Weight Management Articles

There is plenty of finger-pointing when it comes to what people eat. There is very little said about muscle strength. The fact is muscle strength combats aging. Science is discovering the unique health benefits to being fit. From diabetes management, cancer risk reduction,  cardiovascular health, and cognitive abilities exercise offers a multitude of benefits.

There is a harmonic relationship between muscle power and health. Muscle strength makes life a whole lot easier. As one gets older and slower, the size and strength of the muscles are the deciding factor in the rate of decline in aging. Muscle volume supports your daily activities. To have stronger muscles means that size is important. You need enough to support daily activity, and slow down age related changes.

Physical Performance

Physical performance is dependent on muscle strength. Muscles are a necessary tool for being able to engage in daily activity. The first through people have at times: is it worth the sweat to maintain a high level of strength. This isn’t about flexing or building hard as rocks muscles. This is about unleashing enough strength to make life easier, and not miss out on the senior years.

Age-defying looks and vitality depend on muscle power. There are many concrete ways to build muscles at any age. The sooner you make this a daily goal the better. What build muscles are the same things that keep you fit and active.

The way to stay fit is to feel the clay of the tennis court against your feet, or the grass on a golf course. Taking up running, jogging or walking, or just getting your feet wet jumping into the pool for a swim.

To really outsmart father time means to take steps to ensure you reach the goal of maximizing your performance. This means anything from yoga to strength training. There is nothing like working out to meet your goal using anything from aerobics to Pilates.

 Repetitions

Working our isn’t what you did last week, last month, or last year it is what you are doing currently. Small daily goals become the motivation for more movement.

Hitting the gym is the best way to perfect all sport performances. What may seem like monotony becomes an inspiration as you develop a passion for fitness. What you hear from most people is a mixed message: they know they should workout, but they don’t like the work involved. When you are feeling really good you want to be moving and not sit glued to the couch. Any workout that you enjoy, from the Asian healing arts to the modern day Zumba classes will optimize your health. 

Fuel Sources

Exercise takes endurance, and to most fitness experts’ food is part and parcel of training. Foods need to provide an energy boost, and a means to a fast recovery. In real life the only thing that provides energy is good nutritional practices.

Recommendations run far and wide. Every whole food has its place from organic superfoods to good enzymes. Amino acids are important as are all vitamins and minerals. Good sources of protein work well. There are vegetarian athletes who have learned what works for them. The most important factor is to be aware of what you put into your body. Sugar along with processed foods will not supply your body with sustainable energy.

Everyone deserves a body that is trim and fit. There are limitless possibilities to make your body into a fine tuned instrument. Small steps will pay off big time in helping you unleash the power you already have. Exercise is an investment in the future, which can make prime time anytime, from youth to the senior years.

Calorie counting is destructive. The initial goal should be to get strong and fit. Counting calories can make many dieters weak. Being hungry all the time is counter productive.

Calorie control equals weight management to most people, and even the medical experts think this is true. What calories really do is different from the hype. When the weight loss industry capitalizes on the proven benefits of cutting calories, what they are doing is promoting a way to utilize diet in an unhealthy way.

Caveman Diet

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (USCF) say their research has shown people on a high protein diet combined with plenty of vegetables show dramatic health improvements. These include weight loss, and lower blood pressure. What they are talking about is a diet that is considered similar to the “Hunters Gathers” or caveman diet.

Dr. Tim White a paleobiologist from the University of California Berkley said: “Our Biology is still basically the same biology that we had as hunters and gathers 100,000 years ago in Africa.” Dr. White said the constant physical activity that the cavemen had to undertake to hunt and find food kept them fit, lean, muscular and active. Their diet consisted of large amounts of lean meat, and vegetables.

Robert Lustig, MD. an endocrinologist at UCSF, said that people on the diet have experienced a regression of their diabetes as a result, to the point they are effectively cured.

Dr. Kim Mulvihill, a reporter from CBS tried the diet herself and doctors recommended she should stay on the diet permanently. Her cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels dropped dramatically over a few weeks. After seven weeks she was no longer pre-diabetic, and by combining the so called paleo diet with a weight loss program she lost thirty pounds.

Fish

Another article talked about people who eat fish as their primary source of animal protein. They reported lower glucose concentrations with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Researchers at the University of Valencia reported in the journal Nutricion Hospitalaria that there are benefits from a Mediterranean diet high in fish consumption. This study showed the benefits of the omega 3’s in fish. Omega 3 from fish and grass fed meat controls inflammation. Micronutrients from both vegetables and fruits also, turn off inflammation.

Inflammation

There are a good number of studies that show weight gain may be linked to chronic inflammation. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition researches looked at nine years of data tracking 1,222 adults and found that weight gain was associated with an increase in chronic inflammation. This may be why weight gain is associated with heart disease and cancer. Both these conditions are associated with chronic inflammation.

Counting calories is counter productive, especially when you buy 100 calorie packs of pure carbohydrates in the form of crackers of cookies. The only weapon against obesity is whole foods diet with all the omega 3 fatty acids and nutrients your body need.

A diet based on vegetables, and fruit with some high quality protein is better than a calorie restricted diet for weight management. A nation that has embraced calorie counting as a way to control weight is deluding itself into thinking that saving calories can repair the damage done by faux foods. By changing your goal from weight, to having more energy by becoming healthier your will achieve a consistent weight.

A raw diet saves lives. This is a diet, which is high in nutrition, and low in calories. It usually is a raw vegetarian diet, heavy on fruits and vegetables. What a raw diet may be doing is supplying the body with micronutrients, while getting rid of accumulated toxins.

The Raw Diet

The raw diet, especially if there is juicing and blending involved makes digestion easy, and leaves energy for the body to work on healing. The diet takes the  burden off the digestion system and provides vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that are in short supply.

The raw food movement is a quiet revolution, which is changing the way we think about food. The emphasis is on high quality nutrition. Raw food provides a way to eat that is more in tune with nature.  The diet is trending upward., because it is the living definition of living food.

This is a stand alone diet, it doesn’t depend on any store bought supplements. The only additions are some supper foods, which the diet naturally contains plenty of. The question is why aren’t more people choosing a more raw diet?

Anti-Aging

Millions of people are looking for anti-aging products and procedures, this diet would be the ultimate way to stay young at heart and reverse human aging. When I say young at heart we are talking about the best way to keep your cardiovascular system in peak working order. What is critically important is that you feed the cells so they are powered to provide your body with cellular energy. The mitochandria are the cellular energy generators, which supple your body with all the energy for a long healthy life.

The combination of a raw foods with nutrient dense sources of cooked items may be the way to implement a mostly raw diet for most people. Physical performance depends on a host of bio-active nutrients. It also depends on what you are capable of absorbing from the food. For centuries we had a diet so different from today’s eating. We are starving our body by feeding it calorie dense, nutritionally sparse foods.

Benefits

The truth is people are unwittingly starving their bodies and have no idea of the extent of the problem. At one time we provided nutrition from raw and cooked foods. What has happened is in the the last 70 plus years we lost control of our food supply. Now our cooked food can’t deliver, and even our raw conventional and even organic produce are growing in poor nutrient depleted soil. What this says in today’s world: we are more vulnerable to the effects of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Synthetic vitamins aren’t the answer, only biological active ingredients are bioavailable. The synthesis of these nutrients will depend on all the components of the plant being intact. There aren’t any full spectrum vitamins and minerals except from the source.

In order to maintain mental acuity and physical vigor you have see the fuel you are providing your body with is supporting this. I hope this article gives everyone food for thought.

Remember common sense should prevail. A healthy diet with grass fed beef and some cooked food is still the road to health.