With teen celebrities all losing weight, there is no doubt that there is a trend on weight loss going on. From teenage girls to teenage boys, upper class, middle class, middle school, high school, everybody, it seems, wants to have a slim body.

Dieting is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, when done right, dieting can do great things for the body. Eating the right foods and exercising, which are the hallmarks of proper dieting, can produce a healthy body that is strong and fit.

Unfortunately, the proper form of dieting may take a long while, too long for teenagers who are hell-bent on losing weight the fastest way possible and also the easiest way. The need for a form of diet that will be fast and also easy on the stomach has opened doors for all kinds of weight loss programs. Some target the diet and the food intake of the person. Others go for the exercise part of the diet program. A few target those who want to lose weight in a matter of days and they can only achieve this by going under the knife.

The prevalence of these kinds of weight loss programs that are not healthy and in the long run bad for ones body has alarmed a lot of people in the medical industry. To ensure that your teeners are losing weight the right way, here are some tips that will come in handy.

Show your support

Teeners may want independence but they are much too young to lose your guidance. They still need your support despite claiming that they want to decide for themselves and stand on their own two feet. The problem I guess with most teeners right now is the fact that they are not being guided by their parents in their choice of diet. Some do not even tell their parents that they are undergoing some kind of diet.

If you want to really help your teener, make sure that you show your support. Be their friend and confidante. You may not agree with everything that they want but at least you know what is going on in their lives. This way, you can help them make the right choices and guide them to the right path. As they say, if you cant beat them, join them.

Emphasize more than looks

Teeners who are obsessed enough with their looks to want to lose weight fast are those that do not have much self-esteem or those who place much importance into how they look and not who they are. It is important that parents nowadays teach their children, especially teenagers that there are more things in life more important than looks, that they can be accepted and become successful with other things such as good grades, achievements in the arts or in music, excellence in sports or leadership skills.

Become a good example

There is no right way of teaching your kids the value of the right kinds of diet than by example. If they see you using the easy way out by going under the knife or starving yourself to death just to lose a few precious pounds, you will find it hard to convince them that they should not do it too. After all, you are doing it. Why shouldnt they?

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There is no doubt about, the Perricone 3 Day Diet is one of the hottest eating plans to come along in quite some time. To stand out from the crowd, a diet needs to be different than other diets, and it also needs to offer a benefit that others aren’t offering. The Perricone Diet’s biggest advantage is that it helps people to look younger.

The diet gets its name from the famous dermatologist, Dr. Nicholas Perricone. His specialty is making people look as healthy and young as possible. He received a noticeable increase, as did his 3 day diet, when he appeared on Oprah. While Oprah may now be off the air, people are still realizing the benefits of Perricone’s diet.

How the Perricone 3 Day diet achieves this is by reducing inflammation. Most people only think of inflammation when they experience an injury, but the truth is that inflammation has an impact on many different parts of the body, and we are often completely unaware of the inflammation. If you twist an ankle, then what you will experience is acute inflammation. It hurts, but it is usually temporary. The bigger health risks stem from chronic inflammation. One of the results of chronic inflammation is visible aging.

What Dr. Perricone realized was that our diet plays a large role in the level of inflammation in the body. Therefore, if you eat a diet that limits or reduces inflammation, then it stands to reason that you would start to see positive effects; such as younger looking skin. One thing that surprised people on the diet was that they not only looked better, but they also lost weight; even though that was not the primary purpose of the Perricone 3 Day Diet.

To see the best results, it is vital that you stick to the program exactly. That means no skipping items, no substitutions and no additions.

When you first wake up you drink 8 to 12 oz. spring water.

For breakfast, you will have:
1 egg, plus 3 egg whites ; or 4 to 6 ounces broiled salmon
4 oz. cantaloupe
1/2 c. cooked oatmeal
1/4 c. fresh or frozen berries
8 to 12 oz. spring water.

For lunch you will enjoy:
4 to 6 oz. of grilled salmon; or a can of tuna (in spring water)
2 c. romaine lettuce topped with 1 T. extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
4 oz. cantaloupe
1/4 c. fresh or frozen berries
8 to 12 oz. spring water.

Afternoon snack:

2 oz. sliced chicken breast (low sodium)
4 raw hazelnuts (unsalted)
1 medium green apple
8 to 12 oz. spring water.

For dinner you get:

4 to 6 oz. grilled salmon
2 c. romaine lettuce topped with 1 T. extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
1 c. steamed spinach, asparagus or broccoli drizzled with a bit of olive oil
4 oz. cantaloupe
1/4 c. fresh or frozen berries
8 to 12 oz. spring water.

After dinner snack:
2 oz. turkey or chicken breast (low-sodium)
1/2 green apple or pear
3 to 4 olives or almonds
8 to 12 oz. spring water.

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There is no doubt that the market place is filled with countless programs that claim to be the last word in healthy eating diets. One plan may allow you to eat all of the whole grains and vegetables you want, while the next may all but eliminate them. The problem is that there is no way they can all be right, and not all of them can be wrong; this leads to confusion, and this confusion is often all the excuse people need to not try any healthy diet at all. How are you supposed to tell which ones are good or bad; and which ones should be avoided versus which ones are worth trying?

What may surprise you is that some of the most popular diets are not necessarily the most healthy. The truth is that a lot of them are based around a gimmick of some kind, and the rest of the diet relies on some basic principles found in all healthy eating diets. This creates the illusion that the gimmick makes it work, but the harsh reality is that the gimmick is often the least healthy aspect of such diets.

Still, it’s hard to convince people that a certain diet doesn’t work. There is a lot of psychology that goes along with it, but the simple explanation is that these people are invested in believing their diet of choice works, and that the gimmicky portion is the secret. However, there are many people who don’t resort to fad diets to get healthy. Instead, they develop a well-balanced plan of their own by taking the best elements from several healthy eating diets.

One of the fad diets to make a big splash recently was the low-carb diet. These diets really did work for a good number of people. How they worked, and whether they’re a good long-term option remains debatable, but they did work. The catch is that there are very few people that should b restricting carbohydrate intake to this degree. Sure, it’s a good idea to get rid of the “bad” carbs found in white flour, white rice and sugar, but it’s not a good idea to give up the “good” carbs which are high in fiber and loaded with nutrients that can’t be found anywhere else.

So, a low-carb diet may help somebody to lose weight, but it can’t really be counted among healthy eating diets because it falls short on fiber as well as various important nutrients. But, somebody can take a part of the typical low-carb diet and use it to create some of their own specific plan.

Of course there are tons of other diets that say you should do this or do that, or not to do it at all. But healthy eating plans don’t have to rely on gimmicks, they simply rely on common sense. Instead, it’s just a matter of eating a variety of wholesome foods and keeping them on balance, and in this day and age, that may be the biggest gimmick of all.

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If you haven’t yet heard, green tea offers a wide variety of health benefits. One of the reasons that green tea is generally better than black tea is the way it’s processed. Both types come from the same plant, but black tea is fermented, while green tea is simply dried. This allows it to retain a lot more of its naturally occurring compounds. Then there is organic green tea, which doesn’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. In theory, that makes it even better for you, and people who drink it say it has a more fresh and aromatic quality than the regular kind.

While the use of strictly organic green tea goes back before written history (everything was organic then, right?), it may go back over one hundred thousand years. There is no doubt that the medicinal effects of the plant have been well-known by people in China long before scientists and medical researchers started looking into it. One of the earliest known uses of tea–apart from being a beverage–was to treat wounds and control bleeding.

These ancient cultures didn’t understand the chemistry of tea leaves, but they were still able to see the positive effects it had on their health. Today, scientists know a lot more about what makes tea tick. Among the main compounds found in green tea are catechin polyphenols, an antioxidant that packs a wallop. It has been shown to reduce the formation of blood clots, kill or inhibit some cancer cells and lower bad cholesterol. Drinking green tea is like opening up a medicine chest provide by Mother Nature herself.

But what is it about green tea that makes it so good for you? After all, there are many different varieties of tea, and all of them come from the same plant. That’s our first clue as to what makes green tea special. All tea may be derived from the same plant, but what makes each kind different is how it’s processed. Black tea, for example, is fermented before it reaches the consumer. This allows some of the beneficial nutrients to leech out during processing. Green tea, on the other hand is simply dried. Then you pour hot water over the tea leaves and that’s all there is to it. This minimal use of processing keeps many more of the healthy nutrients intact.

You have already read some of what organic green tea can do, but there are even more things it does: cavity prevention, boosts immunity, lowers blood pressure, helps bone density and aids indigestion. The other big thing it does is help with weight loss. It does this by reducing how much cholesterol and fat the body absorbs, helps you feel fuller and increases metabolism. Green tea contains some caffeine, so keep that in mind if you are sensitive to it. That being said, with all it has going for it, green tea is one thing just about everybody should add to their daily routine.

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