Drink Green Tea to Lose Weight

July 26, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Healthy Weight Loss

Green tea is one of the ways on how to lose weight. Green tea has been known for centuries for its health inducing properties, along with its effects on people trying to lose weight. The last few years has seen an increase in people using alternative health for many different reasons, and losing weight is definitely one of them.

Green tea contains a couple of components that not only allow you to lose weight, but also to keep it off. Polyphenols (catechins) are only one of them. They are able to promote the increased release of the hormone called norepinephrine, which is the hormone primarily  responsible for fat burning in our body. As green tea is abundant in these, it makes a perfect means of burning your fat fast and healthy.

Caffeine is a second component of green tea. Caffeine helps catechins to increase the fat burning action in the body. As a stimulant it is an excellent energy enhancer, but you should not consume an excessive amount of coffee or tea. Sadly caffeine has other properties that minimize promoting of health in other areas of your body.

Green tea also has several other health benefits, such as against heart dieases. The ‘bad’ cholesterol is lowered while  the good cholesterol increased when you drink plenty of green tea. Also it reduces blood pressure, minimizes the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and even more, it acts as a blood thinner.

It also helps with oral health care. By drinking green tea, the gums and teeth are protected from various deseases. The catechins in tea basically inhibit the growth of cavity forming bacteria in your mouth.

So if you are not yet drinking green tea, you should make it part of your daily routine of drinking a few cups a day. It helps you all around, not only with your weight loss, but also in other areas of your body.

Help your children lose weight healthy

July 26, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Healthy Weight Loss

The last few years with the increase of computers and video games in the household, kids of all ages rather stay at home and play than mingle with their friends on the playground for football as prior generations used to do. No wonder our kids are obese, overweight and looks sick – and get sick – all the time.

As kids are helpless and underage, they need parental guidance on how to lose weight  the healthy way. They can’t take diet pills and go on strict muscle building exercises, they need something else entirely. Here are a few tips that can help you oversee your kid’s weight loss program.

Set realistic goals. Kids grow so trying to get them to lose a lot of pounds is not in their best interest. It is more important to help them maintain the current weight, which will adjust itself nicely as they grow taller.

Try to get them out of the house and encourage them to exercise. Buy them a new roller, or a new bike, get them interested in outside activities. Ride your own bike along with them and go around the park for a fun afternoon together. Take them to the swimming pool and let them swim. Swimming tones all muscles, so this is an overall great fitness program for your kid.

Set a prime example for your kid. Children learn by example, and if you set a bad one, they won’t care what you say, they will watch you and act accordingly. So if your lifestyle is not the best guidance for your kids, it’s high time you change it asap. You will also enjoy the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.

Reward good behaviour. Once you teach your kid how to at healthier, to drink 8 glasses of water, juice, milk and othear healthy liquids, to eat an apple or two a day, you should watch if they follow through with it. At the first sign  you see they do, reward them. Buy them a small toy that they had their eyes on, encourage them, spend more time with them if tha’s what they wanted but you never had the time to. Slowly change their behaviour by rewarding them healthy eating habits. Eventually no reward will be necessary, they will eat healthy because they go used to it. But whatever you do, do not reward them with food, or sweets or unhealthy drinks.

Just by being there for your kid and altering bit by bit their lifestyle and yours as well, you will ensure that your child grows healthy and won’t need to go on a diet, not now, and not in the future.

Is there a miracle pill to lose weight healthy?

July 26, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Healthy Weight Loss

Everybody is searching for that miracle pill that wil allow them to lose weight the healthy way and fast too. But does such a pill exist? How to lose weight in a healthy way and do it pronto?

Truth is, there are several pills that claim to help you just with that. And apparently they do to. But at what cost to your health and body? These pills speed up your metabolism and lessen your appetite, but at the same time they also speed up your heart beat and put you in physical danger of a coronary or worse.

I know it’s difficult to accept it, but you know it as well deep in yourself. The fastest way to lose weight and hold it down is the healthiest as well. If you want to take diet pills or starve yourself to death, you will lose weight fast, but as soon as you stop with it, you will gain it back even faster. So what you really need to do is move your body, exercise and eat sensibly every day, eat healthy food only, no junk, fast food or greasy food for you allowed.

Eat more often throughout the day, eat smaller portions and drink lots of water. Don’t drink the water while you’re eating, but drink 15-20 minutes before that. This way you will be less hungry when it’s lunch time. 2 hours after lunch eat a small snack containing fruits and avoid alcohol, greasy food, MacDonals, hot dogs and similar.

Stop eating canned and processed food and exercise on a daily basis. This is, if not the fastest, but definitely the healthiest way to lose weight permanently. Avoid the yo-yo diet at all costs, which is going on a strong diet and once it’s over, going back to your usual unhealthy foods you consume. Why do you think you gained weight in the first place? Yes, if you’re constantly craving the cholesterol full foods, it will not be the easiest to refrain, but you can make a small compromise: eat healthy during the week and indulge yourself a bit during the weekend with an ice cream, or a glass of wine with your lunch, or a few nuts while watching the latest movie on the tv.

By following this healthy regimen and implementing it as a lifestyle rather than just a ‘diet’, you will soon start to see not only a thinner waist line, but also healthier cheekbones, brighter eyes, you’ll start to feel less tired throughout the day, all in all you will feel healthier throughout as well.

Do’s and Don’ts of Losing Weight the Healthy Way

July 26, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Healthy Weight Loss

If you’re trying to lose weight, you are one of the million people out there trying to do the exact same thing: trying to find relevant, useful information on how to lose weight the healthy way, without getting cheated by fad products, without getting bogged down by misinformation and myths.

Having this in mind, here is a list I compiled together on the most common do’s and don’ts that people need to know, to benefit mostly fro their chosen weight loss plan.

Do these:

  • Eat breakfast every day. In fact, make breakfast the most important part of your meal, and dinner the least important one.
  • Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to have enough fibre in your diet
  • Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. Hydration is a must!
  • Monitor your progress on a weekly basis. Every Monday morning weight yourself and measure your weight. This will keep you positive and motivated to continue with your weight loss program
  • Eat smaller portions for each meal and eat 4-5 meals a day. This ensures that you are never hungry so you don’t feel the need to gobble up your food during your next lunch

Don’t do these:

  • Even though something might not have many calories, don’t eat is just because of the calories count if it doesn’t actually help you with your weight loss
  • Don’t reduce your calories too a very low level, because this way your body thinks you’re starving and will slow down your metabolism to align with you. That’s not what you are after.
  • Don’t get influenced by others, nobody knows better what’s good for you except you and your doctor (or dietician). Friends and family are not your doctors
  • Don’t get discouraged if you don’t lose weight within 3 days. This is just a myth. Losing weight the healthy way needs time. This is why it is important to weight yourself every Monday morning and measure your waist. Never a better motivation booster than seeing with your own eyes your slow but steady results
  • Don’t get demotivated if you have a ‘blue’ day. Yes, sometimes it happens that you need a day off from your diet. Just go with the flow and get back on track as soon as you’re off your blue soap box.

Abdominal Strength for Healthy Weight Loss

July 26, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Fitness Tips to Lose Weight

Exercising for losing weight is a muss. Diet alone won’t cut it if you are really serious in getting those fat slices off your body. One of the most important parts of your body to exercise is the abdominal muscles. An important reason for getting abdominal strength is because usually overweight people like to eat until they feel full. If you exercise  your abdominal muscles, the increase pressure will make you feel full faster than you’re really full, which means you will end up eating less. So the stronger muscles you have, the easier it gets for you to listen to your ‘full stomach’ syndrome and stop eating right away.

So when you want to get abdominal strength, your goal is to build and maintain your flat stomach with ease.  Of course, this will not happen overnight. Anyone that claims to give you a flat stomach within 3 days is a liar, plain and simple. So you have to work for it. But think of the rewards, think of how nicely you will fit in those tight clothes that you haven’t used in ages, or now it’s your chance to shop for nice, new, slim clothes.

Here are a few exercises on how to lose weight and strengthen your abdomen

  • Stand with your back to the wall, have your feet apart, your arms stretched overhead. Bend backwards so you touch the wall behind you with your fingers, while keeping your elbows and knees as straight as possible. Now return to your original position and right after that bend forwards and try to touch the floor with your finger, again while keeping your knees as straight as possible.
  • Stand with your feet wider apart than your shoulder width, stretch out your arms sideways, parallel to the floor while having your elbows straight. Slowly twist your body to the right as much as you can. Then snap back to your original position and revert the movement to the other arm.
  • Stand with your feel wider apart than your shoulder width, with the arms straight above your head. Have your palms pointing towards the ceiling with the fingers interlocked. Now bend sideways to the left as much as you can, stretching your right side at the same time. Then straighten to the original position and bend towards the right, while stretching your left side as much as  you can. Make sure your knees are straight throughout this exercise at all times.

Make each of these exercises for 5 times, after which change to the next exercise. When you feel you are really tired, stop. Keep count on how many times you made the full round between these excercises and next time you do it again, try to make it just one additional time. Rinse and repeate. After about a week you will be able to double the number of exercises you did, and your stomach will help you for it as well.

Foods to avoid when you want to lose weight the healthy way

July 25, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Diet Tips to lose weight

When you’re working on your weight loss, there are certain foods that you need to avoid, that you’d otherwise be eating in normal circumstances.

The main category of foods to avoid is consisting of fatty, greasy food. If certain foods have too much oil or fat in them, best is you set them aside. For example, fried snacks, too many carbohydrates. Also avoid eating a too big variety of foods, because this can increase your calorie intake.

Junk food, fad items that are resulting of the latest trend made by the latest star. Avoid those, you don’t need to be a follower of fad, it’s shine will go down fast, taking your health along the way. Latest types of sugary juices and sweet soda drink are all things best to be avoided not only while losing weight, but at all times. They are just not good for you. Not to mention cakes, icecream, pies, frostings, they all increase your risk of heart disease.

Processed food, like hot dogs, canned food, cheese, tomato sauce, dry food, all these have too much high-sodium which increases  your risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and stroke.

Another thing to watch for, too much food eaten in one go is not good for you. Try to eat smaller portions more often and eat carefully, chew your food good and eat slowly. Just focus on the food, how it tastes in your mouth and enjoy it.
I found that if I want eat smaller portions, the best way for me is to put the food on smaller size plates. It will make your portion look bigger than it is and our stomach will be sooner satisfied than usual.

While you want to lose weight healthy, try to keep the foods above away from you. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have a glass of red wine during your weekend lunch, or a few nuts one a week while having folks over, but don’t overdo it. If you were used to eat all these things before, just by cutting most of them from your diet, you will see a big change in your weight, for the better!

More exercise tips to lose weight the healthy way

July 25, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Fitness Tips to Lose Weight

Not everyone likes stretching or riding a bike, so here are additional exercise examples that you can apply when asking yourself how to lose weight the healthy way using fitness.

Are you one of the lucky ones to have a small garden around your house? Then practice gardening. Plant some vegetables or make a small flower garden that not only will thrive, but will add you natural healthy benefits. Of course, you will get more out of a garden of herbs and vegetables, because you can use them in your daily diet. Take two for the price of one!

Use the stairs. You might be living in a block of flats, or your job requires to go up and down with the lift. Why not take the stairs instead? If you have a large multi-floor department store, don’t take the lift, go up and down the stairs. Just think of the many places you encounter stairs every day and start using them. A natural way to exercise by doing what you always do. You don’t even need to take time aside for doing this one!

Don’t use another person to clean your use, take charge of it yourself! By heaving 10 minutes dusting a day, by vacuuming the carpet, by going up and down with the mop, you exercise various muscles in your body the natural way. What better way is there to lose weight the healthy way and having a sparkly clean house at the same time?

From all this, I mostly enjoy swimming. You will burn 400 calories just by smimming up and down the pool for a good 30 minutes. Swimming also allows you to tone your body. It works really each muscle in your body!
A study done in  1993 for the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. looked at the calorie-burning effects of swimming and it found that champion swimmers burn approximately 25 percent more calories swimming than champion runners. So swimming seems to be a better calorie burning than running! This is not to say running is not good to your health. On the contrary. If swimming is not your strength and all you do in the water is splash water around yourself and get others angry, and you’re in danger of drowning in shallow water, than go for running. The health benefits int hat case are much higher for you!

So if you’re asking yourself how to lose weight the healthy way with exercises, there is so much to do around you, just pick one and do it. If it doesn’t work for you, pick something else. But don’t just sit on the couch worrying about your excess fat. Do something. Anything is better than nothing, and of course, the more you do, the more benefits you reap in the short and long term.

How to lose weight with exercises

July 25, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Fitness Tips to Lose Weight

Dieting is not the only way you can lose weight. Losing weight also means being healthy all around, and that should be your ultimate goal in your quest to lose weight healthy. And that involves a bit of fitness.

Many people get scared when they hear the word ‘fitness’ because they think it involves an expensive membership at the local gym, lifting heavy weight, all the other gorgeous chicks looking funny at your when you show up in your forms and show your chubbiness. Another myth people keep hearing is that you need to look like a bodybuilder to be ‘fit’. All that is just a myth.

To use fitness in order to lose weight needs just bit of time out of your busy schedule, and you can do it all from the comfort of your own home, and here is how you do it.

Do you have a bike? If yes, take it out of its dusty place and start using it. Ride around the block a few times, and if you are lucky to have a park nearby, start using it, it’s free. Next time you go to work, use the bike and leave your fancy car at home. Yes, people might think you’re a bit eccentric, but hey, being eccentric is in lately!

Dance. Yes dance.  You have a tv right? Go to one of those MTV style channels where there is constant music, or even better, put on your ipod some dance music and start swinging along. Best to do it when you’re alone at home, so you don’t have to feel embarassed if anyone sees you dancing. Some people like singing in the shower, and this is no different. Maybe you can complile an mp3 of your own with 10 great fast songs and keep moving your body right until the music has stopped. That will give you 30 minutes of pure pleasure, and you will see that eventually, you’ll be wondering where the 30 minutes have gone, you only started dancing!

Stretch. You can do this also at home all by yourself. Here are a few stretching exercises for you to try out:

  • Stand and hold onto a wall to keep your balance if you need. Grab the top of your right foot and bend your knee, while bringing the foot towards your buttocks. Keep the knee pointing straight at the floor. You will soon feel a stretch right down the front of your leg. If you want, squeeze your hips forward just a little, this way you will feel it more in the hip flexors. Stay like this for at least 10 seconds and then switch sides.
  • To feel your upper back stretch, put your hands together in front and curve your back towards the floor, while at the same time pressing your arms away from your body.
  • Move your right arm straight across your chest and turn your left hand around your elbow, while at the same time easily pull on the right arm. After a while, switch sides. This will deepen your shoulder stretch.

It is not difficult to lose weight healthy using fitness as means of getting you there. You can start easily, doing the exercises at home, without having you anyone bother if you don’t feel like going to a gym or being in a crowd. Of course, if you have a best friend and want to workout together, you can go safely to the gym together. Trust me, everyone going there has the same inhibitions that you also have: that others are looking at them, that they are chubby and need to lose weight fast!

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