Weight Loss Tips

Have you seen those “fat free” foods in supermarkets? Have you possibly delighted in them guiltlessly thinking that they are healthy for you? There’s a good chance that you have because we usually follow what the media and the world around us says. In this day in age, along with other health fads, many people believe that fat makes you fat. This is true, to an extent. What we fail to notice is that not all fats are bad.

If I had to guess, since the words fat (as in what’s in food) and fat (as in excess body tissue, or adipose tissue) are the same word it makes sense that when you eat fat, you get fat. However, this is not the case. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a difference between good fats and bad fats. If you eat the bad fats they can make you fat, and also contribute to several diseases. Your body uses the good fats in several ways to repair itself, grow, and work more efficiently.

Some of the benefits of eating these healthy fats include:

-Healthy fats are essential for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins

-Healthy fats have an anti-inflammatory effect - they can help relieve many of the pains that we experience around our joints

-Healthy fats are essential for lubrication of our joints

-Healthy fats improve insulin sensitivity. Insulin is the hormone our bodies use to transport nutrients throughout the body. Insulin sensitivity is essentially a measure of how efficient our bodies use insulin. Insulin resistance is the opposite of insulin sensitivity and is one of the early stages of diabetes.

-Healthy fats can increase the strength of our immune system

-Healthy fats play a major role in the production of energy from foods we consume

-Healthy fats are required for our body to efficiently use oxygen

-Healthy fats can improve skin texture

-Healthy fats can increase your metabolism

-Healthy fats can help you burn more fat (the kind that is attached to your body)

Dr. Udo Erasmus, author of one of the most popular books ever about fat, “Fats the Heal, Fats that Kill”, writes in his book, “At levels above 12 to 15% of total calories, healthy fats increase the rate of metabolic reactions in the body and the increased rate burns off more fat into carbon dioxide, water, and energy (heat), resulting in fat burn off and loss of excess weight.”

In this article we will discuss what exactly these healthy fats are, where to get them from, easy ways to add them into your diet, and the optimal amount of fat that you should consume. I will also explain why the belief that “fats make you fat” has developed because fats can make you fat if you eat too many of them.

The Bad Fats

-Trans Fats

Trans fats are made by bubbling hydrogen through unsaturated fats in order to make them solid and have a longer shelf life. In addition, it was once thought that trans fats were a healthier alternative to saturated fats. However, this is far from the truth. In a statement made by the Bush Administration they warn us to keep consumption of trans fats “as low as possible” and also state that “the food industry has an important role in decreasing trans fatty acid content of the food supply.”

Some of the top Harvard nutritionists state that replacing trans fats with a safer alternative would “prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year.”

In fact, Denmark has already taken an initiative and banned the sale of trans fats to not allow more than 2% of the food to contain trans fats.

Now that you know that trans fats are bad, how do you avoid them? In America, the FDA has required food manufacturers to list the number of trans fats a food contains. This has helped consumers make wiser choices, but according to FDA regulation, “if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram, the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero.” This rule allows food manufacturers to list very small serving sizes and as long as the amount of trans fats is less than 0.5 grams in that particular serving, they are allowed to list it as 0 grams of trans fats.

The ultimate way to tell if a food contains trans fats or not is if the ingredients list contains the phrase “partially hydrogenated” or “shortening”. Trans fats are mostly contained in foods such as candies, cookies, snack foods, chips, shortenings, and many restaurants.

-Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are widely recognized as being bad fats. You probably know or believe this to be true, and it is to an extent. There is actually quite a controversy between many dieticians and nutritionists about saturated fats concerning the optimal amount that we should consume or if we should even consume them at all. The reason for most of the bad rap that saturated fat has been given is due to the fact that the liver uses it to produce cholesterol. It has been noted to raise the good (HDL) cholesterol as well as the bad (LDL) cholesterol. The FDA’s general guideline for saturated fat is to limit it to about 10% of total calories per day. This would convert to about 20 grams per day for diet containing about 2,000 calories per day.

Saturated fat is mostly found in foods that are derived from animals. The exception would be coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils, which also contain saturated fat.

The Healthy Fats

-Monounsaturated Fats

Monounsaturated fat is believed to help lower the bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good (HDL) cholesterol. As listed in the beginning of this article, they also provide many healthy benefits.

Monounsaturated fats are mostly found in vegetable oils. Some examples would include olive oil and canola oil.

-Polyunsaturated Fats

Polyunsaturated fats contain the family of fats known as Essential Fatty Acids, or EFAs. As you can tell by their name, these fats are essential to the body because the body cannot produce them on its own. The main EFAs are the Omega-3 fatty acid and the Omega-6 fatty acid. They provide many of the benefits listed at the beginning of this article as well. Good sources of these fatty acids are fish, mustard seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnut oil, leafy green vegetables, sunflower, soybean, avocados, and perhaps one of the best sources is flax seed (make sure to grind them or buy them in an oil form - the stomach has trouble digesting the whole seeds).

-Why Fat Supposedly Makes You Fat

(Note: You can calculate your TDEE at
http://www.weight-loss-resources.com/calculators/dailycalories.html)

There is a simple law known as the Law of Thermodynamics. In addition to this, our bodies burn a certain number of calories per day (this number changes everyday and is influenced by many factors). This burning of calories everyday is known as total daily energy expenditure or TDEE. If the amount of calories we eat in a certain day is below our TDEE, we lose weight (this weight is not necessarily fat all the time). If the amount of calories we eat is equal to our TDEE, our weight stays the same. If the amount of calories we eat is greater than our TDEE, we gain weight (as stated before, this weight is not necessarily fat all the time - it could be muscle). Many people skip this important fundamental and look at the type of food they are eating or several other factors before they investigate how many calories they are eating per day and how to adjust their amount of calories consumed to achieve their goals.

Fat holds 9 calories per gram, while carbohydrates and protein hold only 4 calories per gram. This means that eating fat (any type of fat, even the good kind) will result in a greater number of calories consumed. Therefore, it’s more likely that you’re going to go over your TDEE and gain weight, especially if much of your diet comes from fattening foods. In addition to this, fat is very similar chemically to the fat that your body stores. This makes it easy for your body to store consumed fat as fat (adipose tissue), but you must take into consideration that storing fat (consumed) as fat (adipose tissue) is not the only thing your body does with fat (consumed).

-The Optimal Levels of Fat

You’re going to want to eat part of your calories from fat to get their many benefits, but not go too high. Like anything else in the world of nutrition and fitness, there are many opinions on what the optimal levels of fat in the diet are. For instance, advocates of low-fat diets opt for absolutely no fat and believe that fat is what makes us fat. However, there is a flaw in this belief as they are also cutting out the good, numerously beneficial fats. Then there are high fat diets, such as diets suggesting low carbs (they usually say you can eat all the fat and protein you want). Although, it is generally accepted to consume between 15% - 25% of your calories from fat while severely limiting the amount of trans fats and watching the amount of saturated fat that you consume.

-Some Easy Ways to Add Fat Into Your Diet

Now you may be wondering how you’re going to add some of these healthy fats into your diet. There are actually some really easy ways to do so. If you eat salads, you can add about a tablespoon of olive or canola oil. In my experience, you usually cannot even taste these added oils. If you buy some flax seed and grind it, you can add it to almost any food. Once again, these flax seeds are mostly tasteless. Really, adding these healthy nutrients into your diet isn’t that big of a burden.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice from a physician or your health care provider.

Nathan Latvaitis: An avid fitness researcher - helping other people realize their goals through knowledge. Nathan runs a fitness website at http://www.weight-loss-resources.com where you can find more weight loss tips, articles, calculators, reviews, a message board, and more.

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As the New Year quickly approaches, one of the resolutions topping lists again this year will be to lose weight and get fit. So many folks will start out gung-ho, completely devoted to the fitness cause, yet fizzle out before spring approaches. What is the key to being successful in a weight loss journey? Noone should make a life-altering decision without research, thought and preparation. Losing weight and becoming fit is just that a change of lifestyle. Set a starting date and use the time prior to prepare yourself!

1) Start planning your weight loss strategy several weeks in advance. Research various diets and exercise programs. Join online support groups. Decide which plans YOU can adhere to and have this decision made prior to your start date. You’ll want to begin collecting recipes and building a support team of friends with similar weight loss goals. Pick up a few fitness magazines and start flipping through them to determine which ones you find motivational. A few popular women’s magazines to try are: Fitness, Shape and Oxygen.

2) Choose your goals, but make them attainable. A fixation completely on scale weight is not necessarily the best strategy. You’ve heard it time and time again and it is true: muscle weighs more than fat! Focus on measurements, body fat percentage, clothing size or even an athletic goal. Set mini-goals as well it’s much easier to stay motivated as you are reaching each individual goal than waiting to reach one distant goal. Be sure to allow non-food rewards as you reach each goal, and put these in writing to remind you what you are working towards. Treat yourself to a manicure/pedicure, massage, new lingerie, slinky dress or other perks.

3) Document your “Before” self. Have a friend or spouse help you take your beginning measurements. At a minimum, measure chest, waist, upper arm and upper thigh. Be sure to note your body fat percentage as well. Most gyms will perform this measurement for a small fee and it is vital to track your body fat for a more accurate portrayal of your true progress. Take photos of yourself in a swimsuit or sports bra and shorts. These will be extremely important to compare along the way and show just how much progress you are truly making!

4) Find the perfect body and plaster it everywhere! Perhaps you have a photo of you from your youth. Maybe there is a fitness model that has the shape you’d like to have. Again, be realistic about the body you choose, but once you find a body type that fits your desires, post pictures all around you as reminders. Tear out a magazine ad and tape it to the refrigerator. Find that pre-baby picture of you in a bikini and post it on your computer monitor. Use these as constant reminders of what you are trying to accomplish.

5) Join a gym or pick up the necessary equipment to workout at home. Joining a gym can be strong motivation to stay on track with your fitness plan for several reasons. The most obvious is that you have to watch that monthly fee come out of your checking account for at least a year in most cases! If you are going to be paying for it, you might as well use it, right? There are such a variety of exercise opportunities at a fitness center that you will be less likely to become bored. Most offer free weights, weight machines, aerobic classes, and a variety of cardio machines, at a minimum. Many also offer personal training instruction and swimming pools. Over time, you will probably form friendships that will help motivate you to continue working out regularly.

6) Accustom yourself to writing down everything that you eat, good or bad. You may be telling yourself that you really aren’t eating “that” bad, but can’t figure out why your weight loss is slow or non-existent. Pick up an inexpensive food scale and begin weighing and measuring your portions. Quite often, looking at it on paper, you can pinpoint your problem times and trigger foods. There are many sites online that offer food journaling, including FitDay.com.

7) Begin weaning yourself from your bad habits early. Living a healthy lifestyle will most likely be enough of a shock that you will not want to “go cold turkey” with all the changes at once. Use the weeks prior to your goal date to begin making subtle changes. If you are a heavy soda or coffee drinker, begin cutting back one or two a day, then as you adjust, cut out another, etc. If you are a chocolate fanatic, begin cutting back or perhaps replacing with sugar-free items. Teach yourself to eat five or six smaller meals throughout the day instead of the normal three large ones. This will help keep your blood sugar stable, preventing cravings and deterring binge eating.

Most importantly, take this time to prepare yourself mentally. Use the weeks leading up to your starting date to make sure you are emotionally ready. Look at it as the last opportunity to eat certain foods without guilt. A healthy and fit lifestyle change is not going to be easy, but it will be less difficult if you have convinced yourself mentally that you are prepared and that you will be successful.

Dawn Lloyd is the mother of three children and owner/editor of several family-related sites including http://www.PersonalFitnessZone.com. Please visit her site for weight loss and fitness information, tips and support.

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Many of us think back fondly to times we cannot possibly remember - times and places when voluptuous, even hefty, women were glorified, when a few extra pounds was a sign of beauty rather than a problem to be dealt with . It is a fact that, even today, there are some societies that have quite a different idea about weight gain than we do - especially for women. And there are quite a few reasons why this sort of thinking might not actually be misguided. For a start, women with a few extra pounds - not obese, mind you, just with some meat on their bones - are more fertile than very thin women. Also, a very thin woman might not be able, in a traditional society, to feed her child adequately. Because human ideas of attractiveness follow necessity, it’s natural that very thin women would not have been considered the most desirable in traditional societies. In fact, it’s only in a society full of excess, such as ours, that thinness becomes the desired goal.

On the other hand, it’s also true that few if any traditional societies had the problem with weight that we do. That’s because the food we eat today - while less nutritious than the food our predecessors ate - is also far more plentiful. To put yourself back in the mindset - and the body type - that typified our ancestors, try following a traditional diet.

It takes a bit of willpower - more than just a bit, actually. But not because you are about to starve yourself or cut out whole food groups. On the contrary - the traditional meals that you will eat are hearty and satisfying. Where the will power comes in, though, is in ignoring most if not all of the food messages that are coming at you through advertising and from the packaged foods in your grocery store. The basic idea is to ignore anything that has a brand name on it. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

So what do you eat, then? Well, if you choose to follow the Medieval Peasant Diet, for example, what you do is to pick a staple food and stick to it, more or less day in and day out. On special occasions, you can vary from your staple diet - for example, you can enjoy a restaurant meal now and then, say once a month or so - but for the most part, you stick to your staple diet.

A medieval peasant in Europe would have lived, for the most part, on a type of stew or porridge whose main ingredient was beans or peas. A pot of this stew was kept on the back of the stove at all times, and added to as needed. The main ingredients of the stew never varied, but sometimes bits of meat of vegetables in season would be added.

And basically, that was it. The medieval peasant would typically eat just one main meal a day, and that would consist of ample helpings of the stew, along with some bread and ale. At other times of the day, people might eat a piece of bread and a mug of ale, or maybe some fruit when it was in season. And once in a while, like on a special feast day or holy day (which occurred rather frequently in Medieval Europe - once or twice a month at least) people would eat - and drink - more than that. There might be roasts of meat, for example, or cakes. But these things were not a part of the day-to-day diet.

On the one hand, the Medieval Peasant Diet would probably not pass muster with today’s nutritionists. It seems a bit low on certain nutrients, such as vitamins that come from fruits and vegetables. We should remember that today’s soil is very depleted compared to soil in the middle ages, so we probably need to eat more fruits and vegetables than they did. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to follow this diet for the long term.

On the other hand, keep in mind that this sort of diet - with local variations - sustained humankind for the vast majority of their history. With the exception of nobility (who, incidentally, were the only people susceptible to modern diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and tooth decay until very recently) this diet kept people healthy - and slim - for millennia.

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