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The world?s easiest weight loss tip

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You probably already know that PGX helps you feel fuller faster, but you should also know that slowing down while you eat enhances your satiety even more, and offers additional benefits!  Do you even remember what you ate for breakfast this morning? Or were you in such a mad dash to get out the door that you just grabbed some mystery bar from the cabinet and called it good? We live in a fast-moving society, but it?s worth slowing down while eating. Taking your time to finish a meal has many benefits, and can be a huge factor in helping you succeed on your weight loss journey.

Here are the top five benefits of pacing yourself at the dinner table:

1. It helps prevents overeating. It takes your brain about 20 minutes to register that your stomach is full after a meal.  Many Americans can wolf down all the food on their plate in less than five minutes. That means there is a lot of extra time to refill that plate with second and third helpings before your body has a chance to realize it?s full. Take longer to eat your food and you?ll be less likely to overeat.

2. Chewing your food is a workout! Did you know you are burning calories by working your jaw and tongue to grind up your food? The longer is takes you to chew, the more of a ?workout? you are getting.

3. It?s a chance to relax. With your demanding work and family schedules, meals may be the only time of the day you have to actually sit down and relax in peace. Make it last as long as possible! Take a cue from many European cultures, where meals can last for hours. Friends and family sit around the table and eat, drink, and talk late into the night.

4. You make better choices. Eating slowly allows you to pay better attention to what you?re putting in your mouth, which will help you make healthier food choices. You can also taste your food more- meaning you can savor the flavor of that roasted sweet potato or the juicy pineapple chicken you just pulled off the grill.

5. It aids digestion. Slowing down gives your stomach time to start breaking down your food. If you send an entire meal down your throat in a matter of seconds, you could find yourself suffering from indigestion.

Learning to eat slowly may take a little practice. Try setting down your fork between bites or using smaller utensils. The less food you can fit on your fork or spoon, the less you can gobble up all at one time. You can also try eating with other pokey eaters. People have an unconscious tendency to imitate the people we are around, so sharing a dinner table with people who graze around their plate more may help you pick up the good habit.

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Get your body spring and summer-ready with these weight loss tips

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Summer will be here before we know it, and if you?re looking to shed a few pounds and have a beach-ready body, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

  • Tone your muscles, train your heart: Research has shown that the ability to lose weight is directly related to a person?s muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more fat you burn. Implement a strength-training program and supplement the program with aerobics and flexibility exercises to get the maximum benefit from your physical efforts.
  • Rev up your metabolism: Metabolism plays a vital part in weight loss. By keeping a close watch on your caloric intake and the amount of calories you burn each day, you can help maintain that perfect metabolic balance. Other natural calorie burners that have been clinically proven to boost metabolism are green tea, red pepper, garlic and ginger. Incorporate these ingredients into your diet and they?ll do wonders.
  • Program yourself for success: Because self-esteem is so strongly related to body image and our society?s perception of what is attractive, it is often our own attitudes that cause a weight loss program to fail. You can reverse this self-defeating trend by taking steps to build your self-esteem now. Create a positive goal statement, keep a personal success journal, and fuel your progress with positive affirmations. A healthy mental attitude will lead to a healthy body.
  • Blood sugar balancing: Fluctuations in blood sugar levels throughout the day are the root cause of cravings and energy slumps, and exacerbate the production of fattening hormones. Nighttime blood sugar dips can interfere with sleep. Maintaining even blood sugar levels makes it much easier to lose stubborn abdominal fat

To maintain even blood sugar levels, avoid high-glycemic index foods such as sugar, white flour, pop, juice and other sugary drinks. Eat regular meals (try to include protein, lots of fiber and a little fat in each one) and don?t skip breakfast! It sets the tone for your entire day. It may also help to take a soluble fiber complex such as PGX, which may help stabilize blood sugar and help you feel fuller.

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Changing the Clocks and Your Children’s Health

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With the change of the clocks, daylight fades earlier in the winter months. What does this mean for your children?

It is such a gorgeous sunny day outside as I write this, it’s seems hard to believe that in just a few hours, the sun will have set! Now that the clocks have been put back, our evenings come much earlier. What does this mean for your kids?

A recent study from UK researchers suggests that not changing the clocks would keep your children active by allowing them more outdoor play. What do you think?

BBC Health News reports on this interesting idea.

 

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Control Cravings with this Blissful Blueberry Pie!

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Looking for a new way to cook with PGX granules? Read on for a sweet recipe!

Julie Daniluk, registered nutritionist, shares her recipe for a berry delicious blueberry pie!

Nutritionist and host of Healthy Gourmet Julie Daniluk recently appeared on Breakfast Television to make her fabulously Blissful Blueberry Pie, and guess what it feaured? PGX granules! In this recipe, she combines PGX ( PolyGlycopleX?) with Agar Agar and features it in her upcoming book Meals That Heal Inflammation. Fiber is just as good and sometimes better at creating a beautiful jammy or pudding texture, which Julie proves with this recipe, but with an added health kick. PGX granules are an easy solution to inceasing your food’s fiber content.
We hope you enjoy making this recipe and leave a comment below on how you like it!
Blueberry Pie:
1 cup Water
1 cup Cranberry or Pomegranate Juice
? cup Agar Agar Flakes
? cup Honey
1 ? tsp PGX
1 tsp Cinnamon
pinch Salt
3 cups Frozen Wild Blueberries*
* It is important that the berries are small or the agar agar and PGX will simply create a jelly mold around the berries. When the berries are small they mix with the agar agar and PGX to create a jam filling for the pie.

Crust:
2 cups Pecans
? tsp Cinnamon
pinch Salt
2 Tbs Honey

Cashew Cream Topping
1 cup Raw Cashews
Pinch of Salt
1 tbsp Honey
? cup of Water
1 tsp PGX
The secret to this recipe is to work very fast. Prepare all ingredients ahead of cooking the agar agar or it will set before you get it into the pie crust!
Prepare crust first so it is ready to receive the berry mixture:
1) Put pecans in a food processor and whisk until it becomes a fine meal. Add honey, salt and cinnamon and remix. 2) Press pecan mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.

Then prepare the berry mixture:
1) Have all ingredients on hand pre-measured 2) Bring water to a boil, whisk in agar agar, salt, cinnamon and PGX 3) Keep whisking while cooking for 2 minutes on high boil to dissolve and blend ingredients 4) Take pot off the boil and whisk in honey 5) Quickly whisk in blueberries 6) Immediately pour into the pecan crust

Prepare cashew cream topping:
1) In a food processor blend water, salt, cashews and honey for 2 minutes 2) Add PGX and continue to blend for another 2 minutes. 3) Top pie with cashew cream 4) Can be served within 10 minutes of making but it also tastes great chilled. Makes 8 large pie servings.
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Get the TIFF Red Carpet Physique

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TIFF is on and the celebrities are out in full force, looking lean and toned.

PGX looks at how you can get those lean and toned limbs, celebrity style.

With the Toronto International Film Festival, or any Hollywood to-do that rolls out a carpet for that matter, comes the parade of svelte physiques, waiting to get their photographs taken! True, some of the stars could use some more meat on their bones but there are healthy looking, toned figures on the red carpet that are the result of good nutrition and exercise. On Wednesday, eTalk featured celebrity trainer Brent Bishop and he shared three easy moves that you can do at home to get those long lean limbs, flat abs and toned muscles!

These classic but tweaked exercises will help you reach your fitness goals. It won’t be long before those photographers are taking your photo and asking, “Who are you wearing?!”

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Stress can lead to food cravings

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Work, kids, bills ? it?s a perfect recipe for stress. And it may be causing you to gain weight. Food cravings are easy to succumb to during stressful times, but there are ways to overcome the anxiety and keep the cravings at bay.

Fact: Food cravings often arise from stress. Stress promotes weight gain, while relaxation promotes weight loss. When your body is stressed, blood sugar levels are raised dramatically as the liver dumps stored glucose into the bloodstream. When you are relaxed, blood sugar levels are maintained in the normal range. Some of the most popular relaxation techniques are meditation, prayer, progressive relaxation, self-hypnosis and biofeedback.

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Outsmart your cravings

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You?re a smart cookie. So why can?t you outsmart the bag of double chocolate chip cookies calling to you from the kitchen? If you keep giving into your food cravings, you might never get into your skinny jeans! The problem may not be your weak willpower. You may be an unwitting passenger on the blood sugar roller coaster.

Frequent fluctuations in blood sugar, particularly when blood sugar rapidly drops in a short period of time, can result in serious food cravings even when your body has no real need for additional calories. If this happens several times a day, you are likely to give in and snack or drink sugary drinks, and those snacks and beverages will likely be loaded with calories.

Once you understand why you have food cravings, and how certain types of foods affect your body, you are well on your way to knowing how to fix the problem. Eliminating the blood sugar roller coaster is the first step to living hunger free forever.

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Three of our favorite weight loss tricks

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Looking for some new ammo to help shed those pounds to fit into that itty-bitty bikini by the end of the summer? Check out these three easy tips.

Ban clear food containers from your kitchen.

In this case, that old saying ?out of sight, out of mind? may be true.  Cornell University researchers found that people ate 70 percent fewer sweets when the food was stored in jars that they couldn?t see through versus clear plastic or glass. So instead of keeping that clear candy dish on your desk or coffee table, store your goodies in a solid container where you can?t see them.

Exercise before work.

After an exhausting day at the office, usually the last thing you want to do is spend a couple hours in a hot gym. Studies have shown that the brainpower we use during the workday makes us lose the will to do much of anything else afterwards. Another incentive to working out in the morning is that you will free up your afternoon for any last-minute errands or appointments.

Crank up the air conditioning.

This trick should be very easy to do these hot summer days. According to research reported on the New York Times, turning down the heat can actually help you shed pounds. That?s because when we are exposed to chilly temperatures, our bodies go through something called non-shivering thermogenesis. The process may cause us to burn an extra 100 to 200 calories a day.

While these tricks can give you that extra little boost to help you slim down, remember that a healthy diet is still key in any weight loss journey. Adding PGX to your meals can also help by making you feel fuller while eating less.

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Does Dietary Fibre Make You Gain Weight?

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No! It doesn’t! Got questions about dietary fibre?

PGX found quick answers to your fibre questions!

We all hear about how good dietary fibre is for you and that we need ‘x’ amount each day. But there are a lot of questions and mystery surrounding this nutrient: does dietary fibre make you gain weight? Can you have too much fibre? Why is fibre important? Can it help to lose weight? If you want quick answers to these questions, Livestrong.com has an excellent and brief overview. Once you know how fibre helps your health, you’ll have a better idea of what PGX can do for you. Image Sources: thecourier.es and? iVillage.ca  

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Stop eating your feelings

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Do you find yourself yanking open the freezer door for that box of rocky road ice cream after a bad day at work or fight with your best friend? Whether it?s stress, sadness or boredom, emotional eating can sabotage your diet. That?s because you probably aren?t looking for healthy foods like fruits or veggies, but instead are seeking out high-calorie, high-fat snacks like cookies, chips and ice cream.

Here are some tips to help keep the pounds down even when your emotions are running high:

Identify your hunger triggers.

Keep a food journal, and write down when and what you eat. Also write down what you were doing or feeling before you ate. This will help you find patterns in your eating habits, and determine if you are eating because you are actually hungry or if you are reacting to an emotion.

Tame your stress.

When your kids are screaming in the next room and a tight work deadline has you ready to climb up the wall, it?s important to learn healthy strategies for dealing with stress. Try taking a walk to blow off steam, or soaking in a warm bubble bath. Remember that stress can be worsened if you aren?t getting enough sleep at night, so shoot for 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

Beat boredom.

Do you often find yourself digging through the kitchen because you have nothing else to do? Next time try heading out for a bike ride to explore the homes in your neighborhood. Has it been awhile since you read a good paperback? Head to your local library and stock up on free books.

Take away temptation.

You can?t gobble down a whole sleeve of cookies if you don?t have them in the first place. Rid your kitchen of extra unhealthy snacks. Nibble instead on healthy foods like fruits, yogurt, or carrot sticks. It is OK to splurge on a treat every now and then, but there?s a difference between keeping a small bag of dark chocolates and having an entire shelf devoted to junk food.

Surprisingly, emotional eating doesn’t have to be a problem. Everyone eats for emotional reasons every now and then. It?s when eating becomes the only strategy someone uses to manages emotions that a problem arises. Learning to make smart food choices and eating in moderation is key to keeping your weight on track.

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