diet

My favorite lunch -- a bowl of romaine lettuce topped with chopped apple, grapes, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and either chopped walnuts or sliced almonds.

Sometimes, I'll get a little crazy and throw in a few dried cranberries! And, I top it all off with a very small splurge of my most beloved poppyseed dressing. (Briana's, if you're wondering.)

It's chock full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, healthy fats, protein, and, oh yeah, about 400 calories of metabolic fuel.

The latest diet to hit the headlines draws on Scandinavia for inspiration, and means eating Viking-style. Helmets and longboats optional...

Professor Arne Astrup, an obesity expert who heads Copenhagen University's department of human nutrition, believes that the Nordic diet is perfect for keeping us slim.

I admit it, I love top 10 lists! And, as this decade draws to a close, I especially love top 10's of the decade.

The 2000's certainly had a nice blend of the progressive, the questionable and of course the utterly ridiculous. The 2000's could be defined as the decade where we waffled over carbs, incorporated technology and took exercise and dieting to new extremes.

So, here are the trends and a brief commentary on each one:

The holidays can be a busy and stressful time for many people, but I love this time of year, especially the family get-togethers and the delicious food!

As everyone knows however, it can be a season of pure indulgence.

So, what is the secret to survival?

We've heard of dogs and cats being put on diets, but how about a hedgehog? At St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire, UK, Snowball the albino hedgehog needs to shed some pounds.

And, oddly enough, we can learn a few things from the Snowball story.

Coined "The Jesus Diet", "What Would Jesus Eat?" written by Dr. Don Colbert is one of the latest diets based on biblical principles.

The author believes that if we are looking to Jesus as an example on how to live, this should naturally include what Jesus ate as well. He looked at the life of Jesus, the culture in which he lived, and references to food made in the bible in order to come up with "What Would Jesus Eat?"

Everyone is looking for a simple diet plan to follow, but let's face it, no matter what plan you choose it's not easy to slim down and live healthier.

The "No White Foods Diet", which has been getting some good press lately from celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, might just be on the easier side of the dieting spectrum, at least when it comes to food choice.

How much do you believe your diet affects your job performance?

I know for sure when I don't eat regularly, I get tired and a bit cranky! And, I suppose if I think about it, a poor diet could potentially effect my job performance too.

If your job requires that you are responsible for the safety of others, the results of a recent small study may be of interest to you. Researchers found that what a pilot eats may impact the way they perform on the job.

I've noticed recently some of the posters on Diet-Blog Share have been asking about how to maintain weight loss.

There's no doubt about it, despite the large amount of books and other resources available these days, the big problem most people seem to have isn't with losing weight, but maintaining weight loss.

Is there anything more frustrating and guilt-inducing than losing weight only to see those pounds slowly creep back on?

The long-term success rates of diets is shockingly low. Figures vary on this, but at best, about 10% of dieters manage to maintain their new, lower weight.

So, what can you do to make sure you don't stand on the scales one day only to realise you're back to square one?

Wouldn't you agree the diet industry is saturated with unhealthy weight loss misconceptions? This has helped lead to an explosion of behaviors, which do little to encourage good health and well-being in the long run.

I hate the fact that in our day and age for some people "health" equals "fad dieting!"

While there's a general consensus that to lose weight the calories you burn must exceed the calories you consume, how you decide to achieve that goal is certainly up for debate.

I am constantly amazed, horrified and completely baffled by the bizarre weight loss plans people follow these days in an attempt to slim down.

Whatever the reason, it can be hard to recover momentum after a break. Here are ten easy ways to restart your diet:

But now, a new study suggests regular phone or email counseling helps people improve their diet and lose weight, especially for those unwilling to seek face-to-face support.

While the jury's still out on whether or not nutritional supplements are truly worth their rather hefty price tags, there's little question as to whether vegetables can do a body good. However, not everyone enjoys the taste of vegetables (ask any 12-year-old kid what he thinks of Brussels sprouts and you'll see what I mean). Does this mean these people are doomed to living a less nutritious life?

But the dude's diet leaves a lot to be desired. You wouldn't think 12,000 calories of mayonnaise, white bread and chocolate chip pancakes would be part of an Olympian's diet.

And apparently it isn't.

We also LOVE to eat! And now new research claims watching all this death and destruction may actually cause us to consume MORE than we already do.

When a country experiences an economic crisis, it is hard to find a silver lining. In Cuba, however, citizens have seen a remarkable change in their nation's health since a major economic fallout between 1990-1993.

A double whammy of the US embargo combined with the collapse of the Soviet Union had left the citizens of Cuba unable to afford much food or gas - forcing people to eat less and walk everywhere. Here are some of the events that transpired, according to a report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal: