Posts Tagged ‘outdoors’

The Best Methods To Shed Weight

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

If you decide that you want to keep to a traditional style diet, as a rule of thumb, you ought to find a weight loss plan that is rich in fresh fruit and vegetables; low-fat dairy products; white meat and fish; whole grain cereals and a lot of drinking water and by that I mean at least eight to ten 250mm glasses a day.

Being heavy can cause a lot of other problems, besides it being a problem in its own right. Obesity makes quick movement, stretching and reaching tricky. Excess sweating can be an embarrassment and it can result in rubbing. The range of fashionable clothing obtainable can be constrained too. Besides these issues, studies have shown that being overweight invariably leads to health issues such as hypertension, heart troubles, sleep apnea and diabetes.

The only solution to this bundle of problems is to lose those spare pounds around your waist by embarking on a healthy weight loss diet plan and following it faithfully. I will give you a few general pointers below to help you slim down and decrease the risk of spending your latter years running in and out of hospital.

Nearly all of the traditional weight loss diet plans proposed by dietitians and nutritionists start with the simple exhortation to reduce your food intake to the quantity you require to carry out your every day routine. The problem is that it sounds easy, but it is one of the hardest things to do. It takes a lot of willpower on your part. However, you could start by eating and drinking three-quarters of what you normally consume. Once you can handle that, reduce the percentage again.

Try to make every calorie count. By that, I mean, if you are going to eat 200 calories, make certain that they are contained in food that will do you good and keep you feeling full. A bar of chocolate will give you a blood-sugar rush for 20-30 minutes, but a doorstep of a cheese and salad sandwich made from whole wheat bread washed down with a glass or two of water will give you plenty of fibre and vitamins and fill you up for a couple of hours.

It is always a good idea to keep a diary of what you eat and when. This way you can compare days and weeks and see what works best. It also helps if you are reducing your consumption in stages. Mark what you eat with the number of calories in that portion. If you do not know accurately, estimate it. Writing something down is better than nothing.

The next part is the part I don’t like – exercise. Regular exercise. The good news is that it does not have to be too much. Two thirty minute walks a day is quite helpful. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Or walk in your lunch time and after your evening meal. If you like, frequent visits to the fitness center are even better, but they are also easier to miss or give up altogether.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with lose weight programs. If you have an interest in losing weight too, please go over to our website now at Why Can’t I Lose Weight? Unique version for reprint here: The Best Methods To Shed Weight.

Busting The Rapid Weight Loss Myths

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be slimmer just to have a sexier body. Many people have moulded their bodies to make them look more healthy and more desirable. However, there is no way to attain this new appearance in a day of two. The problem is that most people do not want to wait, they want it now.

This can lead to these people making rather rash and, it has top be said, rather silly decisions. They are not willing to wait and they are not willing to work for what they want. This is why so many people turn to rapid weight loss diets. Some ‘guru’ brings out a new fad diet and a good proportion of the ‘I want it now’ crowd jump on the band wagon. Only to be disappointed again within the year or less.

Speed diets or rapid weight loss diets tend to put out great advertising copy that is very hard to resist. However, all diets, no matter which one you choose, Weight Watchers, Atkins or fad diet, depend on overweight people making lifestyle changes in order for them to work permanently.

There is a very apposite saying: if you always do what you always did, then you will always get what you always got. That says it all. You can lose weight with all but the stupidest of diets, but if you go back to your old ways when you hit your target weight, you MUST slowly, but gradually creep back to your old weight.

If you give your body more calories than it needs, it will store them for when it does need them. The problem is that that day never comes for too many people, because they never exercise themselves. This is especially true of fad diets like the ‘cabbage water’ diet. Yes, you will lose weight on it, but you would lose weight by fasting whatever you did. For a while, and then you might get sick. For a diet to work, it has to be adaptable and enjoyable enough for you to be able to stick with it for the rest of your life. Make no mistake, dieting is long-haul.

Many rapid weight loss programs actually only squeeze the water out of you. Just like a wet sponge. But a good dieter maintains his or her grip on that sponge, not letting it soak up water again. The problem with short term dieting, is that you let go of the sponge underwater.

This is why serial dieters first lose weight and are delighted; then finish dieting, go back to their old weight and become depressed. In that state of depression they are suckers for the advertisers of the next latest craze diet. In other words, they are being manipulated and literally squeezed dry, but of their cash too.

These silly rapid weight loss programs also include fat loss pills. They are not making you lose fat, well, maybe a tiny amount gets washed out with all the surplus water you are carrying. They are only diuretics under another name. How many pills would I sell if I called them diuretics? How many more would I sell if I called them miracle fat loss pills?

Type the word diuretic into a engine and find out more about them. They are all around you in mild healthy forms. A diuretic will essentially cause your body to lose more fluid than was in the diuretic. Tea is a diuretic, for example.

This list of these dopey dieting aids to rapid weight loss goes on and on, but someone must be buying them and you can bet your bottom dollar that it is the sad, depressed dieter who let go of the sponge.

Slimming soap! Slimming soap is being advertised as being a rare Eastern remedy for corpulence. Well, let me tell you, I live in the East and I have never come across it here. Asians are slim because they do a lot of physical work and do not come under the pressure to eat junk food that Westerners do, although that situation is changing rapidly too.

Magnetic weight loss earrings, I ask you! Even being inebriated without a present for your wife ten minutes before Christmas Day is not a good enough excuse to fall for this one, surely? The advertisers say that the secret of this set of earrings is that they are magnetic.

Well, if you believe this, why not get a pair of $1 children’s toy magnets or even a couple of fridge magnets and put one in each hip pocket? Two? Well, after all, you would not want to lose weight from only one side, would you? You would be lop sided.

Just remember, when you are looking for a rapid weight loss diet: there ain’t one ( that will work for life). If you are putting on weight, then your lifestyle is wrong and it is up to you alone to change it.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with how to lose weight online. If you have an interest in losing weight too, please go over to our website now at Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

Free Weight Loss Plans

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

The march to health and fitness is on and plenty of people are getting in on it. Some people do it in order to achieve a sexy body, some people do it because they are embarrassed about their body as it is now, while others do it simply to remain fit and healthy. Because of this, there are thousands of fitness programs on the Internet, in gyms, spas and fitness centres all over the world. Some are very – so expensive that you will lose weight quickly, just because you have to work hard to earn the money to pay for these fitness programs.

You might not have to go to the gym or the spa or any fitness centre and spend a fortune just to slim down and obtain that longed for beautiful body. There are many books available in the bookstores] offering diet programs which are easy and cheap. However, the books are not cheap though. These diet plans are gaining increased popularity because of their publicity, testimonials and reviews and you may be confused as to exactly which one to buy. So before you choose which weight loss plan to follow, try reading the following summaries of the most popular diet programs out today.

The Atkins’ New Diet Revolution by Dr. Atkins: This diet plan encourages a high protein diet and less carbohydrates. You can feast on vegetables and meat but must not eat bread and pasta. You are not restricted on your fat consumption so it is all right to pour on the (right) salad dressing and freely spread on the butter. However, during the diet, some people may find themselves short on fibre and high on fat and cholesterol. Grains and fruits are also strictly limited.

The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet by Drs. Heller. This diet plan also recommends low carbohydrate food. It approves eating meats, vegetables and fruits, dairy and grain products. however, warns against consuming too many carbohydrates. “Reward” meals can be very high in fats and saturated fats.

Choose to Lose: by Dr. Goor. It advises restricting your fat consumption. You are allowed a “fat” budget, but you are given free reign on how to spend it. It does not force people to regulate their carbohydrate intake. Eating meat and poultry as well as low-fat dairy and seafood is fine. You can also eat vegetables, fruits, cereals, bread and pasta. This weight loss plan is quite healthy, because it recommends healthy amounts of fruits and vegetables and saturated fats. Watch your triglyceride levels though. If they are high, trim down on the carbohydrates and eat more unsaturated fats.

The DASH Diet. Recommends eating a fairly moderate amount of fat and protein yet lots of carbohydrates. It was initially created to reduce blood pressure. The diet plan follows the pyramid food guide and encourages a high consumption of whole wheat grains and fruit and vegetables and low-fat dairy. However, some dieters think it advocates too much consumption to create a significant weight loss.

Eat More, Weigh Less: by Dr. Ornish. Mostly vegetarian food and strictly low-fat. Warns to watch out for low-fat dairy and egg whites. This diet plan is low in calcium and restricts the consumption of healthy foods like seafood and lean poultry.

Eat Right for Your Type: This diet is really interesting because it bases its recommendations on your blood group. For example, it advises plenty of meat for people with the blood type O. However, diet plans for some blood types are nutritionally unbalanced and too low in calories. Furthermore, just for the record, there is no proof that blood type can affect dietary requirements.

The Pritkin Principle: It is focused on trimming the number of calories by eating watery foods that make you feel full. Eating vegetables, fruits, oatmeal, pasta, soups, salads and low-fat dairy is OK, although it restricts protein sources to lean meat, seafood and poultry. It is healthy because it provides low amounts of saturated fats and large amounts of vegetables and fruits. However, it is low on calcium and limits lean protein sources.

Volumetrics: It provides for eating fewer calories. It recommends the same foodstuffs as Pritkin but restricts fatty or dry foods like popcorn, pretzels and crackers. This plan is reasonably healthy given the high amounts of fruit and vegetables as well as being low in calories and saturated fats.

The Zone: It is fairly low on carbohydrates but moderately high on proteins. It encourages low-fat protein foods like fish and chicken and vegetables, fruits and grains. It is also a healthy diet but lacking in grains and calcium.

Weight Watchers: They recommend high carbohydrate meals, but are moderate on fats and proteins. A fairly healthy diet program and very flexible too. It permits the dieter to plan his own meals rather than offering recipes, although there are WW TV dinners in the shops.

Are you interested in a rapid weight loss diet? If you are, please visit our website called Quick Weight Loss This article, Free Weight Loss Plans has free reprint rights.

Are You Hobbling Your Weight Loss Program?

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

If you would like to lose weight, you must have a plan, a route map to success. This is called a program or programme. There are thousands of programs, but many of them are just just batty. If they sound foolish, they probably are. Have you heard of the ‘cabbage water diet’? It sounds daft and it is. You cannot only drink cabbage water all your life!

Although there is a lot of nonsense talked about losing weight, there are some truths that play a role to play in almost any program you choose to follow. One of these truths is that it is better to eat many small meals during the day (about 5-6), than to go all day without eating and then gorging yourself at dinner in the evening. This is popularly called ‘grazing’.

Have you ever asked yourself why this might be so? Well, the fact is, that the average human body can only handle about 250 calories an hour. If you eat more than that, you are almost certainly overloading your digestive system. This is why it is important, because if your body cannot handle all the calories that you give it, it will store them.

Your body can only use up what it needs to fulfill the task that it is busy with, that is, what you are putting it through. If you are watching TV, a lot of of those 250 will be stored. If you are exercising, most will be burned up. It stores the remainder as body fat. Your body has learned through evolution that tough times will come, so it prepares for them. It is like us putting excess money in a savings account or people hoarding food if a bad winter is predicted.

However, these days in the West, we seldom face those hard times anymore. So, that fat is never used up and we just keep adding to it until we resolve, by choice, to limit our consumption of calories or increase our amount of exercise.

Knowing this information, what can we do with it? Well, if you were to want to lose weight, you ought to be consuming no more than 1,500 calories a day (or whatever your program tells you), so 1,500 divided by 250 is six. if you ate 250 calories every other hour, that would give you twelve hours.

Therefore, eating light but often would be a helpful strategy or program to follow, because firstly, you are only providing your body with what it requires, when it needs it and secondly, you are able to better maintain a consistent blood sugar level, which means that you iron out the spikes and troughs you experience in a normal day’s cycle.

Two hundred and fifty calories does not sound a lot, but it is surprising what it will stretch too, if you take the trouble to investigate. It is true that you will have to severely restrict some foodstuffs, like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, but whoever honestly thought that you could lose weight by eating that stuff anyway?

If you do not have time to cook a number of times every day, look in your supermarket. There are loads of ‘250 calorie’ microwave meals. You don’t want to eat that? I can’t blame you. so get a good cookbook, which shows calorie content. You are at work all day? OK, eat some fruit, but choose wisely. It can be done, it only requires a little will and planning.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with lose weight programs. If you have an interest in losing weight, too, please go over to our website now at Why Can’t I Lose Weight? This article, Are You Hobbling Your Weight Loss Program? has free reprint rights.

The Best Way In Choosing Your Camping Cooking Supplies

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Outdoor camping is a great activity for anyone in the family. Children and grandparents can enjoy this wonderful thing alone, or with friends, family, or a whole large group of people. The feeling of waking up in the morning in the middle of nowhere, no buildings blocking your view from nature is awesome. But for me the best part about camping is the magnificent food that is made. But the problem is that cooking outdoors requires a different set of everything, rules and equipment than most of you would use inside your home. Camping cooking supplies can include Dutch ovens, cast iron skillets, griddles, portable stoves, aluminum foil, tin cans, and even cardboard boxes!

Camping cooking supplies can include anything and everything. And when you are thinking about the supplies one would need for cooking outdoors, you’ve got to think about a few things. And the most important is, How much do you honestly want to carry around? If you are a trailer camper, then you don’t really care, because you just load everything and drive. But if you are one of those macho people that carry everything on their back, backpackers, then you should take the time and select your camping cooking supplies the right way and it will be worth it in the end.

You gotta cook something hot right? How do you make something hot? With fire of course! You have three options with your fire choices, the obvious campfire approach, white gas or propane, and charcoal. There are difference in each obviously, some good and some bad, but this is also where your supplies are the main difference. Some of you may know that using propane for a Dutch oven defeats the purpose of the whole ordeal.

Another thing to consider when you are shopping around for your camping cooking supplies is how it is packed, especially if you fall into that backpacker group that I talked about earlier. Various companies over the years have poured tons of money into making the perfect item for you to carry around that is compact yet user friendly. There are some cookware sets out there that can fit into a small sack and can weigh only a couple pounds.

When you are camping and cooking outside something you need to think about is the utensils needed to make a soup or pie or whatever you are making out there in the woods. A wooden spoon is probably the most common thing most people take with them, it will last you years if taken care of.

Most people take a cup spoon and bowl for eating their meals. I’m not saying don’t take those things, I’m saying make it worth your time. The new squishy bowls are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. And instead of a spoon for everything I would consider getting a spork, they are nifty little devices that have a knife spoon and fork build into one.

One thing that I can’t do without when I’m camping are smores! It’s like baseball to sports, it’s camping’s favorite pastime. Load up a marshmallow onto a skewer, load that guy on a chocolate bar, and then load everything onto a nice gram cracker. Telling jokes and sharing stories around the campfire is a great way to eat these lovely snacks.

The final decision on your camping cooking supplies is ultimately up to you. The responsibility that comes with this is sometimes astronomical; because you can be really irritable the whole camping trip and no one will like you. But try to pick the right things and be welcomed in loving arms to the World of Camping.

John Splanch has been cooking outdoors since he was a young boy scout at the age of eleven, over 4 decades ago ago. You can see his articles on choosing the best camping cooking supplies on his site. Go to his site on choosing the best camping cooking supplies now!