Caution: Dieting can be harmful to your health

It is well established that overweight can increases the risk for heart diseases, diabetes and other severe health problems. So you may conclude losing weight is good, right?

Well, not necessarily, mainly if you are a woman at risk of osteoporosis. There was found direct link between dieting and osteoporosis, a dangerous thinning of the bones that result in 1.5 million fractures a year (check...).
While people dieting, they think they are just losing fat, however, they're also losing muscle protein and bone minerals, especially calcium. This nutrients are essential mainly after menopause when reduced estrogen levels cause bone loss to accelerate.

Osteoporosis can affects up to a 1/3 of the female population over 65, and the cost of fractures caused by the disease is estimated to be more than seventeen billion dollars every year, according to the NIH. Usually thought of as a post-menopausal condition, osteoporosis can also strikes men and many young women, especially dancers and athletes.

Given the fact those up to 40% of the women are constantly on a weight-loss regimen,
Among the most significant findings:
a. Obese post-menopausal women who lost weight have 3 times as much bone loss as control subjects who are not dieting!
B. These women can prevent bone loss while on a moderate diet by eating foods containing at least 600 mg of calcium and taking 1,000 mg of supplemental calcium every day.
C. in spite of consuming the suggested 1,600 mg of calcium per day, overweight post-menopausal women who lose weight have four times as much bone loss as women who are not dieting. Bone loss was found at the hip and wrist, which are common sites of fracture.
D. Obese pre-menopausal women who lose moderate amounts of weight do not lose bone mass.


So be sure that the diet you choose, will not end up eventually with a bigger problem than it tend to initially solve.

Increase your metabolism in order to lose weight.

One great way lose weight is to start burning fat away. The best road to do so is to increase your body metabolism. When raising your metabolism, you'll be able to process food quicker and therefore your body will lay up less fat. Actually, a better metabolism will make your body to even burn existing fat in order to get the energy it needs to support itself.

So, how metabolism works?
In fact your metabolism can either work for you or against you. The major source of energy to our bodies is glucose, commonly known as the blood sugar. When our blood sugar runs low, our metabolism machinery tells the liver to burns the fat in order to get more available energy. On the other hand, when our blood sugar runs high, our metabolism tells the liver to store fat in to later use. Well, now let's look at how you are able to get your metabolism to work for you.
The answer may shock you: GO AHEAD AND EAT!

A lot of people believe that the key to weight loss is to stop eating. Well, that might even have a negative effect on your metabolism! Consuming less food can cause your metabolism to actually slow down since it will sense that you don't have enough food. Thus when you at the end of the day eat, your blood sugar will fly through the roof and your metabolism will store the additional glucose as fat. In that case, instead of starving yourself, remember to eat many smaller, healthy meals that are low in calories and fat. Also, remember to eat plenty of water and vegetables.

Eating smaller portions will not only restrain your appetite, but will also trick your system into thinking that it's getting plenty of food. Consequently, your metabolism will shift into a higher gear. Then when it doesn't get the glucose it needs for energy, because you're eventually eating healthy, it will begin to take that glucose from the fat storage that are already in your body.

Next step: exercise.

Exercise is a certain method to boost your metabolism. Always remember to ask your doctor for what is the best exercise regime for you. In most cases, walking only 20 minutes a day will help to dramatically increase your metabolism.
Exercise actually helps you lose weight in two ways: One, exercise constructs muscle tissues and muscles burn calories on its own. Two, while you exercise, your body is forced to come up with enough energy supply to carry your activity. Therefore, it begins burning fat in order to give the energy you need. There is no need to be pounding away furiously on a treadmill for hours a day – just 20 minutes. A simple yet effective mini exercise routine is all that is required to give your metabolism a boost.

Final Words about Losing Weight
If you want to lose weight, you're certainly not alone. There are millions of people with you in that boat. Nevertheless, most people do not understand what it takes to first lose the weight and then to keep the weight off. By increasing your metabolism, you will observe that over time, your fat will melt off your body and your weight will gradually drop. Remember that the two best ways to increase your metabolism are to eat smaller meals more often and to exercise regularly

Based on Matt Falconer's article
=> http://www.12MinuteWorkoutPlan.Com

Why most diets don’t work part 1 - Body nutrients regulation

There are thousands of known diet scheme out there that claim to achieve amazing results in a short time by replacing the gradients of the diet – “eat only fats”, “eat only carbon”, “stop eating sugar”, and so on.

Many people think, even doctors, that the real way to lose fat is to count calories. well, most people do not understand what calories are. Here I start to introduce a simple biological considerations, that argue against all the calorie counting schemes, and try to explain basic metabolism and the fundamental paths of nutrient regulation.
This post focus on energy regulation.

It have almost become a dogma today that eating a lot of “calories” will make you fat, but is it so? well, the true is that we can’t really know that. First, the food we eat is not simply get into our system and being used as is, and I later on explain why. Our body is an incredible machine that designed to keep something that biologists call homeostasis, which is simply the property of a living organism to regulate its internal environment and to maintain a stable, constant condition. homeostasis is extremely important to our bodies, and sometimes a very small change will cause a catastrophic event. For example, change of one degree in our body temperature can kill us.

The absolute need of our bodies to maintain stable internal environment caused them to develop an extremely sophisticated mechanisms to control the quantity of each needed nutrient in the body. one of the most important nutrients are sugars, which build our energy supply, attached to our proteins, to the cells structural organs and more. Another very (very!) important nutrients are fats, which build our cells membranes, function as signals and hormones, and used also as energy storage. The last example here for one of the most important nutrients our body constantly need are the amino acids, which build all of our proteins, and used also has structural elements as well as an important source for nitrogen and... energy!

Lets go back to calories. a calorie is a unit that came from physics and measure energy amount. I won’t enter to the details of what energy is, but you have to understand that our body need a huge amount of energy in order to function properly. almost universally, the energy of living creatures, including us, come form a small molecule called ATP. this molecule uses to transfer chemical energy to all sorts of energy consuming machines in our body like the movement proteins in our muscles, and the electric currents in our nervous system. When people talking about calorie in the food, they are talking about how much ATP can be produced from a certain food.

How does our body create ATP? The answer is that it’s uses the chemical energy lay in the connections between carbon atoms is carbon-containing compounds to produce ATP. What are these carbon compounds? well, all the major food components I talked before are actually carbon compounds including Fats, Sugars, Amino-acids, cholesterols and more. Moreover all of these compounds can be used as energy source!. The most interesting point is that since our body always need to keep constant conditions, and since all of these compounds are chemically similar, our body knows how to convert the main ingredients of our food from one form to another! Your body knows how to convert sugars to fats and fats to sugars, and how to produce amino acids and proteins from sugar and vice versa.
How do we become fat? well our body is also programmed to store energy as fat for later use. However, since the body knows how to convert one kind of food to another, it is useless to think that if we eat, for example, only proteins, our body won’t know how to convert them to fat, sugars etc.

So what is the solution? The truth is that nobody’s really knows, but we can point out what the solution should look like. The solution cannot be what kind of carbon compound we eat – proteins, fats, cholesterols, sugar, they all the same in the basis. Eating less is probably important, although you must know that eating less might cause the body to actually get into stress condition of hunger and actually accumulate more fat!, I’ll explain this point in a later post.

The answer should be that in order to control the body weight, we need first of all to intervene in the control systems of the body itself and not in the food supply per se. A good diet should not concentrate in what we are eating but in questions like when to eat, what and how much, in order to trick the body homeostasis systems to stop storing fats and convert the fats to something else. I’ll get into the system is more details in later post.
Good lack.

Weight loss –the right way – controlling the hormones

There is almost one simple reason you are overweight – you may eating the wrong kind of foods, the incorrect types of calories per meal, and you are also eating meals in the wrong pattern each day.

You must remember that FOOD is much more powerful than any weight loss pills, because the food that you eat is the thing that actually decides whether you will be thin or fat. You don't become fat due of a lack of exercising that is only a myth! You get fat because you do not eat the right foods at the right intervals each day. Moreover, the pattern that you choose to eat your meals each day is more powerful than any pills. This is so since your body is like a machine which only requires certain foods at certain intervals each day. If you do not consume the correct foods at the right times then your body will not burn those calories – and hence, you'll wind up accumulating those calories as fat tissue.

So, I have to say again, you have become overweight by eating the incorrect foods. And guess what? You can get slim easily by eating the right foods at the correct intervals each day. But you first to understand what that is mean. It's not any more complicated than that, and the path to start losing fat has nothing to do with starving yourself or exercising.

Nearly every person in today's society is purchasing chiefly low fat or even non fat food at the grocery store, everyone are conscious of the fat grams indication inside the food they buy. And yet, people are actually getting fatter than ever by doing this and not losing weight by switching to the low fat lifestyle. – Have you ever thought way it is so?

The facts are that you cannot lose weight by starving yourself, meaning a using a low calorie diet, because your metabolism is programmed to quickly detect any major drop in calories and to rapidly adjust to the new situation by burning fewer calories each day!

Another ridiculous diets spreading around are the “low carb" diets. These have certainly become too popular in recent years, but certainly those are just thinly camouflaged starvation diets. If you do not think so, then check out the following facts about Atkins....

(From Fat Loss 4 Idiotsprogram...)
The Atkins Diet limits your carb intake to ONLY 20 grams of "net carbs" per day during the first phase of the diet.......which means that you cannot even eat a single large apple during the first phase of the Atkins Diet (since even a large apple has more than 20 grams of net carbs).
...And if you want to continue through all of the phases of the Atkins Diet, then it will take another 4 MONTHS ! (16 weeks) before you will be allowed to eat just 400 carb calories per day -- and any typical restaurant meal has more carbs than that. So this is really just another form of starving yourself (and making yourself MISERABLE), which is not the answer.

Believe it or not it is actually possible to alter your body over the next eleven days, and it has nothing to do with optimistic thinking....because optimistic thinking all by itself will not remove a sole pound from your body. Okay you think, what is the eating system that is so unique that you are going to be anxious to begin immediately?

You most understand that your brain controls the release of Fat Burning Hormones following each meal. Each time you consume something there are two types of hormones that are released into the bloodstream, and jointly control Fat Burning and Fat Storage. Also, you should know that these 2 hormones are actually controlled by the foods that you eat?

The right type of diets manoeuvres these hormones in a way that after each meal your body will create a greater concentration of Fat Burning Hormones while the Fat Storing Hormones are reduced as much as possible. In this way you will be able to eat more than 3 times a day during a long defined period, since in order to alter these hormones rightly you will actually be required to eat more than 3 times per day. You probably find it hard to think that eating more than 3 times per day could really be the solution to speeding up weight loss, right? After all, most people think that food is the enemy which makes them overweight. But that's simply wrong!

Food is not only about nutrition, it is also function as a signal to the body; it works as a switch which can turn Fat Burning ON or OFF. Consequently even though it may appear like a contradiction to say that eating more frequently is the solution to weight loss, but that is exactly what the right diet should say. Sure, you must eat the correct meals in the right patterns every day.

I found one of this great new diet techniques at Fat Loss 4 Idiots

If you’ll find any similar program which is better – let me know

Fat Loss Plans What Should You Look For?

Your metabolisms functions based largely on the way you eat. So the way to change your metabolism is to change your eating habits. Fat loss eating plans are now the new concept. There are thousands of diet plans that tell you exactly what to eat, but if you’ve ever tested a “no carb” diet or a “no fat” diet, or if you have ever been desperate enough to check strange diets such as the grapefruit diet, then you probably know already that they cannot be a long-standing solution for most of the people. Everyone has a different opinion on how to lose weight, but there are a few things that almost all experts agree on. When you are on a fat loss eating plan, all agree that you must do a number of things. You must eat at least four meals a day (like Fat Loss 4 Idiots). You must drink a lot of water, and you have to begin now.

One of the biggest mistakes some make while tying to lose fat is cutting the total amount they eat. They are skipping meals, and afterward wondering why they are not losing weight as planned. The reality is that skipping meals is actually one of the worst ways to lose weight! When skipping meals, you are putting your body into “malnourishment mode” and it will then try to store as much energy (meaning fat!) as it can. Certainly, the way the body stores energy is as fat! By keep eating small meals throughout the day, you keep your metabolism elevated since it takes a lot of energy to break down the food. Frequent meals actually assist to regulate your insulin levels. Thus, excess insulin can lead to increased fat. When selecting your fat loss eating plan, be sure it recommends four or more meals a day (see Fat Loss 4 Idiots).

The previous fact does not mean that you can keep eating unhealthy foods. You certainly need to eat the right foods, food that has been shown to be easy for your body to metabolize fully. Because these foods are easy for your body to rapidly convert into energy, your body will than break it down quickly.

Another common error people tend to make is not drinking enough water. Drinking more water does several good things. First of all, it keeps you from retaining water. As skipping meals makes your body retain fat, lack of water makes your body retain the water that it does get. Drinking water can also help you feel better. Drinking a glass of water before the meal will make you fill full much faster. Water is also a necessary factor for your kidneys performance. Good kidney function is crucial to fat loss because if the kidneys can not perform efficiently, the liver will have to aid them out. When the liver is too busy helping the kidneys, it can’t perform its wanted task of converting stored fat into available energy. If you haven’t been drinking enough water for a while, it will take your body several days to adjust. You may find yourself heading for the restroom quite a lot. But do not worry, when your body will finally adjust, you will no longer have to go as often. Any fat loss eating plan should include lots of water, as much as 1 gallon a day for men, and 3/4 a day for women.

Another mistake people wanting to lose weight do, is procrastination. “I will start on Thursday” or “I’ll start after the weekend”, “On Monday the gang is going out to lunch”. On Wednesday, you’ll wait one more day. On Thursday, you’ll start after the weekend. When you realize that in less than two of those cycles, less than two weeks, you could be 11 pounds lighter, you may decide that it is not worth putting off. The only way you will really make dramatic change in your look and in your life is to start right now.

Don’t look back Next month, wishing you had started losing fat a month ago. When looking for a fat loss plan, select one that is easy to use and follow (like Fat Loss 4 Idiots) so you don’t have an excuse for putting it off.

With all the fat loss eating plans available, it is significant to select one that uses real proven scientific principals, not just the latest fads. If the plan you are bearing in mind does not recommend a variety of foods your body can easily metabolize and drinking plenty of water, you have to keep looking. If the plan is too complicated you will eventually keep putting off starting, so you need to look for another plan, the one you can truly follow. Remember that anyone can lose weight regardless of genetics. It just takes a high-quality plan and the desire.

Based on Jason C. article
Jason Conley struggled with weight loss on and off for years. While in the military (Air Force, 15-years) he often needed to drop a few pounds before a PT test and weigh-in. He has started http://fat-loss-eating.com to help others who would like to lose weight.

Fat Loss 4 Idiots: A Revolutionary Diet Program

The continually increasing demand for techniques to effectively lose weight, causing new diet plans to be introduced almost without end. You constantly have given too many options to choose from just for one need. Since each method guarantees amazing results, you end up trying one procedure after another. In truth, the only thing you need to be familiar with in picking the right diet plan for you is to really understand your body, its functions, and what it actually needs.

Fat Loss 4 Idiots is a great revolutionary method for losing weight. Unlike most systems it is an extremely simple and practical way to significantly lose fats. Fat Loss for Idiots, actually, promises to help you lose up to 9 pounds in a matter of eleven days (!). Who would not be lured to try this recently established weight loss program?

This amazing diet plan is very convenient and simple to follow. Basically, Fat Loss 4 Idiots just teaches us how to eat right. Eating properly along with healthy diet is the one and only logic behind this diet program. Fat Loss 4 Idiots provides a diet plan that needs to be followed within the 11 days period. The diet includes 4 meals per day. The greatest thing about this diet plan is that you actually get to choose what food you desire to eat. Therefore, you do not necessarily have to suffer only because you are in a strict diet.
The program uses software to generate the right menu for you for the following 11 days, which you need to strictly follow. After you have completed the 11-day meals plan, you will get the chance of eating all you wish to gulp down within 3 days. In that way, you are given period to prepare for another 11 days of following a specified model of eating. You can continue with this diet program for until you reach the desired body weight.

Although this program sounds so convincing, and usually works, a few people who used it were not completely satisfied, because the program guaranteed a 9 pounds weight loss within 11 days, while people that expected to get these result did not always get them exactly. The reason for that is that the result may vary, depending on individual body type. Actually, most people only achieved a six pound weight loss, which is not bad after all. Perhaps, there should be a requirement to instruct people about how differently our bodies respond to different diet programs.

Obviously, you also have a responsibility in making the diet plan successful. Discipline is very important, and cautiously following instruction are two basic things you have to keep in mind. To maximize the benefits of any diet plan like Fat Loss 4 Idiots, you have to do your part as well. You cannot expect a diet plan to perform magic for you. All diet plans are designed the way they are for reasons so, do not leave out any instruction.

It is extremely important that you won’t miss any meal. Fat Loss 4 Idiots plan proposes that you should eat 4 times a day. The program is designed that way for a reason. So; even if you feel less hungry, you have to follow directions.

weight loss

Finally! A new scientifically Confirmed Way To Loose Weight

In The US alone, People pay out an estimated $30 billion each year on a variety of diet programs and products, including diet foods, pills and drinks. You shouldn’t put in your hard earned cash to these statistics.

If you have ever eaten junk food or processed food and then regretted since you felt heavy and tired, or even bloated; If you’ve ever tried fad diets or yo-yo diets only to pile the weight back on; If you ever feel down about being overweight or fat; If you have tried diet recipes and its eventually cost you a fortune buying the ingredients and endless time to cook; If you ever get fed up of being preached to about all the things you shouldn’t do, you’re simply fighting the excess weight rather than preventing it naturally.
Overweight can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and many other terrible diseases. It is now become apparent that meditation and losing weight really reduces the risk.

Using meditation to lose weight is absolutely value your thought. Lots of people from all roots of life take pleasure in amazing and long-term results. Releasing stress through meditation make people find that they are no longer have the need to comfort their stress by eating. One of the most powerful mind and body techniques involve combining meditation and visualization for weight loss. It has been proven time after time, that what we are imagining in the present will be what life grants us in the future.

Frequently, the mental picture that we have of ourselves while we think on dieting conflicts with the end result that we actually desire. Our mind is often filled with negative thoughts and doubts. Meditation and visualization will erase these doubts and allow you to watch the new self reappear. Focus on the result that you truly desire and always remember “As a man think, so is he.” don’t worry If you don’t understand much about meditation and visualization, It will be explained further on how you can learn simply through a free guided meditation course.

Now It has been scientifically proven that practicing meditation have shown marked improvements in people mental and physical health. Clinical studies revealed that meditation could helps lowering blood pressure and respiratory rates, reduces anxiety and cures insomnia. These results leading more and more doctors to recognize the therapeutic benefits of meditation and are suggesting that their patients learn meditation. Many people use meditation to lose weight or cure addictive behaviors like smoking, alcohol and others learn meditation to alleviate many stress related illnesses. Some learn meditation to find inner peace and happiness, while others want to be more in touch with their spiritual self.

combining meditation with visualization, let you imagine the new you. Try it and feel how your new body feels and see how good you look. See your beautiful or handsome image as you walk down the beach towards the sea in a fabulous swimsuit or pair of shorts. Feel the wind in your hair and the cool breeze on your body. Feel the spring in your step and the song in your heart as you give thanks for your healthy life. Feel the happiness bubbling inside as you see your family watching you with love and pride. Breathe deeply and feel ecstatic as the sea air fills your healthy lungs and body. Experience the confidence, total bliss and inner peace that encompass your whole body.

Can Nutritional Supplements Support Weight Loss?

After choosing a healthy diet and exercise, the top thing you can do to keep weight off, is to plan a good nutritional supplement program. The foundation of a good supplement program should be based on a quality multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement. The fundamental multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement will provide what your body needs under normal circumstances to assemble your normal every day needs and prevent disease.
Moreover, if you are unwell, if you have a propensity for a certain health problem, or if you are trying to recover from a disease or illness of any sort, if you are preparing for an operation, or if you are recovering from operation, you should plan on augmenting the daily supplement with other specialized supplements.

An additional severe problem with food is that it is getting less and less nutritious in terms of vitamin and mineral delivery. Recent studies suggest that vitamins and minerals delivered to the human body by fruits and vegetables have declined as much as 30 - 40% since 1960! The problem of deprived mineral and vitamin content is even further exacerbated by the wide spread use of chemical fertilizers that bind micronutrients, such as zinc and selenium, in the soil. This binding makes the micronutrients inaccessible to plants, and therefore the mature vegetables or fruits are lacking both in major and micro nutrients. A highly disproportionate amount of food has added sugars and artificial sweeteners. Some of these chemical are even cancer causing in and of themselves being, as they normally are, petrochemical derivatives (artificial flavour usually means carcinogen), but even an innocent sweetener like sugar inactivates your white blood cells by a factor of 40 percent for up to three or four hours! Think, when your immune system is weak, and you drink some orange juice (most of it is phony sugar water) or some yogurt loaded with sweeteners (like glucose, sucrose, fructose, real sugar, etc.) and then for the next four or five hours your white cells are disabled (their effectiveness blocked by 40%) and they are unable to successfully defend your system against any attack.

The top broad solution to this problem is to radically improve your eating habits. It is almost impossible to do this in an intelligent way unless you take time to inform yourself about food and how to prepare food. For instance, the majority of cooks do not understand that heavy metals bleed from stainless-steel cookware (once its hard, smooth surface is scratched or damaged in any way) into the foods prepared in such pans. We personally prefer enamel pans for most uses. It should also be mentioned that some recent evidence suggests that the microwave may be one of the most dangerous machines ever invented from a health standpoint, since it tears the cells in food apart by intermittent vibration, it may cause you to consume an extraordinary amount of free radicals which will accelerate your aging, promote illness, and weaken your immune system. If a microwave can give you cancer from standing close to it while it is on just imagine what it is doing to your food. If you want to heat something quickly just put it in your oven and broil it. Your oven gets extremely hot on the broil setting, so it won't take much longer than a microwave. If you want to defrost something, plan ahead and defrost it in the refrigerator.

In order to defend your body and your immune system, it is essential to stop eating suspect foods, prepared goods, and most foods that fall in the candy or snack category. For example ordinary crackers are almost universally made with hydrogenated oils and often, like bread, have added iron.

We suggest that you purchase and prepare foods for yourself such as eggs (fry or boil eggs, whole eggs; eggs have a balanced supply of lecithin and cholesterol naturally), poultry (bake a chicken, boil chicken breasts), beef (broil a steak, throw a roast in the crock pot. You should also prepare fruit and vegetables. For example, along with scrambled eggs I might saute a diced onion, a diced apple or two with one or two diced jalapenos in a bit of butter to serve with the eggs. Use a whole cabbage to steam or saute, add onions and garlic for additional flavor. Obviously, we cannot tell you what to eat or how to prepare it, but it is imperative to get away from most prepared foods (in frozen or shelf boxes, cans, jars, and all foods that are in any way prepared.) Even yogurt can be dangerous if not plain. The flavoured yogurts are frequently made with petrochemical carcinogens such as color and flavor, and sweeteners that are deadly to the weakened immune system. If you want to flavour your yogurt, buy organic plain yogurt and put fresh fruit and/or granola into it. I feel a safe rule is not to eat anything that would not have been available on the table of your grandfather.

You should stop having bagged salads, which can stay fresh for a week or two, thanks to chemicals, on his table. When I want a salad I chop up some tomatoes, kale, collards, cabbage, onions, garlic, and blend up some oil, lemon juice, and vinegar; that is a real salad!. Something grown in California, bagged in Chicago, and shipped to your grocer by way of New York is not a salad but a lifeless food source. Another important addition to the diet would be to go on a modified juice fast to help cleanse the body. This would be to juice singly, together, or in any combination cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots, apples, pears, peppers, celery, onions, kale, spinach, fruits, and similar foods and to consume only the juice and as much as you can tolerate.

As a rule of thumb, any supplement program you begin on, confirm you are getting what you are paying for. I extremely recommend you find a natural supplement company, which has a record of quality, honesty, and appreciates the power of nature.

Stoke of luck on your voyage toward Health & Wellness!

Based on Brue M. Baker ideas, an expert on natural health and fitness who has helped people from all across the US to sky-rocket their health and well-being. Visit PerfectHealthShop.net to take a free body analysis.

9 Secrets for staying slim and fat loss

When experts teach us on weight loss, it is usually all about exercise, calories and carbs. This is high-quality knowledge, but from one compulsive eater to another, I have provided some other tips that do not usually make the diet books. They will require some effort, but I have found them to be essential to proper self-care and weight loss.

1. Good nutrition: repeatedly our overeating is due to nutritional deficiencies. We search for the vitamins and minerals our bodies crave in excess food. Unfortunately, this is a nasty cycle since usually the food we overeat is devoid of any real nourishment, so it leaves us further depleted. As a first step, you need to start taking a good multi-vitamin, preferably one made from whole food. If you go to a healthy food shop, ask them for a whole food supplements, not just synthetic ones. Next, strive to eat organic foods that were grown on a soil that is not stripped of vital minerals like the soil of chemical-sprayed fruits and vegetables. Eating organic food will make you feel healthier, and feel better about yourself, since you are making an effort to be good to your body. Finally, stick with foods that have as little processing as possible. For example, cook a free-range turkey instead of eating cold-cuts. The more whole and natural, the more nutritionally sound.

2. Remember to bring lunch: Although it is easier to order take-outs with your other bored co-workers, that’s only makes weight loss much harder. Be purposeful about taking care of yourself. Think ahead and shop for foods that you can use to make a healthy salad for lunch. Buy some colourful Tupperware for your packed lunches. Put some care into making a fruit salad for yourself with various yummy fruits. You will be astonished how good about yourself you will feel and how superior for you it is to bring your own lunch to work and avoid the greasy, starchy alternatives your coworkers are devouring.

3. Never skip meals: Skipping meals is a trap! We always end up making up for the meals we skipped and then some! Make a point to eat three meals a day, and do not nibble in between. Would you skip feeding your children? Of course not. Then why do we think it is OK to skip our own meals? If you make a point to feed yourself on a schedule of three meals a day, you will be more balanced emotionally and you will actually build self-esteem. Both these things lead to a thinner weight and a better quality of life.

4. Good sleep: overeat is much easier to do when you are tired. You use food to keep going, thinking you will get more energy the more you eat. In reality, just the opposite occurs. When we overeat we feel awful, heavy, and lethargic. And we are still tired! Work on going to bed earlier. Late night nibbling is easier when it is late and we should be in bed. Take care of yourself by retiring to bed with a book, and then turn the lights out before your stomach starts to growl. Even if it is growling, go to bed, you will not hear it when you are asleep and it feels good to wake up in the morning with a clear conscience!

5. Make sure you stay hydrated: I know you know that 8 glasses of water a day is good for weight loss and health in general. True health experts will actually recommend that you drink more than this. The fact is that when we are dehydrated, we eat more. This is because it is easy to disguise thirst for hunger. We eat, looking to hydrate ourselves, when drinking a few glasses of water would easily quiet those hunger pangs. So next time you are positive that you need to eat more, try a big glass of water and wait at least 10 minutes. That may be all you need. Here is another tip: make it easy by bringing a bottle of water with you wherever you go.

6. Stop eating diet food: How do diet food companies keep us wasting money for more diet food? They put chemicals and addictive ingredients in them that make us captivated! I am talking about ingredients like MSG, and many forms of addictive sugars like corn syrup. Even NutraSweet has been proven to be a neuro-stimulant linked to stimulating appetite. Also, studies have shown that when people eat a diet food they feel like they can get away with eating more and end up overeating!

7. Keep away from Sugar: Sugar is extremely addictive and it offers hardly any health benefits. There is no such thing as having just a little! If you like things sweet, like me, try a truly healthy substitute: Stevia. Stevia Extract comes from the Stevia Rebaudiana plant and has been used traditionally for hundreds of years. It is sugar free and calorie free, and has no bitter trace. It even comes in packets, just like Equal or Splenda. You can get Stevia at any health food store. I buy it in liquid form with a dropper. Just a few drops in my tea or yogurt and I am happy!

8. Eat food Raw: I could write pages on the benefits of eating raw foods (fresh green beans instead of cooked or canned; raw, uncooked almonds instead of Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds). Besides the obvious nutritional benefits, another good reason to go is that your body has to work harder to process raw foods, thus burning additional calories. In addition, raw foods usually have far more nutrients than cooked foods. Raw foods often take longer to eat so your body has time to feel sated: try a spinach salad instead of creamed spinach with your meal.

9. Do not wait too long without eating: This is self-care 101! You listen to your children when they are hungry, why not yourself? The fact is, when you wait too long to eat your next meal, you are causing your adrenal glands to panic, believing your body is in starvation mode. Then when you do eat, they do not get the message when you have had enough. They are still attempting to save your life by causing you to believe you need to eat more. Take care of yourself! The biggest irony ever is that compulsive eaters do not know how to feed themselves

These helpful advices are based on the ideas of Tricia Greaves, the founder of Be Totally Free!, a non-profit organization helping others overcome emotional eating, eating disorders and various addictions. For a free 20 minute consultation, email Tricia at tricia@betotallyfree.com or call 310-281-8831.

The best practices for lasting weight loss are habits

The best practices for lasting weight loss are habits that you can continue for the rest of your life.

Make Exercise a routine.
The best things you can do for your body is to move it. A balance of cardio-activities and resistance training will:
- Let your body to use more calories
- Increase your metabolism
- Increase your energy
- Generate a leaner look
- Prevent sagging skin following fat loss
- Extend your life span by giving you a healthier heart.
In case you don't already participate in weekly training activities, start small and gradually add to your time and intensity.

Make Healthier Nutrition Choices
Of course, exercise only cannot help you lose weight. The best practice to shed extra pounds is to combine exercise with a sensible diet.
Choosing a diet to follow can be overwhelming with so many books, programs and Web sites on the market. Fad diets often claim to have the miracle for weight loss. It is important to weed through the various weight loss plans and learn to spot a fad diet.
A sensible diet is one you can safely and sanely follow everlastingly. A healthy diet isn't a diet that you follow for 48 hours or for 30 days! There is no deadline for a healthy lifestyle. Cutting food groups and following extreme calorie reduction plans don't work either!
The best eating plan for enduring weight loss is cutting back on sweets and eating foods in their natural form. Limit fast foods and processed foods and eat frequent small meals throughout the day to avoid feeling hungry or deprived.

Find the way to stay Motivated
The majority of people who start a diet quit long before they reach their goals. Special occasions and minor setbacks can easily lead to binge eating and reverting to your old eating habits. That why it is extremely important, that you find your own motivation to stay on the right track with your diet program and it is essential to your success. Maybe you want to be a healthy role model for your kids, or to reduce the amount of drugs you take, or just refuse to live overweighed any longer. Use these ideas to guide your every day choices. Try to write out the things that motivate you to lose weight and return to the list when you start to veer off track from your fat loss program.

Always stay Hydrated
You have to stay hydrated in order to feel and look your best. Drink 8 cups of water or more every day. Water will also help flush the fat from your body.

Pulling it All Together
Natural food, Water, exercise and staying motivated, will assist you stick with your fat loss program and reach your weight loss goals. Tracking the whole thing through a journal or online tracking program is a enormous way to make sure you have done your best each day and are moving closer to your goal weight.

Ideas were based on the ideas of Amy Nutt, who offers a safe and sustainable weight loss surgery method to maintain your ideal weight