The No Diet Holiday

Instead of depriving yourself of the holiday treats, enjoy them. Just enjoy them in moderation.

Eat slowly. Don't add a lot of water during the meal - that just slows down digestion. At Thanksgiving I took one serving spoon of all the wonderful dishes and a small piece of turkey. I left food on the plate because I was full. Just slow down and let your stomach have a chance to tell your brain - full - enough.

Don't be efficient. When you bring in the groceries, bring in one sack at a time. The more steps, the more energy used, the more fat burned.

Absolutely no eating in front of the TV or while reading a book. (In my mind, reading means opening a bag of chips or gummy bears)

Focus on the joy of the season. Focus on friends and family. Forget your failings in the past, your less than perfect body and life style.

Eat and drink to support the day, one day only, just today. Exercise enough to let your body and mind know that you are alive.

Happy holiday
Sharon

Should Your Belly Be Flat

Look at children. They stand easy with no attempt to "hold in their belly" or "look better". They simply are. They run and play and have way too much energy.

If those children become over weight or obese, they develop fat all over - not just in the belly area. So logic tells us that the apple shape, the belly fat is an adult disease. We blame it on having children or too much beer or cokes. We may even agree that belly fat develops when we eat fatty, fried or sugary foods, drink too much alcohol or sugary drinks and decrease our exercise.

We love to read that our fatty body is due to a virus. That implies a cure - except no other virus has a miracle cure except time and rest and whatever immunity your body has developed.

We need to accept once and for all that belly fat is totally our fault. And the only way you can get rid of belly fat is to reduce body fat.

Stop thinking of belly fat as some special beast. It is fat, hard to eliminate fat, but none the less it is fat.

Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so don't concentrate on the scales and losing pounds. Concentrate on losing inches, even 1/8" is a measurable gain in health.

Think of mass. A pound of fat is many times bigger than a pound of muscle - think basketball and tennis ball.

So you gotta watch what you eat and drink but you also have to exercise. The diet will reduce the fat but it will not build the muscle.

You need to build the muscle base to hold your internal organs in place, to stand upright, to breathe with ease, to live with joy and freedom to move.

until next time - move that body
Sharon
Answers For Your Health

Fat Belly or Flat Belly

I have a sister blog to this one. It is just called Exercise. I haven't posted much to it and finally realized that I post more to the Belly Fat Blues Blog. Now I am wondering if I should keep both going.

Have you see the commercials for the new wii fit program? There is much more movement in the new one - no board you have to stand on. I can see having both and will probably get the new program when I get a little extra money.

For now I will just keep on using the board. And that is a little part of the program - you get bored. I change up the Yoga routine doing different poses alternate days. The balance program I use the same ones every day. That is more the game routine and it is fun. I am pleased to note that my balance is right on instead of being to the left as it was in the beginning.

Can you flatten that fat belly with the wii - yes because you are using up fat in the exercise and you are building muscle strength at the same time.

If I give up the wii for a few weeks for whatever reason I see the difference in how I look and how I feel.

For the beginner who wants to make that belly fat disappear, add a daily walk and 20 minutes of Yoga to see fast results.

If you want to check out the Exercise Blog feel free. I am in the process of upgrading the content and appearance so hopefully all the links work.

until next time - big smile while you are walking.
Sharon
AnswersForYourHealth.com/Shrink Belly Fat

Belly Fat is an inherited gene

New article on the web - same old story. Belly fat is dangerous. Belly fat must be lost before you can flatten your belly with exercises like sit-ups.

Belly fat, like grey hair is an inherited gene. Those with the pear shape say they would rather have the belly - grass is greener type of thinking.

Try thinking of it this way. Your belly fat is like a garbage dump. Ok a recycle center.

If you eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, the peelings go into the compost heap and recycle themselves into useful fuel for the earth - for more vegetables and fruits.

If you eat canned goods and boxed goods and frozen foods, the peelings go in the garbage to the land fill to sit for years. They sit right next to the plastic discards. Ok so you recycle - energy that could be used for something else must be used to shred those paper, plastic, alum peelings and then reform them into the same thing. They may not sit in a garbage dump but they also do nothing to nourish the earth.

The compost heap disappears over time -- the land fill just gets bigger.

If you are exercising, you are using fuel from your belly fat. Your body is engineered to pull fat from that area first. Your exercise could be as simple as taking a daily walk and doing housework or yard work.

The more exercise you do the faster you reduce your belly fat. Once it is down to a manageable level then you start the crunches. First you have to build the core muscles and that is part of the walk.

So, exercise in general reduces belly fat. But if your daily diet has too much sugar and processed foods then the incoming belly fat storage has to be increased.

Exercise alone won't do it. Restricted diet alone won't do it.

Start out with the daily walk. Start out by restricting white from your diet. (sugar,mayonnaise,bread)

The third primary ingredient in this formula - sleep. For the obese sleep is hard to get. Breathing is difficult and consequently you don't get that all important solid bank of sleep. For optimum health and weight control you need 6-8 hours of sleep every night.

Stress is a killer in any language and the lack of sleep contributes to stress. Stress contributes to the build up of belly fat. Hating yourself for the belly fat contributes to stress -- the never ending cycle.

The odds of you getting on the Biggest Loser TV show where you are forced into a good way of eating and exercise -- those odds are too big. You will have to find it in yourself - the will, the energy, the won't power, the determination to go the distance.

Most doctors now recognize that the addiction to sugar is as strong as nicotine, alcohol or illegal drugs. Replacing the sugar with artificial sweeteners is like replacing non-filtered cigarette with filtered cigarette.

Just like the reformed smoker, you will have to accept that you can never have those doughnuts again. Sure, one won't hurt you --- unless it is the one that leads to the whole box.

Sharon
AnswersForYourHealth.com/shrinkbellyfat

Too Much Exercise is a Bad Thing

Did you catch the last episode of Biggest Loser? One girl has stopped losing weight even though she is on a strict diet and working out hours a day. The trainer told her to stop - she has told her before she is doing too much on too little. Now her body has shut down and is refusing to give up any more weight.

Every action has a re-action.

Her other big big problem, she is so stressed about the weight loss, she is not sleeping. Proven fact, you cannot lose weight unless you get good sleep on a consistent basis.

I was reading something the other day about a calorie is a calorie and it does not matter when in the day or night you eat it. I guess I am just old fashioned - but I still think that eating late at night before bed time is just asking for trouble. Your body should be able to do the healing thing during sleep - not the digestion thing.

I know if I eat very late, I will gain weight. If I stop eating 5 hours before bed time, I will lose weight.

Do you know how your body is processing late night eating?

until next time
Sharon
Answers For Your Health/Shrink Belly Fat