True Weight Loss Guide

Atkins Diet

2008-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

What is the Atkins Nutritional Approach?

The Atkins Nutritional Approach is a powerful, long-term plan for weight loss and weight management that works unlike any diet you've ever seen or tried. Atkins is a totally different way to look at food - it will show you that eating the right foods can actually change the way your body works - change you from a fat-storing to a fat-burning machine. Throw in some essential, yet fun, activity and you're on your way to the sexy results you've always wanted.

You'll lose weight, you'll maintain your optimal weight, you'll feel better than ever - vital, confident, in control, from now on. And that's very SEXY.

Atkins Food Pyramid

To lose weight; eat foods from the base of the pyramid – lean protein, leafy greens, vegetables and healthy oils.
As you get closer to your goal;
moving up the pyramid – and up
your options – fiber-rich fruits,
dairy, nuts, legumes and whole
grains. See any added sugar or
trans fats? Neither do we.
With Atkins, activity means
success, and even more
food options. So get
active, and enjoy even
more variety.

How It Works

When you eat too many carbohydrates (carbs), your body burns some of those carbs for energy and stores the excess carbs as fat. When you eat fewer carbs - especially white flour and sugar, your body begins burning fat as its primary fuel source.

That's how Atkins works - you learn to eat the right foods and change your body from a carb-burning to a fat-burning machine.

Is Atkins Right for You?

The short answer is, “Yes.” If you want to lose weight, stay at your optimal weight or just live a healthier, more energetic life, Atkins is for you. But let’s be more specific.

Atkins is about changing the way your body works – you burn fat more efficiently by reducing the amount of refined carbohydrates and eating a diet with adequate levels of protein, good fat and a variety of good carbs -- nutrient dense foods. We call them some of the best foods on earth.

Answer the following 10 questions to see if the Atkins Nutritional Approach can help you.
Are you overweight, despite the fact you feel as though you don’t eat that much?
Do you follow standard weight-loss plans to the letter, yet make no headway or get stuck far short of your goal?
Have you noticed that many slim people consume much more food and more calories than you do?
Are you always hungry on low-calorie diets?
Do you feel unfulfilled when you finish a so-called balanced meal?
Do you find yourself losing and gaining the same 10 to 15 pounds?
Do you gain weight even though you eat low-fat foods?
Have you often said, "I’m really very disciplined; it must be my metabolism.”?
Do you constantly crave sweets, pasta, bread and other high-carbohydrate foods?
Do you have a strong desire to eat again within two hours of eating a filling meal?
If you answered, "Yes" to most of these questions, you are most likely addicted to refined carbohydrates (“bad carbs”) and/or your body does not process carbs normally. These highly processed carbohydrates (refined breads, cereals and pastries) break down more rapidly into glucose and enter your bloodstream far faster than vegetables and other good carbs. This blood sugar roller coaster ride causes your body to store fat and eat even more.

Ultimately, eating too many bad carbs can create an inability to lose weight or maintain weight loss, while leaving you in a constant state of hunger. So what are you looking for in a weight-loss approach? Answer the following questions to find out if Atkins is the right program for you.

I am looking for a program that…
Diminishes cravings, naturally reduces my appetite and eliminates addictive food patterns
Encourages me to eat right and recommends some of the best and healthiest foods on earth as key components to the plan
Is flexible and allows me to eat delicious foods wherever I am – at home or at my favorite restaurants
Does not require me to buy expensive, pre-made meals
Has helped many others like me to achieve their weight-loss/weight management goals
Can help me reach my own weight loss goals and help me keep the weight off for the long run
Helps me feel more energetic and more satisfied
Minimizes risk factors for certain health issues
Helps me look great and feel more confident
Is backed by science

If you answered “Yes” to one, most or all of these questions then guess what, Atkins is most definitely for you. So congratulations – you’ve found the right program for now and the rest of your life.

Type 2 Diabetes

2008-10-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

Diabetes is a ache in which claret glucose levels are aloft normal. People with diabetes accept problems converting aliment to energy. After a meal, aliment is torn down into a amoroso alleged glucose, which is agitated by the claret to beef throughout the body. Beef use the hormone insulin, fabricated in the pancreas, to advice them action claret glucose into energy. People advance blazon 2 diabetes because the beef in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly. Eventually, the pancreas cannot accomplish abundant insulin for the body's needs. As a result, the bulk of glucose in the claret increases while the beef are fatigued of energy. Over the years, top claret glucose amercement fretfulness and claret vessels, arch to complications such as affection disease, stroke, blindness, branch disease, assumption problems, gum infections, and amputation.

Lifestyle Tips For Successful Weight Management

2008-10-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Always plan afore you boutique and accumulate a account of foods on your approach pilot or refrigerator.
Skip top calorie beverages such as sodas, juices, smoothies and attenuated coffee drinks.
There are about nine bales of amoroso and abutting to 150 calories in one 12-oz can of soda or juice. Smoothies and coffee drinks are generally 250 -500 calories, excluding the aerated cream.
Fill up on cilia such as fruits and vegetables.
If application bloom dressing, adulterate with apparent alkali or auto abstract and consistently adjustment bathrobe on the side.
Avoid alcohol. One bottle of wine is about 100 calories. In addition, wine can lower your claret amoroso and accomplish you hungry.
Fill bisected your bowl with aflame or raw vegetables and the added bisected with according locations of protein and starch that is not loaded with fat. Remember to accept bake-apple for dessert.
If you're bistro at a buffet, you don't accept to eat everything, there will consistently be addition buffet. Line your bowl with bill or appearance after dressing. In agreement of bloom dressing, afresh adulterate bathrobe with alkali or auto juice.
Walk one mile; it will bake 100 calories.
Take advantage of the continued summer canicule by walking, running, cycling, pond and added alfresco activities.
Do some gardening; it's a abundant anatomy of exercise and it allows you to abound beginning vegetables.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
Play actively with your grandchildren or pets.
Establish flexible, short-term, accessible goals.

Where to start in this journey

2008-10-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Due to some recent conversations I’ve had with people just starting out on this journey as well as some new members here on the blog, I’ve been thinking about how different types of people call for different starting points.

I realized that based on my *web persona* many of you probably believe that there is One Right Way To Train.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. The best program in the world is the one that you are going to stick with for the remainder of your life. It’s the program that you are going to understand how to implement, how to adapt and modify, and know why you are doing the things you are doing with the program.

Before I move on, I’d like to mention one thing about programs.

A program in today’s society means something very different from how I define program. Program by today’s standards means a set way of doing things that will surely result in progress for the end-user. Any user at that. Most of the time, it’s of secretive nature. Give me $49.95 for a few months and BINGO, you’ve got yourself the program that’s shed 1.2 million pounds across 47 different countries.

There’s a big problem with this line of reasoning. Programs in this sense don’t exist. It’s physiologically and psychologically impossible to create a program that will match the needs of each and every one of you. Marketers/advertisers push the Program Concept onto society daily. Most people I come across are in search of The Program. They’ve “tried everything under the sun and just can’t lose the weight.” And they want someone to show them EXACTLY what to do. They want The Program.

You see, program by my definition means this: A set of underlying principles that apply to each and every one of us that must be included in what we do in order to shape up. This set is not set and stone and it’s not stagnant. It must be dynamic by nature, meaning, we must understand how/when to apply and/or modify each variable, personally, to meet our individual goals as they change. Individual being a very key word.

By this definition, hopefully you can see how it’s impossible that such a thing as The Program can exist.

Some of you at this point are probably thinking, “What are the principles?”

I regret to inform you, but nothing on the list of principles is new or exciting. It’s the basic stuff that each and every one of us have known all along. It’s the simple stuff that we forget while we’re searching for The Program. And the list is different for different people.

In an ideal world, and this is much of what you see me discuss here in this blog, the list would look something like this:

1. Control of energy (calorie) balance to match your goals, have them be weight loss or gain.
2. Determining what foods should comprise this energy intake to match your goals.
3. The inclusion of resistance training based on the core, fundamental, compound lifts. This subject is vast and there are many underlying principles that should be adhered to here, but that’s for another article.
4. The inclusion of cardiovascular exercise. This serves a two-fold function. For one, it provides positive benefits relative to cardiovascular health. Two, for those of us attempting to lose fat, cardiovascular exercise serves as an “energy bank
5. Skill-related training/practice for those who are involved in sport.
6. Stretching/flexibility/soft tissue work to “complete the package” of owning a healthy body.
7. Last but certainly not least, exercise of the mind, human development, goal creation, neurolinguistic programming, or whatever the heck you want to call it. Healthy mind certainly comes before healthy body IMO.

You can add more to the list, but if someone includes each of these variables, it’s a surefire way to meet their fitness/health/physique goals.

This is NOT where someone HAS to start. Actually, I’d never expect someone living the “couch potato” lifestyle at the moment, to up and start doing each of these things tomorrow. The brain doesn’t work like that. Changing habits is a difficult and time-consuming procedure.

Just as there is no one-program for everyone, there is no one-starting place for everyone. For some, they might like the strictness of a set eating and training regimen. For those people, there are plenty of individuals that can help get them started around this blog. And they will do so gladly.

For others, small changes are better suiting. For these people, their list of variables might look something as simple as this:

1. Stop sitting on my ass after work and go for a daily walk.
2. Stop drinking soda, they are worthless calories.

These people need simplicity if they are going to stick with this for any appreciable length of time. They can start by simply avoiding the consumption of worthless calories. Their starting point could be the stoppage of smoking. It could be simply going for a walk around the block every night. The list of ways to start for this category of people is endless. We aren’t stupid. We know what’s healthy and what’s not. For these people, the start is either adding something healthy to the list to adopt or dropping something unhealthy from their current list.

The idea with this latter group is consistency. Once they decide to make one or two small changes, they must be consistent with it. Not only will this get easier with time, but it will also form new habits if the law of consistency is applied. It will also help you change your mindset.

More importantly, this group must be progressive in nature.

Remember, you're (speaking to this latter group) starting from the simplest starting point. You can’t expect this to translate into loads of weight loss. I’ve certainly encountered the individual, especially in communities such as this, who definitely need to start from such a simple point. However, their expectations are usually cross-wired. They believe that since they are doing SOMETHING, that the weight should just fall off.

In reality, the weight loss goals should be set aside at the moment. Sure, indirectly we will be working towards them. But weighing yourself every single day at this stage in the game is stupid. You aren't doing enough to make any drastic impacts. If they come indirectly, great. If they don't, so what? That's not the point.

For now, you're simply working on creating new habits that will help you DOWN THE ROAD to do the things that translate into real/significant weight loss or body recomposition.

With this type of mindset, where expectations are set far too high relative to the actions they are currently taking, they are setting themselves up for failure automatically.

This is where the idea of progression comes into play.

Progression = Success

Stagnation = Failure

Meaning, adopting one or two changes isn’t going to carry you to ultimate success. Each small hill you conquer you must use as fuel to move on to bigger and better things. It seems like we find three types of people at this point.

Type 1 we've just discussed. These are the individuals who expects the few small “victories” to translate into huge successes. When they don’t, this individual quits, cries, whines, or any other annoying, insensible thing you can think of.

Type 2 realizes the concept of progression and they continue to adopt new habits as passed habits are ingrained in stone and apply to principles to their lives. Because of this, their health and physiques improve as time goes on. This is the group you want to find yourself in. They realize that they are a work in progress, ALWAYS.

Type 3s are the overanalyzers. They are actually very motivated, but they let knowledge, or the lack there of freeze their progress. These individuals start out slow, but forward momentum is short-lived. What stops them is their desire to understand every facet of every science that deals with the human body. They want to know why they do this, how they do that, when to execute this, blah, blah, bleh, blah. These people want to start with the entire kit and kaboodle when in reality, they are far from ready for it. This is like me expecting to be the next president when I don’t know a damn thing about politics. It’s idiocy. You can’t walk without taking steps. So stop trying.

This latter group are the ones who think, “If I’m not doing things perfectly, I’m not doing things right.” There’s a big difference between perfect and right. Anything that helps you become more active or healthier is better than doing nothing at all. Any step is progress. Forward momentum is always better than standing still or worse yet, moving backwards. There are certainly better ways than others. So what? Those ways might not be for you just yet. Hell, they may not be for you ever.

This journey, no matter where you start, is a long and never-ending process. Don’t expect too much too fast. Don’t get hung up on the nitty-gritty details. Find your own, personal starting point. From it, work slow and consistently. Expect to master each step as you take it. Do not expect to become a master of fitness and nutrition overnight. And stay focused on your final goal. Focusing on mistakes and/or lack of progress will only lead to more mistakes and lack of progress. If you focus on your goal, you will continually modify and adapt your approach until you reach that goal.

Nothing new and exciting here. Just stuff that’s been on my mind. Words of wisdom, if you will, for the “newborn” entering this journey. This isn't meant to ween people from asking questions. It's simply a wake up call that what you are searching for may not even exist.

Good luck to all.

Acai Pure and Acai Berry Review

2008-10-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Acai Pure - Top Rated Diet Pill

We amount Acai Pure as the best diet bolus on our top 5 account because it's artlessly the best. Acai Pure's capital ingredient, Acai Berry, has been featured on abounding accepted TV shows and magazines (including Oprah Show, CNN, RealAge, etc.).

Acai Drupe in fact is not alone acclimated for diet but aswell for assimilation improvement, derma improvement, vitamin, absolve and detox, etc. Acai Pure, as the arch cast in Acai Drupe industry, is the absolute artefact to advice your blubber problem.

Let's see how abundant Acai Drupe in fact is:

Acai Drupe - Description

The Acai drupe is begin in the Amazon Rainforest. It is bake-apple of Acai approach copse and looks agnate to amethyst grape. The bake-apple is 90 percent berry pits and blow of it is pulp. For the artefact fruits are candy to get lurid puree. The bake-apple has different bake-apple acidity and has been begin to backpack aberrant diet values.

Traditionally this bake-apple has been acclimated in Amazon breadth forth with Guarana as activity booster. Natives forth the Amazon River in the Northern Brazil accept been application the bake-apple in their diet for hundreds of years. Healing backdrop of the bake-apple are allegorical and are acclimated in accomplished of the Amazon area

What Wikipedia says about Acai Berry:

The berries are harvested as food. In a abstraction of three acceptable Caboclo populations in the Amazon arena of Brazil, acai approach was declared as the a lot of important bulb breed because the bake-apple makes up such a above basic of diet (up to 42% of the absolute aliment assimilation by weight) and is economically admired in the arena (Murrieta et al., 1999).

If you absolutely wish to lose weight, Acai Berry is actual important. By arresting Acai Berry, you will even out all of your added pounds and acceleration up your metabolism. Acai Berry aswell has added bloom allowances like assimilation advance and derma bloom improvement.

Chemistry Of Acai Berry

Constituents of the bake-apple accept been accountable of alive analysis in the medical world. It has been begin out that 100 grams of Acai Berry contains afterward constituents:

Acid: 0.13%
Brix: 45.90 g
Protein: 6%
Fiber: 16.9g
Niacin: 0.40mg
Phosphorous: 58mg
Iran: 11.8mg
Vitamin B1: 0.36mg
Vitamin B2: 0.01mg
Calcium: 9mg
Vitamin C: 9mg
ph: 5.21
Calories: 247

In agreement of comestible allure the bake-apple contains polyphenols, anthocyanidins, phytosterols, obromine, omega blubbery acids, accustomed vitamin E, trace minerals(copper, iron, calcium, cobalt, chromium and manganese), comestible fiber, protein and low glycemic index

Health Benefits Of Acai Berry

Chemical and comestible breakdown of the Acai Berry is evocative of its bloom and comestible properties. It works as an anti ageing abettor and aswell as fat abbreviation property.

Full Benefits If You Consume Pure Acai Berry:

How To Acquisition The Real Acai Berry?

In the United States and Canada, you can acquisition Acai Drupe in altered kinds of artefact like acai drupe abstract or acai drupe drink. Unfortunately, not all of them accommodate authentic acai berry. Some of them has alloyed acai drupe abstract with the added capacity so it's not able anymore. Some of them even use the affected acai berry. Full of lies.

Top Rated Artefact - Acai Pure

There's one Acai Drupe artefact that we accept activated by ourselves. Acai Authentic contains authentic acai drupe extract. By arresting Acai Pure, you will get all the allowances of Acai Drupe like we told you above. Acai Authentic is actually accustomed so it will not accompany any ancillary aftereffect to your body.

Our analytic studies aswell showed Acai Authentic may advice us to lose 8-25 lbs per month. It doesn't could cause any abrogating evidence as able-bodied so we actually accept Acai Authentic is the best weight accident pill.

What I actually like from Acai Authentic is the chargeless balloon offer. As a new customer, you'll accept one chargeless canteen of Acai Authentic for $4.95. You pay this $4.95 ONLY for shipment and handling. For the aboriginal canteen of Acai Authentic itself, you pay actually nothing. If you anticipate Acai Authentic auspiciously works, you can adjustment the next bottle. You accept annihilation to lose. With alone $4.95 for shipment and administration (the aboriginal canteen is actually free), we awful acclaim you to try it.

Over-the-counter weight-loss pills: Do they work?

2008-10-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

The temptation of using over-the-counter weight-loss pills to lose weight fast is often irresistible. But are these products safe and effective?

The appeal of losing weight quickly is hard to pass up. But do over-the-counter weight-loss pills and products lighten anything but your wallet? And are they a safe option for weight loss? Here's a look at some non-prescription weight-loss pills and what they will and won't do for you.

Popular weight-loss pills

A number of weight-loss pills are available at your local drugstore, supermarket or health food store. Even more options are available online. Most haven't been proved safe and effective, and some are downright dangerous.

Herbal or dietary supplement	The claims	What you need to know
Bitter orange	Increases the number of calories burned	Touted as an "ephedra substitute" but may cause health problems similar to those of ephedra Long-term effects unknown
Chitosan	Blocks the absorption of dietary fat	Relatively safe, but unlikely to cause weight loss Can cause constipation, bloating and other gastrointestinal complaints Long-term effects unknown
Chromium	Reduces body fat and builds muscle	Relatively safe, but unlikely to cause weight loss Long-term effects unknown
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)	Reduces body fat, decreases appetite and builds muscle	Might decrease body fat and increase muscle, but isn't likely to reduce total body weight Can cause diarrhea, indigestion and other gastrointestinal problems
Country mallow (heartleaf)	Decreases appetite and increases the number of calories burned	Contains ephedra, which is dangerous Likely unsafe and should be avoided
Ephedra	Decreases appetite	Can cause high blood pressure, heart rate irregularities, sleeplessness, seizures, heart attacks, strokes and even death Banned from the marketplace because of safety concerns, but may still be legally sold as a tea Despite the ban, many ephedra products are still sold on the Internet
Green tea extract	Increases calorie and fat metabolism and decreases appetite	Limited evidence to support the claim Can cause vomiting, bloating, indigestion and diarrhea May contain a large amount of caffeine
Guar gum	Blocks the absorption of dietary fat and increases the feeling of fullness, which leads to decreased calorie intake	Relatively safe, but unlikely to cause weight loss Can cause diarrhea, flatulence and other gastrointestinal problems May cause intestinal obstruction if not taken with enough water
Hoodia	Decreases appetite	No conclusive evidence to support the weight-loss claim

In addition to these herbal and dietary supplements, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Alli — a reduced-strength over-the-counter (nonprescription) version of orlistat, a prescription weight-loss medication for adults age 18 and older. Alli promotes weight loss by decreasing absorption of fat by the intestines. The capsules are taken with meals, up to three times a day.

Alli sounds like a dieter's dream, but there are no shortcuts to permanent weight loss. Alli is intended to be used only with a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet and regular exercise. Side effects, such as diarrhea and gas with oily spotting, can be significant if you don't reduce the amount of fat in your diet.

The pitfalls of pills

Dietary supplements and weight-loss aids aren't subject to the same rigorous standards as are prescription drugs or medications sold over-the-counter. Thus, they can be marketed with limited proof of effectiveness or safety. Vendors can make health claims about products based on their own review and interpretation of studies without the authorization of the FDA. However, the FDA can pull a product off the market if it's proved dangerous.

For the consumer, it's hard to know what you're getting, or even if the list of ingredients matches what's in the bottle. Many weight-loss pills contain a cocktail of ingredients — some with more than 20 herbs, botanicals, vitamins, minerals or other add-ons, such as caffeine or laxatives. How these ingredients interact individually and collectively with your body is largely unknown. And using them can be a risky venture, especially if you're taking other medications.

Your own scrutiny and curiosity are your best protection. Read labels closely and talk with your doctor or pharmacist about any dietary supplements you're taking or considering taking.

No quick fix

There's no magic bullet for losing weight. The most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is through lifestyle changes: Eat healthy, low-calorie foods, watch portion sizes, and engage in regular physical activity. It's certainly no magic pill, but it works.

Keep in mind that even if you take a weight-loss pill, you still have to eat fewer calories than your body uses in order to lose weight. Even if these products were to help you lose weight initially, you'd have to continue taking them for the weight to stay off, which may not be practical or safe.

If you're concerned about your weight or have a condition that's exacerbated by extra pounds, talk to your doctor. Whether you have 10 pounds or 100 pounds to lose, you need to eat a healthy diet based on a variety of foods and burn calories through physical activity. Time has shown that there truly are no easy solutions to losing weight. And over-the-counter weight-loss pills could cause more harm than good.

True Weight Loss Guide

Atkins Diet

Type 2 Diabetes

Lifestyle Tips For Successful Weight Management

Where to start in this journey

Acai Pure and Acai Berry Review

How To Acquisition The Real Acai Berry?

Over-the-counter weight-loss pills: Do they work?

Popular weight-loss pills

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

The pitfalls of pills

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

No quick fix

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

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