Lose Weight in Summer

Can you lose weight in Summer? You sure can!

In Australia, we're in the beginning of the second month of Summer. Some states have certainly been having hot summer weather, sending people inside where it's cool. That means people may not be doing their usual jogging or walking to keep fit. They're staying inside instead, and maybe they're raiding the fridge in their search for coolness.

This can lead to eating too many sweet and cool things. This, added to the lack of exercise and combined with the usual Christmas season partying and good food, all adds up to danger time if you're trying to lose weight. There are some ways you can stock the fridge though, that can help you.

Keep the fridge topped up with calorie free drinks - water is still the best thirst quencher there is, so make sure you always have a jug of water in the fridge. There are a great many diet soft drinks available if you want a change from water every now and then.

There are some great cooling foods available in summer, especially grapes. Crunchy sweet grapes are a lovely snack, and don't add too many calories. Other good food ideas are sandwiches - cheese with pickles says summer to me, and I love the sandwiches nice and cool, sometimes with some chicken or turkey slices, yum!

Nuts are also a good snack. Yes, nuts are high in fat, but the fat they have is a fat that's healthy for you body. This doesn't mean you should go overboard and eat nuts all day, the weight would pile on if you did that. Nuts are high in protein though, and they have fibre too, so they fill up your tummy, and your body shouldn't get hungry as it would if you were eating sweet foods.

In summer, salads come to mind, and they can be a great way to have a healthy and low calorie meal. Be careful with the dressing you use though. There are some excellent low cal mayonnaise products available in the shops, and of course lemon juice is a great way to give raw vegetables a zing. Another interesting and no fat dressing is balsamic vinegar - excellent with fresh mushrooms and baby spinach!

For people with Wii Fit games and good air conditioning, there are lots of fun ways to exercise, alone or with friends. And of course summer in Australia is synonymous with the beach or the pool. Go outside and play in the water, fun, fun, fun!

So there are some ideas to help you lose weight over summer, enjoy!

What's a Healthy Crunchy Snack?

Well, crunchy and healthy and orange in fact. Carrots (and sweet potatoes too)! Yes, it's not just rabbits who should snack on carrots, we should snack on them too. I've added sweet potatoes too because they are a slightly different taste and texture and they are loaded with valuable anti-oxidants.

Anti-oxidants help get rid our bodies of free radicals, which are thought to be one of the causes of cancer. But carrots and sweet potatoes aren't only healthy, they are sweet and yummy to eat as well. Children love food that crunches and these vegetables, cut into matchstick shapes make fantastic food for eating dips with.

Some scientists think that eating crunchy foods may release 'feel good' chemicals in the brain. It has been shown too that eating crunchy foods makes you slow down to you chew your food, which can lead to weight loss.

So the next time you or your family are looking for a snack, put some cut up carrot or sweet potato in the fridge and snack totally guilt-free.