How is our society doing today?
Let’s look at some facts. Today, two out of three adults in the United States and a staggering number of children are overweight. It is expected that, if current trends continue, 1 out of 3 children born today will develop type II diabetes. The rates of heart disease, stroke, depression, diabetes and many other chronic degenerative illnesses are rising. In fact, 1 out of 5 high school age children already have the beginning stages of cardiovascular disease in their arteries! I could go on for pages with these depressing statistics but hopefully I have made the point - We are not healthy.
Why is this the case? That’s really not a very difficult question to answer: too much low quality food and not enough physical activity. There have been thousands of studies to support this conclusion. Don’t believe what you read in the media headlines about the latest ground breaking diet pills or wonder drugs. There aren’t any truly legitimate fast fixes. If you want to regain your health and stay healthy it’s going to take some work. But you can start with small steps by changing a couple of simple things on a daily basis. Before long you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. Let’s take a look at what we can do with our diets.
Why are we so fat?
Again, the answer to this question is somewhat obvious. We eat too much of the wrong kinds of food. Let me talk about something called the ‘glycemic index‘. This is a measure of how fast a food burns in your body and how fast it spikes your blood sugar after you eat. A high glycemic food burns fast and raises you blood sugar quickly and a low glycemic food burns slow and raises your blood sugar slowly. High glycemic foods are full of simple sugars, like high-fructose corn syrup and low glycemic foods have more fiber and complex sugars like those you get from whole grains and vegetables.
Why is this important? This is really your key to weight control. Your body needs to maintain your blood sugar in a very tight window. If you are always eating high glycemic foods then your blood sugar goes up fast and your body needs to take drastic measures to bring it down by spiking your insulin levels, a hormone that decreases blood sugar. This has the effect of crashing your blood sugar back down and this makes you feel very tired after you eat. It also makes you feel hungry again too soon because your blood sugar falls below normal and you crave something sweet to bring it up again - repeating the whole cycle. If you do this for many years, eventually your body stops reacting to its own insulin and you become pre-diabetic and have trouble maintaining your weight. If you pay attention to the glycemic index and eat foods that burn slowly you will have steady energy levels throughout the day, not get hungry as often, and not send yourself down the path toward diabetes. If you already have diabetes, then you probably know that low glycemic foods can help you maintain your blood sugar levels within the appropriate range. This is an extremely important concept in managing your weight. Forget all the crazy diets that don’t work, just pay attention to this and you’ll find yourself losing weight naturally.
Wishing you Good Health.
Simon J. Evans, PhD
Copyright 2006 Genesan3
Dr. Simon Evans is an academic research scientist with an interest in helping people improve their physical, mental and social health. To get FREE information from Dr. Evans health website and information on quality nutritional products visit: http://www.genesan3.com
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July 01 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »
Don’t you just hate it when you go on a calorie reduced weight loss plan and despite your best compliance everyone is losing weight except for you? It looks like scientists are getting closer and closer to finding an answer to this perplexing situation. Our genes may have something to do with it. Not our favorite pair of Lucky jeans, but our genetic makeup.
A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, identified a variation of the gene known as perilipin. The variation of this gene appears to cause some people to become resistant to weight loss from low calorie diets.
The study followed 48 obese men and women who all followed a low calorie diet for a year. The participants who had the more common strain of perilipin lost an average of 20 pounds during the year and the participants who carried the variation of the gene did not experience significant weight changes despite excellent compliance. The researchers say that somehow the connection between calorie intake and body weight is interrupted leaving this population unable to lose weight with calorie restriction alone.
Interestingly enough, a previous study showed that this specific variation of perilipin was linked with a lower risk of obesity but in this study it was associated with weight loss resistance. Researchers think this gene may actually protect against initial weight gain specifically with lean women but once you gain the weight it actually prevents weight loss. So in short the good news is if you have this gene you may have a difficult time gaining weight but the down side is if you already have gained the weight it might be more difficult to get it down.
Does this mean there’s no hope? Absolutely not- this is very early research and there is still so much more to find out about how our genetics tie into weight issues. These research studies still need to be reproduced in other populations before we know for certain what is happening. The other important thing to note is the fact that this study only looked at the relationship between low calorie diets and weight loss which just shows us again that “one size fits all diets” do not work for everyone. Calories are just one piece of the puzzle. Make sure your weight loss program deals with all the issues around weight, with an individualized approach, and not just one piece.
About the author
Owner of Real Living Nutrition Services, Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. She specializes in weight management and offers online programs to help people reach their weight loss and health goals. For more information or to sign up for our free newsletter visit http://www.reallivingnutrition.com.
Tags: diets, fitness, genetics and obesity, health, weight loss, Weight Loss Programs, wellnessdiets, fitness, genetics and obesity, health, weight loss, Weight Loss Programs, wellnessShare This
June 30 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »
Free weight loss programs are available for dieters not able to spend money on paid weight loss programs. These can be through the Internet or through regular meetings. Often behavioral changes that are meant to prevent a person from venturing on an eating binge are recommended and offered for free. In free trials, the diet is changed for few days. By replacing high calorie food items with low calorie substitutes, the effect of the diet can be noticed within a few weeks.
These programs provide similar resources as paid programs to dieters on taking charge of their own weight loss. Such programs usually lack individual guidance, and that is a major drawback. Secondly, the quality of free programs is often not as high as with paid programs. Thirdly, users tend to complain about vague plans not carefully planned or set out. Attention to detail is usually kept only to the bare minimum. Another drawback is the possibility of health damage due to improper diet and menu suggested.
One needs to avoid extremes mentioned in these weight loss programs/plans and decide for oneself the way a particular plan is to be administered or modified as the case may be. Free weight loss plans are a good way of starting out on weight loss programs and gaining knowledge of the same. They can serve as important aids in selecting the best-paid weight loss program later. Besides, many dieters claim to have been significantly benefited by such programs and thus, experimenting with them sounds a reasonable proposition. These programs mostly come with a ‘try at your own risk’ tagline and therefore discretion is essential when starting with these programs.
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June 29 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »
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