Losing weight is not easy. You will never hear me say that it is. It takes dedication, motivation and hard work. But by making a few easy changes you can get the ball rolling on losing weight.
If you're serious about changing your lifestyle, these steps help get you there. The key is to dedicate yourself to these changes and do them consistently.
No, losing weight isn't a walk in the park. But by following these steps ... you may find it's a little easier than you think!
CHANGE ONE: WHAT YOU EAT
First up, let's take a look at some simple ways to make significant improvements in your diet.
1. ELIMINATE OR SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE RED MEAT
If foods like burgers are basic to your current diet, cutting out red meat can go a long way in helping you make healthier meal choices and losing weight.
By building your meals around fish and poultry, you can more easily keep temptation at bay by eliminating many poor fast food and restaurant choices, which are over-sized and high in fat.
To keep your shellfish, fish, chicken, and turkey diet-friendly, be sure to choose the right preparation method (see #2). Be wary of creamy, high-cal condiments that come with entrees, like tartar sauce or special sauce on grilled chicken sandwiches.
2. CUT OUT FRIED FOODS
Keep your healthier choices truly healthy by grilling, baking, roasting, broiling or boiling them.
* Keep things interesting by adding low-cal condiments to your usual fare. A tangy barbecue sauce will give boiled chicken a kick. Lemon-herb dressing will complement broiled fish deliciously.
* Make sure your spice rack is always stocked with plenty of herbs and spices so you can doctor up your favorite dishes to your own taste without adding any additional fat or calories. Plant an herb garden and you'll never run out!
* If you often eat fast food, forget that "value meals" and "combos" even exist; they seem like a better deal, but they're just not worth the extra calories! Stick to a grilled chicken sandwich or a child's hamburger and a side salad (watch the dressing!) when you're on the run.
3. START WITH SOUP OR SALAD.
Having a salad or cup of soup for starters can be an at-home habit that pays off in pounds-lost. They can curb your hunger, prevent over-eating, and help you stay in control of portions, all of which are crucial to losing weight.
* Choose a broth- or tomato-based soup like minestrone (rather than a cream- or milk-based choice). Vegetable soup made with broth, stock, or tomato soup is ideal, because the veggies will help fill you up and give you a fiber and nutrition boost.
* Top your salad with low-cal dressing or balsamic vinegar. An added plus of having a salad before every meal is getting more fiber, something many of our diets are short on, which will also help you feel fuller sooner. Be sure to include lots of veggies and dark mixed greens like spinach in your salads.
4. FINISH WITH FRUIT.
Instead of reaching for the cookie jar or helping yourself to dessert after meals, make a point to finish off with naturally-sweet fruit instead of sinfully-sweet treats.
Not only will you save fat and calories, you will also have the added benefit of extra vitamins, minerals and fiber. Few of us eat as much fruit as recommended.
In time, you will become accustomed to foregoing sweets and you'll look forward to your healthier treat just as much.
By Jennifer R. Scott, About.com
Jumat, 22 Mei 2009
Selasa, 19 Mei 2009
The Milk Diet -- Is it Your Solution for Losing Weight?
For sometime now, you've been hearing about the Milk Diet and it's benefit in helping you lose weight. I recently searched on Google for this diet and could only find vague references to milk as a supplement to help you lose weight.
To date, there is no actual Milk Diet. Instead, supporters of milk as a supplement to losing weight suggest adding milk to any diet. They claim the amount of weight loss will increase simply by adding more whole milk to your diet. So, does milk help to increase the amount of weight loss? If so, how does it work?
Professionals know that fad diets just don't work. You may see initial results, but the risk to your health is high, and the chances of keeping the weight off are low.
You want to lose weight and keep it off, right? You will NEVER achieve that by pulling out your credit card to pay homage to the next diet guru or program with a celebrity's name attached to it. These fad diets promise to give you what you want through the latest secret revealed or truth now discovered.
Healthy weight loss
Losing the weight you need to lose and keeping it off is about modifying your eating habits to have overall good nutrition. It's not about focusing on one nutrient or food group. In fact, weight loss professionals would consider as suspect any diet program, which radically reduces or increases just one component of a balanced diet. That's not a good way to lose weight.
To illustrate what I'm trying to say, take a look at the relationship between weight loss and milk. Milk contains nine essential nutrients, making it one of the most nutrient-rich drinks you can enjoy. Just one eight-ounce glass of milk puts you well on your way to meeting the Daily Value for calcium and other key nutrients. Calcium, as most know, helps maintain strong bones and teeth. It also plays a role in nerve function.You probably also know by now, thanks to the recent Milk Diet fad, that milk can play a significant role in helping you reach your weight loss goals. In fact, here's part of what the American Dietetic Association has to say about milk and weight loss:
”A calcium-rich eating plan, especially one that includes at least three servings of milk a day, seems to provide the nutritional support you need for healthy effective weight loss. In fact, research suggests that milk may help promote the loss of body fat while maintaining more muscle, which is important when dieting. Dropping dairy foods as a calorie-cutting tactic is not only bad for bones, it could make it even harder to lose weight.”
Now the money-focused marketers and entrepreneurs have brought milk to the forefront to promote weight loss through the so-called milk diet. And I would bet that there are those who probably went to the grocer and bought milk after reading an article or hearing on television about the miracles of milk and its effect on weight loss.
But instead of drinking the suggested 24oz each day (only three 8-ounce glasses), several of the more zealous increased their intake of milk by another glass or two to speed up the process. After all, everyone knows that if a little of something is good, then a lot must be great, right? WRONG! As good for you as milk can be, it can also be detrimental to your health if you drink too much according to recent studies. And this is why the milk diet is unhealthy.
Milk has always been milk. It can benefit our overall health. More specific, milk, along with other essential elements, can help promote weight loss. However too much milk, like in the milk diet, can be harmful.
But at the end of the day, healthy weight loss is, and will always be first and foremost, about Diet Basics--eating right, exercising, and having a lifestyle, which promotes good health and nutrition. That's what will lead you to weight loss success.
TOP WEIGHT LOSS RECOMMENDATION
There is no easy way to lose weight. Fad diets like hoodia, berries, shakes, cookies and teas don’t work. You might initially lose some weight, but you will gain it all back, and probably more.
The only way to lose weight and keep it off is through proper nutrition and a balanced diet. Losing weight fast never lasts. But losing weight the healthy way will lead to long-term successful weight loss.
An excellent ebook that will teach you to lose weight the healthy way is called The Diet Solution. This book will show you how eating the right foods will “enhance” your metabolism, which causes you to burn more fat. We really believe in this book, and so does the author. They promise an unconditional 60-day money back guarantee if you don’t get the results you want. How many diet books or products give a guarantee like that? You can follow this link to learn about The Diet Solution, and see if it’s right for you.
To date, there is no actual Milk Diet. Instead, supporters of milk as a supplement to losing weight suggest adding milk to any diet. They claim the amount of weight loss will increase simply by adding more whole milk to your diet. So, does milk help to increase the amount of weight loss? If so, how does it work?
Professionals know that fad diets just don't work. You may see initial results, but the risk to your health is high, and the chances of keeping the weight off are low.
You want to lose weight and keep it off, right? You will NEVER achieve that by pulling out your credit card to pay homage to the next diet guru or program with a celebrity's name attached to it. These fad diets promise to give you what you want through the latest secret revealed or truth now discovered.
Healthy weight loss
Losing the weight you need to lose and keeping it off is about modifying your eating habits to have overall good nutrition. It's not about focusing on one nutrient or food group. In fact, weight loss professionals would consider as suspect any diet program, which radically reduces or increases just one component of a balanced diet. That's not a good way to lose weight.
To illustrate what I'm trying to say, take a look at the relationship between weight loss and milk. Milk contains nine essential nutrients, making it one of the most nutrient-rich drinks you can enjoy. Just one eight-ounce glass of milk puts you well on your way to meeting the Daily Value for calcium and other key nutrients. Calcium, as most know, helps maintain strong bones and teeth. It also plays a role in nerve function.You probably also know by now, thanks to the recent Milk Diet fad, that milk can play a significant role in helping you reach your weight loss goals. In fact, here's part of what the American Dietetic Association has to say about milk and weight loss:
”A calcium-rich eating plan, especially one that includes at least three servings of milk a day, seems to provide the nutritional support you need for healthy effective weight loss. In fact, research suggests that milk may help promote the loss of body fat while maintaining more muscle, which is important when dieting. Dropping dairy foods as a calorie-cutting tactic is not only bad for bones, it could make it even harder to lose weight.”
Now the money-focused marketers and entrepreneurs have brought milk to the forefront to promote weight loss through the so-called milk diet. And I would bet that there are those who probably went to the grocer and bought milk after reading an article or hearing on television about the miracles of milk and its effect on weight loss.
But instead of drinking the suggested 24oz each day (only three 8-ounce glasses), several of the more zealous increased their intake of milk by another glass or two to speed up the process. After all, everyone knows that if a little of something is good, then a lot must be great, right? WRONG! As good for you as milk can be, it can also be detrimental to your health if you drink too much according to recent studies. And this is why the milk diet is unhealthy.
Milk has always been milk. It can benefit our overall health. More specific, milk, along with other essential elements, can help promote weight loss. However too much milk, like in the milk diet, can be harmful.
But at the end of the day, healthy weight loss is, and will always be first and foremost, about Diet Basics--eating right, exercising, and having a lifestyle, which promotes good health and nutrition. That's what will lead you to weight loss success.
TOP WEIGHT LOSS RECOMMENDATION
There is no easy way to lose weight. Fad diets like hoodia, berries, shakes, cookies and teas don’t work. You might initially lose some weight, but you will gain it all back, and probably more.
The only way to lose weight and keep it off is through proper nutrition and a balanced diet. Losing weight fast never lasts. But losing weight the healthy way will lead to long-term successful weight loss.
An excellent ebook that will teach you to lose weight the healthy way is called The Diet Solution. This book will show you how eating the right foods will “enhance” your metabolism, which causes you to burn more fat. We really believe in this book, and so does the author. They promise an unconditional 60-day money back guarantee if you don’t get the results you want. How many diet books or products give a guarantee like that? You can follow this link to learn about The Diet Solution, and see if it’s right for you.
Sabtu, 16 Mei 2009
Does milk really do a body good?
A nutritionist investigates the claims about the beverage
Image: Milk
Milk is good for building muscle — and may even lower your risk of both heart attack and stroke.
By Alan Aragon, M.S.
“Milk is a deadly poison," according to the Dairy Education Board. In fact, if you peruse this special interest group's Web site, notmilk.com, you'll find dozens of articles about the purported evils of this popular beverage. One claim, for example, is that milk from cows contains cancer-causing hormones and dairy industry dollars have kept that fact bottled up. All of which may leave you second-guessing your next sip.
However, as a nutritionist, I've found that most people thrive on milk, whether their goal is to lose fat or build muscle. So to be sure it's safe, I've investigated all the anti-milk claims, sifting through the research while also turning a critical eye to pro-milk propaganda. After all, the only agenda I have is my clients' health. The result: all your milk questions, answered.
Is milk really a fat-burning food?
Maybe. In a 6-month study, University of Tennessee researchers found that overweight people who downed three servings a day of calcium-rich dairy lost more belly fat than those who followed a similar diet minus two or more of the dairy servings. In addition, the researchers discovered that calcium supplements didn't work as well as milk. Why? They believe that while calcium may increase the rate at which your body burns fat, other active compounds in dairy (such as milk proteins) provide an additional fat-burning effect. Of course, the key to success is following a weight-loss diet to begin with. After all, downing your dairy with a box of doughnuts is no way to torch your gut.
Does it build muscle?
Absolutely. In fact, milk is one of the best muscle foods on the planet. You see, the protein in milk is about 80 percent whey and 20 percent casein. Both are high-quality proteins, but whey is known as a "fast protein" because it's quickly broken down into amino acids and absorbed into the bloodstream. That makes it a very good protein to consume after your workout. Casein, on the other hand, is digested more slowly. So it's ideal for providing your body with a steady supply of smaller amounts of protein for a longer period of time — like between meals or while you sleep. Since milk provides both, one big glass gives your body an ideal combination of muscle-building proteins.
Cows are given hormones. Doesn't that make their milk unhealthy?
Not unless you're injecting the milk. Here's the full story: In 1993 the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cattle. This practice resulted in greater milk production at less cost to the dairy farmer, a savings that has been passed on to you at your local supermarket. But it has also sparked much controversy, because rBGH boosts milk's concentration of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a hormone that's been linked to cancer.
Unlike steroid hormones, which can be taken orally, rBGH and IGF must be injected to have any effect. That's because the process of digestion destroys these "protein" hormones. So drinking milk from hormone-treated cows doesn't transfer the active form of these chemicals to your body. However, there is one ethical downside to consider: It's not good for the cows. Canadian researchers discovered that cows given hormones are more likely to contract an udder infection called mastitis.
What about antibiotics?
No one really knows. Some scientists argue that milk from cows given antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance in humans, making these types of drugs less effective when you take them for an infection. But this finding has never been proved.
If you're uneasy, you can purchase antibiotic-free (and typically hormone-free, as well) milk from specialty grocers, such as Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or select USDA-certified organic milk, which is available at most supermarkets.
MORE STORIES FROM MEN'S HEALTH
What is in the water?
The best drinks for you
93 tech products you need
Skim or whole?
It depends on your taste. While you've probably always been told to drink reduced-fat milk, the majority of scientific studies show that drinking whole milk actually improves cholesterol levels, just not as much as drinking skim does. One recent exception: Danish researchers found that men who consumed a diet rich in whole milk experienced a slight increase in LDL cholesterol (six points). However, it's worth noting that these men drank six 8-ounce glasses a day, an unusually high amount. Even so, their triglycerides — another marker of heart-disease risk — decreased by 22 percent.
The bottom line: Drinking two to three glasses of milk a day, whether it's skim, 2 percent, or whole, lowers the likelihood of both heart attack and stroke — a finding confirmed by British scientists.
If you're dieting, the lower-fat option is an easy way to save a few calories. When it comes to building muscle, though, whole milk may be your best choice: Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis — an indicator of muscle growth — 2.8 times more than drinking skim did.
Image: Milk
Milk is good for building muscle — and may even lower your risk of both heart attack and stroke.
By Alan Aragon, M.S.
“Milk is a deadly poison," according to the Dairy Education Board. In fact, if you peruse this special interest group's Web site, notmilk.com, you'll find dozens of articles about the purported evils of this popular beverage. One claim, for example, is that milk from cows contains cancer-causing hormones and dairy industry dollars have kept that fact bottled up. All of which may leave you second-guessing your next sip.
However, as a nutritionist, I've found that most people thrive on milk, whether their goal is to lose fat or build muscle. So to be sure it's safe, I've investigated all the anti-milk claims, sifting through the research while also turning a critical eye to pro-milk propaganda. After all, the only agenda I have is my clients' health. The result: all your milk questions, answered.
Is milk really a fat-burning food?
Maybe. In a 6-month study, University of Tennessee researchers found that overweight people who downed three servings a day of calcium-rich dairy lost more belly fat than those who followed a similar diet minus two or more of the dairy servings. In addition, the researchers discovered that calcium supplements didn't work as well as milk. Why? They believe that while calcium may increase the rate at which your body burns fat, other active compounds in dairy (such as milk proteins) provide an additional fat-burning effect. Of course, the key to success is following a weight-loss diet to begin with. After all, downing your dairy with a box of doughnuts is no way to torch your gut.
Does it build muscle?
Absolutely. In fact, milk is one of the best muscle foods on the planet. You see, the protein in milk is about 80 percent whey and 20 percent casein. Both are high-quality proteins, but whey is known as a "fast protein" because it's quickly broken down into amino acids and absorbed into the bloodstream. That makes it a very good protein to consume after your workout. Casein, on the other hand, is digested more slowly. So it's ideal for providing your body with a steady supply of smaller amounts of protein for a longer period of time — like between meals or while you sleep. Since milk provides both, one big glass gives your body an ideal combination of muscle-building proteins.
Cows are given hormones. Doesn't that make their milk unhealthy?
Not unless you're injecting the milk. Here's the full story: In 1993 the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cattle. This practice resulted in greater milk production at less cost to the dairy farmer, a savings that has been passed on to you at your local supermarket. But it has also sparked much controversy, because rBGH boosts milk's concentration of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a hormone that's been linked to cancer.
Unlike steroid hormones, which can be taken orally, rBGH and IGF must be injected to have any effect. That's because the process of digestion destroys these "protein" hormones. So drinking milk from hormone-treated cows doesn't transfer the active form of these chemicals to your body. However, there is one ethical downside to consider: It's not good for the cows. Canadian researchers discovered that cows given hormones are more likely to contract an udder infection called mastitis.
What about antibiotics?
No one really knows. Some scientists argue that milk from cows given antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance in humans, making these types of drugs less effective when you take them for an infection. But this finding has never been proved.
If you're uneasy, you can purchase antibiotic-free (and typically hormone-free, as well) milk from specialty grocers, such as Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or select USDA-certified organic milk, which is available at most supermarkets.
MORE STORIES FROM MEN'S HEALTH
What is in the water?
The best drinks for you
93 tech products you need
Skim or whole?
It depends on your taste. While you've probably always been told to drink reduced-fat milk, the majority of scientific studies show that drinking whole milk actually improves cholesterol levels, just not as much as drinking skim does. One recent exception: Danish researchers found that men who consumed a diet rich in whole milk experienced a slight increase in LDL cholesterol (six points). However, it's worth noting that these men drank six 8-ounce glasses a day, an unusually high amount. Even so, their triglycerides — another marker of heart-disease risk — decreased by 22 percent.
The bottom line: Drinking two to three glasses of milk a day, whether it's skim, 2 percent, or whole, lowers the likelihood of both heart attack and stroke — a finding confirmed by British scientists.
If you're dieting, the lower-fat option is an easy way to save a few calories. When it comes to building muscle, though, whole milk may be your best choice: Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis — an indicator of muscle growth — 2.8 times more than drinking skim did.
Minggu, 03 Mei 2009
A guide to sport nutrition for optimum health
Truth on diet supplements and advanced sport nutrition. Building a better body
“Trust me, I am an athlete”
In the world of sport nutrition nothing is more annoying, cynical or downright wrong than a well known athlete endorsing and promoting a poor quality product.
Tri-athletes and “Iron men” promoting sugar-laden breakfast cereals; sprinters and long distance runners promoting low grade vitamin supplements, football players associating their success with fast food franchises – the list is endless.
Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, look at billboards and there is some athlete with tanned muscles and a cheesy grin confusing you and your children about the extraordinary health benefits of something close to junk food.
The likelihood is the athlete would probably never touch the product they are promoting as part of their sport nutrition programme but the lure of advertising dollars is just too appealing.
The problem compounded
You need to avoid the confusion of the marketing spin when sorting sport nutrition facts from sport nutrition nonsense. Even the health establishment, who you expect to trust with your health, continues to unknowingly provide us with information that is questionable. The general public should be made aware of this – for a serious sports person or athlete understanding the facts of sport nutrition is an absolute priority.
One of the major hurdles to overcome when dealing with sport nutrition for athletes is the misunderstanding and disinformation associated with Recommended Daily Allowance – RDA. The misunderstandings are compounded by doctors, some nutritionists, and the current health paradigm. RDA’s were not designed for people to reach their optimal levels of health and they are certainly not designed to help an athlete keep his or her body operating at peak potential.
Getting good H2O
Sticking to the basics is not as easy as it used to be. Three square meals a day and a few glasses of tap water 60 years ago may have given you all the sustenance needed. Today there are additional challenges in watering and feeding our bodies. These challenges are magnified when the advanced requirements of an athlete’s body are considered.
Your muscles are 75% water. Your blood is more than 80% water. Even your bones are 25% water. It is critical that you drink clean and pure water. That is a greater challenge than you might think.
It is generally too expensive for water authorities to clean water to its purest state. The water that comes out of your tap or faucet can still contain traces of industrial chemicals, pesticides and chlorine. The traces are small and they will not kill the average person but it can affect the performance of a highly tuned athlete’s body.
The bottled water business is largely unregulated. The water is still not guaranteed free of contaminants. The purest form of water is distilled water. Steam distillation removes the contaminants.
Next time you are out shopping for water look for the several brands of distilled water available. Your body will thank you for it.
Getting good nutrition
How can it be that over the last 60 years with an increase in agricultural production the greatest challenge has been getting good nutrition? This is largely due to the degradation of our soils and food supply. Modern farming, storage and distribution methods have degraded the food we eat which in turn degrades our bodies. This is further exaggerated in athletes where the process of oxidative stress is sped up.
As an athlete, in order to get the nutrition your body needs, vegetables, fruits and whole grains should form the basis of your diet. Eat only certified organic produce and supplement your diet with only high quality nutritional supplements. Cut out the bad fats and get the right amount of essential fatty acids including omega 3 fish oil.
Fighting fit or fighting fat!
Athletes and sportspeople in the Western world still need to fight the temptations that cause excess fat and eventually lead to obesity. It is important to understand that fat is dependent upon diet and lifestyle and is rarely genetic.
Popular dieting systems do not work. Regardless of all the hype, advertising and testimonials and pictures of before and after – they are short term. Diet companies rely on the two human traits of laziness and wanting something for nothing. Real, lasting fat loss needs to be a long term endeavour. Long term is a minimum of one year. Your body operates on a cellular level takes time to alter its tissues and cells to suit your new levels of fat. Any sudden change will cause your body to store fat as a biological defense.
Sounds simple but the most important way of reducing fat levels in your body is to avoid fat! That is the saturated fat in predominantly found in meat and dairy food.
Building a better body
More than 90% of the molecules in the human body are replaced each year. “You are what you eat” is truer than many people really believe.
Vitamins and minerals are the most basic building blocks for any body. If you want to build a supreme athletic body you need to take special note. As with the long term approach to weight and fat loss so to should the approach to vitamin and mineral intake be long term – life long!
As previously stated, the basis of your diet should be vegetables, fruits and whole grains, preferably organic produce. Supplement your diet with only high quality nutritional supplements. Cut out the bad fats and get the right amount of essential fatty acids including omega 3 fish oil.
One of the important factors in choosing quality nutritional supplements is so that you can guarantee the safety of those supplements.
Getting serious about nutrition
This website only touches on the detailed subject of sport nutrition. I don’t often recommend a single source of material for further research. For an excellent, concise, honest, ruthlessly researched and easy to read book I would highly recommend Optimum Sports Nutrition by Doctor Michael Colgan. (Reference 26)
“Trust me, I am an athlete”
In the world of sport nutrition nothing is more annoying, cynical or downright wrong than a well known athlete endorsing and promoting a poor quality product.
Tri-athletes and “Iron men” promoting sugar-laden breakfast cereals; sprinters and long distance runners promoting low grade vitamin supplements, football players associating their success with fast food franchises – the list is endless.
Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, look at billboards and there is some athlete with tanned muscles and a cheesy grin confusing you and your children about the extraordinary health benefits of something close to junk food.
The likelihood is the athlete would probably never touch the product they are promoting as part of their sport nutrition programme but the lure of advertising dollars is just too appealing.
The problem compounded
You need to avoid the confusion of the marketing spin when sorting sport nutrition facts from sport nutrition nonsense. Even the health establishment, who you expect to trust with your health, continues to unknowingly provide us with information that is questionable. The general public should be made aware of this – for a serious sports person or athlete understanding the facts of sport nutrition is an absolute priority.
One of the major hurdles to overcome when dealing with sport nutrition for athletes is the misunderstanding and disinformation associated with Recommended Daily Allowance – RDA. The misunderstandings are compounded by doctors, some nutritionists, and the current health paradigm. RDA’s were not designed for people to reach their optimal levels of health and they are certainly not designed to help an athlete keep his or her body operating at peak potential.
Getting good H2O
Sticking to the basics is not as easy as it used to be. Three square meals a day and a few glasses of tap water 60 years ago may have given you all the sustenance needed. Today there are additional challenges in watering and feeding our bodies. These challenges are magnified when the advanced requirements of an athlete’s body are considered.
Your muscles are 75% water. Your blood is more than 80% water. Even your bones are 25% water. It is critical that you drink clean and pure water. That is a greater challenge than you might think.
It is generally too expensive for water authorities to clean water to its purest state. The water that comes out of your tap or faucet can still contain traces of industrial chemicals, pesticides and chlorine. The traces are small and they will not kill the average person but it can affect the performance of a highly tuned athlete’s body.
The bottled water business is largely unregulated. The water is still not guaranteed free of contaminants. The purest form of water is distilled water. Steam distillation removes the contaminants.
Next time you are out shopping for water look for the several brands of distilled water available. Your body will thank you for it.
Getting good nutrition
How can it be that over the last 60 years with an increase in agricultural production the greatest challenge has been getting good nutrition? This is largely due to the degradation of our soils and food supply. Modern farming, storage and distribution methods have degraded the food we eat which in turn degrades our bodies. This is further exaggerated in athletes where the process of oxidative stress is sped up.
As an athlete, in order to get the nutrition your body needs, vegetables, fruits and whole grains should form the basis of your diet. Eat only certified organic produce and supplement your diet with only high quality nutritional supplements. Cut out the bad fats and get the right amount of essential fatty acids including omega 3 fish oil.
Fighting fit or fighting fat!
Athletes and sportspeople in the Western world still need to fight the temptations that cause excess fat and eventually lead to obesity. It is important to understand that fat is dependent upon diet and lifestyle and is rarely genetic.
Popular dieting systems do not work. Regardless of all the hype, advertising and testimonials and pictures of before and after – they are short term. Diet companies rely on the two human traits of laziness and wanting something for nothing. Real, lasting fat loss needs to be a long term endeavour. Long term is a minimum of one year. Your body operates on a cellular level takes time to alter its tissues and cells to suit your new levels of fat. Any sudden change will cause your body to store fat as a biological defense.
Sounds simple but the most important way of reducing fat levels in your body is to avoid fat! That is the saturated fat in predominantly found in meat and dairy food.
Building a better body
More than 90% of the molecules in the human body are replaced each year. “You are what you eat” is truer than many people really believe.
Vitamins and minerals are the most basic building blocks for any body. If you want to build a supreme athletic body you need to take special note. As with the long term approach to weight and fat loss so to should the approach to vitamin and mineral intake be long term – life long!
As previously stated, the basis of your diet should be vegetables, fruits and whole grains, preferably organic produce. Supplement your diet with only high quality nutritional supplements. Cut out the bad fats and get the right amount of essential fatty acids including omega 3 fish oil.
One of the important factors in choosing quality nutritional supplements is so that you can guarantee the safety of those supplements.
Getting serious about nutrition
This website only touches on the detailed subject of sport nutrition. I don’t often recommend a single source of material for further research. For an excellent, concise, honest, ruthlessly researched and easy to read book I would highly recommend Optimum Sports Nutrition by Doctor Michael Colgan. (Reference 26)
Minggu, 19 April 2009
Sport by sport diet guide
Sport By Sport Diet Guide: Whatever your sport, nutrition should be an integral part of your training and competition strategy. Although the emphasis will vary according to the activity you're involved in, there is a consensus among sports scientists on guidelines that athletes should be aiming for.
The International Conference on Foods, Nutrition and Sports in Lausanne (1991) agreed the following nutrient intakes to be optimum for most sports: 60-70% of calories in the diet from carbohydrates, 12% from protein and the remainder (18-28%) from fat. This in effect means eating a diet far higher in carbohydrate and lower in fat and protein than average.
Later in this article we will go on to consider detailed requirements for different types of sports activity. But first, we'll take a look at the three key ingredients in sports nutrition: carbohydrates, fluid and iron.
The carbohydrate connection
Carbohydrate is a crucial fuel for exercise. The body makes its own carbohydrate store, known as glycogen, which is stashed away in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is the body's fuel of choice for any exercise more intense than a gentle jog. This is because it can be broken down to provide energy more quickly than fat (the body's other major energy store). However, the snag with glycogen is that only limited amounts of it can be stored. This means that regular training, as well as competition where activity is at least an hour long, carries the risk of glycogen depletion. Low glycogen stores will mean a more sluggish performance and an increased risk of injury.
Strategies to minimise this problem include carbohydrate loading (see box, and the following article), ensuring that a high-carbohydrate diet is eaten the whole time during training to avoid burnout; also, consuming carbohydrates during exercise (eg, a cycle ride) or between rounds (eg, a tennis tournament) can cut down on glycogen loss and keep performance boosted.
If you're in regular training, eating lots of carbohydrate-rich foods will encourage your body to store glycogen (see Table I for carbo contents of various foods). A guideline to aim for is 8-lOg carbohydrate per kg of body weight per day. For an average man (70kg), this would mean aiming for a daily intake of 560-700g; for an average woman (55kg), between 440-550g. Tips for boosting your carbo intake The twin strategies are to cut back on fat and to increase carbohydrates:
1 Base meals around carbohydrate foods - potatoes, pasta, rice, bread.
2 Eat smaller portions of fat-rich foods (eg meat, pies, cheese) and fill up with extra potatoes or bread.
3 Porridge made with water makes a high-carbohydrate start to the day.
4 Drink fruit juice with meals, and a milky drink at bedtime.
5 Cut bread extra-thick for sandwiches.
6 Try carbohydrate-rich snacks that are also low in fat: eg fresh or dried fruit, water biscuits spread with jam.
7 Choose pasta sauces based on tomatoes or vegetables rather than meat or cheese.
Timing your carbo intake
If you need to replenish your glycogen stores quickly (eg you're training every one or two days) it's best to take advantage of the fact that the body is more likely to make glycogen immediately AFTER exercising - the sooner, the better. Some foods are better than others for this - the best are those with a high 'glycaemic index' (a term which means they will bring about a large surge in blood sugar). Examples of such foods are: bread (white or wholemeal), rice, potatoes, raisins, bananas, glucose, sucrose and honey. If you can't face eating straight after exercising, try a carbo-rich drink instead.
Fluid, the second key ingredient
For many athletes, dehydration is something to watch out for. Even moderate fluid losses can mean operating at less than 80% of your potential, and more significant losses could be dangerous to your health.
To prevent this unhappy state of affairs, the answer is to drink. Water is perfectly adequate for most purposes. However, if you're exercising under particularly hot conditions, and/or you know that you are a champion sweater, you may want to consider one of the commercially formulated sports drinks. Isotonic and hypotonic sports drinks are designed to zap water into your bloodstream as fast as possible, and a number of studies have found that they have a slight edge over plain water. You can make up your own version of a sports drink by adding a pinch of salt and 2-4g glucose per lOOml of water.
To make sure that your fluid balance is well in the black before competing, drink more water than you usually would for the few days beforehand. Don't drink alcohol the night before an event - it will dehydrate you. Before competing, try to drink between 1/2 and 1/4 pint 15 minutes before the start. (For more on fluid replacement, see page 6.)
Iron, the third key ingredient
Many athletes run the risk of low iron, partly because the stresses of their sport lead to increased losses of iron from the body (runners seem particularly susceptible). A number of studies have found that people in regular training and/or sports activity have low levels of ferritin, a body store of iron. People with low iron stores complain of tiredness and poor recovery from training. If the situation becomes worse, and haemoglobin (the form in which iron is transported around in the blood) levels fall, anaemia could result, with symptoms of severe fatigue, cramps, headaches and shortness of breath.
So what can you do if you suspect you're iron deficient? Iron supplements are available,and taking some for a few days to see if you notice any improvement could help identify if you really are deficient. However, supplements are commonly associated with side-effects such as nausea and heartburn, so your best bet is to try and boost your iron intake by dietary means. Even i-f you don't suffer immediate side-effects, you should seek medical advice before taking an iron supplement regularly, because it's also possible to suffer health problems from too much iron!
* Haem iron foods: liver, liver pate, lean steak, chicken (dark meat), fish, oysters, salmon
* Non-haem iron foods: eggs, breakfast cereal (fortified), wholemeal bread, spinach (cooked), lentils/kidney beans (cooked), tofu, sultanas, dried apricots, almonds, cocoa.
Haem iron is better absorbed by the body than nonhaem. However, absorption of non-haem iron is enhanced by vitamin C, so include some raw or lightly cooked vegetables with a meal, or drink fruit juice. Conversely, drinking tea or coffee will make the iron more difficult to absorb.
Tailoring nutrition for specific sports
As a broad generalisation, sports can be divided into activities that are aerobic (eg endurance events), anaerobic (short, intense bursts of activity, eg sprinting), and those that are primarily related to strength (eg weightlifting, throwing). In fact, there will often be a combination of all three elements, but there is usually more emphasis on one of the three.
The endurance athlete's priority is to maximise glycogen stores by eating a high-carbohydrate diet both in training and before an event. Carbo loading is advisable, especially for an activity lasting longer than 90 minutes. Care should be taken to avoid dehydration, and this balanced against the possible benefits of taking in extra carbohydrate during the activity. Sports drinks containing maltodextrins enable delivery of some carbohydrate without compromising fluid uptake; on a cool day, however, it could be worth drinking something with a higher concentration of carbohydrate. This will slow down fluid absorption but will spare muscle glycogen. Eating during an endurance event tends to be problematic for runners, but seems to be well tolerated by cyclists.
Sports with an anaerobic content are also performed at their best with muscles well-primed with glycogen. A training diet high in carbohydrate will therefore be beneficial. Carbo loading is not really necessary, however. For anaerobic activities, lactic acid build-up in the muscles is a limiting factor. Some research has shown that sodium bicarbonate taken before events such as a rowing race, 400m swim or 800m run has a positive effect. Some individuals suffer gastrointestinal side-effects, however, so experiment first in training. More recently, creatine phosphate supplements have shown consistently positive effects on short-term, high-intensity exercise, but long-term effects aren't yet known about.
Athletes involved in heats or rounds need to ensure that they recover adequately between events. A sweet drink or carbohydrate-rich snack after exercising will pack the glycogen back into the muscles. Similarly, keep topped up with fluids - if rehydration time is at a premium (eg between squash matches) you'd do well to try an isotonic or hypotonic sports drink - and make sure you're well-hydrated at the start of the day.
The common folklore in strength sports is that a high-protein diet is required. The consensus of most sports scientists is that, although the protein needs of strength athletes are slightly higher than the general population, high levels of protein intake are not necessary. In fact, in the quest for protein, many strength athletes end up eating unhealthy high-fat diets. The key issue for bulking up is adequate energy intake alongside a training programme. A high-energy intake from nutritious food will also be high in protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals.
Many studies of strength athletes have reported heavy use of dietary supplements. Favourites include amino acids - arginine and ornithine, for example, are marketed as boosting growth hormone release, mimicking the effect of steroids. There is no proof that the small amounts of amino acids provided by these supplements have any effect at all on growth hormone levels or body condition.
We will now look at some special considerations for swimmers, cyclists, runners, and those involved in power sports.
Swimming
Optimum body fat for swimmers has become controversial of late. Traditionally, swimmers tend to have more body fat than their counterparts in other sports such as running or cycling. This has always been considered to be an advantage because of the added buoyancy factor. However, recent research has thrown doubt on this accepted wisdom. A study at the University of Georgia found that more fat is not necessarily an advantage. In trials, extra body fat was found to decrease V02max (maximal aerobic capacity). Swimmers trying to lose fat should follow a diet which restricts calories by cutting down on fatty foods. Some popular weight-loss diets advocate cutting down on starchy foods - this is never recommended for an active sportsperson.
Cycling
The long miles and hours of training undertaken by competition cyclists call for a high-energy diet. A dietary study of elite cyclists estimated their average daily calorie intake at over 6000 calories ! It's not possible to consume this much at three meals a day, so constant 'grazing' over the day is advised. Take care that snack foods are high in carbohydrates rather than fat-rich.
Distance running
A nutrition-related problem a lot of runners have to contend with is gastrointestinal discomfort - from nausea to trots while on the trot. This seems to be a treat reserved for the distance runner - endurance cyclists don't suffer. It's thought that the problems are caused by the repeated jolting of the gut while running. Some tips that runners have found helpful are:
1 Try liquid food only for the last meal before a long run or pre-competition
2 Take care not to become dehydrated while running. Research has found that runners who take on board adequate fluid while running are less likely to suffer from gut problems
3 Avoid food high in fat or protein before your training runs, as research shows that these are more likely to induce nausea if eaten before exercise
4 Some athletes find that decreasing the fibre content of their diet before competing improves things.
Power sports
A brief word about making weight (eg in combat sports, rowing, gymnastics). Drastic strategies such as sweating it out in a sauna, or using diuretics or laxatives, may cause an effective loss of body weight, but your body will have lost water, muscle and glycogen in order to achieve it. This will seriously handicap your performance, and it will be impossible to make good the deficit in the time between weighing-in and competing. The maximum weight loss that can be achieved without affecting fluid and glycogen stores is about 2lb a week. So ideally, you should be very close to your competition weight two to four days before competing. Female athletes: special considerations
The two nutritional issues of particular relevance to female athletes are: first, avoiding anemia, and second, achieving a sensible weight. The daily iron requirement for menstruating women is higher than that for men. There is also a greater likelihood that women athletes will be vegetarian. Although there are vegetarian sources of iron, care must be taken to eat enough of them, and in a context that will enable them to be absorbed well (see section on iron, above).
Females achieving a very low level of body fat can end up with their periods becoming irregular, or even stopping altogether. This carries potential health risks, as studies have shown that female athletes whose periods have stopped have lower levels of minerals (including calcium) in their bones - meaning a higher risk of osteoporosis and stress fracture. Any female athlete with abnormal menstruation should consult her GP, and may need to consider gaining weight. In addition, calcium-rich foods should be consumed, such as dairy products, nuts and seeds, dried fruit and green vegetables.
Janet Pidcock, MSc
Rabu, 15 April 2009
Juice Fast
What is a Juice Fast?
A juice fast is a type of detox diet. A juice fast involves the short-term intake of raw vegetable and fruit juice and water only. Proponents of juice fasting use juice because it's thought to be a good source of vitamins and antioxidants.
A juice fast is considered an extreme form of detoxification because no solid food is consumed. More moderate detox methods, such as the detox diet include solid food.
Who Shouldn't Try a Juice Fast?
- Pregnant or nursing women or children shouldn't try a juice fast.
- People with diabetes, low blood sugar, eating disorders, kidney disease, liver disease, malnutrition, addictions, underweight, anemia, impaired immune function, infection, nutritional deficiency, low blood pressure, ulcerative colitis, cancer, terminal illness, epilepsy, or other chronic conditions shouldn't try a juice fast or should do so only under strict medical supervision.
- People shouldn't try a juice fast before or after surgical procedures.
- A juice fasting can reduce blood proteins and change the way prescription drugs react in the body. People taking prescription medications should consult a health professional skilled in detoxification before trying a juice fast, and should never discontinue or reduce their medications on their own.
It's important to consult a qualified health professional before trying a juice fast.
Possible Side Effects of a Juice Fast
Common temporary side effects of a juice fast include headaches, tiredness, hypoglycemia, constipation, acne, increased body odor, and bad breath.
Other side effects of a juice fast can include fainting, dizziness, low blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, weight loss, hunger, vomiting, diarrhea, and kidney problems. If these side effects occur, there is a worsening of symptoms, or new symptoms appear, the fast should be discontinued and it should prompt an immediate visit to a qualified health professional.
Another possible side effect of a juice fast is diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and electrolyte loss.
If continued for a longer time, juice fasting can lead to nutrient deficiencies, particularly protein and calcium deficiency.
Grapefruit juice should not be used during a juice fast, especially by people taking certain prescription drugs. A compound in grapefruit can change the way certain prescription drugs are metabolized in the body. Recent evidence suggests that pomegranate juice may also have the same effect.
How Long Does a Juice Fast Typically Last?
A juice fast typically lasts for one to three days. A longer fast requires medical supervision and possibly monitoring to ensure that nutrient deficiencies don't result.
What Does a Typical Juice Fast Involve?
- Proponents of juice fasting suggest fasting only during the warmer months of the year. Spring is thought to be the best time of the year for juice fasting.
- Seven or more days before the fast, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, sugar, dairy, wheat, animal meat, fish, and eggs are typically reduced or eliminated from the diet. This preparation diet often consists mainly of organic fruits, vegetables, and beans.
- Between 32 and 64 ounces of juice is usually recommended per day during the fast. The juice is sipped throughout the day. Typical fruits and vegetables include celery, carrot, kale, cabbage, apple, pineapple, cranberry, spinach, beet, and greens. Citrus fruits are often avoided.
- Approximately 6 glasses of room temperature or warm filtered water is often recommended in addition to the juice.
- Organic fruits and vegetables are usually recommended. If organic produce isn't available, practitioners suggest peeling the skin off fruits and vegetables or washing vegetables with a non-toxic produce cleaner, usually available at health food stores.
- Freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are preferred, but if unavailable, practitioners suggest buying it from the health food store or juice bar as fresh as possible.
- Green vegetables and sprouts contain the pigment chlorophyll, which juice proponents believe are especially beneficial during a juice fast.
- A combination of fruits and vegetables is recommended.
- Variations on the strict juice fast include eating one meal a day in addition to the juice.
Selasa, 14 April 2009
Juice Fasting For Weight Loss and Juice Fasting For Stubborn Fat!
How much weight will I lose on a juice fast?
The main benefit offered by a juice fast, to those who wish to lose weight, is the speed of the weight loss. Initially, weight loss can be as high as three-to-four pounds per day, but as the fast continues, the average loss will be one pound-per-day.
To see a person drop 30-to-40 pounds in a 30-day juice fast is to see a person totally transform his life. Self-esteem is given a boost and for the first time in their life, discipline becomes a lifestyle. The fast becomes a catalyst for a total life overhaul. People start dressing better, showing more confidence, becoming more organized, more dedicated in relationships and more at peace.
Juice fasting for weight loss and stubborn fat
Trying to stay on a diet can turn a simple journey to the supermarket into an epic challenge of self-discipline. How can you ignore all the florescent-lit aisles of junk food offering every temptation known to the tongue when you are hungry depressed and feeling deprived? It becomes a war of desires where your willingness to surrender is quickly rewarded.
In a culture that esteems fashion-model thinness as perfect beauty, fat is the ugly disease that must be cured. This creates an obsession with weight-loss that increases the difficulty in losing weight. It is like trying not to think of a white horse. The more you try not to think of it the more it comes back into your thoughts.
Obsession, slow metabolism and high-calorie food are a deadly combination for weight gain. The worst offenders of weight gain are starches, fats, and refined sugars. Since the biggest part of our diet is starch in the form of breakfast cereal, cookies, cakes, pies, chips and bread, it has the greatest impact on weight gain. Starches are worse than sugar. For a short amount of time, the blood sugar will peak allowing the body to store the excess sugar as body fat. Starch is different in that it is a slow release of sugar, which is perfect for long-distance runners, however, if you are inactive, the slow-releasing sugars will be turned into body fat. Excess calories equate to excess fat.
For many, juice fasting is a last ditch effort to lose stubborn fat that has resisted every attempt at weight reduction. Diets may have given you a short-lived victory, only to suffer defeat by one indulgence that escalates into a feeding frenzy resulting in being heavier than before the diet.
How juice fasting affects addiction to food
My war with food addiction lasted 10 long years. I had been healed from years of drug abuse, but my battle with addictive behavior was not over. I desperately wanted control over what I ate, not for weight loss, as I was thin, due to a very fast metabolism; but binge eating made me feel like garbage.
Cookies, cakes, ice cream and chocolate were the enemies I loved. At the saturation point, where I could not stand myself anymore, I would fast and my body would recover from the damage of the abuse, but it only deepened the power of my addiction.
After 20 days of juice fasting, I would go on a feeding frenzy destroying all the benefits of the fast. My resting stomach was stuffed with the most volatile mixtures of food. Sometimes it took weeks to recover. After years of blowing fasts, the realization came that fasting was increasing my compulsiveness.
Fasting had become a drug. I longed for the freedom of the fast, that amazing feeling of being in total control. Victory tasted sweet but it never lasted. Over and over I plunged into the pit of hell, blowing the fast and enduring painful feelings of being a failure, guilt and feeling out of control.
Tom wrote a book on how to overcome overeating
My book, Eating in Freedom, was written after years of my continual battles with compulsive eating in a desperate attempt to get free. I discovered principles for keeping my thought life pure and reassuring. With each chapter, I learned, and by the end of the book, for the first time in my life, I was free from food addiction.
Not only did it work for me but thousands of others. No fancy secret knowledge, just methods to change how you think, for when you change how you think, you change how you eat. Once you get your diet and thinking to this point, it becomes a lifestyle; then you will naturally want the foods that are good for you.
How the juice fasting diet affects metabolism
The fear is that while juice fasting, the metabolism will slow down and afterward there will be more weight gained than before the fast. Initially, any calorie reduction will cause a lowering in the BMR or base metabolic rate. Cleansing will bring health that will increase metabolic performance and energy output. In other words, you will eat less and feel more energetic.
The greatest impact you can have on increasing your resting metabolism is exercise. After a workout, you can be sitting on the couch reading while burning calories, as the muscles are grabbing glucose from the blood to replace glycogen supplies. The key to weight loss is fewer calories and more exercise. A diet high in raw food provides fewer, low-density calories, and higher-fiber, more-filling foods.
How the juice fasting diet affects digestion
After a juice fast, the body is more efficient. Digestion is better due to a cleaner colon. The colon walls have been cleansed of impacted feces, allowing improved absorption of nutrients. The good news is that greater efficiency equals enhanced energy. Healthy people burn more calories. They also eat less because they are more active and feel better about themselves. They don't need food as a security blanket.
The above juice fasting article was written by Guest Writer, Tom McGregor, author of Eating in Freedom, which you can download into your computer today.
Tom had an overeating disorder and once ate an entire gallon of ice cream in one sitting and almost froze his stomach. He shares his story in this article: My war with food addiction.
Juice fasting to lose weight? Here are some great juicer recipes and fruit smoothie recipes to help you get started!
Morning Sunshine Smoothie
2 large oranges
1 red grapefruit
6 frozen strawberries
1/2 banana
Squeeze the juice from the oranges and grapefruit.
Put the juice in a blender and blend with the strawberries and banana.
Watermelon Dream Juice
2 cups cubed watermelon, cold
2 cups cubed cantaloupe, cold
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
Pass the ingredients through a juicer.
Strawberry Thirst Quencher Smoothie
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup orange juice
2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Put ingredients in a blender.
Carrot Cleanser Juice
4 large carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 apple
handful spinach
juice from 1/2 lemon (optional)
Pass the ingredients through a blender.
The story of how Tom helped Carl W. lose 100 pounds on a 40-day juice fast
Note from Healthrecipes.com:
Carl had a liver disorder and his 100-pound weight loss from juice fasting was unique to his condition. While juice fasting is not recommended for those with liver disorders, we believe that freshly-made juices from carrots, beets, celery and lemon are good for the liver.
"Fasting with water, juice and a complete diet of natural foods gave me a new lease on life! The disease crippling me was chronic hepatitis. Drug abuse began at thirteen and after years of serious addiction, I contracted hepatitis, a very painful and frustrating illness.
As the years progressed my liver deteriorated, causing my other filtering organs (kidneys and spleen) to be overworked, thus damaging them, causing even more pain. For sixteen years I suffered. My liver was swollen to the size of a football. The liver is the largest cleansing organ, and does not have room for swelling. When it does, constant irritating pain is felt from the rib cage to the stomach. Hepatitis is impossible to forget.
Life was dismal and without hope. I was a 270-lb., burned out drug addict coming off a massive intake of chemicals. It took 20 to 30 tranquilizers a day to prevent my mind from losing its sanity.
My emotions were out of control. Nerves were like electrical wires on overload. Without knowing what else to do I phoned Tom (author of Eating in Freedom), a friend I had not seen in years. Tom's heart was moved. He explained that I was in serious trouble and needed help.
After a few days of sleeping, I awoke only to realize how grossly complicated my rebellious life had become. The past 20 years flooded my conscious. I had played the role of someone else; someone tough, ruthless, and invincible. All that was left was an empty, barren soul. The flood of tears wouldn't stop as I agonized over the loss of my family. There was no one to blame —I was a victim of my own demise. I thought moving in with Tom would help the massive depression that was now my life, but nothing could stop my eyes from seeing painful reality. Tom stayed up several nights listening to my sad story. If all my pent up anguish hadn't found an outlet, my insides would have exploded.
After 20 days of juice fasting the changes were remarkable. As the pain lessened, I started to feel alive again. I wasn't cured, but because of the results I continued the fast.
After 40 days of juice fasting, there was a metamorphosis from a sickly, unstable human into someone vibrant with health and well being. My self-esteem began to build gradually as I shed 100 pounds. At the start I weighed 270 lbs. This bulk was caused by the retention of large amounts of body fluids. Due to the drugs and the damaged liver, my body could not release these fluids.
After the 40 days my weight had dropped to 170 lbs.; whatever had caused the bloating had healed. The swelling on my right side from my liver had disappeared completely. My mind was clear and stable. For the first time in years, I could live without tranquilizers! I sincerely thought drugs had done permanent damage to my brain. I was wrong!
If a butterfly could talk of its experience of changing from a crawling insect into a multi-colored, graceful, flying creation, it would most likely be saying the words I felt in my heart. I was given back what drugs took away.
This knowledge has brought me a new zeal for life. It has freed me from a tremendous addiction. It has brought me closer to God in spirit than ever before."
The main benefit offered by a juice fast, to those who wish to lose weight, is the speed of the weight loss. Initially, weight loss can be as high as three-to-four pounds per day, but as the fast continues, the average loss will be one pound-per-day.
To see a person drop 30-to-40 pounds in a 30-day juice fast is to see a person totally transform his life. Self-esteem is given a boost and for the first time in their life, discipline becomes a lifestyle. The fast becomes a catalyst for a total life overhaul. People start dressing better, showing more confidence, becoming more organized, more dedicated in relationships and more at peace.
Juice fasting for weight loss and stubborn fat
Trying to stay on a diet can turn a simple journey to the supermarket into an epic challenge of self-discipline. How can you ignore all the florescent-lit aisles of junk food offering every temptation known to the tongue when you are hungry depressed and feeling deprived? It becomes a war of desires where your willingness to surrender is quickly rewarded.
In a culture that esteems fashion-model thinness as perfect beauty, fat is the ugly disease that must be cured. This creates an obsession with weight-loss that increases the difficulty in losing weight. It is like trying not to think of a white horse. The more you try not to think of it the more it comes back into your thoughts.
Obsession, slow metabolism and high-calorie food are a deadly combination for weight gain. The worst offenders of weight gain are starches, fats, and refined sugars. Since the biggest part of our diet is starch in the form of breakfast cereal, cookies, cakes, pies, chips and bread, it has the greatest impact on weight gain. Starches are worse than sugar. For a short amount of time, the blood sugar will peak allowing the body to store the excess sugar as body fat. Starch is different in that it is a slow release of sugar, which is perfect for long-distance runners, however, if you are inactive, the slow-releasing sugars will be turned into body fat. Excess calories equate to excess fat.
For many, juice fasting is a last ditch effort to lose stubborn fat that has resisted every attempt at weight reduction. Diets may have given you a short-lived victory, only to suffer defeat by one indulgence that escalates into a feeding frenzy resulting in being heavier than before the diet.
How juice fasting affects addiction to food
My war with food addiction lasted 10 long years. I had been healed from years of drug abuse, but my battle with addictive behavior was not over. I desperately wanted control over what I ate, not for weight loss, as I was thin, due to a very fast metabolism; but binge eating made me feel like garbage.
Cookies, cakes, ice cream and chocolate were the enemies I loved. At the saturation point, where I could not stand myself anymore, I would fast and my body would recover from the damage of the abuse, but it only deepened the power of my addiction.
After 20 days of juice fasting, I would go on a feeding frenzy destroying all the benefits of the fast. My resting stomach was stuffed with the most volatile mixtures of food. Sometimes it took weeks to recover. After years of blowing fasts, the realization came that fasting was increasing my compulsiveness.
Fasting had become a drug. I longed for the freedom of the fast, that amazing feeling of being in total control. Victory tasted sweet but it never lasted. Over and over I plunged into the pit of hell, blowing the fast and enduring painful feelings of being a failure, guilt and feeling out of control.
Tom wrote a book on how to overcome overeating
My book, Eating in Freedom, was written after years of my continual battles with compulsive eating in a desperate attempt to get free. I discovered principles for keeping my thought life pure and reassuring. With each chapter, I learned, and by the end of the book, for the first time in my life, I was free from food addiction.
Not only did it work for me but thousands of others. No fancy secret knowledge, just methods to change how you think, for when you change how you think, you change how you eat. Once you get your diet and thinking to this point, it becomes a lifestyle; then you will naturally want the foods that are good for you.
How the juice fasting diet affects metabolism
The fear is that while juice fasting, the metabolism will slow down and afterward there will be more weight gained than before the fast. Initially, any calorie reduction will cause a lowering in the BMR or base metabolic rate. Cleansing will bring health that will increase metabolic performance and energy output. In other words, you will eat less and feel more energetic.
The greatest impact you can have on increasing your resting metabolism is exercise. After a workout, you can be sitting on the couch reading while burning calories, as the muscles are grabbing glucose from the blood to replace glycogen supplies. The key to weight loss is fewer calories and more exercise. A diet high in raw food provides fewer, low-density calories, and higher-fiber, more-filling foods.
How the juice fasting diet affects digestion
After a juice fast, the body is more efficient. Digestion is better due to a cleaner colon. The colon walls have been cleansed of impacted feces, allowing improved absorption of nutrients. The good news is that greater efficiency equals enhanced energy. Healthy people burn more calories. They also eat less because they are more active and feel better about themselves. They don't need food as a security blanket.
The above juice fasting article was written by Guest Writer, Tom McGregor, author of Eating in Freedom, which you can download into your computer today.
Tom had an overeating disorder and once ate an entire gallon of ice cream in one sitting and almost froze his stomach. He shares his story in this article: My war with food addiction.
Juice fasting to lose weight? Here are some great juicer recipes and fruit smoothie recipes to help you get started!
Morning Sunshine Smoothie
2 large oranges
1 red grapefruit
6 frozen strawberries
1/2 banana
Squeeze the juice from the oranges and grapefruit.
Put the juice in a blender and blend with the strawberries and banana.
Watermelon Dream Juice
2 cups cubed watermelon, cold
2 cups cubed cantaloupe, cold
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
Pass the ingredients through a juicer.
Strawberry Thirst Quencher Smoothie
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup orange juice
2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Put ingredients in a blender.
Carrot Cleanser Juice
4 large carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 apple
handful spinach
juice from 1/2 lemon (optional)
Pass the ingredients through a blender.
The story of how Tom helped Carl W. lose 100 pounds on a 40-day juice fast
Note from Healthrecipes.com:
Carl had a liver disorder and his 100-pound weight loss from juice fasting was unique to his condition. While juice fasting is not recommended for those with liver disorders, we believe that freshly-made juices from carrots, beets, celery and lemon are good for the liver.
"Fasting with water, juice and a complete diet of natural foods gave me a new lease on life! The disease crippling me was chronic hepatitis. Drug abuse began at thirteen and after years of serious addiction, I contracted hepatitis, a very painful and frustrating illness.
As the years progressed my liver deteriorated, causing my other filtering organs (kidneys and spleen) to be overworked, thus damaging them, causing even more pain. For sixteen years I suffered. My liver was swollen to the size of a football. The liver is the largest cleansing organ, and does not have room for swelling. When it does, constant irritating pain is felt from the rib cage to the stomach. Hepatitis is impossible to forget.
Life was dismal and without hope. I was a 270-lb., burned out drug addict coming off a massive intake of chemicals. It took 20 to 30 tranquilizers a day to prevent my mind from losing its sanity.
My emotions were out of control. Nerves were like electrical wires on overload. Without knowing what else to do I phoned Tom (author of Eating in Freedom), a friend I had not seen in years. Tom's heart was moved. He explained that I was in serious trouble and needed help.
After a few days of sleeping, I awoke only to realize how grossly complicated my rebellious life had become. The past 20 years flooded my conscious. I had played the role of someone else; someone tough, ruthless, and invincible. All that was left was an empty, barren soul. The flood of tears wouldn't stop as I agonized over the loss of my family. There was no one to blame —I was a victim of my own demise. I thought moving in with Tom would help the massive depression that was now my life, but nothing could stop my eyes from seeing painful reality. Tom stayed up several nights listening to my sad story. If all my pent up anguish hadn't found an outlet, my insides would have exploded.
After 20 days of juice fasting the changes were remarkable. As the pain lessened, I started to feel alive again. I wasn't cured, but because of the results I continued the fast.
After 40 days of juice fasting, there was a metamorphosis from a sickly, unstable human into someone vibrant with health and well being. My self-esteem began to build gradually as I shed 100 pounds. At the start I weighed 270 lbs. This bulk was caused by the retention of large amounts of body fluids. Due to the drugs and the damaged liver, my body could not release these fluids.
After the 40 days my weight had dropped to 170 lbs.; whatever had caused the bloating had healed. The swelling on my right side from my liver had disappeared completely. My mind was clear and stable. For the first time in years, I could live without tranquilizers! I sincerely thought drugs had done permanent damage to my brain. I was wrong!
If a butterfly could talk of its experience of changing from a crawling insect into a multi-colored, graceful, flying creation, it would most likely be saying the words I felt in my heart. I was given back what drugs took away.
This knowledge has brought me a new zeal for life. It has freed me from a tremendous addiction. It has brought me closer to God in spirit than ever before."
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