Natural Weight Loss

If you are like me, you have enjoyed milkshakes since you were a kid. When I think of milkshakes, I think of summer time. Drinking something cool and refreshing to cool off on a hot day. As you know, protein is an important part of the diet. I like to make milkshakes that are not only refreshing, but good for me as well. These are easy to make and are a great way of not only getting the things your body needs, but a great snack. Here we will talk about a few of my favorite recipes. Take notes, I’m sure these will soon be your favorites as well. First off you will need a blender. You really can’t make any of these without one. You can get one cheap and you will use it again and again. If you are serious about your health, I would suggest you get one right away. None of these are meant to replace your diet. You shouldn’t start to drink these in place of meals. Not only will you end up feeling awful, you will end up with the shits. Yes, that is what happens if you eat these all the time.

I’m not going to go into exact measurements. I can’t tell what you like and what you don’t like. Do you love bananas? If so, just add some more. You don’t need my permission. Take a few cups of milk. You can use skim if you like. I prefer whole milk, but that is what I grew up on. Put one banana, I scoop of protein powder, a drop or two of vanilla and some ice cream. You can use low fat ice cream. Blend this and enjoy.
I like the taste of the banana and the added punch of vanilla will be great. Don’t add too much vanilla, that will make it taste awful.
Here is another one of my favorites. If you are looking to add mass muscle, you will love this one.

Take some skim milk. Add a handful of strawberries and a banana. Add some protein powder. Now, add about four or five egg whites. Depending on how much weight you want to put on, add egg whites accordingly. I also add some ice cream, I don’t add as much as I would for the first one. If I am trying to add mass muscle, I add more fruit than ice cream. I know that some people have different opinions about this, but this is how I like it.

I’m only going to tell you this once. So, make sure that you pay close attention. You are about to eat raw eggs. Yes, you can get sick eating raw eggs. But, if you handle them properly, you won’t have to worry. Don’t let the eggs sit out in the open for too long. Don’t put them in front of the window and take a nap. You want to crack the eggs and drink your shake as soon as possible. If you keep the eggs cold and drink it right away, there isn’t much of a chance of getting sick. Anything with raw eggs need to be kept cold!

Here is another one that is fairly easy.

I take one apple and dice it up before I put it in the blender. You don’t have to chop it into mush, but just enough to make the job easier on the blender. Let the blender do most of the work. Put in a cup of blueberries. This might sound a little weird, but I also put a carrot in it. I do this to add some carbs to the shake. I also add some skim milk.

This is might sound like the weird part, but hear me though. I don’t add any ice cream to this one. What I do is, I put some ice cubes in it instead of ice cream. This won’t make the shake as creamy, but it will still make it drinkable. You can do this to avoid extra calories. I do this from time to time depending on how my diet is. There are also other things that you can add to your shakes that will make them taste better. Keep in mind that you can change any of these to suit your needs. We all feel like something different from time to time, don’t worry about changing things slightly.

You can use any fruit that you like. There really isn’t much of a problem with that. All fruit is good for you. I would suggest that you get what ever is in season. I would check to see if your area has a local farmers market. This is a place where you buy fruit and veggies straight from the farmer. You can’t get much fresher than that. Also, you get to support farmers in your community and you get to know some of them. Have a favorite fruit? Find out which farmer grows the type you prefer. If you get to know them, over the years you might be able to get a discount or get a heads up when they are picked.

You can use veggies in your shakes. If you have a juicer, I would suggest that you juice them and add the juice. You can substitute some of the milk for the juice. You shouldn’t juice something like garlic or onions, but celery and carrots are two good choices. There are a lot of veggies that are great in nutrition, that will go well with your shakes.

You can add things such as, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, honey, caffeine and so forth. You need to keep in mind if you are adding something sweet such as honey, that will be added calories. You might not want to do that depending on your workout plans. Stimulants are something that you should be careful with. You can use them, but use caution. I would suggest that you ask your doctor before using any of these.

Eating too much meat isn’t good for us. We all know if we eat too much it will make us feel run down and tired. Not only that, but there are health risks involved too. A diet in high fatty meats can lead to heart disease and cancer. No one wants that. Some people choose not to eat meat for religious reasons, they believe that it is wrong to kill an animal, or they may want a healthier diet. It is popular with the young crowd. I have never understood it really. Though I suspect that after you get older and bust your ass off for a living, you want to reward yourself with some nice juicy meat. This might come as a shocker, but anyone who has read any of my articles knows that I don’t hold back. I don’t think the vegetarian diet is more healthy. I really don’t.
 
The problem is, most people that I know who don’t eat meat load up on other things. They eat a lot of dairy or eggs. I think they do this because all humans crave animal products. We crave the fat and the flavor. Most of the vegetarians I have known have really done a number on themselves with the amount of fat they eat. They lie to themselves because they think since they eat no meat, that their diet is more healthy. They think they can eat what ever they want, as long as it isn’t meat.

While I don’t think that meat is the devil that some make it out to be, too much isn’t good for you. Also, too much of the wrong kind of meat isn’t good for you as well. What do you do? You love meat, but not sure what to eat? You should try cutting out a good percent of the red meat that you eat. This will mean that you can’t eat burgers and fries every other day, but you shouldn’t be doing that anyway. There is nothing wrong with eating some red meat from time to time as long as you aren’t over doing it.

I tend to eat poultry every day. I love meat, I can’t do without it. So, I stick to chicken and turkey when ever I can. I love these two meats anyway, so its not that hard. You need to find ways that you can eat these and enjoy them. I know that some people cook poultry to the point that they are so dry you almost choke on them. There is no need to do that. I know that it is important that you cook them well done so you don’t get sick. There is a difference between well done and over done.

You should invest in a meat thermometer. This way you can take the guess work out of knowing if your meat is done or not. Tempature is the important thing when cooking meat. You want it to be an internal temp that is enough to cook it all the way through. If it comes up to temp, that means it is done. Cooking it more won’t make the meat any more safe.

Roasting, grilling, baking is a great way to cook poultry. You don’t want to add fat to it because you don’t know how to cook it properly. You don’t want to deep fry it to make it more juicy. That makes the whole effort of eating the lean meat worthless.

Here are some ideas that you can use.
Bake the chicken with some spices and herbs on the outside. This is a great way to make sure it is juicy and has a lot of flavor. Grill chicken breasts. Throw them on the grill and let them cook away. Chicken breasts are great for grilling. I think that is the only thing they are good for really. If you do much of anything else with them, they will become dry and rubbery.

Thighs are great when it comes to being juicy. These tend to have a little more fat on them, but they are great. I love chicken thighs. There is so much you can do with them. Chicken wings are great in stir fries or when baked. Don’t make the mistake of deep frying these great things. Bake them on a cookie sheet and load them up with hot sauce. You will have a great meal that will rival their deep fried cousins.

Depending on what part of the world you live in, fish can be great too. If you are like me and live far inland, getting fresh fish can be a problem. Sometimes if you live in a major city they will fly fresh fish in for the supermarkets to sell. If you live in a small town, you will probably be forced to buy frozen or whatever they can catch locally. There is no reason why you can’t make it a weekend trip and go out fishing. Fishing is a great way to relieve stress as well. If you know of a few good spots, a few big fish is all that you need. You will have more fish than you know what to do with.

If you are lucky enough to live near the ocean, you have probably grown up eating all kinds of fish. My favorite way of eating fish is probably grilled. I like it to be grilled with a little seasoning and maybe a hint of lemon. The lemon I think keeps the fish tasting fresh and alive. When you are buying fish, the fish should never smell fishy. I know that sounds stupid, but that is the truth. If it smells fishy, then it is probably old. You don’t want to waste your money on bad fish.
Fish should smell like the sea. Always buy fish with the head on it. If cleaning a fish bothers you, have the person selling it to you chop it off. The eyes should look clear and not foggy. It should look like it was just caught yesterday. With fish, freshness is the most important thing.
Like I said, I don’t believe that anyone should avoid eating meat. I think that it is good for you. The catch is, you need to be careful what you eat. If you can do that, you have it made.

No meal is over unless there is a dessert involved. If you are here in America, you know that most of the desserts out there are bad for you. They are loaded with salt, sugar and or fat. We have become a nation of junk food addicts. I do have a theory on this. I think that when a group of people experience wealth, their diets change. I know that this is simple and even a moron can come up with something like this, but hear me out. When a group of people have enough money that they have a choice of what they will eat, they will choose to go along with the more fatty foods. I think this is because we tend to store fat to keep us warm for the winter. In our minds if there is a bunch of food to choose from, then we will go towards the fatty foods. Like most animals, we prepare for the winter time. We know that it will be cold so we want a layer of fat to keep us warm. Another aspect of it is, we are greedy. All people are greedy. We want the best of everything. We want a nice new car, new house and all the rich food that we can eat. In the past, a wealthy person ate different foods than someone who is poor.

What to do? You want that little bit of joy at the end of the meal, but you don’t want to become a lard ass. Well, you can have your cake and eat it too. We will discuss some of the more healthy desserts that you can eat. First I want to say, don’t get fooled by this low fat stuff. It isn’t worth the time. You will eat twice as much of it to fill your cravings. It is because it is missing something, the fat. The one thing that you are craving the most. In the end you aren’t really doing yourself any favors. You are falling in the trap that all fat people fall into. They think since it is low fat, they can eat twice as much of it. That maybe true, but only if you don’t want to loose weight.

Fresh fruit is always a good dessert. You can prepare it easily and it tastes great. Nothing tastes better than fresh fruit that is in season. Make sure that it is perfectly ripe and ready to eat. If it is ripe, it will be sweet and juicy. If you eat fruit that isn’t ripe it will be hard and not have all the flavor that it can yield. You don’t have to stick with the ho hum fruit salad. You can choose a ton of different ways to eat fresh fruit. You can bake apples for example wrapped in tin foil with a little bit of brown sugar. This is wonderful.

One of my favorite things is bananas sliced in orange juice. The sweet tangy flavor of the orange juice is really different compared to the banana. I could eat a truck load of this stuff. It is also a great pick me up if you are feeling sluggish. We have all seen those wand mixers advertised on television. Some people call these boat motors. It is a hand held mixer/blender that you can use for a lot of things. I love these things. If you have one of these, it is easy to make a great low fat dessert.

Here is a simple dessert using your boat motor. Take skim milk. You need to make sure that it is ice cold for this. Take your milk and put it in a drinking glass. Use your boat motor to whip air into it. You will notice after awhile it kind of looks like whipped cream. Add some bananas and strawberries and a little pinch of sugar to make it sweet. This is very low fat and it tastes great. You get that desire for fat taken care of that you have been craving so much. The whipped milk really almost feels like whipped cream. You won’t believe how much it feels like the real thing.
You can also use this to add some zing to all kinds of things. You can use it to make your low fat milkshakes. You can add your protein mix to this for a great meal with very little fat. You will be surprised at how many things you can do with this whipped topping. People will think that you have fallen off of your rocker when they think you are eating a big serving of whipped cream. Before you know it, all your buddies at the gym will want you to make them something to eat with your boat motor. That is when you will have to tell them to get their own.

You can also eat gelatin. Make sure that you get the unflavored kind. It will come in either envelopes or in sheets. There will be directions on the package to tell you how to make it. You can add fruit juice or you can add fresh fruit to your gelatin. If you have a boat motor, you can use it and add some of that whipped topping you make from the skim milk. You will love this. You can also eat some low fat cakes. Just because it is cake, doesn’t mean that it is bad for you. Just make sure that there isn’t a whole lot of eggs or dairy involved. Also sometimes people sneak in mayo in their cake batters. Make sure you know what is on the cake. Also jam or jelly is great instead of frosting.

I’m sure that you can come up with your own ideas as well. Just think of what you already like to eat and put a spin on it. Please, stay away from the low fat stuff. All that will do is make you crave more of that than you should be eating. In the long run, you aren’t saving any calories.

The first thing you need to know if you want to lose fat is that you need to BURN fat.  Burning fat is all about using up more calories than you take in. If you eat more calories than your body uses throughout the day, these additional calories will be stored as body fat. To prevent a build up of body fat you need to either reduce your calorie intake or increase your daily activity levels – doing both will have the best effect on reducing body fat. 

This simply means that the more fat you want to lose then the greater the amount of calories you have to burn off.   To help you achieve and speed up your fat loss, here are few things that helps. 

Speed up your metabolism—Exercise speeds up metabolism. The more active your lifestyle the more likely you are to have a quick metabolism and lose weight.

Metabolism does control weight, this is true. What most people don’t know is that they do in fact have the ability to control and adjust their metabolisms and thereby control their weight. Exercise does speed the metabolism up. The more active your lifestyle the more likely you are to have a quick metabolism and lose weight. It may not be healthy for all of us to get into a highly active lifestyle all at once but it is possible to get there as quickly as you safely can as an individual.

Eat healthy balanced diet— Be sure to eat a variety of foods, including plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grain products. Also include low-fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, and legumes. Drink lots of water and go easy on the salt, sugar, alcohol, and saturated fat.  A large part of the battle in fighting fat and a slow metabolic rate is the western world’s view of food as entertainment. In addition to taking on an active lifestyle you will need to stop looking at food consumption as a means of gratification. This is what causes us to be gluttons. Instead of stopping when our hunger is sated we continue on until we are stuffed to get more enjoyment out of it.

Get plenty of rest and sleep— Sleep and other lifestyle patterns can help or hinder the rate at which we metabolize foods. An active lifestyle should lead eventually to being able to exercise to exhaustion; this in turn should keep your metabolism quick and your fat content low. By extending oneself to ones limits you fully utilize the lungs, heart, and muscles and burn fat most efficiently.
Be strong mentally—Try not to be obsessed by your weight.  Everyone has a bad day.  Do not punish yourself. Try to lose any guilt feelings towards the mistakes you have done.  Instead, just move on, start again and enjoy life as it comes.

 

Do you fell that you need to lose weight? Well then don’t just count calories. You might want to count sheep as well.

Recent studies have shown that sleep deprivation disrupts a series of metabolism and hormonal processes. It causes increased hunger and affects the body’s metabolism making it difficult to lose and control weight.

Lack of sleep causes a hormone called cortisol, which controls the appetite, to take excess calories and store them as excess body fat. In addition, sleep loss interferes with carbohydrate metabolism which may cause high blood glucose levels. The excess amount of glucose encourages the overproduction of insulin, which may lead to diabetes or even obesity.

Furthermore, sleep deprivation can promote weight gain by affecting our behavior. People who lack sleep tended to crave sweets or high carbohydrate, high fat food with low nutrient value. They tend to snack on chips, cakes, pastries, burgers, fries, soft drinks, etc. Though the short-term rise in blood sugar, brought on by these snacks, gives a surge of energy, the extra calories are not needed by the body and must be stored as body fat.

These calories are not so easily shed than taken. When they are sleep deprived, people are often too tired to exercise or they work out less intensely than usual. They commonly feel exhausted and lack the energy and motivation to do even simple exercises. They rather go to sleep, or eat, than go physical. In due time, the calories that are gained and not easily burned are deposited in the body as fat.

Some people may require less hours of sleep to be in top condition during the day; while others need more than 10 hours. But experts agree that most people need at least eight hours of sleep each night to give themselves enough energy to exercise, eat right and keep off those unwanted pounds. Yet, according to a poll sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation, only 30 percent of adults get eight or more hours of sleep on weeknights; while 52 percent do on weekends. A third of adults reportedly sleep no more than six-and-a-half hours nightly.

In fact, disruption in the sleeping patterns in the United States and in the industrialized world is thought as one of the main reasons that people are getting overweight. People should start making behavioral and lifestyle changes now for a better, healthier tomorrow.

 

When it all comes down to losing or gaining weight, most people turn to the scales to determine how much they should lose or gain to have the weight or the shape that they desire.

However, health experts said weight alone is not a clear indicator of good health because it does not distinguish between pounds that come from body fat and those that come from lean body mass or muscle.

Being over fat and overweight is not the same.  Overweight simply means an excess of total body weight based on population averages for heights and body frame sizes. On the other hand, obesity is defined as an excess of body fat regardless of weight.

What we have to consider, experts said, in order to determine our fitness, is to know our body fat. Remember that body fat is a percentage of your total weight, so even slender people can have dangerously high levels of body fat.  (See

Here are three ways of measuring your body fat:

1.  Home Body Fat Scales—Body fat scales claim to measure body fat quickly and conveniently. These body fat scales use the Bioelectrical Impedance method to measure your body fat percentage. A low-level electrical current is passed through your body and the "impedance", or opposition to the flow of current, is measured.  

2.  Skin fold Calipers—Calipers are a tool that looks somewhat like a giant tweezers. These are used to grasp your skin folds at different points on your body and measure the thickness. These measurements are then compared to standard values for persons of your age and gender to give you your estimated body fat.  
3.  Hydrostatic Weighing—This is just a fancy term for underwater weighing.  You sit on a scale inside a tank of water and blow out as much air as you can.  You are dunked underwater, where you blow out even more air.  Since fat is lighter than water, the more fat you have, the more you will float.  The scale measures underwater weight to figure out body density.   The margin of error is around 2-3%, but the accuracy depends on the amount of air you expel. You have to blow it ALL out or it will not be as accurate.  This is a difficult way to measure body fat since it can be uncomfortable and even scary to be dunked underwater with no air in the old lungs.