Monthly Archives: March 2012

Kicking Up Metabolism to Lose Weight Easier

Metabolism is just term that refers to how fast or how slow your body processes food and turns it into an energy source. The faster your metabolism, the fewer calories your body will have time to store and turn into fat storages in your body. So increasing your metabolism is one of the key ways to losing weight, but how can you naturally get your metabolism to speed up? There are actually quite a few ways that you can naturally increase your metabolism, some of which we’ll talk about below.

Blood Acidity and pH levels

The acidity and pH balance of your blood is directly connected to the speed of your metabolism. Ideally, you would normally want to have a pH of about 7.35, but how does someone know what their level is? Simple. A blood test. If you’re lucky, your insurance may cover the test. If not and you’re serious about losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight then it’s worth the investment to pay for the test if your insurance refuses to cover it.

Get Big Meals Out of the Way Earlier

At the start of the day, your body’s metabolism is naturally faster than later in the day. As the day progresses, your metabolism will continue to slow down until you hit the sack. Unfortunately, the eating patterns of most people are opposite of the ideal pattern for losing weight. You eat smaller meals for breakfast and probably have your biggest meal at dinnertime. To lose weight you’ll want to change this. Eat larger meals earlier in the day while your metabolism is up so it’s processed and burned off quicker. In the evening when your metabolism is slower, you should be eating smaller and lighter meals.

Low Glycemic Index Foods

The glycemic index isn’t just for diabetics. It’s simply a measure of how much of a blood sugar spike your bloodstream will experience when you eat certain foods. The higher the score a food has, the bigger the spike i.e. you want to limit your intake of these foods if you want to lose weight. If you eat a diet that’s primarily made up of low glycemic foods, your metabolism will be steadier.

Doing this doesn’t mean you’ll have to drastically change your diet, either. There are plenty of sources that will give you different lower-glycemic options that are similar to the higher-ones you may be used to eating. The change could be as small as eating red potatoes instead of regular potatoes or whole grains vs. traditional white rice.

Get Some Exercise

The easiest way to increase your metabolism is to simply get moving. If you wanna burn more energy and lose weight then exercise is vital. If you’re not active much of the time then your body doesn’t see the need to burn calories faster for energy and your metabolism will plummet.

If you can get in just 30 minutes a day five days a week, you’ll be on the right path. You can break it up into two fifteen minute blocks or all at once. It doesn’t really matter as long as you’re getting that time in. This one easy change (yes, it’s easy!) can give you a tremendous boost to your metabolism. Even if you’re just walking the dog, taking a quick swim or working in the garden… doesn’t matter. It all counts. Just get moving several times per day.

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Baby Steps to Weight Loss that Lasts

People who are trying to lose weight too often aim for goals that are simply too big to take on at once. They decide they’re going to completely change their diet overnight or they’re going to work out five days a week when they’ve never even set foot in a gym. Trying to take on huge changes like this usually doesn’t work. Sure, some may be able to do it, but for most people it’s much better to take things slow and gradually make changes.

If you’re trying to lose weight then do so in baby steps. Don’t try to completely change your lifestyle overnight, as it’s very difficult to make such big changes so quickly. Then when things fall through and you aren’t able to stick to it, you end up back where you started – or worse, even in worse shape because you give up.

Baby Steps to a Healthier Diet

If you want to start eating healthier, do so in small steps. Small goals will make it easier to grow into a healthier diet. You could start with something like committing to adding a salad as one of your meals each day. You could start with replacing your lunch time soda with a bottle of water. Small things like this make it easy to stick to and get used to. Once you’re used to doing that it comes naturally, then add another goal. Going slow gives you time to adjust and form better habits, as well as giving your body time to get used to the changes that are going on.

Baby Steps to

Just like taking baby steps to start eating healthier, the same kind of mindset should be used for working out. If you try to jump right into a schedule that’s strict and advanced, you’re probably going to end up giving up. Instead of trying to jump into a crazy workout schedule, simply shoot for working out one or two days per week. That’s it. No set times or specific exercises… simply a goal to work out period. You want to work out enough to feel like you’re getting something out of it, but you don’t want to overdo it.

If you start with too much too fast you’ll likely end up making excuses as to why you can’t do it. Take it slow and gradually increase the number of times you work out and for how long.

Today’s the Day

What’s most important in trying to lose weight and be healthier overall is your emotional mindset. Get it in your head and tell yourself today is the day things start to change. Realize that it will take time and give yourself that time to adjust with taking baby steps. Real change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to form new habits and break bad ones. Also realize that no one is perfect. There’s a good chance you’ll slip up here and there and that’s ok!

 

 

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Superfoods You Should be Shopping For

Well-known superfoods are always being replaced by newer ones that are discovered. Some of the superfoods that have received more than their fair share of attention has been acerola, cloves, maqui berry and baobab fruit. If you like to keep up with the latest and greatest in regards to your health then you’ve probably heard about all of these. But what is it that makes them so powerful? Let’s take a look at them a bit more closely and you’ll see why these foods should always be on your shopping list.

Maqui Berries

Maqui berries are similar to blueberries. They’ve hit the headlines and stolen some of the attention from the very popular acai berry. Originally from Patagonia in South America, this berry is an antioxidant powerhouse. They get very high scores on the oxygen radical absorbance capacity test (otherwise referred to as the ORAC test). This test measures how potent foods are in regards to antioxidants. If you think blueberries are good for you, consider this: maqui berries score at least ten times higher on the test than blueberries.

Acerola

You may have seen these red fruits in the store and not even know it. They’re often called Amazon cherries or Barbados cherries. Originally from South America and Central America, they have 40 times more vitamin C than oranges. They’re sometimes hard to find in the United States though, so most of the time people get the health benefits from them in the form of a supplement: capsules, extracts and powders.

Cloves

Cloves have been a staple in many kitchens long before they started being touted as the newest superfood. If you’re the one who cooks holiday meals then you probably use them on your ham or in your pumpkin pies, right? Did you know that Spanish researchers say that cloves have a powerful antioxidant to them may even be able to take the place of synthetic ones we often use for preserving food?

Baobab Fruit

This potent little fruit comes from Africa and has only recently been approved for export. They have a naturally powder-like texture even without any kind of processing. If you aren’t a fan of dairy products are can’t eat them due to health reasons, then this fruit should definitely be in your kitchen. They have a lot of calcium and vitamin C. If you roast the seeds from baobab fruit, you can eat them and get plenty of protein. It’s often used for flavor in yogurt, but hopefully it’ll start showing up in your local grocery stores since its export approval.

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