Many fruits and vegetables are known for numerous health benefits. Diets composed of five to nine serving of fruits and vegetables may help reduce the risk of chronic ailments and other physical difficulties. Vegetables and fruits are made of insoluble fiber can supply the body of necessary nutrients like vitamins and minerals that are vital for the development and maintenance of the human body. Many research suggests that nutrients in plants may slow the aging process, lessen the risk of cancer, prevent urinary tract infection, and help lose weight. Vegetables and fruits are low in fat in calories–these factors are essential in effective weight control and weight loss. Low-calorie diets enables are essential in achieving and maintaining one’s ideal weight. In addition to their low-calorie content, vegetables and fruits are low in sodium which means that they help reduce water gains. Sodium is a component of many processed foods, it causes the body to store water in the body. People on the average may be holding up to five pounds of additional water because of high sodium intake. Reduction in sodium intake can help lose water weight, if more vegetables and fruits are consumed, sodium intake naturally lowers. A diet composed of vegetables and fruits, coupled with exercise can promote weight loss and also reduce the risk of many medical conditions. Insoluble fiber in these food passes through the body quickly, bringing with them cancer-causing substances through the digestive system faster. In addition, insoluble fiber helps prevent constipation because these food exits the body faster. Here are other health benefits of fruits and vegetables in one’s diet: · Reduce risk for stroke and perhaps other cardiovascular diseases. · Reduce risk for type 2 diabetes. · Protect against certain cancers, such as mouth, stomach, and colon-rectum cancer. · Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. · Reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and may help to decrease bone loss. Insoluble fiber from fruits and vegetables are not “cure all” for weight control. However, a nutritious diet, coupled with exercise, and lots of water these food can help individuals lose weight. Eight glasses of water a day are recommended a day because food high in fiber get water from the intestines. By adding insoluble fiber in one’s diet, individuals may help avoid bloating and promote overall health. Buying nutritional food that is high in insoluble fiber is important in improving one’s health. When shopping for nutritional food, buyers should remember the following: · Buy fresh products twice a week. Many vegetables lose their nutrients during prolonged refrigeration. · Avoid wilted vegetables and bruised fruits. · Buy small, young vegetables. · Choose whole grain products for greater nutritional content instead of “enriched” breads. · Buy from larger stores or health food stores for whole-grain flours and hard-to-find nuts and seeds. Controlling one’s weight is easier with lots of fruits and vegetables. One ought to remember that these food will not solve all weight problems, but it is a step to which leads to the right direction. Regular consumption of fiber has many advantages that may lead to improved health and ideal weight.
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If you need to drop and few kilos and don’t know where to get started, stop counting calories and start counting colours. When it comes to losing weight, make sure your plate is piled high with a range of colourful fruit and vegetables. You’ll naturally create more balance and health-filled menus. Why? Colour not only brightens your mood – but also your diet. Load your plate with fruit and veges like a box of crayons in colours such as red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, white and green and you’ll also be filling up on power packed phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are naturally occurring chemicals which combat disease, including cancer. Go easy on the beige and brown foods such as pasta and startchy carbs. When there are too many of these drab colours on your plate, weight gain is almost certain. That’s because these beige foods often are high in calories and can leave you feeling hungry later. A cup of beige or brown beans can be over 200 calories….but a cup of red or green vegetables is under a hundred! Add fresh greens, deep purple-reds and bright yellow-orange to a meal, and water the nutrient content go up, while calories go down! Plus, you’ll get more enjoyment from eating when there’s a variety of colours and flavours on your plate. According to Dr David Heber, M.D., Ph.D. and author of “What Color Is Your Diet” the key to designing your colourful diet is to choose from a range of different colour groups: Blue/purple fruits and vegetables contain varying amounts of health-promoting phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolics. Choose from a range including blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, plums, raisins. These assist in memory function. Green group includes broccoli; Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and bok choi. These foods stimulate the genes in your liver to turn on the production of enzymes that break down the cancer-causing chemicals in the body. The yellow/green group includes green peas, avocado and honeydew melon. These promote eye health. The yellow/orange group includes carrots, mangoes, apricots, rock melon and pumpkin. These contain carotenoids (beta carotene is one), fierce antioxidants that help prevent cancer and assist to lower heart-attack risk. The white group includes bananas, white peaches, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms and are helpful to maintain heart health. The red group includes tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon all of which contain lycopene. Lycopene is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. The red/purple group includes grapes, grape juice, prunes, cranberries, strawberries and red apples. These foods contain anthocyanins which have a beneficial effect on heart disease by inhibiting blood clot formation.
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There are literally thousands of diets and weight loss systems throughout the world; pills, shakes, soups, fads, carbohydrates, calories, fats, sugars, you name it. They are all available to you in the interest of helping you lose weight, change your body shape or size or changing the way your body feels. What most people don’t realise that they all pretty much have one thing in common. You need to change your mental state before you can make any of them work! Yes, you may find it a surprise but pretty much 99% of people looking to lose weight have actually subconsciously “chosen” the state their body is in. At the end of the day, YOU alone are responsible for putting the fried chicken in your mouth, YOU are responsible for NOT going for a walk this morning and, most importantly, YOU are responsible and have control of your thoughts, emotions and motivation. Changing your mental state will help you change your physical state, as the old saying goes “you have to change what is on the inside to change what is on the outside”. Many people don’t actually give a lot of thought to what is going on inside, about how they are stopping themselves from doing things and how they can make changes (small or large) that will create a positive difference in their lifestyle. Find out what pain you have to break through to create more pleasure within your body and your mind. Not physical pain, but mental pain. What is it you have to deal with in order to remove the excess baggage (weight) you carry around with you? When you find out what is holding you back from making changes in your life, body and diet, you will find that dieting no longer becomes about food and exercise, it becomes a lifestyle. With the right mental changes you will find that you CAN drink wine, go out for dinner and eat cheese, ice-cream and chocolate, however you must also use balance and thought and consume only in the right moderation. Everyone has the ability, motivation and power to make almost any change positive and successful. Tapping into your mental state, deciding to make a few changes and acting out these changes is what will make all the difference!
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That’s the question many people ask when their weight loss plan isn’t working. Asking yourself ‘Why can’t I lose weight?’ is actually one of the best things you can do for yourself. It says you know that what you’re currently doing isn’t working for you. You’re at the place where you’re ready to look at alternatives – try something different to get a result you want. So why can’t you lose weight? Here are 3 possible reasons you may not be losing weight – and some suggestions on what you can do about it. #1) Medical Reasons Now this is not the same as saying you’re genetically programmed to be overweight. That is hogwash. In fact scientists estimate that even if you do have a genetic propensity to gain weight, your genes only account for 15 – 25% of your current weight. So forget the genetics excuse. But there are medical reasons that some people can’t lose weight. Low thyroid, adrenal exhaustion, insulin resistance and other medical conditions can make losing weight near to impossible. That’s why before starting any weight loss plan, you should talk to your doctor first. Have a full workup and make sure that you don’t have any health issues standing in the way of your weight loss. There’s nothing more frustrating that trying to lose weight, doing all the right things and not losing an inch – all because of a medical condition. Get the medical condition cleared up first and then address the weight (in fact, the weight may just go down on it’s own once you get the medical condition addressed). #2) Emotional Eating I recently read an article where a nutritionist estimated that 75% of overeating was due to emotions. 75%! Can you imagine what would happen if you learned to eliminate emotional eating and cut out all those calories? What a weight loss impact! The weight would be falling off. Unfortunately, in today’s world, emotional eating is on the rise. Most people today are feeling the pressure of an increasingly hectic lifestyle. We hardly have time to tie our shoes, never mind deal with our emotions. Because of this, our emotions get stuffed down and ignored until finally they explode and we’re face-down in a bowl of Rocky-Road ice cream with extra chocolate sauce. Here’s the bottom line: you are human and you have emotions. Your emotional needs are important and need to be addressed properly with love. You need emotional nurturing and proper emotional care. If that means you take a 5 minute break every few hours at work to regain your emotional balance, do it. If that means you need to unwind by doing a mall walk and window shopping after work – don’t let anything stop you. Learn to nurture your emotional health and you’ll nip emotional eating in the bud – and start losing weight FAST. #3) Mismatched Weight Loss Plan There are many different ways to lose weight and dozens of weight loss programs to choose from. Some plans emphasize a change in diet, others emphasize a change in exercise, others focus on the inner reasons for overeating. Every person is different and will lose weight in their own unique way. If what you’re doing now isn’t currently working, it may be a simple case of personality-plan mismatch. Maybe instead of a diet-focused weight loss plan, you would feel better with a fitness-focused weight loss plan or a psychological weight loss plan. There are lots of plans to choose from and you deserve to take your time and find one that fits your personality and lifestyle best. If you think this is the case, take some time to review different diet or weight loss plans. Find one that you can get excited about, one that makes sense to you and that fits your belief system and personality. That’s when you’ll make real weight loss progress! So those are 3 possible reasons for your weight loss plateau. You don’t have to stay stuck in a weight loss rut. You don’t have to keep asking yourself the frustrating question: Why Can’t I Lose Weight?’ Keep believing in yourself and in your dreams. Don’t give up and you will get there!
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Cause I’m young, and I’m hip, so beautiful I’m gonna be a supermodel I’m young, and I’m hip, so beautiful I’m gonna be supermodel I didn’t, eat yesterday And I’m going not eat today And I’m not gonna eat tomorrow Cause I’m gonna be a supermodel –Lines from the song “I wanna be a Supermodel” This popular song by Avril Lavigne clearly spoke as to what what most teenagers are aspiring for today—be someone as skinny as Paris Hilton or be the next Gisele Bundchen. But in the pursuit of this dream, they consciously or unconsciously experimented with diets and extreme exercise to loose those unwanted pounds even go as far as taking weigh loss pill. Later on, they develop eating disorders with increasing frequency. Eating disorders rank the third most common chronic illness in most teenagers and young women. There are two subgroups of the disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. 1. Anorexia Nervosa – is an eating disorder in which a person refuses to eat right, and has an intense fear of weight gain and a distorted body image. A person suffering from this shows skeletal muscle atrophy, loss of fatty tissue, weigh loss of 15% or greater, and yellowish skin. 2. Bulimia Nervosa – is which people are so preoccupied with their weight and shape and has episodes of binging and purging. During these episodes, they eat a large amount of food in a short period of time and then try to rid themselves of the extra calories by self-induced vomiting or getting rid of it by excessive exercise. More often then not they skip meals altogether. Bulimia nervosa is a serious condition and it can be life-threatening. Bulimic persons are usually with poor self-esteem. People with bulimia experience episodes of bingeing and purging. Binges often occur in private. Once the binging ends, the purging begins. They can be found in the bathrooms to vomit and may take laxatives. As it progresses, they become used to it and they will vomit whenever they want. Physical signs and symptoms of bulimia include: · bloating · dehydration · dry skin · irregular heartbeat · abnormal bowel functioning · menstrual irregularities Emotional behavior plays a big role in the bulimic person. They can be found dieting, eating much more food in a binge episode than taking a normal meal. They can be fasting, they hoard food and often can be anxious or depressed. Media in all forms contributes so much to the illusion that being waif-like is very beautiful and being thin is something to be so proud off. Peer pressure is also one of those reasons and trying to become popular another one. Upon proper diagnosis by your doctor, a person who can be bulimic undergoes physical exam, laboratory tests, and psychological evaluation, Treatment may include: medical care, nutritional therapy, medications, psychotherapy and even hospitalization. With proper treatment, a bulimic person can recover. Recovery is much faster if he or she gets the support from family and friends to seek or continue with the treatment prescribed. A bulimic shouldn’t isolate herself and must be at all times be with her loved ones. Another positive action is not to constantly check yourself in the mirror which only reinforces your belief that you are ugly and you need to lose all that fat when it’s not that it may seem.
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If only we could solve this question, the world (for many) would be a better place! Well, the reality is that there are real answers to this question that will apply to many people. It will take a good dose of reality and a brave heart to stop denying what really happens. Read on to discover some answers that may change your life forever and give you the impetus to lose weight and keep it off! Justification? Being overweight can be used as an excuse for being unhappy, especially when you do not do anything to help yourself. Subconsciously, over-eating is a comfort for many people and this then allows them to hide behind their weight problem and helps them to justify rejection and avoid being hurt. They can then shift the blame of rejection on their weight-problem, without addressing other aspects of their fears. Sometimes it seems easier to hide behind your “weight problem”, than address other matters where you may have a greater fear of failure. Eating Without Thinking? If you are concentrating on another activity while you are eating you are more likely to overeat because you are not fully aware of how full you are feeling. This factor can be difficult to change because it is not a conscious action. Try to only eat when you don’t have a lot of other distractions. Sit down, eat slowly and enjoy the food you are eating, and remember that it is not always necessary to go back for seconds. It takes 20 minutes for food to reach your stomach and for your brain to register that you are full. Cravings? The famous “Pavlov’s dogs” were conditioned to eat at the sound of a bell, and we human are much the same when it comes to habitual cravings. If you wonder why you always feel like a chocolate when you sit down to watch a movie, or you have to have a box of popcorn….think again. You are not necessarily craving these foods because you are hungry, but rather consider force of habit. During the time when you have a craving, try to ask yourself whether you are really hungry or not. If you are hungry, reach for a low fat snack rather than a chocolate bar or bag of crisps. Indulging? Eating or thinking about food can be a distraction from your troubles and you may therefore be unnecessarily over-eating. Emotions and hormones can trigger certain cravings, for example, if you are feeling low, chocolate and carbohydrates assist the production of serotonin in your brain. Serotonin helps you feel happier. This is why we might crave sweet or starchy foods during times of sadness or stress. If you identify with any of the above factors, you could be on your way towards discovering what is triggering you to overeat.