Nutrition and Weight Loss

Holistic approach to weight loss

2009-02-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Why some people lose weight on particular diets while others don’t succeed to lose any weight? A study concluded that one weight loss diet can’t fit everybody.
Weight loss process shouldn’t be oversimplified to just reducing caloric intake. Everybody is different. There may be different reasons for weight gain. Some of the reasons are the health related ones that should be identified and addressed in order for someone to lose weight successfully and maintain it.
Some of the health-related reasons for weight gain are hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, dysfunctional liver. Decreasing the caloric intake and exercising regularly will not work in these cases.
While it is important to see a medical practitioner for the right diagnosis and take the prescribed medications, a complete lifestyle change is necessary to get the sustainable results.
If you have hypothyroidism, for example, you need to choose the foods that don’t suppress the thyroid function; if you have liver problems eat liver-friendly diet. Detoxify your body with one day fasting with lemon water or just filtered or spring water or if you can’t fast consider a one day mono-diet. Take psyllium husk powder or ground flax seed with water in the morning and in the evening to cleanse the colon. Do yogic postures. Yoga massages internal organs and can help normalize hormonal functions.
These are some of the basics of the holistic approach to weight loss. This approach helps eliminate the cause of weight gain. By choosing the food that improves your health and by adapting a healthy lifestyle you’ll be able to lose weight and maintain it without constant calorie counting and struggle.

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Hidden Food Allergies and Weight Gain

2009-02-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Do you have cravings for a particular food? Food allergies often result in food cravings. This seems to be a controversial statement but it is a fact accepted by medical establishment. This kind of allergy is called type B allergy and means food intolerance. Such intolerance can lead to weight gain, bloating, fatigue, water retention, etc. Some foods we crave will not necessarily make us fat, but others can be major contributors to weight gain. Some famous allergens are coffee, wheat, milk, corn, eggs. Rice is sometimes recommended as a safe substitute for allergens however some people can be allergic to rice!
If you always crave a particular food and can’t go without it then you are allergic to it. If you are overweight and have difficulties losing weight the food you are allergic to might be the cause. There are some tests that can help uncover allergies to more than 200 substances. One of these tests is called ELISA. There are also blood tests that can help uncover type B allergies.
Here are some steps to follow:

1. Through the tests discover what foods you are allergic to and then refrain from those foods for at least 10 days. You should be able to see the difference in how you feel and have dramatic results with your weight loss.

2. Follow a detox program those 10 days to help diminish or eliminate the negative changes caused to the body by offensive food. Detox can also help with cravings.

3. After refraining from allergens for 10 days, start to introduce them one by one into your diet. For example, if you are allergic to wheat and eggs start eating wheat after the 10-day period and wait for 2-3 days to see your reaction to wheat before introducing eggs. If the symptoms return, stop eating that particular food.

You can facilitate the weight loss process by simply refraining from the foods you are allergic to.

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The Best Weight Loss Program

2009-01-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

It is not hard to find a weight loss program to satisfy a particular taste. Some programs are adapted for a specific market.

People who are interested in calorie counting programs can find various programs that satisfy this need.

People who think that low-carb or low-fat, high protein diet is the solution to their weight loss problems can find many programs created around this concept.

Many weight loss programs emphasize the exhaustive exercising because there are people who really believe it is the solution.

Unfortunately all of them are lopsided approaches and cannot be used continuously; they are not sustainable. You can’t count calories for years to come and you can’t engage in exhaustive exercising for years. Cutting cabs out of diet is dangerous for health and not sustainable as well. With these kinds of diets you will go back to your old lifestyle very quickly and gain more weight. They also put too much emphasis on food so you develop some kind of “special” relationship with food. You can’t enjoy what you eat; if you eat “wrong” foods you feel guilty, etc. All of these just lead to overeating and gaining more weight.

If you really want to lose weight forever and not temporarily, start with your mind.
Loving and accepting yourself is the first step if you want to achieve anything in life. And weight loss is not an exception. Take full responsibility for everything in your life. This will prepare your mind for a new lifestyle that will lead to a permanent weight loss.

As a motivational speaker mentioned in one of his events “I was overweight by 100 pounds by choice. I said by choice because I’ve never accidentally eaten anything” - meaning you have the full responsibility for everything in your life.

As soon as you realize it you will know exactly what to do. Eating healthy food and right exercising will become something that you long for from inside of you – it will not be something imposed on you by a weight loss program. You will eat healthy food and enjoy it fully; if you have a need you will eat the junk food from time to time without feeling guilty and you will look forward to exercising.

At that point you will need a balanced weight loss program that will provide you with main directions so you will lose weight and maintain it.

Check the in-depth, comprehensive NFP Weight Loss Program that will help re-program your mind for success and then take you through eating, exercising and detoxification steps to help you lose weight and maintain it.

Visit http://www.nutrifitpower.com for more details.

Increase Your Metabolism and Lose Weight

2009-01-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Being overweight creates a vicious circle. Extra fat can lead to health problems, such as thyroid problems that slow down the metabolism. Decreased metabolism in its turn contributes to weight gain.
There are different ways that help increase metabolism and burn fat. Here are some of them:

1) Exercise. Aerobic exercise improves the circulatory system, gives an energy boost as well as helps to cope with mood swings and depression among other benefits. Engage in the activity that you like – this can be an aerobics class at your local gym, dancing, brisk walking, running or swimming. Choose an activity that you really enjoy and do it at least 45 minutes 3-4 days a week. Note, that you can divide it into 15 minutes three times a day exercise if this fits better your schedule.
Strength training develops your muscles and this increases the metabolism and helps burn fat. Note that vigorous weight training can increase your body weight because of the increased muscle mass. You can also start with stretching and weight training that develops lean muscles. Power yoga is a good way to start.

2) Drink a lot of water. To calculate how much water you need to drink divide your weight in kilos by 28. The number that you receive corresponds to liters of water you need to drink daily. For example if your weight is 84 kilos (185 pounds) you will need to drink 3 liters of water daily which is 12 glasses of water. Thirst sometimes manifests as hunger – whenever you feel hungry between meals start with a glass of water, sometimes this is all the body needs.

3) Eat a healthy breakfast. Start your day with a glass of water and then drink a smoothie or shake; a piece of fruit or cereal. This will give a boost to your metabolism and prevent cravings later on.

4) Reduce your stress level. High stress level negatively affects the metabolism. Incorporate short breaks and relaxation exercises throughout the day. Make sure to get a good night sleep.

5) Detoxify your body through fasting, cleansing and eating organic food. This will help increase the metabolic rate, lose weight and be healthy.

Weight loss Programs

2008-12-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

Many weight loss programs focus exclusively on one aspect of the process.

For example, there are programs that focus on walking only. You cannot spend all your life walking. You have only 24 hours a day and lots of activities to fit into your schedule (including 8 hours of sleep). If you want to lose your weight with walking only – this is what you have to do all day long. Will you lose weight this way? Yes! But this process is not sustainable. Walking is the easiest and safest way to exercise but in order to make it a sustainable part of the weight loss program it should be done certain amount of days per week for the certain amount of hours (you have a life to live too!).

Other programs concentrate on nutrition only and add a bit of exercising – this is another lopsided approach. Again, correct nutrition is an important part of the process but it is only one aspect of the weight loss process.

Some other programs rely on the mind power only. While the mind is the place where all the goals start and it plays an important role in creating your reality, using only your mind power will not move you forward. Yes, you have to love and respect yourself the way you are if you want to achieve more but in order to move forward in you weight loss goals you should also take good care of your body through the right nutrition and exercise.
NutrifitPower Weight Loss program is based on the holistic approach to health that takes into account the unity of the body and mind. See details at http://www.nutrifitpower.com/weight_loss_guide.html

What role does yoga play in weight loss process?

2008-12-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

Yoga energizes the major energy points (chakras) and allows energy to flow freely in the body. The energy flow increases your self-awareness, improves your self-perception, helps to become deeply aware of harmful self-sabotaging and self-destructive behaviors so you can overcome them (this includes harmful eating habits). This process promotes healing on many levels.

Specific yoga postures also regulate metabolism and provide a massage to digestive organs.

Yogic breathing exercises help to clear mind of negativity and promote peace and relaxation that are essential on the way to achieving any life goals not only weight loss ones.

As you can see yoga can help in the weight loss process in many different ways.

But only yoga is not enough. Yoga will increase your awareness that will make your mind ready for change but you also need to have right nutritional and exercise plans to follow; you need to know what are the correct nutrients and supplements that support the weight loss process, how to detoxify the body to promote the weight loss, how to clear your mind further and program it for success.

Some psychological weight loss tips

2008-12-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Losing pounds is not hard if you are ready for it, have a systematic plan to follow and motivation to proceed. Losing weight is no different from any other goal and should be done using the same setting goals and achieving techniques with every day “to do” lists, time management techniques, etc.

There are many programs in the market that can help you achieve that. With some of them you can really lose those extra pounds. Others are dangerous for your health - you’d better stay away from them. If you are seriously overweight and need to lose more than 100 pounds I would suggest that you follow a clinical weight loss program under the supervision of a qualified medical practitioner.

Weight loss is a process that involves body and mind.

You can lose weight with correct nutrition, detoxification and exercise but to keep it off you need your subconscious mind to be on your side. If you always have negative self-talks about yourself sooner or later you will gain weight again. If your mind still associates you with extra pounds you had – it will do everything to bring them back.

When you are in the weight loss process do not concentrate too much on your weight. Do not discuss your extra weight or weight loss efforts and do not buy special diet foods. In other words, do not get obsessed with it. Make healthy eating and exercise your habits and concentrate on other areas of your life.
Make sure you don't repeat to yourself "I am fat", "I hate myself for being fat" and other negative phrases otherwise you will have hard time to lose weight. Instead affirm the following: "I am slim and beautiful" and visualize yourself having your ideal size and wearing the nice clothes you always wanted to.
The less you concentrate on your extra weight the easier it will be for you to lose weight and maintain it.

Some tips to keep the metabolic rate up

2008-12-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

1. Avoid starvation metabolism. Do not skip meals. Skipping meals promotes binge-eating and slows down the metabolism so more fat is stored in the body.

2. Increase the muscle percentage through strength training. This increases the basal metabolic rate and promotes fat burning.

3. Have a well-balanced diet with proteins, carbohydrates and fats. This will keep your metabolic rate up and help lose fat.

4. Use stress reduction techniques to avoid irregular eating. Make sure you get enough sleep at night, do breathing exercises, practice yoga or qigong.

5. Use affirmations and visualizations. Repeat to yourself that you have high metabolic rate and your body burns fat; visualize that you fit into your favorite jeans.

These are simple techniques that can help keep your metabolism up and lose fat.

Positive Mindset and Weight Loss

2008-12-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

I saw some comments in forums like this “Where I can find a weight loss program that doesn’t have any psychological stuff in it”.
The reason I want to address this here is because psychology plays a major role in our eating habits.
Overeating or eating wrong foods can be caused by different reasons and one of them is related to a psychological aspect. We tend to eat more when we are stressed out or tired or didn’t get enough sleep at night. We tend to eat chocolate and junk food when we are not in a good mood, when we need to make up for something that doesn’t work in our lives, when it is a rainy day and we are depressed. Another more subtle reason of overeating and eating wrong foods is non-loving and non-accepting ourselves the way we are. This reason is usually well-hidden in the subconscious mind.
Positive affirmations can help overcome negative self-talk but this is not an instant solution. This should be done every day over a period of time till positive thinking will become habitual. Positive affirmations can be combined with visualizations and subliminal programming for maximum results. This along with other tools can help you overcome psychological barriers to healthy eating and make the weight loss process easier.

Benefits of Losing Weight

2008-07-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Benefits of losing weight are endless. Besides the substantial health improvement that should be the major concern, weight loss can also help improve the appearance of the person and this may result in improved social interactions. Extra weight can be a cause of a low self-esteem and decreased self-confidence so through the weight loss one can improve his self-esteem, increase self-confidence and perceived self-worth and this will eventually lead to many important positive changes in life.
Being able to set a weight loss goal and achieve it is another way to increase the self-esteem and self-confidence - it can serve as a precedent to set and achieve other goals.
Really the benefits of the weight loss can be endless. An overweight person should definitely find a healthy weight loss program and implement all the recommended lifestyle changes into his life. The numerous benefits will overweight any discomfort experienced in the beginning of the program caused by a lifestyle change.

Click here to try the Nutrifit Power Weight Loss Program today.

Why is Weight Loss so Important?

2008-07-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Part I

People want to lose weight for different reasons but undoubtedly the most important reason should be the health-related one. Being overweight can lead to many health problems. Some of them are:

1. Heart conditions. Obesity places an increased burden on heart and can cause many different heart conditions. Losing weight can help reverse them.
2. Extra weight on the lower back can create different problems in this area.
3. Joint deterioration. Extra weight added to skeleton can lead to osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease).

4. Lung problems. Obesity can create breathing difficulties and impair the functioning of lungs.
5. Hypertension. Obese people are more prone to the hardening of arteries that causes the high blood pressure.
6. Gallstones. Overweight people (especially women) tend to develop gall stones.

7. Diabetes. 80% of diabetics are obese. Obesity affects the fat cells so they do not respond properly to insulin that results in elevated blood sugar.

8. Cancer. A research showed that excessive eating can stimulate the production of hormone estrogen that can result in cancer. Obese women, especially after menopause, are more prone to cancer of breast and uterus.

Visit the Nutrifit Power website for an individualized consultation-based program that will help you lose weight guaranteed.

Till next time,

Lynn Alex

Lose Weight the Healthy way

2008-07-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

There are many fad diets and quick weight loss programs these days. Can you lose weight in a crash diet? Yes, you can but your metabolism will slow down and the weight you lose will be at the expense of muscle tissues and water which is not good for your health. These kind of diets also promote binge eating so eventually you will gain even more than what you lost.

Follow some simple weight loss tips and lose weight the healthy way.
- Drink lots of water. How many times did you hear that? I bet a lot if you are looking at different weight loss programs. But do you follow this? Weight loss is not about getting excited with a new "never seen before" weight loss program. It is about following simple tips and succeeding one day at a time. Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water daily.
- Consume a lot of fiber. It will feel you up so you will eat less and will keep your digestive system clean.
- Cut saturated fat off your diet
- Exercise - walk, run, do yoga, swim - do whatever pleases you. Start today!

These simple tips will keep you healthy and help you lose weight.

Visit the Nutrifit Power website for an individualized consultation-based program that will help you lose weight guaranteed.

Stay tuned to more posts on healthy nutrition and weight loss.

Lynn Alex