If you’re one of the 80 kajillion people with ‘lose weight’ at the top of their New Year’s resolutions list, chances are you need a little assistance in working your way to a slimmer waistline. For ThisNexter GirlPaint, the website SparkPeople is “one of the BEST, if not the best, places for fitness, health and weight loss resources.” There you can have a diet plan customized just for you - completely free of charge. And, GirlPaint adds, “the food tracker is the best I’ve seen, not to mention the ‘Exercise of the Day’ feature that tells you step-by-step how to properly perform an exercise and shows you a video to ensure you are using proper form.”

GirlPaint’s also a fan of Ladies Home Journal’s Health Guides & Fitness How-To Workouts, another online resource that offers “great, FREE tools to help you get (and stay) healthy, lose weight, track your food intake and much, much more.” Through the site, you’ll find advice on sticking to your diet, personal stories for inspiration, and articles on topics such as the link between hormone replacement therapy and weight gain.

...continued: Weight-loss wonders

Although I became intrigued by coconut oil around the time that books like The Coconut Oil Miracle and The Coconut Diet hit the shelves a couple of years ago, the only way I’ve ever used the beachy-smelling stuff is with my very divine Coconut Cream Body Oil from LaLicious. Scouring the Web for more in-depth info on the health value of consuming coconut oil, I found many a conflicting report (most of which were either of the “Coconut oil is SO GOOD for you!” or “Coconut oil is SO BAD for you!” variety). But then I discovered a post at the much-trusted Treehugger that helped clear some of the confusion. Blogger Mairi Beautyman explains:

“[C]oconut oil is the victim of an 80’s smear campaign against tropical oil producers, an attempt by domestic oil producers to eliminate the competition.

“During this time, most coconut oil was hydrogenated—a chemical alteration now proven to be detrimental to health…But virgin, one hundred percent coconut oil has a slew of health benefits, according to Dr. Joseph Mercola. ‘Close to two-thirds of the saturated fat in coconut oil is made up of medium-chain fatty acids, which have antimicrobial properties, are easily digested by the body for quick energy, and are beneficial to the immune system,’ says Mercola.”

Very much tuned into the oil’s versatility and nutritional appeal, a bunch of health bloggers and ThisNexters have proven themselves to be cuckoo for coconut. And really, who can resist a product that you can slather onto your skin and use as a butter substitute in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Not Dani Katz, whose Emerald Laboratories Extra Virgin Coconut Oil shopcast reveals that “I use coconut oil for everything – as a cooking oil, a spread, even as a facial moisturizer.” Summer Rayne Oakes, who specializes in “building socially-responsible ventures through fashion and media,” recommends the same certified organic product in her “Summer’s Green Goods” list, dubbing it the “secret of the trade.”

...continued: Cuckoo for coconut oil

Although my smoothie addiction isn’t nearly as bad some other ladies I know, every so often there are those moments when all that can make me a happy is an icy-cold, thick-yet-frothy concoction of fruit and yogurt inhaled at brainfreezing-speed through a cute little bendy straw. And while I do my best to support the indie smoothie-makers of the world, I sometimes end up at Jamba Juice, where I’ll likely order something like the Strawberries Wild and then feel lame about the fact that – with just some juice, fro yo, strawberries and bananas – I could have whipped up the lovely thing all on my own.

Far more driven than I, a bunch of blender-savvy ThisNexters have been sharing their smoothie-creating secrets and revealing just how much good-for-you stuff you can cram into one yummy shake. One fave ingredient is acai, an antioxidant-rich, amino-acid-packed Brazilian fruit made smoothie-ready with Sambazon’s Açai Power Pack. Hans Rey calls acai-accented smoothies “the perfect energy boost,” and shopcaster Daize Goodwin concurs: “This is a natural energizer and it is SO good for you!! You stick it into the blender with your usual smoothie essentials and you’re ready to go for the morning.”

...continued: Planet Smoothie

For those in need of a diet makeover, ThisNext is beginning to form a mini-library of healthy-eating books suited to many a food-focused goal. Whether you’re looking to drop a jeans size or incorporate more organic food into your meals, revamping your routine with the help of a new read can be one of the simplest ways to do good for your body, mind, and even the planet.

Take Jeff Cox’s Organic Cook’s Bible: How to Select and Cook the Best Ingredients on the Market, recommended by our recently interviewed shopcaster Fanny The Fairy. With 250 recipes using more than 150 organic ingredients, the book encourages readers to support Earth-friendly forms of food production and become more connected to what they’re consuming (“I love this book because i think it’s important to know the food you eat,” says Fanny in her shopcast).

With a similar emphasis on exploring organic foods – especially of the locally, sustainably grown variety – Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry’s Grub presents healthy eating as a form of activism. In her review at Fit Fare, Sara Maamouri dubs the book “a fired-up call to action” that teaches readers “exactly what they can do to change their food future,” while at the same time serving as “a reminder that ultimately, food should be a fun, creative part of our lives, and not simply a bland and boring fuel.”

...continued: Healthy reads

I can’t be trusted with a jar of peanut butter. If there’s ever some Skippy or Peter Pan or Smuckers left around the apartment, I somehow end up spooning the stuff straight from the jar once crazy deadlines start hitting. (A while back I even went through a phase of keeping a jar of Jif inside my desk – baaaaaaad idea.) Luckily I’ve discovered the next best thing for when I’m craving peanut buttery goodness: Nature Valley Peanut Butter Crunchy Granola Bars, which are much harder to O.D. on, given their convenient little 180-calorie-per-serving packages.

In fact, practically all the products in the Nature Valley line appear to be the perfect solution for when you need a snacky little pick-me-up but don’t want to resort to junk food. ThisNext member Yumi Chen goes for Nature Valley Healthy Heart Granola Bars, which “have just the right amount of crunch and gooeyness.” Daily Mogs’ blogger, meanwhile, loves Nature Valley’s Sweet and Salty Nut Bars because they’re “more like a candy bar to me which tricks my mind and delights my palate.”

...continued: ThisNext's guide to healthy snackage

Magnesium’s something of a wonder mineral - it helps promote proper functioning of your muscles and nerves, keeps your immune system strong and your heart rhythm steady, regulates blood pressure, and builds strong bones. The essential nutrient also, according to Kevin Dill at Low Carb HIT, helps you metabolize carbs. To up your intake of magnesium, the self-described “on again, off again low carber” recommends food sources like tofu, legumes, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, wheat bran, Brazil nuts, soybean flour, almonds, cashews, blackstrap molasses, pumpkin and squash seeds, pine nuts, and black walnuts. And for info on how much magnesium you need to get each day, check with The Office of Dietary Supplements.

At her healthy weight-loss blog, Ediet.com’s “master motivator” Julia Griggs Havey posts news and advice to help readers make big strides toward shedding pounds. Here, the Awaken the Diet Within talks about the importance of writing down your weight-loss goals:

“If you have your daily plan written down, with the details of all you want to get done today, including the snacks you will carry with you and your meals chosen for the day, you will be much more inclined to avoid the unhealthy foods and actions that may throw you off track. If you can plan the activities, the errands, and all the tasks you will be doing each day from the time you get up ‘til the time you go to bed, you will be keeping yourself busy on accomplishing what’s on your daily planner, rather than spending time worrying about your weight or other things that may not be productive.”

Carb Attack tracks one blogger’s journey through the 30-in-30 low carb diet challenge, an effort to shed 30 pounds in 30 weeks. Also working to manage her diabetes, Kathryn has sought some help from Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s book The Diabetes Diet (a low-carb solution to keeping diabetes in check). The results thus far:

“So Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetic Diet seems to be working! If you are diabetic or insulin resistant, I recommend it. It’s extremely low carb, so many people have a hard time staying on it. But I find that the good results I get make me willing to stick with it pretty well so far.”

“If I’m not liplocked to a bottle of Perrier I’m drowning at the bottom of a teapot,” says Fear And Loathing In The Kitchen blogger Tracy (a “navel-gazer self-absorbed enough to believe that her ongoing battle with weight, body image, and food addictions and obsessions makes for interesting reading,” according to her bio). “I have no idea what it’s like to actually feel thirsty.” We know the feeling: Drowning in reminders to get that 64-ounces-a-day, my fingertips are never too far from a 1.5-liter bottle of Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water.

Determined to find out whether we really truly require so much hydration, Tracy turned to Dartmouth researcher and kidney specialist Heinz Valtin, M.D. Her discovery:

“According to Valtin, when you start to get low on fluid your body will compensate by bringing fluid back out of your kidneys and by slowing the loss of water through your skin. Thirst begins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent - so you can absolutely rely on your thirst to tell you when to have a drink. He also found that coffee, tea etc are perfectly fine to drink and do count toward your fluid intake. And he found no studies at all showing that the magic 8 cups of water are necessary for health.”

Sometimes healthy-weight bloggers can serve as a sort of stand-in nutritionist, cluing you in on what might be missing from your own diet. I never, ever get enough dairy, and so was fortunate to stumble upon Use It Or Lose It’s recent post on upping her dairy intake to three servings a day. Her solution: Trader Joe’s fat-free cottage cheese paired with fresh sliced peaches. A cup of cottage cheese gets you nearly 140 mg of calcium plus a good dose of protein, while the peaches provide some fiber and so much juicy sweetness.

We love Zara at weight-maintenance blog Yo Heave Ho not just for her fluency in piratespeak, but for her willingness to share new discoveries such as the very adorable, cantaloupe-sized Pure Heart watermelon from Dulcinea Farms. Says Zara:

“I learned that the little individual Dulcinea watermelons are sweeter and easier to manage than the original full-size seedless watermelon I butchered. And they are so darn cute! But the best thing that has come out of this is that when I want something crunchy and/or sweet, mindless munching on watermelon does much less damage than, say, 0reos. I wish I could say I liked watermelon better than 0reos, but who am I kidding here? It’s just a purposeful choice to substitute something healthy and so far, it’s helping.”

How to keep from totally sabotaging your diet when life gets crazy-busy? UK-based health and fitness blog Exercise Pro offers 8 ways to eat healthy when you’re on the move, so you don’t end up reaching for a Big Mac and fries. Strategy #7 focuses on reaching for low-glycemic snacks:

“If you are have the kind of busy life that barely allows the time for a healthy meal you can avoid succumbing to temptation at fast food joints by bringing your own glycemic snack. A banana, peanut butter and honey sandwich on whole grain bread is an excellent example of a low glycemic snack that quells hunger pains and provides you with plenty of energy.”

Even if you’re not an emotional eater, you’ve likely got an “emotional comfort layer” that affects how and what you eat. An emotional comfort layer, explains Helen at Trying To Become Athletic, forms from the positive emotions we associate with eating. And, by reducing what we eat to an amount less than what’s indicated by that layer, we end up feeling “deprived emotionally (although not physically)” and possibly negatively impacting our overall wellbeing. By way of further illuminating the concept of the emotional comfort layer, Helen - a self-described “ex fat kid” who’s working her way to running a 10K” - shares this quote from Remembering Wholeness: A Personal Handbook for Thriving in the 21st Century author Carol Tuttle:

Food is used as a counterfeit energy to compensate for the emotional and spiritual energies of sweetness, comfort, fulfillment, and satisfaction that are lacking in their lives.

Check Helen’s post for links to a couple of Carol’s Mercola.com articles about emotions and eating.

With heat waves hitting all over the country, you’re most likely not feeling the need to whip up a batch of soup right this second. But for when the thermometer drops back down to a reasonable soup-slurping temp, JKRunning’s got a “diet soup” recipe with lots of nutrient-packed ingredients and stats that should satisfy anyone looking to shed some pounds:

Calories: 34

Fat: 0.3 g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 234 mg

Potassium: 336 mg

Carbs: 7.6g

Fiber: 2.3 g

Protein: 1.8 g

A post at Delight Vitality first sparked our interest dieting site SparkPeople.com. Now Anonymous Fit Woman has reignited our curiosity, with a post about she’s making the switch from counting points (a la Weight Watchers) to tracking her food on SparkPeople. The post inspired us to explore SparkPeople a bit more, and - like Anonymous Fit Woman - we’re digging how the site offers “a nice little graph of how your food is broken down in fats/carbs/proteins.” It’s a great way to take your weight-loss efforts beyond calorie-counting and into the realm of all-around healthier eating.

While we don’t always trust meal-replacement powders and potions, we do trust recommendations from dynamite bloggers like Katie Feldmom. Katie uses Myoplex Lite, a nutrient-rich formula that’s formulated to support your metabolism and growth of lean muscle mass. It’s got a blend of low-glycemic carbs that, according to the manufacturer, “are released into the body in a slow, steady manner, helping to ensure an even energy supply and well-controlled blood-sugar levels.” And while Myoplex may not be suited for long-term use, it might be perfect for helping you to briefly cut back on calories without losing out on the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy.

As Jonathan at Jack Sprat’s Journey points out, “one of the hardest things about eating healthy and maintaining weight is that the cheapest, quickest foods out there tend to be the most unhealthy.” To avoid all those cheap and quick “calorie bombs,” Jonathan recommends doubling up on your food prep: While you’re in the midst of slicing and dicing your way to a salad, cut up twice as many veggies and save the rest for later, thus avoiding the temptation to seek a fast-food fix.

ThisNext loves blogger tips that helps us save triply, helping conserve our precious time, cash, and calories.

I constantly say I’m trying to lose weight, but clearly I’m not trying very hard. Still, here’s one diet I think I can commit to. The basic tenets are not earth-shatteringly innovative (eat veggies, limit simple sugars, etc.), but I can really dig a diet plan that suggests — nay, insists! — that you accompany one meal a day with “the power of a small glass of wine.” If I have two, will I lose twice as much weight?

Via Diet Blog. 

Sprint users can now subscribe to a $10-a-month service that delivers personalized dieting advice straight to their camera phones, Medgadget reports. Through MyFoodPhone, you can snap pictures of your meals, send the photos in, and post your diet and health info online. Then, every two weeks, the service will e-mail you a personalized 90-second video with nutritionist advice on your dieting progress and tips on achieving healthy weight loss.

We love how SweetCherry at Diet Porn Is Obsession posts cute little snapshots of her daily lunchbox and shares some of the recipes for its low-fat contents (pineapple slaw with feta cheese = yum). And we’re especially adoring of her diet-suited snack discoveries, a la these summer-perfect ice cream cones from The Skinny Cow (just 150 calories per cone).