Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

WEIGHT LOSS: IF I EAT PERFECTLY ON THIS PLAN, WILL I NEED TO TAKE DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS?

Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Answer: Although this plan is beautifully balanced among the macronutrients, there is no way you can receive the amount of micronutrients you need on a diet that is less than several thousand calories a day. Obviously this menu plan does not fit that category. More and more studies are proving what many of us have known for years: We need supplemental nutrition, given our stress levels, our poor dietary history (past deficiencies), the diminished quality of the food items we purchase in the supermarkets, environmental pollutants, and the other side effects of civilization.
This is particularly true for those individuals who have dieted frequently over the years. Reducing diets are so lacking in the micronutrients that are essential for human health that significant health challenges accompany those long-standing deficiencies. They simply will not be resolved by wishful thinking or adding a synthetic one-a-day vitamin.
I put all my clients on a comprehensive supplement program to meet their current needs and to correct past deficiencies. When I meet face-to-face with a client, I can write a program that is specific to his or her needs, but in this forum I will need to make some generalizations. Please keep in mind that this program may need to be fine-tuned to meet your personal needs.
You’re probably saying, “I’m going to be spending a lot of money on supplements!” Yes, you will. I wish there were an easier, cheaper way to bring your body into nutritional balance, but there isn’t. The truth is grim: Most Americans are seriously undernourished, and no group is at greater risk than dieters. You have been slowly starving your body to death over the years; you cannot recuperate overnight, even with the most perfect diet and the most perfect lifestyle.
You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars per month in supplements, however. Some inferior products are extremely expensive; others are extremely inexpensive. However, follow this one rule: High-quality supplements can seldom be found in a grocery, drugstore, discount store, or mail-order house. They are seldom found in the multilevel market industry. You will be told from time to time: “Just buy the cheapest vitamin on the market; they’re all the same.” That simply isn’t true. While you don’t need to pay megabucks, you can’t pay microbucks either. You need to educate yourself on the subject of supplemental nutrition. Use the recommendations in this section to evaluate your products. Develop a relationship with the staff at your local health food store, and read, read, read! Purchase some reference books on nutrition and study the subject. Learn how to nourish your body!
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HYPERTENSION: WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN?

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
160/95. 120/80. Systolic. Diastolic. What does it all mean?
Essentially, blood pressure is the force that blood exerts against the walls of your arteries as it is being pumped by the heart to the different parts of the body. The two numbers in a blood pressure reading are recordings of two different kinds of pressure that your doctor takes using an inflatable cuff wrapped around your arm. One is taken when the heart is pushing blood out into the body through its two major arteries (the pulmonary artery and the aorta) and they are fully distended while the  heart itself contracts. This is the maximum pressure of the heartbeat (or “systolic” pressure as it is called) — the higher number in the reading.
The second reading is taken when the heart relaxes between beats. This is the minimum (or “diastolic”) pressure — the lower number in the reading. Blood pressure, in other words, is expressed as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure.
What is a normal reading? Though it is not possible to have a fixed, immutable number that’s “normal” for everybody, some kind of standard is obviously needed. For young and middle-aged persons, a reading of 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) is considered ideal. High blood pressure, requiring treatment, is generally defined as starting at 140/90. That leaves a large grey area in between that doctors call “borderline hypertension”.
The higher your blood pressure, the greater your risk. However, one high reading does not make you a hypertensive. That is because blood pressure can vary from hour to hour even in healthy people. So most doctors will not make the diagnosis of hypertension unless your blood pressure is high on at least three separate occasions.
Is your doctor’s clinic the best place to have your blood pressure measured? Possibly not. Some people’s b.p. readings go up perhaps because they’re anxious in a medical environment —a phenomenon known as “white-coat hypertension”. Today do-it-yourself kits are available, which enable you to measure your blood pressure at home. If your doctor agrees that’s a good idea in your case, ask what type of equipment to buy. And be sure that you and a family member are both taught how to take your blood pressure; a doctor or nurse is usually the best person to show you.
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WEIGHT LOSS: CONTROLLED, NOT CURED

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Before you start on your own personal weight-loss program, using my guidelines, you must accept one fact: Your weight problem is permanent. I’ve said it before, but I need to say it again so you don’t make the mistake of taking on this project as a “summer diet” or a “three-month plan” or to diet just until you get your weight down to where you want it. To really succeed in weight management over the long term, you will never again be able to look at food as casually as you have until this point. Now you must view yourself just as though you were an alcoholic.
Before an alcoholic can recover, he must acknowledge: “I am an alcoholic.” He has to recognize the fact that he will remain an alcoholic throughout his lifetime, even if he never touches another drop of alcohol. He is permanently alcoholic.
You are permanently overweight. Remember that, because if you follow my program for a few months, drop your excess weight, and resume your old eating patterns, you will regain every pound of fat you lost, plus several more. You’ve seen why this happened in the past, and it will happen again. Your old weight will return with a vengeance, and you’ll feel just as bad as you did before. You can NEVER resume your old way of eating without suffering the consequences. In a very tangible sense, you have a physical disability that you cannot cure; you can only control it. You have a permanent weight problem!
In those two words, “control it,” you can literally set yourself free, because even though you can’t cure your obesity, you need never be fat again! Some of you are going to find it difficult to set aside some foods you love dearly in exchange for foods that don’t offer as much sensuous gratification. But stay with me, because I offer you the tools to permanently change how much you weigh, even if I can’t “cure” your weight problem. I offer you the tools to reshape the health of your body!
Throughout this book I have stressed the principle of dietary balance. I’m not advocating some faddish, off-the-wall diet plan that sets you up for failure at the end of the program. I’m teaching you the secret of permanent weight control, which is the balance of dietary proteins, fats, and carbohydrates at every meal, every time you put food in your mouth. I want dietary balance to become second nature to you so that whenever and wherever you eat, you’ll automatically put these principles to work for you.
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CRITICAL PERIODS FOR FAT GAIN: STRATEGIES TO PREVENT RELAPSE

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Many of the changes discussed above that occur over the longer term with slimming make relapse a key issue in fat loss maintenance. Long term studies (i.e. over 10 years) show that the cure rate for obesity is usually no more than 5-10 per cent. Even 1-2 year follow-ups with females show a high attrition rate (i.e. 40-60 per cent) and the success rate for males is largely unknown. About 80 per cent of people who go on a fat loss program can lose 10-20 per cent of their weight in up to 20 weeks without too much pain. However, within 12 months, about one-third of those who have lost fat will have regained it. The problem is even worse for those following a very low energy diet. Regain occurs around 76 per cent of those who were successful at keeping weight off over the long term had built exercise into their lifestyle compared with only 36 per cent of those who had failed. More maintainers than regainers (73-40 per cent) had also developed a personal eating plan as a lifestyle habit, whereas more regainers had used structured ‘diet’ programs, followed prescription from doctors, or used advice from books or magazines. Regainers snacked more during the day, and used chocolate and candy more often as their usual snack.

The other major difference between these groups and a control group of women who had never had a weight problem was in psychological techniques of coping with stress. The controls and those who were able to maintain their weight usually dealt with difficult situations by problem solving or confronting the issue. Significantly more regainers on the other hand used escape/avoidance techniques such as sleeping, eating or not dealing with the problem, in response to stress. This is consistent with other research that suggests that unless adequate coping skills are developed, individuals who don’t make behaviour changes will return to their former negative pattern when a high-risk situation develops.

These three factors: lifestyle changes in eating patterns, regular exercise and successful coping techniques are now recognised as key factors for long term maintenance of fat loss. In addition, Stern and her colleagues have shown that weight cycling through ‘yo-yo’ dieting and ‘exercise cycling’ (i.e. exercising for a period and then stopping) may have long term effects on dietary fat preference and fat intake. These are, therefore, also long term dangers for maintenance and reinforce the fact that long term techniques of fat loss, to be successful, must incorporate long term changes in lifestyle rather than short term aberrations such as dieting or exercise ‘programs’.

Dr Tim Wadden, a psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania, has also analysed relapse and maintenance by studying the habits of those who are successful with fat loss over the long term. He suggests that:

• although diet may be important in helping to lose weight, those who develop a lifetime pattern of exercise manage to keep it off better

• greater maintenance occurs in women who do long, regular (although not necessarily vigorous) exercise like walking

• people who regularly eat just one fatty food have no increased risk of regaining. But those who eat two, might just as well eat six—all are a recipe for relapse.

• most successful weight loss maintainers:

- don’t count calories, but develop a personal eating plan

- exercise regularly

- closely monitor their weight

- monitor their food intake

• Best maintenance comes from setting realistic goals. In some severely obese people, there may be biological limits to big reductions. Satisfaction with more modest goals can improve the situation.

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