Health and Diet Articles

Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

How Often Should You Cleanse Your Colon?

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

cc4Colon cleansers are used for a variety of reasons from reducing the toxins in the body to increasing weight loss in an individual that is beginning a diet or has reached a plateau in their diet. Colon cleansers are an effective way to lose up to ten pounds and can last anywhere from forty-eight hours to seven days. 

How does a colon cleanser program work? Colon cleansers assist in the weight loss process by creating an environment in which toxins can be removed from the body. Supplements are used to clean the colon and this is combined with a diet that includes fasting with the use of water or juice. 

Depending on the ingredients that are found in the colon cleansing system, it should be completed no more than once per month. This can allow the body time to recuperate and build the vitamins and nutrients which are required by the body to allow the dieter to avoid malnutrition that can come with colon cleansing, as there is no food being consumed through the entire program. To offset this fact, it is important to supplement the colon cleanser with an effective multivitamin that can reduce the chances of the body rejecting the weight loss. 

Since colon cleansers are fasts, it is recommended by dieticians and health care professionals that once per month is the maximum time that colon cleansers should be used. This does not mean that you should binge after the fasting and the colon cleansing have been finished, this simply means that you should slowly increase the food intake and supplement with health vegetables and fruits to build up the vitamins within the body that have been depleted as only water has been ingested while the body undergoes the process of detoxification. 

There are many health care professionals and nutritionists that recommend cleansing the colon at least four times per year, with the change of the seasons. This will ensure that the toxins, chemicals and other additives and preservatives can be removed from the body through each of these seasons. Depending on the needs of your body and the digestive health, it can be easy to determine when your colon requires a cleansing. If you find yourself straining to go the bathroom for an extended period of time, this can be an indicator that a colon cleanse should be completed. 

The general rule of thumb is to pay attention to your body. If you find yourself easily and able to go to the bathroom and can easily digest certain foods, it may not be necessary to complete a colon cleanse. However, colon cleansing for weight loss and detoxification should not be completed more than once per month to maintain the balance within the colon. After all, like every part of the body there are good bacteria which are present in the body that can aid in the processes of the body, including digestion. 

In the case that colon cleansing is completed too often, it can reduce the effects of these good bacteria and leave you unhealthy. Read the indications on the packaging to ensure that you are not colon cleansing too often.

Tips To Help You Speed Up Your Metabolism

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

metabSome people who have difficulty losing weight or who tend to easily gain it even without significantly overeating, may find that they have a problem with their metabolism. Before we discuss ways to increase one’s metabolism, let’s first talk about what the metabolism is. The metabolism is pretty complex. Essentially, it determines how your body processes and converts the food that you eat into energy.  Individuals with faster metabolisms have a system that works more efficiently.   

 

The majority of the calories that you consume are used to support your body’s basic functions.  You would need these calories even if you sat around the house all day.  A small percentage, roughly 7% to 10% of calories that you take in, will be used to process the food that you eat.  About 25% of all of the calories that you consume goes towards supporting your physical activity.  

 

In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories then you take in. If you want to maintain your weight, than the calories that you take in must equal those that you burn off. Again, these calories go towards basic support of life, physical activity and the actual processing of food.  

 

Individuals with metabolic problems that are linked to their thyroid may gain weight even if they are eating the same amount of calories or even less calories, than someone who doesn’t have this problem.  In some of these cases, the basal metabolism is not functioning as effectively as a normal persons would. It’s likely lower.  The amount of calories that are used for food and goes towards physical activity is also lower. In order to overcome this, individuals must increase or boost their metabolism.  To determine if this is a problem that you are dealing with, it’s best to ask your doctor for a thyroid test. If you find that your basal metabolism is low, you will need to increase it.  There are several ways to do that.

 

Your basal metabolism is largely affected by heredity.  What you were born with is likely what you will have to deal with.  However, you can improve it.  The best way to do so is by building muscle. Muscle cells are metabolically much more active then fat cells.  Your muscles will also burn much more calories and fat. It is believed that one pound of muscle is able to burn 25 calories, while fat burns zero.  Therefore, lifting weights and exercising and increasing your muscle can go a long way in improving your basal metabolism.

 

Supplementation may also be an important part of improving your metabolism.  Make sure that you are getting all of your vitamins.  Vitamin B and C are vital. Drinking plenty of water can also boost your metabolism.  When you are not drinking enough water and become dehydrated, your body temperature will become lower and you will tend to store fat in order to raise the temperature.  You should look to consume about 8 glasses of water every day or a little over 60 ounces.

 

Aerobic exercise, such as jogging is also the important for increasing your metabolism. Make sure that do this consistently throughout the week.  Three or four times a week should be sufficient. You will also want to take care to eat plenty of lean protein and complex carbohydrates. Simple sugars won’t positively affect your metabolism. However, plenty of vegetables, some fruits and cereals low in sugar can help improve your metabolism, if they have a lot of fiber.

 

 

 

Banishing Belly Fat

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

belly1Belly fat is the bane of both men and women everywhere. “Belly jelly” can zap confidence, cause clothes to fit unattractively and keep us out of cute summer clothing when the weather begins to heat up. It is a bit easier to cover up our stomachs during the winter months, but this season only lasts for 4 months. Having an over-sized gut can also cause much more serious issues. Experts report that when a woman’s waistline is greater then 35 inches, she is at risk for major health problems including stroke and heart attack. For women (and men) who are ready to whittle down their middles, this article will provide some really good tips to help persons do just that.

Forget About Spot Reducing: Many people mistakenly believe that they will be able to banish belly fat by doing hundreds of crunches/sit ups/abdominal exercises (you name it). This just isn’t true. While these definitely have a place in an exercise regimen, if you only do them without watching what you eat and participating in aerobic exercise, you will only end up with muscular abs underneath a layer of abdominal fat. This probably isn’t your goal. In order to lose weight in your belly, you have to take a broader approach.

Watch What You Eat: It is important that if you want to get rid of belly fat that you watch what foods you put into your mouth. A poor diet will cause fat to develop everywhere, including your stomach. Conversely, a diet that is low in bad fats and high in good fats can have the reverse effect.

Aerobic Exercise Is Key: When we exercise, we are burning fat stores from all over our bodies. Because everybody is different, this could mean different places for different individuals. Some people my initially lose fat in their butts, while other’s their stomach. While you may not be able to determine exactly where your body will get rid of the weight first, if you exercise consistently, you should see the fat in your belly start to shrink.

Eat Nuts: Studies have shown that foods like nuts which contain monounsaturated fats help to banish belly fat by slowing down the accumulation of fat in this area of the body. This is due in part to these good fats helping to rev up the metabolism.

Get Enough Rest: When we do not get enough rest, belly fat can be just one of the many negative health-related side effects that we suffer from. This is partly due to elevated levels of cortisol. Our bodies will start to produce too much of it when we do not get enough rest. This can lead to weight gain. To avoid this, shoot for at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

Manage Stress: Too much stress can also elevate the amount of cortisol that we produce, which as stated above, can lead to us packing on the pounds. The belly area is especially affected. It is important to do what you can to successfully manage stress, even it involves cutting back on activities or going to see a counselor.