You need more than 'eating less' to slim.

You want to lose those extra pounds, but you’re sick to death of hearing the same old ways of achieving this. Right?

For years you were told that if only you’d eat less food, you would lose weight, look better, feel better, be healthier, etc. Unfortunately, most diets that were advertised or recommended were simply ‘not fit for purpose’ as the ‘in’ saying goes.

The thing is, if you restrict your calorie intake below a certain level, this can cause your body to go into 'starvation mode', which leads to storing fat instead of getting rid of it!

The real secret to ‘losing weight’ (see my post about ‘losing weight’ and ‘losing fat’ at ‘Stay slim after losing weight’) and keeping it off and being much healthier is a proper diet combined with proper exercise.

A proper diet, as I mention in ‘Stay slim after losing weight’, must contain enough protein. See that post for amounts of protein to aim for. Ideally, your eating should involve about five small meals spread out throughout the day. If you prepare your meals the day before and take them wherever you go during the day, then you will not be tempted to eat things that will not help you reach you fitness/weight loss goals.

As mentioned above, the best strategy for maintaining a healthy, trim body is to combine good nutrition and proper exercise. Starving yourself is not the answer. Moderation and a strength training exercise program will help to burn off unwanted body fat.

Muscle burns off unwanted fat. So the focus of your exercise program should be on training hard enough to increase your overall volume of toned muscle tissue. As I’ve said elsewhere on this blog, the more toned muscle you have, the more calories from the fat in your body you’ll use up. You will be burning off the fat not only when you exercise, but also when you’re sleeping or sitting watching the TV.

With this combination, your body will burn the calories you consume and turn them into energy instead of storing them as fat. You will find that once you begin a regular exercise program you need to eat more quality food to supply the healthy lean muscle with the energy it needs to keep you energized throughout the day.

To get started on your own proper nutritional diet, and get the full theory of the small-portion eating plan, check out ex-bodybuilding champion Carolyn Hansen's product Fat Loss For Keeps and learn how to eat in such a way that weight loss never becomes something you need worry about again.

Cut down on Sugar.

Many people don’t realize that sugar is 50% fructose. What’s bad about fructose? Well the body immediately converts it into fat. No wonder so many people are becoming obese!

Cutting back on your sugar intake can help you to lose weight. But it's not always easy to know when you are taking sugar into your body.

Yes, of course you can cut down the number of spoonfuls you put in your tea or coffee. Or you can limit the sugar you have on your cereal in the mornings.

In fact, The World Health Organisation says we should reduce sugar consumption by at least 50%. And The American Heart Association gives the following advice: women should only consume a maximum of 6 teaspoons of sugar per day, the maximum is 9 teaspoons for men and it should be much less for toddlers and children.

But that’s the relatively easy part. What about the sugars you don’t know about?

 ‘Free Sugars’ can be a significant cause of increased body weight and obesity. They are the sugars which manufacturers, cooks and people themselves add to foods and are also found in honey, syrup, fruit juices, fizzy drinks, etc.

Now when you’re eating a meal, your body has a mechanism by which it can send you signals to let you know that you are full. Taking notice of these signals will help to prevent you from overeating and putting on weight. However, the liquid sugar hidden away in fizzy drinks, for example, somehow seems to get passed the body’s normal fullness triggers. So you continue to drink beyond your fullness level.

What this means, of course, is that people who drink a lot of fizzy drinks will put on weight. If you were to replace one fizzy sugary drink with water or a zero-calorie drink you would avoid taking in 10 teaspoons of sugar.

So just one fizzy drink can supply more than the maximum daily amount of sugar recommended by The American Heart Association!

If you want to lose weight without dieting, make sure you check the foods you eat for any added sugar and limit your intake.

For a more disturbing look at how sugar may affect your body go to my post, 'How harmful is Sugar?'.

How harmful is Sugar?

Using and digesting sugar is actually difficult for our bodies and regularly eating large amounts of sugar could cause serious harm.

Dr. David Reuben, author of ‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition’ says, "….white refined sugar is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11. It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer."

The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugar's formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the "N", or nitrogen atom.

It’s possible that consuming too much sugar may:

Ø  use up vital minerals and vitamins in your body,

Refined sugar contains no fibre, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories. What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolise the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar.

Ø  cause tooth decay and periodontal disease, which leads to tooth loss and infections,

If calcium is used to naturalise the effects of sugar, bones may become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn calcium. Teeth are affected in the same way and they lose their components until decay occurs and hastens their loss.

Sugar makes blood very thick and sticky. This tends to cut down blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. So we end up with diseased gums and starving teeth.

Ø  result in a child showing poor concentration,

Ø  cause both children and adults to become disruptive, show signs of learning disorders and become forgetful,

Glutamic acid is very important in making sure the brain functions properly. When too much sugar is consumed, the bacteria which manufacture B vitamin complexes in the intestines begin to die. Normally these bacteria thrive in a symbiotic relationship with the human body. But when the B vitamin complex level declines, the glutamic acid is not processed. This can cause sleepiness, a loss of memory and the inability to perform mathematical calculations correctly.

Ø  cause hypoglycaemia and weight gain in children and adults, leading to diabetes and obesity,

Hypoglycaemia occurs when the pancreas overreacts to the large amount of sugar in the blood and releases too much insulin leaving one with the "tired" feeling as the blood sugar level becomes lower than it should be.

Diabetes is another commonly known disease caused by too much sugar as well as a high fat diet. If the pancreas fails to produce adequate insulin when the blood sugar rises the body goes into shock from the rapid rise in the blood sugar level. The pancreas eventually wears out from overwork and diabetes then rears its ugly head.

Ø  upset hormonal balance and support the growth of cancer cells,

Refined sugar is void of all nutrients, consequently it causes the body to deplete its own stores of various vitamins, minerals and enzymes. If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients used to metabolise sugar, it will not be able to properly handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues. These wastes accumulate through the brain and nervous system, which speeds up cellular death. The bloodstream becomes over-loaded with waste products and symptoms of carbonic poisoning result.

Ø  raise blood pressure and bad cholesterol (LDL), increasing the risk of heart disease,

Ø  initiate auto-immune and immune deficiency disorders such as arthritis, allergies, and asthma.

The vital organs in the body are actually damaged by over eating sugar.

How can you save yourself and your family from the harmful effects of too much sugar? Obviously consume less or,