Wednesday 27 February 2008

Weight Loss 101: Eating on an HCG Diet

Weight Loss 101: Eating on an HCG Diet

"If you are interested in losing weight with HCG hormone therapy, it is important that you also follow a special diet as well. By combining a low calorie diet with your hormone therapy, you will be able to obtain the greatest benefits from this weight loss program.
Reducing Your Caloric Intake
In order to follow the HCG diet correctly, you will need to reduce your caloric intake to just 500 calories per day. Obviously, you would be able to lose weight with a 500 calorie diet even if you weren’t getting HCG hormone treatments. If you cut back to this many calories without the help of HCG, however, you will likely lose muscle as well as fat. Obviously, this isn’t healthy and will not result in a toned body.
HCG helps to prevent the loss of muscle as you reduce our caloric intake. In addition, HCG makes it easier for you to cut back to this many calories because it acts as an appetite suppressant. During the first few days of the program, you might experience mild hunger after reducing your food consumption. By the second week, however, most people find small servings of food to be quite satisfying. This is partially because the HCG helps to release calories from your stored fat and these calories then circulate throughout your body. In addition, your hypothalamus makes adjustments to your metabolic rate, which helps you feel full faster.
The Diet Plan
There have been some changes made to the basic diet plan recommended to those on the HCG diet, but the original diet plan is as follows:
• Eat nothing for breakfast. You may drink tea or coffee, but it cannot include sugar and you can only have up to one tablespoon full of milk within a 24 hour period. You may use Stevia or Saccharin. • Lunch consists of 100 grams of either veal, chicken breast, beef, lobster, fresh white fish, shrimp, or crab. All fat must be removed before cooing the meat and it must be weighed while in its raw state. It must be cooked through grilling or boiling and without any added fat. This meat is to be accompanied by one vegetable. You can choose from the following vegetables: o Asparagus o Beet-greens o Cabbage o Celery o Chard o Chicory o Cucumbers o Fennel o Green salad o Onions o Red radishes o Spinach o Tomatoes
Lunch also consists of one piece of Melba toast or one grissino breadstick as well as an orange, an apple, one half of a grapefruit, or a handful of strawberries. • Dinner is the same as lunch, though you are encouraged to mix and match the meats, vegetables, and fruit you choose for each meal.
Other diet plans have been introduced since the original, namely those that revolve around eating all organic foods. Therefore, it would be a good idea to read about other diet plans in order to determine which one you think will be best for you."


by MARION GOLDSMITH
Weight Loss 101: Eating on an HCG Diet

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Losing Weight the Right Way

Losing Weight the Right Way

I have tried exercising, with little result, until I figured out that the poochy belly syndrome is caused from stress and certain foods you eat. Some foods, and drinks sit lodged in the stomach area, It's already hard enough sculpting the midsection, especially for women, It's usually the last place that you lose weight. An effective weight loss often depends on well planned diet. This may scare you, and I'm afraid to tell you this though it's true. You can still have a world greatest exercise plan to lose belly fat and explosive interval cardiovascular routine. But if you are eating lot's of junk food, it's an obvious, that you won't get any results, because the belly will stack the excess amount of fat. Adjust your diet, so that you are burning more calories than you consume at long sight. It's true that sometimes you have to eat more, to prevent muscle loss. If the weight gain concern you most, then you should burn approximately 300-500 calories more than you consume. Sometimes less is better.
The multifaceted full-body workout is the key for weight loss.
How many are knowledgeable of the fact, that a direct ab exercises don't always burn the fat from belly area. I'm not here to ignore the good old ab crunches and my favorite lower ab exercise leg raise. But when it's getting to the point, where the goal is to lose an excess amount of fat around the waist, you should focus on regular full body exercises, such as front squad, push ups and dead lift and there is no replacement for good old fashioned running. After you have burned enough belly fat through basic exercises, then the ab exercises will show up. With ab exercises you are trying to strengthen the abdominal muscles a strong core is essential and will give your body a nice shape.
Tips: Many people fail to lose weight from belly area, just by hitting abs hard. Your abs may be somehow sexy, but who cares, if they are hidden under the thick fat layer. So remember, exercise, exercise and once more exercises and you will lose some weight. One of the best ways to lose weight is to increase your body's metabolic rate and get it to burn off more fat.
Here are 5 tips for burning more fat from your body:
Eat breakfast every day! Although it's tempting to skip breakfast, don't give in to the temptation. Breakfast is made up from two words: "break" and "fast". It does exactly what it says - stops (or breaks) the fast that your body has been on overnight.
Eat your food slowly. It takes time for your body to send the signal that you have eaten enough. By eating slowly, you will notice that signal. One of the easiest ways to eat slower is to put your cutlery or your food down between bites.
Exercise more. If you're currently doing little or no exercise, start with something gentle like walking more often. Park your car further away from your destination (easy to do with today's large parking lots) or even just walk instead of drive. If you're already a regular gym user, vary your exercise to keep your body in trim.
Eat healthy foods. You don't have to become obsessive. Just be more careful about what you eat. The less processed the food, the better. Raw fruit takes more energy and time to eat than juice, for instance.
Get spicy! Spicier foods automatically help increase your metabolism rate. A dash of Tabasco sauce, an extra chilli, even some black pepper. Anything to make your food slightly spicier - you'll then find your body reacting to the spicy food and working itself harder. You may even find yourself breaking into a sweat when you eat.
Now if your like most people you have to see some serious results quickly or you'll lose hope real fast. I think something like 10 pounds in the first 10 days sounds like a reasonable plan and then 2 pounds a week forever, until you've reached your target weight. And another thing... it should be easy! I mean, I don't want to be going around feeling hungry all the time; hanging on by my fingernails as I struggle to resist the temptation to grab a quick delicious high carb snack!Been there... done that! So here's the scoop... the trick is to first get rid of that carb craving. Anyway you do it is good, but if you can find a way to do it without feeling hungry then you're on a roll.That carb craving is your major enemy! This is what has defeated you in the past and it will defeat you again and again until you find an effective way to get rid of it so you aren't continually challenged to fall off your program.

by JO QAPITAL
Losing Weight the Right Way

Burn Fat Without Cardio?

Burn Fat Without Cardio?

The one fatal fitness mistake I see often with people returning from an exercise layoff is that they tend to have the “I’ll do cardio for a few weeks and lose weight before I train with weights” mentality.
Myth: Cardio burns fat, weight training adds bulk
Truth: Muscle is where fat is burned, train it to adapt to stress and grow, you will lose more fat than you ever will doing cardio alone. Cardio is simply a supplement to your fat burning efforts. And 99% of ALL people get it wrong.
So many people think that they can burn fat by doing cardio alone, it’s simply not the case – not if you want to look good when it’s all said and done.
Cardio (the slow steady type you’re familiar with) has barely any true fat loss enhancement effects. It can increase your metabolism in small increments, but nothing compared to training to increase or maintain muscle size.
It’s certainly understandable if you want to begin with cardio for the first few days to ease back into exercising, but if you MUST do cardio first to get into the habit, keep it no longer than 3 days before you begin a weight training routine.
Any longer and you risk sacrificing muscle tissue and literally sabotaging your fat loss efforts.
The best way to get back into exercise after a long lay off is to perform 2-3 full body weight training sessions per week, and keep them light to moderate in intensity. Once you’ve gotten through the first 4-6 workouts, you can begin strategically increasing the intensity to ramp your metabolism and burn more fat 24 hours a day.
Here’s a sample full body routine to get you started:
Workout 1
A1. Shoulder Press A2. Bent Row A3. Dumbbell Swing A4. Barbell Curl A5. Jump Rope (30 seconds) A6. V-Ups
* Perform 8 reps of each exercise (A1-A5) moving from exercise to exercise without rest until #4 is complete. This is 1 round. Rest 90 Seconds and repeat for a total of 3-6 Rounds.
Workout 2
B1. Squat B2. Hammer Curl to Press B3. Stiff Leg Deadlift B4. Overhead Tricep Extension B5. Step Ups B6. Plank (30 Seconds)
* Perform 8 reps of each exercise (B1-B6) moving from exercise to exercise without rest until #4 is complete. This is 1 round. Rest 90 Seconds and repeat for a total of 3-6 Rounds.


by TODD SCOTT
Burn Fat Without Cardio?

Saturday 16 February 2008

Nutrition and Supplements for Raynaud's Syndrome

Nutrition and Supplements for Raynaud's Syndrome

If there's any truth to the old adage "Cold hands, warm heart," then anyone who has Raynaud's syndrome must be burning with passion. Raynaud's makes a person's hands feel so cold that they absolutely ache.
Raynaud's syndrome is named for the French physician Maurice Raynaud, who first documented the condition in the mid­1860s. Since then, scientists have determined that Raynaud's occurs because of spasms in the small arteries that deliver blood to your finers.
It's normal for these blood vessels to constrict a little when you're exposed to cold or when you're under stress. But if you have Raynaud's, the vessels clamp down big-time, causing pain. Your fingers turn blue or white. In some people, it's more than fingers that are affected. Toes, cheeks, the nose, and ears may chill and change color as the blood vessels constrict in those areas.
About 5 percent of Americans have Raynaud's, and at least four out of five of those are women. Most people first notice symptoms sometime between ages 20 and 35.
If you have Raynaud's, you may also be prone to migraines. Similar to Raynaud's, migraines begin when blood vessels in your head constrict. If the vessels in your fingers tend to spasm, there's a good chance that the vessels in your head do the same.
With proper home care, however, you might be able to relieve your frigid digits and possibly help your migraines as well. Here's what the experts recommend.
Best Choices
Nutrition
Sink your teeth into sahnon. Salmon and other cold-water fish contain an abundance of omega-3 fatty acids. These "good fats" improve blood flow throughout your body by making your blood-clotting cells, called platelets, less likely to clump together. Besides salmon, enjoy mackerel, herring, and tuna-all excellent sources of omega-3's.
Supplements
Opt for omega-3 capsules. If you're not a fan of fish, you can get your omega-3's by taking fish-oil supplements. At Albany Medical College in New York, researchers saw improvement in 45 percent of a group taking fish-oil capsules.
The fish-oil capsules used in the study contained 330 milligrams of eicosapentaenoic acid (BPA) and 220 milligrams of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The study participants took 12 of these capsules a day. You can buy fish-oil capsules in health food stores and some drugstores.
Open blood vessels with niacin. Several studies have shown that taking large doses of a form of niacin called inositol nicotinate reduces spasms in the blood vessels of the fingers. This helps control the frequency and severity of Raynaud's flare-ups.
If you want to try niacin therapy, consult a nutritionist or a nutrition-minded doctor, advises Melvyn R. Werbach, M.D., assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. It's best to take doses over 35 milligrams per day only under professional supervision.
Warm up to magnesium. Magnesium therapy has been used to treat some conditions that involve blood vessel constriction. One study has shown that those with Raynaud's have significantly lower magnesium levels during the winter months, suggesting that lack of magnesium could be linked to the problem.

by FRANCIS ADAM

Nutrition and Supplements for Raynaud's Syndrome