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It’s January 2, the day of reckoning. You glance at a full-length mirror as you dress in the morning, and you don’t like what you see. Before Thanksgiving, you were on your way to becoming a thinner, healthier you. Now, every canapé, slice of cheesecake, and glass of wine you indulged in over the holidays seems to be laughing at you from its new-found perch in your belly, butt, and thighs. Of course, you tell yourself you’re imagining things. You couldn’t have gained all that much weight. Just to prove it, you tentatively, almost timidly, climb onto the bathroom scale, and allow yourself to peek down with one squinty eye.
Don’t scream and do NOT allow yourself to plunge into depression. That number is a minor setback on the road to having a slender, healthier body. You can get back on track and barely miss a step on your way to your weight loss goal. You can also learn a new way of eating, using principles from the Cheater’s Diet, that will allow you to enjoy the holidays next year to their fullest without gaining a single extra pound around your middle.
First, you’re going to shock your metabolism back into action with a month of the “Four F’s” plan. It won’t be easy, but you’ll love the results. After that, you’ll ease your way into the regular Cheater’s Diet plan, which allows you to eat all kinds of food that you thought, as a dieter, you would never be allowed to eat again.
The “Four F’s” are:
Fish- is an excellent source of protein and healthful Omega-3 fats, both of which will help you to feel sated and cut your appetite. Try to eat fish at least three times a week. Cold water varieties like salmon, tuna, sardines, and herring, contain the highest amounts of Omega-3’s.
Fluids- are extremely important for weight loss. Not only does drinking water, tea, coffee, diet sodas, or even soup help to cleanse your body of toxins, but it also keeps the kidneys functioning properly. When the kidneys are out of whack, the liver takes over for them, which means it can’t continue doing one of its other major jobsturning your fat into fuel. Drink at least 2 quarts (8 cups) of fluids a day, and if you’re overweight, drink even more.
Fiber- helps move food through your system more quickly, makes you feel full, and keeps your digestive tract healthy. For the purposes of the Four F’s, fruit is the best source. Apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and prunes are all good sources. In addition to the servings described below, have at least one additional fruit serving at every main meal.
Frequent meals- means eating three main meals a day with snacks in between. Never go more than two hours between meals Breakfast, lunch, and dinner should always consist of one serving of protein (eggs, fish, white poultry meat, or lean pork loin) and one of a complex carb, like a vegetable, legume, or whole grain. A serving size is about one quarter of dinner plate. Snacks can consist of a serving of fruits, vegetables, nonfat dairy products, nuts, legumes or any other no sugar/low fat food.
So to recaplots of meals, lots of fiber, lots of fish, lots of fluids.
Don’t worry about the rate at which you’re losing. An average of two pounds a week is very respectable, and three pounds should be your maximum. Any more than that and you’ll be burning muscle instead of fat.
Speaking of muscle.
Eating is only half the picture. If you want to maintain the weight you lose, you need to perform some kind of physical activity. That doesn’t necessarily mean formal exercise. Just get up and move every chance you get. Studies show that doing vigorous, day-to-day activities is far more important for maintaining a healthful weight than is a membership to the local health club. Here are some that really burn the fat:
Past the first hurdle
After you’ve gone four weeks sticking strictly with the Four F’s, you can begin to relax a little. How? Cheat on the weekends. Now, I know that the word “cheat” generally makes dieters a little nervous. It represents failure to many of them. But it doesn’t have to. In fact, cheating can be your greatest tool in reaching success.
Here’s how. After being subjected to a strict regimen like the Four F’s throughout the first month, your body begins to outsmart you and slightly slows down the rate at which it burns fat. If you suddenly give it more work to do by feeding it more calories, it speeds up again. Then, after two days, you go back to your strict regimen.
The body is still going with all fires blazing. It will take awhile for it to realize the trick you’ve pulled. So because you’ve eaten more for a couple of days, you’re now burning fat even faster! Doing this every weekend keeps the body in a state of playing perpetual catch-up. So cheat! From Saturday morning to Sunday evening, eat anything you like, with the exception of foods you’re likely to binge on. You can have chocolate, hamburgers, whole grain bread, ice cream, cinnamon buns, wine, beer, strawberry shortcakeyou name it. Or you can just have a whole lot more of the healthful foods you’ve been eating since the New Year.
Cheating has one other advantage that’s hugely important in maintaining a healthful weightit keeps you from getting bored. The average person stays on a diet for about two months before giving up and going back to his or her old ways. Why? The tedium of restrictive diets. The Cheater’s Diet restricts you from nothing. It simply puts you on a schedule, just like going to work five days a week and taking off for two.
Cheating for life
By the end of the second month, you will probably have reached the end of your patience with eating six meals a day. So don’t. Go back to three meals a day, and allow yourself four servings per mealone or two of protein, two of fruits or vegetables, and one of whole grains or legumes. You can still have snacks every two hours if you like.
By summertime, you’re going to look amazing. And when the holidays come next year, just stick with the Cheater’s Diet!
Paul Rivas, M.D., author of The Cheater’s Diet: The Medically Proven Way to Supercharge Weight Loss, has specialized in obesity for over a decade and has successfully treated over 15,000 patients. A sought-after expert, he has been interviewed on more than 50 radio and TV shows, including Good Morning America, and has appeared in articles in the Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan and the Los Angeles Times.
If you have excess weight only in specific parts of your body, you still must look at yourself as a whole. It’s not possible to spot reduce; in other words, you can’t dictate that you only want weight to come off one place or another. In most cases your so called “trouble spots” is where the fat will come off last, so be prepared to lose weight in your fingers (rings fall off) and your face (friends may ask if you’re feeling all right) first. There is hope for losing that belly fat though.
If you work toward building muscle and reducing body fat you will eventually tackle those trouble spots though, and develop a better physique in the process. Muscle tissue is active meaning it requires calories to be maintained. If you were stranded without a food supply, eventually your body would turn to its own muscle tissue as a source of nutrition first (muscles are protein) while saving the fat stores for last. Simply put, fat is nature’s way of ensuring survival during times of famine. That’s why the prevalence of heart failure kills someone who is severely malnourished. By building more muscle you become a more efficient energy burning machine which translates to mean you can eat more food! That to me is a good thing.
That explains why some people can eat so much more than others yet not gain weight; your efficient energy burning friend simply has a greater proportion of muscle to fat than you. Muscle is more dense than fat. It’s often said that a pound of muscle is heavier than a pound of fat, but the truth is a pound is a pound. What they mean is a one pound volume of muscle is a smaller package than a one pound volume of fat, or put another way, fat is billowy and fluffy while muscle is sleek and compact. Lady No. 1 weighs 120 pounds with 30% body fat so she has 84 pounds of lean tissue and 36 pounds of fat, while Lady No. 2 also weighing 120 pounds but at 18% body fat is carrying roughly 98 pounds of muscle and 22 pounds of fat. Would you rather be Lady No. 1 or Lady No. 2? Which do you think takes up more space, 22 or 36 pounds of fat? I’d say 36 pounds of fat would be a lot bigger package than 22 pounds.
That is why body weight as a number by itself is meaningless, but your ratio of fat to muscle is very important and worth working to change. Strive to decrease your body fat and increase your muscle mass and you’ll look better, you’ll feel stronger and more energetic and you’ll simply be healthier.
You can generally have your body fat tested at fitness centers and most gyms so ask about having it done. It’s better to know you have 30% body fat and work to reduce it to 29, than not to know and only think in terms of body weight. Most people who think only of how much they weigh tend to do everything to reduce that weight, and it’s usually at the expense of losing more valuable muscle.
The best way to increase muscle and decrease fat is through a consistent exercise program. Start at whatever is your beginning, but do start.
Begin with an overall body conditioning type exercise program, doing whatever you enjoy, whether it be a sport, gardening, weight lifting, biking, hiking, or any other activity. Any physical movement you do regularly counts as exercise even if it is doing laundry or taking out the trash. Get as much as you can out of every chore you do, and stop thinking of it as a chore but instead as an opportunity to move your body.
In the early 1900s a washing machine was a new invention. People used to wash their clothes by hand, and hang them outside to dry. Being a housewife was actually a pretty strenuous job. It’s no wonder women were thankful for modern conveniences like automatic washers and dryers, but now we’ve come to where our daily activities are not taking our bodies at all, so unless we want to get fatter and fatter we must do something about it.
It doesn’t make sense to drive around and around in the parking lot looking for the closest space when you’re on your way to run or walk on the treadmill. Why take the elevator five flights every day at work and then pay a monthly fee to do the StairMaster after work? What if we all started to notice that our world is full of exercise equipment.
We could become so much more fit if we’d just start to notice all the opportunities for physical movement we miss in the name of convenience. Look around and see if you can spot some exercise opportunities, and then get busy and get fit.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
There was a superb television delight on here in the UK entitled ‘Hypno-Surgery’ recently and it showed a man receiving hypno-surgery. That is, he had a hernia operation without any anaesthesia other than by using hypnosis.
Of course, it is a sensation because it is on television, however, these have been done for years. There are lots of filmed studies and masses of research that has been done using hypnosis alone when performing surgery.
Many ways have been used to alleviate pain over the years and I have experienced many myself and found hypnosis accompanied with a range of mind skills and tools to be by far the best way of overcoming and altering my response to it.
Can you remember a time when you had a paper cut and you did not realise that you had it until later on that day when you saw it with your own eyes? It was not until you saw it that it hurt and thought “oooh that smarts a bit.” This is naturally occurring anaesthesia, the capacity which exists within us all.
One of the most basic methods for using your mind to create anaesthesia is called the glove anaesthesia method and today I want to share it with you for you to use as and when you like.
Important point here : You must only use this pain-control technique when you know the cause of any pain. Please also consult a doctor if the condition persists. Otherwise, use this technique for fun and to remind you of how amazing you and your brain really are.
Step One: Find a comfortable place where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes. Get yourself relaxed.Focus on your breathing, let it be steady, deep and slow. Imagine relaxing all the muscles in your body one by one and really do take the time required to establish a nice relaxed physical state.
Use your imagination to imagine a favourite place, somewhere you feel safe and relaxed. Imagine that you can hear the sounds of that place, see the sights, feel the feelings that you would feel in that place. Use your conscious mind’s awareness and focus on each of the muscles in your body and think the word “soften” into each of your muscles. Imagine them melting, softening and allow your mind to be peaceful.
Take a good few minutes to do this; indulge yourself.
Step Two: Develop a strong sense of purpose right now. Using your internal dialogue, remind yourself and tell yourself that you have the power and ability to be in control of any sensations in your body and mind. Because you really do. Tell yourself that You accept that you are in control of your own mind. Focus on and imagine the unlimited power of your mind, tell yourself that you can send numbing sensations into any part of your body. Develop a sense of belief in yourself and in the power of your own mind. Really encourage and empower yourself.
Imagine that these words of personal power and belief that you say to yourself are being delivered to the deepest depths of your mind. Imagine that they’ve been accepted on every level of your body and mind.
At this stage, also tell yourself that the word “anaesthesia” is your key trigger word for a conditioned response later on.
Step three: Now we begin to invoke the glove anaesthesia. Begin by concentrating upon your dominant hand, really focus on it to the exclusion of all else. Notice the tiniest of sensations within it. Begin to imagine that using your attention, your dominant hand is free of all feeling. This needs some time and concentration.
Maybe you can use your imagination to imagine that your hand is encased in ice. Truly imagine those feelings.
Separate your hand, in your mind, from the rest of your physical body. Think of it as detached from your physical being. Continue to focus your attention upon your hand and allow it to lose all feeling.
Using your internal dialogue again, tell yourself that your hand is becoming numb. No feeling at all. Inside your mind instruct your hand to go to sleep. Tell it to go to sleep. Be aware of all the unusual sensations that are in your hand as you focus upon it and keep all your focus and concentration upon it.
Tell yourself that every breath you take seems to cause your hand to become number, and number, until you just can’t feel your hand at all. You just can’t feel your hand at all because it is numb. No feeling. Numb. Tell yourself that with authority and belief.
Step Five: Now, you’re going to transfer this lack of feeling to the part of your body that you desire to feel numb and have the anaesthesia in. So when you are sure that you have created the correct level of numbness in your hand you’re going to raise your hand and place it upon the part of your body you want to feel numb.
When you do this, you’ll transfer this numbness to that part of your body. So then go ahead and raise your hand and touch the part of your body you want to become cool and numb. Maybe imagine the numbness as a colour that you are spreading into that area. Maybe imagine that part of your body being filled with that colour and creating that numbness. Imagine all the sensations of numbness are being transferred into that part of your body. Release the numbness into that other part of your body.
Then spend some moments doing that properly and thoroughly now. As you do it, give yourself a time limit that this is going to last for. Naturally, you do not want that part of you to be numb forever. So make sure that you set yourself a time limit when your self-induced anaesthesia will end.
Step Six: Now that you have transferred the calming, soothing, numbing coolness, and you’re physically feeling better and better in that area. Really enjoy the sensations and marvel at your own amazing self. Imagine coolness permeates the area. Imagine you experience wonderful relief in that area. Breathe deeply and relax completely.
Maybe even repeat a little mantra of support to your self at this point: “Calm, cool, soothing, numbing sensations permeates the area. Better and better. Numbness. Relief. Numbness.” Use words that appeal to you the most.
Step Seven: When you have maintained the state and are sure that you feel really good. Say the word “anaesthesia” to yourself, so that each time you use this word in future occasions, when you have the right intention and conditions to do this again, saying the word will bring the resources of this session to make next time even better. Breathe deeply, embrace the sensations in your body and mind and repeat the word to yourself. Trust that each time you choose to use it in the future, it has a wonderful effect of enhancing and amplifying your control over your anaesthesia.
Step Eight: And it’s time to focus the incredible power of your imagination by imagining yourself doing this even better next time. Imagine that you feel more and more in control of your own mind each time you do this. Experience the joy in this realisation. Create every detail of this future occasion in your mind, including your reaction and the reactions of others. And in so doing you communicate your desire to the levels of mind that will assist you in manifesting this natural anaesthesia better and better each time you do it. Each time you use that word when practising your anaesthesia, tell yourself it works more and more profoundly and powerfully.
Imagine yourself really feeling good about this and what you can do with the power of your own mind.
Spend a few moments quietly doing this.
Step Nine: When you have fully absorbed all you can from this wonderful experience, open your eyes and remember all that has been communicated.
Step Ten: Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the better and more thorough it is.
You may want to practice doing this on your arm. Prior to doing it, pinch your arm until it hurts to gauge what your pain tolerance level is in that arm. Then when you have it anaesthetised, test how different the sensations are.
Pretty cool eh?
Adam Eason is a UK based, renowned consultant, speaker and best-selling author of ‘The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis.’ Please visit his website for a vast range of resources from the field of hypnosis and to receive your amazing, free, instantly downloadable hypnosis session for ultimate relaxation: www.adam-eason.com Thank you.
To the millions of smokers throughout the world, the prospect of quitting brings about conflicting emotions. On one hand the daunting prospect, the fear of the withdrawal symptoms and the feeling of ‘what will I do if I don’t smoke?’ and on the other hand there is what I have labeled the ‘counter arguments’ which state; ‘why should I give up if I don’t want to?’ or ‘I’m too old to stop now’ or ‘no need to quit completely… If I cut down to 3 or 4 a day then that will be OK’.
These ‘counter-arguments’ are obvious signs that there is no real intention to stop smoking for good. If there were then these counter-arguments would not be present and the person would already have given up smoking for good.
There are many milestones in the process of giving up smoking;
The First hour without a cigarette
The first day,
the first week,
the first month,
The three month mark is an important one,
Nine months on and the nicotine is still tricking us…
After having stopped smoking for 18 months or so, most people think that the ‘giving up’ process has ended and there is no longer addiction. This is incorrect. This is one of the most dangerous times in stopping smoking. People at this stage think that they can control it now and that the odd cigarette once in a while won’t do any harm and that they will not become addicted again. Well that’s all that it takes… one cigarette, because that opens the way to repeat the experience another day, and then another day and then again and again until the person quickly finds themselves smoking several cigarettes a day and then the same amount of cigarettes as before they gave up. I have seen this happen to so many people, myself included. I actually gave up twice for periods of 18 months only to find myself smoking again. The maid problem was that I hadn’t really committed to giving up ‘for ever’. I never realized that giving up smoking was an ongoing matter and that years later I would still be tempted to smoke again.
The addiction is still very present even years after having given up. Giving up smoking is a lifetime effort. The act of giving up takes literally for ever. You have to continually say no every time you are tempted to smoke again. I have an elderly relative who gave up smoking 45 years ago… when she smells a cigarette she inhales deeply and says… mmm… I’d love to smoke a cigarette now. And that’s 45 years on.
Unless you are prepared to really remove the all possibility of ever smoking again from your life then don’t even bother trying to give up because you are not ready and you will most probably start smoking again sooner or later and this will attack your self esteem making it more difficult to give up again.
Once you have decided that you are ready and that you really want to give up for good then you must set yourself some reasons for giving up to counteract the foolish ‘counter arguments’ that your nicotine addiction will throw up continually over the next few years.
Get clear on your reasons for giving up… these reasons are perfectly logical and will make sense to us all (most of the time).
Primarily health reasons.. none of us want to kill ourselves by smoking, (yet a smoker will convince themselves that it will not happen to them)
Think of the benefits.. clean breath, better lung power and easier breathing, able to go into no smoking areas and enjoy them without feeling the craving to smoke.
You should have very strong and clear visions or desires to stop smoking because later when the addiction starts to play tricks on your mind then you have to be strong enough to see that and having clear reasons to fall back on will help you fight the addiction in the few key moments that will arise in which you might fall back into becoming a smoker again.
When I feel tempted to smoke a cigarette again I tell myself that I really do want to give up
To stop smoking you have to resign yourself to the fact that it must be for ever. This sounds obvious now but it is common to start smoking again after many years of not smoking, normally triggered by something that can be used as an ‘excuse’ such as… ‘it was an extremely stressful time at work’. Or a divorce or relationship split etc.
So before you give up smoking, ask yourself if it will really be for good, get clear on your reasons for giving up… I mean extremely clear, you may even want to write them down, and then use those reasons daily for years to come to attack any silly little ‘counter arguments’ your nicotine addiction might thrust into your logical thinking.
At the To Stop Smoking website you can sign up for the free 5 day email course designed to help you stop smoking with ease.
There are also many resources and tips on how to stop smoking for good.
The method know as three dimensional ultrasound is used in early pregnancy, it provides 3d images of the fetus. Most times these pictures are rapidly collected and combined and animated to created a 4d ultrasound scan.
Three dimensional scanning works in the same manner to the normal ultrasound methods except that the ultrasound pulses are sent from many directions. The ultrasound pulses are redirected back then captured to provide info to construct a 3d image in much the same way as 3d movies. 3d ultasound scanning was devised in the usa.
It’s important to understand that sonologists worldwide always conjured 3d images of anatomy or pathology in their minds while doing their 2d scans. However, until recently it was not possible to do this kind of reconstruction on patient data acquired using ultrasound. With the advent of baby scans for the first time allowed us a peek into the mechanics of thinking of a sonologist and so allowing us see the images on the ultrasound machine.
3d imaging should utilize ultrasound energy following the same limits as conventional 2d ultrasound to create the 3d images. There is no data to suggest any harm due to 3d ultrasound, its use in non-medical situations should be undertaken with an understanding of the risks involved.
If you are sun burnt and are in an extreme amount of pain, there are a couple of things that you can do.
First off, if you feel that you are severely burnt and may have sun poisoning, you will want to go see a doctor immediately. Your doctor will be able to put you on the fastest road to recovery, while also prescribing medication and lotions that will help to fight the pain.
If you don’t think that you need to see a doctor, you have a couple of other options available to you. The first thing that you can try is an over the counter pain relief medicine such as Tylenol or aspirin.
In addition to taking medication, you will also want to buy a high quality lotion or spray that you can apply directly to your sunburn. When searching for a lotion, look for one that has aloe vera. This ingredient will go a long way in speeding up the recovery process.
If you are simply looking for short term pain relief there may be no better option than cold compresses. You can do this by soaking a towel in cold water, and then placing it on the effected areas. If you are sun burnt all over, simply soak in a cold bath to relieve your pain.
When you are trying to relieve the pain, make sure that you do not do anything that will make it worse. This includes picking at your skin, or trying to pop blisters. By doing this you will only make your condition worse, and may also cause scarring.
Finding sunburn pain relief does not have to be a difficult task. If you have a serious case you will want to seek out the advice of a doctor. If not, you can simply resort to the tips above to treat your condition.
More Details about sunburn treatment here.
Francois Botha, a.k.a. “Mr. Fitness” is a trusted authority in the Fitness and Health field and provides valuable information for free through his website at: Fitness Health
The method know as three dimensional ultrasound is that can be used during early pregnancy, it can provide 3d pictures of the unborn child. Most of the time these pictures are rapidly captured and combined and animated to created a 4d ultrasound scan.
Three dimensional scans works in the same way to the normal ultrasound scanning methods except that the ultrasound scanning pulses can be directed from multiple directions. The ultrasound waves are redirected back and captured and provide information to construct a 3 d image in much the same way as 3d pictures. 3 dimesional ultasound scanning was devised in the usa.
It is important to understand that sonologists all over the world have always conjured 3d pictures of the body in their minds while carrying out 2d scans. However, until recently it was very difficult to do this kind of reconstruction on on patient information using ultasound scanning. The advent of 4d scans for the first time allowed us a peek into the thinking of a sonologist and hence letting us see the images on the ultrasound machine.
3d/4d ultrasound imaging should utilize ultrasound energy following the same limits as conventional 2d ultrasound to create the 3d images. There is no data to suggest any harm due to 3d ultrasound, its use in non-medical situations needs to be undertaken with the understanding of the risks.
The average American eats about twice as much protein than what they require. Some people, in the pursuit of thinness, are going on low-carb diets and are eating up to four times the protein their body needs. Protein deficiency is certainly not a problem in America. So exactly how much protein do you really need? Much less than you think.
Protein is a vital nutrient, essential to your health. In its purest form, protein consists of chains of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids that combine to form different proteins, and 8 to 9 of these must come from the foods we eat. Our body uses these amino acids to create muscles, blood, skin, hair, nails and internal organs. Proteins help replace and form new tissue, transports oxygen and nutrients in our blood and cells, regulates the balance of water and acids, and is essential for making antibodies.
However, too much of a good thing may not be so good for you. Many people are putting their health at risk by eating to much protein. Excessive protein consumption, particularly animal protein, can result in heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and kidney stones. As important as protein is for our body, there are many misconceptions about how much we really need in our diet, and the best way to obtain it.
According to the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, as little as 50-60 grams of protein is enough for most adults. This breaks down to about 10-12% of total calories. Your body only needs 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight. To calculate the exact amount you need, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36 (if using kilograms, multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.8). This will give you your optimum daily protein requirement in grams. Infants, children, pregnant and nursing women require more protein.
People on low-carb diets are consuming up to 34% of their total calories in the form of protein and up to 53% of total calories from fat. Most of these people are unaware of the amount of protein and fat that is contained in the foods they eat. For instance, a typical 3-ounce beef hamburger, which is small by American standards, contains about 22 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat. You achieve quick weight loss on these diets because of this high fat content.
High fat foods give you the sensation of feeling full, faster, so you end up eating fewer total calories. However, this type of protein and fat combination is not the healthiest. Animal proteins are loaded with cholesterol and saturated fat. Many people on these diets also experience an elevation in their LDL (the bad) cholesterol when they remain on this diet for long periods. High levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood, clog arteries and is the chief culprit in heart disease, particularly heart attack and stroke. So while you may lose weight in the short-run, you are putting your cardiovascular health in jeopardy in the long-run.
Another reason weight loss is achieved on these low-carb diets, at least temporarily, is due to water loss. The increase in the amount of protein consumed, especially from meat and dairy products, raises the levels of uric acid and urea in the blood. These are toxic by-products of protein breakdown and metabolism. The body eliminates this uric acid and urea by pumping lots of water into the kidneys and urinary tract to help flush it out. However, a detrimental side effect of this diuretic response is the loss of essential minerals from the body, including calcium. The high intake of protein leaches calcium from the bones, which leads to osteoporosis.
Medical evidence shows that for every 1 gram increase in animal protein ingested the body loses an average of 1.75 milligrams of calcium in the urine. Additionally, as calcium and other minerals are leached from our bones, they are deposited in the kidneys, which can form into painful kidney stones. If a kidney stone becomes large enough to cause a blockage, it stops the flow of urine from the kidney and must be removed by surgery or other methods.
Plant-based proteins, like beans, legumes and soyfoods, also provide fiber, which helps lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL (the good) cholesterol. This prevents the build up of arterial plaque, which leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and heart disease, thus reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The amount and type of protein in your diet also has an important impact on calcium absorption and excretion.
Vegetable-protein diets enhance calcium retention in the body, and causes less calcium excretion in the urine. This reduces the risk of osteoporosis and kidney problems. Interestingly, kidney disease is far less common in people who eat a vegetable-based diet than it is in people who eat an animal-based diet.
By replacing animal protein with vegetable protein, and replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat (like olive and canola oils), you can avoid the pitfalls of the typical high-protein low-carb diet. You will improve your health and regulate your weight while enjoying a vast array of delicious, nutritionally dense, high fiber foods.
Remember, eat everything in moderation and nothing in excess. Also, the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat nutritiously and make permanent lifestyle changes that allow you burn more calories than you take in.
Copyright © 2005 Monique N. Gilbert. All rights reserved.
Monique N. Gilbert, B.Sc. is a Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, Certified Personal Trainer/Fitness Counselor, Recipe Developer, Freelance Writer and Author of Virtues of Soy: A Practical Health Guide and Cookbook. To learn more about Monique’s personal coaching program, go to
http://www.MoniqueNGilbert.com
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Author Bio . . .
Monique N. Gilbert, B.Sc. has offered guidance in natural health, nutrition, fitness, weight-loss and stress management since 1989. Through her coaching and writings, Monique motivates and teaches how to improve your well-being, vitality and longevity with balanced nutrition, physical activity and healthy stress-free living. For more information, visit http://www.MoniqueNGilbert.com
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Kefir grains…..what are they?
Why do people name them? Talk to them? Love them?
My sister found out about them and wanted to get some. I told her I would find a source and have them sent to her.
I found some on e-bay and had them sent to Donna (my sister). She named them (the ya-ya sisters), fed them and started sending me reports of how they were improving her health. They were growing so fast she begin sharing her extra grains with her friends.
They named their grains and loved and cared for them and the reports keep coming in about the amazing results they are gaining from their friends.
One young girl who was constantly in the emergency room for kidney stones, alergies and other health problems was like a new person when I saw her a couple of months after Kefir joined the family. She had lost weight and looked like a new person.
Her mother says she is healthy now. Kefir is joining families all over this area of western North Carolina and is improving the health of everyone willing to make them a part of their family.
They require some care, but unlike a pet rock they return the favor and will improve the health of anyone who will love and care for them.
My sister has shared her Kefir grains with us and for several months now Crystal has been a member of our family and has been taking good care of us and our friends.
I know I haven’t really told you what Kefir grains are, but I will tell you where you can get this and much more information.
There are several newsletters on Kefir where people tell about their experence with it. They share grains and help newcomers get started.
The most information I have found is Dom’s Kefir web site. He covers it from every angle. It’s really not necessary to talk to your grains but, just like plants, it sure won’t hurt if you do!
Dom’s Kefir site
Jerry has spent over 25 years in the water treatment business and is now retired. He spends his time seeking alternative health solutions to common health problems. He shares his findings at his blog: http://naturalhealthnow.blogspot.com