If I have said it once, I said it twice, "Diets Don't Work" (see Diets Don't Work).  Diets do not address the underlying causes of  weight problems, they do not have lasting effects. The reason this mad dash for the perfect diet seldom works over the long run is simple: These diets ignore the basic fact that nutrition is an entirely individual matter.  More importantly, weight is not the only factor to consider. People who fall into "acceptable"  weight limits may not necessarily be healthy, or at least as healthy as it possible for them to be. People who are extremely thin may be entirely unhealthy, although they may be envy of others who have mistaken notions of wellness.

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In general we measure the metabolic process in calories. To keep the body functioning takes from 1,200 to 3,000 calories per day - an average of 1,800. Strenuous activity naturally requires more calories. Some football players burn from 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day, while inactive people may use a few as 800. Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are the body's "fuels" and the only foods that contain calories.  Your body burns calories you ingest to perform whatever work is necessary to keep your body going and to perform whatever work necessary to keep your body going and to power your muscles so you can make, even if it is only moving a finger, uses calories, and the automatic functions of the body also require fuel (see table below).  Scientists have learned that it takes 3,500 calories to equal a pound of fat. There are 9 calories per gram of fat and 4 calories per gram of both carbohydrates and proteins. But there are important  differences between calories that you need to understand, and once you do understand you will see why high protein, fats with low carb diets are popular today. A calorie may be a calorie, but not all calories have the same beneficial effect in the body. A raw apple, for instance, contains roughly 75 calories. Bake it, and it still basically has 75 calories, but the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes have been destroyed by the heat. On the other hand, if you eat the apple raw, your body must warm it to digest it, a process that in itself requires about 7 calories. So when you consider your caloric intake, you must think about gross calories versus net calories. Raw foods are better because the body uses calories just to process them. Cooked foods are rapidly digested and easily assimilated with no energy requirements, so you wind up with more net calories. A salad, which contains a high percentage of cellulose, requires a lot of calories for the body to digest it, giving you fewer net calories and making salads excellent foods for weight control.  If your body burns all the calories you ingest in a day, no excess calories will be stored. But if you consume more calories than you burn, the body will store these as fat. If you burn an average of 2,000 calories per day, for instance, but are eating 3,000, the extra 1,000 will be stored by your body as fat. In a week that amounts to 7,000 extra calories - approximately 2 pounds. In a nutshell, that's how you gain weight. If you do not eat sufficient food to provide the calories you need for the activities you expect to engage in, however, ultimately the body will cease to function properly, just as a car that runs out of fuel. For more information on burning more calories, Click Here

To determine the calories needed for each hour's activity, multiply your body weight by the calories required.

If you are prone to sudden weight gain - say, three or four pounds a week or even overnight, that weight may not all be fat. You should have to ingest 10,000 calories to gain three pounds or burn 10,000 to lose three pounds in the same amount of time. As the process of combustion goes on inside the body, however, water is a byproduct, and the weight you accumulate suddenly is likely to be water. Especially if you have allergy, which creates poisons in the system, the body will react by retaining water to dilute those poisons, and the water in turn will add to your weight.  Women in particular may not be able to lose weight in the week prior to their menstrual periods because this is a time when water accumulates. They should take this into consideration when they see no progress in weight management programs during that time. Potassium, B-6 and Uva Ursi Leaf. Also see: Water Retention and Essential Water.

Many housewives suffer from a similar "feedlot syndrome." confined with small children (or their lack of incentive to exercise), they establish a similar pattern and gain weight. So do many people who work in offices. They load up on carbohydrates that turn to fat.  I'm not knocking carbohydrates per se; they are necessary to the body's proper function. But problems can result when too many carbohydrates and carbohydrates of the wrong kind are eaten. A good ratio of simple to complex carbohydrates is 20 percent of the former and 80 percent of the latter. It is important to look at the kind of foods you are eating. Although popular wisdom holds that fruits make a good dieter's snack, the truth is that most fruits contain relatively simple sugars. (Apples have complex sugars because of the pectin they contain.) Fruit juices especially are primarily simple sugars; vegetable juices are much better. Whole fruits and vegetables may take 20 to 30 minutes to digest, but with juicing their cellulose is lost, and the body no longer has to work to digest it. Liquids, by their very nature, also spend a very short transit time in the stomach, often going right on to the intestine within 15 minutes. Juices are, nevertheless, better than soda pop, which contains a lot of sugar and also is high in phosphates that may damage the body, competing with calcium. And fruits and vegetables generally do make better snacks for the dieter that cookies, cakes, and bread.

There's been a lot of talk about hypoglycemia and the effects it can have on those who suffer from the condition. If you are trying to lose weight, hypoglycemia can interfere dramatically with your efforts. Put simply, if you are hypoglycemic, you can't afford to eat foods that are high in carbohydrates and/or sugar. Hypoglycemic are usually fast oxidizers, and when they eat simple carbohydrates their blood sugar skyrockets, triggering a release of insulin, which then brings the blood sugar precipitously below normal level, inducing overwhelming hunger. that hunger then prompts them to eat more carbohydrates, which perpetuates the cycle. And where does the sugar go when it disappears like that? It is converted to fat and stored in the body. Hypoglycemia's who eat inappropriate for their metabolism spend  their lives  trying to satisfy their hunger by continuing the up-down sequence of blood sugar, feeling tired and irritable between sugar snacks. And, of course, gaining weight as the fat builds up. Not everyone becomes a victim of this cycle, but it is not a smart way for any of us to eat. Anybody who eats many of the so called junk foods will eventually get into trouble from the imbalances they provoke. One capsule 3 times a day with meals of 200 mcg Chromium Polynicolinate is very helpful with Hypoglycemic and craving of sugar. 

When you're overweight, as we've said, the fat essentially insulated your body, and your body doesn't have to work to keep you warm, even in winter. Getting rid of the insulation makes your body more thermally efficient so it can then generate its own heat and burn the foods you eat in the process. Your own efforts in weight management should be directed toward getting rid of the layer of fat so your body will burn its fuel more efficiently. In working with overweight people, I first design a diet based on each individual's own metabolic type, counting the calories to fit that type.  I figure the calories based on the following formulas:

1. Locate your age and activity level on table 8, and multiply optimum weight by the appropriate constant to determine your ideal calorie intake.

Factors such as chewing food thoroughly may have an important bearing on eating patterns. Chewing foods adequately supplies essential enzymes, and it has also been proven that after eating, about 20 minutes must elapse before a feeling of satisfaction reaches the appetite center of the brain, so a large meal eaten quickly or a small meal eaten slowly will induce the same feeling of satisfaction, despite the disparity in calories. The appetite center, located in the brain's hypothalamus, indicates to the body when sufficient food has been ingested. if you're trying to lose weight, obviously it is wise to spend some time savoring foods rather than eating on the run. Along with planning a diet suited to the individual, I may also prescribe vitamins to increase thermogensis. Both vitamins B12 and B6 are known to enhance thermogenesis. All of the B vitamins, in fact, increase the body's metabolism, as do coffee and exercise (see energy). Another option is to take 1,200 mg of lecithin because it contains biotin, inositol, and choline to help emulsify fats. Fat burners (lipotropics) also contains high amounts inositol and choline. Flaxseed oil capsules, or Evening Primrose which contains gammalinoleic acid (GLA), an natural appetite suppressant, it also effective in promoting thermogenesis with increasing heart rate like most caffeine base products. GLA products also coats the stomach and stops gnawing hunger pangs.  

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