Archive for May 17th, 2009

Are low-fat diets effective? Personally, I would say no. While this still doesn’t give license for everyone to dust off the deep fryer, it simply means that fat doesn’t play quite so large of a role in harboring diseases as previously thought by researchers.

According to a 10 year long study of 49,000 postmenopausal women nationwide, low-fat diets had virtually no effect on the incidence of heart disease, colorectal cancer, stroke, or breast cancer as opposed to the higher fat content of a “more standard” American diet. This news has certainly come as a shock for many since the exact opposite was touted. If we, as a society, were to eat less fats then the occurrence of heart disease and various cancers would surely plummet.

What has also shocked many is that eating a high-carb, low-fat diet will not raise triglycerides, or elevate chances of developing diabetes. And even though fat has over double the calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates, eating a low-fat diet will not help those needing to lose weight.

One piece of evidence that does happen to coincide with past assertions is that this same study also illustrated the fact that diets high in saturated fat and trans-fat do greatly elevate cholesterol levels and raise one’s chances of getting heart disease. Thus, it is still my opinion that the healthiest way to eat is to find balance in your diet.

Next, it would be well advised not to eat more fats than are generally recommended by doctors and don’t eat less fats than is recommended. For active folks, a common estimate for one’s daily fat requirements should equal roughly 20% of one’s total calories.

For the heavier set, I wouldn’t cut any lower than 15%. So, if you were to eat a diet high in saturated fat, then you could potentially develop heart disease due to the elevated cholesterol levels. This is a fairly common occurrence for the strict adherents of the Atkins diet model. While they may lose some weight, they are often left with soaring blood cholesterol levels.

On the other hand, if one were to eat a strict low-fat diet then they could also be increasing their chances for heart disease due to their diet’s lack of essential fatty acids. So, it is indeed important that balance is achieved when nutrition and your health is at stake. If one becomes too lax or too restrictive, then you will be unintentionally sabotaging your heart amongst other things and that could eventually cost you your life.

Because nutrition is becoming more artificial these days and because people have the tendency to become physically inactive in the way they live their lives, the problem of putting on weight is unavoidable for most people. Solutions are everywhere, but are they the correct ones? If you choose to keep in mind that Fasting Health has more priority than the Fasting Miracle everyone wishes for, then yes. You’ve made the right decision.

Because most people are looking for ways to lose weight quickly and without many changes in life style, specialized companies have appeared on the market trying to make a profit out of this. Their recipe for success is to come up with something that can be called a Fasting Miracle. What is a Fasting Miracle? When you watch an ad about a diet product, you will usually be introduced to a Fasting Miracle meaning a person that has lost something like twenty pounds in three days with practically no effort, just by swallowing the three pills that are advertised.

There is no television channel that does not run at least one ad including a Fasting Miracle. And then, there are all sorts of stories about movie or pop stars that have gone through such a Fasting Miracle themselves. They claim they have lost a lot of weight without making too much effort. They just drank this or that tea or took an amazing pill.

What we don’t think about is that such a Fasting Miracle is more the result of the money invested in the story than the result of the efficiency of the product. The company that produces the diet product will pay the star a lot of money to talk on all the TV channels about their Fasting Miracle. Whether you as a viewer choose to believe in a Fasting Miracle or not, is entirely up to you, but it can have serious consequences on your health.

What you must know when you begin a diet is that there is no such thing as a Fasting Miracle. Any diet that works takes effort and patience. You usually have to begin with something that is called Detox Fasting. In this case you do not actually lose weight, but your body eliminates all the elements that are not useful and act as a slow and effective poison. You will have to drink a lot of liquids and stop eating some of the things you are used to, so you will have plenty of time to understand that a Fasting Miracle is a lie. The mere fact that there are people who have to go to a Fasting Retreat to diet under supervision is also a sign that a Fasting Miracle does not happen in real life.

Sometimes, when people want to get Fasting Information, they will go to a Fasting Forum on-line. People connect to these networks because they are looking for a Fasting Miracle. They hope that one of the other persons from the forum will tell them the story behind the Fasting Miracle. They hope to be convinced and to give them courage to do it themselves. What actually happens is that on the forums you will find out that a Fasting Miracle never happens. You may hear many stories about the people who were trying to make a Fasting Miracle happen and instead they just damaged their health. You will also hear of those who succeeded by choosing the right method and by persevering (with a lot of effort) in their goal. Perhaps it is better to join a Fasting Forum, because, even if it does not appear to be the most attractive solution, it is the one that will give real results to your personal search.

It is advisable to learn and study accurate information on Fasting Health even before you start a diet or fast. A good question with which to approach other members on the Fasting Forum or your natural hygienist doctor is, “What is Fasting Health?” Many people who have gone through a successful diet will be able to tell you the basic principles of Fasting Health. And they will also tell you that the biggest mistake you can make is to ignore Fasting Health while seeking a Fasting Miracle.

So what does Fasting Health entail? Fasting Health means not trying to lose too much weight over night. Fasting Health means that you will take good care of your nutrition and understand very well why you are eating THIS and not THAT food. Fasting Health means that you are basically not starving yourself, but learning to carry out a water or juice fast in the correct manner.

A doctor will tell you that Fasting Health means keeping the proper hours of the meal, eating well, but eating right. It is important to eat well in the morning and lunch to be able to have a light dinner, instead of starving the entire day and ending up eating more than necessary at night. The busy life of the 21 century can really make you forget how things should really be.

You will also be told that Fasting Health means complementing the lack of certain food with vitamins to keep a balanced diet even if you eliminate certain foods from your diet. Fasting Health means that you get rid of what is bad, not of everything or the foods that are absolutely necessary for you. Fasting Health means also not relying only on nutrition in order to lose weight. It’s all about regaining the natural program of life that busy people forget about. Fasting Health involves a good physical exercise associated with the diet. It is after all everyone’s wish to lose weight and look good at the same time. Respecting only the diet, your muscles will look just as poorly as they did before and your skin doesn’t recover either. Because the body is in such a close relation with the mind, Fasting Health also means trying to sleep well and being stressed as little as possible.

As you can see, Fasting Health is a complex notion that involves some effort and understanding on your behalf as well. Dieting is a lot about the brain, perhaps more about it than the body. So it should start with a positive attitude and with determination. Fasting Health can be attained by a patient person who is ready to lose weight and grow healthy slowly, but intelligently. The priority is to stay healthy, and then look good. Do not forget that.

How To Lose Weight And Keep Fat Off Forever Without Strict Diet

How many times have you heard a friend say, “I am on a diet”? Then what happens is your friend would lose some weight for a while before putting them all back on again.
I’ll bet you have also seen someone say that “Cardio is the best for losing weight”. This person would then religiously pound the treadmill but results are agonizingly slow. Soon, he gives up and gains back all the weight he had lost, and sometimes even gaining some extra kilos!

Ah, so you thought you’ve finally found the answer to permanent weight loss. You went on a strict diet and ran your heart out. You dropped kilos real quickly. But somehow, something is wrong when you look into the mirror in your birthday suit. Yes you have lost some weight, but somehow your body shape isn’t as flattering as you would like it to be. And then suddenly, you hit a plateau.

No matter how strict your diet and cardio workouts are, your weight just simply refuses to drop any further. Then horrors of horrors, you actually start to gain some weight! You get disillusioned because with the unrewarding program and soon you succumb to ‘guilt food’ more often, and the weight comes right back up once again. The program fails and you blame it on your bad genes. Why???

Here’s why. Firstly, take a good look at the title of this article. It’s to “Fend Off Fats” and not “lose weight”. My point is, by merely losing weight, you will also lose some muscle mass in the process. By losing muscles, you will lose body tone and thus your metabolism rate for burning calories will slow down. Therefore, you have got to build muscles while losing fats. You may even gain some weight because muscles are heavier than fats.

To lose fats and keep them off permanently, you have to combine healthy eating habits, incorporate cardio exercises and lift weights to build muscles. For every kg of muscles you pack, you will burn an extra 70-100 calories per day even without doing anything. Can you imagine the benefits of building up 5kg of extra muscles? You will be burning 350 to 500 extra calories a day even if you just laze around. You’ll be burning a Big Mac everyday! To further illustrate my point, 1 kg = about 7,700 calories, thus if you burn 500 calories a day because of the extra muscles you have, you will be burning off about 1 kg every 2 weeks simply because of your higher metabolism rate!

You’ll also look good, healthy and well-toned too! Is it any wonder why body builders eat so much but do not put on fat as easily?

Everyone knows that intensive cardio and strict diets cause you to lose muscle mass along with fats. So while you will lose some weight at the beginning, you will look like, well, just a smaller version of you without any muscle tone. That’s not what we want is it?

So, as you lose more and more muscles, your metabolism begins to slow down. On top of that, your body will start conserving fats and ‘eat’ your muscles for energy because it is reacting to your strict diet. What happens then is that you will hit a plateau and no matter what you do, you will not reduce anymore weight and your fats will start creeping up again. This, in a nutshell, is the ‘yo-yo’ dieting effect that we hear so much about.

Losing fats is simple. And notice that I said ’simple’ but did not say that it is ‘easy’. My pointers will be simple to understand, but the execution will take determination and discipline on your part. It is a lifestyle change to keep the fats off permanently and you will be glad you did because you will get used to the changes in only a few weeks. By then, it will become a cultivated habit for you, especially when you are rewarded with a fitter, healthier, hunkier you, together with a glowing complexion to boot!

Here is how you do it. Simply, losing fats just means you must burn more calories than you consume. Period.

Lift weights with compound exercises - Forget those puny biceps curls and tricep push downs. Go for big muscle groups like legs, back and chest routines. Why? Because you are working with bigger parts with more mass, and that means more body parts are working, translating into more calories being expended. If you are fit, do giant sets (4 or more exercises or sets with no rest in between sets or exercises).

Here’s an example. Do only one set of each exercise with no rest in between the exercises. Choose a weight of about 60%-70% of what you normally lift and go for at least 25 reps. Do more if you can or until your muscles are fatigued, then stop. Leave the gym. The whole routine should not take you more than 40 minutes.

After thoroughly warming up, start with squats, then dip, bench press, barbell row and military press. Sounds simple? Not so. You will be huffing, puffing and sweating profusely. What is achieved? You will have combined a cardio workout with a lifting workout and your metabolism will burn for the next several hours. Do this 3 times a week with at least a day’s rest in between lifting days.

After 4-8 weeks, change the sequence of the exercises. So if you usually squat first, then squat last. Then after another 4-8 weeks, change some of the exercises, like substituting squats with dead lift, or bar bell rows with lat pull down. This is to shock your muscles so that they continue to adapt and grow.

For cardio, go for a run first thing in the morning before breakfast. If you are jogging at normal speed, sustain the jog for at least 45 minutes. If you are running at 65% to 80% of your maximum heart rate (you will be panting and unable to sing or complete a sentence while running), then 20-30 minutes will be enough. Anything more than that may cause muscle break down. You may intersperse the speed with slower jogs in between to catch your breath. Do these 5-6 times a week.

Eating habits? Just eat less of what you normally eat. For example if you have 2 slices of bread with 2 eggs in the morning, now take just one slice and an egg. Just eat half of what you eat but eat more regularly. Have 5 to 6 meals a day if you can. This is to feed your body frequently so that it will not go into starvation mode and start to conserve fats. At the same time, it will boost metabolism because your body burns calories while digesting the food. Chuck away all soft drinks, sugared drinks and stop adding sugar into your coffee and tea. Just by abstaining from sugary drinks, you may already have gotten rid yourself of 200 calories per day. Drink plenty of water instead and double the amount if you can.

Oh, by the way, all work and no play makes Jack a dull (and very tired) boy. Do choose a day to relax a week. No exercise on that day. Indulge in your favorite food if you must. Hey, pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for passing another grueling week. After all, your body needs to recover too.

As you reach your fat loss goals and you are happy with your muscular development, you can then take things a little easier. Hit the gym less frequently, have shorter runs and even relax a little in your diet. Because of your greater musculature, your body is now a fat-burning machine. You have earned that luxury.

Simple? Sure. But do you have the determination enough to lose those fats and keep them off permanently? Who said you must go on a strict diet to lose weight and keep the fat off forever? It’s your call folks!