Archive for April, 2010

i was wondering how much weight it was possible to lose by just eating couscous (plain, with a mixture of spices herbs and natural flavourings) and green salad. and drinking only water.
i would also be doing light exercise (yoga, stretches, ect.) for about an hour a day.

how much would i lose if i did this for about a month? i am currently 5’3 and 128 lbs?

Um, couscous isn’t a health food. Its a pasta. It’s a starch. It’s wheat flour.

Change to quinoa. You can find it at most stores that sell in bulk for the best price, or buy it in a box. Quinoa is a whole grain, but it cooks just like couscous or rice… fast. Quinoa has more protein per serving than any other whole grain (or pasta) as well.

Does LA weight loss really work? This might be something your looking into because you think you have tried every weight loss product on the market. You may or may not know that there are around 900 LA weight loss centers across the world. It is fast becoming a very popular form of weight loss, as I will explain.

LA weight loss really focuses on using real foods found at supermarkets and even takeaways! It concentrates on calorie intake and portion sizes of meals. Most diets these days focus on calorie counting which LA diets do not. Trained personnel at each center will interview you, your needs will be assessed to come up with a program suited to you.

Your probably thinking how does this diet work? The plan is divided into three sections.

1. The weight loss section.
2. The stabalizaton section.
3. The sustain and balance section.

The weight loss section will be the period it takes for you to reach your ideal weight. In this period you will be given focused meal plans that contain 1100 to 1800 calories for each day. These diets are usually around 45% carbohydrates, 35-40% protein and the rest made up from fat. The food contained in these diet plans will be healthy, well planned and formulated.

It’s not just what you eat, but also the exercise you participate in. During the stabilization period you will meet a counselor and review your progress. This is usually over a six week period. The LA dieting plan will allow you to lose weight correctly and the most important in a healthy manner.

For more weight loss information and reviews of proven Weight Loss Programs and Products visit my Weight Loss Programs website. Find detailed product reviews and dieting links:-

Click Here >> WeightLossPrograms365.com

Matthew Gendle
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/does-la-weight-loss-really-work-735429.html

A smaller stomach may not be the only reason why post-gastric bypass patients eat less.

A recent study done at the Emory University in Atlanta found a significant drop in a hunger-related hormone in post-gastric bypass patients. The hormone is called ghrelin, and is one of 24 different hormones that may help to regulate the appetite.

After patients received the Roux-en-Y procedure, the most common form of gastric bypass surgery, the researchers found the hormone ghrelin dropped by almost a third.

During the weight loss procedure, the size of the stomach is reduced, and some of the upper intestines are bypassed. It is thought that the ghrelin hormone may normally be produced in the bypassed areas of the gastric system.

Dr. Edward Lin, the lead researcher in the study, believes that ghrelin is one of the most powerful appetite stimulating hormones naturally produced in the body. Lowered levels of the hormone may help patients lose weight after their surgery, along with the strict post-surgical diet and the smaller stomach.

Another study conducted by doctors at King’s College London and Hammersmith Hospital discovered that gastric bypass patients produced higher levels of the PYY hormone. This hormone is normally released after a meal to tell the brain you’re full. After a meal, most thin people’s PYY hormone level increases by 50%. However, the study found that post-gastric bypass patients had a 150% increase in their levels of this appetite suppressing hormone.

Interestingly, obese patients who did not undergo the weight loss surgery had little or no increase in the PYY hormone after a full meal. Also, the increased hormone level was found in patients after standard gastric bypass surgery, but not after a gastric banding.

Research is now underway to see if these hormonal changes may be used as an alternative treatment for obesity, without the surgery. Hope for a non-surgical weight loss cure was stirred in 2002 when researchers reported some success in reducing the weight of obese rats with the PYY hormone. Unfortunately, other researchers have been unable to repeat their findings.

Of course, hormones are not the only reasons that gastric bypass patients feel less hungry. Patients are restricted to a water fast for a week or more after their surgery, and many people who experience water fasts find they have no appetite after the first day or two. During the Roux-en-Y procedure, the size of the stomach is greatly reduced, and only small amounts can be comfortably eaten at one time. Many foods, such as red meat and foods high is sugar and fat, can cause nausea and vomiting in post-surgical patients. And most gastric bypass patients receive psychological, behavioral and nutritional counseling both before and after the procedure.

Most post-surgical patients will lose up to 80% of their excess weight after the surgery, but some of this weight is often regained, so much more research is needed.

If scientists can find a hormone or herb that will safely and consistently suppress the appetite and put a stop to habitual overeating, one of the world’s most common illnesses will have found an easy cure.

Jonni Good
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/gastric-bypass-reduces-hunger-in-some-surprising-ways-67084.html

Government regulatory agencies are usually not big fans of weight-loss supplements. In January 2007, for example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined four supplement companies a total of $25 million for making what the FTC said were unscientific claims about their weight-loss products.

I’m sensitive to such a slight (even if I think the FTC was right in this case) because I’m the co-author of a book about science-backed vitamin and herbal supplements that can aid weight loss, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy (Broadway, 2007).

I wrote the book with Harry Preuss, MD, a professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, a researcher with more than 300 scientific studies to his credit, a nutritionist, and a world-class expert in using natural remedies for weight-loss.

Dr. Preuss and I were very careful to present only the vitamins, herbs and food factors that study after study shows can safely and effectively help you lose weight-by gently boosting metabolism…or slowing the body’s fat-making machinery…or reducing appetite…or building calorie-burning muscle…or blocking the absorption of fats and carbohydrates.

The natural remedies featured in the book include (get ready for a barrage of acronyms):

EGCG (green tea extract)
CLA (conjugated linoleic acid)
HCA (hydroxycitric acid)
MCT (medium-chain triglycerides)
Chromium
Chitosan and other soluble fibers
5-HTP (5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan)
HMB

And there’s one more weight-loss remedy on that list. It’s a natural substance so effective, that the FDA has given permission for products containing it to include on their labels the fact that the supplement works.

The ingredient is a carbohydrate digestive enzyme inhibitor, or what is more commonly known as a starch-blocker.

Extracted from white kidney beans, it works by blocking the action of alpha amylase, the digestive enzyme that breaks down starch in the intestines. The result: it prevents a portion of the carbohydrates in any high-carb food (like pasta, bread or potatoes) from being absorbed.

And that’s a good thing if your diet includes lots of refined carbohydrates from white bread and white flour, which are often stored in the body as fat. With carb-blockers, you can have your cake (or at least an occasional slice) and eat it too.

In 2005, Dr. Preuss helped conduct a 1-month Italian study on carb-blockers. The researchers gave either starch-blockers or a placebo to 60 overweight but healthy people, aged 25 to 45, who ate a carbohydrate-rich diet of 2000- to 2500-calories a day. Their weight was measured at the beginning and end of the 1-month study.

The people taking the starch blockers lost 10 times more weight than the people taking the placebo-6.6 pounds, compared to 0.6.

A year earlier, researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine found that dieters taking a starch-blocker lost twice as much weight as people taking a placebo.

In both cases, the researchers were studying Phase 2, a starch-blocker ingredient used in many brands, like Carb Intercept from Natrol, Carb Shredder from Vitamin Shoppe, Carbo Tame from Jarrow Formulas, Phase 2 from Now, and Starch Blocker from CVS.

In November 2006, the FDA told the manufacturers of Phase 2, Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc., they could use the following two statements on products containing Phase 2:

May assist in weight control when used in conjunction with a sensible diet and exercise program, and

May reduce the enzymatic digestion of dietary starches.

If you decide to take a carb-blocker, here are a few helpful tips from Dr. Preuss. Take it with 8-ounces of water to help absorb the supplement. Take it with a meal, either right before or right after. And follow the dosage recommendation on the label.

And remember that carb-blockers are not miracle pills. (There are no miracle diet pills.) You can’t eat a couple of doughnuts every day and take carb-blockers and not gain weight.

If you’d like to know more about carb-blockers or any of the weight-loss supplements mentioned in this article, please take a look at my book, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy. You can find out more about it-and my other books on health and healing-at www.drugfreehealing.com.

Bill Gottlieb
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/a-weightloss-supplement-the-fda-says-might-really-work-104164.html

Green tea can do wonders for people who want to shed off those extra pounds. Cutting down on calories is one way to lose weight. Drinking tea in place of coffee and cream, a combination that is abundant in calories, will greatly help in your quest for weight reduction.

Drinking green tea is seen as a very effective way in making you lose weight because of its epigallocatechin gallate (ECCG) property. This natural substance found in green tea helps you suppress your appetite which then leads into a faster weight loss process. Green tea weight loss is very common and it can work for you, too. Therefore if you are really interested in weight loss and strongly feel that you are not comfortable with weight loss medications or surgeries you can very well consider green tea.

Studies relating to green tea weight loss have shown that green tea extract improves the metabolism of glucose and lipids, which is crucial to weight loss. I also found evidence of a large number of green tea weight loss studies that explored green tea’s ability to lower blood sugar in the context of metabolism and insulin production, which means that green tea can help control cravings and maintain the requisite energy levels. Because being overweight is linked to low metabolism rate, green tea will be perfect for you. It has certain minerals and vitamins that help in stabilizing your metabolism rate, which will help in extracting energy from food faster and also burns more fats faster.

Researchers say results indicate that catechins in green tea not only help burn calories and lower LDL cholesterol but may also be able to mildly reduce body fat. You actually gain extra weight and pack on those unwanted pounds when extra sugars along with saturated fats are stored in the body as fat cells. Research has for many years been almost obsessed with health treatments that will result in weight loss accompanied by anti-aging properties, due to the increasing numbers of individuals within our society categorized as overweight or obese.This research focuses on natural solutions to these problems, such as the beneficial properties of green tea weight loss.

Green tea weight loss program results are normally obvious within the first week, particularly if you complete the diet with physical exercise, lots of liquids and green food.

Green tea as fat burner is used to help the body regulate glucose which means that the rise in blood sugar after a meal is controlled. If its not controlled, it may cause a sugar spike which then leads to insulin spike. Green tea fat burner is an aid for those on a diet. Green tea as fat burner is not a diet, but an aid to those on other diets. Many weight loss and weight management products actually contain green tea or green tea extracts.

Green tea weight loss is safe. Try it out, you have nothing to loose, except those extra pounds.

Annette Kriel
http://www.articlesbase.com/tea-articles/green-tea-the-miracle-weight-loss-formula-616526.html