It's summertime...the greatest season of all! Kids are out of school and ready to play. You go to the pool and spend all morning letting them swim while you relax and then it's time to rush them home for nap time. But wait, you never ate lunch! You did well resisting the kids chicken fingers and fries but now you are starving!

At this point, a turkey sandwich just doesn't sound appealing. Instead, try this healthy chicken salad!

You probably already have all of the ingredients at home.  Boil some chicken and throw it in a bowl. Add onion, garlic, dill, salt, pepper, grapes, nuts, or whatever else you enjoy in your chicken salad.  Top with the secret ingredient in the pic and voila...cool, light lunch that satisfies!

"I want to lose this weight fast!" "How soon can I expect to drop these 20 pounds...2 weeks?" "I am sick of carrying this excess weight. I want it gone now!"

All of these are direct quotes that I hear day in and day out. However, anyone who has been on an extreme diet that created drastic weight loss in just a few weeks, knows that the minute they came off that diet all of the weight came right back. Why is this? Why can't you maintain weight loss?
Here's why:
Your body has been starved of nutrients for the past 10-14 days or however long you've been eating minimal calories (800-900/day). It has become very efficient at making the most of the calories it does get from food and drink.  Once you resume to eating like a normal human being, your body stores the calories instead of burning them. Why?... because it fears you are going to start starving it again with another crazy fad diet.  While you were dieting, the body used muscle mass for energy to protect its fat stores. This directly leads to a loss of muscle, which in turn lowers metabolic rate so that the body needs fewer calories to survive. Therefore, weight loss slows down. So when you start to eat a normal amount of calories, your body doesn't burn them like it used to.


Instead of throwing your body through the ringer, choose to lose weight through making healthy lifestyle changes. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests 1/2 to 2lbs per week as a realistic weight loss goal. Choose to lose this weight in a way that is sustainable for you. By doing this, you can know that a pound lost, is gone for good!