Showing posts with label permanent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label permanent. Show all posts
Steps to Permanent Weight Loss
Saturday, April 5, 2014
(Article first published as Essential Weight Loss Steps on Technorati.)
A new report from the Trust for America’s Health makes it painfully clear that the obesity epidemic is worsening, threatening the lives of millions. The problem is the result of too much junk food and fast food consumed in excessive quantities and at the wrong time of day. Compounding the problem is the lack of regular physical activity to spur the fat burning cycle.
Our body has evolved over countless generations to run efficiently on the type of diet and eating patterns as our caveman ancestors. Specific hormones in the body known as ghrelin and leptin control our appetite, and how and where fat is stored and burned.
For most people, the perfect hormonal balance has been disrupted, resulting in the obesity problem we face today. To achieve permanent weight loss, it’s necessary to follow a plan which restores natural hormonal balance, and proper fat metabolism.
The American Heart Association has declared that our nation is on a sugar binge, and is the main reason that one-third of adults now fall into the obese category. Sugar, and it’s derivative cousin, ined carbs (breads, pasta, pastries and most snack foods), cause blood sugar levels to spike quickly and then drop.
This rapid surge cycle is not normal, and ultimately leads to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and high triglycerides (fats) in the blood. The body is unable to clear excessive amounts from the blood before the next meal, and stores the excess as fat. Eliminating sugar-laden foods and wheat products from your diet will have an immediate effect, allowing the body to release stored fat as metabolism returns to normal.
Successful weight loss begins with a good breakfast. As the name implies, it’s important to properly break the evening’s fast, and this is done with a good source of protein. Avoid the donuts, breads and cereals, as these will convert to sugar quickly and you’ll want to snack before lunch.
Fats and especially protein are difficult for the body to metabolize, so they’re the perfect food to rev up your diet for the day. Skipping breakfast to save the calories always backfires, as you’ll eat much more later in the day to compensate.
Follow these steps and eat from a wide variety of healthy food groups to achieve weight loss success. Add in a regular, moderate exercise program to sustain the fat burning mechanism and you’ll be in sync with your genetically evolved hormones. It’s possible to regain our health and reverse the current obesity epidemic by resolving our addiction to junk foods and developing improved lifestyle habits.
Our body has evolved over countless generations to run efficiently on the type of diet and eating patterns as our caveman ancestors. Specific hormones in the body known as ghrelin and leptin control our appetite, and how and where fat is stored and burned.
For most people, the perfect hormonal balance has been disrupted, resulting in the obesity problem we face today. To achieve permanent weight loss, it’s necessary to follow a plan which restores natural hormonal balance, and proper fat metabolism.
Step 1: Cut Portion Size at Each Meal
We’ve heard it all before, but the fact is most people eat nearly twice the number of calories they require each day. Americans are addicted to foods which have been scientifically modified in a lab to appeal directly to our sense of taste, forcing the consumption of more calories than we can accommodate at a given meal. Eat three well balanced meals a day, and limit the portion size. Unless you are an extremely active man, limit each meal to no more than 600 calories; women should target 400 to 500 calories, depending on daily activity level.Step 2: Cut the Sugar and Refined Carbs
This rapid surge cycle is not normal, and ultimately leads to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and high triglycerides (fats) in the blood. The body is unable to clear excessive amounts from the blood before the next meal, and stores the excess as fat. Eliminating sugar-laden foods and wheat products from your diet will have an immediate effect, allowing the body to release stored fat as metabolism returns to normal.
Step 3: Stop Eating After Dinner
The body is a very efficient, well coordinated machine, completing certain required functions at different times of the day. Sleep allows the body to perform many maintenance duties at the cellular level, and 7 to 9 hours each night are essential to reduce our risk of serious disease. Digestion is a very complex process which must be completed well before retiring, or the necessary sleep routine cycle will be disturbed. Be sure to allow at least 3 hours between your last meal and going to bed. Your body will be properly prepared for the repair tasks at hand, and you’ll get a more reshed night’s rest.Step 4: Never Miss Breakfast
Fats and especially protein are difficult for the body to metabolize, so they’re the perfect food to rev up your diet for the day. Skipping breakfast to save the calories always backfires, as you’ll eat much more later in the day to compensate.
Follow these steps and eat from a wide variety of healthy food groups to achieve weight loss success. Add in a regular, moderate exercise program to sustain the fat burning mechanism and you’ll be in sync with your genetically evolved hormones. It’s possible to regain our health and reverse the current obesity epidemic by resolving our addiction to junk foods and developing improved lifestyle habits.
Sleep Essential to Permanent Weight Loss
Friday, March 28, 2014
(Article first published as Sleep May be the Key to Successful Weight Loss on Technorati.)
Amazing as it may sound, sleep may be the missing link to achieving your weight loss goal. The importance of a good night’s sleep is discounted by many people, yet the impact on overall health and body weight cannot be underestimated. The body performs many critical functions while we sleep that assist our immune response, guide cellular restructuring as well as fat metabolism and weight loss maintenance.
The best way to avoid weight gain from sleep deprivation is to plan a minimum of 7 hours and no more than 9 hours of sleep each night. Extensive research concludes that this is the proper zone to ensure optimal health and avoid weight gain from hormonal imbalance. Additionally, you can help by making a conscious effort to limit or eliminate ined carbohydrates and sugar from your diet. This will become easier to do as you normalize your sleep patterns since your desire for excessive carbohydrates will subside.
Sleep Essential to Burn Fat
Insufficient sleep causes a disruption of the appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin which direct fat metabolism. When these hormones become resistant to cues from the brain due to dietary abuse or lack of deep sleep, fat is not released efficiently and remains stored as excess weight in the body.
The results of a study published in the journal Sleep, reveal that teenagers who received less than 8 hours of sleep per night consumed 2.2% more dietary fat on average. Since fat is densely packed with calories, this leads to weight gain over time.
Young Children at Risk for Obesity with Insufficient Sleep
Young children require even more sleep than teens and adults, and may be increasing their risk for weight problems and obesity in later life when they average less than 10 hours a night. This is according to a study published in the American Journal of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine which studied adolescents who received fewer than 10 hours of sleep each night, and found they were more than twice as likely to be overweight five years later, with some becoming obese as well.
Poor Sleep Disrupts Appetite Hormones in Adults
Insufficient or disrupted sleep causes levels of the critical appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin to fluctuate leading to increased hunger. Normally, leptin signals the brain when you’ve had enough and it’s time to stop eating. Conversely, ghrelin sends the cue that you’re hungry and ready to eat. In studies where sleep was deprived and subjects received less than 7 hours per night, leptin levels dropped and ghrelin rose, resulting in the urge to overeat.
There was a direct correlation between the number of hours slept and the desire to eat too much. Those who were most sleep deprived had an overwhelming desire to eat, and didn’t know when to stop. More importantly, these participants desired high carbohydrate, calorie rich foods nearly twice as much as those who slept at least 8 hours. Lack of sleep causes metabolic disruption affecting how body fat is stored and influences our hormones causing us to overeat.
Plan 7 to 9 Hours of Sleep Every Night
We have evolved to sleep one-third of our lives, a critical process that has served us well for generations. The body performs many essential repair functions while we sleep which lead to improved immune function and a disease free life. By ensuring the proper hours of sleep every night, you’ll feel energized during the day as you attain and maintain your naturally healthy weight.
Controlling Leptin and Ghrelin Essential to Permanent Weight Loss
Thursday, January 16, 2014
(Article first published as Controlling Lifestyle and Hormones is Key to Successful Weight Loss on Technorati.)
The human body is very complex, having evolved over generations to respond to signals delivered from our environment, lifestyle and diet. We have developed a finely tuned hormonal balance system which regulates many critical functions throughout our body, including how we store or burn body fat for energy. The food we eat and our particular life habits have a significant effect on our ability to lose weight and keep it off permanently.
Appetite Hormones in Control of Fat Metabolism
The appetite controlling hormones, leptin and ghrelin provide a powerful signal to the brain which determines whether calories and fat are converted to triglycerides for storage or used as a source of energy. The two hormones are tightly connected as they continually communicate based on our food choices, meal timing and degree of insulin resistance.
Leptin and Ghrelin Affect Weight Regain
The results of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism show that the levels of leptin and ghrelin before beginning a new diet may predetermine your ability to sustain weight loss. Specifically, increased levels of leptin and lower concentrations of ghrelin before dieting correlated with weight loss which could not be maintained by study participants.
Making Changes That Affect Permanent Weight Loss
Since leptin and ghrelin were discovered by researchers over the last 10 to 20 years, so much remains to be learned about these potent appetite and fat metabolizing hormones. While research continues at breakneck speed to understand how the pair functions at the cellular level, scientists learned early on that popping a leptin or ghrelin pill had no effect on weight loss or altering concentrations of the hormones in the blood. The only way to make these hormones work in your favor is to make the following dietary and lifestyle changes.
Lifestyle Change 1: No Food after 7 PM
Food digestion requires large amounts of energy and resources from your body. When you eat late at night, this process takes precedence over other important maintenance functions which normally occur overnight. Further, your body burns fat as you sleep, which is hampered when you go to bed with a full stomach.
Lifestyle Change 2: Eat 5 Small Meals Every Day
We have evolved as hunter-gatherers at a time when food was scarce and small meals were eaten as they were available. Today we tend to eat 3 large meals each day which overloads our cellular capacity to effectively process and utilize the excess calories. Target 5 smaller meals of 300 to 400 calories each depending on your activity level with no between meal snacking. Each meal should be nutritionally balanced including choices from all food groups.
Lifestyle Change 3: Eat Breakfast with a High Quality Protein Source
You’ve heard it before – start your morning every day with breakfast. This is good advice, as food stimulates your metabolism and increases your calorie consumption for the remainder of the day. Even more important, include a good protein source such as chicken, turkey, nuts, seeds, whey, or peanut butter. Avoid traditional breakfast cereals, breads and processed breakfast foods as these will break down quickly leaving you more apt to snack.
Lifestyle Change 4: No Sugar or Refined Carbs
Refined junk food carbs and sugar destroy your metabolism, as blood sugar and insulin levels rise and fall rapidly which also affects your appetite hormones. Carbohydrates from vegetable and other natural sources have the opposite effect as the high fiber content prevents metabolic disaster. Refined carbs also tempt you to snack between meals which is a sure fire method to pack on the pounds.
We are creatures of habit, and many will find it difficult to make even the smallest changes to their diet or the timing of meals. We’re driven by a genetic engine which is programmed to function optimally on a naturally low sugar and carbohydrate diet eaten at staggered intervals. While our body does adapt and allow for some variability, our permanent weight loss goals can only be met by controlling our appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin.
Appetite Hormones in Control of Fat Metabolism
Leptin and Ghrelin Affect Weight Regain
The results of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism show that the levels of leptin and ghrelin before beginning a new diet may predetermine your ability to sustain weight loss. Specifically, increased levels of leptin and lower concentrations of ghrelin before dieting correlated with weight loss which could not be maintained by study participants.
Making Changes That Affect Permanent Weight Loss
Since leptin and ghrelin were discovered by researchers over the last 10 to 20 years, so much remains to be learned about these potent appetite and fat metabolizing hormones. While research continues at breakneck speed to understand how the pair functions at the cellular level, scientists learned early on that popping a leptin or ghrelin pill had no effect on weight loss or altering concentrations of the hormones in the blood. The only way to make these hormones work in your favor is to make the following dietary and lifestyle changes.
Lifestyle Change 1: No Food after 7 PM
Food digestion requires large amounts of energy and resources from your body. When you eat late at night, this process takes precedence over other important maintenance functions which normally occur overnight. Further, your body burns fat as you sleep, which is hampered when you go to bed with a full stomach.
Lifestyle Change 2: Eat 5 Small Meals Every Day
Lifestyle Change 3: Eat Breakfast with a High Quality Protein Source
You’ve heard it before – start your morning every day with breakfast. This is good advice, as food stimulates your metabolism and increases your calorie consumption for the remainder of the day. Even more important, include a good protein source such as chicken, turkey, nuts, seeds, whey, or peanut butter. Avoid traditional breakfast cereals, breads and processed breakfast foods as these will break down quickly leaving you more apt to snack.
Lifestyle Change 4: No Sugar or Refined Carbs
Refined junk food carbs and sugar destroy your metabolism, as blood sugar and insulin levels rise and fall rapidly which also affects your appetite hormones. Carbohydrates from vegetable and other natural sources have the opposite effect as the high fiber content prevents metabolic disaster. Refined carbs also tempt you to snack between meals which is a sure fire method to pack on the pounds.
We are creatures of habit, and many will find it difficult to make even the smallest changes to their diet or the timing of meals. We’re driven by a genetic engine which is programmed to function optimally on a naturally low sugar and carbohydrate diet eaten at staggered intervals. While our body does adapt and allow for some variability, our permanent weight loss goals can only be met by controlling our appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin.
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