Fatlossforidiots blog

Archive for August, 2008

There is a big push out there for low carbohydrate diets.  The Atkins diet is probably the one that really started this fad and there are millions of individuals who have tried it at some point or another.  Some people have actually lost a considerable amount of weight by eating very low carbohydrates every day.  Just because they lose weight, however, does not mean that they are going to keep it off.  It also does not mean that it is healthy.  As a matter of fact, ketosis, which is the driving force behind Atkins is a very dangerous condition for your body to be in.  Diabetics would give anything to be out of ketosis permanently.

That doesn’t mean, however, that carbs should not be taken into consideration as far as our health and weight are concerned.  Quite the contrary, carbohydrates have a lot to do with these things.  The key to the whole matter is not to eat low carbohydrates during the day, it is to feed your body with slow carbohydrates.  If you successfully do this, not only will you be healthier but your body will seek out its natural, trim weight.

Slow carbohydrates are in abundance as long as we take advantage of them.  The best way to find out which ones we should use is by looking at the glycemic index.  All this is, is an indicator of exactly how quickly the sugars are released from the carbohydrates into our system.  The higher on the scale, the faster the carbohydrates enter our bloodstream.

Eating too high on the glycemic index all of the time can have a devastating effect on our body.  What happens is that the pancreas will release insulin into our blood in order to compensate for all of the extra sugar.  This is not healthy for us and leaves us feeling sluggish and foggy headed.  It also adds fat cells to our body which is something that none of us want to have happen.

You can counter these unhealthy effects by eating foods that are low on the glycemic index.  If you make wise carbohydrate choices like this, you can throw the Atkins book away and all of the unhealthy effects that go along with it.  In fact, you would be surprised at how easy it is to incorporate this healthy way of eating into your lifestyle.

Many of us are interested in making sure that our body is healthy and running well all the time.  Because of all of the different things that can go wrong, we try to eat the right things and to get plenty of exercise and rest so that we can be running at peak performance.  There may be times, however, when your body is deficient, even when you are trying to take care of it in the best way possible.  There are several things that you need to give to your body every day in order to stay balanced and healthy throughout your lifetime.

One of the best things that you can do for your body, aside from eating the proper foods is to take a good multivitamin.  Even if we eat everything that we possibly can as far as our health is concerned, it might be possible that we are deficient in one way or another.  A multivitamin will help to pick up some of the slack as far as the deficiencies are concerned.  Of course, it’s best if you can get these vitamins and minerals through a natural diet but this is the second best thing.

Another thing that our body needs every day is plenty of fluids.  These come in the form of clean and filtered water and not sports or sugary drinks.  Even coffee can have a detrimental effect because caffeine tends to be a diuretic.  Drink water throughout the day and make sure that you are getting an adequate amount.  Your health will improve as a result of staying hydrated every day.  As a matter of fact, you will be surprised with how your body will change.

Finally, you need to make sure that you are getting plenty of green leafy vegetables on a daily basis.  These can build up your health in an amazing way.  Unfortunately, it is difficult for humans to be able to properly masticate these vegetables so that the nutrients can be absorbed.  If you’re able, blend some green vegetables in with fruit until it is smooth in order to make a green smoothie.  Not only are they delicious, the greens are easily assimilated into your body and you get all of the benefits of the vitamins and minerals that are contained inside.  Do this on a daily basis and you will be happy with the results.

Even if you are eating a good and balanced diet that is full of plenty of fruits and vegetables, there still may be danger that is lurking underneath.  In fact, you would probably be surprised with how bad fruits and vegetables can actually be for you.  Of course, it is much better to eat fruits and vegetables than to eat the standard American diet of cooked processed food.  Still, you can improve on this already good thing by making sure that you are getting organic produce whenever you shop.  Here are three reasons why you should go organic with your diet.

Hidden Sicknesses - You would be surprised with some of the things that ends up in our food.  It doesn’t stop with pesticides, there are also any different types of chemicals which are sprayed on crops in order to make them grow better and easier to harvest.  Unfortunately, not all of that is able to be washed out of the food.  You will be ingesting some of these chemicals and that can cause a lot of serious problems in your body.  As a matter of fact, some individuals have made great strides in their health by switching over to organic fruits and vegetables.  None of us would purposefully put chemicals into our body that kill plants.  If you’re not eating organic, that is exactly what you are doing.

Genetically Modified - You would likewise be surprised with how many of the fruits and vegetables that we are eating are genetically modified in one way or another.  People really should not be messing with nature in this way because it can affect our health and environment in ways that we don’t really understand.  A good example of this is Roundup ready soybeans.  These are soybeans which have an additional protein injected into them so that the crop is able to be sprayed with Roundup, a weed killer.  Yes, the fields are weed free but your food is genetically modified and full of pesticide.

Healthier for the Environment - Although this does not have anything to do with healthy eating, by eating organic you are doing something that is good for the environment.  Because organic food is not sprayed with pesticides or genetically modified, it is environmentally safe.  Whenever you support these practices, you are supporting the earth.

I’m sure that you have heard of the success stories of individuals who have gone on low carbohydrate diets, such as Atkins.  To be certain, you can lose a lot of weight whenever you limit your carbohydrates to an extreme degree.  There are several different problems that come along with his weight loss, however.  In the first place, it is difficult to maintain this weight loss for any period of time.  Typically, you will end up bouncing back from the weight that you lost whenever you go back to eating carbs again.  There is another danger, however, with low carbohydrate diets that you should be concerned about.

The reason why you lose weight whenever you are on a low carbohydrate diet is because you are forcing your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates for energy.  In order to do this, you put your body in a state that is typically known as ketosis.  In fact, this is heralded throughout the Atkins diet book as being a wonderful advancement in weight loss.  What you aren’t told, however, is that along with the ketosis and the fat loss also comes some organ loss because your body is eating them for fuel as well.

Ketosis is a state that is what many diabetics have to deal with on a regular basis.  That is why they have the strips which allow you to see if you’re actually in ketosis or not.  Those strips were not made for individuals on the Atkins diet, they were made for people that were truly sick with diabetes.  Ask any diabetic if ketosis is a good thing and you will get a much different answer than somebody who lost some temporary weight on this form of diet.

Instead of a low carbohydrate diet, why not go on a slow carbohydrate diet?  You can do this by only eating carbohydrates that are on the lower half of the glycemic index.  You will still have plenty of energy throughout the day because you are getting the natural sugars but they will be released slowly into your system and easily assimilated by the insulin your pancreas produces.  Not only will you be healthier as a result, you will lose weight naturally and easily while you are eating in this way.  It is a diet that is not only healthy, it is easy to sustain throughout your lifetime.

I don’t know many individuals that are not at least a little bit interested in making sure that they eat healthy.  Some of these may do so out of serious health concerns, diseases or other problems that they may be dealing with.  Other individuals are trying to eat healthy in order to lose weight which can definitely have a positive impact on our lives.  Regardless of what type of healthy eating program that we decide on, we need to make sure that we avoid any extremes that may be dangerous.  What are some of these extremes?

One of the first that comes to mind is a very low carbohydrate diet.  Atkins made this popular but there are other diets which have followed in his footsteps.  These can be very good at helping us to lose weight in a hurry but they are also very damaging to the body.  Carbohydrates help us to maintain throughout the day.  Sure, if we do not give our body carbohydrates, it will use fat but it will do so through a process that is known as ketosis.  This is very damaging on our body and is something that many diabetics would certainly want to live without.

Another thing that you should avoid are any diets which are extremely calorie restrictive.  Many individuals will try to lose weight quickly by going on a crash diet.  This will work to a certain extent and you will lose weight and some size but you are not doing it in a healthy manner.  Any time that you cut your calories to where you are burning more than an additional 1000 a day over what you are taking in, you are not eating enough.  You will lose weight for a while but that will also include muscle mass.  Don’t go to this extreme because it is extremely unhealthy in the long term.

One extreme that you might enjoy trying is a fast.  There are several different cleansing fasts they can be followed for anywhere from a day up to 10 days or more.  The master cleanse has become very popular in recent years because of some popular singers that have lost weight while using it.  The real benefit of the master cleanse is not weight loss, however, it is an increased awareness of your body and cleaning it so that you can eat healthy afterword.