Cold, Hard Facts About Calories

From Jennifer R. Scott



Calories Still Count
For about a decade-and-a-half now, popular diet books have asked us to count fat or carbs, but what about calories? Well, no matter which way you cut it ... cutting calories is actually behind every diet.

Consider carb-cutting diets. The carbs you cut are refined carbs. What makes refined carbs the enemy? The fact that they're basically sugar.

Why do you gain weight if you eat too much sugar? Because you're eating too many calories. Exchange those "bad carbs" for "good carbs" that are better for you -- and happen to have fewer calories -- and you'll lose weight.

Bottom line: If you eat more calories than you need, you'll gain weight. Any successful weight loss method comes down to taking in fewer calories and burning extra calories with exercise.
The rest is just a new spin on an old concept.

Put it in Perspective

If you've met someone who claims they can eat anything and as much as they want and then burn it all off later with a good workout, you've got another thing coming! It just can't be done.

For example, according to calorie-count.com, a McDonald's double cheeseburger contains 460 calories...

To burn off the calories in just that one sandwich, the average 150-pound person would have to do moderate-intensity aerobics for an hour!

Add on a shake and order of fries and you might as well cancel any plans you had for the half-a-day you'll need to spend at the gym to un-do that one meal! Shocking, huh?

More Calories In = Fewer Calories Out?
Some research has suggested that eating too many calories at a time may actually make it more difficult for your body to shed excess weight when you exercise.

In the example before, if you over-eat regularly, you may not use those 400-odd calories in your hour-long aerobics session... you may actually burn fewer calories than someone who ate less.

Consider Your Caloric Goals
The average recommended caloric intake for losing weight is about 1,500-1,700 calories each day, (Most experts recommend 1,500 calories as a good weight loss diet.) but it does vary according to your weight and activity level.

To begin, you will need to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate in order to assess how many calories you need to eat each day to function. The formula considers both your weight and activity level.

Once you do this, you can begin identifying ways to cut back on the calories that are in excess of your needs.

Many people may assume the more weight they need to lose, the more calories they should cut. It's actually the other way around: The more you weigh now, the more calories you can -- and should -- eat. As you lose weight, you should cut more calories.

For example, a 210-pound person cannot subsist on 1,500 calories a day. But if that 200-pound person continues to lose weight, she can eventually cut down to that level.

A Word to the Wise
While you may find a number of 1,200 calorie diets around, it's important to remember that cutting your calories too low may actually lead to weight plateaus.

There is a "starvation mode" phenomenon that happens where your body actually withholds the calories you take in for later use -- basically, it saves them up because it "thinks" you're starving. You could end up eating much less and weighing the same ... and you could do serious damage to your health.

Plus, if you're hungry all the time, you're less likely to stick to it and more likely to binge.

Never attempt to follow a diet that includes less than 1,200 calories a day unless you are under a doctor's supervision.

Natural Remedy For Hives by Evelyn Lim

You may be one of those who are prone to getting hives on a regular basis. If so, you may wish to consider using a natural remedy for hives. Hives are normally caused by an allergic reaction to drugs or food. Your body releases chemicals that make your skin swell up in hives.

The appearance of hives is tiny red nasty bumps on your skin. After some time, hives usually go away on their own. However, your condition may become severe, especially if your immune system is low.

At this stage, most people turn to commercially available preparations, prescription medications or even allergy shots. These drug medications usually contain antihistamines and cortisone, ingredients that make them effective in controlling hives.

However, they should not be used for a long period of time as they usually result in many side effects. The alternative to conventional drug medications is to use a natural remedy to alleviate the inflammation and itch that comes with the hives.

Naturopathic doctors would recommend that what you should do first is figure out the cause of your hives even before you even begin to treat the condition. That way, you can eliminate your exposure to the allergen. For treatment, you can consider any of the following natural remedy for hives:

1. Quercetin is a plant pigment that is found in leafy green vegetables, onions, apples, and other natural foods. Quercetin acts as a natural antihistamine, which can help reduce or even completely eliminate hives in many people. Herbalists recommend taking 500 milligrams of this natural remedy for hives twice a day.

2. Sandalwood essential oil is especially used in Native American medicine wherein it is believed that hives are a fiery condition. This essential oil is well known for its calming and cooling effects. As such, many herbalists refer to Sandalwood as a sedative for the skin.

Simply add several drops of this essential oil to a cotton ball and then apply it to the infected area every three hours.

3. Mint is well known as a natural remedy with cooling effects. Mint oil can be also used to soothe the irritating symptoms of hives.

For a home remedy, you can create mint ice cubes and place them directly onto your inflamed skin. Seep 2 teaspoons of freshly crushed mint leaves in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Next, strain this tea and pour it into an ice cube tray and place it in your freezer. Apply the ice cubes that are formed onto your inflamed and irritated skin. If you have any remaining mint ice cubes, simply save them in a labeled plastic freezer bag for future use.
About the Author

Evelyn Lim is the publisher of a newsletter on Natural Home Remedies. She draws on her practical knowledge passed down by her grandmother in the use of herbs to treat common ailments. For free information and a bonus MP3 download, please visit her site at http://www.HerbalRemedyTips.com

Dieting and Fast Weight Loss
By: MN_Nikk

Dieting is considered one of the best fast weight loss solutions. The more restrictive a diet is, the faster the results will show -- or so many people think. But is it really so? I do believe that whoever comes up with these lightning-quick weight loss programs go to great lengths to ensure that nobody will be able to follow the program. And then they can safely say that you haven't seen the expected results because you did not do what you were supposed to do. And even if you would be able to stick to it, how effective and how safe is such a program?

If just want to lose 5 pounds within a week to attend that fancy party and you don't care about the price of crash dieting, then you should be fine with almost any quick diet out there. If, however, you want long-lasting results and a new, better way of life, then this type of diet is clearly not for you.

The only way you can lose weight with a fast diet is by reducing the amount of fluids in your body. So most of the time a quick diet will make you lose those 5 pounds from the water you body retains in fat tissues, muscular tissues and major organs. Unfortunately there's no way to know how your body will react to a provoked dehydration, so instead of losing the water trapped in the fat tissues, you may very well lose water trapped in your muscles or liver or brain.

If, at any point, you feel like you are a little bit slower than usual, you find it a bit hard to focus and to accomplish the common tasks of everyday life, and then you're experiencing a mild dehydration that has affected your brain. Useless to say that this can turn out to be potentially dangerous because there's no way to know when your brain will overheat because of lack of water.

This doesn't sound pretty, but it can get worse and here is how. I have seen a lot of quick diets that stress on the importance of physical exercise as a way to make your weight loss permanent. One thing is for sure: the more you exercise, the better it is for your body health and also for your mind. But, there is a "but". Combining a fast weight loss program that makes you lose water with physical exercises can lead you into really dangerous situations.

They say that you have to drink plenty of water to keep hydrated and that's true. But the fact is that once the kidneys are stimulated to work overtime, the balance of your body is affected and the results are absolutely unpredictable. If you would lose the water trapped in the fat tissues then all is fine -- unfortunately body fat contains only 25% percent water. Now guess where the rest of the water is to be found! In your muscles -- muscles contain about 75% water. Furthermore, in men, about 72% of the body mass is water and only 68% in women, due to a higher amount of body fat.

So do yourself a favor -- lose weight the smart way. With sensible diets, don't dehydrate yourself to death. The only thing that you can do when you lose water is to lose muscle mass and that's the last thing you want.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

If you want more information on why fast weight loss is bad for you, read more fast weight loss articles.

5 Fat Burners To Help You Slim Down
By: Scott T Smith

It is definitely possible to speed up your metabolism, that aspect of your body that burns calories. As you age, your metabolism slows down, chiefly because you lose around a half pound of muscle each year. "If you don't use the muscle, it atrophies," explains Pamela Peeke, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and author of Fight Fat After Forty.

Here are 5 fat burners to help you slim down.

1. Avoid alcohol

Want to keep your favorite meals from going straight to your hips (thighs, belly)? Wash them down with water, not wine. Alcohol slows your metabolism by depressing the central nervous system. A British study found that when alcohol was added to a high-fat, high-calorie meal, less dietary fat was burned off and more was stored as body fat.

2. Rev up your workouts

Interval training -- in which you add bursts of high-intensity moves into your workout -- is a surefire metabolism booster, says Glenn Gaesser, Ph.D., director of the Kinesiology Program at the University of Virginia and author of The Spark. Researchers at Laval University in Quebec found that high-intensity interval training burns more fat than regular, consistent aerobic exercise. If you usually jog at a 10-minute-mile pace, for example, add a 30-second sprint every five minutes. Or add a one-minute incline to your treadmill workout every five minutes. "Even if you just have 10 minutes for a quick workout, you can walk at a normal pace and then add in a 30-second bout of speed-walking every three minutes," recommends Gaesser.

3. Do more dairy

Women who ate low-fat dairy products, such as nonfat yogurt and low-fat cheese, three to four times a day lost 70 percent more fat than low-dairy dieters, according to a study published in the journal Obesity Research. "Calcium serves as a switch that tells your body to burn excess fat faster," explains study author Michael Zemel, M.D., director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Sorry, but you won't reap the same benefits from calcium-fortified O.J. Research shows that you get the best results from dairy products themselves, not fortified foods. Aim for 1,200 mg, which includes about three servings of dairy a day.

4. Take up a new sport

Are you like Old Faithful when it comes to your morning walk or evening jog? Know this: The more you do an activity, the more your body adapts to it, so you burn fewer calories. If you want to light a fire under your metabolism, consider cross-training. For example, if you normally walk, try biking instead. "Since you're not used to working all those different muscles, it's a more intense workout, which can translate into a greater metabolic after-burn because your body is working harder to recover and get oxygen to all your tissues," says Carol Espel, M.S., an exercise physiologist for Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City.

5. Go fish

Break out the lemon wedges: Regular fish eaters tend to have lower levels of the hormone leptin -- good because high levels of leptin have been linked to low metabolism and obesity, says Louis Aronne, M.D., an obesity specialist at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. Try to consume three to four servings of a fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna or mackerel, each week.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

Article by Scott T. Smith of Copywriting.Net. If you are sick and tired of being overweight, and are ready for weight loss solutions that really work, visit Slimstuff on the Web at www.slimstuff.com/