Your Power Foods

This chapter is all about telling you what you can safely eat.  We’re going to talk about foods you should eat whenever you’re having a craving for something fattening, stuff you can substitute for the bad stuff.

The main thing is to keep your fridge and cabinets stocked with plenty of foods you can eat in unlimited or substantial quantities.

First, let’s talk about some things you can eat in unlimited quantities.  These are foods that, if you eat them until you feel like you’re going to puke, you still shouldn’t fear gaining any weight!

These are also foods that contain vitamins, minerals, and other essential elements.

They are foods you can feel good about eating, and you don’t have to feel guilty, even if you overeat them.  They are also rich in antioxidants and perhaps other important elements that scientists haven’t even discovered, yet!

Foods to eat in unlimited quantities:

ü     Apples

ü     Asparagus

ü     Beets

ü     Blueberries

ü     Cabbage

ü     Cantaloupe

ü     Carrots

ü     Cauliflower

ü     Celery

ü     Cranberries

ü     Cucumbers

ü     Dill Pickles (Kosher or Hamburger Dill)

ü     Fresh Herbs or Dried

ü     Garlic

ü     Grapefruit

ü     Green Beans

ü     Greens (All Types)

ü     Honeydew Melons

ü     Lemons and Limes

ü     Lettuce

ü     Mangoes

ü     Mushrooms

ü     Onions

ü     Papayas

ü     Peaches

ü     Peppers (All Kinds)

ü     Pineapple

ü     Radishes

ü     Raspberries

ü     Spinach

ü     Strawberries

ü     Tangerines

ü     Tomatoes

ü     Turnips

ü     Watermelon

ü     Zucchini

You can combine these ingredients into delicious recipes that taste great, too.  This will help keep you motivated.  The better tasting the food is that you’re eating; the more likely it is you will stick to the system.

These ingredients can work very well together.  For example, you could take some of the vegetables like tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, zucchini, celery, and green beans and make a very nice soup.

You could also use unlimited fresh herbs or dried herbs to flavor it.

You could make a nice fruit salad using various fruits, flavorings, and herbs.

Mint and cilantro both go very well with many different types of fruits, and lemon or limejuice with a touch of salt can make a sweet fruit salad a bit more savory.

Lemon juice can also be used on its own with herbs, or blended with fruit to make a dressing for salads.

A salad of spinach and sliced mushrooms tastes amazing with a vinaigrette of raspberries, cranberries, or strawberries with lemon juice, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Experiment with using these ingredients to make various recipes.  You can also add small amounts of foods that aren’t on the list, comprising a recipe mostly of these items and using other foods as flavorings.

For example, you could make a soup using these vegetables and using a small amount of boneless, skinless chicken breast to flavor it and add protein.  Or you could make a delicious salsa with tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, and lime juice, and then serve it over lettuce with a 1 cup of black beans.

The combinations are practically endless, especially when you start using foods that you can’t have in unlimited quantities to bring flavours together.

Now you need to know some flavourings you can use in unlimited quantities.  Some condiments are high in sugar or fat, and you should avoid these for the most part.  You can enjoy small quantities of them, but it’s best to limit them.

Flavourings to enjoy in unlimited quantities:

ü     Mustard

ü     Vinegar (All Types)

ü     Spices (No Sugar, No or Low Sodium)

ü     Herbs

ü     Lemon Juice

ü     Lime Juice

Make sure the flavourings you buy do not contain MSG.  There are many seasonings on the market that do.  The salt replacement Accent, in fact, IS monosodium glutamate; so avoid this one at all costs!  Look for flavourings that contain as little sodium as possible, but you don’t have to avoid it completely.

Next, let’s look at some various types of proteins you can add to the unlimited foods to bring a meal together and make it more filling.

You should limit these foods to smaller servings, but you should make sure to use some of these every day.

Proteins to enjoy in smaller quantities:

ü     Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

ü     Turkey Breast

ü     Most Types of Fish

ü     Lean Beef

ü     Beans (All Types)

ü     Other Lean Meats

ü     Tofu

ü     Nuts

Lean meats, beans, nuts, and tofu are filling.  They also provide nutrients like iron that are essential for a healthy body.  They should be used more as a flavouring for other foods than a major part of the meal, especially when trying to lose weight.

Vegetarians can obviously leave meat out entirely, opting for vegetable-based protein sources.  There is a lot of controversy about whether soy-based products like tofu are good for you or not, but I personally use it in small quantities.

Flavourings to enjoy in smaller quantities:

ü     Salt

ü     Ketchup (Preferably Sugar-Free)

ü     Olive Oil (Limit Carefully)

ü     Agaves Nectar (Liquid Sweetener, Natural, Won’t Spike Blood Sugar)

ü     Soy Sauce (High In Sodium, So Limit)


You shouldn’t eliminate salt from your diet completely, as your body does need a bit of salt to run properly.  But these should be limited as much as possible.

Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can use.  Studies have shown that people who consume around two tablespoons of olive oil daily for one week show less oxidation of LDL cholesterol, as well as higher levels of antioxidants in their blood.

Olive oil can help protect against ulcers and gastritis.  It may help prevent colon cancer. It contains vitamin # and phenols.  In short, it is probably the best fat you can possibly consume.

As with nearly anything, it should be consumed in limited quantities.  It is still very high in calories, and of course, is pure fat.  Eating enough of it will cause you to gain weight, but it should still be used in small amounts because of its protective benefits.

Agave nectar is a natural sweetener that comes from a type of cactus.

It tastes very sweet, but it won’t spike your blood sugar like process sugar, honey, syrup, and other sweeteners.  It’s also considered much safer than aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.

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Once you’ve discovered how to listen to what your body wants, it’s time to interpret these cravings and give your body what it wants.

If you’re craving pizza, it’s probably the tomato sauce your body is asking for.  In this case, you could try having some healthy tomato soup, some tomato juice, or a nice, fresh tomato salad.

If you are craving something healthy like watermelon or broccoli, by all means indulge!  But of course most people tend to crave things that they really love to eat.  Maybe watermelon is your favorite food, and if so, that’s great.  But most people have less healthy favorites like pizza and French fries as their favorites.

Remember, MSG can cause you to crave foods that your body doesn’t need.

You have to break away from the addictive cycle, so you should at least cut down on MSG if you don’t eliminate it entirely.

I find I crave cheesecake a lot.  For a long time I thought maybe I was craving the calcium, but then I realized I don’t just crave cheesecake, I crave strawberry cheesecake!

Once I started eating fresh strawberries once a cheesecake craving hit, I rarely craved it anymore.  Sometimes I would still want cheesecake after I ate strawberries, which signaled that I just wanted the flavor of cheesecake.  I knew that wasn’t a real craving, so I had to make the decision to either ignore the craving, or give in and indulge.

The thing is, you CAN give in and indulge from time to time.  You just can’t go overboard if you want to lose weight.  I would have a very small slice of cheesecake, eating slowly and savoring each bite for the longest time possible.

If I was still craving it after that slice, I would wait at least two hours before giving in again, for another very small slice.  And each time I had to decide whether to indulge or not.  The strength of the craving was the major deciding factor in whether I would indulge.

Life is short.  It’s too short to deny yourself entirely.  Once I realized that, it was easier for me to lose weight.  You see, sticking with a diet is really tough when you never get to eat anything you enjoy!

But when you allow yourself treats and indulgences from time to time, it’s a lot easier to keep going.  You have more of a reason to keep it up.

You remember the four food groups, right?  Unless you’re relatively young, you were probably taught about the four food groups in school.  Supposedly those were the foods we needed to make up a healthy diet.

These days, it’s all about the “food pyramid”.  The USDA has devised a new way of teaching people about the right foods to eat, dividing foods up even further.  It contains 6 groups of foods instead of four.

Well, this food pyramid is actually a lot smarter than the original four food groups, because it actually distinguishes fats, oils, and sweets from healthier foods.

Additionally, fruits and vegetables are in two different groups.


                                                         
                                                               The Food Pyramid

As you can see, the largest group is the base of the pyramid.  This group contains breads, grains, and other starches (like corn and potatoes).  This is the group the USDA believes you should eat the most of.

These grains and starches help give you energy, but they can be loaded with carbohydrates that can raise your blood sugar.  It’s best to stick with whole grains, and go easy on the really starchy foods like potatoes.

The USDA recommends that adults consume around 6 to 11 servings of grains and starches per day.  Be careful to monitor your portion sizes carefully!

A single slice of bread is one serving, but a slice of thick-sliced bread is TWO servings, and a standard 6-inch sub sandwich roll is THREE servings!

The next level of the pyramid contains fruits and vegetables.

Originally fruits and vegetables were in the same food group when it came to the “four food groups”, but a distinction needed to be made.  You need to eat both fruits AND vegetables in order to have the healthiest possible diet, so the USDA decided to draw a separation between the two.

Ideally, you want to have at least 3-5 servings of vegetables and 204 servings of fruit each day.  A typical serving of vegetables is 1 cup raw or 1 cup cooked.  A typical fruit serving is 1 small fresh fruit or 1 cup canned fruit.

The next level of the pyramid shows dairy and protein.  The dairy section is smaller than the meat section, because you don’t need as much milk per day as you do protein.

You should be getting at least 2-3 servings of dairy per day, preferably low-fat or non-fat.  This could include things like milk, yogurt, or even low-fat ice cream.

Proteins include meats and seafood, dried beans, eggs, cheese, and peanut butter.  Yes, cheese is included in protein rather than dairy.

You want to get 4-6 ounces of protein daily, ideally from low-fat varieties such as most seafoods, egg whites, low-fat cottage cheese, and skinless poultry.  Tofu is also a good choice if you like it.

The final group includes fats, sweets, and alcohol.  You should keep these to a minimum.  Remember, you do need some fat in your diet, but excessive fat can lead to obesity, especially when consumed with excessive amounts of carbohydrates.

You should have a maximum of 1-2 servings from this group per day, especially when trying to lose weight.

It’s not easy keeping track of all of these things, so I don’t actually worry too much about counting each and every serving and adding it all up during the day.

What I do is I develop menus for the week, and I plan each meal in a specific way.  That way I don’t have to worry about adding things up, because it all happens quite naturally.

Here’s an example of my weekly meal plan:

BREAKFAST

3 servings grains
1 serving fruit
1 serving protein
1 serving dairy

LUNCH

4 servings grains
1 serving fruit
2 servings vegetables
1 serving protein
1 serving dairy
1 serving fat (if not at dinner)

DINNER

2 servings grains
1 serving vegetables
2 servings protein
1 serving fat (if not at lunch)

SNACK

1 serving fruit

SNACK

1 serving vegetables

That’s 3 meals and two snacks per day, which might seem like a lot of food when you’re dieting, but it’s not.  You MUST keep eating regularly to keep your metabolism high.  If you don’t, your weight loss is going to be much slower than you’d like.

As you can see, this gives me each day:

9 servings grains
3 servings fruit
5 servings vegetables
4 servings protein
2 servings dairy
1 serving of fat

This is a good balance.  It’s right in the middle of the grains, on the low end of protein and dairy, and on the high end of fruits and vegetables.  That’s what really got me the best weight loss, because fruits and vegetables are obviously lower in fat and calories than meat and dairy, and I stayed right in the middle for grains to give me enough energy without overeating.

This is what a typical menu would look like:

BREAKFAST

3 servings oatmeal (small bowl)
1 serving applesauce (in the oatmeal)
1-ounce bacon or ham
1 cup non-fat milk (half over the oatmeal)

LUNCH

2 sandwiches with:

2 slices whole grain bread each
lettuce and tomato
3 ounce low-fat turkey on each
1 tbsp. mayonnaise (half on each)


1 apple
1 cup non-fat milk

DINNER

Noodle Stir-Fry with:

2 servings whole wheat pasta
1 cup steamed broccoli
2 ounces grilled chicken
Herbs and 0 calorie seasonings to taste

SNACK (between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner)

1 cup cantaloupe cubes

SNACK (between lunch and dinner or after dinner)

1 cup salad with fat-free dressing

As you can see, this keeps you eating all day long, and you get a considerable amount of food each time.  If you’re hungry, eat!  Just be sure you’re really hungry.

It can be quite difficult to tell if you’re actually hungry or if you are just bored or depressed and want to eat.

Before you eat anything, try to listen to your stomach, not your head.  If your stomach is growling or pinching, you’re really hungry.  If it isn’t, then you just want to eat.

Remember, you can indulge sometimes, too.  If you’re craving corn chips, go for it!  But grab out a handful and put it into a bowl, do NOT eat straight from the bag!

It’s very important to learn portion control.  You can’t eat unlimited amounts of almost any food without gaining weight.  Yes, you can eat to your heart’s content on cucumbers or lettuce, but most foods need to be limited.

In the next chapter, I’m going to make a list of foods you can eat whenever you’re hungry, including foods that you can have in practically unlimited quantities.

We’ll also look at some food substitutions you can use to satisfy cravings for higher-fat foods.  While this won’t always work, sometimes it does.

Whenever you can cut calories with substitutions, it’s a great thing!

By: brown Michael
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One of the biggest problems that we face when struggling to lose weight is that we rarely listen to our bodies, and what it is trying to tell us.

Over the years, through self-indulgence and not paying attention to what we are putting INTO our bodies and how it actually affects us, we lose our internal ability to judge what we really need to be eating. Thankfully, It’s very easy to train yourself to listen to your body, it just takes a little bit of practice.

One of the best things about listening to your body is that you won’t have to feel deprived or hungry.  When you eat what your body is craving, you naturally eat less, or you eat more, but healthier foods that nourish your body and give you the energy and mental clarity that you need.

You see, when you’re eating all of that junk food that is nutritionally lacking, your body needs to continue to signal to you that you’re hungry so you will eat more and more.  If it never gets enough of the nutrients it needs, it will keep you perpetually hungry!

Once you start listening to your body and giving it what it needs, you’ll find yourself naturally losing weight.  Your body won’t hold on to that extra fat anymore, because it won’t think it’s starving.

And you won’t feel deprived because you’ll still be able to eat many of the foods you love!

Your body is a remarkable instrument.  It is precisely calibrated to work at maximum efficiency naturally.  If you take care of it properly, it will continue to run at peak efficiency.  However, if you abuse it and neglect it, it will begin to wear down quickly.

Since most of us grow up eating a lot of junk foods like candy, cookies, cake, pizza, and potato chips, our bodies are never given enough of the different nutrients it needs.  Those foods are empty calories that cause us to gain weight, but don’t actually provide us with any vitamins or minerals.

Since our bodies don’t get enough nutrients, they continually crave more and more food.  Our bodies keep telling us to consume more, because we think we are starving!  Surely we must not be taking in enough food if we aren’t getting those nutrients, right?

In the wild that would rarely happen except in times of famine.  Animals instinctively know what types of foods they should consume, how much, and when.  They don’t overeat, because they get the right nutrients.

The only time animals in the wild have trouble getting enough of the right nutrients is during times of famine, when their food supply is threatened.

During times of famine, a body’s normal reaction is to conserve energy.  This is done by putting on weight.

The body stores fat to be converted to energy later when there is no food available.

Additionally, the metabolism slows down in order to keep that weight on as long as possible, so it lasts as long as necessary to keep the body alive during the duration of the famine.  This is a natural part of life.

Humans have evolved to eat foods that aren’t nutritionally adequate.  There are very few nutrients in French fries or a chocolate bar.  Even the “healthy” foods we eat are often cooked until most of the vitamins have been destroyed.

In order to learn to listen to your body again, you have to start paying very close attention to the foods you are craving.  Usually the body has cravings for certain foods based on nutrients it isn’t getting enough of.

For example, a human living in the wild in the wintertime would be without many nutrients for several months.  All of the fruits and vegetables would either be long stored-away by animals or buried under snow.

During this time, their primary food source would probably be animals. They would probably have to eat mostly fish until the plants began to produce again.

After a while, that human would very likely begin to crave fish, long after there was a good supply of vegetables or fruits.  This is because the body builds a preference for the vitamins and minerals found in specific foods, and once your body has experienced the extra energy and vitality that comes from eating healthier foods, your brain and overall system continues to crave those nutrients and proteins.

By breaking down whatever you’re craving, you can learn to figure out what it is your body is really looking for.  This is the key to finally losing weight!

There is one important thing you should know about cravings.  They aren’t ALWAYS indicative of your body needing something.

Cravings can also be triggered by:

·        Hormonal changes (pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome)

·        MSG (monosodium glutamate)

·        Food addiction

·        Depression

These are just a few of the issues that can cause cravings.  It can be difficult to tell whether a craving is legitimate or not, but if you substitute something similar and you’re still experiencing the craving, odds are the craving was not a legitimate health craving.

MSG is one notable cause of cravings.  It has been proven to be very addictive, and food manufacturers and restaurants will often put it in their food to make people crave it.

You should avoid eating foods that contain this addictive substance whenever possible.  Eating food that contains MSG will only make you crave more of it, and this perpetuates obesity.

MSG has many harmful effects.  It has been linked with:

·        Diabetes – It causes the pancreas to produce three times more insulin than normal!

·        Autism

·        ADD and ADHD

·        Alzheimer’s Disease

·        Migraines and General Headaches

·        Brain Lesions

·        Obesity

·        Other Degenerative Diseases Like ALS and Parkinson’s

MSG and aspartame (the artificial sweetener) belong to a dangerous group of substances known as excitotoxins.  These toxins are believed to be responsible for contributing to many of the above conditions and problems.

If you aren’t going to avoid MSG and aspartame, your cravings are going to be more difficult to identify properly.  You will probably have a lot of “false positives” and you’ll likely be craving things your body isn’t physically craving.

By: brown Michael
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Most exercise and diet programs do not work because they are based on the concept of food deprivation. That is why if you are interested in losing weight in a healthy way you should embark on a diet that rewards you with foods that you like every now and then. 

Feeding yourself a food you like after dieting all day is like rewarding yourself for a job well done. The snack can be the treat you get for running five miles or going all day without eating a bag of potato chips.

The idea is to eat any snack that is less than 100 calories.  Here is a list of foods that meet that requirement --

* One of the new 100 calorie yogurts on the market
* One of the new 100 calories puddings on the market
* One of the new 100 calorie chocolate bars on the market
* Eight dried apricot halves
* ¼ cup blueberries with one ounce of canned whipped cream
* ¼ cup fresh peaches with one ounce of canned whipped cream
* ¼ cup fresh strawberries
* 1 medium sized tangerine
* 2 smaller plums
* 2 tablespoons raisons
* 1 fig newton
* 17  medium sized grapes
* ½ cup Jello with a shot of whipped cream
* ¾ cup diet Jello with a shot of whipped cream
* 8 animal crackers
* 3 cups plain popcorn with salt only
* 8 baked tortilla chips with three tablespoons of salsa
* frozen juice bar
* one large dill pickle
* twenty peanuts
* I piece of string cheese
* 1 small baked potato with a small dab of sour cream

Notice that on this list it has been noted that you should investigate the products that are coming out now made by food manufacturers that contain exactly 1200 calories.

Rewarding you with a treat works for most people. However this approach does not always work if your weight gain is due to emotional issues. Sometimes it backfires and you end up eating too many calories in that day and sabotaging an entire week’s worth of calorie loss.

A similar way to reward yourself is to take one day off of your diet and then just splurge on what you want to eat for all that day. That way you are not one deprived for one whole day. Just make sure it is the same way every week so that you have that occasion to look forward to. This helps lessen the pain of self-denial which sabotages so many diets.

By: brown Michael
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The sad news is that weight loss is next to impossible if you are on antidepressants. It is no secret that all antidepressants cause people who take them to gain weight. In fact it is safe to conclude that antidepressants make natural weight loss next to impossible.

The weight gain seems to kick in within a week or so of when you first start to take it. This garnering of extra pounds often seems insurmountable because they are so hard to lose and the weight gain happens so fast.  Many people feel overwhelmed and like they are helpless to do anything about this particular side effect.

The higher the dosage the more weight you will gain. Some people gain up to fifty pounds a year on these drugs. Unfortunately it may be absolutely necessary for them to take these “happy pills” to feel well. Many people are completely dependent on them in order to be emotionally balanced.

Another sad but true fact about antidepressants is that they put some people in the mood to exercise and then they become very frustrated when the pounds don’t peel off. They become very demoralized.  This is especially true of the individuals who have been told that antidepressants cause weight loss.  Weight loss can be a side effect but it is a rare one due to taking antidepressants.

It is very atypical for the symptom of weight loss to occur in people. Yet another thing to note is that the few antidepressants that do boast extreme weight loss as a side effect almost always list “extreme weight gain” as a side effect well.

If you are overweight and on medication for moods talk to your doctor immediately about what the side effects might be. The problem may not be what you eat, how often you exercise or anything else. It may be that antidepressant that you are taking. This means that for some people that if you want to be thin you may have to quit being on an antidepressant.

Antidepressants are often prescribed to motivate an individual to do things like quit smoking, cure depression or give the person the energy they need to get up off the couch and start exercising. 

However this might all be for nothing. This type of medication can actually slow down your metabolism. All of the dieting and exercising will not jump start your metabolism again. This is why once someone has been on antidepressants a long time often stay fatter than they were when they were not on them.

Antidepressants can also increase the appetite. It is very common for many people to feel more relaxed and snack more when they are on then. Some people also feel stoned and start craving high carb foods. They get lazy and lack motivation to do anything. This of course is no way to lose weight.

By: brown Michael
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Part of a natural weight loss plan is making sure that the foods that you eat are nutritious. Whenever you are on a diet you need to eat foods that are nutrient rich and that contain the optimum amount of vitamins and minerals.  That is because you are not eating as much per day when you are dieting which also means that you are eating less food.

It is easier to cut over 500 calories a day from your usual consumption of foods per day if you are eating well because foods that are good for you do not leave you with that craving to eat even more. As you are eating less you need to make sure that the foods that you are eating are as jam packed with nourishment as possible.

One of the most nutritious foods that you can eat while on a diet is beans. Beans are rich in fiber and don’t cost much. They are also a great source of protein and very cheap,

Broccoli is another food that is great when you are on a diet.  The roughage helps you from getting constipated. The folic acid in broccoli prevents you from getting constipated and keeps you from developing iron poor blood.

Eat as much fruit as possible when you are a diet.  Cantaloupe is a very nourishing choice as it supplies you with all the Vitamin A and C that you need in a day.  Blend this with ice to make a great shake. Melons of all kinds are crammed with the vitamins that you need to be very healthy.

Yet another great thing to eat when you are on a diet is oranges. These have vitamin C, folic acid and fiber.  Oranges are stacked with Vitamin A too.

In fact if you need Vitamin A any orange colored fruit or vegetable goes a long way towards optimizing your nutrition.  Drinking the juices of orange fruits if any kind is also recommended for optimum nutrition and to improve your immune system.

It is important to keep your brain enriched with omega-3 oils as well. Make sure you eat plenty of salmon, avocadoes and fish. Catfish, swordfish and rainbow trout are also good sources of protein and omega 3 oils that can help keep your brain healthy and prevent heart attacks.

If you drink milk then consider that it is one of the best sources of protein.  Soy milk is also a good choice.  However if you are drinking rice milk or soy milk make sure that it is enriched with vitamins. Rice milk in particular can have you downing excess calories that you do not need and make you fatter while at the same time not really containing that many nutrients at all.

By: brown Michael
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Choosing weight loss pills can be tricky. Even though many claim to lead to natural weight loss not all of them are legitimate. The problem is that the weight loss pill industry is full of people who are selling bogus products. This includes pills, patches and creams.  It can be confusing because there are so many promises out there about natural weight loss pills with no real proof that that they work.

This is not to say that all weight loss pills and products are evil. The key is to choose quality supplements that are good for you.

First of all try to choose natural products. Avoid pills that contain synthetic chemicals that could give you a shocking surprise when it comes to side effects. Keep in mind that if you buy cheap diet pills full of caffeine, you will get the jitters. You should also avoid ephedra which causes shakiness and heart attacks.  You should also never exceed the recommended dosages for these products unless you really want to feel ill or perhaps even die.

There are also a lot of diet pills on the market that are quite simply fake. Some make you anxious and others make you very fatigued. Read the labels and make sure what you are buying something pure, and organic. Always pay attention to recommended dosages for these products and never exceed them to avoid nasty side effects.

You should also only use products that have some kind of medical approval or proof of quality that is legitimate. This is because no diet products are subject to any kind of FDA approval. You need to read the labels to protect yourself from taking dangerous chemicals that can cause disorientation, nausea, dehydration and other problems.

Unfortunately most people have to take these pills for a number of days or even weeks to find out if they even work.  It is hard to get your money these products if they don’t work as usually you end up taking most of the weight loss pills before you find out they are ineffective. 

When you buy pills try to look for ones that come with pamphlets that offer proof that medical studies have been done.  All you can do is read the labels to try and protect yourself.  Yet another sign of a good weight loss product is the offer of a full refund if the pills do not work within a specified period of time.

By: brown Michael
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The reason that most weight loss attempts fail is because people do not have realistic expectations of themselves. Either the person sets weight loss goals that are too lofty or they choose a diet or exercise plan that is too extreme or based too much self-deprivation.  Being unrealistic or irrational or too idealistic about your weight loss goals is a true recipe for disaster.

Doctors say that it is most healthy to lose two pounds a week. Lose any more than that number of pounds and in a shorter period of time then you will either get sick or gain the weight all back once you have lost it. To avoid this kind of natural weight loss debacle make sure you choose a weight loss regimen that is achievable.

The bottom line is that if you set sensible goals for yourself, chances are you'll be more likely to meet them. Consequently you will have a better chance of keeping the weight off once and for all.

A sensible weight loss plan also is not self-punishing if you can’t make them. Many people set extreme goals and then give up when they can meet their own unrealistic deadlines. This is exactly the type of black and white thinking that has no place in a reasonable and humane approach to your own weight loss.

Being realistic also means forgetting that you are dieting every now and then. It should be less about weight loss and more about changing your lifestyle so that your weight loss is permanent. 

If you make dieting all about success and failure you will hate yourself when you do slip off the diet. This creates an emotional crisis. This is so you can keep it sane if you want to lose that weight!

You also need to factor some other issues into your weight loss plan.  There are many dependencies for most people including interactions of food and exercises, food allergies, your natural inclination to be a couch potato, your work schedule, your age, your gender, your general health, whether or not you have kids and your financial status.  The poorer you are the worse your diet tends to be and the fatter you tend to get.

Not sure what you should weigh? There are scores of websites online that can tell you this. One of the best ways is to get your physique assessed by a professional trainer or by your family doctor who can take any kind of dependencies or necessities that your body has into account before you start dieting!

By: brown Michael
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There are many plants that can help facilitate weight loss. The upshot is that they each work in different ways and have different effects on the body. You need to read the labels of the herbs that you buy and make sure that you really do understand what kind of side effects can occur.

A good example is hoodia which is actually a vegetable found in Africa which cuts your thirst and hunger so much that you can actually become malnourished and dehydrated.  Other herbs are classified as being thermogentic meaning that they speed up body functions such as heart rate, breathing and digestion. These are the “fat burning” herbs. Many herbs also usually have a lot of naturally occurring caffeine in them. These include green tea, dandelion and nettle.

The above mentioned herbs are probably the ones with the least side effects. The ones that have the most side effects are the herbs known as the diuretics.  Believe it or not both green tea and dandelion are part of this group of herbal diuretics which can seriously dehydrate you if you take too much.  You do look thinner taking these herbs but the effect is temporary. As soon as you stop taking them you gain the weight back when your body naturally rehydrates itself.

Many weight loss herbs have the side effect of diarrhea. These side effects include uva ursi, birchbark and buchu. The United States Food and Drug Administration warn against these herbs which can cause serious side effects in the long term including cramping, diarrhea and other problems.

One of the most dangerous of the herbs is known as Ma Huang or Herbal Phen Phen. This drug causes an overstimulation of the central nervous system, an increase in blood pressure and an elevated heart rate. The FDA warns of scores of side effects to using this herb including heart murmurs, depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, heart attack, dehydration, seizures, chest pain, stroke, dissociation, and psychosis.

Safer choices include cayenne which helps burn fat and seaweed which is a good source of trace minerals like iodine and chromium.  Seaweed can help jumpstart a cranky and slow metabolism which is often the culprit in many cases of weight gain.

Keep in mind that before you take any kind of herb it is very important for you to talk with your doctor first. Some conditions simply don't respond well to even the safest of herbs for weight loss. For instance although green tea is generally considered to be healthy it can be a disaster for someone who suffers from anxiety simply because it does contain so much caffeine.

By: brown Michael
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If you are looking for a way to lose weight fast then you are usually looking at an unhealthy diet. These include any diets that promise that you will lose fifteen pounds in three days, fifteen pounds in a week or even fifteen pounds in a month!  To stay healthy you should not be losing any more than ten pounds a month.

You are also likely not able to stay healthy sticking to any diet that claims to be no fat, low carb, high protein, or that consists only eating grapefruit or cabbage. You should also avoid any diet that involves taking a lot of pills or chemicals or making your body more acidic in nature.

Following most fad diet plans will eventually achieve the opposite of what you want. You will gain unwanted weight, as your body desperately protects itself from acidity caused by these diets by piling on the fat. The only true and lasting solution to being overweight is to change your eating habits so that your blood is at a healthy alkaline pH level at all times.  This will help you stay fit, eliminate toxins and make the most of any exercising.
 
Weight-loss advice comes in many guises. Most often the “new” and “revolutionary” diets are really old fad diets making a comeback. For instance the high protein low carbohydrate is as old as the original Aitkin’s diet, which was first introduced to the public in the 1970s.  Even though it’s an antique concept in dieting it is still often marketed as the “latest thing.” The South Beach Diet is just the Aitkin’s diet repackaged to us again.

You also know you are dealing with a fad diet if the diet claims to recommend only a few foods or ban a specific food or food group. A good example is the cabbage soup diet where you eat only bananas one day and glasses of milk the next. Another good example is the watermelon diet or the grapefruit diet which involves consuming one food alone. You can’t live on one food all day and expect to stay healthy.

The truth behind weight gain in this society is that people are eating more total calories and getting less physical activity. Your body simply doesn’t distinguish between types of calories when it comes to weight gain only the number of calories that you consume.

Fad and crash diets are not only unhealthy but they are also cause rebound weight gain. Also most diets cause an initial weight loss but the ultimate result is that you gain all of the weight back the minute you go off the plan.  If you don't gain it back within a couple of days, you are likely to gain it all back plus a bit more within a year.

By: brown Michael
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Is your weight gain out of control? Don’t think that you can go on like you have been without making any kind of lifestyle changes. Obesity has a disastrous effect on your health.

Here is a brief rundown of the health consequences that can result from carrying around excess weight.

1. Carrying around excess body fat will decrease your energy levels because you become needlessly heavy. Having just 10 lbs. of excess body fat is like carrying around a 10 lb. bag of lard. You will feel dragged out, weak and less like exercising.

2. Your heart has to work overtime to support the extra weight. Obesity has a harmful effect on your entire cardiovascular system. Your cardiovascular system includes your heart, your lungs, and all of your arteries and veins.

3. You may develop breathing problems. For example, sleep apnea is a breathing problem that causes you to stop inhaling or exhaling for long enough that you can actually accidentally suffocate to death.

4. You can become sleep deprived from having to sleep in a way that accommodates your excess fat. This can affect your posture and cause leg and back pain.

5. Obesity can cause infertility. If you are trying to have a baby but can’t stepping on the scales might give you a clue as to the reason you can’t conceive.

6. Type 2 Diabetes has been linked to obesity so if you want to lower your risk of getting this disorder then try shedding some pounds.

7. Extra weight will put you at a higher risk for certain types of cancer. Obese men have a higher risk of developing colon, rectum, or prostate cancer. Obese women have a higher risk of developing gallbladder, breast, uterine, cervical, or ovarian cancer.

8. Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risks of gall bladder disease, incontinence, increased surgical risk, and depression.

9. Obesity can affect the quality of life through limited mobility and decreased physical endurance as well as through social, academic, and job discrimination.

10.  Being overweight may have an effect on your self-esteem that, in turn, will have a negative effect on your overall health.

These are only some of the consequences of not shedding those excess pounds.  In the long run being overweight is absurdly expensive both to your morale and to your pocketbook.  That is why it is a good idea to embark on a natural weight loss regimen now.

By: brown Michael
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Dieting to lose weight is simply not the way to go if you want to maintain your health and it is especially not the way to go if you are trying to recover from an illness.  You can do yourself more harm than good if you put yourself on any kind of calorie restricted food regimen.

First off the very nature of being on a diet is that you are deprived of the calories and nutrition that you would normally be taking in if you were not overweight.  This means that you are running your brain and body on less fuel than usual.  The result is that you can expect your physique to be a little less efficient because you simply are “running on empty.”

When your body is “running on empty” there are a number of consequences. First of all you may feel quite tired and like you can’t get through the day. This is especially true if you also quit fattening caffeinated drinks like coke and coffee as well. Many people also feel foggy and dull and like they can’t focus. This is because their brain may not be getting the sugar that it is used to in order to function.  The result of being deprived caffeine and sugar is withdrawal. Many people become moody and cranky. This side effect of dieting can become so bad that some have to leave work or feel that they cannot get out of bed in the morning.

Yet another consequence of the food deprivation associated with dieting is a lowered immune system. You may simply be more vulnerable to catching a virus because your body does not have the energy it needs to fight problems off. If you are already sick then dieting is not a good idea. Although some diets are cleansing they should only be used for the short term and under a doctor’s strict supervision. Diets that restrict what kind of foods you eat are also not a good idea if you are recovering from an illness as the vitamins and minerals that you will need to heal are found across a broad spectrum of foods.

Ironically dieting can also cause weight gain simply because food deprivation gives your body the message that there is a food shortage. Your brain tells your body to pile on the fat and save it in reserves so that you can live on it despite the lack of food resources.

By: brown Michael
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There are hundreds of special diets being sold to Americans right now and many of them have the negative effect of making you fatter as opposed to slimmer. There is the blood type diet, the high protein diet, the raw food diet, the low fat diet, the low-carb diet, the low sodium diet, the high fiber diet, the low calorie diet, and the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, the South Beach diet, the Atkins diet, the Slim Fast Diet and many more.  The problem is that not a single one of these diets is healthy for you in the long run and may even cause you to gain even more weight than ever.

The reason these diets are not healthy for you is that they do not reset the hypothamulus. This organ produces hormones that help control your weight. This dooms you to just get fatter and fatter.  None of them cures hunger. In fact they just leave you feeling hungrier because many are based on calorie deprivation. Only a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and full nutritious meals can help reset the hypothamulus.

Most importantly, no matter how much weight you may lose doing these programs, none of them get your body to release stubborn fat deposits.

Counting calories is the not the answer!   In other countries people eat way more calories than Americans and still manage to stay slim. Depriving oneself of calories not only makes you sick but it makes you fall off the diet all together.

Throughout the world people eat lots of carbs, tons of salt, drink beer, wine, and other alcohol, eat ice cream and other deserts, have bread and still remain skinny. Nobody drinks diet sodas. Nobody eats low fat food only. They eat all they want and do not gain weight.

How are they able to do this? The answer is that the food is produced differently than in America. In America, for example, beef is injected with bovine growth hormone and loaded with antibiotics and other drugs. The beef is fed genetically modified, chemically produced grain and ground up dead animals. This is a toxic stew that you consume full of chemicals, hormones and drugs. It is not the actual beef that makes you fat. It is the additives.

The problem with beef in the U.S. is just one example of what is wrong with American diets. Eating naturally, organically and with an eye to reading the label on foods is the better part of a sensible and effective natural weight loss plan.

By: brown Michael
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Almost all diets are based on calorie restriction one way or another. These diets simply do not work because they cause they are based on self-denial.  Sooner later we give in to temptation, as it is human nature to simply crave variety when it comes to food. It is also too much of a punishment to be denied food as well as it is a natural urge to fill our bellies.

Psychologically and physically it is too hard on us as humans to stay hungry or not eat enough. We punish ourselves by not eating enough fat or calories or just a single food. This can cause psychological problems and compulsive behaviors like bulimia or anorexia.

The worst diets for you nutritionally are the ones that force you to eat a single food only. A good example of was the Cabbage Soup Diet.  We were led to believe that eating some magically fat burning combination of cabbages, V8 juice and Lipton Onion Soup Mix combined with eating only bananas one day or only drinking milk another would lead to weight loss.

This is a great example of a diet that is based completely on calorie deprivation – about 800 to 1000 calories a day.  Starvation leads to rebound weight gain even if you lose a bit of weight at first on this type of diet. This is because after denying yourself of the fats, oils and carbs that you crave all day you tend to binge on them even more.

Another good example is the classic Grapefruit Diet, which is largely all meat, no carbs, grapefruit and black coffee.  It is also a diet that is below 1000 calories a day. Any diet that is that low in calories is bound to be ineffective and it can also make you very sick. All humans need a variety of foods to function properly.

Think Weight Watchers it the healthy way to go?  It isn’t. The problem with the Weight Watcher's Program is that you are still limited in calories and that the foods that you are allowed to eat or given to eat are often very acidic in nature. The result is that your body becomes more vulnerable to disease in general because the body is more prone to losing weight and staying healthy if it is in an alkaline state.  The prepackaged food involved with Weight Watchers is not that healthy either.

To keep your body in an alkaline state you need to eat in a healthy way that includes the consumption of organic vegetables and juices. Find a diet that is vegetarian or based on the European food pyramid and you will be much healthier. 

By: brown Michael
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It has been known for decades that a high protein low carbohydrate diet is bad for you yet this type of diet is still being pushed as an answer to our weight loss woes. The problem with high protein low carbohydrate diets is that they advocate taking entering a state of ketosis to help hasten weight loss. This forces the kidneys to accumulate waste in a way that is not healthy for you.

The first of this type of diet was the Atkins diet, which has been around since the 1970s.  It is based on the principle of ketosis. Originally it was called The Stillman Diet.  Dr. Stillman found out, through his research, that feeding the body more protein could induce weight loss then it was equipped to handle. This would trick the body into releasing fat through the urine.  This does cause weight loss but it also painfully strains the kidneys which produce small amounts of brown urine when under this type of high-protein duress.

The Atkins diet was based on Dr. Stillman’s research from the late 1960s. Major corporations started marketing products with the Atkins brand on them – powders, supplements and books. The problem is that the people running this marketing organization did not believe in the product and they knew it did not work.

To top it off, ketosis is not the greatest state for your body to be in. Ketosis is an abnormal body process that occurs during starvation due to lack of carbohydrates. Ketosis causes fatigue, constipation, nausea, and vomiting, none of which are part of a healthy lifestyle. Long-term side effects of ketosis that have been well documented include heart disease, bone loss, and kidney damage.

A nutritional analysis of the Atkins diet by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine concluded that this diet was much too high in saturated fat and cholesterol and much too pathetically low in fiber to be healthy for anyone. The lack of fruits and vegetables and carbs in the diet can leave the person dangerously deficient in seven key vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, foliate, vitamin B12, and thiamine.

The problem is that eating too much protein in the form of meat means including more toxic, artery clogging fat in your body.  The excess protein also stresses every organ in your body including the kidneys, intestines and liver.  Eating fat is okay as long as it is healthy unsaturated fat.

The result is that you get thinner but only for a short while. This type of diet, as trendy as it is in one of its newest incarnations – the South Beach Diet – is just not that healthy for you.

By: brown Michael
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They are not as popular as they used to be because we now know more about eating good fat, but there are still some diet gurus out there pushing low fat and even no fat diets.  The problem with this approach to weight loss is that our bodies do absolutely need fats of all kinds to survive.

Low fat diets have been promoted in the past by Weight Watchers, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and Dean Ornish’s program. The problem is that these low fat diets simply don’t work in the long term. They only work for as long as you are on them and then you gain all of the weight that you have lost back.

The bottom line is that you need some fats in your diet, especially the healthy fats.  Even if you are on a completely vegetarian diet you still need these fats as eating too many carbohydrates will make your body acidic. 

Without the right types of fats, you can have bacteria, yeasts and molds multiplying in your body.  Your body tissues become dry.  Blood will not move through your veins and cholesterol and arterial plaque are more likely to stick to your artery walls. Yet another consequence of not eating enough fat is constipation. You simply will not eliminate as easily. Even your lung capacity can be compromised because your body needs some fat to create mucus.

Without the right amounts of fats and oils your brain does not function as well either. You simply do not think straight. Your brain cannot be dehydrated or deprived of fats or you could start thinking and behaving in neurotic or psychotic ways.

In essence vegetarian diets contain many acidic carbs, which ferment and lead to sugar intolerance, pre-diabetes and eventually diabetes.  Eating too much acidic food can also stress your adrenal glands and make you feel tired.  This is why if you are going to go for an all natural vegetarian diet you need to make sure it contains some healthy fats and oils as well.  Olive oil and avocadoes are examples of healthy oils that can help optimize your overall health.

Diets without fats are also very hard to stick to as a full time eatng program.. This is because food without any oil or butter simply tastes very bland. Cakes and sweets made without any kind of fat are also not very tasty. The good taste created by fats is called “mouth feel” and is simply more satisfying to the human palate. The reason that people can’t stick to those fat free diets in the first place is because food that is fat free simply does not taste that great.

By: brown Michael
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Being overweight is not always just a matter of being lazy or eating too much. Sometimes there are other issues that cause people to become obese.

The problem is that no one diet automatically recognizes the difference between how a fat person’s metabolism operates and how a thin person’s operates. In essence a thin person and a fat person could eat the same meals for a week and the thin person would not gain weight while the fat one would.

Fat people often have abnormally low metabolisms and this means they have problems burning food as fuel.  When it is not burned the excess is converted into fat.  To correct this you need to embark on a healthy diet.

Yet another factor that plays into weight gain is that people with abnormally low metabolism are always hungry. The pain of their cravings is very physical and very real.  The reason fat people crave food is because they do not feel full after eating. It is because their body is not using the nutrients in the food to nourish them.  It is not uncommon for overweight people to become immediately hungry after eating even a very large meal! 

Another very real cause of being overweight is emotional overeating. This is the tendency to “eat your anger.” Evolutionary biologists describe this as the need to “bite into something” when we are angry or stressed as that is exactly what are cave man ancestors did.

Food can also take the place of approval, love or sex or even a parent’s love.  People who are overeating for these reasons are often very miserable when they go on a diet because they associate food with love and feel deprived with love once the diet requires them to restrict their calories.

The idea is to adopt a non-acidic diet so that you are free of these cravings, which can become a vicious circle. Eating a non-alkaline diet will put you back in control of these cravings. It is a very freeing experience that puts you backs in control when it comes to choosing to eat what you want and when you want. You also won’t overeat because you will always feel nourished and being properly nourished is absolutely key to stopping those hunger pangs that can lead to weight gain in the first place.

By: brown Michael
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The problem with the notion of dieting is that it does not address the lifestyle changes that need to be made in order to permanently take the weight off. Losing weight is not something that can be bought or sold. It is not a commodity. Sometimes the problem is cultural. We become trapped in old habits that have us eating unhealthy foods for a lifetime.

The key is to adjust your lifestyle. This means eating a plant-based diet based on whole foods and embarking on an exercise program... There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to obesity.  Once you are diagnosed with it chronic disease it can set in quite quickly and the longer you wait to embark on a natural weight loss plan the harder it will be on your health in the future.

You only need to look around you at the people you know to determine who is healthy and who is sick because of their fat accumulations.

Think of the people that you know who are fat.  Are they sick all of the time?  What is his or her diet like? They probably eat a lot of sugar, salt, and junk food. They possibly also drink a lot of alcohol.

Now think of people that you know who maintain a healthy weight. You will notice they do not eat a lot of junk. In fact you might have noticed that these are the vegans that you know or the people who you know who like to consume Italian, Greek or Asian diets.

Traditional cultures from the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Asia know how to eat without gaining weight like Americans do...  Think of the traditional Asian body and how svelte the physique usually is...  In China, Persia, Japan and India people have been eating a mostly plant based diet for thousands of years and it seems to keep the majority of these massive populations fit.

After you are done picturing the body shape of the average Asian then picture what your average American looks like.  Then picture him eating snacks at a baseball game. Visualize the beer full of calories and the hotdog full of fat. This is not health food and this is typical of the unhealthy eating habits of the average American.

When was the last time you saw a really fat vegan? Then ask if you could handle being on a diet that was had more vegetables rather than meat. That is your first step towards embarking on a fully effective, yet natural weight loss plan.

So just how much weight can you immediately lose if you become a vegan?  During a study at the Pritikin center there were 4,500 patients who went through a program of eating as much as they wanted of low fat, plant based whole food lost 5.5% of their body weight.  They also lost an average of seventeen pounds!

By: brown Michael
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Most weight loss attempts fail simply because people try too hard. They set up high expectations of themselves and then gorge on the wrong foods when they cannot stick to the diet. This just makes their obesity problem worse.

If you want to lose pounds for good you need to forget about fad diets and lose weight he natural way.  This means applying the principles of natural eating to your life.  For some that means eating a vegan diet and for others it means including some meat in the diet as a protein source. Every individual is different when it comes to deciding what their body requires to survive.

Eating better often involves big lifestyle changes.  Big changes are not accomplished overnight. You also can’t get anywhere if you insist on counting each and every calorie. Forget any ideas you may have about this entailing sacrifice, deprivation or days and days of eating nothing but a bland diet. Trying too hard like this simply does not work.

The key is that if you are eating vegan there is no need to count calories. Your body naturally knows what to do to keep you at a healthy weight.
 
Furthermore you will NOT ignore your body’s cues to eat as is true of other dieting.  Feeling hungry is a sign that is something wrong. Part of a healthy weight loss plan is listening to your body’s messages.

Don’t ever think for two seconds that staying hungry will keep you thin. In fact the exact opposite happens. Your body slows down the burning of your metabolism to a very slow rate.  It is a defense mechanism against hunger.

You can also think of eating a vegan diet as a worry free way to eat because your body knows what to do with the substances that you are ingesting. This is because you are consuming nutrients and not chemical.
The reason your body is more efficient with these types of foods is because fruits, vegetables and grains are much less dense in energy than animal foods. They simply pack fewer calories per cupful or spoonful.

This is because fat has nine calories per gram while carbs and protein only have four calories per gram.  In addition good carbs like fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain great amounts of fiber.  Fiber makes you feel full and adds almost no calories to your meal.

In some studies, those who follow whole foods, low-fat, plant-based diet consumes fewer calories. It's not because they're starving themselves. In fact, they will likely spend more time eating and eat a larger volume of food than their meat-eating counterparts. 

This means that every time you eat a healthy meal, you may reduce the calories that you consume, digest and absorb, even if you eat significantly more food at one sitting.

Food deprivation just does not work. The beautiful thing about a vegan diet is that you do not deny yourself food. This is because weight loss due to calorie restriction almost never leads to long-term weight loss. 

By: brown Michael
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When it comes to all the extra weight we are carrying around, we have to comprehend the cause before we can put the practical remedy into action. This is because the cure for obesity is not dieting – it is lifestyle change. Obesity needs to be treated just like any other illness. The goal is to treat the whole person and not just a symptom.

Any program that addresses only the obvious symptom of the problem (excess pounds) will never truly solve the problem. It's like putting a band-aid on a heart that needs open heart surgery.

Dieting to lose weight is like pulling a weed without getting at the root .In fact if you think of this all like a garden then you might see that dieting is more like depriving the garden of rain or nutrients.  You are still feeding the weeds that you never pulled up as the root causes of the obesity.

Low fat has been where it is at for a couple of decades now but unfortunately that are partly what has gotten us into so much trouble with our weight.  Depriving ourselves of cholesterol, carbs or sugar has not worked well either.

To lose weight you have to stop counting calories, carbs and denying yourself foods and fats and instead focus on eating more alkaline foods.

Acidic foods are a real problem. Our bodies dispose of some of these acids through the bowels, skin and urinary tract but whatever is left must be buffered and neutralized.  If these acids are not eliminated then they destroy your tissues and organs quite quickly.

Our bodies cannot fight the cascade of acidic substances that we consume every day.  Too much acid in the body robs the blood of oxygen and without it the metabolism slows down. We digest our food more slowly and suffer from weight gain.  Even worse the food stall in our system and clog up our colon making our livers, kidneys, skins and other organs of elimination toxic as well.

Yet another consequence of consuming too much acidic food is that it robs the body of oxygen and without oxygen food starts to oxidize, ferment and rot.  The fermentation creates fungus, mold and yeast to thrive in the colon and throughout our body.

The end result of this is a very unhealthy individual who is usually too fat. That is why going on a very natural organic diet regiment is recommended to address your  weight problems.

By: brown Michael
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In order to lose weight in a natural and healthy way you need to make sure that your body has a neutral pH balance or one that is leaning towards being a bit alkaline. People who are overweight tend to have an acid pH balance in their blood. Tissues that are acidic bond fat to the body and keep you obese.

If your body is too acidic you will not lose weight. Once you learn how to keep the acids out of your body in the first place then your body will start shedding excess fat.
 
If your food and drink are alkaline, then that acid binding fat will just melt away. There is no need for the body to hang on to it anymore.

To understand whether or not your body is acidic or alkaline you need to understand the term pH.

The term pH derives from German, with p standing for "potent" —power—and H being the symbol for hydrogen. Technically speaking, what pH measures is actually the concentration or activity of hydrogen ions in any given tissue or solution so this could also refer to the blood, fluids or tissues of the body.

An atom is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons have positive charge and electrons have a negative charge and neutrons have no charge.  When a single atom posses an equal number of these proton and electrons the atom is neutral. If it is picks up or loses an electron it becomes positively or negatively charged.  Once charged, the name for an atom is an icon.

Below a pH of 7 substances are considered to be aside because they are saturated with pro-tons – also known as hydrogen ions.  Many slimming foods are saturated with electrons which are alkaline.

In essence, the more protons there are in an icon the more acidic it is. An increase in hydrogen ions (protons) means a drop in pH and a decrease in those ions means a rise in pH. 

So to simplify all of this:  all acidic foods have a positive charge and all alkaline things have a negative charge.

Your ideal physical state is to have a negatively charged alkaline body. The only way to do this is to eat more negatively charged foods.

Think of your body like a big battery. In order for it have energy you need to have more electrons than protons in your body.  When you take in alkaline rich food and drinks you are in effect recharging your own fuel cells.
 
The key is to find that exactly negatively charged balance that stops your body from soaking up and storing protons in your fat cells.  Instead of protons, you will be storing electrons, which will leave you, quite literally, full of energy and in a state where your body is constantly able to lose fat.

By: brown Michael
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The hypothalamus is the body’s master gland that controls many of the body’s essential systems. It regulates metabolism and the physiological trigger of hunger. In fat people this gland does not operate normally. It is too toxic.  That is why people who are often overweight feel like they are starving.

The gland must be reset and normalized in order to eliminate constant and intense physical hunger.  The only way to do this is to eat an organic, natural diet that is good for you.

People are often very puzzled by the functions of the hypothalamus and how exactly it can control us and especially how it can control our urges to eat.

There are many reasons that this important master gland might be operating abnormally in the first place and these include –

* Candida yeast overgrowth
* Lack of digestive enzymes
* Nutritional deficiencies
* Stress
* High fructose corn syrup
* Artificial sweeteners
* Microwaved food
* Heavy metal toxicity
* Insufficient oxygen
* Environmental allergies
* Food allergies
* Parasites
* Yo yo dieting
* Air conditioning
* Lack of sleep
* EMS
* Lack of fiber
* A clogged liver

There are also many other factors as well that can cause intense constant hunger including two very unusual influences that you may never have suspected could be a factor.

The first unusual factor is the lack of taste. The hypothalamus thrives on being able to experience the basic tastes that are present in most foods. This includes saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness and savories. When you are on a diet the mouth is deprived of these tastes and the hypothalamus triggers you to crave foods even though the reality is that you are not hungry.

The hypothalamus also needs to experience a variety of experiences including a change of temperatures, textures and smells. It also needs to experience astringency, numbness, spiciness, blandness and coolness.

When the body is not constantly stimulated with all of these tastes then the hypothalamus starts being tricked into believing that your body is lacking food.  This sensory deprivation also lowers your metabolism and increases hunger.

Therefore, in an ideal world, your hypthothalamus would be kept the most healthy if it had all of these tastes and scents at its disposal always. Who knew that deprivation of a variety of foods could actually slow down your metabolism? This is why diets based on food deprivation just do not work. Perhaps eating as many different foods every day is the answer to accelerating your weight loss because eating this way keeps the hypothalamus happy too.

By: brown Michael
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Most people who suffer from being overweight are vulnerable to food cravings. This keeps them overweight simply because they overeat. The real cause might be yeast that is lurking in their intestines.  This yeast is called Candida. Normally your intestine is loaded with good and bad bacteria. However we eat things and take medicines every day that kill off these bacteria we suffer from a condition called Candida overgrowth.

Antibiotics are a major cause of yeast overgrowth in the colon. They kill off all the good bacteria in your gut that is necessary for proper digestion so that your body can absorb nutrients from the foods you eat.

Candida burrows into the intestinal wall and then spreads, like a fungus, throughout the entire body.  Candida has an appetite of its own and feeds on simple carbohydrates such as yeast, flour, sugar, pasta and all refined foods like cake and ice cream.  It creates little pockets in the intestinal wall where food is trapped and eventually ferments.

The reason you gain weight when you have this type of yeast infection is that Candida creates cravings for the foods that are the worst for you. The toxic food particles trapped in the intestines also succumb to the type of bloating that can make a belly look really fat. In fact Candida yeast is also the main cause of gas, constipation and a rounded stomach or waist. Mentally this yeast causes depression, a lack of concentration and fatigue. This alone can cause people who are overweight to eat too much.

Candida is not only an organism onto itself but also an environment in which other organisms like to live. When you have Candida yeast you are not just hosting one bug – you are hosting several and they all contribute to weight gain and food cravings.

The secondary cause of food cravings in people with Candida is parasites. These parasites leech on the body causing nutritional deficiencies that in turn cause uncontrollable cravings for certain types of foods. These parasites also excrete toxins and serve to help clog up the liver and colon.

One of your natural approaches to weight loss may be to take an herbal formula that helps destroy these parasites so that your intestine can function normally again. There are also medications that can be prescribed by your doctor to clear up yeast problems as well so you are not completely at the mercy of this rampant organism that can play such havoc with your weight.

By: brown Michael
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Why is it that some people have more problems when it comes to eliminating fat deposits than others?

It has everything to do with the hypothalamus gland.

There are three basic ways that the body stores fat: as structural fat, in normal fat reserves and as problem fat reserves.

1.    Structural Fat

Structural fat is part of the building blocks of the body. This type of fat surrounds the joints and the internal organs. This fat is like a soft cushion facilitates movement and prevents bone grinding on bone. This is not the fat you want to lose while you are on any diet as it is integral to the structure of your body and to accomplishing even the simplest of movements.

2.    Normal Fat Reserves

These are the fat reserves that are everywhere in your body. This is a thin layer of subcutaneous fat that all of us have in our bodies. This fat keeps us warm, supple and keeps us from hurting ourselves when we fall.

3.    Problem Fat Reserve Areas

Problem fat reserve areas are spread throughout your body. They are designed to be a modern survival mechanism.   Once fat is stored in these areas the fat will not be released easily if ever.  Most people discover how stubborn these problem fat reserve areas can be when they go on a diet and exercise program. They lose water, structural fat and muscle mass and still retain these pouches of fat no matter how much they diet or exercise to get rid of it!

When you go on a severe diet you just end up losing the fat where you absolutely can’t afford to – in the structural and subcutaneous areas of the body.

The only way to lose problem fat areas is to adjust the function of the hypothalamus through eating a healthy diet.  It is the only way to prevent fat from being stored abnormally in these secure problem area fat reserves.

The only other time that the body will release these fat reserves is at the absolute point of starvation or during pregnancy.

The bottom line is that you are not fat or obese unless your metabolism is abnormally low.  The issue is that when the hypothalamus gets put in an abnormal state it stores at in these secure abnormal fat reserves at a much higher rate than usual. Once you start eating an alkaline, plant based diet devoid of the refined sugars and flours and embark on a regular exercise program it is easy to lose excess fat – quickly, efficiently and forever!

By: brown Michael
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Anaerobic exercise is the type of exercise that we otherwise call muscle building or weight lifting. It is the best kind of exercise to adopt in order to lose weight.

The term anaerobic means movements that are carried out “without oxygen.”  It allows muscles to bulk up and become very strong. This is due to the muscle fibers being forced to work harder because oxygen is not constantly being pumped into the lungs and fueling the activity.

This “without oxygen” term does not mean that you are not breathing when you accomplish the moves. A weight lifter still breathes when they are not in an oxygen deficit situation. When you exercise muscles aerobically you do not breathe heavily.

Aerobic exercises include such activities as cycling, jumping rope, and swimming, spinning on a stationary cycle, rebounding and running. You may breathe heavily doing these exercises to get your heart rate up.  Lifting weight does not accelerate your pulse in the same way.

Anaerobic exercises are used during training for non-endurance sports like boxing to build muscle mass. Muscles that are trained under anaerobic conditions develop in a different way than muscles that are training for duration (such as long distance running.)

Muscle training compels the body to use processes that are not dependant on oxygen to produce energy. It just means that you are not using as much oxygen as if you were jogging or swimming. All weight lifting exercises are classified as anaerobic in nature.  Many types of anaerobic exercises associated with weightlifting. However the most common types include working with pulleys, medicine balls and slant boards. 

This is very unlike an aerobic exercise, which usually requires that the body travel unless you are using a training machine such as a stationary bicycle.  Almost all stationary exercise is anaerobic in nature.

Different types of anaerobic exercises can also be used as part of interval training. Interval training is a very efficient way to lose weight and build muscle. The combination of both exercises is effective way to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Practicing anaerobic exercises can help you build lean muscle. Lean muscle keeps on burring fat long after you stop exercising. This is why this type of oxygen free exercise is such an important part of an exercise program that has the goal of achieving weight loss.

Lean muscle mass burns the most calories of any other tissue in your body. It can help you reduce your weight at a faster rate than aerobic exercise.  The other bonus is that lean muscle tissue keeps burning muscle for hours after you stop exercising which maximizes your overall potential to lose as much weight as possible.

By: brown Michael
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If you are older and trying to lose weight you cannot use the years that have gone by as an excuse for not exercising. Even if you are over sixty five years old and suffer from conditions that you think might prevent you from exercising you can still get fit.

Studies show that people with diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and heart disease need to get off the couch and start moving. The weight gain caused by being sedentary can make your condition worse.

If you are not sure if exercise is safe for your health or if you are currently inactive, check with your doctor before you begin any kind of program. This should also help with any concerns you may have about whether or not it is harmful for you to exercise.

You will also feel safer exercising if you are well prepared for it. Make sure you have had plenty of rest, that you have had enough liquid to drink and that you are well fed before expending any energy. Your clothes should fit right and be suitable for exercise and your shoes should also have good arch support so that your calves and feet do not get sore.

If you are sick or recovering or simply not been that active you should begin slowly. Start with the exercises that you are comfortable performing. Walking is the perfect activity to start with especially if you have not exercised in long time.  Starting slowly prevents you from getting sore and it also decreases your chances of overdoing it and straining yourself. It does not take much to begin an exercise program despite your age. All it literally takes is making that first step.

You need to of course check with a doctor about how much exercise you can get away with especially if you are recovering from an operation or have a chronic illness. However in general it is thought that doing some type of aerobic activity for at least half an hour every day will do wonders for keeping you fit.

Examples of aerobic activity are walking, swimming, and bicycling. You should also do resistance, or strength training two days per week unless you are advised not to do so by a physician. This type of training will help you burn off extra calories even while your body is sitting at rest. Furthermore weight training builds stamina and strength and is not as hard on the heart as the aerobic exercises which raise the heart rate.

By: brown Michael
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Core strengthening exercises are also sometimes called abdominal-strengthening exercises. This is because when you strengthen the core stomach muscles you also strengthen the back and midriff. There are many benefits to having a strong core and one of them is that a strong core can help you lose weight.

The benefits of abdominal strengthening exercises are not just limited to helping you lose weight. They also ease the back and perhaps even get rid back pain and strain. Doing tummy strengthening exercises also keeps your organs in their rightful places and helps speed up weight loss.  They can also increase your all over flexibility as well as your ability to twist from side to side.

The stronger you abdominal muscles are the less likely you are to sustain a back strain or back injury or develop a hernia.  Although a trimmer waistline is a side effect of doing these exercises the real benefit is a stronger back. This in turn can allow you to exercise harder and longer. Of course the more you exercise the more weight that you will lose.

So just what are abdominal strengthening exercises? You might just know them as sit ups. Professional trainers also offer classes in gyms that employ the use of medicine balls or air filled exercise balls to perform abdominal strengthening exercises. You could also try taking a class like aquavit or Pilates to try and strengthen this part of the body as well.

Abdominal strengthening exercises may also be of some assistance if you suffer from back pain. Of course before embarking on any exercise program with the intention of trying to heal back pain it is important to consult with your doctor or a physical fitness expert first.

Remember not to go too far when it comes to core strengthening. Abdominal strengthening exercises can give you a washboard stomach complete with ripples but if you are not fond of this reptilian look then is sure to moderate yourself while you exercise.

However if you are really overweight you may be a long way from looking “cut” as the result of these exercises. Instead you just might want to get to the point where your belly does not look prolapsed as the result of weight gain. This simply means that your stomach muscles start to hold your organs in place like they are supposed to so you don’t look like you have a beer belly.

By: brown Michael
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