Erica Madden's Diet Blog All about my diet and my efforts to stay healthy

Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of people’s lives. With nutrition people will be able to consume foods that are detrimental to their health. If people eat right and consume good foods they will be able to enjoy many positive benefits such as living longer, boosting their immune system, maintaining a good appearance, and avoiding health problems.

When eating foods there are many important ingredients that a person consumes and needs to evaluate. One of the most important nutrients in food is carbohydrates. This nutrient is included in most foods and provides a very valuable part of any diet. With carbohydrates people will be able to consume foods of high quality.

Carbohydrates are a type of nutrient that provides energy. As a result this nutrient is very important and provides many benefits. The consumption of carbohydrates allows people to have the ability to participate in athletic activities, work out more easily and be able to have more endurance. By consuming carbohydrates people will have the ability to maximize their results in bodybuilding as this nutrient will prevent the breakdown of protein. As a result carbohydrates are an essential nutrient and allow people to maximize their results in many physical and athletic endeavors.

While carbohydrates provide many positive effects they are not without their drawbacks as most popularly pointed out by Dr Robert Atkins of the Atkins Diet fame. First carbohydrates are a type of sugar. With sugar people can experience things like tooth decay and diabetes. They can also gain weight and get fat. As a result people can suffer some health problems if they consume too much carbohydrates.

There is always an interesting discussion as to whether or not carbohydrates are good or bad on a diet. The nutrient provides numerous benefits and some drawbacks. Due to this fact carbohydrates are good on the diet. Carbohydrates provide more positive effects than negative ones. As long as a person consumes the right amount of carbohydrates they should be okay and avoid the negative effects. Whenever a person goes on a diet and a nutrition plan carbohydrates should be one of the main nutrients they consume.

It is important to note that people need to consume good carbohydrates. Foods that contain good carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, brown rice and cereal. As long as people consume good carbohydrates they will be able to maximize the benefits of this important nutrient. Therefore carbohydrates in most cases are good on a diet by providing positive effects.

One of my favorite diets for people who really want to lose weight quickly is Medifast. Medifast is a diet that was created to help extremely obese people lose weight given a choice between losing weight or dying… for them Medifast was a godsend.

What I like about Medifast is that you don’t have to guess on what you should eat, you simply eat their pre-packaged meals in a variety of forms and flavors, and then eat a nice lean meal (known as the “lean and green” meal) of real food. With this meal you can eat pretty much anything that isn’t fried and coated in sugar. Things like lean chicken or beef and a nice salad should fit the bill, but if you’re a vegetarian or vegan you might be able to find something else to work with the program.

What I don’t love about it is that it can be really expensive, so if you do order Medifast make sure you use Medifast coupons on your order so you can save a little bit on your order at least. It doesn’t make it cheap, but every dollar helps these days right?

If you aren’t sure if you can find something that you will like on the plan there is a good amount of variety with things like shakes, snack bars, chili, soup, cheese puffs, even ice cream… along with dozens of other options so the odds are you should be able to find something thats right for you. You just need to make sure you don’t cheat and sneak cookies and brownies on the side right?

Medifast isn’t for everyone, its expensive and some people just aren’t going to stick to a diet with pre-packaged, not so great tasting food. If you’re serious about losing weight though you should definitely at least give it a look. I can tell you from personal experience that Medifast works because my aunt lost over 50 pounds on it and she is looking great thanks in large part to Medifast.

For many of us, dieting can be a challenging task. An entire lifestyle change is needed in order to lose the weight and keep the weight off. There are so many diets out there but all diets have two things included at all times which are eating healthy and exercising. Anyone that wants to lose the pound should find a healthy diet that they can do.

Fruits, vegetables and fish are always great foods to eat while on a diet but there are also those foods that need to be avoided at all cost. These foods are not only unhealthy but they are also the main causes of weight gain. Here is a list of the foods to avoid while dieting.

1. White rice
White rice has a high glycemic index which means that you consume more glucose. Because of this appetite increases which can derail your diet.

2. White pasta
This also has a high glycemic intake and has more calories than whole grain pasta.

3. Fast food
Fast food is so high in calories and is packed with salt, fat and everything else that is unhealthy for you. Fast food packs on the pounds and clogs arteries.

4. Cola
Very unhealthy and is full of sugar and unwanted calories. Cola tastes good but is not good for you.

5. Mayo
Mayonnaise is full of saturated fatty acids. Skip the mayo on sandwiches.

6. French fries
All deep fried foods should be avoided.

7. Processed foods
Processed foods are packed with sugar and calories. It is best to eat fresh foods.

8. Bagels
Carbs are not good for diets.

9. Alcohol

10. Deli Meat
They are usually full of sugar. Especially meats like honey baked ham.

If you avoid these foods you stand a much better chance of losing the weight that you want to but dont lose hope. A diet is not as tough as it may seem. All you have to do is eat correctly and avoid all foods that should be avoided. Combine that with a great exercise routine your ideal weight will be achieved in no time. Eating the rights foods and staying active is the way to stay in good shape.