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CONTENT
INSTANT WEIGHT LOSS?
You've seen the advertisements. "I lost fifty pound in four weeks." "I went from a size eighteen to a size eight in thirty days!" All sorts of diets claim that you can lose weight "quickly." Is it really possible to lose weight this fast? Let's take a look at the facts.
A pound of body fat stores about 3,500 calories. To lose it, you must reduce your calorie intake by 3,500. On average, a reduction of 500 calories a day (3,500/week) brings about a weight loss of one pound a week. A reduction of 1,000 calories a day equates to a loss of 2 pounds a week. To eliminate 1,000 calories a day, an average-sized person would need to reduce his or her food intake by nearly half. That's a big reduction. What this means is that true fat loss takes time. You cannot lose 50 pounds of fat in six weeks. It's just not possible unless you are very obese and don't consume anything except water. Six to 12 pounds is more realistic in this time frame.
Many people would disagree with this statement and claim that they lost 10 pounds in two weeks or some other short amount of time. But weight loss can be deceiving. A pound lost does not necessarily indicate a reduction in body fat. Quick changes in weight are not changes in fat but are due primarily to a loss of water. Look at the numbers. On average, we need about 2,500 calories a day to maintain current weight, whether we are over or underweight. This is the amount needed just to stay even. Out of this number, two-thirds, or 1,667 calories, are needed just to power basic metabolic processes. A reduction of 1,000 calories a day is dramatic and borders on starvation because you would not even get enough calories to fuel these functions, let alone your daily activities.
This great reduction in calories would also require you to drastically reduce the amount you eat each day, even if you choose low-calorie foods. At this drastic rate you would only lose 2 pounds of fat a week. In addition, you would be constantly hungry and fatigued due to a lack of energy. Claims in advertisements that somebody on a particular diet lost 10 pounds in one week or 40 pounds in four weeks or some other incredible figure may be true, but it wasn't fat they lost, it was muscle mass and water. In time, the water will be added back and weight will increase. If water isn't eventually replaced, it can lead to some very serious health problems caused by chronic dehydration.
In order to lose fat and excess weight permanently and healthfully, you need to do it slowly. The best way to lose weight is to make small adjustments in the types of foods you eat, increase your activity level, and stop worrying about counting calories or denying yourself. It can be done. Adding coconut oil to your diet will make weight loss easier.
BODY COMPOSITION NOT WEIGHT
Your total weight is a combination of bone, ligament, tendon, organs, fluids, muscle and fat. When you lose or gain weight due to either optimal fitness programs or not taking care of yourself, then both your overall weight will probably change, as well as the ratio of these components to one another. Exercise scientists have coined the term "body composition" to define the relationship between all the lean tissue in the body and fat. One of the most difficult yet important concepts that help you on your wellness and fitness journey is the relationship of lean mass to fat mass. It is not uncommon for someone to begin a nutrition and exercise program and not see a change in total weight, but to see an increase in muscle and see a decrease in fat and inches. You may find that how you look has a strong correlation with how much muscle you have and not what you weigh! Because muscle weighs three times more than fat per unit of volume, as you exercise, you gain muscle, and could be smaller physically, but easily weigh more.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Understanding the pH factor can be that missing link to you finally losing fat. Proper knowledge of your body's pH balance is power; It's the power to control the circumstances that make you gain or lose fat. The primary buffers the body uses are: sodium, calcium, and body fat. When acid is present in the blood, the body looks to neutralize it with an alkaline substance. The primary neutralizing agent is sodium, then calcium. The body actually takes calcium from the bones in order to neutralize blood acid. If it cannot be easily neutralized, then the body stores the acid in the fat cells. That creates a major weight loss management problem.
pH CRUCIAL TO EFFECTIVE WEIGHT LOSS MANAGEMENT
pH stands for potential hydrogen. It indicates when something is acid (when the pH is lower than 7) or when something is alkaline (when it is higher than 7). The pH of your blood must at all times be between 7.3 and 7.4. To protect this blood pH, the body stores excess acid in fat cells. In the acidic person, the body cannot afford to burn fat because it would release this stored acid into the system, thereby putting blood pH out of balance.
BALANCE YOUR FOOD
In an acidic environment, fat flourishes. So, alkaline producing foods will help improve the pH balance of the body. Still, lowering calorie and fat consumption is also needed. Learn how to combining foods produces a reaction in your body creating an Acid or Alkaline result in your blood and tissue. Since blood pH is so critical to life, the body protects the blood at all costs. The typical diet consists of foods that when digested create an acid resulting condition. The body has to neutralize this acid otherwise it risks major problems. Fat is one of the primary buffers used by the body to help deal with acid. When the body cannot neutralize acid, it stores it in fat cells.
When attempting to lose fat, we typically cut calories. But, if our system remains acidic, then instead of burning fat, which would release more acid into the system, the body burns muscle instead. For a successful program identify those foods that are creating excess acid in the system and also provides products that result in the creation of alkaline ash by the cells. This combination can help you to raise your body pH, thereby creating an environment for health.
COCONUT OIL PRODUCES ENERGY, NOT FAT
When people go on diets to lose weight, the foods that are restricted most are those that contain the most fat. Why is fat singled out? We know it is high in calories, but there is another reason. Because of the way it is digested and utilized in our bodies, it contributes the most to body fat. The fat we eat is the fat we wear―literally.
When we eat fat, it is broken down into individual fatty acids and repackaged into small bundles of fat and protein called lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are sent into the bloodstream, where the fatty acids are deposited directly into our fat cells. Other nutrients, such as carbohydrate and protein, are broken down and used immediately for energy or tissue building. Only when we eat too much is the excess carbohydrate and protein converted into fat. As long as we eat enough to satisfy energy needs, fat in our food ends up as fat in our cells. Only between meals, when physical activity outpaces energy reserves, is fat removed from storage and burned for fuel.
However, Medium-Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) are digested and utilized differently. They are not packaged into lipoproteins and do not circulate in the bloodstream like other fats but are sent directly to the liver, where they are immediately converted into energy―just like a carbohydrate. But unlike carbohydrates, MCFAs do not raise blood sugar, so coconut oil is safe for diabetics. Many people report that coconut oil helps them control sugar cravings and reduces hypoglycemic symptoms. So when you eat coconut oil, the body uses it immediately to make energy rather than store it as body fat. As a consequence, you can eat much more coconut oil than you can other oils before the excess is converted into fat. It has been well documented in numerous dietary studies, using both animals and humans, that replacing Long Chain Fatty Acid (LCFAs) with Medium-Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) results in a decrease in body weight gain and a reduction in fat deposition.
These studies have scientifically verified that replacing traditional sources of dietary fat, which are composed primarily of LCFAs, with MCFAs yields meals with a lower effective calorie content. So MCFAs can be a useful tool in controlling weight gain and fat deposition. The simplest and best way to replace LCFAs with MCFAs is to use coconut oil in the preparation of your food.
THE SKINNY ON COCONUT OIL
Coconut oil contains the most concentrated natural source of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) available. Substituting coconut oil for other vegetable oils in your diet will help promote weight loss. The use of refined vegetable oil actually promotes weight gain, not just from its calorie content but because of its harmful effects on the thyroid-the gland that controls metabolism. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils depress thyroid activity, thus lowering metabolic rate-just the opposite of coconut oil. Eating polyunsaturated oils, like soybean oil, will contribute more to weight gain than other fats, even more than beef tallow and lard. According to Ray Peat, Ph.D., an endocrinologist who specializes in the study of hormones, unsaturated oils block thyroid hormone secretion, its movement in the circulation, and the response of tissues to the hormone. When thyroid hormones are deficient, metabolism becomes depressed. Polyunsaturated oils are, in essence, high-calorie fats that encourage weight gain more than any other fats. If you wanted to lose weight, you would be better off eating lard, because lard doesn't interfere with thyroid function.
Farmers are always looking for ways to fatten their livestock because bigger animals bring bigger profits. Fats and oils are used as an additive in animal feed to quickly pack on weight in preparing them for market. Saturated fat seems like a good choice to fatten up livestock, so pig farmers tried to feed coconut products to their animals for this purpose, but when it was added to the animal feed, the pigs lost weight. Farmers found that the high polyunsaturated oil content of corn and soybeans quickly did what the coconut oil couldn't. Animals fed corn and soybeans packed on pounds quickly and easily. The reason these oils worked so well is that their oils suppressed thyroid function, decreasing the animals' metabolic rate. (Soybeans are particularly bad because of the goitrogens [antithyroid chemicals] they contain.) They could eat less food and gain more weight. Many people are in a similar situation. Every time we eat polyunsaturated oils, our thyroid gland is assaulted and loses its ability to function normally. Weight gain is one of the consequences.
DIET AND AGING
What you eat controls which genes are expressed and which are inhibited. Genes produce enzymes, which catalyze the chemical processes that produce hormones, which control the functioning of your organs and tissues. What you eat is the primary determinant of how close you will come to realizing your genetic potential. The inevitable result of a poor diet is poor gene activation and early aging. By taking into your body only the foods that promote healthy aging, you accomplish three important objectives:
- Decreasing the amount of glucose in your blood and, hence, the occurrence of glycation
- Optimizing the balance between insulin and glucagon
- Maintaining an ideal pH level in your body fluids
An anti-aging diet is different from a weight-loss diet in two important ways. First, in the anti-aging diet the emphasis is on altering body composition to a more youthful configuration, decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass. Achieving this leads to an improvement in our ability to burn calories efficiently, getting the maximum benefit out of every bite of food we eat. Muscle burns calories at a higher rate than fat, and the resulting energy is closer to that of young people. Second, an anti-aging diet is not the kind of diet you go on for a fixed period of time and then forget about; it is a way of eating for the rest of your life.
By themselves, weight-loss diets almost never work. The statistics for people who lose significant amounts of weight and keep it off are dismal. More common than successful weight loss is the phenomenon of losing weight and then gaining it all back, and more. Evidence shows this kind of yo-yo dieting can be more harmful than being overweight to begin with. Here's why: Your body seeks homeostasis―keeping things the same―above all else. When you start losing weight, your body tries to keep things on an even keel. No matter how much you want to lose weight, your body reacts as though you are facing starvation. It slows down your metabolism to conserve energy. What you eat provides less energy and is more apt to be stored as fat. Also, if all you do is reduce your caloric intake without changing the composition of your diet, eventually you will start to lose muscle mass, which is exactly the opposite of what you want to achieve. Don't let this discourage you. You can learn how to design a way of eating that will help you lose weight if you want to, change your body shape in ways that will please you (and those around you), and provide you with more energy than you thought was possible.
Your genetic makeup has a great deal to say about whether and how you can lose weight. Some people seem to have an inherited characteristic that helps them store fat against times of famine. Our earliest ancestors got their food by hunting meat and picking nuts and berries, rather than by staying in one place and practicing agriculture. Some of us-at least 35%, and probably more―may have inherited what is known as the thrifty gene from them. The thrifty gene has yet to be identified in the human genome, but the theory is that this gene helped hunter-gatherers survive when the hunt was going badly. The thrifty gene may be the one that codes for tile enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which is produced by fat cells and helps the body store energy as fat. Thus, if you have the thrifty gene, the more LPL your body produces, the more fat you store. The more your body perceives itself as facing starvation, the more LPL it will produce. This does not mean that you are doomed to obesity; it simply means that the dietary modifications recommended here are especially important to you.
No matter how highly motivated you are to achieve a life that is healthy, long, and full of energy, changing the way you eat is not a trivial task. It takes discipline to alter the habits of a lifetime. But the results come quickly, often within days, and are so striking―particularly with regard to increased energy and improved mood―that each day that passes makes it easier to stay with your plan. In addition, it is no harder to develop a good habit than a bad one. If you choose to change the way you eat, you can do it.
AGE-MANAGEMENT ESSENTIALS: DIET AND EXERCISE
Diet and exercise are the twin essentials of a successful age-management program. If your body composition―the ratio of lean muscle to fat―is not what you want it to be, reduce your intake of carbohydrates and increase your intake of proteins until you get to the point where you are losing weight at a satisfying rate (a pound or two a week, after the initial larger weight loss, which is mostly water released by your tissues). Pay attention to signs of vitamin and mineral deficiencies and take steps to correct any that develop or exist. Think about the benefits of amino acids both for body building and improvement in hormone levels. Eat the best quality, least processed foods you can. Avoid simple sugars like the plague.
Consuming sugar within this post-exercise window, will negatively affect both your insulin sensitivity and your human growth hormone (HGH) production.
A recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that eating a low-carbohydrate meal after aerobic exercise enhances your insulin sensitivity. This is highly beneficial, since impaired insulin sensitivity, or insulin resistance, is the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes and a significant risk factor for other chronic diseases, such as heart disease.
In addition, as HGH Magazine explains, consuming fructose, including that from fruit juices, within this two-hour window will decimate your natural HGH production:
"A high sugar meal after working out, or even a recovery drink (containing high sugar) after working out, will stop the benefits of exercise induced HGH. You can work out for hours, then eat a high sugar candy bar or have a high sugar energy drink, and this will shut down the synergistic benefits of HGH.
… If you miss reaching HGH release during working out, you will still receive the calorie burning benefit from the workout. However, you'll miss the HGH "synergy bonus" of enhanced fat burning for two hours after working out.
This is an extremely important fact to remember if you want to cut body fat and shed a few pounds.
The University of Virginia research team demonstrated that carbohydrates are burned during exercise in direct proportion to the intensity of training. Fat burning is also correlated with intensity. However, the actual fat burning takes place after the workout, during the recovery.
This makes the "Synergy Window," the 2 hour period after a workout, very important in maximizing HGH, once it's released during exercise.
Develop―gradually and gently, if you are a sedentary being―a program of stretching, aerobic and anaerobic exercise, deep breathing and Chi Kung. The results will be gratifying: reduction and redistribution of fat; improvement in muscle mass, strength, coordination, and endurance; improved joint mobility and spinal integrity; enhanced cardiovascular function; a better-balanced autonomic (involuntary) nervous system and improved brain chemistry; and overall improvement in the biomarkers of aging and the protection and repair of your DNA.
Age management is a matter of choice, regardless of your present age. It is never too late to start.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PHYTOCHEMICALS
Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties. There are more than thousand known phytochemicals. It is well-known that plant produce these chemicals to protect themselves but recent research demonstrate that they can also protect humans against diseases.
Phytochemicals are found mostly in the skin, stems and seeds. They interact with the human body activating antioxidants, creating hormonal activity, stimulating enzymes, interfering with the replication of cell preventing cancer, creating an antibacterial effect, as well as a physical effect. They help the body reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer, reduce menopausal and osteoporosis, works at the DNA level making sure cells multiply according to the original blue print, and have antibacterial properties reducing infection.
Research has demonstrated that cancer is a largely avoidable disease. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of cancer may be prevented through lifestyle modification(1). Nearly one-third of these cancer occurrences can be attributed to diet alone, secondary to our American diet of high-fat, low-fiber content. Fruit and vegetable consumption have been consistently shown to reduce the risk of many cancers(2). A major prevention strategy has been the "5 A Day for Better Health" program sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), encouraging the public to include more fruits and vegetables in their diet.
Phytochemicals are associated with the prevention and/or treatment of at least four of the leading causes of death in the United States―cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension(3).
To incorporate the most amount of Phytochemicals in our diet we must eat whole living food. Life Food nutrition is a diet consisting of fresh raw fruits and vegetables that are properly combine for easy digestion. They are found growing wild in nature all over the earth. More than 95% of all life on earth is vegetation.
Considering that the phytochemicals are mostly in the skin and seeds, chewing a fruit/vegetable 40 times, at most, only unlocks approximately 25% of the phytochemicals. Try it! Take a bite from an apple and chew 40 times. Then spit it into a glass of water. You still do not break the skin. The fiber can be chewed more and more. You still have a long way to go to break down the apple skin into tiny little particles."
A 3 HORSEPOWER BLENDER DOES THE JOB!
A 3-horsepower blender can chew the skins, seeds, and stems making the phytochemicals readily absorbable by the body. If the blender has a 2 horse power motor (Vitamix) or a 3 horsepower motor (Blend-Tec) then the extraction of phytochemicals is enhanced considerably. This is the main reason why blending is important. People don't have time to chew on an apple for 4 hours, but the blender makes it easy.
Don’t be confused with juicing. Juicing only separates the fiber from the juice distracting most of the phytochemicals left in the fiber. The 3 Horsepower Blender breaks the skin, seeds, and stems into particle sizes that are beyond the micron level. Therefore, we can get the benefit of having chewed for several hours in a matter of minutes. The 3 horsepower blender is as important step to further our health considerably.
Tabletop Blender Acording to our evaluation Blendtec makes the one of the best 3 HP blender for the money. It is exceptionally powerful at 1500 Watts and it travels easily. It micronizes Fruits & Vegetables (including seeds, skins, rinds, and more). Smoothies require to be made in a 3 horsepower blender micronizing fiber/seed/rind particles to the micron level making the phytochemicals more available and easy to digest.
It comes with a solid 3 year warranty. Buy our blender and have it shipped straight to you in the shortest time period possible.
- Blending is the quickest and easiest way to prepare large amounts of raw food
- Benefits from Antioxidants and Phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables
- Virtually no preparation time, making the most delicious smoothies in just minutes
- No pans to scrub, very quick and easy to clean
- Smoothie recipes are easy to follow
- Blending is easy to learn and recipes are easy to make and adapt
Blender User Comments I blend Bitter Melon, a very in-expensive vegetable with the highest amount of phytochemicals of any vegetable, even more than Swiss Chard.
I blend Muscadine Grapes including the seeds with the most phytochemicals of any grape.
Blueberries have more phytochemicals than any other berry and getting the phytochemcals from the seeds in berries is almost impossible by chewing them.
I blend citrus fruits with the seeds and the white part.
The avocado pit is known to have the most soluble fiber of any food on Earth, even more than oatmeal. The pit has almost no taste and is loaded with phytochemicals. This soluble fiber can help get rid of all the arterial plaque.
Please contact us for a healthy weight loss diet, weight loss program, classes and training information.
Exercise, a good method to Weight Loss
Fitness Magazine has done just that and recently published 10 reasons why exercise is, in fact, a very good method for weight loss.
1.Exercise zaps belly fat Regular moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise has the greatest impact on reducing abdominal fat -- the dangerous fat that increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
2.Exercise controls calories You need to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose weight. Regular exercise uses up excess calories that would otherwise be stored as fat.
3.Exercise keeps lost pounds MIA Ninety percent of people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off for a year do about an hour of physical activity a day.
4.Exercise boosts metabolism You'll lose fat when you diet without exercising, but you'll also lose muscle, which means you'll burn fewer calories. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you'll burn.
5.Exercise does more than the scale shows If you gain 3 pounds of lean muscle and lose 4 pounds of fat, you've actually experienced a 7-pound improvement in your body condition, despite the scale only showing 1 pound of weight loss.
6.Exercise curbs emotional eating Working out has been proven time and time again to help regulate mood, which has a direct effect on people who eat when they're stressed or upset.
7.Exercise creates a healthy chain reaction Healthy habits tend to cluster together. When people make positive changes, like getting more exercise, they tend to work on other health improvements as well, such as eating better.
8.Exercise brings on the fun Rock-climbing is more exciting than eating a celery stick. That's why it's sometimes easier to be active to stay slim than to maintain a strict diet.
9.Exercise stops hunger People who exercise and diet are actually less hungry than those who only diet, according to at least one study.
10.Exercise increases energy Regular physical activity increases stamina by boosting your body's production of energy-promoting neurotransmitters. That gives you even more motivation to get moving and shed pounds.
OUR HABITS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR GENES
The risk of becoming obese is 2.5 times higher for those who have double copies of the best known risk gene for overweight and obesity. This means that one critical factor is what foods we eat and the habits we maintain. A low fat diet neutralizes the harmful effects of the gene.
Studies have found that exercise diminishes the effect of the risk gene, but a new study is the first to study the effect of the gene in relation to food habits. The risk variant of the FTO gene is common in the general population. 17 % have double copies, meaning they have inherited it from both parents and 40 % have a single copy.
The FTO genes acts in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates appetite and satiety, and the risk variant has been connected to an increased energy intake, especially in the form of fat. The finding that the harmful effects of the gene can be cancelled by changing eating habits could, combined with mapping of the effects of other obesity genes, lead to better and more individualized nutritional counseling for those that want to avoid gaining weight.
Reference: Sonestedt, Emily, Roos, Charlotta, Gullberg, Bo, Ericson, Ulrika, Wirfalt, Elisabet, Orho-Melander, Marju. Fat and carbohydrate intake modify the association between genetic variation in the FTO genotype and obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009; DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27958
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