, the faster he or she can burn the calories obtained from the food intake. Here we have the major difference between men and women, in a physical sense. An also the difference between fat people and slimmer types.A well known fact is that when people from different sexes work out the same hours every day, they never get the same kind of result. It is proven that women gain weight faster. Most weight loss information point in this direction. It is also proven that they do have a harder time losing it again in work out and exercise. It seems that women have the misfortune of being stuck with the worst part of the weight loss process and also with having to work twice as hard as men to stay in shape. Since the weight loss thing is no easy process for most men to handle, please imagine how bad women are having it (if you’re a man that is…).


    Bread in the Woods

    May 25th, 2008

    We really like fresh bread while we’re camping. There is something about bread products that just seems especially good in the woods. Maybe it’s the fresh air; maybe it’s the appetites that we work up in the woods.

    When we talk about bread in the woods, two thoughts seem to flash through folk’s minds: “Hey, I can barely handle yeast in the kitchen,” and “Yeah, but I’m a tent camper. I can’t bake in the woods.” Never fear. This article will help.

    If you can barely handle yeast in the kitchen, maybe yeast in the campground isn’t a great idea. But then, yeast is not temperamental to anything but temperature. If you solve the temperature problems, yeast in the campground is no more difficult than yeast in the kitchen. You need warm enough water to get the yeasty critters growing. Most recipes are going to ask for water in the 105 to 110 degree range. Unless you have a practiced finger, bring a thermometer.

    Now you’ve got to keep the yeasty critters growing. That involves temperature too. Instead of covering your dough with plastic wrap, place the dough, bowl and all, in a large food-safe plastic bag. It’ll keep the surface of the dough from drying out, the drafts away from the dough, and you’ll have a little mini greenhouse. If you have some sun, you can probably get the dough warm enough for the yeast to work. Once at 11,000 feet in Montana with a youth group, we moved a tent into the brunt of the sun to absorb the afternoon rays and create enough heat to make the dough rise.

    But you still don’t have an oven. You can use a Dutch oven. You can fry your yeasted bread. (In some parts of the West, these are called scones.) Raised doughnutsSpudnuts®are fried yeast breads. We’ve written before about fried bread.

    If you don’t want to mess around with the yeast, you can still make some great fried breads. What follows is an easy flatbread recipe. Or try a versatile Sopaipillas Recipe.

    You can also make some wonderful steamed breads around a campfire or on a cook stove. Many of these are sweetbreads, maybe even dessert breads, but they can be very goodgood enough to make at home.

    And of course, you can always rely on pancakes. In fact, pancakes may be one of the most versatile of camping foods. It works on the trail on a backpacking trip, in an RV, and everything in between. You can make them sweet or savory. You can top them with syrups or sauces. You can even stuff them, roll them, and eat them as a burrito.

    For more about making bread without an oven or bread in woods, we recommend that you check out our “Emergency and Outdoor Bread Manual”it’s a free download consisting of about 28 pages of goodies.

    Here’s a good recipe to start with, Indian Flatbread.

    Indian Flatbread

    This makes a quick side dish to feed the kids, a bread that you can make without an oven, and a great trail bread. You can double or triple the recipe depending on how big your tribe is.

    4 cups bread flour

    4 teaspoons baking powder

    1 cup dry milk solids

    1 teaspoon salt

    2 tablespoons sugar

    1 1/2 cups warm water

    Enough vegetable oil to fill the frying pan to 1/2-inch deep.

    Mix the dry ingredients together. Form a depression in the dry ingredients and slowly pour half the water in. Mix and add the remaining water as needed to form a soft but not sticky dough. Knead the dough lightly. Cut pieces from the dough and form them into round discs about 1/4-inch thick.

    Heat the oil until hot. When the oil is hot enough, a small piece of the dough placed in the oil should brown quickly but not burn. Slip the dough pieces into the hot oil, fry them until brown on one side, and turn. When done, remove them to paper towels. Serve them hot as a bread or with syrup or honey as a side dish.

    EzineArticles Expert Author Dennis R Weaver

    Dennis Weaver is the general manager at The Prepared Pantry (http://www.preparedpantry.com) with recipes, ideas, and the best selection of mixes and ingredients. Visit the free Bakers’ Library for more articles like this, free baking guides, and tested recipes.