Healthy Living

Nearly everyone has heard of the Atkins Diet by now, even if not necessarily clear on what it is. Some may even know it as the source of ?low-carb? diet craze in the country, but don?t know much about it beyond that. Considered as controversial as it is revolutionary, the Atkins Diet has worked successfully for a tremendous number of people, and not so successfully for a good amount of others. This article aims to place a neutral and objective eye on this popular weight loss program.

Re-introduced in the 1990?s (after an initial period of popularity in the 1970?s), the Atkins Diet is the brainchild of Dr. Robert Atkins.

The diet works in several phases, the first ? or the ?induction period? ? lasting only 2 weeks. In this phase, dieters are not to eat any more than 20 grams of carbohydrates of any form each day. The bulk of a person?s diet during this period, then, is fats and proteins. Usually, a dieter will reach their 20 gram limit on carbohydrates simply from the small amounts in foods like salad dressing, cheese, sauces, condiments, and vegetables.

Forbidden from a participant?s diet during this 2 week induction period are fruits, grains, breads, cereal, milk, and vegetables with a high-glycemic index (a measure of the effect a food has on the body?s blood sugar).

During this period, the body enters a state called ?ketosis?, where it begins burning its own residual deposits of fat in order to produce the energy for which it previously had been relying on your regular consumption of carbohydrates.

Atkins also asserts that the source of most weight problems people experience is an ?insulin-resistance? that causes overweight bodies to have difficulty converting carbohydrates into glucose (or sugar) which becomes energy. In this state of ketosis induced by the induction phase of the Atkins Diet, the insulin function of the body is affected in such a way that impedes the production of more fat.

After the two week induction period ends, dieters are then permitted to increase their carbohydrate allowance by 5 grams each week. In other words: they?re allowed 25 grams of carbs per day throughout week 3, 30 grams of carbs per day throughout week 4, 35 g in week 5, etc.

Depending on the person?s body type and weight objectives, this gradual increase in carbs should level off somewhere between 40 g and 90 g per day. At this point, the dieter is considered to have entered the ?maintenance? phase of the diet, where they ought to remain for the rest of their lives. Although counting calories is not a part of the Atkins Diet, studies by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity found that adhering to the restrictions imposed by the Atkins Diet led to a decrease of 1,000 calories from participant?s daily caloric intake.

A quick perusal of the recommendations published by most traditional health experts and health organizations will reveal that 40-90 grams of carbs per day is still a miniscule amount compared to that of what they consider a ?standard? healthy diet.

The Atkins Diet also contradicts authorities (US FDA and the American Cancer Society included) that extol the virtues of eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads and cereals. According to Atkins, even ?healthy? carbohydrates are harmful in large quantities.

Studies by the Annals of Internal Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine have actually found that participants on the Atkins Diet experienced an improvement in heart disease indicators.

Like the 80?s and 90?s were to ?low-fat? and ?fat-free?, Dr. Atkins has helped make the early 21st century ?low-carb?. Whether that?s for better or worse is up to you.

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When on a diet, it is wise to go out to restaurants less frequently, because you won?t always know the number of calories in everything you will be served, especially the secret sauces. But whom do you usually meet at the restaurants? Your friends, is the most likely answer. So if you cut back on restaurants, you might end up with too much free space on your social calendar. I find this unacceptable. I always want to have time to see my friends.

Realizing that I could not justifiably boycott dinner plans with friends, I decided to always have a backup plan. The reasoning behind this is that I wouldn?t always know what restaurant we would eventually choose. My backup plan was to order the least complicated salad, with the dressing on the side. This allowed me to keep control over my calorie intake and see my friends as well.

I did not always believe that I could control my hunger when I frequented many different restaurants. Seven or eight years ago, I was very frustrated with myself over my failing diets. I felt like I needed to keep myself under control 24/7. When a friend would suggest that we meet up somewhere to grab a bite, I felt my control starting to slip. I would make up excuses like, ?Oh, I just ate dinner,? or I would pretend that I had committed myself to a different dinner that night.

I even started to worry that friends might unexpectedly call me up for dinner on any given night. When my phone rang, I tended to let the answering machine pick it up as I listened to the caller leave a message. Suddenly, I didn?t want to talk to my friends. What if they wanted to buy me dinner…Oh my, what a crime! I always had my standard excuses ready to tell my friends. It is interesting to note that these excuses are made because we don?t want to eat. These are different than the excuses we make to explain why we ate something. Here are some of the excuses I use when I don?t want to take in extra calories:

Many people set out to lose weight with good intentions of sticking it out until they reach their goals. In fact, they intend to lose those unwanted extra pounds for good without ever seeing them again. So then, why is it that so many people lose weight only to gain it all back again? And why is it that so many people get frustrated and quit trying before they even lose any weight?

Of course dieting to lose weight takes some planning and some will power to stay with it, but a big part of the reason why so many people seem to be on a perpetual diet but never seem to lose weight often has less to do with their will to want to do it, and more to do with falling victim to some common mistakes dieters regularly make. Let?s look at some of these mistakes and some solutions to them.

One big mistake that dieters make is assuming that certain foods can be eaten in high quantities such as fat-free foods. It needs to be understood that just because a food is fat-free doesn?t mean it is calorie free. When you consume more calories than you use, you will gain, not lose, weight.

Many people who tried one of the many low-carb diets out there thought that they could eat as much as they wanted as long as the food they ate had low or no carbs. This way of thinking is wrong. It is still a matter of controlling the size of your portions that makes the difference. Keeping track of your overall calorie intake each day is imperative to a proper weight loss plan.

Another mistake that is made by dieters is expecting too much too soon. When you come to the conclusion that you want to lose 30 pounds, this is a realistic goal. When you decide that you want to lose those 30 pounds in one month, this is not a realistic goal. Maybe your 25th high school reunion is coming up and you want to be able to fit into that dress or suit you wore 25 years ago.

This is only possible if you take the time to allow yourself to properly attain that goal. Weight loss is best done at 1-2 pounds a week, not at 1-2 pounds a day, so set a small goal of say losing 5-7 pounds in a month, then set another similar goal and so on, until you reach your ultimate goal.

Not eating enough is yet another common mistake dieters make. The fact is, if you eat too little calories, your metabolism will slow down and you will go into what is known as ?starvation mode?. This promotes major fat conservation for survival purposes and any weight loss will therefore come from the breakdown of muscle tissue, not fat! For the average adult female, it is not recommended to consume below 1000 calories and the average adult male should not consume below 1200 calories unless under the direction of their doctor.

One of the biggest mistakes dieters make by far is not planning for how to keep their weight down once they lose it. Often, people make the mistake of going on a ?miracle? diet that promises super weight loss and although these types of diets are very dangerous and I absolutely do not recommend them, some people actually do lose weight on them. The problem is, these types of diets are designed to end at some point (which is a good thing since you would probably make it into the obituaries with a prolonged stay on these diets). That means that you would likely resume your old habits when it?s over thus accounting for the returning of all the weight you lost on the diet.

Of course getting some exercise is a key part in successful weight loss as well, but putting together a well thought out eating plan designed to stay with you for the rest of your life is the real key to taking that extra weight off and keeping it off for good. Be careful not to get caught making the mistakes mentioned here and you will have a much better chance at weight loss success.

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Life has a way of fouling up our the best laid plans. First you decide to keep your car cleaner, “I’ll wash it every Saturday morning.” Great, you have a plan. Saturday comes along and someone calls inviting you to go golfing. You think, “I was going to wash the car, but I’ll do it when I get back,” and off you go. Maybe you do wash the car later that day, but maybe you tell yourself, “I’ll wash it next Saturday. It really wasn’t that dirty.”

Next week Saturday comes along and someone invited you camping so you’re in the woods thinking, “Oh, well, I can’t wash the car from here, can I?”

Another Saturday rolls around and you’ve forgotten all about your car washing plan, so even though you’re not doing anything else you’re thinking, “I don’t really FEEL like washing the car right now. I’ll do it later,” and so it goes.

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon

It happens to all of us. You join the gym and immediately get the flu. Sign up for a adult education class and you’re car breaks down on the first night. When you need to water the grass there’s no rain in sight, but wash the car and what happens? These examples aren’t meant to give you a pessimistic outlook but instead point out why persistence in the face of obstacles is what separates the haves from the have nots.

It’s not what happens but what you DO with what happens that matters.

The best approach is one-day-at-a-time, or even lesser intervals depending on what you are attempting to do. If you’re trying to quit smoking, you might want to take things half-an-hour at a time. With food or eating it can be one meal at a time, one hunger pang or craving at a time, or whatever interval works for you.

Choose your Time Interval then Make it Happen

If you say you’ll never do something again (smoke, overeat, over drink) it never lasts (you must build in the possibility of occasional lapse), but if you wake up in the morning and decide for that day, and only that day, that you will follow through with your plan, for just that one day, then it can and will happen. There’s a real rush of accomplishment when you wake up and realize that yesterday you did it; you accomplished what you set out to do. Each accomplishment make it just that much easier to decide again to follow-through and it gets easier and easier.

Let the successes build, and let the lapses pass. It takes practice to get proficient no matter what you are learning, so plan to persist. Small lapses aren’t failures, they are only lapses, and you then decided for the next time period. Doing this allows you to pre-plan when you know you’ll not stick to your eating plan, thereby making it okay on occasion to over indulge. Holidays, special occasions. People who maintain a healthy weight do this all the time without thinking. When you give yourself permission to indulge, it’s amazing how much less you’ll feel like indulging. Take away the forbidden fruit and it’s just an apple.

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We are so eager to lose weight that we swallow the promises of every diet guru on the planet and eagerly plunk down our hard earned cash, praying that this time it will work.

What are the costs of the popular diets? The initial cost is to buy the ?Bible? for the diet or join the program. Those initial fees range from $20 or $30 for a book to several hundred dollars for a personal program.

Then there?s the food. Studies have shown that the average cost of a week?s food purchases, per individual, is slightly above $50. To start the South Beach Diet, tack on an additional $25 per week. For the Zone and Weight Watchers Diets, the additional cost is about $40, for Atkins $50, for NutriSystems almost $60 and for Jenny Craig about $85!

Wait a minute, you say. I?m losing weight by cutting back on eating. Shouldn?t that SAVE me money?

Looking at it logically, you would certainly think so. But we don?t try to lose weight logically, we approach the whole process through our emotions. It is our emotions that lead us to buy things on impulse, to sign up for programs we know we?ll never complete, and to join projects we?ll never actively pursue.

Our emotional thinking is our weakness and it has nothing to do with intelligence or education or social level. We all get suckered into scams at some point in our lives and we all occasionally suffer from buyer?s remorse ? it?s a part of the human experience.

The marketers and ad men know it well and spend their days devising tricks for which we all too often fall. How often have you eagerly dialed an 800 number during one of those brilliant infomercials only to receive something that doesn?t work as it did on TV, is either shoddily made or just too complicated, and you stick it in the back of a cupboard where it gathers dust until you finally toss it?

When it comes to our weight, our emotions reign supreme. We so desperately want to be more attractive, more respected, and more desirable. We will even subject ourselves to painful and sometimes dangerous surgery to bring our reality closer to our ideal. And we will rob our piggy banks, deplete our bank accounts, and run up our credit cards for anything that promises us a slender future.

Do we get what we pay for? Sometimes. There are a few successful disciples in every program. It is their pictures and stories that are prominently displayed in promotional literature. It is the old ?before? and ?after? trick that sucks us in. Our logic (and a tiny footnote) tells us that the featured results are not typical.

The wary left side of our brain wonders if a little airbrushing might have been employed. Then the right side explodes, filled with desire, well-meaning intentions, and an overwhelming urge to believe. And we fall for it again.

Notice that we never hear or see about the failures, the hundreds of thousands who start a diet with such high hopes yet live the rest of their lives overweight. All the diets have their failures but never bother to mention exactly what their percentages are. They may caution that their program must be followed exactly if it is to work, but let?s be realistic. How many of us can follow an unswerving routine for the weeks, months, or years it is going to take to reach our ideal weight? We may be creatures of habit but life seldom fits into one unsquishable box for very long. We adapt the routine to meet our immediate needs and everything falls apart.

Sadder, wiser, guilt-ridden and self-critical, we vow to start again until, eventually, we give up. Is there a better way?

We can start by realizing that it really doesn?t matter what diet we choose. The secret is to address our emotions, that infatuation with food that has, nationally, reached crisis proportions. We have to break off our affair with what we eat and restore food to its rightful place ? something that keeps us alive and healthy, not our primary source of excitement and self-satisfaction.

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A successful diet requires a commitment to nourish your body with only the healthiest foods available. Most people understand the dynamics of caloric intake: the higher the number of calories in your food, the higher the number of energy units you will have to burn during everyday activity and exercise.

Dieting simply means that you are making the consorted effort to control the foods and content that you put into your body so that you can control the shape and composition of your body. Because dieting requires a behavioral change for so many people, it can be a difficult adjustment. Dieting with a buddy, however, can help you make the progress you seek.

Buddies help you lose the weight you desire in three main ways: 1. They offer emotional support during this often-turbulent period of adjustment; 2. They offer a meter for your success. By observing your buddy, you can learn insights into your own behavior towards your meals. 3. Buddies help to keep you on track by encouraging you to maintain the diet that you both agreed upon.

Here are some tips to help you and your partner work towards your diet goals together:

Chart Your Success
Making a dieting chart is important because it will help you to develop some quantifiable metrics for your weight loss. By glancing at the chart, you will be able to determine which areas you need to focus on in your diet and which areas are going well. You will be able to, thus, identify behavior that you may not have been previously aware of.

By creating a dieting chart, your buddy can offer you feedback and suggestions based on your behavior as well. You will both be transparent about your habits. By observing your partner?s behavior, in turn, you will be in a position to understand how others approach the dieting challenge. Often, you will gain encouragement and strategies by identifying how you both handle certain situations.

Finally, the chart is your sheet of accountability. If you slip up in your diet, you will have to admit to it. Surprisingly, because you know that you will have to add whatever food you eat to the chart, you will be keenly aware of each and every calorie that you put into your body. As such, you will be closely connected with your habits over time.

Cook for Each Other
Many busy dieting partners find that the most basic need, which is cooking healthy meals, is difficult when there are so many other obligations pulling them away from the kitchen. Dieting partners, if they live in the same town, can develop a calendar for food preparation. Several times a week, each partner can cook a healthy dinner for the other partner. If you cook on Monday and your partner cooks on Tuesday, then you know that you have to spend an extra hour in the kitchen on Monday in order to get two free on Tuesday.

Each meal can be prepared according to a certain diet, if you are both pursuing the same style. Make sure that there are plenty of portions so that it can be frozen and heated later in the week. By preparing meals, you are certain to make eating a healthy ritual rather than a rushed one not taken very seriously.

Dieting can be laborious and, for many people, create more stress than not dieting. Keep in mind that when you commit to a diet, however, you are making a commitment to enhancing the healthiness of your body and to paving the way for a more active lifestyle. In many cases, a healthy diet can save your life. Go ahead ? find that buddy and share your dieting success!

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Diet and exercise are the two main essentials in making and keeping the figure beautiful. No woman can reduce weight, improve a clumsy and ungainly figure, through exercise alone. Diet comes first. Comparatively few women need fattening. What most need is reduction.

FIRST AID FOR THE THIN

Yet for those whose figure needs building up and filling out, the following facts should be borned in mind. First, relax mentally. Worry and nervous tension use up calories ? the calorie is the unit by which we measure heat and food ? very rapidly, and tend to reduce weight below normal. Secondly, sleep enough and breathe fresh air in plenty. Third, exercise, to stimulate the appetite and aid all the organs of the body to do their work. Fourth, eat more of the foods that are high in food value. Butter, sugar, cream and cream sauce on vegetables, cod-liver oil and olive oil, are all fattening.

FIRST AID FOR THE FAT

Do not cultivate fallacies, if you are fat and wish to reduce your figure in accord with the normal and ideal body measurements, . Shun antifat patent medicines and quack “cures.” Often they are based on mercury, arsenic or thyroid extract. Shun Epsom salts baths and too many Turkish baths. They do harm and no good. The reduction of calories is the real secret of
successful fat reduction, and a key to that unit of measurement will enable you to bring your figure within the proper limits, to keep your figure beautiful. The whole point is to know how many calories of food you need per day. Now, normally, a woman who does not “work” in any actual sense of the word, can do with 1,600 to 1,800 calories per day. If she follows some sedentary occupation, 2,000 to 2,200 calories will suffice her. If her business requires walking, standing or any lighter manual labor, she can run her calorie allowance up to 2,500. If she performs hard physical labor, she is entitled to 2,500 to 3,000 calories. All this is normally speaking.
But if you are too fat, if you wish to bring back your figure to its rightful lines, you must know what your ideal net weight should be in order to cut off the number of calories of food you do not need.

Among the kinds of food, note that Proteins, which build tissue and yield energy, may store fat.
Proteins are contained in meat, fish, fowl, nuts, milk, cheese, vegetables. Fats (animal fats, oils, chocolate, nuts) are stored by the body as fat. So are Carbohydrates (sugars, starches, including bread, cereals, potatoes, corn, etc.). Vitamins, food substances needed for growth, occur in animal fats, but not in vegetable ones, as also in eggs, milk, butter and meat, vegetable outer skins, grain germs and fruits.

BALANCE IN DIET

These kinds of food must be balanced. If you balance them properly, you can reduce your figure
to normal without injuring health or keeping to a monotonous food diet. Proteins you must eat, but neither to excess nor the reverse. And you must eat Vitamins, which abound in nonfattening vegetables and fruits. Do not be afraid of drinking plenty of water. But do not exceed your calorie allowance. Without further theory we advise the woman who wishes to eat and grow thin to avoid the following liquids and foods.

THE “KEEP OFF” SIGN FOR THE STOUT

Shun water during meals?it makes you eat more. Drink all you want between meals. Rich sodas must be avoided. But coffee in moderation and skim milk are not harmful. But every woman should know that all alcoholic drinks make her fatter if she is fat and thinner if she is thin, thus serving no good purpose. Each bit of food you eat beyond what your system and your normal weight, figure and calorie requirements demand, is fattening. Candy, pie, cakes, ice cream, whipped cream, candied sweet potatoes, cheese, rice, butter, fresh and white bread, rich meats, thick gravies and nuts are fattening.

“Keep off” fried foods, bacon, ham, pork, and all things made of flour, macaroni, dried beans, puddings, pastries and custards. But there are excellent beefsteak or lean meat, fruit and milk diets, the fruit diet especially being excellent for reduction. An occasional fast day, or certain days of low caloric eating a week are also good. A rapid method to reduce the overplus of calories is a diet of baked potatoes and a glass of skim milk, three times daily, for a week at a time. Or, instead of fasting altogether for a day, drink a glass of buttermilk every three hours. Again, small helpings of favorite fattening foods, or the dropping of one thing for another, will help attain the end ? which is the reduction of your calorie overplus. This is the whole secret of reducing fat and bringing the figure to its normal physical best, its legitimate beauty of outline, where diet is concerned.

WHAT THE OBESE CAN EAT

A number of excellent books which deal in great detail with the different ways of controlling the
calories, of reducing weight and fat, are easily available. We have gone into some details ourselves, although diet and fat reduction is here only considered in its relation to physical beauty. In the books already mentioned, numerous “sample menus,” etc., will be found.

Foods you can eat, and still feel you are not betraying your figure, include: (1) Any meat or game, save pig. (2) All seafood, including lobster. (3) Fruit, with the exception of grapes and bananas. (4) Salads and meat jellies. (5) Tomatoes, peppers, olives, celery, cucumber, chili sauce and Worcestershire. (6) All fruit desserts.

Beauty and health go hand in hand. Your skin, your hair, your figure, if not healthy, rob your loveliest features of their charm. Make health the cornerstone of an intelligent study and cultivation of every iota of beauty which you have. Physical beauty, in the best sense, means well-rounded physical development on a health basis. Make the most of your figure and every charm you, individually, may possess. Such is the gospel of this article. If its teachings be followed, power? beauty’s choicest secret ? will be your reward.

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Losing weight is becoming a common goal with many individuals. And this task is becoming difficult and complex with all the conflicting information out there. Thus, in this article, you will find logically sound and effective tips you can follow to find the diet that will give you the maximum benefits and effectiveness.

1. Find a program that provides realistic goals.
Avoid diets that promise weight loss overnight. Diets that promise such unrealistic promise are not designed to lose weight. Diets take time to work. Select a diet based on your food preferences. Like sweet food? Opt for a diet that is high on carbohydrate intake. Allow your body to transit to the new diet easily by selecting the food that you like. By doing so, you can be on a diet and still enjoy it.

2. Research the credentials of your chosen diet.
The best diet for weight loss is the one that is created by an experienced doctor, health practitioner, or physician. These people spent years studying how the body works and what’s good for it. Before you choose a diet, make sure that you try to find out where the diet rooted from, who created it, and how many people have already benefited from it. The more background you get from the diet, the better.

3. Plan it out.
Don’t go ahead with a diet without planning at least a week ahead. Dieting is all about taking the right types of food in the right amount. If you can’t prepare your meals the proper way, you’ll end up not following your diet at all. Here’s a suggestion ? before you start out on your new diet, rid your refrigerator of anything that your diet plan asks you to avoid. If you can’t do this, even the world’s best diet for weight loss won’t work for you.

4. Strictly adhere to the diet plan.
There’s no sense in looking for the best diet for weight loss only to forget about it after two to three days. Again, diet takes time to work. Following it is definitely hard. So prepare yourself mentally and physically. And make sure you are up to the challenge. Don’t worry. The results may be too grand than could you have expected.

There you have it! You now know the best diet for weight loss, so use it to your advantage!

[Sponsored] Bryan Seawell is the proud owner of this article and he owns a site called: “forex autopilot“. See how he can help you with his site: “forex funnel” and allow him to share with you his best known secrets here at his exclusive site, “forex tracer“. Thank you for your trust and belief in Bryan. Hope it will benefit you and others. Have a wonderful day ahead. [Sponsored]

Copyright 2006 Sylvia Riley

The notion of ?healthy fats? is becoming increasingly acknowledged. The idea that some fats may actually help you loose weight however, is a little further-fetched, and yet It appears this seeming paradox is indeed the case. As will be explored, both coconut oil and omega-3 oil can speed up metabolism and accelerate the burning of fats in the body.

Distinguishing between fats is imperative for optimum health and weight. Saturated animal fats are notoriously linked to obesity, heart disease and cancer. Hydrogenated fats as found in chocolates, baked products and margarines are even worse and contain trans fats, the most harmful fats of all. Refined cooking oils are also detrimental, with harsh processing methods altering oil molecules and creating toxins and free radicals.

Natural cold-pressed oils such as nut, seed, olive and fish oils, contain healthy essential fatty acids, monounsaturated fats, nutrients and phytochemicals that serve the body.

Coconut oil is also supremely healthy; a saturated fat structurally different from animal saturated fats containing medium-chain as opposed to long-chain fatty acids. These molecules are small enough to be absorbed directly into the liver and used as an immediate source of energy by the body. They place no strain on the digestive system and their availability for metabolism means they are not likely to be stored as fat (unlike high-calorie cholesterol-heavy long-chain animal fats).

Coconut oil has a plethora of noted health benefits. It houses lauric acid, an antimicrobial fatty acid that fights bacteria, viruses and fungi. Some more surprising benefits include an ability to lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart disease and actually stimulate weight loss. It has also been found to benefit conditions such as diabetes, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, digestive disorders and thyroid imbalances.

Dr. Weston A Price, the Darwin of nutrition writes: ?Replacing the fats you now eat with coconut oil may be the wisest decision you can make to lose excess body fat?Yes, there is a dietary fat that can actually help you take off unwanted pounds. Coconut oil can quite literally be called a low-fat fat.?

In the 1940?s farmers discovered that attempts to fatten up their animals with coconut oil produced the opposite effect; they became leaner and more active. Ironically, with the demand for leaner meat today, they are now using coconut oil for this exact purpose.

Raymond Peat MD, author of Coconut Oil and Its Virtues concludes, ?The anti-obesity effect of coconut oil is clear in all of the animal studies, and in my friends who eat it regularly.?

Omega-3 oil is another virtuous fat that can actually speed up the burning of fats in the body and hence aid weight loss. Omega-3 oil serves numerous bodily processes and is particularly beneficial to the immune system and heart as well as arthritis, skin conditions, pre-menstrual tension, mental function, improving memory and reducing depressive symptoms.

One of the main reasons omega 3 oil increases fat metabolism is because of its effects on insulin, significantly reducing it?s levels in the body. Insulin inhibits the enzyme lipase which breaks down fat for use as energy and activates an enzyme that converts carbohydrate into fat. Insulin promotes the use of fat for storage and reduces the use of fat for fuel, hence lower insulin levels mean a greater conversion of fat for energy rather than storage.

Omega-3 oil is found in cold-water fish such as sardines, salmon, herring and mackerel as well as plant sources such as flax seeds (the richest plant source), walnuts, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds, green-leafed vegetables and spirulina.

[Sponsored] Bryan Seawell is the proud owner of this article and he owns a site called: “forex autopilot“. See how he can help you with his site: “forex funnel” and allow him to share with you his best known secrets here at his exclusive site, “forex tracer“. Thank you for your trust and belief in Bryan. Hope it will benefit you and others. Have a wonderful day ahead. [Sponsored]

Oh dear, oh dear, it’s that time of year but yet again! The holidays are over, Christmas has come and gone, and what is there to look forward to! Summer holidays I suppose, but they do seem such a long time away.

Anyway, I must confess that at the moment, even the thought of a holiday horrifies me, because after my over-indulgence during the festive season, the last thing that I want to be doing is even more eating and drinking.

So, if there is nothing to look forward to for now, and we are in the midst of the January depression, what on earth CAN we do to lift ouselves out of the blues at this time of year!

Here’s one thought for you, start right now and get fit. I suggest that not only will that make you feel heaps better, after a few weeks, you will even start to look forward to that summer vacation. Let me give you another more serious and compelling reason for this, and that is that we all shoud start to take our long term health much more seriously than we do at present.

At least that is my humble opinion.

Did you know for instance that current statistics reveal that 75% of Americans are overweight and 40% are obese. That is just in the US, and I am prepared to hazard an educated guess that the rest of the developed world is not far behind.

For those who desire to lose weight and obtain optimal health therefore, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start.

From the Atkins Diet to the South Beach Diet, from low fat to low carb diets, there are numerous weight-loss plans to choose from. In addition, given conflicting information as to what works best, it can be difficult deciding what to do.

For those who have tried many diet plans with no success, it becomes more difficult and frustrating. Many people forget that a diet might work wonders for their friend but won’t work well for them. This is not necessarily because the diet is “bad”, but because each body reacts differently.
However, there is a way to lose weight that is easy, fast, and doesn’t involve deprivation or calorie counting.

It is important to address some background information about body genetics and why weight loss can be difficult before I start to discuss weight loss tips.

At the start of any diet, it is important to note that each person has a different body build. Some people are short and stout, while others are tall and thin. Some have big hips and shoulders, and others are short and very muscular. Genetics can determine body shape and a person’s natural build just as it can do eye color, hair color, skin color, and so on.

The good news is that genetics do not determine whether or not one will be fat, but will determine one’s body shape.

This means that not every woman can expect to be tall and thin like a Hollywood actress or supermodel such as Tyra Banks. Not every man can expect to be defined and muscular like The Rock. The goal really, in my opionion, is to be at a comfortable weight for one’s body shape and to feel good about it.

Having said all that, why is it that people are overweight! I have listed ten of the most common reasons below:-

1. Slow metabolism - People who are overweight have a hard time “burning off” their intake of food. As a result the fat is stored up in the body, rather than used.

2. Emotional eating - Those who struggle with weight often eat when stressed, or when other emotional upheavals are happening in their life.

3. Hormonal imbalances - This does mainly apply to the ladies, (complex creatures that we are!).

4. Eating portions - We can all be guilty of the syndrome that I like to call “greed not need”. So watch out for those portion sizes.

5. A build up of toxins in the body - This can be due to too much junk food, candies, sodas, too much coffee, these can all contriubute to this.

6. Eating too late - Late-night eating can cause food to convert to fat a lot more easily, as well as making sleep more difficult.

7. A high susceptibility to growth hormones - These are the hormones which are given to animals to help them grow faster and larger. Some meat and dairy can have some residual growth hormones. These hormones can sometimes result in increased fat storage.

8. Not eating breakfast - This really does make your metabolism slow and sluggish.

9. Numerous diets - Going from diet to diet has a negative impact on the metabolism and causes weight loss to be much more difficult.

10. Food ingredients - The reasons why are amazing and beyond the scope of this article.

Here Are Seven Simple Steps For Easy Weight Loss

Now that there is a better understanding of body genetics, and why people have a tendency to be overweight, here are my tips for fast easy weight loss.

#1: Drink some water first thing in the morning. Ideally you should drink eight ounces of distilled water, bottled water, or filtered water (not tap water).

#2: Eat a big breakfast. Suggested foods to choose from are apples, bananas, rye bread with no sugar, plain yogurt, tuna, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, raw honey, and such like.

#3: Drink distilled water throughout the day: I recommend that you try and drink at least eight glasses per day.

#4: Walk non-stop one hour each day. This doesn’t have to be power walking, just walk at your own pace. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise you know!

#5: Try and stop eating after 6:00 PM. This is very hard for many people, but do the best you can. You will be surprised at how much you benefit from this.

#6: Do a candida cleanse. Candida is yeast overgrowth in the colon that can cause all kinds of health problems. Check online for “Candida Cleanse” or go to your local health food store.

#7: Do a colon cleanse: This cleanse cleans out the digestive system, which is clogged and sluggish in many overweight people. Once again, check online or go to your local health food store.

More and more people worldwide are becoming overweight. Extra weight can result in many health issues and negatively impact your emotional state and self-esteem. However for those struggling with this problem, there is hope, because you can lose it and keep it off if you really want to.

Now that you have a understanding of body genetics and why you might be overweight, why not take some positive action today!

Commit to trying at least a few of the steps, you will be glad that you did.

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