Start Losing Weight Today The Natural Weight Loss Way

Everything in moderation, eat sensibly, keep moving.

Just reading everything available about weight loss and buying all the latest pills and powders will not stop one from being overweight. If that were the case the world's overweight problems would be solved overnight.

Anyone can lose weight. But unfortunately it is far harder losing pounds than putting them on in the first place. And everybody knows that most people have the tendency to gain weight if we don't take steps to prevent it.

Experience has shown that in many cases people who diet to lose weight usually fail. They drift back to their old eating ways and their sedentary lifestyle even though they may have benefited from exercise.

Although we may tend to gain weight, it is possible to prevent it from happening. There are many advantages to avoid excess weight which are far more important than vanity or appearance. Health experts say that the significance of excess weight is more than cosmetic. Its danger is that it takes a huge toll on people's physical and psychological health.

The essence of eating correctly to maintain a healthy weight is not complicated. In most cases people know what is best for them. So, in theory, losing weight naturally should be easy.

A reasonable approach is to have a diet that is low in fat, moderate in protein and high in complex carbohydrates and fiber.

A simple example illustrates this concept. A baked potato would provide the complex carbohydrate. Sour cream would provide acceptable fat but add butter and … too much fat. The vegetables would be the source of fibre. Fry them in oil and again … too much fat. Lean meat provides the protein. But add gravy and again … too much fat.

Eating fat is a very dense source of calories and if these are not burnt off they will promote weight gain. Also, the excess calories from the fat which is eaten is more easily stored by the body as fat.

It may also help a natural weight loss approach if you don't fall into the "fat-free" delusion. Manufacturers feed this by creating their best-selling foods with low-fat or fat-free versions, but people still go on getting fatter. "No fat" or "low fat" doesn't mean "non-fattening." In many cases these foods are still packed with calories from other sources.

Dietary experts say it is better eating small amounts of food every three to four hours than two or three large meals a day.

Regular eating of healthy snacks and small meals, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole-grain bread instead of white bread or cakes are the best natural choices. Never skip a meal and substitute it with a salt and oil filled snack or fast food.

Remember, to lose weight naturally, you need to always think about what you put into your mouth and what you eat in relation to your activity level. If you continue to put in less than you use then you will be on a natural weight loss path free from pills, potions, powders, fads and machines.

Losing and maintaining an acceptable weight the natural way is not just another fad, it is a lifestyle. It takes discipline and self-control to develop the habits to keep it up. The major benefit is that this provides a long term, sustainable, cheap, healthy solution which sorts out the problem not just the symptoms.

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Natural Treatment for Menopause Your Momma Never Told You

One surprising aspect of practicing fitness after 50 is how it affects your endocrine system. That's the system of organs in your body that produce and regulates hormones in your bloodstream. Hormones are the chemical messengers that signal other vital organs when to activate or turn off their functions to keep your body running at optimum level. Just like a thermostat signals your heating and air conditioning system when to turn on and off, so does your body. If you're going through menopause, you feel how important it is to regulate your hormones every time you get a hot flash. So what can you do besides stripping and throwing a bucket of ice water on you?

First I'll explain in plain English - with no medical jargon to show off. Rather I want to show you how and what you can do to get your hormones in check.

The pituitary gland in the brain produces growth hormone (GH) and that production is increased during aerobic exercise. This is vital for muscle tone and bone density and also helps strengthen your tendons, cartilage and ligaments which literally holds you together. So if you're having a mood swing that even chocolate can't fix and someone says, "Get it together," if you exercise, you can proudly claim, "I'm being held together quite nicely, thank you".

Growth hormone also communicates fat deposits to be used as fuel instead of blood glucose which helps you to stay energized longer while exercising, which is also why exercise is vital for people who have diabetes and why it helps to keep your metabolism running smoothly during menopause.

You've probably heard that the longer you exercise, the easier or less painful it gets. The pituitary gland also produces endorphins. This is one of my favorites because it sends a chemical signal to the brain to reduce anxiety, tension, decreases your appetite, blocks pain and gives you sense of euphoria known as "runners high" where you can exercise for longer periods of time with less pain. Now, you don't have to be a runner to experience this. An increased sensitivity to endorphins can be achieved if you've exercised for several months because it winds up staying in your blood for longer periods causing that "runners high" to last longer as well. Good stuff.

Testosterone is produced in both sexes, in the ovaries in women and the testes in men. Women have about one tenth the amounts of men but it still affects your metabolism by burning fat during exercise along with increasing muscle strength and tone, and producing a sense of self confidence. When you're healthy and strong you feel good! Testosterone can remain in the bloodstream at elevated levels up to three hours after exercise. In women it can also benefit the intensity of orgasms and that's never a bad thing.

Here's another reason to exercise. Another hormone that helps to breakdown unwanted body fat is estrogen. It increases your metabolism (burns fat as fuel), increases both your libido and your mood. The ovaries produce less of it as menopause is reached but exercising can elevate its levels in the blood for up to four hours after exercising so you feel sexier and happier. Now that's better than a valium and has much better side effects than any anti-depressant.

The thyroid gland produces thyroxine which again increases your metabolism in nearly all cells in your body. The increase induces a feeling of being more energetic, burns more calories which promotes weight loss. You get about 30% more thyroxine in the blood during exercise and it remains for several hours afterwards. The longer and harder you exercise the longer it flows through the blood even at rest. You can literally be burning fat stores long after exercising.

The adrenal medulla produces epinephrine (adrenaline) whose primary purpose is to signal the heart to pump harder and it also directs blood flow to the muscles being worked using the stored fat in those muscles as fuel/energy. While this chemical is flowing through your bloodstream it also activates the breakdown of carbohydrates (glycogen) in the liver and the active muscles. The higher the time and intensity of exercise the more epinephrine is released into the blood. But more is not always better. If you haven't exercises for a while it's best to start off with a beginner's fat burning program and progress as tolerated to avoid injury.

The human body is an amazing biological machine that isn't programmed so much as it responds to inputs we decide to place upon it. If you sit and eat, it responds by weakening, fattening and sickening. If you exercise and eat nutritious foods it strengthens, tones and fights illness and disease. You ultimately choose the way your body reacts to the lifestyle you live. Exercising on a regular schedule causes the body to react with chemical signals that strengthen cells, burn fat deposits and increase blood flow to all the organs responsible for better bodily functions and health. If you aren't exercising, it's time to adjust your schedule.

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Founder of Dr. approved Functional Fitness on PBS, and president of http://www.healthwiseexercise.com Suzanne Andrews helps you through menopause and beyond with award winning, medically engineered Functional Fitness DVD's. Available at http://www.amazon.com/Functional-Fitness-First-DVD-Set/dp/B003NR1NBM