The Positive Weight Loss Approach

Friday, May 28, 2010

Once you have made up your mind to lose weight, you should make that commitment and go into it with a positive attitude. We all know that losing weight can be quite a challenge. In fact, for some, it can be downright tough. It takes time, practice and support to change lifetime habits. But it's a process you must learn in order to succeed. You and you alone are the one who has the power to lose unwanted pounds.

Think like a winner, and not a loser - - remember that emotions are like muscles and the ones you use most grow the strongest. If you always look at the negative side of things, you'll become a downbeat, pessimistic person. Even slightly negative thoughts have a greater impact on you and last longer than powerful positive thoughts.

Negative thinking doesn't do you any good, it just holds you back from accomplishing the things you want to do. When a negative thought creeps into your mind, replace it reminding yourself that you're somebody, you have self-worth and you possess unique strengths and talents.Contemplate what lies ahead of you. Losing weight is not just about diets. It's about a whole new you and the possibility of creating a new life for yourself. Investigate the weight loss programs that appeal to you and that you feel will teach you the behavioral skills you need to stick with throughout the weight-loss process. First you should look for support among family and friends. It can be an enormous help to discuss obstacles and share skills and tactics with others on the same path. You might look for this support from others you know who are in weight loss programs and you can seek guidance from someone you know who has lost weight and kept it off.

There are success stories across the country today. On television and in newspapers, magazines and tabloids about people who have miraculously lost untold pounds and kept it off. In all instances they say their mental attitude as well as their outlook on life has totally changed.

Diets and weight loss programs are more flexible now than they once were and there are many prepared foods already portioned out. They are made attractive and can be prepared in a matter of minutes. Low-fat and low-calorie foods are on shelves everywhere.

You will probably need to learn new, wiser eating skills. You will want a weight loss regimen that gives you some control, rather than imposing one rigid system. Look for one that offers a variety of different eating plans, so you can choose the one that's best for you.

Keep in mind, too, that your weight loss program will most likely include some physical exercises. Look at the exercising aspect of your program as fun and recreation and not as a form of grueling and sweaty work. The fact is that physical fitness is linked inseparable to all personal effectiveness in every field. Anyone willing to take the few simple steps that lie between them and fitness will shortly begin to feel better, and the improvement will reflect itself in every facet of their existence.

Doctors now say that walking is one of the best exercises. It helps the total circulation of blood throughout the body, and thus has a direct effect on your overall feeling of health. There are things such as aerobics, jogging, swimming and many other exercises which will benefit a weight loss program. Discuss the options with your doctor and take his advice in planning your exercise and weight loss program.

Submitted by Ronnie H. Williams VI

DIETS DON'T WOK!

Many North Americans view a healthy lifestyle as something difficult to attain--and something that's not much fun. Traditional diets have taught us that to lose weight, we must count calories, keep track of everything we eat, and deprive ourselves by limiting the amount--and kinds--of foods we eat. Diets tell us exactly what and how much food to eat, regardless of our preferences and individual relationships with hunger and satiety. Dieting can help us lose weight (fat, muscle, and water) in the short term but is so unnatural and so unrealistic that it can never become a lifestyle that we can live with, let alone enjoy!

While very few diets teach healthy low-fat shopping, cooking, and dining-out strategies, many offer unrealistic recommendations and encourage health-threatening restrictions. Even more important, diets don't teach us the safest, most effective ways to exercise; they don't teach us how to deal with our cravings and our desires, or how to attend to our feelings of hunger and fullness. Eventually, we become tired of the complexity, the hunger, the lack of flavor, the lack of flexibility, the lack of energy, and the feeling of deprivation. We quit our diets and gain back the weight we've lost; sometimes we gain even more!

Each time we go on another diet of deprivation, the weight becomes more difficult to lose, and we become even more frustrated and discouraged. Then we eat more and exercise less, causing ourselves more frustration, discouragement, depression. Soon we are in a vicious cycle. We begin to ask ourselves, "Why bother?" We begin to blame ourselves for having no will power when what we really need is clear, scientifically-based information that will help us develop a healthier lifestyle we can live with for the rest of our lives.

Deliberate restriction of food intake in order to lose weight or to prevent weight gain, known as dieting, is the path that millions of people all over the world are taking in order to reach a desired body weight or appearance. Preoccupation with body shape, size, and weight creates an unhealthy lifestyle of emotional and physical deprivation. Diets take control away from us.

Many of us who diet get caught in a "yo-yo" cycle that begins with low self-acceptance and results in structured eating and living because we lack trust in our body and are unwilling to listen and adhere to our body's signals of hunger and fullness. On diets, we distrust and ignore internal signs of appetite, hunger, and our need to be physically and psychologically satisfied. Instead, we depend on diet plans, measured portions, and a prescribed frequency for eating.

As a result, many of us have lost the ability to eat in response to our physical needs; we experience feelings of deprivation, then binge, and finally terminate our "health" program. This in turn leads to guilt, defeat, weight gain, low self-esteem, and then we're back to the beginning of the yo-yo diet cycle. Rather than making us feel better about ourselves, diets set us up for failure and erode our self-esteem.

The attitudes and practices acquired through years of dieting are likely to result in a body weight and size obsession, low self-esteem, poor nutrition and excessive or inadequate exercise. Weight loss from following a rigid diet is usually temporary. Most diets are too drastic to maintain; they are unrealistic and unpleasant; they are physically and emotionally stressful. And most of us just resume our old eating and activity patterns. Diets control us; we are not in control. People who try to live by diet lists and rules learn little or nothing about proper nutrition and how to enjoy their meals, physical activity, and a healthy lifestyle. No one can realistically live in the diet mode for the rest of their life, depriving themselves of the true pleasures of healthy eating and activity.

We Don't Fail Diets; They Fail Us!

Decades of research have shown that diets, both self-initiated and professionally-led, are ineffective at producing long-term health and weight loss (or weight control). When your diet fails to keep the weight off, you may say to yourself, "If only I didn't love food so much . . . If I could just exercise more often . . . If I just had more will power." The problem is not personal weakness or lack of will power. Only 5 percent of people who go on diets are successful. Please understand that we are not failing diets; diets are failing us.

The reason 95 percent of all traditional diets fail is simple. When you go on a low-calorie diet, your body thinks you are starving; it actually becomes more efficient at storing fat by slowing down your metabolism. When you stop this unrealistic eating plan, your metabolism is still slow and inefficient that you gain the weight back even faster, even though you may still be eating less than you were before you went on the diet.

In addition, low-calorie diets cause you to lose both muscle and fat in equal amounts. However, when you eventually gain back the weight, it is all fat and not muscle, causing your metabolism to slow down even more. Now you have extra weight, a less healthy body composition, and a less attractive physique.

Diets require you to sacrifice by being hungry; they don't allow you to enjoy the foods you love. This does not teach you habits which you can maintain after the diet is over. Most diet programs force you to lower your caloric intake to dangerously low levels. The common theory is that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. But when you eat fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its life-sustaining activities, you're actually losing muscle in addition to fat. Your body breaks down its own muscles to provide the needed energy for survival.

Traditional diets which use calorie restriction to produce weight loss are no longer appropriate. Most weight-loss programs measure success solely in terms of the number of pounds lost per weight loss attempt. Diets don't take into account the quality of the process used to achieve that weight loss or the very small likelihood of sustained weight loss. For long-term good health, you need to move away from low-calorie diets and focus on enjoyable physical activity and good nutrition. Exercising regularly and eating lean-supporting calories, protein and carbohydrates, and reducing fat-supporting calories will not only help you look and feel better, it will also significantly reduce your risk of disease.

America spends billions of dollars on different ways to fix people. If we focused more on prevention and on improving our day-to-day behaviors, we could cut health care costs in half. Contrary to popular belief, leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to be difficult; it doesn't have to painful or time-consuming. Making gradual, simple changes in your diet and physical activity will make great improvements in your health and well-being, and they can drastically reduce your risk of disease.

If your weight management program is to be a success, everything you eat and every exercise you do must be a pleasurable experience. If you're not enjoying yourself, it is unlikely that you'll continue your program. It's that simple. These small, gradual changes are not painful or overwhelming but rather the core of an exciting lifestyle that you will look forward to.

Take the frustration, guilt, and deprivation out of weight management, and allow yourself to adopt gradual, realistic changes into your life that will make healthy eating and physical activity a permanent pleasure. You will soon discover what your body is capable of and begin to look, act, and feel your very best. Good luck and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle. 

Chad Tackett, the President of Global Health and Fitness (GHF), has degrees in Exercise and Heath Science and Nutrition, is a Certified Personal Trainer, and is a regular guest lecturer to both professional and lay audiences on the principles of effective exercise and good nutrition.

Why Most People Fail At Losing Weight

Why do so many people fail at losing weight? Is it because they are lazy? No. Is it because they are addicted to food? No. Is it because they aren’t good at exercising? No. Failure at weight loss stems from a few main factors:

• People don't truly understand the risks of being overweight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a 1000 pound gorilla in the room and it’s often ignored. Being overweight for a long period of time kills thousands of people each year. Thousands of studies have show and proven without any doubt that losing body fat will improve and lengthen your life. This eBook will give you a picture of the dangers of being overweight. Knowing the dangers of being overweight is a tremendous motivator to not only lose fat, but to keep it off.
• People don't commit to permanent lifestyle changes. So many people think of a "diet" as something temporary. When they are on a "diet" they restrict themselves so much that they are miserable. Sooner or later failure is inevitable because of the unreasonable demands of most "diets." Some of these diets force you to only eat certain foods (e.g., no carbs, special soups etc…) You, like myself, have probably tried them before. The key to losing weight long term is to make gradual lifestyle changes you can stick to forever.
• Most individuals are not provided the truthful facts of losing weight and becoming healthier. With the conflicting information in the media, and all of the different lose weight quick fad diets, it’s understandable why so many people really don’t know the truth about losing fat and keeping it off long term. We will go over the no-nonsense truth.
• Most people don't understand they are constantly either gaining fat, or losing fat. There is no in-between. Some people justify binging or giving up because they hit a small road-block. This isn’t an all or nothing game. For example, when I was overweight, if I ate an unhealthy lunch, I’d go ahead and eat an unhealthy dinner since I already "messed up" the day. Or I’d say, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday since I’ve already eaten poorly this weekend. Every person at times eats too much. The successful people will not let a road bump completely derail their entire lifestyle change. If you are not implementing positive lifestyle changes and losing weight, you are gaining weight. Again, there is no "in-between."
• Most people don't realize what they consume each day. So many overweight people eat thousands of extra calories and fat without realizing it. It’s tough to know if you are gaining weight or losing weight each day unless you are keeping an eye on what you’re consuming. Later in the eBook you will be given an easy way to keep track of your consumption.
  
  This article was written by Mandy, the creator of FreeWeightloss.com, and the author of the Ultimate Weight Loss eBook.

Antioxidants are also Anti-fat

Free radicals are now blamed not only for making you look old but also making you fat.  Dr. Zane Andrews, a neurologist at Monash University in Australia, says these oxidizing molecules damage the cells that tell us we're full. Free radicals  emerge when we eat (something even the keenest dieter must do to survive), but they are especially prevalent when we gorge on candy bars, chips, and other carbohydrates. With every passing ear, these fullness signifiers suffer wear and tear - causing the "stop eating!" signal to get weaker and appetites (and possibly our stomachs) to get bigger. How to fight back??? Avoid junk and load up on colourful, antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables as well as supplements such as OPC-3, vitamin E and C.

HEART ATTACK OR HEARTBURN? Knowing the difference can save your life.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Differentiating  between a heart attack, caused by a blockage of the arteries that feed your heart, and heartburn, caused by excess stomach acid washing up into your esophagus, is not always easy, even for health practitioners. In many cases, however, you can tell the difference  between the two, and knowing how might just save your life.
With both a heart attack and heartburn, you may feel burning or pressure  behind your sternum, (also known as the breastbone), the flat bone in the center of your chest. Because the heart  is in the left chest, many assume that a heart attack would announce itself on that side. Not so. Those experiencing  a heart attack classically feel pain in the center of their breastbone as a result of the way their nerves are wired.

SERIOUS SYMPTOMS OF A HEART ATTACK

Sudden tightening, squeezing, or crushing chest pain.

If you have any of these symptoms, there is an increased likelihood that what you are feeling is from your heart. If it's sudden and severe, take it seriously and act quickly by calling 911 or the emergency number  in your area.

Pain radiating up into your neck, jaw, shoulders, or into your left arm.

Pain from the hurt burn  normally limits itself to the center of the chest. If pain radiates elsewhere, your heart could be the source. Patients  with early heart attacks complain of pressure in the chest accompanied by a vague in the neck neck or jaw.

Pain that comes on while you are exercising or exerting yourself.

Heartburn usually follows a meal and lying down or bending over makes it worst. Unless you are exercising after a big meal, exertion should not trigger heartburn. If you get chest pain, burning, squeezing or pressure when you walk briskly or climb stairs, your health practitioner needs to know. This pain, also as angina,  is a signal that you have a blockage  in the arteries  to your heart and could  mean that a serious heart attack is around the corner. Stress can also bring on an angina by stimulating  your heart through fight-or-flight hormones.

Feeling breathless, sweaty or dizzy.

If you feel unwell, light-headed, fatigued, have trouble breathing, or are clammy with perspiration , something serious is likely going on. If you even slightly suspect that your symptoms are heart related, you must get medical attention as soon as possible. If your symptoms are mild and you cant get in touch with your health practitioner, go to an extended-hours clinic and let them know immediately that you are experiencing chest pain. If your symptoms are significant, particularly if the pain or pressure is severe  and does not settle one
down, call 911 or the emergency number in your area
Never drive yourself. . If your pain becomes a full-on heart while you're at the wheel, it could be disastrous.
Also, if you think you are having angina or a heart attack, take an Aspirin. It reduces the risk of blood clots and can protect you from more severe injury to your heart.

Heading Off Heartburn

If it turns out you have  heartburn, there are many things that you can do to prevent it. Eat smaller meals, avoid lying down after a meal and avoid heartburn-promoting foods such as alcohol, chocolate. coffee, fatty foods, citrus juices, tomato sauces, pop, vinegar, and - believe it or not - peppermint tea. If you are overweight, work on slimming down. the excess pounds put pressure on your stomach and cause acid to back up into the esophagus. Avoid tight-fitting clothes for the same reason. If you get mild symptoms from time to time,  an over-the-counter antacid may provide relief, as can stress-reduction techniques. Aloe vera juice or digestive enzyme supplements will surely work as well.You can also do much to prevent heart disease and eventual heart attacks. The top risk factors associated with heart disease include smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, and strong family history.

You can minimize your risk through a heart-healthy lifestyle: exercise regularly; minimize stress; eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and fibre; avoid trans fats, get regular health check-ups, and maintain a healthy weight. Heart-healthy superfoods include the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, Co-Q10, antioxidants such as OPC-3. Each of these lifestyle actions will also help you prevent or even treat diabetes and high blood pressure and cholesterol.

By Suasan Bali, M.D. is a wellness expert, speaker, and author of Live a Life You Love.