I've done an extensive survey of all of the information about weight loss that you can find on the shelves of Border's and Barnes & Noble, and here are the results.

It seems as if the best way to lose weight and get in shape is a combo of the following: eating a lot of carbs, eating a lot of fat, cutting carbs out completely, drinking a lot of water, not eating any "white" foods at night like bread, rice, and pasta, eating just grapefruit, eating your meals in a mixed-up fashion (lunch for dinner, breakfast for lunch, etc), not eating after 8pm, eating a lot of soups, cutting out all candy, cakes, and processed foods, avoiding diet drinks, eating a Subway sub a couple of times a week, eating foods according to your blood type, eating foods according to color, eating a lot of fiber, training your brain to think like a thin person, eating like they do in France, eating like they do in China, not counting calories, making sure you count calories, taking vitamins and supplements, become a vegan, eating more meat, eat a lot of apples, eating only raw foods, and joining one of the weight loss organizations such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.

If you follow the above rules, you should get in shape very quickly. You're welcome.

Benefits

• High in zinc, which is important for a healthy immune system.
• Contains more iron than most foods, and it is more easily used by the body than iron from other sources
• Also a good source of other vitamins and minerals, including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium and b vitamins.
• Excellent source of complete proteins
• A high-protein diet based on lean red meat has been shown to help weight loss

Risks

• An increased risk of bowel cancer was found for people who ate more than two servings of red meat per week.
• The Mediterranean diet, which is low in red meat, has been shown to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Excessive amounts of red meat can lead to a higher risk of osteoporosis due to an acid byproduct from digesting very large amounts of protein.
• Eating red meat every day can double the risk of Arthritis
• Red meat is high in saturated fat and cholesterol
• A recent study found that rating more than one serving of red meat per day can double the risk of breast cancer, especially in young women.

They found that based on the old guidelines, only 40% of people were getting the recommended amounts. Based on the new recommendations, which are significantly higher, only 10% of people would be eating the suggested amount of fruits and vegetables.

Wait - 1999? The problem with the study is that it is comparing old data to our new standards. Granted, people weren't eating enough vegetables in 1999 and you can be sure that not all people are eating enough now, but dietary trends have changed enough that the comparison might not yield accurate results. In the past 7 years, there has been a tremendous growth in organic and natural foods, heirloom fruits and vegetables and in healthier eating overall. The trends are so much more prevalent now than they were when the data for the survey was collected, that it is likely the numbers are more encouraging, even if we're only up to 15% instead of 10%.

Stonyfield Farms is looking to make yogurt even healthier. In Canada, their Organic YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal Yogurt, made for infants and toddlers, is now fortified with MEG-3 brand omega-3, giving it the same heart-healthy fatty acids that are found in foods like fish. Omega-3 is also found in breast milk in the same concentration that Stonyfield is using in its yogurt; it was likely the inspiration for the idea to add MEG-3 to the product in the first place, as soft yogurts are considered to be a good "transition" to solid foods.

Yogurt isn't the only food to recently gain the benefits of omega-3s. Some research is being done with pork and omega-3s. The question is whether the infusion of the fatty acid into other foods will be able to reproduce all the health benefits of the naturally occurring acids in fish.

Hungry Girl has a quick and easy to read rundown of the properties of Vitamins A through K, complete with information about what each vitamin is, what it does and where to get it.

For example, Vitamin A is primarily found in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, while Vitamin D is in fish, like salmon and tuna, and can also be gotten from spending time in the sun. Vitamin B mostly comes from animal-based sources, but can also be found in whole grains and green, leafy vegetables. Citrus fruits will provide plenty of Vitamin C, which can help fight colds and other illnesses. Vitamin E boosts your immune system, while K regulates blood clotting. For a full listing of all you need to know about these vitamins, check out Hungry Girl's list.

Snack bars are still growing in popularity for active adults who either need an energy boost or are simply too busy to sit down to a full meal, but there are a lot of busy kids who have the same activity levels. Between school, sports and other off campus activities, many kids don't sit down to a healthy meal or snack when they're hungry. Instead, they reach for candy bars and other fatty snacks that are well within reach at schools and parks. There are several companies with new snack bars for kids that provide a healthier alternative to candy, while still giving kids a taste of something more exciting than an apple or banana.

Canned tuna has been tested safe by the FDA. After hearing increasing warnings about the levels of mercury in seafoods - particularly canned tuna - the United States Tuna Foundation (USTF) has reported that Food and Drug Administration tests have proven that canned tuna contains less mercury than the national allowance. It is recommended that no more than 1 part per million (ppm) of mercury should be consumed daily, and the canned tuna tested averaged 0.12 ppm, approximately 8 times less than the limit for commercial fish. The USTF director, David Burney, said that the "FDA's latest findings about mercury levels in canned tuna should end the debate over whether canned tuna is a safe and healthy food for all Americans. No one is at risk from the minute amounts of mercury in any form of canned tuna."

Tuna is high in omega-3 fatty acids and is an excellent source of lean protein. It is also a good source of a variety of minerals and nutrients, including selenium, magnesium, potassium, niacin, folic acid, B1 and B6. The national dietary guidelines and organizations such as the American Heart Association advocate eating at least two servings of fish per week, and canned tuna is perhaps the most convenient way of having it.