Weight Loss, Fitness and Diets

Weight Loss After Menopause - Avoid These Foods

2010-05-25T13:02:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss After Menopause - Avoid These Foods

The type of food you eat can be critical to achieving weight loss after menopause or weight loss during menopause. Several frustrating things can happen around menopause. You gain weight, you can't lose weight (or it's much harder.) You gain weight around your belly, often for the first time.
There are several reasons for this. It's all part of the menopause process. Fortunately, you aren't stuck with the extra weight. There are things you can do to succeed at weight loss after menopause. They will probably be different from what has worked for you in the past.
If you are having trouble losing weight or keeping it off, you may be eating foods that aren't good for you and be unaware of it. Below are five foods and drinks that many people use regularly. These foods may be sabotaging your efforts to lose weight.
5 Foods/Drinks to Avoid for Achieving Weight Loss After Menopause
Soy
Eating lots of soy (which menopausal women are frequently encouraged to do) can interfere with thyroid function, lowering metabolism and contributing to weight gain. Unfermented soy foods are not healthy anyway -- they contain compounds that interfere with nutrient absorption. Many people are also sensitive to soy and may have allergic-type reactions to it. If you are going to eat soy, eat it only in it's fermented state -- soy sauce, tempeh, miso. Avoid soy in protein powders, supplements (check your labels, soy is added to many, many foods and supplements), tofu and soy milk.
Low-Fat and Nonfat Foods
Foods that have fat removed are left with either more protein or carbohydrates. Most low-fat and nonfat foods have more carbohydrates, and often added sugars. This will interfere with weight loss after menopause. Most carbohydrates and all sugars stimulate the production of insulin, which is the hormone that makes you store fat. Eating low-fat and nonfat foods also contributes to cravings, because we need good fats to feel satisfied, to build healthy cell walls, hormones, brain cells, and much more. Eating more carbohydrates also causes cravings and hunger, because the more insulin flowing in your body, the hungrier you get -- mostly for more carbohydrates.
Artificial Sweeteners
Diet soda or anything with artificial sweeteners may make you even fatter. Recent studies have indicated that eating artificial sweeteners may cause more weight gain than if you just ate the real sugar. If you understand how digestion works, and appreciate the magnificent design of your body, this seems to make sense. Digestion is tied to smell and taste, along with brain activity. When you smell something tasty, your mouth starts to water. This is your body preparing for digestion. The breakdown of foods begins in your mouth. Your stomach and other digestive organs prepare enzymes and hormones based on what you normally eat...this is why when you change your diet, it may take some time for your body to adjust. So what happens when you drink a diet soda? You taste something sweet, and your body prepares to digest sugar! It cannot prepare to digest a fake sugar, it wasn't designed for that.
Trans Fats -- Not to be Confused with Saturated Fats
These are fats that have had their chemical structure modified to be more convenient for the food processing industry. Another type of “food” your body doesn't recognize. Ingestion of trans fats is associated with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, immune function and obesity. Trans fats are found in most convenience foods, from crackers, bread and cookies to chips and salad dressings. Partially hydrogenated oil is the name on the label for trans fats. There may be trans fats even if the label says zero trans fats, due to lax labeling laws, and companies endeavoring to avoid claiming trans fats in their products. The only way to avoid trans fats is to avoid processed foods.
Coffee and other Caffeinated Drinks
Caffeine stimulates your stress hormones, which can interfere with thyroid hormone, therefore making your metabolism run even slower. Caffeine may also contribute to menopause belly fat and insulin resistance.

How to Lose Extra Fat From the Hips

2010-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

How to Lose Extra Fat From the Hips

Staying in good shape and having a great figure is something every one craves for. With an increased emphasis on appearance and presentation these days, body weight and structure have come to play a crucial role. One of the more important regions of the body, which is instrumental to its shape as well, is the hips. Interestingly, the hips are also perhaps the most susceptible to weight gain.
When you look at yourself and scrutinize your body shape from different angles, fat and round hips are likely to be the most glaring parts. Even if you have a narrow waistline and have a correct weight with respect to your height, broad hips might make you look plump and heavy. Thus, it is important to spend some time on the structure of your hips, to do some exercises that are especially aimed at making this part of your body lean, slim and slender.
There are several weight loss exercises that you can try out. In fact, more often than not, people get into fitness training in order to lose weight. However, if it’s trimming your hips that you want to workout for, here are a few exercises that may be useful to you. For all these you need a stability ball that will act as your prop while you workout:
Side Bends: Probably the commonest of the hip trimming exercises, here you need to place the ball between your ankles and knees while laying flat on your back. Then try and pull your hips towards your chest. This can be extremely effective in losing extra fat from your hips if you do it correctly.
Leg Press: You need to lie on your back in this exercise as well. The ball is to be placed at your ankles. From this starting position, lift up your ankles along with the ball, but see to it that your lower back is always in contact with the ground. Try and hold your ankles at the lowest height possible; the lower the better. You will feel a tightening feeling in your stomach as soon as you do this. It is sign that you are doing the exercise right.
Trunk Curl: In this exercise you need to place the stability ball against your lower back and then pull your hips towards your chest. In the process your trunk will get curled resulting in fat loss from the hips.
Anchor Reverse Trunk Curl: Here you need to lie flat on your back and hold onto something stable and heavy with your hands. Place the stability ball between your knees and ankles and try to lift it up only by the movement of your hips. Always make sure that your back is touching the ground.
If you do these exercises regularly and under the expert supervision of a personal trainer, you can lose extra fat from around your hips in no time. However, it is important that you do other exercises as well which will take care of the other parts of your body. A fitness trainer will be the best person to walk you through the process.

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The Way to Understand Mood Disorders

2010-05-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

Serious conditions are usually linked to people who suffer mood disorders. Unfortunately, mood disorders cannot just disappear by themselves, and neither can you tell the person simply to get over it. A person cannot just get over it that simply since a person cannot control his or her mood disorder. Depression is one of the more common varieties of mood disorders. When we say that the person has certain issues, he or she may in fact be suffering from depression. According to professionals the cause of depression can be linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain and causes the person experience high and low points. This is what is termed as cycling. This erratic change in high and low points can sometimes be called manic depression, is one of the many common varieties of depression that affect people today. If ignored and untreated, this depression can lead to thoughts of suicide and an increased possibility of suicide. Fortunately, there are prescriptions and medicines that can assist in curing manic depression.
Dysthymia is another common mood disorder that affects people. The person affected has a low grade of depression that lasts for at least a year and makes the person highly irritable. However, this can also be treated by general prescription and medication as well as some natural healing methods.
Changes in sleeping patterns and eating habits are some of the common systems of mood disorders. A person easily gets irritated when any of his usual patterns and habits is changed. Those with mood disorders have a general feeling of not enjoying things they usually enjoy come to a fore. This is caused by their emotional response being affected by the mood disorder. And in fact a lot of people do not realize how much they are affected by mood disorders.
A person who is depressed will generally no longer hold interest in things they used to enjoy. And this is a phenomenon that occurs with thousands annually. Interestingly it has not been established what one major cause can be the trigger for one’s depression. Those who have imbalances in the brain caused by a chemicals referred to as MAOI’s, should start medication to treat it.
Apart from medication, natural and alternative medicines are available also that assist in making a person feel better when he or she suffers from depression. Some individuals do not take kindly to the idea of taking some sort of medical treatment due to religious or economic reasons. Either way, it may be more helpful to opt for a natural healing .
Fortunately there is hope for those that suffer from mood disorders should they follow certain steps and procedures. First is to visit a doctor to obtain a proper diagnosis. Once done, the person can be placed on a plan of treatment and recovery that will alleviate their mood disorder. It is not impossible to get one’s life back by controlling a mood disorder. Effort and a lot of patience is needed but there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel.

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No Butts About It: How to Quit Smoking Easily

2010-05-25T12:59:00.001-07:00

Quit Smoking. You’ve heard it from your doctors, your loved ones, your friend… it is a problem that faces many Americans every year. Millions of Americans look for a solution to it that will allow them to quit smoking, save money, and in addition allow them have a healthier life. There are several methods that are out there that offer these persons ways to kick the habit. Many of these involve a program that allows the person to stop in steps, as opposed to the cold turkey method.
The health benefits that a person can experience when they quit smoking are plenty. There is documented evidence that supports that smoking reduces a person’s lifespan by several years. People who quit smoking can repair a lot of the damage that is done to their body, and as a result they are able to enjoy better health as well as live longer. There are several other health benefits that kicking the habit will provide. The people that are in your life will also thank you. The effects of second-hand smoke are proven to be almost as dangerous as the risk to a person who actually smoked.
If you quit smoking you will also enjoy the added benefit of saving a lot of money in your monthly budget. This extra money will allow you to better enjoy other activities such as a movie night for you and your family. If you are a heavy smoker then the money that you save will be a lot greater than that of an average smoker.
So, now that you have made the decision to quit smoking, it is time to find a method that will work best for you. Many think that the cold turkey method will be the best option. This is not always the case. Many people have a lot of trouble with the cold turkey method. They are not able to just walk away. For those people the addiction is just too much and they end up smoking again within a few days.
For these people, there are several programs that are designed to help a person in the process of quitting smoking. You may want to visit your doctor before you make a decision as to how you will stop smoking. There may be a pill that your doctor can prescribe to you that will help you in your efforts to stop smoking. No matter what you select for a method that will help you quit smoking, finding a method that works best for you as an individual will be your best decision.
When a person makes the decision to quit smoking, they are making a wise decision that will benefit them as well as their family. The reason for this is that they have made a decision to extend their life span and be there to see their grand kids graduate from high school. Make an appointment with your doctor for you and him to sit and talk over your options over as to what all you can do to quit smoking with the best results.

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3 Tips to Help Lose Weight Fast

2010-05-25T12:58:00.001-07:00

Wondering how to lose weight fast? You have probably heard by now that you need to work on your diet and exercise program Of course diet and exercise is important (There's a shocker!), but choosing the right nutrition and exercise plan is not usually where people go wrong.
Instead, they do a bad job of planning how to fit their new nutrition and exercise plans into their daily lives. If you've fallen prey to this problem then these 3 tips may help pull you out of your rut:
1. Set a measurable goal
Before you ever get down to the details of counting calories and worrying about how much time you should be working out, you need to have a strong goal that you are working towards. First and foremost this goal needs to be measurable. Simply saying, "I want to lose weight," is not acceptable. Pick a specific number and then set a specific date that you want to achieve that goal by.
Don't be afraid to set a difficult goal for yourself. Difficult goals are often more beneficial than easy goals because they are extremely motivating. To aid in this motivation you should make sure to write down your goal and place it in several visible places so that you will constantly be reminded of what you are trying to accomplish.
Everyone has to struggle through days where they simply don't want to eat healthily or workout. By having a concrete goal posted around your home and office you can get through these tough times. In addition to the actual goal it can also help to list 2 or 3 reasons why you want to achieve this goal. These can be especially helpful on those days when you are ready to throw away all of your hard work.
2. Throw away your bad food.
You may think of yourself as having weak willpower to resist unhealthy foods. But the reality is that every single person, overweight or not, has to deal with these cravings at one time or another. The best thing you can do to prevent these cravings from destroying your diet is to set yourself up for success.
One of the best ways to do this is to get rid of all the unhealthy food in your house. Just go ahead and throw it away, no one needs to eat that. I can hear the excuses already, "I'm going to save it for a treat," or, "It's a waste of money to just throw it away." Look, you're either serious about this or you're not. No excuse you can come up with justifies allowing yourself to be unhealthy for another day.
If you are serious about success then you need to make sure you are prepared to succeed, and getting rid of your unhealthy food is a great first step in your preparation.
3. Create a daily exercise habit.
You may have heard recommendation before that you should workout 3-4 days per week. While there is nothing wrong with this recommendation, it doesn't work well for those us who hate to workout. Instead of enjoying the days off from exercise you will just dread tomorrow when you have to workout again.
To fix this problem it's best to do some sort of exercise every day. It's best schedule a specific time in your day when you have to exercise. If you are feeling worn down then you might do something easy like walk on the treadmill. On days when you have more energy you could lift some weights or do something a little more intense.
It doesn't have to take a lot of time either. Just schedule 20 minutes for yourself at some point in the day. If you are tired when you get home from work then you should schedule your workout in the morning. If you don't want to go to the gym, learn how to do exercises at home.
Easy tips like this make a big difference. Plan for success and then execute. You will be losing weight in no time!

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Popular Diets That Promise Weight Loss

2010-05-25T12:57:00.001-07:00

Popular Diets That Promise Weight Loss

Our population is growing bigger everyday, and we are not talking about the number of people that are on this planet. Americans are growing in size and at this rate we will be a country of nothing but overweight people. There are a myriad of popular diets that all claim that with just a couple of pills everyday, you can drop five pant sizes in just a few days. A lot of these, although very popular diets, are just trying to sell you a product that will do nothing in regards to making you thinner. The only reduction that you will feel is the amount of money in your wallet. They promise you the world and in the end deliver to you empty promises.
There are a few popular diets that can provide you results that are positive. The first thing that you need to know when dealing with a diet, is that there is no miracle diet that will take away the pounds in a dramatic fashion. These diets will however allow you to lose some extra weight while still at the same time remaining healthy. Another thing that you need to be aware of, is that any diet that says that you can lose ten pounds in ten days, is selling you a product that will in the end be very unhealthy for you. It is never a good idea to lose this much weight in such a short amount of time.
One of the great, popular diets that is on the market is called the fool proof diet. This is exactly as its names implies. These diets are based on you, for lack of a better term, tricking your body into not realizing that you are dieting. When a person begins a diet, their body is the main reason that the diet fails. We store body fat for the purpose of providing fuel. This fat is used when we do not have provide enough food to the body. The body will reduce the rate that this fat is burned, and a result, your body is defeating the diet by thinking it is protecting you.
The fool proof diet allows you to diet and your body never knows any different. The way that this works, is that you change everyday, the number of calories that you take in, this as a result keeps your body guessing as to what is going on.
Another of the popular diets that seems to have a massive following is the lemonade and cabbage diet. This is simply a diet that has you eat nothing but cabbage and drink lemonade for about two weeks, then you are supposedly going to see a drastic result in weight loss. If this diet works or not, is anybody's guess, the one thing that can be said is that you will not want cabbage or lemonade ever again after being on this diet for two weeks.
Regardless of which of these popular diets that you choose, you will need to make sure that you investigate them thoroughly, to ensure that you know what exactly you are getting into. Good luck in achieving your weight loss goals.

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