Healthy Living Tips

MikeA August 25th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

A wholesome way of life is the first line of defense against high cholesterol. Diet and exercise alone however, often aren’t enough and an individual might have to take cholesterol prescription drugs. It is advised by doctors that cholesterol lowering drug treatments ought to be taken when an individual smokes, has had a heart attack or coronary artery illness, has LDL levels above 190mg/dL, has HDL levels less than 35mg/dL, has high blood pressure, has diabetes, or has a family history of heart illness. Different medications can help to reduce blood cholesterol levels. They may be prescribed on their own or in combination with additional medicines. Your health care provider can identify the optimum drug or mixture of medicines to suggest.

Mike Alexander
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Fibrates

These drugs (Gemfibrozil, for example) are often the first choice for lowering triglycerides and increasing HDLs. Fibrates perform best at lowering triglycerides and in some cases increasing HDL or greater cholesterol levels. They aren’t very efficient at lowering low density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol. This is why fibrates are generally used in individuals whose triglycerides are high or whose HDL is low. Fibrates are very efficient at lowering triglycerides or blood fats. In addition, they act to raise the levels of HDL or good cholesterol. Fibrates might be used in combination therapy with the statins.

Resins

Colestid and Questran are resins that can lower LDLs by as much as 20 percent. Unfortunately, both medicines can trigger gastrointestinal side effects, and doctors advise that long-term use may perhaps trigger bleeding disorders, vision problems and vitamin deficiencies.

Statins

These are the most powerful class of cholesterol-lowering medicines, and include lovastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, and cerivastatin. Statins function in the liver to help prevent the formation of cholesterol. They are most efficient at lowering low density lipoproteins or poor cholesterol, but also have moderate outcomes on lowering triglycerides or blood fats and raising high density lipoproteins or great cholesterol.

Most of the side effects from statins are of a minor nature and commonly go away as the body becomes accustomed to them. Muscle problems and liver abnormalities are rare, but the health care provider could possibly order regular liver function tests. Women who are pregnant or individuals who have active or chronic liver illness are advised not to take statins.

Combinations

Certain cholesterol medications merge a statin and niacin, as is the case with Advicor, for example. No investigation studies have yet shown that taking these combination medicines decreases cholesterol any further than does taking niacin along with a statin separately. Nevertheless, the combination drug might be a lot more convenient simply because it eliminates the requirement to take niacin along with a statin separately. A consultation with a health care professional really should be made initially prior to getting a combination medicine.

The combination medicine of ezetimibe and simvastatin, known collectively as Vytorin, is no more efficient than is simvastatin (Zocor) by itself. If a patient is on this combination medicine, he or she ought to continue to take it unless the physician instructs otherwise.

Summary

Most cholesterol medications are well tolerated, but efficacy differs from person to person. If one decides to take a cholesterol medicine, the physician might recommend periodic liver function checks to monitor the medication’s effect on the liver. One must also keep in mind the significance of healthy lifestyle choices. Medication can help control the cholesterol, but lifestyle matters, too.

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MikeA July 28th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

In the past it was accepted wisdom that the way to cut cholesterol was simply a matter of avoiding eggs and reducing fat intake, but it now seems that it is a lot more complicated than that. The great thing is you will find many more methods to bring good and bad cholesterol in line.

Mike Alexander
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Consume A lot more Good Fats

Monounsaturated fats, found in nuts, avocados, and olive oil, lower bad cholesterol (LDL) without having bringing down good cholesterol (HDL). Replace butter with olive oil, use skimmed milk instead of whole and eat lean meat.

Eggs Are Alright

Eating saturated fat is what raises blood cholesterol the most, and eggs are low in saturated fat. Therefore, eggs are ok to eat. in fact, eggs are superb source of nutrition. But two groups of people are sensitive to eggs. If both cholesterol and triglycerides are high, eggs should be avoided. They should be skipped as well if an individual has an inherited lipid disorder. Generally, this small group of people have very bad cholesterol amounts at an unusually young age, which means their bodies cannot handle cholesterol properly.

Watch Out For Saturated Fat

More than any other food, saturated fat stimulates the liver to create LDLs. But there’s another bad fat to watch out for. Trans-fatty acids (TFA) are produced when unsaturated fat is chemically processed, which turns it into a solid. Not only do they increase LDLs and total cholesterol, but in high amounts they may also lower HDLs. Meals labels don’t list TFAs, which are discovered in solid stick margarines, shortening, deep-fried fast foods, and numerous pastries, crackers, and cookies. Figure that in any meals containing hydrogenated oils, if the label lists 2 grams of saturated fat per serving, the meals has 2 more grams of TFAs.

Lose Weight

Excess weight is bad for the arteries simply because it lowers HDLs. In any group of people, the heaviest will generally have HDL amounts 10 to fifteen per cent lower than the leanest. If an individual is more than ten or twenty pounds overweight, his or her HDL amounts can get eight to 10 points lower.

Check Your Thyroid

Hypothyroidism, if left untreated, can significantly increase cholesterol amounts. Symptoms for this problem are tiredness, increased sensitivity to cold, hair loss, weight gain, joint stiffness, and depression. A TSH blood test diagnoses the problem in its earliest stages. Hypothyroidism is easily corrected by taking daily medication, such as Synthroid or Levthyroxine. Both are less expensive than cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Exercise

Raising HDLs by diet alone is tricky, but the combination of normal physical exercise and strategic eating gets them up. At least thirty minutes a day of vigorous physical exercise can increase them by twenty per cent. Exercise also dramatically affects triglycerides.

Toast To Your Heart

Though a daily alcoholic drink of any kind can increase HDLs by five to ten per cent, only red wine is loaded with antioxidant flavonoids that discourage LDLs from clogging arteries. Red wine has 10 times as numerous flavonoids as white wine simply because grapes, seeds, stems, and skins are steeped in the vat longer.

Lights Out

Cigarette smoking depresses HDLs at about nine per cent

Relax

Stress produces a harmful effect on arteries. Losing your temper with others and always burying resentments elevates LDLs.

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MikeA July 17th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

Cholesterol is important to a person’s overall health and bodily features. It can be a kind of lipid, which serves as an energy source in the form of body fat. It also forms part of the cell membrane of each cell in our body. Because it is a hard body fat, it gives the membranes rigidity and stability. It also builds, repairs, and holds cells together and regulates membrane fluidity over the range of physiological temperatures. Within the cell membrane, it features in intracellular transport and nerve conduction. What this all means, of course, is that cholesterol is not all bad news.

Mike Alexander
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Brain, Nerve Tissues, And Liver

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Cholesterol is found in large amounts in the brain, nerve tissues, and liver, and is utilized to create steroid hormones, including cortisol, cortisone, and aldosterone in the adrenal glands, and of the sex hormones progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, which can be why people who are being prescribed with cholesterol-lowering drugs are worried that sexual feelings may diminish. The hormone aldosterone regulates water and sodium balance in our body and is made out of cholesterol. Cortisol is really a hormone that regulates metabolism, suppresses inflammation and is produced as a response to stress. This is the reason why people who have high cholesterol amounts are advised to relax simply because when one is under chronic stress the body manufactures a great deal a lot more cholesterol.

Serotonin

Cholesterol is important for the function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is really a chemical that assists in protecting us from depression. Several studies have shown that low cholesterol amounts are associated with depression and violent behaviour.

Myelin Sheath

Cholesterol is the primary body fat discovered in the myelin sheath, which coats our nerve cells and enables electrical impulses to occur in our brain and spinal cord. A healthy myelin sheath is required for greater concentration, faster learning and sharper memory.

Synthesis

Cholesterol is also an intermediate compound from which your body synthesizes bile acids (cholic and chenodeoxycholic), which aid in digestion and with the absorption of dietary fats and body fat soluble vitamins from food. This is the major route of exit of cholesterol from our body. Bile is secreted into our intestines and leaves your body in bowel movements.

Skin

Cholesterol in the skin covers and protects us from dehydration, cracking and also the drying effects of external elements. It assists in maintaining skin that looks plump and wrinkle-free. Cholesterol even has a role in wound healing, as high amounts of it are discovered in scar tissue. Also, the cholesterol in skin is the precursor of 7-dehydrocholesterol, which can be ultimately converted to vitamin D. Vitamin D boosts the immune system and assists in maintaining normal blood pressure. Obtaining a bit of sunlight on the skin most days of the week can help lower cholesterol amounts by facilitating its conversion into vitamin D.

Further Research

Recently, cholesterol has also been implicated in cell signalling processes and assisting in the formation of lipid rafts in the plasma membrane. Some research even suggests that cholesterol also acts as an antioxidant simply because it assists in transporting body fat soluble antioxidants around our body, such as vitamin E, vitamin A and several antioxidant enzymes.

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MikeA July 13th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

There’s a tremendous amount of talk in the health arena nowadays about cholesterol. Surely, just about adult alive today (in the western world, at least) will have heard of it. Yet, just a generation ago, most people on hearing it mentioned, would have asked “what’s that?”. And in the generation before the word was unknown and only ever mentioned in medical circles. How things change! Despite the talk though, how many people know what it really is? Very few, I suspect, but I hope this article will enlighten some.

Mike Alexander
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Its Function And History

Image by zimpenfish via Flickr

Cholesterol is really a kind of fat created in the liver from fatty meals that you consume, such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. It performs an important role in enabling the body to function normally. It is present within the outer layer of each cell in the body and carried within the blood by molecules known as lipoproteins, and stored within cells  in the form of cholesterol esters. Cholesterol may be the main sterol, a combination of steroid and alcohol, synthesized by animals, but little quantities are also produced in plants and fungi.

Francois Poulletier de la Salle was the very first to identify cholesterol in solid form in gallstones in 1769. But, it was in 1815 that chemist Eugene Chevreul named the compound “cholesterine”.

Where It Comes From

Generally, the body makes all the cholesterol it needs, so people do not need to consume it. Your liver makes about 1 gram of cholesterol a day and people eat approximately 150 to 250 milligrams with every meal they consume.

The synthesis and use of cholesterol must be firmly controlled to prevent over-accumulation within the body. Abnormal deposits of cholesterol and cholesterol-rich lipoproteins within the coronary arteries will eventually lead to atherosclerosis, which is one of the leading contributory factors in diseases of the coronary arteries. Apart from affecting the heart, atherosclerosis may also block blood flow to other essential organs, including the kidneys, intestines and the brain.

Analysing The Level

Cholesterol levels are identified through chemical analysis of a blood sample obtained from a prick to the finger or from a vein within the arm. To obtain accurate results, fasting from food and drinks should be done nine to 14 hours prior to the test. The amount of cholesterol present within the blood can range from 3.6 to 7.8 mmol/litre, but a level above 6 mmol/litre is really considered high and a chance variable for arterial illness.

Raised cholesterol frequently starts in childhood. Some children are at higher risk than others due to a family history of high cholesterol. Saturated fatty acids are the chief culprit in raising blood cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart illness. But trans fats and dietary cholesterol also play a part in elevating blood cholesterol levels.

Daily Limits

Some of the additional dietary cholesterol is removed from the body through the liver. But, it is still suggested that people ought to limit their average daily cholesterol consumption to less than 300 milligrams. If an individual has heart problems, daily consumption should be limited to less than 200 milligrams. But, even those with a healthy heart ought to remember that by keeping their dietary consumption of saturated and trans fats low, they can substantially lower their dietary cholesterol consumption.

Individuals with extremely high blood cholesterol levels may require an even more significant reduction. Simply because cholesterol is found in all meals from animal sources, care must be taken to consume no more than 6 ounces of lean meat, fish or poultry a day. It is also best to use fat-free and low-fat dairy products. High-quality proteins from vegetable sources such as beans are excellent substitutes for animal sources of protein.

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MikeA July 1st, 2010

Foreword By The Editor

This article, authored by Victor Dashiago, celebrates the growing and cooking of vegetables, particularly oil-cooked vegetables, specifically for vegetarian dishes. If you enjoy it, please also include the author’s ‘bio’ in your reading, which can be found in the last paragraph and is headed About The Author.

Mike Alexander
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Summer Is Here

With hotter temperatures arriving, I’m really getting excited about the vegetable garden. Truth be told, there really does seem to be something more beneficial about growing your own vegetables free of all the harmful sprays commercial farmers make use of. This article will hopefully shed some light on healthful vegetarian dishes and what to watch out for in your nearby super market. Keep in mind that my own preferences might be different from your own, so feel free to replace with your own goods.

Most Important Ingrediant

One of the most important ingredients when making vegetarian dishes is also the most overlooked: the type of cooking oil to be used when cooking your vegetable dishes. If you were to question a hundred individuals about what type of oil they use when cooking, you would probably get a hundred different answers.

My favorite is the Canola oils. Being low in those awful fats that the medical profession says to stay away from, it offers an enjoyable alternative for the health mindful family. Peanut oil is another favorite of mine, but that is starting to climb up there in terms of fat content.

Keeping Costs Down

True, the majority of these oils are more expensive then say your basic store brand oil, but the benefits outweigh the extra cost. Anyway, the taste of those cheaper oils often leaves much to be desired. Like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. My personal recommendation is to keep searching for sales in your local grocery store. Increasingly, shoppers today tend to be coupon-minded, and it can truly make a big difference in keeping the costs lower. Sometimes your larger stores such as Bobs and Costco have specials. Regrettably you may have to buy a gallon to get that special deal.

Summary

Preparing vegetarian dishes involves far more than simply thinking about fresh vegetables. We occasionally go all out to buy fresh or organic produce, and neglect the other ingredients, which may be a harmful oversight in the long haul.

I hope that you continue with your vegetarian way of life. There is practically nothing better then a fresh vegetarian dish on a summer day.

About The Author

We have some of the Best Vegetarian Recipes that you have ever seen. Take a look at our free recipe site and Vegetarian Recipes Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

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MikeA June 7th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

Doctors may suggest a knee replacement operation when knee suffering and loss of function is severe and drugs and other remedies no longer alleviate the pain. The doctor will usually request x-rays in order to inspect the knee bones and cartilages and check the extent of injury to evaluate whether the pain might in fact be coming from a different source. Even though knee replacement surgery is widely carried out on people who are overweight (due to the fact that they are much more predisposed to knee problems) this type of surgery is not recommended for those who are severely overweight because replacement joints are so much more prone to failure.

Mike Alexander
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The Need For Surgery

People of both sexes who are overweight have an increased likelihood of needing knee replacement surgery and the more overweight they are, the more likely it is. Males who are overweight are five times more disposed to a knee replacement than those of normal weight, and females are four times more likely to need it.

Overweight patients in all age groups represent the highest proportion of recipients for knee replacement surgeries. However, although overweight people are credited with most knee replacements, the more overweight they are, the more prolonged the process usually is before they can have the surgery. The difference in waiting period is not an issue of discrimination against those who are overweight but rather, according to the specialists, that fast track procedures for knee replacements tend to cater to patients who pose less chance of complications.

The usual result of doing a total knee replacement on a severely overweight person is a longer hospital confinement, the necessity of using rehabilitation services instead of normal recuperation at home, and an increased risk of complications. These effects become more pronounced as the body mass index (BMI) increases. The morbidly obese, in particular, can suffer from increased wound problems, infections and medial collateral ligament avulsion.

The Effects Of Surgery

Knee replacement involves attention to the ends of bones in a damaged joint. The surgery creates new joint surfaces and the edges of the injured bones of the thigh and lower leg, and commonly the knee cap, are covered with synthetic planes coated with metal and plastic. Typically, orthopaedic surgeons change the whole frontage at the edges of the bones of the thigh and lower leg. However, it is more common to change the inner knee planes or the outer knee planes, depending on the site of the injury. This is called unicompartmental replacement. People who are good candidates for unicompartmental surgery have better results with this procedure than with total joint replacement. Orthopaedic surgeons commonly cement knee joint parts to the bones.

Joint variations as result of osteoarthritis may well extend and injure the ligaments that attach the thigh bone to the bone of the lower leg. After the operation, the man-made joint itself, and ligaments all over the joint which were left behind, typically give sufficient strength for the injured ligaments not to be an issue.

Regional anaesthesia is normally used for knee replacement surgery, although, the exact choice of anaesthesia is dependent on the surgeon, the general health of the patient, and to some degree, on the patient’s own preference.

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MikeA May 21st, 2010

Foreword By The Author

Most people who are overweight are already aware of the fact that it poses a risk to their overall  health. However, many do not know the extent of that risk nor the precise aspects of an overweight lifestyle that can cause the most serious harm to the body. A lot of the data about obesity centers on the dangers to internal organs but the major risks in being overweight are most often linked to an occurrence of high cholesterol.

Mike Alexander
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Good Cholesterol And Bad Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a form of protein and is a main component of lipids, or fat, found within the blood. There are in fact two types, commonly known as good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. High cholesterol is a phrase which is generally understood to mean a higher than normal level of Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL). LDL is known as bad cholesterol due to its association with blood vessel disorders. The higher the levels of LDL, the greater the chances of circulatory problems including heart disease and stroke. High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), on the other hand, is known as good cholesterol.

High Cholesterol Causes

You may have inherited high cholesterol from your parents but eating too many or too much of the wrong kinds of food is the more probable cause. People who consume large quantities of foods heavy in saturated fats in particular are more inclined to have higher LDL levels than people who consume only moderate or small amounts of saturated fats. Despite the fact that having excess weight does not automatically mean you get it from fatty foods, continuous consumption of these foods will result in weight gain. Whether diet is the main culprit or not, people who are overweight generally have higher levels of LDL than those who are not overweight .

Overweight people often don’t have enough HDL either (good cholesterol) and their triglycerides are also often too high. In addition, being overweight raises the chances of getting hypertension and diabetes, both of which are linked to cardiac problems. Body mass is governed by what you eat and your way of life. Being too fat might possibly lead to heart and circulatory problems when your Body Mass Index (BMI) is more than what is normal (32% for females and 25% for males).

High Cholesterol Treatment

Physicians often recommend that those who are overweight should receive cholesterol screening, dietary guidance, a schedule of gradually increasing physical activity and, if needs be, an LDL controlling medication. They recognize that the best solution for the obese is to lose weight. Losing just 5 lbs to 10 lbs (2.3 kg to 4.5 kg) can lower your cholesterol and triglycerides. Weight loss can help to prevent hypertension and can also help lower LDL. It is especially important for those with a cluster of risk factors which include high triglyceride and/or low HDL levels and/or a large waist measurement (more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women).

Regular physical activity is highly recommended for everyone and lack of it is a known contributor to obesity. Exercise can increase good cholesterol, decrease bad cholesterol, and is particularly important for people who have elevated triglyceride levels and depleted good cholesterol levels. Putting on the weight due to bulkier muscles caused by weight training and eating plenty of protein foods does not necessarily lead to cholesterol issues, always provided that these are lean proteins.

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MikeA May 10th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

Statistics show that the western world is experiencing a huge increase in rates of obesity and that this is true among all age groups and both sexes. It is now realized that this is mainly because people are more inclined than ever to over-eat on ‘junk food’ and, despite knowing better, neglect to ensure they have the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables. Additionally, the irresistible lure of television and computer games is promoting an indolent lifestyle that is exacerbating the problem, particularly among the young.

Mike Alexander
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Discrimination

It has been reported that airline carriers are thinking about weighing individuals when they buy their tickets and charging for their services by the pound. They’ve even suggested that people who do not fit in one seat should pay for two tickets.

Many would look upon these extreme measures as discrimination, plain and simple. Nevertheless, many people happily denigrate the overweight through taunts and name-calling and by dwelling on other comparitively trivial areas such as the dilemma they must have of finding super-sized clothes etc. The truth is that some people are naturally slim while others are not. In the case of the latter, fighting against obesity is an ongoing battle that some win and some don’t. They need encouragement, not ridicule.

Fashion And The Media

One of the great ironies of modern life is that the fashion industry, supported by the celebrity media, promote being super slim as the ideal body shape. This only helps to keep the social stigma of being overweight alive. At the same time, it is very difficult for people who have excess body fat to aspire to the accepted norm they are constantly bombarded with on television and in magazines. The truth is that the desire to possess an excessively thin body is not normal and certainly does not help those who often see it as an unattainable goal.

Excess weight is a medical problem and should be treated as such, not for the shallow self-gratifying purposes the media would have us support, but for the severe health difficulties associated with not having a balanced diet and an active life. Discriminating against the overweight and obese is cruel, but not encouraging them to lose weight is worse.

The Correct Approach

The correct approach to obesity should involve eliminating consumption of ‘junk’ foods, increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables, more exercise, and a lot less time spent in front of the television and computer or playing video games.

Ideally, severely overweight people, if they can, ought to talk to a nutritionist about their recommendations regarding a balanced diet. They also need to keep themselves informed about what is healthy and what is not, because a lot just do not know what is best for them. They should be encouraged to only have nutritious foods available in the house or at work. Keeping junk foods around and seeing them all the time only makes the desire to eat them all the harder to resist.

Dealing With The Stigma

The best way to deal with the social stigma of being overweight is for people to accept themselves for who they are; that it doesn’t matter what they look like to others, but to try harder to overcome their eating problems with a more balanced diet for health reasons alone. Obesity must not be considered just a pounds issue but, more importantly, a health issue.

And they should keep trying. It’s an ongoing procedure. There may be obstacles sometimes, but they ought to stress in their own minds the successes they’ve had and the ways they’ve performed well. It’s a form of positive thinking to achieve goals and share them with others if they help along the way.

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MikeA April 24th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

This is the fourth in a series of articles about branded diet plans for the overweight. This time, the topic of attention is the GI (Glycemic Index) diet, which was first established to aid diabetics. Diabetics need programs which are able to prevent blood sugar levels from changing too much. As a result researchers created a system to determine how a specific food influences blood sugar. It is now gaining in popularity as a general weight loss diet.

Mike Alexander
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Interpretation

The Glycemic Index categorizes foods rich in carbohydrates by allocating them a number ranging from 0 to 100. The number indicates the rate at which the food increases blood glucose levels during its absorption. The greater the number, or index, the quicker the sugar is absorbed.

A food is considered to have an elevated GI value if its rate is 70 or more. A medium Glycemic Index food has a value of 56 to 69 and a GI value of 55 or lower is considered low. Foods with a low GI value are best as they digest more naturally and help provide a steady supply of energy over the course of several hours, making you feel full longer.

Difficulties

However, the major difficulty with the GI diet is that there isn’t a clear-cut rate fixed for every existing food. There are several online sites which give numbers for a specific food, but the numbers given are quite far from each other. It is certainly not apparent where the rates emanated from.

One more negative comment about the Glycemic Index is that the rates don’t suggest the concrete means meals are supposed to be consumed. People don’t consume a food item one by one, particularly in curiously big quantities taken during the study. The effect of the whole meal is more important than the GI of each individual food in the meal. Fats and protein decelerates absorption of food. The GI diet doesn’t consider that, neither does it take the variations in everyone’s absorption of food or diverse ways in preparing meals.

Effort

For all the effort a GI diet requires, there is little apparent pay-off in terms of improved weight control. The Glycemic Index diet has not been shown to affect weight loss, despite the belief that controlling blood sugar will control appetite and insulin, and therefore control food intake and fat storage.

However, in spite of everything, a lot of doctors concur that the GI diet, if used accurately, could be an excellent method in losing weight, particularly in those who battle with typical low-calorie diets or weight watchers who have a hard time restraining their desire for food.

Summary

The Glycemic Index diet is like the low-carbohydrate diet, although not as rigorous, and aims at the kind of carbohydrates, not the amount of them in every food. There is also a focus on the correct timing of the two basic types of meals, a carb or protein meal. The science behind the timing and types of meal makes GI dieting a potent way to help lose fat stores, safely and relatively quickly.

This diet is a good choice for anyone who wants to maintain stable blood sugar levels, or who has obesity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, PCOS, and who wants to lose weight as fast as achievable. Although it’s really more of a way of eating than a diet, a growing number of folks follow the GI way to achieve their weight loss goals.

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MikeA April 19th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

This is the third in a series of articles about branded diet plans for the overweight. This time the focus is on Nutrisystem, a very well-known weight-loss system that has many enthusiastic followers. As I have said in previous prefaces to these reviews, I am not a doctor, nor have I tried this diet system myself. Nonetheless, I’m pretty diligent when it comes to researching a subject once it has my attention.

Mike Alexander
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Getting Started

The Nutrisystem weight loss program, like some others, comes in the form of a pre-packaged food container that requires participants to eat the company’s range of foods, albeit in conjuction with grocery store accompaniments such as fruits and vegetables. As part of the plan, Nutrisystem foods are made with heart-healthy ingredients which include omega-3 fatty acids and soluble fiber, and which NutriSystem claims can control your appetite, reduce hunger and curb cravings between meals. The diet plan package also includes DVDs on health for both sexes, an activity manual, a personalized food diary, and a ‘Quick Start’ guide.

The Economics

Unfortunately, the convenience of NutriSystem doesn’t come cheap, though to be fair it is very competitively priced compared to its closest rivals. In addition to the packaged foods, you also have to buy your own accompanying fresh extras such as fruits, vegetables and milk. Comments about the superiority and flavour of their foods differ as well but the majority of such are favorable.

NutriSystem is the perfect system for those who prefer not to plan meals or portions. They offer a variety of options, including a vegetarian plan and they have high-quality low-fat choices and a well-adjusted meal plan centered on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. They also provide customer service through one-on-one specialists, information sheets, online chat, and e-mail messages.

The Glycemic Index

Based on the Glycemic Index, which ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on blood sugar levels, the NutriSystem plan stabilizes blood sugar levels by emphasizing low GI carbohydrates, which break down slowly and release glucose into the bloodstream gradually. This is rather than high GI foods, which break down rapidly. Loading up on low GI carbohydrates, in combination with optimal amounts of protein and fiber, helps stave off hunger and keeps dieters satisfied. Dieters can select from seven, 28-day programs: Women’s, Men’s, Women’s Silver, Men’s Silver, Women’s Diabetic, Men’s Diabetic or Vegetarian. Each program includes menus and checklists so dieters always know what to eat and when.

The Convenience

Using the Nutrisystem program, you eat five to six small meals each day. The food is low glycemic and filled with good carbohydrates and you have the added convenience of having these delectable foods sent directly to your home. Everything you need to be a successful dieter is included. You know when you wake up that you’ve got a plan and you’re ready to go. Then you add your dose of protein, such as a glass of non-fat milk and a fruit. It’s so simple that the dieter starts to get a rhythm going.

Some people get bored easily so offering more options makes it more appealing. Those that crave variety are likewise catered for and they offer such variety that, importantly, people enjoy it and still lose weight. The nourishment quotient is properly adjusted for excellent health. All in all, on the Nutrisystem plan, you get to have all that you need on a daily basis.

Every successful diet system permits a little bending of the rules now and again, and this is certainly the case with NutriSystem. You may switch over any afternoon snack for any morning snack as well as switch a NutriSystem lunch for a NutriSystem dinner whenever you please.

Conclusion

No exercise plan is given in NutriSystem, but dieticians and counsellors can work with you on creating a plan that is appropriate for you. As soon as you achieve your target weight, a NutriSystem specialist will assist you in setting up a meal plan that will gradually include foods bought from the supermarket into your regular diet.

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Tags: diet, diet plans, exercise, exercise plans, nutrition, weight loss

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