Quick Weight Loss

July 21, 2008 by seokumar

Introduction:

The term Quick Weight Loss is used for the quick weight loss programs. It is a fast method of losing weight using diet aids like drinks, prepackaged foods, or diet pills etc.

The Quick Weight Loss programs include special dietary programs fabricated & recommended by the experts.

The Quick Weight Loss program combines individual supervision with a well-balanced food program that is based on regular everyday food purchased from the supermarket, along with a specially formulated vitamin and other weight loss aids.

There are numerous the Quick Weight Loss centers all over the world. These centers offer comprehensive weight reduction programs to their customers. The programs are professionally supervised for the safest results and nutritionally designed to develop proper eating habits. The experts offer daily supervision, individual counseling, and behavioral education, all of which contribute to the safety and effectiveness of the programs.

A comprehensive health history of a person is recorded in a Quick Weight Loss program. The experts make thorough study of the health history and recommends specific dietary programs. The nutritional plans generally provide 1,000 to 1,500 calories daily and contain carefully planned foods that are low in carbohydrates, fats, and sodium. The caloric restrictions are determined by degree of obesity, health profile, and age.

Opinion:

The Quick Weight Loss method is a controversial method. The experts are divided over the Quick Weight Loss method. They have differences of opinions over the methods. The critics of the quick weight loss methods say that it does not provide lasting results. Some critics voice that the quick weight loss methods offer very tough unhealthy dietary plans. Thus its critics see various drawbacks in the method.

But on the contrary, the advocates of the Quick Weight Loss method say that it is highly efficient method and it can fetch the quick results. The advocates praise it for bringing fast results.

Flaws:

The Quick Weight Loss is no doubt fast and effective, but it is not flawless. It is not safe method of losing weight. The following are some drawbacks of the program.

  1. Doesn’t Encourage Physical Activity — The Quick Weight Loss method doesn’t encourage physical activity. The physical activity helps to maintain weight loss over a long time. Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease. It increases the risk of stroke, too.
  2. Drastic Changes In Eating Patterns — The quick-weight-loss requires drastic changes in eating patterns; one can’t stay on them for long. People on such diets don’t learn anything about permanently changing their eating patterns.
  3. Fad Diets Are Unhealthy — The Fad Diets, which are part of many Quick Weight Loss programs, are Unhealthy. The fad diets can cause weight cycling.

The Best Method to Lose Weight:

The Best Method to Lose Weight is to consume a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat dairy products, along with regular physical activity. It can help most people manage and maintain weight loss for both cardiovascular health and appearance. The experts recommend people to take a safe and proven route of losing and maintaining weight.

Negative Calorie Foods

July 21, 2008 by seokumar

Introduction:

The Negative Calorie Food is a food that creates negative calorie effects, which helps to lose weight.

The Negative Calorie Foods are foods that consume more calories to digest than the calories food actually contains. The Negative Calorie Foods produce fewer food calories than the calories needed to digest them.

The calories provided by these foods are much harder for the body to use. In simple words, the body has to work hard in order to extract calories from these foods. Even though foods may contain equal amount of calories, much less of these calories can possibly turn into fat in fat burning foods (negative calorie foods) as fewer calories are actually available to the body. This gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage.

The Negative Calorie Foods have maximum benefits when eaten without any empty calorie foods (junk foods). There are several vegetables and fruits that have negative calorie effect. The foods highly generous in the negative calorie effect include Asparagus, Beets, Carrot, Zucchini, Papaya, Strawberry, Raspberry, etc.

The Negative Calorie vegetables include Asparagus, Beet Root, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery Chicory, Hot Chili, Cucumber, Garden cress, Garlic, Green Beans, Lettuce, Onion, Radish, Spinach, Turnip, and Zucchini etc.

The Negative Calorie Fruits include Apple, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Cranberry, Grapefruit Honeydew, Lemon/Lime, Mango, Orange, Papaya, Peach Pineapple, Raspberry, Strawberry, Tomato, Tangerine, Turnip, Watermelon etc.

Working :

The normal foods have a nutrient (carbohydrate, fat, and protein), caloric (calories) and vitamin & mineral content. Vitamins stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that breakdown the caloric nutrients of that food.

The weight losing process requires to burn more calories than one consumes. The Negative Calorie diet works on the concept that certain negative calorie foods contain a surplus of vitamins and minerals which can speed up enzyme production in quantities sufficient to break down not only its own calories, but possible additional calories present in the digestion system. This is the wonderful secret of The Negative Calorie Foods.

Opinion :

The Negative Calorie Food theory is controversial because it is not scientifically well accepted. There is no clear evidence that any foods are truly negative calorie. The critics of the Negative Calorie food argue that no foods possess ‘negative’ calories and one cannot eat in one’s own way to weight loss. They also purport that by following the Negative Calorie food one is potentially offsetting one’s positive calorie energy reserves, cancelling out the effectiveness of weight training. This criticism argues that one needs calories to create energy both for exercise and for recovering from exercise.

On the contrary, the advocates of the Negative Calorie Diet concede it is true that there is no such food, which contain ‘negative calories’. However, they do argue that the by ingesting certain foods certainly increases the metabolic processes that can result in weight loss.

Risks Due To Obesity

July 2, 2008 by seokumar

Obesity is considered to be a major risk factor for development of coronary artery disease (heart disease). This is so as obesity can result in the development of atherosclerotic heart disease. This leads to the development of fatty plaques on the walls of the blood vessels. This leads to narrowing of the blood vessels. This can result in development of clots within the blood vessels which can lead to hypertension, stroke, heart attack etc.
Thus obese people should seriously consider a weight loss program in order to stay healthy. Health should be the main concern for healthy people.

Differences do exist between men and women. For women, it would appear that regular attendance of religious service is negatively related to obesity but that the above religious media practice is positively related. However, the more that a man is religious, the less likely he is to be obese. What ever it is, the risks of obesity and its side effects increase with the age. Weight loss in not an easy task but without trying nothing can be done.

Obesity For Being Fat – Pleasure Or Pain ?

July 2, 2008 by seokumar

Being fat has often been a life of hell. Social distancing, prejudice, lack of ability and missed opportunities, to name a few, are only surface issues. Fat people suffer. The bigger you are the more you suffer. Many just give in out of desperation by taking solace in food and its sensual pleasure as well as the psychological sensations produced by the brain chemistries of sugar metabolism and the release of serotonin. Weight loss exercise that is uncomfortable for a normal person becomes very painful, if not impossible for a super-obese person.

Eventually even if a fat person tries to relax and accept the limitations of fatness the consequences may bring a harsh reality such as the loss of physical ability and possible total immobility. This is a life that some may see as worse than death. While others may view this sort of life as being preferable.

Weight Loss For Pills

June 26, 2008 by seokumar

The weight loss is the process of losing body weight, typically by losing fat. The weight loss can be achieved by consuming low-calorie diets and completely expending the consumed calories. There are different methods to achieve weight loss. It can be achieved by reducing the amount of food consumed, increasing physical activity or a combination of the two. The experts recommend a combination of healthy eating patterns and regular physical exercise for a healthy weight loss.

The Weight loss can also be achieved by surgical methods. Liposuction removes targeted area of fat and tissue while bariatric surgeries can result in large weight loss by reducing the size of the stomach or reducing the absorption of food energy. The surgical and drug options may have serious side effects.

Weight Loss Pills or drugs : The weight loss diet pills are one of the methods of losing weight. The Weight loss pills are medication or drug that helps losing weight. The Weight loss pills may also termed as anti-obesity drugs. The anti-obesity drugs include all pharmacological treatments intended to reduce or control weight. The weight loss pills or anti-obesity drugs may be prescribed or herbal drugs or chemicals that decrease appetite and/or increase physical
activity, such as fenfluoramine, ephedra, nicotine or cocaine.

As these drugs are intended to alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, the weight loss drugs are medically prescribed only in cases of morbid obesity, where weight loss is life-saving.

The Weight loss pills or Anti-obesity drugs operate through one or more of the following mechanisms:

  1. Suppression of the appetite.
  2. Increase of the body’s metabolism.
  3. Interference with the body’s ability to absorb specific nutrients in food.

Anorectics : The Anorectics are substances that reduce the desire to eat. The Anorectics are also known as Anorexigenics. The Anorectics primarily intended to suppress the appetite, but most of the drugs in this class also act as stimulants (dexedrine, e.g.), and patients have abused drugs “off label” to suppress appetite (e.g. digoxin). These appetite suppressants are used to treat obesity.

Amphetamine : Amphetamine is a synthetic drug used as an appetite suppressant. Amphetamine and its derivatives (amphetamines) are part of a broader class of compounds called phenethylamines.

Fen-phen : Fen-phen, an anorectic, was an anti-obesity medication, which consisted of two drugs: fenfluramine and phentermine.

  1. Fenfluramine, also known as Pondimin, was introduced on the U.S. market in 1973. Fenfluramine was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1997 after reports of heart valve disease and pulmonary hypertension.
  2. Phentermine is still available by itself in most countries, including the U.S. Internationally. Phentermine is a Schedule IV drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances

Ephedra : Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in the family Ephedraceae and order Ephedrales. These plants occur in dry climates over a wide area mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, across southern Europe, north Africa, southwest and central Asia, southwestern North America, and, in the Southern Hemisphere, in South America south to Patagonia. They are also called Joint-pine, Jointfir, or Mormon-tea. The Chinese name is ‘ma huang’, which means “yellow hemp”. Ephedra is also sometimes called sea grape (from the French raisin de mer), although that is also a common name for Coccoloba uvifera.

Ephedra was found in many popular weight control products. On December 30, 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration announced a ban (effective from 12 April 2004) on the uncontrolled sale of supplement products containing Ephedra, citing “an unreasonable risk of illness or injury” from the use of the drug. On 14 April 2005, this ban was struck down on procedural grounds by Utah federal judge Tena Campbell.

Ephedrine is considered a performance-enhancing drug and is prohibited in most competitive sports. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the Argentine footballer Diego Armando Maradona tested positive for ephedrine in a doping control for using one dietary supplement product containing the substance.

Cocaine : Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant.

Side Effects : The use of the weight loss medication can cause some serious side effects including physical illness or disorders, heart valve disease, pulmonary hypertension etc.

Many amphetamines produce side effects including addiction, tachycardia and hypertension, making prolonged unsupervised use dangerous.

A loss of weight can also be the symptom of some mental or physical diseases or disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or the cachexia associated with cancer or AIDS.

Weight Loss For Diet

June 26, 2008 by seokumar

The word ‘Diet’ literally means the usual food and drink that a person consumes during the course of a day.

The practice of consuming a diet in order to lose weight is known as ‘Dieting’.

The term ‘Dieting’ is usually used for losing weight but it is also used in some cases to gain weight or to regulate the amounts of certain nutrients entering the body.

The diet that facilitates losing weight is known as the ‘Weight Loss Diet’. The ‘Weight Loss Diet’ is also referred to as obesity diet or reducing diet (especially fat). The term ‘Weight Loss Diet’ is sometimes confused with ‘Fad Diet’.

Fad Diet : The diet that promotes a restricted eating-plan or certain liquid foods lacking sufficient food value is termed as Fad Diet. The fad diets are very low in calories so they cause quite fast weight loss. However, quick weight loss may not be healthy and – in most cases – is not fat loss. It is actually water-loss which is quickly regained when the dieter resumes normal eating. The fad diets can cause weight cycling, so fad dieting in also dubbed as ‘Yo-Yo dieting’, which means a continuing pattern of gaining and losing weight. The fad diets are considered unhealthy. The common examples of Fad diets include the Cabbage Soup Diet and the Grapefruit Diet.

Good Weight Loss Diet : The diet that helps losing weight in a positive manner is a good Weight Loss Diet. It does not reduce the energy. A balanced low fat diet is considered as the best weight loss diet. A balanced low fat diet is high in healthy carbohydrates, low in fat and moderate in protein.

A good Weight Loss Diet should be rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, which are specially recommended for weight control and preventing diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Low-fat hi-carb diet : The ‘Low-fat hi-carb diet’ is considered a good weight loss diet. The ‘Low-fat hi-carb diet’ is the diet in fat AND high in complex carbohydrates. The Low-fat hi-carb diets are also recommended for optimal athletic performance. The high-fat as well as high-protein diets both are unhealthy. The fat contains more than twice the calories of other foods and it seven times more easily converted to body fat than carbohydrates.

The CARMEN study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, divulged, how increasing carbohydrate intake could help weight control. The study showed that when volunteers increased their consumption of carbohydrates and reduced their consumption of fat, they were able to lose body fat and maintain this weight loss without counting calories or embarking on awkward or life-changing slimming regimes.

The diets rich in complex carbohydrates are less fattening, very healthy and much less easily converted to body fat. The complex carbohydrates are made up of ‘complex’ molecules, so it takes longer for body to digest them. The complex carbohydrates make body stay full for longer without upsetting the system. One should eat about 60% of his/her calories in the form of complex carbohydrates.

The foods high in complex carbohydrates include whole meal bread, potatoes, pasta, rice (esp. brown) fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes.

Objective : The goal of a good weight loss diet should be to improve the long term eating habits. The weight loss diet or weight loss program that does not teach good long-term eating habits can not solve weight problem.

  1. The diet should include all food groups.
  2. The diet should offer an eating plan that can be followed for life.
  3. The diet should include enough information to help a person make informed choices on calories, fat and general dietary modification.

Therefore, all fad diets, fat-burning diets, single-food diets, diet supplements, expensive pre-packaged diet foods and all weight loss gimmicks like weight loss patches, appetite suppressants and ‘fat-burning’ weight loss supplements are not likely to tackle the weight loss problem.

Obesity Due To Fast Food

June 25, 2008 by seokumar

The imminent danger of fast food culture and obesity concern has become the world phenomenon today. The obesity problem has crept faster as the burst of fast foods all throughout the world. One cannot just blame McDonald anyway. The fast food has been so appealing to the whole world practically due to its recipes that are considered to be hot, tasty and greasy.

In addition fast foods are constant and convenient too. The food (calories) we consume is utilized in the body to meet the basic metabolic demands. This is higher in people who are regularly physically active. If calories consumed as food are greater than the calories used every day, the excess calories are stored by the body as fat.

The fast foods are undoubtedly delicious and conveniently handy and doe not consume more time to ingest as compared to the conventional food preparations. The ultimate conclusion is obesity.

General Obesity

June 25, 2008 by seokumar

Obesity has become one of the most serious medical problems of the western world. This is important as a protection for the body against times of starvation. In developed countries like Europe and America where food is plentiful, and a lot of available food is much higher in calories than is actually used up tendency for developing obesity is quite common. Obesity is measured in terms of BMI or body mass index. BMI of 30 and above is defined as obesity. When body weight increases to such an extent that it puts health at risk then one is no longer just labeled as’ over-weight’. At this point the excessive weight becomes a pathological disorder and is termed as ‘obesity’.As soon as you start weight loss . regime the better it is.

The traditional foods not only consume more time preparing, need enough infrastructures too. The fast foods are rich in fats, proteins and calories which in turn help people gain more and more weight.

Two Factors Treatment Of Obesity

June 3, 2008 by seokumar

Treatment of obesity depends on two factors: how overweight is a person and how good is his or her general health. The most important point is that to be successful, any treatment must effect lifelong, not short-term, changes. Many people try “yo-yo” dieting. Yo-yo dieting is a pattern in which a person tries some kind of diet for a few weeks or a few months and then quits the diet. Later on, the person tries the same diet again or a new one.

As a result, the person is constantly losing weight and then regaining it. This pattern can be very dangerous. A person who practices yo-yo dieting is more likely to develop fatal health problems than someone who lost the weight all at once and kept it off or someone who never lost the weight at all.

Effective treatment for obesity depends on a few general issues, such as:

  1. What and how much a person eats. Patients are often asked to keep a food diary listing the foods they eat each day. Then they can analyze their diet to determine its nutritional value and the fat content of foods. The patient may be encouraged to change his or her grocery-shopping habits. For example, buying only the items on a shopping list prevents a person from buying other foods on impulse. Patients can also be taught to eat smaller, more frequent meals and to slow down the rate at which they eat during meals.
  2. How a person responds to food. Patients can be taught that eating can reflect psychological issues. For example, a person under stress may binge—that is, eat large amounts of food at once. With this understanding, a person may be able to find other ways of dealing with emotional issues besides eating.
  3. How they spend their time. Many obese people engage in little or no exercise. By making exercise a regular part of their lives, they may be able to lose weight and to keep it off. A variety of exercises can be tried so that the patient does not become bored with only one kind of activity.

For most individuals who are mildly obese, changes of this kind can be made with or without consulting a physician. Other mildly obese people may seek the help of a commercial weight-loss program, such as Weight Watchers. The success of such programs is difficult to measure, however. The programs themselves vary from the highly reputable to the less promising. Also, people tend to drop out of such programs quickly, so it is difficult to judge how effective any one program might be in helping a person lose weight.

Generally speaking, people should be cautious of programs that offer quick and easy results. Losing weight usually requires significant lifestyle changes, including diet and amount of exercise.

People who are moderately obese may require a higher level of professional help. A common approach is to recommend a balanced diet of no more than 1,500 calories per day. Less commonly, a doctor may recommend a verylow-calorie liquid protein diet. A diet of this kind provides no more than 700 calories a day and may be continued for up to three months. This kind of diet should not be confused with commercial liquid protein diets or commercial weight-loss shakes and drinks. Doctors design these diets for the specific needs of each individual patient.

Doctors may also recommend counseling for obese patients. Counseling sometimes helps people deal with psychological issues that lead to their weight-gain problems.

Dietary and lifestyle changes are useful with severely obese patients. But such patients may need even more aggressive treatment. For example, surgery may be performed to decrease the size of a person’s stomach or small intestine. The purpose of this kind of surgery is to reduce the volume of food a person can eat.

Other forms of obesity surgery are sometimes performed. Liposuction, for example, is a procedure in which fat is removed from beneath the skin. Liposuction is of little or no value in solving a person’s obesity problems. It may change his or her physical appearance, but it does not solve any of the underlying problems that lead to obesity in the first place.

The only weight-loss drug available without a prescription is phenyl-propanolamine (pronounced FEN-uhl-PRO-puh-NOL-uh-meen, trade names Acutrim, Dexatrim). This drug has been found to increase weight loss by a factor of about 5 percent. The problem is that the weight tends to return as soon as the drug is discontinued.

Some of the side effects that may accompany the use of weight-loss drugs include:

  1. Constipation
  2. Dry mouth
  3. Headache
  4. Irritability
  5. Nausea
  6. Nervousness
  7. Sweating

Alternative Treatment For Obesity

June 3, 2008 by seokumar

Some alternative forms of treatment for obesity have problems similar to those of drugs. For example, the Chinese herb ephedra has been recommended in a weight-loss program that also includes a low-fat diet and exercise. The herb does help a person lose weight on a short-term basis. But the weight tends to return when use of the herb is discontinued. In addition, large amounts of ephedra can produce a number of side effects, such as anxiety, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, high blood pressure, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, seizures, stroke, and even death.

Diuretic herbs have also been suggested for the treatment of obesity. A diuretic is a substance that increases the rate of urine output. As a person produces more urine, his or her weight decreases. However, once the herb is discontinued, urine production returns to normal, as does obesity.

Other natural remedies that have been suggested for weight loss include:

  1. Red peppers and mustard, because they increase a person’s metabolic rate (the rate at which food is digested). They also make a person thirsty, so he or she is more likely to drink water (which contains no calories) than to eat food.
  2. Walnuts, because they increase the level of brain chemicals that tell a person he or she is no longer hungry.
  3. Dandelion, because it increases the metabolic rate and decreases desire for sugary foods.

Acupressure and acupuncture are also said to decrease the desire for food. Acupuncture is a Chinese therapy that uses fine needles to pierce the body; acupressure involves applying pressure to certain points in the body. Mental techniques such as visualization and meditation may create a better self-image and decrease the need to overeat. Mental concentration, yoga, and similar techniques may provide similar benefits. In many cases, support groups can help a person deal with the problems that led to his or her obesity.