However, this does not mean you have to starve yourself in order to lose weight. One can lose weight even without starving. Below are given three essential ways to suppress appetite easily and that too without any use of drugs.

Switch from Sugar and Simple Carbs to Complex Carbs

When you have stable blood sugar levels, it is easier to suppress the hunger / appetite. But most of the time, the blood sugar levels are not balanced due to the consumption of simple carbohydrates like starch and sugar. These elevate the blood sugar levels and as a result, your body begins to produce excess insulin in order to process the sugar. This process will make the blood sugar level fall down further as compared to the time before you consumed the carbs.

What is the result? The result is HUNGER. Feeling the hunger sensation is a signal from the body that the blood sugar levels are low and you need to eat at the earliest.

Now, if you want to avoid this constant upheaval of symptoms from your diet, you need to ensure that simple carbohydrates are not consumed. Instead, opt for fiber rich complex carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Also, try to include chicken, lean cuts of pork / beef and fish into your diet to receive optimum amount of protein. However, if you are a vegetarian, your diet should be composed of beans and low fat dairy products to compensate for the loss of protein in your diet.

Replenish Your Body with Water

Water is the natural resource of appetite suppressant. You must have heard that nutritionists and dieticians recommend sipping water while eating your meals. Why? It is because water makes your stomach feel heavier and as a result, you feel less hungry and consume less food. Moreover, keep sipping water all the day and it will flush out all the toxins and chemicals present in your body.

Medical professionals recommend a daily dose of minimum 8 glasses of water but if you want, drink more than that without any problem. The only temporary side effect is frequent urination because all the retained water in the body needs an outlet. The body naturally does away with the retained water in a few days at the most.

Stay Healthy With Plenty of Exercises

There is no substitute for exercises. Exercises are a really effective appetite suppressant with long term benefits. Daily exercises help in the release of endorphin hormones, which is responsible for making you feel happy. Another advantage of regular exercise is that the blood sugar level is regulated automatically and as a result, you can maintain the blood sugar level effectively (as mentioned in the first point above).

These were the main effective ways to suppress appetite. There are several others as well but these three always work. Before using any other strategy, make sure that it is safe for the overall well being of your health. Strategies like those above are holistic in their approach; they are beneficial for all, no matter what health condition they are in!

Climbing the Stairs

Climbing the stairs few times is an excellent exercise for your legs and bums. You can either walk up and down the stairs a few times or you can jog down the stairs. Even in the cold weather, you can feel the sweat tickling down your clothes. Climbing the stairs seems like an easy exercise but it is quite strenuous. If you are comfortable and willing to experiment then do the skipping, that is, jump up and down repeatedly on one leg (hold the side bars for support if you want). If there are no stairs to climb then you can use a sturdy box or a step-toll and try the stepping up and down exercise.

Squatting

Squats are an effective indoor exercise. It provides great workout in small amount of time and also needs little space to perform. How do you perform the squats? Seeing the picture above, you may have got a fair idea about the exterior position of the body in exercise mode. What you so is stand with your feet kept apart till about shoulder-width in distance. When at the position, start bending your knees slowly and lower your body to a 90 degree angle. Keep your hands at the front on a parallel level to maintain the body balance. Stay in the position for few seconds and then move back to the original standing position. Raising the arms in front in parallel position is also an exercise for the upper body. When you straighten up after squatting, the hands should also return to the original position, that is, to your sides.

Pushups Or Pull-Ups

You can do two types of pushups – the wall pushups and the floor pushups – though the procedure is the same. In pushups, you stand against the wall with your hands pressed and pushing your body weight back with your arms (the same with traditional pushups but instead of the wall, you use the floor as in the picture above). Pushups are helpful for back, arms, and chest workouts. Similarly, you can use pull – up bars for working out your arms. Use any doorway to secure the pull – up bars and workout your arms.

These three workouts were just the simplest of examples among those that can be done indoors. These exercises elevate your heart rate and strengthen your muscles.

If you are not a big fan of these traditional exercises then do some fun filled exercises like dancing while listening to music, cleaning the basement or garage or cleaning the house completely.

Like above, there are host of other activities that can be performed indoors. Be creative in your approach and enjoy staying indoors.

If you and your loved ones enjoy eating out at restaurants, you may think that this lifestyle is bad for a healthy diet. Most likely you are right.. However, you can still enjoy restaurant menus once in a while and maintain a healthy diet. How do you do that?

Its all about making good food choices. That starts with learning about the nutrition you need to stay happy, physically healthy, mentally stable, and active.

When you scroll through the menu, start by avoiding the drinks section. Although you may be tempted to enjoy a beer or mixed beverage with your dinner, these usually have many empty calories, which is not good for your body.(Read: EMPTY calories)

The exception to this rule when it comes to alcohol is wine, especially red wine, which can be beneficial if you have a single glass occasionally and can actually help prevent heart disease for some patients.

Also you might want to skip over the appetizer menu, unless of course it’s to over a side salad. The appetizers at restaurants are usually high-fat foods that are not meant to fill you up and can in fact make you crave even more high fat foods.

Examples of these are mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and wings. Instead, simply focus on your main course or, if you must indulge, share a single serving with the entire table of people. C’mon, don’t be selfish!

When choosing your main course, it is important that you look at the ingredients of the dish. Anything with cream sauces or high-fat high-sugar dressings should be avoided, and pass up the potatoes or onion rings. Instead order side dishes like green leafy vegetables or ask for just the main course if possible. (This shouldn’t be a problem)

Remember too that portion matters. Order off of the lunch menu whenever you can, and ask for a doggie bag right away. Split your meal in half from the start so that you are not tempted to eat the entire thing, which is usually enough for two or three portions.

At the end of your meal, ditch the desert , like you would with the appetizers. Again, you can share a single desert with the entire table if you feel compelled to order something, or split your portion in half. Many fancy desserts in restaurants have more calories than your entire meal, so keep this in mind before you flag down the waiter to put in an order!

Of course, on special occasions, it’s alright to cheat a little, but overall healthy eating requires lots of resisting temptation around you.

Once touted as the ultimate health food, soy is now coming under intense scrutiny for its purported health benefits. In fact, recent research suggests that soy consumption could be detrimental to our health, owing to the anti-nutrients it contains. These anti-nutrients interfere with vitamin and mineral absorption, thereby reducing the amount of nutrients available for assimilation into our bodies. Soy foods deprive us of nutrients essential for optimum health and well-being. For those who chug down soy shakes as a post- workout drink, remember that soy protein isolate has vastly inferior absorption and bioavailability rates, compared to whey and casein protein.

Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to avoid soy as it is added to a vast array of foods in addition to being consumed on its own. Soy products include soy milk, soy ice cream, soy pasta, textured vegetable protein (’mock-meat’), tofu and fermented soy products such as miso and tempeh. Soy foods are usually highly processed despite being marketed as a natural, high-protein, plant-based alternative to animal protein.

However, soy foods also contain high levels of plant estrogen, called isoflavones, with similar effects to the female hormone estrogen. This is particularly detrimental to the health of males as it lowers their level of testosterone, resulting in a feminizing effect on masculine features, as well as lower sperm counts and decreased sex drives. The consumption of soy products has also been linked to cases of hyperthyroidism, a condition where the thyroid glands overproduce hormones which are then secreted into the bloodstream at unhealthy levels, causing a host of problems such as fatigue, insomnia, appetite loss and reproductive problems.

Despite being hailed as a female-friendly miracle food due to its ability to mimic the effects of estrogen, soy has also been linked to depression and menstrual irregularities in women. So much for it being a women’s health food, huh! While it is a well-documented fact that soy interferes with the sexual development of male infants, its effects on female babies have been kept hidden from most people, under the impression that it is greatly beneficial to females of all ages. The ugly truth is that increased rates of precocious puberty in girls have also been linked to copious soy consumption.

Why then has a plethora of misinformation entered our collective consciousness in order to transform a potentially harmful food into a ‘miracle’ food? One has to consider the astronomical sums of money pumped into the huge and wildly successful campaigns launched in order to promote and market soy as a health food wonder. The soy lobby too has funded research on soy’s health benefits while suppressing information on its potentially negative aspects.

You’ve finally hit the big 40! The kids are growing up fast, your career is taking off and you’ve survived your mid-life crisis. Your health on the other hand is declining in your 40s. You start to wonder how you gained all that weight in the first place.

Well, its simple actually- Father Time caught up with you. As hard as it is to accept, your metabolism is no longer the furnace it used to be. You’ve paid the price for your bad habits. As disheartening as it sounds, we lose lean body mass every year after the age of 35. Since lean body mass also comprises metabolically active muscle tissue, losing it will result in a reduction in your daily calorie needs, resulting in noticeable weight gain in your 40s. However, research has shown that while aging is inevitable, there are ways to reverse or slow down this process of deterioration. Regular strength training twice to thrice a week helps preserve lean body mass, which in turns boosts our metabolism. By doing this, we will be able to eat reasonable amounts of food without gaining weight.

In addition to strength training, you can do high intensity interval training instead of slow-paced cardio to burn more calories and give your metabolism another much-needed boost! Interval training involves alternating one minute of very high intensity with three minutes of moderate intensity, doing so continuously for at least 20 minutes. You can perform this exercise on any of your favorite cardio machines. This is a time-efficient way of incinerating body fat, since you only need to devote 30 minutes of your time to exercising! However, choose moderate to low-impact cardio exercises if you’ve an existing injury as those over 40 are more susceptible to injuries.

Good nutrition should not be neglected in your 40s! Load up on vegetables and fruits to maintain bone health. Eat more lean protein to boost your metabolism and cut back on processed foods. Most importantly, pay attention to the carbohydrates you consume. Do your best to limit refined carbohydrates such as cookies, candies, croissants, cake and biscuits. What you don’t eat is sometimes as important as what you eat! While there is no need to deprive yourself of your favorite foods, you need to proceed with caution during this time in your life, where your capacity to handle such foods without gaining fat is reduced.

As we get older, we should pay more attention to our health. However, we often do the exact opposite, neglecting ourselves while working hard for our families. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are equally important and our body is equally deserving of the respect we give to others. As you move past 40, make healthy living your priority so you can ensure a brighter future for yourself. Remind yourself constantly that you want to be fit and healthy so you can attend your children’s graduation, and maybe even watch your very own grandchildren go to school. Consider it a duty to yourself. You deserve as much!

People walk all the time, but the fact is, most people are afraid of walking. People would tend to look at the street (literally) rather than put their heads up and look at the people who are walking along with them. Some would stare at big billboards and advertisements, take out their phones from their pockets and pretend to call someone and do other stuff while walking. These are common signs of poor self-confidence and these are all manifested in walking.

So, how can one’s self-confidence be portrayed in walking? Self-confidence is one’s own view about himself and his capabilities. Walking is one of the most basic human tasks and usually won’t require a conscious effort, therefore, walking takes the focus off his fancy clothes and equipments and tells a lot about his personality. Walking depicts a person’s ability to carry oneself in any kind of situation.

Walking faster can improve one’s self-confidence in a variety of ways. It has been found by surveys that people who walk faster are seen as important people. Walking a bit faster would make an impression that one is busy and is involved in significant tasks. It is all about making a self-image for others to see.

When walking faster to communicate a message of self-confidence, one must not overdo it to the extent of panting and looking exasperated. It’s just a matter of carrying a bubbly and comfortable self.

Leaving a good impression through walking is a whole different thing from getting the actual benefits of walking. Image building can be temporary, but the benefits one gets from walking will last a lifetime.

Studies have shown that walking briskly would equate to burning at least five calories per minute. Another factoid- If one walks a mile, she burns 20% less calories than if she had run. This may look disappointing and may encourage one to run rather than walk but this should be taken in the context of everyday life.

People usually complain about having too little time to exercise, that’s why walking to our destinations whenever possible is recommended.

When one exercises regularly, she will eventually feel the benefits of exercising. She would feel more relaxed, her breathing becomes better and her muscles stronger. Exercising also makes the mind stay sharp. Walking, as a form of exercise, involves the whole body coordination and thus, it gives what people might consider as a whole body exercise. Walking also makes the mind stay sharp because through walking, oxygen is delivered more efficiently to the brain, and blood flow is improved. Maybe this is the real reason which would explain why walking faster can boost someone’s self-confidence. More than building an image for other people to see, walking also makes one feel better, thus boosting her confidence.

Walking as a form of exercise not only gives multiple benefits to person’s physical attributes, it also adds to one’s happiness since exercising would make person release more endorphins which are “happy” hormones.

Walking doesn’t require much effort however; walking with confidence requires practice and devotion. Walking can deliver numerous benefits in different levels to the person especially in terms of self-confidence. Walking tall is being tall amidst all the challenges in one’s life.

I am not saying this is the BEST method to lose weight or fat. It is apparent that resistance training, bodyweight exercises and lifting weights with anaerobic training is the most effective way when accompanied with good supportive nutrition.

However for those who has made enemies with Miss Exercise, walking is a great start. As the saying goes, half a loaf is better than none.

Be motivated!

I was sharing with my friends on the topic Physical Fitness and Self-Esteem and it went on to be a good discussion. So here’s extending the love to you.

I have always believed that before anyone goes on a weight loss program, they should address the psychological aspects then the physiological aspects. People should be mentally and emotionally ready to confront some of their greatest fears. Fears like breaking the dreaded plateau, craving for that Mars bar at 7 Eleven, not having alcohol on social meetings and even the constant thoughts that they are FAT FAT FAT!

I’ve seen many who have lots of mental thrash in their minds, go on a weight loss program, hoping fast results and instant gratification to only find themselves not being able to cope and persevere thus fall off the wagon.

Have you not heard the saying; “To be slim, you have to THINK slim”.

As what I’ve learnt from a friend today, it is about controlling the fat between the ears.

Many people feel poorly about themselves despite feeilng attractive and energetic. They go into a realm of “self-hate”, constant feeling that “they are never good enough” and often a time “compare themselves to others.”

I feel that some of the unresolved emotional problems are influenced by the power of media apart from emotional problems like “deprivation of food when young thus the tendency to overeat”, “toxic people in their lives whom use verbal abuse towards victims” and et.cetera.

The media perceive “beautiful” in ways that are detrimental people’s self-esteem and self-image. When I say beautiful, I meant to talk about Outer “beauty”.

From my own observation, in any marketing campaigns about 8/10 times advertisements on television are using “thin models” to promote weight loss services and products. This is a subtle yet obvious way of manipulating people. It serves as a benchmark for women to look thin like the advertisement and of course to sell. Looking slim, lean and healthy is TOTALLY different that thin, gaunt and pale.

I am intrigued on how the power of media has manipulated the minds of smart women who are supposed to be “wiser” and “realistic”; Whom have the ability to tell what is genuine and obviously faux. Well I guess it stems from vanity and the subconscious feeling of the need to be always “thinner” than the next thin person. I call this the “Thin Syndrome” in women.

Look at the slimming centres, how many slimming centres have actually true before and after testimonials, which are not “models” or “celebrities”? Here sinks the painful truth. NOT MANY OR NONE AT ALL.

Why?

Because the media is made to paint “beautiful” in the aspects of physical attributes as “the thinner the better, the more beautiful”.

Why don’t they use more “real people”?

Because slimming centres are short term, ineffective and unhealthy ways to lose weight and get healthy! Tell me apart from getting short term results, what HEALTH benefits do slimming centres offer you?

It is no wonder in United States of America, slimming centres are dupped as spams like your junk emails.

As for men, the media paints them as big triceps, eight packed abs creatures. This has created another illness in the human race called “bigorexia” or scientifically called ” Muscle Dysmorphia” whereby men have the constant need to look bigger and bigger! This has lead plastic surgeons to revolutionise “abs etching” and allow men to misuse this avenue of looking “Good”.

So when the sickness of eating disorder and lack of self-esteem triplefold in our society, the media says ” We did not ask you to be “thin” or “big” “. Well, again it seems as though we have ourselves to blame. Maybe yes and maybe no. It’s human nature to get influenced. It’s not human nature to want to be manipulated.

I believe, it is lack of AWARENESS.

My point is to show you examples of why both men and women struggle with self-image and self-esteem. True, exercise cannot solve all your problems. However it compliments your self-image and self-esteem with added benefits to your inner health.

Ask yourself why are you on a weight loss program in the first place?

Are you doing it for the right motivations?

Is it normal for us to crave as a natural part of our relationship with food. However, there’s a difference between cravings and hunger pangs. When you’re hungry, you would tend to eat everything in sight! Where as when it comes to cravings, it gets specific. A lot of people crave for things like pizza and chocolate (yup, that’s me all right and for some even to it’s particular brand.

Though cravings can be paralyzing at times, you know… when you just can’t help it but succumb to it, they are actually very predictable and come at particular times of the day (or most likely night). Fret not, because Diana comes to the rescue!

OK. We CAN actually control our cravings. There are ways to counter it and below I’ll give a couple of tips you could try
out for yourselves (do give feedback!) when the cravings hit you. Firstly, I’ll address the problems and then I’ll present
to you the solutions.

Problems:

Skipping meals or eating at irregular times
Lack of ‘good and healthy’ carbohydrates
Not enough protein and good dietary fats
Too much salt
Too much processed/refined carbohydrates
Too much sugar
Chronic under-eating (thinking that this would lead to weight loss)

Solutions (overview):

Eat mini, palm sized meals every 3-4 hours
Make sure there’s lean protein, generous serving of veges and a dose of healthy fats in each mini meal
Eliminate sugary/processed foods from your diet
Minimize salt intake
Find healthier alternatives to satisfy your sweet tooth
Explore non-food ways (walking, jogging) to prevent emotional eating
Exercise more
Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night

Solutions (more detailed):

Supplement with zinc, magnesium and chromium as these deficiencies are the common reasons for cravings.
Brush your teeth and the ‘minty’ after taste would actually kill your junk food thoughts.
Keep bad, bad foods out of your way. Throw it our from your pantry!
Stock up on fruits and nuts instead.
Keep a small bottle of vanilla essence and sniff it every time you crave for something (try it, it works!)
Have a ‘lighter’ version of the bad stuff but not all the times. Only for treats yeah.
Drink more water.
Reward yourself with something that’s not food.
Look at yourself in the mirror.
Drink a low carb protein shake and have a handful of walnuts/almonds
Prepare yourself a sugar free gelatin dessert
Mix up some Crystal Light drink mix and drink it up!
Try these strategies out first and see which one works for you and which doesn’t. I’m sure you would at least gain from some of it.

Good luck!

Benefits of Yoga

Physical and mental connection through Yoga: Yoga lets you connect between your mind and individual body muscles. You can feel your muscles and their needs while doing yoga. A particular muscle is working or lengthening. It is just great to connect your mental and physical entity together to effectively work out through yoga.

Stress buster: Stress has largely become the main culprit for a deceased and unhealthy body. Yoga works great to give mental and physical relaxation for a better fitness.

Work on balance: Yoga practitioners know that maintaining balance of body is a great tool towards fitness. They know that balancing body on your feet either through exercising in bare feet or efficiently working out on the receptors points on your feet is equivalent to exercising your whole body. At the end all it results is a good movement and better quality of action with improved posture – very necessary for a healthy and flexible body.

What Yoga Lacks?

Instability: Yoga always pays attention to the flexibility part, but what about body stability? Many yoga students have generally complained of unstable lumbar spines, which don’t have much rotation or stretching degrees. So, it’s unnecessary to do stretching routine for it through yoga.

The solution of tightness is not always stretching: Yoga may talk about stretching always. However, if a muscle gets tight due to stretching, does that mean we have to stretch it to solve the tightness? No, and yoga must know that too.

Individual physical needs: Why is it always true that you are doing the same yoga exercises that others in your group do? Isn’t your body different and hence the needs different? Thus, yoga practitioner should understand the individual physical needs. Well, other than the common yoga postures, prescribing individual yoga postures according to individual physical condition are always justified.

Effectively Getting Benefits out of Yoga

Educated Yoga instructor: Get hold of an educated instructor, maybe with some recognized degree. He should know about yoga and how to effectively use it for a particular human body system.

Get into smaller class size or yoga groups: This is important because a smaller size of class makes it possible for a yoga instructor to concentrate more. He can concentrate more on an individual needs. Even you as an individual can get most out of yoga by cross examining with your coach if you are doing it right or better.

Quality exercising: Well, quality always matter in any fitness training. Yoga isn’t an exception. Don’t always be conscious about doing a posture for a long time. But you should concentrate in doing the posture right and at right body parts. Amount of stretching will not amount to anything unless done correctly.

Yoga has brought a revolution in the fitness era. However, you should know about it – the positives and negatives to effectively get the maximum benefits out of it. Enjoy your yoga session!

Granted, the body doesn’t really need that much calories prior to bed time because we are in “hibernation” mode when we sleep. But… (there’s always a but huh?) to always keep our body’s metabolism stoked, we’d need to feed our bodies every 3 to 4 hours.

A simple strategy we could use is to have the biggest meal at breakfast and as the day closes in, we end with our last meal as the smallest one. And YES, you CAN consume food right before you go to sleep.

Question is what kinds of foods?

The best would have to be a combination of a protein source and a fat source. Eg. some cottage cheese with natural peanut butter or mixed nuts.

You see, our bodies were built to handle carbs earlier in the day (or post workout when our insulin sensitivity is high and all glucose coming from the sugars will be transported to where you want them to be, muscles and not fat cells). The rest of the day should be fats and protein. In fact if you are sedentary, (i.e. seating on your lazy rears all the time) youdo not deserve any carbs!

And at every meal, you should be getting some protein source. Protein scores high on satiety level so you could be having 200 calories worth of protei and that could fill you up pretty good.

“Oh no! But won’t I get fat eating fat?”

Well, if it’s not hydrogenated fats (fried stuffs and processed foods that comes in colorful boxes), most natural fat sources are OK. though you should try having a good 1/3 split of saturated fat, mono-unsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats respectively.

Now, I know on one hand we have the carb fearing crowd and on the other the fat fearing crowd. And I can hear you guys whispering…

“Why don’t we just eat only protein? Voila!”

Not so fast ladies. If you consume just protein, the amino acids from the protein will be converted into glucose (or sugar or carbs) via a process called gluconeogenesis. So, inadvertently, you are running on glucose for energy.

So why don’t we just keep it simple?

Have your largest meal as the 1st one
Smallest meal as the last one
Protein at every meal
Carbs only at breakfast and post workout
Fats at every meal that has no carbs

Easy? OK, now go have your dinner!