Oct 16

I heard that there’s a link between artificial sweeteners and weight gain. Can that be true?
We know that to lose weight we have to take in less calories than we burn, and non-caloric artificial sweeteners help, right? After all, if we eat low-calorie foods we can lose weight without counting calories, right? I know, I’m stirring up more questions instead of looking at the link between artificial sweeteners and weight gain. But the questions are worth asking because there is a link.

Research has shown that rats fed yogurt sweetened with glucose (15 calories per teaspoon) ate less calories overall than rats who were fed yogurt sweetened with saccharin. The second group of rats actually gained more weight and body fat. Researchers concluded that no-calorie artificial sweeteners make it more difficult for people to control their eating and their weight! Yikes!

Before I say more, I know there is a place for artificial sweeteners. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, artificial sweeteners were shown to work in helping people keep weight off–people on a low-calorie diet. People who know how many calories they are taking in and sticking to a plan.

If you’re not one to count calories, I can’t put it any better than Dr. David Katz when he told Oprah, “My particular concern is that artificial sweeteners are 200 to 13,000 times as sweet as sugar, and that is a potent stimulus for turning a sweet tooth into a fang.”

The key seems to be moderation. If you’re going to use artificial sweeteners, then do so reasonably, because the sweetness makes our bodies think there will be calories coming and when the food doesn’t deliver, the body looks for more calories. Before you know it, you’re eating those calories. This is the link between artificial sweeteners and weight gain. It is real.
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Oct 4

One of the most talked about diets of the last decade or so has been the famous ‘fruit and vegetable’ diet types. Numerous people have advocated their use, but equally numerous people have denounced them as being just another type of fad diet. So what is the truth? Do fruit and vegetable diets really work?

Well, for one thing if you expect to lose 30 pounds in a week or something unreasonable like that, then no – they don’t work that way. In fact, anything that does claim to work that way can definitely be dismissed as some kind of starvation diet.

But that said, there are fruit and vegetable diets that have more modest claims, and these could possibly work.

For starters, fruits and vegetables are extremely healthy. Not only do they have minimal calorie contents, but they also come packed with tons and tons of nutrients. Due to this, experts recommend that an average person consume about 5 servings of a mixture of fruit and vegetables daily, if possible.

Mind you that there is a downside here too. Although fruit and vegetables contain lots of nutrients, they don’t contain everything that your body needs. So while you can expect to definitely get most of your nutrients from a combination of fruit and vegetables, you’re not going to be able to get everything.

And that is important. What this means is basically that you can’t have a completely healthy diet while eating just fruits and vegetables alone. If you do, you’ll find yourself short of various nutrients, most notably protein and iron.

Of course there are ways of addressing this issue, and you could try using supplements or consuming other food types in order to get the nutrients you lack, but somehow you should make certain that you’re able to get these nutrients otherwise you could end up facing other problems with your health.

Otherwise though, fruits and vegetables are going to provide you with a lot of the important essentials that you need, and citrus fruits in particular are an important source of Vitamin C and dietary fiber, both of which your body needs in ample quantities.

If you’re thinking about going on a fruit and vegetable diet, here’s the bottom line: It can work, and it will certainly limit your calorie intake, but you just need to be careful that you’re still getting the nutrients that you lack from alternative sources.

Also, you need to watch out that you’re consuming enough to give your body the energy that it needs to go about daily life without feeling lethargic.

End of the day, consuming balanced meals is the key to losing weight, and if you can achieve that while on a fruit and vegetable diet, then you should be well on your way. If you can’t however, then it isn’t worth risking your health for.

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Oct 2

Want to lose weight fast? Tired of getting all the wrong information from all the wrong sources? Well, if you are keep reading because we’re going to be going over the top 10 insane weight loss tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your efforts.

Most people gradually despair and start to feel that they’ll never lose weight simply because they’ve been given the wrong kind of facts, or are simply on an approach that is never going to work. These tips will help solve problems like that, and provide you with an invaluable base from which to work from, so let’s get started:

  1. Eating more meals per day is good for you. But each of those meals should be smaller than a ‘regular’ meal. By consuming 5 ‘small’ meals a day as opposed to 3 ‘big’ ones, you’re more likely to feel full and thus not overeat. Also, you’re going to give your body an easier time of absorbing the energy that you gain from the food, and thus not store it as fat!
  2. Try to plan your meals ahead as much as possible. That way you won’t risk being caught out and having no choice but to eat some notoriously bad and unhealthy meals that just pack on the calories.
  3. Drink water as often as possible, as it will help you to stay hydrated and will also help ensure that you don’t feel ravenously hungry and end up overeating.
  4. Exercise as much and as often as you can. Even something as simple as climbing the stairs to work instead of taking the lift is better than nothing, but if you can, set aside 40 minutes a day for a quick workout.
  5. Set your goals and stick to them. Make sure they’re realistic goals, but challenging enough that they keep you motivated.
  6. Try different types of ‘healthy’ food so that you don’t get bored of eating the same types of greens constantly. Nowadays there are a lot of options out there, so be sure to take advantage of them.
  7. Combine cardiovascular exercise with weight training so that you’re better able to start toning up your body muscles, look great, and have a faster metabolism.
  8. Don’t ever, ever, go on crash diets that will just end up backfiring on you.
  9. Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want, but try to cut down on consuming too much fat. When eating meat, be sure to remove the skin if possible.
  10. Avoid late night snacks or having ‘supper’. If you eat before you sleep, your body won’t get the chance to work off all the energy it gets and is more likely to end up storing it.

All that sounds easy enough doesn’t it? Everything said and done, weight loss really can be as simple as following these 10 tips, and they’re undoubtedly going to serve you well when you decide to put them to use.

Nothing could be easier!

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Oct 2

When practically anyone starts to think about losing weight, the very first port of call that they often resort to is the most famous one: Dieting.

In reality, all that dieting really involves is cutting down on your food intake. Or at least, that is the simple view of it. Truth be told, there’s more to effective dieting than simply cutting down on food, or worse, starving yourself, and if you want the best results you’re going to need to know more.

Otherwise, you may or may not lose weight, and chances are, you’ll end up facing a slew of other health problems too.

For quick and healthy weight loss, you need to remember that your body requires food to survive for two main purposes, both of which are of crucial importance and neither of which can be ignored:

  1. Energy from food is required by the body to go about its daily routine
  2. Nutrients from food are required by the body for various other purposes and bodily functions

Should you cut down on your food intake and not gain sufficient energy, you’ll find yourself feeling lethargic. And should you not get enough nutrients, you’ll also have various other problems with your health – some of which could even be very serious.

So in order to lose weight healthily, you don’t just want to cut back entirely on your food. Instead, you want to choose exactly what types of food you should cut back on, and what types you don’t.

For example, you can safely cut out chocolate sundaes from your daily diet, but you shouldn’t cut out any leafy, green, vegetables.

While you’re doing this, you’ll also find that you’re able to really start losing weight more effectively too. By differentiating between what you ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ cut down on, you should be eliminating the more unhealthy parts of your diet, i.e. the ones with the most calories.

Once you do cut down on your calorie intake itself, your body will then automatically start to work through its ‘stores’ of energy, i.e. fat, and thus you’ll be able to lose weight convincingly while still eating healthily.

Truth is that eating a balanced and healthy diet is really the best thing that you could do when it comes to weight loss, so be sure to look up all the different nutrients and be certain that you’re getting enough of them.

Then, try to keep your calorie count to a minimum, while still maintaining your nutrient intake.

Frankly, this is the key to healthy weight loss – limiting your calories, but not risking your body’s health while you do so. Of course, you can further enhance your results through other methods, such as exercise, but this healthy diet should always be at the core of your efforts.

Trust us, if you follow this method of weight loss, you should end up not only losing weight, but feeling better and healthier all round too!

Ready to lose weight and get in shape? Please visit our weight loss review site and find out which top weight loss product is right for you.

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Sep 30

For a long time now, calories have been the ‘it’ word when it comes to discussing weight loss, and is often bandied about there and there throughout related resources. Many people however don’t fully understand what calories are, and this leads to a lot of further problems and misunderstandings.

At the end of the day, calories are simply this: A measure of energy. More importantly however, they are a measurement of units of energy that are gained by your body consuming various types of food.

So when someone says that a certain dish contains 120 calories, what they’re really saying is that that dish, when consumed, can provide 120 units of a certain measure of energy.

Mind you, the quantity or exact amount of that energy isn’t the important thing, and so you don’t need to get any more in depth into the science of calories than that, but just knowing that it is a relative measure is more than enough.

Now that you do know that though, it is important to note that depending on the type of food, the calorie content may vary. Largely, this is because different components within the food carry a different ‘weight’ of calories per gram. For example, proteins and carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, whereas alcohol contains 7 and fats contain 9.

Needless to say, this means that food with a lot of fat is going to provide you with more energy, which seems to be a good thing, but as you know, really isn’t.

To understand the relationship between calories and weight loss though, you need to realize one important thing: When the body can’t use up all the energy that it has gained through food, it doesn’t just get rid of it, but rather, your body will store that energy.

And energy is stored in the form of fat.

So due to this, every time you’re consuming too much energy for your body to handle, you’re going to be storing the excess in the form of fat. These energy reserves, as they are, end up accumulating, and before long, you’ve put on more weight than you want to.

It is also worth noting at this stage that some types of food, more specifically, some type of fats, are more likely to be stored than others. Trans fats, for example, are notoriously bad and end up being stored very easily.

Bottom line: Calories are a good tell tale sign to count whether or not you’re consuming more energy than your body needs, and thus storing it as fat. Also, calories can be used to help you cut down on the amount of energy you’re consuming, and hence storing.

Due to this relationship between energy and fat, you can easily see the numerous ways in which you could put this information to use. Once you do that, you should have no trouble sorting out a diet program that will help you to lose weight well!

Ready to lose weight and get in shape? Please visit our weight loss review site and find out which top weight loss product is right for you.

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