Health On The Blog

First of all let’s agree on one thing, losing 5 pounds in a week is not the same as losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks. If you go on a diet that is designed to make you lose 5 pounds in week you will lose water and muscle mass, only a minor part of the 5 pounds is fat (and that is what you really want to get rid of, right?).

The new calorie shifting diet is something else. It claims that it could make you lose up to 9 pounds in just 11 short days and you could go on this diet again if you eat normally for three days. It is not a diet where you exclude any of the important nutrients or food groups, and you don’t have to starve yourself.

We have all heard about those low-calorie diets that have worked wonders for so many other people, most often to a friend of a friend. The truth about low calorie diets is that once you make a major cutback on calories you will lose weight…for a couple of days. After those days your body adjusts its metabolism to fit the calorie intake. This means that you will be running on fumes. This is what is called tormenting yourself, you feel like crap, you get angry over nothing and so on. Still you don’t lose more than a couple of pounds in the first days! Of course if you were to eat 400 calories per day for 6 months you would see some difference. But I wouldn’t want to be your spouse during these months.

Let’s have a quick review of what t is we try to accomplish. To lose fat there are several important steps that needs to follow one another in order to take the fat from a fat cell into the cell of the muscles and burn it. Firstly, the fat cell have to release the fat (in form of fatty acids), secondly, the fat has to be transported to the target cell, thirdly the fat has to be absorbed into the muscle cell and burnt for fuel by the mitochondria (the power plant in the cell). We don’t need to be more specific than that.

Ok, now it is time to exercise! If you exercise you increase the energy consumption in the muscle cell (the mitochondrias scream for more). At the same time you increase you actual muscle mass, meaning that there are more mitochondria wanting to burn fat. Also in an exercised muscle there is a higher metabolism so once you start and are persistent in exercising your muscle will burn more fat to stay fit.
The three steps for fat to be used as fuels could also be targeted with a healthy diet. This will release more of the fat into your circulation and the more fat there is, the more will get absorbed by the muscles.

Now, in the calorie shifting diet the foods and nutrients is compiled to do just this. It releases more fat from your cell, and, if you drink like you should, the fatty acids are transported to the target cell with no problem and the diet makes the mitochondrias begging for more fat to burn. It really is as easy as that.

By the way, it is not just the muscles that burn fat, the liver is also an excellent target because it is able to burn fat for no cause. Imagine that, burning fat without a cause…This has to be targeted too, and of course it is. This is a part of the diet and this will make you burn fat even when you sleep.

The other organ that uses a lot of energy is the brain. The brain prefers carbohydrates (glucose) for energy, and under normal circumstances the carbohydrates are the fuel. The brain consumes up to a quarter pound of carbohydrates per day. If you lack the carbohydrates the brain will use ketones for fuel. The brain doesn’t like this and will not perform as well but hey, we want to lose weight right? This last part is a no-no to me, I want to be alert and feel good and that is why I stay away from low-carb diets like the Atkins diet.

Other organs like the kidneys, splen and so on uses almost no energy at all. But a healthy diet will keep those organs healthy and strong.

Jennifer Olsen was a master of failing at different diets. She understood that there were more to losing weight then just going on a diet. Today she has lost nearly 50 pounds with the calorie-shifting diet and meanwhile she has finished reading ‘Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle’ and she is implementing what she learned into daily activities.

She made a mini-site that gives examples of diets, complete fast weight loss diets and reviews of books that helped her stop living the unhealthy life and turning around into a more healthy life-style.
If you are interested in learning more please [http://fastweightloss1.weebly.com/]Click Here!

If you are interested in learning more about the calorie-shifting method, please [http://www.squidoo.com/How_To_Lose_10_Pounds_In_2_Weeks/]Click Here!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Olsen

Losing Weight the Healthy Way
People frequently enroll in a Stronger-Leaner-Better Personal Program to lose weight, increase their energy levels, and feel better. They’ve usually tried the classic combination of calorie restriction and excess cardio. Their diets often include a lot of shakes, bars, and other processed foods. This approach frequently leads to short term weight loss, followed by the inevitable rebound. Once the rebound occurs, frustration sets in, followed by another bout of calorie restriction and cardio.

The reality is that this tired old approach doesn’t work because it doesn’t address the underlying function of three key body systems.

If you want to finally lose weight and keep it off in a healthy way, you need an integrated approach to getting fit. For most people there is no simple, single solution for losing weight, all three body systems need to be addressed along with a program incorporating intelligent exercise and lifestyle changes. If you’re using fad diets and spending mindless hours in the gym, you’ll eventually hit the wall.

The three body systems and their role in healthy weight loss

The three body systems are:
1. The hormonal system
2. The digestive system
3. The detoxification system

The hormonal system regulates your metabolic rate and controls how you burn body fat. The digestive system provides you with the nutrients you need to burn body fat. And the detoxification system helps keep you from storing excess fat.

Most weight problems are brought on by years of poor lifestyle choices such as eating crappy processed foods and not getting enough sleep. These lifestyle issues add up to hormone imbalances, digestive trouble, and detoxification problems.

The Hormonal System
Most weight gain can be traced to the adrenal hormones, known also as the stress hormones. The adrenal hormone cortisol, best known for its pivotal role in responding to stress, also promotes the burning of body fat, helps regulate emotions, and counters inflammation - all part of the body’s “fight or flight” response to threatening situations.

Cortisol levels rise under stress, but if stress continues without enough rest for recovery, which is common these days, the adrenal glands become exhausted and cortisol levels drop. This has a chain-reaction impact on metabolism, slowing down your metabolic rate. The result: a fatter you. The more stress you’re under, the more body fat you store.

Adrenal Exhaustion
With stress, a surge of cortisol prepares the body to fight off an attack or flee. For millennia this mechanism operated under conditions that would be followed by long periods of rest and full recovery. Today, however, we are essentially locked in a 24/7 “fight or flight” state. Poor diets, lack of exercise and sleep, and long work hours leave your body in a chronic state of stress, with many restorative functions perpetually lagging behind.

Adrenal exhaustion leaves people feeling lethargic and fatigued. It also impacts:
Muscle and joint function, leading to a series of aches, pains, and injuries.
Sleep quality, causing trouble falling asleep and staying asleep
Immune function, resulting frequent colds and/or illness

Reversing adrenal burnout requires a well-designed exercise program, improved sleep habits and stress reduction. If left unchecked, fluctuations in cortisol have a profound impact on the sex hormones, leading to problems in women such as PMS, and to low sex drive in both women and men.

The Digestive System
The second body system, the digestive system is sometimes referred to as the “mother” system because it feeds your body the nutrients you need to function. A perfectly functioning digestive system is an important first step in any weight loss program, as your body needs to absorb proteins, key vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids to properly regulate metabolism and burn fat. In many patients I have treated, weight gain has been connected to hidden infections in the GI tract.

Sensitivity to gluten (found in many grains) is the most common food reaction triggering hormone imbalance and weight gain, yet it often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. If untreated, gluten intolerance can bring low energy, depression, obesity, and diabetes as well as high risk of osteoporosis.

The Detoxification System
Detoxification pathways remove harmful chemicals generated from normal body functions such as physical exertion and breathing. If you are taking in more toxins than you can flush out through the liver, kidneys, stool, and skin, you will have a backlog of waste products in the body that can cause a number of symptoms including fatigue, skin problems, irritability and poor concentration or memory.

Toxic build-up also leads to weight loss resistance. Toxins are stored in fat tissue in your body. People who are overweight will hold on to fat tissue tenaciously in an attempt to protect the body from the damage that would be caused by the release of these stored toxins.

Toxins build up in the body as by-products of what you consume including alcohol, prescription drugs and over the counter medications. Additionally in your daily life you are exposed to environmental toxins in the air, water and food supply. These chemicals accumulate over the course of your life and contribute to over-burdening the liver detoxification pathways.

Improving the Three Systems
All three body systems - hormonal, digestive, and detoxification - can be improved by applying the principles of the Stronger-Leaner-Better Programs. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Reduce stress with relaxing activities like yoga, tai chi and walking. Make sure you get enough high quality protein (3-5 ounces) at each meal. Look for lean, all-natural meats as your primary protein source.

And last but not least get regular exercise. All of these sensible approaches let your 3 key systems heal and rebalance themselves.

I’ve written 33 Days to a Stronger-Leaner-Better You to help more people apply this approach to healthy weight loss. The 33 Day program is a step-by-step, day by day to changing the way you look, the way you feel, and the way you live. It addresses the 4 fundamental pieces of a healthy lifestyle: nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress. It’s a great starting point for building a Stronger-Leaner-Better you. The 33 Day program is in the final stages of production, and will be available within the next few weeks.

It certainly takes some honest-to-goodness work to get to the root causes of weight gain. And it takes some commitment to apply a lasting solution. But what better reward is there than a Stronger-Leaner-Better you?

Dr. Glenn Hyman, D.C. http://strongerleanerbetter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Hyman http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Weight-Loss-Program-Based-On-Balancing-3-Key-Body-Systems&id=80321