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Are you a secret snacker? Do you eat when you are bored, upset, angry? Does every day mean a chocolate bar for you? Snacking…the secret sins of most people wanting to lose weight.
As a wellness mentor I find that people are often feeling so guilty about snacking they are embarrassed to talk about it openly.  Women in particular laugh nervously when I ask them what happens to their food consumption around 4pm.   This often is the time of the day when the “Snack Monster” rises up and takes control of them!   Often these women berate themselves with ideas about being weak and out of control.    They either eventually give up on their diet altogether or develop counter thoughts so they don’t feel so bad.   “It didn’t really matter – it is fat free”.  Or, “if no one notices, the calories don’t count”.
Your diet does not have to be like this.
You can lose weight without being hungry.   You can learn to take control of the “Snack Monster” and your program can be one to set you up for success, not failure.
An important key is to learn how to recognize what your body requires, the signals it gives you, and learn how to respond to those signals appropriately – diet and guilt are two words that do not belong together.
Hunger is the body’s way of telling us we need to replenish depleted nutrients.  Unfortunately our body can’t say “I need more vitamin D”.  That would make things so easy!  Many of us interpret hunger pains as our body saying “I need more fat”, “I need more sugar”.
The keys to healthy snacking are:

Know what foods to avoid, and
Planning – get yourself organized.

What is a healthy snack?  One that contains little or no sugar, little or no salt (sodium), no white flour and no saturated fat.  Check the food labels to see what is inside.  Many foods are now labeled ‘fat free’ but are laden with sugars and will still cause an influx of calories.  Do not assume that ‘fat free’ means healthy!  Western  societies are eating more and more fat free foods, and yet obesity levels are rising faster than ever.
Healthy snacks do not live in a vending machine.
Here are some healthy snack ideas.

Raw vegetables, such as celery, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, green pepper, green beans, cucumbers, mushrooms or zucchini may be served with a lowfat dip.
Fresh fruit in season.
Lowfat quick breads and muffins, such as pumpkin, zucchini, banana or bran.
Non-sugared cereals, snack mixes made with popcorn and whole grain cereal.
Lowfat yogurt with fresh, frozen or canned fruit.
Shakes with lowfat milk or yogurt and fruit.
A few squirts of butter-flavored spray and a sprinkle of garlic or onion powder on popcorn

Organize yourself to stay on track.

Plan to have a small snack mid morning and mid afternoon.  It is much better to curb your hunger than to starve yourself.
Plan your snacks as part of your overall daily food plan.
Organize your week – especially if you work outside the home.   Write a list of snacks for the entire week and make sure you shop ahead.  Buy enough to last the whole week.
Buy a variety of healthy snacks so you don’t get bored.

A report has shown that people who have a healthy intake of food in four of five episodes throughout the day are less prone to obesity than those who eat three or less times during the day.
Snacking CAN be good for you

There are a lot of vegetarians amongst us, some by circumstance and some by choice. Those that are vegetarians by choice can be divided into two general groups, those that do not eat meat, poultry or fish, but do consume dairy products as – in theory – the animals are not harmed or killed by the gathering of those products. Vegans, however, use no animal products whatsoever.
There are many health benefits to a planned vegetarian diet, as opposed to the unplanned vegetarian diets that result from poverty and a lack of food availability. However, there are also some special precautions that need to be taken to safeguard nutrition, as adequate amounts of some of the most important nutrients can be more difficult to obtain. This is especially true for those following the more restrictive vegan diet.
The body is a complex and delicate system, and the foundation of all of its functioning is chemical and electrical actions, interactions and reactions. The operation of this system rests firmly upon the balance of these chemicals. The majority of the chemicals in these essential physical processes come from the food that we eat, from the nutrients that come from its consumption. Thus, nutrition has a deep influence of the health of the body and the quality of its functioning.
Because the brain, like the body, functions on chemical reactions and electrical impulses, the processes of cognition, emotion, and so on, are also affected by nutrition. In fact, deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals can result in mental illness and retardation, as well as cognitive dysfunction and difficulties and emotional instability.
The Vitamin B complex offers a perfect example of how vegetarians must pay special attention to their diets to ensure peak performance of body and mind. The Vitamin B complex is involved with every major system in the body and has a role in almost every important bodily process. It is essential to mental health and functioning, and essential to life itself. However, there are certain Vitamin B complex vitamins that need special attention by vegetarians, as vegetarians do not consume the richest sources of these vitamins.
The richest sources of Vitamin B2 are milk and organ meats. It is available in enriched breads and cereals, but care must be taken to consume the right amount daily. Niacin and Vitamin B6 are other B complex vitamins in which the richest sources are meats and, again, are available in smaller concentrations in enriched breads and cereals. Vitamin B12 is only found in animal products. It is important to note that vitamin B12, in addition to being important to the production of red blood cells, is essential for the normal growth of children.
Nutritional supplements can serve to enhance the health benefits of the vegetarian lifestyle. Indeed, they can serve to prevent the serious health consequences that vitamin deficiency can cause. Nutrition is especially essential for children, as their minds and bodies are growing and developing. If you are vegetarian or vegan, you may want to consider the complete, safe and reliable nutrition that dietary supplements can provide.

This is usually the forgotten element of most mass programs. Food. The truth is, no one will gain muscle without food. It seems so simple and basic, yet most don’t get enough of it to build muscle.
Dieting for muscle gain is simply a matter of eating. You must eat more calories than your body burns off. Now, when I say eat, I do not mean just anything. All calories are not created equal. In other words, some types of calories are not equal to others for gaining muscle. For example, if I said that you need to eat 2,000 calories per day to gain weight, and you eat 4 bags of potato chips each day, do you think you would gain muscle? Not likely.
The majority of your weight would be fat. Why? Because potato chips, like most processed junk food, contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with the correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle.
High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair and growth. When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So, for example, if you weight 100 lbs., you should be eating at least 100 grams of protein per day. You also must have protein at every meal.
To enable your body to actually assimilate and use the all the calories you will ingest, you have to reduce your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food absorption and utilization of nutrients . I always eat six meals each day, evenly spaced out at three-hour intervals. My goal is to provide my body with constant nourishment throughout the day.
You don’t have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources. Soy protein, tofu and bean curd have their place, but for getting bigger and stronger, the only protein you need to be concerned with are those found in whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish.
High Protein Foods :

Whey protein
Eggs
Egg whites
Chicken breasts
Turkey Breasts
Lean Beef
Fish (tuna, salmon)
Protein bar
Soy protein Isolate
———
High Carbohydrate Foods
Potatoes (baked, fries, hash browns)
Sweet Potatoes, yams
Oatmeal, cream of wheat, cream of rice rice
Beans
Any green leafy vegetable
Bread
Pasta
All cereals (hot or cold)
———
Healthy Fats
Olive oil
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Flax-seed oil
Walnuts
Avocados

When it comes to food, we can’t ignore the facts – or the science. You need a healthy diet for a healthy life.
Research shows a healthy diet could help or prevent a number of health problems, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. And that number keeps growing as researchers learn more about how nutrition affects your health.
What You Should Know
Adopting a disease-fighting diet is easier than you think. When you shop, choose fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread. Avoid foods high in sugar and fat.
Here are some tips for arming yourself against disease with good-for-you foods:
Follow the Food Guide Pyramid
This guide tells you what foods to include in your diet each day and in what portions. It shows you how to have a balanced diet by eating foods from all the basic food groups:

milk, yogurt and cheese (two to three servings; one cup of milk or yogurt would be one serving)
meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts (two to three servings; one serving would be two eggs, ½ cup of tuna fish, or about ½ of a skinless, cooked chicken breast)
fruit (two to four servings; one serving would be a medium-sized apple or banana, ½ cup of canned fruit, or ¼ cup of dried fruit)
vegetable (three to five servings; one serving would be ½ cup of raw or cooked vegetables or one cup of raw, leafy vegetables, such as spinach or lettuce)
bread, cereal, rice, and pasta (six to 11 servings; a slice of bread, ½ bagel or English muffin, or ½ cup of pasta would be a serving)

Think colour
When it comes to fruit and vegetables, eat lots of deep-coloured produce. Oranges and dark berries, like blueberries and cranberries, are especially rich in natural plant chemicals that can protect you against diseases like cancer and heart disease. Orange and dark green vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach are also rich in these plant chemicals.
Remember fibre
Eating lots of fruits and vegetables will give your body extra water and fibre, which will help keep your digestive tract clean and healthy. Beans, bran, whole-grain breads and brown rice, and high-fibre cereals are also good sources of fibre.
Make good bacteria your friend
Fermented foods like yogurt are especially good for you as you get older because they contain “good” bacteria that keep your digestive tract healthy. Check food labels for these bacteria.. The good bacteria in these foods also fight the bad bacteria that can enter your body through spoiled food and make you sick.
Eat fatty fish
Your body needs some fats to stay healthy, and the fats found in fish like salmon and tuna are good for your heart. Fish also provides a rich source of protein without the large amount of unhealthy fat you get from red meat.
Try soya
Eating about one to two ounces of soya protein daily can help lower cholesterol and unhealthy fat in your diet and protect you from heart disease. You can find many different soya products, which come from soyabeans, in your food store. The most popular are tofu, soya milk (in different flavours), soya burgers and hot dogs, soya ice cream, soya nut butter, and soya flour.
Drink plenty of water
To stay healthy, drink at least eight glasses of water daily. Pay special attention to drinking enough because your thirst decision dulls with age, and remember that if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.
Don’t abstain if you don’t have to
Beer and red wine, in moderation, are another rich source of plant chemicals. This means no more than one glass of beer or red wine a day for women, two for men.
Following a healthy diet, along with regular exercise, will prevent you from gaining weight, which is important for good health. Losing 10 percent of your body weight, for instance, could be enough to lower your cholesterol. Choose healthy foods for a longer and healthier life!

Are there any foods that burn body fat? If yes, how is it possible? It should be possible to lose weight by simply eating such foods. What are these foods?
The fat burning foods are foods that burn more calories than the calorie content of the foods itself.   There are certain foods which actually burn more fat than the calorie content of the food itself. These fat burning foods or so called negative calorie foods are natural plant foods.
Fruits rich in vitamin C like limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit and tangerines have fat burning properties. Some of the other fat burning foods are asparagus, beet root, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, apple, blueberries, and watermelon. It you eat these fat burning foods and do some exercise, it will boost your metabolism and burn calories at a faster rate for several hours even after exercise.
A recent research reports that calcium in dairy products can boost weight loss by increasing fat breakdown in fat cells. If you compare a dairy-rich versus a dairy-poor diet you can nearly double the rate of weight and fat loss with the same level of calorie restriction.
Not eating enough will slow your metabolism and deteriorating your health. Note that in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. This can be done by eating negative calorie foods. This will help your body burning up the excessive stored fat.