Summer Fruit Smoothies

Making fruit smoothies is a wonderful way to enjoy warm-weather fruits -- they're great for breakfast, cooling off on a hot summer day or welcoming guests as they arrive for a barbecue. Similar in consistency to milk shakes, smoothies are quick, nutritious and amazingly rich at the same time. And kids love smoothies, so they are a perfect way to get them to eat fruit.

With such versatility, it's no wonder that the fruit smoothie has become one of the latest food crazes!

Blunders To Avoid on Your Weight Loss Journey

There are times on your weight loss journey when progress can come to a halt. Days or weeks can go by without you seeing movement on the scale, and it can get downright frustrating. After working with thousands of clients, I’ve noticed certain patterns that can cause this weight loss stoppage. Here are 3 of those patterns.

Eating more than you think you are.
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Zone Delivery Service, and other diet systems have one undeniable benefit to them – they define for the average person how large an actual “serving” is. Most of us underestimate the volume of food we eat (and consequently, underestimate the number of calories we consume in a day).

By fixing in your head what a serving size or “portion” of food looks like, we can better estimate (and consequently, evaluate and calibrate) the amount of food we eat at each meal. Keep in mind, when it comes to weight loss, you need to take in less calories than you burn each day.

Two good rules of thumb:
A portion of meat (3 oz.) is the size of a deck of cards.
A portion of carbohydrates (1 cup) is the size of a tennis ball.

Please remember to fill up on non-starchy vegetables – they are full of nutrients, have very little impact on blood sugar, and contain little in the way of calories.