Weight Loss Tip of the Week - Reading Labels on Snack Bars

"Soontobethin" had a great question in response to my last post. She asked, "With all the bars out their, which ones are the best?" This question inspired me to take a trip to the grocery store ...read some labels...and come up with my top 3. Here they are:
#1 All-in-one
#2 South Beach Living
#3 Kashi-Go Lean
I made my decisions based on sugar content, fat content, quality of ingredients, fiber content, and protein content, in that order.
Power Bars, Zone Bars, and Cliff Bars have so much sugar that they are nothing more than glorified candy bars! They'll spike your blood sugar, cause you to store more calories as fat, and have you craving another candy bar an hour later!
Atkins bars have so much fat and saturated fat that you might as well be eating a steak! I'd rather that steak!
Stay away from any bar that has "high fructose corn syrup" or "hydrogenated oil" anywhere near the top of their ingredient listing! That's the case with Slimfast bars, so stay away!
Fiber and protein are bonuses, if a bar has more than 4 grams of fiber, around 10 grams of protein, not much sugar, and less than 6 grams of fat, I go for it!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week -- Carry Around Healthy Snacks

Do you ever get hungry during the day?

If so, what do you do?

If you're like most of us, you grab whatever you can get your hands on. Usually a donut, a candy bar, or anything else quick and easy that will give you some energy. Don't fall into this trap! Carry around snacks that are quick, easy and healthy. Fruit is perfect! Bring some apples or bananas to work. Bring a bag of oranges on that family outing. If you're banking on eating "whatever happens to be around," I can almost guarantee you're not going to eat something healthy!

Snack bars can also be good, but make sure you read the label. If one of the first ingredients is sugar (especially if its high fructose corn syrup) put it back on the shelf! Also, if it has more than 6 grams of fat you might also want to pass.

When it comes to avoiding junk food, the best offense is a good defense! Plan to eat healthy and it'll be easy to avoid the junk!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week -- Eat Your Fiber!

Eating fiber is a good idea for 3 reasons:
1) It helps you to maintain a healthy digestive system.
2) If fills you up so you're not always hungry.
3) It lowers the Glycemic Load of your food. This keeps those carbohydrates from quickly converting into sugar, which means that you will have less of an energy crash, less food cravings, and for most of us...we won't store as much of the that sugar as fat!

Here are 3 ways that you can get more fiber into your diet:
1) Eat fresh, whole fruits and vegetables. This is one of the many reasons why it is better to eat whole fruits and vegetables than to just drink juices. Almost all of the fiber is eliminated in the "juicing" process.
2) Check the fiber content of any breads or cereals that you buy. If it has less than 4 grams of fiber, put it back on the shelf!
3) Add flax seeds to foods like yogurt and cereal. They'll add a nutty taste to your food and they are one of the best sources of fiber out there!