Category : Article
Posted in Article on February 20, 2012
Obesity is a rising metabolic disorder that affects the entire world. Obesity is closely related to heart disease and other health issues. It is the condition based on the body mass index (BMI), calculating the fat ratio from a formula using the height and weight of the individuals.
The formula is weight in pounds divided by the height in inches squared divided by 703. The total of that calculation then is used against the chart to determine if the individual is underweight (18.5 or lower), healthy weight (18.5 24.9), overweight (25 29), or obese (30 +).
Obesity and coronary heart disease are closely related based on clinical studies. Obese people tend to have a higher risk of heart disease due to their other health related factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. The one contributing factor with heart disease is directly connected to the high cholesterol, which also has issues with clogging of the arteries; increasing the risks of heart disease in every individual, but is extremely higher in obese people.
People with high risks of heart disease; generally have other health issues that once were thought to contribute to the disease. Yet in recent studies it has been discovered those that are obese have a higher risk of heart disease; even without the other factors. Obesity causes heart disease since the obese person is not as active as the healthy weight individual is. The amounts of exercise play a role in heart disease.
Other contributing factors include the diet of the individual. Obese individuals tend to have a high caloric and carbohydrate diet, which blocks the blood vessels and can lead to heart muscle damage.
When the individuals limit their amounts of fat, sodium and starch, which are turned into fat when not burned up by the body with physical activity and exercise, the individuals can reduce their weight and risks of heart disease. Learning to eat a healthy diet will help with the levels of risks, while not completely removing the risks, if damage to the vessels and heart muscles has previously occurred; prior to the weight loss.
Medication is available for heart disease to help with the complications. Other methods are extensive such as surgery for heart bypass and heart transplants in extreme cases.
The fact of learning to take care of the heart and blood vessels, prior to any damage, is the most important factor, many need to realize. As once the damage is done to the cardio system, it is not possible to repair the damage; short of surgery and transplants.
Several methods are available to reduce the risks of heart disease including eating a healthy diet, avoid smoking, add a daily exercise regimen to the life style, and avoiding stress when possible.
Posted in Article on February 17, 2012
One serious health problem of obese child involves the body’s ability to process sugar. Diabetes is occurring in almost epidemic rates in the United States and much of the Western world. That’s because we have heavy kids who are growing into heavy adults. And this health problem of obese child begins early and can cause diabetes to occur in adults at a young age.
When a child is overweight, their body’s systems are overtaxed. A child doesn’t just become overweight accidentally. Poor diet and lack of exercise in any combination will contribute to a child being overweight.
And it’s not the weight itself necessarily that causes many of the of the health problem of obese child. Rather it’s the diet and lifestyle that led the child to become fat that can cause the problems.
One of the most serious health conditions facing people today is the threat of diabetes. Fortunately, diabetes is mostly preventable. Type I diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops functioning properly. This type of diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes. This isn’t a preventable disease because it simply happens when an organ malfunctions.
Type II diabetes on the other hand is almost always preventable. This is a disease caused by lifestyle choices like diet and lack of exercise. While there are cases where it seemed a person was doing everything possible to say fit and they developed diabetes, in almost every case the condition was brought on by poor dietary choices.
People who have type II diabetes can usually stop the disease and even reverse it by following a healthy diet that cuts out simple carbohydrates. It’s foods high in certain types of carbohydrates that contribute to the development of diabetes, so eliminating them can make a drastic difference.
When adults who have diabetes alter their diets, dramatic changes can take place. They lose weight and lower their blood sugar levels naturally. This can lead to an end to diabetes and they can get off the pills and even the insulin shots.
This health problem of obese child often starts when they’re young, even though the diabetes may not develop until they’re an adult. That’s because it’s a slowly progressing disease and can take years before the body responds.
When a child eats a diet high in simple carbohydrates like flour and sugar, large amounts of glucose are released into the blood stream after they eat. Because kids’ bodies are so adaptable, their bodies work efficiently to remove the excess glucose by releasing large amounts of insulin to take care of it.
Over time, the large amounts of insulin released into the blood stream can damage the vessels and arteries. And eventually the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, just as a person can be resistant to antibiotics or other drugs.
The body stops sending it out. The blood sugar isn’t removed, and pills or insulin injections become necessary. This health problem of obese child may take years to develop, but it’s doing damage over their entire childhood if not stopped.
Posted in Article on February 13, 2012
An obese person faces more health risks than a person of average weight. Being that overweight can cause issues like difficulty finding clothes that fit and even sometimes difficulty fitting into seats in places like airplanes and theaters. An obese person also is at much higher risk of things like heart attack and stroke.
An obese person is generally someone who is more than 40 to 75 pounds overweight. A person is considered morbidly obese if they weight 100 pounds or more what they should. Both of these conditions carry elevated health risks.
When you’re obese, your body is carrying more weight than it was designed to carry. This puts extra pressure on bones, muscles and joints. If you think about how much harder it is to carry a sack full of 50 pounds than it is to carry one with 5 pounds, it’s easier to see the burden put on your frame.
Because bones are strong and rugged, the extra weight takes its toll on the weakest part of your frame: the joints. Joints like hips, ankles and knees are at particular risk, because the weight of the entire upper body falls up on them.
Joints are naturally our bodies’ weakest spots because they’re the spots where the bones come together. The knees are at a particular risk in an obese person. The knee is a very complex joint that faces wear and tear with every single step we take.
When someone is obese, there’s much more pressure on the knees than normal. So each step puts twice, triple, sometimes four times the normal pressure or more on those joints. This causes the joints to wear out prematurely and is the reason heavy people often have trouble with their knees.
While hips joints and ankles are at this same risk, it’s the knees that generally carry the brunt of the weight and absorb the pressure, so this is where the injuries often appear first.
Aside from the extra weight on the frame and joints, all that extra weight puts pressure on the body’s systems, too. First of all, large amounts of body fat don’t just show up on the outside, but fatty tissue can form internally around organs.
And large amounts of body fat can actually crowd internal organs and put pressure against them. This pressure can cause the organs to start operating differently, and can interfere with normal bodily functions.
Because the extra weight requires more work of the body to keep going, often blood pressure is elevated and the heart has to work harder than normal. This can be a factor in heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.
Also, the extra weight generally means that the person’s diet is poor and too high in calories. This is a major cause of diabetes, which can damage blood vessels, eyes and nerves.
In some cases, people may lose their eyesight or a foot or leg to diabetes because of poor circulation. The good news is that once an obese person starts losing weight, diabetes and other conditions can be reversed.
Posted in Article on February 12, 2012
So the Chinese have had green tea now for around 4,000 years. They’re keen with herbs and stuff, and they stick with green tea’s ability to help you lose weight. Case in point: the Japanese. Their society is literally addicted to green tea, with local demand pushing the local supply of high-grade green tea to the limit. And if you notice, it’s rare to find overweight Japanese. And they attest it all to their insatiable thirst for green tea.
So here’s the question: are green tea weight loss diets plausible?
The quick answer to that question is a resounding yes! Whether through drinking green tea or through dietary supplements, green tea weight loss diets revolve around the time-tested reliability of green tea to help in weight reduction.
Green tea weight loss: The Scientific Studies
The Study:
There is this physiologist, William Rumpler, who’s currently investigating the effects of green tea on the energy expenditure and fat oxidation of the body when exposed to green tea. In English, that means your body’s generation of energy for you to work and the tendency to burn up fat for fuel. Both are ways for you to lose weight.
The only weight-reducing component that they’ve identified in green tea is the caffeine. However, when they had other subjects consume caffeinated water instead of full-strength green tea, they experienced some strange results. Not surprisingly, the subjects who took full-strength green tea had significantly greater energy expenditure and fat oxidation levels in their body.
The Implications:
All they could do is attribute the weight-loss effects of green tea to confounding variables. Simply put, this means that they don’t know what the heck it is in green tea that helps people lose weight. The only thing the scientists are sure about is that it helps you lose weight. More studies in this field will probably isolate what makes you lose weight when you drink green tea.
But no matter what research will yield, they’ve already proven the fact that green tea weight loss diets work. And that’s what really counts.
The Bonuses:
Other related studies about green tea indicate that not only will you lose weight, but you’ll also have a healthier life in the process: antioxidants help clean up the damaging free radicals that float around in your body, your intestinal track is less likely to absorb excess cholesterol, and your risk to get cancer is significantly lowered.
What more could you ask from green tea weight loss diets? You get what you want and even more, all for just drinking a couple of cups a day!
The Wrap-up
Green tea weight loss diets not only help you lose weight, but you’re losing it naturally and healthily. There’s no need to take in chemical poisons to lose weight; no need to undergo surgical procedures that’ll cost a small fortune and create a scar on your body. All you need is a healthy lifestyle complemented by a green tea weight loss diet, and you’re sure to go down the road to a slim and healthy future.
Mull about it over a cup of green tea.
Posted in Article on February 8, 2012
Yoga is another exercise which doesn’t require a whole lot of equipment to start with. Basically all you need is a yoga mat. If you attend a local yoga class these may even be provided for you. Yoga is also a great exercise that can be done at home with just a DVD to follow.
Before starting any type of yoga it is a good idea to do some research and even watch a few DVD’s. There are certain poses that you will need to learn. Plus to get the most benefit you want to be assured of doing them correctly.
You will also want to learn breathing techniques as this will also enhance your performance. Your body is bound to get a little sore after your first yoga session. This is perfectly normal and the soreness can be reduced a little by stretching afterwards.
A good yoga class or video will take you through an entire yoga workout. This should include a warm up period, a breathing or meditation technique and then proceeds into the main yoga session. In between all of this you will be taught certain poses like the child pose that allows you to take a short rest period. The class or video will end with you performing a series of cool down poses along with stretching.
To get the most of your yoga class you should not wear any socks or shoes. You should also not eat a large meal before exercising and you will want to drink some water before your class.
Any good teacher will have the ability to help you adapt any of the yoga positions that you find too difficult. Remember not to compare yourself to others as they may be more advanced than you.
When first starting out with yoga you don’t have to rush out and buy yoga clothing. Just wear pants and a top that are comfortable and be sure your clothes don’t restrict your movements. Lightweight clothes are recommended as they will help keep the moisture away from your skin.
After a few yoga sessions you can decide if this is the type of exercise that you would like to continue with. If so then you can start to purchase more yoga equipment as necessary.
It is possible to find low cost alternatives for exercising. There are many low cost yoga classes that are available. If not you can get a library book or even look online for yoga videos if money really is an issue.
Posted in Article on February 7, 2012
There are so many different diets on the market that it is important to know which diet is honestly safe to use. The different factors involved with each diet can make either the diet effective and safe or a health hazard. Here are ten safe diets that have been researched and reviewed by leaders in the diet industry, to verify the health related factors for everyone wanting to diet safely.
eDiets.com is a diet plan that incorporates most of the plans into their online system for dieters. The main focus on the diets includes healthy eating habits and exercise for the weight loss. This site uses Atkins, Glycemic Impact, Mediterranean, Slim Fast, Low Fat, High Fiber, Wheat Free, Cholesterol Lowering, Vegetarian, and Heart Smart diets along with many others on the site.
Diet.com has a credible doctor backing this site, who has authored books about weight loss. Dr. Robert Kushner, uses personal lifestyles of the individuals to create a customized diet plan; based on the personal habits that will help people lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Other doctors to help their patients lose weight effectively and safely created Medifast Diet. It consists of six meals a day removing the hunger many suffer during a diet. The plans are transitional with maintenance and exercise plans to help keep the weight off, as well as a strong support system for continued guidance and assistance.
Jillian Michaels Diet Plan is used by a national television program with proven results. The diet is designed so the individual can exercise in the comfort of their homes as well as eating a healthy diet and concentrating on the mental aspects of the dieter. The plan is based on the individual’s metabolism and increasing it so the person can lose weight safely and effectively with the abilities to learn weight management for long-term effects.
Denise Austin Diet was created by a fitness expert that bases her diet on the development of a diet plan that allows a person to eat what they want but at lower levels that are healthy and nutritional. The concept helps dieters learn to avoid the cravings while eating a balanced diet with an exercise program.
Sonoma Diet uses the Mediterranean diet with added styles in the plan. The foods are known to be extremely delicious that adds to the wonder of losing weight. The people are taught to eat slower so they not only enjoy their food more but also learn to eat less since it takes about 15 minutes for the brain to accept the stomach is full when eating. The diet is based on “waves” or steps where the person uses the described steps to lose weight effectively.
South Beach Diet Plan is based on healthy eating foods that will be satisfying, while removing the hunger issues. There are three phases to the diet that are each designed to deal with the many issues such as eliminating the food cravings, kick-start weight loss, and weight management.
The Duke Diet & Fitness was created by renown experts in the nutrition and medical field dedicated to helping others improve their lives with healthy eating and weight management. The diet focuses on the diet, fitness routines, and behavioural strategies to help the person create a healthier life style.
Nutrisystem Diet Plan is a unique plan for women, men, over 60, vegetarians, and Type 2 Diabetics. The personalized diets use good carbohydrates in the diet with fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids to control the appetite while promoting a healthier heart.
5 Factor Diet Plan was created by a diet coach for Hollywood stars based on fitness and a healthy diet. The people eat five times a day, cut the time on the exercise routines, and transforming the person’s body into a healthy body.
To be on the safe side it is always better to consult with your own personal physician prior to commencing a specialized diet or exercise plan.
Posted in Article on February 5, 2012
The Sonoma Diet is a very popular diet. Many have used the diet to lose weight over the years. There are pros and cons to the diet. Understanding more about the diet will help anyone know if the diet is one they can use effectively.
One of the biggest pros of the diet is it’s simplicity. There is no counting of grams or calories.
Simply controlling the size of the portion is one of the biggest factors. The emphasis is on what you eat instead of what you do not eat. There is a list of forbidden foods on this diet and it consist of common low-carb foods. The focus is on the foods and eating them. Learning to eat slowly and savour the tastes of the food helps people gain respect for the foods. It also allows the brain to register the signals from the stomach it is full removing the overeating factor.
The nutritional value of the diet concentrates on the power foods that are healthy for a person. The list has a large variety which helps everyone create a personalized diet plan; that helps with the weight loss regimen. The structure of the diet is tightly structured, which provides guidance for even the most lax dieter.
One of the cons of the diet is the diet has very little flexibility for the low-carb diet. The diets for women are 900-1100 calories and the men have 1100-1300 calories; during the first phase. For many people this limit is too low causing them to give up on the diet or feel extensive hunger during this phase.
Vegetable servings are limited in the first phase, which for many people is challenging. After the first ten days on the diet, the servings of vegetable are reduced to a smaller amount. The fact of this particular limitation results in frustration by many dieters.
A Sonoma Diet emphasizes whole foods that are a big change for many people. Many diets have alternative options for people that cannot strictly follow the foods this one does not. Those limitations, for substitutes. make this diet a huge challenge for many dieters.
Most people suffer from carb crash during the first phase of the diet. Sonoma Diet claims it is not a low-carb diet yet many who have tried the diet will state it is one.
There are inconsistencies and inaccuracies that claim it is not a low carbohydrate diet while still being a high fiber diet. As an example the diet claims whole grain bread is less Glycemic than white bread, whole grain is made with finely ground flour so it is not a true statement. This diet also has claims of grains being the heart and soul of the diet, but it has fewer grains than the daily-recommended amounts.
This is one of those diets that many swear by and others swear at. Do your homework and make you own decision, after consulting with your doctor.
Posted in Article on February 4, 2012
As a resource to help weight loss, printable weight loss charts are up there with the best of them. Anyone looking for as much help as they can to lose weight could do themselves a huge favor by using a simple weight loss chart.
This is because charts have been a basic tool used by anyone who is trying to achieve a goal. A chart that is updated regularly will show a snap shot of the users progress and will motivate and inspire. It will also show if the user is off track and needs to reassess their program to get back on track. Using a chart to help lose weight is no different to using a chart to achieve any other goal. Furthermore, finding printable weight loss charts online is not difficult since there are many sites that offer free charts that can be printed off and used.
Once you have your chart, make a note of your measurements and weight so that you know exactly where you started. Then make a note of how much weight you expect to lose per week. It is vital that when filling in your weight loss chart that you be realistic. Nothing will demoralize a dieter faster than not seeing the prescribed results. If you are aiming for three pounds weight loss per week, then that is what you should put down, putting down a figure higher than what can realistic be achieved means you’re setting yourself up for failure.
What is also great about printable weight loss charts is that achievements and goals can be very easily plotted and seen. If you hit a goal sooner than you hoped for then you know for a fact that your efforts are paying fruit. If you can see that there is no way that you will hit a particular weight when you are estimated to, then you can change and reassess your weight loss plans. And this really is the beauty of these charts. They can alert you to any necessary changes that you might need to make quickly and keep your morale high.
What these printable weight loss charts also do, is act as a great way for you to bring in the people around you who care about you. If you’re brave enough to pin one up in a public place where others can see it, they too can cheer you on towards success.
Above all use the chart as a way for you to document your progress and to keep a record of what you did and when you did it. That way you can look back and feel proud at where you started and where you have ended up!
Posted in Article on February 2, 2012
The 3 Day Diet Menu is quite simple. Each day, you pick a breakfast, lunch, and dinner from this list. Besides the foods on this list, you can have salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, mustard and catsup.? The 3 day diet menu is designed to give you about 900 calories a day.
On the 3 day diet menu, it is very important to eat your grapefruit or drink your grapefruit juice at every meal. Additionally, you must drink at least 32 ounces of water each day.
Breakfast #1
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
1 piece of dry toast topped with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
Breakfast #2
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
1 egg
1 piece of dry toast
1/2 banana
Breakfast #3
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
5 saltine crackers
1 oz. cheese
1 apple
Lunch on the 3 day diet menu also has about 200 calories a day.
Lunch #1
1/2 cup tuna in spring water
1 piece of dry toast
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Lunch #2
1 cup cottage cheese
8 saltine crackers
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Lunch #3
1 boiled egg
1 slice dry toast
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Dinner on the 3 day diet menu has about 350 calories and bulks up the meal with 2 cups of vegetables. You also get a sweet treat in the form of vanilla ice cream.
Dinner #1
3 ounces of lean meat
1 cup of green beans
1 cup of carrots
1 apple
1 cup of vanilla ice cream
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Dinner #2
2 franks
1 cup of ?cabbage
1/2 cup of carrots
1/2 banana
1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Dinner #3
1 cup EACH of:
* tuna in spring water
* carrots
* cauliflower
* melon
* 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream
Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)
1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice
Grapefruit has no scientifically based fat reducing properties and does not magically speed up your metabolism. Eaten whole (rather than juiced), 1/2 of the fruit provides 6 grams of fibre. But then, oranges provide 7 grams of fibre.
The 3 day diet menus do provide a healthy, balanced meal plan, but it has only about 900 calories. So, will you lose weight if you stick to the diet? Yes. You will probably lose between 3 and 6 pounds. Some people claim to have lost 10 pounds.
This can be a real turn on for people who need to lose a dress size in a short amount of time, particularly if a big event is looming. But, the 3 day diet menu does not provide a lasting solution to weight loss.
Posted in Article on February 1, 2012
Are you trying to lose weight pounds? While some people only want to lose 5-10 pounds for a specific purpose, if you have more than 50 lbs. to shed, you need to consider more dramatic weight loss strategies. You are not going to lose weight pounds overnight. Instead, try a balanced approach to losing the weight over time.
Aim to lose weight pounds at a rate of 1-2 lbs. per week. But, don’t dive right in. Instead, spend a week planning your diet.
First of all, weigh yourself. You will also want to keep a journal of everything you eat each day for a week. Include portion sizes. Also note any activity including working out, heavy house or lawn work, and sporting events or active play with children. Don’t do anything out of the ordinary during this week. Specifically, don’t decrease your normal calorie load or alter your normal foods. Also, don’t try to do anything different with your activity levels.
The reason you start with this is that you want to develop a baseline for lose weight pounds. When you see what you are actually doing, you can plan a strategy for change.
Go back through your food journal at the end of the week. Calculate how many calories you ate each day. Calculate how many calories you burned each day. Then weigh yourself at the end of the week. Have you gone up, down or stayed the same?
Now, you can begin the substitutions. If you gained a pound, you will have to burn an extra 3500 calories each week just to stay even. If you want to lose 2 pounds, you will have to burn an extra 7000 calories.
Here are some simple substitutions:
- Eat only two servings of red meat per week. Substitute chicken or fish for all other meat meals.
- Consider substituting legumes (beans) for some protein sources.
- Add salads and vegetables to your meals. You should have one or the other at lunch and both at dinner.
- Add a broth based soup to your dinner. Eaten before the meal, it will help you fill up faster.
- Eat breakfast every day. People who eat breakfast lose more weight and lose weight faster than those who don’t. Great diet breakfasts include oatmeal and yogurt based fruit smoothies.
You should also add exercise to your lose weight pounds program. Don’t think that this requires you to join a fancy gym. Fire the maid and do your housework yourself. A 180 pound woman who cleans the house for an hour will burn 250 calories. And, more vigorous cleaning such as 20 minutes of scrubbing your floors on your hands and knees burns over 100 calories. Even playing with your kids can help you lose weight. 30 minutes of vigorous play can burn off 200 calories.
So, if you are trying to lose weight pounds and you have 50 or more lbs. to go, consider doing a week of baseline monitoring followed by making a food lifestyle change. Also, try to increase the amount of physical activity you get in your life.
