ITG Diet Blog

Are you ready for some football? If so, you need to prepare and be ready for some healthy recipes to help you survive the big game! ITG has many recipes that you can view and print for free to help you stay compliant, whether you are on Step 1, Step 2, or you are looking for healthy recipes to maintain your goal weight in Step 3 of the ITG Diet Plan.

If you're a savory, crunchy, salty snack lover, we've got some great news for you! ITG has just added BBQ Curls. They've got a sweet and tangy barbecue flavor with lots of crunch. Plus, they're just 3 carbs and 110 calories per serving!

Enjoy them on their own as a snack, or chop up your lettuce, slice your vegetables, make some Creamy Dijon Dressing, and pour those BBQ Curls right on top for a delicious topping that gets you the protein you need at meal time! You can also use a variety of Walden Farms Dressings, available direct from ITG.

Try the new BBQ Curls, or enjoy Cheesy Curls and Sour Creamy Oniony Curls for a little more variety!

Have you had one of those weeks when you feel as though you did everything right, but the numbers on your scale seem to tell you otherwise? Did you see the pounds increase or stay the same? Water percentage and fat percentages rising and falling with no apparent rhyme or reason?

If you are charting your progress, you'll tend to see some strange fluctuations with your weight loss from week to week. What might be happening, and why?

When you first get ready to start the ITG Diet Plan, you'll fill out a Health Status Intake Form. On the very first page, there are a few extremely important questions you will answer that can help your Coach prepare you for taking those first steps.

Can you feel the chill in the air? As the cold, snowy days approach, wouldn't a delicious cup of something hot and sweet really hit the spot, warm you up, and make you forget about winter for a minute? If you said "Yes," we definitely agree!

When you visit your local coffee shop for their tasty drink selections, remember that the ingredients aren't listed on the side of the coffee cup - so check online and make sure you aren't derailing your healthy eating routines in any Step of the ITG Diet Plan. Every 4 grams of carbohydrates is equivalent to 1 teaspoon of sugar.

We have seen some very innocent-looking concoctions so full of sugar that they give us a sugar rush just looking at the nutrition facts! Some of the most popular drinks ...

The holidays seem to arrive more and more quickly each year! If you are currently on the ITG Diet Plan and are wondering how you will survive this year’s feast, look no further! Each of the recipes included below is a delicious alternative that you can enjoy while on all stages of the ITG Diet Plan. Let us know which are your favorites - and who knows, you may even fool some of your family and friends into enjoying some healthy side dishes with you!

When you're working toward your health and fitness goals, it can be tough to stay accountable and on track. Whether you're working with a coach, trainer, a friend, or a family member, there are still many ways that you can continue holding yourself accountable when no one else is around.

Gaining weight can be a cause for stress, such as when you can’t fit into clothes or find it difficult to partake in activities you did with ease before. Beginning to gain weight can cause a cycle of putting on more pounds over time, which in turn causes more stress. You can’t simply eliminate all sources of stress in life, but you can learn ways to keep it from controlling your thoughts and eating behaviors.

These days, there are a lot of things that worry us – the economy, global crises, the effects of the pandemic, inflation – the list goes on. That worry and stress tends to show up in the form of extra pounds on the scale. Why is this?

Bring a taste of the fall season to your day by adding Pumpkin Spice! Get creative with your coffees and protein drinks by adding a dash of flavor. You can also use cinnamon, nutmeg, and other seasonings for delicious beverages without all the sugar.

We checked out the menus of some of the most popular coffee chains in the US. If you want one of their pumpkin flavored specialty drinks, be prepared to get a massive dose of sugar in your system!

Sometimes it seems that there just isn’t enough time at the end of the day to sit down and enjoy a healthy, home-cooked meal. There’s the planning, shopping, prepping, and cooking – all of that can end up taking a lot of time to accomplish. If you’ve got a busy schedule and can’t always find the time to cook a healthy meal, you may have turned to a meal delivery service, or ordered take-out from a restaurant. You’re trying to stick with healthy choices but are these options going to help, or hurt, your progress?

Nearly everyone experiences constipation at some point in life. Constipation is a symptom that can be caused by many factors and is defined as having a bowel movement 3 or less times in a week. Poor diet, dehydration, or a lack of exercise are very common culprits. Women typically experience constipation more often than men, especially on a ketogenic diet. This is due to hormones and how the digestive system slightly differs between the sexes. What can you do if you are experiencing constipation?

Are you new to ITG? Feeling extra hungry in the first few weeks? Have you been on the program for a while and have a rough few days of cravings here and there? Whether you're on Step 1, 2 or 3 of the ITG Diet, have no fear - we're here to help you stick to your plan and reach your health and weight loss goals and stay there! We have tons of helpful tips and tricks to help you beat those hunger pangs that seem to come with weight loss territory. You definitely should not have to starve in order to lose weight, so read on to learn more about creating your very own ITG Survival Kit. Help rid yourself of those hunger pangs and stay successful on your plan to reach your goals quickly and efficiently!

We've heard about people using intermittent fasting to lose weight. We've also heard of starvation crash diets to lose weight. While some of these methods may produce short-term results, they don't last very long and aren't sustainable forever. When you're on the ITG Diet, your body is using fat as its main fuel throughout the day, rather than lots of sugar and carbohydrates. What happens if you start to skip meals?

Exercise is important when maintaining a healthy weight, especially in Step 3 of the ITG Diet. But what about exercise when you're trying to lose weight in Step 1?

There are a lot of opinions out there about how important exercise is, or is not, when trying to lose weight. It's not as simple as calories in versus calories out though. When you're in ketosis, intense exercise can have a detrimental effect on your weight loss progress and how your body ultimately burns off fats and carbs. It's important to understand why too much intense exercise can slow down your progress.

Ready to take some time off of work and enjoy some fun in the sun? Planning an excursion across the globe to visit exciting new places? ITG is here to help no matter what Step of the plan you're on!

Remember that just because you're going on vacation, you don't have to sacrifice your diet. ITG Foods are travel friendly and can be packed in your suitcase or carry-on bag when flying. If you are driving, even better! Bring along those ITG Foods and fill a cooler with ice packs and lots of veggies and pre-cooked lean proteins for snacks and meals on the way.

Summer is right around the corner... and with the beautiful weather comes lots of great summer parties! Cookouts and barbecues, and even birthdays and graduations, revolve around eating, drinking and socializing. Many people enjoy an opportunity to make that great new recipe they found and use these parties as an excuse to try them out. When you show up at a party for 20 people, there is usually enough food to feed an army!

You're faced with all these delicious dishes that you never get to eat, because you are on a diet. What will you do? ITG is here to give you some tips that will help you stick to your diet and survive those summer parties!

We eat when we're happy. We eat when we're stressed, sad, bored, or lonely, We often eat more than our body actually needs.

In the past few decades, our food tastes and habits have been changing. We used to eat due to hunger and for our energy needs. These days, we eat for pleasurable experiences, and those foods are densely packed with sugar, salt, and fat. Plus, everything is readily available any time of day or night at stores and drive-thrus.

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.

Summer Frustrations are quickly approaching…

Remember a few weeks ago you made the decision to get in shape for this Summer?  Maybe you made some New Year’s resolutions?  Maybe you committed to a certain date that you wanted to be a certain shape?

How’s that working out for you?

Have you stuck to your plan and lost some weight?

Did you start the diet and give up?

Or are you partially doing the plan and doing the diet “your own way?”

If you’re in the majority and are doing the ITG Diet plan successfully and losing the weight you want, then kudos to you!  You’ll be the one everyone will be asking for your secret.  You’ll be the one with the new wardrobe.  You’ll be the one with that renewed twinkle in your eye and spring in your step.

Over the years and from an early age, we've all been taught how bad it is to eat fat. From low fat foods, to reduced fat foods, to low fat lifestyles, avoiding fat has been engrained in our thinking: that eating fat will cause us to gain fat. While too much of any nutrient can very easily be converted and stored as fat in the body, fat is still an essential part of our diet. What types of fat are healthy, which should we eat in moderation, and what types should we avoid?