My Heart Revolution

10 Tips for a Healthy Heart

Eating well and being physically active are important for a healthy heart. Try these tips from the American Dietetic Association — your heart will thank you.

1. Lighten up. Losing even a few extra pounds helps unburden your heart.
2. Be fat-savvy. Trim saturated fat and cholesterol by choosing lean meats, skinless poultry and low-fat or fat-free milk products. Look for foods with little or no trans fat.
3. Slash sodium. Look for reduced-salt and no-added-salt versions of canned soups, vegetables and prepared foods. Add less salt to foods.
4. Load up on produce. Enjoy colorful fruits and vegetables — their fiber, vitamins and minerals are great for your heart and blood pressure.
5. Go for whole grains. Eat at least three ounces daily of whole-grain foods such as whole-grain cereals, whole-wheat bread and pasta, and brown rice.
6. Get hooked on fish. Eat omega-3-rich fish such as salmon, trout and herring at least twice a week.
7. Go a little nuts.  Choose modest portions of foods with unsaturated fats such as vegetable oils, nuts and seeds.
8. Focus on Fiber. The fiber in oatmeal, barley, fruits, vegetables — and yes, beans — is good for your heart.
9. Be label conscious. The Nutrition Facts label can help you manage the calories, fiber, fat, cholesterol, sodium and other nutrients in the foods you eat.
10. Move to the beat. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. Time strapped? Do 10-minutes at a time. Try brisk walking, jogging, dancing, biking, gardening—even vacuuming with vigor!

Loss Weight DietExplains how to cut calories and reduce fat in a diet. Recommendations on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and selection of low-calorie, reduced fat foods and beverages. Provides free diet information, and exercise plan, with an explanation of each phase including low carb diets, diet reviews, and other health information

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/10-tips-for-a-healthy-heart-1459768.html

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Low carb diets are really big right now in the dieting world. Although they can make you lose weight very quickly they have their drawbacks and even health hazards. Some of the most popular low carb diets on the market today are the Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet and the Sonoma Diet.

We will look into the potential problems with these diets below as they are things you need to consider before you decide to jump onto the low carb bandwagon.

1. Low carb diets will deplete the body of it’s glycogen stores (a form of body fuel).

When these glycogen stores are depleted they cause you to dehydrate. This will give you the impression that you are losing body fat, but you are really losing is the bodies essential water that will need to be replaced eventually. This is what makes the scales drop so quickly at the beginning with these types of diets.

When your glycogen levels are really low, there is less fuel available for your body to perform it’s functions, which can leave you feeling fatigued, tired and depressed for the duration of the diet. When you feel less energetic you are less likely to want to exercise or be active which limits the amount of calories you burn.

The problem with lowered glycogen levels also can lead to a loss of muscle tissue. Your muscles need glycogen for food and movement. You will naturally want to use your muscles less because you will feel that you just don’t have the energy to do anything.

This lack of muscle use will slowly cause the muscles to break down and lose their tone. Your body will also actually start to use protein from muscle tissue as fuel when there is little glucose available. This process is known as “Catabolism” and it is when the body breaks down protein in the body rather than creating it.

2. The majority of people will re-gain all of the lost weight on low carb diets.

A high percentage of people will re-gain all their weight lost regardless of the type of diet they chose, but that percentage is even higher for people on low carb diets.

This is due to mainly three things. You have lost lean muscle tissue that causes a slower metabolism overall. Muscles burn calories for fuel and so the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn during the day. If you go back to how you ate before you started dieting, you will actually put on weight much faster than you did before.

Next, as you start to consume carbs again, your body will slowly start to re-gain it’s lost fluids. Although it’s not fat tissue, it can bring the scales back to where they started before the diet leaving you frustrated.

Lastly, these types of diets are really difficult to maintain for the long-term. It would take an extreme amount of will-power to allow yourself to feel so miserable for several weeks let alone several months.

The solution for permanent weight loss is to not only consume enough carbs with each meal but to also consume the right kinds of carbs to preserve your lean muscle tissue and speed up your metabolism. We recommend using the new fail-proof diet from The Weight Loss Grail. You can begin this fantastic new diet right here: http://www.theweightlossgrail.comArticle Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/low-carb-diets-are-they-healthy-or-dangersous-1368062.html

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As a Singapore personal trainer and fitness bootcamp owner, I always try to stay up to date about health news being shown in the media.

A few days ago there were a few articles in local Singapore papers and news about the “evils” of low carbohydrate diets. They are simply incorrect.

Here are my thoughts…and what I wrote about in my reply to them.

“It’s a shame that there are so many myths about what kind of diet is best for health, many consumers get so confused.” Ok for some people, but not for others

Ok for some people, but not for others

“My role as a Singapore personal trainer and fitness boot camp owner is to help as many people as possible to achieve their health and fitness goals by helping them prevent disease, live long and be productive each and every day”

In these articles it is mentioned that low carb diets cause side effects such as fatigue, poor concentration, and dizziness, as well as bad breath. And that low carb diets only result in water loss rather than actual weight loss.

In reality, the side effects are temporary and minor. And the benefits of stable blood sugar and reduced insulin response are major for those with weight problems.

Fatigue, concentration, dizziness and bad breath only happen is a small percentage of people and only when they are transitioning their body from using carbs, to using fat for fuel. This usually lasts only a few days and if done under the care of a fitness professional, are totally safe and not serious. Bad breath can be helped by some simple sugar free mints.

It is not about low carb diets being good or bad. Individual differences also factor in.

“I am not a low carbohydrate supporter”. I am a “correct” carbohydrate supporter. We help over 300 clients per year with personal nutrition and training plans at the our Singapore Personal Training Center.

Some of our clients like eat less than 40g of carbohydrates per day and get great results. Other clients are on diets where more than 400g of carbs are included. This diet is optimal for them.

The kind of carb and when it is eaten also make a difference. A banana eaten after a hard training session is totally different from a plate of noodles eaten at lunch time.

The reason is that there is a huge difference genetically in our bodies ability to use carbs properly for fuel. Our diets should reflect these differences.

This is the reason that there are such a variety of diets and nutrition plans and books. The zone, protein power, atkins etc. They all work for different people but none of them work for everybody. We are all different.

In our center we use a special method of measuring body fat that can help us determine what kind of nutrition plan is best for this client at this point in their life and at their current level of body fat.

“It is not ideal for everybody to go on a low carbohydrate diet, but on the other hand it is not responsible for health professionals to recommend high carbohydrate low fat diets for general health because alot of people will get less healthy doing that. Diet needs to be customized for current fitness levels, genetics and ethnicity.”

So if you are the kind of person who easily puts on fat, a low carb diet is probably best for you. If you are the kind who is naturally lean, go ahead and add healthy carbs like fruits and natural starches like sweet potatoes into your nutrition and diet plan.

Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals. He Is also a fitness author, Singapore fitness boot camp owner and a member of Singapore Men’s Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website and blog for a free 1500 page e-book and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/singapore-fitness-bootcamp-owner-explains-are-low-carbohydrate-diets-bad-1118313.html

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Losing weight can be a very difficult challenge and most people have a hard time sticking to a plan that really works for them now and in the long term. There are a few simple factors to consider if you want to achieve a healthy weight and stay that way, let us look at some of these factors and how you should implement them to see the best results:

Diet:

A proper diet is without a doubt very important for when it comes to losing weight. If you want to burn fat then you need to burn more calories than you are consuming. This usually means that you need to lower the amount of calories you eat and increase the amount of exercise you get. However this does not mean that you should starve yourself or go on very low fat or low carb diets as those approaches are not effective and can adversely affect your health.

The key is to learn to eat the right amount, not too little or too much. Always eat something when you are hungry as hunger is a signal that your body is ready for nutrition however do not over indulge or deny yourself either. Learn when to stop, this is usually when you feel full so save the leftovers and have them later when you are hungry again.

Also try to eat more green foods like spinach and broccoli as these foods will help to alkalize your system which will help to burn fat more easily and give you better overall health. It can be tough to eat enough green foods in your regular diet so this is why using some type of green food supplement is often a good idea.

Exercise:

Proper exercise is without a doubt an important part of any effective weight loss system. Weight training and aerobic exercise are key components that you need to perform properly and consistently. It is important to remember that exercise does not have to take up too much time if you do the right workouts.

With aerobic exercise you want to do it 3 to 5 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. There are a lot of different aerobic exercises you can choose from doing a fast paced walk outside if the weather permits to jogging indoors on a treadmill. It is important to maintain proper intensity during your aerobic workouts which means trying to maintain a heart rate that is on average between 140 to 150 beats per minute.

Do not forget that strength training is also very important to weight loss so make sure to do it on a regular basis. Most people do not understand the right frequency of weight training exercises and end up usually working out too much. Do not over train with weights as it can lead to many problems and will not help in your efforts to achieve a healthier weight. Proper exercise combined with an effective diet is a sure fire way to achieve the ideal weight you seek.

Roberto is a health and fitness researcher and author. Visit his site that shows people how to quit smoking quickly and relatively easily. Also be sure to find out how losing weight can also be done easily so you can be even healthier.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/secrets-to-fast-weight-loss-and-a-healthier-body-814587.html

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