Is it possible that spending a little time in the tropics or living in the tropics might actually translate to health benefits? In other words, can a tropical life or tropical lifestyle actually improve your health and make you perhaps even live a little longer?

No doubt these are powerful questions, and researchers have provided us with some tantalizing answers. The first point to consider is the impact that stress can have on the human body. When your body is exposed to stress for too long of a period of time, it can become damaged due to the effects of a powerful hormone called cortisol.

Too much cortisol can result in signs of aging, such as wrinkles and even gray hair! However, the relaxation and slower pace of tropical life can reduce the amount of cortisol in the body. As a result, you will look and feel better when you are enjoying the tropics.

There is another important way that a tropical life might be able to help you live a longer, healthier life. When we spend time in the sun, our bodies use that sunlight to produce natural vitamin D. As it turns out, most of us don't receive enough sunlight and, as a result, our vitamin D levels are lacking. Unfortunately, a variety of health problems have been linked to a lack of Vitamin D, including cancer.

Living a tropical life almost guarantees that you will receive enough vitamin D. After all with beautiful beaches and lots of sunny days, why wouldn't you be enjoying the great outdoors? Just remember to bring sunscreen!

Living the tropical lifestyle means living in a bathing suit, shorts, short sleeve shirts and sandals to survive the heat. For most of your life, you may have had one notion about how to look good in your bathing suit or shorts - Limit your food intake, sweat bullets on the treadmill or in an aerobics class, eat rabbit food forever and you will lose body fat. Unfortunately, those thoughts could be the very reason why you couldn't lose weight or you gained it all back if you did lose weight.

Stop thinking about every single calorie that goes into your body and start thinking about the best way to burn calories. Once you master that, your body will know what to do to strip away fat so you can show off your new bathing suit instead of wearing shorts. One of the best ways to burn calories is to ingest good quality protein sources at every meal throughout the day. Eating mini-meals every 3 hours that include protein like chicken, fish, tuna, egg whites or whey protein powder with leafy greens, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds will be the first step in losing body fat.

Protein does so many wonderful things in the body; it transports oxygen to your muscles and organs through the blood so you can exercise to your fullest potential.

• protects you from illness by serving as an antibody when viruses or bacteria attack the body
• helps the body digest food in the form of enzymes builds muscle, organs, tendons and connective tissues is critical for helping the body function at optimum levels

Protein tastes good and is probably one of the most important nutrient-dense foods that will help you lose body fat. The process your body has to go through to break down protein takes tremendous energy and creates a thermal effect or heat to do it. It takes much more effort for the body to break down protein than it does carbohydrates, so your body will automatically burn more calories throughout the day.

Muscle burns fat and when you add a weight-lifting program to your regimen, protein will help repair the muscle after your workouts. This is how you get results and successful weight loss. You will burn more calories throughout the day while ingesting less calories ending up with more fat-burning muscle. Eating protein at every meal will allow you to lose the belly fat while de-stressing you and your body.

Be sure to check out the delicious tropical meal ideas that will help you look great in your bathing suit or shorts!

A friend of mine was given the opportunity to go on a Cruise to the Caribbean. You would think she would be excited about this fabulous trip, however, that was not the case. All the food, parties, tropical cocktails and socializing by the pool and beach were too much for her. She would rather skip spending time with family and friends than put herself in harm's way of tempting tropical food and drink for a week.

It doesn't have to be that way. Denying yourself of food and drink on a daily basis is not a sensible eating strategy to stay healthy, lose weight and keep it off. Getting ready for a trip to the tropics should not mean going on a "diet" in preparation for your trip because eventually you have to "get off" the diet, much like the cruise ship.

Eating less food in order to find your "abs" for the trip is the last thing you want to do because your body will burn away muscle to maintain itself and survive. You will lose weight and body fat too but the minute you go off your "diet", you will start to put weight back on – the kind you do NOT want – FAT! When your body has gone into starvation mode, it stores fat for future use, just in case, you decide to "diet" again. This is the roller coaster ride so many embark on when they try to lose weight, often referred to as "yo-yo" dieting.

The goal is to lose body fat and keep the muscle which will allow you to keep the weight off for life, without feeling deprived or starved. I want you to feel healthy, strong and ready to take on your trip to the tropics. You can become a fat-burning machine instead of a fat-storing one.

Eating a complete meal of protein, fats and carbohydrates every 3 hours will support muscle and release body fat.

Blaze a new path to a healthy body with this combination at every meal:

• 60% CARBOHYDRATES – leafy greens, spinach and other green vegetables, berries, oats, whole grains
• 20% PROTEIN – turkey, chicken, fish, tuna, egg whites with one yolk, whey protein powder
• 20% FAT – extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, peanut butter, almond butter

Get ready for your Caribbean Cruise with these delicious meals you can prepare easily at home. Every time you eat a meal, you will help your body lose weight and keep the muscle. Having the foods listed above on hand makes it easier to make a healthy meal any time of day so you will not skip meals or be tempted by sweets or junk food.

Be sure to try out some of my favorite tropical recipes.