It seems like so many celebrities today market their own diet, exercise, or weight loss programs, celebrities like Suzanne Somers or Kathy Ireland. The appeal of these programs is obvious, because celebrities are always so trim and healthy-looking. And since celebrities are often amiable and trustworthy, its easy to trust that their products will work for you.

Most celebrities, however, do not have any professional training in the fields of exercise, health, or nutrition. Often, they are merely offering a good sales offer to the public.

Experts on health and nutrition Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin, who wrote the book Get Skinny the Smart Way, say that consumers should be apprehensive of celebrity-inspired diet and exercise plans. They point out these kinds of books are usually based on nutritional fiction and that, while the diets outlined in these books may result in short-term weight loss, they are not always very healthy for the long term. It might be wise to instead consider a plan written by health and nutrition experts.

Celebrities arent the only pitchers of fad diets. There have been many ridiculous fad diets through the years, and many people have tried them, including the grapefruit diet, which suggests eating a grapefruit before each meal. Then there is the cabbage soup diet, which involves eating all the cabbage soup you can. There have been fads that require eating nothing but eggs, eating only raw foods, even fasting every other day. These diets not healthy.

No major health group ever supported the cabbage soup diet. The American Heart Association condemns it, noting that it can cause you long-term harm. Advocates of the diet say that you can lose as much as 15 pounds a week on it. However, this is just water, and when you begin eating other foods again, you will gain back all of the weight immediately. There are a few possible side effects of doing the cabbage soup diet, which include weakness, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.

Another dubious diet plan is known as food combining. Proponents of this type of dieting preach that you are overweight because you eat the wrong types of foods together. The requirements of this diet seem pretty random. For example, the diet might state that you can eat a banana only at breakfast. This makes no sense, as your stomach can digest different foods at any time of day. The goal of this plan is to consume fewer calories, but there are more efficient and healthy ways of doing this.

There are even claims that you can lose weight while you sleep. By using their product before you go to bed at night, you will lose weight in your dreams. This is an impossibility. There are even diet plans that state that you can lose weight by eating their special milkshakes or candy bars. These products are nothing more than milk and candy with added vitamins and minerals. You rarely feel sated or full after using these products, which can lead you to binge eat, and eat more calories than you would have otherwise. In addition, plans such as this make it very difficult to maintain any weight loss in the long term.

There is a lot of money to be made in the diet industry. Marketing companies will continue to feed off the ill health and insecurities of overweight people. When looking for an effective diet plan, it is your job to know the fad diets from the legitimate ones. In the long run, there are no true short cuts to weight loss. A successful weight loss program takes time and determination, along with exercise, healthful eating, and portion control.

Toronto, ON May 27, 2007 – How does steak with eggs and bacon or cheddar cheese omelet sound to you? Or what about avocado cream soup made with real cream? These rich foods are allowed as part of the Atkins diet, which was developed by Dr. Atkins some years ago.

The Atkins diet allows you to lose weight with a low-carbohydrate food intake. Youll not only be on the road to better heart health and memory function, but youll also feel satisfied and full. You dont have to starve or be hungry on the Atkins diet.

The Atkins Diets is just one of the Diet Fads discussed at the social networking site

The Atkins diet is based on the notion that overweight people eat too many carbohydrates. Our bodies burn both carbohydrates and fat for energy. Carbohydrates are used first. By reducing the carbohydrate intake and eating more protein and fat, our bodies are forced to lose weight by burning stored fat more efficiently.

The Atkins diet is also known as the Atkins Nutritional Approach. It is the most marketed and well-known low-carbohydrate diet. It was developed by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he read about in the Journal of The American Medical Association. He then went on to resolve his own weight problem shortly after graduating from medical school. After successfully treating over ten thousand patients, he began to popularize the Atkins diet in a series of books. The first of these was the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution in 1972. He then revised this book, called Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution.

There was also a business formed to provide diet products for people on the Atkins diet. This was known as the Atkins franchise. This franchise has been highly successful due to the marketing of the diet. It is considered the iconic and driving entity of the larger low-carb craze. The Atkins logo is still highly visible through licensed-proprietary branding for all types of food products that can be found in your local grocery store.

Dr. Atkins claimed that there are two main unrecognized factors when it comes to Western eating habits. The first main cause of obesity is eating too many refined carbohydrates. This includes flour, sugar, corn syrups, high-fructose, and saturated fats. He stated that only trans fats, which come from hydrogenated oils need to be avoided.

Dr. Atkins rejected the advice from the food pyramids, asserting that the increase in refined carbohydrates is responsible for the rise in disorders of the metabolism in the 20th century. Supposedly, the focus on the detrimental effects of dietary fat has actually added to the obesity problem, instead of lessening it.

Although, a large part of the emphasis is on the Atkins diet, proper nutritional supplements such as multi-vitamins and regular exercise are considered equally as important.

The Atkins diet involves a restriction of carbohydrates so that it will switch the bodys metabolism from burning glucose to burning protein and fat. This process is known as lipolysis. This begins when the body enters a state of ketosis, due to running out of excess carbohydrates to burn. According to the Atkins diet, low-carb diets have a metabolic advantage because the body burns more calories than on other diets.

By using the Atkins diet, you can actually burn more calories, without always exercising more, and turn your body into a fat burning machine. Best of all, you dont have to feel hungry or starve, and still burn unwanted fat.

There is a common misconception that you have to starve yourself to lose weight. This is simply not true! On the contrary, you must eat to lose weight. It is the Glycemic index that can help you determines what happens in your body. Let me explain.

Your body needs glucose, which is a form of sugar, and is the main fuel for the body. The body is constantly trying to maintain blood sugar levels and it is the carbohydrates we eat that turns into glucose which goes directly into the blood stream to feed all the cells of the body. Glucose is the only fuel your brain uses and it is the brain that uses more energy than any other part of your body. If your blood sugar goes down, it starves the brain and a wide variety of symptoms can occur such as feeling weak and sluggish, drowsy, dizzy, confused, headache, irritability, trembling, rapid heart beat, and even anxiety and panic attacks.

Carbohydrates alone do not make a healthy body. We need a balance of protein, carbohydrates, fat, water and exercise to maintain health. The biggest difficulty that we have with weight problems is over indulging in high glycemic foods. These are the foods that contain too much sugar or foods that are refined carbohydrates. If you over indulge in carbohydrates, which produce insulin then the excess glucose gets stored as fat. You can counter that by eating protein with it, which produces glucagons. Glucagons promote the utilization of fat to be used for energy. Insulin and glucagons in balance maintain normal blood sugar levels. A body in a high insulin state promotes excess stored fat and disease.

The foods that are high on the glycemic index are foods such as the root family, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, yams etc. If you want to eat potatoes then Id opt for the yams or sweet potato without the honey and brown sugar. They are the lowest on the glycemic scale. Also rice, pasta, corn, most breads are high on the scale as well as some fruits like bananas, apricots and pineapple.

Some low index foods are vegetables such as broccoli, the lettuce and cabbage family, various beans, dairy and soy.

I would also like to make a mention about fat. Fat in it self is not the bad guy. Our diets require fat to remain healthy. Fat provides fuel for the body plus it helps in the development of cell membranes and hormones and also helps to insulate our bodies. Fat in our foods is what gives us that satisfied feeling. You dont need very much fat intake. Stick with good fats like olive oil and stay away from saturated or trans fats.

Portion size is very important. The rule to remember is; if you have approximately 3 oz. of protein and you have a high index carb. then eat only 3oz of that carb. It is a one to one ratio. A protein and a low index carb. would be 3 oz of protein and 6 oz of carb. It is a 1 to 2 ratio.

If you eat 6 small meals per day in the correct ratio then you should easily be able to lose weight.

Enjoy!

“Nothing in this article makes any claim to offer cures or treatment of any disease or illness. If you are sick please consult with your doctor.”

The most effective method for weight loss is reducing the number of calories you consume – through eating, while increasing the number of calories you burn – through physical activity. As an example, to lose one pound, you will need to undertake physical expenditure of approximately 3,500 calories. You can achieve this either by cutting back on what you eat, changing what you eat, or by increasing physical activity, or ideally, by doing a combination of all three.

Take this situation as an example. If you consume 500 extra calories per day for one week without changing your activity level, you will gain one pound in weight 7 days multiplied by 500 calories equals 3500 calories, or the number of calories resulting in a one-pound weight gain. Conversely, if you eat 500 fewer calories each day for a week or burn 500 calories per day through exercise for one week, then you will lose one pound over the course of that week. Which would you choose?

Perhaps before you start thinking about losing weight you should take a moment to examine what you eat. Sometimes it is not just about reducing your calorie intake, but it is also about changing what you eat decrease fatty foods and increase your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Examples of some high calorie popular foods and beverages include

1 slice original-style crust pepperoni pizza 230 calories
1 glass of dry white wine 160 calories
1 can of cola 150 calories
1 quarter-pound hamburger with cheese 500 calories
1 jumbo banana nut muffin 580 calories

Are any of these in your regular diet? If so, maybe it’s time to make some changes!

When it comes to weight loss, crash diets are never a good idea. Most health and well being experts will agree that a safe, healthy rate of losing weight is usually around one to 1 pounds per week. Anything more than this means that you are more likely to put your weight back on, down the track. By modifying your eating habits and adding in a little regular exercise, you will be embarking upon the most effective way to lose weight in the long term. It is also the ideal way to ensure that the weight stays off.

Starvation diets may result in rapid weight loss and give you immediate results, but this loss of weight is really hard to maintain over a long period of time. When food intake is severely restricted to something below 1200 calories per day, the body begins to think that it is poor nutrition, so it begins to shut down its metabolic rate. This can make it even more difficult to lose weight in the long run. Candidates who crash diet can also experience hunger pangs, bouts of hypoglycemia, headaches, and mood changes from overly stringent dieting which can all result in binge eating and weight gain.

Since a highly restrictive diet is almost impossible to maintain for a long time, people who attempt to starve themselves thin often start to gain weight again when they stop dieting. Hence, the reason for embarking on a gradual, long term program that increases physical fitness and well being, at the same time.

Losing weight can be a long, ongoing process and it is too easy to “throw in the towel”, so to speak. This is primarily due to frustrations because of slow results or the seeming lack of results. Keep your sanity in your weight loss goals – learn how to take the little strides to achieve your long term weight loss goals.

1. Make a plan
Do you have a plan? People sometimes get confused by plans and goals. The end result goal in your case is weight loss, the plan is the means you are going to use to get there. While you will undoubtedly have short term goals and a long term goal, they are not your plan. A plan would consist of, for example, eating breakfast; walking a half hour per day; not eating after 8pm; eliminating pop from your daily routine; etc. These are plans that can help you reach your goal of weight loss. If you’ve tried certain things before and they didn’t work because of your lack of commitment then try loosening the plan a little for something that you could easily achieve without pushing yourself too hard. If you have a plan of walkingrunning 1 hour a day but you think that you might give up too easily on that shoot for 15 minutes a day & once you’ve made the 15 minutes try and push yourself for 15 minutes more. You’re much better off making a plan for 15 minutes of walking a day and doing it than making a plan of walking 1 hour a day and never leaving the couch.

2. Execute the plan
The greatest weight loss plan in the world will do no good if you don’t use it. That’s where so many people fail is that they want to lose the weight but aren’t willing to take any steps to actually meet their goals. It’s like someone saying “I want to make 5,000 this month” but doesn’t have a job and never leaves the couch to look for one. A job is no more going to show up at your door and give you 5,000 for sitting than you are going to lose weight if you continue to do nothing about it. As was stated above, if your plan is not something you think you can commit to loosen up your plan to something that is feasible given your lifestyle and situation.

3. See the plan through
Keep on keeping on, stay focused on your weight loss goals, and don’t give up. It is not the easiest thing getting started, but it is a proven fact that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Keep your plan up for a few weeks and you’ll be well on your way to your weight loss goals.

By simply creating a plan, working a plan and staying with it, you’ll soon begin to see results with your weight loss goals. Sometimes it only takes us seeing the start of results to get us really motivated to take the weight off.

Weight loss surgery can be divided into three types

1. Restrictive procedures to reduce the size of your stomach,
2. Mal-absorptive procedures alter the flow from your stomach to your intestine, and
3. Combination procedures that involve the characteristics of both of the above procedures.

This article will be focusing on the first option.

Gastric bypass surgery is one type of weight loss surgical procedures that can be used, and is actually commonly used, to cause significant weight loss for a patient that is exceedingly obese. Gastric bypass surgery is designed to reduce the body’s intake of calories. Calorie reduction through this surgery is accomplished in two main ways

1. After the surgery, the patients stomach is actually smaller than it was. This means that the patient will feel full faster and it will be easier for the candidate to learn to reduce the amount of food that heshe consumes.
2. Part of the patients stomach and small intestines are literally bypassed in the food consumption process so that fewer calories are absorbed by the candidate.

Prior to any successful weight loss operation, the patients doctor will give the patient a complete medical examination to evaluate the patients state of overall health. A psychological evaluation will also be undertaken. If at the conclusion of the consultation and evaluation, the doctor does not feel the patient is ready, then the surgery will not be recommended. Should the doctor recommend the procedure, then the patient will receive extensive nutritional counseling before and after the surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery is always performed under anesthesia. There are two basic steps to the surgery

1. The first step in the surgery makes the patient’s stomach smaller. The surgeon divides the stomach into a small upper section and a larger bottom section using staples that are like stitches. The top section of the stomach will hold any digested food.

2. After the stomach has been divided, the surgeon connects a section of the small intestine to the pouch. This ensures that the food bypassed the lower portion of the stomach.

Gastric bypass surgery can be performed using a laparoscope. This technique is actually far less invasive than traditional surgery. The incisions are much smaller and therefore are a little less painful and a lot less noticeable, which lowers the risk of large scars and hernias after the procedure. Once the small incisions are made in the abdomen, then the surgeon passes slender surgical instruments through these narrow openings, as well as, a camera so that he or she can see the maneuvering of the instruments.

If you have gastric bypass surgery, then you will usually need to stay in the hospital for 4 to 5 days after the doctor performs the surgery on you. Your doctor will approve your discharge to go back home once you are able to do the following

1. Move without too much discomfort,
2. Eat liquid andor pureed food without vomiting it back up, and
3. No longer requiring pain medication to be administered by injection.

You will remain on liquid or pureed food for several weeks after the surgery. Even after that time, you will feel full very quickly. This is because the new stomach pouch initially only holds a tablespoonful of food. The pouch eventually expands but will generally allow you no more than one cup of food.

Jennifer, a middle-aged single mother with one six-year-old daughter, has been skipping sweets for a few weeks now. Shes also become a stickler for portion control. She feels as if shes eating less than ever, and shes been diligently exercising for an hour at a time at least four days a week. Yet, she hasnt lost a single pound. The question is, Why?

This is a dilemma which affects dieters the world over. They think they are taking the steps necessary to lose weight, but nothing seems to be happening. In essence, they are trapped in a dieting rut and they dont know how to free themselves. As a result, they become frustrated and depressed and may then engage in binge eating.

One of the problems with diets is that they are often standardized. As a result, they dont take into consideration your individual physiology and metabolism. They provide a cookie-cutter approach to weight lossan approach which may not work in your individual case. As a result, an increasing number of people are turning to dieticians to formulate a person weight loss strategy for them. This process has been made easier through the Internet, where you can correspond with a dietician any time of the day or night via e-mail. The dietician can also act as your personal coach, helping you through your dieting dilemmas.

Another reason that you may be failing at your diet is because of a lack of support. You may have family members who can eat whatever they want and seemingly not gain a pound. As a result, they may fill your refrigerator with junk food, leading you into temptation. Also, you may feel as if you have no one to turn to in order to discuss your weight problems. In order to solve this problem, many individuals look to psychotherapists to help them with their food-related issues. This can be particularly important if an individual has turned to purging in an effort to combat their weight problems. Bulimia is a serious disease which must be treated in order to ensure the good health of the patient. Thankfully, there are a number of treatment programs throughout the U.S. specifically focusing on bulimia.

Yet another reason for diet failure is hidden calories. You may literally be consuming calories and not even realize it. For instance, the frappucinos that are so popular today are loaded with caloriesas many as 600 in a single serving! You may also be indulging in sugary sodasanother source of extra calories. By taking a few simple steps, such as eliminating the exotic coffee drinks from your diet and substituting skim milk for whole milk, you may be able to eliminate the hidden calories that are denying you dieting success.

Lack of consistency can also be a diet-killer. You might go on a diet for a while, then quit before youve made any measurable progress. Its only natural to want to see quick results. The problem is that healthy weight loss involves losing only a couple of pounds a week. That means youll have to stay on your diet for months before you see appreciable weight loss. Discouraging? It can be, but if you keep a positive attitude you can achieve your ideal weight.

You may also be more successful in your dieting if you consider it to be a lifestyle change. Therefore, your diet becomes a meal plan for life. This means that you must change the way you look at food. It is designed to be fuel for your body, and nothing more. As a result, you should not turn to food to make you feel better or to provide you with a sense of comfort. A lifestyle change implies commitment; it means that you are prepared to follow the plan for the long haul. If you feel as if you cannot be on your diet for any appreciable length of time, perhaps its time to consider a different diet. Your aim ultimately should be not simply to lose weight, but to become healthier. A fad diet will not allow you to reach that milestone. Therefore, you must choose your diet carefully.

Spend five minutes doing the research and youll quickly see that conventional weight loss thinking says the only safe way to lose weight is at the rate of 2 pounds a week.

If faster weight loss is accomplished using drugs, or chemicals, or harsh stimulants such as ephedra, ma huang and caffeine, then conventional thinking is correct. What good is losing 15 pounds or more in a month if you damage or completely lose the use of your liver or kidneys?

These miracle weight loss methods only result in a miracle if you dont damage your bodily functions, or die in the process.

Having said that, there is at least ONE way you can lose weight quickly, while at the same time improving your overall health.

It involves a combination of a protein-rich diet drink, a common sense approach to regular meals, and the use of a Internal Cleanser to remove the buildup of toxins in our bodies.

These toxins are ingested by all of us in a variety of ways bad air, chemically enhanced public water, pesticide coated foods, etc. These foreign invaders are isolated by our bodies in fat cells, where they do the least damage to our system. These fat cells are then surrounded by water kind of like the way an old castle used moats to protect against invaders, only in reversethe invaders are trapped in the Fat Castle, and surrounded by water to keep them there.

Once the toxins are flushed from our bodies, the fat cells are then burned up as a source of energy, and the excess water is also absorbed and flushed in the same process. This can result is rapid weight loss I lost 8 pounds in my first 5 days, on the way towards 25 pounds lost in the first 30 days, and 60 pounds lost in 100 days.

The other two factors that play into rapid weight loss is to make sure your body gets enough protein during a 24 hour period. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using a protein supplement normally in powdered form which you mix into a drink or a shake or a soup. Figure about one gram of protein per pound of body weight.

At the same time, youll want to limit your intake of bad carbohydrates think Potato Chips, Popcorn, etc. and fat. This will cause your body to begin to burn the excess fat you have stored up. Youll also want to eliminate all your sources of refined sugars. Sodas are the biggest offenders here, but coffee with any form of sweetener will slow down your weight loss as well.

For your normal meals, try and limit your caloric intake to about 600 calories. If you have two protein drinks during the day breakfast and dinner with a 600 calorie lunch and little to no snacking apples and unsalted almonds are okay in small amounts youll be on a 1,200-1,400 calorie diet, and your body will overnight become a fat burning machine.

Toss in a little walking a mile or so to begin if you are in any reasonable shape, less if you are not and you are only a month away from dropping as much as 30 pounds, safely.

If you want to know more about this weight loss plan, and get the details on how you can purchase everything you need from one source, download a free copy of my e-book, How to Lose Up to 30 Pounds in 30 Days at www.TampaWeightLossCoach.com

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Are you hungry or is there something else going on when you think about food? There are various reasons for deciding to eat. Regrettably, not all of these are for sustenance, nutrition, or observing a balanced diet. If youve realized that you like to eat for other reasons, then it might be time to sort out the problem. One of the main reasons why you may find yourself eating is a way to avoid dealing with emotion. If this is an issue, then there are several ways to distance yourself from this type of eating.

Telltale characteristics are implicated in emotional eating. You should recognize these, lest they lead you to ongoing weight gain, or being unable to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Often an emotional eater will eat when they feel depressed, angry, or stressed. Boredom is also a cause for overeating, and can begin the cycle of emotional eating.

Other factors are at play in emotional eating as well. For example, one who eats from emotion will often times head automatically for the refrigerator after they come home, without even realizing it. You may also find that it is hard to talk about emotions openly with others. Food takes the place of talking.

If you suspect that you do have an emotional eating problem, the first thing you should do is to look at your feelings and try and discover which emotions are contributing to the problem. Monitor your behaviors and feelings when you are eating and try to be more aware at those times.

When and How

Notice when you eat and how much you eat. Eating when you are not hungry, eating too fast, or eating while ignoring something stressful, are signs of emotional eating. If you can notice when you are eating, move away from the food areas. You can go into an area until you calm down and allow your emotions to slow down.

Try breaking up patterns and habits. For example, having a quick bite when you get home from work. Recognizing your patterns is the first step to breaking them, and becoming aware is the first step to recognizing these patterns and moving away from being controlled by your emotions.

Who does not desire to have a fit and shaped up body? Perhaps we all do. Overweight is the biggest enemy of our health. But factors such as sedentary work, lack of time to exercise and the availability of delectable fast food have made it extremely difficult to have stabilized weight.

It is not only a persons appearance that is badly affected by being overweight but also his fitness. Usually obese people keep on confronting one or the other health problem. There are times when excess of weight becomes a mental torture and leads to depression.

It is quite an easy task to gain weight but immensely difficult to reduce it. Though there are various remedies prescribed to shed weight, all cant to followed or trusted. One old and quite effective way to become light is the use of Atkins Diet.

Dr. Robert Atkins 1930-2003 was the father of Atkins Diet. In 1972 he popularized the diet in his famous series of books. In practical application also the diet turned out to be quiet successful. Thus it became more and more popular with time.

Dr. Atkin believed that carbohydrate is the primary reason behind gaining weight. This is because carbohydrates are composed of energy providing items such as sugar, starch, cellulose and gums. So if a person reduces the intake of carbohydrates carbs he or she can greatly get rid of many pounds. Thus people should avoid potatoes and other starchy vegetables along with sugar, grains, pastas and fruits for these are the major sources of carbs. In the opinion of Dr. Atkins doing this will translate a carbohydrate-burning metabolism to a fat burning one. Atkins diet is critical of carbs related but not of fatty and protein rich stuff. In fact it recommends its users to eat food that provides them fats and proteins. In the case of proteins it particularly emphasizes the consumption of animal protein.

Though atkins diet has done wonders in many cases, it has many shortcomings. If this diet is quite popular with one set of people, some others are enormously critical of it. this is because of several reasons. Firstly Atkins meals are not only low in carbs but contain negligible amount of essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients. Secondly atkins diet is flourishing with cholesterol boosting fats that can be very troublesome. Thirdly since atkins diet promulgates animal protein, vegetarians find it difficult to adopt it. In the fourth place according to the American Heart Association AHA, a high protein diet is not adequate to lose weight. So diets such as Atkins can cause nutritional deficiency and other cholesterol related problems cardiac arrests in the long run. Finally critics believe that eating meat and other high protein products can lead to osteoporosis, colon cancer, heart diseases and renal diseases.

However the best way to reduce weight is to avoid excess as well as complete elimination of anything. A person should take a diet rich in essential nutrients vitamins, minerals, proteins, fibers etc., stay away from fatty foods as much as possible. Also carbs such as sugar should be consumed in a regulated manner.