Green tea has become a popular drink in many cultures.  Not only does it taste great, it also has amazing health benefits – including being an effective weapon in the “battle of the bulge” – the reduction of body fat.  Green tea has been used medicinally in China for thousands of years, but only over the past few decades has it become more popular in the western world.  When you learn about the health benefits of green tea it almost seems too good to be true, but most of the claims are verified by scientific studies.

The main benefit of green tea comes from antioxidants called “catechin polyphenols” that are reported to help safeguard the body against cancer, inflammation, and even help in lowering cholesterol and burning stored fat deposits.  Green tea contains a catechin called “epigallocatechin gallate” (otherwise known as EGCG).  EGCG is a powerful antioxidant that has been studied extensively for its cancer-fighting ability, as well as its beneficial effect on other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and immune deficiencies.

These are undoubtedly great health benefits, but how exactly can green tea help with weight loss?

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Do you remember how much fun it was to ride your bicycle when you were a kid?  Would you believe that such a fun activity could also help you lose weight and maintain a healthier weight as an adult?

Bike riding and weight loss are actually a great combination!  Riding a bike helps strengthen your leg muscles and buttocks, not to mention providing excellent cardiovascular benefits (provided you’re actually pedaling consistently, not just coasting).

You can burn between 300-500 calories per hour on a bicycle, depending how fast you go and how much you currently weigh.  If you bike uphill you’ll burn even more calories, and you can also set the resistance on your bike higher so you have to pedal harder even on flat land.

If you don’t have any challenging hills or trails to bike, you can increase the intensity of your workout by doing a few “intervals” of faster and harder speed, followed by slower periods to cool back down.  Experts say that this kind of interval training helps you burn more calories and strengthen your cardiovascular system more than maintaining a constant intensity throughout the entire workout.

Bike riding for weight loss is simple for people who just want to shed a few pounds, but what about heavier folks?

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We all know by now that a proper diet and exercise routine will help with weight loss – but there are also various herbs and supplements that can give the weary dieter an edge, helping them to lose more weight, or lose the same amount in less time.  However, not all supplements are safe.

Below are a few effective herbs and supplements that can help with weight loss safely.

Green Tea

Green tea is well-known for its many health benefits, but it is also widely recognized for its thermogenic properties, which means it can boost your metabolism and help you lose more weight.  The main danger exists when too much green tea is consumed, causing caffeine overload which includes jitters, anxiety, nausea and heart palpitations.  Experts say that you really only need 3-4 cups of green tea a day to enjoy great health and weight loss benefits.  If you can’t withstand any amount of caffeine, green tea does come in decaffeinated versions.

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Fad diets are so incredibly tempting, aren’t they?  Just follow these simple steps and poof!  Magically, you’ve dropped weight and look fabulous!  Unfortunately, the results are always temporary.  In fact, much of the “weight” you lose on fad diets is water weight, NOT FAT.

If you’re still not convinced that fad diets are ineffective at best and dangerous at worst, take a look at these reasons to stay away:

1)  They deplete important nutrients

Many fad diets have you banish whole groups of food and gorge on other food groups.  While these radical guidelines may indeed help you shed pounds quickly, they can also be dangerous, adversely affecting levels of potassium, sodium, and other vital nutrients your body needs to function.

2)  They set you up for constant cravings

At first fad diets may seem like fun (“Oooh, I get to eat a few gallons of whipped cream every day?!) but within a few days you start to get really sick of eating all the formerly “forbidden” foods.  Worse, now that other, healthier foods are forbidden, you start to crave those, and can’t stop thinking about everything you’re not allowed to eat.  This just sets you up for constant cravings – or worse, complete failure if you can’t resist the temptations.

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When it comes to weight loss, habits can make or break us. By nature, humans are creatures of habit. Habits help us to conserve energy by not having to think so intently about every little thing we do – if it’s a habit, we hardly have to focus on it at all. That makes our daily lives move along much more smoothly, since much of what we do are everyday tasks.

But when it comes to weight loss and other lifestyle improvements, habits can cause big problems for us. Like when we try to cut back on junk food but still find ourselves reaching for it a dozen times a day. Or when we try to force ourselves to stick to a new fitness plan and keep “forgetting” to lace up our running shoes and get to the gym.

The reason why forming new habits is usually hard is because we are trying to jar our brains out of a “rut”. We are thinking in a new way, and trying to act in a new way, and we feel out of sorts because of it.

As difficult as it may be, you can break unhealthy habits and form new ones more easily if you keep these three things in mind:

#1 – Awareness is vital

The very first crucial part of breaking a bad habit or forming a new, healthier one is to stay aware of what you are doing. That means noticing when you start reaching for a cookie when you’ve decided previously to cut down on sugar and fat. That means having the presence of mind to say “no thank you” to the super sized mocha caramel latte with double cream that your co-worker offers to buy you during lunch – even if you’ve said yes a thousand times before.

It does take a little practice, but developing awareness gets easier every day. Before long, you won’t be able to NOT notice when you’re tempted to go off-track. It jumps up like a big red flag and gets your attention.

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