As we get older it is natural to begin loosing lean muscle tissue. This loss of lean muscle mass is responsible for many of the conditions that we encounter as we age. Particularly noticeable is that our metabolic rate begins to slow down as early as 30 years old. Things we once could eat now make us gain fat.

Protein is the main nutrient that our bodies need to help preserve lean muscle tissue, and most people do not eat enough. Instead they overload on fats and carbohydrates. Of fats, carbohydrates or protein, protein is the one that will not make you fat. Instead protein will work to maintain and even rebuild lost muscle tissue and in turn help to speed up your metabolism.

How much protein should you consume daily? A good rule of thumb is 1 gram per every pound of bodyweight. So a small lady would consume around 100 grams a day, while a large man might consume 250 grams per day. To make it simple, instead of having one chicken breast and a huge heaping serving of rice, have two chicken breasts and a little portion of rice. Orient each meal of the day towards more protein and you will begin to see great improvements in your metabolism and overall health.

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For more than 20 years I believed that when working out in the gym more was better. I still see people in the gym for hours believing that this is what is needed to achieve results.

The problems with this approach seem obvious to me. First of all if you think that each time you exercise it needs to be this long drawn out event than it is inevitable that your workouts will be less frequent. Because how many of us will have that kind of time each day to spend in the gym? So you will find yourself working out less often because of time constraints. You will also find yourself working out less often because you don’t feel up to it. If you think that each time you walk in the gym you need to be there 2 hours and have the best workout ever you will refuse to go when you don’t feel perfect, and how many of us feel perfect everyday? Most people can get motivated for a few weeks and workout 5 days a week 2 hours a day, but this kind of schedule is not maintainable, and you will burn out quickly.

The key is consistency and frequency.  That means that you will exercise 5 days a week religiously, but these workouts will only be 30 to 40 minutes max. What will this accomplish? First, you will be able to find the time because your workouts will be short. Also, when you don’t feel 100% you can still find the energy for only 30 minutes. You will be amazed how much better you feel if you practice this approach. On days I feel no energy and don’t want to exercise I go and get a little blood pumping for 30 minutes and I always feel so much better afterwards.

Just do a little exercise 30 minutes 5 times a week, for the rest of your life. The results will amaze you.

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Yes, good fats can help in an effective weight loss strategy, particularly useful when dieting are the monounsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are considered good fats and help to improve triglyceride and cholesterol levels when eaten regularly. These most convent sources of monounsaturated fats are nuts, avocadoes, and olives.

The thing that I like most about these fats when dieting is there ability to make you feel full even when consuming low calories. What I like to do is have 3 small servings of monounsaturated fats each day evenly spaced through the day. These are high in calories so I am talking about just a half of an avocado or a handful of nuts or olives. I have found the results of this strategy very effective. It enables me to eat low calories and low carbohydrates without feeling so hungry all the time. It is also very good for you and a very healthy approach to dieting.

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Ingesting synthetic man made sugar substitutes is one of the worst things we can do for our health. All of them; NutraSweet, Splenda, Saccharin, are all molecularly altered substances that the human body was never designed to process, especially in the quantities that are being used daily by many millions of people. The people that are choosing to limit real sugar intake by using sugar free products are literally overdosing on all these chemicals.

These fake sugars are one of the leading cases of elevated liver enzymes, because our livers are forced to work way too hard to attempt to process and rid our bodies of these toxic substances. Elevated liver enzymes are one of the first warning signs of deeper health concerns, because they are the initial indicator of toxicity in our bodies. There are mounds of research connecting these chemicals to many forms of cancer. Using these substances to me is just not worth the health risk.

What are the alternatives? First let’s take a look at Stevia. Stevia is a completely natural plant that grows is native to South and Central America. Stevia is 300% sweeter than table sugar, and it is virtually calorie free so it works great in a low calorie or low glycemic index diet program. It does not elevate glucose (blood sugar) levels so it is useful for diabetics as well.  It is available in both powdered and liquid forms, and is very convenient to use.

Next, there is Xylitol. Xylitol is a natural sweetener that is was originally derived from the bark of the birch tree, but is also now extracted from the fibers of many fruits and vegetables including corn, plums and berries.  Xylitol is an organic compound and is not molecularly altered in any way. It has roughly two thirds the calories of traditional sugars and does not significantly elevate blood glucose levels. It also has the benefit of being extremely tooth friendly and is used as a cavity preventer in various gums and toothpastes.

Both Stevia and Xylitol are far better sugar alternatives than any of the nationally advertised chemical sweeteners that are being marketed as safe. Try switching to one of these natural and healthy products for your sweetening needs.

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We eat way to much carbohydrates and fats in our diets. The average person seems to pay very little attention to protein intake.

Our body stores all its reserve protein in our muscles. When we don’t eat sufficient protein in our diets our body will begin to cannibalize our own muscle tissue as its only source of more protein. The body’s metabolic rate is solely determined by how much lean muscle mass we have on our frame. Our metabolic rate is what determines the efficiency of out body’s ability to burn caloric energy. Without adequate protein we destroy our lean muscle tissue and in turn destroy our metabolisms. So, by the time we are 40 we have begun to loose much of our lean muscle tissue and have replaced the tissue with fat. And then we wonder why our metabolic rate is so slow.

When people diet they only increase this muscle loss scenario. Most diet programs today focus only on total weight loss, and unfortunately a lot of this weight loss is loss of healthy muscle tissue. When the diet is over you have lost some weight, but the weight usually comes back on, because your metabolic rate has been decreased by the effects of a diet with low protein. When choosing a diet program to follow you need to pick one that understands this and focuses on protein intake while loosing weight. This is the only type of dieting that is in the long run is even worth pursuing. Otherwise your weight loss will only be temporary.

It is almost impossible for an individual to take in to much protein. The idea that to much protein is a health concern has been completely disproven.  Eat as much protein as you can particularly if you are restricting calories.

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A year or so ago Oprah told her audience that Acai was helpful with weight loss. Since that time I have seen hundreds of people purchasing it for this reason. Out of those hundreds of people I have NEVER had anyone tell me locally of this result.

What do people really say about Acai? It does seem to give many individuals an energy boost, and that is good. It does have some anti-inflammatory properties that people agree has helped them with arthritic conditions, and generalized inflammatory conditions likefibromyalgia. It does help some people with curbing sweet cravings, which could help a little with weight loss. And Acai is definitely a very good all around antioxidant, maybe one of the best all around antioxidants available.

So, do I think Acai is a useful natural product? Yes I do. But, do I think it is some miracle weight loss cure, like many websites claim. No. I do not.

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There are 23 million diabetics in America, and that is 8% of the population. Most of this illness is self induced. Thirty percent of Americans are medically obese, and two thirds of us are overweight. We are the fattest nation on earth and likely the fattest people the world has have known.

The human body was never designed to process this much sugar. In the past fruit crops were seasonal and we only had access to these juices for a very limited time. Now we are drinking these fruit drinks and eating fruit year round.

One teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to 4 grams in weight. The average fruit juice has 28 grams of sugar per 8 ounces of juice. Eight little ounces of any fruit juice has 7 teaspoons of sugar. Think about that for a minute. Eight ounces is a half a can of soda. Fruit juice and soda have almost exactly the same amount of sugar. Parents proudly restrict their kids from soda and willingly feed juices like juice is healthy. These parents are actively creating the next generation of diabetics.

People that are confidently drinking all these juices because you believe them to be good for you should seriously do a little research on this subject. It is always the person that is fifty pounds or more overweight that is first to sing the praises of fruit and fruit juices.

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Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Then why do so many of us view regular sleep as something that is really not all that important? I’ll just make up the sleep on the weekend, or on my next vacation, we say. Well, unfortunately studies are showing it just does not work like that when it comes to sleep. A sleep deficit cannot be made up by getting an occasional complete night sleep. Sleep must come in a regular and consistent pattern to achieve the desired results. We spend millions of dollars on diets, vitamins, medicine, and on doctors for our health. But, we ignore the most important and most simple thing. Good Sleep.

Our modern world in is a very sleep deprived society, and a very obese society. The average night’s sleep has decreased from about nine hours in 1910 to about 7.5 hours in 1975, a trend that continues. More than half of people over 50 complain about not getting enough quality sleep. If things are busy at work the first thing that we often sacrifice is our sleep time. Meanwhile our population just keeps getting fatter.

How does this relate to weight loss? All of the body and brains ability to heal, rebuild, and recover are done during sleep. With a lack of sleep all of our bodily functions start to slow down dramatically including your metabolism. Your metabolism is responsible for speeding up the digestion of food out of your system. The slower your metabolic rate the more your body hangs on to unneeded calories and fat. There are hundreds of products on the market designed to help with speeding up our metabolism, but the easiest and healthiest thing we can do burn more calories is to get serious about getting our sleep patterns normal.

So, what is the best solution? First and foremost is allocating the necessary time to sleep. Second is the ability to get good sleep during this period. If that is not a problem for you than consider yourself lucky. Millions of us would like to sleep better at night but just cannot seem to turn our brains off. What is the best insomnia cure? Doctors will prescribe pharmaceutical sleeping pills, but do we really want to be on prescription sleeping drugs the rest of our lives? I know I don’t. The best and safest solution is to find a really good natural sleep aid that works for you. Some sleep aids these days will offer money back guarantees, so you can try them without financial risk. A safe and effective natural sleeping pill will usually contain nutrients like melatonin, valerian root, hops, and other natural sleeping aids. There are several very good guaranteed sleep aids available online. With all we do to try to lose weight these days don’t overlook the importance and effectiveness of a good nights sleep.

Check out GuaranteedToSleep.com for more info.

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