7 Diet Secrets of the Stars

Celebrities always look fabulous. Whether appearing in television or films or strutting down the red carpet during movie premiers and awards, they never cease to fascinate us with their larger than life presence. The truth is, it takes a lot of effort to look the way they do, and being the public figures that they are, they cannot afford to slack off when it comes to taking care of their physical appearances. Their livelihood largely depends on how they look. Aside from the clothes, the hair and the makeup, celebrities have to take good care of their bodies.

So it is no surprise that these stars have their own secrets when it comes to staying fit and gorgeous. Their health agenda can range from extreme workouts to well-planned meals. Who doesn't want to know their secrets in staying absolutely sexy? Here are some of the diet secrets of seven women celebrities.

1. Jennifer Aniston

The star of the phenomenal television show Friends not only mesmerized audiences with her adorable comic sense and her famous hairstyle, she was also known for having one of the sexiest bodies in Hollywood, as she appeared in countless magazine covers. To stay trim, Jennifer follows the 40:30:30 diet method. The diet consists of:
40% Low glycemic carbohydrates-Foods such as beans, fruits and vegetables, legumes
30% lean proteins-Tofu, fish, chicken, turkey, beef and low fat dairy products
30% essential fats-nuts and seeds, fish and olive oils
It is essential that every meal should contain macronutrients to attain the balance of hormones and maximum weight loss.

2. Kate Hudson

The gorgeous daughter of actress Goldie Hawn gained 60 pounds during her pregnancy, which she needed to shed quickly before commencing on her next film. From her previous eating plan, she switched to a higher protein diet. She consumed high protein meals in smaller portions, and she combined this diet with an exercise program that includes weight training and cardiovascular workouts. After getting a lot of flak because of her post-pregnancy figure, Kate removed all that baby weight in only four months and has gained abdominal muscles that gained the envy of many in Hollywood.

3. Oprah Winfrey

As one of the most successful talk-show hosts in the world, there is no question that Oprah needs to maintain her physical appearance for her millions of audiences. Known as one of those celebrities who are constantly battling weight gain, she has recently toned up her figure and has never looked figure in age 50 by combining a regular exercise regime and diet plan. Oprah works out five days a week, spending 30 minutes on the threadmill and doing free weights. Her eating plan consists of legumes, fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, chicken and dairy products that are lowfat. She limits her consumption of white sugar and flour. Oprah also credits her trim figure to her habit of not eating anything after seven in the evening.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow

A lot of people may find it hard to believe that the perpetually slim Academy award-winning actress actually needs to diet. Gwyneth actually follows a healthy eating plan that resembles Oprah's, avoiding sugar and white flour. She usually follows a macrobiotic diet, eating foods like vegetables, brown rice, and lean meat. She also eliminated dairy from her diet, and does yoga everyday.

5. Madonna

The pop star known as the Material Girl has always flaunted a body that is to die for, and has become a true fitness paragon over the years. She keeps herself in tip-top shape by having Ashtanga Yoga, and follows a strict diet that mostly shuns junk foods. She adopted a macrobiotic eating plan that includes organic foods rich in lean protein.

6. Claudia Schiffer

The bodacious German supermodel eats salad and steamed vegetables for dinner and eats only fruits before the afternoon. While on locations, she prefers to eat black grapes and drinks tomato juice and herbal tea.

7. Christie Brinkley

Long-time supermodel maintains her all-American good looks by being a vegetarian. She does not keep junk foods of any kind inside her home to make sure that she does not eat them when cravings occur. She snacks on sweet potatoes in place of candy bars, and she adopts a liquid juice diet when she needs to slim down fast.

So you see, celebrities are just like ordinary people. They need to maintain their figures just like anyone else, and there is more pressure on their part since they are constantly in the public eye. Ordinary folks can have celebrity-like bodies, too, and by following these diet and fitness plans, they can also look like red-carpet worthy.

Healthy Eating - watch your sugar intake!

An over load of dietary sugar is the big player in obesity, stomach and hormonal disorders, belly fat, arthritis, asthma, bone health and diabetes. The word is out that Americans are eating 20 teaspoons a day of liquid candy in the form of soda pop. 1 in 5 children is obese and the probable reason is lack of knowledge of healthy eating.

You can learn to develop awareness of how much sugar you eat. Sugar is ubiquitous and can masquerade as healthy eating. How many sodas do you drink per day? . How many teaspoons of sugar do you put in every cup of coffee? What is the sugar content of your energy bar? Do you eat milk chocolate or dark? Dark has less sugar and more antioxidants. Healthy eating habits can make you a winner!

Sugar is usually disguised as high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and any word ending in ‘ose’ like maltose. If the first or second items on the food label are sugar, then the product is mostly sugar. So reading labels is critical for healthy eating.

Prepared and convenience food is loaded with hidden sugar. It sneaks into bottled sauces and prepared grocery store meals. Reading labels gives you information about the grams of sugar and the serving size. For instance, your favorite sauce serving size is 1 tbsp. and equals 3g of sugar, but your recipe requires 1 cup of sauce, about 12 tablespoons. This is not healthy eating, because the sugar is unbalanced at 36gms.

Because selling sugar products brings massive profits for multinational corporations they are not going to change, so you must. Their silent slogan is, “Let the people eat sugar!” So find ways to distract yourself. For instance if you stop for coffee and doughnuts (mostly sugar because of white flour) every morning, then find another route to work.

Take consistent focused action about managing sugar. Get rid of jams, jelly and sugar goods in your pantry. Replace sugary snacks with nuts, seeds and cheese. Tell yourself, “It feels good to carry and drink water”. Congratulate yourself for not succumbing to sugar-free drinks. And start loving the healthy eating person you desire to be.

Adapted from Celia Westberry

Salad, anyone?

Salads are nutritional and can be the great source of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and lot more. They are considered as light meal and much more than an appetizer. Their preparation mostly involves vegetables (leafy vegetables) sometimes fruits. The dressing of the salads forms the crux of it, which differentiates the taste of different salads. Occasionally the salad is prepared with meat, fish cheese or nuts, which makes the salad of high calorie-content. Salads are healthy with low calories and commonly found in western cuisines.

The most commonly consumed green salad consists of variety of vegetables like lettuce, spinach or arugula. Other veges include tomato, cucumber, peppers, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, and red onions, carrot and reddish. Salads might be added with pasta, olives, cooked potatoes, croutons, beans, rice meat, cheese and fish.

Lets look at one of the recipe called Chinese chicken salad recipe which easy to prepare and tasty to eat. The almonds and noodles in the salad adds a crunchy taste to it and the dressing makes it spicy and sweet. Take a quick look at the ingredients needed.

Chinese chicken salad

Ingredients:

lettuce, carrot, cucumber, sweet corn nibblets, basically any fresh veges of your choice

1/2-cup of chopped green onions

Few sliced almonds to add crunch

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Dressing essentials:

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of olive oil

2 tsp. of soy sauce

1/2 cup of wine vinegar

Method

To start with the Chinese chicken salad, you need to bake/grill and cube the 4 chicken breasts properly. Once this is done you have to combine all ingredients together. When the ingredients are mixed properly add the dressing immediately before serving.

How to Read Food Labels

As our food gets more "modernized" and richer in texture, flavour and "quality", our health and overall body conditions are inevitably affected. So how can we monitor the amount and quality of food we take in?

Among all of the tools, reading food labels seem to be the most effective way of determining the right kind of food to be bought in the supermarket. It lets you make sensible food selections. Through the “Nutrition Facts” section in a particular item in the grocery, you can identify the amount of serving sizes provided in that product.

With food labels, you can clearly understand the amount and kinds of nutrients that are provided in the item. Usually, it contains the information on saturated fat, sodium, total fat, fiber, and cholesterol amount “per serving.”

However, understanding and reading these food labels can be very perplexing. A typical consumer would definitely ask what those numbers mean and how it will affect her diet intake if ever she will religiously follow the serving guide as stipulated on the food label.

To further have a clear and more comprehensive understanding of the items stated in the food label, here is a list of things that you need to know:

1. Serving size
This is the primary item you will see in a food label.
The amount of servings stated in the food label refers to the quantity of food people usually consume. However, this does not necessarily mean that it reflects your very own amount of food intake. Moreover, serving size determines the amount of nutrients that enters the body. This means that if you will follow strictly what the serving size is, you will obtain the same amount of nutrients according to the serving size that was given in the label.

For instance, if the serving size says one serving size is equal to 54 grams, that would mean you have to measure 54 grams and eat that and you have just eaten one serving. So to speak, the amount of nutrients stated in the food label is the same amount that has entered your body considering the fact that you have just eaten 54 grams.

However, if you have eaten everything, and the food label says that each pack is equivalent to 4 servings, you have to calculate the amount of nutrients that have entered your body. This means that if the food label says 250 calories per serving that means you have to multiply it to four to get the total amount of calories you have taken.

2. Nutrients
This refers to the list of available nutrients in a particular item. It is also where the nutritional claims of the product based on the recommended daily dietary allowance are stated. Usually, the nutritional amounts are based on both the 2,500-calorie diets and the 2,000 recommended dietary allowances.

In order to understand the numeric value of each item, you should know that the “% daily value” that the food label indicates is actually based on how a particular food corresponds to the recommended daily dietary allowance for a 2,000 calorie. If in the event that you have purchased an item that has a dietary allowance different from the 2,000-calorie diet, you just have to divide the stipulated amount by 2,000 and you will be able to identify the “%daily value” for the nutrients.

3. Ingredients
This refers to the list of the ingredients that were used to manufacture the product. The listing is usually arranged from the main ingredients that have the greater amount by weight up to the smallest quantity. This simply means that the actual quantity of the food includes the biggest quantity of the main ingredient or the first item and the minimum amount of the very last ingredient.

4. Label claim
This refers to the kinds of nutritional claims of a particular food item. For instance, if an item says it is sodium-free, it has less than 5 milligrams per serving or a low fat item actually contains 3 grams of fat or less.

Indeed, reading food labels can be very tedious and confusing. Nevertheless, once you get the hang of it, it would be easier for you to watch your diet because you can already control the amount of food that you take.