Kellie Steffen - Quick Weight Loss Diet: Slow Cooker Recipes and Tasty Green Smoothies

QuickWeight Loss

Diet

Slow Cooker Recipes andTasty Green

Smoothies

Kellie Steffen and JessBrittney Statham

Copyright 2013 KellieSteffen and Jess Brittney Statham

All rights reserved.

Introduction

Tips for Quick Weight Loss

Please be aware these are tips for "quick weightloss" but not super fast, like lose mega weight in a week. The truth ofthe matter is that any diet that claims you can lose the weight uber fast is alie, or you may lose it fast but you will gain it back just as fast. To loseweight effectively you have to pace it and think in terms of moderation. Youmust give your body time to acclimate to the new diet and to start the weightloss plan. There are things you can do to help lose the weight faster thanwith just dieting alone.

Quick Weight Loss Tip Number One

Add exercise with the dieting. Exercising is a great way tohelp the body to lose the weight and fat faster. Physical activity helps thebody to burn calories, which equal to weight. Exercising need not be a boringchore though. You do not have to pay for a pricey gym membership to reap thebenefits of exercising. You can do a lot of physical activity right from yourhome. Put on some good music and dance around the room. Purchase a workoutDVD and make a commitment to do it at least three times a week. Take a walk,jog, or run. Hop on a bicycle and go for a ride. Take a swim. Or takeexercise classes, you may enjoy the socializing part. Whatever you do, thewhole point is to be physically active. Your body needs to be in motion for atleast half an hour to make it effective. That is not a lot to commit to, justa half an hour a time at least three days a week.

Exercising is very beneficial in raising your energy leveland boosting your metabolism. Because it does this, you will have more energyto continue doing it, which is very helpful in bringing down the weight. Youmay want to jump in and do it for longer and more often to lose more weightfaster. This is just like dieting you do not need to jump in head first withexercising you need to pace yourself. Ideally, it is best to do a good work outevery other day for a minimum of half an hour. If you wish to increase this toan hour or to daily or both you can, but it is advisable not to increase it tomore than that. Remember, moderation is best, with exercise and with thediet. You will have better success if you pace yourself with it.

When you do exercise, take the time to stretch your musclesproperly to prevent muscle soreness and injury. Even if your exercise istaking a walk around the block, you will greatly benefit by taking a few minutesprior and after the walk to do some gentle stretches with your arms and legs. It is certainly advisable to do these stretches before swimming, bicycling,jogging / running, aerobics, etc.

Quick Weight Loss Tip Number Two

Take the time before you start the diet to wean off the junkfood. Chances are you have to go on a diet because of your addiction to junkfood. Be assured, food addictions are as strong and real as addiction topills, cigarettes, or even alcohol. Since a food addiction is strong, it canbe tough to stop eating it without properly weaning. If you do not wean fromthe junk foods, you will experience strong cravings. This is a breaking pointfor many people who do not take the time to wean. They cave to the strongcravings. They may also have mood swings and headaches that intensify the urgeto consume it. Weaning properly helps to prevent these bad addiction breakingside effects.

Take three weeks to wean from a junk food habit. Write downall the times in a day you consume junk food. Then take one instance youconsume it and replace it with a healthy snack. Do this for three to five daysand repeat the process until you have stopped all the consumption of junkfood. If you still find you crave it give yourself a treat once or twice aweek as a reward for staying on the diet. If possible though, try to weancompletely from the junk food. After a while, your body will crave the healthyfood and you will no longer have the ill side effects you did with the junkfood.

The best advice with this quick weight loss tip is to thinkof your diet as a permanent lifestyle change rather than a diet to lose theweight and then go back to your old ways of eating. If you do that, you willgain the weight back. Your body needs nutritious food all the time andtherefore you should make the diet a permanent one, a complete lifestyle changefor the better.

Quick Weight Loss Tip Number Three

Drink plenty of drinking water every day. Water is vital toyour health, while you get some water out of tea, coffee, juice, and milk youneed to drink pure clear water as well. Drink plenty before each meal to helpyou not consume as much food. Consider drinking enough water according to yourweight. Take your weight in pounds and divide it by two and that is the numberin ounces you need to drink each day. If you weigh two hundred pounds, dividedby two is one hundred pounds, converted to ounces is one hundred ounces. A twohundred pound person needs to drink one hundred ounces of water a day, which istwelve and a half cups a day.

Disclaimer for Dieting and Exercise

Always seek the counsel of your health care provider aboutthe best diet plan and exercise routine for you. Go over the plans and makesure they are safe to do with your current state of health.

Section 1: Slow CookerCookbook

The old style cookers were called "slow cookers,"where the heating element is in a separate unit from the main food holder. Actually, larger slow cookers and "crock pots" still come this way. When the "crock pot" made the scene, it was with the heating elementcased within the food holder all in one. If you were lucky you had a removableplug for easy cleaning. Not so lucky were the ones where the plug was apermanent fixture. Crock Pot, by the way, is a registered trademark by theRival Manufacturing Company, but their name brand became a nickname for slowcookers.

Some slow cookers may have the heating elements thatsurround the food holder, helping to give it even heat. Others may only havethe heating element on the bottom, causing the need for extra stirring to keepfrom burning and sticking with the food.

Slow cookers come in three sizes, with a 3.5, 4 and 5 quartsbeing the most popular sizes. Obviously if a recipe serves 12 you will notwant to try to cook it in a 3.5 quart sized slow cooker. Most people only haveone or two sizes and know how to adjust. Normally, if you have a largerfamily, you will have a larger slow cooker. It helps to eyeball the food. Youwant the slow cooker to be filled to at least half way point, but you do notwant it bubbling over the top. So consider the size of the foods you are goingto cook and gauge whether or not you need a small or large slow cooker. Mostof the recipes here do well with a 4 to 5 quart slow cooker.

When purchasing a slow cooker you need to decide first howbig of one you need. Obviously if you are cooking for only two or threepeople, you would do well with a smaller one. If you have a large family, youneed a smaller one. Also, consider whether or not you wish to cook extra to freezeand eat later or to have meals for a couple of days. People are finding thisan excellent way to save on groceries and energy, to cook a double or tripleportion and eat on it for a few days.

When you purchase a new slow cooker be sure to read all theinstructions. It will help save you time in the long run and will help topreserve the unit.

Some may wonder if when cooking a meal for 8 hours on a lowsetting, if the food is safe, or will bacteria grow. It is a legitimateconcern, but needless for a slow cooker that is in good shape. Most all slowcookers are set for their lowest temperatures to be above 140 degreesFahrenheit, the temperature that most bacteria are killed. It helps if you arecooking beef, to brown it ahead of time. That way when you put it into theslow cooker it will already be hot. You do not want the slow cooker getting sohot it easily burns the food. If that were the case, you would not want to goto sleep or leave for the day with the slow cooker cooking. If the temperatureof the meat is a concern, you can always stick a meat thermometer into it totest it prior to eating.