Archive

Posts Tagged ‘pounds’

Top Five Healthy Habits

May 2nd, 2010

Being healthy is not something that can be achieved overnight. You really have to dedicated yourself into doing it. There is not really any magical formula or crazy technique for this. Any books, diets, or special techniques out there that work are all really doing one thing: causing you to develop a habit of doing healthy actions. They offer encouraging words, and prove to you results…and really, they’re more or less motivating you to become healthier. Why do those, pay money, when you can simply develop your own good habits? So I’ve done some research and found out some of the habits of healthy people. Here are the ones I feel are Top 5 habits of healthy people.

1. Eat Breakfast Everyday

Eating breakfast is healthy because they tend to take in more nutrients: vitamins, minerals, less fat, less cholesterol. In fact, having breakfast helps hold of hunger pangs till lunch, and you’re less prone to buy high calorie foods from the local vending machine. Studies have shown kids who eat breakfast perform better. There’s even research that shows breakfast eaters have a lower rate of diabetes, less chance to become obese, when compared to those who do not eat breakfast.

If one of your excuses to not eat breakfast is time, then maybe adjusting it to fit your schedule would be better. For example, some people may wake up not feeling hungry, and would prefer to be able to sleep in; they can bring their breakfast with them when going to work, and eat it while reading their morning emails.

2. Fish and Omega-3

The AHA recommends at least two servings of fish each week. Fish are known to be high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 is known to be very healthy for the heart, and there’s even evidence that it can soothe an overactive immune system; there seems to be a link between more omega-3 in your diet, and lower symptoms of allergies, asthma, eczema, and other autoimmune disorders.

3. Sleep

Most people actually don’t get enough sleep; something like two-thirds of adults suffer from sleep problems, and many don’t get enough hours of sleep to stay awake/alert. Getting enough sleep is extremely vital for your emotional and physical well being. People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to develop psychiatric problems. Lack of sleep also negatively affect memory, learning, and logical reasoning.

4. Great Friends and Family

Your friends can save your life. How? Four things: They can provide information on any of your symptoms, which can prompt you to see a doctor, they offer emotional support when ever you need it, they can help provide physical support for you when you need to visit doctors…and of course, they help offer a sense of belonging.

5. Exercise!

Do I really need to outline the benefits of exercising? We’ve all heard it: the myriads of health benefits, the reduction in various diseases (obesity, diabetes, etc), increased general well-being, both mentally and physically. This one is a no brainer really. Exercise is key in losing weight, and it’s also key in reducing heart disease. The only ‘problem’ is it requires commitment.

You can find healthy living tips on our healthy info blog for all your wellness concerns. There are many resources there to answer any question you may have relating to health.

Weight Loss , , , ,

Fat Loss! Think With Me for a Second

March 12th, 2010

Are you aware that 3500 calories is one pound of fat? If you want to lose one pound in a week, you have to cut out 3500 calories, so to lose five pound in a week, you have to cut out 17,500 calories.

But the thing is, the average person only takes in about 2000 calories a day, or 14,000 per week, and that is pretty much what it takes to sustain your health. In other words, to diet away five pounds in one week you can’t eat anything, ANYTHING, for the whole entire week, PLUS one day before AND one day after the week. An average daily food intake of 2000 calories would need nine days of zero, zip, nada, none, no food whatsoever to lose 5 pounds. The problem should be obvious at this point: You can’t just diet fat off. It takes more than diet.

Here’s what will happen when you stop eating: Your body recognizes that there is no food and goes into hibernation mode. This is not a conscious decision, it’s involuntary, like your heartbeat or breathing. The first thing it does is gives up water, and that means protein, which is 75% water, and constitutes lean muscle mass. After it depletes your water, it will start to burn carbohydrates, which causes you to store fat. In other words, you will start to gain weight. This is a metabolism thing, where your body reacts by slowing down the burn rate, and any food you take in is immediately sent to the fat storage unit. You have to change your metabolism or you won’t lose weight, you’ll put more on.

If you can’t diet off the weight then it stands to reason that you have to work on increasing your metabolism. Normally a diet gets you to take in fewer calories and what you burn slowly reduces your size. Actually, you are just losing water. As your metabolism adjusts, you stop losing and pretty soon you start to gain again. You are in hibernation. Any food you take in is converted immediately to fat to help you through this period of starvation. Store fat and slow down. A bear can sleep though an entire winter without eating.

When you cut out food, your body will throw all of it’s protein under the bus trying to protect itself. Without food, your body makes a bunch of decisions. (This is your body, not you. It’s a physiology thing.) After it takes all of the protein out of your muscle, (I’ll come back to body builders in a minute) your body will start to live on carbohydrates and when that happens you will gain weight! Your body will go into hibernation mode. You have to change the way your body works to make fat go away. It’s called METABOLISM. Your metabolism slows down and you won’t lose any weight, you’ll gain more.

The real deal is, you can’t just diet and make fat go away, so you have to make a choice, a complete lifestyle choice. You want to lose weight? Start with a little exercise. Get your metabolism kicked up. Once it starts to take off a little weight, THEN start your diet. After that you increase your exercise. If you wait to start until you have increased your metabolism, all your work will be more effective. The pounds will come off faster and more easily. The weight loss is more likely to be permanent.

See, I’m not here trying to sell you a product. I want to talk about what will be good for you. You need to wrap your head around the fact that you put your weight on because you don’t burn everything that you eat. You store some of it, and over time, that weight becomes your weight. Problem is, storage is driven by consumption, and consumption is mostly about water. Protein is 75% water, and body builders have protein drinks, bars, and so on. When you go on a diet, after you clear out the water you burn protein from your storehouse.

The real deal is, diet alone won’t make fat go away, so you have to make a complete lifestyle choice. You want to slim down? Start with light exercise. Get your metabolism kicked up. Once that starts to take off a little weight, start your diet. After that, up your exercise. You need to wait to start until you have increased your metabolism, and all your work will be more effective. The pounds will come off faster and more easily. The weight loss is more likely to be a lifestyle loss.

Ifyour diet come toms to be taking forever, remember that 3500 calories is one pound of fat. Go ahead, visit my website at the link, or come to my blog. There’s lots of articles and the blog has some interesting opinions as well.

Weight Loss , , , , , , , , , , , ,