Twelve 60 Second Weight Loss Tips - Part 1 of 2

There are certain foods that—as soon as they hit your lips—can have a damaging effect on your waistline. Learning how to spot them is just step one, and the top 12 to watch out for are noticeably dangerous. 

Now, here's why you need to avoid them, how minimizing their consumption minimizes your waistline, and how to make simple substitutions so you don't feel deprived:

1. Ditch high fructose corn syrup

Once you eliminate this natural sweetener from your diet, expect to see rapid weight loss.

Corn syrup is the sugar extracted from corn. It is not and never has been healthy, but as corn is now almost entirely genetically modified, it is even worse for us. 

The fructose in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) converts to fat stores quickly in your body, which is why it is frequently used in animal experiments to make animals obese. 

This food additive is found in most packaged, prepared, and fast foods and interferes with your body's appetite and metabolism hormones, causing your body to store fat. It can be found just about anywhere; food manufacturers have been profiting by sneaking this cheap food additive into our food supply in greater quantities over the last few decades, and it shows in our waistlines.

But there's good news. By eliminating the so-called natural sweetener for good, you can drop the weight and reduce high blood pressure linked to HFCS.

How to Benefit: Read labels on any products you purchase and be sure that the ingredient list doesn't include high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, or fructose. 

Super Health Bonus: By eliminating HFCS, you'll reduce the likelihood of experiencing any potential ill effects of eating genetically modified (GM) foods. Eliminating high fructose corn syrup will also help you to regulate blood pressure and triglycerides, two important factors for a healthy heart and arteries. By removing HFCS from your diet, you'll dramatically reduce your chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

2. Sayonara, Splenda

This artificial sweetener contributes to weight gain yet is hidden in most "sugar-free" products—and may even be hidden in your water supply. 

A study conducted at Duke University and published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found that sucralose (also known as Splenda): is absorbed by fat cells (contrary to the manufacturer's claims about the artificial sweetener); causes increases in body weightl; Reduces the amount of beneficial bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent (you'll discover later that this factor also contributes to weight gain, among other health issues).

All of these effects of sucralose consumption can cause an increase in weight and fat and can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. Worse than that, sucralose is one of the main sweeteners used in "sugar-free" and "diet" foods and beverages. Many well-meaning dieters choose these options over foods with sugar to keep their weight down, but their efforts are being negated by this harmful artificial sweetener.

How to Benefit: It is important to start reading labels on everything you purchase. (Of course, choosing fruits and vegetables in their unadulterated state means fewer labels to read, since produce usually doesn't require them.) Avoid any food that contains sucralose. Stop choosing diet beverages and adding packaged flavorings to your water. Avoid flavored water. Avoid "diet" or "sugar-free" baked goods, coffee syrups, and other items. 

Super Health Bonus: By eliminating sucralose from your diet, you'll likely experience other health benefits, including improved hormonal balance and fewer headaches or allergies.

3. Avoid Aspartame

Aspartame causes your body to pack on the pounds.

Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." While that may be true of roses, it isn't true of artificial sweeteners. Aspartame recently had a name change in an effort to shake all the bad press linking it to a lengthy list of serious health conditions and is now known as Neotame and AminoSweet.

These new names may sound sweet, but the chemical components of aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol are just as harmful as ever. Humans have no enzymes in their bodies to break down methanol, so it gets converted into formaldehyde, a known carcinogen that most people have heard of but don't expect to ingest from their soda. 

This ultimately becomes formic acid, or formate, which significantly increases acidity levels in the body. You don't need to remember the biochemical chain of events that aspartame goes through once you've to metabolize this toxin are harmful enough to cause cancer.

How to Benefit: Stop using any products labeled "sugar free" or "diet." In most cases these terms are used wherever aspartame is found. That includes diet soda, sugar-free coffee syrups, sugar-free cookies, diabetic treats, sugar-free pastries, and more. And when the product doesn’t contain aspartame it usually contains sucralose, so either way, you benefit from removing these harmful artificial sweeteners from your diet.

Super Health Bonus: By eliminating aspartame from your diet, you'll likely reduce your risk of cancer and neurological disorders too. At the very least, you'll probably suffer fewer headaches.

4. Take out the trans fat

Trans fats cause your body to hoard fat and fat deposits.

By now you've probably heard of trans fats. Trans fats are fats that have been chemically altered during the manufacturing and processing of oils and are found in most processed, packaged, and prepared foods. These "plastic fats," as I call them, are almost impossible for your body to digest and for your liver to process, making them highly likely to be stored in your body.

Fast-food meals aren't the only places trans fats hide. They are in many bakery goods, such as cookies, cakes, pies, and even so-called healthy breads. They are even found in some health food store goods, so be sure to start reading labels. Even when a product claims "zero trans fats" the government allows a small amount of these toxic fats to be hidden in your food.

How to Benefit: Read the Nutrition Facts on the packages of any food products you purchase. Choose only products that state "0 g trans fat." While you still may be exposed to small amounts, it's better than the higher quantities found in many prod- ucts. 

Also, stop buying bakery goods that do not include this information. While they may not contain trans fats, more than likely they do. Also, read the ingredient list and look for "partially hydrogenated" or "hydrogenated" on the label. If a product contains either of these terms or "vegetable shortening," skip it. It contains fattening and health-harming trans fats.

Super Health Bonus: By eliminating trans fats, you're also reducing the likelihood of experiencing diabetes, since these harmful fats are linked to this serious condition.

5. Say goodbye to soda—even diet soda

Soda disrupts your body's natural biochemical balance and leads to weight gain. 

Soda is one of the worst culprits for weight gain. It also interferes with weight-loss efforts. If you're drinking soda, it's time to switch to a healthier option. First, let's explore why soda is such a problem. There is no health value in soda. It has nothing positive to contribute to your body: It is full of synthetic colors, preservatives, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and other unhealthy ingredients.

You may be thinking, "But this doesn't apply to me since I drink diet soda." Diet soda is worse than regular soda. Not only is it extremely acidic, but it also contains aspartame, which is detrimental to your health. 

How to Benefit: Stop drinking soft drinks. It takes time for your tastebuds to adjust, but they will adapt. If you absolutely must have something fizzy, mix a small amount of pure juice like pomegranate with some carbonated water. But you should try to eliminate all carbonated beverages from your diet over time.

Super Health Bonus: By forgoing soda, you're taking a huge step toward balancing your pH. Soda's extremely acid-forming nature contributes to headaches, pain disorders, and other symptoms of an acid-forming diet. If you're prone to headaches or pain, you'll notice pain levels will drop (after you're finished with any caffeine-withdrawal headaches, if you've been addicted to caffeine). If you don't have any pain disorders, you'll likely find that you're less prone to them later in life if you stop drinking soda now.

6. Learn to limit sugar

Sugar quickly converts to fat in your body. Eating less of it goes a long way toward helping you achieve your desired weight.

Naturally occurring sugar is still one of the worst foods you can consume, particularly if you're trying to lose weight. 

Linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, weight gain, diabetes, and premature aging—to name only a few—sugar in the amounts we consume is one of the worst substances we put into our bodies. 

Here's the good news: Sugar consumption is easy to reduce because we are starting from such a high quantity.

How to Benefit: If you haven't already thrown out anything in your cupboards or fridge that contains sweetener, now is the time to do so. Look for any ingredient that contains -ose, such as glucose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, etc. Instead, use small amounts (a maximum of 1 teaspoon three times a day) of pure, unpasteurized honey, pure maple syrup, barley malt, agave nectar, or the herb stevia. 

Super Health Bonus: Even a few teaspoons of sugar at a time will suppress your immune system for 4 to 6 hours. Most cookies, pastries, pies, cakes, and other sweets contain far more sugar than that. By greatly reducing the amount of sugar you consume, you'll not only lose weight, but you'll also restore your immune system, becoming far less likely to succumb to whatever virus is "going around."

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