How Bad is Your Nutrition

Chances are your nutrition is terrible. Or at the very least, your nutrition plan is good but you allow yourself far too many treats. Take today for example. How many Halloween candies have you treated yourself to at work? And you still have to go home and resist the leftover candy bowl or your child’s Halloween loot. The bottom line: You can’t succeed in your fat loss program if your diet is average.

I need to bring up this point because of the many emails people send me about their nutrition. From what I read, most people’s nutrition plans are far too poor to allow them to lose fat. And yet they are working harder than ever in the gym and wondering why they aren’t losing fat. No workout will help you build muscle and lose fat if you keep eating at fast-food restaurants, drinking sugary sodas, and raiding bags of leftover mini-candy bars.

And it’s frustrating because the secrets to fat loss nutrition are so simple. The best approach is eating several small meals per day, with each meal containing lean protein, vegetables, and other whole foods. You must eliminate unnecessary calories such as soda and high-fat, high-sugar snacks (like that mini-Snickers bar that’s on your desk right now). If you’re trying to lose fat, you can’t have treats every day. If fat loss is the goal, then cookies, apple pie, ice cream, nachos, fried foods, etc. just don’t make the cut, as unfortunate as it is.

Research shows that an increased intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with fat loss (nutritionists never put a limit on the number of vegetables that people should eat – provided they are not fried or covered in fat or sauces). Other research suggests that replacing carbohydrates with almonds (a source of fiber, protein, and monounsaturated fats) leads to greater weight loss. Almonds are a very healthy snack and help curb hunger. A typical serving is 1 ounce of almonds (about 22 pieces) and can replace chips, chocolate bars, and cookies in your diet.

Make sure you are logging your food intake and making notes about your energy levels when you eat certain foods. Soon you will identify the nutritional reasons for your fatigue or for your consistent energy levels. You will quickly associate sugar and fried foods with poor mental performance, while noticing that small, whole, natural food-based meals and snacks help keep you alert and full of energy.

If you are overweight and just starting to improve your nutrition, I have some good news for you. You should begin losing at least 1 pound per week (probably 2 or more) simply from the nutritional changes.

Nutrition is that powerful. Don’t expect to start eating perfectly tomorrow, but you should slowly build up to eating much better and healthier than you were yesterday. Try to improve your nutrition plan everyday. Stay consistent and focused with your nutritional approach. You can do it. Here are three nutrition changes that would pay huge dividends for a fat-loss beginner:

1) Eat several small, whole food meals per day.

2) Don’t consume any unnecessary liquid calories (i.e. no soda, alcohol, or sweetened beverages). Drink more water – nutrition experts recommend 3 liters per day.

3) Eliminate processed carbohydrates and sugar from your nutrition plan (no soda, cake, chips, white bread, or chocolate bars).

If you’re fed up with the body fat and spare tire around your middle, then it’s time to take a structured approach to fat loss.

If your current nutritional plan is preventing you from losing fat, then it’s time for you to start working on building better eating habits. This can be as simple as committing to one small nutritional improvement per day (such as replacing your lunchtime soda with water) and one large nutritional change per week (such as setting aside time on a Sunday to prepare a weekly menu and all of your meals).

But you need to have a plan to make this work, just like how you have a plan for your workouts. Your nutrition plan should include the contents of every meal, as well as your grocery list for the week. This will enable you to have meal alternatives for nights when you might need to be running from one event to the other with no time or healthy snack alternatives when you are on the road between meetings.

It’s important that you make your plan something you can follow. If you are currently eating 7 meals per week at the golden arches, it wouldn’t be realistic to plan to replace those meals with carrot sticks and tofu this week. A better plan would be to substitute a couple of those meals with healthier sandwich options and then work on improving things even more in the following weeks.

So here’s a three-step guideline on building a better nutrition plan:

1) Prepare a weekly menu. Outline each meal and snack for every day of the upcoming week. Take into account the possibilities that you might work late or get invited out to lunch. The more options you have and preparations you make, the better you will be able to stick to your fat loss plan.

2) From your menu plan, you’ll now know what foods and ingredients you need to make it through the week. Make your grocery list and stick to it (see mine below). Grocery shopping is your first opportunity to break some bad nutritional habits. You can’t eat chips, cookies, or cakes if you don’t have them in the house – so don’t buy them and you’ll avoid any future temptation.

3) Prepare the meals or prepare the ingredients so that making the actual meal doesn’t take a lot of time. Like shopping, it’s best to do all of these preparations at one time (such as on a Sunday or another day off).

My shopping list includes:

Fruits

· Apples

· Oranges

· Blueberries

· Melon

· Peaches

· Grapefruit

· Raspberries

Vegetables

· Peppers (red, yellow, green, & orange),

· Spinach

· Asparagus

· Broccoli

· Snow Peas

· Mushrooms

· Frozen mixed vegetables

· Tomato sauce

Protein Sources

· Chicken breasts

· Turkey breasts

· Salmon fillets

· Lean beef

· Skim milk & low-fat, low-sugar yogurt

Carbohydrates

· Oat bread

· Oatmeal (no sugar added)

· Whole-wheat pasta

Other

· Green tea

· Unsalted, not roasted, Almonds

You’ll notice that most of these foods come without a food label. Most of the foods that you should avoid come in a bag or a box. Building a shopping list that contains very few bagged or boxed items is something to aim for. But when you do purchase something with a label, make sure to avoid two of the unhealthiest ingredients created by man:

1) High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

2) Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil (the sources of trans-fatty acids)

You might have heard of these two ingredients. They are strongly associated with obesity and other lifestyle-diseases (such as diabetes).

A Few Things to Implement in Your Real Estate Marketing Plan

When making your real estate marketing plan there are certain things which probably won’t demand a lot of your time or attention, such as setting your goals for the future or determining your motivation for making it in this business. There is however a part of the real estate marketing plan with which everybody seems to struggle: marketing. Even though most agents are good at making sales pitches, they simply cannot find a way to make their voices heard in this sea of humans that is the internet (because that’s where most of the marketing happens nowadays). Here is a look at a few things you can do in order to expand your influence and get yourself noticed from the crowd.Building a Good Relationship with your BuyersTo start things off, you will need to build up a relationship with your potential buyers. Selling real estate isn’t something which just happens overnight; it can sometimes be a very long process and you will end up talking a lot with your clients, meaning that they better take a liking to you or they many never consider hiring your services. How exactly do you get in good with them? Well, at this point you better put on your charmer mask and send them post cards, or perhaps even giving them a call, striking up a casual conversation during which you need to find a way to transition into what you have to offer them.You could also send emails to your potential buyers, offering them bits of information and tips about what homeowners should be doing in today’s economy, or if you are really dedicated to your job, send them small gifts to show your appreciation.The Great Benefits of Social MediaAnother very popular way of getting yourself noticed in this day and age is to use social media, which is something that should already be in your marketing plan for real estate. If it’s not, then simply take a few minutes to consider this information: Facebook has almost one billion users, and 56% of them claim that they are much more likely to recommend and purchase some kind of brand themselves after becoming a fan of it.To put it in other words, if you do things the right way you can actually spread the word about your brand and get people to lean towards it if they are ever caught in a dilemma, simply by creating a fan page on Facebook and getting people to “like” it. Also, on social media word travels faster than ever before. For example, when the Domodedovo Bomb blew up in the Russian airport, president Medvedev learned about the whole fiasco through Twitter. So, as you can see, social networks work faster than Russian intelligence services, which is a pretty good sign for real estate marketers who are looking to spread the word about their brand.Using Real Estate Listings to Your AdvantageAnother advertising tactic you should definitely consider including in order to make an effective marketing plan for profitable real estate is the use of online real estate listings. There are websites out there which you can find using your search engine of choice which allow you to post your own listings… free of charge. The best part is that these free websites, which include Trulia, Zillow and HotPads, are some of the most popular websites on the internet right now as thousands upon thousands of people go on them every day to check the house listings. All you need to do is simply make a list of these websites and head to each one of them and put your listings up there.There is something special about these listings which will make your job infinitely easier: the people who contact you are only the ones who are actually interested what you have to offer. You see, these websites allow those who post the listings to provide very detailed descriptions of the real estate’s various characteristics, and what’s more, it allows the users to search real estate based on them. So, to word it differently, these people already know what you have to offer and so you really won’t need as much effort to convince them.Naturally, there is much more than that to making a good real estate business plan, but rest assured that if you get the marketing part right there won’t be much stopping you from achieving the success you have been dreaming of all these years.

Baltimore Culinary Arts School

Culinary schools are operating throughout the world nowadays, and Baltimore is not an exemption. However, unlike the others places in the world where culinary schools come in great number, Baltimore only has one major institution that offers the best quality culinary education possible. This school is none other than the Baltimore International College.The Baltimore International College is known throughout the state of Maryland as the premier institution for culinary arts education. It is regionally accredited and has been standing independently offering a wide range of culinary related degrees. The degrees offered at this Baltimore culinary arts school range from baccalaureate to associates and to certificates. And, it is nice to know that the programs provided by this Baltimore culinary arts school are all taught by industry experienced and well-trained chefs and professors from around the world, hence it is called an “international” college.Courses OfferedThe Baltimore International College, as mentioned earlier, offers a number of degrees for their students. One of the most preferred degrees is the Bachelor of Science degree in Culinary Management. This is offered as a four-year, eight semester program and is designed to provide the aspiring culinary artists the chance to develop their own skills and abilities necessary for them to succeed in their chosen career, such as leadership and management, critical thinking, problem solving techniques, financial analysis and customer service.The Baltimore International College is also noted for its associate programs that are generally offered to prepare students in the much challenging culinary field. One of the popular associate degrees offered by this Baltimore culinary arts school is the Associate of Applied Science in Professional Cooking. This program is in the first place designed to provide students with a practical education that focuses much on food production, but at the same time instilling a sense of professionalism and excellence that will help the culinary industry grow to its best form possible. It is worth noting that all of the associate degrees offered by this Baltimore culinary arts school are designed based on that aim.How the Classes are HandledThe classes in Baltimore International School are held and conducted in three seasons: spring, summer, and fall. There are also some classes that are conducted during nighttime, giving the students the chance to do their own activities and responsibilities at daytime.It is further worth noting that at the Baltimore International College, the classes are held at classrooms, cooking laboratories, offices and dorms, as well as on the culinary arts center, bookstore, and computer lab of this Baltimore culinary arts school. There are even some instances when the classes take place at hotels, students unions, restaurants, inn, student housing and the school’s Learning Resource Center which covers a computer lab, library and a gallery of delicious, edible art.Today, the Baltimore International College holds more than 800 students annually. 52% of this population is men, while 48% are said to be women.

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