You know those diet foods and programs. There are all different types. There’s those commercials were you order diet meals you microwave. These are those meal bars and shakes. This is a huge industry. Billions of dollars worth. If these diet food programs were successful then about 3 out of 4 Americans would not be overweight.

The vast majority of people who go on these diet foods will not be successful. Even if you pay attention to the ads where they show someone who has lost of weight, you will read “Results are not typical. Individual results will vary.”

Remember-Diet foods are for fat people. You will not lose a lot of weight and keep it off if you go on these diets.

First of all, have you seen the size of those so called “meal bars?” You almost need a microscope to see them. They are smaller than an appetizer. What person with a large appetite will be able to eat one of those minature meal bars and not be starving afterwards? That’s one reason these diets don’t work. People who try them starve so they end up eating like they are used to and feel like a failure. Don’t feel like a failure if you have tried one of these diets but haven’t been successful because it’s not realistic or healthy to eat some stupid tiny little bar for a meal. That’s not a real meal.

Secondly even if you are able to stick to one of these ridiculous diets and lose weight, as soon as you go back to real food you will gain back all the weight you lose. How many people have lost 10 pounds or so on one of these ridiculous diet food programs just to end up gaining 20 pounds?

It’s a merry-go-round. It’s a terrible and frustrating, never ending cycle. These products are made to make big money. And it’s working because it’s a multi billion dollar industry. If people were able to lose weight, keep it off and eat real food, they would go out of business.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, steer clear of these diet foods. Stay far, far away. It’s about making lifestyle changes, not diet foods.

As unglamorous and boring as it sounds, fix yourself moderate portions of healthy food for meals. You won’t be starving afterwards like eating some little bar or some diet shake, it’s healthier, and cheaper and it works for the long term.

Instead of a meal bar that you can inhale in one bite for example, fix brown rice, baked fish, and a salad. That meal is very low fat, healthy, and won’t leave you hungry afterwards.

You can be more energized without any coffee, sodas, caffeine, energy drinks, energy bars, or any pill. This is getting more energy naturally, without buying anything, getting the jitters or having your heart pump too fast. A lack of energy is common in the middle of the day. You start to feel tired and feel like taking a nap. You just don’t have the energy to do anything. Many people take some kind of drug (caffeine is considered a drug) to try to stay awake, but there are healthy, natural, safe, and completely free ways to get energy.

But first off, I will list side effects and potential dangers of taking any drugs or supplements to try to get enough energy to make it until that afternoon tiredness wears off. A while back, it was common for tired people to take ephedrine. Now, it’s illegal because it caused death in some people who took it. It increased the heart rate to an unhealthy rate. In most people it cause uncomfortable jitters and in some it caused serious health problems including death.

Then there is caffeine. Caffeine is not dangerous and I’m not saying avoid it at all. In fact tea has caffeine and it one of the healthiest drinks on earth. But drinking too much caffeine, especially later in the day, can cause sleeping problems which results in a terrible cycle of trouble sleeping at night and trouble staying awake in the afternoon. If you drink too much caffeine, you might find it difficult to get to sleep at night. Then when you wake up in the morning, you find yourself tired. Doctors and nutritionists recommend not drinking caffeine after 2pm if you have trouble getting to sleep.

The first and most important way to get more energy is to stop eating processed food. It has chemicals and it’s unhealthy. It is linked to being overweight, not getting enough vitamins and nutrients, and many more serious health problems. It’s not real food, it’s chemical food. It also sucks away your energy. If you are eating fast food meals for lunch or are regularly eating chemicals for your meals and snacks, don’t be surprised if you feel tired and lacking of energy. That’s what processed food does. Processed food has become so normal and steeped in our culture, but it’s really not that hard to eat healthier meals and snacks if you want to. If you cut out all fast foods and junk foods from your diet and replace it with meals from fresh foods, you will be shocked at how much energy you now have and wish you had done this sooner.

Secondly, check for anemia. Anemia causes a lack of energy. It can get very severe where the anemic gets very weak and feels like sleeping or resting most of the time. Anemia is treated with iron and you may need to take some iron supplements if your iron levels are low.

Thirdly, fit in some exercise. Exercise is necessary, healthy, and completely free. No buying energy drinks or pills. Energy naturally gives you more energy. If you are living a sedentary life, as many are these days, you can work up your exercise level. You don’t have to start out running 3 miles a day. Just fitting 30 minutes of cardio exercise a day will help tremendously. Once you make exercise a daily activity, you will find you are more energetic.

Fourth, eat some foods that give you energy such as nuts and fresh fruits and vegetables. While turkey has been known to make people feel tired, certain foods are natural energy boosters.

Fifth, eat breakfast. It really is the most important meal of the day. If you skip breakfast, your fuel tank is running on empty. If you have nothing in your fuel tank, where do you think your energy will come from?

And last, get a good nights sleep. If you are only getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep, you will probably feel drained around 2pm. Trouble getting to sleep is another topic so work on getting a healthy amount of sleep if you aren’t now. Getting 7 or 8 hours of good sleep is ideal. Good sleep meaning you aren’t waking up several times a night tossing and turning.

Following these 6 tips will dramatically boost your energy and get rid of that mid afternoon tiredness.

]]> http://weight-loss-obsessed.com/?feed=rss2&p=109 http://weight-loss-obsessed.com/?p=111 http://weight-loss-obsessed.com/?p=111#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:07:09 +0000 admin http://weight-loss-obsessed.com/?p=111 The idea of a diet is depressing for many who want to lose weight because they think of depriving themselves, going hungry or eating nothing but salads.

But just making a few important changes to your diet can product results you’ll like.

Stop eating fried foods. You can still eat a hearty, delicious meal that’s not fried. No deprivation, no starvation, and no rabbit food. Just cut out all fried foods.

Stop eating fast foods. If you can’t stop from eating fast food, then choose a healthy alternative such as a turkey sandwich from Subway. But no cheeseburgers, french fries, chicken nuggets or any of those common fast foods.

Only snack on fresh veggies. Try to cut out snacking between meals, but if you get hungry, chomp on some fresh vegetables like carrot sticks, cauliflower, and celery. It will tide over your hunger until meal time without adding fat. Plus it’s healthy.

These are three small and simple rules, but if you eat fried foods, fast foods and snack between meals, stopping these habits will help out a lot.

Unfortunately, too many people have the info all wrong and are sick of memberships, pills, fad diets, and wacky diets. You don’t need pills or diets. You need the TRUTH. All the truth, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Knowing the truth, you won’t need to take any pills, join Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, go on a brand new fad diet, follow some wacky meal plan, or go to your doctor about a prescription weight loss pill.

Your eyes will be opened and you will see things in a new way.

The author of The Skinny on Fat, Sally Taylor, is as honest, blunt, and upfront as they come. This isn’t some boring rehash of everything you’ve already heard before-diet and exercise. This contains no fad diets or wacky and dumb diet plans. This isn’t something promoting any kind of membership or pills. This isn’t written by someone who has no clue what they’re talking about.

Thankfully this isn’t some book full of weird or difficult and unnecessary diets such as the cookie diet, cabbage soup diet, or raw food diet. People who want to lose weight are sick of hearing about the latest fad diet. You’ve heard of Atkins, the South Beach diet, the Cookie diet, thte cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet and you’re sick of it. You want real information, besides the common stuff you already know, to tell you ways to shed those pounds.

I could write something that says will “guarantee” your weight loss and say only eat apples, celery and only drink water. Yeah, you’d lose weight, but who’s going to do that, not to mention it will turn you sick from lack of nutrition.

I once read a book from the library-something about eating more and weighing less-but what I didn’t know was that this books plan was a vegetarian diet-with NO nuts and nothing with more than a few fat grams. Well duh, if you only eat vegetables and beans and in small portions you’re going to lose weight. But this isn’t realistic. Who’s going to do that? Umm, vegetarians need protein since they don’t eat meat and this book actually tells you not to eat any nuts or seeds! What?!

You see how much crappy and wrong information is out there?

So if you’re sick of wacky diet plans and want to lose weight, you need to learn the straight up, blunt truth about several factors and busting myths you may have by someone who knows what they are talking about and knows more than most nutritionists. You will have the real information you need, by someone who isn’t trying to sell you any extras, by someone who eats like a pig and is very thin.

As the ebook says, Fat is a symptom, not the problem or the cause. Learn what is causing you to have the horrible symptom of fat and things you’ve never known before.

Instead of waiting for a book to arrive at your door or going to a bookstore, you can have instant gratification and knowledge with an instant download.

The ebook is a one time payment of less than $20, about the cost of a new book, but the information it contains is more than worth it and think of all you’ll save by never buying a diet pill again and never having to join any clubs or memberships.

There’s no “fancy” (yet annoying) talking sales people on the site, no videos, nothing flashy, nothing that looks commercial. It’s very simple, like the book is straight forward.

I can say I DO NOT recommend Eating More and Weighing Less (if that’s even the title, that books so dumb it’s not worth remembering) and I wouldn’t recommend anything I didn’t like because I have been fighting to loose weight and still am making changes in my life to loose weight. I am sure this book will make my weight loss quicker and of course my health improved.

Click HERE to learn about or purchase THE SKINNY ON FAT

In my opinion the FDA should ban high fructose corn syrup. It’s nothing but bad, promotes obesity, contains mercury, and foods and herbs even with medical, health or other benefits have been banned by the FDA.

Arizona tea has high fructose corn syrup. Don’t buy Arizona tea, and let the Arizona tea company know you won’t buy their teas until it’s free of that poison called high fructose corn syrup. And I thought tea was one of the healthiest things you could ingest. But not if it has high fructose corn syrup. That totally cancels out any health benefits.

The obesity epidemic began after high fructose corn syrup was put into our foods and drinks. Coincidence? I think not. This was way before internet, video games, chat rooms and all that.

Having a hard time losing weight? It could be because you are eating or drinking a fair amount of high fructose corn syrup.

Most Americans don’t even know what high fructose corn syrup is or even bother reading labels. Parents feed their children high fructose corn syrup regularly without knowing any better.

And it’s everywhere. I mean tea is supposed to be healthy, but it’s even in tea! Not all tea of course, if you’re a tea drinker, it’s best to buy tea bags of your favorite kind of tea and brew it yourself. It contains nothing but tea leaves and perhaps herbs or fruits.

Ragu and Presto spaghetti sauce have high fructose corn syrup. Smuckers jelly and jam has high fructose corn syrup. It’s everywhere! In everything! You have to carefully read labels to make sure you’re not poisoning your body and making it difficult to lose weight and easy to gain weight or remain overweight. I only buy jam called “Kentucky’s finest” because it’s all natural. It simply has the fruit in it, plus sugar to sweeten it and then pectin. No high fructose corn syrup, no weird chemicals, artificial flavors, or stuff you can’t pronounce. When you  buy jelly or jam read the label to make sure there’s only 3 ingredients in it and no high fructose corn syrup.

If you’re trying to lose weight but it seems impossible, even though you try not to eat things like cake, chips, and candy bars and try to go on walks but still can’t shed any extra pounds, you probably wonder what’s wrong with you. Maybe your metablism is slow. Maybe you have some undiagnosed medical condition. Or it could be because you are ingesting high fructose corn syrup even if you don’t know it or know what that is because it promotes weight gain and obesity and makes it extra hard to lose any weight.

If you want to know more about HFCS, there is reading out there, including articles about it killing honey bees and containing mercury and much more. If you want you and your family to be healthier, never buy anything containing high fructose corn syrup again. (If you drink soda, bad news, it’s loaded with HFCS, so you really should find another drink)

Here is one article with a youtube ad about HFCS-

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/you-know-what-they-say-about-corn-syrup-that-it-has-mercury.php

A modern diet has almost become synonymous with excessive consumption of starch, sugar and fatty foods. Such diet habit of ours causes diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity etc.

Keeping fit by consuming healthy food substances and nutritious food also helps your body to treat diseases to an extent that your need to visit a health food store would be greatly reduced. You may even want to purchase them at the nearest grocery store or even attempt to pay a visit to the local farmer’s market. If you focus on a healthy, well balanced diet of the 14 “Superfoods”, the detrimental effects of the diseases may indeed be slowed down, stopped or even reversed.

Nourishing your body with such nutrient rich food can have positive effect on your mental capacity and your spiritual wellness too gets enhanced and with such optimal spiritual health, you will have a glow about yourself and would appear as calm and happy to others who notice you. This will also have a bearing on your stress levels as your stress levels would be decreased dramatically.

Thus it is advisable that you look for ways to eliminate junk food from your daily diet and replace it with the members of the Superfoods group. As a result of doing which, your body, mind and spirit will get enhanced and be more healthy.

Finally he volunteered to join a fitness program. The duration of the program was 6 months and once he finished the program, he looked a lot slimmer. Now he did not feel exhausted and was as cheerful as ever.

On enquiring about the difference between the earlier method of dieting and the program he undertook, he realized that earlier, the dieting he had resorted to had not helped him to lose any fat. The second time he had lost fat.  Research shows that dieting causes weight loss by causing a loss of active tissue such as muscle and connective tissue while the body fat remained. By exercising, the opposite happened. He lost a lot of the fat and the more necessary healthy tissue remained.

The case with cellulite is also very similar. People think that only obese people have cellulite and thus associate cellulite with body fat and obesity. Though cellulite generally refers to a chain of subcutaneous tissue present beneath the layer of the skin, it should never be associated with obese people. There have been cases where people have lot of cellulite but do not have any amount of fat.

The reason for people accumulating cellulite is unknown. Health experts suggest that cellulite accumulation may be caused by biological changes in the human body such as hormonal changes, though there is a lack of concrete proof for the same.

Cellulite cases are observed more in women than they are observed among men. A major reason for this is the fact that women posses connective tissues that are more rigid than the men. So when a woman gets fat, the fatty cells within her body tend to swell up and look bigger as compared to men. This is also the major cause for the “orange peel” look among the women as the swelling up of cellulite creates a protruding appearance to the skin. Thus it is important for women to be more careful given the fact that they have higher chances of accumulating cellulite.

Fats and Cellulite

We have come across many cases where obese people have cellulite in their body and many of these people thought that cellulite is caused by them being fat. Though not all obese people develop cellulites, obesity is most likely to act as a trigger for the development of cellulites. Cellulites are formed when there is a large accumulation of fat under the skin which tends to push the connective tissue as a result of which, the skin is strained leading to cellulite development.

The structure of an individual’s cell plays an important factor in the development of cellulite. An individual whose cell structure does not bulge even when the fat deposits accumulate, then the cellulite development will be restricted. Thus the most important thing to remember is to keep the connective tissues firm so that excess fats are not allowed to accumulate.

Starting an exercise regimen:

Fat tends to get accumulated more easily than they are lost. Major ways to lose fat are:

1. Reduction in the amount of food intake keeping the activity constant

2. Increasing activity keeping food intake constant

3. Combining both the above.

Physical activity plays a major part in reduction of weight. If you lead an active life which involves a lot of movement and a bit of vigorous exercise, then it means that you would have burnt up to 600 calories and if along with being highly active, if you reduce your intake by around 500 calories per day, then you can achieve a considerable weight loss of up to two pounds every week.

If you lead an inactive life, one in which there is a minimum amount of movement, then you are advised to eat approximately 1,000 calories less than what you would everyday which could ultimately lead to a reduction in weight by approximately ten pounds a week.

Exercising though, is not for everyone who is fat. Those who are severely obese are prone to strains to their cardiovascular system and thus should consult a medical expert and exercise under strict medical supervision.

One should take care to not drastically reduce the intake of food. Resorting to such methods only hampers the body, as had happened with my boss. Reduced intake of food complicates the matters as they are more gullible to a drastic reduction of connective tissue than a reduction of excess body fat.

People who are prone to cellulite build-up, losing connective tissues instead of the unwanted body fat makes their skin more prone to complex problems without getting rid of the harmful body fat.

Thus those who wish to lose cellulites are better off losing the unwanted body fats – by burning the fats by means of an increased metabolic rate from 7.5% to 28% more than the normal rate. Thus exercising is more important factor in losing cellulite. A cellulite free body can be achieved by always indulging in an exercise routine.

Recent research and group panels, show that 80% of Americans will experience some type of back in their life. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons believes this and says it expands beyond Americans and of us will experience some type of physical problem with the back before you pass away.

However there is minor treatment for lower back pain. You can decrease your pain by increasing core strength and flexibility on muscles that are tight, this gives better stabilization to your spine and with exercise you can correct the imbalances that are in your muscles. The muscles that are surrounding your spine give it support and the stability that your spinal column needs.

Muscles that are around your hips and shoulders also provide an important role as they are your core muscles. Back pain can be a result of imbalances of your core muscles. Having weak thighs in the front can cause an uneven pull on the front of your spinal column damaging it when you over use the front of your thighs.

There are productive ways you can strengthen your core muscles through training exercises. Instead of doing just crunches and sit-ups, you can practice deep breathing techniques expanding your diaphragm muscles. This helps your body build support to the spinal column and adds length to the spine, while helping your lower back making it easier to walk or run.

The tummy tuck and bridge lift exercises help reduce back pain and build core muscle at the same time. The tummy tuck is a simple exercise which you tilt the pelvic muscle working your abdominal away from the floor. To perform this you lie face down and squeeze your glut’s thus making your spine gain strength.

Instead of reaching for your thighs, make sure you go for your tailbone towards your heels giving you that extra push. Doing about 15 reps each time you exercise and alternating each time till you complete a whole set.

To perform the bridge, you must place your feet on the floor and scoop your pelvis in an upward motion so your rib cage stays low and reduces damage to your spinal muscles. The bridge will help you relieve stress on your back and focus the muscle contractions into your glut’s and hamstrings.

The hip flex or stretch has to be done with one knee bent at a 90 degree angle, while your other leg is on the floor behind you with your foot point towards the sky. This exercise stretches your muscles in your back on the side of the spine. This also strengthens your hamstrings on the front of the leg.

Lumbar side stretch is bringing your legs with your knees bent; you can either sit or stand. Then in a simply motion bring your one hand towards your foot holding the inside of your thigh and your other hand on the back of head.

These exercises can provide you with extra muscle giving you a better chance of less back pain in the future of your life. While these exercises not only improve your health they can decrease the pain in your back.

Finding Good Supplements

The best weight loss help from supplements will be more than just appetite suppressants or fat burners. You will want to find a supplement that works to help you build muscle, aid digestion and become healthier overall. You will find that these types of weight loss supplements are not as common as other types, but will aid you in reaching your weight loss goals permanently, rather than simply offering a temporary solution.

You can find a wide selection of all natural supplements that can offer the weight loss help you are looking for. You will want to look for a supplement that contains amino acids, which help build muscle, as well as fiber, which helps to aid digestion. Being healthy is one of the best ways that you can reach your weight loss goals quickly and efficiently. Amino acids are particularly important, since they will help you turn the fat in your body into muscle as you exercise.

Pre-Made Diet Plans

Pre-made diet plans can be an excellent source of weight loss help. You may find that it is confusing, frustrating and overwhelming to plan your own menu, since you will need to know the calories and fat in each item that you choose. Pre-made diet plans will also have flexibility, so that you may incorporate the occasional treat into your diet without suffering from guilt. In fact, you may want to customize a diet plan to meet your own specific nutritional needs.

You can also find customized diets online to help you lose weight. This type of weight loss help if often most efficient for those who are coping with meeting specific nutritional needs, such as those who may have developed diabetes or heart disease from obesity. Learning to lose weight is simple when you have the outline for a nutritious diet that meets your daily requirements. You can simply plan your meals around the menu that is provided for best results.

Exercise

No weight loss help plan will avoid adding exercise into your routine. Losing weight is dependent on exercise, especially in the beginning stages of losing weight. If you have been sedentary for a long period of time, you will want to begin your exercise routine slowly, so that your body can build muscle and adjust to the exercise. Your weight loss help will provide a plan that is based on your level of physical fitness, so that you are not frustrated in the beginning stages of your weight loss program.