Fitter, Firmer, Faster: The Secrets

What are some quick Fitter, Firmer, Faster tips that readers should live by?
Here are five of the most important diet tips to follow:

Rule #1: Buy foods that do not contain trans fats. This means you'll want to avoid any food containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. You'll also want to avoid fried foods, most margarines and foods made with vegetable shortening. Trans fats are empty calories that increase inflammation in your body, increase insulin resistance and make it much more difficult for your body to burn fat for fuel. Trans fats are also much more harmful to your heart health than any other type of fat, including saturated fat.

Rule #2: Look for alternatives to foods made with processed/refined vegetable oils. This means you'll want to avoid foods made with most vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and "pure" vegetable oil. Vegetable oils interfere with the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio and lead to increased insulin resistance, inflammation and weight gain.  Instead of standard processed vegetable oils go for oils rich in monounsaturated fat such as extra virgin olive oil or omega-3 essential fats, such as canola oil or flaxseed oil.

Rule #3: Limit your intake of saturated fat.  The only counting we require you to do on our Fitter, Firmer, Faster program is to limit the intake of saturated fat to 15-20 grams a day. This is because saturated fat increases inflammation and contributes to the insulin resistance that interferes with weight loss -- saturated fat also increases the risk of heart disease. Saturated fat is found in animal foods such as meats, dairy and butter.