Way Too Fat     

This article:

Feeding the obesity epidemic

Contains a number of fun facts:

- “Firearms will kill about 30,000 Americans in 2008, but obesity will kill 75,000 people.”

- “Since the 1970s, the U.S. obesity rate has doubled; two-thirds of our population is now overweight. (200 million fat Americans)”

- “Diabetes eats up one of every $5 Americans spend on health care.”

- “And today, a whopping 35% of our weekly caloric intake is consumed in restaurants. That’s up from 23% in the 1970s.”

- “At Outback, the Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing comes loaded with 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat.”

- “In a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Public Health, consumers presented with obviously high-calorie restaurant foods still underestimated the nutritional heft of the items by an average of 600 calories.”

- “Eating 600 unexpected calories just once a week would add an extra 9 pounds to the average American’s weight each year.”

Three things become obvious after reading this article:

1) Someone needs to discover a cure for diabetes, or a cheaper way to treat it. That “$1 in $5″ statistic is amazing. In the ideal world, the government would sponsor a $1 billion “let’s end diabetes” research program, or DARPA might create “The Diabetes Challenge” with a $10 million prize.

2) Restaurants really should put nutritional info on their menus.

3) Since the NRA opposes putting nutritional info on menus, I will make the following prediction: either a new or existing restaurant will start putting nutritional info on its menus and will be very successful doing it. This seems like an exact parallel to airbags. All car manufacturers once opposed airbags (”too expensive!”). Then one car company broke ranks, made airbags available and was successful. Now we all have airbgs.

Labels: fun facts, obesity, USA Today

Most of us, in an effort to find ways for shedding a few lbs within a minimum time possible, either starve or opt for very strenuous physical exercises to achieve the goal of weight loss. Actually it is not required if we take the right kind of food to lose weight.

There are certain types of food which when consumed, actually burn more fat than the calorific value of the food itself. These kinds of foods are also known as negative calorie foods. They are classified into three different groups such as the citrus group – consisting of lemons, limes, tangerines, grapefruit, oranges, kiwi fruit etc, the cellulose rich fruits and vegetables group consisting of cabbage, asparagus, beetroot, broccoli, blueberries, apple, watermelon etc and the dairy group of foods including non fat milk, white cheese and low fat yogurt. As far as dairy products are concerned, they have clinically proved it that calcium rich dairy foods help in weight loss by increasing the breakdown of fat in fat cells. Hence, non-fatty dairy products should be included in the diet towards weight loss. When these foods are combined with mild exercise, tremendous results are achieved.

Cinnamon is the oldest spice which was once considered to be more precious than gold and were used by the early Egyptians for medicinal purposes and for flavor in foods. It was accidentally found that foods containing cinnamon helped in reducing the blood sugar level in the body. If cinnamon is added to the diet in any of the forms such as herbal tonic, or as a capsule or by sprinkling over foods, it tends to reduce weight.

Foods which are metabolism friendly and the carbohydrates with lower or moderate glycemic indexes help in weight loss. Normally foods which are rich in protein are low in carbohydrates and in turn are with low glycemic index. Such foods are eggs, turkey, fish, red meat, ostrich, chicken etc. To minimize fat, lean cuts of meat, or chicken without skin can be eaten. Soy products like tofu, soymilk, soy powder etc are very good for weight reduction.

Raw vegetables and green leafy vegetables are lower in glycemic index, carbohydrates and fat and they are very much higher in minerals, vitamins, anti oxidants and fiber than when they are cooked. Fruits with high glycemic index need to be avoided and those with lower glycemic index can be consumed.

Article Source http://www.freearticalespro.com/Article/Right Diet Regime Help Reduce Weight

Lesley Lyon contributes regularly to www.healthopts.com which has many informative articles on weight loss.

Labels: routine

The myths about weight loss are making rounds everywhere and they never cease to end, as the people are very much concerned and are in the look out for easy way to lose weight, hence lots of wrong theories going around. Listed Below are some weight loss myths along with corresponding facts.

Myths Pertaining to Physical Exercises:

Myth: Exercise when done on an empty stomach results in more fat burn out.

Fact: The weight loss is said to be effective when the calories consumed are burned the same day no matter, how they are burned. Hence the impact of exercising with an empty stomach is the same as with a full stomach. Studies have revealed that the increase in metabolism seen in anaerobic exercise is reduced after a full meal. It means that more energy is used for digestion than to repair muscles.

Myth: The more the exercise the more the benefit.

Fact: It is not true. Even though every exercise session is good for an individual, there is a required level and frequency to get optimum results. After the optimum level, the exercise done will have an opposite effect by not allowing the body to cope up with the stress created by the exercise, which can be actually detrimental towards weight loss.

Myth: Muscle turns into fat once the exercise is stopped.

Fact: It is not true. Muscles, as a matter of fact, cannot be converted into fat as they are entirely different kinds of tissues. When the exercise is stopped, the muscles shrink but do not disappear. If the calorie intake is more, which is not burned it actually deposits as fat.

Myth: More the Sweat, More the hard work is done.

Fact: This too is not true, as sweating is the body’s cooling ability. Sweat can be due to lot of factors like body temperature, type of exercise done, fat deposition of the body, room temperature, the kind of clothing used for exercise, and the intensity of exercise done.

Myth: Drinking water while exercising might lead to cramps.

Fact: If more litres of ice cold water are drunk in one go while doing exercise may result in cramps. Hence, it is good to drink water consistently before, during and after exercises in order to replace the fluid lost and to avoid any discomfort being caused.

Myth: exercise done to tone the abdominal muscles also tones potbelly.

Fact: When exercise is done for the abdominal region only that region gets toned up. The fat deposits are not burned, reducing the potbelly. Fat reduction happens uniformly throughout the body and there is no possibility for spot reduction.

Article Source http://www.freearticalespro.com/Article/Weight Loss Myths and Corresponding Facts

Lesley Lyon contributes regularly to www.healthopts.com which has many informative articles on weight loss.

Labels: myths