Zone Diet - Criticism

One diet may not work or suit on everyone. The Zone Diet Plan is a moderate plan to be followed. 

The Zone Diet does not only calculate fat and protein match but relates calorie burn as well. It considers the significance of other ingredients as well to maintain a balanced diet. The Zone Diet will highlight the use and side effects of fats proteins, and unlike others, of carbohydrates as well. Carbohydrates affect the hormonal activities and the level of insulin in a human body. A disturbance in these internal systems leads to heart diseases and cancers. This is what the Zone Diet takes concern of. 

A Zone Diet will suit every being as it keeps a balance between fats, proteins, carbohydrates and all other healthy ingredients. This balancing gives a healthy development of hormonal activities along with a loss in weight. 

Despite the fact that The Zone Diet stresses on the consequence of carbohydrates for effective hormonal activities involving the hormones like Eicosanoids that relates to different metabolic courses but its shortage is also related to chubbiness and many other diseases. Nevertheless, there is no scientific confirmation for the remarks suggested by the Zone Diet plan. 

Move, Move, Move For Greater Weight Loss

Incidental activity is very important in the process of losing weight as you can burn more calories than relying on dietary means alone. Fat is burned from the body when cells oxidize to release energy in the form of exercise or movement. When the exercise is done slowly to moderately then the majority of energy is taken from the fat stores.

The loss of fat comes from fat cells all over the body, not from one or more specific areas so spot reduction of a certain area is not possible. The main priority of this article is to show you the quickest and safest way to lose fat from the body. 

The key to effective aerobic training that burns off the maximum amount of fat is long-term consistency not intensity.  It doesn’t matter if you run a mile, jog a mile or walk a mile you will burn exactly the same amount of calories.

The best exercise by far for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors. What many don't know is that walking produces a greater percentage of fat loss as opposed to jogging or running. Other aerobic activities are the treadmill, bike, climber or any other training gear found in or out of the gym.

Walk or exercise until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week if you are able. 

Here are some of the benefits of fast walking. 

• Easy to Perform

• Most Conventional

• All Natural Body Movement

• Doesn't Cause Injuries

• Can Be Done Anywhere

• The Best Minimal Effort Exercise for Fat Loss

Research shows that regular, brisk walking is one of the best exercises we can do for overall fitness.  It suits people of all ages and fitness levels, its easy to get started and there's no complicated technique to learn or equipment to buy.  

Walking is an excellent way to get fit because it uses nearly all the muscles and, as you have to carry your body weight, you can get a good workout from it.

Its also safer on the joints and the back than most other forms of exercise because you're not jumping up and down, so the impact is low.

Studies have shown that taking a daily 20-minute walk can reduce the risk of heart attack as much as 50%, it also reduces high blood pressure and helps to burn fat to keep weight under control.  

Walking and other weight bearing exercises (Strength training) helps to increase bone mass, which protects against osteoporosis and bone fractures.

In the first two weeks, go for a 20-minute walk every other day and then increase this to 40 minutes.  At first try to do five 20-minute walks per week totaling 100 minutes a week.  Once you get used to the regular exercise, increase this to 40 minutes for five times a week. 

You can then gradually increase this as you see fit, if you want to walk every day for 40 minutes or even an hour so be it. Remember the more you walk the more fat that will be burned off.  The best pace for fitness training will make you slightly breathless, but you should still be comfortable and be able to carry on a conversation.  

As you get fitter, you'll want to stretch a little harder to keep your heart rate up.  Try lengthening your strides, increasing your pace. Keep your shoulders back, your chest lifted and your tummy pulled in when you walk, hold your head up for open, easy breathing. 

Practical Tips

• If your feeling stressed, try counting your steps repeatedly from one to ten as you walk, this helps some people achieve a meditative effect and can be a great tension reliever when practiced over a full 40 minutes.

• Time yourself, measure the distance or increase the gradient to make the workout more challenging. Drink plenty of fluids during and after your walk.

• Make safety your first consideration. Don't walk after dark except in well-lit, busy places. Start the walk slowly, and then gradually increase the pace.

In all other activities try to move, move, move. Try parking the car further away from your destination so you can walk the extra distance, hide all your remote controls so you have to get up and change the channels manually. These all help burn those extra calories and body fat from your frame.
 

Weight Loss Supplements and Diet Pill

More and more spend hundred and even thousands of dollars yearly on weight loss supplements in the hope of speeding up their metabolism.  The main desire is to be attractive and accepted but it is becoming a more difficult goal to achieve.  The fitness industry is booming but still a lot of people are unable to cut those fat in spite of all the exercise and diet efforts.  In America, more than sixty per cent of adults are overweight and thirty per cent are considered obese.  This is because: one, a lot of weight loss products promises unrealistic goals; two, dietary supplement manufacturers rely on the overweight persons failure to survive; and three, the information about the supplements in the market are just written by themselves just to make a sell.  

Although the Food and Drug Administration has successfully banned illegal marketers, some products are still available.  Consumers can be deceived of the labels which claims caffeine or ephedra fee not knowing that these supplements composes of other ingredients that may pose the same health risks.  These include heart and digestive problems, headaches, insomnia, and even psychological side effects.

Other supplement manufacturers say that their products contains EGCG which is a phytochemical ingredient found in green tea.  This so-called component claims to speed up metabolism but in reality poses to reduce the risk of cancer.  Some studies denote that it could slightly increase the potential to burn calories and now can be found in many weight loss supplements.  It has good points on the other hand since the body might conform to EGCG after a period of time.  Eve the weight loss benefit could sum up to 60 to 70 calories a day. This helps prevent excessive weight gain.  

A few other significant effects of weight loss supplements is that it may contain ingredients that makers claim will prevent the absorption of carbohydrates.  One good example is Chitosan, which appears most promising, which in fact shows no positive result in fat absorption.  It could even take up to seven months for men to lose just a pound of body fat and for women, there is no fat loss at all.  Thyroid supplements act as thyroid replacements help regulate and optimize the thyroid at a higher level.  This they say makes the body feel like a couch potato and wont perform the job it has to.

Diet Pills. According to manufacturers, diet pills use natural ingredients capable of prolonging life and containing alcohol used in medication or flavoring.  One thing is for sure, never take diet pills as substitute for cutting calories without the doctors recommendation.  There are simple but important steps to be followed when taking diet pills:

1. Never crush diet pills to mix in drinks or soups.  Take it whole with a full glass of water.
2. Diet pills causes a person to urinate more frequently due to its diuretic effect.  This could lead to dehydration, thus, causing complications.  As a precaution, it is best to drink eight glasses of water everyday while on diet pills.
3. Take only the recommended dosage.  Taking more than required will not help you lose weight but increase the risk of side effects.
4. Heartbeat should be less than 86 beats per minute.  Stop taking the pills if it reaches 90 or higher that is why regular checking of pulse is a must.
5. Always follow the instructions set by the dietician and/or doctor and not only rely on what’s enclosed in the box.  Also diet pills will only work as expected if diet plan is being followed.
6. After three months, stop taking the diet pills.  Common diet phenylpropanolamine is safe to use only up to sixteen weeks.  Other studies show that it can cause health problems if taken under one month.
 

Weight Loss Helps Prevent Diabetes

A few years ago, the American Diabetes Association announced the findings of the comprehensive Diabetes Prevention Program. The DPP was conducted at over 25 medical centers nationwide and involved thousands of participants who volunteered to have their habits monitored and to follow dietary and exercise recommendations. All participants had been diagnosed with 'pre-diabetes', a condition where the blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet in diabetic ranges. Untreated, more than half of those people diagnosed with pre-diabetes will develop full-blown type 2 diabetes within a decade. 

For the study, the participants were divided into two groups. One half were given dietary recommendations. The other half got the same dietary recommendations, plus the recommendation to exercise at least 30 minutes daily, five times a week. 

The results? Those who included daily exercise in their routines and followed the diet recommendations cut their risk of developing diabetes by 58%. The reason? Those who made the recommended changes in their lifestyle lost 'a moderate amount' of weight. Even more important, researchers found something that they didn't expect. Those in the treatment group had a substantial chance of reducing their blood sugar level to normal, something that had been assumed was impossible. 

Apparently, losing weight not only prevents a worsening of diabetes, it reverses the damage that obesity causes to the cells that produce insulin. 

How much weight loss does it take to have an effect on the progression of diabetes? The key is in the definition of 'a moderate weight loss' - 5-7% of your body weight. In other words, depending on your boy weight, a loss of as little as 7-10 pounds can make a difference! 

The recommendations suggested by the American Diabetes Society for a healthy diet to prevent diabetes is an ideal diet for steady, gradual weight loss - the kind of weight loss that stays lost. The diet includes the following suggested daily diet allowances: 

* Grain - 6-11 servings per day (Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta) 
* Vegetables - 3-5 servings per day
* Fruits - 2-4 servings per day
* Milk - 2-3 servings per day
* Meat - 4-6 ounces per day (Meat, eggs, fish, dried beans, nuts and peanut butter) 
* Fats, Sweets, Alcohol - Occasional treats 

(Recommendations for portions are based on gender and activity level. For instance, a sedentary 40 year old woman needs fewer portions than an active 25-year-old woman.) 

Look familiar? It's also the dietary recommendation for the Heart Healthy diet from the American Heart Association, and the recommendations from the USDA's new My Healthy Plate. The results just keep coming in, but the message is clear: losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet can help prevent most major health problems. Why wait till you're diagnosed? Start today - and it may never happen.

Weight Loss Issues - Can You Be Cellulite Free?

One thing I really must say at the outset of this article is, that if you were to ask the majority of men to define cellulite they would most probably be completely baffled. 

Then after you explained it to them in detail and told them that you suffered from it, more likely than not the reaction would be to look at you as if you were slightly mad, shrug their shoulders and say that they had actually never noticed it. 

So one consolation I suppose, is that most men apparently just do not see it and do not know what all the fuss is about! 

(They can be wonderful sometimes can't they!)

From a woman's point of view however, cellulite is at best something which restricts what she can or cannot wear, or at worst in extreme cases something which can be downright unsightly.

If we are being brutally honest, dimples on our cheeks can be really cute, but dimples on our thighs and our buttocks most certainly are not. 

It has been described as the dreaded "orange peel look" especially in relation to female thighs and buttocks.

Many women can literally spend absolute fortunes to try and find ways to eliminate it.

Having established that it is a big problem (for the majority of women at least), I find myself coming back to the question in my title - Is it possible to be totally free of cellulite!

In truth I think sadly that as things stand at the moment probably not, but there are many many steps that can be taken to minimize the unsightly look of cellulite, and my intention in this article is to outline just a few of them.

It does really help if we try and understand some of the main causes of cellulite, and what if anything we can effectively do to both reduce the unsightly appearance (in our eyes at least), and even to try and banish it completely.

We should remember that the primary cause of cellulite is weight gain, and if a woman does gain excess weight the layers of fat under the skin expand, but sadly not in a smooth uniform way. 
We have the female hormone estrogen which promotes fat on the thighs and buttocks to thank for this. 

When fat cells start to build up on the lower half of the female body, they are more likely to multiply and press against the skin. This process creates the bulged and dimpled look of the dreaded cellulite, and with very very few exceptions, it is completely a feminine problem.

Another important factor is that as we age our skin also tends to lose its tautness, particularly so if we do not take any forms of regular exercise. 

So having now determined the main causes of cellulite,let us look in some detail at some of the choices available to us to try and minimize the effects of it.

The first choice is that you can learn to live with it! 

Yes, I do actually mean that! 

At the end of the day it is not going to detract from you as a woman, and there is no reason whatsoever why you cannot still be very attractive. 

Do not let it become an obsession under any circumstances!

The second and for me personally, the most important choice available is to make a seriously determined and long term effort to lose those unnecessary extra pounds. I strongly recommend a low fat diet as the first and vital step to take if you are to succeed in fighting this battle. 

Make it a top priority to become much more active! 

Simple changes such as walking more frequently, taking up a sport that you really could enjoy (perhaps something you did in the past), or alternatively taking the time to join a few exercise classes, are just some examples.

Join those exercise classes which concentrate primarily on hips buttocks and thighs. This will greatly help in improving and toning up those areas affected by cellulite. 

Your third choice is to try out some of the many creams that you can purchase. Use these with a deep massaging technique which will help improve the overall appearance of the cellulite areas. 

The fourth and most drastic choice is liposuction which removes excess fat. Another such process is Endermologie, a mechanical massage that will smooth out the dimples.

These methods can be really expensive, so you will have to be prepared to dig deep for them.

Useful Quick Fix Tips To Disguise Cellulite.

Fake Tan - Apply the fake tan normally, but just before you are going to show your legs, rub a layer of hair serum (yes the stuff you use to stop frizz), along your shinbone. This makes the thinner area of your shinbone much more prominent, and will therefore help to disguise those parts which are less firm in appearance.

Wear The Right Shoes - Heels or wedges will make your legs appear much longer, but beware of ankle straps and flat shoes. They really do make your legs look considerably shorter and fatter. 

Take a tip from the celebrities. They wear heels with trousers and jeans, and have them made so that the trousers end about an inch below the ankle. The effect of this is to make their legs look really long and slim.

Draw The Eyes Upwards - If you are wearing your jeans on a night out for example, by either wearing a bulky necklace, a glittery scarf, or maybe even a Wonderbra and a V Necked top (if you are feeling slightly daring), you will distract attention away from your thighs. 

Wear dark colors as they make your bottom parts look much slimmer.

Try out a Fast Fix Treatment - Treat yourself by going to a beauty salon, and indulge in one of their cellulite instant fix procedures. These can be very expensive but they really do make your thighs look smoother and sleeker.

Unfortunately though, these procedures only last for a short length of time.

The majority of women would love to have thinner cellulite free thighs, but do please remember that it is your overall appearance which matters most. 

If you look and feel attractive in yourself that will be the way that others will also see you. 

Remember that the aim here is for improvement not perfection. Cellulite has been a feminine curse (as women see it), since the beginning of time. As yet no one has come up with either an instant or indeed permanent cure.

However until they do, and one day somebody just might, stay focused on your overall health, take serious and meaningful steps to lose weight, and maintain a good exercise program.

That way you can at the very least keep the whole thing in perspective, and in so doing, maintain your self confidence and self esteem at a much higher level than it would otherwise have been.