It’s that time, yet again!  Is weight loss one of your resolutions for the New Year? If you’re like most people, this resolution is high on your list year after year – to get healthy and lose weight. Would you like 2014 to be the last time you make a weight loss resolution?

While it may seem like losing your love handles and jiggly thighs is a resolution that just keeps repeating itself, that doesn’t have to be the case. You can reach your weight loss goal this year, and here are our best suggestions to help you reach those goals, once and for all:

Define why you want to lose weight. You can’t go after something and expect to get it if you don’t have a clear understanding of why you want it. Take some time and think about why weight loss is important to you. Make a list of the positive ways your life will change once you reach a lower, healthier weight, and keep that vision in front of you at all times.

During the holidays you’re surrounded by homemade dishes and desserts that make your mouth water and your taste buds beg for “just one little bite.” But you know that if you give in and gorge on all of these tempting foods, you’re going to gain back the weight you’ve worked so hard to lose – and then some.

So, how do you navigate in and out of the kitchen during this food abundant holiday? By making a few simple changes to the foods you normally eat you can avoid feeling deprived and still enjoy some of your traditional holiday favorites. Here are 10 tips to get you started.

Tip #1: Save up to 56 grams of fat per cup of gravy by refrigerating it first and then skimming off the visible, hardened fat. (This works for meat dishes too!)

Tip #2: If you can’t bear the idea of Christmas without green bean casserole, just swap potato chunks for the cream soup. Then top it with almond slices instead of fried onions for a protein powered crunch!

Although your body’s ability to remain stable despite the constant changes around you is normally a good thing (such as keeping your blood pressure and blood sugar steady), it can actually work against you when your goal is to try to lose weight. Your metabolism automatically reduces in an attempt to keep you right where you are.

This means that sometimes you need to find a way to turn up your internal calorie burning furnace on your own. So, here are five quick and easy ways to do just that:

#1 – Drink More Water

Your body requires water the same way that an automobile requires gasoline. When you are dehydrated, your body is going to slow down if not stall completely. However, you can keep your engine burning hot by fueling yourself with water throughout the day. Always have a bottle by your side and you’ll naturally drink more, and burn more fat.

#2 – Eat Natural Foods

Have you tried to lose weight so many times that you would need more than just your fingers and toes to count them on, as well as those of every member of your family? And does each attempt eventually result in you weighing the same as, if not more than, when you first started your weight loss journey? If so, unfortunately you are not alone.

Dieting is one of the most understood lifestyles around the globe. People everywhere are watching what they eat in an attempt to lose weight and gain health. But, if that’s the case, why is it that there is an obesity epidemic that is threatening the health of people all over the world?

The answer is simple: diet. Not diet as in what food people eat (although healthy eating is obviously very important), but diet as in the process. It’s about what effect calorie restriction has on your physical body.

You Can Blame Your Slow Metabolism on Your Grandparents

When you go to the supermarket, do you know which foods are genetically engineered? It’s okay if you don’t, as most people aren’t sure either.

It’s certainly understandable as you’re forced to remember all sorts of things when it comes to food. You’re expected to watch the fat content (primarily trans fats and saturated fats) and the amount of sodium in foods you ordinarily eat in order to stay healthy and strong.

You also need to know whether a product has anything that you or your family is allergic to in it, and so much more. So, is it really necessary to add one more thing to your already overflowing list of grocery shopping responsibilities?

In short, the answer is yes. Why?

Ultimately, you should know everything that you put into your body – from foods to supplements to anything else you choose to ingest. Your health and that of your family is in your hands, so the more you know about the items you consume, the more you’re able to make informed decisions in regard to your own health and welfare.

You are hungry, but you don’t have much time. You are in a hurry, so you grab something already prepared. Whether you reached for fast food or something prepared from the store, these choices are almost always filled with sodium, sugar, saturated fat, and preservatives. Exactly what your body needs to store more fat.

It’s a decision we have all faced, but, even when it seems like there are no healthy options, there are ways to eat right while on the go. You just need to know how to make better choices when faced with these decisions, and what all this can mean to your health and well-being.

Most people know that almost all fast food is unhealthy. Many fast food restaurants serve food that is loaded with saturated fat, sugar, and sodium. Even when you think you may be choosing the healthy option, you may be consuming more calories and sugar than you should.

Sugar, and its related derivatives corn syrup, molasses, maltose, and dextrose, is found in many of the foods consumed in our modern life. This sweet substance is common, but can it really be considered addictive? Let’s look at how we become addicted to sugar, what sugar does to our bodies and health, where it can be found, and ways to end your love affair with sugar.

Most estimates put the average consumption of sugar between 20 and 30 teaspoons a day. While at first this may not seem that bad, it is worth noting that women should be consuming a maximum of six teaspoons a day and men should be consuming no more than nine teaspoons a day.

Sugar, much like alcohol, heroin, morphine, and cocaine, releases hormones in our brain that activates our “feel good” receptors. This means that sugar meets the same criteria as other addictive substances, resulting in a compulsion to consume, a gradual tolerance to its effects caused from continued use, difficulty functioning without it, and withdrawal symptoms when consumption ends.

That’s right; the world finally has a healthy candy. It is called Ice Chips and it comes in a variety of amazing flavors that freshen breath and clean teeth.

A refreshing blast of clean feeling comes from flavors like:

• Cinnamon
• Spearmint
• Wintergreen
• Peppermint

Ice Chips are NOT made from sugar. They are made from an all-natural sweetener called Xylitol. Xylitol comes from the bark of birch trees. It was once said that a hard candy could not be made from Xylitol, but two working women found a way to make it happen and Ice Chips were born. You may have seen the grandmas from Ice Chips on ABC's Shark Tank, where they got the Sharkand have become one of the biggest Shark Tank success stories of all!

If they say it can’t be done, leave it to two grandmothers to prove the world wrong. Two women were once told that the FDA approved natural sweetener, xylitol, could not be formed into a hard candy. Low and behold, they had already invented it and now they can show-off their tasty treats to the rest of the world.

The candy is called Ice Chips. The ladies and the Ice Chips with Xylitol were even featured on the hit ABC show, Shark Tank. The show allows everyday people the opportunity to explain their personal inventions and then the sharks (who are already affluent entrepreneurs), get a chance to back the inventions or back away. The two inventors of Ice Chips received a deal from the sharks and now have a successful sugar-free candy company.

What Makes Ice Chips Different from Other Sugar-Free Candy?

Xylitol is the key ingredient in Ice Chips. This makes the candies much more flavorful than regular sugar-free candy. In addition, Ice Chips only contain Xylitol from Birchwood which makes them 100% natural.