Weight Loss Information and Tips for Getting Started

Calories per Hour offers the following tips to help you lose weight to look better, feel better, and live a healthier life. These tips are short and sweet and are intended as a starting point or quick reference for individuals seeking to lose weight by using the resources offered on Calories per Hour. Read the related tutorial topics to learn more about the topics discussed in these weight loss tips

1. How Did I Get Here?Do you simply need help learning how to eat better? Probably. But if you eat poorly as a result of emotional, mental, or spiritual problems, they may have to be addressed before you can make any real progress with weight loss.Even people who don’t feel they have an eating disorder often turn to food for comfort. To learn to eat well and exercise regularly, you may also have to learn to handle the problems life throws at you without turning away from healthy eating and exercise.Be particularly careful about all-or-nothing thinking. A common tendency when failing to stay on a diet is to abandon it altogether. Instead, try to learn from your mistakes and do better in the future.
   
   Related Tutorial Topic:  Eating Disorders
2. Are You Ready to Diet? Again?Diets entice us with promises of quick weight loss. But focusing on quick weight loss can lead to unhealthy eating and only short term success.While most diets produce quick weight loss at the outset, they often cause your metabolism to slow. The result is that you have to eat less and less to keep losing weight. You quickly become discouraged, give up, and start eating like you used to. But now, with a slower metabolism, you regain all the weight you lost, and more.Focus instead on improving your health, and you will become slim and healthy.Related Tutorial Topic:  Selecting a Diet Plan
3. Take Control of What You EatThere are few things that we have complete control over, but what we put in our mouths is one of them. We don’t have to lose control in a restaurant or a friend’s home, and we don’t have to eat everything that’s put in front of us.Consider this:  We love fat because it carries flavor, and restaurants aren’t as interested in whether we’ll be around in 30 years as whether we’ll be back next week. And what about our friends?
4. Eat Frequently, and Eat SlowlyIt is important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.Eating slowly gives our bodies time to tell us they are full before we’ve eaten more than we need.Related Tutorial Topic:  Raise Your Metabolism and Burn More Calories
5. Eat More Fruits, Vegetables and Whole GrainsPeople who eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and limited amounts of lean animal protein, often find that they can eat as much as they want without gaining weight. If they are switching from a diet containing lots of processed foods, they find that they can eat more yet consume fewer calories — and they lose weight.Historically, the Chinese ate mostly rice and vegetables with a little lean meat for protein and flavor, nothing like the American Chinese restaurant dishes of deep fried sweet and sour pork. A step back to more natural foods would improve our health and waistlines.Related Tutorial Topic:  Why Healthy Food Makes You Slim
6. Eat More FiberFiber makes us feel full sooner and stays in our stomach longer than other substances we eat, slowing down our rate of digestion and keeping us feeling full longer. Due to its greater fiber content, a single serving of whole grain bread can be more filling than two servings of white bread. Fiber also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed.Refined grains like white rice and those used to make white bread and sugary breakfast cereals have had most of their fiber and nutrients stripped away. They turn into blood sugar (glucose) so fast that, like sugar itself, they can cause a spike in our insulin level. This tells our body that plenty of energy is readily available and that it should stop burning fat and start storing it.Eating foods with plenty of fiber will help keep our blood sugar at a more consistent level.Related Tutorial Topic:  How Fiber Helps You Lose Weight
7. Cut Down on SugarBe careful about sugar in coffee and soda pop. It can add up quickly, and these drinks aren’t filling.Watch for “hidden” sugar in processed foods like bread, ketchup, salad dressing, canned fruit, applesauce, peanut butter, and soups. And be careful with “fat-free” products. Sugar is often used to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is removed. Fat-free does not mean calorie-free.The greater concern with the insulin spike (above) is not that it tells our body to start storing fat. Whatever we eat and don’t burn up eventually gets turned into fat anyway.The greater concern is that the insulin spike is followed by a drop in insulin level that leaves us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more. The unfortunate result of this scenario is that it makes us want to eat something else with a high sugar content. When we do, we start the cycle all over again.Regulating your blood sugar level is the most effective way to maintain your fat-burning capacity.

   Related Tutorial Topic:  How Blood Sugar Levels Affect Weight Loss

8. Too Much of a Bad ThingFoods like cheese stand out as among the most fat-laden, with a great number of calories coming from fat. But as important as it is to select the healthiest foods, it is also important to consider how they are prepared.Fried foods, especially deep-fried, contain a great amount of fat. While chicken and fish are usually leaner than beef or pork, they can contain more fat when they are fried. Look at how the number of grams of fat in a chicken breast changes depending on how it is cooked:
   

   Cooking Method	Fat
   Meat Only, Roasted	3.1
   Meat Only, Fried	4.1
   Meat and Skin, Batter Fried	18.5

   “Fried food? All I eat is salad and I still can’t lose weight!”

   Be careful with salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other condiments that are high in fat content. They greatly increase the calorie count and can negate the healthy aspects of a meal. Replace mayonnaise-based condiments with fat-free alternatives like fat-free yogurt, mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce.

   And remember, a gram of fat contains more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrate.

   Related Tutorial Topic:  Calories in Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates

9. Too Little of a Good ThingBut don’t try to eliminate fat altogether, as dietary fat is necessary to maintain a healthy body. It is a vital component for building body tissue and cells, and it aids in the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Many people eat too much of the bad fats, but also eat too little of the good fats required for optimal health.Related Tutorial Topic:  Good Fats and Bad Fats
10. Exercise RegularlyPeople who exercise regularly not only lose weight faster, they are more successful at keeping it off. Exercise makes it possible to create a calorie deficit and lose weight without starving your body and slowing your metabolism.At home, at the gym, or playing sports, participate in both aerobic and strength building activities on a regular basis. Not only does the exercise itself burn calories, but your body will continue to burn calories at a higher rate even after you’re done exercising.If walking is all you can do, then walk because it’s great for you. But muscle burns more calories than fat, so put on a little muscle if you can and you will burn more calories just sitting there… looking good.But don’t sit too long. The human body is good at adapting. If you dig ditches without gloves, you will develop calluses to protect your hands. If you sit too long, you will develop extra padding to keep you comfortable!Related Tutorial Topic:  Why Exercise Is Important for Weight Loss
11. Take It EasyUnless you are excited to be following a very specific diet and exercise plan, do not try and change too much too fast. If you have been eating poorly and not exercising, both your body and your mind will have a lot of adjusting to do.All the sugar and fat were actually quite enjoyable, and sitting on the couch didn’t feel too bad, either. If you try and change everything too quickly the odds are greater that you will feel bad, get discouraged, and give up. So be patient.A time will come when a healthy snack will taste as good as the junk food you felt bad about eating, and you will look forward to your regular exercise.
12. Begin NowYou can achieve your goals, but it won’t likely happen as a result of the next fad diet. Or the one after that.Learning to eat well and exercise is the only solution to long term weight loss.Begin Here:  Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

General Weight Loss and Health Philosophy

Our concept of a “diet” is a change in lifestyle: Learning to eat well and exercise in a healthy way that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. The concept is not unique. It is one you will likely hear about from a health professional. Our purpose is not to help you with your next diet, but to help you put an end to the dieting cycle. Temporary weight loss is of little benefit.

This tutorial is designed to provide you with a foundation of knowledge to help you begin your lifestyle changes. You can also sign up for our free weekly newsletter, and post questions and share with others in our free diet and weight loss forums.

Eating poorly and being overweight increases your risk of diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer and many other maladies. But unless your doctor sent you, you are probably here because you want to lose weight to look better. We hope we can help you with that, but to feel better and be healthier, too.

Please read that last sentence again. It’s the most important point we have to make. In fact, it’s the whole point of our tutorial and website.

Now please take a couple of minutes to read our next topic on the subject of Eating Disorders. What you learn may someday help you, or enable you to help someone you care about.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

Just as a car runs on gasoline, our bodies run on the blood sugar (glucose) circulating in our bloodstream. When we exercise enough to deplete the supply of blood sugar, hormones are released that instruct our fat cells to release fat into our bloodstream. The fat circulates to the muscles that need it for fuel, and we end up with less fat on our bodies.

The Right Reason to Exercise

Exercise plays an important role in maintaining a healthy body, and it makes it possible to create a calorie deficit and lose weight without starving your body and slowing your metabolism. But do not look to exercise as your sole method of weight loss.

Think how many times you’ve heard someone say, “I’ll have dessert and work it off later.” As our calculators will show you, that dessert can equate to hours of exercise — something you’re not likely to actually do. Better to eat well in the first place.

Eat healthy foods in reasonable quantities and exercise regularly to maintain good health, and your body will find a healthy weight naturally.

Categories of Exercise

Exercise is frequently divided into two categories, both of which burn calories:

1. Aerobic exercise, also called cardiovascular exercise or simply “cardio,” causes you to breathe harder and increases your heart rate.

Performed on a regular basis, activities such as running and swimming improve both your respiratory capacity (lungs) and your circulatory system (heart and blood vessels).

2. Strength building, also called resistance training, increases the proportion of muscle on your body. Examples include weight lifting with free weights and using a machine with variable resistance.

Because muscle is a metabolically active tissue, the more muscular you are the higher your metabolism will be. This means that you will burn more calories even at rest.

Exercise Regularly

People who exercise on a regular basis not only lose weight more effectively, but are more successful at keeping it off. And the significance of regular exercise goes beyond the physical benefits.

Regular exercise produces a mental attitude of self-care and self-esteem that bolsters confidence and the desire to continue to improve.

The health benefits of regular exercise are significant and include reduced risk for heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and diabetes. Even just walking on a regular basis is of great value. Exercise also helps to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, which can be brought on by dieting itself, and can lead to overeating.

As explained in What It Takes to Lose It All, dieting often causes you to lose muscle and your metabolism to slow. Not only does exercise burn calories, but exercise — especially cardio — causes your metabolism to remain elevated for a period of time after you finish exercising. And strength building exercise builds muscle, which helps to keep your metabolism elevated 24 hours a day.

Yo-Yo Dieting without Exercise

Yo-yo dieting gets its name from the cycle of bingeing, then dieting to lose the weight gained bingeing, then repeating the cycle again and again. Yo-yo dieters typically gain weight over time, and yo-yo dieting without exercise only compounds the problem.

Without exercise, yo-yo dieters lose both muscle and fat during the diet phase, while they gain only fat during the binge phase. Over time, the proportion of fat making up their bodies becomes greater and greater, while the proportion of muscle becomes smaller and smaller.

This results in a significant slowdown of their metabolism, making weight loss more and more difficult.

Getting Started — Slowly

Have you ever seen an obese person “busting a gut” on their first day at the gym or track? And maybe you saw them a second day, but not a third? Or maybe something similar has happened to you? Take baby steps. Maybe just walking at first. With time you will build your strength, endurance, and confidence.

You can challenge your body to improve by exercising just outside your “comfort zone.” Then, when what you’re doing is no longer a challenge, you can do a little more or do it a little harder, faster or longer. But forget about the old saying, “No Pain, No Gain.” If you hurt, you won’t get off the couch!

When you work your muscles, you may feel a little soreness the next day. This is called “delayed-onset muscle soreness” and it is especially common when you first begin exercising. Stressing your muscles causes microscopic tears to their fibers, and this causes the soreness. The good news is that as your muscles heal they become stronger.

If you experience any other type of pain, stop or see a doctor. Our bodies do a wonderful job of telling us when we are abusing them. The problem is, exercise can be so addicting that we sometimes don’t want to stop and listen.

It’s Natural

The human body was designed to be active, and the modern conveniences that make life so easy work to our detriment. If you have a desk job, fight back! Take the stairs instead of the elevator, go for a walk during your lunch break, and walk the last few blocks to work.

Calculate how many calories you would burn if you went for a half-hour walk a few days a week. Multiply that by 52 weeks a year and you’ll be surprised at how it adds up. It can make a significant difference in your weight management and, perhaps even more important, your mental attitude and health.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

One of the reasons we love fat so much is that it carries flavor. But if you are trying to lose weight, it is important to remember that a gram of fat contains more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrate. Also, as explained in The Thermic Effect of Food, dietary fat and body fat are so similar that dietary fat is more easily stored as body fat than protein or carbohydrate.

Foods like cheese stand out as among the most fat-laden, with a great number of calories coming from fat. But as important as it is to select the healthiest foods, it is also important to consider how they are prepared.

Fried foods, especially deep-fried, contain a great amount of fat. While chicken and fish are usually leaner than beef or pork, they can contain more fat when they are fried. Look at how the number of grams of fat in a chicken breast changes depending on how it is cooked:

Be careful with salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other condiments that are high in fat content. They greatly increase the calorie count and can negate the healthy aspects of a meal. Replace mayonnaise-based condiments with fat-free alternatives like fat-free yogurt, mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce.

Study after study has shown that people living in countries that eat mostly low fat, plant-based diets have lower rates of obesity, heart problems, cancer and many other maladies. But when these people are introduced to the fat-laden Western diet — either because it is brought into their country or because they move to a country influenced by it — their rates of these maladies sharply increase.

But don’t try to eliminate fat altogether, as dietary fat is necessary to maintain a healthy body. It is a vital component for building body tissue and cells, and it aids in the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Many people eat too much of the bad fats, but also eat too little of the good fats required for optimal health.

Types of Fat

The following paragraphs introduce some of the different types of fat we eat. A high-fat diet typically increases the risk of heart disease and cancer. But a low-fat diet could be even worse if it contained the wrong kind of fats.

1. Saturated Fats: In saturated fats, the carbon atoms contain all the hydrogen atoms they can hold, thus the term “saturated.” Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature.

Saturated fats are found mostly in animal products such as milk, butter, ice cream, cheese, lard and the fat found on meat. In plants, saturated fats are found in tropical oils such as coconut and palm.

Saturated fats play the single greatest role in raising blood cholesterol and putting us at greater risk for heart disease.

2. Unsaturated Fats:
   1. Monosaturated Fats: Monounsaturated fats come from vegetables. They remain liquid at room temperature, but become less fluid when refrigerated.

   Monosaturated fats are found in canola, olive and peanut oils, avocados, olives and many nuts and seeds.

   2. Polysaturated Fats: Polyunsaturated fats also come from vegetables, but they remain liquid both at room temperature and when refrigerated.

   Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils, fish, mayonnaise and many nuts and seeds.

Unsaturated fats are better for you than saturated fats.

3. Hydrogenated or Trans Fats: Hydrogenated fats are created from unsaturated vegetable fats through a process that adds hydrogen. The process creates trans fats, which are more like saturated fats. They last longer and remain solid at room temperature, making them more marketable.

Trans fats are found in margarine, many commercially baked goods including cookies, crackers, doughnuts and pastries, and many deep-fried foods and chips. All the bad stuff we love to eat.

Trans fats raise blood cholesterol, though not as much as saturated fats. They do, however, raise LDL or “bad” cholesterol while lowering HDL or “good” cholesterol. Watch for trans fats on package labels, and where they are not listed watch for ingredients containing partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils.

If you use margarine, note that softer margarines have been hydrogenated less and therefore contain fewer trans fats. Tub margarine is usually better for you than stick margarine because it is less hydrogenated. There are also butter and margarine substitutes available that contain neither cholesterol nor trans fats.

A food containing no animal products and labeled “cholesterol free” would look like a healthy food to anyone. But look closely. If it contains hydrogenated oils (trans fats), it could be unhealthy for everyone.

4. Essential Fatty Acids: Our bodies require these fats for good health, but can’t produce them, so they must be eaten. The primary essential fatty acids are linoleic acid, an omega-6 fat, and alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat.

Most people eat more omega-6 fats than needed and fewer omega-3 fats than are required for optimal health. Omega-6 fats are found in polyunsaturated fats like corn and safflower oils. Omega-3 fats are found in flaxseed, walnuts, green soybeans, tofu and certain fish including albacore tuna, salmon, lake trout, sardines, herring and mackerel.

The actual content of a particular fat is not as clearly defined as these descriptions would lead you to believe. For example, beef fat is listed as saturated, but its actual content is just over half saturated. Olive oil is listed as monounsaturated, but its actual content is just over three-quarters monounsaturated.

Olive oil is so often referred to as being a healthier fat that you might think of it as being healthy. But it is still pure fat, and 14% of it is saturated.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a waxy substance that our bodies require for good health. However, excess cholesterol can accumulate on the walls of our arteries and this can lead to heart disease.

Our bodies produce sufficient cholesterol on their own; most of the excess cholesterol in our blood comes from eating other animals. Cholesterol is found in high-fat dairy products, egg yolks, shellfish, liver and other organ meats, and high-fat meats and poultry skin. Plants contain so little cholesterol that they are generally considered to be cholesterol-free.

But What about the Inuits?

Historically, the Inuit people of the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic regions have eaten a very high fat, high cholesterol diet. Yet they experienced very little heart disease until introduced to the typical Western diet.

Since their diet was already high in fat, it wouldn’t appear to be the high fat aspect of the Western diet that is to blame. Perhaps it is the heavily process foods of the Western diet that contribute the most to disease, for Inuits and everyone else.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting foods high in trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol. While there appears to be no debate that trans fats are bad for you, there are those who believe that saturated fats, and even cholesterol, have been unjustly blamed for causing disease only because all fats have been lumped together and labeled “bad.”

But it’s not that simple. The Inuits’ diet was also high in omega-3 fats, which protect from heart disease. And you can’t simply look at total cholesterol, as the ratio between “good” (HDL) and “bad” (LDL) cholesterol can have a significant effect; an increase in HDL may have a positive effect on health despite that fact that it raises the level of total cholesterol.

So there are good fats, and bad fats, and some of the bad fats may not really be that bad under the right conditions. We’re sorry it isn’t a little less complex. But while all this is being sorted out by science, there is one thing you can count on.

The more you move towards a diet of natural, unprocessed foods, the healthier you will be. Just like the Inuits and other populations of yesteryear.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

Yes, each gram of fat you consume provides more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrate!

As an example of how these numbers are used, imagine a food containing 10 grams of protein, 10 grams of fat, and 10 grams of carbohydrates. That would total 170 calories:

(10 g protein x 4) + (10 g fat x 9) + (10 g carbs x 4) = 170

In this imaginary food 40 calories come from protein, 90 calories come from fat, and 40 calories come from carbohydrates.

Technical Notes

The Numbers Don’t Always Add Up

If you check a food label you may find that the total number of calories listed doesn’t match the number you arrive at using the 4-9-4 method described above. The reason for the discrepancy may be that the figure for carbohydrates includes insoluble fiber, and the food manufacturer has accounted for this in their figure for calories.

Insoluble fiber passes through your body without being converted to a form that provides energy, or calories. Knowing this, the manufacturer may subtract the caloric value of the insoluble fiber (4 calories per gram) from the total calories figure. When they do this, the 4-9-4 method will give you a higher figure for total calories than the one you find on the food label.

You might think that you could subtract the figure for fiber from the figure for carbohydrates to correct the discrepancy. But the figure for fiber will likely include both soluble and insoluble fiber, and you’d only want to subtract the insoluble fiber. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing how much of the fiber is soluble, and how much is insoluble.

Calories in Alcohol

You will also find that the numbers do not add up when you are looking at the caloric value of liquor. This is because the total calories for liquor include the calories in the alcohol, and this is not addressed by the 4-9-4 equation.

A gram of alcohol provides 7 calories.

Our next topic discusses the proportions of the three macronutrients necessary for a healthy diet.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

When we eat, our body converts digestible carbohydrates into blood sugar (glucose), our main source of energy. Our blood sugar level can affect how hungry and how energetic we feel, both important factors when we are watching how we eat and exercise. It also determines whether we burn fat or store it.

Our pancreas creates a hormone called insulin that transports blood sugar into our body’s cells where it is used for energy. When we eat refined grains that have had most of their fiber stripped away, sugar, or other carbohydrate-rich foods that are quickly processed into blood sugar, the pancreas goes into overtime to produce the insulin necessary for all this blood sugar to be used for energy. This insulin surge tells our body that plenty of energy is readily available and that it should stop burning fat and start storing it.

However, the greater concern with the insulin surge is not that it tells our body to start storing fat. Whatever we eat and don’t burn up eventually gets turned into fat anyway.

The greater concern is that the insulin surge causes too much blood sugar to be transported out of our blood and this results in our blood sugar and insulin levels dropping below normal. This leaves us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more. The unfortunate result of this scenario is that it makes us want to eat something else with a high sugar content. When we do, we start the cycle all over again.

What to Watch For

• Simple Carbohydrates: Because of their small molecular size, simple carbohydrates can be metabolized quickly and are therefore most likely to cause an insulin surge.

Simple carbohydrates include the various forms of sugar, such as sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (dairy sugar), and glucose (blood sugar). Watch for the “-ose” ending.

• Hidden Sugar in Processed Foods: Watch for “hidden” sugar in processed foods like bread, ketchup, salad dressing, canned fruit, applesauce, peanut butter, and soups.
• Sugar in Beverages: Be aware of the amount of sugar in beverages, especially coffee and soda pop. It can add up quickly, and most such drinks aren’t filling.
• Fat-Free Products: Sugar is often used to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is removed. And as if that’s not bad enough, without any fat to slow it down the sugar is absorbed into your blood faster.
• Cereal Box Claims of Less Sugar: Many newer cereals do contain less sugar, but the calories, carbohydrates, fat, fiber and other nutrients are almost identical to the full-sugar cereals. The manufacturers have simply replaced sugar with other refined, simple carbohydrates.
• No Sugar Added: It doesn’t mean that the product doesn’t naturally contain a lot of sugar. 100% fruit products often contain concentrated fruit juice, still another form of fructose or sugar.

Table sugar (sucrose) is often said to provide “empty calories” because it has no nutritional value other than providing fuel for energy. Honey and other more natural sugars, on the other hand, are often considered to be healthier because of the trace vitamins and minerals they provide. Still, for weight loss purposes, all of these sweeteners can simply be treated as sugar.

What You Can Do

It is also important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.

Regulating your blood sugar level is the most effective way to maintain your fat-burning capacity. Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.

When you will be away from home or work, plan your snacks and take them along so that you will be able to eat regularly and won’t be tempted by junk food. This may be good advice for people who stay at home, too.

But remember that it was probably snacking between meals that caused you to become overweight in the first place. It will be very important that any snacks are healthy; that they are pre-portioned so you won’t be tempted to overeat; and that meal sizes are reduced to compensate for the additional calories the snacks provide.

High fiber snacks and meals also help to regulate your blood sugar level. The fiber slows down glucose absorption and your rate of digestion, keeping your blood sugar level more consistent and warding off feelings of hunger. This makes eating apples and oranges a better choice than drinking (pulp free) apple and orange juice.

A Note about Diabetes

Some people either produce too little insulin or their body doesn’t respond to it properly. This creates too high a level of blood sugar in their blood which leads to diabetes. For further information please visit the American Diabetes Association website.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

Fiber is the part of plant-based foods that our bodies can’t digest. It passes through our digestive tract without providing nutrition or calories, and yet it is very healthy for us.

Fiber helps to keep our bowel movements regular and ward off certain diseases. Carcinogens in our intestines bind to it and move through our colon more quickly than they otherwise would, reducing our risk for colon cancer. Fiber also helps transport cholesterol out of our body, reducing our risk for heart disease.

Populations that eat greater amounts of fiber-rich foods are generally healthier. While all of the reasons for this are not known, it may be because the fiber-rich foods themselves are healthier. Perhaps fiber’s greatest value, however, is in helping to keep us slim.

Fiber makes us feel full sooner and stays in our stomach longer than other substances we eat, slowing down our rate of digestion and keeping us feeling full longer. Due to its greater fiber content, a single serving of whole grain bread can be more filling than two servings of white bread. Fiber also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed.

Meat and dairy products contain no fiber, and refined grains have had most of their fiber removed. To increase your intake of fiber, eat more whole and natural foods, and fewer processed foods. Some good examples of fiber-rich foods include:

• Legumes (lentils, dry beans and peas)
• Other vegetables
• Fruits
• Brown rice
• Whole grains (wheat, oats, barley)

Products labeled “whole grain” are made with the complete grain kernel, whether the grain remains intact as in oatmeal or it is ground to make bread, pasta or cereal. Cracked wheat is also made from the complete kernel, but don’t be mislead by wording like “100% wheat” or “multi-grain.” Don’t be misled by color, either. Most wheat bread is almost identical to white bread except that caramel coloring has been added to make it look more natural.

Refined grains like white rice and those used to make white bread and sugary breakfast cereals have had most of their fiber and nutrients stripped away. They turn into blood sugar (glucose) so fast that, like sugar itself, they can cause a spike in our insulin level. This tells our body that plenty of energy is readily available and that it should stop burning fat and start storing it.

However, the greater concern with the insulin spike is not that it tells our body to start storing fat. Whatever we eat and don’t burn up eventually gets turned into fat anyway.

The greater concern is that the insulin spike is followed by a drop in insulin level that leaves us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more. The unfortunate result of this scenario is that it makes us want to eat something else with a high sugar content. When we do, we start the cycle all over again. Eating foods with plenty of fiber will help keep our blood sugar at a more consistent level.

Adding more fiber to your diet will likely help you lose weight and improve your health, but do it gradually. Rapid increases in consumption of fiber may result in gas or diarrhea.

And be sure to drink plenty of fluids when adding fiber to your diet. While fiber is normally helpful to your digestive system, without adequate fluids it can cause constipation instead of helping to eliminate it.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

People who eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (lentils, dry beans and peas), and limited amounts of lean animal protein (reduced-fat dairy, fish, chicken, and lean cuts of other meats), often find that they can eat as much as they want without gaining weight. If they are switching from a diet containing lots of processed foods, they find that they can eat more yet consume fewer calories — and they lose weight.

Because natural fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high in complex carbohydrates and fiber, they are absorbed slowly and satisfy our feelings of hunger. Heavily processed foods, on the other hand, are not only low in nutritional value, but they don’t make us feel satisfied so we eat more of them. They are made from refined ingredients that are so tasteless they require large amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and high-priced advertising to make them attractive.

Perhaps our biggest nutritional mistake has been turning away from foods in their natural state. We have replaced them with processed foods that have been modified to last longer, be easier to manufacture and distribute, and be more convenient to store and use.

Take apple juice as an example. Even the simple act of removing the pulp to make apple juice detracts from its value for both health and weight loss. A medium size apple contains just 72 calories, and over 3 grams of fiber, while 8 fl oz of apple juice contains 120 calories and no fiber at all. And we’re just talking about pure, “healthy” apple juice.

• Natural foods are nutritious and contain much of what is good for us, including vitamins and minerals, fiber, the cancer-fighting antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables, and the sustained energy provided by whole grains and complex carbohydrates. They reduce our risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Because of their nutrient and fiber content, natural foods are healthy for us and help keep us slim.

• Heavily processed foods are substantially less nutritious and contain much of what is not good for us, including sodium, preservatives, sugars, saturated fats and trans fats. The most nutritious part of whole grains is the outer cover, the part that is removed to make white flour and white rice.

Because of their lack of nutrient and fiber content, and all their additives, heavily processed foods can be unhealthy for us and help us gain weight.

Eat healthy, natural foods with a high ratio of nutrients to calories and you will not be fat and you will not go hungry. You will be healthier, too.

Learning to eat well and exercise is the only solution to long-term weight loss.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

When our main source of energy, our blood sugar (glucose), runs low, the process of metabolism turns our body fat into energy. Conversely, when our supply of blood sugar runs high, the process of metabolism stores excess energy by turning it into body fat to be used another time. Or, all too often, just left to sit there.

Our BMR & RMR Calculator uses your sex, age, height and weight to estimate your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate), the number of calories you would burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. This represents the minimum amount of energy required to keep your body functioning, including your heart beating, lungs breathing, and body temperature normal.

When we exercise, our bodies require more energy and our metabolism speeds up to supply it. But most of the time we are not very active, and this is the reason people want to raise their metabolism. They want to burn more calories 24/7, even when they are just sitting or sleeping.

More Efficient?

Articles written on the subject of raising metabolism often suggest that an increased metabolism is more efficient because it burns more calories. This is true if your goal is to lose weight. But it is interesting to note that an increased metabolism is actually less efficient, requiring more food to maintain body weight. This goes against nature’s design for survival.

Even more important is the observation that an increased metabolism has been shown to cause premature aging. You have to ask yourself whether you are willing to have your body run like an automobile in neutral with its engine racing. The alternative, eating healthy foods in reasonable quantities and exercising on a regular basis, would seem the healthier choice.

Raising Your Metabolism

We suggest that you speak with a doctor before turning to artificial means such as drugs or herbs to raise your metabolism. And if you’re attracted to gimmicks like eating hot spices, drinking cold water, or chewing gum, you might want to speak to a therapist that specializes in eating disorders.

The following topics present ways in which your metabolism can be increased naturally through healthy living.

Eat Frequently

It is important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.

Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.

When you will be away from home or work, plan your snacks and take them along so that you will be able to eat regularly and won’t be tempted by junk food. This may be good advice for people who stay at home, too.

But remember that it was probably snacking between meals that caused you to become overweight in the first place. It will be very important that any snacks are healthy, that they are pre-portioned so you won’t be tempted to overeat, and that meal sizes are reduced to compensate for the additional calories the snacks provide.

Exercise Regularly

Dieting or restricting your caloric intake can cause your metabolism to slow. Exercise can help to counter this effect.

And exercise is the one sure way to burn more calories safely. The improved health you will gain through regular exercise will increase your life expectancy so significantly that the benefits will far outweigh the aging effect of an increased metabolism.

At home, at the gym, playing sports, participate in both aerobic and strength building activities on a regular basis. Not only does the exercise itself increase your metabolism, but exercise — especially cardio — causes your metabolism to remain elevated for a period of time after you finish exercising. And strength building exercise builds muscle which helps to keep your metabolism elevated 24 hours a day.

Improve Your Body Composition or Percentage of Muscle vs. Fat

Generally speaking, aerobic activities like running burn more calories than strength building activities like weight lifting. But it is important to note that muscle burns calories, while fat does not. This means that the more muscular you are, the higher your metabolism will remain at all times.

If you examine the equation used to calculate RMR, you will see that metabolism decreases with age. This is largely due to the decrease in muscle mass typically experienced as people age, and can largely be countered by continuing to perform strength building activities.

While genetics will always have an effect on your appearance, through diet and exercise you can control your body composition.

Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial

Are you ready to diet? Again? Diets entice us with promises of quick weight loss. But the people we know who eat well and look healthy aren’t dieting at all. They have simply adopted good eating habits.

Diets can be so restrictive that they set you up for failure. Some are so low in caloric intake that you literally don’t have the energy to continue with them. And while most diets produce quick weight loss at the outset, they often cause your metabolism to slow.

The result is that you have to eat less and less to keep losing weight. You quickly become discouraged, give up, and start eating like you used to. But now, with a slower metabolism, you regain all the weight you lost, and more.

Many Diet Plans Are Designed for Temporary Use and Lead to Temporary Weight Loss

You do not need to join a commercial diet program, purchase special foods or dietary supplements, or use diet pills to succeed at weight loss. In fact, the best thing that you could do would be to start eating healthy right now and continue to do so for the rest of your life.

Of course very few people could do such a thing, so think of a diet or the use of diet aids as tools to help you get started. A good diet plan can teach you how to eat well and give you a jump-start toward meeting your goals.

But whatever path you choose to follow now, your goal should be to make it on your own at some point down the road. Many diet plans are designed for temporary use during weight loss, but only sound knowledge put to practice will provide a permanent solution.

A good diet plan will be healthy from the start, and will be based on principles that you can follow for a lifetime. In fact, if you have found the right diet plan, it will be one that you will want to follow for a lifetime.

Most All Diet Plans Work

Follow almost any diet plan and you will lose weight. This is because whether you are counting calories, fat, or carbohydrates, or restricting certain types of food, you are ultimately restricting the number of calories you consume. The formula for losing weight is very simple: Consume fewer calories than you burn.

So, what should you eat? You would likely do well to eat mostly fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (lentils, dry beans and peas), and limited amounts of lean animal protein (reduced-fat dairy, fish, chicken, and lean cuts of other meats). Also choose whole and natural foods over processed foods whenever possible. Foods with good nutritional value are not only healthy, they help you lose weight.

The above paragraph describes a commonly accepted, healthy way of eating that for most people will result in weight loss and improved health. But there are many diet plans to choose from.

Finding the Right Diet Plan

After learning the fundamentals of diet and weight loss you will be able to choose the diet plan, or simply a healthier way to eat, that is right for you. You will be able to steer clear of marketing gimmicks and promises of short term results, and find a solution based on sound, realistic and healthy principles.

While diet trends come and go, the most basic form of dieting, the low calorie diet, will always be popular. It is based on simply reducing the number of calories you consume. Recent diet trends include the low fat diet and, most recently, the low carb diet. Following this topic you will find:

• The Low Calorie Diet
• The Low Fat Diet
• The Low Carb Diet

In addition, we recommend that you read the following book:

• Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman: A vegetarian-optional diet plan based on eating highly nutritious, low calorie foods.
• Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto: A diet and exercise plan that teaches you how to lose fat without losing muscle and causing your metabolism to slow and weight loss to stop.

Whether or not you choose to follow either of these two diet plans, we believe that reading them will have a positive, lifelong influence on your eating habits, weight, and health.

Take It Easy

Unless you are excited to be following a very specific diet and exercise plan, do not try and change too much too fast. If you have been eating poorly and not exercising, both your body and your mind will have a lot of adjusting to do.

All the sugar and fat were actually quite enjoyable, and sitting on the couch didn’t feel too bad, either. If you try and change everything too quickly the odds are greater that you will feel bad, get discouraged, and give up. So be patient.

A time will come when a healthy snack will taste as good as the junk food you felt bad about eating, and you will look forward to your regular exercise.