Weight Loss Central

By Keith Lewis

Essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated oils. They are the good fats. They are essential because our body does not manufacture them, so they must be obtained through our diet on a daily basis for optimal health and well being. Essential fatty acids produce beneficial hormone-like compounds called the eicosanoids that affect the function of virtually every system and every cell in our body. The most important essential fatty acids are EPA and DHA which we will be discussing here. EPA and DHA are the Omega 3’s and GLA (gamma linolenic acid) are Omega 6’s. These are the good fats. These nutrients are responsible for cell flexibility, nerve function, mood support, and even weight control.

The importance of essential fatty acids

The body must receive a constant and balanced supply of essential fatty acids to ensure proper eicosanoid production. The eicosanoids are important because they regulate pain and swelling, so they have anti-inflammatory type mechanisms of action. They help maintain proper blood pressure, they help maintain proper cholesterol levels as we as triglyceride levels, and they provide fluidity in nerve transmission. Essential fatty acids are also recommended for many women during pregnancy and lactation and it is especially important for women to have good amounts of DHA because the baby is drawing upon her supply. DHA is critical for the healthy development of the brain, the eyes, and the nervous system.

So how do we get essential fatty acids in our diet? Where do they come from? The richest and most beneficial sources of essential fatty acids are found in cold-water fish, like salmon, sardines, mackerel, and herring. Borage and even primrose oils are also rich sources of gamma linolenic acid.

What is EPA?

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is a long chain of Omega 3 polyunsaturated essential fatty acid that is found in fish. Omega 3’s are essential because humans are unable to synthesize them and therefore they must be obtained through our diet.

EPA, eicosanoids, and inflammation; so beyond the cardioprotective effects of Omega 3’s, EPA is believed to be beneficial for many autoimmune and inflammatory disorders including arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and psoriasis. Omega 3 appears to be beneficial for cardiovascular health by reducing the risk of cardiac risk and ischemic stroke. In fact, the evidence is so strong that the American Heart Association has stated that people who have elevated triglycerides may need 2 to 4 grams of EPA and DHA per day provided as a supplement. There are also several psychotherapeutic mechanisms of action that occur in the presence of essential fatty acid. There are several studies that have shown and have linked low seafood intake to major depression, postpartum depression, and schizophrenia as well as to the severity of depressive symptoms. Although research in this area is somewhat limited, EPA has at this point at least shown to improve symptoms of schizophrenia and depression and increase remission time in bipolar disorder.

What is DHA?

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a long chain polyunsaturated Omega 3 essential fatty acid from fish. Again Omega 3’s are essential because humans are unable to synthesis them, meaning they must obtain these through diet. The brain is particularly very rich in DHA where it increases membrane fluidity, and supports functions such as learning memory and cognitive development. DHA is very stress protective. One of the apparent benefits of DHA is to protect against the harmful effects of stress. Supplementation with DHA has been shown to reduce elevations and aggression and hostility in response to psychological stress. In addition, DHA may help to protect against the increased risk of heart attack associated with stress and depression. In clinical trials, low levels of DHA in the body and low fish consumption has been associated with increased risk factors associated with cognitive impairments, especially Alzheimer’s disease. During pregnancy and lactation, proper nutrition with long chain Omega 3’s appears to be especially important for the heath of both mother and the child. Inadequate maternal Omega 3 intake during pregnancy is a risk factor for premature birth, low birth weight, diabetes, and postpartum depression. DHA also appeared to be very important for infants and their visual and cognitive development. A recent study showed that children whose mothers had taken cod liver oil during pregnancy and lactation had higher IQs at age 4 than the mothers who had taken a placebo.

If you are experiencing any signs of deficiency or any symptoms, I would recommend contacting your physician and exploring the possibility that you may be experiencing deficiencies in essential fatty acids. If you would like more information concerning essential fatty acids, you could visit our website at http://www.freehealthstrategies.com/.

Dr. Lewis provides science based nutritional counseling utilizing whole food vitamins, minerals, homeopathics, and herbal remedies. Diagnostic testing is a key component in the evaluation process.
Dr. Keith E. Lewis, B.S.D.C. D.A.B.A.A.H.P., F.A.A.I.M.
http://www.healthylifedoctors.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Lewis
http://EzineArticles.com/?Omega-3-Fatty-Acids—WHAT-is-EPA-and-DHA?&id=1288852

By Jim O’Neill

Have you ever noticed how people who do no exercise at all still have a look of fullness in their arms, legs and chests for example, when they are less than 30 years old? Have you also noticed that this look of fullness starts to slowly become a look of droopiness and sagginess when they are over 30? Our body is at its peak at between 25 and 30 years of age. After this point, our body starts to slowly go into a decline and we tend to put on weight a little faster than before.

Part of the reason for this is, after 30, we begin to lose muscle to what is known as atrophy (muscle shrinkage due to disuse). We also begin to lose bone density leading very slowly to eventual osteoporosis. Muscle is active tissue and therefore burns calories. When we start to lose muscle to atrophy, our metabolism begins to slow down as a result leading to more fat storage and weight gain, and over 50% of this is due to inactivity. Is there anything you can do to help reverse this process? The answer is yes you can.

We’ve all seen it, there are two women standing together, one is around 35 years old while the other is around 50, yet the older women looks more firm and vigorous than the younger women. You might ask yourself; how does she do it? The answer is she exercises. Period! You, at almost any age can stay in great shape as well, but you have to exercise. You have to make exercise a regular part of your day.

A good exercise program would be one that contains both aerobic and resistance exercise with some stretching added also. Many prefer to do aerobics and resistance exercises separately, but a lot of people find that the best workout for them is circuit training since it utilizes all three of these types of exercise in one, and is very effective and time saving.

A lot of people seem to think that aerobic exercise is the best way to lose and maintain weight, but, since 75% of the calories you burn are at rest, this is not the case. Aerobic exercise only burns calories during the activity, and then within two hours after you are finished, you burn no more calories than before.

Resistance exercise on the other hand builds and maintains muscle, and since muscle is active tissue, you burn more calories than before, even at rest. One pound of fat burns around 4 calories per day while one pound of muscle burns around 50 calories per day. After 30 years of age, an inactive person will lose ½ to 1 pound of muscle every year. That means that ten years of muscle loss due to inactivity equates to a metabolism slow down of around 450 calories per day!

If you want to lose fat and gain muscle tone, then you must include exercise into your day and that means including resistance training into your exercise routine. Men and women who include resistance training to their exercise routines lose around 44% more fat than those who don’t. Adding resistance training to a regular exercise routine will also slow down many of the effects of aging. People even in their 80s and 90s have seen as much as a 200% improvement in their strength levels within 3-4 weeks of starting to exercise.

You can stay fit and trim after 40, but the message is clear, exercise with resistance included is an absolute must if you want to stay in peak condition and feel young and alive, and you can do it, even well past 40.

Jim O’Neill gives you tons of valuable information on the subjects of weight loss, fitness, and nutrition to make it easy for you to live a healthy lifestyle. Sign up now for his free 7 part mini e-course at: http://www.mrgymfitness.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_O’Neill
http://EzineArticles.com/?Keeping-Yourself-Fit-After-40&id=173774

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

The great thing about strength training and intervals for fat burning
is “efficiency”. Because you are working harder, the signal to your
body to change is stronger. You cut time when you increase intensity
and you burn fat faster.

Now
don’t worry, I won’t be asking you to do hill sprints tomorrow if you
aren’t exercising today. For a beginner, we just do some slightly
faster than normal walking intervals. For intermediate fitness levels,
we’ll pick up the pace about 20% compared to their normal cardio
levels, but again, the work periods are much shorter.

The
key is, you must shift to a slightly higher intensity in order to cut
time from your workout. But the workout also goes faster, and much more
importantly, you will get more results and better fitness from these
methods.

It’s easy to do these workouts
first thing in the AM, at lunch, or after the kids go to bed. Plus, you
can get a great workout at home with only a bench, dumbells, and an
exercise ball. You don’t need fancy machines or an expensive gym
membership.

And another bonus, you only need three hard fat burning workouts per week. You don’t have to be in the gym six days per week.

On
your off days, it’s important to stay active for at least 30 minutes,
but these days should be unstructured and revolve around being active
with your family or hobbies. Don’t think of them as workout days, think
of them as fat burning, stress reducing activity days.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and
Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training
fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness
and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and
women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than
45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence
Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio
sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

By Thomas H Miller

Fat around the mid-section can be one of the toughest places to lose fat on your body if you don’t do it right. You can go on for weeks even months trying to lose belly fat with no success. The truth is losing belly fat isn’t hard at all once you learn the right method. In the following I will show the only way to lose belly consistently and that with diet.

Diet is the missing component.

When most people decide to make a change about the body - losing weight, the first action they usually take is to start exercising. They go to the gym and do endless hours of cardio hoping to burn calories. And while they may see small results in the beginning the usually stall out after a short period. What are they missing? A healthy Diet

Its not just about calories.

If you’re doing endless hours of cardio and burning calories you should lose weight as long as your burn more calories that you take in. But the problem is what kind of weight are you losing? Is it fat or is it muscle. You want most of that weight to be fat because loosing fat is going to make you look lean and healthy. Loosing muscle will make you look skinny fat. You’ll have a lighter weight but your pot belly will still be there. That’s where diet comes in.

Lose Belly Fat with Diet

The only way to ensure that most of the weight you lose is fat is to have the right diet. The right diet will use the fat in your body as fuel and leave your lean muscle right where it belongs.

The most important thing to remember is, all diets are not made equal, so this part is most critical. When you choose the right diet for you, no longer will belly fat be a problem. Go to http://www.easy-fat-loss.net and Discover the diet that is right for you. There you’ll learn the exact steps to take control of your eating habits and lose pounds of unwanted belly fat…TODAY!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_H_Miller
http://EzineArticles.com/?Belly-Fat-Gone—Lose-Belly-Fat-With-Diet&id=1443968

By Brian Schiff

Did you know the average American gains 5-7 pounds every year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day? That equates to ingesting at least 17,500 more calories than you burn on a daily basis during that time period. At a minimum, that equals nearly 500 extra calories per day on average over that stretch of days.

Usually, the added weight comes in fancy cookie trays or creatively decorated gift baskets from clients, friends and family. The sound of Christmas music and arrival of cold weather encourage us to partake of traditional holiday fare and simply move less. This combination leads to tighter fitting pants and feeling sluggish.

Now is the time to fight back! Don’t wait to start your exercise program after the New Year begins. Initiate better exercise and eating habits now, because the weight is always harder to take off compared to preventing the gain beforehand. See the list below for tips on staying trim during this holiday season.

1. Perform strength training workouts at least 3 times per week.

2. Build in extra cardiovascular training if you decide to stray from your normal eating patterns to offset the extra calories.

3. Limit alcohol consumption as it will cloud your eating judgment and predisposes you to cravings and overeating.

4. Limit the number of holiday parties you attend.

5. Eat a small nutritious and fibrous snack prior to arriving at holiday parties. This way you will eat less because your stomach will feel full faster.

6. Do not buy holiday snacks for your house. If it is available, you will graze all day long without even noticing.

7. Plan events such as the Jingle Bell Run that keep you focused on training and exercise amidst the hustle and bustle.

8. Try to limit eating out when possible. With shopping, it becomes easy to dine out and partake in heavier foods and desserts.

9. Go to bed early or on time. Studies suggest that getting too little sleep will affect metabolism and prompt late night eating.

10. While at the mall, take additional time to walk after your shopping is finished.

Brian Schiff, PT, CSCS, is a respected author, physical therapist and fitness expert. You can sign-up for his free online newsletter @ http://www.thefitnessedge.cc.

Copyright © 2004 Brian Schiff

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Schiff
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-Ten-Ways-to-Avoid-Holiday-Weight-Gain&id=44392

Jimmy does his usual excellent job;

The more we learn about essential Omega-3 fatty acids, we realize how
much our bodies are protected from the disease processes they appear to
inhibit, most notably heart disease. When we examine in depth how
Omega-3 fats help us since our bodies cannot make them, it appears that
their main action in the body is to stimulate chemicals that reduce
inflammation in the joints, connective tissues and circulatory system.
Inflammation is often neglected by most medical professionals because
it not as easily detected in typical tests you have conducted in the
doctor’s office during routine check-ups.

More…

Don’t miss his upcoming pod cast with Dr. Barry Sears this Wednesday on his take on Omega 3.

How to Burn Tummy Fat Fast
By Alton Morris

Strong, sexy abs is the craze, and they have been declared as the sexiest physical feature. As a result, people run after the latest and greatest gadget that will guarantee the fastest way to burn tummy fat. Gadgets won’t help you target your tummy. Fat goes on the body in layers and that is the way it comes off. There are 3 steps to best burn tummy fat.

1. Exercise your core: You will need to have abs in order to see them. Crunches are the most common, but are necessary to work your entire core. There are many whole body exercises that will work you core hard. One important key more is not always better. Doing the fewer exercises slowly and correctly is more effective than doing many quickly and wrong. Also your abs needs a rest day just like your other muscles. The rest period is when your muscles actually grow. Exercise is when you tear them down.Your core is more than just

2. The second and most important step is a diet. You can do as many reps of sit ups you want, but you will not burn tummy fat, or even looking like you are in shape, if you do not watch the food you eat. Another tip is to use carb tapering. What you do is eat more carbs at the start of the day tapering to fewer later in the day. When you do this it naturally puts most of the calories in the earlier parts of the day. This gives you the greatest chance that the calories you eat will be burned and not stored as fat.

Drink plenty of water - you need to get 8 to 12 eight ounce glasses of water (plain water). Avoid white sugar and flour. They are highly refined and go into your blood stream quickly. This will cause your blood sugar to spike and fall, which will increase your cravings. Find your calorie maintenance level and stay 15 to 20 percent below that. If you want to use a more aggressive approach be careful. You do not want to keep the calories low for too long. If you take the aggressive approach you will want to increase calorie intake a couple of days a week to keep your metabolism from shifting into starvation mode. Also spread the calories out over the whole day. Don’t starve yourself all day and ping out in the evening. Too much of even good foods will cause the fat to stay on. Eat high quality lean protein with each meal. Get the majority of your carbs from a natural plant source..

Combine a good solid workout plan, with rest time built in, with a clean low carb diet and you can achieve burn tummy your fat. So skip the latest and greatest gadgets. Basic exercise and diet is the fastest way to the results you want.

Here is a free ebook to get you started exercising no equipment need. For more information on diet and exercise go to Losefat-online.com.

I just found these interesting Holiday tips. See what you like.

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

I was at a big event last week and was reminded how
important it is to have strategies for this season of high-calorie
parties and busy schedules. But I get ticked off by the tired old
suggestions you find on the Internet or in magazines like Woman’s
World.

Often the suggestions are lack any substance, because the writers
don’t want to imply you actually have to make a sacrifice to
succeed. They make fat loss sound easy, as if all you had to do was
park at the far end of the parking lot and you’d burn all the
calories from 5 shortbread cookies.

Well it doesn’t work that way…So here are my politically
incorrect, unique Turbulence Training strategies to help you keep
off the holiday pounds.

By the way, I “borrowed” a few ideas from contestants in my
Turbulence Training Transformation Contest. The Transformation is
rocking with social support and success stories right now, even
while the rest of the world struggles with weight gain, these TT
users are losing fat over the holidays.

Click here to get started with Turbulence Training for Fat Loss:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com

Strategy #1 - Green Tea & Almonds

One of the most common tips you’ll hear is to “fill up” before you
go to a party where there will be lots of goodies.

Unfortunately, most people I talk to have no luck with this tip.
Most people still go to a party and eat everything in sight.

But recently TT users have told me that having a cup of Green Tea
and one ounce of almonds has helped them avoid holiday cravings
better than anything ever before.

The fiber from the almonds reduces appetite while the small amount
of caffeine from the Green Tea seems to increase mental alertness
and keep you “energized” at the party.

Hopefully that might work for you…

Strategy #2 - Don’t waste your time on any fancy cardio programs

Listen, the bottom line over the holiday season is that your success
depends almost entirely on your nutrition.

You can’t expect to hit the cardio confessional and burn off last
night’s 2000 calorie smorgasboard. That’s a 4-hour workout. Instead,
don’t get into that situation in the first place.

Here are more nutrition tips:

- Focus on portion control (and if you have no discipline, forget
even trying to eat just one)
- Nix all drinks mixed with calorie-containing beverages, or better
yet, just stop getting drunk. Period.
- Write down everything you eat to identify your problem spots. Then
do whatever you need to do to eliminate your weaknesses. If you
don’t record your nutrition, chances are you’ll miss big
opportunities to change your diet and lose fat.

Strategy #3 - Take care of yourself first.

My friend Holly Rigsby (of http://www.fityummymummy.com) is always
reminding busy moms to take care of themselves first, and I think
that suggestion applies at this time of year to everyone.

So take a deep breath. Ask yourself as you’re running around to
please everyone else, “Have you set aside time for yourself”

Be selfish. Make sure you have had some exercise time, some good
nutrition, and some rest before overextending yourself and doing too
much for other people when you haven’t taken care of yourself and
your goals first.

Strategy #4 - Get on a roll

This one comes from a TT Transformation contestant who is too busy
losing fat to get off track over the holidays.

Don’t procrastinate till January 1st. Get started now. Dozens of
men and women are doing their Turbulence Training Transformations
right now - through the heart of the holiday season.

They aren’t waiting for Jan. 1st to show up. They are taking
control now, and getting on a roll, and not letting anything (from
work parties to peer pressure) get in their way.

Strategy #5 - Exercise in short bursts whenever you can

Don’t be afraid to dance at your Christmas party. Don’t worry, there
is bound to be at least one worse dancer than you out on the floor.
Have fun and get down!

On a more serious note, here’s how to avoid falling off the fitness
program during the busy holiday season.

Get your butt out of bed 15 minutes early so you can have 3 minutes
to wake up and 12 minutes to do the December 2007 Turbulence
Training 12-Minute Workouts.

Get this workout as part of your bonuses when you start using
Turbulence Training today: http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Stay healthy and fit over the holidays,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author

Learn about the “Dark Side of Cardio” in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com.
Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes
for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness
Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat
loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world
lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times
per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that
will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy
equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

I can’t believe the NY Times put this up! Common sense at the times. LOL Check out the letter.

Just ran across this article on newsday.com. They based the whole article on a study released on Dec. 2007. Quoting the study details such as this: “…men who ate more than 5 ounces of red meat each day and women who ate more than 3 ounces had a 51% greater risk of esophageal cancer, 61% of liver cancer and 24% of colorectal cancer than those who ate less than an ounce of red meat daily.”

Very ominous stuff, with results like that why had this study not made a bigger splash. The links in the do not take you to the study so I had to google it. It still took some creative searching to find the study.(Maybe I am just search engine challenged!) Now I know why it was not a bigger splash. This is a study on 50 to 71 year olds completeing a 124 item food frequency questionnaire. Thus to me would seem to be problem one. How accruate is the survey reponce? I am 42 an can’t tell you what I ate last week!!

The results of the survey are as you would expect. The highest meat eatters had the highest cancer rates. They supost to correct for other enviromental factors such as smoking. But How accurate is this? If smoking was the only varible they problibly could use stats to correct for it. There are a number of factors and each could have an added effect on the other. Here is what I am talking about:

The ones that at the most red meat also: Smoked more, ate more, ate fewer fruit and vegitbles, were more overweight, exercised less and were older. So what is the combined effect of all those things on a persons chances of getting cancer? Here is the data:

No study is perfect. But before we demonize a food that has sustained people forever maybe we should look at data that is based on a study population were there are not so many varibles.

Now I know why they waited a year to write the story, so the study and its flaws would be hard to find.