How to Lose Unwanted Fat - Lower Cholestrol

9 Food Myths Revealed

2007-07-22T11:09:00.000-06:00

9 food Myths Revealed

When it comes to myths, food and sex are the ones that have
the most. I think this is because these are two things that
we have to do in life. We have to have sex or we don't
reproduce. We have to eat or we will die. There isn't much
choice when it comes to food.

Here we will discuss more of the food myths. Bookmark this
article, because you are bound to learn something new.

Our food supply isn't as safe as it used to be. All you
need to do is pick up a newspaper and see that for yourself.
It seems that somewhere there is always someone getting sick
from ecoli or some other food born illness.

Are preservatives bad for you? No, they aren't. If anything
they are what keeps you from getting sick. If it weren't
for these, many more people would get sick and die from the
food they eat.

Can coffee cure a hang over?

No it can't. Caffeine can't cure a hang over. You get hung
over because you are lacking water. The alcohol took a big
chunk of the water from your system. Caffeine actually makes
you urinate. So really it has the opposite effect.

Is it okay to eat fast?

The less that you chew your food, that means the more your
stomach will have to work to digest your food. You have
teeth with many different uses. Some are for cutting and
some are for grinding. You should make the most out of them.
This is why it is important that you take good care of your
teeth.

Do beans cause gas?

Yes they do. They are high in fiber. A lot of things that
are high in fiber actually cause gas. Also, things like corn
and peppers also cause gas. Soaking beans before you cook
them can take away some of the gas, but it won't take all
of it.

Do carrots improve your eye sight? No, they don't. Do
however, make your eyes healthy. That may sound like it
contradicts its self, but it doesn't. They don't improve
your eyesight, but they do help you maintain your current
ability to see.

Can swallowing gum cause stomach problems?

It can cause gas, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. If you are
chewing gum that has sorbitol, that could be causing
problems too. Oddly enough, this is also found in semen.

Do cherries relieve pain?

The answer is yes. People who eat at least 20 tart cherries
a day have a reduction in pain from arthritis.

Does parsley take away bad breath?

Yes it does. So does other green leafy veggies that contain
chlorophyll.

Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?

Yes it does. There are many good things about apples. They
help reduce the risk of cancer. They also help lower
cholesterol. Who says that old sayings aren't true? As will
all things, take myths with a grain of salt. If you are
curious about a myth, do some research on it. You will be
surprised at how much information you will learn.

Kicking the habit – putting an end to fast food and snacks

2007-03-14T20:56:00.000-06:00

Kicking the habit – putting an end to fast food and snacks
in your diet

It’s always easy to gain weight and damned hard to lose it.
Eating is one of the true pleasures in life and refraining
from food has huge physical and psychological implications
that cannot be easily discarded. Nobody likes to have to
give up a pleasure, which is why many people drift farther
and farther into fat without doing anything to stop the
process. Moreover, recent data showed that the body does not
respond to diets as doctors thought it should. The body has
to adapt to changes and diets are seen as lean periods that
should be offset by making fat harder to burn. While the
body is certainly the most complex instrument we posses in
our lives, it cannot discern between actual lean times and
diets.

Another problem for the body is the widespread use of fast
food, snacks and soft drinks. Fast food is highly powered
food that fools the stomach into calling for more, despite
the fact that one giant burger is the caloric equivalent of
an entire meal. The giant burger is not usually enough to
fill the stomach of an adult person, so most people eat more
than one and wash it down with soft drinks that are little
more than sugared water. This is an unfortunate way of
eating, since the body gets far more than it needs from
burgers and soft drinks. The largely sedentary lifestyles
led by most urban residents mean that the excess calories
will certainly be stored as fat.

Snacks are another threat to a healthy life by bringing in
too much calories and by being too readily available when
hunger strikes. The correct option for between meals snacks
is to buy fruit. Sure, it may not taste as good, especially
if one is used to chips or other types of snacks, but one or
two bananas or some apples are far better for one’s health.
A very important point is to remember that habits can be
kicked just as easily as they take root. By ignoring the
temptation of chips you will gradually lose interest in them
and get used to fruit. Once chips are no longer a staple of
your diet, you will find yourself wondering what was so good
about them anyway.

Exercise Can Really Improve Your Life

2007-03-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Exercise Can Really Improve Your Life

The Benefits of Regular Exercise

Everybody knows that keeping yourself fit and partaking in
regular exercise is good for you, but do you really know the
full benefits of regular exercise?

The 7 Most Common Benefits

There are plenty of benefits when it comes to partaking in
regular exercise but some of the most common ones include:

Various Serious Health Benefits

Regular exercise can really help to cut the risk of
developing serious illnesses such as Diabetes Type II and
Heart Disease.

Heart Disease can be brought on by lack of exercise due to
the extra strain that is placed on the heart by the extra
fat that is stored throughout the body.

The heart has to beat twice as hard as it would normally and
that puts a lot of pressure onto it and that is when Heart
Disease occurs.

Diabetes Type II is commonly brought on by obesity and most
people who have the condition

are overweight. So, by partaking in regular exercise, you
are lowering your chances of

developing serious conditions such as the ones mentioned.

It Keeps Weight Down

This is an obvious one but it is certainly the main one
which most people exercise for.

Regular exercise burns off excess calories and keeps the
body’s weight down to an ideal

target and that keeps the body healthy generally. It also
helps to keep the body looking a

lot better too by toning up the muscles and keeping the skin
firm.

It Helps With Stress

Most people are stressed these days but the good news is
that regular exercise can help.

Exercising releases feel good hormones and that really does
help to stop the body from

feeling stressed. It gives you something else to focus your
attention on which stops you

from thinking about whatever it was that got you stressed in
the first place therefore once

you have finished your mind is calm and relaxed.

It Helps You Sleep

If you are having problems sleeping, exercise may be the
answer. Yoga and Pilates are

especially good exercises for aiding sleep. The exercise
tires out the body and helps to

relax the mind which therefore helps when it comes to
bedtime. Most people who have

sleeping troubles are having them because they have not
tired their brain out enough or

switched off, but exercise will help them to do that.

It Helps You to Live Longer

Exercise helps you to live longer according to research. It
keeps the heart pumping

healthily and it prevents various health problems from
occurring. This means that you do

stay healthier for longer and you are more likely to outlive
somebody who does not partake

in any exercise whatsoever.

Keeps The Heart and Blood Healthier

Regular exercise helps to keep the heart and blood healthier
which therefore helps to keep

the circulatory system healthy. This can really help with
breathing and it will also help

to keep any toxins out of the body. Clean blood and a
healthy heart keep you healthier for

longer and it will also give you a lot of energy too.

Keeps Skin Healthy

Finally, exercise keeps the skin looking younger and
healthier for longer. It tones the

body and keeps the skin firmer which is what makes the skin
looking younger for longer. It

also gives you a glowing complexion and that will make you
happier all around.

So, as you can see there are plenty of benefits from regular
exercise which means that

there is no excuse not to take part in it!

The preceeding was an article from Weight Loss Research.

Visit the Site to get more information on
Weight Loss

5 Common Myths From The Weight Loss Crowd

2007-03-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

5 Common Myths From The Weight Loss Crowd

Myth: You’ll be OK with a high protein/low carb diet!

Fact: This type of diet aims to secure most of the daily
required amount of calories from protein foods, such as
meat, dairy products and eggs, with a very small part taken
from foods containing a lot of carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes
and fruits).

The biggest problem with this diet is that many common and
popular foods are forbidden, which makes it easy for the
user to get bored or frustrated.

When boredom and frustration set in, quitting time is never
far off.

Another problem is the lack of nutrients that are usually
brought in by carbohydrate foods, while allowing the user to
eat bacon and cheese that raise cholesterol levels.

The bottom line is that high protein/low carb diets result
in fast weight loss in some users, but it’s not just fat
that goes away. People also lose some of their lean muscle
mass and a lot of water as the kidneys work harder to rid
the body of excess waste from protein and fat.

The added stress to your kidneys is not healthy at all and,
in the long run, will lead to dehydration, headaches,
feelings of nausea and dizziness. Before engaging in a
long-term diet, you would do well to discuss it with your
physician. And if you are really keen on dieting, try a
balanced diet first, because it will help you lose weight
without hurting your system.

Myth: Permanent weight loss can be achieved with fad diets.

Fact: This is yet another common myth among the weight loss
crowd. Like any other diet that tells you to cut this or
that food from your daily meals, fad diets are not healthy
for you.

The cornerstone of any diet is supplying the body with all
the calories, proteins and minerals it needs. Diets that cut
out foods without regard for the needs of your body cannot
be healthy for you.

Fad diets fail to deliver on the promise of permanent weight
loss because people will always crave the forbidden foods
and will always end up breaking the rules and ditching the
diet.

The key to making weight loss permanent is more exercise and
to avoid eating food that makes you fat without nourishing
your body. Our extensive studies confirmed the importance of
exercising and of a well-balanced diet.

Myth: Low-fat or no fat food is always a good choice.

Fact: The only low fat foods that are also low in calories
are fruits. The rest of the huge low-fat or non-fat group
are not a safe choice if you are dieting. These products may
have added sugar, starch or flour to make them taste better,
which means extra calories that do not belong into your
diet. So make sure you check the list of ingredients on
packages whenever you decide to buy low-fat.

Myth: Switching to vegetarian food will help you lose weight
and stay healthy.

Fact: I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but no food
plan will work for you unless you take charge of your eating
and make sure that everything that goes past your lips is
the right kind of food. The key here is to be absolutely
sure that the vegetarian diet will give your body all the
nutrients and calories it needs. Eating heaps of foods that
do nothing for you from the nutritional point of view,
outside maybe of filling your stomach, can bring you a lot
of trouble in the future.

Since plants tend to have a lower concentration of nutrients
than meat, you will have to eat more food than before to
make up for this difference.

Not to mention that a strictly vegetarian diet will not get
you enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, calcium and zinc.

These substances are taken mostly from dairy products and
eggs in a regular diet, but true vegetarians can’t touch
those. You’ll have to rely on the few and uncommon
vegetables that can provide these substances.

Myth: Dairy products cause heart problems and make you fat.

Fact: Well, thanks to modern medicine everybody knows that
eating a lot of dairy products is a surefire path to high
blood pressure and stroke, although a large group of people
from France refuse to die despite the large quantities of
cheese and wine they consume.

Dairy products are the main source of calcium that keeps
your bones strong and healthy. It is absolutely essential
for children and can be in no way overlooked by adults.

Dairy products also contain vitamin D, which is crucial to
maintaining the normal levels of calcium and phosphorus in
your bloodstream.

If you don’t want to gain weight from dairy products, then
choose low-fat or non-fat brands. There are enough of those
around. If you are lactose-intolerant, drink soy or rice
milk. It does not taste exactly the same as true milk, but
it’s still good and nutritious.

Butter and margarine are the only products you should worry
about. They do contain big levels of fat. Still, if you
can’t do without them, at least eat butter. Margarine is an
over-processed fat that is not particularly good for you.
Butter may be a bit fatter, but it definitely is the
healthier of these two.

5 Common Myths From The Weight Loss Crowd

Obesity- A Dangerous Epidemic

2007-03-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

Obesity- A Dangerous Epidemic

Most people think that obesity goes no deeper than a less
than fashionable look, but they are wrong. Obesity today is
an epidemic, a disease spreading fast across both the
industrialized world and emerging economies.

Obesity means having too much fat on your body. First and
foremost, obesity puts a strain on joints and bones that
have to sustain more weight than before, which leads to
arthritis in the long run. The weight also tends to make
people less active, which, in turn, means more weight is put
on.

The lack of activity and high cholesterol brought by eating
too much of the wrong kind of food impair the proper
functioning of your heart and blood vessels. This results in
high blood pressure, stroke and other blood and heart
conditions. Excess weight also leads to apnea, the cessation
of breathing during sleep.

However, obesity can be cured with patience and effort. As
this diseases spreads over the land, so do the efforts for
curing it increase. Talk to your physician if you are
interested in getting rid of obesity.

Recognizing obesity?

The textbook definition of obesity is a body mass index of
30 or above. The body mass index is a measure of a person’s
weight scaled according to height, as developed by Belgian
scientist Adolphe Quetelet in 1840. This index serves to
show the amount of fat stored on the body, and the higher
your BMI is, the worst is your exposure to certain diseases.

Physicians also warn that having a lot of fat stored around
your waist increases the risk of developing diseases. Going
beyond size 35 in women and size 40 in men means only
trouble in the future.

Obesity- A Dangerous Epidemic

Lose Weight In Your Sleep

2007-02-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Lose Weight In Your Sleep

Do you feel that you need to lose weight? Well then don’t
just count calories. You might want to count sheep as well.

Recent studies have shown that sleep deprivation disrupts a
series of metabolism and hormonal processes. It causes
increased hunger and affects the body’s metabolism making it
difficult to lose and control weight.

Lack of sleep causes a hormone called cortisol, which
controls the appetite, to take excess calories and store
them as excess body fat. In addition, sleep loss interferes
with carbohydrate metabolism which may cause high blood
glucose levels. The excess amount of glucose encourages the
overproduction of insulin, which may lead to diabetes or
even obesity.

Furthermore, sleep deprivation can promote weight gain by
affecting our behavior. People who lack sleep tended to
crave sweets or high carbohydrate, high fat food with low
nutrient value. They tend to snack on chips, cakes,
pastries, burgers, fries, soft drinks, etc. Though the
short-term rise in blood sugar, brought on by these snacks,
gives a surge of energy, the extra calories are not needed
by the body and must be stored as body fat.

These calories are not so easily shed than taken. When they
are sleep deprived, people are often too tired to exercise
or they work out less intensely than usual. They commonly
feel exhausted and lack the energy and motivation to do even
simple exercises. They rather go to sleep, or eat, than go
physical. In due time, the calories that are gained and not
easily burned are deposited in the body as fat.

Some people may require less hours of sleep to be in top
condition during the day; while others need more than 10
hours. But experts agree that most people need at least
eight hours of sleep each night to give themselves enough
energy to exercise, eat right and keep off those unwanted
pounds. Yet, according to a poll sponsored by the National
Sleep Foundation, only 30 percent of adults get eight or
more hours of sleep on weeknights; while 52 percent do on
weekends. A third of adults reportedly sleep no more than
six-and-a-half hours nightly.

In fact, disruption in the sleeping patterns in the United
States and in the industrialized world is thought as one of
the main reasons that people are getting overweight. People
should start making behavioral and lifestyle changes now for
a better, healthier tomorrow.

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

2007-02-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

In today’s world, almost everything is free… not that
everything has no price. It just seems that we have reached
the era where we become more aware of our health conditions.
Thus, it seems to be the era of everything that is -free.
Try scanning every available product in your local grocery
and you will see what I mean.

Your bread is bromate-free; your yoghurt is fat-free; your
cooking oil is cholesterol-free; your canned soup is
preservative-free; and the list goes on and on. Now you are
beginning to wonder about the next -free commodity that you
would encounter.

This is not exactly bad. In fact, health experts encourage
us to be more sensitive about the foods we eat and the
nutrients that we get from them. However, not everything
that is –free is healthy. Our bodies need certain
substances to be able to function well.

Let us take a look at cholesterol for instance.

Very simply defined, cholesterol is a fatty substance that
occurs naturally in the blood, cell walls, and most body
tissues. Cholesterol is made by the liver, and it enters the
body via foods rich in saturated fat. There are two types
of cholesterol; these are what they termed as the good and
bad cholesterol. Like the literary split personality of
Jekyll and Hyde, it has a good side because it is needed for
certain important body functions. But for many people,
cholesterol also has an evil side. When present in excessive
amounts, it can injure blood vessels, cause heart attacks,
and stroke.

Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is the "bad" cholesterol.

This is the form in which cholesterol is carried into the
blood and is the main cause of harmful fatty buildup in
arteries. The higher the LDL cholesterol levels in the
blood, the greater the heart disease risk. On the other
hand, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is the “good”
cholesterol.

This "good" cholesterol carries blood cholesterol back to
the liver, where it can be eliminated. HDL helps prevent a
cholesterol buildup in blood vessels. Low HDL levels
increase heart disease risk.

So before you go into your cholesterol deprivation program,
remember that cholesterol is essential for human life. It
builds and repairs cells, it is used to produce sex hormones
like estrogen and testosterone, it is converted to bile
acids to help you digest food and it is found in large
amounts in brain and nerve tissue.

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Weight Loss-10 Things to avoid "Like the plague"

2007-02-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

10 Things to avoid "Like the plague" when trying to lose
weight

Dieting is not always easy. In fact, it can prove a tough
challenge for many people. So here’s a little guide to
avoiding things that could make you lose control and start
eating. Avoid them like plague if you wish to succeed.

1. Don’t rush into the toughest diet you can find.

This is a common mistake. Many people decide in a moment of
desperation to follow a super-strict diet and fail. Don’t
rush into a diet that may be too strict for you. If you
don’t have any dieting experience and are not 100 percent
sure you can stick with the diet, then choose something
else.

2. Don’t lose touch with reality.

You can’t realistically expect things to happen over night.
When choosing your goal, start small, but be prepared to go
far. If you hear someone saying that he lost a large number
of pounds in a short time, don’t make it your goal to match
his performance. Diet results are different from one person
to another.

3. Don’t go to the gym too often

Another common mistake is to use the enthusiasm of the first
days to hit the gym every day. This won’t help you at all.
Your body needs time to heal and expand the muscle mass
after each training session and going to the gym every day
interferes with this natural process. Besides, a week of
non-stop training could never offset ten or twenty years of
couch potato lifestyle.

4. Don’t get hard on calories.

We all know that cutting down on calories is one of the
building blocks of all diets, but you have to be careful
about it. Cut down on too many calories and your body will
start storing anything it possibly can. This is not a good
way to lose weight.

5. Don’t skip meals.

Some people think that skipping one or two meals could help
them lose weight faster. They don’t understand that dieting
is all about eating the right food and not starving
yourself.

6. Don’t check the bathroom scales everyday.

Everybody is eager to see the confirmation of his or her
efforts in the shape of lost pounds, but you should not let
this drive you to checking your weight everyday. The daily
fluctuations of your weight will soon have you depressed and
ready to quit dieting. And this is something you want to
avoid.

7. Don’t let emotions drive you.

Aside from the eagerness that drives people to check their
weight every day, there are other emotions that influence
dieting. If you know you’re used to reaching out for
ice-cream or snacks when you are bored, frustrated or angry,
then you should deal with these issues and not allow them to
come between you and your purpose.

8. Don’t refuse to seek help.

Not everyone was born with iron will and nerves of steel. If
you need advice or help, don’t hesitate to ask it from your
friends or from professionals. Don’t try to solve all
problems by yourself.

9. Don’t deny yourself your favourite foods.

Treats are a great way of raising your willpower and
determination. Diets are just food control methods, not
prisons. So what if you eat something forbidden once in a
while, especially if that food is a favourite of yours? If
such treats are not frequent, then they will make no
difference in the long run.

10. Don’t rely on your willpower alone

Use your head as well. If you wish to know how much you eat,
then write everything down and analyze the list for things
that should not be there. Sometimes hunger creeps up on you
and make you eat something you shouldn’t. Be honest with
yourself and keep a clear head.

Exercise Can Really Improve Your Life

2007-02-28T12:07:00.000-07:00