Five Popular Diet Myths

The nutrition field, and more specifically dieting, is full of myths and half-truths. Every "expert" has an opinion and finds followers desperate to believe these opinions as truth. If it sounds good it will probably find supporters. Once a myth gains momentum it steamrolls its way into popular culture. Once it is entrenched it is very difficult to debunk the myth. If it is published in a magazine or overheard on television it becomes fact. Diet myths are a dime a dozen with new ones cropping up all the time. Below are five popular myths, and why they are not true.

1. Genetics. If you have bad genetics you will not be able to lose weight, or if you do lose weight it will come right back on. This simply is not true. Genetics plays a strong role in a person's predisposition for weight gain, but does not doom them. Many people have been genetically "coded" for certain diseases but with proper nutrition and health care they avoid developing them. This holds true for obesity as well. Just because a person is predisposed to weight gain does not mean that they can never reach their ideal weight and maintain it. They may have to work harder than others but it can be done. The truth to this myth is that these individuals have to be more vigilant because if they slide they can easily gain the weight back.

2. Salad Myth. Many dieters think that having a salad, no matter what kind, constitutes a healthy meal. It is true that a leafy, green salad with a few other vegetables and a light amount of dressing is healthy. However, many dieters will add chicken, ham, eggs, nuts, croutons, bacon, or other heavy food choices to their salad, rendering it unhealthy. Then they add nearly a half-cup of salad dressing to smother what little bit of green might have been showing. Now, a potential low-calorie salad becomes a heavy, calorie laden mess. This is the equivalent of the dieter who goes into McDonald's and orders a Big Mac, Large Fries and Diet Coke, "Because their dieting."

3. Wheat Bread. Wheat bread is better than white bread right? Wrong. It is just as bad as white bread. The wheat flour used in regular wheat bread is just as processed, and therefore as easily converted to simple sugars, as the white flour. Whole grain oat bread is a much better substitute when bread is needed. As a matter of fact, whole grain oats are a good substitute in all grain foods, such as cereals.

4. Honey. Honey, pass on the honey. Just because something is natural does not always make it better. Some people have been falsely led to believe that honey is a better alternative to sugar. Since it is natural, they believe that it is somehow a healthier substitute. It is still sugar. It will still cause blood sugar levels to go haywire. With no fiber to slow the absorption, you might as well be eating straight sugar.

5. Low-fat=Healthy. If a food is labeled low-fat or fat-free is it really healthy? Maybe not. Many low-fat and fat-free foods add copious amounts of sugar to improve the flavor, thereby increasing the calorie count. The added sugar will also cause spikes in blood sugar, causing spikes in insulin, and a faster shuttle of energy into fat stores. Read labels carefully, and look at ingredients. If sugar (in any of its forms) is near the top of the ingredient list, pass on the low-fat. Sometimes the regular fat version is a healthier choice in the long run.
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How To Lose Weight Fast? - 8 Pounds In 10 Days

Do you want to know how to lose weight fast? Losing weight is not easy, as it not only requires strong determination and effort; it also requires that you have the right knowledge about diets.

Without the right diet, no amount of exercise will be able to help you. This article will discuss what you need to do to lose weight fast.

1. Set A Specific Target

Firstly, you should ask yourself exactly how much weight you want to lose. With a specific goal to achieve, you will know the right actions to take. Simply thinking that you want to lose weight is not enough. Because there are many methods and diets to do so, you will not know which the right one for you is.

2. Choose The Correct Diet Plan

Probably the most important factor for anyone to lose weight is his or her diet. You need to find the right diet, and have the consistency and determination to stick with it until you succeed.

A diet, known as the Calorie Shifting Diet, has been particular effective for me and has helped me lose over 55 pounds. You can learn more about it at the website link at the end of this article.

3. Maintain Your Discipline

Midway through your diet, you may find that it becomes more and more difficult to stick to it and you want to just give up. What you need to do is tell yourself what you will not do, and make sure that you can be disciplined enough to stay with your plans. Always keep in mind the target you have set, and think about the benefits you will experience after you succeed.

4. Conclusion

Losing weight can truly be easy if you are armed with the right diet knowledge and determination.

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The Seven Day Cabbage Soup Recipe Diet Plan

The cabbage soup recipe diet is a quick way to drop 8 to 10 pounds in a week. The cabbage soup is a filler of course and it tends to be bland. Following is the day by day plan and remember it's only for seven days.

Day One:

Eat all the fruit you want except bananas.

Drink unsweetened tea, cranberry juice and water.

Eat all the cabbage soup you want this day and every day..

Day Two:

Eat all the fresh, raw or cooked vegetables you want. No fruits.

Avoid dry beans, peas and corn.

For dinner have a big baked potato with butter.

Day Three:

Today eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want.

No baked potato.

Day Four:

Eat up to eight bananas plus all the skim milk you want.

Day Five:

This is beef and tomatoes day.

Eat ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes.

Drink at least six to eight glasses of water this day.

You may substitute broiled or baked chicken for the beef.

Day Six:

Eat all the beef and vegetables you want on this day.

Eat soup. No baked potato.

Day Seven:

Today you finish up with brown rice plus unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables.

Eat all you want plus the soup.

That's the cabbage soup recipe diet plan. I've done it. It's not that hard and after all it's only a few days. You will drop some pounds which should motivate you to move on to a sustainable plan to get all the fat off and keep it off.

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The 80-10-10 Diet - How Much Fat You Should Eat With the Raw Food Diet

In this excerpt, Dr. Doug Graham discusses his 80-10-10 Diet and how many raw fooders eat too much fat. This is an excerpt from Dr. Doug Graham's interview for the Raw Summit Archives, a complete interview encyclopedia of cutting edge living and raw food knowledge.

Kevin Gianni: You talk about the 80-10-10 diet, it's the name of your book. What are some of the main principles? What are the 80 and 10-10?

Doug Graham: We had contests to name this book. We had trial and error. We asked hundreds and hundreds of people. We ended up with a list of about sixty titles and fought bitterly between a staff of about twelve people over this title and that of what should be the title of this book. And 80-10-10 tells you something, but it does not tell you enough to make you know what it is. I agree. It is not like the Sedona diet or something which brings a picture to mind. And I honestly do not know if it is good or bad but the 80-10-10 diet is really what it is about. 80-10-10 refers to the three-caloral nutrients. There are only three nutrients in human physiology, or human nutrition that supply us with calories. Those are carbohydrates, protein and fat. Well, in the 80-10-10 diet, I recommend that a maximum of 10 percent of calories come from protein and a maximum of 10 percent of calories come from fat. Therefore, a minimum of 80 percent of calories coming from carbohydrates. And that is in the ultimate simplicity the 80-10-10 diet. Now, of course, you must eat sufficient total calories because no diet is going to work if you do not eat enough food and certainly not in the long term. And sometimes people get confused about that. They say "well, geez, if I eat a banana, and a lettuce leaf and an almond then I am doing the 80-10-10". I go, "yes you are, but you can not live on that diet". That would not get you past breakfast.

Kevin: It's just breakfast.

Doug: It's breakfast, exactly. And raw food is to come to know that we get to eat more volume than most other people. But human beings are funny. People are funny. We tend to pat ourselves on the back for things that we are going to do or for changes that we are going to make and then don't often make them. Or we pat ourselves on the back for changes that we think we have made that we really haven't. And it is a funny world this way and so, although everybody knows that pizza is not health food, nonetheless, when we go vegetarian we create vegetarian pizza. And when we go vegan we create vegan pizza. When we go raw, for our health, we still create raw pizza. And in truth, if it looks like pizza and it tastes like pizza, it's going to digest like pizza. And it's likely going to have the caloral nutrient ratio of pizza. And it is going to be hard on our bodies. I am not against it. I am neither for or against it, because it is not about right or wrong, it's just the consequences. It is what you want to have happen as a result of eating the food you eat.

In other words, it came to me apparent at a certain point that essentially you are on a road in life. And that road, through my medical training, I am actually trained as a chiropractor, but through my medical training what I learned is to be able to predict what road people are on. And so, if they are on a standard diet and they never exercise, or they take birth control pills, and drink a lot of coffee, I think they know there is a very good chance that osteoporosis is going to be in your future. If they are eating a high fat diet there is a very good chance that some form of what is referred to, erroneously, as a sugar metabolic disorder is going to be in your future. Currently, the Center for Disease Control estimates that almost half of all Americans are either diabetic or pre-diabetic and they say it will be over 80 percent of all Americans by the year 2020. All we have to do they say, is keep doing what we are doing. Well, what we are doing is, the average American, eating roughly 40 percent of his calories from fat when the world authorities are recommending 10 percent as a maximum. And if we keep doing that we will all become diabetics. The raw fooders, I thought, we're doing far better until I started keeping track, and after interviewing about 5000 raw fooders, I feel pretty comfortable in giving averages, and the average raw fooder consumes 65 to 70 percent of their calories from fat.

Kevin: Wow

Doug: This is almost double the American average. We are literally thumbing our nose at the nutritional advice of all the world's health professionals. while at the same time trying to use some of the information that they say. So, for instance, it is very common to hear a raw food leader say, you know, you don't need this much of this nutrient and that nutrient or the next nutrient because as raw fooders, the nutrients you consume are of a much higher quality. Or, you digest it far better, and you absorb it far better, and so you get so much more of it. Well, if that is in fact the case, why are we eating double the fat of everybody else? Shouldn't we be eating half the fat and still getting all the nutritional benefits? We should not have to double our fat consumption. So that was sort of the road, that's what the 80-10-10 diet became about was to help raise an awareness, strictly between the difference between a high fat diet and a diet that is designed to meet what the scientific standards say humans are designed for. It really was going out on a limb. I've got to tell you because it is so much against the flow.

Kevin: Sure.

Doug: But that is my job in many ways, not to go against the flow but to take the science and make it user friendly. That's what I've always done, that is what I pride myself from being able to do. Rather than taking the results of this study or that study, because you can prove anything in our study. Instead, what I've done is look at what the textbooks unanimously agree upon, from medical physiology to sports physiology and other types of sports and performance sciences and simply convert that information and apply that information to the raw food diet.

Kevin: Yeah, you may or may not know the answer to this, but I am just curious. Is there any specific study about longevity and raw foods?

Doug: To my knowledge, there are no studies about longevity and raw food.

Kevin: Okay.

Doug: There are various studies about raw food. There have been quite a few studies on raw food. Most of them have been to demonstrate the inefficacy or the impossibility to survive on a diet, or certainly to thrive on a diet that is predominated calorically by vegetables. And I agree. I agree because in order to consume sufficient calories from vegetables to meet your daily caloric needs, for instance for me, that would mean eating somewhere as close to 80 heads of lettuce a day. Well, it just cannot be done. I am a big vegetable man. I love my vegetables. In fact, you know, a lot of people are animal rights advocates and I've always said that I'm a vegetable rights advocate. I am perfectly happy to sit down and eat tomatoes until the cows' come home, or perfectly happy to eat celery as is. I do not have to disguise it. I am in favor of vegetable rights, and I eat a big salad almost every single day and I was raised that way as a child. Eating salad was a normal thing for me. And I have over the last 25 years involvement in raw food movement and my total commitment to raw food now is reaching 30 years. I have always recommended that we eat lots of greens. In fact to my knowledge, I recommend we consume more greens, not only on the 80-10-10 diet, but on any of the programs that I have ever recommended. I am actually recommending more green consumption from whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic plants than anybody else in the raw food movement. The funny thing is that most people notice me eating fruits and so, they think that that's what it is all about when in fact, that is not the case. I recommend a huge, in fact as I say it, a greater portion of calories from greens than anybody else in the raw movement. It is just what they see, you know, what they notice is the fruit.

Kevin: There are a lot of people who would say that eating a lot of fruits comes with candida issues? What is the challenge with that and how can what can you overcome some thoughts of that?

Doug: Well, I dedicated a chapter in my book to this very issue. But I can put it in a nutshell for you even more to think of now that I could years ago. I agree with everybody who says that eating a lot of fruits will lead to candida issues if they consuming more fat than they should be, more than they can healthfully tolerate. If they are consuming 30-40-50-60-70, I have on tape several different raw food leaders proudly proclaiming that they eat 80 percent of their calories from fat. And that is just fine. If you are eating 60 or 70 percent of your calories from fat well then, you are going to run into issues with sugar metabolism. And the simplest breakdown of it, and I am sorry, if I leave out a few of the details here. If you need more let me know.

But essentially, your blood sugar is monitored by your brain. Everyone has blood sugar, regardless of what they eat. I mean, Eskimos living on blood sugar levels that are roughly the same as muscle head living on protein powders or people following the 80-10-10 diet. It doesn't matter whether your predominant calorie or nutrient is protein, fat or carbs. Everyone has roughly the same blood sugar levels in health but when those blood sugar levels start to vary, it's a sign that the body can no longer maintain the homeostasis that it strives to maintain for us at all times. So, our primary method of controlling our blood sugar level is through function of the pancreas. The pancreas picks out some extra insulin if blood sugar levels rise, because insulin functions as a doormat to escort sugar out of the bloodstream to the cell. It's rather simple but as everyone knows, oil is a lubricant, oil coat thing and if there's more fat in our bloodstream than we're designed to handle, it not only coats the blood sugar molecule, it also coats the insulin. Well, when the insulin is coated and the sugar is coated, it's very hard for the insulin to link up with the sugar. They don't recognize each other. Not only that, but the portal where sugar exits the bloodstream becomes clogged with fat. Then, so it's hard for sugar to get out again. Well, the blood sugar level continues to rise so as the brain and eventually, more insulin is produced and the insulin's job is to find sugar. So, eventually it's going to, but now there's twice as much or three times as much insulin in the bloodstream as they are supposed to be and eventually your blood sugar crashes.

Kevin: And that's because the blood sugar's still high and the insulin isn't able to find the sugar and escort it.

Doug: But eventually, the insulin does find the sugar but it's slower at it and it should have been until the body puts out a second and a third rush of insulin.

Kevin: Right.

Doug: Okay. Well, as we know, with any muscle in the body, the key to training is not just training but also recovering. What they call overload, overload recover cycle. This is the same for any part of our body. You can develop a tan by giving a little bit of sun overload and then recover. You can develop calluses on your hand by giving a little bit of a work overload using with a rake or a shovel and then allow for recovery. But if you take too much in any given time, there's a crash, there's a blister, there's sunburn, or you will end up with what is called the visceral failure. In the case of the pancreas, visceral failure takes the form of diabetes, hypo and hyperglycemia and other sugar metabolic disorders. The pancreas can no longer put out sufficient insulin because it has been putting out too much insulin again and again and again without ever getting a break. Because the average person is eating triple, quadruple, five times, you know, the fat is recommended at every single meal and so the body never gets a break and eventually the pancreas fail as well.
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Low Carb Dieting and Its Impact on Athletic Performance

When a dieter has chosen to restrict him or herself to only low carb food, then that dieter has decided to obtain all of his or her energy from protein. That decision can have an effect on the body muscles. In order to keep the muscles in good shape, the person who is adhering to a low carb diet plan should focus on flexibility.

A focus on flexibility requires a certain amount of stretching. Stretching does wonders for the muscles. At the conclusion of a diet, a person who elects to continue with his or her low carb living should take time every day to do some stretching.

Of course stretching is a lot like dieting. There are certain dos and don'ts associated with stretching. While these low carb pages concentrate on low carb recipes and low carb snacks, they also offer advice about activities that take place away from the table. This article offers details on the dos and don'ts of stretching.

The dieter should think of his or her muscle as a rubber band. The dieter might even want to spend time playing with a rubber band. The dieter would soon be reminded of the way that a rubber band behaves when it is stretched. A stretched rubber band has a breaking point. If the rubber band is not released from a stretch before reaching that breaking point, the rubber band becomes a rubber string.

A taught rubber band does not have much stretch. If one pulls it several times and then releases it gently, that rubber band will eventually become more flexible. The same thing can be said about the muscles. Stretching muscles helps them to become more flexible.

A person on a low carb, high protein diet is in a perfect position to concentrate on developing more flexible muscles. The person on such a diet needs to focus on squeezing from the muscles any by-products of the body's need to obtain energy from protein. The athlete on a low carb diet can improve his or her flexibility, while also facilitating the removal of those unwanted by-products.

Of course the athlete on a diet must not forget the rules that apply to an athlete not on a diet. Some of those rules relate to stretching. One of those rules is this: Don't force your body parts to try a motion that is beyond your normal range of motion.

Stretching should help the body not hurt it. An athlete should not try a stretch that might damage his or her back. A dieter who is stretching should avoid trying deep knee bends.

A person can combine adherence to a low carb diet with a routine of stretching. Such a routine can help the dieter to maintain the soundness of his or her muscles. Such a routine can improve a person's flexibility. That improved flexibility could lead to improved athletic performance.

A person on a low carb diet does not need to put forth a great deal of energy in order to stretch.
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Quick Way to Lose Weight - Calorie Shifting

Are you looking for a quick way to lose weight? If you have ever looked into or even tried low-carb diets like Atkins, then you know how difficult it can be to sustain this diet without constantly fighting your cravings for bread and other carbohydrates, let alone how unhealthy the diet really is in the long-term. If you have ever look into or tried a low-calorie diet like Weight Watchers, then you know how slow the process of losing weight on this diet can be, let alone the fact that you are eating less and thus running the risk of going hungry throughout the day.

If you are looking for a quick way to lose weight, there is yet another alternative diet plan that you can follow. It is what is known as a calorie-shifting diet. What exactly is a calorie-shifting diet? Well, as the name implies, you are essentially shifting calories from meal to meal.

How does this diet work? Basically here are the rules:

Eat as much food as you want until you feel satisfied.
You must shift the type of calories you consume from meal to meal.
You must eat four meals a day.
The idea behind this quick way to lose weight is that rather than arbitrarily eating fruits, vegetables, meats, and bread at any time of any day, you must shift your calories around such that you consume carbohydrates, vegetables, proteins, fats, meats, starches, at different times of each day, across several days.

For example, during one meal you might only eat fruits and during the next meal you might eat only meats and vegetables, and at the next meal you might eat only breads. The theory behind this diet is that by shifting the type of calories that you consume at each meal each day, you are triggering a metabolic response in your body that induces rapid weight loss. You are essentially conditioning your body to consume foods ata rate optimal for rapid calorie burning.

Notice that on this diet you can eat as much as you want. There is no counting of calories, carbs, or fats. You should just eat until you are satisfied. Don't eat until you are stuffed, because then you will be overloading your body's metabolism and undermining the effectiveness of this diet. You are also required to eat four meals per day.

When you follow this diet plan, you must follow a structured meal-plan that spans fourteen days: For the first eleven days, you must rotate the types of calories you eat at each meal. The remaining three days are "cheat" days, where you are allowed to take a break from the diet (yet eat sensibly). Then you can resume your diet again for another eleven days. By following this diet, you will never feel deprived of food, because you essentially get to eat as much as you want from every food group. The only modification you are making to your routine is which foods you can eat when.

If followed properly, you should be able to lose an average of about nine pounds in every eleven-day cycle, which is a remarkably quick way to lose weight.
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Can You Really Lose 9 Pounds in Just 11 Days?

It's not your fault that you are overly-skeptical about this so-called popular diet everyone is raving about. Every day there seems to be new diets springing from the corners of the world with exaggerated claims and pretty celebrities endorsing them.

However this diet which is gaining massive popularity on the online community seems to strike a chord with everyone else due to its simplistic nature.

Some call it the Fat Loss for Idiots diet; others call it the idiot-proof diet. Well, whichever permutation of the name, most people will be sure to have heard about their ambitious claims of being able to make most overweight people lose 9 pounds in just eleven days.

So, the $39 question remains, can YOU really lose 9 pounds in 11 days?

Here are three reasons why you CAN'T.

You are not focused on any diet program.
You can't keep up with the meal plans.
You expect instant results.
Most people who find that the Fat Loss for Idiots diet is a waste of time belong to the three categories above. Seriously, if you are someone who jumps from one diet program to another without ever focusing on the strict regime, you may never find any remarkable results. Not with Fat Loss for Idiots, not even with any other forms of diet for that matter.
The Fat Loss for Idiots diet provide enough flexibility for you to vary your meal programs and even allow you to cheat at the end of the cycle. The only catch is that you have to follow the meal plans closely. If you can't commit to that, then it's better for you to engage a personal trainer to push yourself.

Or better still, join the army.

The Fat Loss for Idiots diet is perfect for anyone who is self-motivated, self-disciplined and willing to sacrifice little pleasures for the bigger returns. If you consider yourself to possess these qualities, then you are ready to lose 9 pounds in just eleven days by visiting the website listed below.
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3 Reasons Why Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Might Not Be The Diet For You

If you are interested in diet and fitness then it seems that wherever you turn these days there is some reference to Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. For those who don't know, Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is a diet and fitness book written by Tom Venuto.

Unlike other fitness and diet plans, Tom Venuto's Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle actually places exercise at its core. While this means more effort for the person doing the diet, it also means that any weight loss is much more likely to be permanent. Unlike other fad diets out there, when you lose weight following the Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle diet program, the weight usually stays off.

Despite the hype about Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle, and despite the fact that thousands of people have already lost weight in over 133 countries, there are three main reasons why Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle might not be for you.

1. Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle involves exercise as part of the diet plan.

Let's face it, a lot of people don't like exercise. And when a lot of people go on a diet, the last thing that they want to have to do is go on a diet. Yes, the exercise part of Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle might mean that you lose more weight, and it might mean that the weight loss is forever. But if you aren't willing to exercise as part of a weight loss plan then you probably shouldn't buy Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

2. Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is a diet book.

Let's be honest, some people just don't have the self discipline to lose weight by reading a book and taking action. if you are someone who needs someone standing over you before you do anything, then you should consider getting a personal trainer rather than buying Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle.

3. Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is a diet and fitness plan and they are hard.

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is an incredibly effective diet and fitness plan. But, like other diet and fitness plans it's hard. Sure, it's easier than other diets out there, but it's still going to be tough going at times. If you are not determined to lose weight and get fit then you probably shouldn't buy Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle.

If you are not willing to exercise, or if you have no motivation, then don't buy Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle. If you really want to lose weight though, and if you are willing to exercise to make sure that any weight loss is permanent, then rush out and buy Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle today. If you follow tom Venuto's instructions then it will probably be the last diet and fitness book that you ever buy.

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Must You Use Bodybuilding Supplements!

Since Dr. Atkins died in 2003, his company has released Dr. Atkins' New Diet Recommendations for those who want to follow the Atkins' diet. The company went bankrupt in 2005 and during restructuring of the company, the organization placed an emphasis on having people use its protein bars and other dietary items to support the traditional Atkins' diet.

Atkins' new diet recommendations haven't changed much from the original plan that came out in the 1970s. It still promotes meat, cheese and fat and disallows much in the way of carbohydrates. The diet still emphasizes protein over carbohydrates. What the diet now adds, however, are nutritional protein bars and protein shakes to a diet which is loaded in fried meats and eggs.

In some ways the Atkins' new diet recommendations aren't that much different from those recommendations given to weight trainers and others who want to bulk up. Since muscles are made of protein, the addition of protein to the diet is important. What isn't in the diet of weight trainers is the degree of fat allowed in the Atkins' diet. Most trainers who deal with weight training recommend a lower fat diet with the use of protein shakes or protein bars to supplement the diet.

The Atkins' new diet recommendations include a food pyramid which is quite a bit different from the usual food pyramid out there from nutritionists that has the meat and fat group quite a bit near the top of the pyramid. According to nutritionists, the general recommendations involve using a food pyramid in which the fat and meat group are the least types of foods that should be consumed in a normal, healthy diet.

The use of shakes and protein bars in the Atkins' new diet recommendations are a diversion away from the original recommendations that include food which is not processed very heavily and is cooked very little. The protein bars and the protein drinks are heavily processed, which doesn't make them very healthy on the whole. Plus a person can consume a great number of protein bars in a day, increasing the total caloric intake.

In the Atkins' new diet plan, sugars are to be avoided as much as possible, while eggs, cheese and meat products are the primary focus of the diet. Meals are usually three times a day but now the protein shakes or protein bars can be used as snacks or for people on the run, such as at work or in the car.

There has been a lot of criticism of the Atkins' new diet plan as there has been criticism of the entire program since Dr. Atkins' book came out in the 1970s. Most of the criticism has come from cardiologists who feel that the high fat, high protein intake promotes hyperlipidemia and heart attacks. Those who have high cholesterol or high triglycerides would potentially worsen their entire condition by consuming a diet so high in fat and in fatty meats.
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Get exercise and lose weight playing video games

I know what you’re probably saying right now. ôYea, rightö or ôwhat is this guy, some kind of a jokerö. Well, ordinarily you would be right on the mark with those comments, but there is a video game out there that not only can be a ton of fun, but can also give you a pretty good workout and make you lose weight in the process.

If you are a teenager or the parent of a teenager with a ôSony play station 2ö, then you likely already know what game I’m talking about. If not, the video game in question is called ôdance, dance revolutionö or DDR for short. This is a game that started out in video arcades, but now there is the home version you can buy. Let’s look at how this video game can become part of a weight loss and fitness program.

The game itself is played on a mat with four arrows pointing out in each direction, two out to the sides and one forward and one back. The corresponding arrows on your TV screen are your target arrows. When the moving arrows coming up from the bottom of your screen overlap the target arrows on the screen, you step on the appropriate arrows on the mat. All of this happens to your choice of upbeat music.

The nice part of DDR is that there are skill levels ranging from beginner all the way to advanced levels. As you complete one song or segment, you get a score for it. You can then try again and again to continue to beat your scores. The fact that it is competitive in nature makes it a lot of fun, plus as you are playing this game, you are moving your body the same as you would doing dance aerobics.

As with any aerobic exercise, it stands to reason that if you played DDR for 20 to 30 minutes per day, you would expend a lot of energy and burn fat. But as if logic alone wasn’t enough to confirm that this video game could give you a good workout and make you burn fat, there are people who use DDR making claims of losing anywhere from 5 to 95 pounds of fat! These claims are all coming from people who aren’t being paid to endorse DDR, but just people who are seeing these kinds of results from using it.

Since you probably already have a TV set, all you would need to get started doing this is a ôplay station 2ö and the game with the mat (the mat is the controller). If you already have a ôplay station 2ö, you can get the game and mat for around $60.00. If you don’t have the ôplay station 2ö, you can still get everything you need for under $300.00.

If you enjoy music and dancing, and you are getting bored with jogging or riding the exercise bike, then DDR is a great way to get in some exercise each day, plus you’ll have a lot of fun doing it once you get the hang of it. If you are having fun while you are exercising, you will not only be more likely to stick with it, you will probably look forward to doing it, and if you don’t believe DDR can give you a challenging workout, just ask any teenager how they feel after 20 to 30 minutes of doing it.

12-Point Regime To Create Dietary Freedom In 90 Days

This is what I call my "90 days to Dietary Freedom" Program:

Purpose... to smash a never-ending hole in the mystery of having self-control over food intake. 90 days to new habits... transitions are to be designed. 90 days comes to pass on 12 February 2014... or whatever date works for you:

Strict Don'ts:

1. No snacking - none absolutely none (food is fuel - food is not a hobby). Snacking and weight loss cannot coexist in the sane person's mind.

2. No junk - none absolutely none. If we are honest, we know what "junk" is. Honesty - the truth - will set us free! It's time, now, to be honest.

3. No eating after 7pm. The truth is none of us need food after our evening meal.

4. Nil starchy carbohydrate. We can supplement our energy needs through sleep; through catching up on sleep by spending the fifteen minutes we'd take to eat on a nap.

Diet Dos:

5. 3-litres of water per day. That is, a gallon of water on top of any diuretic drinks. So, if you have two coffees a day, drink a gallon of water, plus two cups. Water will give your gut the feeling that you're full when you're hungry.

6. Fasting 24-hours of Monday and Thursday (1 x coffee allowance). Two fasting days will help shift the fats from your cells and out of the body through your excretion systems.

7. Protein sources: tuna, red meat, chicken, plain yoghurt (2 x 100gms/ml). You don't need more protein than this for a 90-day diet.

8. As much leafy vegetables as I want (aim for 5 x cups/day). Good news - no limit here. Eat up!

9. Up to 2 pieces of fruit per day - standard sizing. For fibre needs and also for some essential brain-food (natural sugar) and for some essential vitamins and minerals.

10. One day per week where 2,000 calories is allowable - no junk!

Exercise:

11. Ride 100kms/week (3 x 12kms; 3 x 20kms).

12. 3 x weights workouts (30 minutes each).

Print this out and make copies. Put it on your refrigerator, in your locker, on your beside table... meditate over these guidelines... and you will have success. 30 days will break bad habits. 90 days will create new ones. Never again will you have a problem with "junking", snacking, laziness around exercise, etc.

Have faith that God can sustain you and he will.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

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How To Speed-Up Your Weight Loss Results On The Vegan Diet - Vegan Weight Loss Advice

If you've been on the vegan diet for some time now, and your weight loss isn't happening as quickly as you would have hoped - this article has some practical pointers and advice to help speed up your success. It also will discuss some of the most common blunders which people make on the vegan diet which sabotage their weight loss efforts significantly.

Too much oil, nuts and avocado - these foods are extremely healthy and we need to eat them every day for optimal health. However, because these three foods consist primarily of fats, they are very high in calorie content. Don't avoid these foods completely, since we need these healthy mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to live. Just monitor your daily portions sizes. Stick with ½ an avocado and 1 or 2 small servings of nuts per day. Measure out your olive oil with a spoon rather than simply pouring it into your dish. Keeping a close eye on your portion sizes of these three foods will help you to lose weight more rapidly on the vegan diet.

Vegan Junk Food
Vegan junk food is notorious for being the biggest weight loss inhibitor on the vegan diet. This includes cookies, health bars, vegan chocolate bars, supermarket dips, crackers, pretzels, sweet and salty nut mixes, juices with added sugar, and the like. If you are eating these foods on a daily basis, it is unlikely for you to experience weight loss any time soon. It would be wise to limit your vegan junk food to 2 or 3 times per week, in small quantities, and only as a treat. You should also consider cooking your own vegan baking recipes as a healthy alternative. This way you can be in control of how much fat and calories you put into your cooking. Most vegan baking recipes can be frozen, so it's not a bad idea to make a large quantity of a recipe and freeze some for healthy on-the-go­ snacks, or for when you are craving something sweet.

You Are Not Moving
Any good weight loss regime must incorporate a decent amount of physical exercise each week. Getting the heart rate up a few times per week will always help your weight to come off ten times quicker than if you were to simply sit down all day long on your derriere. So get your walking shoes on and hit the streets, the treadmill, or the gym. Do this as often as you can and your weight loss will be much faster.

You Are Eating Too Much Food
One should never overeat. End of story. Regardless of what foods a person consumes, no matter how healthy they are - one should never overeat to the point where they are overly full or sick. This is bad for the body and will sabotage your body's ability to lose weight on the vegan diet. Many people overeat because of boredom, stress, anxiety or loneliness. It is important to be aware of what is causing you to overeat and to create an action plan to avoid continuing this harmful pattern. Pursue your hobbies more, meet up with friends, go to a movie, do some exercise, go for a walk - do whatever you need to do to help you to develop inner peace and to get out of the self-destructive habit of emotional eating.

Your weight loss can succeed on the vegan diet if you endeavour to incorporate some of the above tips in your daily life. Remember to limit your intake of nuts, avocado and oil, limit your vegan junk food, get your heart rate up more often, and avoid overeating. This will ensure that you will successfully lose weight on the vegan diet!
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Melting Away The Pounds With Carb Diets

In the last few decades, many of the longest lasting diet crazes have been carb diets. Atkins and South Beach diets are just a couple of the diets that have gained in popularity over the years. Many dieters still use these diets, even if they are not as popular as they once were.

Reducing a person's carb intake so that his or her body will have to resort to using proteins and burning stored fat for energy is the basic idea behind carb diets. People will be able to stop the cycle of storing carbs and sugars as body fat with the help of these types of diets.

However, if these diets are not done correctly, then they can be dangerous. You should talk to your doctor before you start any of the carb diets, or any diet for that matter. These diets may pose risks that you may not be aware of. Certain medical conditions may trigger harmful side effects which make it impossible for a person to follow one of the carb diets.

They advertised all the foods that can be consumed by dieters on their plan when I first heard of Atkins. Your diet will be limited to eggs, steak, and cheese. The problem is that many people dove into this diet with great delight, without bothering to read up on the particulars of the diet.

It is important to watch your fat intake when you are in a diet. You will only clog your arteries if you eat tons of greasy steaks, and foods that are fried in fat. You will be advised by carb diets to consume lean meats, watch the grease, and take in carbs in the form of veggies.

Carb diets will also urge you to take the natural approach of eating more protein and staying away from refined and processed foods. Nevertheless, you should still talk to your doctor about the particulars, and make sure you are healthy enough to follow the diet you have in mind.

It would also be smart to take some time to learn the difference between what are considered good carbs and bad carbs. Fruits, veggies, whole wheat breads and cereals have good carbs, while bad carbs are present in refined sugars and white breads
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7 Guidelines To Choosing A Great Patio Umbrella

When your outdoor space lacks trees and shade, the simplest and most affordable solution is buying patio umbrellas. Unfortunately, purchasing an umbrella for your patio isn’t that easy if you don’t know the specific details that would best suit your backyard. Here are a few things that you should keep in mind when choosing the umbrella for your situation and lifestyle.

1. Position. In choosing your desired umbrella for your backyard, you should consider where it would be placed to ensure that its purpose of shading could be served.

The location of the patio umbrella is important. There are two categories of the location of the umbrella: through table and free standing. Free standing umbrellas are used in large outdoor areas. It could shade different kinds of patio furniture of any size and shape depending on your preference. A through-table umbrella is basically placed in the center of the patio table and is commonly used as focal point of the outdoor area.

2. Umbrella Stands

This is the support of your patio umbrella. The stand or base would depend on how you intend to use it. In choosing the standard base of outdoor umbrellas, you should consider a heavy-duty support that could survive any weather. Free standing umbrellas require heavier bases than through-table umbrellas.

3. Size

The size of umbrellas would be determined by measuring its diameter. In choosing the exact size of patio umbrella, make sure to measure the table, chairs, or space to be shaded. The basic rule in calculating the diameter is that the umbrella should always be at least 4 to 5 feet larger than the intended area to be covered.

4. Umbrella Frames

There are two kinds of frames available to choose from - metal and wood umbrella frames. Selecting the frame would depend on how you intend to use the umbrella and which would match the theme of you patio. Metal umbrellas use push-button tilts or a crank lift. This lets the umbrella to be angled in any direction. Most metal umbrellas could be purchased with colored furnishes like black, champagne, or white. A wooden umbrella is usually opened manually by using a pulley method and could not be rotated. Hardwood and teak is the most common wooden umbrellas in stores.

5. Tilt Methods

There are three methods in tilting the umbrella - collar tilt, crank tilt and push-button. The collar tilt method is the most common and user-friendly. The umbrella tilts when you rotate the collar located on the frame.

6. Materials

The main purpose of your patio umbrella is to block the dangerous rays of the sun. This purpose would succeed depending on the materials of your canopy. The most common materials used are PVC, canvas and shade cloth. A PVC canopy could block 100% UV light and could survive bad weather. Canvas canopies are durable fabric that blocks out the sun effectively. It is not water resistant when purchased but it could be treated for your canopy to be waterproof. Shade cloth blocks 90-95% UV rays. It could resist small amounts of rain, but is not entirely waterproof.

7. Kinds

- Centre pole
The center pole is the most common type of patio umbrella. It is supported by a central pole. The ribs of the umbrella spread out from its pole. It is advisable to place a center pole umbrella into a solid and heavy base.

- Crank and tilt
The crank and tilt design is much similar to the center pole, but it is known to have a crank device between the pole and canopy which allows you to rotate the angle of the shade umbrella. This kind of umbrella is best for large outdoor areas because it enable you to block out the sun in any direction.

- Cantilever
The Cantilever umbrella hangs to the side of its frame. Its curved arm supports only one end. This kind of shade umbrella is suitable for large areas with dining sets underneath the umbrella or swimming pools beside the patio furniture because it could be rotated 360 degrees. Its shade could be positioned wherever it is needed.

- Pavilion
A pavilion is a square-shaded structure that is supported at its every corner. This kind of umbrella is used for a large outdoor space that could shade the entire family. Most pavilions are used in beaches or parks as temporary dining and entertaining area.

7 Tips to Help Your Kid Develop a Positive Self-Image

Try these 7 tips to foster optimism and resilience in your overweight child:

1) Believe in your Children.  Assure your children that you are on their side and that you expect then to be the best person that they can be, although you don’t expect them to be the best at anything.  No one is perfect.

2) Find other adults who believe in your children.  Teachers, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends can help you make a positive difference for you overweight child.  Other adults that can see beyond the weight and also believe in your child can help your child take control of their lives.

3) Encourage your children to stay interested in activities.  Let them know that their interests are valuable and deserve to be developed, whatever it is.

4) Celebrate your children’s winning experiences and help them to accept defeats graciously.    Let your child know that you appreciate their efforts and positive attitude win or lose.  Positive attitude and effort is for more important than victory.

5) Encourage upbeat conversations about the future.  Assume they are going to college and thinking about good careers.  Let your child know that you believe they are capable.

6) Be a role model for perseverance.  Be sure your children hear you say that some tasks are difficult, but that you are not a quitter.

7) Facilitate family fun and laughter.  A family that can joke, laugh, and lighten up their day’s with humor can help to prevent negativity and tension.

The Importance of Correct Warming Up

All types of physical practice, in fitness or any other sport, must begin with correct warming up. This activity, together with relaxation and the main stage, are the three essential parts of the training.

The types of warming up can vary a lot in length, intensity and structure of exercises, according to the sport or the training you want to start. Although there are many kinds of warming up, all of them have in common two distinct stages.

The first stage concerns general warming up, whose purpose is to gradually prepare the whole body for the effort which will follow. The body temperature also increases. At this stage, the inertia of the body is easily removed through aerobic exercises (running, cycling, etc.). This stage should not take more than 5-10 minutes; otherwise it will change into a real aerobic training. It is well known that during aerobic effort the body consumes a lot of glycogen, so, especially before force training (anaerobic), there is the risk of running out of energy.

The second stage of warming up is specific to each sport. This stage aims to warm up the main muscles and joints involved in the effort, but also to anticipate, by simulation, some movements from the main part of the training. This stage can be longer than the first one and includes different types of gymnastics for the joints, jumping, exercises at greater speed, stretching, etc. However, this stage shouldn't be very long either, because the sportsman needs to save physical energy and to avoid mental stress. In many sports (target shooting, fencing, tennis, etc.), mental stress can be bigger than physical effort.

These two stages of warming up must come one after the other very strictly. It is forbidden to switch their order, and also to skip one of them. Unfortunately, it is common in sport to skip the first stage and do just specific warming up, which is considered more important.

This is a big mistake, because this type of exercises does not rise the body temperature as much as the ones involving minimum aerobic effort. The result is that the body will be much more rigid and a lot less prepared for the main part of the training. There are cases, especially in sport games, when both stages of warming up are abandoned. Kicking the ball or passing a few times are supposed to replace a thorough, but boring warming up.

Not doing the warming up correctly or, worse, not doing it at all increases the risk of having accidents during training or competing. Possible accidents range from simple ones, like pulling a muscle or cramps, to some really bad ones (ruptured muscles, hernia, sprains, dislocations, etc.). Even if, luckily, such accidents do not happen, the body will experience a dramatic decrease of efficiency in performing the exercises.

It is very important for beginners to do the warming up. If they do not ignore it when they take up sport, they will form a habit of warming up and will, hopefully, keep this habit as long as they do sport. They must not assume the false idea that, being beginners, they shouldn't exercise so intensely.

All these problems are traps that correct warming up can definitely avoid.

10 Fat Blasting Facts You Need To Succeed : The Zone Diet's popularity has exploded in recent months

The Zone Diet's popularity has exploded in recent months due to a newly released study proving it's the quickest, most efficient weight loss system available. The Zone Diet was tested for one year against Atkins and other high-protein low-fat diets, and the results where astounding. Perhaps this is why millions of Americans have chosen to get into the Zone, because it actually works!

The key factor that makes the Zone diet so effective is its method of delivering balanced nutrition to the body. Eating a precise ratio of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat at each meal will provide your body with an ideal hormone balance resulting in rapid weight loss. So, losing weight is a natural result of eating "In The Zone."

The Zone diet is not about counting calories, it is about eating a precise ratio of carbs, protein and fat. So you no longer need to keep track of every single calorie you put into your mouth. And the Zone diet does not restrict you to eating fat free foods. Finally, you can enjoy real cheese, real butter and a juicy steak on occasion. What a relief that will be after eating tasteless, fat-free cheese and fake, spray-on butter all this time.

Another great benefit of the Zone diet is you never have to suffer through another minute of being hungry. The worst part about dieting is going hungry for hours on end while waiting for you're next scheduled meal. Even worse is if you do eat, you feel as though you have cheated. On the Zone diet however, you get to eat so much that it is rare that you'll ever get hungry in between meals. But if you do find your tummy rumbling, go ahead and eat a Zone Diet approved snack. It's as easy as that! No more guilt, no more suffering!

The only drawback to following the Zone Diet weight loss plan is you have to pay close attention to exactly what you are eating at each and every meal. Your success depends upon feeding your body the precise ratio of carbs, protein, fat and glycemic loads. Careful calculation of all the foods you eat is required to experience dramatic weight loss results. All these calculations can be a very time consuming and many of us, especially busy moms, simply don't have the time to figure out the exact ratios for their meals each day.

Fortunately, there are many ready-made Zone Diet Recipe and menu solutions available for people who want to get into the Zone, but just don't have the time for precision food calculations. There are Zone Diet Cookbooks, label ratio tools and ingredient calculators available to make your meal planning easier. There are also Zone Diet Software programs that run all the numbers for you, and there is even a special Zone Diet Delivery option available that will deliver optimized meals right to your door.

Need more info about easy Zone Diet Menus? Check out my free Special Report: The Zone Diet Recipe Solution [http://superchargedweightloss.com/weight-loss-tips/zone-diet-recipe.htm] available at my website: Superchargedweightloss.com where I review the most popular Zone Diet Instant Recipe Solutions, provide essential facts about effective weight loss supplements [http://superchargedweightloss.com/weight-loss-supplements/weight-loss-supplements.htm] and present insightful articles about the hottest weight loss diets [http://superchargedweightloss.com/weight-loss-diets/weight-loss-diets.htm] in America.

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Top 15 Reasons to Avoid Low Carb Diets

Low carb (carbohydrate), high protein diets are the latest dieting craze. However, before you jump on the band wagon, you may want to consider a few things:

1. Low carb (ketogenic) diets deplete the healthy glycogen (the storage form of glucose) stores in your muscles and liver. When you deplete glycogen stores, you also dehydrate, often causing the scale to drop significantly in the first week or two of the diet. This is usually interpreted as fat loss when it's actually mostly from dehydration and muscle loss. By the way, this is one of the reasons that low carb diets are so popular at the moment - there is a quick initial, but deceptive drop in scale weight.

Glycogenesis (formation of glycogen) occurs in the liver and muscles when adequate quantities of carbohydrates are consumed - very little of this happens on a low carb diet.

Glycogenolysis (breakdown of glycogen) occurs when glycogen is broken down to form glucose for use as fuel.

2. Depletion of muscle glycogen causes you to fatigue easily, and makes exercise and movement uncomfortable. Research indicates that muscle fatigue increases in almost direct proportion to the rate of depletion of muscle glycogen. Bottom line is that you don't feel energetic and you exercise and move less (often without realizing it) which is not good for caloric expenditure and basal metabolic rate (metabolism).

3. Depletion of muscle glycogen leads to muscle atrophy (loss of muscle). This happens because muscle glycogen (broken down to glucose) is the fuel of choice for the muscle during movement. There is always a fuel mix, but without muscle glycogen, the muscle fibers that contract, even at rest to maintain muscle tone, contract less when glycogen is not immediately available in the muscle. Depletion of muscle glycogen also causes you to exercise and move less than normal which leads to muscle loss and the inability to maintain adequate muscle tone.

Also, in the absence of adequate carbohydrate for fuel, the body initially uses protein (muscle) and fat. the initial phase of muscle depletion is rapid, caused by the use of easily accessed muscle protein for direct metabolism or for conversion to glucose (gluconeogenesis) for fuel. Eating excess protein does not prevent this because there is a caloric deficit.

When insulin levels are chronically too low as they may be in very low carb diets, catabolism (breakdown) of muscle protein increases, and protein synthesis stops.

4. Loss of muscle causes a decrease in your basal metabolic rate (metabolism). Metabolism happens in the muscle. Less muscle and muscle tone means a slower metabolism which means fewer calories burned 24 hours-a-day.

5. Your muscles and skin lack tone and are saggy. Saggy muscles don't look good, cause saggy skin, and cause you to lose a healthy, vibrant look (even if you've also lost fat).

6. Some proponents of low carb diets recommend avoiding carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots, etc. because of they are high on the glycemic index - causing a sharp rise in insulin. Certain carbohydrates have always been, and will always be the bad guys: candy, cookies, baked goods with added sugar, sugared drinks, processed / refined white breads, pastas, and rice, and any foods with added sugar.

These are not good for health or weight loss.

However, carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grain breads and pastas, and brown rice are good for health and weight loss. Just like with proteins and fats, these carbohydrates should be eaten in moderation. Large volumes of any proteins, fats or carbohydrates are not conducive to weight loss and health.

The effect of high glycemic foods is often exaggerated. It's does matter, but to a smaller degree than is often portrayed. Also, the total glycemic effect of foods is influenced by the quantity of that food that you eat at a sitting. Smaller meals have a lower overall glycemic effect. Also, we usually eat several types of food at the same time, thereby reducing the average glycemic index of the meal, if higher glycemic foods are eaten.

Also, glycemic index values can be misleading because they are based on a standard 50 grams of carbohydrate consumed.

It wouldn't take much candy bar to get that, but it would take four cups of carrots. Do you usually eat four cups of carrots at a meal?

Regular exercisers and active people also are less effected by higher glycemic foods because much of the carbohydrate comsumed is immediately used to replenish glycogen stores in the liver and muscle.

By the way, if you're interested in lowering insulin levels, there is a great way to do that - exercise and activity.

7. Much of the weight loss on a low carb, high protein diet, especially in the first few weeks, is actually because of dehydration and muscle loss.

8. The percentage of people that re-gain the weight they've lost with most methods of weight loss is high, but it's even higher with low carb, high protein diets. This is primarily due to three factors:

A. You have lost muscle. With that comes a slower metabolism which means fewer calories are burned 24 hours-a-day. A loss of muscle during the process of losing weight is almost a guarantee for re-gaining the lost weight, and more.

B. You re-gain the healthy fluid lost because of glycogen depletion.

C. It's difficult to maintain that type of diet long-term.

D. You have not made a change to a long-term healthy lifestyle.

9. Eating too much fat is just not healthy. I know you've heard of people whose blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides have decreased while on a low carb, high protein diet. This often happens with weight loss, but it doesn't continue when you're on a diet high in fat.

There are literally reams of research over decades that clearly indicates that an increase in consumption of animal products and/or saturated fat leads to increased incidence of heart disease, strokes, gall stones, kidney stones, arthritic symptoms, certain cancers, etc. For example, in comparing countries with varying levels of meat consumption, there is a direct relationship between the volume of meat consumption in a country and the incidence of digestive cancers (stomach, intestines, rectal, etc.).

Fat is certainly necessary, and desirable in your diet, but they should be mostly healthy fats and in moderation.

Manufactured / synthetic "low fat" foods with lots of added sugar are not the answer. Neither are manufactured / synthetic "low carb" foods with artificial sweeteners or added fat. By the way, use of artificial sweeteners has never been shown to aid in weight loss and they may pose health problems.

According to Dr. Keith-Thomas Ayoob of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, "In my experience, unless you're willing to throw out decades of research, you cannot ignore that diets chronically high in saturated fats are linked to heart disease," Dr. Ayoob is also a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and says that low carb, high protein diets are an attempt at a quick fix and not a long-term lifestyle change.

10. As someone recently told me, "it must work - people are losing weight". People that are truly losing fat on low carb, high protein diets, are doing so because they are eating fewer calories - that's the bottom line. There is no magic - the same can be done on a healthy diet.

11. Low carb diets are lacking in fiber. Every plant-based food has some fiber. All animal products have no fiber. A lack of fiber increases your risk for cancers of the digestive track (because transit time is lengthened) and cardiovascular disease (because of fibers effect on fat and cholesterol). It also puts you at a higher risk for constipation and other bowel disorders.

12. Low carb diets lack sufficient quantities of the the many nutrients / phytonutrients / antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, necessary for health and aiding in prevention of cancer and heart disease. In fact, you need these nutrients even more so when you're consuming too much fat as is often the case on a low carb high protein diet.

13. Amercans already consume more than twice the amount of protein needed. Add to that a high protein diet and you have far too much protein consumption. By the way, most people don't realize that all fruits, all vegetables, all whole grains, and all legumes also contain protein. Animal products contain larger quantities of protein, but that may not be a good thing.

Excess dietary protein puts you at a higher risk for many health problems: gout (painful joints from high purine foods which are usually high protein foods), kidney disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis (excess dietary protein causes leeching of calcium from the bones). By the way, countries with lower, healthier intakes of protein also have a decreased incidence of osteoporosis.

14. Low carb, high protein diets cause an unhealthy physiological state called ketosis, a type of metabolic acidosis. You may have heard the phrase, "fat burns in the flame of carbohydrate". Excess acetyl CoA cannot enter the Krebs Cycle (you remember the old Krebs Cycle) due to insufficient OAA. In other words, for fat to burn efficiently and without production of excess toxic ketones, sufficient carbohydrate must be available. Ketosis can lead to many health problems and can be very serious at it's extreme.

15. Bad breath. Often called "keto breath" or "acetone breath", it's caused by production of acetones in a state of ketosis. So why the low carb, high protein craze? I believe there are several reasons. A. Weight loss (mostly muscle and muscle fluid) is often rapid during the first few weeks. This causes people to think they're losing fat rapidly.

B. It gives you "permission" to eat the "bad foods": bacon, eggs, burgers, steak, cheese, etc., and lots of fat.

C. Many see it as the new "magic" they've been looking for, although it's been around, in various forms, since the 1960's.

The good news is that there is a very healthy way to lose weight, feel energetic, and to greatly increase your chances of keeping it off. But that's another article.

References: - Brooks, G, Fahey, T: Exercise Physiology - Human Bioenergetics and its Applications. John Wiley and Sons, 1984.

- Cheatham, B, Kahn, CR: Insulin Action and Insulin Signaling Network. Endocrine Review 16:117, 1995
- Fain, JN: Insulin Secretion and Action. Metabolism 33:672, 1984.
- Fitts, RH: Cellular Mechanisms of Muscle Fatigue. Physiological Review 74:49, 1994
- Griffin, James, Ojeda, Sergio: Textbook of Endocrine Physiology. Oxford University Press, 2000
- Guyton, A, Hall, J: Textbook of Medical Physiology. W.B. Saunders Company, 2000.
- Herzog, W: Muscle Function in Movement and Sports. American Journal of Sports Medicine 24:S14, 1996
- Hoffman, JF, Jamieson, JD: Handbook of Physiology: Cell Physiology. Bethesda: American Physiological Society, 1997
- Kimball, SR, Vary, TC, Jefferson, LS: Regulation of Protein
Synthesis by Insulin. Annual Review Physiology 56:321, 1994.
- McArdle, William, Katch, Frank, Katch, Victor: Exercise
Physiology - Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance.
Lea and Febiger, 1981.
- Mcdougall, MD, John: The Mcdougall Plan. New Century
Publishers, 1983.
- Simopoulos, AP, Pavlou, KN: Nutrition and Fitness. Basel:
Karger, 1997
copyright 2007 by Greg Landry, M.S.
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Fat Loss, What's The Big Deal Anyway?

Why is our society so keyed in on fat loss? Have you ever thought about it? Well let's do that in the next couple of paragraphs. Let's try to break it down to reveal both the healthy and the not so healthy aspects of this fat phobic craze.

Fat is viewed in our society in a negative light and for many different reasons. Fat is looked down upon in the social arena as unattractive in both a sexual way and lack of athleticism. These are two of the most glorified things in our culture that is sex and sports. Case in point, you don't find fat ladies in bikinis adorning the covers of all the big name magazines including what might be the best example the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. You don't find fat actors though the people and events they are portraying are anything but thin and sexy. If you want to be sexy you have to experience fat loss.

Fat is also viewed as unproductive in the areas of work and health which often coexist. You obviously wouldn't find fat people in physically demanding jobs for one because if they were in those jobs they wouldn't be fat and for the other as fat people they won't do as well as thin and in-shape people would. You don't see fat soldiers, fat construction workers, fat cowboys, etc. The only way you can have success in these areas is fat loss!

Fat people are also not as productive, even in jobs that aren't as physically demanding. They are typically more unhealthy and find themselves taking more sick days. Obese people die younger of things like cancer and heart disease and diabetes and stroke. This all adds up to less years of productivity. Fat people are also less mentally and emotionally healthy which is just as important in your career (no matter what it is) as your physical health. The fact is that people would rather be bossed by, work with, buy from, and be served by people who are at least healthier appealing. This gets at both the social perception as well as the actual productivity. Fat people are on the whole less fun to be around and less productive to be around too. So fat loss is also more productive in monetary terms too.

The sad part about all of this is that often it is less the fat person's fault than us skinny people want to think. We want to think that we are thin and healthy appearing because we work harder and are addicted to food less than the obese. What scientists are finding is that this is far from the truth. Fact is that fat loss is harder for some than for others because of genes, not work-ethic, or mental health, or any of that. So fat people are victims of discrimination based on something they can't help much like the color of skin for instance. So think about it and be more humble about this than you are right now ok?

Folding vs Non-Folding Treadmills - The Real Story

Many people wonder if buying a treadmill that will fold away is a good idea or not. To answer the question, we have to go a little deeper before we can arrive at a good, logical answer. The primary concern that people have is "am I giving up something to have the capability of the treadmill to fold?" So, let's investigate this concern to uncover the answer to our topic.

What are the differences in a folding treadmill and a regular treadmill? The answer is not many. In many cases, other than frame parts, there are no differences in the physical construction of the machine. One of our owners was at a treadmill manufacturer when they decided to start building fold up treadmills. The parts list for the treadmill was identical, with the exception of a few bolts and different frame parts.

So, we have ended this discussion quickly and can move on. Right? Well, not really. The problem is not with what they put into machines in many cases. It is how they build it. If you are considering the purchase of a folding treadmill or if you think you may want one in the future, consider this question first, "why do I want one?" Most people don't realize that if you need to save room, you usually will be looking at a wall when you exercise. That is due to almost every treadmill on the market folding from the rear of the treadmill to the front. That means the front has to be placed against the wall. The few we have seen that fold from the front to the rear aren't worth buying and we haven't seen one of these for sale in quite a while.

If you want one that is easy to move around this is also a misnomer. It is true that they navigate much better due to the smaller footprint when folded, but you better have someone who is strong to handle it. Even the cheap models can weigh 120 to 150 lbs. Another reason to have one is to be able to clean easily underneath it. We can't find any problem with this logic and that is why we have folding treadmills ourselves.

The difference in the build of the treadmill is the most important feature. Icon Health and Fitness was the first company in the modern era to build a folding treadmill. The first folding treadmill was actually built in the early 1900's. Icon's original ideas have been redesigned in the past few years and have become a very good design. Most of their treadmills are easy to service, the design is very good, and they have minimized the initial problems that surfaced. The frame design is a little heavier than some of their non-folding efforts and actually creates a treadmill that should structurally last longer than other non-folding treadmills in the same price range. They sell under the brand names ProForm, Weslo, Image, NordicTrack, Reebok, and HealthRider.

Some other companies such as Keys, Everyoung, Trimline, Schwinn, and Vision sell a higher class of treadmill but in almost every case, these treadmills sacrifice quality for the ability to fold up. For instance, the Keys folding machines are much less stable than their non-folding units while an Image folding treadmill is much more stable than anything else below $2,000. Some of these manufacturers have had to add extra support to bolster their designs just to get them to stand upright when folded, using cheap kick stand-like contraptions. It is our opinion that you should start from scratch to design a folding treadmill, not modify an existing design, as many manufacturers have.

The king of the folding treadmill is unquestionably Spirit. If you look at a Spirit folding treadmill on the showroom floor, you may never realize that you are looking at a folding treadmill. You may just think that it is another $2,000 to $2,500 treadmill until the salesperson shows you that it will fold up. The amazing feature of the Spirit unit is that their folding units have so much extra structural support built into their frames. Although they still make non-folding treadmills, their folding units are much more stable and rugged than their non-folding treadmills. In other words, if you need a folding treadmill and can afford a Spirit, theirs is the way to go.