If you are currently trying to lose weight, or you are just interested in living a healthier lifestyle, then you probably have noticed that many recipes are not suited to the health conscious individual.

There are, however, many ways that you can reduce the fat and calorie content of a recipe by substituting or even eliminating the fat, oils, and sugar in the recipe. You will find that recipe alterations will require some trial and error. Here are some tips to help get you started:

Cooking and Frying

Instead of using regular sour cream, cheese, mayonnaise, or yogurt in a recipe, try using reduced fat or nonfat versions. Yogurt is also a healthy alternative to sour cream in many recipes.Keep in mind that fat-free cheeses in particular do not melt as well as reduced fat cheeses. This is where some experimenting comes into play. You may be able to use fat free cheese in a casserole, but it will not stand up as well in a sauce. For recipes that call for sugar, try reducing the amount of sugar by 25 percent. Note: Reducing the amount of sugar in recipes for cakes, breads, and cookies could affect the texture or volume of the final product.

Baking

There are a number of ways you can reduce the fat content in your favorite cookies, breads, and cakes.

In some recipes you can eliminate the butter or oil completely and use applesauce as a substitute. This works well in many muffin and quick bread recipes.  Start by substituting just half the fat with applesauce and see how it turns out. If the recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter or oil, then use 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup butter or oil instead. You can also use mashed banana instead of the applesauce. For something different, in quick breads, try substituting grated zucchini for half the fat in the recipe.

If you are watching your cholesterol, or you just want to reduce the fat in a recipe, then you can substitute two egg whites for each egg called for in the recipe. The fat in an egg is in the yolk, so eliminating the yolk also eliminates the fat. It is possible to replace the sugar in the recipe with a noncalorie sugar substitute like Splenda. In general, sugar substitutes can be used in equal amounts to replace sugar.

When you are using margarine or butter in a recipe, do not substitute light or diet margarines. Diet margarines will cause your baked goods to have less volume. Instead of using reduced fat margarine, try using less regular margarine or butter in your recipe instead.

Meats

Use cooking sprays instead of oil or butter when browning and cooking meats.

When cooking ground beef, there is an easy way to eliminate a lot of the fat that usually remains even after you try to remove it all from the pan. After you have cooked the meat, drain it and place it on a plate. Blot the meat with paper towels and then place it in a colander and rinse it with hot water.

Try replacing ground beef with ground turkey.  Ground turkey contains much less fat than ground beef. If you do not like the taste of the ground turkey, then mix the two meats together half and half of each.

Use turkey bacon rather than pork bacon. Turkey bacon is actually quite good. You will even be able to get your kids to eat it. Because there is a lot less fat in turkey bacon, you will also have much less fat to drain off while cooking.

In a casserole or meat sauce, try replacing 1/4 of the ground meat with chopped beans or lentils or cooked brown rice. You have just lowered the fat content and raised the fiber content of your recipe.

Use tuna packed with water instead of oil.

There are many ways you can alter recipes to change the recipe’s fat or calorie content. Start by experimenting with your favorite recipes, and in no time your old favorite recipes will have new healthy lower calorie alternatives.

Dr Ritu is a qualified doctor, and certified nutritionist with over 13 years of experience in public and private healthcare. She provides diet reviews and helps men and women make the right decisions when it comes to slimming aids. Check out the latest capsiplex consumer feedback on one of her recent product reviews.

The post How to Reduce a Recipe’s Calorie and Fat Content appeared first on OBVIOUS Magazine — Fashion & Lifestyle for Men and Women.

As a fitness model (print and editorial too); you need have a lean, tight, and toned body.

It is imperative to look above average because the camera and different camera angles can add pounds. Having a great model body is very attainable with conscious effort.

Here’s a breakdown of how to achieve this:

5 MUSCLE WORKOUTS TO KEEP TONED

1. CHEST

   For a tight defined chest, try a press exercise followed by a fly exercise.For instance, perform a dumbbell press followed by a dumbbell fly. To decrease the time of the workout and make the contraction on your chest more intense I like to incorporate push-ups as well.Try the bench press for 8 repetitions and right after do 12 push-ups with your feet on a stability ball to really push your body to the limit.

2. BICEPS

   For biceps it’s very important to go through the full range of motion with curls.Mix biceps with triceps to add more variety to your workout.  Performing bicep curls from different angles puts different stresses on different parts of the biceps which helps promote constant growth.I love to use drop-sets when working my biceps. This entails lifting a weight 8 times for 3 sets.

   On the last set pick up a lighter weight and keep pumping repetitions out.

3. ABS

   When constructing a perfect, fit body you MUST make sure your abs are tight and equipped for posing for long hours.The exercise I like the most is hanging leg raises. They are great for developing the upper and lower abs and really test your stabilization and core.Planks are also essential as they help you keep your core firm for extended periods of time.

4. THIGHS

   When working on your thighs keep in mind shocking the muscles is important.Think of how much time you spend on your legs everyday, thus, adding the constant shock to your workouts will help keep your legs fit for posing and looking great.Something I use to shock my thighs is a 1-minute treadmill sprint in my routine of leg press, step-ups, lunges, and squats.

   Cardio is also very important in keeping the body fat low so the thighs do not grow in size.

5. LEGS

   Stretching is very important when working your legs. It helps keep the muscles flexible and prevents injury. I like to use supersets (Supersets are two exercises are performed in a row without stopping)when I work my legs.I feel this really takes them over the top and adds a hard look to them.For example, I would do a set of squats followed by walking lunges with balance, then step-ups.

   This makes the workouts more intense and helps when you are crunched for time.

Photo  Credit: Sergio Garcia

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We’ve all seen this before in the gym, big strong upper body and small lower body.

And the sight of it I must say is very alarming.  It shows a huge disproportion.  Many strive for what they believe is a complete body but most fall short because of what we allow to limit us; our genetic background.  One thing we must note when developing a complete body is… balance is needed…

 

Two key things to look at:

Check to see if your upper body exceeds your lower body, and if your chest and shoulders exceeds your back (front to back proportion). Naturally your body will form its own look based on your genetics but this should NOT be a limiting factor. Focus on correcting these areas that are lagging by giving them more attention. For instance, if you are genetically tall and skinny (ectomorph), you are prone to have slim shoulders and high skinny calves. You need to really put extra emphasis on these areas for them to respond.

Also note:

A complete body does not mean that you have to be overly muscular or something you would see in a bodybuilding contest. Those are extremes and are often near impossible to look like year round. Most importantly make sure that everything is in its right proportion. Many men avoid squats due to the amount of energy it takes and not to mention the soreness one can gain from a difficult lower body workout. But let’s not forget that your lower body is your base and is very important to a strong physique. Also squats prove to release large amounts of testosterone which is great for overall building muscle. So passing on squats…NOT A GOOD THING!

The Back

Another area that gets little to no attention is the back. Most guys only focus on the muscles that are seen when looking straight on which is chest, biceps, shoulders, and triceps. Back muscles are often forgotten due to lack of compliments one typically receives. These muscles help you look equal from front to back or when standing in a profile position. They also help strengthen your rotator cuff which most serious lifters damage from too many pushing exercises involving shoulders, chest, and triceps.

So on your way to getting the complete body, take everything into consideration and remember a complete body is not built overnight.  It takes time, preparation, persistence, and lots of hard work!  But don’t let it intimidate you because a perfect body is not beyond your reach!

The post The Complete Body: PART 1 Series appeared first on OBVIOUS Magazine — Fashion & Lifestyle for Men and Women.

Women’s Guide to a Sexier Upper body.

Women normally have problem areas that tend to hold more body fat than others such as: back, triceps(back of arm) and lower abs.  Careful attention must be paid to these areas. When trying to tone your body you must also keep in mind that you also need to keep constant movement. You need to superset your exercises: meaning pick two exercises and perform one right after another until you reach 3 sets of both exercises. Now when it comes to abdominal, remember that women’s abs respond a lot slower than men.  The focus should be on the contraction of the exercise rather than the number of reps.  Focus on squeezing your abs through the whole motion of the exercise.

Also keep in mind that multiple joint exercise prove to involve more muscles at one time which is better for overall fitness.

Below is a sample workout to follow to erase those problem areas:

Workout- Perform 3 sets of 15-20 reps of each superset

Stability Ball Pushups to tucks/tricep pressdowns

Dumbbell rows/front raises to lateral raises (perform front raises and immediately perform a lateral raises)

Core twists/V-ups

Seated resistance band rows/dumbbell curls

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

Stability ball:

Great for working your core and also great for exercises that challenge your stability. This helps you have a more difficult workout without raising weights.

Medicine ball:

Easy to carry and tote. The medicine ball has many uses and you will more than likely only have to purchase one for a very long time.

Resistance Bands:

The provide excellent resistance to your workouts and are very different than the type of resistance you may get from a dumbbell or machine. They take a very long time to wear out and are very cheap.

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