Adriana Rueda, Author at Adriana Wellness

Weight Loss and Other Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet

June 12, 2019May 1, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

If you have been checking out weight loss diets, it is highly unlikely that you haven’t come across the ketogenic diet. If not, on my last article I talk more in depth about what is the Keto diet and how you can start living a keto lifestyle.

The ketogenic diet or keto diet focuses on drastically cutting down carbohydrates and increasing the intake of proteins and fats. The whole premise of the keto diet is restricting carbohydrates instead of calories. When there are fewer carbs, your body breaks down fat as the main source of energy.

This leads to effective weight loss. But it’s not just weight loss that a ketogenic diet can help you achieve. A lot of studies have been conducted on how a keto diet can help and even prevent certain diseases.

Ketogenic Diet Explained

April 30, 2019April 25, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Wondering what is the ketogenic diet?

I want you to understand how it works, how to create your own keto diet meal plan from scratch, and both its benefits and its risks.

I believe an unbiased explanation of keto is rare to come, because throughout all of history there have always been those people that would turn a diet almost into a religion or a cult. That happened before with Atkins, the South beach diet, and this is happening right now with the ketogenic diet.

This ultimately leads to a lot of misconceptions about the diet so there are a lot of things that people are doing wrong and you may be making the same mistakes.

What’s the purpose of the ketogenic diet.

The goal is to force the body into a process known as ketosis where fats are predominately burned and used for energy rather than carbohydrates.

Low Fat Diets Can Be Detrimental To Your Health

April 25, 2019March 26, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Low-fat diets can create more problems later than they solve in the moment. It sounds logical – eliminate fat to reduce your fat, but this is far from the reality. There’s no point in eliminating your excess weight at the expense of your health, which sadly occurs all too often. Low fat diets often contribute to this.

People feel that a diet that has any fat in at all contributes to weight gain. And that a low or fat free diet is a healthier diet.

If you consume a lot of fried food, this will contribute to weight gain. But there is much more to this topic than meets the eye.

For a start, the type and quality of the fat consumed

This has a huge impact on whether or not you gain weight. For example, canola oil is so unhealthy, it will contribute not only to your weight gain, but to your deteriorating health, too.

Next on the list is how you consume this fat.

For example, olive oil is considered to be a healthy oil, all things considered. But the first pressed, virgin olive oil has far more nutrition than the subsequent pressings resulting in cheaper oils.

Cold pressed oil is far more nutritious too, as heat destroys many of the natural nutrients that are beneficial. The more nutritious an oil is, the less likely it is to cause a problem, such as weight gain or digestive problems.

Highly processed fats, such as hydrogenated fat, create havoc with your health and weight as they are virtually undigestible.

Six Hormones that Influence Weight Loss in Women

March 26, 2019March 19, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Combined with a healthy diet, making sure that your body has sufficient amounts of these hormones can help take stubborn weight off.

In general, public discussions about weight loss tend to focus mainly on exercise and diet.

When someone thinks, “I need to lose weight!”, they immediately think up an action plan that involves exercises and a starting a “diet“. Some will take an additional step by hiring a personal trainer. This is a great choice as a good personal trainer can really motivate you to stay on track.

He will usually advise you to follow a healthy eating and help track your food habits. But what these fitness programas omit, is that your hormones can play a very key role in your weight loss success.

Our body produces 50 different types of hormones. Some of which regulate nutritional intake, metabolism and other functions that relate to weight gain and loss.

So, no matter if you are executing your fitness regiment perfectly, if you are experiencing hormonal imbalance, it will inevitably obstruct your progress.

Let’s take a closer look at the six main types of hormones that affect weight issues and what you can do to correct any imbalances.

Insulin

We all require insulin to process the sugars from our food – whether they are added sugar or naturally occurring sugar – and convert them into energy. When we consume carbohydrates, our blood sugar level rises, due to the sugars in carbohydrates like bread, pasta, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables.

High carb foods like bread and pasta cause a bigger spike. On the contrary lower carb foods like most vegetables and some fruits cause smaller rises in blood sugar levels. Someone without hormonal complications will not experience any insulin issues.

However, insulin deficiency causes a chronic problem that we know as diabetes. This means that the sugar in your bloodstream is not being converted into energy and sent to other parts of the body.

However, diabetes patients can also become insulin-resistant, which means that although you may be receiving insulin, not only do you have sugar buildup, but an insulin buildup as well.

Both situations create other problems, and one of these is weight gain.

How to Make Fluffy Low-Carb Pancakes | Full Recipe

March 13, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Want the recipe of the best, fluffy low-carb pancakes?! You ask and you shall receive ☺️❤️

Full recipe in my last video on my YouTube channel.

I’ll show you a main staple in my home : low-carb, sugar free pancakes! These pancakes are completely grain, dairy free and also sugar FREE which is super important if you have children.

If your children love pancakes and you want to give them something sugar-free and without too much wheat. These are perfect for them

They are full of nutrientes, protein and and good fats (necessary for our brains) The sweetness for they recipes is giving naturally with half a banana and believe me it’s sweet enough, so you dont need stevia, sugar or any other sugar substitute.

Your whole family will love them! ❤️

Can a High Fat Diet be Healthy?

March 12, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Many health conscious people strive for a low-fat diet. But you could be missing out on many health benefits such weight loss and a strong cardiovascular system if you miss the essential fats.

The no fat and low fat diet way of thinking came from the fact that so many people were – well – fat. It was logical to assume that it was because we were eating too much of it. Now we’re learning more.

We now know that the harmful fats are the trans-fatty, oxidized and heat-processed fats like those found in margarine, fried foods and even grain-fed cattle.

In the daily strive for health we attempted to cut out all fats only to learn we are hurting ourselves.

Fortunately it is a new era and we now know which fats to not only cut out – but what we need to include in our diets for better health. For free of premature aging and degenerative disease.

These good fats are called the Essential Fatty Acids.

They fall into two categories of Omega 3’s and Omega 6’s. Both types of fats are essential and it is important to get them from a variety of sources. The essential fats are the most popular because they are the most researched. There is one more category of fat, however, that you should be aware of – the Omega 9’s, although not classified as an Essential Fat, it is well known that they are necessary for good health.

Let’s look at the effects of these fats.

Deficiencies in these fatty acids can result in heart disease, depression, fatigue, and inflammation, which can lead to arthritis and even cancer.

Benefits of including the good fats include weight loss, a stronger immune system, anti-inflammatory abilities, balanced hormones, thicker hair, and healthier, supple skin.

The Health Dangers of Sugary Sodas

March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

How Popular are Sodas

Today, in the United States, sugary sodas are taking the place of healthier drinks like milk. There are lots of television and radio ads about sodas trying to get your attention to buy their sodas, but what they don’t tell you is how bad they are for you.

These sodas, filled with sugar, cause not only weight gain, but type 2 diabetes as well. People who consume 1-2 cans per day of sugar, sodas have a 26% higher risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease along with obesity according to Harvard University.

How Much Sugar in Sodas

In a 20 ounce bottle of one sugar, soda it has 16-20 teaspoons of sugar. However, millions of Americans drink more than one 20 ounce bottle of soda per day. The more cans or bottles you drink, the more sugar you consume, which leads to weight gain.

Some people believe that sodas fill you up, but they don’t. In fact, sugar increases hunger that leads to obesity. Suppose you had a high-calorie meal at McDonald’s with a sugar drink, you increased your calorie intake even more, up to over a 1000 calories.

Obesity is on The Increase

The Top 6 Phytochemicals Found in Food

February 27, 2019February 26, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

There’s quite a bit of buzz around phytochemicals in food. Phytochemicals, also known as phytonutrients, are naturally occurring chemicals found in plants (hence the phyto-).

They are the compounds that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant variety of colors, smells, and tastes. With the rainbow of vegetables, you see regularly, you can imagine how many types of phytochemicals there are!

Phytochemical Basics

There are literally thousands of phytochemicals out there. Scientists are busy studying their potential benefits. Since you aren’t a plant, the only way to reap the benefits of phytochemicals is to eat a diet full of a variety of types of fruits and vegetables.

There are 6 phytochemicals scientists have spent the most effort researching:

1. BETA CAROTENE is found in orange-colored and dark green leafy vegetables. Beta-carotene is critical for eye health and also plays a key role in maintaining a healthy and strong immune system.

2. LYCOPENE is the red pigment found in tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, raspberries, and strawberries. It’s a powerful antioxidant and is linked to reduced prostate cancer risk. Lycopene is better absorbed after it’s been cooked, such as in tomato sauce.

3. LUTEIN is found in green leafy vegetables, such as kale and spinach, as well as in cruciferous vegetables, such as Brussel sprouts and broccoli. Like beta-carotene, lutein is critical for eye health and may help prevent macular degeneration.

A Silent Killer – Inflammation

July 30, 2023February 19, 2019 by Adriana Rueda

Inflammation is a biological response of the body to protect itself. It responds from harmful internal and external stimuli and starts healing. It is a part of the body’s immune system and protects us from infections, wounds and tissue damage.

Inflammation can be acute where it can start quickly and become severe quickly. For example, acute inflammation can cause diseases and conditions like sinusitis, a sore throat from cold, acute bronchitis, etc.

It can be chronic in response to unwanted toxins in the body like cigarette smoke or excess body fat. This may extend from months to years that may lead to conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and non-infectious conditions like tuberculosis, peptic ulcer, hepatitis, etc.

What causes chronic inflammation?

Stress: Stress causes activity in the brain that can lead to physical pain which may lead to an inflammatory response in the body. Hence, people suffering from stress may experience inflammation.
Poor diet: Some foods like simple sugars, high fructose corn syrup, refined flours, trans-fat-rich foods, processed meat, fried foods, etc. can trigger the inflammatory response in the body. So the consumption of these food items should be restricted.

Unhealthy lifestyle: Consumption of alcohol, smoking, leading a sedentary life and being overweight creates a stress in the body that triggers an inflammatory response.

Pollution: Pollution causes damage to the cells which may cause inflammation.

A Day of Clean Eating Recipes

July 30, 2023October 8, 2018 by Adriana Rueda

Many people think about clean eating and get confused. They think that its just eating a salad or a juice, and eating simple and with no taste. But that is far from the truth. Clean eating means eating whole foods, the natural way and the foods that make us feel good.

There’s only one rule: If its grown from a plant, eat it; if it’s made in a plant, don’t.

Believe me, eating clean can be easy, fun and totally delicious. Plus you get to really feel healthy from the inside out (literally)

So today I wanted to give you an example of how a clean eating menu could be.

Prepare to detoxify, boost your energy, feel and look your best! It all starts with the daily choice to take action.

IN THE MORNING

Drink warm water with lemon and a pinch of cayenne pepper to get your circulation going.