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I have been received so many questions form my community on facebook and email subscribers that, what are the amazing tips to gain weight fast, Now this is the solution if you want to gain weight within two weeks..

What Does “Underweight” Really Mean?

Being underweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5. This is estimated to be less than the body mass needed to sustain optimal health.

Conversely, over 25 is considered overweight and over 30 is considered obese.

Use this calculator to see where you fit on the BMI scale (opens in new tab).

However, keep in mind that there are many problems with the BMI scale, which only looks at weight and height. It does not take muscle mass into account.

How to Gain Weight, The Healthy Way

If you want to gain weight, then it is very important that you do it right.

Binging on soda and donuts may help you gain weight, but it can destroy your health at the same time.

If you are underweight, then you want to gain a balanced amount of muscle mass and subcutaneous fat, not a bunch of unhealthy belly fat.

There are plenty of normal weight people who get type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other health problems often associated with obesity.

Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you still eat healthy foods and live an overall healthy lifestyle.

Now let’s look at several effective ways to gain weight fast, without ruining your health at the same time.

1. Eat Lots of Protein

The single most important nutrient for gaining healthy weight is protein.

Muscle is made of protein, and without it most of those extra calories may end up as body fat.

Studies show that during periods of overfeeding, a high protein diet causes many of the extra calories to be turned into muscle.

However, keep in mind that protein is a double-edged sword. It is also highly filling, so that it can reduce your hunger and appetite significantly. This can make it harder to get in enough calories.

If you’re trying to gain weight, aim for 0.7-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight (1.5 – 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram). You can even go above that if your calorie intake is very high.

High-protein foods include meats, fish, eggs, many dairy products, legumes, nuts and others. Protein supplements like whey protein can also be useful if you struggle to get enough protein in your diet.

2. Eat More Calories Than Your Body Burns

The most important thing you can do to gain weight is to eat more calories than your body needs.

A caloric surplus (calories in > calories out) is needed. Without it, you won’t gain. Period.

You can determine your calorie needs using this calorie calculator.

If you want to gain weight slowly and steadily, then aim for 300-500 calories more than you burn each day according to the calculator.

If you want to gain weight fast, then aim for something like 700-1000 calories above your maintenance level.

Keep in mind that calorie calculators only provide estimates. Your needs may vary by several hundred calories per day, give or take.

You don’t need to count calories for the rest of your life, but it helps to do it for the first few days/weeks to get a feel for how many calories you are eating.

I recommend using tools like Cron-o-meter or MyFitnessPal to track your intake.

3. Eat Lots of Carbs and Fat, and Eat at Least 3 Times Per Day

Many people try restricting either carbs or fat when they are trying to lose weight.

This is a bad idea if your goal is to gain weight, because it will make it harder to get in enough calories.

Eat plenty of high-carb and high-fat foods if weight gain is a priority for you. It is best to eat plenty of protein, fat and carbs at each meal.

It is also a bad idea to do intermittent fasting. This is useful for weight loss and health improvement, but can make it much harder to eat enough calories to gain weight.

Make sure to eat at least 3 meals per day, and try to add in energy-dense snacks whenever possible.

4. Eat a Lot of Energy-Dense Foods and use Sauces, Spices and Condiments

Again, it is very important to eat mostly whole, single ingredient foods.

The problem is that these foods tend to be more filling than processed junk foods, making it harder to get in enough calories.

Using plenty of spices, sauces and condiments can help with this. The tastier your food is, the easier it is to eat a lot of it.

Also, try to emphasize energy-dense foods as much as possible. These are foods that contain many calories relative to their weight.

Here are some energy-dense foods that are perfect for gaining weight:

• Nuts: Almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, etc.
• Dried fruit: Raisins, dates, prunes and others.
• High-fat dairy: Whole milk, full-fat yogurt, cheese, cream.
• Fats and Oils: Extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil.
• Grains: Whole grains like oats and brown rice.
• Meat: Chicken, beef, pork, lamb, etc. Choose fattier cuts.
• Tubers: Potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.
• Dark chocolate, avocados, peanut butter, coconut milk, granola, trail mixes.

Many of these foods are very filling, and sometimes you may need to force yourself to keep eating even if you feel full.

It may be a good idea not to eat a ton of vegetables if gaining weight is a priority for you. It simply leaves less room for energy-dense foods.

Eating whole fruit is fine, but try to emphasize fruit that doesn’t require too much chewing, such as bananas.

5. Lift Heavy Weights and Improve Your Strength

In order to make sure that the excess calories go to your muscles instead of just your fat cells, then it is absolutely crucial to lift weights.

Go to a gym and lift, 2-4 times per week. Lift heavy, and try to increase the weights and volume over time.

If you are completely out of shape or you are new to training, then consider hiring a qualified personal trainer to help you get started.

You may also want to consult with a doctor if you have skeletal problems or any sort of medical issue.

It is probably best to take it easy on the cardio for now. Focus mostly on the weights.

Doing some cardio is fine to improve fitness and well-being, but don’t do so much that you end up burning all the additional calories you are eating.

6. More Tips to Gain Weight

Combining a high calorie intake with heavy strength training are the two most important factors to gain weight.

That being said, here are a few more tips to gain weight even faster:

1. Don’t drink water before meals. This can fill your stomach and make it harder to get in enough calories.
2. Eat more often. Squeeze in an additional meal or snack whenever you can, such as before bed.
3. Drink milk. Drinking whole milk to quench thirst is a simple way to get in more high-quality protein and calories.
4. Try weight gainer shakes. If you are really struggling then you can try weight gainer shakes. These are very high in protein, carbs and calories.
5. Use bigger plates. Definitely use large plates if you are trying to get in more calories, as smaller plates cause people to automatically eat less.
6. Add cream to your coffee. This is a simple way to add in more calories.
7. Take creatine. The muscle building supplement creatine monohydrate can help you gain a few pounds in muscle weight.
8. Get quality sleep. Sleeping properly is very important for muscle growth.

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When consumed in excess, added sugar can have disastrous effects on your health.

However, some sources of sugar are worse than others… and sugary drinks are the worst, by far.

This primarily applies to sugary soda, but also to fruit juices, highly sweetened coffees and other sources of liquid sugar.

If you've been reading health magazines and websites for any length of time, you've read a litany of reasons why soda is bad for you. It's nothing but sugar water. It's devoid of any nutritional value. It leads to obesity and diabetes. Keep reading to find out all nine reasons you should kick soda to the curb.

1. Sugary Drinks do Not Make You Feel Full and Are Strongly Linked to Weight Gain

Added sugar is highly fattening… and liquid sugar even more so.

One of the reasons for this, is that sugar supplies large amounts of the simple sugar fructose, which does not lower the hunger hormone ghrelin in the same way as glucose, the main carb found in starchy foods.

Studies have also shown that fructose does not seem to stimulate the satiety centers in the brain in the same way as glucose.

The brain is actually supposed to regulate your calorie intake. If you eat more of one food (like potatoes), you should automatically eat less of something else instead.

Liquid sugar doesn’t work in this way… when people consume it, they usually add it on top of the total calorie intake.

In other words, sugary drinks don’t make you feel full, so you eat the same amount of food as before, but with a whole lot of extra sugar calories on the side.

In one study, people who added soda on top of their current diet ended up consuming 17% more calories than before. That is a huge amount, which could easily lead to obesity over a few years.

Not surprisingly, studies have shown that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages consistently gain more weight than people who don’t.

In one study in children, each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was linked to a 60% increased risk of obesity.

The truth is… sugary drinks are THE most fattening aspect of the modern diet. If you want to lose weight, or avoid gaining it over time, then you should seriously consider removing these drinks from your life.

2. Sugar Drastically Increases Belly Fat Accumulation

Sugar consumption makes you prone to storing more body fat.

Fructose in particular appears to dramatically increase the dangerous fat around the belly and organs. This is known as visceral fat, or belly fat.

In a 10 week study, 32 healthy people consumed beverages sweetened with either fructose or glucose.

Glucose consumers only had an increase in subcutaneous fat (not linked to metabolic disease), while fructose drinkers had a significant increase in the harmful visceral fat.

3. Soda Drinkers Have a Higher Risk of Cancer

The risk of cancer tends to go hand-in-hand with other chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

For this reason, it is not surprising to see that sugary drinks are frequently associated with an increased risk of cancer.

One study of over 60,000 men and women found that those who drank two or more sugary sodas per week were 87% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who did not drink soda.

Another study on pancreatic cancer found a strong link in women, but not men.

Postmenopausal women with high intakes of sugary soda also appear to be at greater risk for cancer in the inner lining of the uterus, called endometrial cancer.

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has also been linked to cancer recurrence and death in patients with colorectal cancer.

4. Large Amounts of Sugar Are Turned into Fat in The Liver

Sugar is composed of two molecules… glucose and fructose.

Glucose can be metabolized by every cell in the body, whereas fructose can only be metabolized by one organ, the liver.

Sugary drinks are the easiest (and most common) way to consume excessive amounts of fructose.

When we consume too much, in the context of a high-carb, high-calorie Western diet, the liver becomes overloaded and turns the fructose into fat.

Some of the fat gets shipped out as blood triglycerides, while part of it remains in the liver. Over time, this can contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

5. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages May be The Leading Dietary Cause of Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a very common disease, affecting about 300 million people worldwide.

It is characterized by elevated blood sugars in the context of insulin resistance or a deficiency in insulin.

Given that sugary drinks can lead to insulin resistance, it is not surprising to see that numerous studies link soda consumption with type 2 diabetes.

In fact, as little as one can of soda per day has been consistently linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

In a recent study looking at sugar consumption and diabetes in 175 countries, each 150 calories (about one can of soda) of sugar per day was linked to a 1.1% increase in type 2 diabetes.

To put that number in perspective, if the entire US population added one can of soda to their daily diet, almost 3.5 million people might become diabetic.

6. Numerous Studies Link Sugar-Sweetened Beverages to Heart Disease Risk

Sugar intake was first linked to heart disease risk back in the 60’s and 70’s.

Since then, it has been established that sugar-sweetened drinks increase some of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

This includes blood sugar, blood triglycerides, small, dense LDL particles and numerous others.

More recent studies in humans have found strong links between sugar intake and heart disease risk in men, women and adolescents.

One study following 40,000 men for two decades found that those who drank one sugary drink per day had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack, or dying from a heart attack, compared to men who rarely consumed sugary drinks.

7. The Sugar and Acids in Soda are a Disaster For Dental Health

It is a well known fact that sugary soda is bad for your teeth.

Soda contains acids like phosphoric acid and carbonic acid.

These acids create a highly acidic environment in the mouth, which makes the teeth vulnerable to decay.

While the acids in soda can themselves cause damage, it is the combination with sugar that makes soda particularly harmful.

Sugar provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth. This, combined with the acids, wreaks havoc on dental health over time.

8. Sugary Soda Contains No Essential Nutrients… Just Sugar

 

Sugary soda is “empty” calories. No doubt about that.

It contain absolutely no essential nutrients… no vitamins, no minerals, no antioxidants and zero fiber.

It literally adds nothing to the diet except excessive amounts of added sugar and unnecessary calories.

9. Sugar Consumption is Linked to an Increased Risk of Dementia

Dementia is the collective term used to describe neuron degenerative conditions that can occur as we grow older.

The most common form is Alzheimer’s disease.

Research has found that any incremental increase in blood sugar is strongly associated with an increased risk for dementia.

In other words, the higher your blood sugar, the higher the risk of dementia.

Because sugar-sweetened beverages lead to rapid spikes in blood sugars and can raise blood sugar by causing insulin resistance, it makes sense that they could increase your risk of dementia.

Rodent studies support these findings, showing that large doses of sugary drinks can impair memory and decision-making capabilities.

So… not only do sugary drinks wreak havoc on metabolic health, they appear to be seriously harmful for your brain as well.

If you want to lose weight, avoid chronic disease and live longer with a sharper brain, then consider avoiding sugary drinks like the plague.

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The eggplant, also known as garden egg

When most people think of eggplant, this is the image that comes to mind. However, eggplants actually come in a variety of shapes and colors from small and oblong to long and skinny, from shades of purple to white and green.

No matter the name, shape, or color, all eggplants contain many beneficial nutrients and phytochemical compounds that benefit human health. This article will focus on the nutritional benefits of the traditional purple eggplant. 

Nutritional breakdown of eggplant

One cup of raw eggplant contains 

20 calories, 

0.8 grams of protein, 

4.82 grams of carbohydrate, 

0.15 grams of fat and 

2.5 grams of dietary fiber. 

A one-cup serving meets 

10% of daily fiber needs, 

5% potassium, 

3% vitamin C, 

5% vitamin B-6, 

1% iron and 

2% magnesium. 

Eggplants also contain anthocyanins, compounds that belong to a class of naturally occurring phytochemicals known as flavonoids. Flavonoids are present in many plant foods and in addition to providing health benefits - they also contribute to the distinguishable coloration of many fruits and vegetables. In this case, anthocyanins are water-soluble pigments that give the eggplant their well-known dark purple complexion.

Many of the nutritional benefits gained from consuming eggplants are obtained from the skin of the vegetable. Eggplant skin is full of fiber, potassium and magnesium and antioxidants. In fact, its phenolic content makes it such a potent free radical scavenger that the eggplant is ranked among the top 10 vegetables in terms of oxygen radical absorbance capacity.

  Health Benefits of Consuming Eggplant

Consuming fruits and vegetables of all kinds has long been associated with a reduced risk of many lifestyle-related health conditions. Many studies have suggested that increasing consumption of plant foods like the eggplant decreases the risk of obesity and overall mortality, diabetes, heart disease and promotes a healthy complexion and hair, increased energy and overall lower weight. 

1. Heart health

The fiber, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, and phytonutrient content in eggplants all support heart health. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating foods containing flavonoids is affiliated with a lower risk of mortality from heart disease. Consuming even small quantities of flavonoid-rich foods may benefit human health.

Several studies show that consumption of the flavonoids known as anthocyanins has played a major role in lowering risk of cardiovascular disease. One particular study revealed that those who consumed more than three servings of fruits and vegetables per week containing anthocyanins had 34% less risk of heart disease than those who consumed less. In another clinical study, researchers found that increased intake of anthocyanins was associated with significantly lower blood pressure.

2. Blood Cholesterol

Research on the effects of eggplant consumption in animal studies has shown that rabbits with high cholesterol that consumed eggplant juice displayed a significant decrease in weight and blood cholesterol levels.

Laboratory analyses of the phenolic compounds in eggplant reveal that the vegetable contains significant amounts of chlorogenic acid, which is one of the most powerful free radical scavengers found in plants. Chlorogenic acid has been shown to decrease LDL levels, and also serves as an antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticarcinogenic agent.

3. Cancer

Polyphenols in eggplant have been found to exhibit anti-cancer effects. Anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid function as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. They protect body cells from damage caused by free radicals and in turn prevent tumor growth and invasion and spread of cancer cells. They also stimulate detoxifying enzymes within cells and promote cancer cell death.

4. Cognitive Function

Findings from animal studies suggest that nasunin, an anthocyanin within eggplant skin, is a powerful antioxidant that protects the lipids comprising cell membranes in brain cells from free radical damage. It has also been proven to help facilitate the transport of nutrients into the cell and wastes out.

Research has also shown that anthocyanins inhibit neuroinflammation and facilitate blood flow to the brain. This helps prevent age-related mental disorders and also improves memory.

5. Weight Management and Satiety

Dietary fibers are commonly recognized as important factors in weight management and loss by functioning as "bulking agents" in the digestive system. These compounds increase satiety and reduce appetite, making you feel fuller for longer and thereby lowering your overall calorie intake. Since eggplant is already low in calories, it makes a great part of a healthy, low-calorie diet.

How to incorporate more eggplant into your diet

When buying eggplants choose ones that are firm and somewhat heavy for their size. Avoid eggplants that appear withered, bruised, or discolored. The skin should smooth and glossy with an intense purple hue. Eggplants should be stored in the refrigerator until ready for consumption, and the skin should be left intact when storing in order to prevent them from perishing too quickly. Use a stainless steel knife instead of carbon steel in order to prevent the material from reacting with the phytochemicals in the vegetable, which would cause the eggplant to turn black.

In order to draw out some of the compounds contributing to the eggplant's bitter taste and to make the flesh more tender, you can "sweat" the eggplant by cutting it into pieces and then sprinkling them with salt. Let the salted pieces sit for about 30 minutes, moisture will be drawn out and will leave the eggplant tenderer, less bitter and overall more palatable. It will also make the pieces less prone to absorbing oil used when cooking. Then, simply rinse the eggplant after the process is complete in order to remove most of the salt. 

Eggplants have a slightly bitter flavor and spongy texture, making them unique and interesting additions to many dishes. They can be prepared whole, cubed, or sliced, and can be fried, grilled, baked, roasted or steamed.

Quick tips:

• Replace pizza crust with sliced eggplant and add tomato sauce, cheese, and other toppings for a gluten-free, low-calorie treat
• Sauté or stir-fry chunks of eggplant with some of your other favorite ingredients for a quick, easy meal
• Cut the eggplant lengthwise into thick slices and grill them. They can be served on their own or in a burger
• Slice the eggplant into strips or wedges and bake them in the oven for healthy eggplant fries
• Cut the eggplant into thick slices, and then bread and bake or sauté them and add them to a pasta dish. Top with Parmesan cheese to create Eggplant Parmesan.

Potential health risks of consuming eggplant

Research suggests that the polyphenols found in eggplants contribute to their bitter flavor, which means that the eggplants with the highest levels of antioxidants are also the most bitter and unpleasant to eat. However, scientists are hoping to be able to genetically improve eggplants so that they contain high levels of beneficial nutrients and remain palatable.

It has been discovered that nasunin, a phytochemical compound found in eggplants, essentially binds with iron and removes it from cells. Though this may be beneficial in cases of excess iron in the body, consuming large amounts of foods that contain nasunin, such as eggplant, is not recommended for those with low iron levels.

Eggplants also contain oxalates, which can contribute to kidney stone formation. Kidney stones can lead to acute oxalate nephropathy or even kidney death. Consuming foods containing oxalates, such as eggplant, is not recommended for those prone to kidney stone formation, and it is suggested that those suffering from kidney stones limit their intake of oxalate-containing foods.

It is the total diet or overall eating pattern that is most important in disease prevention and achieving good health. It is better to eat a diet with a variety than to concentrate on individual foods as the key to good health.

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