Monday, October 27, 2008

The 3-step Plan To Natural Weight Loss

By: Sigmund Ki

There are a ton of weight loss pills out there on the market, and so they often distract us from the essentials of weight loss – or should I say that WE get distracted by the amazing claims and promises that these supplements show? It doesn't seem unlikely that many people are beginning to go crazy over these pills. I mean, it sounds great that you can lose 20 pounds just by eating a few pills. If you can do that, why even bother with proper dieting and exercising? However, the truth is that if your entire weight loss plan is completely based around these pills, then you'll never see any permanent weight loss. Remember that you shouldn't be using supplements as a complete substitute for good old fashioned diet and exercise! You should be focusing on those two aspects as part of your weight loss program.

1. Check the diet: "You become what you eat." – You've probably heard that before, and it's true! For example, did you ever take a look at the health of people who eat burgers very often? Or maybe of friends that often get you to go to restaurants? Do you notice anything about their body that's healthy? When you start to eat fatty and greasy foods, does your body have a negative reaction or feeling? I know you've probably heard this a million times, but unless you cut back on fat, sugar, and processed foods, you'll never lose pounds.


2. Cardiovascular Exercises: As well as keeping your diet in check, you HAVE to do cardio exercises! You do your cardio training in a variety of ways: running on a treadmill, rollerblading, stair climber, swimming, etc. – You should remember that cardio exercises will be an essential part of your weight loss program because they allow you to burn fat much faster! They get your heart racing at a fast speed, and also gets your body stronger to take on tougher workloads. If you find that you ever got tired as you were lifting weights, walking/running a long distance, or climbing stairwells, then cardio workouts will definitely help to make your body build stamina for these activities.

3. Weight Training: You're going to need a bit more than just cardio training. In addition to cardio, you're going to have to also do weight training. As a matter of fact, weight training can be better than cardio exercises because not only dos it burn fat, but it also builds up your muscle mass. The more pounds of muscle you have, the more calories you'll be able to burn throughout the day (even if you do nothing!).

All I have to say is this: if you're serious about losing weight, then you have to follow the 3 main parts of a proper plan as stated above. If you find that any of these steps are missing from your weight loss program, then you won't be noticing significant weight loss at all. You should also remember that weight loss pills are just called "supplements" for a good reason… they're just supposed to supplement your natural weight loss program. While they can be great at helping you lose many more pounds, they aren't good enough to be complete substitutes for good dieting and exercising!

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If you want to learn more about each of the 3 steps, you can take a look at my fitness website to learn more exercises, techniques, and diets to help you out. If you're really serious about losing weight, then you should take a look at my Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle review - A program specifically made for efficient weight loss.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

7 Best Foods For Diet

By: TonyLeong

Fruits and vegetables are best foods for diet when it comes to weight loss; they keep you full on relatively few calories. Of course there are many super foods, some you've never heard of and others you've simply forgotten about. Here, I've listed few best foods so you can make a place for them on your table and improve your health without a doctor's prescription.

* Avocados are a good source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, folic acid and potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and relax muscles. It's a high fiber food and you'll also get protein, a good dose of vitamins A, E and B. The rich and creamy avocado is one of the best foods for diet and has been called the chocolate of fruits. Consume this food as salads or as a great side dish.


* Beets are naturally sweeter than any other vegetable and are one of the best sources of both foliate and butane. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. You can eat the leaves and stems, which are also packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

* Soybeans can make your body stop storing fat. Soy is high in protein and the bean also serves up generous helpings of fiber, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium. How you eat this flexible food is up to you, cooked and mixed in salads, roasted for snacks or in tofu, or soymilk.

* Cabbages are best foods for diet as one cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it’s loaded with valuable nutrients. Sulforaphane, a chemical in cabbage will increase your body's production of enzymes that deactivate cell-damaging free radicals and thus reduce any risk of cancer. Put cabbage on your burgers to add a satisfying crunch or, for an even better sandwich topping or side salad.

* Kale has an earthy flavor that some people enjoy, but others find unappetizing. The health benefits of kale are credited to sulphur-containing phytonutrients. Kale is extremely sparse on calories, has no saturated fat, and does not cause widespread allergic reactions. It can be washed, chopped up, and mixed into a healthy salad and consumed raw.

* Sweet Potatoes have a rich content of vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorous and other nutrients, which are required by a person to stay healthy and fit. They are rich in Vitamins like A and C, which are powerful antioxidants which help in removing free radicals from the body that could lead to various health problems. The health benefits are numerous and are full with high nutritious value, which provides overall health and protection to the body.

* The lentil is high in potassium, calcium and iron, and a good source of B vitamins, phosphorus and copper. You can involve lentils in your best foods for diet, as they are a very good source of cholesterol lowering fiber. Also, they are of special benefit in managing blood-sugar disorders since their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal.

The above-mentioned are best foods for diet as they are excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals and are high in phytonutrients and antioxidant compounds. Also, they are low in calorie density and help reduce the risk of heart disease and many other health conditions. Readily available, what else do you need for a healthy life style?

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Serious About Losing Weight?

By: gabweight

The ultimate weight loss key is changing eating habits. Even if you spend all your time trying to lose weight, if you don’t change your eating lifestyle, there is a little chance that you will be able to achieve your weight loss goal.

Changing habits, especially eating habit, is perhaps the hardest thing to do. A habit is something that you have already got used to. It has almost become part of your system. A lot of people can relate to the difficulty of changing eating habits. A lot of people have tried to change and continue to do so until now.

Changing Eating Habits To Achieve Weight Loss

If you are serious about losing weight and maintaining it, you should change two things. First, change the quantity of your intake and second, change the food that you eat. The common mistake among a lot of people is that they try to change these two things together, which is definitely impossible to achieve. In the end, you will just feel deprived and crave for even more food.

Change Food Quantity

The first thing that you need to change is the quantity of food that you eat. If you are used to eating half a chicken for dinner, then cut it down to at least a quarter. It is easier to cut down on serving size than changing the whole meal at all to a different one, veggie salad perhaps.

To be able to control your craving for more food, you need to start with little changes rather than an abrupt one. You shouldn’t be too strict with yourself as well. A good way of controlling your food intake is to use a slightly smaller plate. And remember to eat a bit of food every once in a while to stimulate your metabolism and decrease your cravings for food.

Change Food Choice

The next thing that you need to change is the food that you eat. Your choice of food must be healthy. It is a good idea to plan your diet well ahead of time. This way, you can decide on what you are going to eat. Each of your meals must be carefully planned and thought of. Look at some healthy food magazines to get ideas on healthy recipes and ingredients.

Drinks should also be changed. Avoid sodas and high-sugar drinks. Go back to basics. Water is the best therapy and best in weight loss as well. If you doubt your own choice of healthy foods, consult a dietician or nutritionist.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Supplements For Brain Health - Brain Health Research Report

By: Arthor Pens

Most people believe a progressive decline in overall brain function is a natural process of aging. This degenerative process causes us to lose our short-term memory and abstract reasoning ability. It also may make concentration or learning new information difficult. Many neurological diseases are also directly related to aging such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's.

Many published studies have shown that the decline of brain function can be delayed, or even reversed, by proper diet and/or supplementation. This report is a review of the existing research done on the ingredients in Melaleuca’s Unforgettables™ dietary supplement.

-Omega-3s in Fish Oil

Cold water fish is high on the list of brain foods because EPA and DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids found in cold water fish, have been linked to enhanced memory and brain function. The fish chosen by Melaleuca for the supplement Unforgettables are anchovy, mackerel, and sardine. These fish are small and live only a short time; not long enough to accumulate a buildup of harmful mercury. The fish are also pre-screened for mercury content before processing.

In the United States and Canada, omega-3 intake through diet alone is very low because it is usually limited to canola oil, corn oil, and other cooking oils, as well as walnuts and flaxseed oil. These plant-based sources give us a form of omega-3 which then needs to be converted into DHA by the body. In women, the conversion rate to DHA is about 7%, and in men it is less than 1%. Needless to say, these plant based sources of omega-3 are not the optimal way to feed our brains with plenty of DHA, which is what is needed for best brain, eye, and heart functioning. Since cold-water fish oil is already rich in DHA, adding it to the diet as a supplement is the best way to provide your body with DHA.
Scientists working on a nine-year study completed in 2006 found that patients with dementia have less DHA in their brains than patients of the same age without dementia. There is a 47% reduction in risk for developing dementia when DHA levels in the brain are high. Free radicals do more damage in the aged brain when there is a deficiency of DHA because DHA protects the brain from oxidative stress. Studies are finding that supplementation with fish-based DHA, and another component of fish oil known as EPA, can delay and lessen the impact of age-associated diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

-Vitamin E and Blueberry Extract

Vitamin E and blueberry extract act as antioxidants in Melaleuca’s Unforgettables. The two of these are together in a single supplement because the synergy between them increases their benefits. Just as we said in our “Antioxidants for Natural Cellular Protection” Research Report, “Many studies have indicated that combinations of antioxidant vitamins, carotenoids and flavonoids are believed to be more effective than supplementation with any of these nutrients alone.”
Vitamin E is purported to be a very important ingredient for optimal brain health. It could possibly halt or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease because it relieves oxidative stress to brain cells. The brain is rich in lipids (fatty compounds) which are susceptible to oxidative damage from free radicals. Oxidative stress can really damage memory function, and brain cells in general. When the damage has been done, older adults start showing symptoms of “age associated memory impairment.” In the brain, antioxidant molecules like those in vitamin E and blueberries “wage war against molecules known as free radicals, which can harm brain cells and brain function.” Vitamin E has actually been shown to block the death of neurons in the brain. Essentially, a good vitamin E supplement can prevent or slow the rate of cognitive decline as the brain ages.

Blueberries can alleviate inflammation in the brain and spinal cord, according to a study done by Thomas Kuhn, PhD, of the University of Alaska. Two of the most damaging players in brain aging are inflammation and oxidative stress. We learned that vitamin E helps to alleviate the oxidative stress and now we find that blueberries can help to lessen the inflammation of the spinal cord and brain tissue. Blueberry can also strengthen the communication between neural cells and can actually REVERSE damage done to the circuitry in the brain. The neural circuitry in the brain tends to resemble a tree or leaf, with branches and sub-branches feeding off the main stem. In brains of memory impaired rats, some of the branches have withered and become disconnected. Studies done on older memory impaired rats that were fed a diet supplemented with blueberries found that blueberry could return brain structure back to normal, as well as prevent the breakdown of neuronal communication. This m!
ade headlines for many health news outlets in November 2007

-Gingko Biloba

Gingko biloba is featured in all of Melaleuca’s ProVex products for cardiovascular health because its properties include the improvement of blood flow and the ability to block the effects of blood clotting. It is added as an ingredient in Unforgettables for these reasons and because of another property it possesses — the protection against oxidative cell damage from free radicals. A recent six-month study on the effects of gingko biloba in the diet of ten patients, with no dementia but mild memory loss, found that after supplementing with at least 120 mg twice daily, verbal recall was improved. PET scans showed better brain function in brain memory centers. A French study found that long term supplementation of gingko biloba “enables cognitive performance to be maintained for longer, and indicates that the development of Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented or at least delayed.”

In a meta-review of previously published studies on gingko biloba related to memory function, a “small but significant effect” to short-term recall was found when patients were treated with 120 mg to 240 mg over three to six months.(9)

-Phosphatidylserine

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a phospholipid normally found in nearly every cell in your body. A phospholipid is a type of lipid. Lipids add to cell structure and are a source of fuel. In the brain PS operates in part as a communication facilitator between nerve cells.
Most Phosphatidylserine research has been conducted with PS derived from the brain tissue of cows, and shows a substantial health benefit in age-related cognitive decline, but because of concerns about the possibility of humans contracting infectious diseases such as "mad cow" disease, this form is not available in the US.

More recent data suggests that the complexation of standardized Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) with soy-derived phospholipids, the form used in Melaleuca's Unforgettables, enhances the bio-availability of GBE's active components.

Results of a recent study utilizing ginkgo biloba extract with soy-derived phospholipids showed that "administration of GBE complexed with Phosphatidylserine resulted both in improved secondary memory performance and significantly increased speed of memory task performance across all of the post-dose testing sessions."

It appears from this study that Phosphatidylserine acts synergistically to enhance the cognitive effects associated with a low dose of GBE. Further research is required to identify whether this effect is due to the complexation of the extracts, their mere combination, or the separate psychopharmacological actions of the two extracts.

-Conclusion

The ingredients in Unforgettables are a well-chosen blend of brain health ingredients whose positive synergistic effects can help to maintain cognitive function in older adults. We have seen that two of the most damaging effects of age to the brain are inflammation and oxidative stress caused by free radicals. The ingredients in Unforgettables combat against both of these adverse side-effects of aging.

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The Author has worked in the Wellness industry since 2003, and in the internet field since 2000. She is the editor for the Melaleuca Wellness Guide, and the and researcher and author of several research articles on the RM Barry Publications web site. If you are interested in learning more about Melaleuca please visit www.rmbarry.com

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Supplements For Bodybuilders

By: Franchis

Every fitness freak must have thought of building good body as fast as possible. Every year more and more people indulge in bodybuilding and getting in shape. Here comes the notion of using bodybuilding supplements. It helps burn fat quickly and build muscle mass. But if you think that taking few pills will make you huge in a nick of time, you are sadly mistaken. Proper diet and exercise is very important for the supplements to work.

Supplements basically provide a quick and efficient way to get the required nutrients every day. They increase your strength and decrease the recovery time. Supplements minimize the negative aspects of training and enhance your recovery. However you don’t really need supplements for gaining muscle. They surely help in building muscle a lot quicker but they are just tools to increase your potential to build muscles.


There are many types of supplements available that help your muscles grow and recover faster. Some of the supplements that produce the best results are Protein, Creatine, Glutamine, Multi-Vitamins, Growth Hormones, Anti-Estrogens, Protein Bars and Amino acids.

Whey proteins are the basic supplements for any bodybuilder. It can be either purchased individually or as an ingredient in other supplements. Whey protein is very effective in building lean muscle and helps in increasing your energy level. It also helps the muscles to recover quicker after a tedious workout. It is available as capsules or as post-workout shake.

Creatine has been very popular lately. It has drawn attention of many people. It is mainly because it can work as a steroid if not wisely used. Your body produces Creatine but it is also available additionally.

Glutamine is the most abundant in our muscle tissues. It helps in preventing wastage of muscles and greatly improves recovery time. It should be made sure that glutamine is not taken along with Creatine. Glutamine can be taken pre-workout whereas Creatine after workout. Multi vitamins are also very vital in bodybuilding. People who work out need much more vitamins than people sitting idle.

There is always an element of doubt as to what impact will these supplements have on your body. The best way to deal with it is to discuss it with your trainer. If you are willing to develop a good physique, it can be agreed that these supplements will assist you to attain your goals more quickly. But make sure to workout, eat and rest properly as supplements alone won’t do the trick.

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Bodybuildingfactory is one of the United States leading Bodybuilding Supplements website. First established in August 2005, its mission is to become the number one site for Build Muscle Mass and Legal Prohormones searches.

Friday, October 3, 2008

DHA An Essential Fatty Acid For Better Health

By: Darrell Miller-1603

DHA is a fatty acid that is essential for many body processes and structures. Fatty acids are the building blocks that create lipids, which are important nutrients that make up 25 to 45 percent of total body energy for most of those who are living in industrialized countries. The majority of dietary fatty acids are made from dairy products, meat, margarine, and vegetable oils.

Lipids are important because they store and transport energy from one part of the body to another and they also insulate and mechanically protect certain parts of the body. Any fat that is eaten is converted by the body into fatty acids, where it is then burned for energy, stored, or synthesized into other acids which are called prostaglandins. Some fatty acids are also vital structural components of cell membranes. DHA is part of a special class of highly concentrated, long-chained, polyunsaturated fatty acids called omega-3 fatty acids.


Omega-3 fatty acids are looked at as one of the most fundamental molecules in the structure and activity of the membranes of all cells. They have a huge influence on the production of cellular regulatory compounds which are known as eicosanoids. They also are highly specialized in their function in neurological tissues, especially the retina of the eye. It is also very likely that omega-3s have specific and beneficial effects on the heart muscle, while they also influence the production of substances that control immune responses.

Fatty acids are short-chained, medium-chained, or long chained. Short-chain fatty acids are water-soluble and absorbed directly from the intestine into the bloodstream. They are generally used for immediate energy and can be found most abundantly in dairy products. Long-chained fatty acids are more emphasized when it comes to health concerns as they are stored in cell membranes and have a huge affect on membrane protein function. Their behavior in tissue membrane is what makes them greatly influential in health.

Besides the length of the chain, fatty acids are also described by their saturation. Saturation means how many hydrogen atoms the fatty acid carries. Fatty acids that carry as many hydrogen atoms as they can are called saturated fatty acids, while those that lose a pair of hydrogen atoms become unsaturated. This loss of hydrogen atoms creates a double bond between the two carbon atoms on either side of the missing hydrogen atoms. Those fatty acids that have one double bond are called monounsaturated fatty acids, while those with two or more double bonds are called polyunsaturated fatty acids. Most omega-3 fatty acids are highly unsaturated and have five or more double bonds.

EPA and alpha-linolenic acid are most commonly found in plant sources. DHA and EPA are made in phytoplankton, which is consumed by fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. The above reason is why these two essential fatty acids are found mainly in the aquatic food chain. LNA and EPA cannot substitute for DHA in all metabolic functions, even though DHA and EPA are more able to cover for each other in certain metabolic functions. It has been found that LNA is less effective than EPA which is less effective than DHA in enriching tissues, meaning that food sources such as vegetables and seed oils are not as good of sources than sea foods or other foods that are enriched with DHA and EPA. DHA in itself provides most of the health benefits displayed in research, to take essential oils that contain no DHA would limit the health benefits discussed above and from other sources. Have you had your DHA today?

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More information on Dha essential fatty acid is available at VitaNet ®, LLC Health Food Store. vitanetonline.com/