Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Do Nutritional Supplements Support Weight Loss?

The next best thing you can do to lose weight and keep it off, after choosing a healthy diet, and exercise is to plan a good supplement program. The foundation of a good supplement program should be based on a quality multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement.

The basic multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement will supply what your body needs under ordinary circumstances to meet your normal daily needs and prevent disease.

If you are ill, if you have a propensity for a certain problem, if you are trying to recover from a disease or illness of any sort, if you are preparing for an operation, or if you are recovering from operation, you should plan on augmenting the daily supplement with other specialized supplements.

Another serious problem with food is that it is less and less nutritious in terms of vitamin and mineral delivery. Recent studies suggest that vitamins and minerals delivered to the human body by fruits and vegetables may have declined as much as 30 - 40% since 1960!

The problem of poor mineral and vitamin content is even further exacerbated by the wide spread use of chemical fertilizers that bind micronutrients, such as zinc and selenium, in the soil.

This binding makes the micronutrients inaccessible to the plants (the plants cannot get the nutrients out of the soil) and therefore the mature vegetables or fruits are lacking both in major and micronutrients. A highly disproportionate amount of food has added sugars and/or artificial sweeteners.

Some of these are cancer causing in and of themselves being, as they typically are, petrochemical derivatives (artificial flavor usually means carcinogen), but even an innocent sweetener like white (or brown) sugar inactivates your white blood cells by a factor of 40 percent for up to three or four hours!

Imagine, your immune system is weak, then you drink some orange juice (most of it is phony sugar water) or some yogurt loaded with sweeteners (like glucose, sucrose, fructose, real sugar, etc.) and then for the next four or five hours your white cells are disabled (their effectiveness blocked by 40%) and they are unable to successfully defend your system against any attack.

The best general solution to this problem is to dramatically improve your eating habits. It is nearly impossible to do this in an intelligent way unless you take time to inform yourself about food and how to prepare food.

For example, the majority of cooks do not understand that heavy metals bleed from stainless-steel cookware (once its hard, smooth surface is scratched or damaged in any way) into the foods prepared in such pans. We personally prefer enamel pans for most uses.

I should also mention that some recent evidence suggests that the microwave may be one of the most dangerous machines ever invented from a health standpoint.

Since it tears the cells in food apart by intermittent vibration, it may cause you to consume an extraordinary amount of free radicals which will accelerate your aging, promote illness, and weaken your immune system.

If a microwave can give you cancer from standing close to it while it is on just imagine what it is doing to your food. If you want to heat something quickly just put it in your oven and broil it.

Your oven gets extremely hot on the broil setting, so it won't take much longer than a microwave. If you want to defrost something, plan ahead and defrost it in the refrigerator.

To protect your body and immune system, it is essential to stop eating suspect foods, prepared goods, and most foods that fall in the candy or snack category. For example ordinary crackers are almost universally made with hydrogenated oils and often, like bread, have added iron.

We suggest that you purchase and prepare foods for yourself such as eggs (fry or boil eggs, whole eggs; eggs have a balanced supply of lecithin and cholesterol naturally), poultry (bake a chicken, boil chicken breasts), beef (broil a steak, throw a roast in the crock pot.

And prepare fruit and vegetables. For instance, along with scrambled eggs I might saute a diced onion, a diced apple or two with one or two diced jalapeƱos in a bit of butter to serve with the eggs.

Use a whole cabbage to steam or saute, add onions and garlic for additional flavor. Obviously, we cannot tell you what to eat or how to prepare it, but it is imperative to get away from most prepared foods (in frozen or shelf boxes, cans, jars, and all foods that are in any way prepared.)

Even yogurt can be dangerous if not plain. The flavored yogurts are often made with petrochemical carcinogens such as color and flavor, and sweeteners that are deadly to the weakened immune system. If you want to flavor your yogurt, buy organic plain yogurt and put fresh fruit and/or granola into it. I feel a safe rule is not to eat anything that would not have been available on the table of your grandfather.

You would not have found bagged salads, which can stay fresh for a week or two, thanks to chemicals, on his table. If I want a salad I chop up some kale, collards, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and stir up some oil, lemon juice, and vinegar; that is a salad.

Something grown in California, chopped and bagged in Chicago, and shipped to your grocer by way of New York is not a salad but it is a lifeless food source.
Another important addition to the diet would be to go on a modified juice fast to help cleanse the body (and particularly the individual cells of the body).

This would be to juice singly, together, or in any combination cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots, apples, pears, peppers, celery, onions, kale, spinach, fruits, and similar foods and to consume only the juice and as much as you can tolerate.

As a rule of thumb, any supplement program you start on, make sure you are getting what you pay for. I highly recommend you find a natural supplement company, one that has a track record of quality, integrity, and understands the power of nature.

To Your Health,

Diet Health & Fitness
'Blog Squad'

DietHealthandFitness.com

P.S. Get a FREE Body Profile Analysis - Click Here now.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Discover Why You Can't Lose Weight

Most people begin an exercise program designed for weight loss with the intention of sticking with it. Unfortunately, the majority give up after six months, deciding they simply do not have the time to exercise regularly. There are usually two reasons behind any decision; the real reason, and the one that sounds good.

Individuals claiming, "they do not have the time" are often hiding the fact that their expectations for weight loss were not met. Simply put, they were not making the progress they were promised. On an intellectual level, most people know they "should exercise more." However, any good salesperson will tell you that we do not make decisions based on intellectual reasoning. We base them on emotion.

Most of us exercise because, at a very basic level, we want to look and feel better. We exercise because it appeals to our sense of vanity and pride. We want to look and feel good. Now if you are not used to exercising we suggest you find a way to get used to it if you plan on losing those extra pounds that just do not seem to go away. We are not saying you have to run fifteen miles a day, pound out 300 push ups in twenty minutes or even jump rope for an hour, what we are saying is do something!

If all you do every day is get in your car, drive to work, sit at a desk, eat fast food for all your meals, drive home, eat dinner and watch television until you fall asleep, we have a News Flash for you, wake up and smell the coffee! How does anyone expect weight to just start "falling off" if they are not even moving? It blows me away when I hear people complain that they "tried" this diet or that diet and it "did not work." I usually ask them "did you work?"

Listen, the truth is this, nothing good in life comes easy. If you are not willing to give up that 1 hour of television you know you watch every single night, if you are not willing to get off your butt and walk around your neighborhood a few times or go hiking for 45 minutes or even just run around with your kids for a half an hour a day, then how do you expect your body to burn enough calories to lose any weight?

There is no magic pill for you to take, there is no magic potion to drink, it is called dedication to your health and wanting it bad enough.

Did you know that there are approximately 3,555 calories in just one pound of fat?

Do you think you can sit on your couch every night while still doing what you are doing and these calories are going to burn themselves away?

Now here is the deal, when you lose weight from dieting alone, some of the weight lost comes from lean muscle tissue. In an effort to retain lean muscle while still losing weight from fat you must include leucine in your diet.

Leucine is an amino acid that helps build muscle. Research shows that leucine heads straight to muscles where it can initiate protein synthesis for muscle building. That is why a lot of Olympic and world class athletes use it.

As you diet, you consume less calories. There is one problem with this, as you lose fat you are also losing muscle mass. Even if you lose your desired amount of weight you will become flabby because your muscle has been broken down along with the fat. Leucine helps control muscle breakdown that occurs while dieting.

Leucine is one of the twenty most common essential amino acids your body needs when maintaining lean muscle mass. Leucine is the most common amino acid found in proteins and is essential for optimal growth throughout infancy, childhood and adulthood.

Leucine plays a part in maintaining muscles by equalizing synthesis and breakdown of proteins while also regulating your appetite, assisting in the growth and repair of muscle tissues and helping you regulate your blood sugar as well. You can enjoy the benefits of leucine as a natural supplement or you can find it in some foods, such as, brown rice, beans, nuts and whole wheat.

To Your Health,

Diet Health & Fitness
'Blog Squad'

DietHealthandFitness.com

P.S. Get a FREE Body Profile Analysis - Click Here now.

Monday, March 30, 2009

What is The Difference Between Vitamins and Minerals?

Most people may realize that vitamins and minerals are two different things, but they probably do not know what vitamins and minerals their body needs and what they are good for. Vitamins, for example, are essential to life; regulate metabolism and assist the processes that release energy from digested food.

They also work with enzymes as co-enzymes, enabling the body to perform its activities, or build and feed cells. Vitamins are also either water soluble or fat soluble.

This is important because vitamins must have an effective way of being broken down within the body, otherwise they are not used and passed through the body. This is actually best evident in most vitamin pills or supplements you can buy in stores or on-line.

Most of these company's vitamins are not water or fat soluble enough for the body to ever break them down. I often refer to them as vitamin bricks. While you think you are getting all of that vitamin C you are buying, it is probably passing right through you. This has often been referred to as "expensive pee."

Just be careful and do your research. Like I said a reputable company will be able to provide you with information that proves that its vitamins are of the highest potency and purity and are very soluble.

So what are the fat soluble vitamins? They are: vitamin A, D, E, and K. Beta-carotene is also a fat soluble vitamin.

Fat soluble vitamins are stored in body tissues and require the presence of fatty acids in order to be transported and absorbed. Fat-free diets, for example interfere with the absorption of these vitamins and can create possible deficiencies.

What about water soluble vitamins? They are: B-complex, which consists of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B12. Biotin, vitamin C, and Folic Acid are also water soluble vitamins.

Water soluble vitamins must be regularly consumed, and replenished within the body. Water soluble vitamins should be consumed or taken at divided times throughout the day. That is one reason it is best to eat a few small meals throughout the day than eat one or two giant meals.

Water soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, and therefore they are quickly depleted. Unlike animals, we cannot produce any Vitamin C in our bodies, therefore it is essential that you pay attention to how much vitamin C you are consuming, that is the only way your body will get enough to be healthy.

Well enough about vitamins, lets talk about minerals. Minerals are needed for the proper composition of body fluids. They are also needed for the building and formation of blood and bones as well as building and feeding cells.

The minerals you need are: Calcium, sodium, magnesium, boron, copper, cobalt, chromium, Iodine, sulpher, manganese, selenium, iron, vanadium, zinc, potassium, silicon, and phosphorus.

Minerals are needed in varying amounts and, like vitamins, are crucial to the body's health. Minerals also give you sustained energy.

The best way to get your proper amount of vitamins and minerals is through your diet (vitamins and minerals are easily broken down within food). However, many of us do not have the time or money necessary to create a perfect diet for ourselves that contains just the right amount of vitamins and minerals.

That is why many people rely on supplements as well as their diet to give them the vitamins and minerals they need. But if you are going to buy any vitamin or mineral supplements you need to do your research and make sure they are of the highest quality, and most importantly that they are going to be broken down within your body and not just pass through you.

A good company will give you access to this information before you buy. You can make sure that the vitamin and mineral supplements you are buying are of highest quality by making sure that the company you buy from has a proven track record of success, plenty of testimonials, and a money back guarantee. If their products work they will guarantee them, otherwise they have something to hide.

To Your Health,

Diet Health & Fitness
'Blog Squad'

DietHealthandFitness.com

P.S. Get a FREE Body Profile Analysis - Click Here now.

Free Site Counters