A recent government report found that Americans aren't getting enough calcium, fiber, magnesium, potassium, or vitamins A, C, and E. "You're not going to have a major health event as a result," says Alanna Moshfegh, an author of the USDA report What We Eat in America, "but the recommended amounts will help you maintain your health and decrease your risk of chronic diseases." Here are the figures (as they pertain to women) and a little help interpreting them.
Calcium
Recommendation: 1,000 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Bone health.
Sources: Dairy products; fish with bones; dark, leafy greens.
Fiber
Recommendation: 25 grams a day.
Benefits: Protects against coronary heart disease and reduces the risk of diabetes.
Sources: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains.
Magnesium
Recommendation: 310 to 320 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function and develop and maintain bones.
Sources: Nuts, seeds, bran, halibut and other fish.
Potassium
Recommendation: 4,700 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Helps maintain healthy blood pressure and reduce the effects of salt; may reduce the risk of recurrent kidney stones and possibly decrease bone loss.
Sources: Potatoes, tomato paste and puree, white beans, yogurt, soybeans, bananas.
Vitamin A
Recommendation: 2,310 international units a day.
Benefits: Important for vision, red blood cell production, embryonic development, and immune function.
Sources: Organ meats; orange vegetables; green, leafy vegetables.
Vitamin C
Recommendation: 75 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Acts as a disease-fighting antioxidant; may help to maintain a healthy immune system.
Sources: Fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, red and green peppers, kiwis, and guavas.
Vitamin E
Recommendation: 15 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Acts as a disease-fighting antioxidant; may support eye health.
Sources: Some ready-to-eat cereals, some oils, almonds, peanut butter.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Do you think you have enough Vitamin D?
It has been all over the news in recent months: Study after study has touted vitamin D’s possible role in preventing everything from multiple sclerosis and certain types of cancer to cardiovascular disease. Plus, it’s known for its role in helping build healthy bones (vitamin D assists your body in absorbing the calcium you consume). But with the promise of this vitamin comes some controversy.
The dilemma: Our bodies make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, specifically UVB rays. But wearing sunscreen daily filters out those vitamin D–producing rays. And a recent review in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that most Americans are deficient in the vitamin.
According to Lien, all sunscreen users accrue some sun exposure, because even the best shields, applied adequately and often, can’t filter out 100 percent of UV rays. Researchers agree that this exposure is enough for your body to produce some vitamin D.
What doctors and dermatologists can’t quite agree on is the amount of vitamin D you actually need. The traditional recommendation is 200 to 600 international units (I.U.) every day. However, new research suggests that that amount is not enough.
While vitamin D is found in foods such as fatty fish, eggs, and fortified dairy products, it’s nearly impossible to get enough through diet alone. The smartest move, experts say, is daily use of sunscreen and vitamin D supplements. “Take 1,000 I.U. every day, in addition to a multivitamin that contains 400 I.U.,” says Michael Holick, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at the Boston University Medical Center.
What nutrients does your body need daily? Find out here
The dilemma: Our bodies make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, specifically UVB rays. But wearing sunscreen daily filters out those vitamin D–producing rays. And a recent review in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that most Americans are deficient in the vitamin.
According to Lien, all sunscreen users accrue some sun exposure, because even the best shields, applied adequately and often, can’t filter out 100 percent of UV rays. Researchers agree that this exposure is enough for your body to produce some vitamin D.
What doctors and dermatologists can’t quite agree on is the amount of vitamin D you actually need. The traditional recommendation is 200 to 600 international units (I.U.) every day. However, new research suggests that that amount is not enough.
While vitamin D is found in foods such as fatty fish, eggs, and fortified dairy products, it’s nearly impossible to get enough through diet alone. The smartest move, experts say, is daily use of sunscreen and vitamin D supplements. “Take 1,000 I.U. every day, in addition to a multivitamin that contains 400 I.U.,” says Michael Holick, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at the Boston University Medical Center.
What nutrients does your body need daily? Find out here
The Salad Dressing You Should NEVER Eat -- and THE Alternative Super-Healthy Recipe
If you want to eat truly healthy, support your fat loss goals, and avoid some of the nasty additives in processed food, one thing you should eliminate is typical store-bought salad dressing.
I personally NEVER buy pre-made salad dressings from the store anymore, and here's why:
1. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain fairly large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Unless you're in a health food store, it's almost impossible to find a salad dressing that doesn't contain large amounts of HFCS.
2. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain heavily refined soybean oil and/or refined canola oil... both of which are VERY unhealthy. Yes, that's correct, canola oil IS unhealthy, despite the marketing propaganda you've been fed claiming that it's healthy. You can read more about why canola oil is NOT healthy here.
Due to the refining process of both soybean or canola oils, the polyunsaturated component of the oils is oxidized and makes these oils very inflammatory inside your body. In addition, soybean oil is WAY too high in omega-6 fatty acids which throws your omega-6 to omega-3 balance out of whack.
We know that olive oil is healthier, but when it comes to store-bought dressings... Even salad dressings that claim to be "made with olive oil" on the FRONT label are deceptive, because if you read the ingredients on the BACK label, they are almost ALWAYS made of mostly refined soybean oil or canola oil as the main oil, with only a very small amount of actual olive oil as a secondary oil.
So here's how to avoid all of these horrendously unhealthy store-bought salad dressings and make your own quick and easy SUPER-healthy dressing...
Quick and Easy Recipe for Super-Healthy Salad Dressing
Geary's Healthy-Fat Blend Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Fill your salad dressing container with these approximate ratios of liquids:
1/3rd of container filled with balsamic vinegar
1/3rd of container filled with apple cider vinegar
fill the remaining 1/3rd of container with equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and "Udo's Choice EFA Oil Blend"
Add just a small touch (approx 1 or 2 teaspoons) of real maple syrup
Add a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper and then shake the container to mix all ingredients well.
This homemade salad dressing mixture is delicious and healthy, and I pretty much never get tired of it!
The reason I choose to blend the extra virgin olive oil half & half with the Udo's Choice Oil is that they make up for what each lacks... Although extra virgin olive oil is healthy and contains important antioxidants, it is mostly monounsaturated, and is low in the essential fatty acids (EFAs). The Udo's Choice Oil is higher in unrefined polyunsaturated oils with a good healthy balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.
There are several variations of the Udo's Choice Oil, and one of them (labeled DHA 3-6-9 Blend) even contains a DHA algae oil blended into the mix along with organic flax oil, coconut oil, evening primrose oil, rice bran oil, oat germ and bran oil, and a few others.
Overall, blending Udo's Oil with extra virgin olive oil makes nearly a perfect oil blend for salad dressings with a great taste and maximum health benefits. If you can't find Udo's Choice Oil Blends (you can find Udo's at almost any health food store), there are other EFA oil blends on the market...just make sure that they are COLD-processed to protect the EFAs. You should never heat an EFA oil blend!
Give this homemade super-healthy salad dressing a try! You'll do your body a favor by avoiding the harmful additives in store-bought salad dressings.
Enjoy!
Check more in the Menu...
I personally NEVER buy pre-made salad dressings from the store anymore, and here's why:
1. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain fairly large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Unless you're in a health food store, it's almost impossible to find a salad dressing that doesn't contain large amounts of HFCS.
2. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain heavily refined soybean oil and/or refined canola oil... both of which are VERY unhealthy. Yes, that's correct, canola oil IS unhealthy, despite the marketing propaganda you've been fed claiming that it's healthy. You can read more about why canola oil is NOT healthy here.
Due to the refining process of both soybean or canola oils, the polyunsaturated component of the oils is oxidized and makes these oils very inflammatory inside your body. In addition, soybean oil is WAY too high in omega-6 fatty acids which throws your omega-6 to omega-3 balance out of whack.
We know that olive oil is healthier, but when it comes to store-bought dressings... Even salad dressings that claim to be "made with olive oil" on the FRONT label are deceptive, because if you read the ingredients on the BACK label, they are almost ALWAYS made of mostly refined soybean oil or canola oil as the main oil, with only a very small amount of actual olive oil as a secondary oil.
So here's how to avoid all of these horrendously unhealthy store-bought salad dressings and make your own quick and easy SUPER-healthy dressing...
Quick and Easy Recipe for Super-Healthy Salad Dressing
Geary's Healthy-Fat Blend Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Fill your salad dressing container with these approximate ratios of liquids:
1/3rd of container filled with balsamic vinegar
1/3rd of container filled with apple cider vinegar
fill the remaining 1/3rd of container with equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and "Udo's Choice EFA Oil Blend"
Add just a small touch (approx 1 or 2 teaspoons) of real maple syrup
Add a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper and then shake the container to mix all ingredients well.
This homemade salad dressing mixture is delicious and healthy, and I pretty much never get tired of it!
The reason I choose to blend the extra virgin olive oil half & half with the Udo's Choice Oil is that they make up for what each lacks... Although extra virgin olive oil is healthy and contains important antioxidants, it is mostly monounsaturated, and is low in the essential fatty acids (EFAs). The Udo's Choice Oil is higher in unrefined polyunsaturated oils with a good healthy balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.
There are several variations of the Udo's Choice Oil, and one of them (labeled DHA 3-6-9 Blend) even contains a DHA algae oil blended into the mix along with organic flax oil, coconut oil, evening primrose oil, rice bran oil, oat germ and bran oil, and a few others.
Overall, blending Udo's Oil with extra virgin olive oil makes nearly a perfect oil blend for salad dressings with a great taste and maximum health benefits. If you can't find Udo's Choice Oil Blends (you can find Udo's at almost any health food store), there are other EFA oil blends on the market...just make sure that they are COLD-processed to protect the EFAs. You should never heat an EFA oil blend!
Give this homemade super-healthy salad dressing a try! You'll do your body a favor by avoiding the harmful additives in store-bought salad dressings.
Enjoy!
Check more in the Menu...
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Your grocery list is sabotaging your fat loss
From Mike Geary's http://TruthAboutAbs.com
I was at the grocery store today picking up some ingredients for a black bean & brown rice with seasoned venison strips dish I was planning to make, when an interesting thing happened... I had gone straight to the grocery store after training a couple clients at the gym. Well, as I was grabbing some frozen veggies, a friendly lady (who must have seen that I was a fitness coach from my shirt), asked me my advice on a couple frozen prepared box meals she was picking out (by the way, those prepared frozen meals are usually highly processed crap loaded with sodium and other chemicals).
Now I will say that this woman was VERY overweight, and she mentioned that she has "tried everything" to get rid of all of the excess body fat and always failed. Keep in mind I hear about 50 people a day tell me they've "tried everything" to get in shape. The problem that they don't realize is that they're trying all of the wrong things...they're trying all of the gimmicks and fads that are out there instead of just adopting a TRUE healthy active lifestyle.
Back to the woman in the store... So we started chatting about her struggles with getting in shape, and I began scanning her grocery cart. If I can remember, these were some of the contents she thought were healthy:
*Slim fast shakes (far from healthy...they're actually loaded with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and a bunch of other chemicals)
*Fat Free Rice Cakes (ok...despite so many people believing these pieces of crap are healthy...they really are nothing but pure refined starch with zero fiber, which basically breaks down immediately into sugar in your body, spiking insulin and promoting fat storage...doesn't sound so good anymore, huh)
*Protein bars "Scientifically Slim Body Engineered" or some BS statement like that (I took a gander at the ingredient list of these so called "healthy" protein bars and sure enough... hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and enough sugar alcohols to give you diarrhea for a week!)
*Canned fruit in syrup (I guess she could do worse here...but still, why not just eat fresh whole fruit which still contains the skins, fiber, active enzymes, etc, instead of resorting to processed, canned fruit that's been cooked and loaded with syrup)
*Reduced Sugar Dessert Cakes (ok, so these are loaded with artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, preservatives, and a chemical ingredient list about 15 lines long) Do you see what's going on here? This is the same scenario that I see all the time. Most people are fooled by what the FRONT OF THE BOX says, leading them to believe what they are buying is healthy. On all of these items, the FRONT of the packages had all kinds of great sounding things like "fat free", "reduced sugar", "high protein", "low cholesterol", "low carb", etc.
However, the TRUTH is on the BACK OF THE BOX! Ah yes, the ingredient list and nutrition info is where the real truth is. However, I've realized that most of the general public doesn't know how to fully understand the ingredient list and nutrition info, so they rely on the advertising claims on the front of the package to guide them. BIG MISTAKE!
If you notice, this woman thought she was doing great with her grocery shopping and buying all kinds of healthy stuff for her and her family. In reality, EVERYTHING she was buying was highly processed and full of chemicals and industrially refined ingredients. No wonder "nothing has worked" for her to get in shape and lose the body fat... she actually hasn't been doing anything right.
She's been mislead by all of the confusing marketing, labeling and conflicting nutrition info in the mass media. If you want to discover the TRUTH about what it really takes to eat a truly healthy diet that maximizes your metabolism, brings your hormonal balance back to normal, reduces cravings, and strips off body fat faster than you'd believe is possible... it's all found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program at http://TruthAboutAbs.com
I was at the grocery store today picking up some ingredients for a black bean & brown rice with seasoned venison strips dish I was planning to make, when an interesting thing happened... I had gone straight to the grocery store after training a couple clients at the gym. Well, as I was grabbing some frozen veggies, a friendly lady (who must have seen that I was a fitness coach from my shirt), asked me my advice on a couple frozen prepared box meals she was picking out (by the way, those prepared frozen meals are usually highly processed crap loaded with sodium and other chemicals).
Now I will say that this woman was VERY overweight, and she mentioned that she has "tried everything" to get rid of all of the excess body fat and always failed. Keep in mind I hear about 50 people a day tell me they've "tried everything" to get in shape. The problem that they don't realize is that they're trying all of the wrong things...they're trying all of the gimmicks and fads that are out there instead of just adopting a TRUE healthy active lifestyle.
Back to the woman in the store... So we started chatting about her struggles with getting in shape, and I began scanning her grocery cart. If I can remember, these were some of the contents she thought were healthy:
*Slim fast shakes (far from healthy...they're actually loaded with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and a bunch of other chemicals)
*Fat Free Rice Cakes (ok...despite so many people believing these pieces of crap are healthy...they really are nothing but pure refined starch with zero fiber, which basically breaks down immediately into sugar in your body, spiking insulin and promoting fat storage...doesn't sound so good anymore, huh)
*Protein bars "Scientifically Slim Body Engineered" or some BS statement like that (I took a gander at the ingredient list of these so called "healthy" protein bars and sure enough... hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and enough sugar alcohols to give you diarrhea for a week!)
*Canned fruit in syrup (I guess she could do worse here...but still, why not just eat fresh whole fruit which still contains the skins, fiber, active enzymes, etc, instead of resorting to processed, canned fruit that's been cooked and loaded with syrup)
*Reduced Sugar Dessert Cakes (ok, so these are loaded with artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, preservatives, and a chemical ingredient list about 15 lines long) Do you see what's going on here? This is the same scenario that I see all the time. Most people are fooled by what the FRONT OF THE BOX says, leading them to believe what they are buying is healthy. On all of these items, the FRONT of the packages had all kinds of great sounding things like "fat free", "reduced sugar", "high protein", "low cholesterol", "low carb", etc.
However, the TRUTH is on the BACK OF THE BOX! Ah yes, the ingredient list and nutrition info is where the real truth is. However, I've realized that most of the general public doesn't know how to fully understand the ingredient list and nutrition info, so they rely on the advertising claims on the front of the package to guide them. BIG MISTAKE!
If you notice, this woman thought she was doing great with her grocery shopping and buying all kinds of healthy stuff for her and her family. In reality, EVERYTHING she was buying was highly processed and full of chemicals and industrially refined ingredients. No wonder "nothing has worked" for her to get in shape and lose the body fat... she actually hasn't been doing anything right.
She's been mislead by all of the confusing marketing, labeling and conflicting nutrition info in the mass media. If you want to discover the TRUTH about what it really takes to eat a truly healthy diet that maximizes your metabolism, brings your hormonal balance back to normal, reduces cravings, and strips off body fat faster than you'd believe is possible... it's all found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program at http://TruthAboutAbs.com
Monday, May 17, 2010
4 proven tricks you can use to eat less food and calories
I found these 4 tricks (that are proven to help people eat less food and overall calories) while reading a fascinating book recently called 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman. I think you'll find these very helpful if you're looking to control your caloric intake and reduce your body fat.
These tricks were tested in scientific studies and are quick and easy to implement. I thought these were VERY interesting...
Trick #1 to Eat Less -- Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.
Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!
Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.
I've also seen studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.
The lesson -- Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!
Trick #2 to Eat Less -- You've probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you've eaten too much.
However, this study below found a twist on this!
According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:
a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
The results were interesting... Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that's weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!
Mr Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is "to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful".
Trick #3 to Eat Less -- According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people's desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person's desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.
Just shows... out of sight, out of mind! As you may already know, I recommend never even having junk food around your house at all...that way, you're never tempted by it and you're forced to only eat healthy foods... but then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!
Trick #4 to Eat Less -- Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.
In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.
The lesson -- ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.
Interesting right?!! These 4 tricks were being experimented and tested.
Stay by having 1 trick a day or until you manage to reduce weight.
Results will be doubled if you know some ways to make the weight loss more enjoyable.
These tricks were tested in scientific studies and are quick and easy to implement. I thought these were VERY interesting...
Trick #1 to Eat Less -- Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.
Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!
Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.
I've also seen studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.
The lesson -- Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!
Trick #2 to Eat Less -- You've probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you've eaten too much.
However, this study below found a twist on this!
According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:
a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
The results were interesting... Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that's weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!
Mr Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is "to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful".
Trick #3 to Eat Less -- According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people's desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person's desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.
Just shows... out of sight, out of mind! As you may already know, I recommend never even having junk food around your house at all...that way, you're never tempted by it and you're forced to only eat healthy foods... but then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!
Trick #4 to Eat Less -- Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.
In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.
The lesson -- ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.
Interesting right?!! These 4 tricks were being experimented and tested.
Stay by having 1 trick a day or until you manage to reduce weight.
Results will be doubled if you know some ways to make the weight loss more enjoyable.
Sweeteners making you fat!?
How many of you out there have heard about how sweeteners making you fat? Well i guess you only know it wont because of its reduced sugar content. Right?
I want to talk about how artificial sweeteners will make a person fat because i've noticed there are alot confusions and misunderstanding on the application of the non-caloric sweeteners.
Artificial sweeteners and the huge list of products sweetened with them are marketed to you relentlessly as "healthy foods" or "healthier" than sugar or corn syrup sweetened products. But are they really?
Just to clarify, some of the most popular artificial sweeteners on the market today are:
Splenda (sucralose)
Aspartame
Saccharine
Acesulfame Potassium (aka - acesulfame K)
There substances can be found in almost every "diet" drink, ice creams, most low-carb products and almost all reduced sugar products. To make the whole story more interesting, even most protein powder are loaded with these artificial sweeteners too. (just take a look on the products you will be able to find those contents)
The truth is that artificial sweeteners are not even close to being healthy, and as you'll discover in a minute, can easily be just as bad for you, if not worse, than sugar or corn syrup. Most people think that they are doing something good for themselves by choosing the "diet" drinks or "lite" yogurts compared to the sugar-laden versions, but the problem is that you're exposing yourself to a whole new set of problems with the artificially sweetened drinks and foods.
I'm sure you already know the problems with sugar or high fructose corn syrup sweetened products. The excess empty calories, blood sugar spike, and resulting insulin surge this creates in your body not only promotes fat gain, but also stimulates your appetite further, making things even worse.
On the other hand, artificial sweeteners save you calories, but there's growing evidence that they can increase your appetite for sweets and other carbohydrates causing you to eat more later in the day anyway. Therefore, you don't really save any calories at all. Also, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can stimulate high insulin levels in your body too, which again can promote fat storage.
All of the 4 artificial sweeteners listed above are nasty chemicals that the human body is simply not meant to ingest. However, most of us are ingesting a whole lot of these chemicals on a daily basis. Aside from the problems I touched on so far, other health issues that have been related to artificial sweeteners in scientific studies as well as observations are:
-some have been linked to potential cancer risks
-negative effects on the liver, kidneys, and other organs
-stimulating cravings
-gastrointestinal problems
-developmental problems in children and fetuses
-headaches
-and too many more issues to list
Now some of the above potential health problems are definitely not proven as fact in studies. However, some of them have been shown in animal studies given high doses. Regardless of the fact that any real health problems for actual human use are not proven yet, I don't know about you, but I'd rather protect myself and steer clear of these possibly dangerous artificial chemicals.
Of course, despite all of the health issues potentially associated with artificial sweeteners, the companies that sell the products will continue to claim that they are fully safe and they have studies that prove that they are safe. The bottom line is that the body was not designed to deal with foreign substances like artificial sweeteners.
Get more advices to know more and clearly on how to control the daily sweeteners intake. By knowing better this can better adjust yourself to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
There are ways to help you to reduce the sugar level inside your body by assessing yourself in a more systematic and thorough way. Know yourself better.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
7 top exercise Rules to keep you Going!!
Planing an list of exercises to do in a week/daily has always been hard to maintain, this happens to everyone!! Well, starting on an exercise is just as easy by adopting the 7 rules below!!
1-Don't let the exercise routines be an ad-hoc
Starting planing the exercise timetable in weekly basis before you start the exercises. Is only through planing, then your goals (getting fit, weight loss and etc) can be achieved. But if you decide to do it ad-hoc eg "whenever i have time after work then i do exercises" if your exercise plan follows this kind of pattern, the plan will boon to fail. So start breaking the ice by sketching out the exercises plan. It wont be hard!!
2-Start today to cultivate the habit of exercising regularly
Is always good to have a head start by having a much-complete exercises plan to follow, but the most important is to maintain its consistency. Get the hang of doing exercises regularly, such as do a fast/brisk walking 2 hours after the dinner on the planned time slot of the day.
3-Plan the exercises based on the resources available to you
Like i stay near a Sports Recreation Centre, it therefore makes more sense to include the weight and swimming int eh exercises plan. Always find ways in the environment near you to include any extra exercise such as jogging and cycling.
4-Make sure you can do the exercise by yourself
It is always important to develop physical activities which you can do it by yourself such as swimming, cycling and jogging. Relying solely on group activities such as badminton or soccer means that you have to compromise to other people timings. In the end, you might not get to exercise.
5-NEver ever exercise with an empty stomach
I used to experience weak energy release for lifting weight with empty stomach, not only you will feel hungry but hurt yourself with the weights. So from now i always eat a slice of wholemeal bread (my favourite) about 15 minutes before exercising. When you are hungry, you sugar level will become too low during the exercise and this can lead to the feeling of a "sluggish" workout. Have a very light and healthy snack just prior to exercising. This helps alot.
6-Begin with cardio workouts
Always begin with some cardio workouts as a warm up to your "quiet" body. So I encourage you to begin with cardio-based workouts to lose weight. Brisk walking, cycling, jogging are good cardio workouts. The key is to build up your level fitness gradually to a point where you can comfortably exert yourself for sustained periods of time at an optimal heart rate. This is the stage where fat-burning is optimised.
As your exercise intensity increases over time, your body's metabolism rate also increases so you will burn more calories during resting period.
7-Add on weight training
Once your level of cardio fitness has reached a suitable level, you may consider starting on some form of weight training. Remember: muscles are the main calorie-burners in your body. So maintaining some form of muscle mass is key to maintaining your weight in the longer term.
Hope the above tips can be helpful.
To your success!!
1-Don't let the exercise routines be an ad-hoc
Starting planing the exercise timetable in weekly basis before you start the exercises. Is only through planing, then your goals (getting fit, weight loss and etc) can be achieved. But if you decide to do it ad-hoc eg "whenever i have time after work then i do exercises" if your exercise plan follows this kind of pattern, the plan will boon to fail. So start breaking the ice by sketching out the exercises plan. It wont be hard!!
2-Start today to cultivate the habit of exercising regularly
Is always good to have a head start by having a much-complete exercises plan to follow, but the most important is to maintain its consistency. Get the hang of doing exercises regularly, such as do a fast/brisk walking 2 hours after the dinner on the planned time slot of the day.
3-Plan the exercises based on the resources available to you
Like i stay near a Sports Recreation Centre, it therefore makes more sense to include the weight and swimming int eh exercises plan. Always find ways in the environment near you to include any extra exercise such as jogging and cycling.
4-Make sure you can do the exercise by yourself
It is always important to develop physical activities which you can do it by yourself such as swimming, cycling and jogging. Relying solely on group activities such as badminton or soccer means that you have to compromise to other people timings. In the end, you might not get to exercise.
5-NEver ever exercise with an empty stomach
I used to experience weak energy release for lifting weight with empty stomach, not only you will feel hungry but hurt yourself with the weights. So from now i always eat a slice of wholemeal bread (my favourite) about 15 minutes before exercising. When you are hungry, you sugar level will become too low during the exercise and this can lead to the feeling of a "sluggish" workout. Have a very light and healthy snack just prior to exercising. This helps alot.
6-Begin with cardio workouts
Always begin with some cardio workouts as a warm up to your "quiet" body. So I encourage you to begin with cardio-based workouts to lose weight. Brisk walking, cycling, jogging are good cardio workouts. The key is to build up your level fitness gradually to a point where you can comfortably exert yourself for sustained periods of time at an optimal heart rate. This is the stage where fat-burning is optimised.
As your exercise intensity increases over time, your body's metabolism rate also increases so you will burn more calories during resting period.
7-Add on weight training
Once your level of cardio fitness has reached a suitable level, you may consider starting on some form of weight training. Remember: muscles are the main calorie-burners in your body. So maintaining some form of muscle mass is key to maintaining your weight in the longer term.
Hope the above tips can be helpful.
To your success!!
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