Fad Diets - Don't Believe These 10 Diet Myths

If your nutrition and weight-loss education comes mostly by way of fad diet books and magazine articles, you will believe 10 myths and to lose weight you need to get them out of your head.

Fad diets dont work period - So if you believe any of the following you need to change your view to lose weight.

1. Skipping meals helps you lose weight.

No it does not! it makes you hungrier as it creates huger cravings and actually causes you to over eat. You need to eat 5 meals a day.

2. Your metabolism is slower at night.

Your metabolism doesn't slow down at night.

This fad diet myth comes from the fact that most people eat a larger proportion of calories in the evening and if your metabolism slows down then when you sleep these calories will turn to fat!

As your metabolism is not slower at night, it makes no difference when you eat - its the overall calories consumed that cause the damage not the time of day their eaten that matters.

3. Carbohydrates cause weight gain.

This is perhaps the most common fad diet myth. This myth has been promoted by high-protein fad diets on the market.

Carbohydrates are your body's premier source of fuel. The thing to keep in mind with cards is good and bad ones and eat the good ones is the

Replace carbs with high sugar content (simple carbs) i.e biscuits and sweets with complex carbs: Fruit, vegetables whole-grain brown rice and cereal.

Not eating carbs will make you sluggish and irritable.

4. Lose weight is hard and a chore.

Well many fad diets are! As they deprive you of foods you love, their therefore hard to stick with.

Fact is we were never designed to be on fad diets. Dieting is all about balance and you can include any foods you love, but if there sugary or fat foods then you just need to eat them in moderation.

5. Fat free foods that are calorie free.

That low-fat label is by no means a license to over indulge Many low-fat products are loaded with sugar to as a substitute for the missing fat, which means they are just as high in calories as the sugar is simply turned into fat!

6. No Snacks

If you have time to eat 5 meals a day you wont probably want to snack, if its three times a day a quick snack is a good idea. At the end of the day, its total calories consumed in a day that counts not how you eat them.

A quick snack can help you stop overeating and keep your energy levels high.

7. Fat is bad for you

Fats are part of the natural food chain of humans and we all need a certain amount of fat to healthy, but we need good ones.

Bad fats increase the risk for certain diseases and good fats lower the risk. The key is to make sure your eating the right fats.

Fats that are actually healthy are referred to as "essential fatty acids." These fats are required for overall health and lower risk of heart disease.

The reason oily fish is so good is that the essential fatty acids contained actually help your body burn fat more efficiently and protect against disease. 8. Cholesterol is bad for you

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is made by the liver, we all need some blood cholesterol as it's used to build cells and form hormones.

There is good and bad cholesterol.

Saturated fats in foods such as meat, cheese, cream, butter help raise LDL (low density lipoprotein) bad cholesterol.

This then delivers cholesterol to the arteries. HDL (high density lipoprotein) - or 'good' cholesterol - transports cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver. simply avoid this group or eat in moderation

9. Dairy products make you fat.

Combined with calorie control, a dairy-rich diet can nearly double body-fat reduction and help you lose weight longer term

The reason is they contain the hormone calcitriol, which helps conserve calcium for stronger bones while sending a message to fat cells to convert less sugar to fat and burn more body fat.

10. There is a short cut way to lose weight

This is the myth promoted by all fad diets you can lose weight quickly and be healthy No you cant. Our bodies are not designed to crash diet and fad diets sound easy but people end up being disappointed.

The only way to lose weight is to do it slowly, with a balanced diet.

Forget fad diets and lose weight the right way.

More FREE info

On fad diets and ways to lose weight sensibly please visit our website for articles, ezines downloads and magazines:

http://www.net-planet.org

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Napa Valley - The Home of California's "Wine Country"

Napa Valley: The Home of Californias Wine Country Everyone likes a good wine tasting tour. The question arises: Where are we going to go and how reachable are the wineries from one another? Few regions in the US boast a better environment for vineyards and the subsequent wine manufacturing than California.

When you think of California's Wine Country, you're thinking about Napa Valley and Sonoma County, situated just north of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Father Junpero Serra, a Franciscan missionary, first brought wine to the state of California when he began the first vineyard in San diego in 1769. In the years that followed, wineries began to creep farther north along with establishment of Spanish missions. The wine industry really began to take root after the Gold Rush of 1849, when Count Agoston Haraszthy established Buena Vista, the first premium winery in the area. In nearby Napa Valley, Charles Krug introduced Riesling grapes in 1861.

The Charles Krug Winery is still in operation but is now run by the Peter Mondavi Family. The area's wine industry continued to flourish over the next century but failed to receive international recognition until the mid-1970s. The Stag's Leap Winery put California's wine country on the map after it squeezed out a victory over world-renowned Mouton Rothschild in a competition in paris in 1976. By the mid-1980s the wines from Napa Valley were considered fit for royalty, Quail Ridge Vineyard's 1981 Chardonnay was served to the late Lady Di and Prince Charles at the White House.

In the last two decades California's wine country has continued to grow and now the region is home to hundreds of wineries and vineyards. Millions of people visit Napa Valley and Sonoma County every year to imbibe the Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Pinot Noirs, Merlots, and Zinfandels the area is now famous for.

California's central coast is known for gentle, green hills and deep valleys (you may have even seen a landscape shot of the Napa Valley as the default wallpaper on Windows XP). The Napa Valley is to the east of Sonoma County and is typically warmer in the summer, resulting in a better yield of Cabernet Sauvignon. Sonoma County's slightly cooler weather typically brings in better Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Despite the hotter weather father south, Paso Robles, near San Luis Obispo, has established an American Viticultural Area that has become one of the fastest growing winery regions in California.

Napa Valley and Sonoma County
The better-known wine country of central California is, of course, in Napa Valley and neighboring Sonoma County, which are home to over 280 wineries. This beautiful area, with its gentle rolling hills, is a great place to tour around. Virtually every winery offers tours and wine tastings, they vary in price between $5 and $20 and are usually open daily - be sure to check with the individual winery for exact hours. To check out other vineyards and wineries, planning is a must, simply because of the sheer number. Keep in mind that this area is also very scenic (in case you're traveling with a non-wine drinker). For fans of the 1980s television show Falcon Crest, this area was the setting for the fictional Tuscany Valley. Most of the wineries offer free public tours from mid-morning to late afternoon, but many of them require some sort of advance reservation.

California wine production truly started in Sonoma County at the Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery, which started off as part of the Sonoma Mission set up by the Spanish in 1824. The Seabstiani Vineyards produce a wide assortment of wines and appellations such as Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot noir, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon. Tours of the Sebastiani Vineyards are available, as is wine tasting, for a small fee.

Located on the Carneros Estate, the oldest winery in Sonoma County is Buena Vista. In addition to being a state historical landmark, the Buena Vista Winery was started by Count Agoston Haraszthy and is the headquarters for the U.S. branch of the Knights of the Vine. There are tours offered which only cost about $15 per person as well as a $5 tasting fee. The Green Hungarian is a particular selection of the wine produced by the vineyard.

Another unique winery, the Carmenet Vineyard, create wines using exclusively French techniques, such as malo-lactic fermentation, and by stacking their wines in a natural cave. Tours of the Carmenet Vineyard are by appointment only and their in-house wines, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and Merlot are available for tasting.

More about Napa Valley and other areas in California of interest to wine aficionados can be found on http://www.TripCart.com the internets leading travel planning guide.

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Hoodia and Hoodia Gordonii - Need to Know Facts

The African Hoodia Cactus

First, the African hoodia cactus is actually not a cactus but a succulent. But, it looks so much like a cactus that it is often called the African hoodia cactus. In actuality, its name is Hoodia Gordonii, or in technical terms it is Genus: Trichocaulon and its Family Name is Asclepiadaceae. But, that really is not what you came here to learn. What you probably want to learn more about is what the hoodia plant can do for you.

What You Want To Know

More than likely, to you the African Hoodia cactus is a slice of the perfect diet. You may have heard about the wonderful qualities that it claims. For one, by simply eating hoodia, you will suppress hungry. This leads to a decrease in the calories youll eat. In short, you eat much less, dont feel hungry and you end up losing weight. What could be better? The fact is, though, that hoodia can also help to increase your energy levels as well. With so much to offer, its amazing that not everyone is eating hoodia.

What You Want To Have

The African hoodia cactus has been eaten by native bushman for many hundreds of years. They ate it to withstand long journeys in which they may go several days without food. The hoodia would provide them with the energy they need and help to curb hunger pangs.

Today, if you would like to consume the plant, you may find it much more difficult to do so. The hoodia cactus is hard to obtain in straight form because of several things.

It is hard to cultivate. It can only be grown in the Kalahari Dessert region of Southern Africa. This means that you cant grow it yourself.

It has a patent on it. Although it has been consumed for hundreds of years natively, today, there are strict patents on most of the crops grown. That makes it expensive and hard to obtain, especially when the company that holds it doesnt want to provide it.

The African hoodia cactus is bitter tasting and not really pleasant to eat if you can find it.

So, whats the solution to getting the hoodia that can help you to lose weight? The best course of action for anyone looking to reduce their caloric intake through a natural substance like hoodia is to purchase and use a supplement containing the pure hoodia product. This is hard to find and costly, but the African hoodia cactus is well worth the trouble.

Everything you need to know about Hoodia and hoodia gordonii

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