Your body doesn't have a magic cut-off time after which it stores fat, so you can have a healthy snack before bedtime without automatically gaining weight. Drinking a protein shake at bedtime has some advantages for weight loss, because protein boosts metabolism and stimulates muscle building.
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It seems like gaining weight should be a breeze -- and it is, if you don’t worry about nutrition -- but increasing calories and eating healthy foods means you can’t rely on sugar-rich foods. Beans can support your efforts in this.
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You can lose weight by eliminating carbs for 14 days, but there’s no guarantee you’ll drop any pounds if you don’t watch calories. Carbs account for half or more of total daily calories for most people.
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Weight control is all about calories in vs. calories out. To gain weight, you'll need to take in more calories than you burn, and gaining 2 pounds per week requires eating 1,000 extra calories each day. Exactly how many calories you'll need overall, however, depends on your body size, activity level, age and gender.
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If you love cinnamon bread, you’ll be glad to know that it’s possible to make or buy a low-carb version. But be prepared to adjust your expectations. Low-carb cinnamon bread is yummy, but most products have a flavor different from classic cinnamon-swirl bread due to the ingredients used to replace flour.
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It's hard to find a more nutrient-dense meal than a vegetable stir-fry. The veggies are so low in calories that even if you like to serve them over rice -- which can double or triple the total calories -- you'll still have a meal that fits into a weight-loss plan.
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The most important tip to remember about shopping for ice cream is this: Read the nutrition facts panel. Don’t rely on the front label unless it states the exact number of calories. Some brands of ice cream may have less fat but more sugar, which means calories lost from fat are replaced with sugar.
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Virtually all types of juice -- from classic apple, orange and grape to juices made from peaches or vegetables -- contain natural organic acids. Each fruit and vegetable has a slightly different combination of acids, and each acid is associated with a different degree of tartness.
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Soba noodles look like whole-wheat spaghetti, but they possess a nutty flavor thanks to their defining ingredient -- buckwheat flour.
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Sugar may seem like a straight-forward topic requiring little explanation, yet all sugars are not quite the same. Dextrose and sucrose do share a lot in common, including their ability to give you a quick shot of energy, but they’re also different in some important ways.
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Over age 50, natural changes in the digestive tract make it difficult to absorb a sufficient quantity of some nutrients, such as vitamin B-12, even if you get plenty through your diet. Additionally, the recommended intake for calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B-6 increases for women at age 51.
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Casein and whey are two types of protein naturally found in milk. Both proteins are extracted and used in large quantities to make protein powders and supplements. Sodium caseinate also contains extracted casein protein, but it’s used as a food additive.
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The amount of guar gum added to foods is considered safe, but over-the-counter supplements can cause side effects, from temporary gut problems to the more serious risk of blocking the throat or intestine. Talk to your doctor before taking guar gum if you’re diabetic or use prescription medications.
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Pectin’s ability to thicken jams and jellies represents the same quality responsible for its health benefits. After it enters your stomach, it forms a gelatinous mass that may support weight loss by creating a feeling of fullness.
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Your digestive tract begins in your mouth and runs all the way through your body as one continuous system.
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Protein powders and amino acid supplements deliver different results. Protein powders boost your total protein and contribute calories, so they support muscle building and can fill in gaps in your diet. Amino acids target very specific and diverse areas of your metabolism.
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A tuna sandwich makes a nutrient-rich lunch or dinner. Tuna contributes protein, vitamin B-12 and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. It fulfills one of the two servings of fish per week recommended by the American Heart Association to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
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Eating dried fruit is associated with lower body weight and consuming a more nutritious diet, according to a study in the June 2011 issue of “Nutrition Research.” Dried fruit is recommended as one healthy choice for filling your daily fruit requirement.
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Your body produces diindolylmethane, or DIM, from substances naturally found in cruciferous vegetables. But this does not mean that DIM is always safe in supplemental form. Although it’s not associated with serious side effects, it interacts with hormones and affects genes involved in cancer.
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N-acetylcysteine -- a form of the amino acid cysteine -- has powerful health benefits. It may even support weight loss. But since studies so far have only used lab rats, more research is needed to prove it can help people drop pounds.
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