Let’s face it – there is no one single diet that will absolutely work for everyone. We all have our own particular tastes, ways in which we like to eat, and sometimes our lifestyle gets in the way of going on one type of diet. So, if you have tried other calorie restricted diets in the past and find that you can’t stick to all of the special food that you need to eat or you just can’t go without one certain type of food, then you may want to look into the Intermittent Fasting diet plan.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

The good news is that this is not a cold-turkey fast. You won’t go days without eating anything and you won’t put your health in danger. However, it goes without saying that if you are going to go on any kind of diet, you should make sure that you are healthy enough to do so.

There are several theories behind the average Intermittent Fasting diet plan and they generally include one of the following:

- Eliminating all food for a 24 hour period (which obviously will include hopefully eight hours of sleep!)

- Eliminating most food during that same period, usually keeping the caloric intake to around 300 calories

- Fasting every other day, but eating normally on the eating days.

- Fasting for more than one day, but with a very low caloric intake.

It is not usually a good idea to go on any kind of Intermittent Fasting diet plan that require you to do it more than once per week, and for most people, once every two weeks is enough to encourage weight loss.

What Does the Diet Really Look Like?

Speaking theoretically about a diet is one thing, but it isn’t only until you actually see how it works out on a day to day basis that you can see if it will work for you. So, here is an example of a fairly typical intermittent fasting diet plan.

Day 1 – 6

When you start your fasting plan, you will want to start weaning yourself off of carbohydrates such as breads, pastries, cookies, cake, and of course pasta. This is the kind of food that most of us eat too much of and this change can be difficult. By the sixth day of this program, you should not be eating any of them at all and replacing those calories with fruit, vegetables, and lean protein.

Day 7

Actually, your “Day 7” will start after your last meal on “Day 6”, which will usually be in the early evening. What this means is that you will go to bed and when you wake up, your fast might be halfway through! So, although you will be fasting for 24 hours, it will really feel more like 12 hours.

Do You Really Have To Abstain From ALL Food?

The purist’s view of intermittent fasting is that you have nothing but water during the rest of the 24 hour period, but there are reasons why some people might supplement that water with one particular type of food of no more than 300 calories. In order to get the most out of those calories, you should stick with protein. Remember to drink as much water as you can to ensure that you feel full.

When it has been 24 hours from the time you had your last meal, it is time to slowly eat again. You will not want to “pig out” during this meal and since it will be in the evening, it should probably not be more than 300 – 500 calories, composed of fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. Do not head straight for the cookie tin!

How Often Should You Do This?

Experienced intermittent dieters will follow the above schedule for a week and then take a week off, then do it again, so essentially they are fasting for two days out of the month. If you really want to try something, then you can follow this exact schedule for four weeks out of the month, but then take a month off.

While you may often hear the term “starvation mode” used in extreme dieting, this does not really come into play with this diet. The reason is simple – you are not going on a long-term, low-calorie diet. You are giving your body what it needs, but simply adding a little extra time in between some of your meals.

The result of going on an Intermittent Fasting diet plan is that it can help to reduce the body’s natural production of cortisol, which is a hormone that makes you hold on to excess body fat. On the days that you won’t be eating, your body will still require energy (usually around 1,200 calories per day), and it will be forced to look to your body’s stores of fat for that energy. What that means in real term is you will literally be burning fat on your fasting days.

Is This Healthy for You?

The whole theory behind this diet is that it is not that far removed from the way that people ate thousands of years ago, so in many ways it is similar to the Paleo Diet. When we were cavemen and cavewomen, we didn’t have a pantry or a refrigerator stocked with food. Our bodies were used to eating intermittently and you won’t see a lot of hefty drawings of cavemen around – the diet seemed to work for them and it can work for you.

The real measure of any diet is not necessarily how often you eat, but what you are eating and that is certainly the case with the Intermittent Fasting diet plan. You can’t eliminate food one day and then hit McDonald’s the minute your fast is over. It is imperative that you plan ahead and eat healthy on your eating days or you will simply be suffering for no benefit.

What Do You Need To Do?

This really is the kind of diet that you will need guidance with, since it is definitely not for everyone. In particular, if you have experienced eating disorders in the past, you are currently diabetic, pregnant, breastfeeding, or have any kind of health issue, then you should talk to your doctor before going on any Intermittent Fasting diet plan.

The best way to start for many people is to simply fast for one 24 hour period once every two weeks. If you find that this is not that difficult, then you can fast for one 24 hour period once per week for two to three weeks at a time. Not everyone is able to handle an entire 24 hour period with no food, so if you need to eat just a little (which should be planned ahead of time), go ahead – it isn’t cheating!

Can You Get More Information?

There is some very good information online that can show you more of the benefits that this kind of diet can provide for your body and also give you tips that make it easier for you to follow. By simply incorporating the Intermittent Fasting diet plan into your normal regimen, you will find that you can easily lose weight, lose body fat, have lower insulin resistance, and even feel better. Just keep in mind that everyone has their own version of a “fast” and your fast should be one that suits you and your lifestyle as well as your current state of health.

If you only know Jennifer Lopez from her stint on “American Idol”, then you might not realize just how many miles she has on that body. Jennifer is actually 43 years old now and has been in the public eye for more than 20 years. Once known only as a dancer, and then a singer, and then a movie star, and finally a spokesperson and international celebrity, Jennifer Lopez has a lot of reasons to keep her 43-year-old body in great shape. What might surprise you is just how hard she has to work in order to look like she does.

Jennifer Lopez was recently voted “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World”, which is quite an achievement since most of her competition was 20 years younger than she is, and when you ask those around her, they will tell you that she looks as good in person without her make-up as she does on screen.

How Does Jennifer Stay in Shape?

The first thing that you should know about Jennifer is that not only did she start in singing and dancing lessons when she was just five years old, but she was an athlete in school. She took part in gymnastics, softball, and track as well as various dancing groups.

By the time she was in her mid-teens, she was already in movies, dancing on stage in Europe and on Broadway, and was eventually hired as a back-up dancer for New Kids on the Block!

So, suffice to say that Jennifer Lopez has always been active and that is one of the reasons she looks so good to this day.

By constantly staying in shape, being naturally athletic, and enjoying dance and sports, she never found it hard to be fit and strong.

What About That Booty?

You can’t talk about Jennifer Lopez without talking about her backside. In spite of the fact that she is amazingly beautiful, photogenic, and talented, perhaps the one thing that she is known for more than anything else is her posterior. While she is small on the top, with a very small waist, she has a booty that most women would be pretty happy with and most men would like to get their hands on. Because this tends to be her natural shape, and it is also the place where her body fat tends to go, it is the one “danger zone” of her body that can get out of control if she gains weight.

We all have that area on our body that tends to put on the most weight, whether it is your hips, your thighs, your upper arms, or of course your stomach. The key is to workout, watch your diet, and always keep a close eye on your measurements.

Jennifer recently told Shape Magazine that her secret to getting back in shape after having twins was training for a triathlon. She worked a healthy dose of swimming, cycling, and running into her normal workout, and that helped her to shed body fat and tone up the muscles that had disappeared during her pregnancy.

What Exercises Does Jennifer Lopez Regularly Do?

The one thing that sets Jennifer Lopez aside from some of the other beautiful bodies is that she isn’t exceedingly thin and that she is actually more athletic than she is model-skinny. This helps her out since she can burn more calories with the muscle that she has and she has a greater variety of workouts that she can take part in.

Jennifer recently told Fitness Magazine that after she had her twins, she did up to 75 minutes of cardio four to five times a week and added strength training to her workouts, too. Since she is known for her rear end, she does a lot of leg lifts, squats, and lunges, to keep them in shape, and works a great deal on her abs. If you have seen “J-Lo” with a crop top on, then you know that she really has worked hard on developing a strong set of abs.

What Diet Helps Her To Look Like That?

Like most women who spend a lot of time on camera, they need to have exceedingly low body fat in order to look good. In order to get like this, Jennifer has stuck with a low calorie diet (1,500 calories or less), that consists of primarily lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. She tends to shy away from carbs and red meats, and is known for her vast intake of water. When you see how hard she is working up on stage and what a sweat she is building up, then you see why.

However, it should be noted that this seemingly low calorie diet was only to get her weight down after she had a baby. In order to maintain her current weight (which tends to be around 120-125 pounds), she has increased her caloric intake in order to support her high energy life.

Can You Do This?

We all have plenty of excuses for why we can’t eat right or don’t have the time to exercise, but if there is one woman who really does have excuses that she could use, it would be Jennifer Lopez. She has spent the last two seasons on “American Idol”, recorded an album, made music videos, went on tour, went through a divorce, was photographed a million times, and still had time to have twins! So, if this busy lady can find time to get in that kind of shape, then so can you!

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It is hard to believe that Julianne Hough of “Dancing with the Stars” fame is just 24 years old. After all, it seems like she has been on our television screens for many seasons and she has actually had the time to branch out into a very successful singing and movie career, too. But, if you have seen Julianne on “Dancing with the Stars”, “Rock of Ages”, or in “Burlesque”, then there is no doubting the fact that she has a pretty incredible body. Working as hard as she does, how does she keep her body in shape and remain healthy?

When Dancing Is Your Life…

When your grandparents are dancers, your parents are dancers, and all of your older siblings are dancers, it pretty much makes sense that dancing is in your blood. Julianne started dancing with her brother Derek before she was a teenager and travelled to London for ballroom training. In fact, her first dancing competition took place when she was just nine years old, so Julianne has always been in great dancing shape.

However, it is not unusual for former dancers to start to put on weight or notice changes in their body when they no longer work out as hard as they used to. The good news for Julianne Hough is that because she continued to dance on “Dancing with the Stars” as well as getting jobs in movies and other television shows, she needed to keep her body in tip-top shape all the time.

Julianne’s Workout

Julianne recently told The Examiner that in spite of the way that her body looks, she “hates being in the gym”, which is something that most of us can understand. The majority of Julianne’s workouts are based either on her ballet experience or her work as a ballroom dancer, but she is not averse to getting on the treadmill. She does a lot of her workouts at home or in the dance studio and works on toning exercises four to five days per week.

She also told Shape Magazine that she does rely on her dance training and rehearsals to do the majority of her cardio workouts, but that she recognizes that there are places on her body that can’t be toned with dancing and that is when she really starts to workout.

In Self Magazine, Julianne revealed, “When I work out, do a lot of combination exercises, like a dance/pilates/weights combination. I might start off with weights on my ankles and do a ton of leg exercises, then put three-pound weights in my wrists and do some arm exercises. I don’t do bicep curls, I prefer circling my arms and twisting them and stuff, so it lengthens my muscles.”

After her strength exercises Julianne follows up with “a ton of sit-ups and then cardio for about 45 minutes to an hour”.  This girl doesn’t kid around with her workouts!

What About Diet?

Chances are that if your full-time job was basically keeping your body in shape and dancing with celebrities, then you would be pretty free about your diet, but that is not the case with Julianne.

Julianne shared with Self magazine that her average week’s diet would be, “salads and fish and chicken, some vegetables, I could do roasted or steamed with just a lot of lemon and try to stay away from oils and salt. My go-to breakfast is always scrambled egg whites, spinach and tomatoes or something like that.”

Julianne keeps the carbs low and the protein high eating a lot of lean meats, vegetables and no processed sugars. The star keeps her metabolism pumping by eating 5-6 small meals a day – this also helps to avoid falling into the cravings cave.

Doesn’t Julianne Ever Cheat?

The truth is that even the best bodies in Hollywood have to cheat from time to time and when you are working out for a living, you can afford to do just that. Julianne recently reported that at a recent trip to the movies she ate two hot dogs and a “mountain of popcorn”, which is something most of us would feel pretty bad about – but she worked it all off the next day.

It is nice to hear that seemingly everyone out there has a craving for their own favorite food and that if you eat clean most of the time, and put in the time working out, that your body can afford to have luxury foods now and again.

Julianne recently added more weight training to her workouts in order to star in both “Footloose” and “Rock of Ages”, and if you’ve seen her in some of her skimpy dance outfits, then you know that whatever she is doing is certainly working for her!

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When you see a beautiful model and television correspondent looking amazing in one of those costumes on “Dancing with the Stars”, you might think that they always looked that way. Especially when you see the bright smile and funny laugh that Maria Menounos has, you probably assume that her life has always been spent enjoying that beauty and that body. But, that is not the case at all.

Maria Menounos is just 34 years old, but is known all over the world. In American, she is known as an actress, a presenter on television’s “Extra”, and of course the fourth place (but very talented) contestant on “Dancing with the Stars”. In Greece, she is known as the presenter for the Eurovision Song Contest, and some people actually only know her as a professional wrestler!

However, although Maria spent time as a teenager entering beauty contests, as soon as she hit college, she realized just what a toll the modern American diet can take on your body, gaining more than 40 pounds the first year!

Why Did She Gain Weight?

Maria recently told Shape Magazine that she wasn’t always as lean and toned as she is today, but when she was young she was definitely fit. She existed on her parents’ Greek diet which consisted of very little meat, and a lot of fruits, vegetables, and grains.

When she went off to college, things changed and straying from her natural diet almost changed her life’s plans. “For the first time in my life, I had fatty foods available. I couldn’t resist them!”

What she found out is what a lot of us have learned and that is that if you eat foods that are fatty, processed, or high in sugars, not only will you gain weight, but you will feel tired and your self-esteem will suffer eventually, too.

How Did She Take the Weight Off?

Maria’s key to losing weight was to stop eating fatty, processed foods, and to cut down on portion sizes. She went back to eating the much healthier diet that her immigrant Greek parents ate and also kept a food diary which really showed her where she could cut back even more.

Maria also used her love of WWE (professional wrestling) as a way for her to really get her body back into shape. She went so far as to compete in a number of WWE events, showing off the body that we have all seen on “Dancing with the Stars”.

Another thing that Maria has going for her is that she is incredibly tough and athletic. During the season of “Dancing with the Stars”, she suffered a number of injuries, including broken ribs, yet continued to fight through the pain.

What About Diet?

In addition to staying away from college cafeterias, Maria learned that a lot of losing weight has to do with the way that you feel about yourself and the ways in which you reward yourself. If you are giving yourself rewards in the form of foods (“I had a tough day at work, so I’ll have chocolate cake tonight.”), then you are asking for disaster.

In Maria’s recent book, she discusses the need for self-compassion, which she interprets as a way of taking care of yourself first. By focusing on your eating challenges and your diet, and then worrying about others later, you will have a better chance for success. Because she worked up to 20 hours per day, six or seven days a week, she would often find herself dehydrated and exhausted, trying to meet everyone else’s needs. When she started to focus on her body and her overall health, she dropped the weight and was able to get in great shape.

Does Dancing Help?

Although it can certainly be said that “Dancing with the Stars” took a physical toll on Maria in terms of bumps, bruises, and a few broken bones, if you watched that entire season, then you could actually see her body transform.

Maria was in great shape at the starts of the season, but by the end of the season, she was in incredible shape. She was toned, her abs were defined, and she had a level of cardiovascular health that she had never had before.

We all know it to be true – if you eat healthy and work out on a regular basis, you will have a much healthier body. The problem is that we all have excuses for not doing these things, but when you see a woman like Maria who was able to realize what she was doing wrong, correct it, and come back even stronger, then you can start to see that it is a possibility for you, too.

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A lot of people have been talking about the “7 Day Belly Blast” diet recently, in part because it seems to be on television all the time. So, if you have wondered if this program would really work for you, then here is some information that can help you sort it all out. We have done the research to determine just whether or not this program works and what it can do for you.

What Is the 7 Day Belly Blast?

This diet program is pretty appropriately named because it is designed to seriously trim your waist line in just seven days. While you may need more dieting and more working out to get down to a healthier size and weight, this program is really designed to give you a kick-start and something that you can be proud of.

What you might not know is that a lot of the weight around your mid-section is actually water weight, stored calories, and of course pounds’ worth of toxins that are simply sitting in your intestines, polluting your body. By following the 7 Day Belly Blast, you will be able to get rid of up to 11 pounds in just one week, which is pretty phenomenal, and enough to help you drop at least one or two pants sizes.

Why Does Your Body Hold On To This Weight?

In order to really understand how this program works, you have to understand just how your body works and how it changes over time. If you are a woman, someone who is approaching middle age, or you are just someone who has been yo-yo dieting for years, then the first problem you will have is your metabolism. This is the rate at which your body burns calories.

We have all seen teenage boys who can eat as much junk food as they want, day and night, and stay rail thin, and that is because their body is a fat burning machine. As those young boys turn into middle-aged men, they will start to pay the price and notice that the pizza, burgers, and beer start to take their toll.

This problem seems to affect women more than men, in part because women have slower metabolisms by nature. Add to that the fact that many women have slowed down their metabolic rate by dieting, they have less muscle mass than men, and they often have hormonal issues, and you can see why larger waist sizes are becoming the norm.

“No matter what I did, I couldn’t lose weight around my stomach. Just following this program helped me to drop an entire dress size in a week.”

- Theresa, NM (Testimony from company website)

How Does The 7 Day Belly Blast Work?

In order for you to get the best possible results from any diet, you need to have faith in it and that is why truly understanding how this program works can greatly benefit you.

First of all, it attacks a few of the issues that are causing your weight gain, such as your hormonal balance. While you might think that testosterone and estrogen are all we are made of, there is also a hormone called cortisol that is responsible for us holding on to fat. By eating certain foods, you can slow down your body’s natural production of cortisol and that means less stored fat.

The other aspect of the 7 Day Belly Blast is that it actually shows you 37 different foods that can kill belly fat, and you might be surprised that some of them are pretty darn tasty! You don’t need to eat carrots and drink green tea in order to lose weight. You can simply change your diet so that it works better with your body, reduces your cravings for bad food, and actually increases your metabolic rate at the same time. This is a real win-win for dieters.

“I had tried every diet on the market and just couldn’t get rid of those last twenty pounds. I can’t believe that I actually reached my goal in a little over a week with this diet. Thank you!”

- Joanie, FL (Testimony from company website)

What About Burning More Calories?

Pretty much everyone knows that if you want to lose weight, then you need to eat fewer calories than you burn, but burning those calories off on a treadmill can be a miserable existence. The 7 Day Belly Blast actually shows you how to eat different foods that will do the calorie burning for you. They call this the “Thermal Burn Technique” and it can help you to get away without processing 300 calories per day. Those “free” calories will make your life on a diet a whole lot more palatable.

What About Gaining Weight Back?

Perhaps the biggest fear that any dieter has is gaining all of the weight back (and sometimes more!) after the hardcore part of the diet is over. We have all heard or read about people who have lost 100 pounds, only to gain 110 pounds, and not only is that terribly depressing, but it is an awful thing to do to your body.

One thing that you will learn when you read about the 7 Day Belly Blast is that because you will get to eat delicious foods and you won’t be starving yourself, this is a diet that you can stay on in the long run, and one that will even allow you to eat out with your friends.

“I can’t believe that this really worked for me. More than ten pounds in a week and it’s still dropping off.”

- Wally, TN (Testimony from company website)

Is 7 Day Belly Blast Right for You?

The only place where you can order this right now is online and when you order it from the official web site, you will get the entire ten part system that has a $470 value for just $47. They are also offering three more free bonuses plus a one hour coaching session with the author of the program. When you consider that you get all of this along with a full 60 day money back guarantee, then you have to agree that this is one program that can help you lose weight quickly and safely and help you to keep it off in the future.

It seems that as soon as a new diet product appears on one of several popular television shows that everyone wants to get their hands on it. It wasn’t that long ago that we learned what a powerful anti-oxidant the Acai Berry was and how it can help you lose weight, and some people are also experimenting with a product known as Raspberry Ketones. But, if you have heard about the green coffee bean and how it can help you diet, then here is some information that will let you decide for yourself if it is for you.

What Is Green Coffee Bean Extract?

The first thing that you should know about green coffee bean extract is that it really is what it sounds like – it is made from real coffee beans before they are roasted. Therefore, if you think that you can just grind up some coffee beans that you get down at the local coffee shop, then think again. Those have been roasted and they don’t know longer have the phytochemical that is found in the beans when they are green.

It is also important to note that not all green coffee bean extract capsules are the same and you will need to do some research to find a product that is all natural and not loaded with fillers. It is not rare to find a brand name supplement in your pharmacy or health food store that has only a small amount of pure green coffee bean extract in each capsule.

“Most diet products make me feel pretty jittery, but I didn’t have that problem with green coffee bean extract. I felt energized and it made me lose weight.”
- Hayden, Amazon.com

How Does It Work?

Pure green coffee bean extract (also known as GCBE) contains a natural ingredient which is chlorogenic acid. This is a safe and natural ingredient that is used by the body to inhibit the absorption of sugar (glucose). What this really means is that you will absorb fewer calories and any extra calories you may eat will not be stored as fat in your body.

The other aspect of green coffee bean extract that a lot of people also like is that it can help to increase your metabolic rate. If you are like many dieters, you have gradually lowered your metabolic rate through years of dieting, which results in you not burning as many calories as you normally would. By using GCBE, you will burn more calories, which will help you to lose weight.

“Not only did this ingredient help me to lose weight, but it also helped with some of the issues I was having with my blood sugar, too.”
- Mike, Amazon.com

Is This Proven Science?

Obviously, no one wants to waste their time or money on yet another natural diet product that makes big claims, so you should know that there have been numerous studies with green coffee bean extract and they have proven that this really works. What is even more interesting is that people lost weight by taking this product in spite of the fact that they didn’t change their eating habits or increase their activity.

“I really didn’t want to take anything that wasn’t natural, so I was willing to try this. I had no side effects and lost weight within the first few days.”
- Rachelle, Amazon.com

Perhaps the most important aspect of taking green coffee bean extract is that you need to choose a product that is 100% natural and high in chlorogenic acid levels. It has been shown in research studies that anywhere from 600mg to 800mg of chlorogenic acid a day (taken in two doses) the way to get the best results.

Why Is This Suddenly So Popular?

When it all comes down to it, the real reason why green coffee bean extract has become so popular because many doctors and TV hosts have started spreading the word about it’s benefits.

However, when you go online and read the reviews for this product, you will see that although many TV personalities have contributed to this recent surge in popularity, there are people all over the world who are now talking about it.

“I have been using this for just three days and have already seen results. It really does help and it works.”
- Tina, Amazon.com

How Can You Get the Best Results?

Because this is a product that essentially reduces the body’s absorption of sugar, you will get the best results by making sure that you take it twice a day, which will help to reduce spikes in your blood sugar. You should also take it with an entire glass of water, anywhere from a half hour to an hour before eating so that you will get the most effectiveness out of the chlorogenic acid.

Also, while a high quality pure green coffee bean extract will help you to lose weight even if you don’t change your diet, it goes without saying that making some small changes to your diet can help even more. By reducing your fat intake, you will have a higher percentage of carbohydrates in your diet and that means you will get more effectiveness out of GCBE. By adding in more activity, you will be able to raise your metabolic rate even more, resulting in further fat loss.

When you are choosing among the many different green coffee bean brands, you should make sure that you buy one that is pure green coffee bean extract, that comes with a full guarantee, and is produced in an FDA-approved facility. That is the only way that you will know if you are getting a product that will help you lose weight without any side effects.

We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and when you are on the Paleo Diet, that is especially true. This is because your diet will likely be shy of the high amounts of carbohydrates that a lot of people normally get in the morning and you will therefore want to make the most out of what you are allowed to eat. While you might not be diving into a big bowl of cereal, there are ways that you can have a tasty breakfast to look forward to and one that will fuel the rest of your day.

Paleo Diet Smoothies

When you go on a Paleo Diet, you usually assume that you will no longer be able to have dairy-like products anymore, but really all you need to do is substitute normal milk or soy milk with a combination of coconut water and almond milk. The consistency is almost the same and the taste is very good.

This is a recipe for a smoothie that is perfect for breakfast because you can make it as sweet as you want, but it also has a lot of nutrients in it to get your day started.

- 2 cups combination coconut water and almond milk
– 1 banana
– 1 cup of ice
– 2 Tbsp. Cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
– 1 Tbsp. chia seeds

Some people also like to add other fruits to this smoothie, or if you want something that is a little less sweet, you can always add spinach or spirulina to the mixture. Simply put it all in a blender and you will have a delicious smoothie.

Calabacitas

This is a traditional dish eaten in the Southwest and although you will usually find it with kernel corn, you can make it without.

- 1 Zucchini squash
– 1/2 clove of garlic
– 1/3 cup of minced onion
– 1 small tomato
– Season to taste (usually cilantro or some kind of chile pepper)

This is basically a stir-fry and requires only a small amount of oil. Simply heat the oil, put in the onions and garlic and sautee until they start to smell pretty good. You can then add in the squash, followed finally with the tomato. This also makes a great lunch or snack and it keeps well in the refrigerator.

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Paleo Berry Cobbler

If you love berries, then you can make this recipe with just about any kind of berries, or of course you could replace the berries altogether with another kind of fruit.

- 1 cup coconut flour
– ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– ½ tsp. salt
– ½ tsp. baking soda
– ¼ cup of your favorite baking sweetener (such as NuNaturals)
– 2 eggs
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 1 cup almond milk
– 1 cup of your favorite fruit

Mix all of the dry ingredients first and then in another bowl combine the milk, vanilla, eggs, and fruit. Fold the berry mixture into the dry mixture. Heat your oven to 350 degrees, grease an 8” x 8” baking pan, and then bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. Once it is cool, you can cut it up for breakfast or snacks throughout the day.

Sunny Morning Burger

One of the best things that you can eat in the morning is a healthy dose of protein and this recipe certainly as it. If you are looking for some hearty, low in carbohydrates, and satisfying, then you can’t go wrong with this any time of the day.

- ½ pound lean turkey meat (grass fed, of course)
– 1/8 cup diced onions
– ½ tsp garlic powder
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ tsp pepper
– 4 eggs

If you can fry an egg, then you can certainly make this meal! Simply combine the herbs and spices with the ground turkey meat and cook either on the broiler or in a frying pan with as little oil as possible and then set aside. Then, simply crack four eggs into the remaining fat that is in the pan, and cook them to your personal taste. When they are done, put them on top of the turkey patty, and you have yourself quite a breakfast.

Kitchen Sink Scramble

While we are on the subject of eggs, when you are on a Paleo Diet, you will usually get tired of fried, poached, or hard boiled eggs and sometimes you need a little more flavor to your dishes. Making scrambled eggs is easy enough for anyone to do, and when you get your family involved, it can be a lot more entertaining.

The goal of this recipe is to simply add as many Paleo-friendly items as you can to your scrambled eggs. You will usually get a lot of vegetables, but also meat, nuts or seeds, or even fish and other seafood. Nothing beats a lobster or shrimp scrambled egg dish that is loaded with vegetables, and again this is a great meal to have any time of the day.

Try To Prepare Ahead of Time

The real key to sticking to a Paleo diet for any length of time is in the preparation of your foods. Many Paleo families like to spend an afternoon or evening a week, simply chopping and slicing. By doing this, you will have foods all ready for you that you can add to any kind of dishes. Rather than having to start from scratch every single day and at every single meal, you will have everything ready, which can make being creative a whole lot easier.

Sophie’s Recommended Resource

If you’re still searching for Paleo diet breakfast recipes we’ve found a cookbook that has more than 370 Paleo recipes in one single ebook. They cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and even sweets – yes, it is possible to have dessert AND stick to Paleo. Click on the banner below to get a sneak peek at all the recipe books!

Famous Vegan Before and After: Ellen Degeneres

Ellen shared with Associated Press, “I’ve always called myself an animal lover. And yet I ate them”. Tennessee-born Ellen grew up with a meat-rich diet however after moving to her Californian ranch with wife (and fellow vegan) Portia De Rossi she found it harder to justify admiring the animals around her while still cooking up a steak for dinner.

The star says the diet switch she made 5 years ago has lead to significant weight loss, better skin and contrary to popular belief, more energy! She shared on Rachel Ray’s show in May, “I started seeing like my skin change, I used to get facials all the time and I had rosacea and I just thought I had rosacea and after two weeks my rosacea went away and I started losing weight and I had more energy, slept better.”

The now 54 year old talk show host has never looked better and definitely looks decades younger since making the green diet switch.

Everyday Vegan Before and After: PETA Warrior Reannon

Reannon was featured on the PETA.org website (read it here) after losing a whopping 45 pounds after making the switch to a vegan diet. Reannon started her transformation by going vegetarian but really noticed a change after cutting out dairy and eggs for a full vegan diet. She revealed, “After cutting out meat, I felt much less weighed down and sluggish. When I cut out dairy products and eggs, I had so much energy that it felt like I had a whole new body. And once the pounds started coming off, I really did!” 

Reannon was also surprised at how wrong she’d been about the much-talked about limitations of a Vegan diet, her experience was the opposite. She shared, “When I first decided to eat vegan foods, I worried about what I’d eat—I certainly didn’t want to eat salads every day! I soon discovered a whole new world of delicious ethnic foods, new fruits and vegetables, soy-based proteins, and cholesterol-free desserts.”

Famous Vegan Before and After: Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton famously lost almost 25 pounds in 2010 in the lead up to daughter Chelsea’s wedding by going on an almost-completely vegan diet. How he lost the weight? He shared with CNN,“The short answer is I went on essentially a plant based diet. I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruits. I drink a protein supplement every morning. No dairy. I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and a protein powder, so I get the protein for the day when I start the day out.”

The former President was known for his junk food habit during his White House days but turned his health habits around after being forced to undergo a quadruple bypass in 2004. His daughter’s wedding and potential future grandchildren were listed among the motivations for Clinton’s new approach to food but he’s also enjoyed the health results, sharing, “All my blood tests are good, and my vital signs are good, and I feel good, and I also have, believe it or not, more energy.”

Everyday Vegan Before and After: PETA Warrior Mike

Mike is another PETA warrior who shared his vegan diet experience over at PETA.org (read it here). A personal trainer, Mike had never thought much about going vegan until a friend gave him an insight into animal food production which he could not ignore. Mike shared, “After seeing the cruelty that animals raised for food endure, I couldn’t continue eating meat. That was the motivation I needed, and I gave up meat, eggs, and dairy products.” 

Mike found that the weight started falling off him when he made the diet switch, saying, “I started losing weight, and I found that it stayed off. I have a very full schedule, and my vegan diet gave me all the energy I needed to get through the day and then some!” 

Mike not only lost weight but his new-found health motivated him to get into bodybuilding competitions, triathlons and he recently completed a half marathon!

Everyday Vegan Before and After: PETA Warrior Eric

Eric O’Grey is one PETA warrior who underwent an inspiring transformation after converting to a vegan diet (read it here). Prior to his diet change, Eric tipped the scales at 280 pounds and had been told by doctors that his poor diet, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol were going to lead him down a dangerous path to premature death if something didn’t change, and fast. After seeing President Clinton’s interview with CNN regarding his new vegan diet, Eric hired a nutritionist and embarked on a journey to change his diet – and his life.

Eric switched to a plant-based diet and very slowly started to integrate exercise into his life by walking every day with his adopted dog Peety. The changes were dramatic. 2 years later and Eric has lost over 100 pounds and no longer suffers from type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol and at age 53 is running marathons!

For Eric, the switch to a vegan diet was life changing, he shares, “It feels like I am awake for the first time in my life.” The fact his new lifestyle is not only helping his own health and well being but also that of animals and the environment has brought a real peace to Eric’s life.

Watch this space for more amazing Vegan before and after body transformations!

Obviously I can’t give away the contents of the product, so what I thought I’d do here is give you as much information as I can on what the ESE diet plan is, how it works, what you can/can’t do, etc and also let you know about whether ESE covers a particular factor you’re worried about.

Summary Of ESE Diet Plan

What you need to understand is that the creator dude Brad isn’t really all about stringent routines. His mantra is that people fail on diets when they’re too strict. No one likes to be “restricted”. His focus with the program is outlining principles for an Intermittent Fasting diet, and demonstrating guidelines within which you can follow them.

What I mean is, instead of saying “Fast 20 hours a day, eat 4, and eat only x, y, and z”, the tone of Eat Stop Eat is more like “Fast for between 14 and 18 hours a day, eat things with these properties, and design a workout for yourself based on these principles”. (Eg, the part where you design your own workout is on page 134)

It’s about choice, really. It lets you set up a program of eating and working out that fits you.

The Diet Part

This part is broken up into two sections: How To Fast… and How To Eat.

There are pretty specific things you have to make sure you do as you’re fasting AND as you’re eating.

It answers questions like what you can and can’t eat during your fast (like whether you can drink coffee, how much water you should have, any other liquids etc), what you should eat before your fasts, and obviously, what to eat during that part of the day where you’re actually eating.

This is after – of course – that part of the program where Brad explains how it is that you burn fat while you’re fasting. There’s a cool video of him explaining a little about this below:

How Does Exercise Work While Fasting?

One of the common questions we received was: “Can you still train while you’re fasting? Doesn’t your body have nothing for energy?”

Part of the answer to the question is that you do train – mostly as normal – while you’re following the ESE diet. And another part of the answer is that you do still have energy to train… lots of it. Because as Brad mentioned above, your growth hormone increases, this can result in an increase in energy, and strength.

And as for your body needing something for energy – that’s right too. When your insulin levels are low (because you haven’t eaten anything) your body activates a different process to find energy stores: In laymens terms, it starts converting your fat to energy. NOTE: Muscle is NOT converted to energy in this same way while you’re fasting.

If anyone needs proof that a fasting diet doesn’t burn muscle, the creator is proof in himself. He was a competitive body builder and retains a HIGH level of muscle mass through his fasting. You get a sense of his size in that video.

As for the kind of exercise the program involves…

It’s pretty normal. It’s all about resistance training. AND

One of the most fascinating parts of the book for me was Brad’s thoughts about Cardio training on page 133. I shouldn’t say his “thoughts” because what he actually lays down is a slew of scientific research that proves…

Ahh, I’ll let you read it.

Bottom line… you’ll be doing a LOT less cardio on this program than you might have done in the past. And for verifiable scientific reasons. It’s pretty cool.

Does The Plan Work?

We talked about some of the results people have gotten in our other post on ESE, but let me add further…

What’s cool about this book is that Brad is clearly a guy who respects science. This book isn’t him laying down his own cute little training program with his own feelings and opinions. Everything he puts down is referenced with a scientific study, and discussed in terms of it’s relevance to current scientific understanding on the subject.

You just can’t say the same for most other “fad diets” out there. I should know – we review hundreds of them on this website.

So the “results” of the things he’s talking about aren’t just from him. They’re from up to date research, from his own trials, AND the trials of the people to whom he’s shown his intermittent fasting method.

The plan is easily able to be implemented and if followed, it works. That isn’t in debate.

More importantly the ESE diet plan is one that is specifically designed so that it can be stuck to. It’s not designed as a quick “drop 10 pounds this week” kind of scam. It’s a way to eat for life and it’s laid out so that you can choose the way of doing it that works best… for you.

Everyone dreams of a toned and taut mid-section for summer – or winter for that matter – but who has the time to spend hours and hours at the gym to achieve it? I’ve tried for years to master the right diet/workout regime that will reveal that holy grail of ab definition. One thing is for sure, it ain’t easy and many people will never achieve it – at least, not naturally. Thankfully for all of us mid-sectionally challenged people, there are some products that can speed up the process and ease the transition from angst to washboard.

One product we’ve been hearing a lot about recently is the Contour Abs belt. This electronic belt exercises your ab muscles with intensive results and minimal effort – two things I love to hear. We’ve put together everything we could find on the ab belt below for you…

Contour Ab Belt: The Technology Behind It

The Contour Abs belt uses Electromuscle Stimulation (EMS) technology which sends safe and small electrical impulses to trigger a reaction in your muscle nerves causing a toning effect.

The medical grade electrodes attach on the surface of the skin (via the belt) and get 150 contractions in every session.

The FDA has officially approved the Contour Ab belt for the purpose of strengthening, toning and recovering healthy muscles in a safe and dependable way. Hospitals and and health clubs across the USA use this same technology (electromuscle stimulation) to treat sports injuries and spas use it for toning their clients.

The EMS technology recruits more fibers in a belt session than in any other muscle group. The brain can only round up 40-50% of the muscle fibers because it has a “limiting switch” that reserves some muscles for emergencies. The Contour Abs belt effectively tricks your brain into flexing and working more muscles without the psychological fatigue of exercise.

Contour Abs Belt: Customers Reveal All

Contour Abs has a varied customer base from injured athletes looking to regain strength to those merely looking to a break through a weight loss plateau. We’ve gathered some of the stories from previous customers here for you to look over and see if any of these resonate.

As you can see from my before photos – my fat is concentrated in my belly area. I’ve tried a different system that used this type of technology but it was basically a big waste of money. The Contour System is so easy to use and I love that I can throw it on and do other activities like – getting ready for the day (applying make-up or doing my hair), cooking dinner, working on the computer… it makes me feel like I’m using my time wisely! - Julia

I suffered a severe herniated disk, just days before my 32nd birthday. I was unable to walk for the first few days, and then had to use a walker for weeks afterwards. My once fit body, already a bit on the decline since my knee injury, had become less and less the athlete body I was used to. Using the Contour Ab belt, in combination with my great chiropractic care, allowed me to be up and moving around in about a month, and in great shape by the time my wedding rolled around! - Becky

I purchased the Contour just before the New Year and already I have seen great results I couldn’t really get on my own at the gym. With the proper diet and exercise and incorporating Contour, the possibilities are endless. I got fantastic results in a quick amount of time because you’re working muscles that you typically can’t get to when doing a regular crunch or sit-up. I was skeptical at first, but as I continued using it I was completely impressed and more satisfied. – Jeff

Contour Abs Belt: Inside The Box

Inside the Contour Abs belt box you get the core belt (of course), the M2 Electronic Muscle Stimulator, batteries, electrodes, special travel clutch and a full instructional DVD.

When you buy the Ab belt from the official store you will also receive a detailed care manual to ensure your Ab belt stays in tip top condition along with a 1 year warranty.

To accelerate your weight loss results, Contour also sends you a comprehensive diet and exercise guide to keep you on track and achieving optimum results. For the computer addicts (like myself) you will also get a free membership to their online Contour Fitness plan for instant access wherever you are in the world.

On top of all these extra inclusions, the team at Contour also offer a 30 day, no questions asked money back guarantee on the product for your peace of mind.

Contour Abs: Sophie’s Verdict

As far as abs go, the less work is the better in my eyes. The Contour Abs belt engages more muscles than your average set of crunches with less effort and no lying around on the ground. You can slip the belt under your clothes and head about your day while getting an intense workout without any physiological fatigue. That is a win in my books.

To learn more about the Contour Ab Belt, click the link below:

Click Here To Visit The Official Contour Abs Store Now