Weight Loss Guide Center

Why Are We Overweight?

2009-12-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

by: (c) Anna “Overweight? NO MORE!”

Why are we overweight? This question has been asked many times and we all have different answers. The most common is because we eat too much, especially junk food, and exercise less. It is easy to say, I will lose weight and keep it off. Reality is that when we eat more calories than we can use for energy, our bodies store fat. The issue is whether we are seriously committed to change our lifestyle, adopt healthier habits and exercise more. After we gain weight, we find difficulty losing it. There is hope. Increasing our fat burning metabolism will help us lose weight.

Most people have tried many diets, such as quick weight loss diets with the hope of loosing that unwanted fat, yet failed to keep the weight off. Why? Because quick diets are not the answer. Think for a moment, we did not gain all that weight in one week, but gradually, right? Therefore, we can lose that unwanted fat gradually and keep the weight off. This is why it is so hard to lose fat and to stay slim with those quick weight loss diets. Some of these diets are so extreme that leave you feeling hungry, weak, and the end is that instead of promoting a healthy eating habit to lose weight, you end up cheating and eating until you satisfy those cravings.

Back to our original question, why are we overweight? People are overweight for different reasons: eating too much, lack of exercise, slow fat burning metabolism, retaining water, eating too late, eating unconsciously while watching TV, eating the wrong foods. We tend to eat for emotional reasons too, as we relate food as calming our nerves. Sound familiar? Sure, we feel fine while eating, but is this the answer to calm our nerves? No. Definitely not. Anxiety can drive us to eat more and see food as an ideal comfort.

How to resolve the overweight issue?

First, we recommend you take a conscious decision of examining your eating habits and consult a physician to check your health before starting any nutritional program and exercise plan.

Second, keep a daily record of what you eat, drink at least 8 glasses of water, have green tea to increase your metabolism, consume lots of vegetables and fresh fruit, avoid junk food and heavy sugary products.

Third, learn to say no when friends or family members offer you second or third servings.

Fourth, keep a firm decision and a positive attitude to lose that unwanted weight, visualize the new you.

Fifth, contact friends who will encourage you to lose weight and motivate you when feeling down. There is always someone ready to keep you motivated.

Whenever you feel eating for anxiety, think twice. Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “am I really hungry or is just an emotional excuse?” Instead of eating impulsively, try to drink water or have a cup of green tea, go out for a walk, or contact one of your friends for motivation.

Remember you are not alone; there are many people trying to lose weight and helping each other is the most valuable tool. Others have lost weight and kept the weight off. I did it, so can you! Believe in yourself, you are special.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna “Overweight? NO MORE!” lost over 80 pounds from 230 pounds and has kept the weight off for 3 years. She believes that every person can achieve a healthier figure with determination, eating healthy, and exercising. There is no general miracle diet, but every body responds differently. It is a matter of taking the first step: ”Believing that one can regain a healthier body, having that strong inner motivation is the key to stay focused. I did it, so can you!”
www.officialoverweightnomore.com
contact: anna@officialoverweightnomore.com

NOTE: This article may be freely reprinted in your ezines, ebooks, off-line publications, or on your websites. We only require that the entire article and the resource box "about the author" at the bottom of each article remain unchanged.

Interviews With Successful Ezine Publishers - Renee Kennedy

2009-12-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

by: Ken Hill

Renee Kennedy is the editor of The NutriCounter Update, a light-hearted ezine that provides one fresh article on a topic related to weight loss, diet, nutrition and weight management. To subscribe, visit http://www.nutricounter.com/subscribe.htm

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

RK: I think that it's important to attract and maintain customers in every way that you can. I always think of the "Rule of 7." It takes about 7 impressions before a customer will buy. I don't know where this rule came from, but it sure seems to be true.

The more ways that you can reach people, the more likely you are to sell to them. Having an ezine is just one way to advertise and let people know that your products or services exist. It is also one of the most inexpensive ways to reach customers and potential customers.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

RK: I ran a marketing ezine for my own business for 4 years. For the last six months, I've been the editor of a health ezine called "NutriCounter Update." The health ezine now has over 6,000 subscribers.

KH: Can you tell me more about the "NutriCounter?" What does it do? Who does it benefit?

RK: The NutriCounter is a nutritional calculator that helps people keep track of their nutritional intake. People can use it for any type of diet including diets for weight loss, weight gain, diabetes, hypoglycemia, and heart disease.

Good health is always contingent on a healthy diet and the NutriCounter can help people monitor their diet and let them know when they've exceeded or met their individual nutritional goals for the day.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

RK: Yes, we write one original article each month for our monthly publication. It's valuable to get and keep subscribers ... but it's also an excellent way to spread our URL around.

Once we've written an article and published it in the newsletter, we send the article out to several Free Content lists and sites. These articles always get picked up by several sites or ezines. We use an author's resource box to direct readers back to our site.

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

RK: The "Editor's Remarks" section of the newsletter is the most powerful section. That is the section that everyone reads if they are going to read anything. So, if we have an important offering, we always endorse it in the Editor's Remarks section. We've used many different ways to get people to buy.

Some examples are:

-- contests

-- buy one get one free or buy one get one at a reduced price

-- coupons

-- discounts (i.e., 10% discount only by clicking on this link).

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

RK: First, we research and write an article - trying to keep it between 800 to 1000 words. While that's going on, I write the Editor's Remarks section which will usually revolve around the article topic. Then I put the content into a premade template. I edit the whole ezine about 3-5 times. Then I send it off to our Associate Editor for editing. Finally, the Editor in Chief gets to edit it. It goes through at least three sets of eyes before it gets sent out.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

RK: Provide original content specific to a niche group - don't try to be everything to everyone, concentrate on providing information that you're an expert on.

Be personable and reach out to your audience. If you can touch the audience you will have a high retention rate. People don't just want information, they want to know who's talking to them, they want the information to get a little personal.

Examine the ezines that you stay subscribed to. Ask yourself why you like those particular ezines or newsletters. In other words, read a lot - don't get wrapped up in your own stuff, get out there and see what other people are doing.

The beauty of an ezine is that you have the ability to try different things ... contests, ad swaps, discounts, coupons, HTML. Don't be afraid to try different things and see what works for your niche.

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. Launching An Ezine? Need Subscribers? Amazing new automated software puts you on the fast track to ezine success! Includes over 900 resources. Results are 100% guaranteed! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

Hoodia Gordonii is your solution to weight loss

2009-12-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

by: Viviana Aida

Overweight and obesity are actual problems for the American population, but much more for women who are trying to look better.

Close to 60 million Americans are overweight or obese, but the problem is more relevant into the minorities. Acording to the Obesity Research conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the hispanic population was the most overweighted in the ethnic groups in 2000. Estimations reach to more than 20 million people.

Hoodia Diet is the solution for safe weight loss. Hoodia Gordonii contains a natural active ingredient, P57, which has only recently been identified. The P57 works as an appetite suppressant.

Taking Hoodia Diet Tablets when you are hungry alleviates the feeling of hunger and so makes you less likely to snack between meals due to hunger.

The Hoodia Gordonii Cactus has been used by the San indigenous people of South Africa for hundreds of years as an appetite suppressant and thirst quencher.

Extracts from this succulent have shown in clinical trials on obese subjects to reduce caloric intake by 30% to 40%. Significant weight loss has resulted from such a drop in caloric intake.

Therefore, Hoodia is one of the best and most powerful natural appetite suppressant available, if used in conjunction with any diet. Hoodia will help you to stop snacking between meals. It will also help you to reduce the amount that you eat at meal times.

Dieting is not easy, you need to make your mind up that you are going to choose a diet plan that appeals to you and use Hoodia Diet Tablets to help you stick to your diet by reducing your daily calorie intake.

Some users of Hoodia simply take the tablets 3 times a day, one hour before normal meal times, and this will allow them to eat less at each meal, so reducing daily calorie intake.

Others find a low carb or low fat diet and take Hoodia Diet Tablets to stop them feeling hungry between these meals.

By Viviana Aida

Hoodia Latina (www.hoodialatina.com)

7 Bad Eating Habits You Should Change Immediately

2009-12-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

by: Emily Clark

People are obsessed with dieting and weight loss! Don't believe me? Just tune-in to any source of advertising...you're instantly bombarded with the latest diet schemes and "Hollywood" food fads.

Here in America, we have built a thriving industry trying to control our weight and treat the consequences of over-indulgence. The cost of weight loss and obesity related health care treatments is staggering...Americans alone spend around $114 billion every year! And even with all this interest in losing weight, we continue to pack on the pounds like never before...

- A whopping 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese...up about eight percent from earlier estimates.

- Among children and teens ages 6-19, 15 percent or almost nine million are overweight...triple the rate in 1980!

- Nearly one-third of all adults are now classified as obese.

For Americans, modern life may be getting TOO easy. Our cushy lifestyle means we expend less energy and consequently need fewer calories to sustain our normal body weight.

Think about it for a moment...

Entertainment no longer requires energy expenditure. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite. We now entertain ourselves in the comfort of our own home while watching TV and munching on our favorite snack. Whether it's television, computers, remote controls, or automobiles, we are moving less and burning fewer calories. Common activities that were once a part of our normal routine have disappeared...activities like climbing stairs, pushing a lawn mower or walking to get somewhere.

And please do not misunderstand me...I appreciate comfortable living just as much as the next person. But, here is the problem...

With all of our modern day conveniences and "cushy" style of living we have not adjusted our caloric intake to compensate for our decreased caloric expenditure. We consume more calorie rich and nutrient deficient foods than ever before. Consider a few of the following examples comparing what we eat "today" vs the 1970's (U.S. Department of Agriculture survey):

- We are currently eating more grain products, but almost all of them are refined grains (white bread, etc.). Grain consumption has jumped 45 percent since the 1970's, from 138 pounds of grains per person per year to 200 pounds! Only 2 percent of the wheat flour is consumed as whole wheat.

- Our consumption of fruits and vegetables has increased, but only because French fries and potato chips are included as vegetables. Potato products account for almost a third of our "produce" choices.

- We're drinking less milk, but we've more than doubled our cheese intake. Cheese now outranks meat as the number one source of saturated fat in our diets.

- We've cut back on red meat, but have more than made up for the loss by increasing our intake of chicken (battered and fried), so that overall, we're eating 13 pounds more meat today than we did back in the 1970's.

- We're drinking three times more carbonated soft drinks than milk, compared to the 1970's, when milk consumption was twice that of pop.

- We use 25 percent less butter, but pour twice as much vegetable oil on our food and salads, so our total added fat intake has increased 32 percent.

- Sugar consumption has been another cause of our expanding waistlines. Sugar intake is simply off the charts. People areconsuming roughly twice the amount of sugar they need each day, about 20 teaspoons on a 2000 calorie/day diet. The added sugar is found mostly in junk foods, such as pop, cake, and cookies. In 1978, the government found that sugars constituted only 11 percent of the average person's calories. Now, this number has ballooned to 16 percent for the average American adult and as much as 20 percent for American teenagers!

Unfortunately, it would seem that the days of wholesome and nutritious family dinners are being replaced by fast food and eating on-the-run. We have gradually come to accept that it's "OK" to sacrifice healthy foods for the sake of convenience and that larger serving portions equate to better value.

It's time recognize that we are consuming too many calories and time to start doing something about it! Each of us can decide TODAY that healthy eating and exercise habits WILL become a
normal part of our life!

We can begin by exploring our values, thoughts and habits... slowly and deliberately weed-out the unhealthy habits and activities and start living a more productive and rewarding life. And remember, it has taken a long time to develop bad habits, so be patient as you work toward your goal!

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

About the Author

Emily Clark is editor at Lifestyle Health News and Medical Health News

here you can find the most up-to-date advice and information on

any medical, health and lifestyle topics.

5 Easy Ways A Treadmill Helps You Lose Weight

2009-12-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

by: Kathryn O'Neill, H.BSc. NWS

So why are treadmills STILL the #1 home exercise machines with shoppers? Because they get results!

Here are the top 5 ways home treadmill workouts can help you lose weight and get into great shape!

#1: A Treadmill Helps You Burn MORE Calories by Battling Exercise Boredom

We all know that in order to lose weight, get firm and fight gravity's pull, exercise is a must! But what do you do if you don't LIKE working out?

What if you get bored or don't like logging hours in the gym with all those muscle boys or short-shorts women?

One viable option is the home treadmill, because of all the things it allows you to do to FORGET that you are exercising in the first place!

You can set it up in front of the television and watch your favorite episode of ER or Oprah. An hour will fly by and you won't even notice that you've been walking (or running)!

Many treadmills also come with a magazine or book rack. What about walking uphill (a MEGA calorie burner) while reading your favorite mazagine or novel?

How easy is that?

And the more you enjoy your workout (or the more you can forget that you're exercising) , the more time you'll spend burning calories on your treadmill.

#2: The Treadmill is Unmatched For Workout Versatility.

Most funky fly-by-night exercise gadgets only allow you to do one thing. One repetitive motion that your body quickly adapts to (and that means less calories burned.)

A treadmill - on the other hand - gives you a lot of workout versatility so your body continues to be challenged to burn calories.

If you're just starting an exercise program you can start with a slow walk and then speed it up as your body gets into better shape. If you're training for a marathon, you can run at a steady pace and even build in sprints.

You can power walk or do a slow steady jog. Many treadmills will let you walk uphill. Some even come with handweights so you can build in upper body exercise as well.

There are countless ways you can vary your workout with a treadmill so that you continue to challenge your body and burn calories.

#3: A Treadmill Helps You Burn MORE Calories by Increasing Your Exercise Frequency

Did you know that a new 3 year study conducted by the University of Stanford's Graduate School of Business has found that consumers are overpaying for gym services?

The study concludes that most people overestimate how often they will use their gym membership and that most don't visit the gym often enough to justify their membership costs.

Perhaps the reason may be that many people just don't have the time to go. But here's where a home treadmill can help you actually increase your workout time and frequency.

Did you know that experts tell us that two 15-minute workouts can give us the same exercise benefits as one 30-minute workout?

Here's where a home treadmill can help:

A treadmill allows you to split your workouts up into mini-workouts and still burn just as many calories!

Maybe you want to go for a 15 minute wake-up walk in the morning. Maybe it's a 20-minute light jog at lunch. What about a 10-minute power walk just before dinner to curb your appetite or fight night-time boredom?

Whether it's 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 or 20, it all adds up in weight loss. With a treadmill, YOU'RE in charge of your workout time.

#4: A Home Treadmill Gives You the Benefit of All-Year-Round ANY Time Exercise!

Ok, here it is - one of the MOST IMPORTANT benefits of having a home treadmill:

CONVENIENCE, CONVENIENCE, CONVENIENCE

If you live in northern climates you know that walking or jogging in the snow and ice is NOT fun. What about when it's raining? Scratch exercise off the list!

A home treadmill can be one of the best exercise comforts around because you can use it regardless of the weather or time of day.

AND you can also exercise in any type of clothing that you want (no worrying about wearing that ratty t-shirt to the gym!).

#5: By Using the Large Muscles in Your Legs, A Treadmill Helps You Burn MAJOR FAT Calories

A recent Woman's World article made the startling claim that, contrary to popular belief, gentle walking is one of the BEST ways to burn fat!

Why?

It seems that gentle walking allows your body to go STRAIGHT to the fat stores for energy instead of first depleting your sugar (glycogen) stores (used by your body for quick energy).

Not only that, there's been countless studies including one by the American Medical Association, that rank a treadmill as the #1 cardiovascular machine for losing weight and burning calories.

Working the larger muscles in your legs burns maximum calories which means more weight lost. You can even increase your calories-burned by walking uphill which uses even more muscles!

Given all their benefits it's no wonder that treadmill sales have continued to skyrocket over the past five years with more and more people starting their own fitness and weight loss programs at home.

So if you want to lose weight and get into great shape, a treadmill can be an excellent investment to help you to achieve your goals. No matter what you decide be sure to have fun and make your health a priority!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathryn O'Neill is the chief editor for Treadmill Review
For more buying tips, treadmill brand reviews, and best buys visit http://www.treadmillreview.net

Muscle And Fitness - The Third and Final Key To Successfull

2009-11-29T04:44:00.000-08:00

by: Tony Farrell

Before delving into Muscle And Fitness – The Second Key, the final and most important key to success in your muscle and fitness routine, I'd like to remind you about what the previous article discussed.

In a previous article, you were given a number of steps to follow. If you haven't received this article, I suggest you read that before reading this one here, as it will make what I'm talking a

little more clear. You can access that article here:

The HAVE Key

In summary, Muscle And Fitness – The Second Key is the 'DO' key. This is where you structure your actions to take you to your goals. You must decide which action (Exercise) is the most effective tool to help you achieve that particular goal.

Which brings me to the third and final key:

The 'BE' Key

This is what you must BECOME in order to ensure that you take the necessary action to DO whatever it takes to get what you want to HAVE.

You already know what your goals are – The HAVE key

You already know what you have to DO to achieve those goals – The DO key

In order to make sure that you carry out the DO key (your chosen exercises), you must BE the type of person that consistently and persistently follows the routine. You must do this without fail, so that you can have the ideal muscle mass, weight loss, fitness goal or whatever your goal is.

How do you become someone that you are not?

By not giving in!

Lets say that you have a chosen goal. Lets assume that goal is to lose 28lbs by the end of three months. What do you have to be in order to make sure that you achieve that goal of 28lbs of weight loss?

You have your goal. You have your exercise routine sorted out that is the most effective way, for you, of achieving that goal. Now it's time to guarantee that you don't stop after a week or so.

Your goals should be on your index card, as described in a previous article. You can read it here -
Your 'HAVE' Goals

As you are about to perform your training routine, go through this little scenario...

1. Read your goals aloud.

2. As you do, visualize that goal having already been achieved.

3. Feel that goal, as if you have already achieved it.

4. Then ask yourself:

How good do I look? - I look GOOD!
How great do I feel? - I feel GREAT!

Now say to yourself...

I feel Great - I look Great - I am successful!

Ok... Lets Do It!!!

Do this daily...

In the morning, upon rising.
Just before you begin your workout.
Just before going to sleep.

When you repeat this each time, feel it with conviction and say it with conviction. Feel your blood boil with excitement. Feel your heart beat hard. Get right into it. Stir up that passion and throw yourself right slam into the middle of it.

Don't give in. Persist and be consistent with your efforts... no matter whether you feel like it or not.

I have often found that the thoughts of having to do something are horrible at times. But, once I throw myself into it I feel absolutely fantastic and so happy that I didn't give in.

Have you ever found that?

If you have, remember that feeling. Feel it every time you are about to begin your training. Stir it up. Love that feeling and then get stuck in. BEcome what you need to become so that you can DO whatever it takes to achieve the goals that you said you want to HAVE.

That is the final key to successfully achieving your Muscle and Fitness goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tony Farrell of provides valuable insight into the world of health, fitness and bodybuilding. Through his unique approach, he truly helps people to succeed and reach their goals. To subscribe to his ezine, just visit:
http://www.how-to-build-muscle-and-fitness.com

Your Simple Plan for Weight Loss

2009-11-27T04:43:00.000-08:00

by: Paul Buckley

The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That's about 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week.

All right - that doesn't sound like much, especially if you're more than 25 pounds overweight. Study after study has shown, though, that those people who lose weight gradually - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week -are far more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for a lifetime.

So how much exactly IS 500 calories? If you're going to reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, it helps to know what you need to cut out, right? Here's how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day:

Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup.

Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories

Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings? 200 calories

Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. A fresh salad with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories

Pass by the bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories

Eat your corn on the ear. A 1 cup serving of canned corn has 165 calories. An ear of corn has 85. Savings? 80 calories.

Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.

Love those fries and can't give them up? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. Thin French fries absorb more oil than the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

If you'd rather look at losing weight from an exercise perspective, you can also lose one pound a week by upping your activity level by 500 calories a day. How easy is that to do? Take a look:

Take a half-hour walk around the park. Aim for a pace that's a little faster than a stroll, but not fast enough to be breathless. Burn: 160 calories.

Get out your bike and take a ride. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories

Go dancing - and really DANCE. The longer you're out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you'll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour

Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. Do a few laps at a slow crawl - if you can get up to an hour you'll be doing great! Burn: 510 calories

Get out into your garden. An hour of gardening tasks that includes bending and stretching can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.

Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you'll be amazed at the difference. One hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners around. Burn: 800 calories

It’s important to keep in mind that all exercise/calorie numbers are based on a woman weighing 130 pounds. If you weigh more, you'll burn more. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you build muscle by converting it from fat. Three guesses which kind of body tissue burns more calories - even when you're not exercising. You got it - your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For best results, mix and match food savings with exercises that burn calories. Do keep in mind that eating less than 1000 calories a day for more than a few days will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Buckley-for much more weight loss information visit The Healthy Diet Zone at http://www.healthydietzone.com

Spoiled Rotten: The Big 3 Reasons for Fitness Failure

2009-11-25T04:42:00.000-08:00

by: Aaron M. Potts, ISSA CFT

"I want it now, now, now!"

Does this sound like the mind-numbing rant of a spoiled 7-year old in a toy store? Sure it does, and if you've ever heard a similar dialogue from a child, then you understand instinctively that the child in question is all too accustomed to getting their way.

However, it may come as a surprise to you that adults of all ages and from all walks of life exhibit very similar behavior on a regular basis - especially when it comes to physical fitness!

It today's age of medicines, technologies, supplements, and highly advanced exercise techniques, people have - quite mistakenly - been lead to believe that they can have their most highly desired fitness results RIGHT NOW.

Read below to learn how this mistaken philosophy is applied on a frequent basis when people practice the 3 basic tools of fitness: Cardiovascular Training, Resistance Training, and Nutrition

CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING

You either don't watch TV or you don't read magazines if you've never seen an advertisement that shows some buff young girl or guy pounding out miles while running on a beach, or happily sweating profusely while cruising on an elliptical or enduring an intense Spinning class.

These young models always look extremely satisfied to be working their bodies so hard, and they also share one other common characteristic: they are already in shape! Have you ever seen a commercial for a gym or exercise device that showed a 5-foot, 300 lb person grinning from ear to ear?

This is a common example of how the media and fitness industry retailers promote the mass-confusion over cardio. The ads scream messages like, "Buy our pill, put on some sexy clothes while running on the beach, and you'll look just as good as our models do!"

Gym owners do it, too. "Join our gym now and we'll give you one month free! Just by joining and then attending our Award-Winning Spinning Class, you will look just like Cindy, the Supermodel we hired to do our commercial!"

It's ridiculous how the "powers that be" portray cardiovascular exercise as some effortless activity that you can easily use to gain the body of your dreams just by purchasing their product or joining their facility.

The truth of the matter is that cardiovascular training works. The additional truth of the matter is that it can range from moderately to intensely difficult, and that it will take you weeks, months, or maybe even years of combining cardio with resistance training and proper nutrition to attain the body of your dreams.

Is that what you wanted to hear about cardio? Probably not, but it's the truth. If you think there is some shortcut to being buff, young, tan, and in complete control of your life, then you should go turn on the TV. There is a commercial on right now that is just waiting for you to call in your credit card number!

RESISTANCE TRAINING

The hype surrounding resistance training isn't quite as appalling as the myths about cardiovascular training, but it still exists. Regardless of what you have seen, heard, or been taught, the truth is this: everyone needs resistance training.

It doesn't matter if your goal is to be a bodybuilder or a 90-year old who can tie your own shoelaces, you need resistance training. Listing the many reasons for engaging in a consistent resistance training routine is beyond the scope of this article, but there are some myths about weight training that need to be brought to light.

1.Weight Training makes you big and bulky. Actually, the size of your muscles is determined primarily by your gender, the type and intensity of your training program, and your nutrition. If you think you will just "magically" turn into a muscle-bound athlete because you picked up a couple of dumbbells, just ask any bodybuilder how much time, energy, and raw will power goes into building his or her incredible physique. It does NOT happen by accident.

2.Using any given device or exercise will "sculpt" your abs, biceps, butt, or any other muscle. There is one thing and exactly one thing that determines the shape of your muscles, and that is your DNA. It is quite impossible to "sculpt" any part of your body - that job belongs to your chosen deity. You can control the size of your muscles, but you cannot control the shape. Anyone who says otherwise is straight up lying.

3.Resistance training is just for men. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be healthy, strong, and have a great metabolism and energy level? Then weight training is for you. Period.

PROPER NUTRITION

You need to learn one word and one word only if you want to maximize your nutrition program. That word is Cumulative. Cumulative means the combined effect over the course of time.

You will not put on 5 lbs by eating a hamburger. You will likewise not lose 5 lbs by eating celery for dinner. You will not reap the lifetime benefits of vitamin, mineral, and fiber intake by eating fruits and vegetables for 1 week. You will likewise not destroy your body's balance of vitamins and minerals by straying from your nutrition program once in awhile.

Do you see where all of this is going? If you want to reap the health and weight loss benefits of a proper nutrition program, you cannot practice proper nutrition "once in awhile". You must consistently stick to your nutrition program over the long term to realize the cumulative effects. You are just kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

As you can see, Cardiovascular Training, Resistance Training, and Proper Nutrition all play a vital role in your health and fitness program. In addition, they work together as a team in order to keep you healthy and on track with your fitness goals. Just practicing one or two will not be good enough.

At this time you can make a choice. You can either choose to believe a bunch of bald-faced lies and misleading truths about physical fitness, or you can choose to embrace the real truth of the matter. The real truth is that weight loss and physical fitness require time, effort, and dedication.

Remember: Anything worth having is worth working for!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aaron Potts is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Success Coach whose customers include consumers as well as other fitness professionals. Sign up for his free Fitness Journal at http://www.fitnessdestinations.com or visit his coaching site at http://www.ptsuccesscoach.com

Getting the Universe to Work for You

2009-11-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

by: Matthew Tibble

Wouldn’t it be great to know that you have something as enormous as the Universe working in your favor? To know that such a force was pushing for your success would mean that success was only a matter of WHEN, not IF.

The good news is that this support is easy to access by doing one simple yet very important thing – giving before you receive.

You may have heard this expression before, especially with parents convincing their child to share with their friends or siblings. By giving before you receive, success will be drawn to you and your business.

How does it work?

The act of giving something without expecting anything in return sends to the Universe a message. This message says “I am prepared to help others regardless of whether I receive any material benefits for my work”. The Universe hears this message and responds in kind by rewarding you many times for your efforts (and never how you expect).

This concept might seem far-fetched, but there are already thousands of businesses that employ this principle everyday. I can almost guarantee that you have been at the receiving end of it in the last six to twelve months. This principle can be seen when a business gives away a free report, ebook, a free consultation or teleseminar. It is the act of giving something of value away to your customer for NOTHING, in the hope that they will benefit from what you are offering them.

When you give something away, the recipient feels a sub-conscious desire to give something back in return. It is unavoidable – all humans feel the same, even if they don’t know it. This rule is known as the Rule of Reciprocation. But in order for this rule to be effective, the recipient must feel that the gift was given in the right spirit – the Spirit of Giving.

Here is an example. You have a report that can help others loose weight. This report has taken you four months to research, prepare and edit it, getting it into a format that others can download and print. You decide that due to the large number of overweight people in society, you will give this information away for free. Obviously, you would like people to read it and return to buy weight loss products or a series of weight loss reports that you intend on writing. However, even if they didn’t return you would still offer this report for free because you feel strongly about helping others lose weight. This is the Spirit of Giving.

If your customer feels this Spirit when receiving a gift from you, they will want to return the favor and give something back, such as their email address, an order or a referral to their family and friends.

By giving away something of value to help others, the Universe will work very hard to help you. Not only will the Rule of Reciprocation bring you rewards, but other opportunities will come your way, such as large orders in the future, joint venture opportunities with others, and positive word-of-mouth exposure for your business.

If you have a website, then offer something of value to your visitors. This might be a report, ebook, or a voucher that can be redeemed for product at a later date. If you have an off-line business, then perhaps provide an information booklet, a free initial consultation or giveaway with a purchase.

The act of giving before you receive will not only bring you countless benefits, but will enable hundreds and eventually thousands of people to benefit from the valuable gift that you have provided them. Your business will grow, and even more people will benefit from your actions.

I assure you, the Universe rewards such efforts.

About the Author

Matthew Tibble operates http://www.BusinessPlanningMadeEasy.com, a site dedicated to business owners to help them achieve their business goals. A combination of sales and marketing experience over the past 9 years & a strong passion to help small businesses improve their success has led to the development of business and marketing planning services. Please visit http://www.businessplanningmadeeasy.com or email info@businessplanningmadeeasy.com.

Health & Fitness Is Not A "12 Week Program"

2009-11-21T04:41:00.000-08:00

by: Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

Not long ago, one of the members of my health club poked her head in my office for some advice and assistance. Linda was a 46 year old mother of two, and she had been a member for over a year. She had been working out sporadically, with (not surprisingly) sporadic results. On that particular day, she seemed to have enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before.

"I want to enter a before and after fitness contest called the “12 week body transformation challenge." I could win money and prizes and even get my picture in a magazine."

“I want to lose THIS”, she continued, as she grabbed the body fat on her stomach. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Linda was not “obese” by any means, she just had the typical “moderate roll” of abdominal body fat and a little bit of thigh/hip fat that many forty-something females struggle with.

“I think it’s a great idea” I reassured her. “Competitions are great for motivation. When you have a deadline and you dangle a “carrot” like that prize money in front of you, it can keep you focused and more motivated than ever.”

Linda was eager and rarin’ to go. “Will you help me? I have this enrollment kit and I need my body fat measured.”

“No problem,” I said as I pulled out my Skyndex fat caliper, which is used to measure body fat percentage with a “pinch an inch” test.

When I finished, I read the results to her from the caliper display: “Twenty-seven percent. Room for improvement, but not bad; it’s about average for your age group.”

She wasn’t overjoyed at being ‘average’. “Yeah, but it's not good either. Look at THIS,” she complained as again she grabbed a handful of stomach fat. “I want to get my body fat down to 19%, I heard that was a good body fat level.”

I agreed that 19% was a great goal, but it would take a lot of work because average fat loss is usually about a half a percent a week, or six percent in twelve weeks. Her goal, to lose eight percent in twelve weeks was ambitious.

She smiled and insisted, “I’m a hard worker. I can do it”

Indeed she was and indeed she did. She was a machine! Not only did she never miss a day in the gym, she trained HARD. Whenever I left my office and took a stroll through the gym, she was up there pumping away with everything she had. She told me her diet was the strictest it had ever been in her life and she didn't cheat at all. I believed her. And it started to show, quickly.

Each week she popped into my office to have her body fat measured again, and each week it went down, down, down. Consistently she lost three quarters of a percent per week – well above the average rate of fat loss – and on two separate occasions, I recall her losing a full one percent body fat in just seven days.

Someone conservative might have said she was overtraining, but when we weighed her and calculated her lean body mass, we saw that she hadn’t lost ANY muscle – only fat. Her results were simply exceptional!

She was ecstatic, and needless to say, her success bred more success and she kept after it like a hungry tiger for the full twelve weeks.

On week twelve, day seven, she showed up in my office for her final weigh-in and body fat measurement. She was wearing a pair of formerly tight blue jeans and they were FALLING OFF

HER! “Look, look, look,” she repeated giddily as she tugged at her waistband, which was now several inches too large.

As I took her body fat, I have to say, I was impressed. She hadn’t just lost a little fat, she was “RIPPED!”

During week twelve she dropped from 18% to 17% body fat, for a grand total of 10% body fat lost. She surpassed her goal of 19% by two percent. I was now even more impressed, because I had only seen a handful of people lose that much body fat in three months.

You should have seen her! She started hopping up and down for joy like she was on a pogo stick! She was beaming… grinning from ear to ear! She practically knocked me over as she jumped up and gave me a hug – “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Don’t thank me,” I said, “You did it, I just measured your body fat.”

She thanked me again anyway and then said she had to go have her “after” pictures taken. Then something very, very strange happened. She stopped coming to the gym. Her "disappearance" was so abrupt, I was worried and I called her. She never picked up, so I just left messages.

No return phone call.

It was about four months later when I finally saw Linda again. The giddy smile was gone, replaced with a sullen face, a droopy posture and a big sigh when I said hello and asked where she’d been.

“I stopped working out after the contest... and I didn’t even win.”

“You looked like a winner to me, no matter what place you came in” I insisted, “but why did you stop, you were doing so well!”

“I don’t know, I blew my diet and then just completely lost my motivation. Now look at me, my weight is right back where I started and I don’t even want to know my body fat.”

“Well, I'm glad to see you back in here again. Write down some new goals for yourself and remember to think long term too. Fitness isn’t a just 12 week program you know, it’s a lifestyle - you have to do it every day - like... forever.”

She nodded her head and finished her workout, still with that defeated look on her face. Unfortunately, she never again come anywhere near the condition she achieved for that competition, and for the rest of the time she was a member at our club, she slipped right back into the sporadic on and off workout pattern.

Linda was not an isolated case. I’ve seen the same thing happen with countless men and women of all ages and fitness levels from beginners to competitive bodybuilders. In fact, it happens to millions of people who “go on” diets, lose a lot of weight, then quickly “go off” the diet and gain the weight right back.

What causes people to burn so brightly with enthusiasm and motivation and then burn out just as quickly? Why do so many people succeed brilliantly in the short term but fail 95 out of 100 times in the long term? Why do so many people reach their fitness goals but struggle to maintain them?

The answer is simple: Health and fitness is for life, not for "12 weeks."

You can avoid the on and off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups and downs. You can get in great shape and stay in great shape. You can even get in shape and keep getting in better and better shape year after year, but it's going to take a very different philosophy than most people subscribe to. The seven tips below will guide you.

These guidelines are quite contrary to the quick fix philosophies prevailing in the weight loss and fitness world today. Applying them will take patience, discipline and dedication. Just remember, the only thing worse than getting no results is getting great results and losing them.

1) Don’t “go on” diets. When you “go on” a diet, the underlying assumption is that at some point you have to “go off” it. This isn’t just semantics, it’s the primary reason most diets fail. By definition, a “diet” is a temporary and often drastic change in your eating behaviors and/or a severe restriction of calories or food, which is ultimately, not maintainable. If you reach your goal, the diet is officially “over” and then you "go off" (returning to the way you used to eat). Health and fitness is not temporary; it’s not a “diet.” It’s something you do every day of your life. Unless you approach nutrition from a “habits” and “lifestyle” perspective, you’re doomed from the start.

2) Eat the same foods all year round. Permanent fat loss is best achieved by eating mostly the same types of foods all year round. Naturally, you should include a wide variety of healthy foods so you get the full spectrum of nutrients you need, but there should be consistency, month in, month out. When you want to lose body fat, there’s no dramatic change necessary - you don’t need to eat totally different foods - it’s a simple matter of eating less of those same healthy foods and exercising more.

3) Have a plan for easing into maintenance. Let’s face it – sometimes a nutrition program needs to be more strict than usual. For example, peaking for a bodybuilding or fitness contest requires an extremely strict regimen that’s different than the rest of the year. As a rule, the stricter your nutrition program, the more you must plan ahead and the more time you must allow for a slow, disciplined transition into maintenance. Failure to plan for a gradual transition will almost always result in bingeing and a very rapid, hard fall "off the wagon."

4) Focus on changing daily behaviors and habits one or two at a time. Rather than making huge, multiple changes all at once, focus on changing one or two habits/behaviors at a time. Most psychologists agree that it takes about 21 days of consistent effort to replace an old bad habit with a new positive one. As you master each habit, and it becomes as ingrained into your daily life as brushing your teeth, then you simply move on to the next one. That would be at least 17 new habits per year. Can you imagine the impact that would have on your health and your life? This approach requires a lot of patience, but the results are a lot more permanent than if you try to change everything in one fell swoop. This is also the least intimidating way for a beginner to start making some health-improving changes to their lifestyle.

5) Make goal setting a lifelong habit. Goal setting is not a one-time event, it’s a process that never ends. For example, if you have a 12 week goal to lose 6% bodyfat, what are you going to do after you achieve it? Lose even more fat? Gain muscle? Maintain? What's next? On week 13, day 1, if you have no direction and nothing to keep you going, you’ll have nothing to keep you from slipping back into old patterns. Every time you achieve a goal, you must set another one. Having daily and weekly short term goals means that you are literally setting goals continuously and never stopping.

6) Allow a reasonable time frame to reach your goal. It's important to set deadlines for your fitness and weight loss goals. It's also important to set ambitious goals, but you must allow a reasonable time frame for achieving them. Time pressure is often the motivating force that helps people get in the best shape of their lives. But when the deadline is unrealistic for a particular goal (like 30 pounds in 30 days), then crash dieting or other extreme measures are often taken to get there before the bell. The more rapidly you lose weight, the more likely you are to lose muscle and the faster the weight will come right back on afterwards. Start sooner. Don't wait until mid-May to think about looking good for summer.

7) Extend your time perspective. Successful people in every field always share one common character trait: Long term time perspective. Some of the most successful Japanese technology and manufacturing companies have 100 year and even 250-year business plans. If you want to be successful in maintaining high levels of fitness, you must set long term goals: One year, Ten years, Even fifty years! You also must consider what the long term consequences might be as a result of using any "radical" diet, training method or ergogenic aid. The people who had it but lost it are usually the ones who failed to think long term or acknowledge future consequences. It's easy for a 21 year old to live only for today, and it may even seem ridiculous to set 25 year goals, but consider this: I've never met a 40 or 60 year old who didn't care about his or her health and appearance, but I have met 40 or 60 year olds who regretted not caring 25 years ago.

Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is a fat loss program which acknowledges the simple truth that going "on diets," entering "Fitness challenges" or competing in "Transformation contests" without having long term goals and a lifestyle attitude, is a recipe for failure. Don’t let yourself be part of the latest fitness dropout statistics: visit the Burn The Fat website for more details on how to change your lifestyle... and keep the change! www.burnthefat.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Venuto is an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength coach, and author of the #1 e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written over 170 articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. For info on Tom's e-book, visit: www.burnthefat.com. For Tom’s free monthly e-zine, visit Fitness Renaissance: www.fitren.com

Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #14

2009-11-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

by: Tami Close

We all have low energy levels throughout the day. Learn how to sustain the high vibration of energy with simple techniques. Have fun in just a few seconds of time.

Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss

Lesson #14

You know what is so amazing? We get to keep learning how to improve ourselves. Each day brings a new opportunity for us to practice unconditional love, especially of ourselves. Loving your body is demonstrating unconditional love. Think what your body does for you each day.

Right now, say: I love my body, I love my body, I love my body, I love my body! Feels great, doesn’t it? Our bodies are incredible gifts from God. If we’re experiencing resistance to change, then we’re resisting God’s loving message. What are you resisting?

I was on a teleseminar recently and the topic was visualization. The message was very powerful. Let me share with you what I learned.

Take out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Write down 5 things that you desire in your life. It can be a car—mine is a red BMW convertible and I have a picture of it on my dream board and look at it everyday while I say affirmations in my energy circle. Of course, in my visualization the real George Clooney is in the passenger seat, not my cardboard cutout of George that a friend gave me.

Maybe you want a new house, a trip to Hawaii, thousands of dollars, a new outfit as you achieve your ideal weight. Whatever it is, write down 5 things.

Say the statements out loud, shout them and do the visualization hiney dance to them. I do love shaking it. I read a cute quote the other day….what if the hokey pokey is what it’s all about? Interesting thought, huh?

You know what? I took a break from writing, went for a walk and just came back. While I was on my walk, guess what I saw? A red BMW convertible!! Now, is that synchronicity or what? You know what I should have done? Jumped out in front of that car and made the driver get out and give me her car. Ooooppps…wrong vibration. The focus is higher vibration and manifesting it through Divine means. See the difference in vibration levels.

I will manifest that car. I don’t know how it will come; I just know it will. I only know why I desire it. I like the feeling that it conjures up….the feeling of freedom, sex appeal, youthfulness, being a hottie!

We’ve all experienced times throughout the day where we have a lull….where our energy is low or flat. What we want to do is to keep that vibration high so we constantly are aligned with the energy that we’re pulling to us. When we are in a low or flat vibration, those things we desire can’t be propelled to us because our thoughts are creating a disconnection. When our thoughts are creating and saying, “Yes, I am attracting a red BMW convertible” then we keep the energy lines open and that car will reveal itself.

It’s like that phone commercial, “Can you hear me now?” When we’re in low vibration, that which we want to attract cannot hear us. Guess what shows up? Everything we don’t want. Now, when we’re in high vibration, the reception is great and we get heard loud and clear. All that we desire flows easily to us.

Let’s practice. We’ll name these the High 5. Get it? 5 things that will manifest at a High vibration. I just made that up and I believe it’s extremely clever. Read those statements and dance, dance, dance!!

Now, you’re going to be carrying that list with you throughout the day and take it out and do the routine of saying the statements out loud with enthusiasm. Do this several times throughout the day and notice how your energy will remain at a high vibration. I encourage you to get carried away and shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake your booty while saying them. Now say them over and over and really put some feeling into it. I know you can do it!

I’ve had a practice of doing this type of visualization in the morning and at night while reading those things that I am manifesting in my life. I had noticed that I was experiencing some lulls in my energy during the day, and was grateful to hear this Divine message on how to sustain the high energy throughout the day. I’ve been doing this a few days since I heard this on the teleseminar and I’ve seen remarkable results. We were told to make a commitment to ourselves and make it a goal for 30 days. I encourage you to do the same. For 30 days take time to shout the High 5’s throughout the day. I look forward to hearing about your results.

God is AWESOME! I am shouting that statement from my office window right now. I just opened the window and shouted it so everyone could hear. Oh, the birds just flew away. They’ll be back….I have a bird feeder.

We’re on fire!! Nothing can stop us!!

High 5!

Love and hugs,

Tami

http://www.tamiclose.com

http://www.closekeptsecrets.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tami Close is an Integrative Body Therapist and uses an integrative method, including cleansing and nutritional products from Isagenix, in her weight loss management practice. She is a #1 best selling co-author, Wake Up...Live the Life You Love Finding Personal Freedom.

http://www.tamiclose.com

http://www.closekeptsecrets.com

Be Better at Business – And Lose Weight, Too!

2009-11-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

by: John M McKee

Many of the issues and challenges faced by managers and professionals are more similar than not to those of someone trying to lose weight in an effort to improve his or her health and wellness. In business, individuals often secure the services of a success coach like myself to “fix” certain areas of their professional life. The desired fixes typically range from a desire for a promotion and/or a salary increase, to on-the-job performance enhancements, to improving one’s personal productivity, to boosting one’s level of enthusiasm about their job. Having coached literally hundreds of executives on how to improve their professional life, I recently came to the realization that many of the issues and challenges faced by aspiring professionals are more similar than not to those of someone trying to lose weight in an effort to improve his or her health and wellness. In short, both of these groups often seek someone or something that, with minimum effort, expense, and time, can get their situations fixed and on a desirable course for the long term. Like many challenges faced by business people looking to enhance their career path, those with weight-related challenges may also be failing to realize that the weight problem is actually a symptom of other, more deep-seated problems that are occurring elsewhere in their lives. In other words, the obstacles overweight and obese people face may, in fact, not necessarily be food-related at all, just as problems at work may have very little to do with what’s actually occurring on the job. In my practice, BusinessSuccessCoach.net, I use an holistic process to assess all of the elements required to affect our client’s success in business, rather than analyzing what is likely a mere symptom. This exclusive process, known as The Four Windows Method takes into account the whole of an individual -- not just the obvious areas related to the problem at hand. Although created for use in a business context, The Four Windows Method is infinitely adaptable to those attempting to lose weight. With The Four Windows Method, health seekers can work through a series of actions designed to provide a status review of their life using four distinct windows. Unlike other coaching methods that are tactical in nature, your final analysis, and the action plan derived from this assessment, will be strategic, holistic, and all encompassing. When you move on to work toward weight-loss success, there will be No Walls to hold you back. This reasoned and methodical approach of The Four Windows Method will help you to understand where you are, what you want, and how to get there and you’ll be healthier, and happier, as a result."Losing weight rarely relates to simply implementing the ‘right diet’ or the ‘right workout’,” said Raphael Calzadilla, B.A., CPT, ACE and a Certified Personal Trainer. “From my extensive personal and professional health experience, I’ve learned that one must first understand the driving emotional and psychological forces in their life in order to make the required behavioral changes. McKee’s Four Windows Method is one such process. It can help health seekers get on the right emotional track, allowing them to more effectively work toward -- and reach -- their goal." About the Four Windows Method, Susan Burke MS, RD, LD/N, CDE noted, “It’s clear John McKee understands that weight loss encompasses much more than just food modification. His introspective Four Windows Method digs deeper in an attempt to uncover one’s true motivation for overeating, which has resulted in the ‘symptom’ of an overweight or obese condition. McKee’s Method is designed to achieve permanent behavioral change to achieve and maintain a healthy weight for the long term and, as such, it’s an effort that I wholeheartedly endorse.” By applying The Four Windows Process to your weight loss effort, you will surely be well on track toward improved health and wellness. To get a free a free PDF copy of The Method to try yourself go to: http://www.businesssuccesscoach.net/WeightLoss.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John McKee, a certified business and executive coach, is the expert and visionary behind BusinessSuccessCoach.net, an online destination for professionals who aspire to maximize their success in business. He can be reached through his web site at www.businesssuccesscoach.net.

6 Surefire Ways to Achieve Your Goals for 2005

2009-11-15T04:34:00.000-08:00

by: Lorraine Pirihi

Hope you had a good rest and are all fired up for the year ahead.

Whilst you were sitting on the beach or lazing around during your time off, which of the following changes to your life did you decide to make this year?

To have the body of Elle McPherson or Nathan Buckley
Find a stimulating job
Take up a sport or hobby
Buy your dream home
Travel to an exotic destination
Have more time with your family
Establish your own business
Double your income
Become involved in the community
Develop your creativity
Improve your skills
Create a plan for your financial future
Have more fun
Enhance your current relationship or find a new partner
All of the above
To help you channel your energy into achieving this year's goals, here are some practical ways to get started. After all, there is no reason why you shouldn't start immediately, is there?

How to Get Started

1. Write a list of what you want to achieve this year.
2. Make sure what you've written down is specific, measurable and attainable. e.g. Lose 5 kgs
. ..by 30/2/05.
3. Write no.1 against the most important goal. Write no.2 against the next most important goal.

Continue numbering the rest of the goals.

4. Look at the goal with no.1 next to it. i.e. lose 5 kilos. Start a separate list with the heading . .. Lose 5 kilos. by 28/2/05
5. Write down the action steps you need to take to achieve this goal:

a. Join gym
b. Decide which specific days and times you will attend
c. Purchase gym gear
d. See nutritionist

6. Enter the action steps into your diary/electronic organiser on the day(s) you will do these:

Jan 15th - join gym
Jan 16th - book nutritionist
Attend gym Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 6.00 a.m.
Ensure when you book time for yourself in your diary you treat it as a top priority. Unless there is an earthquake or equally devastating disaster occurring, keep that time sacred.

To ensure your goals are achieved it is imperative to write them down and then plan the appropriate steps to take in your diary. Otherwise your goals could end up being wishful thinking!

Goal/Dream Chart
Having visual reminders is a great way to prompt and keep you motivated to follow through. Cut out a picture of the body you'd like to have from a magazine and stick a photo of your head on top of it. Alternatively if you want to recapture the way you were some time ago, find an old photo of yourself. You can place these on your desktop, car dashboard and the fridge at home.

Do this for your other goals (minus the head). In fact having a dream chart with pictures or words of the things you want to achieve is a great stimulus for your sub-conscious mind. Sticking these reminders onto green paper is even more effective. I have one of these in my office and guess what? It actually works!

Action Is The Key
Once you've identified what you want, written it down, planned when you will take action and done your goal/dream chart, nothing will happen unless you get off your butt and take action towards those goals.

Avoid the 'Too Much Too Soon' Syndrome
Often people try making many changes at once then get disillusioned because there are too many things to do and just give up. If you've done this in the past, tackle one goal at a time. If you really have difficulty going it alone, you may benefit from using the services of a coach like myself who will keep you on track. The right person will help you accelerate your success.

Jenny's Story
One of my clients was extremely overweight by at least 30 kilos. Apart from her business goals, losing the weight was her highest priority …or so she said. We looked at her diet and exercise and worked out a plan, according to what she was committed to do. Notice here I've said committed. Over the three months I worked with Jenny she was like most people in this area…inconsistent. She'd exercise regularly and eat healthily for a couple of weeks and then make excuses as to why she couldn't or wouldn't stick to the plan.

There was no reason why she couldn't achieve her weight loss goal, after all the program we worked out together was easy to do. A few changes to her eating habits, regular exercise and planning would do the trick. The only challenge was Jenny. She wouldn't consistently do it. It all boiled down to that she wasn't serious enough about losing the weight and was not prepared to make the changes…yet. I did suggest seeing a nutritionist or making contact with a specific weight loss organisation to provide her with continuing support. However, Jenny was adamant that she could manage herself.

After three months of coaching, Jenny lost 5 kilos. It was certainly better than nothing, however she could have lost much more if only she took the necessary action, consistently.

A few weeks later I rang Jenny to see how she was progressing with the various changes she had made through coaching. She excitedly told me she had finally got her act together as a result of the progress she had made with me, joined Weightwatchers and lost another 20kgs! She got committed.

Dare to Fail
In Billi Lim's bestselling book "Dare to Fail" he shares the following story:

A woman once walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch.

"I couldn't help noticing how happy you look", she said. "What's the secret for a long happy life?'

"I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day', he said. "I also drink a case of whisky a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise."

"That's amazing, the woman said. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six", he said.

The Final Word
You too can achieve your 2005 goals if you really want to. The goals you set must fit in with your values. For instance if you really value your health and well-being (and you should…you're no good to anyone if you're sick or even worse…dead,) then it will be easier for you to take action around this area.

Plan and get off your butt now because it won't be long until you hear that familiar cry "I'm too busy, I don't have the time!"

About the Author

Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including "How to Survive and Thrive at Work!"

o subscribe to her free ezine visit www.office-organiser.com.au

What Can We Eat to Avoid Obesity?

2009-11-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

by: (c) Anna “Overweight? NO MORE!”

Obesity is becoming a global concern. The basic of losing weight is simple; consume less calories than you burn. Consuming more calories than we need leads to overweight. Although some foods indicate being "LOW FAT," "LOW CARBS," or "SUGAR FREE," this does not mean we can eat unlimited servings. These products still have calories despite being rated as “low.” It is imperative we modify our eating habits controlling what and how much we eat, and not food controlling our lives.

Reportedly, the Mediterranean diet, a combination of lots of vegetables, grains, fruits, olive oil, and wine is one of the most balanced meals to help avoid obesity. Many researches indicate that people following a Mediterranean diet have lower disease risks and less obesity problems.

On the other hand, many research studies have indicated that wine taken in moderation is beneficial for our health. The secret is to drink in moderation. One glass of wine with our meals is fine; just be aware that a glass of wine approximately has 100 calories. You still can follow this diet even if not drinking wine. Moreover, the Mediterranean diet is even consistent with the new diet recommendations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in January 2005. You may check the site at
www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines

Ideally, eat at regular intervals, every 3-4 hours. Why? It helps to keep blood sugar levels stable. Skipping meals will not help you lose weight in the long term. Your goal is to keep that unwanted fat away, right? Hence, do not skip breakfast and add a cup of green tea to speed up your metabolism.

One advice, do not follow rigid diets or extreme low carbs. Yes, I know, I know … there are low carb meals and low fat labels almost everywhere! Again, remember that low carbs and low fat DO NOT mean zero calories. Read food labels to know how many calories you are actually consuming. Me, reading labels? Yes, I am not kidding. Trust me, this habit will help you keep the weight off and enjoy a healthier figure, as you will be in control of how much you eat -- not food controlling you.

Furthermore, most of these quick weight loss diets and products offer only temporary weight loss. They fail in the long term because you lose lean muscle mass and body water. Surprise comes when you resume eating normal, as you tend to gain that weight back, if not add even more. The reason is that those quick diets or extreme low carb diets can slow down your metabolism.

Therefore, the best way to achieve your weight loss goal without starving is to follow a balanced menu checking your calories intake, and exercise at least 3 times a week to lose body fat. Personally, I prefer a high protein and moderate carbs, as our bodies need carbs to function properly. I can proudly say that I lost 80 pounds of unwanted fat and have kept the weight off for 3 years without starving, but eating a combined balanced meal. If I did that, so can you! The bottom line is to keep the weight off, that unwanted fat, which is so hard to get rid of, and not just have the illusion of losing weight when in reality we are losing mostly water with crash diets.

So, you might be asking, then what can I eat? Again, you can eat a balanced meal. We should eat at least 3 servings of fruit and vegetables a day to keep a healthy figure. Remember our ancestors, our mothers, and grandmothers telling us, "Finish your vegetables!" Well, guess what? They were right! Vegetables are a good source of vitamins, minerals and are low in calories, unlike processed food. I love vegetables, especially tomatoes with fresh basil.

Drinking 8 glasses of water a day will help your metabolism too.

Avoid cooking with lard or with heavy cooking oils, as they are high in calories and saturated fat. Excess of saturated fats is associated with colon cancer and atherosclerosis among other diseases. A better oil for cooking is mono unsaturated Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Contrary to saturated fat, unsaturated fat is associated with longevity and lower risk of disease, olive oil is a good example.

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed olive oil products to make the claim: “Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that about two tablespoons of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.”

Reduce portion sizes and eat more fresh foods than processed foods. If you enjoy meat, try leaner cuts and trim off any fat.

If you enjoy chicken, eliminate the skin and trim off any fat too. Chicken is a good source of protein and very low in carbs.

If you are vegetarian, have soy-based products for protein consumption. For example, meatless hamburgers, falafel, soy-based bacon, soy-based sausages, etc...

Ideally go for low fat dairy products and you will still have all the nutrients with the exception of fat.

Consume yogurt, but make sure it contains "live cultures," such as Acidophillus, thermophillus, L. Bulgaricus and lactobacillus; these bacteria boost the immune system, helping restore good bacteria to our digestive system to combat bad bacteria. As highlighted by Scientist T. Charles John Bhaskar, those unique living microorganisms are responsible for many of the health and nutritional benefits of yogurt, such as helping to digest food and prevent stomach infections, plus it is a good source of protein, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B 12.

For those social parties, let me give you some emergency party measures. Be alert to those fancy goodies at parties. They might look small but sometimes are full of saturated fat and empty calories. For example, hidden fat foods include chips, sausages, pork pie, salami, and those innocent dips. Instead, have a small plate with vegetables, fruits, or just one of those tempting snacks.

Sure, you might be tempted to grasp those sugary or salty heavy calories munchies, but think…”do I really need those empty calories and extra fat?” Most of those snacks are starchy carbs and refined carbs, which are usually high in calories and their high glycemic value increases blood sugar levels. Most of those sugars will convert into fat deposits if our bodies don’t burn those extra calories..

The bottom line is that we can eat almost everything, as long as we eat in moderation without consuming more calories than we actually burn. Diet should not be a burdening experience but a healthy pleasant experience without deprivation. It is up to us to make the decision to either keep increasing weight by over eating, or defeating overweight by learning how to eat healthy and not use food as an excuse to fill any emotional need.

Now, let me go and grasp my warm cup of green tea to speed up my metabolism.
Until next time, have an enjoyable way to keep a healthy figure. Your commitment is also my commitment, “Official! Overweight? NO MORE!” We can do it!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna “Overweight? NO MORE!” lost over 80 pounds from 230 pounds and has kept the weight off for 3 years. She believes that every person can achieve a healthier figure with determination, eating healthy, and exercising. There is no general miracle diet, but every body responds differently. It is a matter of taking the first step: ”Believing that one can regain a healthier body, having that strong inner motivation is the key to stay focused. I did it, so can you!”
www.officialoverweightnomore.com
contact: anna@officialoverweightnomore.com

NOTE: This article may be freely reprinted in your ezines, ebooks, off-line publications, or on your websites. We only require that the entire article - inluding the links, and the resource box "about the author" at the bottom of each article remain unchanged.

How to Curb Carbohydrate Cravings!

2009-11-11T04:31:00.000-08:00

by: Kim Beardsmore

- You are free to publish this article in its entirety, without changes as long as the Copyright and Author's Bio, remain in place and the URLs and links remain intact and working.

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As a weight loss mentor it never ceases to amaze me how people inadvertently set themselves up for a huge snack attack mid afternoon. For many, the set up is so complete that it is almost impossible to control! The result is that people think they are weak-willed and lacking in discipline. Often the answer has little to do with character or determination. More often the reason for the mid afternoon carbohydrate cravings is due to gaps in understanding how our body works and responds to diferent types of food. Read on to see what you can do to control those mid afternoon cravings.

Trigger foods

If you want to control those cravings there are a few principles you must be aware of. The first is concerning trigger foods. Nutritional research has documented, carbohydrates trigger the brain to crave more carbohydrates, leading to a cycle of carbohydrate eating that becomes hard to control. Trigger foods keep you fat. The goal is to have control over these foods rather than allowing them to have control over you.

What do trigger foods look like? Well, they vary from person to person, but typically look like soft drinks, potato chips, corn chips, peanuts, french fries, cheese, pizza, chocolate chip cookies, pretzel, apple pie, candy bar and so on. These are the foods that for many, "once we pop, we can't stop!".

Isn't it amazing that all these types of foods are available from take-away places? They are so readily available and have crept into our daily routine without us even planning it to happen. We get hungry, we are busy, we are distracted, and one serve leads to another; and we don't realise just how much we are eating as the triggering effect takes place in our brains. By eating a small portion of any of the above you can easily consume anywhere from 350 to 1000 calories. Two serves could be 700 to 2000 calories! Most women on a weight loss program are aiming for between 1200-1400 calories a day, so you can see that one snack can seriously sabotage your plans. Does this sound like you? I can hear the deep sighs of regret and frustration! Don't worry, there are answers for you.

You can be empowered to take control when you know how to avoid the nutritional set up that will drive you towards trigger foods.

Here are a few simple principles that will deal a wounding blow to the late afternoon "snack monster".

Five steps to avoid carbohydrate cravings:

1. Incorporate protein in to your breakfast AND lunch. Protein is key to controlling carbohydrate cravings. The RDA of protein for women is 60 grams a day. For women wanting to lose weight, health professionals recommend approximately 100 grams of protein daily. Why? One of the principle advantages of protein is that it creates a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the body that makes overeating much less likely. Source your protein from ultra lean sources so you don't pick up unwanted calories and saturated fats.

Even better, than providing a sense of sustained fullness, protein can block the triggering effect that carbohydrates can have on the brain. If you eat protein with a carbohydrate it will reduce the cravings caused by eating the carbohydrate.

2. Never skip meals. Research has shown that people who skip meals are more prone to obesity than those who regularly eat 3 meals a day. In fact, people who space their daily food requirements by making appropriate use of healthy snacks do even better. Why is this? When you skip meals you are more likely to get hungry and fill up on easily obtained fast foods which are often trigger foods.

3. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water throughout the day. For some people sugar laden soft drinks are a trigger food. Make sure you don't get thirsty in the first place. Water creates a sense of fullness and has a host of other health benefits.

4. Plan the timing of your meals so that you don't get hungry. Despite having three healthy meals a day, sometimes your work schedule can mean the spacing of those meals still does not guard against the carbohydrate cravings. If you have a long gap between meals, make sure you carry healthy snacks to cover the distance, otherwise hunger will set in

5. Plan your snacks. Plan out your weekly snack schedule with some delicious, healthy snacks. Purchase these with your weekly shopping so that you are fully prepared. If you need to, get up a few minutes earlier in the morning so you have time to prepare and take your snacks to work. Remember, healthy snacks don't live in a vending machine! You are less likely to get hungry when you have a ready supply of healthy snacks.

6. Carry emergency supplies of nutritional protein bars in your handbag or brief case. When you feel a carbohydrate craving, eat the protein bar instead and wait 30 minutes before acting on the craving. More often than not the craving will pass and you will be in control again. This truly works!

Incorporate these principles into your daily routine and you could be well underway to change your life and be able to take control over the mid afternoon 'snack attacks'.

Kim is a successful weight loss coach who will cut through the diet-hype and help you reach your goal weight and never 'diet' again. Simply results you'll love. You can receive a free, no obligation consultation. Visit today http://tinyurl.com/52oz9 Are you interested in a fantastic home business? Visit: http://tinyurl.com/59pla

Anorexia Nervosa Alert - is your daughter dying to be thin?

2009-11-09T04:28:00.000-08:00

by: S.A. Smith

Anorexia nervosa is a serious medical disorder that is statistically most prevalent in the adolescent teenage years of young women. It is estimated that 7% of the population suffers from eating disorders and if left untreated over 20% of them will die from it. Anorexia takes the lives of children everyday in this world and there are things you can do as a parent to identify anorexic behaviors and intervene to protect your children.

Anorexia nervosa is a condition where one becomes obsessed with losing weight and practices self-starvation in an attempt to achieve significant weight loss or to maintain extremely unhealthy level of body weight. Anorexics are terrified of gaining weight, and often believe they are very fat even though they are already very thin.

Anorexia is not just a condition related to food and eating, but takes its roots from a deeper psychological level. Food and eating becomes a destructive tool that one uses to deal and cope with other emotional problems. Anorexics will often reach out to other anorexics on the internet in “pro-ana” sites whereby they encourage each other to continue their weight loss journey. Pro-ana sites argue that anorexia is a lifestyle choice and not an actual disorder, and offer dysfunctional support to other victims of the disease. The risk to our youth from eating disorders is significant and there are things you can do as a parent to intervene:

WATCH FOR WARNING SIGNS

Excessive weight loss: A person suffering from anorexia is skinny and may end up losing more that 15% of their ideal body.

Diet restrictions: a person with anorexia continues to restrict foods and diet even when they are not overweight.

Food Obsession: an excessive preoccupation with food, calories, nutrition, or cooking methods is also a sign of anorexic behavior.

Distorted body image: complaints of feeling bloated, nauseated, or fat even when the person is thin or underweight, and also denying feelings of hunger.

Excessive exercising: Anorexia may cause a person to complain about feeling bloated or nauseated even when she eats normal—or less than normal—amounts of food.

Cold Sensitivity: A person suffering from anorexia may feel cold even though the temperature is normal or only slightly cool.

Fatigue: a person suffering with anorexia will often show signs of fatigue and inability to concentrate on most tasks (except food and related weight topics).

Lack of social interaction: living with anorexia nervosa can become complicated when trying to hide it in social settings involving food and eating. Avoidance of social activities that include food is a common sign.

Depressed immunity: a person suffering with anorexia may have a weakened immune system and have frequent colds, illnesses and a general feeling of not feeling well.

Depression: anorexics will often exhibit signs of depression, anxiety, guilt and sadness while struggling with their disorder.

Physical changes: a person with anorexia over time may exhibit tell-tall physical characteristics such as; downy hair growth on the face, loss of menstruation cycles, dry nails, dry hair, constipation, headaches and possible hair loss.

Internet behaviors: a person with anorexia may be visiting pro-anorexic sites on the internet that offers encouragement and support of this disorder. Check your computers browser cache to review the history of websites it has visited.

If you suspect that one of your family members is suffering from anorexia nervosa it is important to take action now to arm yourself with information about the disorder and steps you can work towards to provide help and assistance. For more information on the types of treatment methods available you can visit: http://www.anorexiabulimiahelp.com/eating-disorders-treatment.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S.A. Smith is a freelance writer, correspondent, and contributing editor of the Anorexia Bulimia Help resource site and can be reached at http://www.anorexiabulimiahelp.com

4 Great Diet Tips

2009-11-07T04:28:00.000-08:00

by: Jeannie Crabtree

4 Great Diet Tips
By Jeannie Crabtree

http://www.smartweightlossplan.com

Here are 4 diet tips we all need reminded of from time to time.

Diet Tip 1: Never eat standing up.

Mom was right. Sit down and eat your food! Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet is to 'eat without thinking'. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You'll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.

Diet Tip 2: Fluids

Drinking plain water is always top choice on a diet. You can also drink flavored water instead of soda. Soda is nothing but empty calories. No nutrients, lots of sugar. Instead, grab a bottle of water flavored with a spritz of fruit.

Drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right.

When you're dieting, you should drink even more. It's not just that full feeling - water helps your body digest foods properly, cleans out your system and hydrates you. Many people are a little dehydrated part of the time.

Diet Tip 3: Skip High Fat Foods and Snacks

Skip the fatty snacks fried in hydrogenated oil like potato chips and french fries. These kind of snacks contribute fat and calories and not much else. Foods like this are a no no on a diet.

Instead, grab a handful of dried fruit or a cup of yogurt for the same amount of calories and a lot more nutritional benefit. You want to upgrade your diet in general.

Diet Tip 4: Yes, You Need Exercise

Can't afford a gym membership? Make an agreement with friends or family to exercise together. Make a date at least three times a week to play volleyball, take a walk or spend half an hour doing something active. You will draw closer to your friends and family, while burning off excess weight. Pretty soon every one will notice your weight loss.

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Article by Jeannie Crabtree. Visit her site for weight loss diets, weight loss plans and exercise equipment.

5 Proven Ways to Safely Make Positive Life Changes

2009-11-05T04:25:00.000-08:00

by: Emily Clark

One of the most important aspects of living a healthy and prosperous life is understanding "risk." By this I mean knowing how to understand and analyze situations in life that affect health. Being able to accurately weigh benefits and risks when making health decisions is very important! Too often decisions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information and this is a huge mistake with significant consequences!

Failure to accurately assess risk keeps people locked in all kinds of unhealthy situations including poor eating and exercise habits (lifestyle), relationships and jobs. Sometimes people are just afraid to step out and make a change. They see "risk" in making a change when the REAL risk comes from NOT making a change. From my perspective, living with the stress, unhappiness and frustration of indecision and poor health is the greatest risk of all, and one that is definitely not worth taking!

Accessing "risk" is nothing more than collecting information, weighing the alternatives and then making appropriate decisions based on the information.

Some risks to our health are more "real" than others. For example, it is common knowledge that obesity is associated with a wide variety of health problems. On the other hand, there are some health risks that are so remote we rarely think about them. On a practical level, eating highly processed foods and avoiding a daily dose of fresh fruits and vegetables is rarely considered serious. But, as too many have already discovered, the long range consequences of this practice are real and devastating.

Failure to accurately assess risk limits us in many ways. We imagine the "risk" of talking with our children about drugs, dating or sex and we put off having the "talk," even though the risks of NOT talking are infinitely greater. Fear of flying and public speaking are two more "risks" affecting millions of people. But practically speaking, these fears are unfounded.

People ride in cars every day, even though cars are far more dangerous than commercial aircraft! It's a failure to accurately assess risk, and it limits our health, prosperity and pleasure in life.

The goods news is that failure to accurately access risk is reversible! The effects of those decisions to eat inappropriately or NOT to exercise are, as the common expression goes, "do-overs." We can effect positive change in our lives by following a few simple steps to accurately access risk:

1. Accurately define your present situation and access your health "risks". Are you eating a healthy diet? Are you getting enough exercise and good quality sleep? What are the consequences if you DON'T change? Weigh the benefits of healthier living vs the potential risks such as increased cost, inconvenience or discomfort.

2. What do you stand to gain if you change your present circumstances? Assess the "up-side" potential. Too often we look only at the "downside" risk and forget the benefits. What good things might happen if you take the risk and win?

3. Limit the "down-side" if you happen to make a wrong decision. Don't continue down a path if it does not produce results. This is especially important when following weight loss programs. If the pounds are not coming off or if the weight loss is only temporary, find a new program! You not only want to lose weight, but want to sustain the weight loss for as long as possible. Take steps to ensure this will happen. Clear, concise, realistic objectives will definitely help.

4. Reduce your risk by being smart! Understand the situation and seek the advice of experts in the field of health and nutrition. This includes finding and forming partnerships to receive support and get good advice.

5. Have a fall-back position. If the decision you make fails to produce the desired results, be prepared to take a long, hard look at the circumstances and be prepared to change what you are doing.

Everything in life involves some element of risk. Driving your car, meeting someone new, crossing the street...but we do them every day. Winners in life are willing to accept the risk and
continue on their way! Get involved, be smart about how you play the game, come prepared for a few failures along the way, but don't quite. You will reap the benefits for your effort and live a happier and healthier life. I like to remember the words of the great Winston Churchill when he said, "Never, never, never give up!"

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

About the Author

Emily Clark is editor at Lifestyle Health News and Medical Health News

where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information on many medical, health and lifestyle topics.

Weight Loss - It's not about the numbers, it's your approach

2009-11-03T04:24:00.000-08:00

by: Greg Ryan

Weight loss is more about figuring out your unwanted behaviors rather than numbers on a scale, chart or treadmill. Figure the whys out and you will have staying power. Don't and keep getting more out of shape.

Today obesity, diabetes and heart disease runs through us at epidemic levels, Why? The answer lies not in the thousands of different kinds of diet, weight loss and workout programs offered, the answer lies in the approach. But, no one wants to talk about that. Do you ever wonder why that is?

Do we not want to know, or could it have something to do with the doctor’s and those in the fitness industry not wanting to explain the best approach to us? Maybe they don’t even know the right way themselves? Deep down we want and need too know. Why do I say this? Twenty years of managinghealth clubs and dealing with doctor’s tells me, that if they told you this, then there may be a chance you would not need them. Sounds crazy doesn’t it. But, true!

Quote:

“While exercise and eating guidelines are based on good scientific principles, they do not go along with human nature or common sense. Recent history is telling us this; we are better off with encouraging the mediocre people who are willing to include exercise in their daily lives, rather than cramming guidelines down throats that are far beyond the reach of the majority of people. In the end, keeping things simple combined with support usually works better.”

Greg Ryan

From his e-book: “Just MOVE it,” www.resolutions.bz

Over the years most of us who are out of shape and want to lose a few pounds and feel a little better about ourselves, developed many different behaviors toward exercise and food. Some are good ones, but most are just barriers we have built in our minds. I guess you could also chalk it up to pure laziness.

However, the bottom line is we are going to continue down the path of destruction until someone comes up with a plan to help people deal with the reasons behind such behaviors.

No pill will do it long term, no eight minute ab’s routine will concur the patterns; the only thing it will take is introspection. But, do we want to hear that? Maybe, that is just too painful to even think about right now.

Do you mean I will have to take a good long look at myself? Maybe so. At the end of the day, you are going to have to ask yourself, “Do I deal with it now or do I deal with the consequences later? Because that’s really want it comes down to. Face the truth on your terms today, or face the reality on life’s terms down the road in a hospital bed.

I chose to deal with it now.

So where is the magic? It’s not in the pills or programs being fed to us today and it’s also not found so much in the numbers on an exercise chart, the amount of weight you lift, or the miles on a treadmill.

Our success lies in:

How willing we are to deal with the roots of the unwanted behaviors?
Figuring out what truly motivates us?
Developing a great support system for us personally?
Figure out the emotions behind the food.
Simplifying the workout program to fit your lifestyle.

Do we really want to continue to put a bandage on bleeding artery? Or do we get serious and do some mental surgery that takes care of the weight problem once in for all.

I say go for it! What do you have to lose except a few pounds?

Greg Ryan best selling author of the Changing from the "INSIDE OUT". Discover the five step common sense way to lose weight that the medical and fitness industry’s DON’T want you to know. FREE Mini Course www.resolutions.bz

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Greg Ryan is twenty year veteran of the fitness and weight loss industry. A best selling author and former employer of Kathy Smith. Greg is currently tarveling the world promoting that weight loss is about the approach and not the numbers.

5 Secrets To Building A Successful Internet Business

2009-11-01T04:23:00.000-08:00

by: Jan Peterson

Everyday I talk with people who want to get started on the internet with their own business. But the whole process seems a mystery to them whether they have an affiliate marketing program, a real estate course or they sell health and fitness products. The easiest way I found to walk people through the basic building blocks is to use a real life example of building a brick and mortar business. Success on the internet is possible when you know how to build it and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Let's say you wanted to open a coffee shop that would rival Starbuck's®. Where would you begin? You would probably want to do some kind of research to see how many coffee shops were in your town or city. After all, if there are 5 in a ten mile radius, you might want to think about a different location or how you would make your coffee shop unique enough to slaughter the competition.

1. Identify your niche

Well, it's not much different on the web. You want to first identify your niche. First, let's quickly explain what a niche is and isn't. If you are selling every affiliate marketing program under the sun, this is not a niche. A niche would be to focus on affiliate programs in a specific field like health and fitness. Then you want to find out what the top websites are by typing 'health and fitness' into Google. Here you can see the top 10 sites that Google says are important. Remember that even the category 'health and fitness' can be broken down into further niches like weight loss for women or top 20 health products for longevity. See what your competition is doing and how you could do it different or better.

Another way to look for niches is to use Overture's search term tool. Place your keyword in the box and hit go. Overture will spit out anything relevant to that keyword. It will show you possible niches you hadn't thought of and how many people search for that keyword. For example, you may put in coffee beans and it may show you that organically grown and processed coffee beans are all the rage.

2. Build a user friendly website

Back to the coffee shop. Next thing you might do is have the shop built in a good location where traffic can come and go easily. You too must build a website that has what people are looking for, is easy to navigate, easy to shop and checkout with friendly customer service. Tip: If you are selling weight loss products, don't try and sell power tools. While this may sound obvious, many people try to take the 'sell everything' they can approach and what happens is they end up selling nothing.

What will the environment of the coffee shop be like? What experience do you want your customers to have? Your customers will be entering your website with expectations of finding the information they need and the products they want. In that order. You might invite them to sign up for a free 7 part report on 'how to lose 10lbs guaranteed over the next 30 days eating healthy.' At the end of that report you can encourage them to look at your weight loss supplements or vitamins.

3. Good navigation

As in the coffee shop, have your items for sale laid out in a well organized fashion so the buyer can order exactly what they want with little effort except to give you their credit card number. It is best to have your products grouped and images optimized for fast page loads. Think about what you like. Do you want to see ten products described well on a page or fifty crammed in? As you would have nice displays in your coffee shop so will you on your website.

4. Offer something better than your competition does

What other things could you do to enhance your buyer's experience? In a coffee shop you could offer free samples of new drinks or have a discount card for people who drink coffee with you every morning. On your website, you can offer free tips, reports and discounts on volume buys or repeat purchases.

5. Market wisely

So, how do you get people to come try your coffee shop? Typically, a brick and mortar business will advertise in the local paper. It may be that you have the coffee that is guaranteed to get them going in the morning, free internet access, homemade muffins or the freshest coffee beans available. With your website, you may do pay-per-click advertising, exchange reciprocal links or write articles.
Traffic must come in the door of your website, like what they see and hopefully buy from you.

While most of these tips are common sense, it is amazing how few people actually use these critical ingredients in their online business. Pretend you are a customer arriving to your web store for the first time. What could you do to make the whole experience better?

About the Author: Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities including internet marketing, real estate investing, affiliate marketing, financial investing and more. Over 400 FREE reports available.

Source: www.isnare.com

Common Sense About Low Carb Diets

2009-10-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

by: Paul Buckley

With all of the conflicting studies and fuzzy interpretation of information, it's no wonder that confusion reigns when it comes to the value and safety of low-carb diets. It seems like heated debates are raging everywhere!

Whether it's Atkins, the South Beach or some other low-carb plan, as many as 30 million Americans are following a low-carb diet.

Advocates contend that the high amount of carbohydrates in our diet has led to increasing problems with obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. Critics, on the other hand, attribute obesity and related health problems to over-consumption of calories from any source, and lack of physical activity. Critics also express concern that the lack of grains, fruits, and vegetables in low-carbohydrate diets may lead to deficiencies of some key nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and several minerals.

Any diet, weather low or high in carbohydrate, can produce significant weight loss during the initial stages of the diet. But remember, the key to successful dieting is in being able to lose the weight permanently. Put another way, what does the scale show a year after going off the diet?

Let's see if we can debunk some of the mystery about low-carb diets. Below, is a listing of some relevant points taken from recent studies and scientific literature. Please note there may be insufficient information available to answer all questions.

- Differences Between Low-Carb Diets

There are many popular diets designed to lower carbohydrate consumption. Reducing total carbohydrate in the diet means that protein and fat will represent a proportionately greater amount of the total caloric intake.

Atkins and Protein Power diets restrict carbohydrate to a point where the body becomes ketogenic. Other low-carb diets like the Zone and Life Without Bread are less restrictive. Some, like Sugar Busters claim to eliminate only sugars and foods that elevate blood sugar levels excessively.

- What We Know about Low-Carb Diets

Almost all of the studies to date have been small with a wide variety of research objectives. Carbohydrate, caloric intake, diet duration and participant characteristics varied greatly.

Most of the studies to date have two things in common: None of the studies had participants with a mean age over 53 and none of the controlled studies lasted longer than 90 days.

Information on older adults and long-term results are scarce.

Many diet studies fail to monitor the amount of exercise, and therefore caloric expenditure, while participants are dieting. This helps to explain discrepancies between studies.

The weight loss on low-carb diets is a function of caloric restriction and diet duration, and not with reduced carbohydrate intake. This finding suggests that if you want to lose weight, you should eat fewer calories and do so over a long time period.

Little evidence exists on the long-range safety of low-carb diets. Despite the medical community concerns, no short-term adverse effects have been found on cholesterol, glucose, insulin and blood-pressure levels among participants on the diets. But, adverse effects may not show up because of the short period of the studies. Researchers note that losing weight typically leads to an improvement in these levels anyway, and this may offset an increase caused by a high fat diet. The long range weight change for low-carb and other types of diets is similar.

Most low-carb diets cause ketosis. Some of the potential consequences are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and confusion. During the initial phase of low-carb dieting some fatigue and constipation may be encountered. Generally, these symptoms dissipate quickly. Ketosis may also give the breath a fruity odor, somewhat like nail-polish remover (acetone).

Low-carb diets do not enable the consumption of more calories than other kinds of diets, as has been often reported. A calorie is a calorie and it doesn't matter weather they come from carbohydrates or fat. Study discrepancies are likely the result of uncontrolled circumstances; i.e. diet participants that cheat on calorie consumption, calories burned during exercise, or any number of other factors. The drop-out rate for strict (i.e. less than 40 grams of CHO/day) low-carb diets is relatively high.

What Should You Do? - There are 3 important points I would like to re-emphasize:

- The long-range success rate for low-carb and other types of diets is similar.

- Despite their popularity, little information exists on the long-term efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets.

- Strict low-carb diets are usually not sustainable as a normal way of eating. Boredom usually overcomes willpower.

It is obvious after reviewing the topic, that more, well-designed and controlled studies are needed. There just isn't a lot of good information available, especially concerning long-range effects. Strict low-carb diets produce ketosis which is an abnormal and potentially stressful metabolic state. Under some circumstances this might cause health related complications.

The diet you choose should be a blueprint for a lifetime of better eating, not just a quick weight loss plan to reach your weight goal. If you can't see yourself eating the prescribed foods longer than a few days or a week, then chances are it's not the right diet. To this end, following a moderately low fat diet with a healthy balance of fat, protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients is beneficial.

If you do decide to follow a low-carb plan, remember that certain dietary fats are associated with reduction of disease. Foods high in unsaturated fats that are free of trans-fatty acids such as olive oil, fish, flaxseeds, and nuts are preferred to fats from animal origins.

Even promoters of the Atkins diet now say people on their plan should limit the amount of red meat and saturated fat they eat. Atkins representatives are telling health professionals that only 20 percent of a dieter's calories should come from saturated fat (i.e. meat, cheese, butter). This change comes as Atkins faces competition from other popular low-carb diets that call for less saturated fat, such as the South Beach diet plan. Low-carb dieting should not be considered as a license to gorge on red meat!

Another alternative to "strict" low-carb dieting would be to give up some of the bad carbohydrate foods but not "throw out the baby with the bath water". In other words, foods high in processed sugar, snacks, and white bread would be avoided, but foods high in complex carbohydrates such as fruit, potatoes and whole grains, retained.

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Paul Buckley is a professional pilot who provides articles, tips and resources to his readers as a sideline. A native of Boston, he presently resides in the southeastern US.

http://www.healthydietzone.com

The Neuro-Science Of Losing The Weight You Hate

2009-10-27T04:21:00.000-07:00

by: John Assaraf

Are you one of the 90 million Americans who are currently on a diet? Do you lose weight only to gain every ounce of it back? Well you’re not alone.

The national center for health statistics suggests that over 64 % of Americans are overweight and that figure is growing every year. There are currently over 300 books on dieting and over 16,000 variations of diets from which to choose. People spend over $40 billion a year on every magic potion or pill that they think will help them lose the weight they hate. Unfortunately, 95% gain back all the weight only to once again look for the next hot new diet. John Assaraf, one of the world’s leading optimum performance experts, suggests we look at the cause of this epidemic instead of relying on diets and temporary weight loss tricks.

“People don’t understand how their brain functions and therefore gain all the weight they lose 99% of the time,” said John Assaraf. “To diet using will power and exercise is absolutely the worst way to take off the weight you hate, if you want to keep it off for good."

Will power is a very short-term solution for weight loss since it is controlled by the conscious mind. The latest scientific research shows that the non-conscious, conditioned side of your personality controls five sixths of your behavior and therefore your long-term results.

This means that 83% of the time you are acting automatically at a non conscious level and explains why you regain all your weight back. For permanent weight loss, you must re- train the 5/6th your brain if you really want to keep it off.

AMYGDALA

A recent discovery has to do with your amygdala. This part of your brain doesn’t like change and will release neuro-transmitters anytime you try to change something in your life like your weight. It picks up any deviation from your normal weight and basically causes you to revert back to your old patterns of thoughts and behaviors. It works exactly like the thermostat in your home that automatically picks up any change in room temperature and then automatically corrects it. This explains why people on diets often go on eating binges even while they are on their diet.

Through the years we become conditioned to a certain internal “weight set point” Once this is done we don’t have to think about the day-to-day food intake and activities we need to do to maintain our internal image. This is exactly how we form our habits. Once any habit is ingrained in our brain we function automatically without thought to maintain that internal image. If you don’t like your current weight, you must break your old patterns and old conditioning at the non-conscious level or face the pain of the yoyo syndrome. Your internal mental system operates exactly like the mechanism that keeps airplanes, missiles or boats on course once they have set their coordinates into the system.

The outer body is only an expression of the internal image. If you want to see permanent changes on the outside, you must re-train the mental image on the inside first. The most recent research suggests that it takes about 30 days of everyday mental training to “re-train” the brain if you want long lasting and permanent weight loss. By doing a few simple visualization exercises seeing yourself at your perfect weight, you start to recondition your internal image and you begin to erase the old image.

The more you do this the faster you’ll see results. The good news is that you can’t get a brain hernia if you overdo it.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

Another simple technique you can use is a written positive affirmation. For example, declare: I now weigh xxxx. My body fat is xxxxx. I feel and look great I am at my ideal and perfect weight now

If you repeat reading this and really seeing it on the screen of your mind for at least 30 days, you’ll have a far superior chance of keeping to your ideal weight. You can also cut out photos of the body type you like and paste your picture to it and review it as frequently as possible.

The reason for using present tense affirmations is simple. The non-conscious side of your brain does not know the difference between an actual event and a lie or an imagined one and, it also does not understand the future. Once it is conditioned through repetition and real life or imagined experiences, it will immediately make the outside match up with the internal image.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: John@TheStreetKid.com

About the Author

John Assaraf

New York Times @

Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

"The Street Kid's Guide to Having It All"

www.thestreetkid.com

info@thestreetkid.com

Is Low-Carb Really The Way To Go?

2009-10-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

by: Jesse Cannone

The latest trend in the area of weight loss is low-carb diets such as the Atkins Diet. With so much conflicting information out there on nutrition and weight loss, it’s difficult for the average person to not only find out what works, but also understand how to apply it.

In order to help clear the air, I’m going to dispel some of the myths that are floating around and give you some facts backed up with real science on how the human body actually metabolizes food.

First, let’s talk about why the low-carb approach is so popular. There are a few reasons, but the most common is that people are finally realizing that the low-fat/high carb approach that has been promoted for decades now just doesn’t work! Not only is it making us fatter, it’s also responsible for dozens of diseases and illnesses.

It’s true…..most Americans eat too many carbs and are deficient in the healthy dietary fats. However, it seems that it has to be one extreme or the other with people in this country. So now many people are cutting carbs and avoiding them like the plague, which is just as bad.

But wait…..you say that it works? Maybe you or someone you know has tried the low-carb approach and noticed significant weight loss. Yes, cutting carbs will cause you to lose weight, but not much actual body fat, if any at all. So, why do most people lose weight so quickly? It’s because the human body holds 2.4g of water for every 1 gram of carbohydrate consumed. Cut the carbs and all you do is hold less water! This artificial weight loss is the main reason so many people are going low-carb.

So, not only does following a low-carb diet cause you to lose water, it also depletes muscle glycogen which leaves you feeling sluggish when trying to be active or workout. Remember, carbs are stored as glycogen in the muscles and glycogen is what’s used to fuel your muscles.

Another problem with severely limiting carbs is that the brain uses carbs for energy and without enough carbs, you won’t be 100% mentally. While I agree that people are different and that some people do better on lower amounts of carbs, most people will feel like crap after a week or two with no or low carbs.

But all the fitness and nutrition ‘gurus’ say that carbs are stored as fat, right? WRONG! Any excess energy (food or beverage) can be stored as fat – it doesn’t matter if it’s french fries or salad! Extra is extra is extra!

To my knowledge, there has not been but one study that actually measured body fat of individuals following a low-carb both before and after to see exactly how much body fat was lost. Plus, this study was funded by a grant from Dr. Atkins!

Also, there is quite a bit more research that shows that carbs are not only ok to eat, but that they also contain vital nutrients that can’t be found in other foods.

A recent study done by French and Canadian researchers found that consuming carbohydrates in small amounts did NOT inhibit fat burning and only approximately 4% of it was stored as fat. This was in individuals who were not exercising.

They also assessed the effect of carbohydrates in individuals who performed light to moderate intensity exercise and found that the small carbohydrate meal resulted in no fat being stored and did NOT inhibit fat burning. Plus, even the large carbohydrate meal had NO effect on fat burning and all of it went directly to the muscles to replenish glycogen and repair tissue.

Just imagine what happens when you do a hard workout!

So what does this mean in plain English? Basically, carbs are fine in small to moderate amounts (even if you don’t exercise) and on days you do exercise, the carbs are going to be stored in the muscles and not as fat.

So to all those people out there who think that eating carbs will result in them being stored as fat and it ‘shutting off; the fat burning, I’ve got good news for you…..

You can finally have that big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs you’ve been craving!

So how can you apply this to your eating and fitness program? Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

1. You need carbs – just the right amount and the right type

So what are the right types? Focus on eating carbs that are high in fiber such as vegetables, beans, fruits, and whole grains.

2. Vary the amount of carbs you have based on how active you are

For example – on days you don’t exercise, eat less carbs and maybe vary the types.

3. The one time you can go carb crazy is right after you exercise

For example – if you want to cheat and have ice cream the best time would be right after a hard workout.

Focus on eating balanced – carbs, proteins and fats; and again, adjust the amount of each based on how active you are and plan to be.

I also recommend you do so research yourself and learn as much as you can about human metabolism and sound nutrition. Here are some great resources: http://www.westonaprice.org/nutrition_guidelines/whats_wrong.html http://philkaplan.com/thefitnesstruth/atkins1.htm http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=42

You can also find some great resources and articles at my website here: http://www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm

I hope you found this article informative and I wish you the best. Remember, the more you know the better off you’ll be.

About the Author

Jesse Cannone is a certified personal fitness trainer, post-rehab specialist, nutritionist, and a national fitness presenter. He is also the author of Burn Fat FAST and A Bride’s Guide To Fast Fitness + Weight Loss in addition to many other popular fitness articles. He is known for his hard-hitting and to the point style and offers a great free email newsletter called Fitness Success News, which you can subscribe to at his website http://www.achieve-fitness.com

jesse@achieve-fitness.com

The Neuro-Science Of Losing The Weight You Hate

2009-10-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

by: John Assaraf

Are you one of the 90 million Americans who are currently on a diet? Do you lose weight only to gain every ounce of it back? Well you’re not alone.

AMYGDALA

The more you do this the faster you’ll see results. The good news is that you can’t get a brain hernia if you overdo it.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

Another simple technique you can use is a written positive affirmation. For example, declare: I now weigh xxxx. My body fat is xxxxx. I feel and look great I am at my ideal and perfect weight now

About the Author

John Assaraf

New York Times @

Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

"The Street Kid's Guide to Having It All"

www.thestreetkid.com

info@thestreetkid.com

Perfect Lawns, is it worth it?

2009-10-21T04:19:00.000-07:00

by: Kevin Doberstein

Have you ever been driving down the road with the windows open going past a golf course or a field and then you get a strange smell? A chemical type of odor? Or go walking in the country and notice a large area, usually a field, all brown with dead grass. And next to it, alive green grasses and shrubs? Chances are you smell a herbicide being used or you are seeing what it can do to vegetation.

Then you start to wonder. Are those chemicals getting into the water table? Is wildlife eating the “treated” vegetation and insects tainted with the chemicals? Or maybe we are taking in the toxins and not even realizing it. It could possibly be in the foods we eat, the air we are breathing everyday or the water that we are drinking.

DDT is a colorless contact insecticide that is very toxic. It became banned in the early 1970’s. Gaylord Nelson, a great environmentalist while in office in the state of Wisconsin diliengtly worked to get DDT banned in Wisconsin.

DDT even though restricted is still used in Mexico to control malaria. The National Institute of Public Health of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico concluded from a study that the use of DDT has been linked to breast cancer in Mexico. In another study done by the University of Michigan, it was found that chemical factory workers that made DDT also had a high risk of pancreatic cancer from the overexposure of DDT. Unfortunately, DDT is still being manufactured and used in tropical areas for malaria control.

Below are some of the herbicides used today. This is not a complete listing of all of the herbicides on the market. The short term and long term side effects is based that the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) goes over a certain marker for parts per billion (ppb) in the water. For example Simazine is 4 ppb or 4 parts per billion in drinking water.

Simazine:
Common Trade names: Herbazine, Herbex, Surflan
General Uses: Corn Crops, Christmas Trees
Amount Used Annually: 4.8 billion pounds estimated in 1985
Short Term health Effects: weight loss, changes in blood
Long Term Health Effects: tremors, damage to testes, kidneys, liver, thyroid, cancer
Ground Water Implications: It may leach to ground water. It can last from a few months to years.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Picloram:
Common Trade names: Agent White, Tordon
General Uses: Control annual weeds
Amount Used Annually: 300,000 pounds estimated in 1982
Short Term health Effects: weight loss, damage to the nervous system
Long Term Health Effects: liver damage
Ground Water Implications: It may leach to ground water. It can last from a few months to years
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Glyphosate:
Common Trade names: Roundup, Sonic, Rodeo, Tumbleweed,
General Uses: Used on many food crops and roadsides
Amount Used Annually: 18.7 million pounds recently
Short Term health Effects: congestion of the lungs, increases breathing rate
Long Term Health Effects: kidney damage, reproductive effects
Ground Water Implications: It strongly adheres to the soil with little potential for leaching to ground water.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Endothall:
Common Trade names:Accelerate, Endothall Turf Herbicide, Herbicide 273,
General Uses: Used on many food crops and control aquatic weeds
Amount Used Annually: 1.5 million pounds in 1982
Short Term health Effects: depressed breathing and increase heart rate
Long Term Health Effects: increase size of some organs.
Ground Water Implications: It can leach through the soil into the ground water.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Dinoseb:
Common Trade names:Dow Selective Weed Killer, Hel-fire, Caldon, Knox-weed, Premerge,
General Uses: used for cereal crops
Amount Used Annually: 6.2 million pounds in 1982
Short Term health Effects: sweating, mood swings, headache
Long Term Health Effects: decreased body and thyroid weight, degeneration of testes,.
Ground Water Implications: It can leach through the soil into the ground water. Degrades very slowly.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Atrazine:
Common Trade names:Aatex, Candex, Atred, Cyazin, Griffex Primatol,
General Uses: used for corn and soybean crops
Amount Used Annually: No figures are known, 2nd highest herbicide used
Short Term health Effects: congestion of the heart, lungs, and kidneys, low blood pressure, muscle spasms, weight loss, damage to adrenal glands
Long Term Health Effects: weight loss, cardiovascular damage, retinal and muscle degeneration, and cancer
Ground Water Implications: It can leach through the soil into the ground water. Degrades very slowly. Very powerful herbicide.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Taking in consideration that municipalities have their water tested on a regular basis, this does not take into account the urban and rural areas with its own private wells. Generally that is where a lot of herbicide is used for crops. Also in the city locations one has to take in account the air you breathe.

About the Author:
Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and nature while hiking in the Wisconsin great outdoors. He is also the owner of Nature Boy Natural Images This web site displays outdoor wildlife and nature photography.
He also has the Wisconsin Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog
The Wisconsin Outdoor Recreation and Wildlife Blog is for promoting and protecting nature and wildlife resources in the state of Wisconsin.

If you cite this article, use this description for reference:

Doberstein, Kevin 2005, Perfect Lawns, Is it Worth It? The Dangers of Herbicides. Nature Boy Natural Images

Resources:

University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor 48109-2029.
National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
The Bioremediation and Phytoremediation of Pesticide- contaminated Sites Prepared by Chris Frazar National Network of Environmental Studies (NNEMS)
EPA Consumer Fact Sheet

About the Author

Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and nature while hiking in the Wisconsin great outdoors. He is also the owner of Nature Boy Natural Images This web site displays outdoor wildlife and nature photography.
The Wisconsin Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog

Wonder Food For Women!

2009-10-19T04:18:00.000-07:00

by: Kim Beardsmore

- You are free to publish this article in its entirety, without changes as long as the Copyright and Author's Bio, remain in place and the URLs and links remain intact and working.

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The humble soybean boasts some extraordinary benefits. This nutritional powerhouse has stayed under wraps for too long. Apart from being the only vegetable protein with all 20 amino acids essential for our health and well being, the humble soybean has many other virtues...including an excellent foundation for fast, safe weight loss program.

According to Dr David Heber in "The LA Shape Diet" women who are on a weight loss program, need about 100 grams of protein per day to fight against hunger and to build their best personal lean muscle shape whilst still losing weight. Without the appropriate level of proteins in a low calorie diet, people and women in particular, risk losing 1 pound of muscle for every 4 pounds of weight lost!

Dr Heber recommends soy-protein shakes or soy-protein fruit smoothies as a safe and healthy way to achieve fast and permanent weight loss. Apart from the wonderful health advantages of soy, this a safe protein source without the unwanted cholesterol and saturated fats that accompany animal protein sources and sabotage low calorie weight loss programs.

Read on to discover some other wonderful benefits of this incredible this food source.

1. Soy contains health enhancing isoflavones. Isoflavones are compounds found only in plants which have strong antioxidant properties. These compounds repair, and help prevent damage to cells caused by pollution, sunlight, and normal body processes. Free radicals can easily cause harm to the immune system, whose cells divide often. They may also be responsible for some of the changes of aging.

2. Reduce risk of heart disease. Soy's protein and isoflavones lower LDL cholesterol and decrease blood clotting, which reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. In one study, people who drank a "milk shake" containing 25g of soy protein for nine weeks experienced, on average, a 5% reduction in LDL cholesterol. And people with the highest LDL levels experienced a 11% drop. (For each 10% to 15% drop in the LDL level, the risk of a heart attack decreases 20% to 25%).

3. Protection against cancer. Soy's soluble fiber protects the body from many digestive related cancers, such as colon and rectal cancer. While its isoflavones may protect the body from many hormone related cancers, like breast, endometrial (uterine) and prostate cancer. Isoflavones act against cancer cells in a way similar to many common cancer-treating drugs.

4. Counter the effects of endometriosis. The isoflavones in soy products may help to offset the action of the body's natural estrogen, which is often responsible for instigating the monthly pain, heavy bleeding and other symptoms of endometriosis.

5. Protect against prostate problems. Eating soy products may protect against enlargement of the male prostate gland. The size of the prostate gland tends to increase with age, causing various types of urinary difficulties, including frequent nighttime awakenings.

6. Guard against osteoporosis. Soy's protein enhances the body's ability to retain and better absorb calcium in the bones, while its isoflavones slow bone loss and inhibit bone breakdown, which helps prevent osteoporosis. There is evidence to suggest that isoflavones may also assist in creating new bone.

7. Control symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. Soy's isoflavones help the body regulate estrogen when this hormone is declining or fluctuating, which helps alleviate many menopausal and PMS symptoms. Research has shown that soy isoflavones can reduce menopausal hot flushes in women.

8. Help control diabetic conditions and kidney disease. Soy's protein and soluble fiber help regulate glucose levels and kidney filtration, which helps control diabetic conditions and kidney disease.

What an incredible little bean! With such profound health benefits how can you overlook this wonderful food source? If you haven't yet noticed, gone are the days when the only way soy products came were in strange tasting meat substitutes. You can now access a wide range of soy products and use soy in a variety of ways to suit any taste palate.

- Kim is a successful weight loss coach who will cut through the diet-hype and help you reach your goal weight. Simply results you will love! You can receive a free consultation. Visit today: http://tinyurl.com/4p3br Are you interested in earning money from home? We can help you grow a profitable home business: http://free2liv.com/?refid=sy-567883383

A Mediterranean Diet - How to Lose Weight Safely

2009-10-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

by: Roy Barker

If you are looking for a way to lose fifteen pounds in two weeks, a high protein diet, a low carb diet, a fruit diet, a no fat diet, a blood type diet, a juice fast, a diet named after a place in Miami, a grapefruit diet, a cactus diet, a coffee and cigarette diet, a diet that includes sweets, a diet based on your body type, a diet based on an ancient religion or a diet based on your hair color, then this article is NOT for you.

Fad and crash diets, such as the ones described above are not only unhealthy but they also cause rebound weight gain. Also most diets, even though diet gurus write them, cause an initial weight loss but the ultimate result is that you gain all of the weight back the minute you go off the plan. If you don't gain it back within a couple of diets, you are likely to gain it all back plus a bit more within a year.

Crash diets dehydrate you, low calorie diets put your body into starvation mode so you plateau so you can't lose one more pound and high protein diets stress your kidneys and clog your arteries.

So how does one lose weight?

There is only one answer to this question.

You need to expend more calories than you are taking in. Restricting certain foods, eating so-called fat burning foods, or dehydrating yourself with special pills or teas does not do it. It is simple math. The only way is to eat a little less and exercise a little more. Here is the equation below:

Eating Less + Exercising More = Weight Loss.

This is not a magical formula, it is just logic. It is also not a fast way to lose weight. As I have mentioned before, this is not an article about how to lose ten pounds in three days or 30 pounds in a month. It is about safe, healthy weight loss.

In order to lose weight quickly and safely and without putting yourself at risk for such health hazards as dehydration, kidney failure, malnutrition, exhaustion, nervous dysfunction, tooth loss, dull hair, wrinkles, cellulite, sudden heart failure or stroke and lose the weight so that it stays off, you should lose no more than approximately two pounds a week!

Although that might not sound like a large amount of weight to lose it actually is! If you lose 2 pounds a week that means you can achieve a weight loss of ten pounds a month! If you only have twenty pounds to lose then your weight loss is not only quite rapid, but you have the extra guarantee that it will stay off because you have followed a sensible exercise plan that did not involve starving, exhausting or depriving yourself. If you are willing to drop your impatience and desire for immediate gratification and stick to an exercise plan and healthy eating habits, then a Mediterranean Diet is for you. Remember being slim is only good if you are able to enjoy it!

Do You Need to Lose Weight?

Fascination with Fat

If you want to lose weight, you first need to assess whether you need to actually lose weight or are simply a fashion victim. Unfortunately this society is fascinated with fat - who has it and who doesn't. As we are persuaded by so many images in the media that persuade us to believe that you can never be too thin, many of us are bad judges of our actual body weight.

If you are under the age of eighteen and reading this book, the first thing you need to do is consult with your parent about your plans to lose weight. Have her make an appointment with a physician so that he can indicate to you whether or not you are a candidate for weight loss.

If you are an adult, it is possible that you may not be overweight and are just trying to be, as Bridget Jones put it in Bridget Jones Diary "a stick insect with eyelashes." It is also very possible that you know you need to lose weight but have no idea where to start.

If you are obese and you know it, then you have to check with a physician first to see how your health is before you embark on any exercise program or plan. The same is also true if you have any kind of medical condition but especially a thyroid condition or heart condition. Some physicians may not recommend a weight loss program for those who are over 40 as due to genetics and hormonal changes some people naturally just round out or gain weight in a way that simply cannot be changed. If your doctor tells you your spreading hips are due to menopause or genetics, believe him! It is not clever to fool with Mother Nature.

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Publisher & author: Roy Barker. Roy has an indepth and long established background with the vitamins, minerals and health industry and has researched and experimented with many diets over a thirty year period. More related information detailing the Mediterranean Diet can be found at http://www.safe-and-easy-weightloss.com.

They Said It on TV, So It Must Be True

2009-10-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

by: Dave Soucy

Lose 30 pounds in 30 days! Lose the weight without the effort! Eat anything you want, and still lose weight!

Everywhere you look – magazine covers, print ads, radio, TV infomercials, the internet – headlines like those above, promoting the latest weight loss sensation, abound. They are impossible to avoid. Whether it is for the latest diet craze, magic pill, or infomercial gadget, we are inundated with a large daily dose of weight-loss-made-easy promises. And these ads obviously work, as the American Obesity Association estimates that American consumers spend over $30 billion per year trying to lose weight. Some estimates even put the figure higher, at over $50 billion.

Every day, in the quest to achieve the results claimed in the ads, people question which of these diets, supplements, or gadgets really work the best. It is a question that can best be answered with another question: If any of these products or diets really worked, why is it that, according to the Center for Disease Control, currently 65% of adults in this country are overweight? The truth is, while the ads work wonderfully, the products do not. Let’s face it, if any of them did what the ads claim, nobody would be fat! We would all just pop a pill, or stop eating bagels, or use Suzanne Somers’ latest gizmo for just 7 minutes a day, then run out and buy smaller clothes. Have you ever stopped to wonder why all of the “After” pictures in those ads have “Results not typical” stamped on them in really small print?

If these products do not work, why do we spend billions of dollars on them every year? There are a number of reasons, and some of the main reasons combine to create a very compelling force which drives people to make emotional spending decisions, when logic would dictate that they should know better.

* Overweight people have often tried dozens of different weight loss programs and some become desperate for a solution.
* People want to hear that there is hope.
* Very clever marketing, often disguised as science, reaches these people with the offer of that hope.
* Given that most people do not understand the science behind how the body works, they are willing to believe that this deceptive marketing actually is based in science, and the hope they desire can be theirs for just 3 easy payments of $39.95.

We are a society that wants instant gratification, and with a simple phone call and our credit card number, that weight loss is just a new, exciting miracle pill or best-selling diet book away.

Sadly, the only thing consumers are losing is money. Let’s focus on the myriad of fad diets out there. Many of you will think I am crazy for saying this, but for the vast majority of people looking for long term fat loss, health, and fitness, diets simply do not work. Regardless of which book you run out and buy, in most cases calorie restricted diets, while showing short term weight loss on the bathroom scale, in the long term will lead to a slower metabolism and greater body fat than the dieter started with.

Think about it. We all know someone on a diet. How many of those people are dieting for the first time? Probably very few. Who doesn’t know a dieter who can list all of the ‘great’ diets he has been on?
“Oh, in ’89 I lost 23 pounds on the Cambridge Diet, then in ’92 I lost 27 pounds on the Scarsdale Diet, in ’95 I lost 30 pounds on that grapefruit diet, I did The Zone in 2000 and lost 16 pounds, then in ’02 I did great and lost 24 pounds on Atkins, but now I think I’m going to do the South Beach Diet because I need to lose some weight.”

One more diet and this person should weigh about 34 pounds. The unfortunate truth is that just about every time someone attempts weight loss with a diet based on calorie deprivation, they will end up gaining back the weight they lost, and then some.
Low carb, low fat, nothing but grapefruit…. It does not matter what kind of diet you choose, because behind the marketing hype, they generally all have one thing in common: The dieter is restricting calorie intake. A quick science lesson is needed to understand how our bodies react to a calorie restricted diet. First, when a dieter severely cuts back on their caloric intake, especially by cutting out carbs, they will quickly deplete their glycogen stores. What is glycogen? Well, when carbohydrates are ingested, they break down into sugars that are transported by the bloodstream and stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen. Glycogen is one of the main energy sources used by our bodies. An important fact to know is that every gram of glycogen stored in our muscles stores approximately 2.4 grams of water with it. So, by restricting carbs and depleting muscle glycogen, the dieter also releases a lot of water. This is one of the main reasons the scale will show a large loss of weight when one initially goes on a diet. Unfortunately, the goal should be to lose fat, not water which the body needs.

Next, the body does not know why it is suddenly getting less food, so a million years or so of evolution kick in and direct it to go into famine survival mode. Fat is the body's long term survival energy source, so it decides that it must conserve fat to survive. That is probably not what you were hoping to hear, but unfortunately that is the way it works. In order to make up the deficit in available energy sources brought on by the diet, the body begins to break down muscle to use as an energy source. Another important science nugget to know is that muscle is metabolically active tissue and fat is not. In other words, muscle burns calories throughout the day, while fat just sits there. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even if you are just sitting on the couch. Of course, as we just discovered, the dieter is losing muscle due to the calorie restricted diet, so he is now actually burning fewer calories throughout the day. Again, looking to survive the perceived famine, the body becomes more efficient at storing fat and slowing down its metabolism to adjust to the lack of food coming in. Haven’t we all heard someone complain that no matter how much they diet, they cannot lose weight because they are the victim of a slow metabolism? The reality is that, for the vast majority of people, we are the CREATORS of our metabolism, NOT the victims of it.
Now the body has slowed down it's metabolism to the point where the dieter stops losing weight. The usual reaction is to cut calories back even further. Of course, as we now understand, this only compounds the problem as more muscle will be broken down, further hindering the body's ability to burn calories throughout the day. Diets based on calorie deprivation usually are not sustainable for the long term, and eventually the dieter becomes discouraged and returns to their pre-diet eating routine. Unfortunately, this person has slowed down their metabolism significantly and is burning fewer calories than they were pre-diet. So, when they go back to their old eating habits, the weight comes right back on and it comes back as fat, not as the muscle that they lost. If they started out at 200 lbs with 25% body fat and lost 15 lbs during the diet, when they gain the weight back and hit 200 lbs again, their body fat percentage will now probably be closer to 30%! This is an illustration of a term most people are familiar with, yo-yo dieting, and it is why surveys show that over 80% of people who lose weight by dieting alone say that they gained back all of the weight they lost, if not more, within a year.
Does this mean that people should just give up trying to lose weight? Not at all. It just means people need to stop looking for the next quick fix diet that comes down the road. Nobody wants to hear that it takes actual effort to lose weight, but I am sorry to say that it does. It should say something that the obesity rate in this country continues to climb while all of the diet gurus out there rake in millions from innocent people looking for a solution. Obviously, reasons for being overweight vary, and every individual responds in a unique way to a weight loss program. But, for true long term fat loss and improved overall health and fitness, there are some common sense truths:
* A need to eat a balanced diet containing complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and essential fats. Avoid highly processed carbohydrates, excess sugars, and excess saturated fats.
* Eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day is better than eating 2 or 3 larger meals. You will have more energy throughout the day, and your body will burn calories more efficiently.
* Performing moderate aerobic activity provides many benefits including improved cardiorespiratory function, improved endurance, lower blood pressure, and improved cholesterol to name a few.
* In addition to aerobic activity, people should perform resistance training to maintain or increase lean muscle mass. As we have learned, maintaining our muscles mass is critical in driving our metabolism and the key to losing not just body weight, but body fat.
Keep these points in mind the next time you hear about the latest ‘miracle’ or ‘breakthrough’ diet and you will be on your way to losing pounds, and not just your money.

Dave Soucy, Fitness Consultant and Certified Personal Trainer, is the owner of Perfect Fit, LLC.

Dave can be reached at (603) 641-8297, via email at dave@perfectfitonline.com, or through www.perfectfitonline.com
Copyright © 2004 Perfect Fit, LLC. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Soucy, Fitness Consultant and Certified Personal Trainer, is the owner of Perfect Fit, LLC. Dave can be reached at (603) 641-8297, via email at news@perfectfitonline.com, or through www.perfectfitonline.com

Stay in shape after weight loss

2009-10-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

by: Versha Chugh

With the healthcare industry coming up with newer programs and medications to aid the obese, people are also experimenting with different options to control their weight gain.

Overweight people try out different diet plans, diet pills, exercises, and they also join Weight Control Programs to lose their weight. They often succeed with their objective, but only to put it all back again once the dieting fever is over.

After significant weight loss, it becomes very important to pursue an exercise regimen strictly. Exercise is crucial to keep your muscles firm and helps tighten the skin. The diet plans must be followed even after losing weight. One of the biggest drawbacks to a substantial weight loss is the flabby skin that is visible and which often takes months to disappear.

The best way to maintain palpable weight loss is to keep on exercising daily as a routine. Daily work-out is an excellent way to lose weight and burn fat, improve fitness and boost energy levels. Jogging or walking is considered one of the best exercises for strengthening bones, controlling weight, and balancing your body. It stimulates the mind, increases self-esteem and a sense of achievement which can add a new dimension to your day.

How much your skin tightens depends on various factors: your age, length of time the skin was stretched; how much weight you lost (and to some extent how fast you lost it), and the amount of elasticity in your skin. Another contributing factor is the genes.

Regular work-out helps your body by tightening and toning up the skin and your muscles. It definitely improves and shows up on your appearance.

For stomach, the best option is to maximize the metabolic rate. In trivial terms, metabolic rate is defined as “how fast we burn the calories we consume.” Our body burns calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Our individual metabolic rates depend upon factors like whether we are at rest or we are active, and when we ate last. The way to maximize the number of calories we burn each day is not to give up sleep but to maximize our metabolic rate while we are active.

Every study pertaining to weight control has laid stress on the fact that the people who are most active are most successful in sustaining weight loss. Most scientists agree that exercise is the single best interpreter of weight maintenance success.

An equally important way is to seek and encourage the support of friends and family. Include them wherever possible in the healthier aspects of your new life. Support is extremely essential for anyone with weight loss and fitness related goals.

Hence the baseline is to burn more calories than you consume, by either reducing your caloric intake, or increasing your daily activity as you lose weight; so by the time you get to your goal weight, you can keep it off with your activity.

The end result is a great start of long term weight-loss plan and a healthier you!

To study in detail about weight loss tips, please visit www.slimtour.com as it contains valuable information on weight loss.

Can You Attain Weight Loss While Fasting?

2009-10-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

by: Jason Barger

Fasting, when done properly, can be a basic part of a solid weight loss plan. If done correctly it can be a great start to your new way of living.

When I first started my weight loss program I began with a fast. I have fasted for 2-7 days on a few different occasions. The reason that fasting can be such a great way to start a weight loss program is because you can see results immediately.

It will also make it very easy to stick to your diet for the first week. After not eating for a few days, your food will taste better. This is a great time to go a few days eating only fruits and vegetables. This can easily turn your two day fast into a 7 day, full body cleanse.

Fasting can make you look much thinner in only a couple days. You may not lose a significant amount of weight, but it will look like you have. It can make your waist noticeably thinner and clear up blemishes or skin problems.

Although I do not think fasting is to be used specifically for weight loss, I think you can do it to get your body ready for a healthier way of living. Use it as a way to cleanse your body out and get rid of all the toxins clogging your system.

I suggest drinking fruit and vegetable juices while fasting. I have read that you should do a water fast, but it can be a miserable experience if you have never fasted before. So stick to natural juices.

One of the better results I saw from my fasting experience was that I have more self control over my eating habits. I have always been a binge type of eater. After my fast, I felt like I could restrain myself easier. It is probably a mental attribute. I mean if I can go without eating for 7 days then I can sure keep myself from eating something I shouldn’t.

So although I don’t think you can use fasting as a diet or weight loss program, I do feel that it can be a great start to a proper weight loss diet and exercise program. I think it is definitely something that everybody should do at least once a year.

If you have any health problems you should consult a physician before starting any weight loss program. And, if you absolutely cannot go without food then simply try going a few days eating vegetables and fruits only. This will give you most of the same results as the fasting will. However, I recommend the fast over the fruits and vegetables because of the confidence and control you will begin to enjoy as a result.

This article was written by Jason Barger. Jason has been helping people lose weight with his breakthrough book, Primal Weight Loss. To learn more about his philosophy and programs you can visit http://www.primalhealth.com .

How to Lose Weight After Pregnancy

2009-10-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

by: Balaji B

Weight control is a prevalent concern for many women after pregnancy. Although common during pregnancy, weight gain is difficult for many women to handle emotionally. Many women are unclear about how to separate fact from fiction concerning this "post-pregnancy" weight control. First of all, women need to understand how much weight gain is actually "normal" during pregnancy. Do try to keep in mind that your pregnancy weight wasn't gained overnight so it won't disappear that quickly, either. As a matter of detail, you gained that weight so that you would have plenty of reserves for feeding your baby.

Eat healthy foods. This really is unnoticed, though. Emphasize nutrient rich foods, which are not having too much fat. Avoid oily snack foods and so-called healthy foods like cheese and complete milk. Eat more fruits, vegetables, grains, pastas and beans and avoid red meat and salads laden with dressing. Try to build some outdoor activity into your day. In some way walk with your baby every day and try to get a jogging stroller added to your wish list. Sling makes carrying your baby more resourceful and burn more calories. Drink plenty of water. Avoid soda, cool drink and juice. Some foods are they were truly empty calories. Combining 200 fewer calories per day of higher fat foods that's just a couple portion of dressing or a piece of cheese with 20 minutes of a good walk with your baby will lead to exactly the weight loss and conditioning you want. Add in a little formal or informal yoga and stretching and you'll get there even sooner.

Weight loss after pregnancy can be slow and many new mothers find it difficult to continue a diet after having a baby. Babies do not recognize your desire to lose weight and regain your figure. As a result regular meals can be difficult. However, please avoid the fast or 'starve' yourself into regaining your pre-pregnancy shape. Stock up with healthy, filling, convenient snacks, like soups, low-fat pasta sauces, lean meats, whole meal bread and cereals, fresh vegetables and fat-free dairy products.There seems to be a myth that weight loss after pregnancy can only be successful if it occurs quickly. Somehow, many women feel that if they have not lost all the pregnancy weight by 1 year after delivery, something is wrong with them, they are not standard, or they have failed in some way. In fact, the truth is that weight loss after pregnancy can take a very long time, sometimes even few years, without signifying that something is wrong.

Gradual weight loss is the standard, not the exception, and the rate of weight loss depends on several factors, such as whether there were difficulties with the pregnancy or delivery. Pregnancy complications can make a woman feel weak with her mobility. Certain diseases like postpartum inflammation of the thyroid gland, which is a general complication that shows itself soon after delivery, can cause massive weight struggles if they are severe. Exercising every single day, even if that exercise is just walking, is an absolute must and the lack of exercise is what often holds up the process.

Consulting a dietician is a best way to obtain an individualized plan. The dietician will assess key issues like your food preferences, schedule.. etc in order to create a customized individual plan. As well, while you follow the dietician's plan, you needsto keep up daily exercise to optimize your weight loss. We are only human. Fast weight loss will not stay off, but rational weight loss will stay off. Weight loss will simply not be acceptable if exercise is lacking. This is true for many reasons; including that exercise helps to keep your body's metabolism from decreasing extremely while dieting.

About The Author

Balaji B

Visit : http://www.natural-treatment-guide.com/pregnancy/how-to-lose-pregnancy-weight.html or http://www.natural-treatment-guide.com/pregnancy/loose-weight-after-pregnancy.html for more tips on how to lose weight quickly & safely after pregnancy.

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The 4 Secrets to Weight Loss Success the Diet Books Don’t Te

2009-10-07T04:14:00.000-07:00

by: Meri Raffetto RD

Weight loss plans come in all shapes and sizes. Some are fad diets that are too restrictive to follow more than a couple of weeks, while others are provided by professionals that make customized plans for us. All of them give us some guidelines on what we should and shouldn’t eat to ultimately reach our weight loss goals. No matter how many food plans we try, healthy or unhealthy, there are some fundamental things you must know in order to be successful in a weight loss program that, believe it or not, have nothing to do with food.

1. Readiness- Are you ready to make change in your life right now? How would you know? The reason many weight loss plans fail is because people are not truly emotionally ready for change. In order to have true lifelong weight loss you have to commit to trading your old habits in for a new, healthier lifestyle. This has more to do with readiness for change than a desire to shed pounds- there is a big difference. The good news is, as you start on the journey to change these old habits you will be amazed how much better you feel physically, psychologically, and emotionally. This is the place where the people who have experienced long term weight loss have entered and want to stay. When you are truly committed to changing your lifestyle you will achieve lifelong weight loss and so much more!

Ask yourself a few questions. Are you ready to make permanent dietary changes for you and your family? Are you ready to start exercising regularly? Are you ready to defend your new lifestyle changes to those who are undermining your efforts? Don’t fret if you aren’t completely ready to dive into change. This is the stage to keep up the learning process by reading articles and gathering information. You will know when the time is right and that will be when you answer an unequivocal “Yes!” to the above questions.

2. Developing a vision. When I ask people what their goals are for a weight loss program the answer is always, “to lose weight of course”, or “to lose x amount of pounds”. It is crucial to have another more, heart-felt reason to lose weight other than losing pounds and appearance. This is because when times are tough, and they will be during any change process, you will need a heart-felt or internal reason to lose the weight to keep you motivated. Losing weight for appearance is ok but it is an external reason and will not help to keep you motivated for long.

In the past my clients have chosen things like, being able to play with their kids, running a marathon, backpacking trip they have longed to go on for years, and a big motivator is often a health condition. I call this your vision. It is imperative to take a few minutes to learn what your vision is. What is important to you that you will be able to achieve with weight loss? Write this vision down and plaster it everywhere so you always see your end goal and it will always help to motivate you further when times are tough.

3. Self Talk – is yours negative or positive? Unfortunately it’s true that we are our own worst critics and like hearing any critic it often leads us to failure because we believe the critic is right. Furthermore, we start to believe things are true that are absolutely not true. For instance, if a child is told they are a klutz from an early age they will likely always think they are a klutz. We believe what we are told repeatedly.

What do you tell yourself? One common statement I hear a lot of these days is, “I can’t eat carbohydrates because once I start I can’t stop”. This is a belief that you have set up from constant defeating self-talk and once you believe it then no doubt you will act it out. However, there is no scientific reason why a person would not be able to stop eating after having a bite of carbohydrates. Your belief makes it your reality. So whenever you hear yourself say I can’t do something or any other self-defeating talk. Stop yourself and change the sentence to a positive. For example, I realize that carbs have been a challenge for me in the past but I can eat a portion and put the rest away for later. Keep working on your own positive reinforcement by being gentler with yourself and tell yourself all that you CAN do.

4. Be prepared for change. All weight loss programs require us to change a habit yet no one warns us about the process of change. The first thing to know is that the beginning of change is difficult and uncomfortable. This is because it forces us to get off autopilot and focus on our new behaviors. Luckily it takes about 21 days to make a new habit and the uncomfortable part goes away and our new habits become autopilot.

For example: Imagine you get your dream job and it requires that you have to get up at 5:30am. Yikes! You normally get up at about 7:30 am. So, what do you think will happen that first morning when the alarm goes off at 5:30? You aren’t going to feel so great and your body is going to beg you to get back into your warm bed! This will go on for about 2-3 weeks until your body stops fighting you and realizes this is the new habit. The same thing will happen to you when you change eating and exercise habits. Just expect a little resistance and keep going! Your new healthy changes will eventually become your new habit. You just have to keep at it.

About the Author

Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and a recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. Get her free monthly newsletter to receive nutrition tips, healthy recipes, and more! Sign up at www.reallivingnutrition.com

How To Lose Weight Sensibly and Keep It Off

2009-10-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

by: Johnny Layton

Article: How To Lose Weight Sensibly and Keep It Off

Who should lose weight? Health experts generally agree that adults who are overweight and have weight-related medical problems or a family history of such problems can benefit from weight loss. Some weight-related health problems include diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, or high blood sugar levels. Even a small weight loss of 10 to 20 pounds can improve your health by lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Your body weight is controlled by the number of calories you eat and the number of calories you use each day. So, to lose weight you need to take in fewer calories than you use. You can do this by becoming more physically active or by eating less.

Following a weight loss program that helps you to become more physically active and decrease the amount of calories that you eat is most likely to lead to successful weight loss. A weight loss program should also help you keep the weight off by making changes in your physical activity and eating habits that you will be able to follow for the rest of your life.

To lose weight and keep it off, you should follow a weight loss program that will work for you. Three types of weight loss programs commonly used include: do-it-yourself, clinical and non-clinical programs.

Any efforts to lose weight by you or with a group of like-minded others through support groups, worksite or community-based programs fits in the "do-it-yourself" category. Individuals using a do-it-yourself program rely on their own judgment, group support, and products such as diet books for advice.

Clinical program may or may not be commercially owned. Services are provided in a health-care setting such as a hospital, by licensed health professionals such as physicians, nurses, dietitians, and/or psychologists. In some clinical programs, a health professional works alone; in others, services are provided by a group of health professionals. This program may offer services such as nutrition education, medical care, behavior change therapy, and physical activity.

Non-clinical programs may or may not be commercially operated, such as through a privately-owned weight loss chain. They often use books and pamphlets that are prepared by health-care providers. These programs use counselors (who usually are not health-care providers and may or may not have training) to provide services to you. Some programs require participants to use the program's food or supplements.

Other weight loss methods used to treat severely overweight patients include low-calorie diets, prescription weight loss drugs and surgery. If you are considering a weight loss program and you have medical problems, or if you are severely overweight, programs run by trained health professionals may be best for you. These professionals are more likely to monitor you for possible side effects of weight loss and to talk to your doctor when necessary.

The key to successful weight loss is making changes in your eating and physical activity habits that you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. The first step is to look atyour eating and physical activity habits, thus uncovering behaviors such as television watching, that lead you to overeat or be inactive. Next you'll need to learn how to change thosebehaviors.

Johnny Layton, MS., Publisher of Health and Fitness Facts newsletter. Subscribe and receive a free gift. http://www.1800healthfitness.com/subscribe.htm. Web site: http://www.1800healthfitness.com

Your Weight Loss Problem: How-To Cure It By Watching Movies

2009-10-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

by: Beth Scott

Is it possible that you could actually lose weight while watching your favorite shows or reading your favorite books? YES, it is! Read this article to find out how...

I don’t know anything about you but if you’re anything like me then you struggle with a weight loss problem. Your weight loss problem consists of you struggling to keep your weight down, or struggling to make your weight go down.

Most people who see me wouldn’t believe that I have a weight loss problem, but I do. I’ve battled bulimia and constant gains and losses in weight, of ten pounds each time. Thats what I call a big weight loss problem.

A lot of women and men with the same or a similar weight loss problem would sympathize with me I’m sure. I want to look good (who doesn’t?) so that always motivates me to go on a diet.

But after sticking to a diet for a week and dropping the unwanted weight my love for good tasting food overpowers my need to feel attractive and the weight piles back on pound by pound.

There is always exercise to help with a weight loss problem, I remind myself as I lie lazily on the couch chomping down on one of my non-diet treats. “Sure!” I groan “I don’t feel like wearing my butt out without seeing any results for weeks at a time.”

Whenever I start a workout regimen I only stick to it for a few weeks (usually less) and then I get bored and drop it. So my weight loss problem continues.

How many other women I wondered (or men, for that matter) get bored while exercising? I thought about that for awhile then I set about to find a solution to help all those poor people (and myself too, of course) with this weight loss problem.

First I asked myself: What did I like to do? What did I find Interesting?

“Hmmmm, well” I thought “I like dancing, but long periods of it are exhausting. I like to read, to listen to music, and I really dislike being on my feet for over long periods of time.

What could possibly combine all or most of these to make my exercising interesting and help solve my weight loss problem?

The solution to my weight loss problem was amazingly simple!

I own an old stationary bike, and I do mean OLD, but the important thing is that it operates. You can do this with any form of stationary bike, whether it’s a twenty year old model or an up to date model.

It doesn’t matter whether you own the stationary bike or use a gym’s or your local YMCA’s or YWCA’s facilities.

My weight loss problem solution is this:

Find something engrossing to read. It could be a novel or your favorite magazine. Or listen to music that you enjoy, you could even use audio books or any different CD’s or things you could listen to.

I suppose if your bike was somewhere around a television or computer with a DVD player, you could even watch your favorite movie.

The next step is to mount your stationary bide and start biking while reading or doing any of the above listed activities, and not to get off for at least 45 to 60 minutes, except for an occasional rest every quarter of an hour.

I usually just keep biking away the whole time and sometimes I bike longer because I’m so engrossed in what I’m reading, and I won’t allow myself to read it once I’m off the stationary bike.

After a week of this, without change in my eating habits, or any dieting, I’m maintaining a healthy weight. Best of all I’m not putting on any new pounds, and my legs look visibly slimmer.

So I've kissed my weight loss problem goodbye, and I'm saying hello to slim jeans and size 6 dresses, and you can too.

For the first time in a long while I actually look forward to putting on a bikini.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

If this method isn’t appealing to you or just doesn’t work, you should try visiting Brad Callen’s website at: http://snipurl.com/98g1

He gives excellent weight loss advice for those seeking it.

Aerobic Cross Training for Weight Loss

2009-10-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Do you sometimes get bored with your aerobic exercise? Do You sometimes feel like you're not getting the results you should from your aerobic exercise? If so, then aerobic cross-training is for you.

Aerobic cross-training refers to using two to three different types of aerobic exercise during an exercise session. For example, if you plan to exercise for 60 minutes, you might start with 20 minutes of walking or jogging, followed by 20 minutes of biking, and finish with 20 minutes of rowing.

Now, please don't get the impression that you have to be in great shape to do this or that it has to be 60 minutes long. You can start with something as simple as a ten minute walk followed by ten minutes with an exercise video. This is cross-training too. You can gradually build up from there.

Here are some of the exercises you can use in your cross-training program; walking, jogging, biking, rowing, stair climbing, swimming, exercise videos, etc. Any combination of aerobic exercises will do. You simply go from one to the next with very little time between them.

Aerobic cross-training is beneficial to you in several ways:

1. It provides variety which eliminates the monotony often associated with doing the same exercise for a long period of time.

2. If your exercise sessions are less monotonous and more enjoyable, you are much more likely to exercise more often and for longer periods of time.

3. You are less prone to over-use injuries that sometimes occur from doing the same exercise movements over and over again.

4. You tone more muscles because you are using more muscles. For example, walking tones mostly the lower body muscles and rowing tones upper body muscles also. Even exercises like walking and biking that both tone lower body muscles, tone them at different angles and each tones some small muscles that the other doesn't.

5. Aerobic conditioning is very specific to the muscles being worked. For example, you can walk ten miles a day and still be somewhat breathless after climbing stairs because you haven't trained the muscles for that specific movement. Aerobic cross-training allows you to develop more comprehensive aerobic training.

6. Aerobic cross-training is effective for weight loss because your are toning and training the fat-burning systems of more of your muscles. It turns more of your muscles into 24-hour fat-burning machines! You are also more likely to exercise on a regular basis and for longer periods of time. this also promotes weight loss and fitness.

Author and exercise physiologist, Greg Landry, offers free weight loss and fitness success stories and targeted, highly affective weight loss programs for women, men, type 2 diabetics, and people with slow metabolisms and hypothyroidism. http://www.Landry.com

Privacy Policy for www.weightlossguidecenter.blogspot.com

2009-09-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

Privacy Policy for www.weightlossguidecenter.blogspot.com

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