The Diet Secrets

If you’ve been watching the new season of American Idol, you would have noticed less and less of Simon’s once prominent eyesore of man boobs busting through his fitting shirts.  The change seemed to have started back in the 2007 season and continues to this day.

According to reports at the time, Simon had a male boob job, most likely a laser-assisted liposculpting procedure.  Simon has denied it, though, and claimed that the noticeable reduction in his chest area has been a result of losing weight from controlling what he eats.  Personally, I don’t think it was surgery either.

In fact, Simon has long discarded cookies, cakes and chocolates from his eating habits, adding that he hasn’t eaten a single cookie since he turned 40 (almost a decade ago).  However, shedding the extra fat that made the man-boobs prominent took a long time since Simon never really focused on a strict diet regimen.

The music mogul, to this day, continues to feast on his favorite meals, which are spaghetti bolognese, Sunday roast and chicken curry.  He also continues to drink Coca-Cola, but has cut down considerably on other fattening junk food to make up for it.  See, even a small change - like banishing decadent sweets - can make a difference.  Of course, results won’t come fast but should arrive eventually - or leave, in the case of Simon’s male mammaries.

Most diets, followed to the letter, are going to work.  The problem is people have different personality quirks that can make dieting difficult.  One of the most common problems among unsuccessful dieters is the tendency to procrastinate on their planned eating programs.

Many procrastinators are just as serious as anyone about getting in shape and have probably even educated themselves as much as they can about proper nutrition.  The problem is not the depth of their knowledge but instead is an inability to bring themselves to do what is necessary.

When you begin to procrastinate, you create problems for your overall ability to successfully complete your targeted eating schedule, and not just because you miss one meal or two.  Most procrastinators eventually lose confidence in themselves after failing to follow-through on their planned diets time and time again.  Some will give up while others will just start another plan which they will again put off day after day.

Contrary to common beliefs, procrastinating has nothing to do with laziness.  Most people who procrastinate on their diets are doing so either because it’s highly unpleasant (dieting isn’t the most fun activity, after all), they’re uncertain about their ability to complete it or they just lack focus and are unable to concentrate on one task.

The easiest way for procrastinators to begin getting better results on their diets is to join a support group or to begin the program with a buddy.  Procrastinating, after all, becomes doubly hard when somebody else is pushing at you to give it a go.  If you find yourself putting off either starting your diet or continuing it, try finding other individuals who are working to accomplish the same goals as you.  It will help immensely.

As far as my celebrity trivia knowledge goes, Angelina Jolie and Claire Danes are neither friends nor close acquaintances. Yet, they both do share an admiration for the Volumetrics Eating Plan.

Devised by Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutritional science, the Volumetrics Diet is an eating plan hinged upon the common sense idea of stacking up on low-calorie food choices that manage to leave you full. As a result, you satiate your hunger without consuming high amounts of calories.

Dieters performing the Volumetrics eating system base their choices on an Energy Density (ED) Index created by Barbara herself. Food that fall on the low scale of the index should facilitate fullness while packing on limited calories. Items that are high in water content make up the bulk of the prescribed food choices that include soups, fruits and vegetables.

Unlike many diets, it doesn’t eschew important nutritional components such as carbohydrates nor does it encourage deprivation. Dieters under the program, in fact, typically eat more food than portion-controlled dieters yet, according to one year-long research, lost significantly more weight in the process.

You can learn more about the diet via Barbara Rolls’ Volumetrics book, where she lists 125 delicious recipes for low-ED food choices that should help trim you into shape. She also picks out normal food most people are likely eating and shows how to replace them with low-calorie alternatives without giving up their sumptuous taste.

Washington - According to a new study, a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables can actually keep breast cancer from coming back.

The study was carried out by Ellen Gold of the University of California Davis, and looked at breast cancer patients who have already beaten the disease.

The findings were only effective for women who did not have hot flashes after their cancer therapy.

What they found was that those who eat more fruits and vegetables can actually cut their risk of breast cancer recurrence by one-third.

It is believed that this result, which was based on 3,000 breast cancer patients, had a lot to do with estrogen in women.

All of those who took part in the study were on average 53-years old, with half doubling how much fruits an dvegetables they consumed.

Only 16% of those who consumed the added fruits and vegetables saw a recurrence of their breast cancer, compared to 23% of thoe who did not eat the added fruits, vegetables.

The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.