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Natural Weight Loss Tips

Stop investing in grapefruits and just say no to fad dieting.

No need to rehash the statistics, we simply have to start cutting down on calories. Fad diets like the famous grapefruit fast are only quick fixes. The weight drops because your caloric intake drops. But if you go back to the same way of eating, what good is having invested in the grapefruit industry? If you really want to lose weight and keep it off then use your hard, earned dollars to buy healthy food and natural dieting supplements. Use your mind to learn about lifestyle changes which will promote weight loss.

Tricking yourself into eating a healthy diet.

It’s all about breaking old behaviors and replacing them with new ones. The trick is to identify bad eating habits and then immediately replace them with healthier ones. This is called counter-conditioning: replacing one conditioned response with a new, more beneficial conditioned response. For example, if the dog is chewing on your shoes, put your shoes away and give him a bone to gnaw on. Punishing him won’t help. If you correct his behavior while he’s in the act, the habit will break more easily.

Same principle applies in cultivating healthy eating habits. Instead of beating yourself up for eating junk foods, buy a bag of baby carrots and a jar of lo-cal veggie dressing. Place them strategically on the counter underneath the cabinet where you store your chips. Now when you have the urge to snack, you have created a choice for yourself. Hopefully you go for the carrots. Prepare an arsenal of alternatives: a variety of veggies washed and cut them down to finger food size are the perfect ammunition against junk food cravings. If ice cream is your downfall, try low fat varieties or be adventurous and try ice cream made from rice.

Unplug the microwave and use it to store your oven mitts. Cooking for weight loss.

Use healthy food recipes to prepare your food. Look at ones that are based on the Mediterranean diet. Scientists have recognized it as one of the healthiest in the world. The staples are fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, seafood, yogurt, olive oil, small amounts of wine, and YES, even chocolate. Portion control is important so do like the French do: throw out your 10 inch dinner plates and replace them with 7 inch ones. The principle? Your eyes eat before your mouth does. A loaded 7 inch plate tricks you into thinking you are eating a whole lot of food.

Get a magnet and post the new dietary recommendation pyramid, which amazingly has been redesigned into the shape of a pie, and smack it onto the front of the fridge. Read it when you design your meals. Did you know that most adults should be eating 3-4 cups of fruits AND 3-4 cups of veggies a day? How about a meatless Monday? See how easy it is to satisfy your appetite with grains and vegetables.

Stop Fidgeting? Not on your life

We all do it, especially after drinking our morning coffee. We start fidgeting in our chair, tapping our toes and bouncing our knees. A new scientific study from the Mayo Institute has shown that just by doing these small movements we can burn calories and lose weight. The scientific term is “NEAT” which stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Become aware of your “fidget moments” and develop them as healthy habits. Create new ways of fidgeting: if you’re standing in line at the grocery checkout try balancing on one leg and then the other. You can do this discreetly and no one will be the wiser.

CAUTION: DON’T substitute fidgeting routines for cardiovascular exercises and a balanced diet. Losing weight is about redefining your lifestyle. It’s involves changing daily routines and developing an awareness of how much to exercise and what to eat. Just walking 30 minutes a day will help you get started burning calories. Devote half of your lunch hour to walking or squeeze in a stroll in the early morning before you get caught up in the day. This is natural. This is common sense. You have to move your body around in order to burn off fat.

Chronic Stress is a Daily Dose of Lard. How stress triggers weight gain.

Your adrenal glands produce hormones to help you deal with stress. Norepinephrine helps you take control and fight stress, epinephrine gets secreted when you realize that you may have to run away and finally cortisol kicks in when you realize the situation is hopeless. Cortisol increases the metabolism of sugars and fats to give you instant energy during stress. When the stressful situation passes all of these hormones drop back to normal levels.

However, in chronic stress you become overexposed to these hormones Constant, high levels of Cortisol cause increased appetite and weight gain. Fat from stress, a.k.a.”toxic fat”, starts accumulating in the belly area and your risk of developing cardiovascular disease skyrockets!

Decrease the impact of stress in your life. Try relaxation techniques, meditation, and cognitive therapy. Make it a priority to exercise and get at least 8 hours of sleep. Studies have shown that even a short 30 minute walk or mild exercise routine will help lower cortisol levels. Avoid excessive sugar, alcohol and caffeine.

Above all, eat a healthy diet and, EAT ENOUGH. This is counter-intuitive but people who restrict calories for weight loss and dieting are prone to stress!

Drinking Water to Lose Weight. Drink six glasses a day to keep the pounds away

One of the most effective ways to lose weight is embarrassingly simple: Drink two 8 ounce glasses of water before each meal. The reason it works is not rocket science. Filling up your stomach with water makes you feel less hungry. In a recent study conducted at Virginia Tech researchers found that study subjects who drank 16 ounces of water before each meal (and who also were on a low calorie diet) lost an average of 15.5 pounds and kept it off over the course of a year!

Herbal Formulas for Weight Loss

Water helps flush out fat that has been broken down by dieting and exercising. Although you are feeling better and losing weight, there is danger lurking. As fat cells break down, they release TOXINS into your bloodstream!

It’s not news. We live on a polluted planet. Industries are pouring millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, water and ground. When we go outside for fresh air we breathe in pollutants, when we eat fish we’re eating pesticides that have accumulated in their flesh. Land is not exempt from pollutants. Many of our vegetables are grown with the help of toxic chemicals and are sown in fields chock full of petrochemicals.

That’s the bad news. But it gets worse; our bodies accumulate all this garbage and stores it in our fat cells! It’s the most convenient method the body has to keep toxins from circulating around and getting transported into our vital organs. But when we diet all this safely stored poison is released into our bloodstream as the fat cells shrink! We now have a toxic load of chemicals floating around inside of us. Some of these slow down our metabolism and you may actually stop losing weight and start putting it on. That’s why it’s important to drink plenty of water while dieting; it helps to flush toxins out.

There are herbal formulas and nutritional supplements available which while help you detox while you diet. Keep an eye out for these ingredients when selecting products: N-Acetyl Cysteine, B Vitamins, Ashwagandha (an herb from India), Probiotics, Omega 3 Fish Oil, DHEA (men only), and Vitamin D3.

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