Showing posts with label diet plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet plans. Show all posts

6/6/12

Real Men, Red Meat, and Vegetarian Trends


More and more people are becoming vegetarian. Some are doing so for health reasons, in order to reduce the amount of cholesterol and saturated fat in their diets. Others are choosing to eat less meat for ethical reasons, including concerns about animal rights. Many are also interested in lessening their environmental impact.

The increasing popularity of meat-free and low-meat diets is widespread across geographic regions and age groups. However, there is one segment of society that is continuing to hold fast to meat. Men are much less likely than women to try vegetarian options.

Recently, a team of researches from several universities set out to explore why this might be. They released their results in the latest issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. They found that people strongly associate eating meat with being tough, assertive and masculine.

People seem to think of eating meat--especially red meat, such as hamburgers, steaks and bacon--as a manly thing to do. There is an intense metaphorical connection between meat and masculinity that runs deep in American culture.

Interestingly, this connection appears to be the same in many European cultures. While the study was mostly performed in the United States and Great Britain, the researches also examined the languages of 23 other cultures.

The results require a brief explanation. Many languages other than English assign genders to their nouns. For example, in a language in which bookcase was a feminine noun, you would use the same pronoun when referring to the bookcase as you would when referring to a woman you knew. You can see the remnants of this in the way that English speakers call a ship "she" and "her". The researchers found that most of those 23 languages used masculine pronouns when talking about meat.

The fact that the association between men and meat can be found across so many cultures and is embedded in the very words that people use suggests that it is a deep and persistent one. Health educators, vegetarian advocates and marketers of meat alternatives will have to look for creative and compelling ways to convince men that replacing red meat with plant-based meals is not a threat to their self-image.

The results of the study show that people have both conscious and unconscious thoughts connecting masculinity and meat. In one of the tests, the researchers asked participants to rate which foods were more or less masculine. The foods under consideration included meat, dairy products and vegetables. Of these, meat was consistently rated as the most masculine. Both men and women were included in the study, and groups of both genders consider meat to be more macho than vegetables.

From this result, it is clear that people are aware of the metaphorical link between red meat and traditional masculinity. However, this connection also operates at a deeper level. The researchers found that people consistently used more masculine words when speaking about meat than when discussing other types of food.

This seems to suggest that thinking about meat makes people--both men and women--feel more connected to masculine ways of communicating.

Perhaps the most important result of the study is that the participants viewed men who were eating meat as more masculine than men eating other types of food. This points to the dynamic at the heart of many men's reluctance to consume less meat; they do not want to be perceived as weak or feminine. This is very important and compelling to most men. While it may be an unspoken argument, many men find it more persuasive than all the facts about health and environmental impact that advocates for vegetarianism point to.

The researchers conclude that marketers of veggie burgers and other meat alternatives need a new approach. They suggest altering the aesthetics of soy products to make them more closely resemble meat in terms of shape, color and texture. For example, the addition of grill marks might signal that a veggie burger is not really that different from a hamburger.

There may be other ways of approaching the problem. A clever ad campaign might try to appeal to men's vanity and desire to lose weight by using attractive female actors speaking lines such as, "You might think that steak is manly, but nothing is manlier than 6-pack abs."

The question remains: will men join the growing ranks of vegetarians? How might they reconcile eating tofu with their self-image?

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5/20/12

The Most Popular 5 New Diets to Try


Weight loss is an important issue for a lot of people. That is why experts are always coming up with new diet plans for people to try. Here’s a list of the latest and most popular diets:

            1. Science-Based Slim-Downs
  • Dash Diet: Decrease your salt intake and consume mostly whole foods. This will lower your blood pressure and will reduce heart disease and kidney stones. You’ll be eating between 1,200 and 2,000 calories daily. You will eat veggies, fruits, protein, and whole grains with little sodium.

  • Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet: Created by the National Institute of Health, this diet will lower your fat, cholesterol intake and increase your fibre consumption, allowing you not only to lose weight, but improve your health as well. You’ll be consuming between 1,200 and 2,500 calories daily and will be eating less fat, especially saturated fat. You’ll have lots of fruits, veggies, non-fat or low-fat dairy, fish and skinless chicken.

  • Mayo Clinic Diet: This is a phase-based diet plan and lifestyle change that will help with your weight loss. You’ll be consuming between 1,200 to 1,8oo calories daily. Like all the other diets you’ll have a lot of fruit, veggies, moderate amount of carbs, fibre and protein. This diet is all about moderation than restriction.

    2. Commercial Weight-Loss Programs
  • Weight Watchers: This diet teaches people to eat healthier and with smaller portions of food. Members can avail on-line benefits like recipes, workouts, tracking tools and optional meetings. The weight watchers have an $18.95 monthly fee, plus a $29.95 start-up fee. Each member is given a personal points-plus goal that will be based on your weight and activity level. There are a lot of foods values detailed online which will be easy for members to weigh the cost of your regular intake.

  • Jenny: Used to be Jenny Craig. This diet plan is famous for helping Mariah Carey lose her baby weight and is base is based on low-fat, low-calories packaged foods. After registering, members will have a counseling session to talk about their progress. Dieters will be eating between 1,200 and 2,300 calories daily and only Jenny foods like chicken Marsala, pizza, fruits and veggies.

    3. Gluten-Free and Wheat-Free Diets
  • In this diet plan gluten-free foods will replace traditional grains and grain products with starches like rice, potatoes and corn. You’ll need to watch your portion sizes and eat lots of fruits and vegetables together with fibre and lean protein to spur your weight loss.

    4. Back to the Land Diets
  • Health experts believe that instead of looking forward, we should look backward in order to get back to the peak of our physical form. This belief is also called Paleo – meaning to consume only what was present to our ancestors. With this particular diet, eating food that comes in cellophane wrapper, grains or dairy is a big no-no. The good news is that there is no calorie limits – it’s all up to you. However, if you want to lose more weight you will have to watch your intake and make sure you eat smaller portions. You’ll be eating meats, veggies, fruits and nuts.

    5. Real Food Diets
  • This diet focuses on whole foods, especially veggies, fruits, lean proteins and whole grains. Same as the Back to the Land Diets, eating food that comes in a cellophane wrapper is also frowned upon. Such diets as unprocessed diet or raw food/raw vegan diet are some variations of the real food diet and often used interchangeably to describe the same thing.
If you wish to learn more about the natural raw food diet visit BeautifulOnRaw

5/17/12

Secrets Hidden Right in Front of You


Science will save us.

Doctors know everything.

The more familiar the brand, the better the product.

Right?

The truth is we know very little about a whole lot; physicians specialize in treating symptoms, not causes; and the big brands are driven entirely by the desire to make a profit from their sales.

Let’s face it—the brightest minds in science, the doctors and their pills, and all the billion-dollar brands combined have yet to figure out much at all: they can’t cure the common cold; they can’t agree on whether or not it is healthy to eat eggs and they have no idea how to maintain civilization without destroying the planet—as a matter of fact, they don’t even know how to deal with pimples.

Incredible.

Do you need proof?

Case in point: Acne

First off, though the terms are often used interchangeably, for technical purposes, “pimples” (pustules) are a just one of a broader group of skin maladies called “acne.” In severe situations, acne combines pimples, pustules, whiteheads, blackheads and scar tissue to deal a hurtful blow to both the appearance and the self-esteem of the one afflicted.

What causes acne? Medical practitioners tend to agree these troublesome skin eruptions are the result of blocked hair follicles in the skin, but what causes the blockage, and how can it be prevented? No one knows. That’s right: We can send a man to the moon, but we can’t stop pimples.

Given the failure of medicine to provide a cure, the drug companies fire up their snake-oil machines and marketing departments to invent a cure (and most of all, sell a cure), leading millions of acne sufferers to spend billions of dollars trying to regain a smooth face and a palatable self-image. But the drug makers’ pills and potions serve only to line the pockets of their stockholders, while the common folk are left with empty purses and disappointment. Does this scenario sound at all familiar (we could exchange “acne” with a wide range of other ailments and the scenario would be the same).

Is the situation hopeless?

What can we do to fend for ourselves? For it is certain that science, physicians and mega-corporations have few answers and little compassion. Yes, there are exceptions to that rule, but precious few.

The problem with real solutions is that they often appear too simple. The advertisers, with their continuous barrage of “new and improved” products, want us to remain in a constant state of looking for the next great invention—when it is often the case that the old standby treatment is more than adequate.

The forest and the trees

For example, do you want to lose weight? Here’s a sure-fire way: Exercise daily and consume fewer calories than you expend. To act on that one maxim will produce better results than you are likely to gain from all of the diet plans and belly-busting gadgets you can find in the booming weight-loss market. But who will listen? We are typically too busy looking for the answer to see the simple solution to our problem.

Here are a few more old-school remedies. You have heard them before. Why not slow down and listen?
  • Eat more fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Cut back as far as you can on processed foots, additives, preservatives and anything you can’t pronounce.
  • Get rid of every synthetic chemical in your house. Switch to natural cleaning products. Try fresh air instead of air fresheners. Absolutely rid your home of products containing chlorine bleach, formaldehyde, and ammonia.
  • Exercise to the point of sweating regularly. Use hot towel compresses to open pores. Make use of steam rooms and saunas (if you can find one that isn’t cleaned with harsh chemicals). Walk a mile or more (away from major highways) on at least three days each week.
  • Pray and meditate. Contemplate life. Sit and breathe. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Get out into nature and rejoice in the wonders you see.
  • Do something for another person every day. Be kind and gracious. Help someone else achieve his or her goals. Find a cause you care about, and get involved in being a part of the solution.
  • Supplement your diet with vitamins and minerals. It is extremely difficult to get all the nutrition you need from the grocery store today. The mega-farmers have all but sterilized the soil with their synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Will doing these things cure acne? Maybe. Getting back to basics and taking care of your self, your home and your family naturally has the potential to cure a whole lot of ills.

Try and see.

Author Lane Goodberry focuses on health and wellness issues.

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