The voluptuous, round women and sweaty, husky men stood in rows, shoulder to shoulder, jammed into what was normally considered the “aerobics” room. The only exit was a small glass door in the back corner so anyone who dared to enter was stuck in a crowded room to jump-start their new years resolutions. Sweat poured as my mother shouted commands at the crowd of the throng of men and women in colorful spandex. That is a mental picture of what I remember from the late 1980s when my mother was an aerobics instructor. I was left to fend for myself in the children’s room and watch Nickelodeon while she would teach the sweating masses how to use a step bench. The classes held right after New Years Eve were not only the most crowded, they were also the most entertaining. I watched in amazement in the 1980s and I am still amazed to this day what people will do to lose weight. What is more shocking is how people who want to lose weight will allow their dreams and resolutions burn out quicker than a cherry bomb on New Years Eve. Days would pass and the classes would dwindle down with only the regulars left over, still maintaining their already svelte physiques and a few men occasionally joining in for a 15-minute abdominal work-out. No one should let their resolutions die like those huffing and puffing patrons in the back of the aerobics room in the 80s. With all the diet and exercise hype surrounding us as we approach 2008, is it logical to assume that losing weight shouldn’t be so complicated? Diet and exercise plans can be impractical and overwhelming, causing people to lose faith and motivation. Houston Weight Loss Centers have finally come to the rescue in Houston, Texas with answers and solutions for a variety of people who want to lose weight and look great in 2008! With its popularity increasing at a rapid rate on the Internet and by word of mouth, many people are flocking to see what Houston Weight Loss Centers have to offer. Houston Weight Loss Centers have an easy start up plan for $99 in 2008! This includes a consultation, blood work, body composition analysis, appetite suppressant prescription and free Lipo B injection! Of course that’s not all, Houston Weight Loss Centers have experienced staff to help and support you on your journey to losing pounds and keeping them off. Maybe the crowded aerobics room is a familiar picture for you, something you have seen one too many times every year you try to start a new weight loss program. There is a possibility that the crowded aerobics room is only another weight loss clinic that makes cattle calls for it’s new patients waiting in line, only leaving them feeling drained and frustrated. It is time to put the visions of colorful spandex and round bodies to rest. Be the healthy, fit person you are on the inside and let Houston Weight Loss Centers show you how to be healthy and fit on the outside. Happy New Year!
Tag-Archive for ◊ healthy ◊
Did you know that there are some foods, which require more energy to metabolize than we obtain from eating them? This result is usually referred to as the negative calorie effect. A simple example is water. It supplies zero calories, but requires energy to swallow and warm to body temperature. Below is a list of other foods, which although they provide calories, the amount is less than we need to do nothing. We call this Basal Metabolic Rate..(BMR). That’s the amount of energy we need to breathe, circulate the blood, remove the toxins and filter it. That doesn’t count the energy we need to get out of bed, bathe, use the toilet and dress. We call these foods negative calorie foods, (N.C.Fs.). These must be a tremendous boost for someone wanting to lose weight. Yes, but only if used properly. Healthy diet plans use items from all the main food groups. From these, we get the nutrients to make the building blocks, which are necessary to maintain the body in a healthy state. A diet consisting of N.C.Fs., would result in us drawing our energy requirements from our muscles. This results in weakness and wasting of the body. Anorexics are a prime example. So how can we use N.C.Fs. without harming ourselves? The answer is quite simple. Use them as part of, and to bulk up a balanced calorie-wise diet. For example, 1/2 grapefruit(vitamin C, fibre) 1 egg-white (protein) 2 slices melba toast (carbohydrate) pat of margarine (non-saturated fat) 1 cup of 1% milk (protein, carbohydrate, low-fat, calcium, vitamins) makes an excellent low calorie but nutritious breakfast. Here is the list. * Apples * Asparagus * Beets * Blueberries * Broccoli * Cantaloupes * Carrot * Cauliflower * Celery stalk * Celery root * Cranberries * Cucumbers * Eggplant * Endives * Garden cress * Garlic * Grapefruit * Green beans * Green cabbage * Lamb’s lettuce * Lemons * Lettuce * Onions * Papayas * Pineapples * Prunes * Radishes * Raspberries * Spinach * Strawberries * Tangerines * Tomatoes * Turnips * Zucchini Use it wisely, and good health.
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In large part, you’re in control of your health, not your doctor. And taking control of your health doesn’t really depend on whether or not you have medical conditions. Taking control means developing habits and discipline. The most important thing you can do is educate yourself. Learn about your health problems and how you can take care of your body. What do the latest studies say? The Internet is an excellent place to research health issues. Sometimes just finding different ways of doing things can help. Now, take the time to decide what your health goals for the next year will be. Write the goal(s) down. Some examples of goals might be: – to stop yo-yo dieting and focus on get healthier. – to start exercising regularly. – to move toward my perfect weight. – to find alternative ways to control diabetes. Then list specific ways you can accomplish these goals. For instance, try a new healthy dinner recipe once a week, go to the gym five days a week, or research nutrition on the Internet 10 minutes a day. Work on your mind and thought patterns. You have to believe that you can become healthy and reach your ideal weight before you will be able to do so. Learning to accept what you can’t change, but striving to change what you can, is key. A large part of succeeding in health improvement is being comfortable with yourself to begin with. Find time to do something good to reward yourself for making this commitment to improve your health. Reward yourself each week as you find yourself accomplishing your goals. If you have another person to work with, you will be more successful in meeting your health goals. This partner should be someone you can trust to share your feelings with. It helps to have a partner for accountability. We work harder when we know someone is watching us and holding us accountable. A good partner also helps us stay realistic in our goals and challenges us to grow. Try to find someone who will encourage you in the down times and celebrate your successes with you as you accomplish your goals. And of course you need to be that kind of a partner to your friend in return. You might consider forming an informal support group with some of your friends or acquaintances. People who belong to a group with mutual interests and a shared purpose accomplish more. A group might get together weekly or monthly and discuss progress or concerns and help encourage each other. Sometimes all a person might need is another opinion or just a little encouragement to help them get past a place where they are having problems. Even if you are doing great, perhaps you could be of help to someone else who is struggling. Communication is important when putting together a group. Set up a regular time and method to report progress to each other and stick to it. Set realistic benchmarks to monitor your progress. Reward yourselves for your effort. Do something fun as a group once in a while. There can be great rewards in working with others toward common goals. It makes the journey more enjoyable as well as more productive.
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Now that food manufacturers in the U.S. have to label their trans-fat content, some of them are switching to healthier oils like palm and coconut. I am happy to see this change for the better! I hope more grocery store products continue this trend. Undoubtedly, there will be ignorant people who will cry out that palm oil is an unhealthy saturated fat. Like coconut oil, palm oil has been mislabeled as unhealthy for far too long, when it is actually is a very healthy saturated fat. Both oils have been staples in the diets of tropical people for thousands of years, and have helped people stay lean and healthy for centuries. Like coconut oil, palm oil is great for baking and frying, and is very stable and solid at room temperature, so it does not require hydrogenation and contains no trans fatty acids. (Trans fat is the bad stuff that you want to avoid like the plague!) According to authors and researchers Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD, of the Weston A. Price Foundation, “palm oil is a stable, healthy, natural fat composed of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.” (http://www.westonaprice.org) Palm oil is the second most used dietary oil in the world, behind soy oil, and much healthier for you than soy oil. It comes from a different palm tree than coconuts– a palm tree in Africa that produces small fruits that contain the palm oil. Palm oil is redish orange colored in it’s natural (unprocessed) state and a rich source of carotenes and and one of the best sources of vitamin E. Unprocessed palm oil does have a bit of a strong taste that (for Americans) takes a little getting used to. (I use it when I cook fish, because my family doesn’t notice the small flavor difference with the strong fish flavor covering it.) Processed palm oil has the flavor removed, but so are some of the nutrients. But even then, it is still much better for you than soy or canola oil. I think it is high time Americans see what most of the rest of the world already knows, that switching to palm and coconut oil is definately a change for the better! So, look for products that contain non-hydrogenated coconut or palm oil, or better yet, make your own healthy snacks with these oils.
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We all want to lose a few pounds and look great, especially through those summer months but the average person does not succeed in keeping those pounds off, if they lose the weight at all. The reason for this is that many people follow the latest “celebrity” diets which are good for quick weight loss but are not good for your health or for keeping the weight off. It is scientifically proven that if you follow a diet where you lose to much weight to quickly then you are starving your body of certain nutrients it needs, when you start moving towards eating a normal diet your body will automatically store these nutrients within the body in case this should happen again. If you want to lose weight there are some golden rules you need to follow * Eat 3 meals a day * Eat less * Eat healthy * Eat from all the food groups (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat) * Exercise What we want to achieve is to still eat 3 meals a day, just in smaller quantites and with healthier food. Within the 3 meals we still need all the different food groups for our body to function correctly so we still need our protein, carbohydrates and our fats. Another important factor for losing weight is exercise, I don’t mean running a marathon, but if you can spare 20 or 30 minutes a day for a walk or a light jog you will certainly feel the benefits. If you want to lose the weight quickly then it will only last short term, if you set your goals and take your time losing the weight correctly then you will see the benefits for a long time to come. Losig weight is not just about physical looks, it’s about mental well being and your future health.
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Losing weight doesn’t have to be boring when you focus on living foods. What does this mean? Simply by making sure your plate reflects a range of colours, you’ll naturally create more balanced and healthful menus complete with a range of living foods. What are living foods? They are re live, colourful, fresh and raw – fruits, vegetables and salads! Let’s Look At The Positives 1. Colourful foods have no preservatives and no added colour! 2. Provide an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre, water and trace elements. 3. Have a high water content – an excellent source of hydration for the body. 4. Are visually appetising. 5. Their firm textures demand a good chew, so we eat them more slowly and feel full afterwards. 6. Are quickly and easily processed and assimilated by the body – less work for the digestive system. 7. Are safer – contain less undesirable man-made chemicals. 8. Are as nature intended (unlike processed, pre-packaged modern fast foods!) 9. Are pure energy – living food. Consuming Cooked Foods 1. Heat destroys the vitalising nutrients in colourful foods. So much so that sometimes, you may as well be eating cardboard for all the good it does your body! 2. The effectiveness of fibre in cooked fresh foods is reduced – vegetables that are floppy and overcooked pass through the body with a reduced ‘cleansing’ action. 3. If you cook vegetables, always steam them lightly and aim to retain their ‘crunch’! 4. Cooked vegetables tend to turn out soft and therefore require less chewing, which means they are usually eaten more quickly, so are less satisfying. 5. Heat also destroys the enzymes in fresh foods, which are essential for digestion. This means the body has to tap into its own precious supply of enzymes to support the digestive process. 6. Heat also destroys the enzymes in fresh foods, which are essential for digestion. This means the body has to tap into its own precious supply of enzymes to support the digestive process.