Many people think that a workout can compensate for over-indulging in sweet treats and junk food.

But the dirty little secret that no one wants to hear is that your diet makes up over 90 percent of your fitness.

There is no way to be fit without eating well. It’s just not as simple as calories in and calories out.

Some foods inhibit our body’s ability to function properly and some foods will clog our arteries and destroy our livers no matter how many hours we log in at the gym.

Planning your meals ahead of time can help you to avoid the food traps into which hectic schedules inevitably lead.

Reasons to plan meals ahead include saving money and quality control.

Overweight people eat fewer meals than normal weight people.

It might seem counter-intuitive, however, it seems that all this snacking leads to consuming less calories overall throughout the day.

Generally, though, “weight loss maintainers” consumed the fewest calories, at about 1,800 a day, compared with the normal weight and overweight subjects, who took in 1,900 and more than 2,000 calories a day, respectively.

Weight loss maintainers also were the most physically active of the three groups, Bachman said, burning off about 3,000 calories a week through exercise and other activities, compared to 2,000 calories a week among the normal weight subjects and 800 calories a week in the overweight group.

The take away? You can be satisfied eating less if you spread the food out over the course of your day.

A lighter belly also leaves you more inclined to be active in between meals.

Grocery prices are on the rise and as odd as it may seem this could be the perfect opportunity for Americans to reassess their diets and come up with healthier alternatives to animal products laden with saturated fats and processed foods full of sugar, sodium and preservatives.

Foods like beans, legumes, whole grain rice, pasta and seasonal fruits and vegetables can be cheaper and stretched further than pre-packaged convenience foods.

The price of food at home is projected to rise by 4 to 5 percent this year, and another 2 to 3 percent next year, according to the Agriculture Department. That’s adding another financial worry for many people already living with tight budgets thanks to the weak economy and high jobless rate.
The percentage of people who say they had enough money to buy food in the last 12 months fell to its lowest level in three years, according to a Gallup poll released this month.

Those at risk for heart attack might surprise you.

For people with genetic risk factors and a family history of heart disease, a “healthy” lifestyle may not be enough.

Aggressive dietary and exercise changes and early screening for signs of illness are a must.

Dr. Dean Ornish, who has researched the relationship between lifestyle and health, says even the most malignant family history can be overcome.
“I don’t think anyone is doomed to have heart disease,” said Ornish, founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute.
“You know, even if your mother and your father and your sister and your brother all die from heart disease it doesn’t mean you need ever to die from it,” he added. “It just means you need to make bigger changes in your life than someone else who doesn’t have those kinds of genes.”

There are a few easy ways to lower you risk for certain cancers and a by product of that effort will be shedding a few pounds.

And who doesn’t want to shed a few pounds?

Simple changes to your diet can protect you from cancer and unnecessary weight gain.

Check out some simple tips here and read on for 12 ways to lower your risk.

The more fat you eat, the greater your risk of developing a highly fatal form of cancer. In a study of more than 500,000 people reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, those who ate the most fat (about 40 percent of their daily calories) were 23 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who ate the least (about 20 percent of their cals). Limit fat to 20 to 35 percent of your calories—about 40 to 70 grams total in an 1,800-calorie diet.

Research in 2009 suggests that egg yolk may be cancer-protective. The yellow stuff is rich in choline, which has been linked to lower rates of breast cancer. One yolk delivers 25 percent of your daily needs.

Each 22-calorie cup of cabbage is loaded with sulforaphane, a chemical that increases your body’s production of the enzymes that disarm cell-damaging, cancer-causing free radicals.