Food Journals on the Rise

Do you keep a food journal? How about an exercise journal? How about one journal for both?

Any little spiral notebook can serve the purpose. You can draw a line down the middle and list food on one side and exercise on the other.

The benefit of a food journal is to keep you honest and your memory accurate. If you don't write it down, it still piles on the calories.

If you are still trying to lose weight by not eating - then a food journal points out how many hours you went with a slow metabolism caused by not putting some food in your stomach.

If you did only 3 crunches then at the end of the day yes you can say that you exercised - but you need to work on adding one more crunch tomorrow.

The empty pages in your journal point out in black and white just how many days you put off taking a walk.

It was a little excesses that put on the weight.

Putting off until tomorrow eventually leads to no tomorrow.

until next time - smile - it is exercise for your face.
Sharon
Answers for Your Health/Shrink Belly Fat

Belly Fat and Toxins

You read a lot about body shape - apple or pear - or do you carry your excess weight in your midsection or your butt and thighs. You are supposed to adjust your diet to your body type and metabolism rate and what sex you are.

I think those things are important to consider, but first why do you have the excess fat build up.

Not too long ago we had to remove the tomatoes from the produce section at the store - they had a possible contamination. Everything is back to normal now and tomatoes abound. But think about it - are they still a source of toxins. They are generally covered with pesticides and do you wash all your fruits and vegetables.

Now think about something else. Almost all the fresh produce you buy has been handled by multiple people who did not have freshly washed hands. Where have those hands been and what have they touched.

Your body has the ability to try and protect itself by encasing toxins in fat and storing them away. It takes all those little microbes and shunts them off to the belly fat file. All that excess sugar is stored in the same area. All those harmful preservatives and additives are shoved in the same area. This is your own personal toxic waste dump.

Now what happens when you start to lose weight and call on that fat reserve to fuel your muscles that you are building. You release toxins as well. You exercise and you end up not feeling very well maybe even getting a cold or flu or just achy. You blow it off as what do you expect using muscles not used very often.

When you release those toxins back into your system you set up an inflammation situation so it just makes sense to take a supplement that fights inflammation and helps to rid your body of toxins.

Try daily supplements of Turmeric and Cinnamon. Both fight inflammation and the Cinnamon has the added bonus of helping to regulate your blood sugars.

Now you have two more things to help flatten that belly bulge and fight the inflammation that leads to too many diseases to list here.

Artificial Sweetners Add Body Fat

I know, you thought I was never going to post again.

I was reading an interesting report on artificial sweetners. Proof in the rats used as test subjects that using fake sugar caused not only an increase in appetite but an increase in body fat.

First, the researchers found that the total food eaten over 14 days dramatically increased in the artificial sweetener group -- meaning that the artificial sweetener stimulated their appetite and made them eat more.

Second, these rats gained a lot more weight and their body fat increased significantly.

Third (and this is very concerning) was the change in core body temperature of the rats fed the artificial sweeteners. Their core body temperature decreased, meaning their metabolism slowed down.

So - if you are trying to get rid of that belly fat and using diet drinks and artificial sweetners, you may be just compounding the problem. Not only are you increasing your appetite but you are slowing down your metabolism.

Ditch the artificial sweetners. If you must sweeten your coffee or tea, use sugar or honey. Natural does it. And the sodas, well there are so many things wrong with drinking sodas that I can't list them all here again. Like anything in life, moderation is the key. Nobody says you can never have a soda, just don't make it a daily or hourly thing.

I promise to get back to posting on a regular basis.

until next time - think interval training
Sharon
Answers For Your Health

Losing Belly Fat when You are over 50

Is it harder to lose belly fat when you are over 50? Yep. Same way it is harder if you are over 40 or over 70. Each age has additional problems to consider when looking at that fat belly.

First problem, the longer you have stored that belly fat, the more resistant it has become to being used up.

Second problem, you would not have the belly fat if your exercise routine and diet habits were at the top of your list of important things in your life.

Third problem, inertia. Just getting started. Diet pills and fads promise you immediate results or results in 3 weeks or 20 minutes a day. Not going to happen. This is not just some lose an inch to get into a pair of jeans.

Fourth problem, commitment. You have to do this for more than one day. You have to fight past the panting for breath and the pain in the joints. I am not saying you have to go out and run around the block and give yourself a heart attack.

See your doctor to make sure your heart will take the strain of suddenly starting an exercise program.

Start slow and easy.

Work to build up muscle rather than lose fat. If the goal is just to lose fat, you focus on food. If the goal is to build muscle you focus on exercise. Building muscle uses up fat. That doesn't mean you can eat chips and cake.

If the only exercise you can manage right now is to use hand weights, then use them. Put them next to your TV chair and make yourself move them during the commercials. Decide that you will lift those hand weights 5 times during each commercial and then do it. The only person you cheat is yourself if you just sit there.

Are you spending your free time on the internet? Set a timer and use those hand weights every half hour. No, playing games may improve your hand eye coordination but it does not use up stored fat. In fact you are probably sitting hunched over with your belly protruding without any effort at holding it in.

This will not produce results that you can see in 3 weeks. But, those arms will be tighter and you will be building muscles that require the release of fat to fuel.

Add in sucking in your stomach muscles each time you do a lift and you are now working multiple muscle groups and causing more fat to be used as fuel.

Count your steps. You only need to do it once - how many steps to the bathroom from your TV chair - write it down. Add up all those steps at the end of the day. Add 10 more steps each day. Small enough numbers, but these will lead to that mile walk that has turned into a pleasure instead of torture.

If you want to use a tape measure to track your progress that is fine. But the most telling thing is the pants that just keep getting bigger.

Oh yes, just did an article on vitamin D on my Natural Health blog. Vitamin D keeps those bones strong. We want our strong bones. That belly fat is storing vitamin D and unless it is released it can't do you any good.

If you are over 50, start right now, today, to lose that belly fat. Don't you want to be fit and healthy when you finally retire? Don't you want to be able to enjoy that retirement?

If playing with your grandchildren doesn't turn you on, then consider the sex. An active sex life is hard to achieve if that big belly fat is in the way. Sex is also a very good calorie burner.

Being over 50 doesn't mean everything has to go to pot. It does mean you will have to take active steps to control weight and build muscle. And, you will have to work at it for more than 20 minutes a day 3 times a week.

Can Cinnamon Help You Lose Weight?

I just finished an article on Cinnamon for the Supplements section of my web site Answers For Your Health.

One of the little tidbits I found was this piece of old-woman folk medicine.

WEIGHT LOSS: Daily in the morning 1/2 hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one-cup water. If taken regularly it reduces the weight of even the most obese person.

Also, drinking of this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

I wonder, green tea is most effective in reducing weight, what happens if you combine green tea, cinnamon and honey. My gosh, what would be the effect if you drank the tea and then went for a walk and then did strength training exercises.

Question of the day. What is your immediate gut response to a demand that you throw away the sugar that is currently in your kitchen? Empty the sugar canister and the sugar bowl. Yes the artificial sugar too.

until next time
Sharon