As we age, our metabolism slows down. I'm sure you are aware about this. You always hear this. As a consequence of slow metabolic rate we gain weight with a small portion of the food that we eat. Especially so if we are not physically active. It also depends on the kind of job that we do and the lifestyle that we live. Exercise can help, no doubt about it, but we have to double the effort in order to cope up.
I began to gain weight faster when I reached 35. So, before I reached my 40 years of age, I already was a fat guy. I used to weigh 110lbs in my 20's. But in my 40's I was already 178 to 180 lbs. I worked as an IT manager in a big corporation and you know that in this kind of work you don't move your body but your brain most of the time. And with so many projects, you may not find extra time to do physical exercise to "shake" your body a bit to get physically fit and to fight stress. You would feel so tired when you reached home and all you wanted to do is lie down and sleep. Then, you do the same office routine again then home and sleep. It's a vicious cycle that is not easy to break.
With a lot of stress, we also find a way to manifest it by eating more food than we usually eat, instead of sweating it all out through physical activities. As a result, we get bigger and bigger until we notice that most of our clothes don't fit us anymore and we don't look good in the mirror. We also start to feel some body pain especially in the back and joints because of excessive weights.
Most of the food that we eat that makes us bigger are high in calories and carbohydrates. We get energy from these foods. We need energy, but we have to make sure that we burn enough energy so that it will not be converted into fats. We have to burn at least 300 calories a day. Do you know that you can get that amount of energy from a slice of your favorite pizza? How much more do you get when you eat burger with cheese, sandwiches, junk foods, and all other processed foods? Do you think you can burn the energy you get from them? Look at your figure and be honest with your answer.
We have to make it a goal to lose weight everyday. The primary purpose of this goal is to stay healthy. I will not be talking about here how you should do it through exercise but rather, what I want to talk about is how you should do it through diet and cleansing. About two months ago, I went into a low carb diet and for the first time, I lost 12 pounds after less than 3 weeks. But I have to keep losing weight until I reach my desired number on my scale. I realized it's not that easy because of several factors. One of which is the fact that I am the only person in the house who is on diet. Temptation to eat the food that is not part of my diet is all over the four corners of the house. Another factor is, I work long hours until the wee hours in the morning with my home-based internet business and I always get tempted to eat as I type on my keyboard, etc. Dieting requires discipline. No matter how difficult it is, we have to abide by the rules.
Going on a diet is a big decision that you have to make. And you have to be serious about it. Otherwise, you will just make yourself bigger and bigger when you resume eating the food you always love to eat (the food that makes you gain more weight). Remember that one of the reasons why people gain weight is when they skip meals or when they go hungry. It slows down their metabolic rate. When our brain begins to sense that we are hungry, it will slow down the metabolism of our body in order to preserve some energy that our body requires. It means, our body stops burning some energy and converts it into fats so that we will have enough to burn when we need them. The problem is, we don't burn them because we don't exercise. So, when we eat again, we begin to store additional fats on top of the unused ones that our system preserved when we skipped meals. As a result, we get bigger. This is also the main reason why it is not advisable to go on a crash diet. It just disturbs our metabolic process.
To lose weight is not done overnight. It could be a long or short term process, but not overnight. So what if you are only able to lose weight less than a pound each month. It's not ideal but at least you are making progress. All you need is more of the enthusiasm to do so. A better way to enthuse yourself is to imagine how you would look like when you already have a slender body; how you would look like when you are already able to wear skinny jeans or fitted shirts; what people will say when they begin to notice that you have lost some pounds; how would you feel when they praise your sexy look, etc. Visualize the ideal weight that you want for yourself every night and day and you will become like it. Remember that what you think you are you become.
The most practical way to lose weight is to avoid food with high carbohydrates and high calories like rice, potato, white bread, pizza, burger and all kinds of junk food. Eat more vegetables, raw vegies are the best, hard boiled egg for your protein (not more than 3 eggs a day), high fiber foods like wheat bread, whole wheat cereals, fish, some white meat, some nuts. And do plenty of exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Other than food diet and of course exercise, there is one thing which I just started doing is a cleansing diet. If you have heard of the Lemonade Diet, this is what I have just incorporated in my diet plan. It's a cleansing diet system or some people call this the Master Cleansing Diet.
I started less than 2 days ago and I have already lost more than 4 pounds. It melts at least 2 pounds of fatty tissues a day safely. This diet is good for 10 days but you can go for up to 40 days if necessary and it is still safe. Actually, the main purpose of this diet is not to help you lose weight, but to cleanse your system. Losing weight is just a consequence of the process. And it is practically safe.
To share this wonderful cleansing formula, please read below and make sure you follow the information I provided here for good results.
What are the benefits of this diet?
1. To dissolve and to eliminate the toxins and congestion that have formed in any part of your body
2. To cleanse the kidneys and the digestive system
3. To purify the glands and cells throughout the entire body
4. To eliminate all unusable waste and hardened material in the joints and muscles
5. To relieve pressure and irritation ion the nerves, arteries and blood vessels
6. To build a healthy blood stream
7. To keep youth and elasticity regardless of our years
8. All mucus diseases such as colds, flu, asthma, hay fever, sinus and bronchial troubles are rapidly dissolved and eliminated from the body, leaving the user free from the varied allergies which cause difficult breathing and clogging of the sinus cavities.
It is used when:
1. Sickness has developed- for all acute and chronic conditions
2. Digestive system needs a rest and cleansing
3. Overweight has become a problem
4. Better assimilation and building of body tissue is needed
How often do we use it?
Follow this diet for a minimum of 10 days and up to 40 days when necessary, like if you have sickness to deal with.
The Formula
1) 2 table spoon of fresh lemon juice or lime juice
2) 2 tablespoon genuine maple syrup, not the flavored or those use in pancakes (it has to be a grade B maple syrup, you can buy this from health stores)
3) 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
4) 8 ounces of water (room temperature)
Combine the juice, the maple syrup and the cayenne pepper in a jar and shake it until the pepper is dissolved then drink it.
Please note:
Don't experiment with other juice alternatives, and the juice has to be freshly extracted from the lemon or lime, no canned or bottled or frozen product is permitted as they have other harmful ingredients like preservatives.
Take Laxative Tea
You have to make sure that you move 2 to 3 times a day to flush the toxins out of your colon. It is hard to do it without eating any solid food. Laxative tea will help you move. Drink it in the evening and in the morning. Drink only organic tea. No other formula is allowed.
How much does one drink?
You should take from six to twelve glasses of the lemonade daily during the waking period. As you get hungry just have another glass of lemonade.
NO OTHER FOOD SHOULD BE TAKEN DURING THE FULL PERIOD OF THE DIET. As this is a complete balance of minerals and vitamins, one does not suffer the pangs of hunger. Do not use vitamin pills.
All solid food is turned into a liquid state before the blood can carry it to the cells. The lemonade is already a food in liquid form.
For those who are overweight, less maple syrup may be taken. For those underweight, more maple syrup may be taken. For those who are underweight and worried about losing more weight, REMEMBER, the only things you can possibly lose are mucus; waste, and disease. Healthy tissue will not be eliminated. Many people who need to gain weight actually do so near the end of the diet period. Never vary the amount of lemon juice per glass. About six glasses of lemonade a day is enough for those wishing to reduce. Extra water may be taken as desired.
IMPORTANT: How to go back to eating solid food after the cleansing diet
For a minimum of 10 days, you will never have solid food and so it will not be good for your system to immediately fill your stomach with solid food right away as this may result to a serious medical condition. Please follow the procedure below to insure safety when you go back to eating solid food after the diet.
HOW TO BREAK THE LEMONADE DIET?
Following is the schedule for people who normally follow such a natural vegetarian diet:
FIRST AND SECOND DAY AFTER DIET:
Drink Several 8 oz. Glasses of fresh orange juice as desired during the day.
The orange juice prepares the digestive system to properly digest and assimilate regular food.
Drink it slowly. If there has been any digestive difficulty prior to or during the change over, extra water may be taken with the orange juice.
THIRD DAY:
Orange juice in the morning.
Raw fruit for lunch.
Fruit or raw vegetable salad at night.
You are now ready to eat normally.
For those who have characteristically lived the unnatural way of meat, milk, refined and devitalized food, it may be best to change over as follows, gradually adopting the raw fruit, nut, and vegetable diet:
FIRST DAY:
Several 8 oz. Glasses of fresh orange juice as desired during the day. Drink it slowly.
SECOND DAY:
Drink several 8 oz. Glasses of orange juice during the day— with extra water, if needed.
Some time during the afternoon, prepare a vegetable soup (no canned soup) as follows:
RECIPE FOR VEGETABLE SOUP
Use several kinds of vegetables, perhaps one or two kinds of legumes, potatoes, celery, carrots, green vegetable tops, onion, etc. Dehydrated vegetables or vegetable soup powders may be added for extra flavor. Okra or okra powder, chili, curry, cayenne (red pepper), tomatoes, green peppers, and zucchini squash may be included to good advantage. Brown rice may be used, but no meat or meat stock. Other spices may be added (delicately) for flavor. Use salt delicately as a limited amount of salt is necessary. Learn to enjoy the natural flavor of the vegetables. The less cooking the better.
Have this soup for the evening meal using the broth mostly, although some of the vegetables may be eaten. Rye wafers may be eaten sparingly with the soup, but no bread or crackers.
THIRD DAY:
Drink orange juice in the morning. At noon have more soup: enough may be made the night before and put in the refrigerator. For the evening meal eat whatever is desired in the form of vegetables, salads, or fruit. No meat, fish, or eggs; no bread, pastries, tea coffee, or milk. Milk is highly mucus forming and tends to develop toxins throughout the body. (Milk, being a predigested food, has been known to cause various complications in the stomach and colon, such as cramps and convulsions. The calcium in milk is difficult to assimilate and may cause toxins in the form of rheumatic fever, arthritis, neuritis, and bursitis. The resulting lack of proper digestion and assimilation of the calcium allows it to go into the blood stream in a free form and it is deposited in the tissues, cells, and joints where it can cause intense pain and suffering.)
FOURTH DAY:
Normal eating may be resumed, but best health will be retained if the morning meal consists of our type of lemonade or fruit juice: and, of course, if a strictly fruit, vegetable, seed and berry diet is followed. If, after eating is resumed, distress or gas occurs, it is suggested that the lemonade diet be continued for several more days until the system is ready for food.
Don't go back to your old bad eating habit
you can always have your cleansing diet anytime you think you need it but I must say that the best thing to do is to stay away from bad food when you break your lemonade diet. One is to make sure that you have a consistent flow of healthy food in your system as days go by. Two is to make sure you will not spend more money again for another cleansing diet like lemonade diet. If you can maintain your health through the most practical ways, why not do it.
So stay fit, stay healthy and live longer for your loved ones!
Note: The information about the Lemonade Diet was taken from the Original Text By: Stanley Burroughs. If you don't have any access to this book, you can visit Master Cleanse Diet for additional information.
