Natural Weight Loss Archives

Fiber Diet Weight Loss: 7 Ways to Get More Fiber in Your Diet

fiber diet weight lossFiber diet weight loss is a great helper for a few reasons: first, it helps slow the rate at which sugar is absorbed into your bloodstream, which can prevent rapid rises in blood glucose. Secondly, it helps you feel more satisfied even if you are eating less than you normally do. Last but not least, fiber promotes regular elimination, helping you to release toxins and keep your digestive system in top working order.

Here are 7 easy ways to get more fiber in your diet. You can also try this for your fiber diet weight loss program:

#1 – Snack on raw veggies

Raw vegetables like broccoli, spinach, avocado and tomatoes are high in fiber, and they make easy, delicious snacks. Try snacking on a handful of grape tomatoes, or dip raw broccoli florets into salad dressing. You can also enjoy a spinach leaf salad and cube some avocado on top.

#2 – Eat more fruit

Some fruits are loaded with fiber too – try apples, pears, bananas, figs, and strawberries. Eat them for breakfast or as a snack at mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Read the rest of this entry

Protein Diet: Easy Ways to Eat More Protein

protein dietProtein is a necessary part of a balanced diet, for good reason: protein is the key “building block” in virtually every part of your body, from skin, hair and nails, to bones, muscles, teeth, and beyond. It’s important to eat adequate amounts of protein each day because your body does not store it anywhere, so has no reserves if the supply runs out.

Exactly how much protein you need daily depends on your age and body weight. The U.S. RDA (recommended daily allowance) for protein is 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight (2.2 pounds) for adults. So if you weigh 175 pounds, that is approximately 79 kilograms, multiplied by 0.8 grams of protein, and your daily minimum should be 63 grams of protein.

The younger you are, the more protein you need per kilogram of body weight. Children, for example, should be getting between 1.0 and 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

The good news is that it’s incredibly easy to get enough protein each day, even if you don’t consider yourself to be a meat lover. Here are three easy ways to start:

1) Breakfast

For breakfast, an obvious high protein source is egg. Each large egg contains approximately 6 grams of protein. Have two eggs and you’ve just doubled your intake to 12 grams. If you don’t like plain eggs, you could make an omelet, or mix up some egg salad and spread it on whole grain toast.

Eggless breakfast protein diet meals could include yogurt (usually 8+ grams of protein per cup), cottage cheese with fruit (14+ grams), or peanut butter on whole grain toast (8+ grams). Read the rest of this entry

Possible Side Effects from Too Much Green Tea

green tea side effectsGreen tea is becoming a popular drink to enhance weight loss and improve general health, but as with all herbal supplements, caution is warranted. Unless you are following a doctor’s orders, you may be unsure about the correct dosage of supplements, and green tea is no exception.

Just how much green tea is safe to take, and are there any possible side effects from taking too much of it?

It’s definitely possible to overdo it with supplements, no matter what they are – and the same goes for tea that you drink. The first and most obvious side effect of too much green tea is caused by ingesting high levels of caffeine.

Green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, but it’s still easy to ingest too much and pay the price. Unpleasant side effects of too much caffeine include: rapid heartbeat, irregular heartbeat, restlessness, irritability, jitters, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea.

Other than caffeine overload, there are a few other side effects from drinking too much green tea.

One of the more common is nausea. The tannins in green tea have been known to irritate the stomach lining and colon, especially if the tea has been steeped for too long. Steeping green tea for longer than 1 to 3 minutes will make it taste bitter and increase the likelihood of stomach upset. Drinking green tea on an empty stomach can also cause nausea, so you may want to drink it with a small snack.

Pregnant women are often advised to avoid green tea, partly because of the caffeine content, but also because of the risks of neural tube defects in babies. Both caffeine and EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate – the antioxidant found in green tea) are suspect contributors to neural tube defects, so it’s best to avoid green tea and other caffeinated drinks during pregnancy just to be on the safe side.

Finally, doctors often advise their patients to avoid green tea if they are taking blood thinning medication, and for several days before surgery, as green tea has a thinning effect on the blood and helps prevent the formation of blood clots.

Other than these known dangers, green tea should be safe to drink for most other people provided they don’t overdo it.

Green Tea and Weight Loss: Drink it or Take in Pill Form?

green tea and weight lossYou may have wondered what the deal is with green tea and weight loss – does it really help you lose weight? Many people are discovering that green tea does indeed seem to help with their weight loss, not to mention all of the other great health benefits it has.

The question that remains is, which form of green tea is best? Drinking it by the cup, or taking supplements? Are they equally effective?

Green tea comes in two basic forms: tablets and tea bags (can be loose tea also).

For centuries green tea has been consumed in tea form, but in recent years supplement manufacturers have made it available in pill form too. These pills contain concentrated amounts of green tea extract.

Green tea extract can be purchased from many different suppliers online, and can also be found in most health and vitamin stores. Most of the pills contain anywhere from 200mg to 500mg of green tea extract, and directions say to take 1 to 3 tablets daily.

There are obvious benefits in using green tea for weight loss in pill form. First, if you don’t care for the taste of the tea, the pills allow you to bypass that. Secondly, some people believe that green tea extract taken in pill form may intensify the health benefits and fat burning effect, simply because you get a more concentrated dosage of EGCG (that’s epigallocatechin gallate – the antioxidant found in green tea).

Still, some people do prefer drinking tea rather than popping pills, and green tea has a mild, pleasant flavor.

The final decision may come down to volume. Most experts agree that you need to consume a minimum of 3 cups of green tea a day to gain optimal health benefits, but some say that as many as 10 cups per day is better. When you consider that each cup of green tea has 50 – 150mg of antioxidants, it may make more sense to take a supplement or two, especially if you’re using green tea for weight loss and want the maximum dosage.

Or, you could even do both – take a supplement that contains the minimum amount of antioxidants you want to have each day, and then any green tea you drink that day will just be a bonus.

Keep in mind that green tea does contain caffeine, so you may have to limit your consumption if you are sensitive to it. Many of the green tea supplements do not contain caffeine, however, read the labels carefully to be sure.

Drinking green tea for weight loss and general health is beneficial no matter how you choose to consume it; it all comes down to personal preference.

7 Easy Tips for Fast Weight Loss

Most of us have one thing in common when we decide to lose weight: we want to lose it FAST! Fast weight loss isn’t always the best way to go, simply because some of the methods used for fast weight loss are unhealthy or difficult to keep doing for a long enough period of time.

However, there are a few key things that are known to help speed up weight loss without harming your health:

1) Water is your best friend

Drinking plenty of water is an excellent way to help your body burn more fat, as well as release excess water you may have been retaining. Experts recommend a minimim of 64 ounces of water daily, but even more than that is safe to drink as long as you don’t overdo it.

2) Sugar is NOT your friend

Refined white cane sugar has a detrimental effect on the body, namely because of the way it sharply elevates blood glucose levels. This causes your pancreas to secrete insulin to bring blood glucose back to normal levels, and too much of this up-and-down fluctuation can wreak havoc on your body.

For losing weight quickly, there are few actions more powerful than eliminating white refined sugar (and its cousin, high fructose corn syrup) from your diet. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll find that fruit is a great alternative, and so is low-glycemic agave nectar.

You don’t necessarily have to give up sweets completely – just choose healthier options to satisfy your sweet tooth.

3) Sodium makes you retain water

Reducing your sodium intake is another way to help speed up weight loss, simply because eating high amounts of sodium makes most people retain excess water weight. Not to mention that a diet high in sodium can contribute to hypertension (high blood pressure).

4) Starvation is bad

People often think that reducing their caloric intake down to almost nothing is a great way to lose weight quickly, but all it does is kick their bodies into self-preservation mode and slow down their metabolism.

A much better approach is to eat lean, low-calorie foods frequently throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism running strong, burning fat and losing weight. Not to mention you’ll have more energy and feel more satisfied all day long. Also including a moderate amount of heart-healthy fats (like those found in olive oil and avacados) can keep you from feeling hungry.

5) Burning more calories

Cardio exercises are known for their calorie-burning power, and effective weight loss plans will focus on creating a “calorie deficit”. To lose one pound, you need to either reduce your calorie intake by 3500 calories, or burn off 3500 calories with cardio exercise. Doing a combination of both has been proven to be most effective; for example reducing your daily caloric intake, AND burning calories via cardio exercise. So, if you reduced your calories by 250 daily (1750 weekly), and burned off 250 calories daily (1750 weekly), you would lose 1 pound that week.

Keep in mind that other factors can come into play so some weeks you may lose more and other weeks you may lose less.

6) Fiber keeps you moving

Increasing your fiber intake is another good way to speed weight loss, for a few reasons. First, eating high-fiber foods helps you feel fuller longer so you aren’t tempted to overeat. Fiber is also helpful in slowing the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream, which reduces the impact of high-glycemic foods and minimizes fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Finally, a fiber rich diet helps “keep things moving” in your digestive tract so you clean your colon and eliminate waste more easily.

7) Reduce stress

Last but not least, managing your stress better can help you lose weight more quickly. The hormone cortisol is prevalent in the stressed-out body, and cortisol contributes to the accumulation of belly fat. It’s virtually impossible to lead a completely stress-free life, but there are endless ways to better manage your stress so it doesn’t wreak havoc on your body. Try meditating daily for 10-15 minutes, deep breathing exercises, or a soothing exercise like yoga.

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