Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

Every hour you spend walking may add 2 hours to your life, research suggests. Brisk  walking  can help trim your risk of heart disease,  stroke ,  type 2 diabetes ,  cancer , and  depression .  It can trim your waist and help you lose weight. To reap the benefits of walking and stay injury-free, try these tips. Wear comfy, well-fitting shoes . They should be lightweight and breathable. Look for thick cushioning in the heel, good support, and flexibility. Replace them after 3 to 6 months. Start with a warm-u p. Stroll at a comfortable pace for 5 to 10 minutes. Then pick it up for the rest of your walk. Set goals . Aim for four to six walks every week. "If you're a beginner, shoot for 20 to 30 minutes. If you're more advanced, take it up to 45- or 60-minute sessions," says Juliet Kaska, a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles. Bump it up an extra 10% each week. Stand tall . Pay attention to your posture. Keep your head up, stomach in, and shoulders relaxed.

This is an article I found in HealthDay recently, it's definitely worth a read. Your over-weight problem maybe caused from food additives. We can't get away from the chemicals in food but we can cut back on the cancer causing chemicals by eating natural whole foods. Restaurant food is never good for anyone's diet. Fructose -- a kind of sugar found in a wide variety of foods and beverages --may encourage overeating. Fructose may be best known to consumers in the form of "high-fructose corn syrup", which has long been added to manufactured foods from sodas to cookies. Distinct from sugar known as glucose (produced by the natural breakdown of complex carbohydrates), fructose is also a "simple" sugar and a natural component of fruit. However, "in a series of studies we have found that when compared to glucose, the simple sugar, fructose, is a weaker suppressor of brain areas that help control appetite and the motivation to eat," said stu

I was listening to a radio talk show the other day and a call-in was talking about a fast food chain. He was criticizing a hamburger chain and said after he stopped eating their food he started to feel better. He started to lose weight, and he said he wasn’t so depressed all day.  You don't have to be heavy to feel the affect of junk food. The saturated fat and the chemicals in junk food can slow down organ functions. When this happens you feel sluggish and you lose your energy. So, I started to think about how I felt when I was heavy and it did feel depressing. I didn’t like the way my clothes fit, I felt self-conscious. I felt like people were staring.  I didn’t like eating in-front of others. I had this lonely feeling. That was then and this is now. Today most people are overweight so a person can have that sense of well-being because their friends are the same as they are. Being overweight has become the new normal. So, what’s wrong with that? Well, the problem is yo

Heart damage can occur in obese people without causing symptoms, and take place without other heart risk factors such as  diabetes ,  high blood pressure  and high  cholesterol , a new study says. The researchers said their findings about this silent heart damage challenge the common belief that the risk of  heart disease  in obese people is mainly due to diabetes and high blood pressure, which are common in obese people. " Obesity  is a well-known 'accomplice' in the development of heart disease, but our findings suggest it may be a solo player that drives  heart failure  independently of other risk factors that are often found among those with excess weight," said lead investigator Dr. Chiadi Ndumele, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease. The study included more than 9,500 heart disease-free people, ages 53 to 75, in Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi and North Carolina who were followed for more than 12 years.

Yoga is a great way to work on your flexibility and strength. Just about everyone can do it, too -- it's not just for people who can touch their toes or want to meditate. Yoga is exercise and anything that's going to increase your activity level will help your body. Some  types of yoga  are about relaxation. In others, you move more. Most types focus on learning poses, called asanas. They also usually include attention to breathing. Yoga for Flexibility Yoga poses work by  stretching  your muscles. They can help you move better and feel less stiff or tired. At any level of yoga, you'll probably start to notice benefits soon. In one study, people improved their flexibility by up to 35% after only 8 weeks of yoga. Strike a Pose for Strength Some styles of yoga, such as ashtanga and power yoga, are very physical. Practicing one of these styles will help you improve muscle tone. But even less vigorous styles of yoga, such as Iyengar or hatha, can provide

Trying to lose weight? If you’re a more-meat-than-potatoes kind of person, two new studies should encourage you. That’s because both concluded that a low-carbohydrate diet appears to be at least as effective as a low-fat diet, challenging the long-held notion that eating fat is what makes you fat.  And in a way that's true, but eating fat only allows your body to burn the fat in your food so it doesn't need to burn body fat when it has the fat in your diet. Losing weight is about losing body fat, so I do believe that eating fatty foods will keep your body from burning body fat and  ultimately cause weight gain. One  study, in the  Annals of Internal Medicine , randomly assigned 148 men and women to follow either a low-carb or low-fat diet. After a year, the people on the low-carb diet had, on average, lost nearly 8 pounds more than those on the low-fat diet. The low-carb dieters also saw more improvement in their blood cholesterol levels than the low-fat dieters. The oth

The FDA announced new rules that require chain restaurants and vending machine operators to post calories for food and drinks on their menus. The rules, which have been in the works since the  Affordable Care Act  was signed into law in 2010, apply to restaurants that have more than 20 locations nationwide. Americans eat and drink about one-third of their calories away from home, and people today expect clear information about the products they consume. Making calorie information available on chain restaurant menus and vending machines is an important step for public health that will help consumers make informed choices for themselves and their families. The rules will also include labeling requirements for restaurant-style food in grocery stores, big-box stores, coffee shops, ice cream stores, movie theaters, and amusement parks. Restaurant-style foods include foods generally eaten on the premises, or while walking away, or soon after arriving at another location. That mean