How to lose weight without getting hungry

“I really need to lose weight but I hate feeling hungry most of the time,” I suppose this has to be one of the most common statements, made by people who follow many of the so called fad diets. If your diet leaves your stomach rumbling every hour on the hour, your body is telling you it’s time to make a change. I used to think that losing weight meant starving yourself. It took me along time to accept the fact that I could actually eat heartily and still drop a few pounds in weight.
The times I spent starving myself in the name of losing weight were miserable. When I did manage to shed a few pounds, I would sadly put it all back on, in a matter of weeks. Sometimes I’d even gain a few extra pounds. Now that's what I call depressing!
What I learned through many years of research (trial and error) is that when you follow a healthy eating plan, you can eat until you’re full, and still see amazing weight loss results.

What Are Healthy Foods?

Healthy foods are not created in factory's where food is processed to death. If the food is dried, dehydrated, canned, frozen or filled with ingredients you can’t pronounce, I suggest that you stay away from it. Examples of healthy foods include fresh fish, naturally raised meats, legumes, seeds, organic poultry, organic whole eggs, raw nuts, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

How to Make Healthy Meals More Filling

There’s nothing more miserable than having to deal with hunger pangs all day. If your meals aren’t satisfying your nutritional needs, this is exactly what’s going to happen. Here are some tricks to make your meals more filling:

• Add a source of good quality protein and a source healthy fat (yes, fat) to each of your meals. Doing this should make your meals more appetising and curbs the hunger. Sources of healthy protein include natural meats, organic whole eggs, organic poultry and fish. Sources of healthy fat include avocados, fish, beans, raw nuts, coconut oil and olive oil.

• Fill your plate with veggies. They help to divide your plate into three sections, and fill the larger section with veggies. Leave the other two sections for meat and other foods. Veggies are full of fiber, so they expand in the stomach, digest more slowly so keeping you full longer. Try eating green leafs such as cabbage, spinach, broccoli which are rich in magnesium. (57% of the US population does not meet the US RDA for dietary intake of magnesium)

• Drink a glass of bottled water before each meal and throughout the day. This will help you feel full faster and reduce hunger.

Examples of Healthy, Filling Meals and Snacks

• At Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1/3 cup of oatmeal with cinnamon and a small pear.

• Snack: 1 medium apple, 1 cup of cucumber slices and 1 oz of raw nuts.

• For Lunch: 4 oz ground turkey, 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice, 8 oz carrot sticks, and a small green salad with vinegar and olive oil dressing.

• Snack: 2 tablespoons of almond butter, 2 slices of rye crisp bread and 8 oz of celery sticks.

• For Dinner: 5 oz boiled halibut steak, 1/2 cup of green beans sautéed in garlic, small baked sweet potato and a small green salad with apple cider vinegar and olive oil dressing.

Diet plans that leave you hungry all the time (or even some of the time) are useless, why make life so miserable. Why not ditch the diet altogether and eat healthy instead? If you do it this way, you can eat delicious, filling foods and still lose weight.
Enough with the yo-yo dieting!
Why not check out Mike Geary's Fat Burning Kitchen Program for more great advice and recipes.

A good principle that can literally change your lifestyle

Commit yourself to lifelong learning.
You've heard the saying Read, read and when you’re done reading, read some more.
You're probably thinking by now, how could something like reading have affected my weight loss so dramatically? If I would have stopped so feverishly researching and reading all of the latest and most up to date nutritional information that I did, while I was on my own personal weight loss journey.
I would not have found all of the incredibly helpful information about fat loss that I am able to share with you today.

Actually, since those days I have never stopped continuously reading and researching because there is always new nutrition information becoming available every day.
Some of it may be good, some may be bad, but I have made it a lifelong commitment to help as many people as possible to change the direction of their health, and their weight and in order to do that, I have to keep up with all the latest and most up to date information.

Now I know with so much information out there, it can sometimes become overwhelming. That’s why I focus my reading efforts on a few trusted sources that I really enjoy and know are just as passionate about nutrition as I am.

One of those trusted authors is my good friend Mike Geary, he is author of the popular The Truth About Abs program. I think most of you would agree that his articles are jam packed full of useful information and tips (not to mention tons of delicious recipes that are perfect for our healthy way of eating).

Today I want to share with you 2 of those great articles. The first is a definite “eye opener” and an article that may completely change the way you look at fat loss.

Excess Abdominal Fat is Extremely Dangerous –
Details Here

The second is a delicious chocolate pudding recipe that I’ve made several times and have passed on the recipe to family members and friends.

Healthy Chocolate Pudding – Recipe Here

Top 10 Foods you May Think are Healthy, but are NOT

Hi Its Isabel:
Just a few weeks ago I told you how I spent the weekend filming some great fat loss nutrition videos. Well one thing I had to do before I started filming was go to the grocery store and buy several "bad" food items and "good" food items (Actually, I already had most of the good in the fridge, so that part was easy).

I walked up and down the aisles looking for foods that claimed to be "healthy" or "good for you", but listed ingredients on the label like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oil and artificial sweeteners.

Do you know what happened?

Before I knew it, I had a cart completely full. The number of products I found seemed endless. I couldn't believe all the false marketing claims all over these foods and needless to say, I ended up ridiculously angry by the end of this trip! (Don't worry. I abstained from throwing stuff around the store. I try and keep my composure in public.)

Why would I get so angry? Well it just makes me so mad to imagine all the people that have fallen for these false claims...all in an effort to eat healthy or try to lose weight. It breaks my heart actually (and no, I'm not exaggerating), probably because I used to be one of those people who thought they were doing the "right" thing but I had fallen for all of this false marketing as well.

Now it would take me pages and pages to list all the foods and ingredients I found in each of these products, but here

Isabel's "Top 10 Foods you May Think are Healthy, but are NOT" (and I'm going to hope that your favorite meal, snack or drink is not on this list):

1. Whole Wheat bread - all contain enriched flour and some contain high fructose corn syrup
2. Low Fat and/or Low Sugar Salad Dressings - canola oil, sugar (or some use artificial sweeteners instead...which is worse!)
3. Sports Drinks - high fructose corn syrup, not to mention all the nasty dyes that are used to make it all sorts of fluorescent colors
4. Dry Roasted Almonds - canola oil and some add sugar
5. Almost all Protein and Energy Bars - soy and sugar
6. Almost all High Protein and High Fiber cereals - soy and canola oil
7. Low Sugar Instant Oatmeal - sugar, soy, and artificial sweeteners
8. Diet and Weight Loss Shakes (and other diet shakes) - canola oil and sugar
9. 100 Calorie Snack Packs - enriched flour and artificial sweeteners
10. Flavored Yogurt - sugar or artificial sweeteners

Take a look in your fridge and in your pantry right now and see if any of your favorite foods contain ingredients that may just be stopping you from reaching your fat loss goals. Sometimes, seeing results or overcoming a weight loss plateau is as easy as getting rid of some of these so called "healthy" foods.

Now on to a happier topic...

I've got some great news!

I've been asked to speak at a LIVE, in person event, along with some of my favorite fitness authors and coaches. Not only is this an incredible honor, but it is a great opportunity for me to meet you and all of my other wonderful readers and subscribers. I'm so excited!

This event will be taking place in sunny Tampa, Florida January 16th - 18th, 2010.

The weekend will be jam-packed with activities, each day beginning with morning workouts instructed by premier bootcamp coaches like Craig Ballantyne and Scott Colby, followed by motivational and educational presentations in the Grand Ballroom from training, nutrition, and mindset experts like Joel Marion, Jon Benson, Vince Del Monte, Shawn Phillips, Holly Rigsby and ME...just to name a few!

And yes, there will be plenty of time to interact and socialize!

Tickets will go on sale next week and I know seats are going to be limited (all of the speakers, including myself, want to make sure we have enough time to meet all of the attendees). All you need to do right now is clear your calendar for January 16th - 18th and watch your email inbox early next week for the link to the early bird discount. I'll be sure to let you know the second these tickets become available.