Cleanse your System and Lose Weight at the Same Time

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.

Weight Loss for Teens – A Parent Should Not Worry Too Much

This is the final chapter for our series on "How to help teenagers lose weight". I hope you have enjoyed this and that you learned a lot from this mini-series. Please watch out for more tips on losing that extra pounds. I will post useful information here for your consumption as soon as I have done my homework.

Chapter VI

Concerns are always being raised in relation to the dangers of child or teen weight loss, especially with parents.

For many teens today, the image of the body is at the fore front of their minds, especially when you look at the models used in magazines etc.

Teenagers will be easily swayed by their peers or TV/Movie idols, and some will go to drastic measures in order to look as good, and wear the clothes that their heroes are wearing.

More and more teenagers are suffering from either anorexia or bulimia (both very serious illnesses), both of which they can often easily hide from their parents.

It is very difficult to understand how anorexia and bulimia affects people who, to others, may look healthy and being a normal size weight. For many sufferers, they see themselves as fat and undesirable, and they usually lack self confidence and self esteem. They may feel this because they have been laughed at when they were younger, or it can be that they are just too shy or embarrassed to discuss how they feel.

But whatever the reason, those suffering from either anorexia or bulimia are at risk. Their health will become compromised (not now but may be later on in life). Should such eating problems not be diagnosed early enough, then the damage they cause to their body may be irreversible.

You can not force a person to eat if they don’t want to, and neither can you stop a person from purging themselves. What you need to do is get to the root of their problem and discuss with them how they feel about themselves. Find out why they feel that they need to lose the weight in such a manner. Then you can look at ways in which you can help them to combat this problem.

However, those people who are suffering either from anorexia or bulimia will most likely need professional help (you don’t need to send them a way to rehab). There are plenty of self help groups which have now been set up to aid with these eating disorders.

How do I recognize if my teen is suffering from an eating problem? Unfortunately, most people, especially children, are good at hiding the symptoms related to eating problems. But below are some signs that should help.

1. The color of their skin. Does it have a healthy glow or is it dull and pale?

2. Eyes - are they bright or dull?

3. Hair – It is full and shiny or has it become dull, flat and thinning?

4. Legs and Arms – Have they got good tone, or do they look just like skin and bone?

5. Have their energy levels decreased?

6. Teenage Girls – Has their menstrual cycle altered in any way?

There are other ways in which bulimia may be diagnosed. Because a teenager will be forcing themselves to bring up the food which they have eaten, they develop cavities near the gum line. So if you can discreetly watch their bathroom habits, are they constantly going to the bathroom after they have eaten in order to purge the food from their body? Do they brush their teeth often because they want to make themselves sick or have they loose stools and stomach cramps because they are taking laxatives?

Those teenagers who are suffering from anorexia will often play with the food on their plate, or say they are not hungry or that they earlier when they were out with their friends. Others may well skip breakfast and just grab something on the way school, or they won’t take the lunch that you have prepared for them to school…or if they do, they throw away as soon as you are out of sight. Discreetly check with the school to see if they are eating meals at school, and if you are able to, speak to their friends and find out what, if anything, they are eating when they are with them. However, it is important that you do not pry too much, or it will lead to them only hiding the problem from you even more.

If you are able to, monitor what they are reading and logging onto on the internet.

For many teens, they will deny that they have a problem where eating is concerned. Parents must find a way to get past the idea that there is nothing troubling the teen, and that they go through stages when they don’t like certain foods or they will avoid eating a meal with the family. However, if you are reading this chapter and you see things in it which seem familiar in relation to your teen, then it may be worth taking a further look at your teen’s lifestyle.

Today, there is a lot of pressure being put on teens to become vegetarians, and some vegetarians will allow fish as part of their diets. This is okay as this provides the necessary nutrients, Vitamin B12, zinc and iron, which a teen will need while they are growing. However, it is wise to show them which fish are the best to eat more often, and which they should eat less of.

It is the teens who give up meat and fish altogether that a parent should be concerned about. Protein is important for us to grow, maintain healthy muscles, skin, hair and good health. The best source for protein is from animals, and those teens who give up this source will need to get it from other areas, such as through vitamin supplements. Studies carried out claim that the quantity of nutrition provided by pills is not the same, or as good as they would get from animal sources.

Therefore, as a parent, if you should have any concerns in regard to what is written above, it is time to take action.

A great way of doing this is to help your teen to understand why they should eat properly, and what foods they should be eating, as well as how much and when and what they should avoid. Not only will this help you, but it will help your teen to better understand the importance of food, and what we need to have a healthy body, as well as the best ways to combat weight gain naturally.

So now is the right time for you to take action with regard to your teen’s health and any concerns they may have about their body image and weight.

Conclusion

As you can see from this book, there are number of ways in which helping a teen to cope with their obesity, as well as helping them lose weight safely.

Often, obesity treatment programs which have been devised for teens rarely have weight loss as a goal, but rather they aim to slow or halt any weight gain so that the teen will grow into their body weight over the next few months or years. It is estimated that for every 20% excess of body weight a teen has, they will need about 1½ years weight maintenance to obtain their ideal body weight.

So, early and appropriate intervention on the part of the parent is particularly valuable. It has been found that modifying a teens eating and exercise habits is much easier to do than with an adult.

The three forms of intervention that a parent could use are as follows:

Physical Activity

By adopting a formal exercise program, or just simply becoming more active, you will help to burn fact and increase the amount of energy a teen expends. Studies have shown that exercise, as well as coupling it with one of the other forms of intervention, is a successful way to help them lose weight safely.

Diet

It is advisable that you do not allow your teen to fast or drastically reduce their calorie intake. Not only is this way of losing weight psychologically stressful on them, but it may adversely affect their growth, and what a teen sees as “normal eating”. So making sure that they have a balanced diet, with moderate restrictions on the amount of calories they have, is ideal. A great way is to reduce dietary fat, which has been found as a successful way of treating teens that are overweight. It may be that your teen needs to be educated on the nutritional values of foods, also. So by controlling a teen’s diet, and getting them to do more exercise, will help to treat their weight problem.

Modification of a Teens Behavior

There are many behavioral strategies that are used on adults, which can be successfully applied to teens, such as:

1. Self monitoring and recording the food they have

2. Increased physical activity

3. Slowing the rate at which they eat their food


4. Limiting the time and place when eating (do not allow them to sit in front of the TV or computer, get them to sit at the dining table)

5. Provide them with rewards and incentives, if their behavior is what you are looking for

This book has hopefully helped with ways in which you can help your teen with any weight issues they may have. However, it is easier to prevent a teen from being overweight, than it is to treat it.

Where prevention is concerned, it focuses on educating the parents about providing their children with a good nutritional diet and plenty of physical activity. However, where such preventive measures can not help those teens who suffer from weight problems because of a heredity factor, then the education of the parents should be focused on building up their teens self esteem, and addressing any psychological issues that they may have.

Tips, Techniques, and Strategies for Boosting Your Metabolism

If you’re reading this book, chances are that you’ve tried – at least once in your life – to boost your metabolism.

Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what a metabolism was, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.

Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning.

Or maybe you started eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions.

Or maybe you started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.

The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work.

Really: exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what, how, or why these methods boost metabolism.

Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work; we just think that they do.

For example, a person may start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling.

And indeed, after a week, that person may notice a drop in weight.

Yet is this due to a boosted metabolism? Maybe; maybe not. Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished? Maybe or maybe not.

The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand the tips, strategies, and techniques of boosting their metabolism. And that’s what we’re going to rectify in this chapter.

In this book, you won’t come across any casual information that a friend of a friend heard on TV. Nor will you be subjected to off-the-cuff information of how to boost your metabolism.

Rather, we’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost your metabolism.

The popular and widely respected Internet publication i-Village highlights 11 key ways to speed up metabolism. To most easily introduce and discuss them here, we’ve taken these 11 key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:

1. Exercise
2. Lifestyle
3. Diet

As you go through each of the 11 key points, you’ll certainly note that there is some overlap between them. For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice.

Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (probably less time in fast food line-ups, for one!).

So with this being said, please don’t get bogged down in the categories; they are merely provided here to help organize these points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future. The important thing for you to do is understand each of the 14 points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.

Exercise

It’s going to be old news for you to be reminded that exercising is a bit part of boosting your metabolism and burning up calories.

Unless you’re born with one of those unusually active metabolisms which allows you to, almost freakishly, eat thousands of calories a day without weight-gain consequences, you’re like the vast majority of us who need to give your metabolisms a bit of a kick through exercising.

Now, you might think that cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise is an important part of boosting your metabolism; and you’d be right!

Provided that, of course, your qualified doctor confirms that you’re able to start a program of cardiovascular exercise, this is indeed the place to start. Increasing heart rate, blood circulation, body temperature, and oxygen intake/carbon dioxide exchange all send messages to the system to initiative catabolism (breaking down cells and using them for energy).

Yet if cardiovascular exercising is the place to start, does that mean that it’s the place to end? No!

Many people, who aren’t as educated as you’ll be when you’ve finished this book, responsibly start a dedicated program of cardiovascular health, but they don’t go any further. Not because they’re lazy; but because, frankly, they don’t know that there is significantly more that they can do in their home gym, or at the fitness club, that will boost their metabolism even more potently.

We focus upon these added activities now, below.

Build Muscle


Many people – particularly some women – are very leery about undertaking any exercise regimen that can lead to muscle building.

The old perception was that muscle building leads to muscle bulking, and before long, gorging forearm veins and other unwanted results. This is, frankly, not the case.

Provided that women aren’t supporting their workouts with specific muscle-building supplements, there is no need to be concerned; because building lean muscle won’t make them bulk up.

Still, however, the question remains: why would women (and, of course, men) who want to boost their metabolism focus on muscle building? Isn’t cardiovascular exercising the only thing that matters?

Again, the answer is: No! In addition to a healthy and responsible cardiovascular program, muscle building is an exceptionally powerful way to boost metabolism.

How? Because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat.

And what does this mean? It means (and get ready to stare in awe) that if you have more muscle on your body – anywhere on your body – you will simply burn more calories as a result.

You don’t even have to do anything. You’ll simply burn more calories, because muscle simply requires more of an energy investment.

Of course, as you can infer, if you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibers will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory. But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is build and maintain healthy muscle.

It may sound daunting; especially if at the moment you perceive yourself to have much more fat than muscle.

Yet the important thing for you to remember is that once you start building muscle – through any kind of strength training – your body will itself start burning more calories.

It has to; even while you sleep, or go to a movie, or read a book. It’s like putting your calorie-burning (catabolism) program on auto-pilot.

So don’t let a little (or even a lot) of extra flab, at the moment, deter you from believing that muscle building is important.

Yes, you should enjoy cardiovascular exercise too, because that’s ultimately how your body is going to burn existing fat. But muscle building plays a profoundly supportive role in that pursuit.

And it’s an exponential one, too: the more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle (and the wonderful cycle goes on and on!).

Interval Training


The basic weight loss nuts and bolts behind cardiovascular exercise (or any kind of exercise, really) is, as you know, a matter of catabolism.

Essentially, if you can engineer your body to require more energy, your body will comply by breaking cells down to deliver it; and that process (metabolism) burns calories. Simple, right?

So based on that logic, something called interval training neatly fits in with the overall plan. Interval training is simply a adding high-energy burning component to your exercise plan on an infrequent, or interval, basis.

For example, you may be at a stage where you can jog for 20 minutes every other day, and thus put your heart into a cardiovascular zone during this time.

This, obviously, is going to help you boost your metabolism and thus burn calories/energy. Yet you can actually burn disproportionately more calories if, during that 20 minute jog, you add a 30 second or 1 minute sprint.

Why? Because during this 30 seconds or 1 minute, you give your body a bit of a jolt.

Not an unhealthy jolt; remember, we’re talking about quick bursts here, not suddenly racing around the track or through the park! By giving your body an interval jolt, it automatically – and somewhat unexpectedly – has to turn things up a notch.

And to compensate for your extra energy requirements, the body will burn more calories.

It’s essential for you to always keep in mind that interval training only works when it’s at intervals. This may seem like a strange thing to say (and even difficult to understand), but it’s actually very straightforward.

The metabolism-boosting benefits that you enjoy as a result of interval training are primarily due to the fact that your body, suddenly, needs to find more energy.
While it was chugging along and supplying your energy needs during your cardiovascular exercising, it all of a sudden needs to go grab some more for 30 seconds or a minute; and in that period, it will boost your metabolism as if it were given a nice, healthy jolt.

As you can see, if you suddenly decided to extend your 30 second or 1 minute sprint into a 20 minute sprint, you simply wouldn’t experience all of the benefits.

Yes, your body would use more energy if you extend yourself to the higher range of your aerobic training zone. But your body won’t necessarily get that jolt that only comes from interval training.

So remember: your goal with interval training is to give your body a healthy jolt where it suddenly says to itself:

“Whoa! We need more energy here FAST, this person has increased their heart rate from 180 beats per minute to 190 beats per minute! Let’s go to any available cell, like those fat cells down at the waist, and break them down via catabolism so that this person can get the energy that they need!”

Remember (sorry to be repetitive, but this is very important): the whole point of interval training in this way is to give your body a sudden, limited, healthy jolt where it needs more energy – quick!

If you simply increase your speed and stay there, while your body may, overall burn some more calories, it won’t get that jolt.

Also bear in mind that interval training can indeed last longer than 30 seconds or a minute.

Some experts suggest that you can use interval training for 30-40 minutes, depending on your state of health and what your overall exercise regimen looks like.

The reason we’re focusing on 30 seconds to 1 minute is simply to give you a clear understanding that interval training is a kind of mini training within a training program.

And, as always, don’t overdo it with your interval training. Your goal here is to become healthier and stronger, and lose weight in that process.

You gain nothing if you run so fast or bike so hard during interval training that you hurt yourself. You will actually undermine your own health, and possibly have to stop exercising while torn muscles or other ailments heal.

Variety



They say that variety is the spice of life, and this is indeed quite true. But despite this awareness, many people don’t spice up their exercise program; which is surprising, since doing so often leads to valuable metabolism-boosting benefits.

There are a few easy ways to add variety to your exercise program. We’ve already talked about interval training, and that is indeed one way to shift your body’s metabolic engine into higher gear.

Other effective ways are to break up a longer routine into smaller parts.

For example, instead of committing to 1x1 hour workout a day, it can be metabolism-boosting to split this up into 2x30 minute workouts; or even, on some occasions, 3x20 minute workouts.

Furthermore, you can add variety into your daily exercise routine without formally exercising.

For example, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or you can start your day with a brisk walk instead of a coffee and the newspaper.

Or, instead of parking close to the grocery store entrance, you can walk the distance between a far away parking spot and the entrance.

All of these tips provide two metabolism-boosting benefits.

Firstly, as you can easily see, they can make exercising more fun. While, indeed, it’s important to have an exercise routine, you don’t want to have a boring exercise routine (because then your chances of stopping are that much greater!).

So adding these new elements to your overall exercise commitment simply helps encourage you to stick with the program. And since exercising is a core part of boosting your metabolism, any technique or tip that helps you continue exercising over the long term is a wise piece of advice.

The second important benefit of variety in your exercise program leads us back to the interval training concept, discussed above.

When you add variety to your workout, your body cannot get into a groove. Remember: the body is a remarkable piece of work, and will always strive to do things efficiently.

Naturally, the overall state of your health (which can be influenced by genetics and other factors outside of your control) will play a role in how efficiently your body runs.

But regardless of how your body is put together, who what genetic influences you have to deal with, your body really likes you, and wants to do things as efficiently as it possibly can.

Therefore, when you start exercising, you body can start to develop a kind of expectation of energy output. It’s not doing this to be lazy; it’s doing this because, quite sincerely, it wants to help!

If your body starts to predict that you need a certain amount of energy to complete a certain task (such as jog for 20 minutes), then it will start to achieve that energy output more efficiently.

For example, when you first start jogging for, say, 2 minutes a time followed by 5 minutes of walking, your body may require a great deal of energy to help you achieve this.

And as a result, you may find yourself very out of breath or tired as your body strives to meet this increased demand. Naturally, of course, catabolism will be involved, and your body metabolism will increase.

But over time, say a month or so, your body will simply become more efficient. It will have become stronger, and will be able to supply your energy needs much more efficiently; you may not even break a sweat!

What’s happened here is that your health has improved; your body has to work less hard to provide you with your energy needs.

Ironically, this can actually obscure your metabolism-boosting efforts; because, as you know, you want to tell your body to start the catabolism process. But if your body is efficiently working, it won’t really dig into its reserves (e.g. fat cells) in order to provide you with the energy that you need.

So the trick is to keep variety in your workouts. Many people choose to cross-train for this very reason. It not only targets different muscle groups, but it keeps your body from finding a groove whereby it tried to help you by slowing down metabolism.

Remember: your body doesn’t read books like this; it doesn’t need to, and it doesn’t care.

It has no clue that a speedier metabolism is “good” or “bad”. Now, as far as you and I are concerned, we know that a speedy metabolism is a good thing in our weight loss efforts.

But your body doesn’t make this evaluation. And so it won’t turn on its metabolism jets because you want it to.

You can’t (unfortunately) send a memo to your body and ask it to please speed up metabolism.

If you could, then that would be amazing! But that’s not reality at all. What we have to do is force the body to say to itself: hey, I need to speed up metabolism because this person needs more energy!

And one of the best ways for you to force the body to have this kind of thinking is to add variety to your workouts.

Lifestyle

When we come across the term lifestyle, we tend to think of the basic day-to-day habits that we rely on; sometimes without giving them much of a second thought. And this is indeed the case when we talk about how lifestyle influences the speed of your metabolism.

Now, quite honestly, most of us live busy lives in one form or another, and therefore it’s challenging to really keep an eye on all of our habits.

Balancing work, family, hobbies, and other commitments often means that our lifestyle isn’t so much of a choice, as it is a necessity.

Yet with respect to the fact that many of us face sincere limitations in our lifestyle choices, there are many things that we can do – little things, but important things – that can help speed up our metabolism.

So if you’re a bit put-off by the term lifestyle, please don’t skim over this section. The little things that you change in your regular, day-to-day lifestyle can indeed have the most profound influence on the speed of your metabolism, and the achievement of your short and long-term weight loss goals.

Get on the Wagon



Do you know people who carefully choose low-fat, low-calorie meal choices, are very disciplined when it comes to not ordering the Chef’s Special pecan pie for desert, yet order a glass or two of wine with their meal?

Well, unfortunately, these people are really undermining their efforts to boost metabolism.

Studies show that drinking alcohol with meals actually encourages over eating; which means more calories that need to be burned away (or transformed into fat!).

Furthermore, many people are simply unaware that many alcoholic drinks are laden with calories; almost as much as sugary-rich soft drinks.

A bottle of beer can deliver a few hundred calories, and most cocktails are in the same range. Wine is generally considered to deliver the least amount of calories; but even this is a bit of a slippery slope.

Three glasses of wine can be worth 300 calories that the body simply has to deal with in one form or another.

The tip here isn’t to stop drinking alcohol altogether (despite the title of this section). If you enjoy alcohol then there’s no particular reason why you have to quit cold turkey, but you will save a bit of money and not consume as many calories.

Simply, the call here is that you become aware that it influences your metabolism. If you consume excess alcohol (even without becoming inebriated), you force your system to deal with more calories.

And unless you’re compensating for these added calories through exercise or muscle building, catabolism cannot occur. Instead, anabolism will inevitably occur, and new cells will be created from those calories (mostly fat cells).

Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzzzz


This is a toughy. Most of us don’t have as much control over the amount that we sleep as we should. Work, family, education, housekeeping, and so many other tasks can literally prevent us from getting the amount of sleep that we need.

However, as the experts tell us, getting enough sleep actually improves metabolism. On the other hand, people who are constantly sleep deprived typically find that they have less energy to do regular, daily activities; including digestion.

As a result, sleep-starved people often lower their own metabolism. They simply don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently, particularly carbohydrates.

This is a very difficult issue, because many people can only find time to exercise by borrowing from their rest time.

For example, after a long day of work and dealing with family and home commitments, a person may find that the only time they have to exercise (and thus boost their metabolism) is late at night; say around 9:00 pm, or even later. So what should one do?

Ultimately, it’s a question of balance. Naturally, if you’re willing to exercise, and your doctor agrees that it’s healthy for you to do that, then you’re not going to get fit by sleeping instead of exercising.

Yet with that being said, if you steal time away from your sleep/rest in order to exercise, over time, you can actually do more harm than good; because the following day, you won’t have enough energy to digest what you eat. The answer to this catch-22 lies in balance.

You don’t have to work out every night. Or perhaps you can integrate a workout into your life during the day; maybe at lunchtime or right after work.

Most fitness clubs are open very early (some are even open 24 hours), and if you choose to workout at home, you can do so in a generally affordable way (while some machines can cost thousands, basic machines that get the job done only cost a few hundred, even cheaper if they’re used).

If you find that you have trouble sleeping, then this can also negatively affect the speed of your metabolism (because you won’t have enough energy the following day). Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common problems, and there exists a variety of support systems in place to help people get the rest that they require. Some non-medical tips to help you fall asleep include:

o Don’t eat late at night
o Try drinking warm milk before bedtime
o Don’t turn on the TV at night
o Try yoga or other stress-relieving practices
o Try having a warm bath before bedtime
o Don’t exercise close to bedtime; your body can become so energized that it doesn’t want to sleep!



Relax



We briefly noted yoga in the list of Things to Do above, and that brings us to another key influence of your metabolism: stress.

Believe it or not, but experts are now telling us that stress can send unwanted signals to our body; signals that lead to slower metabolism.

Essentially, what happens is that when the body is under constant stress, it releases stress hormones that flood the system.

These stress-related hormones actually tell the body to create larger fat cells in the abdomen. The result can be both increased weight (through increased fat cells), and a slower metabolism.

Obviously, these are two very negative factors in the quest to boost metabolism and lose weight. The last thing that we want is more and bigger fat cells in our abdomen, coupled with a diminished metabolism!

Yet this is, tragically, what happens to many people who experience constant, continuous stress. And, alas, this is many people; especially those of us who have to balance so many competing objectives, such as work, family, and other vital tasks.

So the advice here is indeed to “relax and chill out”, and there are some simple techniques that can, and should, be added to your life.

These include walking more, listening to relaxing music, meditation, yoga, eating non-stimulating foods (e.g. no caffeine, no sugar, and so on), and building a daily regimen that includes periodic time outs where you can re-center yourself and de-stress.

Remember: while relaxing is good advice for anyone, it’s important for you to note that stress negatively influences metabolism. So there is a link between how much stress you experience and your ability to break down cells and lose weight.

So if you don’t want to relax because you don’t have the time, then you should realize that your stressed-out life is probably playing a role in your weight gain/your inability to lose weight.


There’s Something GOOD About This Time of the Month!?

Now here’s a strange one that is for the ladies, only.
Studies have demonstrated that the 2-week period prior to the onset of PMS is one in which fat burning capacity is at a premium.
This is ironic indeed; because that’s usually the period in which women don’t want to workout; because their body and its emotional computer are preparing for PMS. However, studies in Australia have shown that women were able to burn off as much as 30% more fat in the 2 weeks preceding PMS.
The reason for this, researchers argue, is because this is when the female body’s production of estrogen and progesterone are at their highest.
Since these hormones tell the body to use fat as a source of energy, exercising during this time can really pay off. The body will be inclined to target fat cells for catabolism.

Diet

Ah yes, diet. For most of us, our information concerning metabolism has related in one way or another to eating. Most of us have been told of metabolism-friendly foods, or metabolism unfriendly foods.

But really, while we may be basically aware that, all else being equal, a stalk of celery is better for your metabolism than fries with gravy, our understanding of diet and metabolism is pretty low.

To fix this, the following section looks at some powerful and scientific diet-related tips that will boost your metabolism. Indeed, as you’ll soon learn, it’s not merely what you eat that matters; it’s when, and how, too.

Don’t Hate Calories



The word calorie has a bad rap. We constantly come across calorie reduced or low calorie foods. And it’s not uncommon to overhear someone gasp about the immense calorie content of certain foods, such as a rich and creamy desert, or a giant fast food burger.

All of this anti-calorie rhetoric therefore has made a lot of us pretty calorie-phobic; as soon as we see something that has lots of them, we run away. But is this wise?

Yes and no. Yes, it’s wise in the sense that avoiding that double-layer chocolate fudge cake for desert is probably a good idea (actually, scratch that; it is a good idea).

The calories that come from the cake are really going to be the so-called empty calorie kind; which means that there’s no real nutritional value that your body can squeeze out and make use of.

But in the bigger picture, it’s unwise for your metabolism to become calorie-avoidant.

Why? Because your body is a marvelous machine that tries, at all times, to do what it can to make your life easier.

Indeed, while it may not always function at optimal levels (for a variety of reasons, including genetics), it still tries to do its very best. The body, for all of its limitations and so forth, is not a lazy thing!

With this in mind, the body is always trying to keep is alive and functioning in the manner that it deems to be healthiest.

And that’s why if you suddenly decrease the amount of calories that you need, your body won’t try to do more with less. In other words, your body won’t respond in the way that you want it to: it won’t necessarily provoke catabolism and thus reduce weight and fat cells.

Instead, your smart and wise body will try to keep you alive by slowing down its metabolism. It will simply believe that something is wrong – maybe you’re trapped somewhere without food – and it will just begin to become very stingy with energy.

So what’s the end result? If your body needs 2000 calories a day to survive, and you suddenly give it only 1000, it won’t begin to burn off 1000 calories worth of cells that you have lying around on your love handles.

Instead, your body will slow down its metabolism. It will really try and get as much energy out of those 1000 calories, because it doesn’t want to waste anything.

Physically, you’ll naturally feel more tired because your body is being very miserly with energy, and will devote its 1000-calorie ration to essential systems, like blood and oxygen supply (and others).

Metabolically, you won’t be burning off extra calories. In fact, you can actually gain weight by dramatically reducing your calorie intake!

The flipside of this, of course, is that you should consume a daily caloric intake that is proportionate to your body size, type, and weight loss goals.

And then, once you determine the amount of calories that you need (probably with the aid of a qualified nutritionist or fitness expert); you can provide that to your body via healthy, efficient calories.

For example, if your body needs 1500 calories per day, and one slice of double-fudge chocolate cake delivers a whopping 500 of those, then you can see that eating just one of these slices will take up a full 1/3rd of your daily caloric needs; and that’s not good!

On the other hand, you can see that drinking a tasty fruit smoothy made with yogurt and nuts can deliver half as many calories, but provide you with essential nutrients, vitamins, and other elements that your body needs to healthily do its work.

Eat More?

Fresh on the heels of the discussion on calories, it’s also helpful to note that eating frequently throughout the day can be very good for boosting metabolism. There are a couple of reasons for this.

The first reason is that people who tend to eat throughout the day do considerably less snacking. As a result, they tend to avoid the potato chips or candy bars that they might otherwise consume if they suddenly felt hungry.
People who eat throughout the day don’t tend to experience severe hunger pangs, because they don’t reach that stage.

The second reason, and the one that you can probably guess based on your understanding of metabolism, is that by eating throughout the day, you are constantly keeping your metabolism in motion.

It’s kind of like having a generator run all the time; it will simply use more electricity than if you powered it on 3 times a day.

Now, it goes without saying (but we should say it anyway just in case!) that just because it’s good for metabolism-boosting to eat frequently, this doesn’t mean that you can eat junk all day long! Rather, if you choose to eat more frequently, then you’ll certainly need to be very aware of what you eat; because you can easily exceed your required amount of daily calories if you don’t keep an eye on this.
That’s why, if your plan is to follow the eat-more-to-burn-more approach, then you should keep a food journal that notes what you eat (and drink of course) throughout the day. You should not merely know the calorie levels of what you eat, but you should know the overall nutritional values, too. For example, if you’re on target to eat 50 grams of protein per day, then you want to make sure you reach this target and not exceed it (or come in below it).

In other words, merely focusing on calories is only half of the job. You will need to ensure that you’re eating enough protein, carbohydrates, fats (the good unsaturated kind!), and the other vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to function at optimal levels.

Eat Early


We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And in terms of boosting your metabolism, this is indeed the case! There are a couple of reasons why eating a hearty and healthy breakfast can boost metabolism and lead to weight loss goals.

The first reason is that people who eat breakfast are much less inclined to snack throughout the morning. For example, if you had a good breakfast of fruit and low-sugar cereal in the morning, your chances of visiting the vending machine at work around 10:30am diminish significantly.

Of course, as you recall from our previous discussion on eating more frequently, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat something between breakfast and lunch.

It simply means that, since you won’t be extremely hungry at 10:30am (because you skipped breakfast), you’ll be less inclined to eat anything that you get your hands on; such as a nice donut that your co-worker was kind enough to offer you.

In other words, by starting your day in a nutritious way, you’ll have more control over what you eat throughout the day.

The second reason is more aligned with metabolism-boosting. Studies have shown that metabolism slows during sleep, and doesn’t typically get going again until you eat.

Therefore, starting the day with breakfast is like kickstarting your metabolism. You’ll actually burn more calories throughout the day, simply by eating breakfast (hey, who knew?!).

Remember: as you eat your breakfast, control both the portion and the contents. You don’t want to eat to the point of complete fullness; because, remember, you want to eat throughout the day and you won’t be able to do that if you’re stuffed.

At the same time, beware of high-fat breakfasts. Studies have shown that high-fat breakfasts, such as those that include bacon and sausage, not only deliver lots of calories (there are 9 calories for every gram of fat, as compared to 4 for every gram of carbohydrates and proteins, respectively).

But they also can make you very hungry again, very soon! So in addition to having ingested a lot of fat (and hence a lot of calories), you’ll typically find yourself rather ravenous again in a few hours.

Alternatively, breakfasts that are high in fiber take longer to digest, and thus, the body won’t be hungry again for a while.

This is something to bear in mind; and it may explain why many people who eat breakfast find themselves painfully hungry by lunchtime; it’s not their “overactive metabolism” at work; it’s the high fat content, which has been swiftly digested.


Befriend Protein and Good Carbs


There is a dizzying array of things that you can eat these days. Truly, a trip to the grocery store can be an adventure. Everywhere you turn, there’s yet another food promising you healthy this or weight loss that.

Added to this confusion is that there are some foods that are beneficial for metabolic boosting, and some that aren’t; and the differences aren’t always well-known. Fortunately, we’re going to tackle this problem right now and describe the three basic food groups/types that are indeed good for a speedy metabolism.

In terms of protein, studies have shown that having enough protein in your system can actually increase the speed of your metabolism. This is because protein is difficult to break down. Or rather, it requires more energy to break down. It’s like feeding the body a knot; it needs a bit of time to unravel it.

And, as you know, when your body spends time on something, it spends energy (calories). And so the more time it can spend breaking down protein, the more calories that it uses.

Different people will require different amounts of protein on a daily basis. Those who exercise and build muscle will typically need more than the average amount, too.

The USFDA Food Guide suggests around 50 grams of protein a day for a reasonably active adult.

Keep in mind (not that you don’t already have enough to remember, but…) that there are different sources of protein: some lean, and some high in fat. Fast food burgers may deliver up to 20 grams of protein (sometimes more), but they also deliver a great deal of fat; which makes them almost nutritionally worthless.

The benefits you enjoy from the protein are far outweighed by the immense fat intake; which, for some fast food burgers, can exceed 40 grams! And that’s not including the fries (we won’t even go there!).

So the thing to do is ensure that your source of protein derives from lean protein. Typically, protein from some fish and chicken is lean; though not all of it.

If you’re a vegetarian, or simply looking for non-meat lean protein alternatives, low-fat cheese, legumes (lentils), and yogurt are all good sources. Simply check the food labels to determine if the source of protein is lean (doesn’t deliver high fat content), or fatty.

In terms of carbohydrates, there probably isn’t a more battered around micronutrient than this. It’s gone from being the greatest thing in weight loss history, to one of the most reviled.
And really, it’s not the fault of the innocent carbohydrate! It’s really just a matter of information and knowledge, instead of speculation.

The thing to remember is that when carbohydrates are refined, such as white bread and potatoes, they are what the diabetic world refers to as high glycemic index (GI) foods, because they require spikes in insulin in order to be digested.
As you may know, when insulin is released into the system, it promotes the storage of fat; and some experts believe that it also pushes down metabolic speed (which makes sense). Therefore, the good kinds of carbohydrate to consume are those that are high in fiber, and those from fruit and vegetable sources. Why? Because these sources of carbohydrates don’t score high on the glycemic index. In other words, they don’t cause a spike in insulin levels, and therefore, they don’t promote fat storage.

How Teens Can Lose Weight Quickly and Safely

Being overweight does not only hamper the health of adults, but it can be harmful to teenagers and children as well. Thus, if you are a teenager and feel troubled by the extra weight, then do not wait any longer before finding a suitable weight loss program specially designed for teenagers that you think will work well for your body.

Below are provided a few valuable teen weight loss tips which you will find in many of the best weight loss programs for teens, and that have been prescribed by nutritionist experts in order to help a teen fight a weight problem.

Here is the continuation of the series: To Help Teenagers Lose Weight

chapter V

Overweight is often caused due to the excessive consumption of food, and the best types of weight loss programs for teens are those that suggest controlling the amount of food they consume daily, especially those high in fat and oil. Also, it’s important that they avoid milk products, as well as all sorts of junk food and artificial drinks.

Another matter that you will find discussed in most of the good weight loss programs for teens, is that they suggest drinking lots of water, as well as incorporating fresh fruit, raw vegetables and fibrous foods into their diets. It is important they balance the nutrient content in their body by using these, as they will have reduced the amount of food they are eating.

If you can, get them to replace normal snacks (junk food) with some thing that is healthier. Why not get them to have frozen grapes, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots or a low fat pudding or yogurt, instead of what they would normally snack on?

Also, suggest that they carry out some form of physical activity for a few hours each day. Any form of physical activity will help burn off those extra calories. This is the most important step you will find in any of the best weight loss programs that have been specially developed for teenagers.

However, the most important suggestion of all is that you must nurture your teenager... a strong will is required in order to follow the diet program of their choice religiously. Otherwise, no matter how good the weight loss program is, it will not help your teen to lose weight if not followed correctly. They may find it to be hard work initially, but the end results will be worth the pain and suffering they go through in the beginning.

Rules To Follow To Help Teens Lose Weight Safely

Lose Weight Safely

Here is the continuation of the series: To Help Teenagers Lose Weight

In this chapter, we will look at some simple rules which should be followed as a parent if you wish to help your teen lose weight safely.

The key thing to a teen losing weight is that have much healthier habits. Today, teenage obesity is a growing problem, and there is plenty you can do as a parent in order to help your teen with any weight problems they may have.

Although there is no magic formula to helping your teen lose weight, the real key to succeeding is by helping them to lead a healthier kind of life that they can then carry on into adulthood.

Chapter IV

1. Talk to your Teen

If your teen is overweight, then they are probably concerned about it too. Aside from there being long term health issues involved, such as high blood pressure or they may suffer from diabetes, there are also the social and emotional issues involved as well.

Offer your teen the support and gentle understanding that they are looking for, and help them to take control of the problem.

2. Unrealistic Images

For many teenage girls, their weight and how they look can be a very delicate matter, and you should remind them there is no perfect body out there. Remind them that, what might the right weight for one person, is not the right weight for somebody else.

Instead of talking to them about fat or thin, encourage your teenage to focus on behaviors which will promote a much healthier weight. If you want to, talk to your family doctor, and he will help to set realistic goals for your teenager with regard to body mass index, and the weight they should be based on their age, height and general health.

3. Resist Using Quick Fixes in order to lose weight rapidly

Help your teenager by teaching them how to lose weight, and then keep it off. Many of the fad diets around are likely to rob your teen of essential nutrients, iron and calcium that they need in their diet, as they are still growing.

Don’t allow them to take weight loss pills or other quick fixes, as they will not address the root of the problem, and the effects of these types of treatment are short lived.

It is important to remember that only permanent changes in their habits will help the weight they lose to stay away.

4. Increase the amount of physical activity your teen does

Like any adult, a teenager will need to do about 60 minutes of physical activity each day. But this does not mean that they have to do it all at once. They can, instead, do the activity in short bursts throughout the day in order to help burn off any excess calories or fat.

Team sports, which they do at school or at a local sports hall, are a great way for your teen to get active. However, if your child isn’t an athlete, or finds it difficult to participate in certain sports, then encourage them to walk, cycle or skate to and from school, or just to walk a few times around the school before they begin classes. Why not suggest that they spend at least one of each day away from the computer and do something a little more physical (may be you can get them to take the dog for a walk)?

Try and get them to do some household chores, like vacuuming or washing the car, as they have aerobic benefits as well.

5. Ensure that your teen has Breakfast

If you have a teenager who finds that it’s too difficult to get up, try to get them up a little earlier than normal in order for them to have some breakfast. How many times have you heard people say “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”? A good nutritious breakfast will help jump start their day AND their metabolism, and will provide them with the energy they need to face the day ahead. You may also find that it stops them from eating too much during the rest of the day as well.

If your teen is not keen on high fiber cereal or whole wheat toast, then why not suggest they eat what was left over from the night before. You could even suggest a piece of cheese, a small handful of nuts and a piece of fruit instead, as they will be just as good for them, and do the same job as the cereal or toast does.

6. If your teen snacks, teach them to snack wisely

It may be difficult for your teenage child to make healthy choices when they are at school, as often the hallways are lined with vending machines, but it is possible. Why not try and encourage them to replace even one bag of chips each day with a much healthier grab and go option from home, such as frozen grapes, an orange, strawberries or other fresh fruit? They may even like to take some sliced red, orange or yellow peppers, a few cherry tomatoes or baby carrots instead.

7. Watch the Size of the Portions of food that they have each meal

When it comes to the portions that a teen eats, size really does matter. If you can, encourage your child to cut back and to stop eating when they feel full. You may find that just one slice of pizza, or half the pasta on the plate is enough to make them feel full.

8. Look at the Calories in the drinks that they have

An average 12 ounce can of soda has 150 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar in it. Also, the calories and sugar that you find in fruit juice, specialty coffees and other drinks can also add up quickly as well. So getting your teenager to drink more water, instead of soda and other sugary drinks, will save on the calories and their sugar intake as well. Why not suggest that they drink flavored water, seltzer water or unsalted club soda instead?

9. Let them have the occasional treat

Allowing your teen to have a late night pizza whilst at a friend’s, or some nachos when at the movies, need not derail your teen’s healthy eating plan.

Instead, suggest that when they are out, they have a breadstick with sauce instead of garlic bread…or that they share a snack with their friend, instead of having an order to themselves.

It is important that you let your teenager know that they are in control, and the occasional treat is okay. The most important thing is getting them to lead a healthier lifestyle.

10. Ways of getting the Whole Family Involved

Rather than just singling out your teenager to lead a healthier lifestyle, why not adopt these healthy habits for the whole family? After all, not just eating healthier foods, but getting more exercise is good for everybody.

a. Why not encourage the whole family to eat more fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains? It is important that you set a good example for all your children.

b. Forget the junk food, and although healthy foods often cost more, it is a good investment in your child’s life.

c. Why not try out new recipes or healthier alternatives to those family favorites?

d. Don’t allow anyone to eat while sitting on the couch, as this will curb mindless eating at other times that they sit watching the TV, or when on the computer.

e. Arrange some family activities, such as walks in the evening, or visiting a local recreation center at the weekend.

11. Be Positive in your Attitude when helping your teen to lose weight

Being overweight does not always lead to a lifetime of low self esteem, but your acceptance of your teen’s weight problem is critical. Remember to listen to your teen’s concerns regarding their weight, and comment on their skills, efforts and accomplishments.

Make it perfectly clear to your child that your love for them is unconditional, and not dependent on how they look. Why not help your teen learn to express their feelings in much healthier ways, say by writing down what they feel in a journal?

If your child is struggling with low self esteem, and finding it difficult to cope with their weight in a healthy way, then consider looking for a support group, formal weight control program or professional counseling to help them.

There are many support groups around which will provide your teen with the tools to counter any social pressure and cultivate a positive attitude with regard to their self esteem. This will help them to take control of their weight. These benefits will then last them a life time.

Advice for Helping Teens Lose Weight

I am over 40 years old, I must admit,and I can see the big change in my metabolism nowadays as compared to when I was a teenager. I used to burn calories fast when I was young, in fact my friends used to call me "bony". Today, it's totally different. Even if I eat less each meal, calories are so difficult to burn. It requires more physical activities to burn at least 200 cal a day. One slice of pizza can give some extra pounds if I eat it without burning it right away through physical exercise.

As we grow older, we have to make sure that we take care of our diet. We know the consequences if we get so much body weight. A balanced diet combined with physical exercise can help us cope up with our slow metabolic process.

As parents, or going to be parents, it is important to keep in mind how vital is a good diet and exercise to our children. The following chapter will give us at least a refresher, in case you have heard about this before. This chapter is short, so please read it and share right away to your kids.

Chapter III

Losing weight as a teen is far different from losing weight as an adult. Weight loss in a teen depends on their age, the metabolic rate, their eating habits, as well as the type of lifestyle they lead.

For many teens, losing weight is easier than as an adult, as the body burns calories much easier, as well as quicker. Often, teens lead a much more active lifestyle; they enjoy doing exercise, walking, jogging or participating in some form of sport. These types of exercises will only help to boost a teen’s metabolism, and also increase the amount of calories that they burn.

Teens could start with one of the many fad diets that are around, but they should only use these for about a week (anything longer will cause damage to their bodies). After a week of using a fad diet, they should then continue on a much more healthy diet regime, and one which allows them to lose weight more slowly (which is the best way to lose weight healthily).

When on a diet, a teen should also lead a more active kind of life; they can do this by exercising whenever possible, or participate in some sporting activity. This is especially important for teenagers, as they are still growing, and they need more food while they are still growing. So they need to exercise in order to help remove some of the extra calories they are gaining from the extra food they are eating. So, get out and exercise. If they sit around at home watching TV or playing on the computer, they will soon find that their weight has increased.

As a teenager, you have much more energy, so why not put it to good use by taking up exercise or some sports activity. It is best that a teen that plays a sport or does some physical activity, should choose one that they enjoy and will have fun while doing it. The best benefit is that they are not only exercising their bodies, but the will also be burning off the excess fat and calories, and so improving their health.

It is imperative, therefore, for those teens to lead both an active life, and have a healthy diet, in order to achieve maximum performance and productivity. Many teens who lead such lives, find that they are able to do everything they want, and do not suffer from fatigue or weakness when doing things.

Parenting Your Overweight Teen and Improving Their Self Esteem

Today, approximately 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are either overweight or obese (which is a 10% increase since 1970). In fact, there are now more than 9 million youngsters who are at risk from suffering some impaired life due to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels or Type 2 Diabetes, as well as having a negative self image of themselves, which will continue as they grow into adulthood.

There have been studies carried out that indicate a child who is obese at the age of 6, will have a 50% chance of becoming obese as an adult. Also, if one or both of the child’s parents are overweight, then the chances increase to 80%. These are very sobering and scary statistics for a parent whose child is overweight.

However, there is good news that, with help from the adults in their lives, these children can be helped. They can be taught healthier behaviors, which relate to both their eating habits and improving the physical activity they do, and this will help them to lose the weight.

By helping them become more selective with the types of food that they consume, and increasing the amount of physical activity that they accomplish, it will only produce positive results.

However, it should be stressed that formal dieting, and especially giving your child a severely restricted diet, should only be attempted with medical approval and the appropriate nutritional supervision. Many pediatricians believe the best course is to try and hold an overweight child’s weight at a steady level, and avoid losing large amounts of weight at a time, until such a time as their height is at a healthier proportion to their weight.

Chapter II

The following 4 steps will not only help to facilitate healthier eating habits, but will also increase the amount of physical activity that they do.

1. Assessing the Health of Your Child and whether they are overweight

Before you make any personal or environmental changes in your teen’s life, take a few minutes to survey what your home life is like. Do you allow them to lead a sedentary life, and are they given plenty of chances to over eat at any time? If you do, then it is important that you bring any changes in to these areas of their life gradually.

First, look at just how many hours your teen spends either watching TV, or sitting at their computer. A teen can spend up to 24 hours a week watching TV. Log any time that they spend doing either, watching TV or on the computer, and try to reduce this by half.

When you have meals, does your family gather around a table, or do you eat most of your meals sitting in front of the TV or computer? If you do, then try and make it a family rule that, in the future, all food (including snacks) will be eaten in the kitchen or in the dining room at a table. Such a small change has been shown to significantly reduce the amount of over eating that takes place in the home.

Next, you will need to take a close look at your fridge and food cupboards. Which foods do you have that you are most likely to eat when hunger hits you? If the foods are high in fat, sweetened or low in nutritional value, then why not try to find healthier alternatives instead, such as fresh fruit and vegetables?

2. Do Not Shame your Child into Losing Weight

Neither adults nor children can be shamed into losing weight, and an overweight teen will know that they weigh too much. But what a teen does not know, is how they can achieve a normal weight, as well as increase their self esteem. Teens like to know that their parents love them unconditionally, whether they are fat, thin or normal.

For any parent, mastering the fine art of loving our children just the way they are, while helping them to achieve a healthier body can be difficult. Any parent must learn to “give time” and believe that the lessons we teach them will one day come to fruition.

This means that we can teach our youngsters to visualize that healthy plate (one which is half salad or vegetables, a quarter of starches and the remainder are made up of protein such as fish, meat, poultry or soy). But you also know that at some point, they will sneak either sweets or cookies into the home, and upset the balance that you have achieved.

A parent can persist in teaching their teens to see their plate before any food is put on it. This is helpful, as it creates a sense of portion control that is helpful when the parent is not around to monitor what food they are actually having. This portion control can also be practiced not just at home, but when visiting a restaurant as well.

3. Take up some type of Physical Activity as a Family

The recommended amount of physical activity to be done by an adult is 30 minutes, and 60 minutes for children, which should be done several times a week. However, if you are looking to lose weight, then more physical activity may be necessary.

A great way of breaking the pattern of the lives that many families lead is to arrange activities that involve plenty of movement for the whole family together. Not only do these types of activities burn calories, they can also serve as a setting for parent and child communication. It is especially important in a child’s teen years, when such opportunities for a parent to interact with their teen are at a premium.

Also, there is little or no financial cost involved in going for a walk or having a bike ride, and many communities now have either indoor or outdoor swimming pools which do not cost to much to use. Just taking the family dog for a walk in the evening not only makes the dog happy, but will help to increase the family’s metabolism.

4. How to encourage the right sort of behavior in your teen

The best way to help an overweight or obese teen is through your own behavior. Too often, teens will do as an adult does, rather than what we tell them.

No parent can ask their child to turn off the TV when we are actually watching it in another room, or to stop using the computer when they are spending hours themselves surfing the net. Nor should they restrict the portions of food they eat, when they, themselves, do not watch what they are eating. Why would any child want to drink water or munch on fruit or vegetables, when they see the adults around them drinking sugar laden soda or having a bag of potato chips?

When looking to lead a healthier kind of life style, it should be done one day at a time, and the end result will be well worth the effort.

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Psychological Issues for Teens Relating to Being Overweight

Here's the first chapter of our Guide to help teens lose weight. I hope you find this one useful. If you think it is, even if you are not a teen anymore, pay it forward by sharing this article to your friends or anybody you know who may need this and the forthcoming articles.

To receive your "The Complete Guide to Better Health Through Automatic Weight Control, Modern Nutritional Supplements, and Low-Fat Diet" report series, please subscribe to our mailing list using the form provided on the side bar or at the bottom of this article.

Chapter I

For many overweight teens, their physical health and well being are the least of their problems. Much more relevant is the teasing and abuse they receive from their peers at school and near where they live. For many, it is not only what others think of them that is upsetting, but it is what they actually think of themselves. A good percentage of teenagers (especially girls) are clinically depressed because they are so preoccupied with their weight. It does not help that in every model or every actress you see, and that people tend to aspire to be, are usually stick thin.

There is evidence now amounting to just how much pressure is being placed on obese teenagers. A recent survey reveals that these kids rate the quality of life they have as low as that of young cancer patients while they are having chemotherapy. There are other studies which have been carried out that report increased rates of depression, low self esteem and isolation from other members of their age group, which can result in behavioral problems in some. These teenagers are less likely to be accepted into higher education (college) or to get married, and are more likely to be part of the lower socioeconomic groups.

What is worse is that many overweight teens will be hard on themselves, and will often be mistreated by others. A study carried out in 2001 by Latner and Stunkard finds that this situation, rather than improving, has steadily got worse.

Often, those teens who are overweight can suffer from other problems such as cardiovascular, orthopedic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, hormonal, neurological and metabolic diseases (diabetes). These can often manifest themselves through psychological problems, and you may then have to ask for assistance from a trained professional in order to deal with them.

Today in the US, there are some weight loss programs for kids which are residential, and combine psychological therapy with behavior change therapy in order to improve the teens self esteem as well as their physical health.

So, during this book, we will look at ways in which those teens, who wish to lose weight, can do so safely.

That is all there is to it. In the next chapter, we will discuss the role of parents to overweight teens and how parents can help to improve their teen's self-esteem.

Meanwhile, you can subscribe to our mailing list using the form below and receive your "The Complete Guide to Better Health Through Automatic Weight Control, Modern Nutritional Supplements, and Low-Fat Diet" report series.

Teen Overweight Problems and Solutions

Since the late 1990’s, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in Americans, regardless of age, according to information collected and analyzed by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Almost 9 million (15%) children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight, and this number is still growing according to information gathered between 1999 and 2009 (triple the number of 1980). The information has also shown that another 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are at risk of becoming overweight also.

Obesity is defined as having an excessive accumulation of body fat which will result in the person’s body being about 20% heavier than their ideal body weight. So those people whose weight is above what is considered their ideal range, are defined as being overweight. Obesity is a common eating disorder that is associated with teens.

Although teens may have fewer weight related health issues than adults, those teens that are overweight now are much more likely to be come overweight as an adult. Teens who are overweight (in fact people of all ages that are overweight) are at risk from a number of different health issues, and these include:

1. Heart Disease
2. Diabetes
3. High Blood Pressure
4. Strokes
5. Some forms of Cancer

Those teens who are obese may find that they are not only physically unfit, but their well being is usually very low as well. Many obese people will also tend to have a shorter life expectancy than those who are the right weight for their body size. Plus, it can also lead to social disabilities and unhappiness, which in turn may cause them stress and in some cases, may make them mentally ill as well.

A study that was carried and details which were released in May 2004 suggested that overweight children are more likely to be involved in bullying than those children who are a normal weight. But they can not only be the victims of bullying, they may be the perpetrators as well.

The development of their own personal identity and body image is an important goal for any teenager.

There are a number of causes for obesity which center around an imbalance in the teens energy they put into their bodies, (calories that they obtain from the food they eat) and the energy they release from their bodies (how good their metabolism is, and how much physical activity they take part in). Often teens when a teen is overweight, it is because there is a problem with the nutritional value of their diet, or it may be psychological, familial or physiological, all of which we will discuss a little bit more.

The Family

Often children and teens are more at risk of becoming overweight if they have two overweight parents. Although in some cases, this may be due to a powerful genetic factor, or it may be because they are modeling themselves after what they see their parents eating. Also physical activities, if any, they take part in, can indirectly affect the teen.

In Activity

On average, an American child will spend several hours each day watching television or on a computer. Compare this to years ago, when this time would have been spent doing some form of physical activity instead. There are a large amount of teens and children who are now overweight, as they are expending little energy, and often eat high calorie snacks while watching TV or playing on the computer. Today in the US, about 1/3 of elementary school children carry out some form of physical education, and less than 1/5 take part in physical activity programs after school.

Heredity

Recently, information has shown that heredity can influence fatness in a child and teen. It was found that children born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active, and often gain more weight by the age of 3 months compared to those children born to mothers who are a normal weight, which suggests a possible inborn drive to conserve energy.

In the succeeding articles, we will look at various ways in which help can be provided to overweight teens, and how they can lose weight successfully without them resorting to fad diets etc.

This is going to be a Six-part series of articles about teen overweight problems. So watch out for the forthcoming articles as we give you powerful guides to help teenagers lose weight the proper way.