Discover How To Increase Your Metabolism

by Roger | Jul 8, 2019 | Health, Nutrition, Physical Fitness

Discover How To Increase Your Metabolism

A person’s metabolic rate is a measurement of how fast their body burns calories which are, in turn, a measurement of energy.

Burn more calories than your body consumes and you lose weight; burn more calories than your body consumes and you gain weight. Another way to say that is this: consume less calories than your body burns and you lose weight; consume more calories than your body burns and you gain weight.

The way to use your body’s metabolism to lose weight, then, is twofold:
Consume less calories than you burn (as in dieting);
Burn more calories than you consume (as in exercising);

The average body’s metabolic rate, and the rate at which the Percentage Daily Values of the nutrients on a food’s nutrition label are based, is 2000 calories per day.

Your body burns a certain number of calories per day just by virtue of you being alive – In other words, no exercise necessary. The process of breathing, for example, burns calories. As does the circulating of blood. All forms of burning calories based on nothing other than the act of being alive make up what’s called you Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Interestingly enough, a person’s BMR makes up about 60% of the calories their bodies burn in a given day. The remaining 10% of the calories burned in a day are burned by what’s called Dietary Thermongenesis, comprising the heat-producing acts of eating and internally processing food.

It is entirely possible to boost your body’s natural metabolism, in other words: burn more calories in a shorter period of time, or burn calories faster. Strength training (as in lifting weights) is one way to achieve remarkable effects. When you lift weights, the muscles tear and must be repaired by the body’s natural healing processes. Those processes require the body burn more calories. The body with a bigger muscle mass burns more at rest calories in any given span of time. As a general rule, we burn 50 extra calories a day for each extra pound of muscle.

Beyond weight training, the other tried-and-true method for boosting your metabolism is simply remaining active. The mere act of moving around burns calories, so logically the more you move around the more calories you burn. Take walks on your breaks at work. Park one or two streets over. Tidy up around the house while you chat on the phone. None of these require a gym membership or an unscheduleable block of time. A little bit over a long time adds up to a lot.

Lastly, there are dietary measures you can take to help boost your metabolism. Caffeinated beverages (green tea being one of the healthier choices) and spicy foods have both been shown to increase the body’s metabolic rate. Also, if you start having more frequent smaller meals rather than jus 2 or 3 large ones (“grazing” throughout the day, so to speak), your metabolism will be in a constant state of activity breaking down and processing your many small meals.

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The Anti Aging Benefits Of Berries

by Roger | Jun 10, 2019 | Health, Nutrition, Uncategorized

The Anti Aging Benefits Of Berries

Long before winter comes, black bears in the forest spend all their time eating everything they can sink their teeth into. During the summer, bears eat and eat and eat, trying to get as fat as they possibly can, and when the weather turns cold, they look for a place to curl up and then they sleep the winter away.

Now, the habits of bears might not seem like something you should try to follow. After all, doctors are always warning us humans that we shouldn’t overeat, and that we shouldn’t spend all of our time lying around, doing nothing.

But there is one part of the black bear’s habits that you should actually try to imitate, because it would be good for your health.

Black bears eat a lot of berries, of many different varieties, such as raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

Berries contain natural sugars and wonderful flavors. Unlike many other foods that are really good for you, but which don’t taste good, berries taste great.

And unlike many foods that taste great but which aren’t good for you, berries are among the most health friendly foods you can eat.

It’s only been within the last decade that scientists have started to pay a lot of attention to the health benefits of berries. And what researchers are learning about the health benefits of berries has a lot of exciting potential for human diets.

One of the first major experiments on the health benefits of berries took place at Tufts University about ten years ago.

Researchers were working with a group of aging rats. They fed them diets of various foods to see what the effects would be. Among the foods they tested were strawberries, blueberries, and spinach.

Now these rats were fairly old in terms of “rat years”. In fact, their age was equivalent to humans about 70 years old.

The foods the scientists tested were all very high in beneficial antioxidants, so the scientists wanted to see if any of these foods would boost the physical and mental capabilities of these aging rats.

The researchers found that while several of these foods seemed to offer some antioxidant protection, the rats that had been fed blueberries were the only ones that actually improved in their abilities.

In fact, the rats which had been fed blueberries were able to perform like much younger rats!

This was a very exciting find, and the scientists then wanted to find what it was in the blueberries that produced this very beneficial effect.

It turns out that the chemicals responsible for making these aging rats act mentally younger and perkier were the pigments in the skin of the blueberries.

The compounds that give ripe berries their beautiful colors are the very substances that have such strong anti-oxidant powers. And antioxidants are compounds that help repair some of the damage that happens to our body cells every day.

Scientists have discovered that the darker the berry, the more health benefits it has! Eating two thirds of a cup of blueberries will give you as much anti-oxidant protection as five servings of apples or squash.

The dark pigments in these berries seem to offer protection against cardiovascular disease, degenerative eye disease such as cataracts, and may offer some help in preventing some cancers, and bladder infections.

If the exciting results of the rat studies turn out to also hold true for humans, it may mean that compounds in these dark berries may help protect brain cells from the degenerative diseases of aging.

You can get this fantastic antioxidant protection whether you eat your berries fresh, frozen, or dried.

You can eat berries raw, add them to your favorite cereals, or make a smoothie drink with various berries, fruits, milk and yoghurt. Get creative and find ways to mix berries into your favorite recipes.

In North America, blueberries are available fresh or frozen year round. If you can’t get fresh berries, dried berries are also filled with very concentrated levels of the valuable antioxidants.

If you live in a place where blueberries are not easily available, look for other fruits and berries that have very dark red or dark purple colors.

Foods such as pomegranates, bilberries, cherries, black raspberries, saskatoons or serviceberries also have high levels of these very beneficial dark pigments. These foods offer benefits similar to the benefits of blueberries.

So, think about incorporating at least one habit of bears into your lifestyle – and make berries a frequent part of your diet!

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Exercise and Type 2 Diabetes

by Roger | Jun 3, 2019 | Nutrition, Physical Fitness

Exercise and Type 2 Diabetes

One of the most undemanding and the most workable ways to knock over blood sugar amount, eliminate the dangers of "cardiovascular disease," and perk up health and welfare in general is exercise.

In spite of that, in today's inactive world where almost every indispensable job can be carried out online, from the ergonomic chair in front of a computer, or with a streaming line of messages from a fax machine, exercising can be a hard argument to win over.

The Weight of Exercise

Everyone should exercise, yet the health experts tells us that only 30% of the United States population gets the recommended thirty minutes of daily physical activity, and 25% are not active at all. In fact, inactivity is thought to be one of the key reasons for the surge of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. and Canada because inactivity and obesity promote insulin resistance.

The good news is that it is never too late to get moving, and exercise is one of the easiest ways to start controlling your diabetes. For people with type 2 diabetes in particular, exercise can improve insulin sensitivity, lower the risk of heart disease, and promote weight loss.

Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is on the rise. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes every year increased by 48% between 1980 and 1994. Nearly all the new cases are Type 2 Diabetes, or adult-onset, the kind that moves in around middle age. Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes include increased thirst, appetite, and need to urinate; feeling tired, edgy, or sick to the stomach; blurred vision; tingling or loss of feeling in the hands.

The causes of type 2 diabetes are complex and not completely understood, although research is uncovering new clues at a rapid pace.

However, it has already been proven that one of the reasons for the boom in type 2 diabetes is the widening of waistbands and the trend toward a more deskbound and inactive lifestyle in the United States and other developed countries. In America, the shift has been striking; in the 1990s alone, obesity increased by 61% and diagnosed diabetes by 49%.

For this reason, health experts encourage those who already have type 2 diabetes to start employing the wonders that exercise can do for them. Without exercise, people have the tendency to become obese. Once they are obese, they have bigger chances of accumulating type 2 diabetes.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that over 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are clinically overweight. Therefore, it is high time that people, whether inflicted with type 2 diabetes or not, should start doing those jumping and stretching activities.

Getting Started

The first order of business with any exercise plan, especially if you are a "dyed-in-the-wool" sluggish, is to consult with your health care provider. If you have cardiac risk factors, the health care provider may want to perform a stress test to establish a safe level of exercise for you.

Certain diabetic complications will also dictate what type of exercise program you can take on. Activities like weightlifting, jogging, or high-impact aerobics can possibly pose a risk for people with diabetic retinopathy due to the risk for further blood vessel damage and possible retinal detachment.

If you are already active in sports or work out regularly, it will still benefit you to discuss your regular routine with your doctor. If you are taking insulin, you may need to take special precautions to prevent hypoglycemia during your workout.

Start Slow

For those who have type 2 diabetes, your exercise routine can be as simple as a brisk nightly neighborhood walk. If you have not been very active before now, start slowly and work your way up. Walk the dog or get out in the yard and rake. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park in the back of the lot and walk. Every little bit does work, in fact, it really helps a lot.

As little as 15 to 30 minutes of daily, heart-pumping exercise can make a big difference in your blood glucose control and your risk of developing diabetic complications. One of the easiest and least expensive ways of getting moving is to start a walking program. All you need is a good pair of well-fitting, supportive shoes and a direction to head in.

Indeed, you do not have to waste too many expenses on costly "health club memberships," or the most up-to-date health device to start pumping those fats out. What you need is the willingness and the determination to start exercising to a healthier, type 2 diabetes-free life.

The results would be the sweetest rewards from the effort that you have exerted.

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Are You Really Overweight?

by Roger | May 27, 2019 | Health, Nutrition, Physical Fitness

Are You Really Overweight?

If you are overweight, you know it by how you feel, how your clothes fit or how you look. But, by how much are you really overweight? And how much weight do you need to lose?

One measure of how much you should weight is by determining your Body Mass Index, BMI. This index gives you the relationship of your weight to your height. Here is the formula:

Your BMI = [(yourWeight)/(your Height x your Height)] x 705

If you weight 143 lbs and are 64 in tall, then

your BMI = [(143) / (64 x 64)] x 705 = 26.2. Based on the chart below a BMI of 26.2 is overweight.

·underweight, BMI = 18.5
·normal weight BMI = 18.5 - 24.9
·overweight BMI = 25 - 29.9
·slight obesity BMI = 30 - 34.9
·obese BMI = 35 - 39.9
·excess obese = BMI = greater than 40

If we consider the normal BMI number to be 21.5 then you can compute approximately how much weight you should lose using the same BMI formula but by changing things around in the formula,
(your ideal Weight) = [(normal BMI / 705) x (your Height x your Height)]

For the example above if you have a BMI = 26.2 and the normal BMI number = 21.5, then,

(your ideal Weight) = [(21.5/705) x (64 x 64)] = 124.91

you should weight 124.91 lbs. That means you need to lose (143 -124.9) lbs = 18.1 lbs.

Try to get your BMI below 25. Under this number, you can expect to have good heath if you are eating the right kinds of food and exercising regularly. If your BMI is greater than 28, you are more likely to have cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and many other diseases related to a toxic colon.

Keep track of your waistline. Your waistline, if you are a man, should be less than 35 ". For women it should be less than 30". As your waistline get larger you become more susceptible to diseases. Of course, waistlines are going to vary because people have different shapes. But you know if your waistline to big for your shape.

Now you should know how much weight you need to lose. Beside your waistline, you should also measure bust/chest, hips, and thighs.. This gives you an indication how your body is changing. As you lose fat you may not lose weight for a while. Your body will become toned as you exercise. The weight scale does not always tell you that your body is changing and losing weight.

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Antioxidants and Benefits to Your Health

by Roger | May 13, 2019 | Health, Nutrition

Antioxidants and Benefits to Your Health

Get back to the basics - eat fresh at home and neutralize free radical oxidation, which is rusting away your body, by eating a variety of foods high in antioxidants every day.

Why? Antioxidants, as the name implies, help prevent oxidation, may help increase immune function and possibly decrease risk of infection and cancer.

A few of the better known antioxidants include carotenoids-- the substance that gives fruits and vegetables their deep rich colors. Apricots, broccoli, pumpkin, cantaloupes, spinach and sweet potatoes, are some good choices in addition to lycopene in tomatoes. Vitamin C and E are also good antioxidants.

What's a Free Radical Anyways?

As cells function normally in the body, they produce damaged molecules called free radicals. These free radicals steal parts from other molecules such as fat, protein, or DNA, thereby spreading the damage.

This damage continues in a chain reaction, and entire cells soon become damaged and die. This process is useful because it helps the body destroy cells that have outlived their usefulness and kills germs and parasites. However, this damage, when left unchecked, also destroys or damages healthy cells.

Antioxidants help prevent widespread cellular destruction by willingly donating their parts to stabilize free radicals. More importantly, antioxidants return to the surface of the cell to stabilize rather than damage other cellular components.

When there are not enough antioxidants to hold cell destruction in check, free radicals begin damaging healthy cells which, in turn, can lead to problems. For example, free radical damage to immune cells can lead to an increased risk of infections.

Your body needs to be able to repair this damage that occurs and protect itself from the free radicals before they impact your overall health. This is where antioxidants come to the rescue, because they significantly delay, inhibit, or prevent oxidation.

Your first line of defence is a natural diet full of a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. For all those times when your diet isn't perfect, make sure you have a safety net in place. Think of antioxidants as Rustoleum for your insides! and be sure to have a supplement in your medicine cabinet.

Best of health to you!

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How To Beat Bad Eating Habits

by Roger | Apr 29, 2019 | Health, Nutrition

How To Beat Bad Eating Habits

The first step is to brace yourself for the challenge; it goes without saying that bad habits are hard go break. When you’re trying to eliminate something that has become a part of your life, you’re bound to encounter resistance, and see your willpower seriously tested. You’re in for a marathon—one in which that old addiction will tempt you at every step, trying to lure you back into that old vicious circle.

Slow down. People who eat faster consume more calories because their brain doesn't have the chance to recognize that the stomach is full. Instead of choosing finger foods that can be eaten quickly, always eat food from a plate with utensils. Salad is an excellent choice since the bulk of it fills you without ramping up the calories or clogging your arteries. Drink water throughout your meal.

Bad eating habits can ruin your life. They can turn you into a wild man at the table, force you to lose control, and influence you to make poor and unhealthy food choices that will eventually make you overweight and obese.

By torturing yourself too much, I just worry that you will eventually give up in all these funny tools and use both of your hands to eat instead! So, whether diet fork, diet spoon, chopsticks or teaspoon, at the end of the day, it is the will power that makes the difference when come to diet control.

Remove temptations. Keep food out of sight and store a minimum amount of food in kitchen cabinets and in the pantry. Never store your favorite foods. Keep on hand only those foods that require preparation before they can be eaten.

Do a little, not a lot. By cutting 500 calories per day for a week, you will have lost 3,500 calories, one pound a week—a nice, natural weight loss that won't freak out your metabolism. A good, brisk walk each day can cut out 250 calories, and skipping dessert (but not breakfast) can do the rest. Go slow and gentle: don't try to lose a lot of weight at once. Experiment with what you're willing to let go of: the Grande latte you usually enjoy at 10 AM; the buttery movie popcorn that's become a nightly habit. Target foods you don't especially love and stop eating them.

Rate your hunger. Ask yourself, "how hungry am I on a scale of 0 to 10?" 0 means you're starving—woe to anyone who gets between you and the fridge! 10 means you're so stuffed you can't eat another bite—you might explode! Eat when your hunger falls somewhere between 4 and 8; but stop eating when you feel you've reached 7 or 8.

Planning your food a day in advance ensures that when that emotion or a challenging time of day hits, you are not tempted by incompatible foods as you try to combat old habits. Plan your meals and ensure you have your trigger times well covered and plenty of food and/ or options all day long so that you no longer have to resist all those choices. When you do this, the old emotions and trigger times of day will still happen, the difference is you made the choice about your food intake yesterday when your emotions did not have a grip on you.

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