Why Your Scale Might Be Stuck

Maybe you're cutting the wrong calories! Reducing "liquid calories" from beverages such as soda, fruit punch, and sweetened iced tea is 5 times more effective for weight loss than cutting back on calories from solid foods, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers say that because swallowing beverages does not satiate the body the way chewing solid food does, it causes people to overeat. --Prevention, August 2009.

Comment: Ditching the soda, etc., and cutting way back on high-calorie solid foods does wonders for those who want to lose weight. And don't forget to exercise!

Suzanne

I think if they studied that more carefully they might find a large percentage of the weight loss from cutting out the beverages will be just water weight.

In my belief, the single best weight-control technique is getting adequate exercise.

Exercise does all of the following, and more:

-- Burns more calories
-- Increases metabolic rate
-- Regulates the resting heart rate
-- Reduces appetite until metabolic needs exceed caloric intake
-- Relieves stress, helping to regulate the adrenal glands which in turn affect metabolic rate
-- Increases circulatory system capacity and efficiency
-- Prevents insomnia
-- Increases sense of well-being
-- Increases muscle tone and mass, making it easier to burn calories while at the same time increasing strength
-- Prevents depression (and many people eat more when depressed)

Exercise cannot be over-stressed in today's world.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I agree with the emphasis on exercise. I've not heard this one before:

"Reduces appetite until metabolic needs exceed caloric intake"

I'd be interested in hearing more about this one.

Tom,

There's so much information out there on this point of exercise reducing the appetite, that I will let you choose which articles to look at in the results list of this Google search.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I was interested on the specific point that it "Reduces appetite until metabolic needs exceed caloric intake".

Basically, and if you were to read some of those articles you would see this, exercise only reduces appetite under one of two conditions:

1) If the exercise is light to moderate, but not heavy; or
2) It will reduce the appetite temporarily.

If I go out and work very hard in my garden all morning, I am hardly hungry for lunch. But come supper time, my appetite will be good. This is because the caloric expenditure of the morning's work requires a replacement. But if I just take a walk for 20 minutes, my appetite might be reduced, and since I didn't really need the calories, I might never have an appetite "comeback."

Exercise regulates the appetite to what is necessary. If you need more calories to support your level of exercise, you will certainly have a strong appetite. But if you have been consuming more calories than required for your activity level, exercise will reduce your appetite. That's the point I was trying to bring out. The articles you will read there from that Google search go into detail about two key appetite-reducing hormones that exercise produces, and the amounts produced depend on the type and quantity of exercise. Apparently, aerobic exercise drops the appetite more than a non-aerobic one like weight lifting.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Thanks.

Extra virgin coconut oil definitely assist with losing fat especially when combined with exercise.. I tried it and loved it, along with other health benefits, it is quite effective.
God Bless,
Will

Will you explain further?

Hi Servant,
Here is a link that goes into more detail:
Coconut Oil
God Bless,
-Will

Thank you for this information!

Too Fat? No More Excuses

Research reveals how very dangerous extra baggage is.

Researchers worried about the obesity epidemic are furiously studying body fat in an effort to decode its effect on health. And they have discovered that fat is as active and important an endocrine organ as the thyroid or reproductive glands. In healthy amounts, it tightly regulates the amount of energy burned or stored by releasing a group of hormones. In excess, the fat cells swell and multiply, and their functioning overwhelms the system: Nasty inflammatory factors spew into the bloodstream, and the delicate balance of hormones becomes skewed, altering the brain's normal response to fat's signals. The result: a much-elevated risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and liver disease. And metabolic changes make losing weight--and keeping it off--seem impossibly tough.

"People think obesity is two behaviors: gluttony and sloth," according to Robert Lustig, director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Clinic at the University of California-San Francisco Children's Hospital. "That's not what it is. Obesity is a manifestation of a biochemical problem." Excessive fat strengthens the dysfunction, too, trapping the body in a vicious cycle. Even slightly overweight folks can be on the path to a disturbed physiology--no matter that their clothes can still disguise a paunch.

For evidence, look no further than the recent surge in type 2 diabetes, which correlates in near lockstep with Americans' expanding waistlines. As fat stores go up, so does the pancreas' production of insulin, the hormone that helps usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells where it's used for fuel. So those with too many extra pounds end up with a glut of the stuff, typically leading to "insulin resistance"--and too much glucose in the blood. Unfortunately, the excess insulin sends energy into the fat cells, causing them to plump up and multiply ad infinitum--and end up in places fat shouldn't be, like muscles, the liver and deep in the gut, wrapped around vital organs.

Too much fat also seems to unleash a flood of molecules called cytokines that trigger systemwide inflammation. "Obesity is a pro-inflammation state," notes Michael Charlton, medical director of liver transplantation at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Normally, inflammation is a healthy immune response, critical to fighting off infection. But chronic inflammation causes widespread tissue damage. The plumper and more abundant a person's fat cells, the greater the number of cytokine-releasing macrophage cells in the fat tissue. "It's these macrophages that are causing a lot of trouble," warns Rudolph Leibel, a Columbia University geneticist and noted obesity researcher. "They make mischief related to how fat you are."

(Continued in next posting),
Suzanne

No More Excuses, (con't)

The cardiovascular system appears to be another victim. Macrophages play an important role in the development of the fatty plaques that lead to atherosclerosis. And cytokines can make tissues resistant to the effects of insulin and cause inflammation in the blood vessels. In addition, too much insulin can promote salt retention--and soaring blood pressure.

Cancer experts, now strongly advise burning excess fat. Indeed the new cancer prevention guidelines issued by the American Institute for Cancer Prevention and the World Cancer Research Fund has this advise: "Be as lean as possible within the normal range of bodyweight." That means, for a woman, keeping the body-mass index between 21 and 23--or, for someone who is 5 foot 4, staying between 122 and 134 pounds. "A BMI of 25 increases the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer more than [a BMI] of 21," warns Meir Stampfer, a nutrition and epidemiology researcher at Harvard School of Public Health.

Extra fat is strongly believed to raise the risk of 6 types of cancer--esophageal, pancreatic, colorectal, breast (in post-menopausal women), endometrial, and kidney--and possibly gallbladder cancer. It's known that cytokines released from fat tissue promote tumor growth and cell death.

When a person carries a surplus of fat, the liver, the workhorse of the body takes a beating, too. This organ, which is responsible for the breakdown of insulin, sugars, homones and lipids--less effectively produces a protein that helps move fat out, when excess fat is present. Unfortunately, most chronic overeaters end up with fat stored in this organ. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, when severe, results in rampant inflammation and scarring and is projected to be the most common reason for liver transplant in a few years.

Deep belly fat, also known as visceral fat, may especially endanger the liver. "Having fat in that visceral area can potentially increase the flow of fatty acids to the liver." notes Elizabeth Parks, associate professor and expert on liver metabolism at UT-Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Newer research on the workings of body fat also has revealed why it's so hard to lose weight and keep it off: As you eat more, exercise less, and ratchet upward on the scale, your hormones adjust and fiercely guard the new status quo. An example, is the amount of leptin--a hromone secreted by fat that regulates food intake and energy expenditure--circulating in the blood is proportional to the amount of fat you've got stored, says Christopher Newgard, director of the Sarah Stedman nutrition and metabolism Center at Duke University.

The obvious question is how much work is necessary to succeed at trimming the fat? The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine issued an updated, joint set of guidelines recently on physical activity. To "promote and maintain health," 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days per week will do the job. But to prevent weight gain or shed pounds, "more is better." In fact, much more is called for: from 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity on most days. --Adapted from U.S. News & World Report, January 14, 2008.

Comment: The amount and type of food taken in matters too, of course. A dietary regimen that includes lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts is being cited as an ideal way to lose weight and maintain a healthful lifestyle. This along with an adequate exercise regimen works wonders in this area. A very minimum of high-calorie foods is always helpful.

Suzanne

Low-Calorie Sabotage?

Think diet soda helps you lose weight? Think again. According to a study in the International Journal of Obesity, artificially sweetened, low-calorie foods can thwart your ability to regulate how much you eat--at least in animal studies.

Researchers found that lab animals sometimes fed saccharin-sweetened liquid consumed more food than did animals given an equally sweet but always high-calorie liquid. (Animals given a high-cal supplement the consistency of milk also gained more weight than did animals fed a thicker, pudding-like substance.)

The study's authors think the same phenomenon may hold true for humans: early on, we learn to sense how calorie-packed a food is--by its sweetness and viscosity, for example--which automatically keeps us from overindulging. But eating unnaturally sweetened, low-calorie foods may throw our instinct out of whack. --Source: Time, July 12, 2004.

Suzanne

Recipe for Obesity

Here is an adaptation of a letter to the editor of U.S News & World Report, Nov. 11, 2002:

In our search for the reason so many Americans are overweight or obese, let us not forget the fact that we are eating meat from animals that are fed or injected with growth hormones. This is a practice used by growers to get livestock to market more quickly, thereby shortening the time needed to feed them in the fattening pens and reducing the cost of feed.

Since it works for livestock, does not the residue within the meat also "fatten" those who consume the products containing these growth hormones? Indeed, it works for beef, pork, turkey, chicken and other animal meats, and also works for people. Combined with the fact that so many are "pigging-out" on junk- and fast-food, "supersize" restaurant portions, etc., is it any wonder that obesity has become a national epidemic? --signed

Brothers and sisters, obesity is indeed a problem in and out of the church. By the grace and help of the Lord we can gain the victory in this important area.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13.

Suzanne

Does Eating Meat Lead to Weight Gain?

by Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) According to a recent study out of Europe, eating lots of meat may be contributing to weight gain. Even among people eating roughly the same amount of overall calories, those that eat meat are more likely to weigh more than those who do not.

Over 400,000 Europeans from ten different countries participated in the study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Participants filled out diet and lifestyle questionnaires and were weighed both at the start of the study, and at five years later. Overall, meat consumption was found to be linked to weight gain in both men and women.

The worst meat offender for weight gain was processed meat, which may be due to the nitrites, nitrates and other chemical preservatives they contain.

The team did admit, however, that participants self-reported their weights in the end, rather than be weighed in a clinical setting. And there could have been other variables responsible as well for the overall weight difference between the two groups.

But researchers still believe there is a link between meat consumption and overall weight gain, especially after discovering that, among people consuming the same exact number of calories, an extra eight or nine ounces of meat consumed every day accounts for a five-pound gain in weight over five years.

"In primates, animal food consumption is inversely related to body weight," explain Michael T. Murray, N.D., and Josephy E. Pizzorno, N.D., in their book Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition. They believe eating meat affects human weight in a similar way to how it affects primates.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10...

http://www.naturalpedia.com/H/Human...

Suzanne

If you substitute an apple or a handrful of grapes for a sugary processed treat, over time your taste buds will prefer the naturally sweet taste of fruit, according to researchers. Catherine Nichols, 46, who lost 83 piounds agrees. "I used to have a bowl of ice cream most nights, but I switched to fruit desserts--like bananas broiled with a drizzle of honey to form a creme brulee crust and apples baked with raisins and cinnamon--so I could stay within my Weight Watchers Points allowance," she says. "Now store-bought pies and ice cream taste so overly sweet, I can only have one or two bites."

Bonus: The fiber in fruit slows the release of blood sugar to short-circuit sweet cravings later in the day. -First, October 10, 2011.

Suzanne

Ditch the "Diet" Sweets

Makers of low-fat fare tend to replace the taste and mouthfeel of fat with high-fructose corn syrup--a processed sugar that overstimulates taste buds. "And steer clear of products made from artificial sweeteners, too," warns Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. "Aspartame is 600 times sweeter than sugar, and Splenda is 200 times sweeter, so they can make it difficult for taste buds to be satisfied by natural sugars."

A better choice: Opt for whole foods and sweeten them yourself. "I thought low-fat peach yogurt was healthy until I noticed each 4 oz. cup had 19 grams of sugar," laments Wendy Fox, 36, who lost 112 pounds. So she started stirring honey or fruit into plain yogurt, and after 3 weeks, she no longer needed to add anything sweet. --First, Oct. 10, 2011.

Suzanne