Joseph - ITG Operations Director

If you're working on reaching your goal weight quickly and efficiently using the ITG Diet Plan, you may have been learning the importance of understanding nutrition labels and how to decipher them. Over the years I've spent coaching the program, I certainly have learned a lot about labels myself. Remember, years ago, we were taught how bad fat was for us? "Fat will make you fat!" Starting in the 1980s and continuing throughout the 1990s, "reduced fat" and fat-free foods gained their foothold in our lives. The low-fat diet was born. However, looking back now we can start to see that fat isn't quite as bad for us compared to what was being pumping into these foods to add flavor without that fat: sugar and salt.

It's something we all look forward to... the day finally arrives, and congratulations! You are in Step 3 of the ITG Diet Plan, Maintenance!

If you've made it to Step 3, kudos to you for reaching your health and weight loss goals! Now, let the fun begin. Step 3 allows one Reward Day a week when you can, within reason, eat whatever you've been looking forward to all week long.

What fun foods have you been looking forward to on your Reward Day?

If you're like me and many other people, pizza might be up there on the list of priorities. However, normal pizza shop and even frozen pizzas from the store are extremely high in carbs, sodium and fat. They have very little dietary fiber.

I’ve always had a problem with mindless eating. Whether I was driving for work, watching television at night, or sitting in front of a computer, I always had to have something to snack on. Most of the time – no, scratch that – ALL of the time, those snacks were full of carbs and sugar. It was really easy for me to stop at a gas station or a fast food joint and grab a couple bags of chips, candy, fries, or a milkshake at least once or twice a day. I never thought that I was overdoing it in the snacking department because I was always extremely hungry whenever it came to mealtimes! Without keeping track of what I ate, I got into a bad habit of not even knowing what I was putting into my system.

Proteins are the building blocks of the body. They are broken down into many forms of amino acids and directed to areas that protein is needed. Your hair, skin, muscles…almost every part of your body needs different proteins to grow, repair and replenish. Many diets to lose weight cut back on fat, calories and much more in an effort to drop the pounds. The ITG Diet is all about lowering your carb intake and upping your high quality protein intake. But do you know the reasons why protein works when it comes to weight loss?

You're starting the ITG Diet, or have been on it for a little while. You're learning something new about foods, nutrition, and how your body reacts to the foods you eat by gaining, maintaining, or losing weight. You can really feel when you have a bad day, and you know when you're doing well because the clothes get looser and your energy levels increase.

There are many tips and tricks that we teach during the initial consultation for new ITG dieters. Some may become new habits for life, and others will be helpful ways to combat hunger, help you stop yourself from overeating, and general tips to stay successful while on all Steps of the ITG Diet Plan.

Back in the days before I lost my weight and changed my habits with ITG, I wasn't a big believer in using supplements as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Rightfully so, as I had done a lot of research on the quality of over-the-counter supplements in vitamin shops and drugstores. Since supplements aren't regulated by the FDA, there can be ingredient and quality issues; you aren't always getting what you think. For example, some protein supplements do indeed contain protein, but that protein was absorbed and utilized by animals, and not humans. There are other supplements that have been tested off the shelves and they contain nothing but dried and ground grass and weeds, with no benefit whatsoever to the human body. Other supplements contain nutrients, but not in the levels listed on the bottle. However, when I started with ITG and learned the importance of proper supplementation, good manufacturing practices (GMP), and medical grade quality ingredients, my eyes were opened as to what a good supplement can do for the body. Want to know my favorite supplements? Keep reading!

If you’re like one of many people we speak to each day who wants to start the ITG Diet Plan, but you exercise quite frequently and are worried about your routine, then this information is for you!

The ITG Diet Plan is a low-calorie diet. When you exercise vigorously, your body requires many more calories than the plan provides you with. The calories from ITG Foods, combined with whole foods from the store, falls into a range which is perfect for losing weight and maintaining muscle mass. However, while on the plan, exercise can change the way your body processes foods as it adjusts to lower levels of sugar and converts to using your stored body fat for energy.

In light of the new year and "dieting season," there are many articles and news pieces published every day comparing a typical keto diet to other weight loss plans. On average, about 6,000 articles, documents and reviews are posted daily dealing with health and weight loss. Sifting through all that material on the internet can dig up a lot of information, both educational as well as misguided.

While the ITG Diet Plan does get you into a light state of ketosis, there are differences between ITG and simply eating foods according to a keto lifestyle. A typical keto diet is a way of eating rather than a weight loss plan, allowing many foods that we restrict while on the ITG Diet Plan. 

We know this time of year is full of holiday cheer, and holiday cookies, and holiday cakes, and cocktails... the list goes on! How do you make it through without indulging, or if you are in Step 3, overindulging in those sugary filled little treats?

Even those of us with the strongest willpower seem to have periodic lapses in judgement when it comes to indulging in snacks and junk foods. American reliance on these processed foods is a big reason for the obesity epidemic today. It seems scary to realize that we depend on foods with no good nutritional value to get us through everyday life. We then find ourselves craving more and more of those foods just to feel better, even if the feelings only last a short time with the rush of sugar in our systems. Ultimately, these foods affect our health in a negative way. Why is it so hard to give up junk food and fight the urge of salty and sugary cravings?

Cauliflower has been gaining quite a following recently! A couple years ago when I was on the ITG Diet Plan, my cravings for pizza and rice were satisfied with the substitution of cauliflower. I began buying heads of cauliflower to try recipes in the ITG Recipe Section: Cauliflower Flat Bread Pizza, Cauliflower Fried Rice, and Buffalo Cauliflower, among others. I still to this day use this versatile veggie long after I reached my goal weight, especially since I never felt weighed down or "puffy" after eating several cups of it, which tends to happen with regular rice and dough!

Everyone these days seems to be so busy between careers, school, kids, and so many other things. One of the problems I usually faced as so many others do is that I sacrificed my diet for convenience of ready to eat foods from the store, fast food dining and restaurants. Even when I cooked for myself, I used items chock full of carbs and unhealthy ingredients instead of sticking with the basics. How could I pull off cooking for myself when I started the ITG Diet so that it would be easy for me to stick with?

Have you hit a plateau in your weight loss? Do you feel like you’re doing everything right to lose weight and it’s just not working? At ITG, occasionally some of our dieters will have a rough week. They know when they’ve cheated with the carbs, but if they’re not cheating, the typical problem is usually they’re not drinking enough water. The coaches here at ITG Diet always tell our dieters, “Water, water, water!” If you are experiencing times when your weight doesn’t seem to budge, make sure you look at your water intake and increase it as necessary depending on activity level and even during hotter weather.

Did you happen to watch Super Bowl LI? Did you stick around for halftime? Lady Gaga put on a great show, jumping off the stadium roof, dancing, changing costumes... all while singing live in front of millions. She trained for months to be able to put on this 15 minute non-stop spectacle. And then on Monday, the stories about her body started coming in... 

The holidays are upon us once again, and ‘tis the season to enjoy spending time with family and friends. There are work parties, family parties, school parties, and so much more going on throughout the month to keep track of. The problem with the holiday parties? Keeping track of all the food you may eat along the way. How can you make sure that the overabundant temptations of candy, cakes, snacks, and wine at each get together won’t derail your diet?

We’ve seen it time and again: men put on a few extra pounds, and whenever they feel like it, they lose them just as fast. Sometimes, they barely have to be motivated to drop the pounds or even seem like they’re trying. Women, on the other hand, tend to take more time and have a slower rate of weight loss than the opposite sex. There are few reasons why men lose weight much faster than women.

Have you noticed the size of dinner plates at restaurants or even in your home these days? If you happen to have a set of china passed down from a grandmother, take a look at the plate sizes. They have drastically gotten bigger over the years! Obesity didn’t seem to be such a problem back when your grandmother was cooking healthy, home-made meals for the family. The American obesity problem stems from eating the wrong foods in large quantities…on big dinner plates. Here are some tips to help lose weight by making some simple changes in the way you eat your meals.

I have tried several different methods to lose extra pounds over the years. Like many of you, I have changed my behaviors, eating habits, and joined gyms in order to look and, more importantly, feel better and healthier. Even when I thought as though I was doing everything right, something usually seemed a bit off for me. I still felt tired during the day and not as mentally sharp as I should have been. I wasn’t always motivated to get to the gym. I didn’t understand why I was living such a healthy lifestyle and my weight loss would hit a brick wall here and there. Why was I developing these negative feelings when everything I had read or seen told me I would be so much healthier and feel so much better if I followed a few simple steps?

     Olive oil is full of heart-healthy unsaturated fats. Heart disease risk can decrease when using a monounsaturated olive oil instead of saturated fats, like lard. When frying foods with olive oil, the process may take away the health benefits of the oil when it forms other less healthy types of fats, which usually takes places in restaurant and commercial kitchens rather than typical home cooking.

     It’s been three months since I started on the ITG Diet. Back at the end of August, I weighed 217 pounds, had a 36 inch waist, and felt generally unhealthy overall. I didn’t eat well, sleep well, and my body didn’t feel so great day to day. I was getting tired of buying large shirts and wearing baggy clothes all the time; nothing seemed to fit right on me. I didn’t feel good about myself or the way I looked anymore. There were many times I would glance at my reflection in a store window or a mirror and think to myself, “who is this guy? What happened to the old me?”