It is easy to speak about diets, discuss best plans, but when the time comes to action, only a few people can really keep up with the schedules and lose weight. Even fewer manage to keep weight low. According to weight loss specialists there are other ways to lose extra pounds than diets and hard exercises.

Here are some tips they give to help obese people become slim again.

Tip 1. Eat when you are really hungry.

This may sound weird, but many people eat while having other needs: wanting to sleep, being in a stressful situation, making company for a friend, etc. Michelle May, MD, author of Am I Hungry? says that it is important to fill up only when the body gives real physical signs of hunger and need for re-fueling.

Having the right size portions is also important because the stomach should not be overfilled. When a person overeats, the food which is supposed to be a source of energy, stretches the stomach and makes one feel tired.

Tip 2. Add to the diet instead of taking away.

It is recommended to have 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily for healthy body. If a person will try to insist on eating all of these, there will simply be no room for cookies, cakes or greasy burgers. Besides vitamins and minerals fruits and vegetables provide a good amount of fiber to the body which cleans the intestines. Another good feature of fiber is that it expands the stomach making the person feel like it is filled up with a little amount of food.

Vegetables and fruits can be worked into the meals instead of being a side of them or turned into a desert. Any cookbook is full of great ideas about making dozens of dishes with potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkins and apples.

Tip 3. Drink water.

Americans drink a lot of sweet beverages which give them empty calories and no nutrients. Besides, soft drinks do not satisfy thirst, so the people drink again and again. Water does a better job costing less and drawing thirst away.

Sometimes thirst can be confused with hunger and in this case water will do better than soda too. Water will not give extra calories as sweet beverages or snacks do.

If plain water is not acceptable, a person should try to add a little bit of citrus to it, drink juices or unsweet teas.

Tip 4. Watch evening snacks.

Most  people come home from work, eat a good dinner and relax. During this time they watch TV, play games or read books and the main addition to this are little snacks. People do not watch them and eat a lot. This kind of snacking is called “eating amnesia”. It is a good way to gain weight quickly.

In order to avoid mindless snacking, it is recommended to have no snacks  in the house or think of some low-calorie things like low-fat ice-cream, 100 calorie bars or rice cakes. These snacks can be washed down with a cup of hot zero-calorie tea.

Tip 5. Order children portions.

Almost in all restaurants the portions are so big that people can hardly eat them without feeling stuffed. As it has been mentioned above, overeating is not a good idea, so to avoid taking extra large portions one can try ordering something from children menu. Small pizza or hamburger will protect from additional calories.

If the person feels very hungry after a little portion, there is always a chance to order more or get a desert.

Tip 6. Enjoy your meals.

When the purpose of food is not stuffing the stomach, but receiving satisfaction from the process of eating, the taste and smell of food, people do not even notice that they eat less. Many specialists recommend taking time to enjoy every bite, to breathe slowly while eating, to listen to pleasant music or think of beautiful moments.

Eating fruits and vegetables in their season is a good key to this too: plants grown out of their season in artificial conditions lack the real flavor and scent. When taken in their season fruits and vegetables make one realize that they were not only made for stuffing the stomach, but for bringing joy too.

Katie Jackson

Numerous scientific studies have proven that diets work toward perfect weight as long as a person follows them, but as soon as the specific food plan is given up the participant is most likely to overeat and gain everything that was dropped. If so, then it is better for the overweight person to try something different, to lose weight without dieting.

Forbidden fruit is always sweeter, so if the chosen diet restricts cookies and sweets, this will be the thing the person craves most of all. The study held by the University of Toronto has shown that dieting women get tempted by cookies and want to eat them more than the others who do not have this restriction.

There are a few good steps a person could follow to lose weight naturally without diet plans.

1.    Eat healthy food. The good fact about eating vegetables and fruits is that it is possible to feast on them as must as one desires because they do not fill up with empty calories while providing nutrients. Vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts have a lot of fiber which expands the stomach making the person feel full with less amount of food. Fiber also prevents the absorption of fat pushing it through the body as an unnecessary element.
2.    Spice your food. It is better to use no- or low-calorie spices like garlic and pepper, however, even such things as ranch dressing, onions, cheddar, parmesan, and taco-sauce will do their job. It has been noticed when people enjoy the flavor and smell of food, they eat less, because they are concentrated on the feelings they experience when the food smells and tastes good. A research presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco has shown that obese people which sprinkled their food with zero-calorie spices lost an average of 30 pounds in six months. The effect of the spices will work even better if the person takes a moment to smell the scent and enjoy every bite of the meal.
3.    Breathe slowly and deeply while eating. The above mentioned step cooperates with this one. Usually people eat and especially snack when they are stressed or busy with something. The scientists at the University of New Mexico recommend slowing down, paying attention to the food and taking time to enjoy the meal. This helps to eat less while receiving a good time and mood from the wonderful dishes. If the person cannot stop, relax and breathe, weekly medication classes would be good teachers of this.
4.    Be easy on salt. Since 1985 salt consumption in the U.S. increased by 50%. Together with it the intake of sweet beverages increased too. Unfortunately people prefer to wash off excessive amounts of salt with soft drinks instead of simple water or unsweetened iced tea. As a result people have empty calories which do nothing but accumulate fat.
5.    Be active. Little walks before bedtime improve digestion of a tasty dinner that should not stay in the stomach for night. They also allow one to relax, breathe fresh air before sleep and watch the nature slow down for the night. If this is not acceptable, anybody is free to chose an activity they want: it can be morning jogging, walking with dogs, playing active games with friends or going to a playground with children.
6.    Get a good long sleep. The researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New-York have noticed that “sleep deprivation increases cravings for sweets and starches”. As a result night-owls snack a lot while they stay up and increase the body stress. The hormone that is produced by stress makes the body store more abdominal fat.

Rebecca Valentine

Losing weight might be a long process but visual impression can be changed really quickly. There are some tricks that a person can use to make the whole body look thinner, but a good hair style makes a big difference too.

While following a diet, doing exercises and taking other actions in order to lose a few pounds, it is good to visit a hair stylist and have an appropriate haircut.

The shape of one’s face matters a lot. Usually people that visually look “rounder” have round face shape. Sometimes it is also called moon shape: the face is almost as wide as tall. However, even people with rectangular, square, triangular or heart shaped faces should have the right hair style in order to make the face appear narrower and oval shaped.

The trick of a slimmer face is to make its length about one and a half of its width and reduce the size of jawbone making it narrower than the forehead. Experienced hair stylists believe that layered hair cut is the main trick that makes this possible. Any long hair is fine if it provides vertical lines which always make the face look longer and thinner. Probably, the ideal length is between the bottom of the ear and the top of the shoulder.

If the hair is parted, the best way to do so is on the side, because it takes away the impression of “roundness” and symmetry. Sometimes additional length can be achieved by a higher hair at the crown: but it should not be too excessive.

As much as there are some preferable hair styles: there are a few which should be avoided. It is strongly not recommended to have short hair or wide hair dresses. Bangs will do no good either, especially if they are thick and blunt cut. However, if bangs are necessary, they should be done in an angle and the hair there should be thinned out.

Sometimes hair color does well elongating the face. The best way to go is highlights. It does not mean that all blondes look skinny, but white and brown lines together look like vertical stripes even if the hair is not pulled up simply hanging down. Two opposite colors also add shading which provides slimming effect as well. The best set of colors should be found by professional who will take into consideration not only person’s natural hair color, but skin, preferable make-up and favorite colors in clothes.

After the hair cut is done, comes the time of the right cosmetics. The person that wants to look slimmer should forget about blow-drying and the effect of messy hair. Sprays, gels, creams and other hair care products should help keeping the hair-style created by the professional. High quality cosmetics works perfect in keeping volume where it is mostly needed, for example, at the crown, and eliminate it where the hair should underline the cheeks and chin.

Hair accessories should also work with the hair style. Long narrow ribbons, clips with vertical stripes, chopsticks, and small ponytail holders elongate the face and make the head appear narrower. But the person is not recommended to wear big puffy accessories, wide ribbons or clips with big round patterns or horizontal lines.

If the person has been wearing the same hair-style for years and is not sure the new one will work fine, he or she can try hair style gallery program online which allows trying different things without losing the real hair. This kind of software can be easily found and after its installation hundreds of haircuts can be tried on which will not only help to find the right kind, but will bring a lot of fun.

Sarah Creed

A new diet is gaining popularity in the Internet. Wonderful results of a ten-day diet amaze everybody and desperate dieters are ready to try it. It promises 10 pound weight loss in only 10 days, impressive isn’t it?

Actually the weight loss will greatly depend on the amount of extra pounds the person has. An average overweight participant who has physically active way of life can lose about 5 pounds in 10 days. After the body readjusts and extra water will start going away a result of losing a pound a day is absolutely possible. Same as with other kinds of diets weight loss here depends on daily physical activity, body metabolism, the tendency of tissues to retain water, and a few other factors.

So, the basic rules of the 10-day diet are:

•    The amounts of liquids are unlimited: it is all right to take as much water, coffee, tea or other drinks as one wishes.
•    Sugar should be avoided though saccharin is allowed for sweetening tea or coffee.
•    A slice of lemon or orange is recommended to go with tea.
•    Salt, pepper and vinegar are very welcome in salad dressings.
•    Daily teaspoon of baking soda in water is required.
•    Daily tablespoon of calcium phosphate is recommended for mineral values if it is approved by the participant’s doctor.
•    It is good to change the order of foods within one day: substitute one meat for another, use buttermilk instead of skim milk, watch the fruit and vegetable intake in order to utilize the cans better.
•    Grapefruits are especially important because they start fat-burning process.
•    There should be no snacking between meals.

The participant must: boil, broil, bake or roast meats, but not fry them; boil or poach eggs, but not fry them; use water packed fruit and berries and avoid heavy sweet syrup.

One must not apply mayonnaise or oil dressings because they prevent vitamin A intake; use butter, sugar, cream or fat in foods and their preparations, eat less that it is allowed per day; continue diet longer than 10 days without doctor’s permission.

An important part of the diet is Vitamin cocktail which is good for every day use. It is rich in Vitamins A, C, D and B complex. The cocktail has to be made fresh every day and served chilled. The calorie value of the drink is minimal, but it is a great source of the most important Vitamins.

Vitamin Cocktail Recipe:

1 tbsp. dried brewer’s yeast
5 drops haliver oil with viosterol or other Vitamin A and D concentrate
0.5 cup tomato or any fruit juice.

Mix all the ingredients and drink. If one prefers, instead of the cocktail, he or she can take all the ingredients separately: take a tablet of brewer’s yeast, a capsule of haliver oil and wash both of them off with a cup of citrus juice.

Here are a few samples of meals a person could have while being on the 10- day diet:

Day 1:

Breakfast

6 halves canned or stewed apricots
Black coffee

Lunch

Broiled hamburger, 2 patties
Generous lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad
2 glass whole milk
Coffee or tea

Dinner

Vitamin cocktail or grapefruit juice
Lean steak, broiled
0.5 cup string beans
Raw celery, 4 stalks
Coffee or tea

Day 2:

Breakfast

Vitamin Cocktail or tomato juice
Coffee

Lunch

Lean broiled steak
½ cup string beans
Coleslaw
½ glass whole milk
Coffee or tea

Dinner

1 cup bouillon
2 pork chops, broiled, lean meat only
½ cup stewed celery
Mixed green salad: endive, onion, lettuce, green pepper, radish, cucumber
Coffee or tea

This diet is not recommended for long and constant usage because it eliminates sugar and starch intake completely. Although it is good to keep their intake low, human body cannot function without them. Sugar is the fuel for body’s activity, so after the diet it will beg for mercy and at least a little drop of something sweet. However, the diet really helps those who want to take care of “winter weight”. Once the extra pounds are lost it is easier to keep them low in summer by eating a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits.

Katerine Stone

Controlling cholesterol level in blood is very important for overall health, for heart protection and for weight loss. By making changes in everyday diet a person can lower bad cholesterol by as much as 10 or even 20%. Healthy food is not as unsavory as one might think: many of the things are delicious, especially if cooked right.

Before starting with certain kinds food, one should reduce bad cholesterol food intake such as products full in saturated fats like meat and some oils and transitive fats like some store-bought cookies, crackers and cakes.

Here are top 3 products that lower bad cholesterol:

1.    Oatmeal and oat bran.

This is one of the major sources of soluble fiber which fights bad or low-density cholesterol level (LDL). In fact it reduces the absorption of it pushing cholesterol right through the body. Besides, some studies have shown that oats have beta-glucan that extracts cholesterol from blood and vessel walls reducing its concentration.

While some people enjoy oatmeal or oat cereal at every breakfast, others cannot stand it. Well, a little bit of imagination helps to find best solutions for everybody. Here are some tips for those who want to try oats in various meals:

• Use oats or oat flour to bake favorite recipes. Breads, muffins and pancakes turn out really good with them.
• If there is no time for baking, any store is ready to offer its variant of oat cakes or cookies.
• Breakfast isles in food stores are full of various oat bars which can be used for breakfast or as a light snack during work-break. The choice of the flavors is so broad that almost everybody is guaranteed to find what he or she likes.
• Oat brand, added to salads, will provide distinct flavor improving the taste of vegetables.
• For extreme dieters oat milk can be recommended. It fact, it is healthier than cow’s milk because it does not contain bad cholesterol and works towards its elimination.

2.    Nuts: macadamia nuts, walnuts, almonds…

U.S. Food and Drug Administration has excluded macadamia nuts from healthy food list because of high level of fat. However, this is monounsaturated fat that does not harm people. It does not add weight and in fact helps to reduce low-density cholesterol level increasing good cholesterol. Macadamia nuts also have sterols which were proven to lower LDL as well.

Walnuts contain polyunsaturated fatty acids which improve blood vessels making them more elastic and strong. They also reduce cholesterol level. According to scientific studies, the diets where 20 percent of fat comes from walnuts help to lower LDL by 12%!

Almonds are good for the same purpose. A study described in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association has proven that almond have mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, sterols, soluble fiber and flavonoids all of which soak up low-density cholesterol and prevent its absorption.

3.    Omega-3 fatty acids and fish.

Fish is one of the main sources of the Omega-3 fatty acids which are good for heart health and lowering LDL. The highest concentration of the acids is in mackerel, herring, salmon, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna. However, some of these, like mackerel are high in mercury and should be eaten rarely. To preserve Omega-3 one should not fry the fish, but bake or grill it. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish twice a weak for healthy heart and low cholesterol level.

If one does not like fish or has allergies there are other products containing Omega-3. The highest concentration of the acids is in flaxseed which can be found in some breakfast bars or is used in the form of flaxseed oil. Walnuts, soybeans, winter squash, shrimp and scallops are high in Omega-3 fatty acids too.

Not as effective as the above mentioned, but still good for bad cholesterol lowering are such products as apples, cinnamon, beans, garlic, grapes and products fortified with plant sterols or stanols: margarine, orange juice and yogurts.

Katie Jackson

Usually the person that wants to lose some weight agrees that it is a hard job, but it has to be done in order to look good and be healthy. Diets, endless exercises, set schedules wear people down even before the course is complete. However, the extra weight can be given up with fun, in free time and without some set “job”.

Having grown up people forget how to have good time and keep themselves in good shape. Watching children they might learn many good tricks: running, jumping, dancing, riding bikes, playing fun games and hiking does not bring additional stress, but helps to entertain and lose weight in no time.

Spending time with children and letting them be the leaders of the activities for the day is unbelievably good for weight loss. Here are some tips what one can do to lose weight without diets or hard aerobics exercises:

Tip 1. Play active games with children. Take them to a playground and play tag or hide-and-seek. If you get tired from these games make up your own: let a “wolf” chase little “bunnies”, arrange “turtle” race. The activities like these help to burn calories and unite families. Besides, your children have been waiting for days when they can run around with parents for many weeks!

Tip 2. Active life should not be necessarily with children; you can try to work something out with friends or members of your family like spouse, brothers and sisters, cousins. Make an agreement to go and play a game that brings joy to both of you: paintball, basketball, tennis, badminton, volleyball, soccer. If the group is bigger than just two people, the fun should be even greater. All of you will not notice how the time flies by together with extra calories.

Tip 3. Study the world on a bike. As the previous activities bicycle riding brings more fun if done with some company. However, for those enjoying solitude and waiting for some days of rest from society, nothing is better than bike hiking somewhere on mountain trails.

Tip 4. A picnic with healthy food low on calories is beneficial for weight loss too. Go on a walk after the snack, breathe fresh air in the woods or swim if the picnic is on a beach. If you go on a picnic with children, do not just sit on a bench watching them: entertain together teaching or learning with them the names of birds or plants, have fun water-fights or try to look for wild animals. Days like these are unforgettable and “require” repetition again and again.

Tip 5. Many teens go to dance, but after growing up they forget they used to move hips as soon as they heard the rhythm of the popular songs. Why do not you remember this habit since it is not only fun, but very beneficial for weight loss? Dancing raises heart rate and strengthens major muscle groups. It is important to remember that faster music like rock-n-roll or fast jazz and therefore, moves, burn more calories than something slow like ballet or blues. If you completely forgot the moves, arrange a home dance and let your teenage kids show how to move!

Tip 6. Join some active club. There are various clubs all over the country in which people share their interests and have good time being active. For example, some people go on tours like Volkswalking. Many of the walks take a lot of time and effort, but bring a lot of joy stealing the calories. As a rule, walks are 10K or 6.20 miles long and take place in various territories: some go through hills and mountains while the others are straight and easy even for whole families with children and pets. Visiting interesting places, walking in fresh air, meeting new people is worth trying.

Tip 7. A little reward after achieving a goal is a good motivation to go on. Do not reward yourselves with food, but set a goal: if you lose first 5-10 pounds, buy a tennis ball or CD with new music to go on dancing. Before the next try, set a goal and a much desired award: knowing that you badly need a new purse, promise you are not going to buy it before the goal is achieved.

Rebecca Valentine

In various countries people fight extra weight using diets closest to their inner world. One of the most famous diets in Russia is Kremlin diet. It has been developed by a group of top doctors more than 30 years ago. Many Communist party leaders who had to be in public and look well used the system often. The diet was the best, because it did not restrict many foods people liked and allowed them to live the life they wanted (no special physical exercises were required).

The Kremlin diet was kept in secret and only highest officials had access to it. After the USSR fell apart the documents describing the steps of the diet were to be destroyed. However, some information leaked through and not only letting the system live, but also making it available to millions of ordinary people, not just country officials.

An interesting fact is that the Kremlin diet was actually developed for American military and astronauts. However it has not become their standard, because the politicians who had access to secret information like this decided to try it too and never gave it up to the astronauts. Nowadays Russian politicians still use the diet: for example, they say that the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov has lost 32 lbs thanks to the diet.

In its origin the Kremlin diet is very close to Atkins one. It is a low-carb system which allows the participants to eat any meat, cheese, fish, soup or other protein products as much as they want, but restricts carbohydrates and sugar in particular.

Although Kremlin diet offers a big variety of foods where one does not need to count calories, number of meals and time they are taken, it is important to count conditional units (c.u.) which stand for grams of carbs. Maximum amount of daily carb intake is 40 c.u. (40 g).

Main rules about the most common foods are the following:

•    No bread: 100 g (4 oz) of bread contain 48 c.u., which already exceed daily amount.
•    Noodles, pastas, porridges, rice, etc. should also be avoided because they are too high in carbs.
•    Meat is allowed in any amounts if it is boiled and is taken with no sauces. Ideally the amount of meat taken in one meal should be the size of a palm of a hand.
•    Fish is also acceptable without any high carb sauces.
•    Oil is all right in any amount, but one should be careful about butter or margarine. Mayo takes 2.6 c.u. and eggs are 0.5 c.u.
•    Vegetables are a little hard to count: one tomato is 6 c.u., a bell pepper is 9 c.u., a potato (boiled or baked) is 23 c.u. Fruits are the same way: apple takes 18 c.u and a pear is 25 c.u.
•    Sweets are restricted. They are very high in carbohydrates: one slice of cake with cream is about 62 c.u and a 100 g bowl of vanilla ice-cream is 70 c.u.
•    Mineral water, tea or coffee with no sugar are welcome. It is actually required to drink about 2 liters of pure water daily.

Maybe for the sweet-eaters this diet is hard, but so is any other system developed for weight loss. It is easy to follow the Kremlin diet, if the participant studies the list of food carefully and determines the “no-no” list. After this eating habits will establish quickly and weight loss is guaranteed.

The adversaries of the diet say the restricted amount of carbs (especially if the participants do not consume the required 20-40 c.u.) makes bones more fragile causing osteoporosis. Besides, the gums soften and teeth cavities might occur. The Kremlin diet is not recommended if one suffers from chronic diseases such as heart or stomach diseases. Pregnant women and children are not suggested to use the diet either.

Jean White

When one needs to look thinner in just a few days, diets and exercising will not be good helpers. However, it is possible to look better for that important day. Besides posture and clothes, there are a few other tricks which help look slimmer, such as make-up, hair style, and accessories.

1. Good make-up.

Although it might sound unusual, cosmetics chosen with the right attitude provides a better look and hides a few pounds. Start with all-body cosmetics and finish with a few useful features for the face:

• Get a tan. If sun is unavailable, do not get sad because sunshine-in-bottle is a good idea too. Special lotions, sprays and solariums are available in many places and it is just a matter of choice as to what kind of “tan” one gets. However, it is recommended to start with a spray, if you have never tried to have darker skin before. Be careful with the amount you put on, start with a light shade increasing the darkness with time if necessary.
• Think about a little gleam. Body oil or a lotion with shimmer works well in providing special visual effects. One should try highlighting their shoulders or the front of the shins to make them appear skinnier.
• Obese people usually have chubby fingers. In order to make them look prettier, paint the nails in a light neutral color which makes them and fingers as a whole appear longer. If a person paints only the center part of the nails leaving thin edges on the sides untouched, fingers will also appear narrower.
• As for the facial features, a person that wants to seem thinner should remember that big eyes, well-done brows and highlighted angles in the face (tops of cheekbones) play good visual tricks as well.

2. Long accessories.

Almost every person wears accessories. People are different, and so are the small components which add to their clothes. Ear-rings, glasses, belts, ties and even suspenders worn in the right way can be little helpers in the attempt to make a better impression on people.

• Long accessories elongate the body. Consider wearing long ear-rings and necklaces.
• Vertical lines are better than big patters or horizontal lines. The same rule applies here as in the “look thinner” dress-code. Choose ties, suspenders, shawls, neckpieces and scarves with small vertical patterns or stripes.
• Special word about belts: First of all, it is important to mention that belts are not recommended in this case at all. Thick belts visually divide a body in half. However, there are occasions when belts are unavoidable. In this case choose the thinnest belt possible, wear it low on the waist and keep it loose.
• Proper glasses. If a person wears glasses every day because of vision problems or bright summer sun requires sunglasses, he or she should know that wide rectangular glasses make face seem narrower.

3. Hair style.

Although one might think hair does not have anything to do with extra pounds, when it is done right, hair styles make a great difference in the presentation of person’s face and body as a whole.

• First of all, choose a proper haircut. Softly layered cuts work better than blunt ones and long hair presents the face in a better light than short haircut.
• Bangs are not recommended, however, if the shape of one’s face requires them, keep bangs long and wispy. Brush bangs to one side instead of letting them fall straight down.
• Part the hair on a side rather than in the center to avoid giving the face round look.
• Curly hair is fine. Light wavy hair pushed from one’s face makes it look smaller. Let it be free and a little messy.
• Ponytails work well too. If the hair is straight and waves are impossible, collect it in a high ponytail. In fact, any hair-style that takes hair away from the neck, elongates it adding a slim look.
• If you consider changing hair color, go for subtle highlights: they add vertical lines and elongate the face.

Alice Orlando

Stop Hair Loss

No diet promises instant weight loss, but sometimes it is absolutely necessary to look thinner and more attractive. In addition, one should not starve to death in order to lose a few pounds in couple days, because it might cause health problems later. However, if a person is desperate to make a better impression on people than he or she usually does, there are a few tricks that might help.

Diet specialists offer quick and easy way to lose extra pounds with different methods. Pills, exercises, supplements and count-calories diets do not always do the job as they promise. Some of them are also harmful to one’s health. A good balanced diet usually takes time and effort. While a participant works on it, he or she can use some steps to look slimmer.

1. Good posture.

In childhood we hear a lot about posture. Teachers, parents and a bunch of relatives ask to stand straight, not to bend back, or to sit right. Maybe wrong posture did not do as much damage as all these people warned, however, it does make one look heavier.

The current posture can be checked easily: come to a wall as close as you can making the back of your head, shoulders and lower bottom touch the wall. It is most likely you do not walk like this all day long. However, proper posture is not only good for the outside look. First of all it takes away occasional back pain that a person might have because pressure on discs and muscles is minimized. Secondly, proper posture is proven to add more confidence to a person. It makes one feel more energetic and breathe deeper.

Proper posture means:

• Body weight lies on the balls of one’s feet, not on heels.
• The back is as straight as possible with shoulders pushed back.
• Knees are never locked, but slightly apart, close to the width of the shoulders.
• Arms hang naturally on the sides.
• Chin is up, but not too far. Try to keep it square to the neck and the back of the head at one line with shoulders.

Always watching the posture is hard, so spend some time doing exercises regularly and the straight back will become your habit, not hard work. One does not need a gym or a couch to learn and do the exercises. They can be done at home at any time:

• Come to a wall and straighten the posture. Go away from the wall and keep doing home chores with this posture. Keep checking it from time to time.
• While sitting at an office desk or kitchen table, watch the posture: keep the back straight, do not cross legs, but change the position of your feet regularly: put them under the chair, in front of it, put the feet together or set them apart.

2. Right clothes.

There are many pros and cons in clothes in order to looks thinner. If you want to look good and slim, DO NOT:

• Dress in white. It usually adds a few pounds, instead of hiding them.
• Wear clothes which are too big.
• Put on things with thick elastic waist like sweatpants, some skirts and dresses.
• Wear clothes that narrower the waistline and widen hips like cropped jackets and Bermuda shorts.
• Have big pockets. Cargo pants and overalls will add to your width.
• Dress in something with horizontal stripes or patterns on top and/or bottom.

At the same time DO these to “drop off” a few pounds visually:

• Choose monochromatic closes. Except for white color, one-tone clothes look better on obese people than patterns.
• Give preference to darker colors. They “steal” extra pounds as nothing else does.
• Pick three-quarter length. It works fine on both jackets and pants (like Capri’s).
• Put on V-neck shirts and A-line skirts.
• Wear vertical stripes. Clothes with zippers and buttons down the front work good as well because vertical lines elongate the body.

Alice Orlando

Stop Smoking

The creator of Zone diet, biochemist Barry Sears says that the participants of the Zone do not only lose weight till it becomes perfect, but they also come to hormonal balance in their bodies. In addition, they gain muscle mass that improves their sport results.

In 1970’s Dr. Sears was working at Boston University school of Medicine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology learning about lipids and their role in development of chronic diseases. In 1982 his attention was attracted by a Nobel Price Award given to the study that showed close relationship between hormones and development of such diseases as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and immune system diseases.

Thirteen years later Dr. Sears summed up his thoughts in the first book, “Enter the Zone”. Many liked his ideas and the book sold out quickly becoming number one worldwide bestseller. Later on 10 more books on the Zone came out.

The diet is based on the theory that healthy body has well-balanced hormones. Our body, instinctively knowing what it needs, pulls essential substances from food in order to level out the hormones: insulin, glucagons and eicosaniods. So, proper food is the key element for healthy body.

As a rule modern people do not have time to cook something healthy and keep filling their bodies with “fast food” and heavy in calories snacks. Many diets say this is a bad way to treat the bodies and Zone offers its system to solve the problem. An individual should consume 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat. After following the diet for a while, Dr. Sears says that a person gets into “the Zone” where athletes perform better, mental activity increases, blood sugar balances out, body acquires perfect weight, and life in general becomes wonderful comparing to what it was before.

Although the formula is pretty clear, the entrance to “the Zone” is very individual. Besides 40-30-30 formula, a participant should adjust carbohydrate intake according to personal sensitivity to them.

In the later editions of the books, Dr. Sears added the important role of the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids extracted from fish oils. Lack of Omega-3 reduces brain activity and ruins hormonal balance.

The main reason why many specialists do not believe the Zone is because there is not much scientific proof to how it works exactly and why the numbers have to be 40-30-30 and not other proportions. However, Scientific American Frontiers has held a study which showed the diet cause significant weight loss. During the research several popular diets were compared and Dr. Sears’ formula gave the best result: great weight loss together with gained muscle mass. During the study participants also said the Zone had the easiest ration to adjust to with minimal side-effects: if hunger and fatigue occurred, they disappeared within first three days.

The pros of this diet are:

1. A participant does not have to say “no” to the food he or she loves, since Zone diet does not restrict any specific food group, but only asks for the right balance.
2. If one enters the Zone in a proper way, slow but permanent weight loss is guaranteed.
3. The diet is easy to follow.
4. There have been a lot of followers of the diet that proved it being effective. One can read about such celebrities as Jennifer Aniston, Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cindy Crawford and Tiger Woods using the Zone to lose weight.

However, there are some cons to consider:

1. The main formula 40-30-30 has not been scientifically proven.
2. The entrance point is not the same for everybody, so one should try by changing carbohydrate level which can be tricky.
3. Some essential nutrients are limited with the Zone such as carbohydrates which turn into glucose – body’s main source of energy.

–

Order from us and you will see why Generic Medicines is rated one of the best upcoming online Pharmacy services available over the World Wide Web!

Jean White