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Weight loss diet for man and women

10 Things That Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss

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So you’ve got your plot to drop the extra pounds. It certainly seems sensible: You’re going to eat right, eat less, and exercise. After weeks of declining dessert and diligently hitting the treadmill, you step on the scale and…only 2 pounds gone? You conclude that something or someone must be sabotaging you.

You might be right. While experts say weight loss can always be reduced to the simple “calories in, calories out” mantra—meaning if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight—a host of oft-hidden saboteurs may be meddling with the balance. Here’s a smattering of them:

1. Treating healthy foods as low-calorie foods. “A lot of times they’re not consistent,” says Scott Kahan, co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program in Washington, D.C. So while whole grains, avocados, and nuts might be kind to your heart or cholesterol levels, dieters who binge on such foods can, before they know it, add hundreds of calories to the day’s total. Enjoy calorie-rich healthy foods, dietitians urge, but ration them out: a quarter of an avocado on a salad or a small handful of almonds for a snack.

2. Shunning shuteye. Some research has linked shorter sleep duration to a higher body mass index (a measure of body fat) and increased hunger and appetite. Additionally, if you’re tired, you might be prone to grab a sugar-laden treat for a midday boost, skip the gym, and have takeout for dinner to avoid cooking. It’s a vicious cycle. Aim for seven or eight hours a night.

3. Underestimating calories eaten. Quick—how many calories have you had today? No idea? Calorie ignorance is common and fueled by quite a few factors, dietitians say. First is a warped understanding of portion sizes. “People will tell me, ‘Oh, I eat a half teaspoon of butter and I spread that on a piece of toast,’ ” says Ellen Liskov, a registered dietitian and nutrition specialist at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I don’t think you can do that mechanically.” (People typically use a tablespoon or more.) You’re going to have to recalibrate: Measure everything for a few days and work from recipes that calculate calories per serving or do it yourself. And be diligent about checking serving sizes. One sleeve of PopTarts, for example, is two servings. Also, be wary of seemingly innocent things like fruit, juice, trail mix, and dips. It’s particularly easy to go overboard here.

Forgetfulness magnifies calorie ignorance. With all the to-do’s jammed into your brain, you probably don’t want to add a food diary. Too bad—your selective food memory is going to continue to sabotage you “until you start to pay attention every time you put something in your mouth,” says Madelyn Fernstrom, founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center and author of The Real You Diet. Also, while a couple healthy snacks strategically spread throughout the day is a good hunger-control tactic, Liskov warns of “random” snacking. You’ll almost certainly lose track of all those calories.

4. Overestimating calories burned. “We tend to reward ourselves with too many calories of food for the amount of calories we burned exercising,” says Kahan. Suppose you go for a 30-minute jog. The University of Maryland Medical Center’s “calories burned calculator” estimates a 150-pound person would burn about 370 calories. Eat a few cookies later that day and you’ve just canceled it out.

5. Feeding your thirst. If you’re not sure whether you’re hungry or thirsty, assume it’s the latter. Drink a water or tea and see how you feel. Some research even suggests drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner may help you manage hunger and eat less.

6. The food environment. Commercials on TV hawk junk food. Billboards for fast-food restaurants bombard you on the road. “We’re in a society that really lends itself to eating a lot,” says Kahan. Without addressing these saboteurs, he says, it’s “almost overwhelmingly difficult” to lost weight. His solution: “Engineer your environment.” At home, do a junk-food purge. At work, avoid the treats in the kitchen and lobby your coworkers to hide the Hershey’s Kisses and go on a healthy-eating kick with you.

7. Saving up calories to eat junk. A couple hundred calories a day for an indulgence is OK, but don’t get carried away. “You could eat a bag of chips ’til the cows come home, but that’s not going to make you satisfied,” says Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar, a dietitian at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Without enough protein and fiber, you’ll be ravenous an hour later and blow your calorie limit.

8. Medications you take. It’s worth a check with your doctor if you don’t know whether weight gain is a side effect of a medicine you’re on. Psychiatric medications to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression, along with heart medications like beta blockers, commonly cause weight gain. While treating the primary condition is most important, says Kahan, you may be able to find a substitute sans the side effect.

9. Your family and friends. This can manifest in many ways. Maybe it’s too heartbreaking to turn down grandma when she insists you have a third helping of her double-fried chicken. Or the rest of the family isn’t on a diet, meaning some junk foods linger to tempt you. Perhaps your nights out with friends always revolve around food-and-drink binges. No wonder a 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that one’s chance of becoming obese increase by 57 percent if a close friend becomes obese.

10. Yourself. Don’t be overly restrictive. “If you set too many limits on yourself, you get bored and resentful. And that, mentally, will hinder your weight loss,” says Tanner-Blasiar. Aim for slow and steady, shedding maybe a couple pounds a week, and don’t obsess over the scale. You didn’t gain the weight over the course of a couple weeks; likewise, it’ll take more than that to lose it.

Above all, remember: “You can’t be perfect. You can’t be perfect in your relationships, in your job, in your life—certainly not in your weight-loss attempts,” says Kahan. “There’s nothing wrong with having a piece of cake on your birthday. There’s nothing wrong with trying to aim for moderation.”

Weight loss diet for man and women

6 types of food for very fast weight loss

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If you have already tried every means without losing your fat waist size, just try the following ways.
In addition to exercise, food also plays an important role in women’s weight loss. By balancing the regimen, especially by adding more foods for fast weight loss, you will easily deal with the amount of unnecessary fat and take back your slender body like the one you had in your girlhood.
The foods below are listed in “super foods for slimmers” because of their plentiful amount of vitamins and minerals which help balance the regimen and promote the metabolism. Thus, increasing the use of these foods at the beginning of your weight-loss time is extremely important to gain the desired body.

1. Waky pumpkin

The waky pumpkin contains a lot of potassium, vitamins and fibrous matters necessary for a healthy weight loss. Besides, the small amount of calories in the waky pumpkin makes you feel secure when using it. This kind of vegetable can be used to make soups, fry, boil or make salads, helping increase appetite and reduce the amount of starch entering into the body.

2. Turnip

Green salad is still a great suggestion for slimmers. Therefore, adding the turnip to your favorite green salad with cucumber and salad helps you get a slender body. The turnip contains a lot of vitamins C, B6 and potassium, bringing about a healthy and young body. In addition, eating turnip helps you have the full feeling.

3. Black beans

Black beans provide you with necessary fibrous matters to promote the metabolism. This is a perfect kind of food with less calories and saturated fatty substances; thus, you can eat a lot without worrying about putting on weight at meals.

4. Onion

In spite of the natural smell making you feel anxious when make communications, onion can surprisingly help you lose weight. Onion contains a lot of minerals and natural oils helping destroy accumulated fat in your body. Regularly using onion helps you burn a large amount of calories.

5. Fennel

According to a recent research, fennel considerably provides water for our body and reduces the accumulation of fat. With fennel, you can make delicious fish soups or attractive fried meals with soya curds and vegetables.

6. Oyster

This delicious, nutritious, sweet-smelling and cheap food turns out to be a wonderful food for healthy and fast weight loss thanks to the omega 3 in it. Orster is also a food containing a lot of zincs and fat acids which help guarantee the metabolism. Moreover, oyster can also keep a certain amount of sugar in our blood to remain the full feeling.

Ask and Answer

What supplements can I take to give me some energy. I am otherwise healthy and not overweight but I’m so tired

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Ask:

I am not overweight, I dance four times a week and I have a healthy diet. However, when I am at home I have no energy and no motivation to do anything. I just feel as though I want to sleep when I would love to be out walking or going to the gym. I deperately need some more energy and wonder what supplements could help me.

Answers (2):

Answer 1:

Chia seed!! You’d be amazed! I found this this morning:
Pay special attention to numbers 6 and 9. Hope that helps.

Chia Seed – Ten Benefits from this Power Food and Brain Food
By Christopher Westra
Author: Harmony Earth 30 Day Energy Diet

Do you want to increase your brain power and body strength with one of the most powerful foods imaginable?

Chia seed imparts power and energy to the user. I’ve used it for years.

Here are ten benefits to using chia seed in your life. Chia seeds are:

1. Nutritious. Chia seed provides ample calcium and protein to your tissues. The seeds are also rich in boron, which helps the body assimilate and use calcium. The nutrients also support proper brain functioning.

2. Water loving. The seed can soak up ten times its weight in water. Do this fun experiment. Put one tablespoon of chia seed in a cup of water and stir. Wait a few hours and see what happens. When inside your body, the seeds help you stay hydrated longer, and retain electrolytes in your bodily fluids.

3. Easily digestible. The shells are easily broken down, even when swallowed whole. This is an improvement over flax seed, which have to be ground up to be digested properly. If you eat flax seed whole, it will just pass through.

4. Concentrated. If I could only take one cup of food for a few days, I’d choose chia! The food value per volume is simply astounding. You don’t need much.

5. Mild tasting. Unlike some seeds, the flavor is very mild. The mild taste makes it easy to put in sauces, smoothies, breads, puddings, and whatever you want. They won’t really change the taste, but will add to your nutrition!

6. Energy enhancing. The health pioneer Paul Bragg did an experiment an endurance hike with friends. They divided up into a chia-eating group and another group, who ate whatever they wanted. The group eating only chia seeds finished the hike four hours, twenty seven minutes before the others, most of whom didn’t even finish at all.

7. Versatile. The seeds can be used to replace less-healthy fat in just about any recipe. You can use them uncooked in salad dressings, spreads, fruit shakes, ice cream, and just about anything you want. You can also add them to cookies, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. I usually just mix in a couple of teaspoons to my juice or water and drink them down!

8. Slimming and trimming. Yes, the seeds will help you lose weight, for two reasons. The first reason is that they are so filling that you will eat less of other foods. The second reason is that they actually bulk up and cleanse your body of old “junk” in your intestines.

9. Endurance enhancing. Chia seeds are known as the “Indian Running Food”. Also, the ancient Aztec warriors used chia seed during their conquests. I’m a runner, and I’ve used chia seed to enhance stamina and endurance on my mountain runs, some of which are several hours long!

10. Regenerating. After eating, the nutrients travel to the cells very quickly due to the ease in digestion and assimilation. Use them when you want to build or regenerate healthy body tissue.

I hope to give you some recipes soon, but go ahead and experiment. Chia seed is great for those who want to increase their energy on the Harmony Earth 30 Day Energy Diet.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Answer 2:

Hate to admit it, but age plays a factor (at least for me!). Also, you have to look at how much rest you are getting.
But for an immediate energy boost, I would recommend a tablespoon of honey right before you go to work out. It provides simple carbs, mostly fructose and glucose, but has a low impact on blood sugar, which will prevent an “energy crash” associated with other quick carbs.
You may also want to look at your complex carb intake throughout the day. Make sure you are getting a steady supply of complex carbs….oatmeal, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, nuts (especially almonds). A proper balance of carbs, protein, and fat should give you the energy you’re body is craving.

Health Care

9 ways to keep it healthy when eating out

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Eating out can be such a pleasure: Someone else chops the veggies, cooks the entree and brings it steaming hot to your table, while you enjoy time with friends or family.

But when we eat out, we tend to overdo it. While an occasional splurge is OK, if we’re not smart about our menu choices, we may be hunting for a larger wardrobe.

On average, Americans eat out about five times a week, according to the National Restaurant Association. Because those meals are generally higher in calories and fat than what we make at home, they can create a recipe for weight gain.

Every meal away from home increases an adult’s average daily calorie count by about 135 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If we eat out five times a week, we stand to gain up to 10 pounds a year.

Business traveler Tish Davis frequently meets with clients over meals, and she’s seen her weight climb by about 20 pounds in the past few years. Registered dietitian Marisa Moore gave Davis some advice on how to eat healthy while on the road.

Davis knows she has some weaknesses. “I love things that are fried, like bacon, a burger, chicken tenders. I like crunchy,” she says.

Moore offered Davis some tips — and gave her some homework to help with her eating habits.

Order first

Davis says she goes into the meal intending to eat healthy, but by the time she hears what others are ordering, she’s lost her resolve. Moore suggests that Davis order first.

“There is an interesting study that shows that women tend to mirror each other when we go out to eat,” Moore says. “If you order your meal first, before everybody else starts to order, then you might actually set the tone for the table to order healthier options.”

And, if possible, try to choose the restaurant where you’ll meet friends or business associates. Look for places that have healthy options on the menu so you’ll have better choices.

Red flags

When you sit down to order, scrutinize the menu for red flags that indicate foods are high in calories: descriptions of creamy, crispy, fried, breaded or smothered.

“Instead, you want to opt for foods that are grilled, steamed or broiled. That generally is going to be a healthier cooking method,” Moore says.

Tailor the meal

Don’t be afraid to ask the server to make changes to the menu. Replace unhealthy sides such as french fries for steamed vegetables. If you know a sauce is going to be loaded with calories, ask that it be brought on the side. You tend to eat less that way.

And always order your salad dressing on the side, Moore says. Though dressing can be healthy, restaurants tend to give us two to three times the amount we need, and those calories can add up.

If you’re ordering pizza, ask the chef to go light on the cheese.

Box it up

A restaurant serving can usually feed two, so at the beginning of the meal, ask the server for a to-go box. Put half of the meal away and take it home with you — if food is in front of us, we tend to eat it, even when we’re full.

Soup and salad

Another way to keep from overeating is to order a salad or broth-based soup as your first course, Moore says. “There is some evidence to show that people who eat a broth-based soup or a veggie salad before their meal tend to eat fewer calories for the entire meal.”

Portion control

On average, Americans need about 2,000 calories a day, and knowing how to judge a portion size can help us stick to that target. If you’re ordering pasta, a good rule of thumb is to eat a portion that looks to be about the size of your fist. With meat, try not to eat more than would fit in the palm of your hand.

To help Davis with portion control, Moore suggests she order an appetizer in place of an entree.

Slow down

We’ve heard it before, but when we eat too fast, we often eat too much.

“It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize that your body is full,” Moore says. So slow down. Enjoy the company of those you’re with, and try putting your fork down between bites. It might take a little practice, but it does make for a more leisurely meal.

Rethink the drink

It’s easy to forget about the calories from the drink we order, whether it’s an alcoholic beverage or a glass of tea. One serving of sweetened tea, for instance, can have 200 to 250 calories.

“A glass of wine is only about 150 calories, but some of your mixed drinks can be well over 300 or 350 calories,” Moore says.

She encourages Davis to drink water with her meals and with her occasional glass of wine. Water helps fill us up, so we tend to consume less alcohol.

One day at a time

“I’m actually going to try some things … when I’m on the road,” Davis says. “I’m going to just pay more attention to the menu and go for the broiled, not the fried, and start with a salad.”

But she knows she’s going to struggle with her biggest challenge. “My lack of willpower in peer settings — that’s my biggest downfall,” Davis says.

It’s all about choices, Moore says. “We have to be prepared to face those obstacles, those temptations and decide when you’re going to splurge and when you’re going to make sure that you stick to a healthy diet.”

Ask and Answer

What are some like really good healthy foods?

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Ask:

Mmmkay so yeahh we’re like going to be going to the market soon and i’m trying to loose some weight and i was trying to figure out what some good healthy foods would be other than like fruits and vegis.

Answers (2)

Answer 1:

NO MEAT OR DAIRY! Don’t listen when people say,” Oh, well chicken breast, eggs, and low-fat yogurt are great sources of lean protien and vitamin D that you can’t get from fruits, veggies and grains.” It is proven that you can get all of your essential minerals from non-meat and non-dairy products. I REPEAT-NO MEAT OR DAIRY, NOT EVEN LEAN!!! All have way too much cholesterol and are difficult for your body to digest, thus slowing your metabolism and making it more difficult to lose weight. Animal fats(even little bits) process in your body WAAAAY differently then vegetarian fats.

If you wanna loose weight, stick with grains, and fruits, veggies. Try to eat most of your vegs/fruits raw if possible, and limit ur sugar and salt intake. Your body will balance itself this way and you will lose weight fast AND BE HEALTHY! (This should be your real goal-not just to look thinner and more attractive, but to feel and look HEALTHIER inside and out.)

Some really yummy dishes you can make are…

Black bean and mango salsa w/baked tortilla chips

Avocado, bean sprout, tomatos, olive wrap(many types of wraps such as pesto,sundried tomatoe,etc.) and your choice of non-dairy lowfat dressing

Wheat pasta with olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, bell-peppers etc.(Pasta rules because you can do anything with it!!!)

Walnut, pear and spinach salad with balsamic dressing

Mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy

Mexican brown rice with corn and pinto beans

Bread, garlic and herb stuffed mushrooms

Hummus and pita bread

There are so many healthy dishes out there that taste great! Just google for the recipes!!! It’s fun to cook with the people you love and know that you are taking care of our body, too!
Good luck!

Answer 2:

Just… when you go to the store, look at the ingredients (on prepared foods) and compare things like calories and fat on things like Yogurt. Like, I was looking at the same brand of yogurt, but one was “Original” one was “Low Fat” and one was “No Fat” so I initially grabbed the “No Fat” one, right? but I looked at the label and it was 170 calories per serving (and 0 fat) so it’s all sugar. Then I looked at the “Original” and it was 180 calories per serving, with 85 of it being fat, so, not many more than the no fat, And then I picked up the “Low Fat” to see what it might be, and it was only 125 calories per serving, with only 25 calories of fat, which is well within the recommended 25% rule (that’s where you make sure and only eat things that have 25% or less fat. Bring a calculator! lol…) and since it’s not all sugar, it’s not going to trigger that “OMG! Must eat voraciously!” thing that candy and other sugars trigger when you eat it.

Also, “Fish” is good, but White fish is actually a better thing to say (as opposed to Tuna or Salmon) And actually shrimp and lobster and crab are good options (as long as they’re not drenched in butter or fried)

Brown rice is good, if you can get the non-instant kind (instant grains pretty much kills any nutritional value you might get from it) all kinds of fantastic vegetables – I’m personally very fond of Leeks and other onions and peppers and strong-flavored veggies of that kind.

Pick up some spices while you’re there. I recommend Cumin and Paprika as well as cinnamon and peppers – basil and other “italian” seasonings tend to call for olive oil (which isn’t as bad as some things you could injest) and so you’ll want to use those sparingly…

But yes, just realize that you DO need fats and carbs to function as well as protein to go along with the veggies and the vitamins and minerals you get from eating them.

Losing weight actually starts getting fun when you start picking out lots of different random vegetables that you might not even know what they are, and throwing them in a pot with spices just to see how it might turn out!

Oh – beans. lots of beans, various beans. get them dry and learn to prepare them. (you ever see a fat cowboy?)

Heh…

Have fun!

Health Care

Go Ahead and Gawk: How Food Porn Can Make Us Healthier

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Every Thursday, Greatist staff writer Sophie Breene scours the Web for the cheesiest, chocolatiest, avocado-iest, most melt-in-your-mouth food photos she can find. The winners make it to The Greatist Table, a weekly roundup of themed images and recipes, everything from soup recipes to holiday drink ideas.

“It’s like my personal food porn,” she told me one Thursday afternoon.

Though Breene has a valid excuse — it’s part of her job, after all — she’s far from alone in letting her eyes feast once in a while. More than half of us admit to taking food photos on our cell phones at least once a month (and presumably at least that many people view them). But the photos she selects differ from many of the images of food out there in that nothing is triple-fried, double-chocolate, or made entirely out of butter. (Yes, that exists.) This stuff is healthy.

Over the past few years, food porn has made it big, with sites like Tastespotting and FoodGawker racking up millions of views every month. Scroll through your Facebook newsfeed this minute and see if you can’t find at least one photo of someone’s not-yet-eaten dinner. With an iPhone in hand and Instagram just a few taps away, it seems everyone is either an amateur chef, photographer, or both, and wants to let the whole world know.

Across the U.S., scientists and journalists have documented the food porn epidemic, predicting all sorts of negative health consequences including food cravings and overeating[1]. But over the past few months I’ve started to wonder: What about photos of healthy food? Surely they can’t be as hazardous to our health as their butter- and sugar-filled peers. Shouldn’t taking and looking at pictures of the healthy stuff have a positive impact on our health habits? And couldn’t health experts use the power of photography to start improving people’s eating habits? Fork in one hand and mouse in the other, I set out to investigate.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular category of food photos online is desserts (at least according to one report). Head to Pinterest and some blogger’s freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies will likely float to the top of the page. (Couldn’t she offer to share?) But, perhaps more surprising, the second most commonly photographed type of food is vegetables, making up 18 percent of the food porn scene. Some of the most well-loved labels on Foodgawker, according to co-founder Chuck Lai, are “vegetarian,” “vegan,” and “healthy.”

Though it’s hard to say exactly why asparagus attracts more paparazzi than Lady Gaga, a few possible reasons stand out. For one thing, vegetables are colorful, and colors are pretty. Orange and pistachio pilaf looks like a Picasso next to mousy-brown oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, even if most people might prefer the taste of the latter. Photos of such dishes target not just seasoned vegetarians, but also the people who wouldn’t dream of touching, let alone eating, something green. For all the hullabaloo about the obesity epidemic and the life-saving power of kale, what if a picture like this one is all it might take to get someone’s hand out of the bag of Doritos?

I’m not necessarily suggesting doctors start pulling up Pinterest boards to show patients how appealing a cucumber salad can really be. But the blogger community seems to have long ago caught onto the idea that veggies and other healthy eats can be extremely photogenic. It’s hard to find the exact numbers, but just from a few hours of browsing, it seems to me that for every dozen Pinterest boards and Tumblrs devoted to comfort food and baked goods, there’s at least one titled something like “healthy food porn” or “healthy recipes.” And just take my word for it, it’s possible to spend as much time looking at linguine with pea pesto as it is to spend staring at sugary sweets.

These sites also cater to growing niche communities who, unlike their Dorito-downing peers, have already committed to eating healthy, but don’t necessarily know what to do with a big batch of broccoli and quinoa. For these folks too, food porn can be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy diet.

Pretty as a Peach — Practical Food Porn

But let’s be real here: Desserts still dominate the food porn scene. While certain healthy dishes have the potential to make our stomachs rumble, a photo of a lone Granny Smith lying on a table will (almost) never go viral on Pinterest. That’s because it’s actually much harder to make healthy food look tasty than it is to make unhealthy food look good, says health psychologist and Greatist Expert Dr. Sherry Pagoto. “Our brain is wired to desire foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt. So it may be more difficult [to make] some lower-calorie foods… as desirable from an imagery perspective.”

I talked to Damaris Santos Palmer, founder of the photo-fab blog Kitchen Corners, about the struggle between posting pictures of healthy versus unhealthy eats. Palmer, whose blog also features pictures of her adorable (healthy) family, admitted she posts mostly photos of desserts and sweets, but not because that’s how her family eats. In fact, Palmer makes mostly Brazilian food, “a lot of rice and beans, salads, and things like that.” I asked her why, then, she prefers to photograph things like rainbow cake, and she told me: “Who wants to see a picture of rice and beans? You know, it’s hard to make that beautiful so I end up photographing more sweet than savory.”

Still, when she isn’t playing the role of Annie Liebovitz in a chef’s hat, Palmer’s just a busy mom who doesn’t want to feed her family crap. When it’s dinnertime and she’s out of ideas for quick, healthy, and family-friendly meals, she heads straight to sites such as Tastespotting, bypassing the cake collections for the roundups of nutritious dinner recipes. (I typed “healthy” and “dinner” into the search function and came up with dozens of recipes for each term.)

A photo of a meal can be much more inspiring than just reading a recipe, says Dr. Susan Albers, author of “Eating Mindfully,” a book in which she offers psychological techniques to help people develop healthy eating habits. “The visual element can connect you instantly with other memories and sensations.”

I asked Albers whether she thought just perusing photos of veggies could spur a change in someone’s diet. “Yes!” she answered, remembering a broccoli-hating client who gave the green stuff a second chance after she saw a to-die-for Pinterest photo of a broccoli-brown-rice casserole. (Maybe this one?) “Even looking [at] healthy food can stimulate cravings.”

Moreover, looking at a series of photos can sometimes be infinitely more practical than just paging through a picture-free cookbook. Planning and cooking meals is a “very visual” process, Palmer says. “I don’t have time to … read a whole recipe. I can just go onto Tastespotting and I’ll look at something and say, ‘Oh I have these ingredients. I can make this for dinner.’”

For dietitian and Greatist Expert Lindsey Joe, the reason “healthy” food porn works is because it reminds people they don’t have to rely on restaurant meals and store-bought snacks for good-tasting grub. “It gives people that extra push of inspiration or confidence to try something new when it comes to cooking or baking food for themselves,” she said. “Getting people more hands-on in the kitchen is an excellent place to start if [you’re] looking to pump up nutrition in your diet.”

To someone who spends every day writing articles that (hopefully) encourage people to make healthier choices, it seems important to realize that a picture might just say a thousand delectable words. Whether it’s a practical way to keep our healthy resolutions or a way to convince ourselves that Brussels sprouts really do taste like candy, ultimately everyone can benefit from a little bit of porn.

I asked Palmer why she likes photographing her food, and she answered immediately. “I wanna’ know what feelings can I evoke with that picture. And the feeling I want to evoke is, ‘It’s delicious.’”