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Archive for July, 2010

The Lemonade Diet is more or less a colon cleansing diet as it helps in purging the system from the toxins that have got accrued over a span of time. This cleansing process will help in flushing out the dangerous substances out of the body and in the process will bring about a loss in weight. Weight loss is a guaranteed outcome when one goes on the master cleanse diet. In short, while on this diet, the person is set on a rigorous fast where he should not at all eat any kind of solid foods but survive only on liquid diet. The diet is in no way responsible for the weight reduction but it happens so because the diet helps in sending out the waste and thereby brings about a drop in the weight.

The rigorous fasting that one has to undergo is one of the main reasons that many people are scared of to go on the master cleanse diet and if people do start off on the diet, clearing the third and the fourth days is a Herculean task. Once they clear it, then you can consider that they have successfully ripped off the entire diet span successfully. People will experience a range of temptations while on the diet and it is only with sheer grit and determination that they can accomplish the diet.

This diet helps mainly in cleansing the harmful substances out of the body and as a result one witnesses a weight loss. But it is not an ultimate solution at all for weight loss. Because, once the ten day period is over, people generally switch over to their regular diet routine and gain all the lost weight in double speed.

Therefore, the weight loss that people experience during the cleansing period is only short lived. Until and unless people take extra care and maintain certain diet restrictions and limitations people will not be able to restrict the increasing weight factor.

One has to adopt healthy lifestyles in their diet as well as in physical activities so that the positive effects of the lemonade diet can be retained for long.

The battle against cancer has been raging now for the better part of seven decades. In that time medical science has progressed through any number of treatment protocols.

The issue is that, without many exceptions, the same types of treatment protocols used in the early days are still the primary treatment methods that are still utilized by mainstream medicine today. The good ole standby’s continue to be: surgery, chemo and radiation.

There is no question that the delivery of the above mentioned protocols have been honed and have evolved into far better treatments over the intervening years. Despite these impressive medical advances, we are diagnosing more cancer, and survival rates while significantly improving, still aren’t nearly as high as we need them to be especially for the more aggressive forms of cancer.

Why aren’t survival rates much higher after all these years? That is a very difficult question to answer. One theory could be that even though we have better early detection and more aggressive therapies, if cancer isn’t arrested or stopped in its earliest stages, then there just isn’t much that can be done after it has metastasized that would not adversely impact the patient.

Is cancer just too smart and elusive an enemy to defeat once it has metastasized? Is there a “point of no return” as it relates to metastasized cancer? I don’t think so! I think the focus has primarily been in the wrong place. Currently we introduce drugs in the form of chemotherapy into the body in an attempt to systemically track down cancer cells wherever they maybe in the hopes of finding and killing them all. Even though that approach works well in some instances, we all know the nasty side effects and lackluster results associated with that.

Maybe a more effective approach might be to use the bodies own inherent mechanisms to track down and subsequently kill these despicable invaders that we so disgustingly call cancer.

How to do that? Science has long known that glucose is the energy source that cancer cells must have in order to survive. Why then can’t cancer be cured or put into remission by just eliminating glucose from the body.

Life nor cancer was just not meant to be that easy! The human body is capable of generating glucose even if you eliminate most if not all carbohydrates from your diet. That is probably why cancer diets have not proven to be very successful in most people.

Your body does have the ability to cure cancer or at least get rid of the cancer but it needs help from a variety of sources. What are those sources? Well, most importantly you have to have your normal cells derive its energy from a source other than glucose. Fortunately enough “mother nature” gave us an alternate energy source which is widely known as ketones. Ketones are produced when the body uses fats instead of carbohydrates for its energy.

Once that transformation has occurred, in order for your body to then cure itself of cancer, you need to force your body to stop producing the glucose that it is designed to produce, even in the absence of carbohydrates. Doing these things along with a few additional tricks should allow most cancer victims the opportunity to “Stop Cancer And Die From Old Age Instead!”

When you truly consider the weight-loss process, the battle waged is mostly in your mind. “Should I eat the corn muffin with butter or would it be better for me to have margarine or better yet, have jelly? What am I doing eating this muffin anyway? It’s so caloric and filled with saturated fat. I’m such a pig. I have absolutely zero willpower.” It’s no wonder you’ll eat that muffin with the butter and slather jelly on top to quiet that negative self-talk.

What you need more than a diet is a way to shift those negative self-defeating thoughts to more adaptive, positive self-statements. As with most things worth doing, this requires a bit of practice. First, become aware when you’re using a negative statement, then determine what about that thought is faulty and finally, replace it with a self-defense response or coping thought.
In the corn muffin example, instead of listening to “I’m such a pig” which clearly mislabels who you are, respond with “Pigs are animals and I am human. I don’t have to be perfect.”

Many people cannot change their eating habits until they change their thoughts about food, eating and drinking. By shedding “distorted” thoughts and replacing them with productive ones, eating habits can be changed. It is possible to rid yourself from many self-critical thoughts, but like any ingrained habit, it takes vigor and vigilance to change. Here are some other thinking distortions to challenge:

Shoulds. Should statements are more about other people’s values, not ones chosen by the person who wants to lose weight. Additionally, should statements reflect an attempt by the dieter to motivate herself without really believing in the value. Better to determine what works for you. “I will eat up to two Hershey kisses daily and thoroughly enjoy them.”

All-or-Nothing. This kind of reasoning is the foundation for perfectionism. An all-or-nothing individual views the world as black or white. Since there is no allowance for gray areas, the behavior is either perfect or a failure. “I’ve ruined my diet by eating all that pizza. I can’t stay on a diet and I’ll just always be fat.” Maybe the problem does not arise from the behavior… maybe the problem is with the diet that does not allow for pizza. “I do not want to give pizza up for the rest of my life, so what I need is a way to include pizza in my diet without feeling like a failure. Let me try having a salad (dressing on the side) before the pizza to take the edge off my hunger.”

Good Foods/ Bad Foods. If the truth be told, foods do not misbehave. Foods are not good or bad. While it is true that some foods have more nutrients or are more fiber-dense than others, all foods can be enjoyed. How we think about food colors what we eat and how much we eat. If a food is labeled as bad (such as fries), then for many individuals that food is taboo. When one eventually succumbs to eating the forbidden, French fries, bingeing may result. Rather than continue with dichotomous thinking of good food/bad food, shift to allow space for all foods you like without judgement. Instead of “I ate those fries which are so bad for me” to “I really enjoyed that small portion of fries. They really satisfied me.”

Body Distortions. Rather than dwelling on how fat or thin you think your body is, it is extremely helpful to view your body in terms of what it can do for you. For example, when you look in the mirror, instead of zooming in on your stomach which “looks five months pregnant, although your last baby was nine years ago” tell yourself “my body has given life” or “my body enables me to go where I want to and allows me to have fun.”

The conversations that are going on inside your head cannot be stopped. However, what you can do is to be aware of negative self-talk and understand that it has little to do with actual reality. When you believe this, you can respond to the critical voice with a more objective, coping thought. Although negative thoughts may not be stopped entirely, they can be quieted by listening to your compassionate, caring voice. In much the same way you would sympathize and listen to a close friend, listen to yourself. Be your own best friend and chances are you’ll have greater weight loss success.

Helene Haber

Holistic Nutrition Coach

So your loved one finally accepts treatment. A wave of relief washes over the family. There is a glimmer of hope for a future free of the chaos. But the battle isn’t over. Treatment is just the beginning. There is no cure for addiction. a good treatment program teaches the addict how to avoid the pitfalls of relapse, but it can not eliminate the cravings to use.

Addiction to drugs or alcohol causes chemical changes in the brain. Because of these changes, the addict will be faced with a battle between their desire to live a clean life, and the brain’s signal to seek out and use drugs. As you can imagine, this will not be an easy fight. Our every function relies on the brain. How do you fight the very system that controls your decision-making? This is why recovery can be so challenging for the recovering addict.

The good news is that, with time, the brain can heal. Whether or not it can completely repair itself is still questionable, but the more time that passes, the more healing occurs. So what can you do to help your loved one achieve sustained recovery? Here are some key steps:

1) Get educated. Addiction is a confusing disease. It’s difficult to help another person if you don’t understand the problem. This includes understanding what your role has been in enabling your loved one. Family recovery groups, such as Al-anon, can be a great resource in teaching you the right and wrong ways to deal with an addict. There are also countless online resources that can teach you about addiction and it’s effects on the body and mind.

2) Reach out for help. People who are living with an addict often isolate themselves out of shame or embarrassment. Don’t make this mistake. More than ever you need the support of friends and loved ones. It can help to remember that, statistically, one in four people are affected by addiction. You are not alone. It’s time to shed any shame and allow people back into your life.

3) Allow the recovering addict to work their program. It’s actually quite common for family members to grow jealous or resentful of their loved one’s recovery group or aftercare program. It’s understandable really. They finally have their husband, wife, son, or daughter back (clean and sober), but they’re spending every evening away from home in the company of their group. Family members must understand that this is a vulnerable time for their loved one, and continuing their aftercare treatment is critical to long-term success.

4) Focus on yourself. This may seem like a selfish statement, but it’s one of the most important steps for family members to take. Each person should be working on their own mental and physical health. It can be just as easy to become preoccupied with the recovering addict as it was when he or she was using. Constantly looking for clues of relapse and waiting for your loved one to ‘mess up’ will only harm their recovery. When each person focuses on their own goals it creates a healthy environment that encourages continued sobriety.

5) Hold realistic expectations. Much like diabetes, addiction is a chronic disease. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, seventy percent of patients relapse after their first time in treatment. It’s not an easy fix. Recovery is a process that may include many relapses. This is a hard reality for families to face. This takes us back to step one (get educated). When you understand the battle your loved one is facing, and you’re doing your part to create a healthy environment, it improves the odds of success.

Here’s a promising statistic: over half of the people who receive treatment eventually achieve sustained recovery. Addiction recovery can be a long and rough road, but it is possible. While you can’t take away your loved one’s addiction, you can play a role in their recovery.

There was a recent article that just came out from the Health Day News that suggested parents play a major role in whether or not their young kids are thin or are overweight. The article had to do with the way mothers fed their babies in the first few months of their life. The study indicated that many women would overfeed their babies in an attempt to keep them from crying.

Additionally, the study suggested that many women simply were not picking up the queues that their babies were providing to indicate they were satiated from being fed. Some of the indications that women were missing these cues came from the fact that they often fed their baby while watching television and not during a one-on-one concentrated effort with their child.

The article hypothesized that women would become distracted because they were paying more attention to the TV show than they were to the cues from their child that he or she had had enough to eat. They found that children who were overweight early in their childhood development often went on to become overweight as teens and obese as adults.

In addition, the article suggested that women who gained more than 25-30 pounds during their pregnancy had a much higher risk for their child being overweight by the age of three. This information was gleaned from reports in the respected Maternal And Child Health Journal. It is been reported that in the United States today infants from birth to six months of age have a 59% higher likelihood of being overweight than babies who were born 20 years ago.

In totality these findings suggest that the home environment is critically important in whether or not a child grows up to become an obese adult. Parents must become educated that they have a direct role in feeding their children in healthy ways so that they can remain thin and not have to deal with the extreme problems that come later in life with the body that is overweight or obese.

Losing weight may be a difficult task to a lot of Americans. However, because of the dangers of obesity, more and more Americans are using different means to lose weight. According to reports, an estimated $56 billion are being spent by Americans each year on weight loss methods like pills, programs, and even surgery. Surprisingly, though, as much as $6 billion of these are spent on fraudulent and ineffective method.

At present, a new form of weight loss method is gaining popularity because of its effectiveness and guaranteed safety: the weight loss challenge.

About

The weight loss challenge is a weight loss competition designed for individuals suffering from obesity. Individuals can form a team and sign up for different weight loss programs. The goal is to determine who will lose the most weight in a short time.

Benefits

The weight loss challenge can have lots of advantages for people who sign up.
First, working in a group is definitely better than working alone. In a weight loss challenge, emphasis is placed on teamwork. Ultimately, the goal of the competition is to push people to strive hard to win that prize. In a group, you can be motivated that allows you to lose weight quickly.
Second, it is easier to keep track of your weight loss in a group. You can share your progress with other group members and you can even pick up pieces of advice to help you.
Finally, several websites offering weight loss challenge programs provide useful tracking tools that allow you to monitor your progress throughout the competition.

Choosing a challenge

There are several websites offering challenges to help you lose weight. Some sites allow you to form a group at home with your friends or family. Some allow you to sign up for competitions with a prize for the winner.

In the end, choosing a challenge requires determination, perseverance, and commitment. There are no quick ways to lose weight. But once you have made up your mind to lose, joining a group will be the best way to help you.