Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates: simple starch, sugar, potatoes, honey, and grains (especially white starches) have high glycemic indices and can rapidly raise blood sugar.This stimulates the release of insulin in your body, and causes variations in your blood sugar.

Complex carbs can normalize your blood sugar by raising the blood glucose gradually, and by slowly releasing insulin, it keeps your energy steady. If you are hypoglycemic, you definitely want to stay away from simple carbs.

Lean protein diets are found to be effective in reducing the risk of heart diseases by not raising the LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and raising HDL cholesterol. High protein diets improve insulin metabolism, helps to lower blood pressure and reduces the risk of stroke.

Some Ways to Improve Your Life

-Laugh every day longer and louder
-Learn as many new things as possible
-Extend your hand to help others
-Let your loved ones know how you feel
-Forgive even if you are unable to forget
-Cherish your life
-Be joyful about the simple things in life
-Eat nutritious foods
-Eat fruits and vegetables
-Get enough rest and sleep
-Exercise 5 times a week
-Learn how to cook
-Eat at home more often
-Develop and keep friendships
-Play chess to fight Alzheimer's

Dieting Facts

On average, 95-98% of all users of what can be termed "fad diets" fail within two years. Within six months after stopping the program, they not only put back all the weight they lost, but also gain a few extra pounds!

If you really want to lose weight and keep it off (assuming you do not have any deep seeded problems and emotionally you are ready to lose weight) I have a comprehensive simple program for you.

On this program you lose the weight gradually and keep it off permanently. The three ground rules are:

-Never consume less than one thousand calories per day. Anytime you consume less than !000 calories per day your body's physiological response is to lower your metabolism and you burn less fat. Hunger and cravings become overwhelming, and temptation for junk food increases.

-Never miss a meal eat frequently, with healthy and small portions. Ideally you want to eat at least three meals and 2-3 snacks. The normal snacking is mid morning and mid afternoon. I personally can go without a mid-morning snack because I prefer to eat an early lunch but I need to have a bedtime snack. The danger of missing meals and going hungry not only affects your health it will affect your attention, productivity and your mod.

-No frozen, processed food or drink, eat regular meals. This way you get less sugar and regular meals bring satiety. Choose healthy snacks; fresh fruits are good choices, most snack bars are loaded with sugar. One example of a snack bar that I don't recommend is trail mix. It is a mixture of fruits and nuts that contains 140 calories, 4 grams of fat, no cholesterol, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber and 13 grams of sugar. A food bar could be an idea choice for your snack before exercise, however if it is not loaded with sugar and contains less than 30% fat

Obesity and the Stress Caused by Dieting

What Is Obesity?

Obesity is a state of excessive fat storage. The risk of health problems related to obesity increases when your percentage of body fat exceeds 25% for men and 30-35% for women.

There are many factors that play a role in the development of obesity, disease process and health problems. One of them is dieting. If you are dieting to lose weight it is important to know the facts. Dieting doesn't work! It creates resistance and makes your complicated situation more complicated. It reduces your motivation and even if you start any program, almost immediately your mind subconsciously tries to sabotage you.

Diet = Stress = Bad

Dieting is one of the stressful situations of life - and we have enough challenges without going on an artificial dieting. You don't have to add additional stress in your daily life by starting a new diet program. But eating responsibly and taking action to protect your health is a must, especially if you have not been accepting responsibility for your health most of your life. This is a serious and very important matter.

What Causes Obesity

Your genetic background plays a role in your obesity and influences your body type, shape and basal metabolism rate. In the absence of other factors this risk is about 8-18%.

Men tend to develop obesity after age 30, and women are at risk as children and during adulthood. If your parents are obese you are likely to be at risk for obesity all your life. Fat storage is strongly influenced by your genetic make-up and what allows this natural tendency to be activated are: inactivity, eating super sized portions of high calories, high fat foods, cultural mores, upbringing and environmental factors.

If you are in a high risk group, be selective in your food choices, limit your calorie intake, cook with vegetable oil, eat high protein, hihg fiber unsaturated fat and eat only when you are hungry. Never eat and feel guilty afterwards. Guilt is a very destructive emotion. If you have a tendency to praise yourself with food or if you eat to calm your nerves, you must get help.

You have to understand that if you are at risk for obesity you have a lifelong struggle ahead of you. Genes don't control your life destiny, but food and inactivity do. Obesity greatly increases the odds of becoming diabetic, having a heart attack, getting colon cancer, breast cancer or developing other serious diseases.

Phytochemicals

Phytochemicals are substances whose main function is to prevent disease and improve the immune system.

Food sources of phytochemicals are:

-Onion, garlic, and chives; cooked onions, garlic and chives have no value beyond adding taste and smell to foods.

-Soybeans such as tofu, and soymilk; these are good sources for snacks.

-Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, watercress and bok choys are a source of fiber and cancer fighting agents.

-Phenolic acids; such as tomatoes, carrots, citrus fruits, whole grains and nuts (carrots are high in sugar).

-Poly-phenols, Flavanoids such as black, green, and oolong teas, onions berries, peppers, eggplant, cabbage, soy, tomatoes, parsley, carrots, citrus fruits and broccoli.

Early Life Trauma

Trauma, particularly in early life, does not need to be very serious to affect you seriously. Sometimes the seriousness of the trauma is not comparative to the outcome. Two children who are raised in two different environments with the same type of trauma could be affected in a different manner in their adulthood. Even children who are raised in the same family can be affected differently by the same type of trauma. Genetic factors, resilience, and other environmental and supportive measures play a role in the outcome.

When you were in the womb everything was perfect and natural. Everything was provided promptly, you were attached to your mother and the environment was warm, cozy and comfortable. It is very difficult to have all of that outside the womb. This is the first major problem that you have to face. You do not need to experience major traumatic events in order to develop wounds. As an infant you are dependent and unstable, you have no control over your needs so you can be wounded very easily. AS a result of repetition you develop habits which continue throughout life to ensure your survival and protect you against the perceived threats.

Vitamins and Minerals

Although they do not produce energy, vitamins and minerals play a major role in the growth and development of the body, and the prevention of diseases.

Minerals are chemical elements used in the body to promote certain reactions and to form body structures. If we eat nutritious food, our bodies consume a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals to sustain life and prevent disease.

In general, during pregnancy there is an increased need for vitamins, minerals and iron. Vitamin deficiencies are more observable during pregnancy and have more sesrious consequences for the fetus. Neural tube defectsin hte first six weeks of pregnancy may cause anencephaly (no brain development), spinal bifida, and cleft palate. If you are a woman of child bearing age, 400 mg of folic acid daily is recommended. Witamin compounds are needed in only very small amounts in the diet to help regulate and support chemical reactions in the body. Diseases related to the vitamin deficiency are rarely seen in the Wst, or in developing countries and more often seen in under-developed areas around the world.

Basic Weight Gain Prevention

There are two basic preventive measures for prevention of weight gain and prevention of a variety of diseases and illnesses. In fact, they are so basic, that more often than not they have been ignored.

One measure is diet; eating nutritious food affects many aspects of your life. If you eat healthy and eat in moderation you can keep your weight in a normal range and control your triglyceride levels, lower your blood pressure, and ultimately have a productive life.

Some simple changes to your diet produce great results. You can lower your triglycerides dramatically by doing the following:
-Reduce your intake of starchy food, saturated and hydrogenated fat and use vegetable oil in cooking.
-Increase your intake of omega-3, fatty acid by taking supplements or eating salmon or adding flax-seed power to your salad.
-Increase soluble fiber in your diet.

Don't forget about your intake of vitamin C and E to reduce oxidation. Fresh garlic and onion can reduce stickiness in your blood and may help to increase HDL.

Healthy Snacking

If you're hungry, feel free to snack between meals, but you can't eat everything indiscriminately. Here are some things you can snack on, guilt free.

-Homemade beef jerky
-Homemade dried salt free salmon
-half an avocado with salsa
-3 ounces of nuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts
-hard boiled egg whites
-raw veggies like celery, mushrooms, broccoli, cucumbers, and cauliflower

Cancer's Relation to Obesity

Certain types of cancer are related to obesity and bad dietary habits such as consumption of saturated fat! The foods that play a role inhibiting cancer growth includes: antioxidants, certain phytochemicals, dietary fibers, and earotenoids (found in lots of food).

The antioxidants, vitamin E and vitamin C help prevent formation of nitro amines in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore they prevent formation of potent carcinogens also help prevent alteration of DNA.

You can't blame your genes but you may and rightfully so blame environmental factors. Most of the time it is much easier to blame other people or other factors for our misfortunes in life than accepting responsibility and we all tend to do so frequently. But the fact is this is not going to change your situation or make you healthy. Obesity devastates your health and your life and is very serious.

If you are an overweight male, your risk of developing prostate cancer is much higher. If you are an overweight female your chances of developing ovarian and uterine cancer increases over that of thin women, and your risk of developing breast cancer increases even more.

Fat also plays a major role in development of clogged arteries.

While you cannot change your genetic make up, you can lower your risk by practicing healthy habits. Environmental factors and habits play major rules in the development of obesity in adults, adolescents and children.

Getting to Know Fats

Fats are components of the nervous system, in the form f fatty acids. Fat is needed for the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins D, K, E, and A. While they are essential to the body, they also produce a high level of calories: nine calories for every one gram of fat. The type of fat you choose can be directly linked to cardio-vascular diseases, primarily clogged arteries, heat attacks and stokes.

Fats are divided into two categories: saturated and unsaturated. Unsaturated fat comes from plants and provides essential fatty acids. They have a health benefit in that they lower LDL (low-density lipoproteins, also called "bad" proteins). Examples of unsaturated fats are canola oil, olive oil, soy oil, nuts, and seeds.

Why the Idea of Changing DOESN'T Work

Honestly, I can tell you change is very scary. You have to be ready for the consequences, as well as not be afraid of success.

What is truthful about change? If I tell you that if you change your behavior, you will win $100,000? You would willingly change your behavior immediately for two reasons. Because the idea of $100,000 appeals to your emotions and because you can simply purchase a lotto ticket and prove it- you may be skeptical about it but you will give it a try.

However, when I tell you that if you change your habits you will lose weight; several things can go through your mind. That statement is not an emotional trigger to your brain, so immediately you develop a resistance toward it. Then, subconsciously, you would be wondering about any alcohol or chocolate restrictions. You may feel perhaps that I am lying to you. Other personal issues can and will interfere with your decision and behavioral changes, and subconsciously you will resist.

That is why I encourage you to use hypnosis or mental imagery to change your behavior and motivate yourself to create long lasting results

The Importance of Protein In Your Diet

The American Heart Association recommends a daily diet that receives no more than 30% of energy from fat and no more than 8% from saturated fat. A high protein diet should not consist of more than 40% protein. Protein is involved in all biological functions of the body and is therefore necessary for an organism's life to continue. It is a part of every organ, bone, nerve, muscle, tissue, and tooth. Protein is also a part of your blood. Protein is needed to build and repair tissues and is the building block of most body structures. Protein maintains an acid base balance in the body and it is important in the body's immune system. It contributes to the production of antibodies, which are designed to fight antigens, or foreign proteins.
When you don't have enough protein your feet may swell, this is called edema. This can also happen to your abdomen and it is called Ascites. However, there it is possible to consume too much protein. If this happens, the protein will turn into fat.

Role of Stress in Obesity

Stress is both cause and effect; it causes obesity by producing hormones during stress phase and cause you to over-eat. Your lifestyle, job, and your relationship could be producing stress and making you obese. If you are active, always on the run and success-oriented, and living an unbalanced lifestyle, you could be preparing yourself for obesity by improper eating and by producing unneeded hormones in your body.
You may be on your way to suffering a heart attack. Physiologically, in response to a real or perceived threat, your “fight or flight response” is activated. This stimulates the adrenal gland to produce epinephrine. The release of epinephrine in the blood stimulates release of insulin, which lowers the blood sugar level, and as a result you experience hunger. You eat to relieve the hunger and the cycle continues. Reaction to stress can be either biochemical or psychological. In response to a serious emotional situation, whether it is positive or negative, you
experience arousal that is either physiological or psychological.
You may experience physiological changes such as increased heart rate,
pounding heart, sweaty hands, increased respiration, tense muscles and
butterflies in your stomach. Psychologically, you may experience fear or
anxiety. How one perceives the situation can cause biochemical changes
in one’s body.
Studies on laboratory rats and other animals exposed to stressful situations confirm these biochemical changes in individuals exposed to stressful situations. But the interesting finding was that the level of biochemical changes varied from rat to rat, and the same for the other animals. This confirms that a healthy mental attitude and ability to skillfully handle the stressful situation can reduce the biochemical changes in your brain.
During a stressful situation several hormones produced. Of these, the
three main hormones released are as follow:
Epinephrine-- increased
cortisol-- increased and tryptophane-- reduced.

Strategies for Weight Loss

Stress is related to your coping skills and how you deal with the
circumstances in your life.
The most important factor in dealing with and handling stress is having
a sense of control.
Stress is both cause and effect; it causes obesity by producing hormones during stress phase and cause you to over-eat. Your lifestyle, job, and your relationship could be producing stress and making you obese. If you are active, always on the run and success-oriented, and living an unbalanced lifestyle, you could be preparing yourself for obesity by improper eating and by producing unneeded hormones in your body.
You may be on your way to suffering a heart attack. Physiologically, in response to a real or perceived threat, your “fight or flight response” is activated. This stimulates the adrenal gland to produce epinephrine. The release of epinephrine in the blood stimulates release of insulin, which lowers the blood sugar level, and as a result you experience hunger. You eat to relieve the hunger and the cycle continues. Reaction to stress can be either biochemical or psychological. In response to a serious emotional situation, whether it is positive or negative, you
experience arousal that is either physiological or psychological.
You may experience physiological changes such as increased heart rate,
pounding heart, sweaty hands, increased respiration, tense muscles and
butterflies in your stomach. Psychologically, you may experience fear or
anxiety. How one perceives the situation can cause biochemical changes
in one’s body.
Studies on laboratory rats and other animals exposed to stressful situations confirm these biochemical changes in individuals exposed to stressful situations. But the interesting finding was that the level of biochemical changes varied from rat to rat, and the same for the other animals. This confirms that a healthy mental attitude and ability to skillfully handle the stressful situation can reduce the biochemical changes in your brain.
During a stressful situation several hormones produced. Of these, the three main hormones released are as follow:
Epinephrine and cortisol-- increased and tryptophane-- reduced

Role of Leptin

The protein hormone leptin is a neurotransmitter important to the homeostatic regulation of body weight. Leptin was identified as a gene in obese mice, in the genetic obesity syndrome (1994 New York University). Leptin influences hypothalamus and pituitary hormones and promotes secretion of growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone. It is produced by adipose tissue and synthesized in the placenta and gastrointestinal tract.
Leptin influences the regulation of appetite, energy expenditure and fat reserve. The lack of secretion of leptin rarely causes obesity itself, though some people are less sensitive to its action. Leptin increases metabolism and decreases appetite, by binding to the satiety center in the hypothalamus, signaling that the stomach is full.
Leptin signals your nutritional status to the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral organs. It influences the reproductive system and the release of insulin. Currently, researchers suspect that overweight individuals may have defective leptin utilization, causing satiety to be inhibited. Exogenous (introduced from an outside source) leptin administration may affect weight loss.
more information....www.drzaritransformation.com

Internal and External factors effecting your Weight

Willpower vs. Motivation
You have to realize that being overweight has nothing to do with your willpower, and has a lot to do with your motivation – and that motivation can be created. You can reprogram your subconscious mind to resolve addictive behavior. Get excited and motivated by your
personal reasons for wanting to lose weight and be fit, such as looking better or being healthier or having more energy. These all act as rewards for your subconscious.
Minor changes in your eating habits, such as reducing fat and simple carbohydrates, adding fiber and replacing soft drinks with water can create great results. Obesity is associated with a myriad of factors: socioeconomic status; familial conditions; your network of friends; busy lifestyles that discourage eating balanced meals; the availability of inexpensive, “super sized” high-fat food; your pattern of leisure activities; television time; excessive alcohol intake; eating meals away from home; and finally, genetic factors. Genetic factors affect the way that energy surpluses are stored (either as fat or as lean muscle) and the relative production of fats and carbohydrates used by the body. Race is also a factor in obesity, as higher body weight may be more socially acceptable in some cultures. There are also regional factors: obesity is higher in areas where high fat diets and sedentary lifestyles are more prevalent. Age is another factor, as excessive body fat is more common among adults and middle aged people. Have you ever thought much about what goes into your body each day, how food is processed, and what organ or system has a physiological or psychological role in this process? I will share that in my next article. To learn more go to www.drzaritransformation.com

External factors that influence our eating habits

Advertising – Advertising affects our nutritional choices. The messages we hear influence our choices, and in both negative and positive ways. Some of the advertisements bring some knowledge about the importance of some nutritional elements, such as vitamins
and minerals. They can also give us inaccurate information. These visual messages are very powerful, as they appeal to our subconscious.

Restaurants and eating out – In social situations when eating as a group, more often than not we forget about the quality of the food we are eating, especially if we are drinking as well. We consume more high-fat foods, such as fried zucchini and high-sugar foods such as cake and ice cream. Worst of all are the “super sized” meals from fast food restaurants.

Education–The more educated people are, the more knowledgeable they are about nutrition, and the more attention they pay to their diet.
Income/Occupation – People in higher-ranked position pay more attention to their eating and can also afford to eat in better places with better food. However, these people are more socially involved and therefore as a group they drink alcohol more often and in larger amounts. Their fast-paced jobs don’t allow them time to cook each meal, so they tend to dine out more often, dine alone, and eat on the run.
The next blog more on external and internal factors...

Role of Leptin in Weight Loss

The protein hormone leptin is a neurotransmitter important to the homeostatic regulation of body weight. Leptin was identified as a gene in obese mice, in the genetic obesity syndrome (1994 New York University). Leptin influences hypothalamus and pituitary hormones and promotes secretion of growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone. It is produced by adipose tissue and synthesized in the placenta and gastrointestinal tract. Leptin influences the regulation of appetite, energy expenditure and fat reserve. The lack of secretion of leptin rarely causes obesity itself, though some people are less sensitive to its action. Leptin increases metabolism and decreases appetite, by binding to the satiety center in the hypothalamus, signaling that the stomach is full. Leptin signals your nutritional status to the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral organs. It influences the reproductive system and the release of insulin. Currently, researchers suspect that overweight individuals may have defective leptin utilization, causing satiety to be inhibited. Exogenous leptin (introduced from an outside source) administration may affect weight loss (debatable).