Losing Weight By Knowing Your Metabolic Type

To often these days people are counting calories as a way to lose weight, its not that simple. It never has been but big companies love to jump on the bandwagon of calorie counting because its easy to do! If you take away 500kcals a DAY from your estimated requirement you'll burn away 1-2lb of body fat a WEEK and all that is all you have to do. Wrong - kind of.
A calorie is not just a calorie! Let's imagine you have 500kcals of pasta on one plate and 500kcals of broccoli on another, chances are that you will have a much bigger plate for the broccoli because there are less calories, yes? So we have miraculously discovered that you can consume more of one food than the other with the same amount of calories.
Would your bodies react completely the same if you had the pasta one day and the broccoli the next day? Would you have the same amount of energy? Would your blood sugar levels be raised to the same level? Would you need to release as much insulin? Would you have the same amount of energy? Chances are you wouldn't! Your hormones react completely different to sugar than they do to protein or foods high in fats.
So a calorie IS NOT just a calorie.
You need to find out what works best for YOU PERSONALLY. The way to do that is to find out your metabolic type. You need to be balancing your blood sugar levels and this is done by choosing foods that are right for you!
When you intake to much energy or sugary foods it can create blood sugar problems and hormonal imbalances and all sorts of energy system problems - headaches, diabetes, obesity, problems with inflammation of the digestive system and a load more unwanted problems!
Years ago people from different cultures and different regions of the world ate different foods, some ate a variety of fruits and vegetables whilst others ate foods high in protein and fats with a small amount of vegetables, but everyone had very good health and were definitely not overweight! There was very little heart disease, or diabetes or even cancer. Metabolic typing is to do with your ancestral heritage, hence why someone can lose a load of weight on one diet and then somebody else tries exactly the same diet and loses nothing (or even gains weight).
The first thing you need to do is take a number of quizzes online to find out your metabolic type. There are 3 types:
Type A: You metabolise Fats and Proteins more EFFICIENTLY than you do carbohydrates, your diet should consist of:
50% Protein
30% Fats
20% Carbs
Type B: You can metabolise Carbohydrates efficiently but are not so good at burning Proteins and Fats, your diet should consist of:
70% Carbs
20% Protein
10% Fats
Type C: You can metabolise your Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates equally.. Look at you! Your diet should consist of:
33% Protein
33% Fats
33% Carbs

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Does Sugar Affect Cholesterol Levels?

If you have high cholesterol, chances are you were instructed to reduce your intake of total fat, specifically animal fats, from your diet, become more active and to work on weight loss. What you weren't told is that you should also address your sugar intake. A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association looked at the blood profiles and sugar intake of more than 6,100 adults (whose demographics were representative of the American population). On average, study participants consumed 21.4 teaspoons of sugar a day (24 teaspoons equals ½ cup!). Those who took in more sugar had lower levels of HDL ('good') cholesterol and higher levels of triglycerides. It seems that the message is clear, added dietary sugar is connected with poor lipid profiles.
This is the first study to look at the connection between how much added sugars and 'empty' calories people consume and the effect on blood lipid profiles. Some factors for heart disease, like family history, cannot be changed. By identifying added dietary sugars as a contributor for a poor lipid profile people at risk can now begin to address what can be changed.
In addition, the study found that:
On average, people consumed 10.6% more calories from sugar a day than they did in the 1970's.
The higher the intake of added sugar, the lower the person's HDL ("good") cholesterol. Participants consuming 10% of total calories from added sugar had three times the risk of having low HDL than someone who took in half that much sugar.
Participants with a higher intake of added sugar tended to have higher triglyceride levels as well.
**Women who took in more added sugar also had higher LDL ("bad") cholesterol.
How much Added Sugar is Too Much Sugar?
To make matters more confusing, medical and health organizations do not agree on a current recommendation. Depending on whom you ask the daily consumption of added sugars should fall below:
25%, according to the Institute of Medicine
10%, according to the World Health Organization
6% or 7%, according to the American Heart Association
The Type of Sugar Matters
Though it would seem that Americans are eating a lot more sugar now than they did forty years ago, they are not. Sugar calories are up just 10% over those consumed in the 1970's. What is different is the type of sugar people are consuming. In the 1970's people consumed on average 343 calories a day of refined cane and beet sugar and only 2 calories from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). High-fructose corn syrup has now risen to 41% of Americans total sugar intake. It is also the single most consumed caloric nutrient for the American Population.
High calories increase your body weight and risk of developing heart diseases. If you don't want to struggle with weight problems, joining a Seattle lifestyle program would help you. This program explains you how to increase your metabolism and shed those unwanted pounds.
The Cost of Calories
One of the reasons Americans are eating more calories from high-fructose corn syrup today than in the 1970's is due to government incentives on corn production and tariffs on sugar. It is simply less expensive to produce HFCS than it is to produce cane or beet sugar.
A person might expect that added sugars, along with other food groups, have increased equally over time in response to inflation. That person would be wrong. The inflation-adjusted cost of added sugars has dropped by half since 1970. This change can be credited to the steep rise of low-cost 'foods' containing high-fructose corn syrup over the last thirty years.
Over the past forty years, the price of added sugars has dropped significantly more than the purchase price of each food group:
Fruit sources: 30% increase
Vegetable sources: Unchanged
Grain sources: 29% decrease
Dairy sources: 38% decrease
Fat sources: 38% decrease
Protein sources: 50% decrease
Sugar sources: 50% decrease
What Can You do?
Get help from Seattle Nutritionist.
Read nutrition labels and take note of how much added sugar you consume.
Reduce or replace foods containing corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cane or beet sugar or sucrose.
Replace soda with water, sparkling water or mineral water.
Choose whole foods whenever possible. Fruit is a perfectly healthy addition to your eating plan. Eat frequently across the day and incorporate into green salads and grain dishes.

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Healthy Ways to Lose Weight

If you are on a quest for information concerning weight loss methods and techniques, you have probably noticed that a plethora of so-called information exists concerning this subject. Entire sections of bookstores are devoted to books on fad diets and other weight loss oriented subjects, and looking online for weight loss tips will unleash a flood of advice and tips concerning the latest dietary trends. Unfortunately, fad diets are usually just another way that someone's trying to get your money. If you ever heard your grandmother say that the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than you burn and that no magic potions that will make the pounds melt away exist, your grandmother was right. She was also correct, though, when she said that healthy ways to lose weight have the best long term results.
Consider Nutrition When Purchasing Items for Snacks
The key to losing weight and keeping it off is to make every calorie count. Instead of going on a fad diet that will only result in weight loss in your wallet, try cutting the majority of empty calories out of your daily food and beverage consumption. Instead of that fizzy, sugar-laden soda, pick up a glass of pomegranate juice. Have a couple of small squares of dark chocolate to satisfy that sweet tooth instead of a large candy bar. Small amounts of chocolate are actually good for you, but most supermarket chocolate bars don't contain enough of the right kind of chocolate. Look for dark chocolate that is over 70 percent pure cocoa.
Cutting snacks that contain little more than empty calories out of your diet can be done suddenly and completely, but many people prefer to gradually taper off rather than go cold turkey. If you choose this approach, make certain that you have a specific date in mind for your diet to be relatively junk food free. You'll probably find that you'll crave these sorts of items less and less as you incorporate more healthy alternatives into your daily diet.
Healthy Meal Planning
As far as meal planning, one of the major keys to findin is to consume as few processed foods as possible. Use fresh fruits, vegetables and meats in your meal preparation instead of mixing together meals that come in boxes from the grocery store shelves. Visiting your community's farmers market is an excellent way to get some healthy, locally grown and delicious produce into your kitchen. An excellent protein source that packs a high nutritional punch yet is low in calories is Pacific salmon. Including grilled or poached salmon in at least two meals per week is a great way to explore healthy ways to lose weight.
There's no miracle cure that works for losing weight as well as simply eating for good health and being reasonably active in your daily routine. Ride your bike or walk instead of getting behind the wheel, eat fresh, local foods whenever possible, and make a lifelong commitment to good health. The pounds will come off, but they'll be a secondary effect of living a healthy lifestyle.

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Dieting to Death

It has been 15 years since I was diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa and I have been recovered for 12 years. To this day if I head for the washroom after a meal my mother feels the panic start to well up inside of her. Her first reaction to the news that her daughter was bulimic, like so many other mothers, was shock. This had been going on for 7 years and she never knew and she just couldn't understand why.
Bulimia and Anorexia are eating disorders that affect girls primarily in their teens (but can start as young as 10 years old) to their early twenties. Although it is mostly girls that are affected approximately 10% are boys and this number continues to increase. Bulimia is the recurrence of binging and then purging. Binging is when a larger than normal amount of food is eaten in one sitting. It is like there is a total loss of control and a young girl can consume 3 times that of a grown man. Purging is when vomiting is self-induced after eating and often, excessive amounts of laxatives are used. Girls who are bulimic become very good at hiding it from everyone even their families, primarily by saving the binging and purging till alone. To people with bulimia their physical appearance has become the determining factor as to their worth as a person. The ability to binge and purge gives control to girls that have somewhere along the way lost it in their lives.
So as parents what should you look for? An abnormal occupation with weight, which will in turn lead to your daughter being preoccupied with dieting. With some bulimics there will not be a drastic weight loss, as with anorexia, however this is not always true. In the case of obesity it is unfortunately usually undetectable. I know that the clothes in my closet ranged in size from 5 to 12. If you have an 11 year old girl who says she needs to go on a diet, that is a good sign that there is trouble. Dieting can be the most dangerous enemy that your daughter ever faces.
If she decides to become a vegetarian but also gives up cake and cookie or eliminates dairy from her diet but also eliminates all high calorie foods; if she starts to constantly make excuses as to why she can't eat, like she is running late or ate with a friend; if she also starts to withdraw and seems depressed a lot of the time and spends more and more time alone. These are all very strong signs of an eating disorder.
The one thing that parents need to realize is that this is not something that will just go away or that they'll grow out of. It is a serious problem that can result in a variety of medical problems and even death. If you see some of these behaviors in your child, you need to seek professional help for her. If you start attacking your child they will become defensive and the situation can worsen. There is help available and treatments such as antidepressants are proving very successful. The first step is realizing there is a problem and then the most important step is getting help. I am living proof that there is life after bulimia.

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Gastric Bypass Myth - All Patients Stretch their Stomachs and Regain Weight

Have a conversation about gastric bypass surgery with just about anyone and you will hear, "Yeah, I know someone who had that done and within a year they stretched out their stomach and regained all that weight - plus some."
Unfortunately it is true that some weight loss surgery (WLS) patients do regain their weight after losing it. What isn't true is that they stretch their stomachs back to pre-surgical size. At best, a post gastric bypass stomach will expand from a capacity of 2 tablespoons to one-cup capacity. This is expected and part of the reason gastric bypass is successful. In the phase of rapid weight loss the patient cannot eat more than once ounce of food at a time. As the stomach heals and the weight loss stabilizes the stomach can eventually hold up to a cup of food at a time.
The reason that some patients regain their weight after surgery is they return to snacking which is contradictory to the directions given by their bariatric center. Snacking is forbidden by most centers. Eating little quantities of the wrong foods throughout the day causes WLS patients to stop losing weight, or worse, this behavior results in weight gain. Snacking is one of the behaviors that caused morbid obesity in the first place.
Snacking is the downfall of the WLS patient who regains weight, not stretching the stomach. For example, at five years out of surgery, I can eat one piece of pizza at dinner. If I eat a second piece at dinner I WILL get sick. Guaranteed. However, If I nibble on the leftovers an hour later, I can add another piece, and an hour later, another piece, and so-on. See the pattern? Snacking is the problem, not stretching the stomach.
The fact is, patients who live by the four rules do not regain their weight. The four rules for long-term success after gastric bypass surgery are: Eat protein first; No snacking, Drink lots of water and Exercise daily. The four rules are in place to ensure successful weight loss and long-term weight maintenance.

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Taking Advantage of Enzymes and Wheatgrass for Weight Loss

There are currently over 100 billion dollars sold in weight-loss and energy products each year. Weight-loss is a very serious and emotional issue. In fact, it's so big that doctors and scientists are referring to it as "catastrophic" in nature. Despite the efforts of researchers world over, North America is facing a "fat epidemic."
With that good news said, keep in mind the cause of all disorder and disease: toxemia and malnutrition. With those two factors addressed, one cannot but improve their health and lose unwanted fat and inches; as obesity is definitely indicative of health issues.
How does one detoxify and nourish their bodies? Lots of ways. Let's focus on diet.
Of course you've heard to drink lots of purified water a day. That was good advice, as water helps cleanse all sorts of impurities from our systems. Impurities that impede good thyroid function and metabolism.
Enzymes are also crucial and they can only be found in raw foods. Did you know that farmers years ago (and probably still) used to feed their pigs cooked potatoes to encourage weight gain? It's true. And if they wanted their pigs to trim down they would feed them raw potatoes. The difference was in the enzyme content of the live, raw potato.
While we wouldn't want to binge on raw potatoes, the above is a good illustration of the need to upgrade our diets to include plenty of fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds in their raw format. When eating cooked foods, ingesting plant-based enzymes also ensures complete digestion.
When digestion is not complete, residues remain, leading to more toxins and poorer metabolism. So it just may make good sense to invest in a quality plant-based enzyme product.
So, with more water and more raw foods in our diet, another good idea would be to cleanse the system with gentle oxygen colon cleansing. These colon cleansers help remove the built-up poisons from possibly years of neglect. And though there's lots of material about colon cleansing and psyllium, we prefer a less aggressive method using oxygen and magnesium.

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How Many Calories Are Too Many

In today's bustling world we are constantly surrounded by media hype about "Weight Loss" and "Calorie Controlled Diets". As a Nutritional Therapist, I am often asked "How many calories are too many?" The simple answer to this question is that we are all individuals, and we all require a different amount of calories per day.
By following the four steps outlined below, you can determine exactly how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis in order to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.
Step 1:
The amount of calories you require will vary with your age and weight. In order to calculate this place your weight in kilograms into one of the following equations
Age 18 - 29 [(0.062 x weight) + 2.036] x 239
Age 30 - 60 [(0.034 x weight) + 3.538] x 239
Age 60+ [(0.038 x weight) + 2.755] x 239
This will give you the amount of calories you need to consume on a daily basis.
Step 2:
The next item that is taken into consideration is your activity level. This is based on your occupational activity level and your non-occupational activity level. For example if you work in an office all day then your occupational activity level will be light. If however, you take some form of exercise in the evening this will be a non-occupational level of moderately active. See below for details.
Occupational Activity Level - light with a non-active non-occupational activity = 1.4 for both male and female
Occupational Activity Level - Moderate with a moderately active non-occupational activity 1.7 for male and 1.6 for female
Occupational Activity Level - Moderate/heavy with a very active non-occupational activity 1.9 for male and 1.7 for female
To calculate the amount of calories required based on your activity levels multiply your daily calories as per step 1 by the number in step 2.
Example: 1430 calories x 1.4 (light with non-active) = 2002 calories per day
Step 3:
For those wishing to lose or gain weight, the amount of calories required per day will need to be increased or decreased. The best way of doing this is to subtract 500 calories from your daily intake for weight loss and add 500 calories to your daily intake for weight gain. By reducing your calorie intake by 500 calories per day this will allow you to lose 500 grams (1lb) per week. Always remember if weight is lost slowly you are more likely to maintain the weight loss. Crash dieting is not the answer.
Step 4:
The final step in this process allows you to calculate how many grams of fat your daily calorie intake should have and how much should be carbohydrates.
No more than 35% of the calories consumed on a daily basis should be made up of fat. To calculate this, multiply your calories per day by 0.35 and divide the answer by 9. This will give you your grams of fat per day.
At least 50% of the calories you eat should come from carbohydrates. To calculate this, multiply your calories per day by 0.5 and divide the answer by 3.75.

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