5 Foods To Avoid If You Want To Loss Weight

If you're trying to lose weight, you know that going to the grocery store can feel like being asked to walk through a mine field. It can be terribly hard to know which way to go and what to choose with so many foods all claiming that they can help you slim down fast. Unfortunately, food manufacturers don't really care whether or not you lose weight with their product, they just their foods to taste good enough that you continue to buy from them regardless of the damage it may do to your waistline.

So, if you can't believe the health claims on the food packages in the store, how are you supposed to tell whether or not a particular food will help you lose weight or if it will only make you fatter? Become a label reader! Regardless of what the front of the package says, manufacturers are required to list their ingredients on the back. Reading labels will help you make better choices and lose weight faster. Avoid the following foods like the plague and watch your bathroom scale take a nosedive.

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup - This is number one of the foods that create fat. Up until the past 35 years, almost all the sugar we ate was in the form of sucrose. It was produced from sugar cane and beets. The danger of pure corn fructose is in the fact that it is without enzymes, vitamins or minerals. The energy required for the liver to metabolize fructose forces the body to overuse its mineral and enzyme stores. High fructose corn syrup seems disrupt metabolism to such a degree that collagen and elastin production are markedly reduced. That's bad news if you suffer from cellulite! Eating this will make cellulite worse.

2. Cooking oil - Corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil are the cheapest cooking oils produced. They are used most often in the home and in restaurants. Unfortunately, they are so high in polyunsaturated fats that they are not healthy. They also oxidize much faster than other fats which generates free radicals and damages all the body's cells. Many degenerative diseases and certain cancers have been linked to this process. Healthier cooking oil options are unrefined coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil.

3. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil - This deadly type of oil is also known as "trans fatty acids". Deadly, heart clogging stuff and terrible for the waistline as well. You will see this most often in pre-packaged snack foods, coffee creamer and commercial peanut butter. If this stuff is anywhere on the ingredient list, don't eat it!

4. Low fat or fat free snacks - Labeling food as "low-fat" or "fat free" has been really good for food manufacturers bottom lines, but not so good for consumers. These types of snacks, while they may be low in fat, are extremely high in sugar. Most often that sugar comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Research also shows that people overeat foods labeled as low fat. People think that the low fat foods contain about 25% less calories when in reality they only contain about 10-15% fewer calories. There is also a decreased sense of consumption guilt so people generally eat about 20% more of these so called healthy foods.

5. Soda - Both diet and regular sodas are basically carbonated chemical soups plus high fructose corn syrup or dangerous artificial sweeteners. There are absolutely no redeeming nutritional qualities in soda at all. Soda contains no vitamins, no minerals and no enzymes.If you crave a flavored drink without the calories, try a flavored herbal tea sweetened with stevia instead.

The bottom line is this, in order to lose weight fast it's an absolute necessity that you eliminate the foods that create fat and replace them with foods that burn fat.

Herbs - A Safe and Effective Way to Lose Weight?

A variety of products are sold in stores as natural weight loss aids, most of which have not been scientifically evaluated. Seven percent of Americans are using over the counter weight loss products, and most are young women.


Because of the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) passed by Congress in 1994, weight loss and other supplements are not regulated by the FDA, are not required to demonstrate efficacy for the conditions for which they are promoted, and are not even required to prove that they contain what they claim to contain.


Many of the supplements currently promoted for weight loss have sympathomimetic effects; in other words they are compounds from plants, herbs, or other natural compounds that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. They carry the same risks as prescription drugs that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system.


One such supplement is the Chinese plant Ma Huang, which contains ephedra, a compound similar to ephedrine, which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. Ephedra increases heart rate, blood pressure and energy expenditure, stimulating ²-1 and ²-2 adrenergic sympathetic receptors. Ephedra is often combined with caffeine as a weight loss supplement. Ma Huang is also combined with guarana, a Brazilian plant with a high caffeine concentration, and promoted as a weight loss supplement. A recent meta-analysis that pooled the results from several different studies together showed that ephedra containing products result in weight loss of 2 pounds per month, although no information is available for treatment longer than 6 months.

Ephedra is one of the most dangerous over the counter supplements available today. It accounts for the majority of all reports of adverse events for herbs and supplements to the FDA. It is associated with a 2-3 fold increase in psychiatric, autonomic, heart related and gastrointestinal side effects. 87 episodes of heart attack, stroke, seizures, and high blood pressure have been reported to the FDA. It has been associated with several deaths, including a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, which led to the unusual (for a supplement) step of the FDA banning it in 1994. The FDA has since revoked the ban.

Hydroxycitric acid is sold under the name garcinia and is promoted for weight loss. It has been shown to inhibit the enzymes that convert compounds into coenzyme A, blocking the storage of energy as fat. The evidence related to its ability to promote weight loss is contradictory. Other products, including psyllium, guar gum, chitosan, chromium, and conjugated linoleic acid showed no effect on weight loss, although they have no major potential toxicities.

The bottom line is that the only natural herbs that might help you lose weight (i.e. Ma Huang) also carries significant potential risk that may be as great as prescription drugs. Sustained changes in diet and exercise that are adopted for life are the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

How To Keep Those Extra Pounds From Coming Back

There are basically two ways people try to lose weight. One of them is dieting.
Does dieting really work? Well, the answer is yes and no. You see, dieting works in the short run. Some people go through excruciating means to shed those unwanted pounds, but what happens is, they slowly come back on. Why does the weight return?
One reason is that dieting doesn't take into account that eating a proper nutritious meal is a life time adjustment. Most dieters lose the weight, then go back to old bad habits, and diet again. This becomes a vicious unhealthy, never ending cycle that is hard to break.

Another reason is the less you eat, the slower your metabolism. When your metabolism slows down, you don't burn as many calories, and therefore, the weight doesn't come off.

So, cutting back on food intake is not the answer.

Taking diet pills can possibly work, but is sometimes dangerous. People have died from abusing diet pills, and also, like other diets, once you stop, the weight comes back on.

The Solution to weight loss

Eating properly has an effect on weight loss, but couple that with motivation, healthy foods, purging toxins, and exercising in a fun way, and the weight you lose will stay lost for a life time without any thought or effort. Please choose carfully which method you use to lose weight.

Weight Loss - Patience And Persistence Is The Key

Weight loss is not about just learning what to eat or what type of exercise to perform. It's also about managing your time. Once you learn how to organize each hour of your day, losing the weight and keeping it off will be a piece of cake. Ah, sorry about that.

The quickest and most consistent way to get yourself on a weight loss schedule, is to write it out. If you rely only on planning it out in your mind, you'll have an easier time of making and excuse of not following it then you would if it was on a sheet of paper. Don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself.

Just think about what you want to do for the next several hours. After that time has passed, this time write down what you want to do for several more hours. After you've completed this little assignment, I'm sure you will feel that you felt a stronger urge to do the things you wrote down, then the things you just planned out in your head.

Don't be surprised though. It's like that with every thing you do. For example, what would be more real to you: imagining a bright red apple or holding one in your hand. If you're like 99.9% of the people out there, it's holding it in your hand.

By writing down what you need to do each hour of the day as it pertains to your weight loss program is the same thing. It makes it more real to you than just planning it out in your mind. So, if you want to make quick work of losing that excess baggage, write out a schedule. It's sure to be time well spent.

How To Choose The Right Fat Burner

One supplement that's hot on the fat loss market is fat burners. Every time you walk into the local supplement store you're greeted with a variety of products that all promise to get you the body of your dreams if you just take a few pills a couple of times a day.

But are these fat burners really worth your hard-earned money? Will they really help you shed that unwanted weight or would your money be better spent on something else - perhaps some new clothes that flatter your current body better.

That is what has to be determined.

The first step in doing so is to understand that not all fat burners are the same. There are different types of fat burners to match a variety of goals and objectives, therefore the first step will be finding the one that's best suited to you.

Thermogenics

The first type of fat burners fall into the thermogenic category and are aimed to help increase the metabolic rate and body temperature. Often these will contain ingredients such as ephedra, yohimbe, and caffeine.

Be aware that these are stimulants and as such, will create additional stress on your CNS. If you decide you aren't comfortable taking stimulant types of products, there are non-stimulant thermogenics that are available for purchase as well if you so choose.

The most noticeable side effects you'll see with these are an increased rate of energy, potentially an increased heart rate, feelings of jitteriness and nervousness (in some people), and lack of appetite.

Carb and Fat Blockers

The next type of fat burners out there are classified as carb or fat blockers. What these products essential try to do is block the digestion and processing in the body of any foods eaten that contain carbohydrates or dietary fat.

By doing so, you thus reduce your total calorie intake for the day and this is what will help the fat loss process along.

As these are non-stimulant in nature, you won't experience quite the same side effects as you do with the thermogenics.

Appetite Suppressants

The next class of fat burners are appetite suppressants and they are targeted towards killing your appetite. If you find that you are the type of dieter who struggles more because you are just simply hungry than because you have cravings for certain types of foods, this is likely the product you should be looking into.

Without feelings of hunger, dieting should be a much easier process for you.

Cortisol Blockers

Finally, the last type of fat burner that you may be interested in purchasing is cortisol blockers. Just as fat blockers and carb blockers work to stop these nutrients in the body, cortisol blockers serve to help stop the release and the effects of cortisol in the body.

Cortisol is a hormone that every dieter should be trying to minimize because it only encourages the accumulation of body fat, particularly in the stomach area. It is released due to a variety of different factors including increased stress, lack of sleep, being on a very strict diet (especially if its low carb), and when you exercise too much.

So, since it's virtually impossible to completely eliminate the release of cortisol entirely, doing what you can to minimize it is in your best interest. This is precisely why cortisol blocker products tend to be quite popular.

So, next time you're in the market for a fat burner, consider all your options. Also keep in mind that no matter what the product is promising, no supplement will 'magically' melt pounds off your frame. All they may do is potentially make it easier for you to get through the diet and exercise components that will help you lose the weight.